SELECTING MATERIAL

By Asarika Fajarini

INTRODUCTION

Selection of materials for classroom use is a challenging task for English language teachers as they provide a strong platform through which students learn English language. Presentation of developmentally appropriate, relevant and engaging materials is, therefore, the prime responsibility of the material developers and the teachers. Selection of the right materials makes teaching and learning a worthwhile activity and creates a classroom environment which is efficient, effective and meaningful. On the contrary, if materials present out of context situations to which learners cannot relate to, are uninteresting and complicated, then teaching and learning becomes a dull and monotonous activity. The classroom becomes a stolid forum where de-motivation sets in.

This paper will describe about how we choose the material to support the teaching learning process.  

DISCUSSION

‘Materials’ include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language. They can be linguistic, visual, and auditory or kina esthetic and they can be presented in print, through live performance or display, or on cassette, CD-ROM, DVD or the internet. (Tomlinson, 001, p.66)

Cunningsworth in Seif (1995) has summarized the role of materials as:

a.       A resource for presentation materials (spoken and written)

b.      A source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction

c.       A reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation

d.      A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities

e.       A syllabus (where they reflect learning objectives that have already been determined)

f.       A support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence

Thus materials are an inevitable part of the teaching-learning process as they “lubricate the wheels of learning”, “provide concrete models for desirable classroom practice” and “fulfill a teacher development role” (Nunan, 1988, p.98).

According to Elliott (1998), there are eleven criteria to select material in the textbook. Those are:

1.      Do the materials focus on big ideas and/or essential questions?

Curriculum materials and textbooks that are understanding-based usually identify the “big ideas” developed through the materials and often include essential questions for each chapter or unit. Unfortunately, many materials have a limited focus on big ideas and/or essential questions, or write questions for each unit that are not really essential in nature (they focus on factual information).

2.      Do the materials require learners to be thoughtful, reflective, and use high level skills?

Understanding based materials constantly ask students to think and reflect – to explain their solutions to problems, to interpret data, the apply their knowledge to new situations, to explore diverse  perspectives, to empathize with others, and to learn more about themselves (self-knowledge) and so on. The six facets are continually woven into the fabric of the materials through both assessments and instructional strategies.

There are also ample opportunities to both learn and use a variety of high level skills, such as research and scientific inquiry, strategic reading, the writing process, problem solving and decision making.

3.      Do the materials include valid and varied assessments - both traditional and performance-based?

Many materials vary in the nature and types of suggested assessments. However, it is rare to find many materials that incorporate both traditional multiple choice, true-false, sentence completion assessments along with more open-ended and thoughtful understanding-based assessments, such as writing prompts, performance tasks, and reflective journals. Also – many assessments included with curriculum materials are not valid in measuring the goals stated in the materials, often because a different committee from the textbook developers developed the assessments apart from the goals and text of the materials. Few materials examine how to incorporate formative assessments that help students to achieve success over time.

4.      Do the materials contain effective and engaging activities?

One measure of a powerful, understanding based curriculum can be found in the nature of the suggested activities. Are the activities designed to insure the successful mastery of understanding (the “effectiveness” of the activities)? Do they help students to engage in inquiry into essential questions? Do they help students to explain and explore their understanding on a regular basis? Are many of the activities “constructivist” in nature – that is, require continual interactions between teachers and students and require students to “make meaning” through the activities? Do the activities tend to “hook” students and hold their interest?

5.      Do the materials continually revisit big ideas?

A good understanding based curriculum revisits the same ideas and develops them over time in more complex ways. For example, a good understanding based mathematics curriculum will examine spatial relationships in more complex ways as students’ progress through the grades. A good understanding based US History textbook will examine the same big idea, such as “the struggle to preserve and enlarge democracy”, through multiple units so as to enhance and refine student understanding.

6.      Do the materials reflect a “developmentally appropriate” approach to student learning?

Understanding based curricula appropriately challenge students and provide rigorous academic learning that is developmentally appropriate. For example, reading level formulas are not used to produce sterile reading materials below the level of student understanding. Difficult words are not taken out of the text solely because of their difficulty. Where appropriate, the materials encourage teachers and students to examine difficult ideas, enlarge concepts and vocabulary, the materials are not so difficult for students that they cannot use them – on the other hand, the materials are not so simple that they prevent significant learning.

7.      Are the materials geared to the diverse abilities, interests and needs of students?

Good materials support the varied needs of students in a diverse classroom environment. The teacher’s guide specifically notes differentiated strategies for various ability levels, such as choices and options, modifications, accommodations for varied learners, and appropriate enrichment activities. Special students of all types are capable of working with the materials at an independent level or with limited support from regular education

Also, text, materials and instructional strategies provide a variety of activities that take into account the multiple and diverse intelligences of students. The text and materials take into account different learning styles both in the way student’s access information and in the suggested assessments used to assure understanding and the learning of key knowledge and skills.

8.      Is the curriculum program based on text alone, or does it include many different types of materials, including technology-based learning?

If the materials are built around a text, does the text play a supporting role (not a sole one) within the entire program? For example, are there supplied ancillary materials that allow for the use of primary sources, data for interpretation, etc. for inquiry and thinking and create a varied and exciting dimension to the overall learning experience? Are students enabled to utilize meaningful technology elements in learning and assessment? Does the program contain suggested Internet web sites and CD-ROM’s within the program that provide a meaningful expansion of the teaching experience tied to understanding-based teaching and learning?

9.      Do the materials encourage interdisciplinary connections?

Effective materials encourage interdisciplinary connections. One way is that they may integrate big ideas and/or essential questions not only from the discipline being studied but other disciplines as well. For example, history texts might incorporate many big ideas and essential questions from economics, government, and geography. Science materials that meet this criterion include big ideas and essential questions that integrate various science disciplines, such as biology, chemistry and physics. Interdisciplinary connections are also developed through the development of processes and skills.

 10.  Are the materials and instructional plans well organized and easy to use (teacher friendly)?

Since teachers have so many professional functions they must perform, good organization of curriculum materials and relative ease of use are important. Good materials have clearly stated understanding-based goals throughout the program, with units, assessments, instructional plans and strategies clearly developed and organized. The teacher should not have to continually search for or find appropriate materials, but, in general, they should be supplied or be accessible. Teachers should be able to use the units, lessons, assessments, and support materials in a relatively easy fashion, and should be able to adapt them where necessary and appropriate.

11.  Are outside experiences, including family involvement, part of the learning experience?

The materials suggest multiple opportunities for connecting the curriculum to the outside world through authentic learning opportunities Authentic experiences such as field trips, interviews, use of real data, etc. are included throughout the program and are tied to big ideas and/or essential questions. The program is organized in such a way that parents can help their child work on homework that is tied to understanding based learning. Study guides are clear and help students use a variety of study, research and thinking processes and skills. The materials also recognize the primary educational role of the family and support parents who wish to extend and foster supplemental understanding based learning experiences with their children.

CONCLUSION

Materials are that vital funnel through which knowledge is transferred from the teachers to the learners. Such knowledge can only be transferred effectively if the materials are appropriate to the needs of the learners, are contextually appropriate, and linguistically sound. Also, such materials are hugely dependent on the pedagogical skill of the teachers and the manner in which they use manipulative skills to teach them. Materials pose a comprehension and contextual threat to the learners if the teachers and school administration fail to use the skill of judging their appropriateness for classroom use. In such circumstances materials become more of a liability and burden and make teaching and learning an unpleasant experience. Materials, therefore, should be carefully selected, processed, adapted if needed, and judged for successful application in the classroom. This can only happen once the learner is kept at the centre of the education stage and materials are selected and used for enhancement of learner knowledge and skill.

References:

Elliott Seif and Frank Champine, (1998). Criteria for Selecting Era 3, 21st Century Outcomes Curriculum Materials.

http://www.era3learning.org/resources/curriculum-materials-select.pdf

Nunan D. (1988). The learner-centered curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (2001). Materials development. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to TESOL (pp. 66–71). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.