Materials development for language learning and teaching

• 1. Materials development forlanguage learning andteachingBrian Tomlinson

2. 1. IntroductionMaterials can be; Informative (informing the learner about the target language) Instructional (guiding the learner in practising the language) Experiential (providing the learner with experience of the language in use) Eliciting (encouraging the learner to use the language) Exploratory (helping the learner to make discoveries about the language). 3. Richards (2001: 251) comment thatinstructional materials generally serveas the basis of much of the languageinput that learners receive and thelanguage practice that occurs in theclassroom. The same point is madeby Tomlinson et al. (2001) andMasuhara et al. (2008) in their reviewsof currently used adult EFLcoursebooks: both conclude that theemphasis in most coursebooks is onproviding explicit teaching and 4. What does Materialsdevelopment mean? Materials development refers to all the processes made use of by practitioners who produce and/or use materials for language learning, including materials evaluation, their adaptation, design, production, exploitation and research. Ideally, all of these processes should be given consideration and should interact in the making of language-learning 5. 2. History of publications onmaterials development A few books and papers on materials development were published around seventies and this situation continued throughout the eighties. There were articles on specific aspects of materials development in the seventies and eighties in such journals as ELT Journal and Modern English Teacher, but it was not until the mid-nineties that more books on materials development started to appear. 6. In the USA, Byrd (1995) published aguide for materials writers and inEngland books were published byCunningsworth (1995) on choosing yourcoursebook, Graves (1996) on teachersas course developers and Tomlinson(1998a) on the principles and proceduresof materials development. The last ofthese was published as a collection ofpapers by presenters at MATSDAConferences, events which alsostimulated many articles on materialsdevelopment in various establishedjournals and in Folio. 7. At this time, books on languageteaching methodology also gave moreattention to materials developmentand illustrated their approaches withsamples of published materials; forexample, McDonough & Shaw (1998,2003), which is being revised withexamples fromcontemporarymaterials as McDonough, Shaw &Masuhara (2012). 8. Publications in the early 2000s includeFenner & Newby (2000) on approachesto materials design in Europeancoursebooks, Richards (2001) oncurriculum development with frequentreference to materials development, andMcGrath (2002) on materials evaluationanddesign, which was probably the firstbook to not only provide applications oftheory to the practice of evaluating,adapting and supplementing materialsbut also to make principled suggestionsfor systematising materials design. 9. Tomlinsons own book (Tomlinson2003a) provided courses on materialsdevelopment with a possible textbook,as it contains chapters on mostaspects of materials development,including such practical considerationsas design and illustration. Practicalguidance is also a feature ofTomlinson & Masuhara (2004), a bookwritten in English for inexperiencedteachers in South-East Asia but sincetranslatedinto Korean and 10. The literature on materials development hascome a long way, now focusing less on waysof selecting materials and more on theapplication of theory to practice and practiceto theory. But in Tomlinsons view there arecertain aspects of materials developmentwhich have not yet received enoughattention. He would like to read publicationsexploring the effects on the learners ofdifferent ways of using the same materials.Most of all, however, he would like to readpublications reporting and applying theresults of longitudinal studies not just of theeffects of materials on the attitudes, beliefs,engagement and motivation of learners buton their actual communicative effectiveness. 11. 3. Materials evaluation3.1 Establishing criteria anddeveloping evaluation instrumentsMuch of the early literature onmaterials development attempted tohelp teachers andmaterialsdevelopers to develop criteria forevaluating and selecting materials. 12. Tomlinson & Masuhara (2004: 7) proposedthe following questions for evaluating criteria:a) Is each question an evaluationquestion?b) Does each question only ask onequestion?c) Is each question answerable?d) Is each question free of dogma?e) Is each question reliable in thesense that other evaluators wouldinterpret it in the same way? 13. Very few of the lists of criteria proposed in theliterature satisfy these conditions, and mostof them are not generalisable or transferable.For example:a) Are there any materials for testing?(Cunningsworth 1984) is an analysis questionin the same checklist as evaluation questionssuch as Are the learning activities in thecourse material likely to appeal to thelearners. . .?b) Is it attractive? Given the average age ofyour students, would they enjoy using it?(Grant 1987: 122) combines two questions inone criterion. 14. c) Does the writer use current everydaylanguage, and sentence structures thatfollow normal word order? (Daoud &Celce-Murcia 1979: 304) contains twoquestions and both are unanswerablewithout a data analysis of both a corpusof current language and the completescript of the materials. To what extent isthe level of abstractness appropriate?(Skierso 1991: 446) is another exampleof a criterion which is too broad andvague to be answerable. 15. d) Are the various stages in a teachingunit (what you would probably callpresentation, practice and production)adequately developed? (Mariani 1983:29) is dogmatic in insisting on the use ofa Presentation Practice Production(PPP) approach.e) Is it foolproof (i.e. sufficientlymethodical to guide the inexperiencedteacher through a lesson)? (Dougill1987: 32) is unreliable in that it can beinterpreted in different ways by differentevaluators. 16. Mukundan & Ahour (2010) review 48evaluation checklists from 1970 to 2008 andcriticise many of them for being toodemanding of time and expertise to be usefulto teachers, too vague to be answerable, toocontext bound to be generalisable, tooconfusing to be useable and too lacking invalidity to be useful.They conclude that a framework forgenerating clear, concise and flexible criteriawould be more useful than detailed andinflexible checklists and also that moreattention should be given to retrospectiveevaluation than to predictive evaluation, tohelp teachers to evaluate the effect of thematerials they are using and makemodifications. 17. Tomlinson (2003b) proposes a process forgenerating principled criteria instead of anunrealistic set of criteria for all contexts. Hestresses that evaluators need to develop theirown principled criteria which take intoconsideration the context of the evaluationand their own beliefs. He claims thatevaluation criteria should be developedbefore materials are produced, and used tomake decisions about the approach,procedures and activities to be adopted aswell as to monitor their development andsubsequent use. 18. Tomlinson differentiates betweenuniversal and local criteria, the formerbeing those that can be used to evaluatematerials for any learner anywhere. Togenerate these criteria he advisesevaluators to brainstorm a list ofprincipled beliefs that they hold abouthow languages are most effectivelyacquired and then convert these beliefsinto criteria for evaluating materials, suchas Are the materials likely to achieveaffectiveengagement?(Tomlinson2003b: 28). 19. Tomlinson (2003b: 16) recognises thatevaluation is inevitably subjective, that itfocuses on the users of the materials andattempts to measure the potential or actualeffects of the materials on their users. Incontrast, analysis focuses on the materialsand aims to identify what they contain, whatthey ask learners to do and what they saythey are trying to achieve, aiming to providean objective account of the materials, thoughthe selection of questions is inevitablysubjective and there is often a hidden agendawhich it is hoped the revealed data willsupport. 20. Littlejohn (2011: 181) makes a similardistinction when he says that analysisis concerned with materials as theyare and with the content and ways ofworking that they propose. Hesuggests first carrying out an analysisof materials to find out how suitablethey are for the context of use,followed by an evaluation to predictthe likely effects of the materials ontheir users. 21. In the last ten years a number of otherwriters have proposed frameworks formaterials evaluation insteadofchecklists.McGrath(2002: 31)distinguishes between general criteria(i.e. the essential features of any goodteaching-learning material) and specific(or context related) criteria and, inrelation to choosing a coursebook,proposes a procedure which includesmaterials analysis, first-glanceevaluation, user feedback, evaluationusing situation specific checklists and,finally, selection. 22. McDonough & Shaw (2003: 61)suggest that the evaluators firstconduct an external evaluation thatoffers a brief overview from theoutside and then carry out a closerand more detailed internal evaluation.They stress that the four mainconsiderations when deciding on thesuitability of materials are usability,generalisability,adaptabilityandflexibility. 23. Riazi (2003) provides a critical survey oftextbook evaluation schemes from 1975onwards, in which he points out thetransience of many of the criteria, whichhe says were based on pedagogicapproaches fashionable at the time. Inhisconclusion hesupportsCunningsworth (1995) in insisting on theimportance of collecting data about thecontext of learning and proposes aprocedure which includes a survey of theteaching/learning situation, a neutralanalysis, a belief-driven evaluation and aselection. 24. Other writers have offered principled adviceon developing evaluation criteria, includingWallace (1998), who suggests twelvecriterion areas for materials evaluation;Rubdy (2003), who proposes and givesexamples of a dynamic model of evaluation inwhich the three categories of psychologicalvalidity, pedagogical validity and process andcontent validity interact; Tomlinson &Masuhara (2004), with their evaluationprocedure for inexperienced teachers andMcCullagh (2010), who sets out theprocedure she used to evaluate materials formedical practitioners. 25. 3.2 Reporting evaluations The focus of much of the literature on materials evaluation is on the principles andprocedures of conducting evaluations. Thereare some publications, however, which report on the effectiveness of materials. Some of them also include post-use reviews of materials. For example, Modern English Teacher includes a section entitled A Book Ive Used, which consists of reviews by practitioners of their use of a recently published Textbook. 26. Most of the reviews are of specific textbooksor courses but ELT Journal, for example, alsopublishes survey reviews of a number ofcurrent textbooks of the same sub-genre. Forexample, Tomlinson et al. (2001) is a reviewof eight currently popular UK coursebooks foradults in which four reviewers from differentcultural backgrounds independently subjecteach course to a rigorous evaluation usingthe same 133 criteria. A similar review waspublished by Masuhara et al. (2008) in whichthey subjected eight coursebooks for adultsto a rigorous criterion-referenced review. 27. Interestingly, the two reviews came to similarconclusions. They both welcomed theattempts to personalise and humanise thecoursebooks and both were critical of theexpensive and unwanted increase in thenumber of components of coursebooks, theneglect of literature as a source of potentiallyengaging texts, the lack of intelligent contentat lower levels, the neglect of extensivereading and listening, and the scarcity of realtasks which have an intended outcome otherthan just the practice of language forms(Masuhara et al. 2008: 310). 28. 4. Materials adaptation Considering how teachers adapt materials systematically or intuitively every day, there is surprisingly little help for them in the literature. One of the major early books on materials development, Madsen & Bowen (1978), did, however, focus on adaptation. It made the important point that good teachers are always adapting the materials they are using to the context in which they are using them in order to achieve the optimal congruence between materials, methodology, learners, objectives, the target language and the teachers personality and teaching style. In order to achieve this congruence Madsen & Bowen propose ways of personalising, individualising, localising and modernising materials. 29. Other early publications which provided helpto teachers when adapting materials include;Candlin & Breen (1980), who criticisepublished communicative materials andsuggest ways of adapting them so as to offermore opportunities for communication, Cunningsworth (1984), who focuses on howto change materials so that they get thelearners to do what the teacher wants themto do Grant (1987), who suggests and illustratesways ofmaking materials morecommunicative. 30. Experts who have given advice aboutadaptation in the nineties include; Willis (1996), on ways of changingclassroom management and sequencingto maximise the value of taskbasedmaterials, Nunan (1999), on procedures for makingmaterials more interactive and White (1998), on ways of increasingstudent participation when using listeningmaterials. 31. McGrath (2002) also devotes a chapter todiscussing the objectives, principles andprocedures of adaptation. He proposes fourevaluative processes (p. 59) when basing alesson on a coursebook and goes on to discussthe issues and procedures involved in eachprocess. Teachers may select the material thatwill be used unchanged, reject either completelyor partially sections of the material, addextensions or further exploitation of the existingmaterials and replace components of thematerials. McGrath sets a series of useful tasksfor the readers to check their understanding ofhis suggested procedures and their ability to usethem. Some of these tasks involve the readeradapting coursebook materials; others involvethem in evaluating adaptations suggested byexperts. 32. One problem with the tasks is that theyare not situated in a specific learningcontext, even though one of the mainobjectives of adaptation is to make thematerials of more value to the studentsusing them. McDonough et al. (2012)solve this problem by getting the readerto make use of materials they arefamiliar with and to adapt them to makethem more suitable for their ownteaching situation. 33. Islam & Mares (2003) solve thecongruence problem by situating theirthree example scenarios in threedifferent contexts which they are familiarwith. They borrow objectives andcategories from previously published listsbut include such objectives as addingreal choice, catering for all learner styles,providing forlearnerautonomy,developing high-level cognitive skills,and making the input both moreaccessible and more engaging. 34. A different approach to adaptation is taken bySaraceni (2003), who advocates providing thelearners with an important role in adapting thematerials they are using. In order to involvelearners in the process, she proposes thatmaterials should actually be written with learneradaptation in mind, aiming to be learner-centred,flexible, open-ended, relevant, universal andauthentic, and giving choices to learners. Shealso stresses that offering provocative topics andaesthetic experience can facilitate learneradaptation. She criticises published materials forbeing, for example, trivial, stereotypical and un-motivating, and provides an example of materialsdesigned so that they can be adapted by thelearners using them (as does Wajnryb 1996). 35. 5. Materials production5.1 How writers writeReports of how writers actually writematerials reveal that they rely heavilyon retrieval from repertoire, cloningsuccessful publicationsandspontaneous inspiration. 36. Johnson (2003) says he searched theliterature in vain for reports of the actualprocedures involved in writing materials. Hemissed accounts that have appeared, suchas those by Byrd (1995) and Hidalgo, Hall &Jacobs (1995), as well as Prowses (1998)report of how a number of well-knownauthors actually write their material. Hidalgoet al. (1995) consists of reports by materialswriters in South-East Asia of how they wrotematerials. Although some of them mentioninfluenceby principlesof languageacquisition (see 5.2), many report replicatingprevious materials, adapting activity typeswhich had worked for them before and relyingupon creative inspiration. 37. The writers in Prowse (1998) reportsimilar approaches and stress theimportance of thinking as you write, ofhow Ideas come to you at any timeduring collaboration (p. 130), of thinkingabout the materials whilst doingsomething else, of being prepared towrite many drafts and of being inspired.Some of the writers refer to priorplanning but none to developing aprincipled framework or criteria beforestarting to write. 38. Johnson (2003) focused on expertise in taskdesign. He studied the literature on task-based teaching but found nothing on theprocedures involved in actually writing a task,so he set up an experiment in which eightexpert materials writers and eight noviceswere asked to design an activity involving thefunction of describing people (p. 4). Heasked each writer to think aloud as theydesigned the task. Their concurrentverbalisations were recorded and thenanalysed. What they revealed was that theexperts wrote their materials in very differentways from the novices. 39. 5.2 Principled development ofmaterials Despite the typical reliance on repertoire and inspiration reported in the preceding section, some writers do describe establishing principles prior to writing. Flores (1995: 5859), for example, lists five assumptions and principles which drove the writing of a textbook in the Philippines, and Penaflorida (1995: 172179) reports her use of six principles of materials design specified by Nunan (1988). Hall (1995: 8) insists that the crucial question we need to ask is How do we think people learn languages? and goes on to discuss the principles which he thinks should underpin everything we do in planning and writing our materials (ibid.). 40. Tomlinson (1998b: 522; 2011b) proposesfifteen principles for materials developmentwhich derive from second languageacquisition (SLA) research and from hisexperience, and a number of other writersoutline principled approaches to developingELT materials in Tomlinson (1998a, 2011a).For example, Bell & Gower (2011) discussthe need for authors to make compromises tomeet the practical needs of teachers andlearners and match the realities of publishingmaterials. They also articulate elevenprinciples which guide their writing. 41. Edge &Wharton (1998: 299300) talk aboutthe coursebook as ELT theory and as agenre whose goal is a dialogue aboutprinciple via suggestions about practice, andthey stress the need to design coursebooksfor flexible use so as to capitalise onteachers capacity for creativity.Maley (1998, 2011) suggests ways ofproviding greater flexibility in decisions aboutcontent, order, pace and procedures (1998:280) and Jolly & Bolitho (2011) advocate aprincipled, practical and dynamic frameworkfor materials development. 42. Tomlinson & Masuhara (2010), inreporting recent research, consider theapplication of many theoretical principlesof language acquisition to the practice ofmaterials development; a number ofchapters report research results whichcould have important implications.Fenton-Smith (2010) describes thebeneficial effects on Japanese universitystudents engagement and motivationfrom carrying out creative and criticaloutput activities after extensive reading. 43. Tomlinson (2008a) provides critical reviews of ELTmaterials currently being used around the world andmost of its chapters make reference to the principlesand procedures of materials development. It alsocontains an introductory chapter on Languageacquisitionandlanguage-learningmaterials(Tomlinson 2008b), which proposes ways of applyingcommonly agreed theories of language acquisition tomaterials development. The principles proposedinclude: the language experience needs to be contextualisedand comprehensible the learner needs to be motivated, relaxed, positiveand engaged the language and discourse features available forpotential acquisition need to be salient,meaningful and frequently encountered the learner needs to achieve deep and multi-dimensional processing of the language( Tomlinson 44. 5.3 Practical guidance towritersThere are very few publications offering practical guidance tomaterials writers on how to develop effective materials. Johnson (2003) gives his informed opinion on the expertiseneeded to be a good task designer and Spiro (2006) providesadvice on how to become an L2 storywriter. Tomlinson (2003b, 2003c) proposes a flexible text-drivenframework for developing materials and puts forward ways ofensuring that materials are humanistic. Tomlinson & Masuhara (2004) provide practical advice ondeveloping materials, writing instructions, using illustrationsand layout and design. Van Avermaet & Gysen (2006) and Duran & Ramaut (2006)give advice on writing tasks for young learners.Folio has been publishing articles providing information,advice and stimulus to materials writers twice a year since1993. 45. 6. Materials exploitation There seems to be very little published on what teachers and learners actually do with materials in the classroom. There is some literature reporting how teachers use their textbooks as resources rather than as scripts. For example, Richards & Mahoney (1996) use questionnaires and observation to find out how teachers in Hong Kong make resourceful use of their textbooks, Katz (1996) found that the actual use of materials in four teachers classrooms depended on the different teachers pedagogical needs and goals and Gray (2000) reports how teachers censor or adapt aspects of cultural content in ELT reading materials. 46. There have also been a number of studies ofteacher attitudes towards their coursebookswhich suggest that how they use theircoursebook depends both on their experienceand their view of the coursebooks value intheir teaching context. For example, Tsuis(2003) research on the knowledge base ofteachers indicates that while less experiencedteachers tend to rely more heavily on theirtextbook, more experienced teachers areusually more selective in their use of publishedmaterials and make use of a richer variety ofmaterial resources. This phenomenon is oftenreported anecdotally so it is useful to actuallyhave some evidence to support, for example,more emphasis on textbook adaptation in theinitial training of teachers. 47. McGrath (2002) suggests proceduresfor in-use and post-use evaluation ofmaterials to find out more about whatteachers actually do with theirmaterials and Masuhara (2011)suggests a record of use as a meansof uncovering data on teachersclassroom use of materials. It wouldcertainly inform thematerialsdevelopment process if we knew moreabout what teachers actually do withthe materials they are given to use. 48. 7. Issues in materialsdevelopment7.1 The value of textbooks For years there has been debate about whether or not the textbook is the best medium for delivering language-learning materials. The debate started in the eighties with Allwright (1981) putting forward arguments against ways in which textbooks deliver materials and ONeil (1982) mounting a rigorous defence. Since then there have been numerous contributors to the debate. Regardless of the views of experts who criticise the use of textbooks, most language teachers seem to continue to use them. 49. Proponents of the coursebook argue thatit is a cost-effective way of providing thelearner with security, system, progressand revision, whilst at the same timesaving precious time and offeringteachers the resources they need tobase their lessons on. It also helpsadministratorsto achievecoursecredibility, timetablelessonsandstandardise teaching. Opponents of coursebooks argue thatthey can disempower both teacher andlearners, cannot cater for the needs andwants of their actual and provide only anillusion of system and progress. 50. Tomlinsons own view is that they needtextbooks to save time and money and manyteachers want a coursebook which provideseverything they need in one source. Basedon his experience of talking to teachers andto learners, and of observing teachers usingmaterials in over thirty countries, he wouldlike to see more localised textbooks andmore global textbooks which are designed tobe flexible and to offer teachers and studentsopportunities for localisation, personalisationand choice. In addition, publishers couldproduce web-based global coursebookswhich offer opportunities for choice,modification and replacement and whichfacilitate an ongoing process where materialsare refined and even changed throughout the 51. 7.2 The need for publishedmaterialsOver the years many institutions and teachers have replacedpublished materials with home-made materials in order toachieve greater relevance and engagement. For example, Al-Busiadi & Tindle (2010) describe a project at SultanQaboos University in Oman on the teaching of writing skills,Jones & Schmitt (2010: 225) report on the development andpiloting of discipline-specific vocabularymaterials on aCD-ROMsoftware program at theUniversity of Nottingham, Hewings (2010) reports on a scheme for teaching academicwriting at the University of Birmingham, Mason (2010) discusses the effects of delivering a BritishCulture course at a Tunisian university with teacher-developed paper, video and internet materials, 52. Many teachers have also replaced publishedmaterials without requiring the teacher to findor write materials. For example, Tomlinson(2003d) describes how a teacher in Jakartamade each group of students responsible inone term for bringing her a reading passageon which she then based a reading lesson,and in the next term made each groupresponsible for actually teaching a readinglesson. He also mentions a class which eachweek made a video of their own dramatisedversion of an extract from literature, and aclass in Vanuatu who spent every lesson for aterm writing their own novels. 53. The Dogme ELTmovement has beenespecially determined to liberate teachersfrom their dependence on materials, and hasdeveloped into a methodology aiming toreturn English language teaching to its rootsby using approaches which are learner-centred and materialslight. In Meddings &Thornbury (2009) the authors set out the coreprinciples of Dogme, discuss its beliefs andpractices and explore its origins. Themethodology recommended is conversation-driven rather thanmaterials-driven andfocuses on the language which emergesrather than on a pre-determined languagesyllabus. 54. My position is that most teachers andstudents welcome published materialsand can gain from them. However, if ateacher has confidence, principledcreativity and the respect of theirlearners, then a textbook-free course canactually be more facilitative in providingthe personalised, relevant and engagingexperience of language in use andopportunities for observing how thelanguage is used and for meaningfulcommunication, which many textbookauthors find it difficult to provide. 55. 7.3 Pedagogic approaches Over the last forty years, there have been many changes in the methodologies coursebooks claim to be using, but very little change in the pedagogy they actually use. The blurbs on the back are constantly changing. In the sixties and early seventies they stressed they were Over the last forty years, there have been many changes in the methodologies coursebooks claim to be using, but very little change in the pedagogy they actually use. The blurbs on the back are constantly changing. In the sixties and early seventies they stressed they were teaching the language directly, without the use of translation or explanation: in the seventies they boasted that they were following a communicative approach which featured either the learning of functions or notions, or both. 56. Subsequently, they have claimed to be followingnatural approaches based on topics, themes ortasks and many coursebooks nowadays stressthat their syllabus is based on the can dostatementsof the Common EuropeanFramework, for example Redston & Cunningham(2005). The reality, though, is that for the lastforty years most coursebooks have been and arestill using PPP approaches, with a focus ondiscrete forms and frequent use of such low-levelpractice activities as listen and repeat, dialoguerepetition, matching and filling in the blanks. Anumber of writers have criticised this continuinguse of approaches for which there is notheoretical or research-based justification 57. There have, of course, been pedagogicalinnovations in published materials,especially inthesupplementarymaterials published in the 1970s and1980s and in recently published series ofresource books for teachers. The mostpopular approach at the moment seemsto be task-based, in which the learnersare set tasks with non-linguisticoutcomes (e.g. arrangements for a trip,an agenda for a meeting, the solution toa problem). 58. Tomlinsons own preference is the text-drivenapproach, in which an engaging written orspoken text drives a unit of materials in whichreadiness activities activate the learnersminds in relation to the text, initial responseactivities stimulate engagement whilstexperiencing the text, intake responseactivities encourage articulation of personalresponses, input response activities inviteexploration of features of the text anddevelopment activities encourage learnerproduction (Tomlinson 2003c). 59. 7.4 Authenticity of texts andtasks It has been argued that explicit teaching of language through contrived examples and texts helps the learners by focusing their processing energies on the target feature, and this is what most coursebooks typically do. However, many SLA researchers argue that this overprotects learners and does not prepare them for the reality of language use outside the classroom. Some researchers argue that authentic materials can provide meaningful exposure to language as it is actually used, motivate learners and help them develop a range of communicative competencies and enhance positive attitudes towards the learning of a language. 60. For Tomlinson, an authentic text is one whichis produced in order to communicate ratherthan to teach, and an authentic task is onewhich involves the learners in communicationin order to achieve an outcome, rather thanpractice the language. The text does not haveto be produced by a native speaker and itmight be a version of an original which hasbeen simplified to facilitate communication.The task does not have to be a real-life task,but can be a classroom task which involvesthe use of real life skills in order to. Giventhese definitions, I think that every text thatlearners encounter should be authentic andthat most tasks should be authentic too otherwise the learners are not being preparedfor the reality of language use. 61. 7.5 Acceptability Most publishers are understandably anxious to avoid giving offence and often supply their authors with lists of taboo topics, as well as guidelines on how to avoid sexism and racism. A number of authors have objected to what they see as sometimes excessive caution and have complained about the unengaging blandness of commercially published materials. Tomlinson (1995), in particular, has contrasted this with materials published on national projects and especially with the Namibian coursebook On Target, in which such provocative topics as marital violence and drug abuse are included, with the permission of the Ministry of Education, in response to a nationwide survey in which students requested such topics. 62. 7.6 Humanising materials A number of recent publications have stressed the need for the humanisation of language learning materials and Mario Rinvolucri has started a web journal publishing articles proposing ways of humanising language teaching. Most of these publications refer to learning theories and stress the need to help learners to personalise, localise and make meaningful their experience of the target language, as well as the need for materials to be affectively engaging and cater for all learning style preferences. 63. Arnold & Brown (1999), for example, refer toresearchers who advocate whole-brain learningand quote Gross (1992:139), who claims thatWe can accelerate and enrich our learning, byengaging the senses, emotions, imagination.Canagarajah (1999) gives examples of the re-writing of textbook comprehension questions soas to elicit localised and personalised responses.Tomlinson (2003d) agrees with Berman (1999:2),who says, We learn best when we see things aspart of a recognised pattern, when ourimaginations are aroused, when we make naturalassociations between one idea and another, andwhen the information appeals to our senses.Tomlinson goes on to advocate a humanisticcoursebook which engages affect throughpersonalised activities and which providesimaging, inner voice, kinaesthetic and processactivities. 64. When criticising the excessive control exerted bycoursebooks, Mukundan (2009b: 96) says thatthe classroom should be like a jungle wherechance and challenge and spontaneity andcreativity and risk work in complementary fashionwith planned activity. Hooper Hansen (2011:407) advocates helping the learner to achieve astate in which the mind is optimally relaxed andfully expanded and suggests, for example, usingpaintings as texts. Masuhara (2006) andTomlinson (2001b, 2003d) advocate and illustratemultidimensional approaches to languagelearning in which learners are encouraged tomake use of sensory imagery, motor imagery,inner speech, associations, connections andemotions in order to personalise their language-learning experience. 65. Many of the publications referred to abovecriticise commercially published coursebooksfor being insufficiently humanistic. Arnold &Brown (1999: 5), for example, believe that weneed to add the affective domain to theeffective language teaching going on in theclassroom in order to make languagelearning more humanistic, and Tomlinson(2003:6) says that most coursebooks makelittleattempt toachieve affectiveengagement. . .and they present learnerswith bland texts and activities in which thelearners remain neutral without theiremotions being engaged. 66. According to Tomlinson, without affective andcognitive engagement there is little possibilityof deep processing (Craik & Lockhart 1972)and therefore little hope of enduringacquisition. Deep processing comes frompersonal involvement as an individual humanbeing, and the coursebooks most likely toachieve more than coverage of teachingpoints are those that take a humanisticapproach to language learning and help thelearners to localise, to personalise and toachieve confidence and self-esteem. 67. 7.7 Ideology in materials For a long time critical theorists and socio-culturaltheoristshave deprecated the role of English language teaching in a globalisation process which they see as promoting western, capitalist,materialistic values. Ferguson (2003) uses the termAngloglobalisation to identifywhat he sees as a positive connection between the British Empire, English and globalisation 68. Gray focuses on how the global coursebookis an artefact, a commodity which promotessocio-economic norms through its texts,activities, values and, especially, itsillustrations. He analyses four popular Britishcoursebooks and concludes that they allcelebrate personal and professional success,individualism,pleasure,mobility,egalitarianism and materialism. He alsoexamines publishers guidelinesandinterviews publishers before concluding that astandardised product is being deliveredthrough the standardized methodologyembodied in the coursebook into the globalmarketplace in which all are assumed towant and need exactly the same thing (p.138). 69. According to Tomlinsons opinion, it is inevitablethat coursebooks communicate a view ofteaching and learning, a view of the targetlanguage and the culture(s) they represent andthe worldview of their producer. This is potentiallydangerous as the coursebook is revered in manyclassrooms as the authority and there is a risk ofits users uncritically accepting its views.However, my experience throughout the world isthat teachers and learners are more critical thanthey are given credit for and often resist thecommodity they are being asked to consume.However, to protect the intended consumers it isimportant that teachers and language coursesfocus on developing constructive criticality asone of their objectives. 70. 7.8 The roles of newtechnologies in language-learning materials In recent years there have been radical developments in the use of new technologies to deliver language- learning materials. In general these have been welcomed but a number of materials developers have pointed out the dangers of excessive reliance on electronic delivery of materials. 71. When thinking or writing about electronicmaterials it helps to distinguish betweenCALL materials (i.e. ELT materials availablefromwebsites,computer software,courseware and online courses), websources of language experience (e.g. Google,YouTube, Facebook) and ICT applicationswhich can be made use of both to delivermaterials and to facilitate interaction (e.g.mobile phones). It is worth keeping thesedistinctions in mind when considering thepotential benefits of electronic materials putforward next slide: 72. facilitating reading by making hidden informationavailable, by providing on-the-spot help, bysupporting comprehension with graphics, videoand sound, and facilitating writing throughmodelling the genre, demonstrating the process,facilitating brainstorming and research, helping todraft and providing the potential for conferencing,editing and revision (Derewianka 2003a) organisational advantages such as easy access,convenient storage and retrieval, easy sharingand recycling and cost efficiency; pedagogicaladvantages such as authenticity, interaction andsituated learning; learner advantages such asinstant feedback, choice of route and sequence,monitoring ofprogress,controlandempowerment (Reinders &White 2010) 73. localised adaptation of materials; free source of avarietyof authentictexts;out-of-classopportunities for spoken interaction betweenlearners; development of digital literacy throughcomparing and evaluating sources of similarinformation; choice of routes and activities whenusing teacher blog materials (Motteram 2011) collaborative problem solving activities inside andoutside the classroom; interaction in simulatedenvironments such as Second Life; modellingand feedback for pronunciation practice;resources for intensive and extensive listening(and viewing) at the learners convenience;opportunitiesforintegrated learningenvironments (Kervin & Derewianka2011). 74. Tomlinson welcome the use of newtechnologies in language learning, especiallyfor the opportunities this can provide forteachers and learners of flexibility and choice,and for the window on the real world theyopen up to learners in their classrooms andtheir homes. I see the mobile phone, inparticular, as offering great potential forlearners. However, he is wary of the misuseof new technologies and have seen examplesof schools wasting money on electronicdelivery when they do not have any books, ofinstitutions depending on electronic deliverybut not having the resources to ensurereliability, and institutions providing so muchelectronic delivery that they neglect face-to-face interaction. 75. 9. Research in materialsdevelopment In a colloquium paper Richards (2005) stressed that all materials reflect the writerstheoriesof language, language useand language acquisition. He admitted that very few materials producers arealso academic theorists and researchers and that there is very little research into the design and effects of materials, going on to suggest ways of connecting research and materials development. 76. Tomlinson (1998a, 2003a, 2008a, 2011a)focuses mainly on ideas for innovation inmaterials development but does alsoinclude reference to research whichcould have significant implications formaterials development. For example,Tomlinson (1998b, 2011b) reports onmajor research findings in SLA andproposes ways of connecting them tomaterials development and use, and(2011c) on research into L1 and L2visual imaging, suggesting ways ofapplying the findings to developingactivities for L2 learning. 77. So there is already quite an extensiveliterature on research and materialsdevelopment but regrettably little of itprovides empirical evidence of theeffects of materials on their users.Interestingly, none of the projectsreported was conducting research onthe effects of global coursebooks,though many were reporting onprojects to find replacements for them. 78. Chapelle (2008) argued that we needto take materials evaluation forwardinto amoreresearch-orientedframework, which will enable us tomake claims about the effects ofmaterials on the basis of evidencefrom research. I very much agree withChapelle and am optimistic that theincrease in the number of Ph.D.s onmaterials development and the effortsof such organisations as MATSDA willhelp the field move in this direction. 79. 10. Conclusion10.1 The current situation In the last forty years materials development has progressed dramatically, both as an academic field and as a practical undertaking. We are now much more aware of the principles and procedures of materials development that are most likely to facilitate language acquisition and development and are much better at actually developing effective materials. 80. Teachers also seem to be moreconstructively criticalof theircoursebooks and to be more willing,confident and able to localise andpersonalise their coursebooks for theirlearners. This is especially so in regionswhere teachers have been trained asmaterials developers, either on teacherdevelopment courses or on national orinstitutional materialsdevelopmentprojects. 81. 10.2 Gaps in the literature Very little of the existing literature on materials development tells us much about the actual effect of different types of materials on language acquisition and development, nor about how to encourage teachers and learners to try new types of materials (although see Tomlinson 2005), about ways in which commercial publishers can achieve face validity whilst introducing principled innovativeapproaches orabout approaches which help learners to develop their own learning materials. 82. 10.3 The future of materialsdevelopment What Tomlinson think will happen in the future is that materials will increasingly be delivered electronically through computers and smart phones, that commercially produced materials will continue to provide users with the materials they expect and that more and more institutions and countries will decide that the only way to develop locally appropriate materials is to do it themselves. 83. What Tomlinson hope is thatcommercial publishers will respond tothe challenge from local publicationsand develop more flexible coursesdesigned to be localised, personalisedand energised by teachers andlearners. What I know is that teacherswill continue to develop positively as aresult of their involvement in materialsdevelopment, whether as courseparticipants, members of projectteams or adapters of materials in their