THE IMPORTANCE OF MATERIALS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION AND

LANGUAGE LEARNING

UNIVERSIDAD DE CALDAS DEPARMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES

MASTERS IN ENGLISH DIDACTICS

INTRODUCTION

Teacher education programsInput & knowledge Skill & competencyWhat Ts should know How Ts learn to teachDeclarative knowledge (theory) Procedural knowledge (practice) PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Objectives ContentOutcomes

What teaching materials? (their role)

THE KNOWLEDGE BASE OF EFL TEACHER EDUCATION

TRADITIONALLY: KNOWLEDGE-TRANSMISSION

• Learning about teaching.• Transfer from theory to practice.• Lots of courses on content knowledge and pedagogy.• Little observation and practice in real contexts. • Gap bt (knowledge) and reality (competency). • Knowledge for teachers

THE COMPETENCY BASE OF EFL TEACHER EDUCATION

CURRENTLY: COMPETENCY-DEVELOPMENT

• Constructivist approach = creating knowledge on the basis of experience• Balance bt theoretical knowledge and practicing skills• Becoming a “good teacher”- master content knowledge about the language (Knowledge of language)- have skills and knowledge about teaching/learning (Knowledge of pedagogy)- know how to work in school contexts (Knowledge of teaching reality)• Knowledge of teachers.

IN THE EARLY 90’S IN THE LATE 90’S Materials development was ‘insufficiently academic’.

A subsection of methodology, in which materials were usually introduced as examples of methods in action.

Not an important academic field of study or a vitally important practical undertaking.

A change from a focus on practical concerns to a greater concern with the application of theory to effective practice.

A joint endeavor of Ts, Rs, Materials writers, and publishers to stimulate and support principled research, innovation and development.

An increase in the number of universities courses and modules and the number of students researching aspects of materials development.

MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT BEFORE AND NOW

DEFINITIONSMaterialsAnything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language. From coursebooks and videos to websites and mobile phone interactions.

Types Informative: informing about the TL. Instructional: providing guided practice in the TL. Experiential: providing experience of the TL in use. Eliciting: encouraging the learner to use the TL. Exploratory: helping the learner to make discoveries about the TL.

Materials developmento A practical undertaking involving the production, evaluation, adaptation and exploitation

of materials intended to facilitate language acquisition and development. o A field of academic study investigating the principles and procedures of the design,

writing, implementation, and analysis of learning materials.

IMPORTANCE Most lessons are still based on materials in most language classrooms.

The basis of much of the language input that learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom.

Teachers are constantly evaluating the available materials, adapting them, replacing them, supplementing them and finding effective ways to implement the materials chosen for classroom use.

Materials development is central to any course designed to train, educate or develop pre-service or in-service teachers.

It is a useful way of helping teachers to understand and apply theories of language learning and to achieve personal and professional development.

TEACHER TRAINING / DEVELOPMENT / EDUCATION

Participating in materials development can:o increase awareness, criticality, creativity and self-esteem. It can also

improve career prospects too.o provide the participants with concrete experience as a basis for reflective

observation and conceptualization.o help participants to become more aware of important issues in language

acquisition and development, o foster considerable teacher growth.

Materials development should be:o practical, o based on constructive feedback,o characterized by positive support and stimulus,o oriented towards linking practice to theory and theory to practice, ando focused on self-monitoring and self-reflection.

PRACTICING TEACHERS & MATERIALS WRITERS

In-service teachers Stimulating courses to get teachers to think about and try out new

approaches. Preparation for an institutional or national change. Facilitating alternatives to enable language acquisition and development. Stimulating options for Ts to re-think their positions and to achieve

personal and professional development.

Materials writerso Stimulating arena for thought, discussion and innovation.o Facilitating alternative for the development of awareness and skills

relevant to the writing of the materials.

RESEARCHERS & APPLIED LINGUISTIS

Researchers Materials development has become accepted as a respectable academic

discipline and therefore as a legitimate area for research. Increasing number of studies about how teachers evaluate coursebooks

and how they adapt and supplement them.

Applied linguists o Many applied linguists are considering the implications of their specialized

research for materials development and the implications of research in materials development for their specialty.

- Discourse analysis: models, texts, conversations,- Second language acquisitions: principles, methods, strategies,- Intercultural competence: beliefs, values, practices, - Assessment: exercises, tests, reflection, - and language teaching pedagogy: students’ roles, teachers’ practices,

classroom activities, etc.

CONCLUSION

Materials development for language teaching is very important both as a practical undertaking and as an academic field of study.

It is the most applied of all the disciplines in applied linguistics and should be a compulsory component in all language teacher preparation and support courses.

It is supported with research and observation-based principles.

It is oriented towards studying the effect of our materials on the people who use them.

REFERENCES

Rahimi, M. (2008). What do we want teaching-materials for in EFL teachertraining programs? Asian EFL Journal, 31, 1-17. Retrieved fromhttp://www.asian-efl-journal.com/pta_Oct_08.pdf

Tomlinson, B. (2016). The importance of materials development for language learning. In M. Azarnoosh, M. Zeraatpishe, A. Faravani, & H. Reza (eds.), Issues in materials development (pp. 1-9). The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.