Topic 3 Evaluating and Adapting Materials in ELT

8/19/2019 Topic 3 Evaluating and Adapting Materials in ELT

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Adapting Materials in

ELT



Common defciencies oexisting ELT materials

• unable to ulfll the goals andobjectives specifed by national or localsyllabuses or curricula

• ail to ulfll the goals and objectives oschools where the materials are used

• cannot be fnished in the timeavailable



• require acilities or equipment orother supporting materials that arenot available

• not engaging the learnerspersonality

• detrimental to the learners culture

• does not cater to the learnersinterests



• !c"onough and #haw $%&&'()*+have listed more reasons ormaterials adaptation, The mostimportant reason is that there ismismatch between what is neededand what is provided by materials,

•



-dvantages o Textboo.

• provides a variety of interesting texts ondifferent topics.

• supplies self-study materials for learners.

• can prepare learners for exams. • provides authentic materials.• provides sound grading and sequencing of

the material.

• provides teachers with necessary guidance,especially in terms of background informationand language points.



"isadvantages o thetextboo.

• focuses on reading and writing, while

ignores speaking and listening. • is out-of-date.

• does not suit the students' needs.

• provides little variety of activities.

• is language-focused.



/ood Textboo.sTomlinsons$%&&)+

• Should attract the students’ curiosity, interest andattention. In order to do this, textbooks shouldhave novelty, variety, attractive layout, appealing

content, etc. Of course they should also makesure that learning really takes place when thestudents use the textbooks. It is not necessarilyenough that students enoy the textbooks.

• !elp students to feel at ease. "he layout ofpresentation, tasks and activities, and texts andillustrations should all look friendly to thestudents so that they feel relaxed when seeingthem.



/ood Textboo.s

• !elp students to develop confidence. #ood

textbooks help to build up students’ confidence

by providing tasks or activities that students can

cope with.



/ood Textboo.s

• #hould meet students needs, 0hat iscovered in the textboo.s should berelevant and useul to what the students

need to learn and what they want tolearn,

• #hould expose the students to language

in authentic use, /enerally spea.ing1textboo.s written in authentic languageare more motivating and challenging



/ood Textboo.s

• "ake into account that students differ in learningstyles. "asks and activities should be variable andshould cater for a range of learning styles so allstudents can benefit.

• $aximise learning potential by encouragingintellectual, aesthetic and emotional

involvement which stimulates both right andleft brain activities. #ood textbooks enable thestud%’nts to receive, process and retaininformation through &multiple intelligences'.



/ood Textboo.s

• (rovide the students with opportunities to usethe target language to achieve communicativepurposes.

• "ake into account that the positive effects oflanguage teaching are usually delayed.)esearch into S*+ shows that it is a gradualrather than an instantaneous process and thatthis is eually true for instructed learning -formal

learning. So it is important for textbooks torecycle instruction and to provide freuent andample exposure to the instructed languagefeatures in communicative use.



/ood Textboo.s

• Ta.e into account that students di2erin a2ective actors, /ood textboo.sshould accommodate di2erent

attitudinal and motivationalbac.ground as much as possible,

P i i l f t i l



Principles of materialsadaptation

/rant $%&)3+ has listed the ollowingprinciples or materials adaptation(

• %+ !a.ing dialogues communicative

• 4+ !a.ing learning activities relevantand purposeul

• '+ !eet your learners needs1 both

external and psychological• 5+ 6se models o real1 authentic

language



vadaptation

Textboo. adaptation can be done at three levels(

• 1) Macro adaptation

• This is ideally done before the language programmebegins,

• -ter comparing what is covered in a textboo. andwhat is required by the syllabus or eamination1the teacher may fnd that certain areas or even wholeunits o the boo. can be omitted1 and certaincontents need to be supplemented,

• 7mportant because it helps to avoid waste o timeand energy o the teacher and the students as well,• 7t also helps the teacher to see in advance what he

or she needs to supplement so that he or she can.eep an eye on materials that could be used,



Adapting a unit

• reordering the activities1• combining activities1

• omitting activities1

• rewriting or supplementing exercisematerial1 etc,

• 8elps to ma.e the classroom teaching

more smooth and cohesive,• 8elps the teacher to better ulfl the

aims o a unit,

Ad t ti f i!



Adaptation of speci!cactivities

• 9ccasionally an activity is regardedas valuable1 but it is not well:designed or it is not easible in aparticular class,

• 7 the teacher does not want to giveup the activity1 he or she needs toadapt it,



"peci!c adaptation!aley $%&&)(4)%1 in Tomlinson1 %&&)+

suggested the ollowing options ormaterials adaptation(

• #mission$ the teacher leaves out thingsdeemed inappropriate1 o2ensive1unproductive1 etc,1 or the particulargroup,

•Addition$ where there seems to beinadequate coverage1 teachers maydecide to add to textboo.s1 either in theorm o texts or exercise material,



• %eduction$ where the teachershortens an activity to give it lessweight or emphasis,

• Etension$ where an activity islengthened in order to give it anadditional dimension, $or example1 a

vocabulary activity is extended todraw attention to some syntacticpatterning,+



• %ewriting&modi!cation$ teachermay occasionally decide to rewritematerial1 especially exercise material1to ma.e it more appropriate1 more;communicative<1 more demanding1

more accessible to their students1 etc,• %eplacement$ text or exercisematerial which is consideredinadequate1 or whatever reason1 may

be replaced by more suitable material, This is oten culled rom otherresource materials,



• %eordering$ teachers may decide that theorder in which the textboo.s are presented isnot suitable or their students, They can thendecide to plot a di2erent course through thetextboo.s rom the one the writer has laiddown,

• 'ranching$ teachers may decide to addoptions to the existing activity or to suggestalternative pathways through the activities,$or example1 an experiential route or ananalytical route,+



T-#=

• 0or. in groups o our, #tudy thematerials provided1 choose a unitthat you thin. needs adaptation1 and

ma.e some suggestions aboutpossible adaptation so that the unitcan be used more e2ectively in the

class, 0rite your suggestions andprepare to give a three: minutepresentation,

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Topic 3 Evaluating and Adapting Materials in ELT