Theoretical problems of the content of teaching foreign languages

Characteristics of Teaching Materials

Littlejohn & Windeatt (1989) argue that materials have a hidden curriculum that includes attitudes toward-knowledge; teaching/learning; role and relationship of the teacher/student, and values and attitudes related to gender, society, etc. Materials have an underlying instructional philosophy, approach, method, and content, including both linguistic and cultural information. Clarke (1989) argues that communicative methodology is important and is based on authenticity, realism, context and a focus on the learner. Most people associate the term teaching materials only with course books because that has been their main experience of using teaching materials. However, in fact,the term can be used to refer to anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of the language. Related to that, materials can be classified into some types as follows: