Principles and Procedures of Material Development

A. Developing Principled Frameworks for Materials Development

B. Writing a Coursebook

Simplification and readiness– these are my major takeaways from the presentations and delivery
executed by the discussants for Developing Principled Frameworks for Materials Development and
Writing a Coursebook. The simplifying strategy was the exact scheme used by the discussant for Writing
a Coursebook, making the nitty-gritties of the report easy to understand. The utilization of a brain teaser
as an initial activity also roused the interest of the listeners. Conversely, the first topic was indeed more
complex as it involved principles which were largely conceptual and theoretical. I thought that the
complexity of the contents could have been reduced if they were also explained simply through examples
of applications of the principles used by educators and developers of teaching materials and examples of
materials where specific frameworks were used. On my end, I admit that I failed to spend more time
reading about the topic; I only perused through the material I found about Developing Principled
Frameworks for Materials Development. I relied more on the inputs that were given by the discussant; but
alas, it did not go as I expected. Thus, I was caught ill-equipped a few times during the discussion. 

Being enrolled in the subject just makes me believe even more that little knowledge is a
dangerous thing.  I feel so inadequate now regarding the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of materials
I have been preparing and creating for my students. I now question myself: Through the years, why didn’t
I consciously heed the significance of the principles of second language acquisition and its bearing on the
preparation and development of teaching materials? Why wasn’t I taught in my undergraduate studies the
formal and structured frameworks in developing teaching materials?

I recognize the importance of adhering to the principles of second language acquisition in the
development of excellent and effective materials; however, there are just some principles that, to me, are
simply unfeasible or too fantastic. Especially for learners in the lower grades, materials should have
attractive presentations through colors to achieve impact. While it would entail a more costly price, the
materials may not be affordable to many. I also believe that while Filipino educators try their best to
expose the learners to the English language in authentic use such as project-based learning and
experiential learning opportunities, I believe that many of the attempts made are half-baked due to lack of
extensive planning and limited opportunities because of financial constraints. I also notice that there are
also a lot of teachers who are not motivated enough to create or develop materials that are painstakingly
prepared, maybe because they are not well compensated. Others have not departed yet from the
traditional way of teaching that they find following the principles to laborious for them as they need to
provide a lot of student-centered activities. Still others are unwilling to change and do not want to get out
of their comfort zones. 

Impelled by the importance of the course (CAELM) and to help my students develop genuine love
and interest for English in various aspects of proficiency in the different macro skills (reading, speaking,
listening, viewing and writing), I would suggest to my administrators to invite speakers and resource
persons to conduct seminars, refreshers, or workshops about topics such as developing teaching
materials, review of principles such as that of SLA and other significant and related topics. For the
framework in developing my materials, I am planning to use the following after a careful review and
inclusion of my top-priority SLA principles:

1.   Learning Prompts (Motivational activities to arouse interest and develop 

      learners self-investment)
2.   Exploring the Language (Processing and diagnostic activities, including vocabulary 
      development)
3.   Literary Appreciation (Informational and fictional texts as springboards to skills 
      development)
4.   Oral Communication Development (Speaking activities both simulated and 
      experiential)
5.   Refining Learning (Formative and summative assessments of reading and language 
      skills taught)
6.   Lifelong Response (Application with provisions for authentic tasks)

  I read a few more articles and materials about the topic so that I could have a better grasp of the
principles of SLA and the frameworks in developing teaching materials: A framework for materials
creation (Lewis 2016), Chart of SLA Principles Overview, Creating Authentic Learning Experiences in the
Literacy Classroom, Principle Framework (ELT Materials 2013).