COURSE MODULE Don Carlos Polytechnic College

Module 2 Week 4

Poblacion Norte, Don Carlos, Bukidnon

College of Education
ELT 1: Language Learning Materials Development
2nd Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021

Introduction

This module will provide discussion about the evaluation and adaption of different materials used
English Language teaching.

Intended Learning Outcomes

A. Evaluate the different materials used in communicative teaching approach.
B. Adapt the different language materials in teaching language.
Discussion
Materials Evaluation

The Context of Evaluation

Materials evaluation is “a procedure that involves measuring the value (or potential
value) of a set of
learning materials” (Tomlinson‟s, 2003c).

There are several factors that can affect the evaluation process:

 Teachers have any choices in selecting the materials. They can differ the materials
effectively. By having a lot of choices means the need for evaluation in selection is more
than the limitation sources in materials.
 Selecting the coursebook is a challenge for teachers. People think that materials are the main
of the particular programme. The coursebook can be a representation of the activities in the
class.

 Selecting the coursebook by yourself or following the coursebook from the Ministry has
each positive and negative side. The teachers who following the coursebook from the
Ministry will feel very limiting and probably need the additional materials for filling the
particular context.

 In this situation, the teachers itself might be the subject to be evaluated. So, it will give the
teachers insight to help them follow the evolution in the field. It will help the teacher to
focus on realistic ways of adapting the materials to a particular group of learners.

 There is no coursebook or materials to be perfect. Tomlinson (2003c: 15) said that it is

because the needs, objectives, backgrounds and preferred styles of the learners differ from
context to context. We need some models for teachers that coverage the criteria of materials.
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 In evaluating process, it can be examined by two evaluation:

 External evaluation
 Internal evaluation

Principles in materials evaluation

Many evaluations are impressionistic, or at best are aided by an ad hoc and very subjective
list of criteria. In my view it is very important that evaluations (even the most informal ones) are
driven by a set of principles and that these principles are articulated by the evaluator(s) prior to the
evaluation. In this way greater validity and reliability can be achieved and fewer mistakes are likely
to be made. In developing a set of principles it is useful to consider the following.

The evaluator’s theory of learning and teaching

 Language learners succeed best if learning is a positive, relaxed and enjoyable

experience.
 Language teachers tend to teach most successfully if they enjoy their role and if they
can gain some enjoyment themselves from the materials they are using.
 Learning materials lose credibility for learners if they suspect that the teacher does not
value them.
 Each learner is different from all the others in a class in terms of his or her personality,
motivation, attitude, aptitude, prior experience, interests, needs, wants and preferred
learning style.
 Each learner varies from day to day in terms of motivation, attitude, mood, perceived
needs and wants, enthusiasm and energy.
 There are superficial cultural differences between learners from different countries (and
these differences need to be respected and catered for) but there are also strong
universal determinants of successful language teaching and learning.
 Successful language learning in a classroom (especially in large classes) depends on the
generation and maintenance of high levels of energy.
 The teacher is responsible for the initial generation of energy in a lesson; good materials
can then maintain and even increase that energy.
 Learners only learn what they really need or want to learn.
 Learners often say that what they want is focused language practice but they often seem
to gain more enjoyment and learning from activities which stimulate them to use the
target language to say something they really want to say.
 Learners think, say and learn more if they are given an experience or text to respond to
than if they are just asked for their views, opinions and interests.
 The most important thing that learning materials have to do is to help the learner to
connect the learning experience in the classroom to their own life outside the course.

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 The more novel (or better still bizarre) the learning experience is the more impact it is
likely to make and it is more likely to contribute to long- term acquisition.
 The most important result that learning materials can achieve is to engage the emotions
of learners. Laughter, joy, excitement, sorrow and anger can promote learning.
Neutrality, numbness and nullity cannot.

Materials which address the learner in an informal, personal voice are more likely to
facilitate learning than those which use a distant, formal voice (Beck et al., 1995;
Tomlinson, 2001b). Features which seem to contribute to a successful personal voice
include such aspects of orality as:

 Informal discourse features (e.g. contracted forms, ellipsis, informal lexis)

 The active rather than the passive voice
 Concreteness (e.g. examples, anecdotes)
 Inclusiveness (e.g. not signalling intellectual, linguistic or cultural superiority over
the learners)
 Sharing experiences and opinions
 Sometimes including casual redundancies rather than always being concise.
(Tomlinson, 2001b)

The External Evaluation

The aim is examining the organization of the materials as stated explicitly by the
author/publisher by looking at the description, or the claims made on the cover of the
teacher’s/students’ book and the introduction also table of contents that should enable the
evaluator to assess.

EXAMPLES:

. . . an integrated skills series which is designed to offer flexibility with different teaching
and learning styles. Fun for learners to use and easy for teachers to adapt . . .
 Fully integrated grammar, skills, and lexical syllabuses provide a balanced
learning experience.
 Engaging topics motivate students and offer greater personalization.
 A wide range of approaches exploits different learning styles.
 Clearly, structured grammar presentations are reinforced with extensive practice.
 Contextualized vocabulary focuses on authentic real-world language.
 A variety of listening and speaking activities develop learning fluency
 Learner training throughout the Student‟s Book and Workbook maximizes skills
development.

The example means that textbook for intermediate level students with different learning styles
and different levels of motivation. This textbook is designed for flexible use and offered an

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COURSE MODULE integrated learning experience covering grammar, lexis, and skills.
Module 2 Week 4

The italicized words are certain terms and key concepts.

 Tasks and activities are designed to have a real communicative purpose rather than
simply being an excuse to practice specific features.
 We have placed a special emphasis on representing an accurate multicultural view of
English as it is spoken today. Many courses still represent the English speaking world as
being the largest UK- and US-based. Considering the fact that there are now more non-
native English speakers than native, we have also included a variety of accents from a wide
range of countries and cultures.
 Throughout the Student‟s Book, learner autonomy is promoted via clear cross referencing to
features in the Workbook and elsewhere. Here students can find all the help and extra
practice they need.

From the example of description and introduction we can conclude several point as follows:
 The intended audience. We need to ascertain who the materials are targeted.
 The proficiency level. We need to decide the materials claim to a particular
level, such as beginner, intermediate, or lower.
 We need to decide the context in which the materials are to be used, such as general
learners or ESP and what degree of specialist subject knowledge is assumed in the
materials.
 We need to decide how the language has been presented and organized into teachable
units/lessons.
 We need to see the author’s views on language and methodology and the relationship
between the language, the learning process, and the learner.

The Other Factors

 Deciding the materials be used are the main core course or supplementary.
 Examining is a teacher‟s book in print and locally available. It is also
worth considering whether it is sufficiently clear for non-native speaker
teachers to use.
 Examining is there any vocabulary list/index in the textbook.
 The textbook should consist of the organization of the materials, give information about
vocabulary study, skills to be covered, additional interactive digital material and so on, an
indication as to how much class time the author thinks should be devoted to a particular unit.
Those factors can be seen in the table of contents.
 Examining is the visual material in the book, such as photographs, charts, and diagrams
integrate into the text.
 Examining are the layout and presentation clear or cluttered. Some textbooks are
researched and written well but are so cluttered with information on every page that
teachers/learners find them practically unusable.
 Examining is the material too culturally biased or specific.
 Examining are the materials represent minority groups and/or women in a negative
way and present a „balanced‟ picture of a particular country/society.

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 Examining the cost of the inclusion of digital materials, such as CD, DVD,
interactive games, quizzes and downloadable materials from the web and the
essentials of digital materials to ensure language acquisition and development.
 Examining the use for the learners of the inclusion of tests in the teaching materials,
such as diagnostic, progress, and achievement.

The Illustration of Internal Evaluation

The Internal Evaluation

The aim is to analyze the extent to which the aforementioned factors in the external
evaluation stage match up with the internal consistency and organization of the materials
as stated by the author/publisher.

The Factors of Internal Evaluation

 The presentation of the skills in the materials.

 The grading and sequencing of the materials.
 There is the way of appropriate text beyond the sentence in reading/discourse skills.
 The recordings are „authentic‟ or artificial in the listening skills.
 The speaking materials should incorporate what we know about the nature of
real interaction or offer artificial, dialogues.
 The relationship between tests and exercises to learner needs and what is taught by the
course material.
 The material should suitable for different learning styles, independent learning, and learner
autonomy.
 The materials should motivate both students and teachers. Some materials may seem
attractive to the teacher but would not be very motivating for the learners.
 Rubdy (2003: 45) proposes three broad categories that are essential for evaluation:
o The learners‟ needs, goals, and pedagogical requirements.
o The teacher‟s skills, abilities, theories, and beliefs.
o The thinking underlying the materials writer‟s presentation of the content

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COURSE MODULE and approach to teaching and learning respectively.
Module 2 Week 4

The Overall Evaluation

The factors to make an overall evaluation as to the suitability of the materials

as follows:
 The usability factor.
 The generalizability factor.
 The adaptability factor.
 The flexibility factor.

Other Types of materials evaluation

There are many different types of materials evaluation. It is possible to apply the basic principles of
materials evaluation to all types of evaluation but it is not possible to make generalizations about
procedures which apply to all types. Evaluations differ, for example, in purpose, in personnel, in
formality and in timing. You might do an evaluation in order to help a publisher to make decisions
about publication, to help yourself in developing materials for publication, to select a textbook, to
write a review for a journal or as part of a research project. As an evaluator you might be a learner, a
teacher, an editor, a researcher, a Director of Studies or an Inspector of English. You might be doing
a mental evaluation in a bookshop, filling in a short questionnaire in class or doing a rigorous,
empirical analysis of data elicited from a large sample of users of the materials. You might be doing
your evaluation before the materials are used while they are being used or after they have been used.
In order to conduct an effective evaluation you need to apply your principles of evaluation to the
contextual circumstances of your evaluation in order to determine the most reliable and effective
procedures

Pre-use evaluation

Pre-use evaluation involves making predictions about the potential value of materials for their users.
It can be context-free, as in a review of materials for a journal, context-influenced as in a review of
draft materials for a publisher with target users in mind or context-dependent, as when a teacher
selects a coursebook for use with her particular class. Often pre-use evaluation is impressionistic and
consists of a teacher flicking through a book to gain a quick impression of its potential value
(publishers are well aware of this procedure and sometimes place attractive illustrations in the top
right-hand corner of the right-hand page in order to influence the flicker in a positive way). Even a
review for a publisher or journal, and an evaluation for a ministry of education is often
‘fundamentally a subjective, rule of thumb activity’ (Sheldon, 1988, p. 245) and often mistakes are
made. Making an evaluation criterion-referenced can reduce (but not remove) subjectivity and can
certainly help to make an evaluation more principled, rigorous, systematic and reliable. This is
especially true if more than two evaluators conduct the evaluation independently and then average
their conclusions.

Whilst-use evaluation

This involves measuring the value of materials while using them or while observing them being
used. It can be more objective and reliable than pre-use evaluation as it makes use of measurement

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rather than prediction. However, it is limited to measuring what is observable (e.g. ‘Are the
instructions clear to the learners?’) and cannot claim to measure what is happening in the learners’
brains. It can measure short-term memory through observing learner performance on exercises but it
cannot measure durable and effective learning because of the delayed effect of instruction. It is
therefore very useful but dangerous too, as teachers and observers can be misled by whether the
activities seem to work or not. Exactly what can be measured in a whilst-use evaluation is
controversial but I would include the following:
 Clarity of instructions
 Clarity of layout
 Comprehensibility of texts
 Credibility of tasks
 Achievability of tasks
 Achievement of performance objectives
 Potential for localization
 Practicality of the material
 Teachability of the materials
 Flexibility of the materials
 Appeal of the materials
 Motivating power of the materials
 Impact of the materials
 Effectiveness in facilitating short-term learning

Most of the above can be estimated during an open-ended, impressionistic observation of materials
in use but greater reliability can be achieved by focusing on one criterion at a time and by using pre-
prepared instruments of measurement.

Post-use evaluation

Post-use evaluation is probably the most valuable (but least administered type of evaluation as it
can measure the actual effects of the materials on the users. It can measure the short-term effect as
regards motivation, impact, achievability, instant learning, etc., and it can measure the long-term
effect as regards durable learning and application.

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Adapting Materials

The Context of Adaptation

 The terms of the relationship between evaluation and adaptation are adopting and adapting.
 Adaptation is a process subsequent to, and dependent on, adoption.
 Adoption is concerned with whole coursebooks while a daptation concerns the parts that
make up that whole.
 The illustration of relation between internal and external evaluation as follows:

 Madsen and Bowen (1978: ix) said that “Effective adaptation is a matter of achieving
“congruence” . . . . The good teacher is . . . constantly striving for congruence among
several related variables: teaching materials, methodology, students, course objectives,
the target language and its context, and the teacher‟s own personality and teaching style”.
 McGrath (2002) argues for the benefits of adaptation: appropriate and relevant adapted
materials are likely to increase learner motivation and therefore contribute to enhanced
learning.

The Reason for Adapting

 Not enough grammar coverage in general.

 Not enough practice of grammar of particular difficulty to the learners.
 The communicative focus means that grammar is presented unsystematically.
 Reading passages contain too much unknown vocabulary.
 Comprehension questions are too easy because the answers can be lifted directly from the
text with no real understanding.
 Listening passages are inauthentic because they sound too much like written material being
read out.
 Not enough guidance on pronunciation.
 Subject matter inappropriate for learners of this age and intellectual level.
 Photographs and other illustrative material not culturally acceptable.
 Amount of material too much or too little to cover in the time allocated to lessons.
 No guidance for teachers on handling group work and role-play activities with a large class.
 Dialogues too formal and not representative of everyday speech.
 Audio material difficult to use because of problems to do with room size and

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Module 2 Week 4

 Too much or too little variety in the activities

Principles and Procedure

The reason for adapting can be taken from:

 Personalize
 Individualize
 Localize

The Procedures

Adding means materials are supplemented by putting more into them while thinking the practical
effect on time allocation. Teachers can do this in the situations as follows:

 The materials contain practice in the pronunciation of minimal pairs but not enough
examples of the
difficulties for learners with a particular first language
 A second reading passage parallel to the one provided is helpful in reinforcing the key
linguistic features of the text, such as tenses, sentence structure, vocabulary,
cohesive devices.
 The students find the explanation of a new grammar point rather difficult, so further
exercises are added before they begin the practice material.

Deleting or omitting The teachers can do this in the situations as follows:

 The student's pronunciation exercises on minimal pairs contain too much general
material.
 Some of the language functions presented in a communicative coursebook are unlikely to be
required by learners who will probably not use their English in the target language
environment.

Modifying It is divided into two parts:

 Rewriting when some of the linguistic content needs modification. It relates activities
more closely to students‟ own backgrounds and interests, introduce the example of
authentic language, or set problem solving tasks where the answers are not always known
before the teacher asks the question.
Restructuring which applies to classroom management. It refers to a „modality change‟, to
a change in the nature or focus of an exercise, or text or classroom activity.

Simplifying refers to make the elements of a language course easier to see how different parts fit
together. The elements of a language course such as the instructions and explanations that
accompany exercises and activities and even the visual layout of material. It is according to:
 Sentence structure.
 Lexical content.

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 Grammatical structures.

Reordering refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a coursebook in a different order. The
examples of reordering of material are:
 Materials typically present „the future‟ by „will‟ and
„going to‟. However, for many learners, certainly at the intermediate level and above, it
is helpful to show the relationship between time reference and grammatical tense in an
appropriate way.
 The length of teaching programme may be too short for finishing the coursebook from
beginning to end. So, the material will be taken from the language needs of the students.
It can also include separating items of content from each other as well as regrouping them and
putting them together.

A FRAMEWORK FOR ADAPTATION

Exercise

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Assessment

Reflection

Resources and Additional Resources

 http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/asa86/2016/03/02/materials-evaluation-and-adaptation/

 https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college artslaw/cels/essays/
younglearners/dickinsonYL

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