TSL3105

SELECTION AND ADAPTATION OF MATERIALS AND ACTIVITIES

gk/2014
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Discuss
1. Why do teachers need to select teaching materials and activities?

Principles of Selection and Adaptation of Materials and Activities

Good teaching materials and activities should be related to the topic and able to attract the students curiosity, interest and attention. In order to do this, the materials / activities should have novelty, variety, appealing content, etc
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Principles of Selection and Adaptation of Materials and Activities

Materials and activities should expose the students to language in authentic use. Using authentic language is more motivating and challenging.

Principles of Selection and Adaptation of Materials and Activities

Teaching resources should maximise learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic

and emotional involvement which stimulates

both right and left brain activities.

Principles of Selection and Adaptation of Materials and Activities

Teachers should take into account a range of learning styles when adapting a teaching resource so all students can benefit. Teachers should take into account that students differ in affective factors. Good teaching resources should accommodate different attitudinal and motivational background as much as possible.

Principles of Selection and Adaptation of Materials and Activities

The process of selecting materials and activities to be used in the classroom should consider the following aspects:
Values
Age Level Schematic knowledge

Syllabus
SoW Content Culture

Purpose
Focus skill Motivation

Role model
Anxiety Interest

Materials / Activities for Listening and Speaking

LISTENING

SPEAKING

Materials / Activities for Listening and Speaking

LISTENING Quick retelling Show me the way Draw the story Telephone talk Intonation clue Jigsaw listening Drama LISTENING SPEAKING Debates

Problem solving
Role play SPEAKING Glove Puppets Shadow Theatre Radio Broadcast Just a minute

Discuss
Why do teachers need to adapt teaching materials?

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What is adaptation in listening and speaking materials and activities?

The process of finding an authentic material or activity which can be of interest to learners, and bringing some modifications to it, in order to make it usable as the basis for in-class listening and speaking materials and activities.

Why Adapt?

ESL students have a very hard time listening to and understanding spoken texts and instruction in English, especially at the lower primary levels Some ESL students come to schools with limited exposure and experiences in the Englisg Language When all children are able to participate in listening and speaking focused teaching, the lesson becomes effective

Two primary ways of adaptation in listening and speaking materials

1. Simplification The listening and speaking text can be linguistically simplified by substituting infrequently occurring nontechnical vocabulary with frequently occurring vocabulary, shortening sentence length and restructuring sentences to reduce their complexity. The goal here is linguistic simplification to lower anxiety level. The purpose of adaptation is to eliminate overly complex language that might prevent the student from participating in a listening and speaking task.

Two primary ways of adaptation in listening and speaking materials

2. Elaboration To clarify, elaborate and explain implicit information and make connections explicit. Words are often added to increase listeners comprehension.

The goal is to make a material/activity more coherent and limit the ambiguity within it. Unlike linguistic simplification, improved text coherence (or understandability) does not necessarily decrease the difficulty of a text.

Benefits of Text Adaptation

Linguistic simplification will presumably decrease the language load a speaker or listener must grapple with, allowing ELS students to concentrate on understanding the content without the burden of language complexities. Simpler vocabulary would allow a learner to focus on essential meaning rather than become frustrated with complex words and pronunciations.

Drawbacks of Text Adaptation

Materials and activities that is simplified may prevent the students from being exposed to the vocabulary and pronunciation that they will eventually need to know
Although the materials and activities are made easy enough for students to listen and speak, resources that are too easy never provide learners with the opportunity to see what they can actually accomplish in real life

Steps to go through in adapting listening and speaking materials/activities

1. Choose which meet learners interests : topics dealing with issues that are of interest to them content which motivates them literature, science, business, vocational training. Be aware of their classes and levels, their interests in domains such as sports, culture, religion, social activities

Steps to go through in adapting listening and speaking materials/activities

2. Keep the material/activity as authentic as possible (as close as possible to the original one)
3. Select material/activity of an appropriate length if possible. 4. For longer listening/speaking material/activity : reduce the text to an acceptable length keeping it as complete as possible select important parts of the listening text , keeping intact the general idea and progression of the speakers reasoning.

Steps to go through in adapting listening and speaking materials/activities

5. Substitute difficult vocabulary words with simpler ones: difficult vocabulary include words with difficult pronunciation for the learner and will prevent the understanding of the context. Give the explanation of a few vocabulary items. Substitute highly complex and confusing structures with clearer ones. It can imply breaking sentences into two or more. Design appropriate activities to use the text profitably in class.

6. 7.

8.

Conclusion
Teachers need to know how and to have the initiative
to evaluate, select and adapt teaching materials. Very often, with a heavy workload, teachers simply do not have the time or energy to do anything beyond lesson planning and marking students homework. Without explicit encouragement from authorities, many teachers do not make an effort to evaluate and adapt textbooks and other teaching materials.
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