Teaching Materials

a)   

     Explain the following principles with your own words and give one example per principle:

·         The principle of openness: This principle ensures that students have real exposure to the language through technological resources or virtual platforms that store authentic and non-authentic content and material. E-learning is a clear method of the principle of openness. For example, when the teacher makes a video call with a native speaker to learn more about pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, from an authentic source.

·         The principle of integrated education: new technologies and the use of the internet have allowed skills, knowledge, and resources to be integrated to organize and facilitate language learning. For instance, the use of platforms they offer to practice reading, listening, writing and speaking.

·         The principle of consistency and systematic approach to training: refers to the fact of proposing methodology, methods, techniques, and strategies that link the language content from what has already been learned and what is being learned. The materials worked in class and the internet are vital elements of this principle. For example, when the teacher carries out warming up activities to return to a past topic or introduce a new one, linking previous knowledge with new ones.

·         The principle of interactivity: interactivity is the one that facilitates communication between all educational actors through synchronous and asynchronous virtual platforms, which enrich the language learning process. For instance, virtual platforms that enrich the way students learn from anywhere and at any time, such as Zoom, Skype, Google meet, etc.

·         The principle of visualization and demonstrativeness: This principle requires English teachers to present information or language content in a graphic, organized and creative way. For this, there are too many virtual resources that allow the selection of activities or materials design that include audio, text, video, among others. For example, the use of slides, songs, games, quizzes, workshops, and videos that capture the student’s attention due to the innovation in the presentation of language contents.

·         The principle of activity:  Web 2.0 is a very useful tool to work on the three types of activities that all teachers carry out in their classes, that is, activities that enhance knowledge (intellectual), control of emotions and motivation (emotional) and facilitate oral communication in class (verbal). For instance, When the teacher performs a virtual psychological test to know how his/her students are emotionally or what they feel in a specific situation. Carrying out activities that measure the verbal competence level such as recording videos and audios are also usually successful.

·         The principle of redundancy: This principle focuses on the importance of students reflecting on their language learning, and carrying out research processes that complement their learning. For example, the English teacher gives feedback to the students after some production activity or after an exam with the intention that they improve their English proficiency level.

b)    Give at least three examples of the following methods for EFL teaching in the e-learning environment.

Based on the ideas of Shishkovskaya, Bakalo & Grigoryev (2016), English teachers have improved their educational practices by applying e-learning from each of their teaching methods. E-learning opens the possibility for learning to be mediated and strengthened through various resources, activities, and virtual platforms. Some examples of them, used by EFL English teachers, are:

o   Training methods: they are related to how English learning is controlled and self-controlled through virtual platforms (Shishkovskaya et al., 2016)

ü  Blogs

ü  Tests – quizzes

ü  Worksheets

ü  Facebook

ü  Web pages

o   Demonstration methods: how the contents are presented in a striking, interesting, and meaningful way. To do this, they make use of audio, text, videos, graphics, etc. (Shishkovskaya et al., 2016) which leads to complex mental processes.

ü  Slides

ü  Songs

ü  Videos- movies

ü  Infographics

ü  Online games

o   Problem-solving methods: Its purpose is to promote reflection, critical thinking, and the development of English communication skills. The construction and production of students’ knowledge is the fundamental pillar of this method.

ü  Online discussions

ü  Diagram creation.

ü  Elaboration of maps (mind, ideas, concepts)

ü  Debates, panels, exhibitions.

ü  Research

 

o   Team working methods: This method applies some virtual platforms for work, teaching, and learning in various teams, facilitating interaction between learners.

ü  Skype

ü  Microsoft teams

ü  Zoom

ü  WhatsApp

ü  Google meet

o   Creative research methods: project-based method in which students research and offer solutions to everyday problems.

ü  Materials design

ü  Activity planning

ü  Information search.

ü  Teamwork tasks

ü  Problem-solving activities

c)    According to the article “Develop Reading Materials”, what are the most important elements that material developers should take into account in selecting and presenting the reading materials?

There are some elements that teachers must take into account when satisfactorily developing students' reading skills. Those elements are divided into two general categories, according to Mukundan, Zarifi, and Rezvani (2016), the selection of reading topic and selection and use of vocabulary. The first category emphasizes the relationship that must exist between the reading and the particular context of learning. Applying authentic readings in class can be also more functional and practical as soon as the language is known from its use in daily life. Adapting readings to the grammatical content (or contextualized topic) that students are learning facilitates understanding of the same topic and improves reading skills. The second category highlights the role of vocabulary in learning and mastering a second language, specifically in reading comprehension. Ur (2009; as cited by Mukundan et. all, 2016) claims that “You can understand a reading text… with almost no grammar, but you can’t get anywhere without vocabulary”. This means that teachers should choose to look for readings with vocabulary that students know or should be made known before or during the reading process. Both reading and vocabulary strategies or activities are key factors in carrying out successful reading processes.

d)    According to the document “Materials for Teaching Writing”, explain the following approaches.

§  The traditional product-oriented approach: this approach is the most common since the intention of any written activity is to deliver a product at the end of class. This product has to explain the topic, the use of vocabulary and grammar, and show the level of student’s communicative competence. In other words, “In this approach the teacher remains attentive to form instead of content. Here syntax, grammar, mechanics and organization are more important” (Mukundan, Kalajahi, & Babaee, 2016, p. 93). Rubrics are often the most common evaluative technique for written products. This traditional writing approach is the oldest but inadequate for developing students' writing skills.

§  The process-oriented approach: this approach focuses on writing as an arduous process of construction and expression of ideas. In this regard, Smith, as cited by Mukundan et al. (2016), states that “for the competent writers writing is a nonlinear, recursive and generative process that involves several steps or stages, which are pre-writing, composing/writing, and re-writing-steps or stages that compete with each other for the writers attention” (p. 94). Writing as a process involves a stage of planning, writing, reviewing, and editing to improve the product.

§  The modern approach: the most recent model integrates the product and process approaches to strengthen the development of writing skill, and thereby the communicative competence and language level in students. This modern model emphasizes three key aspects “people write to communicate with readers, people write to accomplish specific purpose & writing is a complex process” (Mukundan et al., 2016, p. 94). This approach is the most complete and integrative for carrying out written activities in class.

e)    What are the five advantages of using authentic materials in a writing classroom? explain them and give real examples per advantage.

The five advantages of using authentic materials in a writing classroom are (according to Mukundan, Kalajahi, & Babaee, 2016):

1)    Authentic materials expose learners to a wide range of natural business language. This allows students to identify and differentiate that general English varies from standard English, that is, it exposes them to a real communicative situation that is a little more complex but much more competitive. The contents are not adapted for language teaching and learning.

Examples: magazines, newspapers, research articles, movies, and so on.

2)    Authentic materials also bring reality to the classroom and make interaction meaningful. They connect the classroom with the outside by showing the lifestyle and culture of other regions around the world, making language learning more meaningful and interesting. Examples: documentaries, video calls, chats, blogs, web pages, etc.

3)    Authentic materials make the teaching and assessment emphasize skills rather than the facts of language. Authentic materials prioritize the development of communication skills and the way texts are structured rather than the facts of language. This gives learners more freedom to assume their learning process.

Examples: books, recipes, biographies, written publications, among others.

4)    Authentic materials are readily available, inexpensive teaching resources. Thanks to internet access, a huge number of authentic materials can be found for free. This makes it easy for both teachers and students to use them to strengthen their knowledge and skills.

Examples: research, textbooks, worksheets, readings, etc.

5)    Authentic materials necessarily add variety to classroom activities and support a more creative approach to teaching. Undoubtedly, authentic materials represent opportunities for learners because of the real connection they establish with the native culture and how they express themselves. They require a high level of the language for their understanding but are much more interesting and relevant.

Examples: games, online activities, websites, social networks, virtual platforms, among others.

References

Mukundan, J., Kalajahi, S. A. R., & Babaee, R. (2016). Material for Teaching Writing. In Issues in Materials Development (pp. 93-108). Sense Publishers, Rotterdam.

Mukundan, J., Zarifi, A., & Kalajahi, S. A. R. (2016). Developing reading materials for ESL learners. In Issues in materials development (pp. 65-73). Brill Sense.

Shishkovskaya, J., Bakalo, D., & Grigoryev, A. (2015). EFL teaching in the e-learning environment: updated principles and methods. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 206, 199-204.