Materials Design

1. Materials Design

2. Material Design is one of the most characteristic features of ESP in Practice

3. A large amount of the ESP teacher´s time is taken up in writing materials Why?

4. The teacher or institution may wish to provide teaching materials that fit the specific subject area of particular learners and which may not be available commercially

5. Even when suitable materials are available, it may not be possible to buy them because of currency or import restrictions ESP materials may also be written for non-educational reasons

6. This is why ESP teachers produce in-house materials What is the target audience? Students at a particular institution But there is a problem: Only few teachers have had any training in the skills and techniques of materials writing

7. On the other hand, the process of material writing may help to make teachers more aware of what is involved in teaching and learning

8. Techniques for producing ESP materials What are materials supposed to do?

9. They provide STIMULUS to learning They help organise the teaching-learning process, providing a path through the language to be learnt They reflect the nature of the learning task They provide models of correct and appropriate language use

10. Good Materials They do not teach; they encourage learners to learn They will contain interesting texts, enjoyable activities and opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge

11. They should provide a clear and coherent unit structure which will guide teacher and learner in various activities in such a way as to maximise the chances of learning They should reflect what you think and feel about the learning process

12. A materials design model Consists of 4 elements: 1) Input : a text, a dialogue, etc. The Input provides stimulus material for activities, new language items, correct models of language use, a topic for communication, etc.

13. 2) Content Focus : language is not an end in itself, but a mean of conveying info and feelings about something. Non-linguistic content should be exploited to generate meaningful communication in the classroom

14. 3) Language Focus :enable learners to use language. Learners have the chance to take the language to pieces, study how it works and practise putting it back together again

15. 4) Task :the ultimate purpose of language learning is LANGUAGE USE. Materials should be designed to lead towards a communicative TASK in which learners use the content and language knowledge they have to built up through the unit

22. GUIDELINES FOR USING THE MODELS