TOPIC 2:

DEVELOPING MATERIALS &

ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING
LISTENING AND SPEAKING
Criteria for selection and adaptation of materials to teach
listening & speaking

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 WHAT ARE TEACHING-
LEARNING MATERIALS?
Materials to teach listening & speaking skills

‘realia’ - real representations - specially

such as
objects such such as a drawing designed
textbooks,
as a pencil, a or photograph of a materials for
worksheets,
chair or a person, house or teaching and
courseware
bag scene learning –

learner-
teacher-written generated
materials – materials – maps, charts,
teacher’s own graphic etc.
writing material organisers, mind
Materials to teach listening & speaking skills
(cont…)
Authentic
teaching purposes
materials - not interviews, maps,
e.g. newspaper
written or spoken travel brochure, etc.
articles, songs, radio
for language

Social media –
Online resources – facilitates
videos, video songs, websites communication &
children’s sharing of
information

learning materials
online
 Before a material is used
in a classroom, teachers
need to evaluate the
Teachers have to adapt suitability of the material
the materials they are so that there is no
using to make it more mismatch between what
effective and interesting is needed and what is
for the students. provided by checking the
criteria for material
selection of listening and
speaking materials.
 Aims &
Approaches

Topic Design &

Organisation

Checklist

Skills &
Language
Recorded
Content
Materials

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Checklist for Material Selection of
Listening & Speaking Materials
Aims and
approaches

Do the aims of the

materials correspond Is the material
closely with the aims suited to the
of your lesson learning /
objectives and with teaching
the needs of the situation?
learners?

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 CHECKLIST FOR MATERIAL SELECTION OF
LISTENING & SPEAKING MATERIALS
Design and
organisation

How is the content

organised? (e.g.
How is the content Is the layout clear? according to
sequenced? (e.g. On the (printed materials) structures, functions,
basis of complexity, What type of text is topics, skills, etc.)? Is
learnability, usefulness, it? (expository, the organisation right
etc.)? narrative, descriptive, for learners and you?
etc.)

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 CHECKLIST FOR MATERIAL SELECTION OF
LISTENING & SPEAKING MATERIALS
Language Content

If you are focusing on

Is the vocabulary level Does the material cover the pronunciation, does the
suitable to your students’ grammar item you intend material include individual
ability? to teach? sounds/word stress / sentence
stress / intonation?
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CHECKLIST FOR MATERIAL SELECTION OF
LISTENING & SPEAKING MATERIALS
Skills and recorded Is listening material
materials Does the material well-recorded?
cover the particular
skill for listening
comprehension/ora
l communication
Is listening material
you intend to teach?
authentic / non- Is the speech clear?
authentic?

Does the dialogue

Is the accent have many Is there any visual
familiar to the speakers? support material?
students?
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CHECKLIST FOR MATERIAL SELECTION OF
LISTENING & SPEAKING MATERIALS
Is the topic of the
Topic listening material in the
scope of the syllabus?

Will the topic help

Is the topic familiar? expand students’
(Culture) awareness and enrich
their experience?

Is there adequate
Are tape scripts
guidance as to how to
provided?
conduct the activity?
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 Other Considerations
Materials should be:

• cost-effective
• convenient to use
• meant for target audience
• suited to target age levels
• suited to different language proficiency levels
• appropriately organised
• localised (local contents)
• practical or easily available
• interesting or motivating
 Adaptation (Definition)
“Employing a number of techniques: supplementing,
editing, expanding, personalising, simplifying/adjusting
language level (adjust upwards or downwards),
modernizing, localising or modifying cultural/situational
content”.
(Madsen and Bowen,1978)

“Reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and

supplementing”.
(Tomlinson, 1998)
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 Choice of Materials
Teachers have the choice of selecting authentic or non-authentic materials for their
lessons.

Authentic materials are produced in response to real life communicative needs rather
than an imitation of real life communicative needs.

Non-authentic materials are materials that are specifically produced for pedagogical
purposes.

It is highly recommended that teachers expose authentic materials to the pupils as they
will encounter these materials in the real world.

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 Materials for Listening & Speaking
Printed materials Recorded materials

■ blogs ■ news
■ songs
■ books
■ movie trailers
■ notices
■ weather report
■ calendars ■ documentaries
■ brochures ■ nursery rhymes
■ story books ■ advertisements
■ announcements
■ online articles
■ excerpts from TV shows /
■ advertisements movies
■ announcements ■ conversation: face-to-face,
telephone
■ newspaper articles  
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 Principles of Materials Adaptation
for Listening and Speaking

Use models of Make learning Fulfill goals and Meet learners’

real, authentic activities objectives of needs.
language. relevant and national
purposeful. curriculum.

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 Factors to bear in mind when
adapting materials…

Materials should not be adapted too casually (based on

his/her preferences or tastes)

Materials deleted or added should not go beyond a

reasonable proportion (otherwise consider alternative
materials)

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 Levels of Material Adaptation
Macro Adaptation

This is ideally done before the language program begins.

Teacher compares content of textbook with requirement of syllabus

and exam. Teacher selects, adapts and omits contents accordingly.
Teacher is able to see the overall view and will be able to plan the
needed materials in advance.
Avoid waste of time and energy.

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 Levels of Adaptation

This could be re-ordering the Teaching is smooth and

Adapting A Unit activities, combining or omitting cohesive.
activities, rewriting or
supplementing exercise material.
Unit adaptation improves classroom
teaching and helps the teacher to
fulfil the objectives of a unit better

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 Levels of Adaptation
Specific adaptation:
Omission - leave out things
deemed inappropriate,
offensive and unproductive for
the group.
Addition - when there is
inadequate coverage, texts or
When a teacher finds an exercise material are added.
activity valuable but not Reduction - shorten an
Adaptation of Specific feasible for a particular class.
Activities activity to give it less weight
If the teacher decides not to or emphasis.
give it up, she needs to adapt
it. Extension - lengthen an
activity to give it an additional
dimension.

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 Levels of Adaptation
• Extension - lengthen an activity to give it an additional dimension (a
vocabulary activity is added to draw attention to a particular sentence
pattern)
• Rewriting/Modification - rewrite material (esp. exercise material) to
make it more appropriate, communicative, challenging, accessible to
students.
• Replacement - replace inadequate material to make it more suitable
• Re-ordering - change the order if not suitable.
• Branching - add options to the existing activity or suggest alternative
pathways.

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 References
■ Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing Your Coursebook. Oxford: Heinemann.
■ Grant, N. (1987). Making the Most of Your Textbook. Essex:Longman.
■ Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching. England:
Pearson Education.
■ Madsen, S.H. & Bowen, J.D. (1978). Adaptation in Language Teaching.
Massachusetts: Newbury House.
■ McGrath, I. (2002) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh Uni. Press.
■ Tomlinson, B. (2011). Materials Development in Language Teaching.
Cambridge: CUP

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