Throughout and after the application of materials, the evaluation or assessment of them must be carried out. Only then can teachers realize how successful these materials have been within the classroom.
One way to achieve such task is by writing down notes. This will be kind of tedious, but it will make teachers keep track of every detail that occur during instruction. Indeed, teachers can get surprised at seeing that what works with a group does not necessarily work with another one. The reason beyond this discrepancy is that every classroom or group of students is unique. Certain kind of learners will be delighted by a task in which they have to do a survey so that they have to stand up and interact with different classmates. On the other hand, this kind of activities represents an ordeal for students who are more interpersonal and whose learning style is everything but kinesthetic. I am not saying that we only have to develop materials that are according to our students' learning style or kind of intelligences; teachers have to develop in students the need of seeking for development of those features that are not predominate within them as learners. I just want to state that every time there is this task that you know that students will not feel at ease with, support and follow-up are essential to get students to realize that they will benefit from working with materials given.
Moreover, teachers end up convinced that their materials are perfect just because no student has had a complaint about it. Besides the syndrome of falling in love with your materials, we can deduce that students either do not feel comfortable with letting the teacher know their feedback on those materials or they have not been given the chance for assessing them with a formal instrument. A simple checklist or a questionnaire about how students’ perception of the materials in question is can provide the most valuable feedback on what to include and what to discard in your materials.
Retrospection by students and by professors on how the teaching praxis is affected by the use of certain materials must not be overlooked. The "It would be nice if..." phrase has to prevail when evaluating materials. As Francisco Vargas, Cambridge University Press representative for Costa Rica, once said, teachers do the magic no matter the teaching conditions. Classrooms may have a smart board, but students realize that their teacher does not know how to take advantage of it. The resources may be plain black and white copies, and students enjoy when their teachers bring these materials alive.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
What do students do with well-designed materials?
"Teacher this is wonderful, but I do not know where to start" is what many EFL teachers have heard or perceived form their learners when they end up totally puzzled up at their teachers' materials. Having created well-intended and according-to-the-students-needs materials is just half way in the learning process. The other side of the coin is making these materials alive.
The first step for students to take advantage of their teachers' adapted, created or adopted exercises is on the instructors' abilities to foresee further outcomes while teaching. Experienced professors have this skill of predicting how students will react towards materials. Planning should come hand to hand with the teaching practice per se. Therefore the role of instructions enclosed in those tasks or exercises becomes more and more essential. There are times when teachers will find a sort of manual or teachers' notes which, indeed, guide them step by step on how to develop that given activity. Once the how-to-apply part is clear, teachers must be analytical enough to determine if the materials have any implications into the class population they will be developing them with. Here is when teachers have to see BEYOND the beautiful materials they bring into the classroom; some of these concerns can be derived from these thoughts: "Is this going to offend any of my students?, Is any of my pupils going to find either too hard or too easy?, Do I need to provide more support so that my students can understand lexical items, structures or cultural aspects that these materials include?"
Also, professors must be aware that working with materials is another way to enhance cognitive development. Students need to given the chance of activating previous knowledge that makes assimilation attainable, acquiring new input that will turn into intake—hopefully, and discovering new language or socio-affective skills that will help in their daily life.
Materials are not to be used for teaching purposes only. They also create habits, rise learning expectations and promote critical thinking in students. The so-what question must be avoided in the learners' minds. Through the use of materials, teachers get students to self-invest in their learning.
The first step for students to take advantage of their teachers' adapted, created or adopted exercises is on the instructors' abilities to foresee further outcomes while teaching. Experienced professors have this skill of predicting how students will react towards materials. Planning should come hand to hand with the teaching practice per se. Therefore the role of instructions enclosed in those tasks or exercises becomes more and more essential. There are times when teachers will find a sort of manual or teachers' notes which, indeed, guide them step by step on how to develop that given activity. Once the how-to-apply part is clear, teachers must be analytical enough to determine if the materials have any implications into the class population they will be developing them with. Here is when teachers have to see BEYOND the beautiful materials they bring into the classroom; some of these concerns can be derived from these thoughts: "Is this going to offend any of my students?, Is any of my pupils going to find either too hard or too easy?, Do I need to provide more support so that my students can understand lexical items, structures or cultural aspects that these materials include?"
Also, professors must be aware that working with materials is another way to enhance cognitive development. Students need to given the chance of activating previous knowledge that makes assimilation attainable, acquiring new input that will turn into intake—hopefully, and discovering new language or socio-affective skills that will help in their daily life.
Materials are not to be used for teaching purposes only. They also create habits, rise learning expectations and promote critical thinking in students. The so-what question must be avoided in the learners' minds. Through the use of materials, teachers get students to self-invest in their learning.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Are students really benefiting from materials created by their own teachers?
No EFL book or resource will ever satisfy teacher's expectations when choosing materials. Every classroom context differs in several aspects: cultural background, proficiency level, age, interests, and types of intelligences of participants in the teaching-learning process-being these teachers or learners. These features are to lead material designers into production of instructional tasks that are appropriate not only to the approach being followed but also to the conditions of a specific population. It is known that the final product of these materials end up being either so standard that they do not really meet students' needs or so specific that students would struggle with them. This is when material adapting or developing takes place. Most EFL teachers have decided to produce their own exercises and activities or improve the ones that come from publishers. There are certain factors that should not be left aside in order for teachers to come up with effective and beneficial materials.
First, the level of English for a given task must be defined. It is recommended by Tomlinson that the input learners are exposed to be authentic in use, which requires cognitively challenging processes (8). At the same time, through material development, students have to be taught to develop learning skills; therefore, the so-hard-to-understand video that the teacher decides to download from the web becomes comprehensible if scaffolding is enhanced. In other words, it is the teacher's responsibility to analyze the kind of language materials, whose source does not have a teaching purpose at first, may have. After this is inquired, pre and follow-up exercises help learners take advantage of more real input. It is not as simple as just playing a movie or a song to "kill some time"; having as-real-life-as-possible exercises is time-consuming for teachers, who are to promote that learners enjoy authenticity in materials.
The quality of resources in terms of colors, distribution of space, clarity in pictures, size in illustrations and fonts, among others, is to be considered in material development. In fact, teachers should detect possible flaws in their own creations just like a publicist does in designing advertisements. There must be a systematically organized fashion in materials. Based on my personal experience as an EFL, good materials that follow this principle of organization are the ones that keep the flow of the class, where there are no gaps between one activity and the other one or where the teacher does not have to take a lot of time telling students how to decode procedures in exercises. Materials that are not that effective are the ones in which learners feel like not doing them; this may be caused in case a handout is too crowded and there is even no space for completing exercises, for instance. Above all, teachers have to get accustomed to the idea that materials their pupils are using have to be visually attractive. This sense of attractiveness will make students be more motivated and engaged in their learning process.
We have to bear in mind that the more teachers personalize materials to the target class, the more meaningful learners will find these materials. Some teachers would say that this would mean taking a lot of work home; it is indeed tons of work, which pays off when teachers see their students learning in all senses: developing confidence in using real language for communicative purposes and self-investing their attention in learning (Tomlinson 9-12). Those extra minutes spent in cutting and pasting are worth the effort.
Bibliography:
Tomlinson, Brian. Material Development in Language Teaching. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print.
First, the level of English for a given task must be defined. It is recommended by Tomlinson that the input learners are exposed to be authentic in use, which requires cognitively challenging processes (8). At the same time, through material development, students have to be taught to develop learning skills; therefore, the so-hard-to-understand video that the teacher decides to download from the web becomes comprehensible if scaffolding is enhanced. In other words, it is the teacher's responsibility to analyze the kind of language materials, whose source does not have a teaching purpose at first, may have. After this is inquired, pre and follow-up exercises help learners take advantage of more real input. It is not as simple as just playing a movie or a song to "kill some time"; having as-real-life-as-possible exercises is time-consuming for teachers, who are to promote that learners enjoy authenticity in materials.
The quality of resources in terms of colors, distribution of space, clarity in pictures, size in illustrations and fonts, among others, is to be considered in material development. In fact, teachers should detect possible flaws in their own creations just like a publicist does in designing advertisements. There must be a systematically organized fashion in materials. Based on my personal experience as an EFL, good materials that follow this principle of organization are the ones that keep the flow of the class, where there are no gaps between one activity and the other one or where the teacher does not have to take a lot of time telling students how to decode procedures in exercises. Materials that are not that effective are the ones in which learners feel like not doing them; this may be caused in case a handout is too crowded and there is even no space for completing exercises, for instance. Above all, teachers have to get accustomed to the idea that materials their pupils are using have to be visually attractive. This sense of attractiveness will make students be more motivated and engaged in their learning process.
We have to bear in mind that the more teachers personalize materials to the target class, the more meaningful learners will find these materials. Some teachers would say that this would mean taking a lot of work home; it is indeed tons of work, which pays off when teachers see their students learning in all senses: developing confidence in using real language for communicative purposes and self-investing their attention in learning (Tomlinson 9-12). Those extra minutes spent in cutting and pasting are worth the effort.
Bibliography:
Tomlinson, Brian. Material Development in Language Teaching. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print.
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