THE IMPORTANCE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL

By:

Widya Rahmawati (1507042033)

Changes in learning styles of students and types of instructional materials available have put a great amount of pressure on the teachers, who inevitably need to keep up with the innovative techniques in technology and teaching methods. It is a fact that teaching, which is admittedly a long and hard process, is primarily composed of five components: students, teachers, instructional materials, teaching methods, and evaluation (Kitao & Kitao, 1997). Of these components, instructional materials in foreign language teaching can refer to a variety of things. They can be defined as any tool that teachers use to assist their students in adequately learning the target language; means used to increase students’ access to that language; every instrument that contributes greatly to students’ progress.

As regards the use of instructional materials to foster foreign language learning, foreign language teachers tend to employ them at the right time and in the right proportion. Offering a myriad of benefits to both teachers and learners in teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL) context, a variety of instructional materials need to be included in the agendas of teachers. Foreign language teaching, in particular English language instruction has been conducted with primarily the most available instructional materials, such as course-books, flashcards, audio recordings, video etc., despite their countless benefits, instructional materials have not been utilized properly to assist language learning.

The Catagorization of Instructional Material

Tok (2010) categorizes these instructional materials into two groups: printed ones such as course-books, workbooks, teacher’s guides etc.; and non-printed ones such as computer-based materials, videos etc. Correspondingly, Tomlinson (2012) classifies the language teaching materials in terms of instructional purposes as follows: informative (informing the learning about the target language); instructional (guiding the learner in practicing the language); experiential (providing the learner with experience of the language in use); eliciting (encouraging the learner to use the language); and exploratory (helping the learner to make discoveries about the language).

From a general perspective, instructional materials can be categorized in three groups: (1) Traditional materials; (2) audio and visual materials; and (3) information communication technologies (ICT) based materials. Traditional materials that can be regarded as classic or old usually include board, course-book, worksheet, chart, realia, flashcard, teacher made materials, etc. As for audio and visual materials, which are regarded as new for many teachers, are video player, audio materials, video camera, computer, projection device, and so on. The third category for the instructional materials, widely acknowledged as the newest, is ICT based materials such as Interactive White Boards (IWB), materials providing mobile assisted language learning (MALL) such as Web 2.0, tablet computers, the internet, podcasts, smartphone, Web 3.0 etc.

Course-books play a pivotal role in language classrooms in all types of educational institutions – state schools, colleges, language schools – all over the world (Rahimpour & Hashemi, 2011). Sheldon (1988) regards the course-book as the visible heart of any ELT program and she puts forth a number of reasons to justify the widespread use of course-books in the teaching of English as a foreign or second language throughout the world. They are the universal elements of language teaching (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994) for many teachers as they have ready-made materials and syllabi designed by the specialist in the field.

The Relationship between Technology and Instructional Material

It is true that with the rapid advancements in technology, new facilities and devices such as ICT based materials have been brought into the EFL classroom. New trends in teaching are increasingly technologically interactive, which precedes the instructional materials at the service of learners and teachers. In this digital age, particularly foreign language teachers must cope with new challenges, responsibilities, and duties. As Shamylee and Phill (2012) agree, the tradition of English teaching has been drastically changed with the entry of technologies. In this respect, language teachers cannot disassociate themselves from new technology, which allows for the application of scientific knowledge to practical tasks.

In other words, technology satisfies both auditory and visual senses of the students in learning environments (Shyamlee & Phil, 2012). It is undoubtedly true that audio-visual materials offer paramount effects on understanding of both written and spoken language. Some of the basic audio-visual aids that are frequently used in foreign language teaching include audio books, mp3, sound files, podcasts, the Internet, CDs, songs, videos, etc.

References

Kitao, K., & Kitao, S. K. (1997). Selecting and developing teaching/mearning materials. Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kitao-Materials.html

Rahimpour, M., & Hashemi, R. (2011). Textbook selection and evaluation in EFL context. World Journal of Education, 1(2), 62-68.

Sheldon, L.E. (1988). Evaluating ELT course-books and materials. ELT Journal, 42(4), 237-246.

Shyamlee, S. D., & Phil, M. (2012). Use of technology in English language teaching and learning: an analysis. International Conference on Language, Medias and Culture IPEDR. 33. (pp. 150-156). Retrieved from http://www.ipedr.com/vol33/030-ICLMC2012-L10042.pdf

Tok, H. (2010). TEFL textbook evaluation: From teachers’ perspectives. Educational Research and Review, 5(9), 508-517. Retrieved from http://www.academicjournals.org.

Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language learning and teaching. Language Teaching. 45(2), 143-179.