Basic concepts of language

learning & teaching

materials
What is materials?
Anything used by teachers or
learners to facilitate the learning of
a language or to increase Ss
knowledge or experience of the
language, e.g. cassettes, videos,
CDs, dictionaries, grammar books,
readers, workbooks, photographs,
live talks by invited native speakers,
instructions given by a teacher, etc.
Materials development
Anything done by writers, teachers
or learners to provide sources of
language input and to exploit those
sources in ways in which maximize
the possibility of intake (= to
promote language learning)
Materials evaluation
Attempts to measure the value of
materials
Attempts to predict whether or not
the materials will work, that is,
learners will be able to use them
without too much difficulty and will
enjoy the experience of doing so
Teaching
Anything done by materials developers
or teachers to facilitate the learning
of the language
Teaching can be direct (=transmitting
information overtly to the learners) or
indirect (=helping learners to discover
things for themselves).
Language Learning
Conscious process consisting of the
committing to memory of
information relevant to what is
being learned
Subconscious development of
generalisations about how the
language is used and skills to apply
them to acts of communication
Language Learning (cont.)
Implicit (learners are not aware of when
and what they are learning)

Explicit (learners are aware of when and
what they are learning)
Explicit learning of both declarative and
procedural knowledge is valuable in helping
learners to pay attention to salient
features of language input and in helping
them to participate in planned discourse.
Materials should achieve impact.
Impact achieved when materials have
a noticeable effect on learners.
Materials can achieve impact through:
Novelty
Variety
Attractive presentation
Appealing content
Choice of topics, texts and activities
= achievement of impact

Materials should help Ss to feel
at ease.
Materials with lots of white space
Texts and illustrations that relate to
Ss own culture
Materials that try to help Ss learn
rather than testing them or causing
humiliation
Materials that relate the world of the
book to the world of learners

Materials should help Ss to
develop confidence.
Relaxed and self-confidence learners
learn faster. (Dulay, Burt & Krashen,
1982)
Activities which try to push Ss
slightly beyond their proficiency
Stimulating tasks
Problematic tasks
Achievable tasks
Relevant and useful materials
Relating to known learner interests
Real-life tasks that Ss need to
perform in the target language
Relating teaching points to interesting
and challenging classroom tasks
Presenting tasks in ways which could
facilitate the achievement of task
outcomes desired by Ss
Materials should require and
facilitate Ss self-investment.
Requiring Ss to make discoveries for
themselves
Helping Ss to make efficient use of
resources in order to facilitate self-
discovery
Learners profit more if they invest
interest, effort and attention in the
learning activity.
How to facilitate Ss self-
investment
Getting Ss interested in a written or
spoken text
Getting them to respond to it globally and
affectively
Helping to analyse a particular linguistic
feature in order to make discoveries for
themselves
Involving them in mini-projects
Involving them in finding supplementary
materials etc.

Learners must be ready to
acquire the points being taught.
Instruction can facilitate natural
language acquisition processes if it
coincides with learner readiness and
can lead to increased speed and
frequency of rule application and to
application of rules in a wider range
of linguistic contexts. (Pienemann,
1985)
Krashens comprehensible input
The need for roughly-tuned input
which is comprehensible (what Ss are
familiar with) but which also contains
the potential for acquiring other
elements of input which Ss might or
might not be ready to learn = i + 1
How to achieve Ss readiness
Materials which create situations
requiring the use of variational features
not previously taught

Materials which ensure that Ss have
gained sufficient mastery over the
developmental features of the previous
stage before teaching a new one

How to achieve Ss readiness (cont.)
Materials which roughly tune the input
so that it contains some feature which
is slightly above each learners current
proficiency level
Materials which get Ss to focus
attention on features of the target
language which they have not yet
acquired so that they might be more
attentive to these features in the
future input
Materials should expose learners
to language in authentic use.
Through the advice given to Ss in the
materials
Through instructions for activities
Through spoken and written texts
included in the materials
Through the activities
However, the input must be comprehensible
enough for Ss to respond to it.

The input should vary in style, mode,
medium and purpose and rich in features
which are characteristic of authentic
discourse in the target language.

The materials should stimulate learner
interaction with the input rather than
just passive reception of it.

Ss should do something mentally or
physically in response to the materials.
Ss attention should be drawn to
linguistic features of the input.
Either conscious or subconscious

Its important that Ss become aware of
the gap between a particular feature of
their interlanguage (Ss output) and the
equivalent feature in the target
language (input). Such noticing of the
gap can act as an acquisition facilitator.
Opportunities to use the target
language for communication
Using language for communication
involves attempts to achieve a
purpose in a situation in which the
content, strategies and expression
of the interaction are determined
by the learners.