Unit 9.

Working with Materials

 Coursebooks

 Benefits for teachers?

 Benefits for students?
 Coursebooks

 Benefits for teachers? (consistent syllabus, chosen vocabulary, a

range of reading and listening materials, workbooks, teacher’s book
etc.)
 Benefits for students?
Choosing a coursebook

 Analyzing
 Piloting
 Consultations
 Gathering opinion
Criteria for a coursebook evaluation?
Possible areas Possible questions for course book analysis
for
consideration

Price and
availability

Add-ons and
extras

Layout and
design
Instructions

Methodology
Possible areas Possible questions for course book analysis
for
consideration

Price and How much does the coursebook cost? Will students have to buy any extra material
availability (workbook, etc)? Are all the components (coursebook, workbook, teacher’s guide, audio, etc)
available? What about other levels? Is this good value for money? How much does the
whole package (with all the components) cost?
Add-ons and Apart from a workbook, what other extras are offered with the course? Are there Internet sites with
extras extra material (exercises, texts, etc), or with ‘meeting places’ for users? What else does
the publisher offer to support the course? What value should we place on the extras that are
available? Are audio/video materials provided?
Layout and Is the book attractive? Is its design appropriate for (a) the students, and (b) the teacher? Does the
design design of the book make it easy to follow?
Instructions Are the instructions clear and unambiguous? Are they written in language that the students will
understand? Can the coursebook be used by students working on their own, or is a teacher
necessary to show them how to use it? Are any study tips given?
Methodology What kind of teaching and learning does the coursebook promote? Is there a good balance
between study and activation? How do the authors appear to think that people learn languages and
do we agree with them? Does it care for different learning styles?
 Possible Possible questions for course book analysis
areas for
consideration

Syllabus

Language
skills

Topics

Cultural
appropriacy
 Possible Possible questions for course book analysis
areas for
consideration

Syllabus Is the syllabus appropriate for our students? Is it age-appropriate? Does it cover the language areas
(grammar, vocabulary, functions, pronunciation, etc) that we would expect? Do we and our
students like the sequencing of language and topics, etc? Does the coursebook build in a feeling of
progress?
Language Does the coursebook have the appropriate balance of skills? Is the skills work really
skills designed to promote the skills (e.g. writing-for-writing, not writing-for-learning)? Are there
possibilities for both study and activation in the skills areas? Are the skills activities likely to engage
students? Are the assessment tasks varied?
Topics Does the book contain a variety of topics? On balance, are the topics appropriate for the kind
of students who will be using the course book? Are the topics likely to engage the students?
Cultural Is the material appropriate for the cultural situation that the students are in? Do the texts
appropriacy contain culturally insensitive material? Are the activities appropriate for the learning
culture? Is the course book unprejudiced in the way it deals with different customs,
ethnicities, races and sexes?
 Possible Possible questions for course book analysis
areas for
consideration

Teacher’s
guide

Activities

Language
 Possible Possible questions for course book analysis
areas for
consideration

Teacher’s Does the coursebook have an accompanying teacher’s guide? Is it easy to use? Does it explain
guide things clearly? Does it offer alternatives to the coursebook activities? Does it have all the answers
that teachers and students need? Does it provide differentiated activities for fast and slow learners?
Activities Is there a balance between accuracy and fluency? Are the interaction patterns varied? Are they
logically sequenced? Is the language recycled?

Language Is it meaningful? Is it accurate? Is it up-to-date?

Authentic material -
any material written in English that was not created for
intentional use in the English language classroom.
 Types of authentic materials

Print, video, and audio materials native speakers use in their daily lives.
• change-of- address forms
• job applications
• menus
• voice mail messages
• radio programs
• videos …
• current events stories: The New York Times, The Independent, The Guardian
• fiction materials: comics, cartoons, books, films
Why authentic materials?
 Why authentic materials?
Students find authentic materials engaging and more up-to-
date than textbooks. When students feel motivated, their
anxiety reduces and confidence increases while involved in
class activities.
Using authentic material with learners can add variety to a teaching
programme. However, if students are not used to working with material
of this nature, it needs to be introduced gradually and carefully.
There are arguments against using authentic material, certainly if you
use too much of it. However, teachers can often anticipate problems
and deal with these when they plan authentic materials. For example,
difficult cultural information can be dealt with when leading in to an
authentic text and longer texts can be edited to accommodate lesson
time.
One more issue is that of copyright. This differs from country to
country and from one institution to another. However, it is important to
ensure you have copyright clearance on a piece of material before you
use it.
Authentic task -

a task that native speakers of a language would do in everyday

life.

When ... learners do an authentic task they are doing

something that puts real communicative demands on them. ...
In the classroom authentic tasks are easy to identify as they
are what we do with our own language all the time. ...
What authentic tasks have you used?
 Examples of authentic tasks

• plan a trip around their country for a group of students on an

exchange trip.
• phone for information,
• prepare a party,
• plan a holiday,
• answer an e-mail,
• prepare a report,
• hold a meeting
• fill in an application form … .
Internet-based tasks:

Task 1. Holidays in Rome

“The 14th of next month is my girlfriend's birthday. I would like to take
her to Rome the weekend afterwards (18th - 20th). Can you find out how
much it would cost for two return air fares from London Gatwick? When
we get there we need a place to stay, but I don't want to spend more than
100 Euros a night. Can you find a hotel near the city centre? I would
also like to find out what plays are on at the theatre…"
 Planning Steps Order
a. decide how you will focus on the language.
b. create reading/listening tasks for receptive skills practice
and to ensure comprehension of the task.
c. edit the text, if necessary – this might mean cutting out
some difficult vocabulary or deciding to use only part of the
text.
d. read the text carefully and decide if it is about the right
language level for your learners.
e. think of a follow-on speaking activity you could do after
reading the text.
f. read the text and decide if it will be of interest to your
students.
g. look for useful vocabulary and/or grammar that you can
highlight in this text.
 Planning Steps Order
f. read the text and decide if it will be of interest to your
students.
d. read the text carefully and decide if it is about the right
language level for your learners.
g. look for useful vocabulary and/or grammar that you can
highlight in this text.
c. edit the text, if necessary – this might mean cutting out some
difficult vocabulary or deciding to use only part of the text.
b. create reading/listening tasks for receptive skills practice
and to ensure comprehension of the task.
a. decide how you will focus on the language.

e. think of a follow-on speaking activity you could do after

reading the text.
 Authentic texts Aims
1. A TV guide for one day’s viewing.
2. An e-mail message between friends.

3. A radio weather forecast.

4. A series of magazine advertisements.

5. An editorial from a newspaper.

6. A recording of someone speaking about a

childhood memory.
7. A reality TV show.

8. A timetable for a package holiday.

 Authentic texts
1. A TV guide for one day’s viewing.
2. An e-mail message between friends.
3. A radio weather forecast.
4. A series of magazine advertisements.
5. An editorial from a newspaper.
6. A recording of someone speaking about a To provide practice in listening for narrative gist.
childhood memory.
7. A reality TV show.
8. A timetable for a package holiday.
Aims
To provide practice in scan reading.
To clarify some key features of informal written
communication.
To provide practice in scan listening.
To clarify and practise the first conditional used for
making promises.
To provide practice in inferring meaning from a
discursive text.
To highlight the way in which body language and
gesture supports oral communication.
To provide less controlled oral practice of the
present simple used to talk about future itineraries.
“Good teachers”

are always adapting the materials they are using to the context in which
they are using them in order to achieve the optimal congruence between
materials, methodology, learners, objectives, the target language and
the teacher’s personality and teaching style.
Tomlinson (2012)
 Adapting textbooks

 Omission
 Edition
 Reduction
 Extension
 Rewriting
 Replacement
 Reordering
 Branching
 Making materials more personalized
 Evaluating the results of
supplementation and adaptation
 Points to consider
 intended audience
 proficiency level
 the context in which the writers of materials intend them to be used
 the way the language has been organised into teachable units
 the writer’s’ views on language and methodology
 aspects of presentation of the materials
 the grading and sequences
 the kind of texts used
 correlation between exercises and tests
 Materials should …

 achieve impact
 help learners feel at ease
 provide relevant and useful content for learners
 facilitate learner investment
 help develop linguistic and developmental readiness and psychological
readiness of learners
 expose learners to authentic language
 Materials should …

 draw learner’s attention to linguistic features of the input

 provide opportunities to use target language to achieve communicative
purpose
 take into account the positive effects of instruction
 consider learners’ different learning styles, affective attitudes
 maximise learning potential encouraging intellectual, aesthetic, and
emotional involvement stimulating both right and left brain activities
 provide opportunities for feedback
Check out these blogs:

• http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/annaneileltmaterials/2016/03/03/14/
• http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/te714zr37/2016/03/10/adapting-and-
suplimenting/
• http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/beatriceseguraharvey/2015/03/10/adapti
ng-and-supplementing/
Stay well!