26º CONGRESSO APPI “Motivated teachers make a difference”
27, 28 e 29 de Abril de 2012
Making Materials that Motivate
Nicolas Hurst, The Department of Anglo-American Studies,
The Faculty of Letters, The University of Porto.
When do we go ‘off book’?
THE CATALYST TEST C ___ Communicative? A ___ Aims? T ___ Teachability? The words in the mnemonic represent the A ___ Available Add-ons? key questions we should ask ourselves. L ___ Level? Y ___ Your impression S ___ Student interest? T ___ Tried and tested?
COMMUNICATIVE? Is the textbook communicative? Will the students be able to use the language to communicate as a result of using the book?
AIMS? Does it fit in with our aims and objectives? These may be laid down by authorities, or devised by ourselves.
TEACHABLE? Does the course seem to be teachable? Does it seem reasonably easy to use, well organised, and easy to find your way around?
AVAILABLE ADD-ONS? Are there any useful “adds-on”- additional materials such as teacher’s books, tapes, workbooks, etc? If so, are they available?
LEVEL? Does the level seem about right?
YOUR IMPRESSION? What is your overall impression of the course?
STUDENT INTEREST? Are you students likely to find the book interesting?
TRIED AND TESTED? Has the course been tried and tested in real classrooms? Where? By whom? What were the results? How do you know?
NOTE: CATALYST´s questions are the very minimum one should ask when looking at the material for the firs time.
Why do we need supplementary materials? [adapted from Sprat, M. et al (2005) The TKT Course, CUP, Cambridge, pp. 114/115]
1) To replace unsuitable materials in the coursebook
2) To fill in gaps in the coursebook
3) To provide suitable materials for specific learner
needs
4) To give learners specific extra practice or language
5) To add variety to our teaching
Motivation in ELT …in brief…
Socio-Educational Model: Gardner (1982 & 2001)
This model looks specifically at second language
‘learning’ in a structured classroom setting rather than
‘acquisition’ in a natural environment.
This model attempts to interrelate four features. These
are: individual learner differences, the social and
cultural milieu, the setting or context in which learning
takes place and linguistic outcomes.
Motivation in this model
Motivation is a learner variable, it includes three
elements:
1) the motivated individual expends effort to learn the
language.
2) the motivated individual wants to achieve a goal.
3) the motivated individual will enjoy the task of
learning the language.
Useful Author: Zoltán Dörnyei
Multilingual Matters Ltd; (10 April 2006)
Cambridge University Press; (16 Oct 2003)
OUP Oxford (26 Feb 2009)
Cambridge University Press (27 Sep 2001)
Multilingual Matters (15 Jan 2009)
Dornyei, Z. (2001) Motivational Strategies in the
Language Classroom, Cambridge, C.U.P.
Motivation “ … is related to what one wants/desires (i.e. ‘conative’ functions), in contrast to characteristics related to what one rationally thinks (i.e. ‘cognitive’ functions) or feels (i.e. affective functions)
“ … is related to one of the most basic aspects of the human mind, and most teachers and researchers would agree that it has a very important role in determining success or failure in a learning situation.”
What are the strategies suggested?
Strategies fall into three broad categories;
We can improve learners’ motivation by
1) breaking the monotony of learning
2) making the tasks more interesting
3) increasing the involvement of the learners
-» these are inter-related and overlap
basic idea: improve their learning experience
1) Breaking the monotony of learning
a) The teacher: keyword: variety!
i) vary presentation style
ii) vary learning materials
iii) vary extent of learner involvement
-» interaction patterns
iv) vary classroom spatial organisation
-» pay attention to the rhythm and sequence of events … and sometimes, do the unexpected!
1) Breaking the monotony of learning
b) The tasks
i) Vary the linguistic focus of tasks
ii) Vary the main language skills the tasks activate
iii) Vary the channel: auditory, tactile & visual
iv) Vary organisational format (group, pair, etc)
2) Making the tasks more interesting i) Challenge: learners need to solve problems, discover new facts, overcome obstacles, avoid traps, find hidden information, etc etc
ii) Interesting content: connect the task with known topic of interest: prominent events, youth culture, etc
iii) The novelty element: something different about the task from the usual, the expected
iv) The intriguing element: tasks/material that contain something ambiguous, paradoxical, contradictory, controversial, etc
v) The exotic element: people and places that are unique, have grandeur …
vi) The fantasy element: engage their imagination,
creativity … make-believe stories or play to adapt or
play out, etc
vii) The personal element: use real people from the real
world, and connect this to their world, their lives
viii) Competition: generally stimulates learners, but care
required with ‘losers’: not to be taken too seriously
ix) Tangible outcome: some kind of product as outcome
of task: poster,newsletter, blog etc
x) Humour: allow ‘space’ for a laugh!
3) Increasing learner involvement
i) Select tasks which require mental and/or bodily involvement from each learner
ii) Create specific roles and personalised assignments for all learners
iii) The learners need to understand the purpose and/or rationale of the task
iv) Highlight utility of task in relation to real world, their lives
v) Project intensity and enthusiasm when initiating tasks: expectation of success
How can we apply this to materials writing?
The T-L Process
• … that have built-in
flexibility for teachers
• … that deal with meaning
before language features
• … that have engaging
content
• … that encourage learning
skills
[Bell & Gower, 1998: 122-125]
The Learner
• … expose learners to authentic
language in use
• … help learners pay attention
to features of authentic input
• … allow learners to use L2 to
achieve communicative
purposes
• … achieve impact, arouse and
sustain curiosity and interest
• … stimulate intellectual,
aesthetic and emotional
involvement
[Tomlinson, 1998b: 5-22]
Useful Author: Brian Tomlinson
Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition (7 April 2011)
Continuum (2 Oct 2003)
Continuum (17 Mar 2008)
Continuum (11 Nov 2010)
Continuum (15 Nov 2012)
Tomlinson, B. 2010: 81- 108
Principles for Effective Materials Development
1. Make sure materials contains plentiful spoken and written texts, from different genres, related to topics/themes likely to be meaningful to learners
2. The language is representative of how that language is typically used: ‘authentic’ [check copora not grammar books!!]
3. The language must be contextualised. Context allows learners to determine/interpret meaning
5. Prioritise the potential for engagement: texts or tasks that are likely to connect cognitively and affectively with the learners
6. Make use of activities that make learners think and feel: before, during and after using the target language for communication
7. Texts and tasks should should enhance positive attitude to the L2 and L2 learning. [be enjoyable!]
8. Have a high chance of success: achievable challenge: improve self-esteem
9. Use provocative and controversial texts from multi-media sources: invite personalisation & emotive responses before any L2 analysis
10. Make use of activities that encourage learners to visualise and/or use their inner voice before, during and after experiencing texts or using the L2
11. Get learners to reflect on how they think/ work / learn and then get them to re-apply those strategies on another/similar task
12. Tasks must require L2 use for a communicative purpose: an outcome
Thanks for being here… Please contact me if you’d like to discuss any of the issues raised in this talk ... My e-mail address is
