the importance of designing material in the efl context

7/24/2019 The Importance of Designing Material in the EFL Context

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The importance of designing material in the EFL context

Taken from Rahimi, M (2011). Adapted by Lopez, A., and Velasquez, A.

Introduction

Body paragraphs

Body paraghrap 1 Topic sentence: Firstly, the designing ofmaterials based on students necessities

allow teachers to be more creative in their

classes.Support sentence 1: Challenge teachers to

find information

i.

Adapt materials to the

real context

ii.

Search different types

of materials.

Support sentence 2: Promote innovation

iii.

Other ways to teach

iv. Shape with students

needs.

Body paragraph 2 Topic sentence: Secondly, another advantage

of designing material is that it facilitates

meaningful relationships among teachers and

students.

Support sentence 1: Teachers can improve

their relationships with their colleagues.

v.

Create a material bank

vi.

Share activities and

material

Support sentence 2:the learners are

encourage to take part of their learning process

if the material is well-selected.

vii.

More interaction in

class (active role)

Context of the topic One of the characteristics of teachingEnglish in the 21st century has to do with

the implementation of the communicative

language competence, which includeschallenging tasks aligned with the fourlanguage skills reading, writing, listening,

and speaking.Thesis statement Designing materials allows teachers to be more

creative, it facilitates meaningful relationships

among teachers and students, and it provides

the possibility to explore different educational

approaches.


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viii.

Creation of rapport

Body paragraph 3 Topic sentence: Finally, material designing

provides teachers with the possibility toexplore different educational approaches.

Support sentence 1: Reflectiveteaching.

i.

Teachers encourage

themselves to find

ways to impact their

teaching practice.

ii.

Explore/Undertake

positive and negative

experiences in class.

Support sentence 2: Better insights about the

class and their role as teachers.

ix.

How to put materials

into practice

x.

How to guide learners

in the learning

process.

Conclusion

Re- state thesis statement: It is important that

teachers have the possibility to design their

own material since itallows teachers to be more creative, facilitates

meaningful relationships among teachers andstudents, and provides a variety of alternatives

to explore different educational approaches

Solution/ advice: If teachers design material

rather than adapting it, the class will be a space

that promotes creativity, rapport and

interaction.



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One of the characteristics of teaching English in the 21st century has to do with the

implementation of the communicative language competence, which includes providing

challenging tasks aligned with the four language skills reading, writing, listening, and

speaking. Therefore, materials design plays a relevant role in the development of tasks that

facilitate the process of learning a second language. From our experience as English

language learners, we used to think that it was more meaningful to take materials from

textbooks instead of internet; however, when we read Rahimis article material design,

our perspective regarding the materials changed. This author points out that language

teachers should adapt or design their own material based on students needs; they need to

be connected to students reallives to convey meaning. Thus, teachers should adapt or

design their own material since it allows them to be more creative, facilitates meaningful

relationships among teachers and students, and provides a variety of alternatives to explore different

educational approaches.

Firstly, the designing of materials based on students necessities allows

teachers to be more creative in their classes. According to Rahimi (2011), teachers need to

challenge themselves to find meaningful information that can be adapted to the English

class. When teachers find new information, they have more possibilities to adapt that

information to materials, which are going to be related to students real contexts; therefore,

students will have more alternatives to learn the language meaningfully because if the

content is interesting for the learners, they will be more motivated to learn. Additionally,

adapting new material fosters teachers creativityand innovation to design activities and

tasks that will have an impact on students learning process. Teachers will find other ways to

teach the language components by adapting or designing material that shapes with students


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needs. In short, it is important that teachers design their materials based on students

necessities as it will promote creativity and innovation in the English class.

Secondly, another advantage of designing material is that it facilitates meaningful

relationships among teachers and students. Rahimi (2001) points out that teacher can

improve their relationships with other colleagues when they create their own materials.

This relationship is strengthen since teachers create a material bank where they can use and

recycle interesting and meaningful tasks. Thus, it enhances the relation among teachers

because they share materials and activities that have been successful in their English

classes. Furthermore, Rahimi also explains that creating well-selected materials encourages

learners to take part of their learning process. For example, if a teacher is careful when

selecting the material paying attention to students real lives and necessities, they will have

more opportunities to interact and have an active role in the class; also, the teacher will

have more alternatives to create good rapport with the students since the material is adapted

to their context, so students will be more motivated to participate by commenting on

something that is meaningful and attractive for them. In brief, creating materials permit to

improve relationships among teachers and students if this is well-selected or well-designed.

Finally, material designing provides teachers with the possibility to explore different

educational approaches. Reflective teaching is one of those approaches that can be

experienced through creating material. Once teachers are exposed to designing materials

tasks, they encourage themselves to find ways to impact their practice. They explore and

undertake positive and negative experiences from their class by implementing new

material, which later are analyzed and reflected in order to come out with other ideas that


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will benefit studentsand teachers learning and teaching practice. Rahimi (2001) suggests

that material designing gives teachers better insights about the class and their role. This

author states that teachers need to inquiry themselves about how to put materials into

practice in the way it is more authentic and meaningful for students; moreover, teachers

have to rethink about their role as teachers and the role of the material in the class with the

purpose of guiding the learners in the process of learning a second language. To conclude,

reflective teaching is one approach teachers need to explore when designing material since

it helps them to impact on students language development.

In summary, it is important that teachers have the possibility to design their own

material since it allows them to be more creative, facilitates meaningful relationships

among teachers and students, and provides a variety of alternatives to explore different

educational approaches. If facilitators design material rather than adapting it, the class will

be a space that promotes creativity, rapport and interaction.

References

Rahimi, M. (2008). What do we want teaching-materials for in EFL teacher training

programs? Asian EFL Journal , 31, 1-17. Retrieved from http://www.asian-efl-

journal.com/pta_Oct_16.pdf

the importance of designing material in the efl context

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