A Model for Materials Design (Hutchison and Waters 1987)

Four key components:

• input (text that provides stimulus for thought, context and purpose for

writing, opportunities to use and build on prior knowledge, etc.)

• content focus (topics, situations, and information for meaningful

communication)

• language focus (opportunities for text analysis and integration of new

knowledge)

• task (culminating communicative activity and writing assignment)

Creating Writing Materials

• Reference tools (e.g. WordPilot for concordances)

• Research tools for genre awareness and grammatical knowledge (e.g. VLC

Webconcordancer, Word Neighbours, British Academic Written English)

Textbooks as Writing Materials

* Determine the broad family of text types with which students need to be familiar.

• exchanges (e.g. emails)

• forms
 • procedures (e.g. protocols)

• information texts (e.g. reports)

• story texts (e.g. narratives)

• persuasive texts (e.g. opinion texts)

Roles of Materials in Writing Instruction

2. Language scaffolding -- provides opportunities for discussion, guided writing,

analysis, and manipulation of target structures and vocabulary

• grammar should be taught inductively (top-down)

• grammar as resource for producing texts

"Together with teaching methodologies, materials represent the interface between

teaching and learning, the point at which needs, objectives, and syllabuses are

made tangible for both teachers and students."

The Value of Corpora

Hyland recommends...

• participating in materials-writing teams

• leaning heavily on existing materials

Selecting Writing Materials

* Consider the textbook's local relevance (i.e., suitability to the needs of the

students, teachers, curricula)

** "Teaching writing is primarily a local and complex endeavour which defies

being packaged into a single textbook."

* Remember the five methods of adapting materials: adding, deleting, modifying,

simplifying, reordering

1. What is the proficiency of my students?

2. Why are they learning English?

3. What texts will they need to write in their social, academic, and workplace

contexts?

* Remember: authenticity!

** Although, does authenticity guarantee authentic use? Hmmm...

"The bottom line is that our materials should not mislead students about the nature

of writing."

1. Models -- present good examples of the target genre and illustrate its distinctive

features (lexical, grammatical, and rhetorical)

 • must be relevant and authentic

3. Reference -- provides explanations and examples of relevant forms

4. Stimulus -- encourages learners to think about and use language

The Internet

Some of the many advantages:

• offers access to an abundance of authentic materials

• encourages collaborative research and writing projects

• provides access to dictionaries, corpora, and reference aids

• provides opportunities for student written communication and dissemination

of their work to a wider audience

Representative Resources for Teachers and Students

• Dave's Internet Cafe (www.eslcafe.com)

• BBC English (www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/)

• Writing Centers' Online Discussion Community

(lists.uwosh.edu/mailman/listinfo/wcenter)

• WPA-L: Writing Program Administration (www.wpacouncil.org/wpa-l)

• Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue (owl.english.purdue.edu)

 • Using English (www.usingenglish.com)

• ESL Gold (www.eslgold.com/writing)

• Blackboard, Moodle, etc.

Using the Input Text

• model to highlight genre features and context

• foundation for building content schemata and initiating writing through

extensive reading and discussion (focus on comprehension, reflection,

engagement)

Materials for Developing Writing Skills

by Ken Hyland