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Developing
Appropriate Materials
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Since
1985, a United Nations Development Program project has enabled a group of Vietnamese EFL
teachers to study each year at the University of Canberra. Though this UNDP program has
recently ended, international aid still brings Vietnamese teachers to Australia. These
scholarship holders study in the TESOL Centre within the Faculty of Education. As part of
the graduate program in TESOL, students have the opportunity to design a kit of materials
for use in their own teaching situation back home in Vietnam. They see this as important,
since much of the commercially available material is of limited relevance in a country
which has yet to experience automatic tellers and multi-channel TV. Of course, it can be
argued that topics such as these-so commonly treated in EFL coursebooks-open up the world
to the student; but it is difficult to see any real benefit when teachers who have neither
experience with microwave ovens (to take another example) nor access to glossy advertising
literature about them, face the daunting task of explaining these artifacts to their
students.
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The groundwork for the
development of teaching materials is done during the first semester. Students are
encouraged to think about needs and situational analysis, so that the materials they
design will be relevant both to their own pupils and to the teaching environment in
Vietnam. For many Diploma students the concept of needs analysis is like a light on the
road to Damascus as they consider a framework for analysis, drawing principally on Munby
(1978), McDonough (1984), Hutchinson and Waters (1987), and Nunan (1988). They are able to
try out their checklists with groups of language learning students on campus who come from
Vietnam and are similar to their students at home. This is not a perfect solution but does
provide a reasonable approximation of learning needs for the Diploma students to work
with.
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With needs identified,
students then think about objectives. The process used in familiarizing students with a
statement of objectives is to move from a practical task to stating objectives for the
completed exercise. For example, students are given sets of colored shapes such as a black
rectangle, a green square, a small red triangle, a yellow circle, and so forth. Students
work in pairs, sitting back to back and with each individual having a set of colored
shapes. Partner A instructs partner B to make a pattern or picture with the shapes and at
the same time builds the required pattern. Then the partners compare their results and are
either delighted at their accuracy in giving instructions and asking check questions or
collapse in laughter at the disparate patterns. From this experience, the students move
into groups to frame objectives for the work they have just done. This activity also
serves to underline the point that a statement of objectives is not necessarily where the
design of teaching materials begins. Equally, it is possible to take content or method or
classroom feedback, as a starting point.
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A third component in
preparation that is carried out in the first semester is the evaluation of commercially
available materials, looking particularly at how the content is structured and at the
approaches taken in teaching it. Checklists such as those in Harmer (1991) or the criteria
suggested by Sheldon (1988:4) are used at this stage. The Diploma students are critical of
many of the materials surveyed, for reasons such as reliance on technology (even a
cassette player may not be available in the Vietnamese classroom) steepness of progression
and cultural bias. Nevertheless, the survey of materials is valued for the variety of
techniques and activities which emerge.
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By the end of the
semester, most of the trainees have formed small design teams of two to four people.
Occasionally a student will have to work alone because of having a very specific work
situation, but usually it is possible for students to form groups according to the type of
teaching they are responsible for at home. The design is often skills-based as the
teachers from Vietnam usually have responsibility for teaching listening or teaching
reading rather than teaching through integrated macro-skills. This is the context in which
they must work and it is respected, though less compartmentalized ways of teaching EFL are
discussed and demonstrated. During the midsemester break, students have the opportunity to
collect the raw material from which they will develop their kits of teaching materials.
They do so assiduously, visiting exhibitions, business centres, hospitals, libraries, and
museums to collect samples of spoken and written text.
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At the beginning of the
second semester, the trainees face what they find especially difficult and time-consuming,
that is, selecting a framework for the design of their materials. Two frames are suggested
as a starting point. The first is the "focus wheel" guide to planning units of
work, adapted from the Australian Language Levels (ALL) Guidelines (Scarino et al, 1988).
See Figure 1 .
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The second suggested
framework is that developed in the late 1970s for the Adult Migrant Education Program
(AMEP) in Australia. It offers a clear matrix for planning units of work and is shown in Figure 2 .
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What happens is that as a
result of their study of the two planning models and their evaluation of commercially
produced EFL materials, the design teams adapt a framework that suits their own purposes.
One which combines elements from both the ALL and AMEP models appears in Figure 3 .
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The unit is run on
consultative lines. Design teams meet the lecturer twice weekly to discuss and edit the
materials being designed and to consider what may need to be condensed, clarified, or
expanded. There is also an opportunity to peer-teach segments of the materials. The
printed components of the kits are word-processed, and binding and laminating facilities
available for student use in the Faculty of Education ensure an attractive and
professional finished product.
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The variety of materials
produced is some indication of the enormous ELT needs in Vietnam. These include English
for doctors, Business English, English for tourism, to name only the more salient. Since
1986, when I began to teach the unit in materials for language teaching, the kits produced
have fallen into three broad categories, namely, ESP, skills-based English, and English as
communication. The last represents a move away from the more traditional grammar-based
approach often used in Vietnam. The ESP titles included: Restaurant English, Commercial
Correspondence,English for Physics, Reading Medical Material, English for Receptionists
, and Foreign Trade English .
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The skills-based kits
almost without exception focus on listening and speaking with titles such as Learning
to Listen and English through Listening. The kits which aim at developing
communicative use of English included: Communication in Context, Communicating in
English, and Communicating about Australia. In all, fifty-one kits of material
have been taken home to Vietnam since 1986. This represents work by 126 Diploma students
from the major centres of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city, and Hue.
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It is all very well to
produce kits of language teaching materials, but fruitless if these materials do not in
fact get used in the home context. There are indications, however, that the kits are put
to use. First, a survey of Vietnamese alumni from the TESOL Centre was carried out in
1989. Students were asked about the extent to which the materials they had designed were
in use. Eighty-six percent of the respondents said that their kits were used and of these,
52% indicated that the materials were used to some extent and 34% to a great extent. These
figures are reassuring given the degree of control over what is taught-a centralized
syllabus being common in Vietnam. Perhaps more convincing was a personal experience. On
arriving in Hanoi for a teacher development workshop in 1988, I was recognized by total
strangers-the hotel staff who "knew" me from the tape and visual materials
produced as part of Restaurant English .
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The design
of teaching materials is a complex task. In the unit described,
the design process is broken down into stages, and the approach
taken is to work from a practical task back to the theoretical
basis and its implications. Feedback from student evaluations
suggests that this makes the design process both more comprehensible
and easier to manage. It is also important that students work
in design teams whenever possible, rather than as individuals.
This not only shares the load and generally leads to production
of a more substantial kit, it fosters the skills of working cooperatively
rather than competitively. As has been indicated, the needs for
materials in Vietnam are enormous. The work produced by the TESOL
Diploma students has gone some way to meeting those needs.
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Ursula Nixon coordinates the graduate programs
in TESOL at the University of Canberra. She has taught in the
UK, Germany, Malawi, Mali, and Kiribati and has also worked in
Southeast Asia. |
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Return |
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- Adult migrant education program teachers' Manual. 1979. Canberra:
Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs.
- Harmer, J. 1991. The practice of English language teaching.
London: Longman.
- Hutchinson, T. and A. Waters. 1987. English for specific purposes.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- McDonough, J. 1984. ESP in perspective. London: Collins
- Munby, J. 1978. Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
- Nunan, D. 1988. Syllabus design. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Scarino, A., D. Vale, P. McKay, and J. Clark. 1988. Australian
language levels guidelines, syllabus development and programming. Canberra: Curriculum
Development Centre.
- Sheldon, L. 1988. Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. ELT
Journal, 42, 4, pp. 237-246.
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Figure 1
Figure 2
| SOCIAL CONTACTS |
| Talking about Occupations and
Leisure Activities |
| MACRO SKILLS |
SPECIFIC FUNCTION |
SYNTAX |
LEXIS |
| Speaking |
Asking for information - |
What + do/does + NP + do (+ adv.T) |
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interesting |
| and |
occupations and leisure |
What do you do? |
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enjoyable |
| Listening |
activities |
What do you do on weekends? |
work (v) |
fun |
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play |
very |
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Do/Does + NP + Vinf + NP/adv |
read |
really |
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Do you work every day? |
study |
much |
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Do you play any sport? |
make |
a lot |
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cook |
a little |
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Asking for information - |
How long + has/have + NP + been +
NP/adj./adv |
live |
a bit |
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duration of an activity |
How long have they been there? |
travel |
pretty |
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or occupation |
How long have you been a painter? |
stay |
rather |
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like |
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How long + has/have + NP + been + Ving
+ NP/ adv |
enjoy |
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How long have you been working night
shift? |
practise |
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When + did + NP +Vinf (+ NP/adv.) |
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When did he start the job? |
train (v) |
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When did you join? |
belong |
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pay |
day |
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Asking for opinions- |
Is + NP (+ adv.D) + adj. |
boss |
afternoon |
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occupations and leisure |
Is it very interesting? |
work |
night |
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activities |
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job |
shift |
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What + is/are + NP + like |
hour |
positions |
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What’s the job like |
start |
foreman |
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What are the members like? |
join |
supervisor |
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buy |
member |
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member |
job |
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standard |
offer |
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competition |
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conditions |
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Figure 3
| Framework |
| UNIT 1: INSTRUCTIONS AND DIRECTIONS |
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Sample |
Exponents |
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| Functions |
Syntax |
Lexis |
Sample Activities |
Materials |
| Making polite |
Could you tell me…? |
Vocabulary related |
• Warming up |
• Tapes |
| requests |
I wonder if you can |
to traffic |
• T: presents structures |
• Maps (large/small) |
| Asking for |
help me…. |
(traffic light, |
and vocabulary |
• Pictures of machines |
| directions |
The best way is to… |
intersection, place |
• Pairwork |
• Cards |
| Giving directions |
Imperatives |
names, directions, |
• Groupwork: Magic |
• Some written |
| Asking for |
Questions |
actions…) |
Birthday |
instructions |
| clarification |
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• Ss listen to tape |
• Tape recorder, |
| Asking for and |
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and identify |
calculator… |
| giving instructions |
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the places mentioned. |
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• Ss practise with a large map, |
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then with small maps |
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and cards. |
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• Taped dialogues for model |
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• Reading aloud |
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• Song: Put your little feet out |
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| UNIT 2: PEOPLE AND
THINGS/DESCRIPTION |
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| Functions |
Sample |
Exponents |
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| Asking for |
Syntax |
Lexis |
Sample Activities |
Materials |
| Describing (e.g. |
What is s/he (it) like? |
Vocabulary related |
• Warming up |
• Tapes |
| appearance, age, |
What do/does…look |
to shape, size, |
• T: presents and explains new |
• Pictures of people/things |
| personality, |
How + adjective…? |
colour, characteristics |
vocabulary |
• Pictures of machines |
| interests…) |
What colour…? |
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• Ss practise |
• Cards |
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What use…? |
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• Ss listen to tapes and |
• Objects |
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identify people and things |
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• T describes someone as model |
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• Pairwork: Ss describe a |
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person/thing |
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• Guessing games (Group/class |
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