The analysis of language teaching materials:

inside the Trojan Horseby Andrew Littlejohn

PREPARED BY:

DECLAN PAUL JOHNNY BT12110030

ELUCIA YONG SIEW LEAN BT12110033

GLENN ANDREW HILARION BT12110047

LOH CHIA YEE BT12110073

STENNIA MIGA AK RADIM BT12110180

Materials design has become characterised by 2 important developments:

Use of published materials is widespread presence of UK publisher

Eg. Oxford, Pearson

Materials evolved much more complex objects Comes with complete “packages” for language learning and

teaching

Eg. Textbook has questions to be answered by students, enable teacher-student interaction

Issue proposed by Andrew Littlejohn…

Development of materials will be more effective if we are able to examine implications of the material use in classroom

Need to test out the claims being made for materials: Help develop autonomy? Involve problem-solving? Learner centered?

*looking inside like Trojan Horse*

Analysing materials

His concern was to..

Enable a close analysis materials themselves. (as support to design material)

Enable it to be a preliminary step to materials evaluation and classroom research

This is where the framework comes in...

Sources for guidance in analysing materials

Frameworks depicted by other researchers

E.g : Harmer, 1991; Williams 1983; Cunningsworth, 1984

However...

Although useful, they only made general impressionistic judgements on the materials

Contain assumptions about what ‘desirable’ materials should look like.

E.g : Williams 1983; Schemes of evaluation , up-to-date methodology

Hence...

A framework is required to guide teacher-analyst to have an ‘in-depth’ evaluation of a material.

We need to consider...

What are the aspects of materials we should examine? How to examine? How can we relate the findings to our own teaching

context?

Frameworks that Littlejohn proposed…

Framework

Design

Publication

• Physical aspects of the materials and how they appear as a complete set or book

• The actual form of the material

• Relates to the thinking underlying the material

• Considers how tasks, language and content in materials are selected

Aspects of analysis of language teaching materials

Aspects of analysis of language teaching materials

Analysis of materials

Need to focus on what learner are asked to do

How it relates to “process competence”

Process competenc

e Knowledg

e

Ability

Affects

How do we examine the materials?

On its own, the framework has very limited use

Therefore,

Teacher-analyst need to examine different “levels” of analysis

Levels of analysis of language teaching materials

What is there?

• Statements of description• Physical aspects of the materials• Main steps in instructional

sections

What is required

of users ?

• Subdivision into constituent tasks• An analysis of tasks: What is the learner

expected to do? With whom? With what content? Who determines these things?

What is implied?

• Deducing aims, principles of selection and sequence

• Deducing teacher and learner roles

• Deducing demands on learners’ process competence

This figure outlines levels from the most objective through deductions to conclusions about the underlying principles of materials.

Level 1:What is there?

Explicit nature of the materials – what is clear and can be understood and seen easily

Statements found within the materials

Example: Publication date

Intended audience

Type of materials

Physical aspects of the materials Number of pages

Use of colour

Total number of components in a complete set

We are able to see: How a material is divided into sections

The means of access into the materials provided

How both of the above are distributed between teacher and learner

Categories of information recorded depend on the particular materials being analysed

The length of materials make it impractical to analyse all the contents

Proportion of materials examined and main sequence of activity is recorded (Part B)

Littlejohn found it useful to analyse about 10%-15% of the material

A schedule for recording the explicit nature of a set of materials

A schedule for recording the explicit nature of a set of materials

A schedule for recording the explicit nature of a set of materials

Level 2:What is required of users?

Most important aspect of materials

Draw deductions about what exactly teachers and learners who are using the materials have to do

Materials need to be divided into tasks where each task is analysed.

Two definitions:

1. Task is meaning-focused work, such as projects, problem-solving and simulations.

2. “Task refers to any proposal contained within the materials for action to be undertaken by the learners, which has the direct aim of bringing about the learning of the foreign language” (Littlejohn, 1998).

Definition 1 – too narrow to analyse any set language learning materials

– not meaning focused

Definition 2 – alternative broader definition

From definition 2, there are three aspects of tasks A process through which learners and teachers are to go

Classroom participation concerning with whom the learners are to work

Content that the learners are to focus on

Process

Participation

Content

Process

Turn-takeRelates to the role in classroom discourse

learners are expected to take.

Are they:• Responding to direct

questions?• Using language

supplied/not supplied by material?

• Asked to initiate?• Not required to take any

direct role at all?

Focus

Meaning of language?

Form of language?

Both?

Operation

Refers to the mental process required.

Eg:• Repetition• Deducing

language rules

Participation ‘With whom?’

Work alone? Pairs/groups? Whole class?

Content Is it written or spoken?

Individual word or sentences or extended discourse?

Where does the material come from? Teachers or learner themselves?

What is the nature? Grammar explanations?

Personal information?

Fiction?

General knowledge?

With this detailed analysis…

The assumptions about the best route to classroom language learning will become clear

Teacher and learner roles become defined

Analysis of tasks → effectively test out the various claims made for the materials.

Level 3:What is implied?

Draws on findings at Level 1 and 2

Come to some general conclusions about the principles of materials

Make statements on the overall aims of the materials and how the tasks and content are selected and sequenced.

Produce general statements on the demands placed upon learners in relation to ‘process competence’.

Come to conclusion on the Roles proposed for teachers and learners

Roles of materials as a whole in facilitating language learning and teaching.

How can we relate the findings to our

own teaching contexts?

A preliminary framework for materials analysis, evaluation and action