Language learning materials Literature Review
The materials can fit children’s needs if they are delivered appropriately both in their content and amount. Finally, to develop and deliver materials for language
young learners, it needs specific skills that a teacher has to master. c.
Material developments Grassick 2007:147 states that there are no guidelines given by the
Indonesian Ministry of Education on the selection criteria, which means that schools often have difficulty in selecting the most suitable materials for their
students. Moreover, he said that research data show inappropriateness of learning resources and lack of creative and stimulating materials for the primary English
teaching. Brewster, Ellis and Girard 2002:161 explain that the main features of
worksheets are: they are clear, simple, and attractive; the instructions are clear or in the pupils’ own language; each worksheet provides an activity which lasts a
designated period of time; there are opportunities for the worksheets to be personalized, for example, colored, labeled, and so on; each worksheet practices
one particular language point, for example, a structure or a lexical set, and involves pupils in different skills and possibilities for linking English with other
subjects in the curriculum. Therefore, conducting the instructional design in the form of materials
development can help the teachers in the teaching-learning activities if the design is adjusted with their learners’ needs. By providing good materials, the teaching-
learning process can run effectively, learners can acquire the new knowledge easily and the goals of teaching can be reached as the expectations.
d. Materials for children
1 Songs
Children love songs, rhymes and chants and their repetitive nature and rhythm make them an ideal vehicle for language learning. Brewster, Ellis, and
Girard, 2002:162. Therefore, songs, rhymes and chants are the essential resources
for teaching children. Those resources have some benefits in children language learning like what Brewster, Ellis and Girard 2002:162-163 state below.
As a linguistic resource, songs allow new language to be introduced and structured and vocabulary to be reinforced and recycled. They present familiar
language in new and exciting forms and in a rich and imaginative context. In addition, they provide for lots of natural and enjoyable repetition. They also can
be used to develop all skills in an integrated way. Moreover, as a psychologicalaffective resource, songs are motivating and
fun and help develop positive attitudes towards the target language. Furthermore, they are non-threatening. The more inhibited child will feel secure when singing
and chanting as a class or in groups. Therefore, they can encourage a feeling of achievement and build children’s confidence by allowing children to learn chunks
of language which they can „show off’ or teach to friends or to members of the family.
As cognitive resource, songs help to develop concentration, memory and coordination. They sensitize children to rhyming clues as aids to meaning;
repetition enables children to predict what comes next and to consolidate language items. Accompanying actions or gestures helps to reinforce meaning while
channeling high levels of energy in a positive way. The variety they provide also changes the pace and atmosphere of a lesson and caters for different learning
styles. As a cultural resource, songs are from authentic sources and can contribute to the cultural component of a language program. The last as a social resource,
singing and chanting together is a shared social experience. They help to develop a class and group identity. They also can be used as the basis of a performance or
show. Those all benefits can be integrated in an enjoyable way if those are
delivered appropriately under the target language. The benefits also have to be adjusted with children’s needs and interests and be applied in the form of teaching
various songs, rhymes and chants. 2
Games Games are any fun activities which give the young learners the opportunity
to practice the foreign languages in relax and enjoyable ways. There are so many advantages by using games in teaching language. Games add variation to a lesson
and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language Lewis and Bedson, 2004:5. They can provide a link between home and
school that help the children to be more confident. In some conditions, games can be the effective media to deliver language functions without being recognized by
the children that they are learning. There are some other advantages of using games to teach children proposed by Brewster, Ellis and Girard 2002:173:
a They „lighten’ more formal teaching.
b They provide hidden practice of specific language patterns, vocabulary and
pronunciation. c
They can hold to improve attention span, concentration, memory, listening skills and reading skills.
d Pupils are encouraged to participate; shy learners can be motivated to speak.
e They increase pupil’s communication, which provide fluency practice and
reduce domination of the class by the teacher. f
Using games can help to create a fun atmosphere and reduces the distance between teachers and pupils.
g They can help to motivate pupils to improve their writing skills.
Games also consist of many types, such as promoting cooperation and competition. Cooperative games encourage the children to work together by
describing, explaining, clarifying, checking, agreeing, and so on, whereas competitive games can be organized in pairs, groups or teams and always have a
winner. Those all usefulness of using games in language teaching for young learners enable and simplify teachers to deliver the target language in enjoyable
ways. 3
Stories Children need stories to fulfill their needs in understanding the world as
they need food for their bodies. Wright 2004:3 mentions that stories are particularly important in the lives of our children: stories help children to
understand their world and to share it with others. Moreover, he says that children have a constant need for stories and they will always be willing to listen or to
read, if the right moment is chosen Wright, 2004:4. Similarly, Brewster, Ellis and Girard 2002:186 explain that stories can
provide an ideal introduction to the foreign language as it is presented in a context that is familiar to the child. They also propose some further reasons why stories
are important: stories are motivating, challenging and fun and can help develop positive attitudes; linking fantasy and imagination with the child’s real world and
enabling children to make sense of their everyday life and forge link between home and school; listening to stories helps children become aware of the rhythm,
intonation and pronunciation of language; etc. For those reasons, giving stories to children is such an advantage for teachers who want their little students getting to
know and understand a foreign language while they have encourage learning about the world.
However, there are still a lot of activities for children in learning a foreign language which are not yet appropriate to fulfill their needs. Wright 2004:4 says
that this is in contrast to so many activities in foreign language learning, which have little or no intrinsic interest or value for children. It is so pitiful that in this
globalization of education era, there are still many teaching-learning activities for children which are not yet concerning on children’s development needs.
e. Theme-based materials
A good material should be able to make the children to be actively involved in learning, because they learn most effectively when they are involved
Moon, 2002: 118. They become involved when they have an interest to the certain activities or topics. Thus, deciding topic or theme in designing materials is
one way to organize language learning which builds on children’s interests. This work encourages children to learn language unconsciously through given topics,
so they are driven to activities which focus on meaning and are required to communicate actively. As Moon 2002 argues that a theme-based approach aims
to get learners using English in a purposeful way to find out things and do things which have meaning and interest for them and to communicate the results to
others. It is similar to Myriam Met that proposes two of the benefits of a theme-
based approach. The first one is that theme-based approach enhances language learning to communicate and interact with others by providing interesting and
motivating topics. The second one is that the approach provides meaningful and purposeful language practice opportunities from a variety of topics that encourage
children to learn the language. She also says that language in a theme-based
approach is used to explore content and the needs to use language increase as students need to comprehend or produce language related to content.
In brief, theme-based materials allow the children to learn language based on the topics they are interested in. Using theme based approach in language
teaching can effectively expose language to children without makes them feel stressed of understanding the meaning. The topics also can help the children to be
interested in using the language since it is integrated to the topics.