Language Curriculum and Syllabus

1 Language Curriculum
1.1 Definition
Language curriculum can be understood as an aspect of a broader field of educational activity known as curriculum development.
Curriculum development is concerned with determining what knowledge, skills, values and attitudes students learn and develop
in schools, what experiences should be provided to bring about intended learning outcomes, and how teaching and learning in
schools or educational systems can be planned, implemented, measured and evaluated.

According to Richards (2001: 1), language curriculum development seeks to answer questions including the following:
 What are learners’ needs, and how can their needs be determined?
 What is the nature of aims and objectives in teaching and how can these be developed?
 What procedures can be used to determine the content of a language program?
 What contextual factors need to be considered in planning a language program?
 What factors are involved in planning the syllabus and the units of organization in a course?
 How can good teaching be provided in a program?
 What issues are involved in selecting, adapting and designing instructional materials?
 How can the effectiveness of a language program be measured?

In other words, the discussion of a curriculum takes into account

Why do we learn and teach? (aims, objectives)
What do we learn and teach? (content)
How do we learn and teach? (methods, learning activities)
With what resources do we learn and teach? (books, materials)
How well do we learn and teach? (assessment, evaluation)

1.2 Models of Curriculum

Language curriculum has been influenced by philosophical trends and broad educational developments. Clark (1987)
discusses three models of educational curriculum that shaped language curriculum at different stages. Each of these will be
discussed below in terms of the aims of education from the viewpoint of the model, its distinctive features, views about
language teaching and learning, and the strengths and weaknesses of the model.

1.2.1The Content Model: Classical Humanism

a) Aims of education
According to this model, the aim of education is to
 produce elites – train and foster the capabilities of elites (chosen ones). Thus education divides learners into two
categories: the good and the poor who must be treated differently.
 transmit universal knowledge (of philosophers and elites) and cultural heritage from generation to generation –
knowledge is fixed.
b) Distinctive features
 Content identification: the central focus is the content of what is to be learnt, or transmitted to the learner. What
happens in the classroom is determined by the nature of the content. Therefore, curriculum development begins
with content identification. There are two types of content:
 valued cultural heritage that contributes to the overall intellectual development of the learner
 knowledge that has been identified and agreed to be universal, unchanging and absolute
 Curriculum renewal is the responsibility of universities – top down
 Methodology: transmission of knowledge to learners who are passive recipients
 Follow-up: is the responsibility of inspectors who work in the ministry of education and who monitor and
evaluate educational activities and standards
 Teacher’s role: to transmit knowledge to learners in lock-step form – everybody learns the same thing
 Evaluation: Norm-referenced and summative
c) Language teaching/learning

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 The content model underpins grammar-based curriculum, and the syllabus consists of grammar and vocabulary. The
purposes of a language program are to transmit knowledge of the language system to the learners and to ensure that
they master the grammar rules and vocabulary of the language. Thus,
 Language learning is seen as a means of sharpening the intellect, not as a means of communication.
 Content or the syllabus is concerned with the selection and sequencing of individual grammar points and
lexis as well as translating from L1 to the target language and vice versa.
 The teaching procedures and learning experiences include drilling of grammatically correct sentences,
explanation of theory and memorization of lists of vocabulary.
 Assessment is based on the learner’s ability to produce grammatically accurate sentences.
d) Strengths of the Content Model
 It states definite ideas of what most people consider ‘good education’, that is, literature, ethics/religion,
physical science, biological science, history, second language (the ability to think effectively, to
communicate thought, to make relevant judgments, to discriminate among values).
 It laid the foundation for later developments.
e) Criticisms
 Fails to cope with the discussions of the wider purposes of education.
 Does not take into account the abilities or problems of the individual learner or the complexities of the
learning process.
 It fails to take into account the widely differing needs of the mass of the student population (the ‘educated’
are no longer an elite trained to rule the next generation).
 The basic premises of science no longer rest on objective, logical, value-free theories but are shaken by new
discoveries and uncertainties.
 The foundations of universal knowledge are no longer secure.

1.2.2 The Objective Model: Reconstructionism

The origins of the Objective Model lie in the movement for the scientific management of education and the works
of behavioural psychologists in the first half of the twentieth century (an influential curriculum designer of this period
was Tyler 1949).
a) Aims of education
 To bring about social change – education is an instrument of social progress
 To provide education for all – it recognizes that all citizens have equal values; classes consist of mixed ability
learners.
b) Distinctive features
 Objectives identification: The starting point is the identification of learning objectives which have the
following characteristics:
 They must describe unambiguously the behavior to be performed.
 They must describe the conditions under which the performance will be expected to occur.
 They must state acceptable standards of performance (the criteria)
 Conducting needs assessment: Objectives are based on needs assessments. Curriculum development has the
following steps (Taba 1949):
 Conducting needs assessment
 Stating objectives
 Selecting content
 Sequencing (organizing) content
 Selecting learning experiences
 Organizing learning experiences
 Conducting evaluation
 Curriculum renewal is the responsibility of experts in the ministry of education (top down)
 Methodology: repetition and drilling to bring about desired behavior
 Follow-up: supervisors
 Evaluation: criterion-referenced and summative

c) Language teaching/learning

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 Language is viewed as a means of communication and understanding each other among people. Grammar is seen as
something that supports communication, and what people do with the language is more important than mastery of
grammatical items.

In foreign language teaching, reconstructionism underlies audiolingual, situational, topic, and functional/notional
approaches, each of which purports to bring about communicative ability in a different way and adopts different
organizing principles in the design of language curriculum. Accordingly:
 Audiolingualism focuses on good grammatical ability.
 Topic-based approach emphasizes the ability to handle particular topics effectively.
 Situational approach is concerned with the use of appropriate language in varying situations.
 The functional/notional approach is concerned with the mastery of formal means to express certain
predetermined meanings.
d) Strengths
 Clarity of goals: goals are clear both to the teacher and learners.
 Needs: it introduced the concept and ways of conducting needs assessment.
 Education for all: every citizen has the right to learn.
 Ease of evaluation: learning can easily and accurately be evaluated to the extent that the objectives have been
fulfilled.
 Accountability: the model provides clear methods for needs identification, establishing learning purpose and
providing measurable outcomes of the educational program.
e) Criticisms
 Reduces people to the level of automatons who can be trained to behave in particular ways and precludes such
concepts of autonomy, self-fulfillment and personal development; all learners are treated in the same way
 Attempts to impose a linear process on something that is spiraling and cyclical; treats learning as something
that occurs bit by bit.

1.2.3 The Process Model: Progressivism

Progressivism tends to view education as a means of providing children with learning experiences from which they can
learn by their own efforts. ‘Growth’ through experience is a key concept.
a) Aim of education
The main aim of education is to empower individuals for self-fulfillment or self-realization;
the emphasis is on training learners how to learn by themselves.
b) Distinctive features
 Methodology: the main concern is with the learning process
 Education is not seen as a process for transmitting knowledge or a set of closed truth but as a way of enabling learners
to learn how to learn themselves.
 Curriculum renewal is the responsibility of schools or teachers – bottom-up.
 Methodology: problem-solving or discovery method
 Teachers are not transmitters of knowledge but creators of the environment in which learners learn how to learn.
 Evaluation: continuous assessment; no external examination
c) Language teaching/learning
The model underlies the process approach to language learning in which learners and
teachers negotiate and design syllabus. It represents the move towards the learner-centred
curriculum.
d) Strengths
 Focuses on discovery method
 There is an increasing acceptance of its underlying philosophy.
e) Criticisms
 Difficult to apply
 Open to criticisms of subjectivity in the definitions of the concept of learner needs, interests and development process

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  Necessity of predetermined goals: carefully predetermined goal is necessary and must be spelt out with the means
(methodology) to achieve it.
 Problem of large classes: it requires one to one teacher and student ratio.
 Motivated learners: requires high degree of motivation from learners
 Exposure to target language: rich exposure to the target language is necessary

2 Syllabus Design
A syllabus is a specification of the content of what is to be taught and tested in a course. It is a plan of what is intended to be
achieved through teaching and learning. Thus a syllabus for a speaking course, for example, might specify the kinds of oral skills
and other aspects of conversation that will be taught and practiced and the order in which they will appear in the course.
Nunan (1988) makes a distinction between curriculum and syllabus and writes that while curriculum is concerned with “the
planning, implementation, evaluation, management, and administration of education programs”, syllabus “focuses more narrowly
on the selection and grading of content.”

Syllabus, therefore
 is more localized than curriculum, based on accounts and records of what actually happens at the classroom level as
teachers and learners apply a given curriculum to their own situation;
 focuses on the selection and grading of course content;
 forms the sub-component of the planning phase of curriculum development.

Syllabus design then is concerned with the process of developing a syllabus.

2.1 Characteristics of a syllabus

Generally a syllabus
 specifies the work of a particular department in an educational institution; it is organized in sub-sections and defines the
work of a particular group of learners;
 is linked to time
 specifies a starting point and ultimate goal;
 indicates a theory of language learning which it draws upon, or specifies content related to language acquisition;
 is a document of administrative convenience;
 can specify what is to be taught, but cannot organize what is learned;
 is a public document and an expression of accountability.

2.2 Syllabi Types

Several distinct types of language teaching syllabi exist, and these different types may be implemented in various teaching
situations.

Structural syllabus: Grammatical and phonological structures are the organizing principles –sequenced from easy to difficult or
frequent to less frequent

Lexical syllabus: The lexical syllabus takes 'word' as the unit of analysis and content for syllabus design. It identifies target
vocabulary arranged according to levels such as the first 500, 1000, 1500 words.

Notional/ Functional syllabus: Conceptual categories called notions (such as quantity, duration, location, etc.) and functions
(such as introduction, ask and give information, etc.) are the organizing principle – sequenced by some sense of chronology or
usefulness of each function

Situational syllabus: Situations (such as at the school, at a restaurant, at the supermarket etc.) form the organizing principle –
sequenced by the likelihood students will encounter them

Content or topical syllabus: Topics, themes or other units of content (such as our body, our house, our family, etc.) form the
organizing principle - sequenced by the likelihood that the students will encounter them

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Skills syllabus: Skills (such as listening for main ideas, scanning a reading passage for specific information, etc.) serve as the
basis for organization - sequenced by some sense of chronology or usefulness for each skill.

Task or activity based syllabus: Tasks (such as jigsaw tasks, information gap, problem-solving and decision making) serve as
the basis for organization.

Procedural syllabus: Activities (such as naming parts of a diagram, drawing maps, following directions or instructions) serve as
the basis for organization.

Process syllabus: Content is not specified in advance and there are no predetermined goals. The syllabus grows naturally out of
the learning situation as a result of ongoing negotiations between teacher and learners and among learners.

Competency-based syllabus
Competencies refer to essential skills, knowledge and attitudes that are required for the effective performance of particular tasks
and activities.

As shown above, there are different types of language syllabi. This, however, does not mean that in practice each type of syllabus
occurs purely independently of others. This is to say that most language teaching syllabi combine two or more types in the
teaching situation. For a given language course one type of syllabus often dominates and other types may be combined with it.
For example, a content-based syllabus may be used in combination with skill and task-based syllabi. Moreover, the different
types of syllabi are not entirely distinct from each other. For example, the distinction between skill-based and task-based syllabi
may be minimal.

2.3 Catagorization of Syllabi

The evolution of syllabi can be viewed as a progression of assumptions about what language is and how it is learned and each
type of syllabus offers alternate answers to the question:
What does a learner of a new language need to know and what does he or she need to be able to do with this knowledge? (Breen
1987a)

Depending on how they treat the above question, syllabi can be put into one of two superordinate categories:

a) product-oriented syllabi
b) process-oriented syllabi

Long and Crookes (1993) make a similar distinction between what they refer to as synthetic and analytic syllabi. White (1988)
also distinguishes between Type A and Type B syllabi in a similar way.

Product-oriented syllabi encompass structural, lexical, notional, functional and most topical syllabi in which it is assumed that
learning occurs as a gradual accumulation of separately taught parts, building up to the learning of the entire structure of the
language. According to Long and Crookes, the synthetic or product-oriented syllabi

…rely on learners’ (assumed) ability to learn a language in parts (e.g. structures and functions) independently
of one another and also to integrate or synthesize the pieces when the time comes to use them for
communicative purposes ((1993: 12)

Process-oriented (analytic) syllabi, which consist of skills, tasks, procedural and process syllabi, on the other hand, are
concerned with the process of learning and not the product. Accordingly, the concern of the syllabus designer in this
case is with ‘how’ rather than with ‘what,’ and the basis for a syllabus in this category is psychological and pedagogical
rather than linguistic. This also means that prior analysis of the total language system into a set of discrete items of
language is largely unnecessary.

2.4 Choice of syllabus

Decision about which syllabus to choose for a particular group of learners in a particular learning situation largely rests
on the needs of the learner and the aims of the learning system. The aims of learning may be of two kinds:
 to acquire the knowledge of the second language system and culture

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  to acquire the ability to perform with some degree of fluency in the second language, that is, to develop
communicative competence

Thus, if priority is given to the knowledge of the language system, the product- oriented/synthetic/type A syllabus will
be most appropriate, If, however, the aim is to

develop the second language competence, a process syllabus will be preferred. Within these two general syllabus types
a choice may be made between “sub-types” based on the needs and circumstances of the learner.

Steps in the choice of syllabus

1. Based on the needs of the students, determining what outcomes are desired for the learners in the
instructional program. That is, defining what the learners should be able to do as a result of the instructional
program
2. Evaluating available resources in expertise, in materials and in training for teachers
3. Determining what syllabus types would be the easiest to implement given the available resources
4. Reviewing the question of combination or integration of syllabus types and determining how combinations
will be achieved and in what proportion
5. Translating decisions into actual teaching units.

2.4 Needs Analysis

Needs analysis, as indicated earlier, is an important stage in language curriculum development.
Needs relate to the question of why a particular group of learners learn a language. The term needs is sometimes used to refer to
wants, demands, lacks and requirements. Needs can also be understood as the gap or deficiency between what the learner can do
using the language at present and what he or she should be able to do (Richards 2001: 54). Needs analysis thus refers to the
procedures involved in collecting information about why learners need to learn the language.

2.4.1 Purposes of needs analysis

There are various purposes for analyzing the needs of a particular group of language learners. Some of these, according to
Richards (2001) are
 to find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role, such as tour guide or university
student;
 to help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential students;
 to determine which students from a group are most in need of training in particular language skills;
 to identify a gap between what students are able to do and what they need to be able to do;
 to collect information about a particular problem learners are experiencing.

2.4.2 Information from needs analysis

 general personal background of the learner
 Learner language background
 Attitudinal and motivational factors
 Situations in which English is frequently used by the learner
 Common communication problems of the learner in different situations
 Learner preferences for different kinds of activities
 Suggestions and opinions about different aspects of learners’ problems
2.4.3 Sources of information for needs analysis
 Students
 Language teachers
 Content area teachers
 Institutions of learning
 Organizations (employers)
 Relevant documents available


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2.4.4 Users of needs analysis
Information obtained from needs analysis can be used by different groups, individuals and organizations. For example, a needs
analysis carried out to revise the secondary school English curriculum in a country can be used by
 curriculum experts in the ministry of education, who may wish to use the information to evaluate the adequacy of
existing syllabus, curriculum and teaching materials;
 teachers who will teach from the revised curriculum;
 learners, who will be taught from the curriculum;
 writers, who prepare new textbooks;
 testing personnel, who are involved in developing end-of-school assessments;
 staff in higher learning institutions, who are interested in knowing what the expected level will be of students exiting
the schools and what problems they face.

2.4.5 Specifying objectives

When needs analysis has been carried out to establish the language needs of a given group of learners, it is necessary to translate
the needs into learning objectives. Objectives state the outcomes of learning. They can serve as a guide in the selection of
structures, functions and tasks, and can also give learners a clear idea of what they can expect from a language programme.
However, they must be appropriate not only to learner needs but also to the constraints of the educational institution.

3 Materials Development
3.1 Terms and Concepts in Materials Development
Materials
The term materials can be understood as anything which is used by teachers and learners to facilitate the learning of a language.
Materials could obviously be videos, DVDs, emails, You Tube, dictionaries, grammar books, readers, workbooks, or photocopied
exercises. They could also be newspapers, food packages, photographs, live talks by invited native speakers, instructions given
by a teacher, tasks written on cards or discussions between learners. In other words, they can be anything which is deliberately
used to increase learners’ knowledge and/or experience of the language. This means that there are various sources of input for the
purpose of language teaching and learning. It can also be useful to keep in mind that materials ‘can be instructional in that they
inform learners about the language, they can be experiential in that they provide exposure to the language in use, they can be
elicitative in that they stimulate language use, or they can be exploratory in that they facilitate discoveries about language use.’
(Tomlinson 2001: 66)

Materials development
‘Materials development is both a field of study and a practical undertaking. As a field it studies the principles and procedures of
the design, implementation and evaluation of language teaching materials’ (Tomlinson 2001: 66). As a practical undertaking it
refers to anything which is done by writers, teachers or learners to provide sources of language input, to exploit those sources in
ways which maximize the likelihood of intake and to stimulate purposeful output: in other words, the supplying of information
about and/or experience of the language in ways designed to promote language learning. Ideally the ‘two aspects of materials
development are interactive in that the theoretical studies inform and are informed by the development and use of classroom
materials’ (Tomlinson 2001: 66).

Materials developers might write textbooks, tell stories, bring advertisements into the classroom, express an opinion, provide
samples of language use or read a poem aloud. Whatever they do to provide input, they do so ideally in principled ways related to
what they know about how languages can be effectively learned. In materials development it is thus necessary to consider the
three vital questions of what should be provided for the learners, how it should be provided and what can be done with it to
promote language learning.

Coursebook
A textbook which provides the core materials for a language-learning course. It aims to provide as much as possible in one book
and is designed so that it could serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use during a course. Such a book usually
includes work on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.

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Global coursebook
A coursebook which is not written for learners from a particular culture or country but which is intended for use by any class of
learners in the specified level and age group anywhere in the world.

Multimedia materials
Materials which make use of a number of different media. Often they are available on a CD-ROM which makes use of print,
graphics, video and sound. Usually such materials are interactive and enable the learner to receive feedback on the written or
spoken language that they produce.

Self-access materials
Materials developed for learners to use independently (i.e. on their own without access to a teacher or a classroom). They are
normally used by learners at home, in the library or in a self-study centre and can be paper-based or electronic.

Supplementary materials
Materials designed to be used in addition to the core materials of the course. They are usually related to the development of the
skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking rather than to the learning of language items but also include dictionaries,
grammar books and workbooks.

Text
Any extended sample of a language presented to learners of that language. A text could be written or spoken and could be, for
example, a poem, a newspaper article, a passage about pollution, a song, a film, a live conversation, an extract from a novel or
play, a passage written to exemplify the use of the past perfect, a recorded telephone conversation, a scripted dialogue or a speech
by a politician.

Simplified texts
These are texts which have been made simpler so as to make it easier for learners to read them. The usual principles of
simplification involve reduction in length of the text, shortening of sentences, omission or replacement of difficult words or
structures, omission of qualifying clauses and omission of non-essential detail. Some applied linguists prefer to simplify texts by
adding examples, by using repetition and paraphrase and by increasing redundant information. In other words by lengthening
rather than shortening the text, by elaboration rather than reduction.

Authentic text
A text which is not written or spoken for language-teaching purposes.
Tasks
These are activities in which the learners are asked to use the target language in order to achieve a particular outcome within a
particular context (e.g. solving a problem; planning a meeting; selecting candidates for an interview).

Authentic task (or real world task)

A task which involves learners in using language in a way that it replicates its use in the ‘real world’ outside the language
classroom.

Pedagogic task
A task which does not replicate real world task but which is designed to facilitate the learning of language or of skills which
would be useful in a real world task. Completing one half of a dialogue, filling in the blanks in a story and working out the
meaning of ten nonsense words from clues in a text would be examples of pedagogic tasks. Pedagogic tasks can, however,
require the use of real world skills. A task requiring a group to reproduce a diagram which only one member of the group has
seen, involves the use of visualization, giving precise instructions and asking for clarification. It is arguable that such tasks,
despite not being real world tasks, are in fact authentic.

3.2 Types of Materials

Language teaching materials are broadly categorized into contrived and authentic, depending on the purposes for which they are
produced.

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Contrived Materials
These are materials that are intentionally created or produced for the purpose of teaching and learning a language. Teacher-made
materials and commercial textbooks are examples of contrived materials. Using such materials has both advantages and
disadvantages.

Advantages
 They can provide efficient language models (inputs) for teachers and students.
 Tasks and activities are readily available in the textbooks (saves teachers’ time).
 They maintain quality.
 They provide variety of learning resources.
 They help to standardize instruction.
 They train inexperienced teachers.
 They provide resources for self-study outside the classroom.
Disadvantages
 They fail to present language in real use, or they may contain inauthentic materials
 They may not reflect students’ interests; they are produced for general learning.
 Textbooks compensate the deficiencies of teachers.
 Culture may not be considered.
 They may distort content by presenting an idealized view of the real situation.
 They can be causes of student errors.
 They may be expensive.

Authentic Materials
In language teaching and learning authentic materials refers to the use of texts, photographs, video selections and other teaching
resources that were not specifically prepared for pedagogical purposes. The use of authentic materials in this sense has several
advantages as opposed to the use of contrived materials.

Advantages
 They have a positive effect on learner motivation because they are intrinsically more interesting and motivating than
created materials.
 They provide exposure to real language rather than the artificial texts found in created materials that have been
specifically written to illustrate particular grammatical rules or discourse types.
 They relate more closely to learners’ needs and hence provide a link between the classroom and students needs in the
real world.
 They support a more creative approach to teaching. In using authentic materials as a source for teaching activities,
teachers can develop their full potential as teachers, developing activities and tasks that better match their teaching
styles and the learning styles of their students.
 Authentic materials keep students informed about what is happening in the world, so they have an intrinsic educational
value.
 Textbooks often do not include incidental or improper language.
 Language change is reflected in the materials; thus students and teachers can keep abreast of such changes.
 Books, articles, newspapers, and so on contain a wide variety of text types, language styles not easily found in
textbooks.
 They provide authentic cultural information about the target culture.

Disadvantages

 Authentic materials often contain difficult language and unneeded vocabulary items.
 Created materials may be superior to authentic materials because they are generally built around a graded syllabus and
hence provide a systematic coverage of teaching items.
 Too many structures are mixed, so lower levels have difficulty decoding texts.
 With listening, there may be too many different accents.

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  Using authentic materials is a burden for teachers. Teachers have to spend a considerable amount of time locating
suitable sources for materials and developing activities and exercises.
 They may be too culturally biased, so unnecessarily difficult to understand.
 The material can become outdated easily, e.g. news items.

Thus, teachers often use a mixture of contrived/created and authentic materials because both have their advantages as well as
limitations.

3.3 Activities/Tasks for language Learning

3.3.1 Grammar Tasks/Activities
Grammar tasks/activities can be of two types. These are tasks or activities which introduce new grammar items and those that
are meant to enforce already learnt items. To introduce new items various contexts of real language use (e.g. reading texts,
conversations, dialogues, etc.) in which the grammar points appear are used. Items that are already introduced are practiced by
means of exercises and drills.

Designing Grammar Tasks

Grammar tasks can be designed in one of two ways: deductive and inductive.
The deductive approach is concerned with:
 giving overt explanation about grammar rules;
 presenting and practicing grammatical structures and forms as discrete items and as ends in themselves, i.e. as a goal,
not as a means for communication.
Thus the deductive approach is product-oriented.

The inductive approach (awareness-raising/covert/implicit), on the other hand, is concerned with:

 designing tasks that give students the opportunity to work out grammar rules for themselves through carrying out
communication activities.
 gearing tasks and explanations towards awareness-raising, i.e.
 tasks and explanations should assist learners in developing awareness of grammatical choices – how grammar
works to convey meaning;
 students should be able to make appropriate choices in given contexts as a result of doing the tasks.
Accordingly, the inductive approach is skills-oriented.

In line with the inductive approach, it is important to emphasise the use of context because a good context
 shows what the new grammar item means and how it is used (e.g. in a text, dialogue);
 provides background for a great deal of language use so that students can use the information not only for repetition of
model sentences but also for making their own sentences – immediate creativity;
 is interesting for students – at least students want to see or hear the information;
 uses realistic situations; and
 is memorable.

3.3.2 Vocabulary Learning Tasks

The ultimate goal of teaching and learning a language is to use it for communication. Thus, successful vocabulary developing
tasks should help learners to understand how words are used in communication and how they can use them for communication.

In designing vocabulary developing tasks, the amount of attention devoted to words should vary according to whether students
are expected to just understand (passive vocabulary) or be able to use (active vocabulary). This helps the material developer to
arrive at appropriate decisions about designing tasks and choosing procedures for presenting and practicing words.

3.3.2.1 Aspects of word knowledge

In developing vocabulary tasks, attention needs to be paid to the different aspects of word knowledge. These include meaning,
use, formation and grammar.
a. Meaning
 Literal meaning

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  Contextual meaning
 Sense relations (synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, homonymy and polysemy)
b. Word use
 Metaphors and idiomatic expressions
 Collocation
 Style and register
c. Word formation
 Parts of speech
 Prefixes and suffixes
 Spelling
 Pronunciation
d. Word grammar
 Nouns: countable/uncountable
 Phrasal verbs
 Positions: adjectives and adverbs

3.3.2.2 Organizing Principles for Designing Vocabulary Developing Tasks

Current practices in vocabulary teaching emphasise the need to get away from the traditional teaching of words in isolation – in
an unstructured and random fashion. English language is a huge network of lexical sets, consisting of related words, and most
modern textbooks use these relationships as organizing principles for teaching vocabulary. A material developer should,
therefore, have an understanding of these relationships.

a. Organizing words according to topics/notions

a. General – specific (e.g. health problems - a burn, malaria, cholera, HIV/AIDS, etc.)
b. Part-whole (e.g. eye, nose, cheek, ear, jaw – parts of a face)
c. Items of a closed system, i.e. there are items used in a fixed way and reference to one item excludes all others
(e.g. names of days of the week, months, seasons)
d. Items which share one common meaning (e.g. preach, recite, argue, mention, interrupt) – all are ways of
speaking.
ii. Grouping words on a scale/cline
e.g. contend angry annoyed livid furious
iii. Organizing words according to sense/meaning relationships
a. Synonyms (note that words are rarely identical in meaning. So in effect words are partial synonyms).
 We are going to (extend/increase/expand) the kitchen by ten feet.
 The metal will (extend/increase/expand) if we heat it.
 We want to (extend/increase/expand) our sales by ten percent.
b. Antonyms: Note that there are different forms of oppositeness.
 complementariness (mutual opposites) – truly represent oppositeness of meaning. They are mutually
exclusive.
 male – female
 dead – alive
 right – wrong
 married – unmarried
 gradable antonyms (relative opposites – with degrees)
 huge/very big/big/quite big/medium-sized/quite small/small/tiny
 dependent opposites (converses) – the word presupposes the existence of the other.
 doctor – patient
 parent – child
 teacher – student
c. Hyponymy (meaning of inclusion)
 fruit: apple, orange, mango, banana, etc.
 animal: cow, horse, pig, dog, etc.
(super-ordinate term) (hyponyms)

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 d. Word-forms occurring in different contexts with different meanings
 homonymy (a word with different meanings) e.g. bank
 polysemy (a single word form having several but closely related meanings
 leg of a person/chair
 foot of a bed/mountain/page
iv. Organizing words according to their formations
 prefixes
 suffixes
 compound words
v. Organizing using collocations
 lick an ice-cream chew a gum
 sprain an ankle break a leg
 a bunch of bananas a pack of cards

vi. Organizing using lexical sets

Note: Lexical sets develop an awareness of similarities and differences between words, and
words can be related according to topic, meaning and form.

sitting room kitchen

HOUSE

bedroom bathroom

vii. Organizing according to style

 formal-informal
viii. Contextualization
This involves making use of the context in which the word appears to deduce its meaning, or in some cases, to
guess the meaning from the word itself. The aim is to help learners to develop the ability to infer or guess the
meaning of unfamiliar words by making use of different clues in the context. It is a process of constructing
meaning and is very valuable whenever difficulty is faced in reading or listening.

3.3.3 Reading Tasks

4.3.1 The Reading Approach to Reading
The reading approach, which is recommended more in recent textbooks, is based upon five beliefs which should be considered in
designing reading activities. These are:
a. Reading can only be learnt by reading.
b. Reading is a personal, individual activity and should therefore be done silently.
c. When a good reader reads, he/she brings a number of different reading skills and strategies to a text in order to
understand it. The reader:
 Interacts with the text in different ways to create meaning
 Guesses and predicts what will come next
 Uses his/her knowledge of the language to satisfy his/her purpose for reading
 Interprets the aim of the writer
 Brings his/her background knowledge to what he/sh e reads.
d. We read in different ways according to our purpose.
e. A word, a sentence or a group of sentences in a paragraph may have several levels of meaning ( referential,
propositional, functional/discourse or pragmatic).
3.3.3.1 Important Features of the Reading Approach
a. Makes use of effective questions which
 help learners to understand a text effectively in preparing students for reading (pre-reading questions);
 check students’ answers to a reading task (while-reading questions); and

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  encourage students to clarify and extend their thinking about the text and help them to express their thoughts
about what they have read (post-reading questions).
b. Makes use of effective questions on a reading text which
 have a clear purpose and encourage a particular kind of thinking;
 are appropriate to the level of students;
 take into account and try to exploit the experience of the students
 are simply and unambiguously stated.
3.3.3.2 Selection of Reading Texts for the Reading Approach
In order to help learners to develop their reading skills, it is essential to select or provide them with reading texts which fit their
interest or needs. Thus, do not use texts that deal with:
a. topics which are familiar to the students;
b. experiences which are remote to the students;
c. very familiar concepts and experiences; and
d. involve language below or above the proficiency level of students.
This means that every effort should be made to ensure that the texts used are appropriate to students in terms of:
a. familiarity of topic and experience;
b. level of difficulty of language in the text;
c. level of difficulty of concepts in the text; and
d. level of interest the texts are likely to generate among students.

3.3.3.3 Reading Skills to be Considered

a) Predicting skills
Students need to gain the ability to predict the contents of what they read based on their prior knowledge. Therefore, material
writers should design questions that help learners develop the skills of predicting during reading by introducing the text and
doing the following:
I. Designing two or three questions that elicit students’ prior knowledge (open-ended, MCQ, T/F);
II. Designing a task that helps learners to predict and establish expectations about what the text is likely to
contain. This can be done by asking students in groups to list some questions which they have about the topic, or
to list some of the facts that they expect to meet in the text;
III. Giving meanings of key vocabulary, that is, words which are central to the understanding of the whole passage
(four at most).
b) Understanding skills
I. . Reading for gist/overall idea/main idea
Set two or three questions which involve an understanding of the general purpose of the text, but that can be answered without
going into details. Students read as quickly as possible (skim). Time may be set for the activity in order to increase students’
reading speed. Open-ended, MC or T/F questions are appropriate.
For example:
 The aim of the text is
a.
b.
c.
 The text is about _______________________________________
ii. Reading for detailed understanding
Set more detailed questions or tasks (e.g. drawing a picture, completing a form, MCQ, open-ended, inference, reference,
meanings of words/expressions). Make sure that you know what your tasks and questions are and the specific reading skills that
they are training. Skills to focus on are:
 Reading for specific details of information – finding answers available in the text (literal/plain
 Guessing word meanings from the text (it is possible to guess many unknown words from contexts using clues, but is
also possible to understand a text without knowing every word.)
 Interpreting cohesive devices: This refers to seeking meaning elsewhere in the text and requires the following abilities:
 Understanding reference (he, she, it, these, etc.)
 Understanding substitutions (I think; It appears not.)
 Understanding ellipsis – omitting words to avoid repetition or to achieve better style (He comes from Jimma
and I--- from Adama. come)

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  Understanding lexical cohesion – awareness that two or more expressions in a text may have the same referent or
signification.(the poor woman-Kedija-the lady)
 Interpreting discourse markers and signals – knowing the meaning of a discourse marker (the value it
signifies) and working out meanings of sentences
Sequencing: first of all
Re-expressing: that is to say
Summarizing: to sum up
 Transferring information skills
Transferring information refers to reading a text and summarizing the main pieces of information in the form of
table/chart. Tasks students can as they are reading include:
 Reading and labeling a diagram
 Choosing a picture that fits the meaning of a text
 Reordering jumbled sentences correctly
Note: Not all kinds of texts lend themselves to information transfer; texts which give factual information are most
appropriate.
 Understanding text organization
The ability to identify the way a text is organized or information is structured in a text is a vital skill for two reasons:
 helps learners to understand the overall message of a text; and
 provides a basis for being able to take good notes from reading.
A text at a paragraph level can be based on the following principles of organization:
 sequence of events
 generalspecific
 specificgeneral
 problemsolution
 definitionexample
 causeeffect
 effectcause

iii. Evaluation skills

Evaluation skill refers to abilities of relating what has been read to personal experiences and interpreting the writer’s opinions,
purposes and attitudes. Materials developers, thus, should design general questions on a text to
 test general/global understanding;
 reconsider earlier hypothesis about the text in order to evaluate textual information;
 relate the information in the text to their own experience.

3.3.3.3Levels and types of questions promoting reading skills

Questions should not be used simply to test, but to lead students towards the main ideas of a text. Good questioning is vital
because it
 helps students to develop skills and abilities;
 checks comprehension;
 shows how well students have understood a particular text information; and
 enables teachers to find out what needs to be more fully explained.

a. Levels of comprehension questions

There are three levels of reading comprehension questions (Grant 1987)
I. Plain sense/reading the lines/literal meaning. This refers to questions that operate at the surface level of understanding
and which pay little attention to deeper understanding.
II. Deductive/reading between the lines/inferential meaning. These are questions that lead learners towards deeper
understanding of ideas, issues and information by making them infer connections and identify implied meanings.
III. Projective/reading beyond the lines/evaluative. This refers to questions that enable learners to match what they have
read against their own experiences, and enable teachers to elicit personal response from the students.

b. Types of questions aimed at particular reading skills and strategies

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  Reading to confirm expectations - open-ended
 Reading for gist - MCQ
 Reading for specific purpose - T/F
 Finding answers in the text (literal/plain) - open-ended
 Finding answers requiring reorganization, - MCQ
interpretation of information - T/F

 Reading to work out how the writer says - reference questions

what he says (working out functions, - discourse marker questions
discourse patterns, uses of markers, etc.) - lexical cohesion questions

- completing a text summary

- fitting in sentences
 Questions to help students work out - reassembling sentences to form
how the text is organized a text summary
- completing a diagram
- MCQ to check awareness of a
paragraph/text organization

- open-ended
 Deducing meanings from context - matching
(vocabulary questions) - MCQ

 Evaluation of writer’s purpose open-ended

 Personal response

3.3.4 Listening Tasks

a. Pre-listening Activities/Tasks
Objectives
 To warm up, motivate, arouse interest in the topic
 To establish prior knowledge
 To encourage students to create expectations and predictions
 To pre-teach key vocabulary items
Activities/Tasks
 What do you know about…
 What do you think you will…
 Do you think these statements are true or false? Decide and check as you listen later.
 Here is a list of words. Which ones do you think you will hear?
b. While-listening tasks
Objectives
 To understand content and message
 To carry out tasks successfully
Activities/Tasks
 Listen and tick (items on a list)
 Listen and do (fill in a chart, diagram, table, list)
 Listen and match (pictures to a text, put in the correct order)
 Listen and draw (pictures, diagrams from instructions)
 Listen and follow (directions on a map)
 Listen and select (the best choice)

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  Listen and choose (true/false)
 Listen and complete (notes from talks, news broadcasts)
 Listen and enjoy (a joke, a story)
c. Post-listening tasks/activities
Objectives
 To help learners practice various skills
 Macro-skills: overall idea/gist
 Micro-skills: specific details
 Relating experience to the text (going beyond the text)
Activities/Tasks
 Complete a summary of the listening text from notes
 Answer true/false questions
 Answer open-ended questions
 Put items in the correct order
 Discuss opinion about…
 Relate what you heard to your own experience

In general listening activities/tasks should be designed in a way that they are:

a. manageable, which means that they
 are not complicated;
 are brief;
 are simple to administer in large classes; and
 use simple language
b. motivating, which means that they are fun to do as well as purposeful.

3.3.5 Speaking Activities/Tasks

In real life, people engage in talking because they have reasons for doing so. When one speaks, one has some communicative
purpose. This could be to
 give some information;
 express an opinion;
 express pleasure or distress;
 charm the listener.
In order to achieve his/her communicative purpose, the speaker selects from his/her language store the language appropriate for
the purpose.

Thus, in the classroom situation where the aim is to develop students’ speaking skills, any activity, whether it is for genuine
communication or for promoting language use, students should have a desire to communicate. This, in other words, means that
speaking tasks/activities should engage learners in using language to achieve some communicative intent.

Stages in Developing Speaking Skills

a. Introducing new language
Aim: accuracy (form)
 establish context
 revising vocabulary and language needed for a purpose
 concept checking
Activities: controlled
 getting the form right (oral repetition)
 substitution drill
 making meaningful and accurate substitution (cued drilling)
 asking questions with the target language item with reasonable accuracy

b. Practice activities: semi-controlled (language is controlled but not content)

Aim: accuracy and fluency
Activities:

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  Contextualized drills: the language structure which students are expected to practice is predetermined
(controlled), little control over the content;
 Exchanging personal information: students find out true information about one another by asking questions;
 Putting pictures in order: constructing a story by discovering and agreeing on a sensible order for a set of
pictures and reporting using the past tense;
 Sequencing a story: constructing a story by discovering and agreeing on a sensible order of a series of
sentences and telling the story;
 Ranking: ranking items according to a given set of criteria and discussing the relative importance of each
quality; students discuss, persuade, etc.
Communicative activities: free practice
Aim: fluency (using language naturally, meaningfully and for genuine communication)
Activities:
 Solving a problem by selecting and ranking a list of objects, giving opinions, justifications, etc.;
 Arguing, agreeing and disagreeing in groups;
 Finding differences in pictures;
 Reporting their personal experiences outside the classroom.

3.3.6 Writing Tasks

Writing is a skill that is learnt or developed through a sustained practice. Thus, problems that students have in conveying ideas in
writing can be attributed to the lack of adequate practice in the skill. The writing activities commonly used in high schools may
have some value in helping students to practice vocabulary or grammatical structures, but little value in giving them the
opportunity to use writing to communicate ideas and information to others. Areas of student difficulty in writing include lack of
skill in:
 organizing ideas;
 maintaining coherence/smooth flow of ideas;
 expressing oneself clearly; and
 using correct sentence structures.
In addition to this, students often fail to use their own experiences and their knowledge of the world to generate adequate and
relevant ideas for their writing. Writing activities/tasks should therefore be designed to provide students the necessary guidance
and sufficient practice in using the skill for meaningful communication.

3.3.6.1 Factors to Consider in the Teaching of Writing

The purpose of any writing is to convey a message clearly and appropriately to affect a reader as intended by the writer. This can
be done by
 conveying information clearly;
 maintaining the reader’s interest;
 informing, amusing, persuading or convincing the reader.
To achieve these it is necessary for the writer to:
 first imagine the reader in terms of
 what he/she knows about the topic
 his/her assumptions about the topic
 his/her interest in the topic
 pay attention to textual factors of
 organization
 coherence
 paragraphing
 vocabulary choice
 grammatical accuracy
 spelling
 punctuation
 handwriting

3.3.6.2 Activities/Tasks
a. Activities for reinforcing vocabulary and grammatical accuracy

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  copying;
 completing sentences with newly learnt vocabulary;
 arranging given words in sentences;
 writing sentences which are free of errors (run-ons, fragments, misplaced modifiers, etc.;
 combining sentences.
b. Activities for promoting both accuracy and skills of communication
 improving what has been written by correcting grammar, punctuation and spelling;
 providing appropriate links between ideas in a text;
 rearranging jumbled sentences in the correct order;
 completing a dialogue, given the words of one speaker;
 using newly learnt vocabulary to express one’s ideas;
 organizing and expanding given notes into a paragraph;
 writing a paragraph using a model paragraph and notes provided.
c. Activities for promoting skills of communicating through writing
 discussing and generating ideas in groups on a given topic;
 drafting a paragraph or an essay using the ideas generated;
 getting feedback on the draft from peers or the teacher;
 rewriting the draft by revising it and making changes in it as necessary;
 checking the second daft for errors in language, punctuation and spelling;
 producing the final draft;
 Writing and producing texts of different types and genres.

3.4 Materials Adaptation

However careful the design of a material is, some changes will need to be made in it in most teaching situations. Published
materials are meant to cater for a very wide range of possible users, which means that they cannot address the needs of any
individual or group of students directly. Adaptation, therefore, is the process of changing or adjusting the various parts of a
coursebook so that they can be more suitable for a particular type of learner in a particular context of learning.

3.4.1 Reasons for Adapting

The reasons for adapting a material include the following:
 Reading passages contain too many unknown words.
 Reading comprehension questions are too easy; the answers can be lifted directly from the text with no real
understanding.
 Listening passages are inauthentic; they sound too much like written material being read out.
 Amount of material is too much or too little to cover in the time allocated for lessons.
 Imbalance of coverage of the different skills.
 Not enough fluency or accuracy activities.
 Dialogues too formal and not representative of everyday speech.
 Too much or too little variety in the activities.
 Not enough grammar coverage in general.
 Not enough practice of grammar points of particular difficulty to learners.
 Grammar is presented unsystematically.
 Little or no re-cycling of language points.
 Not enough guidance on pronunciation.
 Photographs and other illustrative materials are not culturally acceptable.
 Audio materials are difficult to use because of problems to do with room size and technical equipment.

3.4.2 Techniques for Adapting Materials

3.4.2.1 Adding
Materials can be supplemented by adding, and this can be achieved in two ways:
 Extending: This means supplying more of the same, and this is done without changing the framework of the original
material (e.g. adding enough exercises or further exercises).
 Expanding: This involves moving outside of the original design technique and developing it in a new direction, for
example, by bringing in a different language skill or a new component (e.g. adding sections).

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3.4.2.2 Deleting or omitting
 Subtracting (does not have a significant impact on the original material – similar to extending.
 Abridging (a lot of changes are made in the original material to make it shorter).

Note: addition and deletion often work together, as materials may be taken out and then
replaced with something else.

3.4.2.3 Modifying
Modifying refers to making an internal change in the approach or focus of an activity or other pieces of material. Modifying is
achieved in two ways:
 Rewriting when some of the linguistic content needs modification (e.g. where textbooks are considered to lag behind
an understanding of the nature of language and of students’ linguistic and learning needs).
 Restructuring: This applies to adjusting the material to make it suitable for a different classroom management (e.g.
role play activities).

3.4.2.4 Simplifying
This strictly involves rewriting in order to make the material easier for learners to understand or manage. Simplification often
relates to reading texts, but many elements of a language (e.g. instructions and explanations, exercises and activities, and even
visual layout of a material) can be simplified.

Generally, simplification can be done in terms of

a. Linguistic change:
 Sentence structure - length is reduced, or a complex sentence is rewritten.
 Lexical content – new vocabulary items are controlled by reference to what students have already learned.
 Grammatical structure – for example, the passive structure is converted to active, simple past to simple present,
reported speech to direct speech.
b. Content: subject matter is so complex that it is far from learners’ life experience.
c. Methodology: the way the content is presented may need to be changed (e.g. it may be
necessary to lead learners through an original text in a number of graded stages without
making any changes in the text.

3.4.2.5 Reordering
Reordering is about changing the sequence in which materials are presented. This can be adjusting the order of presentation
within a unit, or doing units in a different sequence from that of the original.

3.5 Materials Evaluation

Materials evaluation is the systematic appraisal of the value of materials in relation to their objectives and to the objectives of the
learners using them. Evaluation can be pre-use and therefore focused on predictions of potential value. It can be whilst-use and
therefore focused on awareness and description of what the learners are actually doing whilst the materials are being used. And it
can also be post-use and therefore focused on evaluation of what happened as a result of using the materials.

There is implicit acceptance of the view that for materials to be valuable, the learning points should be potentially useful to the
learners and that the learning procedures should maximize the likelihood of the learners actually learning what they want and
need to learn. It is not necessarily enough that the learners enjoy and value the materials.

3.5.1 Situations for Evaluation

 Open-market materials: There are a range of choices available regarding commercially produced materials, and
teachers have to make decisions about which materials are suitable to meet their teaching and the learning objectives of
their students.
 Materials produced by a Ministry of Education: These are provided to teachers to use in the classroom. In this
situation, teachers have very limited or no choice at all. This means that they may have to work with materials which
they find very limiting, and will probably need to adapt the materials as best they can to make suitable for the needs of
their particular learners.

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3.5.2 Aspects or Stages of Materials Evaluation
Materials evaluation can be understood as having two stages or aspects: external and internal (McDonogh and Shaw 1993).

3.5.2.1 External evaluation (macro-evaluation)

This concerns the external overview of how the materials have been organized. Accordingly, it looks at:
 The ‘blurb’ or the claims made on the cover of the teacher’s/students’ book – what the book says about itself.
 The introduction and the contents – claims made for the materials and what will actually be presented inside the book
(e.g. the author/publisher feels that there is a gap in the existing market, or the need to improve the language
proficiency of learners).
From the blurb and the introduction, comments are normally expected on some or all of the following:
 The intended audience – the target group;
 The proficiency level
 The context in which the materials are to be used
 How the language has been presented and organized into teaching units/lessons
 The author’s views on language and methodology
 The date of publication

There are also other factors that need to be taken into account at the external evaluation stage. These include:
 Are the materials to be used as the core course or to be supplementary to it?
 Is a teacher’s book available in print and locally?
 Is a vocabulary list/index included?
 What visual materials (photographs, charts, diagrams) does the book contain? Are these included for cosmetic value
only, or are they an integral part of the materials?
 Is the layout and presentation clear or cluttered?
 Is the material too culturally biased or specific?
 Do the materials represent minority groups and/or women in a negative way?
 Are the audio/video materials included essential and cost-effective to possess in order to use the textbook successfully?
 Would tests (diagnostic, progress, achievement) included in the teaching materials be useful for a particular group of
learners?

3.5.2.2 Internal Evaluation (micro-evaluation)

The main concern of internal evaluation is to examine the extent to which the factors considered at the external evaluation stage
match up with the internal consistency and organization of the materials as stated by the author/publisher. Accordingly, the
evaluation at this stage should take into account the following factors:
 The presentation of skills and language points – whether these are covered and in what proportion and to what extent
 The grading and sequencing of the materials
 Where reading/discourse skills are involved, is there enough by way of appropriate text beyond the sentence?
 Where listening skills are involved, are recordings authentic or artificial?
 Do materials for speaking incorporate what is known about the nature of real interaction, or are artificial dialogues used
instead?
 Do tests and exercises match with (a) learner needs and (b) what is taught by the course material?
 Is the material suitable for different learning styles? Is a claim and provision made for self-study, and is such a claim
justified?
 Are the materials sufficiently transparent and motivating for students and teachers alike, or is there student/teacher
mismatch?

3.5.2.3 Checklist for Evaluating a Unit of a Coursebook

a. Framework
 Syllabus type: what type of syllabus does the unit/material draw on (structural, notional/functional, content-based, task-
based, multi-syllabus, etc.)
 Skills
 To what extent are all four skills catered for?
 Is there an integrated skills approach?

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b. Activities/Tasks/Exercises
 Presentation
 Is language presented in a clear and interesting way?
 What is the approach to grammar teaching (deductive or inductive)?
 Practice
 Is it sufficient?
 Does it allow for free production?
 Is it meaningful, or are the exercises only mechanical?
 Does it ensure that students will be able to generate language on their own outside the classroom?
 Clarity of instructions
 How clear are instructions for students to do what they are expected to do?
c. Subject matter
 Interest
 Is it intrinsically interesting, or does it merely serve as a vehicle for language work?
 Is the text based on facts or fiction?
 Culture, age, gender
 Is the material culture-specific?
 Is it too childish or too sophisticated for the target group?
 Is it sexist?
d. Appearance
 Visual appeal
 Are the pages too dense?
 Are the typeface and layout attractive?
 Illustrations
 Do they serve a function or are they decorative?
 Are they clear enough for their intended purpose?
 Are they too many or too few?
 Are they childish, sexist or culturally offensive?

Note: It needs to be pointed out here that any attempt made to evaluate a teaching material requires the evaluator to have a clear
idea of the learner for whom the material is intended, before getting involved in the evaluation process. This is because the value
of a teaching material lies in how well it meets the needs of the learner.

Tasks
1 Match the examples below with the following syllabus types
1 Skill-based _________ 4 Grammatical or structural _______
2 Situational ________ 5 Topic-based ________
3 Task-based _______ 6 Functional/notional ________

a) Simple past; irregular b) making suggestions; asking c) space travel;

verbs; the passive; for directions; giving advice; intelligence test;
type 3 conditional introducing yourself; smoking; the
location; duration weather

d) Language focus: question forms e) Making notes from a talk; f) In the clinic;
Vocabulary: meeting people reading for information; At a hotel;
Skills: speaking, listening using a dictionary; At the post
Task preparation: Listen to answering exam questions in office;
people meeting writing At a garage
Topic: interviews

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2 Say whether the following sample texts are authentic or not
a) a newspaper article
b) a rock song
c) a story written to exemplify the use of reported speech
d) a novel
e) a radio interview
f) a dialogue written to show ways of inviting
g) a linguistically simplified version of a novel
h) instructions on how to play a game
i) a traditional fairy story
j) an invitation card

3 Which of the following are authentic tasks?

a) Completing substitution tables
b) Answering a letter addressed to the learner
c) Filling in blanks using vocabulary from a reading text
d) Arguing a particular point of view
e) Giving direction to someone new to a place
f) Changing active sentences to passive
g) Comparing various holiday brochures to make a decision about where to go for a holiday
h) Changing verbs from the simple past to the simple present
i) Writing a paragraph

4 In what ways do the following factors influence materials development or materials selection?
a. Age of learners
b. Learner interest
c. Level of proficiency in English
d. Reason for learning
e. Resources available.
f. Class size
g. Time available for the programme.
h. Physical environment; the nature of the building, noise factors, flexibility of chairs and tables, size of room in
relation to size of class.

5 Examine the following statements and say whether you agree or disagree, Give reasons for
your opinions.
Teaching materials:
a. should contain plenty of exercises to practice language skills such as speaking, writing, listening and reading.
b. should be under the control of teachers at all times.
c. should not be permanent; they should be disposable or alterable.
d. should contain samples of authentic language data.
e. should be flexible to allow learners the chance to work at their own speed and in their own preferred ways.
f. are indispensable.
g. are really unnecessary; learners can learn from each other and the teacher without recourse to printed materials.
h. should offer plenty of guidance to both teachers and learners in terms of the tasks they should perform and how they
should perform them.
i. should set up contexts in which learners can express themselves, their own opinions, ideas and attitudes.

6 The following are arguments and counter arguments for using a text book. Comment on each
one.
The arguments for using a text book are:
 A textbook is a framework which regulates and times a program.
 Without a textbook, learners think their learning is not taken seriously.

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  In many situations, a textbook serves as a syllabus.
 A textbook provides ready-made teaching texts and learning tasks.
 A textbook is a cheap way of providing learning materials.
 A learner without a textbook is teacher dependent.
The counter arguments are
 If every group of students has different needs, no one textbook can meet all differing needs.
 Topics in a textbook may not be relevant for and interesting to all.
 A text book is confining, i.e., it inhibits teacher’s creativity.
 A textbook of necessity sets prearranged sequence and structure that may not be realistic and situation friendly.
 Teachers may find themselves as mediators with no free hand and slave, in fact, to others’ judgments about what is
good and what is not.

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