Chapter 9:Evaluating the Impact of In-house Materials

on Language Learning Saleh Al-Busaidi and Kate Tindle

Presented by:Mohsen Saberi & Sadiq Omarmeli

Language teaching materials developed in-

house by teachers have the potential to meet local needs in a way that global materials cannot(Tomlinson,2000)

In-house materials can address learners in the context of their own culture,focuse on content that is real to learners

introduction

However commercial course books often have

more credibility with students who may be seduced by the glossy cover and assume that as they are published there is a guarantee of high quality and they think that these books are written by expertise

A recent paper related to Persian gulf context

criticize the use of global materials among Arabs students being culturally inappropriate ,being unsuited to local teaching but still Arab learners assume that they are superior to in- house materials

In this chapter,we describe an in-house

materials development project at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman,we hope to find out if the materials are effective and to identify areas for improvement

The setting is one of the universities in Oman

it is an state funded English medium Most of the students who enter the university

are required to study English for up to 18 months in the Intensive English Language Programme(IELP)

Students take an in-house placement test and are put into one of five levels ranging from level 2(high beginner)to level 6(high intermediate)

The setting

The materials writing project was focused on

improving the writing skills of the lowest level students,that is,students in level 2,3 and 4 of the IELP

The project sprang from general

dissatisfaction within the language Center with the approach to writing that was being followed in the IELP and the result it was producing

The course primarily focused on teaching students grammatical functions with little focuse on communication or meaning

The genesis of the materials writing project

As part of an initial needs analysis,72 texts

written by students in level2 analyzed by a team of teachers

The result was:many students look at writing as learning a formula and just a matter of putting the right word in the right slots

In response to the findings of the needs

analysis ,the University decided to produce a series of in-house writing and language use books to try to change the approach to writing and the students’ attitude toward writing

The first step towards changing the students’

attitude to writing was to engage them in what they were writing about this led to the decision to base the units on texts,both to engage the students and to provide a meaningful stimulus for writing

We hoped that the students would begin to experience a sense of personal engagement to their writing

The course books:explore writing

The starting point for the writers was finding

authentic input texts that were likely to be engaging and meaningful to the learners by using short stories,letters,…

The activities in the book are designed to allow the learners to react to the texts as real readers and to think and talk about the content

The writing tasks arise out of the texts as a

response to what the students read for example student may replay to a letter or write an opinion article responding to a topic

1.brainstorming 2.writting the first draft 3.directing back the learners to the initial texts 4.going back to their own texts and modify

them in accordance to what they have learned from the text

5.after they edit their own writing they edit their classmate writing too

6.writting the second draft which is submitted to the teacher

Writing tasks

1.Developing criteria: The first step of evaluating was taken before

the material writing began when teacher& writers wrote a set of criteria to guide the development of the material for example;

To what extent do the materials encourage inductive learning

To what extent do the writing activities have an authentic purpose

evaluation

2.Pre-use evaluation and piloting During the production of materials extensive

feedback on each unit was provided by other members of the team,and then by editorial group

At the piloting stage ,teachers and learners who were using the material filled in feedback forms as they finish each unit in class

.3 sources of data collection 1.student 2.teachers 3.examination papersThe surveys were used on the course criteria and were used to solicit the students and teachers opinions about the course

Methodology

The focus is on 1.engagement 2.wiring skills 3.language use

results

Most of the students and teachers felt that the

materials were engaging, the teachers were more positive about the engagement of materials than the students.

engagement

90 percent of teachers and 80 percent of

students felt that the course improved students, writing skills

88 percent of students felt that they have made progress in outlining and brainstorming,

Writing skills

Teachers had a positive attitude toward

discovery learning(inductive grammar) 55 percent of students felt that their grammar

has improved 45 percent of students were either neutral or

in disagreement with the way grammar was presented

they felt that there was the lack of grammar activitiesAlmost half of the students liked grammar to be presented in a deductive way

grammar

Graves: if subjective needs are not met,

objective needs may also go unfulfilled

In order to assess the extend to which the

students’ writing ability has improved evaluating time written exams as the basis, is not proper. why? What is the solution??

Text analysis

To assess the progress of students some tasks

were given to all the students of the 3 groups while and after the program, the students were divided into 3 groups(high-average-low)

Sample writing tasks

The majority of teacher and students have

positive attitudes toward most aspect of the course

The approach to language teaching is appreciated by teachers but not bay all student

Students writing ability improved Remedial classes can be helpful in the case of

low students

summary

There appears to be general satisfaction with

the course book however it will be revised again

The development of the criteria the needs analysis , the training the involvement of students and teachers and the involvement of the editorial boards all helped insure that these materials work.

conclusion