Materials

Materials will be defined as any systematic description of techniques and exercise to

be used in class room teaching. The key in developing sound materials is to ensure the
materials are described and organized well enough so the teacher can use them with no
confusions and with a minimum of preparation time. Before developing materials the
materials developers are better to stop and take stock of what has been learned about the
program thus far. If the steps are similar to the outline in the previous chapters then the
developers should have a clear understanding of the programs theoretical positions (the
approaches and syllabuses) as well as its more practical orientations (techniques and
exercise).

Framework for Materials Design

Developing materials for students must consider terms of approaches and syllabus as
well as how it will influence the choices that must be made in the development and
implementation of materials. Three strategies will be discussed: adopting, developing and
adapting materials. However, the choice of overall strategy must be considered before
becoming too involved in actual materials development processes.

Approaches
There must be some sort of theoretical motivation underlying any curriculum
development. These motivations have been labeled as approaches and interpreted as
ways of defending what students need. The approach includes classical approach, the
grammar translation approach, the direct approach, the audiolingual approach and the
commutative approach.
Running Example:
Using communicative approach:
Communicative approach that takes the position that students should be able to
express their intentions and the meanings important in their lives.
- The students are in the intermediate level, ranging from 450 to 500 on TOEFL.
- The approach will be applied two courses; speaking and writing.
- The students need to take in order to learn to express those meanings which are
most important to them.
- Once its established, the curriculum developers will have basis for beginning to
organize teaching process.
Syllabuses
The teaching activities called syllabus are predominantly concerned with the
choice necessary to organize the language content of a course. The procedures of
developing syllabuses include:
- Examining instructional objectives
- Arranging in terms of priority
- Determining what kind of techniques and exercise are required
 There are 7 syllabuses that usually use in ESL courses and materials (pages 142).
According to Johnsons (1941: p.34) a syllabus should essentially a job
specification and such set out clearly and precisely what is to be done and the
standard or criteria to be met by those who do it. Many good teachers maybe will
agree with Johnson but the teacher nowadays may prefer to work directly from the
program objectives, selecting program by themselves. In other situations, its
because the political or administrative requirements.
Running Example:
Using Communicative Approach a functional syllabus
(back to table 3.1 and 3.9)
Techniques
The category of teaching activities called techniques comes into play.
Language can be presented to students in many ways, but the presentation is typically
includes various combination of interactions. The materials should make decisions
early in the process about the principle kinds of activity and learning experiences that
the program will use and also the criteria. There are questions that materials
development will have to answer such as:
1. How much weight will be assigned to each activity per lessons?
2. What configuration of teacher and learner will activities involve?

Running Example:

Back table 3.1 and 3.9

The techniques that will be used are decided by the teacher. The techniques are the
effective techniques in helping the students. The teacher also should reporting (by
describing), that was listed in syllabus. (page 144)

In the example the criteria for selecting techniques are related to idea that is useful to
provide opportunities for students to develop their skills.

Exercises
Once the approaches , syllabuses and techniques have been set, the exercises
must be concerned as well. Language can be practiced in many ways, but typically
such practice focused on the students using the language in some interaction. Material
developers must make early decisions about the principal kinds of exercises and
criteria that will be most appropriate for the program in question. The primary
questions concern the weight that will be assigned to each activity per lesson and the
configurations of teacher/ learner/ group/ class that will be used.

Running example:

The line between techniques and exercises is becoming increasingly blurred because,
in communicative approach, teaching techniques often consists of setting up
opportunities for students to practice using the language.
Materials Blueprint
The curriculum developers would be well advised to formulate a material
blueprint that represents the kind of language program that they are proposing based
on all the information obtained in the needs analysis, objectives setting, and testing
stages of program development. Other important factors might include the
characteristics of the teachers, learners, and adminitrators, also the language needs of
students. Outline of a material blueprint (from CAL 1981) in table 5.1 is the example
of form part of a teachers manual that can be used to describe the program and its
curriculum. The teachers manual can also contain information that will support
instructors in their teaching efforts.
Besides, the instructional blueprint should probably include many of the topics
covered in the checklist given in Table 5.2
Background
Overall curriculum description
Needs
Goals and Objectives
Tests
Materials
Teaching
Program Evaluation

To conclude, the checklist for a materials development blueprint provided in

Table 5.2 can serve as a framework for thinking through all the essential parts of such
a project.

Units of Analysis
Conceptions of a syllabus are related to the approaches to language and language
learning processes to which the curriculum designers and program participants
subscribe. Under the influence of grammar-based approaches to learning, syllabuses
are traditionally expressed in terms of grammar, sentence patterns, and vocabulary. As
a result of the more recent movement, syllabuses have tended to be expressed in more
communicative terms. For example the following components of a syllabus by Van
Ek and Alexander 1980, pp.17-117 in the Council of Europes Threshold Level, are
specified: (see: p.151)
Notice how this relatively comprehensive list suggests areas in which units of
analysis might be found (in this case, topics, activities, functions, general notions, and
specific notions).