Resources available to teachers are vast and diverse, and this applies to the ESL environment as well. Teachers I’ve spoken with often say the problem is sorting through it all to find good material that is applicable to your context. Besides all the material that is available online there are also textbooks and workbooks to consider. And at the other end of the spectrum are authentic materials that we find in our everyday lives. Both are valuable resources for teachers, but require careful thought and integration in the classroom.
Using textbooks has several advantages and disadvantages (Harmer 2007). They provide a structured source of material designed by professionals, and many teachers and students like this predictability. Many have teacher guides to help the teacher with lesson plans. Some teachers and students can find the textbook or workbook confining with lack of engagement. Some teachers prefer to find their own material and create their own activities, but this can be very time consuming. Course books can also be very expensive, and budget must be considered.
If you decide that a textbook would be useful for your classroom or teaching context, a detailed analysis process is required to ensure that you are making the right investment. Shave (2010) has designed a multi-step evaluation process to use for evaluating and selecting ESL course books. The first step is to analyze the context of your teaching, this is, decide who will be using the course book and how. There are numerous questions that he has selected to describe the learning situation, such as ‘what are the aims of the program’, What are the objectives of the course’, ‘what age are the learners’, ‘what are the motivations of the learners’, ‘what is the size and frequency of the class’. All of these and more will help decide the appropriate material. The second step for analysis is the methodology and syllabus. Does it fit with your teaching style, and does the syllabus follow a useable sequencing of the material for your context? The next step takes a detailed look at the individual units and their content and activities, and comparisons can be done for different course books. Next, specific evaluation criteria are used (aims and approaches, language content, skills, topics, methodology) to determine which is the best fit. Often a trial in the classroom with students may be helpful before the final selection.
Once you have chosen your course book there are many ways that they can be used. Harmer (2007). He suggests that ‘adding, adapting and replacing’ are all valid uses, but care must be taken that we do not compromise the use of the course book. Using your creativity, Harmer suggests many alternative activities that can replace or complement those in the text. Course books are may not be appropriate for all teaching contexts, but they can be valuable resources for some classrooms.
Authentic materials add a much needed extra dimension to the classroom. They stimulate learners to interact with the content both cognitively and affectively (Rogers 1988). They strengthen the confidence of students and allow the use of ‘real’ language that is what they would hear or see in their community (Chou n.d.). Authentic materials also help to immerse the student in their new culture.
There is a huge array of authentic materials that can be easily accessed. We just have to look around us, and think about what we use and do in our everyday life. Some examples are menus, flyers, forms, TV shows, Youtube, music, radio, classified ads or Kijiji, websites, online shopping sites, resumes, magazines and many more. Many of these can be incorporated into fun games and activities in the classroom (Pesce n.d.). Often there may be some adaptation required because the material is unsuitable in the original form. Lynch (2009) offers many suggestions for adaptation such as adjusting the length or simplifying the language.
Both course books and authentic materials can be valuable tools for the ESL teacher. But each brings unique challenges in their use and incorporation into the classroom, and careful consideration must be given to provide a useful, engaging and enriching experience for your learners.
References:
Chou, E. 4 Creative Ways to Use Authentic Materials for Teaching English. Retrieved from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/authentic-materials-for-teaching-english/
Lynch, L. (2009). Throw Away the Course Book and Adapt Authentic Materials. Retrieved from https://www.eslbase.com/teaching/adapt-authentic-materials
Pesce, C. Keepin’ It Real: 8 Best Authentic Sources of Reading Material. Retrieved fromhttps://busyteacher.org/16195-reading-material-8-best-authentic-sources.html.
Rogers, C., & Medley, F., Jr. (1988). Language with a purpose: using authentic materials in the foreign language classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 21, 467–478.
Shave, J. (2010). A Teacher friendly process for evaluating and selecting ESL/EFL Coursebooks. Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Shave-CourseBookEvaluation.html
No comments:
Post a Comment