Pret 1943. 3 Selecting and evaluating materials In Chapter 2 we considered different approaches to using literature with the language learner, and in Section 2.1 we discussed whether it was appropriate to use litérature with particular groups of learners. In this chapter we focus more specifically on how to select texts and materials which are suitable for use with your students. Of course, you may not have a choice of either texts or materials. Perhaps you are bound by a syllabus which sets out what literary texts you have to use with your students even though you can design the tasks to exploit these texts your: self, Or the syllabus may lay down both the texts and the exercises and tasks needed to exploit them. If you do have some choice in the selection of texts and materials, then Section 3.1 will help to pinpoint some criteria for selecting literary texts to use with your learners, while Section 3.2 suggests ways of evaluating published materials. "3.1 Selecting texts In choosing a literary text for use with your students, you should think about three main areas. These are: the type of course you are teaching, the type of students who are doing the course and certain factors connected with the text itself. We begin by thinking about the first of these ~ the type of course you are teaching. Task 1 ‘Think about a group of students you have taught in the past, are teaching at the moment, or are going to teach in the future. Note down the information about them which is listed in the boxes opposite. 48 Selecting texts Type of course Level of students: Students’ reasons for learning English: (e.g. English for Academic Kind of English required on the cours nglish, etc.) Purposes, English for Business, General How intensive is the course? (e.g. five hours a day for three months, four hours a week for a year, etc.) Is there a syllabus? Yes No 1, Isit flexible? Yes No 2. Isllterature included? Yes No Can you include literary texts on this course? Why/Why not? What kinds of texts will be most suitable? Extracts from novels? Poems? A full-length play? Why? Task 2 ‘Think again of thie group of students you had in mind in Task 1 and fill in the following information: Type of students Age of students: Interests/hobbies of students: Cultural or ethnic background/nationality of students: Students’ previous experience of reading literary texts: ‘We are now going to connect the information you have just written down with criteria for selecting literary texts to se with your students. Bat first, read the two texts below. TEXT A Rodge said, “Teachers ~ they want ital ways ~ You're jumping up and down on a cheir of something 5 and they grab hold of you and say, "Would you do thet sort of thing in your own home?” 49Selecting and evaluating materials “So you say, “No. ‘And they say, “Well don't do it here then.” tw ‘But if you say, “Yes, 1 do tat home.” ey say, ‘Well, we don’t want that sort of thing going on here thank you very much.” 15. ‘Teachers ~ they get you all ways,’ Rodge seid (Michal Ronen (1979) in You Tell Me: Poems by Roger McGough and Michael Ror, Penguin p17.) TEXT B ‘Annette now sat down on the dried-out chair and looked through the ‘entries in all the ledgers whilst Hussain rummaged about in the store \weighing up and measuring out the grain for the birds and the fruit for the monkeys. Madam preferred to check the weight of the fish and the 5 meat herself, so he would only weigh that when she'd finished reading ali the entries of food delivered into the stores that day. It took about forty minutes to get all the food ready and then the two-boys who also assisted the head gardener to keep the drying lawns tidy would come to help him feed the enimals under the watchful eye of Memsshib, te He wondered about her sometimes. Who she was, where she came from and what kind of love of animals this was that brought her out in the afternoon sun when mest other women of her class still drowsed in darkened rooms. He knew that he had this job because of her in a way. It was common knowledge that the previous superintendent had been 1s sacked because of her intervention. The gate-keeper had told him the story many times . ., how she came to visit the zoo about two years ‘ago, saw that the animals looked thin end under-fed and decided to complain. She wrote letters, made approaches and got them to change the super. She was there with a letter from the governor himself the 20 day Hussain took charge saying she had permission from him to inspect’ the food before it was given to the animals and that she personally would make sure that the animals hed a proper diet. To this ‘day she had not been late, Hussain got into a routine of being ready for hor, terrilied of what might happen if she became angry again. The gate- 25 keeper, Mania, thought her an interfering busybody. ‘Poor Nawaz Sahib ‘who got turned out with his family of eight in such disgrace has still not found a job, and was such a good man really!” he always ended with a ‘sigh, At this point in the conversation Hussain would lose interest in the story and walk off remembering something important that needed doing. {Wom Miksa Abad “The Gat Keeper’ Wile in Lakh Holsrom (ed) 1990 "Te nner Cowra, Vago Pres, pp. 172-173, so Selecting texts Task 3 Now that you have read Texts A and B, mark the letter A (for Text A) and B (for Text B) on the scales that follow, according to how far you think ech text compares against the values of the seale. For example, if you think that Text A is too culturally far removed to be relevant or accessible to the group of learners you described, then you would mark. ‘A towards the end of the seale which says ‘too remote from text to help comprehension’, But you might decide that Text B should go at the other end of the scale, Your scale would then look like Figure 3.1. Siudents’ Cultural Background a eee too remote from close enough to text to help SE text for cay comprehension ‘comprehension Figure 3.1 The relevance of the text Age of students 100 old to enjoy too young to text enjoy text too developed vo Imelectual maturity of students 99 immature find text to understand challenging, text too developed Stents! emotional understanding so, immature to find text, + to relate to engaging text copadvardied wg? > Stisentylimpiete PrOfIAGRED.” ~to0 elementary be challenged 10 cope with by the text the text toowell-deyeloped Swidente'tterary Backgrownd * srautficieot 10 be challenged to cope with by the text with the text stSelecting and evaluating materials And now fill in the two scales below, wl ‘ones you have just looked at, re slightly different from the far removed from St#lents"intereststhobbies 4 themes/content themes/content of text of text Students’ cultural background ose enough to text for easy comprehension _| to0 remote from text to help comprehension After you have completed the scales above, finish these sentences: I would/might try using Text... with my students because T'm not sure if I could use/I would not be able to use Text Jearners because : Lthink my students need a text that with my In Task 3 you were asked to examine two texts fairly closely to-decide whether or not they would be appropriate for use with your students. In fact, most teachers find that when selecting texts for their learners they generally proceed on an intuitive basis. With a good knowledge of, and rapport with, a grouip of learners this asually works well. But it is some- times useful to focus more exactly on specific criteria for selection or rejection of texts, as we did using the scales above. Using the scales, for , example, might have helped you to clarify that, although your learners are at quite an elementary level linguistically, their emotional and intel- Jectual understanding is rather sophisticated. So you need to select texts which are linguistically relatively simple but which challenge them in other ways. In the section below we briefly discuss some of the more complicated criteria mentioned on the scales. Criteria for selecting texts Itis probably fairly self-evident what is meant by criteria such as the age of students, their emotional and intellectual maturity and their interests. and hobbies. The only difficulty when applying these categories to a whole class is that individual students within a group may vary considerably in their maturity and interests. Obviously, when selecting ‘materials you will need to try to find texts that are suitable for the majority of students in the class. You may algo find that developing the facility for self-access (see Chapter 9) is one way of personalising $2. Selecting texts learning so that you can cater for the range of student development and interests within a group. We may find, however, that consideration of criteria involving the students’ cultural background, linguistic proficiency and literary background is more complicated. The following, is an attempt ro examine these more complex criteria, ‘THE STUDENTS? CULTURAL BACKGROUND When considering this factor, think about how far the students’ cultural background and their social and political expectations will help or hinder their understanding of a text. It would be difficult, for example, for most readers to make sense of Jane Austen’s novels without having some knowledge of the class system and the values of the society they describe. You will also need to consider how much background you will need to provide for your students to have at least a basic understanding of the text, (See Chapter 4 for some ways in which you can help students with the cultural problems in the text.) ‘On the other hand, itis also true thar texts which may appear to be very remote in time and place from the world today may still have appeal for students in different couritries around the world. This is either because they touch on themes (such as industrialisation or life in the city) which are relevant to the students, or they deal with human relationships and feelings (such as conflict between parents and children) which strike a chord in the students’ own lives. In addition, many students may have a strong sense of curiosity about another culture and enjoy studying its literature because they believe it reveals key insights about that society. ‘THE STUDENTS" LINGUISTIC PROFICIENCY This is an area of some complexity. It may well be that learners are classified as advanced and can communicate with ease in an English- speaking environment, Yet they might not be able to cope with the language of the text because it departs strikingly from the usual norms of language use; it includes a great many archaisms, rhetorical devices and metaphors; or it makes use of the dialect or register of a highly specialised field (such as law). You might need to ask yourself questions like these when deciding whether or not to use the text: Are students sufficiently familiar with the usual norms of language use to recognise when these are subverted? How much of the language in the text will students be able to infer? ‘Will students find it useful and enjoyable to study the text, or will they feel demotivated by the difficulties of the language? Even if the language of the text is extremely difficult, will students be motivated by other factors to study the text (e.g. students often enjoy + 88 reeaad