Analysis of Language Teaching Materials

Analysis of Language Teaching Materials

Introduction

To examine how appropriate or inappropriate the methodology and content of materials used for a specific learning or teaching material is, the author aims at enabling a close analysis of materials and to investigate their nature. This will entail exploring the Trojan Horse to determine what lies within. Investigating the nature of language teaching materials will aid in examining their worth with respect to the purposes of their context.

What Aspects of Materials Should We Examine When Analyzing Materials?

The author identifies many aspects of the materials that researchers, teachers, material designers, educational administrators and learners can examine in a set of materials. Aspects of any set of material can be examined based on the framework consisting of two sections: publication and design. Publication relates to the physical aspect of materials including their appearance as a complete set, either on paper or electronically. It involves consideration of various areas: existing relationship between students’ materials and any other component; actual form of material, for instance, durable or consumable; their division into sections and subsections; the maintenance of a sense of continuity or coherence;  whether the order of material usage can be predetermined; how access into the materials is supported, for instance, whether there are wordlists or a content list (Harwood, 2010). Design relates to the thinking underlying the materials. This takes into consideration certain areas including the apparent aims of the materials, selection and sequencing of the tasks, language and contents in the materials, nature and focus of contents in the materials such as topics, nature of teaching and learning activities suggested by the material, focusing on what  learners are asked to do and the relation of what they do to the learners capacity to draw on different realms of concepts, attitudes and abilities, modes of classroom participation as suggested by teaching and learning activities, whether teachers and learners work together as they plan or select from the ideas provided by the materials.

Конец формы

How Can We Examine the Materials to Find the Information Required?

This is done through the analysis of materials on three different levels: selections of objective facts regarding the materials subjectively; deducting demands likely to be made by teachers and learners; and making conclusions about the underlying principles and philosophies of the materials (Harwood, 2010).