Materials Design and Teaching

1. Materials Design and Teaching Yueh-chiu Helen Wang Associate professor National Penghu University

2. Introduction to Instructional Design Process • The role of instructional design: Instructional design is based on what we know about learning theories, information technology, systematic analysis (objective analysis), and management methods.

3. The factors that influence learning outcomes • . The instructional design approach considers instruction from the perspective of the learner rather than from the perspective of the content. • * What level of readiness do individual students need for accomplishing the objectives? • *What instructional strategies are most appropriate in terms of objectives and learner characteristics?

4. * What media or other resources are most suitable? • *What support is needed for successful learning? • * How is achievement of the objectives determined? • * What revisions are necessary if a tryout of the program does not match expectations?

5. Key elements of the instructional design process • 1. For whom is the program developed? (characteristics of learners or trainees?) • 2. What do you want the learners or trainees to learn or demonstrate? (objectives) • 3. How is the subject content or skill best learned? (instructional strategies) • 4. How do you determine the extent to which learning is achieved? (evaluation procedures)

6. These four fundamental components—learners, objectives, methods, and evaluation—form the framework for systematic instructional planning. • These components are interrelated and could make up an entire instructional design plan.

7. The complete instructional design plan • Nine elements in a comprehensive instructional design plan: • 1. Identify instructional problems, and specify goals for designing an instructional program. • 2. Examine learner characteristics that should receive attention during planning. • 3. Identify subject content, and analyze task components related to stated goals and purposes.

8. 4. State instructional objectives for the learner. • 5. Sequence content within each instructional unit for logical learning. • 6. Design instructional strategies so that each learner can master the objectives. • 7. Plan the instructional message and delivery. • 8. Develop evaluation instruments to assess objectives. • 9. Select resources to support instruction and learning activities.

9. revision topic objectives instruction evaluation revision

10. General curriculum planning • As background information for second and foreign language course designers, Taba’s (1962:12) of the steps which a course designer must work through to develop subject matter courses has become the foundation for many other writers’ suggestions.

11. The list of ‘curriculum processes’ includes the following: • 1. diagnosis of needs • 2. formulation of objectives • 3. selection of content • 4. organization of content • 5. selection of learning experience

12. 6. Organization of learning experiences • 7. Determining of what to evaluate, and the means to evaluate.

13. A framework of course development processes • assessing needs • Conceptualizing content formulating goals • Organizing the course developing material • Course Design • designing an assessment plan • Defining the context articulating beliefs

14. Materials development • Materials development refers to anything which is done by writers, teachers or learners to provide sources of language input and to exploit those sources in ways which maximize the likelihood of intake: the supplying of information about and/or experience of the language in ways designed to promote language learning.

15. Teaching can be direct (in that it transmits information overtly to the learners) or it can be indirect (in that it helps the learners to discover things for themselves).

16. Language learning is normally considered to be a conscious process which consists of the committing to memory of information relevant to what is being learned. Language learning can be explicit (i.e. the learners are aware of when and what they are learning) or it can be implicit (i.e. the learning can also be of declarative knowledge (i.e. knowledge of how the language is used).

17. Explicit learning of both declarative and procedural knowledge is of value in helping learners to pay attention to salient features of language input and in helping them to participate in planned discourse (i.e. giving situations such as giving a talk or writing a story which allow time for planning and monitoring).

18. Materials should achieve impact • Impact is achieved when materials have a noticeable effect on learners, that is when the learners’ curiosity, interest and attention are attracted. • Materials can achieve impact through: • a) novelty (e.g. unusual topics, illustrations and activities); b) variety (e.g. breaking up the monotony of a unit routine with an unexpected activity)

19. c) attractive presentation (e.g. use of attractive colors; lots of white space; use of photographs); • d) appealing content (e.g. topics of interest to the target learners; topics which offer the possibility of learning something new; engaging stories; universal themes; local references).

20. Materials should help learners to feel at ease • Materials can help learners to feel at ease in a number of ways: • --feel more comfortable with materials with lots of white space than they do with materials in which lots of different activities are crammed together on the same page; • --are more at ease with texts and illustrations that they can relate to their own culture than they are with those which are culturally exotic;

21. --are more relaxed with materials which are obviously trying to help them to learn than they are with materials which are always testing them. Feeling at ease can also be achieved through a ‘voice’ which is relaxed and supportive, through content and activities which encourage the personal participation of the learners, through materials which relate the world of the book to the world of the learner and through the absence of activities which could threaten self-esteem and cause humiliation.

22. Factors to consider in defining the context • People : students (how many, age, gender, culture, other languages, purposes, education, profession, experience) • Other stakeholders: school administrators, parents, founders, and community • Physical setting: location of school: convenience, setting, classroom( size, furniture, light, and noise) Always same classroom?

23. Nature of course and institution • Type/purpose of course • Mandatory, open enrollment • Relation to current/previous courses • Prescribed curriculum or not • Required tests or not

24. Teaching resources • Materials available • Required text? • Develop your own materials? • Equipment: cassettes, video, photocopying, and clerical support

25. Time • How many hours total over what span of time • How often class meets • For how long each time • Day of week, time of day • Where fits in schedule of students • Students’ timeliness

26. Why is it important to define one’s context? • The “givens” of one’s context are the resources and constraints that guide our decisions. Knowing how long a course is, its purpose, who the students are, and how it fits in with other aspects of the curriculum helps us to make decisions about content, objectives, and so on.

27. A clearer understanding of what is possible within a given amount of time will allow us to be realistic about what we—teacher and students—can accomplish. Knowing what equipment or support is available will help us make choices about how much and what kind of material to prepare. Information about time, for example, can help us make decisions about how many areas of content we can realistically address within the time frame of the course.

28. Information about teaching resources will help us make decisions about how many areas of content we can realistically address within the time frame of the course. Information about teaching resources will help us make decisions about the kinds of materials we choose or develop. The relationship of the course to other courses will help us make decisions about content, so that we build on previous content.

29. Expectations of the students and stakeholders can help us make decisions about what is appropriate to cover and how students will be assessed. • The more information you have about your context the more able you will be to make decisions and to plan an effective course.

30. Defining one’s context can also be viewed as part of pre-course needs assessment. Information about the students and about the curriculum is clearly related to students’ learning needs. Other information, such as time and setting, does not necessarily help define students’ language learning needs, but has to be taken into account in order to design a course that can focus on the needs within the givens of the context.

31. Three pieces of advice • Try to get as much information as possible by asking for it specifically or by trying to find others who have taught in that context. If available, printed materials prepared for the students (brochures, catalogues) is a helpful source of information since students’ expectations may be based on what they find there. Talk to students who have taken the course or teachers who have taught it. Ask for

32. Information as though you were a student. The second is to design the course with a similar group in mind, if you have knowledge of such a group, so that you are not stymied when making decisions. For example, you can develop a menu of possibilities (topics, tasks, materials) from which to choose as you know your students are your context better.

33. Many teachers teach with a syllabus that is part of a set curriculum within a specified period of time. While the teacher may not be able to design the blueprint for the course, she/he can learn to adapt it or some aspect of it to the particular needs of her/his students.

34. Materials should help learners to develop confidence. • Relaxed and self-confident learners learn faster. (Duley, Burt and Krashen, 1982) • Most materials developers recognize the need to help learners to develop confidence but many of them attempt to do so through a process of simplification. They try to help the learners to feel successful by asking them to use simple language to accomplish easy tasks.

35. The value of engaging the learners’ minds and utilizing their existing skills seems to be becoming increasingly in countries which have decided to produce their own materials through textbook projects rather than to rely on global coursebooks which seem to underestimate the abilities of their learners.

36. What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful. • Most teachers recognize the need to make the learners aware of the potential relevance and utility of the language and skills they are teaching.

37. Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment. • Materials help them to achieve this by providing them with choices of focus and activity, by giving them topic control and by engaging them in learner-centered discovery activities.

38. Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught. • It is important to remember that the learner is always in charge and that ‘in the final analysis we can never completely control what the learner does.

39. Materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use. • Materials can provide exposure to authentic input through the advice they give, the instructions for their activities and the spoken and written texts they include. They can also stimulate exposure to authentic input through the activities they suggest (e.g. interviewing the teacher, doing a project in the local community, listening to the radio, etc.)

40. Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes. In addition, communicative negotiation of opportunties for use are interactive and encourage negotiation of meaning (Allwright, 1984, p. 157).

41. Materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually delayed. • Research into the acquisition of language shows that it is a gradual rather than an instantaneous process and that this is equally true for instructed as well as informal acquisition. Acquisition results from the gradual and dynamic process of internal generalization rather than from instant adjustments to the learners’ internal grammar.

42. Materials should take into account that learners differ in learning styles. A learner’s preference for a particular learning styles is variable and depends on what is being learned, where it is being learned, who it is being learned with and what it is being learned for.

43. Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes. Ideally, language learners should have strong and consistent motivation and they should also have positive feelings towards the target language, their teachers, their fellow learners and the materils they are using.

44. Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction. It has been shown that it can be extremely valuable to delay L2 speaking at the beginning of a course until learners have gained sufficient exposure to the target language and sufficient confidence in understanding it. The silent period can facilitate the development of an effective internalized grammar which can help learners to achieve proficiency when they eventually start to speak in the L2.

45. Materials should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic and emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities.

46. Materials should not rely too much on controlled practice. “Controlled practice appears to have little long term effect on the accuracy with which new structures are performed” (Ellis, 1990, p. 192) and “have little effect on fluency” (Ellis and Rathbone, 1987).

47. Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback. Feedback which is focused first on the effectiveness of the outcome rather than just on the accuracy of the output can lead to output becoming a profitable source of input.

48. Course Design for Business English • 1. Course objective: based on learners’ language level, target learners, and age levels. • 2. class activities: one-on-one advice or group discussion, and etc. • 3. methods of learning: informal lecture s, seminars, and workshops • 4. topics: course content and process • 5. materials selection

49. The criterion of grading: quiz & homework (30%), Mid-term (30%), and Final Exam (40%) • Course syllabus: • Course assessment:

50. Lesson Plan • Based upon your course design, you may do a lesson plan such as what your today’s topic is, what your learners have learned, how their language competence is achieved, whether your topic is related to their previous experience or learning, and further detect what their class responses are.