Presented by:Nuruladilah Bt. Mohamed

GS 37456

MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT IN ESP

OVERVIEW

DefinitionTypes of MaterialsPurpose of MaterialsTeachers or Providers of MaterialsTeacher-Generated MaterialLearner-Generated MaterialMaterials and Technology

DEFINITION

DEFINITION OF MATERIALS

Harsono (2007) states materials refer to anything which is used to help to teach language learners.

Tomlinson(1998,2001) defined materials as

textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-ROM, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph written on a whiteboard or anything

presents or informs about the language being learned and facilitate the learning of a language.

TYPES OF MATERIALS

TYPES OF MATERIALS (Ellis and Johnson, 1994)

PURPOSE OF MATERIALS

SOURCE OF LANGUAGE

PURPOSE OF MATERIALS1. Source of language If English is a foreign not a second language, the ESP

classroom may be the only source of English.

Materials play roles in:

exposing or informing learners to a real language.Provide additional materials – max. exposureUse of instructions/explanations – fits students’

understandingfilling the learners’ requirements

E.g: use of texts from Time and Wall Street Journal in a classroom ( ) …… WHY?Differs from pedagogic style of textbooks, different

vocab

LEARNING SUPPORT

PURPOSE OF MATERIALS2. Learning support

Materials need to be reliable to work, to be consistent, and to have some recognizable patternSome materials – mislead objectives

Involving learners in thinking about and using the language.

Activities used in the materials: stimulate cognitive process.

The learners: have a sense of progression.

STIMULATION AND EVALUATION

PURPOSE OF MATERIALS

3. Stimulation and motivation

Materials need to be:ChallengingAchievable – offer new ideas / informationEncourage fun / creativityCan be used in real-life environment

REFERENCE

PURPOSE OF MATERIALS

4. Reference- self-study / reference purposes

Materials need to be:Complete, self-explanatory

Provide explanations, examples, exercises, and answer keys

Well-organizedThrough informative contents pages and

indexesE.g: Unit 1 – Reading, Unit 2 – Speaking

PREPARATION OF NEW MATERIALS:

“WRITERS OR PROVIDERS ?”

WRITERS/PROVIDERS OF MATERIALSPreparing materials place high demands and

great pressure on materials writers.

Each stage is time-consuming: Find suitable carrier content, match real content to learning and real world activities, compose clear rubrics, plan an effective layout,.

Preparing new materials from scratch for every course taught is clearly impractical, even if every teacher actually had the ability.

WRITERS/PROVIDERS OF MATERIALS

A good provider of materials will be able to:

1.Select from what is available2.Creative with what is available3.Modify activities to suit learners’

needs4.Supplement by providing extra

activities/ input

(1) SelectiveMake good choices - Aim to have good criteria ( factors of the learners, role of materials, topics,

language, presentation, analysis, and validity of materials)

- During selection, consider these questions:i. Will the materials stimulate and motivate?ii. To what extent does the material match

the stated learning objectives ?iii. To what extent will the materials support

that learning?

(2) CreativeIt is not easy to be creative if the working

environment is heavily constrained, based on certain situations:

given materials small range of material freedom to choose from

have to be used to choose from any material

E.g:- A TESL classroom – studies Current Issues in Education-the lecturer/students – out-of-date, different setting- 2 simultaneous threads of action :

> prepare to change the situation> be creative with the situation

(3) ModifyModify activities – can occur if input and

carrier content are adequate

Possible modifications:

1. Select activities that are central to the core objective

2. Replace with activities which focus on real content

3. Change rubric to change the focus/drop the activity

4. Add in activity(s) before the given materials5. Omit exercises if necessary

(4) SupplementCan be viewed as a form of modification

Changing the input – supplement/prepare new materials

Skills that ESP practitioners/teachers need to have:Matching carrier content to real contentProviding varietyGrading activity level: learning and languagePresenting good materials

CATEGORIES OF MATERIALS

Teacher-Generated Material

Learner-Generated Material

TEACHER-GENERATED MATERIAL

TEACHER-GENERATED MATERIAL

1) Matching carrier content to real content

2) Providing variety

3) Grading exercises

4) Presenting the material well

1. Matching carrier content to real content

The development of new material could be from one of two directions:

STARTING POINT A: having some good input/carrier content (authentic text)

STARTING POINT B: where there is a gap in the course material (course objective)

Carrier Vs. Real Content

Carrier content- aspects that is used to assist the real content(e.g.: English for Banking)

Real content- the main purpose of the course

Continue…

A: - having a good input/carrier content - analyze to determine what real content could be exploited - try to fit the content into the course

B: - there is a gap in the course material - no suitable material is available

Process for Preparing New Materials

Starting point A Starting point B

Have some carrier content

Need material for specific objective

Determine its real content

Search for suitable carrier content

Match real and carrier content to course framework

2. Providing variety

Variety is essential in any language class as well as ESP class – motivate learners

Variety in micro-skills

Variety in activity types

Variety in class interaction

Variety in the micro-skills

Focus more than one macro-skill (e.g writing, speaking, reading, listening)

The use of other macro-skills will both help the learning of the target macro-skill and provide variety for the class.

For example:In a writing class, not only focusing on

writing skills but try to combine with other macro skills : reading

Variety in activity types

A visual used in an exercise is often effective

It increases variety and avoids of too much texts to be read and understand as input for a task.

Visuals include diagrams, flow charts, graphs, bar and pie charts, matrices, photographs and sketches

Variety in interaction

ESP class is varied in the nature of its interactions.

Changes from teacher input > individual work > pair work > class discussion

Class size and learners’ expectation should be taking into consideration by the teacher

3. Grading exercises

Grading - amount of support provided to enable learners to do a set of exercises and tasks at different levels of difficulty.

Many ESP practitioners find themselves in the situation where their groups are of very mixed abilities.

For instance:A situation requires an approach to material

which to some extent caters for everyone.

Continue…

Three levels to present each task/set of exercises

(Nunes, 1992):

1)Unsupported2)Partially supported3)Fully supported

Activities differ based on conceptual levels and can be graded according to its complexity (Nunan, 1989)

Continue…Bowler and Parminter (2002) present the three

levels proposed by Nunes (1992) as ‘tiered-tasks’

Top Tier : Weaker Students = Fully supported

Middle Tier : Middle-level Students = Partially supported

Bottom Tier : Advanced Students = Unsupported

4. Presenting material well

Consistency helps learners to focus on learning rather than working out what to do.

It includes: writing good, consistent rubrics, planning layout and proofing

A unit of material might have the following broad format.

How to Prepare Material

LEARNER-GENERATED MATERIAL

LEARNER-GENEREATED MATERIAL

1)Framework materials

2)Activities devised by the learners

1. Framework MaterialsMaterials: provide carrier content and

activities for input and practice

Role: Remove a difficulty to balance the levels and appropriateness of carrier and real content

Set a context or a framework

Learners fit their own carrier content and their existing language competence into the framework

Types: compare and contrast chart, lists of advantages and disadvantages diagram

Advantages and Disadvantages

Continue…

Production process

Advantages Disadvantages

• A key aspect for using framework materials is what Ellis and Johnson (1994) refer to as “the setting box”.

2. Activities devised by learners

Text comprehension

- A pair of learners prepare some comprehension questions (as well as the answers) and exchange them with another pair. Each pair will answer the other pair's set of questions.

Continue…

Note taking / Information transfer- Learners themselves can think of some creative

activities to transfer information for their peers (and their teachers)

Vocabulary Development- Learners can generate their own sets or word

partnerships- E.g : matching and grouping activities

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

Technology offers alternative materials and classroom interactions.

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) programs are largely linear, constructed along certain thought patterns.

CD-ROM offers information and opportunity for repetitive practice.

Internet is bringing further changes as courses can be downloaded from all over the world.

CONCLUSION

Materials are not just a simple tools that can be randomly used to assist the teaching and learning process

Materials are one of the important aspects in teaching ESP to guide the teachers and learners in understanding the subjects better.

Developing materials in ESP require certain aspects to be considered.

THANK YOU

REFERENCES

Bowler, B. & Parminter, S. (2002). Mixed-Level Teaching: Tiered Tasks and Biased Tasks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dudley-Evans, T.,& St John, M. (1998). Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ellis, M. & Johnson C. (1994). Teaching Business English. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.

Harsono, Y.M.(2007). Developing learning materials for specific purposes. Retrieved October, 25, 2013 from http://www.journal.teflin.org/index.php/teflin/article/viewFile/191/109

Tomlinson, B. (2001). Materials Development. In Carter, R. & Nunan, D.(Eds.), The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.