Effective Principles for Adapting Resources

TESL 0150
Resources Development and Integration

In Unit 3 one of our tasks was to choose a scenario with a set of activities, develop or adapt effective principles for materials development specific to the context, and use these principles to discuss one of the activities. We were also asked to consider whether we would involve the learners in materials adaptation. What follows is my post regarding effective principles for adapting resources.

Scenario 2
Your LINC Level 3 class is comprised of a mixture of stay-at-home moms, seniors, and youth. Many of the students have previously asked you about volunteer opportunities. You are preparing a unit on community and government services. You have the LINC 3 Classroom Activities resource available. You may choose any activity from Community and Government Services module (pp. 273-310) for this scenario.

After reading the assigned readings I selected three principles for materials development to focus on that are important to me. The key ideas were discussed in both the Tomlinson (Chapter 4) and the Richards texts, with slightly different wording. 

Principle 1: Materials should be relevant to the learners.

I think that the materials used in the classroom should be related to the interests/needs/wants of the particular learners in a learning context. Materials should be personalized to match up to the language needs and goals of the learners and should reflect their local community where possible. Learners need to be able to relate to the topics/themes/tasks/skills studied in class, as this will lead to a positive attitude towards the lesson.  

Principle 2: Materials should expose learners to authentic language.

I believe that it is very important for learners to see how language is used in authentic situations. In order for students to gain an awareness of how language is actually used, they need to be exposed to authentic materials where language is used naturally, in context. Learners also need to have multiple exposures to this authentic language in order for it to become meaningful to them.

Principle 3: Materials should provide learners with opportunities to communicate effectively.

I think that materials should allow learners to apply their learning in a communicative interaction. Materials should provide opportunities for learners to purposefully use language, often in the form of a real-world task. By producing the language in context, learners are more likely to internalize that learning and transfer it to other similar situations.

Suggested Changes: 

I chose to focus on the activity, Volunteer Opportunities, on pg. 280-283 from the Community and Government Services module. I think that this activity would be relevant to the students in this class. (Principle 1) The students had asked about volunteer opportunities and are interested in learning more about them, therefore this lesson is related to their interests/wants/needs. In order to make it even more relevant and engaging to the students I would start with a whole class discussion about volunteering in our community. I would find out if anyone had any experience with volunteering or knew of any places that were looking for or accepting volunteers. I also would have done research beforehand so that I would be able to share actual locations that students would be able to volunteer at in the local community.

This activity includes authentic language in the form of a sample email inquiring about a volunteer opportunity. (Principle 2) A reference sheet is also provided with alternatives for each section/area of the email. This provides students with additional examples for writing an email about volunteering. To supplement this activity I would provide addition email examples for different types of volunteer opportunities. I would also bring brochures/pamphlets/information sheets from community locations that students may actually be able to volunteer at that students could potentially send real e-mails to. I would pre-teach any needed vocabulary to aid the students in understanding the materials. 

In this activity students practice writing an email inquiring about a volunteer opportunity. The activity replicates a real-world task that students may do in real life and gives them a chance to communicate effectively. (Principle 3) Depending on the students' experience with writing emails, a lesson may need to be done on the basics of writing an email. Some learners may be interested in finding a real volunteer opportunity in the local community and may need/want to write an email to a community location. This could be an extension to the lesson.

Involving Learners in Materials Adaptation

This lesson is based on a topic that is relevant to the students based on their wants/needs, as stated above. I suggested having a whole class discussion about volunteering in our local community at the beginning of the lesson. This would allow for student input on volunteer locations and could result in materials adaptation regarding which locations we discussed and what places we practiced writing emails to. The students may not be very familiar with places in the community, and particularly places that allow or are looking for volunteers, so this may be more of a teacher-led activity. The amount of involvement of learners in materials adaptation for this activity would depend on the knowledge and interests of the students regarding the topic of volunteer opportunities. The activity should align to the learners' wants/needs, expose them to authentic language, and allow them to communicate effectively. 

References:

Richards, J. C. (2010). English Language Teaching Materials. Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2014). Developing materials for language teaching. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic.