Teaching English11. Materials design

Nancy Grimm – Michael Meyer – Laurenz Volkmann

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0. Table of contents

1. Curricula and textbooks1.1 Curriculum design1.2 The textbook: friend or foe?

2. Designing effective materials2.1 Materials and tasks2.2 Basic tips for designing

worksheets

3. Digitally designed materials

4. Recommended reading5. Acknowledgments

Chapter 11: Materials design

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Discuss:

Have a look at the cartoon. Reflect on the status as well as the advantages and disadvantages (for teachers, students, lessons) of using the textbook, comparing this to the use of self-designed materials.

Chapter 11: Materials design

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1.1 Curriculum design

1. Curricula and textbooks

- Standards- Curriculum/a- In-school syllabus

- Textbooks - Students’ needs

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1.1 Curriculum design – input, process, output

1. Curricula and textbooks

what content (= input)

and in which sequence of

learnable units(= syllabus)

InputSyllabus

how teaching is carried out(= process)

and with which learning procedures, activities, etc. (= methodology)

ProcessMethodology

what learners are able to do (= output)

after a period of instruction, e.g., a

school year(= learning outcome)

Output Learning Outcome

based on Richards 2013

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1.1 Curriculum design

Input

Process

OutputForward design: input first

1. Curricula and textbooks

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1.1 Curriculum design

Central design: process first

1. Curricula and textbooks

Input

Output

Process

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1.1 Curriculum design

Backward design: output first

1. Curricula and textbooks

Input

Process

Outcome

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1.1 Curriculum design – forward, central, backward design

Richards 2013: 30, adapted

1. Curricula and textbooks

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1.1 Curriculum design – forward, central, backward design

Richards 2013: 30, adapted

1. Curricula and textbooks

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1.1 Curriculum design

Study the EFL curriculum in the area you are studying or teaching in. Which design elements can you identify in the curriculum? With fellow students or colleagues, discuss how well the curriculum supports the planning of lessons.

1. Curricula and textbooks

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1.2 The textbook: friend or foe? – teacher types

Textbook = resource of materials, content, teaching ideas, learning support, and reference

1. Curricula and textbooks

cf. Sercu 2000: 627, Nold 2007: 128

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1.2 The textbook: friend or foe? – pros

Systematization and structure of material

Standardization

Quality

Multimodality

Efficiency

Support

1. Curricula and textbooks

cf. Sercu 2000: 627, Richards 2007: 254-55

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1.2 The textbook: friend or foe? – cons

Inauthentic language

Distorted and/or stereotypical content

Neglect of students’ needs and interests

Deskilling of teachers

Money

1. Curricula and textbooks

cf. Sercu 2000: 627, Richards 2007: 254-55

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1.2 The textbook: friend or foe?

Study a current EFL textbook. Which of the aforementioned advantages and disadvantages do you find in the textbook? How would you counteract the disadvantages?

1. Curricula and textbooks

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2. Designing effective materials – pros

Positive effect on learner motivation

Authentic cultural information

Exposure to real language

Support a more creative approach to teaching

2. Designing effective materials

based on Richards 2007: 252-53

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2. Designing effective materials – cons

Inferior quality

Copyright infringement

Linguistic difficulty or mistakes

Lack of structure

Limited time

Financial burden

2. Designing effective materials

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2.1 Materials and tasks – evaluation of materials

2. Designing effective materialsbased on Howard & Major 2005: 104-07

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2.1 Materials and tasks – evaluation of materials

2. Designing effective materialsbased on Howard & Major 2005: 104-07

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2.1 Materials and tasks

With fellow students or colleagues, discuss which of items on the checklist are more/less important. If possible, try to agree on a ranking.

2. Designing effective materials

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2.1 Materials and tasks

Tasks complexity grading sequencing

Kultusministerkonferenz 2012: 1-2, adapted extracts

2. Designing effective materials

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2.1 Materials and tasks

Grading tasks

based on Nunan 2000: 102-03

2. Designing effective materials

Learner

Confidence

Motivation

Learning experience

Learning pace

Ability in language

skills

Cultural knowledge/ awareness

Linguistic knowledge

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2.1 Materials and tasks

Have a look at two or three pages from a current textbook. Evaluate the complexity of the tasks, if and how they are graded, and if the task sequence seems coherent.

2. Designing effective materials

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2.2 Basic tips for designing worksheets

2. Designing effective materials

Header

Footer

Mar

gin

Mar

gin

Line spacing

Font

High

lighti

ng

Layo

ut

Annotations

Visuals

Sources

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3. Digitally designed materials

Digital technology

Efficiency

Appeal

Creativity

AdaptationMediation

Sharing

Cooperation

3. Digitally designed materials

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3. Digitally designed materials

Popplet – organizing and presenting ideas

3. Digitally designed materials

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3. Digitally designed materials

Tagxedo – word clouds with style

3. Digitally designed materials

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3. Digitally designed materials: Glogster – interactive working space

3. Digitally designed materials

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3. Digitally designed materials: LearningApps – interactive teaching modules

3. Digitally designed materials

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3. Digitally designed materials

Try out the tools introduced above and create a popplet or an interactive poster about materials design as introduced in this chapter.

3. Digitally designed materials

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Recommended reading

García Mayo, María del Pilar, ed. (2007). Investigating Tasks in Formal Language Learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Mishan, Freda (2005). Designing Authenticity into Language Learning Materials. Bristol: Intellect.Motteram, Gary (2011). Developing Language-Learning Materials with Technology. In: Brian Tomlinson, ed. Materials Development in Language Teaching. 2nd ed. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press, 303-27.Richards, Jack C. (2007). Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press.Tomlinson, Brian, ed. (2011). Materials Development in Language Teaching. 2nd ed. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press.Tomlinson, Brian, ed. (2013). Developing Materials for Language Teaching. 2nd ed. London et al.: Bloomsbury.Chapter 11: Materials design

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AcknowledgmentsHoward, Jocelyn & Joe Major (2005). Guidelines for Designing Effective English Language Teaching Materials. http://www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/PAAL9/pdf/Howard.pdf.

Kultusministerkonferenz (2012). Operatoren für das Fach Englisch. http://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/pdf/Bildung/Auslandsschulwesen/Kerncurriculum/Operatoren_fuer_das_Fach_Englisch_Stand_Oktober_2012_ueberarbeitet.pdf.

Nold, Günter (2007). Die Arbeit mit dem Lehrwerk. In: Johannes-P. Timm, ed. Englisch lernen und lehren: Didaktik des Englischunterrichts. Berlin: Cornelsen, 127-36.

Nunan, David (2000). Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, Jack C. (2007). Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, Jack C. (2013). Curriculum Approaches in Language Teaching: Forward, Central, and Backward Design. In: RELC Journal 44.1, 5-33.

Sercu, Lies (2000). Textbooks. In: Michael Byram, ed. Routledge Encyclopedia of Teaching and Learning. London et al.: Routledge, 626-28.

Chapter 11: Materials design

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AcknowledgmentsThe cartoons at the beginning of each ppt were designed by Frollein Motte, 2014. If not otherwise indicated, the copyright of the figures lies with the authors. The complete titles of the sources can be found in the references to the units unless given below. All of the websites were checked on 10 September 2014. Slide 4: http://wright2.wikispaces.com/State+Standards, http://

tisteahe2012.blogspot.de/2012/09/why-is-it-important-to-have-education.html, http://hoganhayes.blogspot.de/2014/10/thoughts-on-writing-in-english-from.html

Slides 9 & 10: Characteristics of forward, central, and backward design, based on Richards 2013: 30 Slide 18 & 19: Materials design checklist, based on Howard & Major 2005: 104 – 07 Slide 21: Language performance requirements, based on Kultusministerkonferenz 2012: 1-2 Slide 26: Sample popplet; pictures Wikipedia/Wikimedia – http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Mavericks#mediaviewer/File:Dallas_Mavericks_logo.svg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Mavericks#mediaviewer/File:Victory_Plaza_1.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Mavericks#mediaviewer/File:Rick_Carlisle.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Mavericks#mediaviewer/File:Jason_Terry.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Mavericks#mediaviewer/File:Jason_Kidd_drives_Feb_24_2008.jpg

Slide 27: word cloud created with Tagxedo (www.tagxedo.com) Slide 28: sample glogs – http://earypr.edu.glogster.com/english-grammar-and-vocabulary-townhouse/?=glogpedia-source,

http://davidohf.edu.glogster.com/the-shawshank-redemption/?=glogpedia-source, http://garciasammy.edu.glogster.com/the-road-revolution/?=glogpedia-source

Slide 29: screenshot of LearningApps-homepage (learningapps.org); screenshots of sample modules – http://learningapps.org/1440523, http://learningapps.org/271811, http://learningapps.org/192427

Chapter 11: Materials design