Teacher-designed materials, give it a try!

Having read the article about designing effective English language teaching materials by Jocelyn Howard and Jae Major, I would like to express my point of view regarding the overall article. Personally, I found it to be practical and applicable to our daily practices and could help us expand our teaching horizons.

English language teachers may choose to construct their own teaching materials to meet their instructional purposes and objectives. They do so by tailoring texts, worksheets and activities to suit a particular level, class-size, learning styles and strategies to ensure students are learning to their maximum potential.

Appealing as it may look, it is quite a demanding task that only a few teachers dare to embark on. It is cognitively challenging since a wide array of factors need to be taken into account, and educational goals should be crystal-clear for their successful employment. It becomes crucial for teachers to recognize and spot the instructional objectives and to establish a well-defined idea of what students should be able to do at the end of the lesson. In other words, the establishment of prior objectives will give you a clear perspective on what you want to accomplish with the group.

Additionally, analyzing the group we are working with in depth to gather information regarding their social status, ethnic origin, and interests will give you well-grounded tips to successful material development. Likewise, bearing in mind the variety of intelligences present in the classroom will provide us with important hints to adapt and tailor the material to enhance the learning process.

One of the first positive aspects of teacher-designed material is that the context in which the learning and teaching is taking place is comprised, whereas commercial material is devoid of meaning and ends up being artificial. What’s more, it is produced in a serial and systematic fashion without contemplating the special features of each context, resulting in a lack of interest and identification with the topics dealt. Something even more concerning is that we learn our mother tongue in a natural context, that is why when it comes to teaching another language it is paramount important to create an artificial context within which we can attribute meaning to the language itself. Language is meaning, and meaning is conveyed through language, so if we do not set the conditions for that, the learning will be hindered.

Another issue that goes hand in hand with the context is the resources available. We may have the possibility of taking full advantage of the vast resources of the institution but at some other times, lessons will be impoverished because of the lack of aids. It is here when the teacher gains importance and his or her creativity is at the heart of it to profit from the material he/she manages to construe. Along with this, teacher-designed material is beneficial for those students who do not have access to commercial goods because of their high prices; it is not directed to a unique sector of society, fostering inclusion.

Teacher-designed material is advantageous for individual needs, as I have explained later on, it allows a more flexible approach and it can be modified and articulated to fit a particular group and attend class diversity. This material is designed in the light of the student’s background, experiences, level, and socioeconomic situation, resulting in a personalized instruction that becomes extremely motivating for the learners and rewarding for the teacher.

Working this way will also assure you up-to-date material that is pertinent and relevant to bring about critical discussions in class, let alone the fact that you will tap into the learners’ interest.

Lack of coherence or organization may be the first disadvantage that teacher-made material has. By adopting this crafty way, we run the risk of losing our focus and moving towards unwanted directions. If we decide to construe something by ourselves, we need to have clear in our mind what we are aiming at, to avoid losing perspective. In this case coursebooks do offer a reliable guidance to the teacher, and it is highly likely that they feel more confident and secure following this framework.

Let us imagine we are teaching the animals to a group of kids. For that reason we have decided to design colorful flashcards that resemble the animals because the ones that the book has are not of your liking. In this case, we need to be mindful since kids tend to touch things a lot (they need to make use of all their senses), you will use those flashcards to play memory games, you can hide them in the classroom and they should find them and this may be counterproductive for the material, it may be damaged. Hence, it becomes indispensable for us to plaster the flashcards and make sure the material we used is a good quality one.

Suppose you have your material ready, you are pleased with it and confident it will work out perfectly, and are planning to use it for next class. There is a remarkably important detail we should not let it pass us by: the instructions. These are the cherry on top, without clear, concise and straightforward instructions we won’t make it too far.

Time is an impediment factor for those teachers who are loaded with work and are running against the clock. It is important to strike a balance between life and work; you also need time for yourself and others. Hard work always pays, but when it comes to the final decision you are the one to weigh up the pros and cons of designing your own material. Nevertheless, whenever possible, we should not hesitate to try and offer our students alternative ways of working.

If you found the topic interesting, here's the link to the complete article

Best regards!