I like the materials I use to be clear and simple. Good materials are a springboard. It’s important for me to be able to adapt them to suit my classes and see different ways they can be exploited. I prefer the materials to be easy to negotiate rather than impressive. They don’t have to be ground-breaking, I’d rather they were effective. Good materials challenge students but their aims are achievable.
I don’t think any of the principles of materials discussed in the lecture and in Tomlinson’s article can be taken in isolation. For example, we cannot draw learners’ attention to the features of authentic language, if they haven’t first been shown authentic language, so it’s hard to say which principles are most important. When I produce my own materials, I do try to ‘stimulate intellectual, aesthetic and emotional involvement’ (Tomlinson) because this means that students are connecting with the language and they will be more engaged and the learning will be more effective.
Geraldine, The concept of not taking principles in isolation is rather interesting. I generally find, that when I adapt I tend to focus more on how much I can adapt them to which group of learners.
ReplyDeleteYou make some excellent points Geraldine and I totally agree about 'effective' being more important than 'impressive'.
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