Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Materials in Language Teaching

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1815780-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-materials-in-class

Materials that are used in class such as visuals, realia, three dimensional objects, authentic and instructional materials, coursebooks, worksheets, and so on have both advantages and disadvantages. For the learners it has lots of advantages; however it has restrictions as well. You can listen the podcast from the link upper of the page and reach more information about the theme from the link below.

http://www.professorjackrichards.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-instructional-materials-in-teaching-esl/

Creating a Story by means of Internet (Storify) about 'Using Materials in Teaching'

https://storify.com/EsraSacli/materials-evaluation-and-design-for-language-teach

There are lots of subheadings below the title of 'Materials Evaluation and Design for Lnaguage Teachers'. Therefore I have added information taken from several websites, videos from youtube to maintain your learning permanent, and pictures for fun into my storify and I tried to make the subject enjoyable :D

SoundSteps, interactive and educational material for play by NYOYN

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"SoundSteps is an interactive sound concept whereby a collection of 10 mats react by means of sound when a chils steps on them. Children can, of course, also jump on the mats, sit on them or press down on them. It is up to the children to choose which sounds they want to hear or which game they wish to play. The sounds on offer include e.g. musical instruments, (piano), thematic sounds (scary sounds, means of transport, animals) or games such as 'musical chairs' and 'maths'. SoundSteps does more than just offer a range of 'ready-made' games but stimulates children's imagination and creativity.

The wide range of playing activities means that the SoundSteps product can also be used in schools to support the curriculum: language, maths, cooperation, motor skills, musical development, etc. The maths are wireless, which means they can easily be used in conjunction with existing playing materials."

Authentic Materials

In this video, you can find the basis information about 'Authentic Materials'.

My Online Poster

I prepared an online poster about "Mobile Learning". As all we know, nowadays people have been using it anywhere and at any time. Firstly, we can easily say that learning with mobile devices are so convenient and flexible. Secondly, it offers all kinds of information with a wide range of diversity, for this reason people prefer it most of the time. You can reach all the different information at the same time even anywhere. It both saves time and helps you to understand better what you want to learn. You can compare the information you get from different sites and shape it in your mind. We can also say that it fits many different learning styles regarding individual differences. Since it gives you a chance to learn on your own filtering the information according to your needs. You do not need to stick to one style , you can create your own learning style. Thirdly, it improves social learning providing the interaction with the other learners or experts. Lastly, the most attractive feature of mobile learning is to access information easily. You can find and track information via Wİ-fi.

How to Recycle Materials For Your child's Craft Box

It is an interesting video that you can see how some ordinary objects are used to make interesting materials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqnauaP6614

Some Examples of Handmade Materials

I prepared a video for you by combining the pictures that I collected on the internet. You can see how a teacher may be creative to make students adjust to foreign language.

Try your best, Respect others' work, and Be happy :)

MATERIALS EVALUATION

     In educational system it is an undeniable truth that without evaluation development can not be ensured; therefore each process should be evaluated. In this sense, the materials used in the classroom should be evaluated. The materials that used in the process of teaching-learning should be evaluated not only while choosing before training and preparing but also after using these materials. 

     Tomlinson & Masuhara (2004: 7) proposed the following questions for evaluating criteria:

a) Is each question an evaluation question?

b) Does each question only ask one question?

c) Is each question answerable?

d) Is each question free of dogma?

e) Is each question reliable in the sense that other evaluators would interpret it in the same way?

     The process of evaluation can be staged in three interrelated steps: pre-use, in-use and post-use evaluation.

     a) Pre-use evaluation

     This step just involves making predictions about the probable significance of the materials for the learners or teachers. Thanks to this stage of evaluation subjectivity can be reduced; and it shows us there is a similarity between this stage of evaluation and checklist method.

     b) While-use evaluation

     This step involves measuring the significance of materials while they are being used in the classroom. They should be active to be evaluated in this stage. According to Tomlinson (2003), this can be a drawback as well as a virtue. He claims “(Whilst-use evaluation) is limited to measuring what is observable… and cannot claim to measure what is happening in the learners’ brains”
     c)Post-use evaluation

     This step is doubtless the most valuable type of evaluation. Tomlinson (2003, p.25) states that post-use evaluation can essentially measure the long-term effect of the materials on the learners. This step gives important responses to the most important questions about the materials as ‘Did the materials help the teachers to cover the syllabus?’, ‘What do the learners know about the material before and after using it?’

     The teachers should be so careful while selecting the materials. The materials should be chosen according to the aim of the lesson and interests of the learners and the time should be measured well. Practitioners need a new set of skills, mainly skills related to adapting materials, to tackle the problems learning material bring about in the classroom.

     Tomlinson (2003, p.25) puts forward a list of versatile ways of measuring the post-use of materials;

•  Tests of what has been ‘taught’ by the materials;
•  Tests of what the students can do;
•  Examinations;
•  Interviews;
•  Questionnaires;
•  Criterion-referenced evaluations by the users;
•  Post-courses diaries;
•  Post-course ‘shadowing’ of the learners;
•  Post-course reports on the learners by employer, subject tutors, etc.

REFERENCES
Tomlinson, B. (2003). Materials evaluation. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (p.23-25). London: Continuum.

Tomlinson, B. & H. Masuhara (2004). Developing language course materials. Singapore: RELC Portfolio Series.

INTRODUCTION

     Materials can be varied as informative that informs the learner about the target language; instructional that guides the learner while practicing the language; experiential that provides experience to the learner while using the language; eliciting that encourages the learner to use the language; and exploratory that supports the learner to find something new about the language (discover). As all we know that there are differences in learning  for all of the people,      Oxford (2002) explains the ideal materials aim to provide all these ways of acquiring a language for the learners to experience and sometimes select from.
     ‘Materials Design & Development’ is used by language teachers effectively in foreign language learning. The teachers may even help their learners to produce materials to support their learning.
      Nowadays materials development is both used by practitioners and academicians. As a practical activity it involves the production, evaluation and adaptation of materials. As a field it investigates the principles and procedures of the design, writing, implementation, evaluation and analysis of materials. Ideally, these investigations both inform and are informed by the development and use of materials. This is the case in a number of recent publications (e.g. Mukundan 2009; Mishan & Chambers 2010; Harwood 2010; Tomlinson & Masuhara 2010) whose authors are both practising writers of language-learning materials and academics theorising about materials development.

REFERENCES

Harwood, N. (ed.) (2010). Materials in ELT: Theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mishan, F. & A. Chambers, (eds.) (2010). Perspectives on language learning materials development. Bern: Peter Lang.

Mukundan, J. (ed.) (2009). Readings on ELT materials III . Petaling Jaya: Pearson Malaysia.

Oxford, R. L. (2002). Sources of variation in language learning. In R. B. Kaplan (ed.), The Oxford

handbook of applied linguistics (3rd edn). New York: Oxford University Press, 245–252.

Tomlinson, B. & H. Masuhara (eds.) (2010). Research for materials development in language learning: Evidence for best practice. London: Continuum.