The analysis of language teaching materials: inside the Trojan Horse by Andrew Littlejohn

PREPARED BY: DECLAN PAUL JOHNNY ELUCIA YONG SIEW LEAN GLENN ANDREW HILARION LOH CHIA YEE STENNIA MIGA AK RADIM BT12110030 BT12110033 BT12110047 BT12110073 BT12110180

Materials design has become characterised by 2 important developments:

Use of published materials is widespread

presence of UK publisher Eg. Oxford, Pearson

Materials evolved much more complex objects

Comes with complete packages for language learning and teaching Eg. Textbook has questions to be answered by students, enable teacher-student interaction

Issue proposed by Andrew Littlejohn

Development of materials will be more effective if we are able to examine implications of the material use in classroom Need to test out the claims being made for materials:

Help develop autonomy? Involve problem-solving? Learner centered?

*looking inside like Trojan Horse*

Analysing materials
His concern was to..

Enable a close analysis materials themselves. (as support to design material)

Enable it to be a preliminary step to materials evaluation and classroom research

This is where the framework comes in...

Sources for guidance in analysing materials

Frameworks depicted by other researchers E.g : Harmer, 1991; Williams 1983; Cunningsworth, 1984

However...

Although useful, they only made general impressionistic judgements on the materials

Contain assumptions about what desirable materials should look like.

E.g : Williams 1983; Schemes of evaluation , up-to-date methodology

Hence...

A framework is required to guide teacher-analyst to have an in-depth evaluation of a material.

We need to consider...

What are the aspects of materials we should examine? How to examine?

How can we relate the findings to our own teaching context?

Frameworks that Littlejohn proposed

Publication

Physical aspects of the materials and how they appear as a complete set or book The actual form of the material

Framework Relates to the thinking underlying the material Considers how tasks, language and content in materials are selected

Design

Aspects of analysis of language teaching materials

Aspects of analysis of language teaching materials

Analysis of materials

Need to focus on what learner are asked to do How it relates to process competence

Knowledge

Process competence

Affects

Ability

How do we examine the materials?

On

its own, the framework has very limited use

need to examine different levels of analysis

Therefore,
Teacher-analyst

Levels of analysis of language teaching materials This figure outlines

What is there?
Statements of description Physical aspects of the materials Main steps in instructional sections

levels from the most objective through deductions to conclusions about the underlying principles of materials.

What is required of users ?

Subdivision into constituent tasks An analysis of tasks: What is the learner expected to do? With whom? With what content? Who determines these things?

What is implied?

Deducing aims, principles of selection and sequence Deducing teacher and learner roles Deducing demands on learners process competence

Level 1: What is there?

Explicit nature of the materials what is clear and can be understood and seen easily Statements found within the materials

Example:

Publication date Intended audience Type of materials Number of pages Use of colour Total number of components in a complete set

Physical aspects of the materials

We are able to see:

How a material is divided into sections The means of access into the materials provided How both of the above are distributed between teacher and learner

Categories of information recorded depend on the particular materials being analysed The length of materials make it impractical to analyse all the contents Proportion of materials examined and main sequence of activity is recorded (Part B) Littlejohn found it useful to analyse about 10%-15% of the material

A schedule for recording the explicit nature of a set of materials

A schedule for recording the explicit nature of a set of materials

A schedule for recording the explicit nature of a set of materials

Level 2: What is required of users?

Most important aspect of materials Draw deductions about what exactly teachers and learners who are using the materials have to do

1. 2.

Materials need to be divided into tasks where each task is analysed.

Two definitions: Task is meaning-focused work, such as projects, problem-solving and simulations. Task refers to any proposal contained within the materials for action to be undertaken by the learners, which has the direct aim of bringing about the learning of the foreign language (Littlejohn, 1998).

Definition 1 too narrow to analyse any set language learning materials

not meaning focused

Definition 2 alternative broader definition From definition 2, there are three aspects of tasks

A process through which learners and teachers are to go

Classroom participation concerning with whom the learners are to work Content that the learners are to focus on Process

Participation

Content

Process

Turn-take
Relates to the role in classroom discourse learners are expected to take.
Are they:
Responding to direct questions? Using language supplied/not supplied by material? Asked to initiate? Not required to take any direct role at all?

Focus
Meaning of language? Form of language?

Operation
Refers to the mental process required.

Eg:
Repetition Deducing language rules

Both?

Participation

With whom? Work alone? Pairs/groups? Whole class?

Content

Is it written or spoken? Individual word or sentences or extended discourse? Where does the material come from?

Teachers or learner themselves? Grammar explanations? Personal information? Fiction? General knowledge?

What is the nature?

With this detailed analysis

The assumptions about the best route to classroom language learning will become clear Teacher and learner roles become defined

Analysis of tasks effectively test out the various claims made for the materials.

Level 3: What is implied?

Draws on findings at Level 1 and 2 Come to some general conclusions about the principles of materials Make statements on the overall aims of the materials and how the tasks and content are selected and sequenced. Produce general statements on the demands placed upon learners in relation to process competence. Come to conclusion on the

Roles proposed for teachers and learners Roles of materials as a whole in facilitating language learning and teaching.

How can we relate the findings to our own teaching contexts?

A preliminary framework for materials analysis, evaluation and action