MATERIAL ADAPTATION

PREPARED BY,
SRI MAHESWARY A/P SOMASUNDARAM
SITI MUNIRAH BT ISMAIL
AZIHA BT TAWANG

DEFINITION
Materials adaptation means matching

materials with the learners needs, the

teachers demands and administrations
purpose.

CONCEPT
Adaptation is...

To modify the materials in order to suit the local

context and learners needs.

To bring local wisdom, experience and studies into the

materials
To reflect learning styles of target learners.
To enhance user-friendliness for teachers ,pupils and

the meterials especially.

To allow space for creativity.


Common Problems of existing ESL materials

Unable to fulfill the goals and objectives specified local syllabuses or

curricula.
Fail to fulfill the goals and objectives of schools where the materials are

used.
Cannot be finished in the time available.
Require facilities or equipment or other supporting materials that are not

available.
Not engaging the learners personality.
Detrimental to the learners culture.
Not cater for the learners interests.

REASONS
Published materials are usually constrained by

Syllabus, Unit and other space concerns.

Not all materials are fully developed.
A good teachers guide will supplement

materials with useful alternatives and

adaptations, but where this does not happen
or a teacher does not have the teachers
guide, adaptation will become the creative
process between teacher and published
material.

Despite the great effort that textbook writers

make to meet the needs of pupils, textbooks

are subject to adaptation when they are
actually used in the classroom.
In most ESL classroom, teachers have to adapt

the materials they are using if they want their

teaching to be more effective and more
interesting.

REASONS
To satisfy the pupils needs.
Most teachers suggested that they wanted

to motivate pupils to make their learning

easier.
Some teachers added warm-up activities at
the beginning of the lesson, e.g.
introducing background knowledge, aims
and objectives to stimulate the pupils
interest.

The majority of teachers added extra exercises or

activities to maintain pupils interest.

They also adapted the level of difficulty of some

exercises to suit students linguistic and intellectual

needs.
A few deleted unnecessary language exercises and

detailed explanations of grammar.

Some teachers added language exercises to help the

students master the language forms.

Several trainees rewarded the game winners a small

prize. All this evidence reveals the trainees aspirations

to satisfy the students different types of needs.

DONTS in materials adaptation:

Teachers should not adapt materials too casually,

e.g. based on his or her own preferences or tastes;

Materials adaptation should not be done at the

expense of completeness and overall framework of

the materials.
Materials deleted or added should not go beyond a

reasonable proportion, otherwise consider

alternative materials.
Teachers should not adapt materials only to cater for

the needs of exams or tests.