5 Acting on the information
The result of the needs analysis then will be used to take any action, i.e. designing a syllabus, designing materials, etc.
6 Evaluating the effect and effectiveness of the action
It is necessary to evaluate whether the taken actions are suitable with the needs.
7 back to 1 deciding on further or new information to gather
Further information may be useful to support the actions.
3. Materials Development
a. What is materials development?
According to Tomlinson 1998, materials development refers to anything which is done by writers or teachers to provide source of language input and to
use that source to promote language learning. Another definition of materials development is proposed by Graves 2000
that is the planning process which is created by the teacher to make units and lessons in order to reach the goal and objectives of the course.
To conclude, materials development is a process done by writers or teachers to create information used for language learning process to reach the
goal. b.
The principles of language learning materials Tomlinson 1998 proposes some principles of second language
acquisition as the good characteristics of materials in language teaching. They are as follow.
1 Materials should achieve impact.
2 Materials should help learners feel at ease.
3 Materials should help learners to develop confidence.
4 What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful.
5 Materials should require and facilitate learners‘ self-investment.
6 Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught.
7 Materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use.
8 The learners‘ attention should be drawn to linguistic features to the input.
9 Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target
language to achieve communication purposes. 10
Materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually delayed.
11 Materials should take into account that learners have different learning styles.
12 Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes.
13 Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction.
14 Materials should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual,
aesthetic, and emotional involvement that stimulates both right and left activities.
15 Materials should not rely too much on controlled practice.
16 Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback.
Those principles above will be used as guidance to design the materials for students of Office Administration Study Program. Hutchinson and Waters 1987
also propose some principles for the actual writing of materials. They are as follows.
1 Materials provide stimulus to learning.
2 Materials help to organise the teaching-learning process, by providing a path
through the complex mass of the language to be learnt. 3
Materials represent a view of the nature of language and learning. 4
Materials reflect the nature of the learning task.
5 Materials can have a very useful function in broadening the basis of teacher
training, by introducing teachers to new techniques. 6
Materials provide models of correct and appropriate language use.
c. Materials design
According to Hutchinson and Waters 1987, the model of materials design consists of four elements. They are input, content, language and task. The
model itself is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: A Materials Design Model by Hutchinson and Waters
1 Input
This can be a text, dialogue, video-recording, diagram or any learning material which depend on the needs as the result of needs analysis. The input
provide the following things: a
stimulus material for activities; b
new language items; c
correct models of language use; d
a topic for communication; e
opportunities for the use of learners‘ processing skills;
INPUT
LANGUAGE CONTENT
TASK
f opportunities for the use of learners‘ entry knowledge.
2 Content focus
In order to generate a meaningful communication in the classroom, non- linguistic content should be omitted. The content focuses only on the linguistic
materials. 3
Language focus The main purpose of this focus is to enable learners to use language. In
language focus, learners have opportunities to take the language and study how it works. Good materials should contain opportunities for analysis and syntesis.
4 Task
Materials are designed to lead towards communicative task so that learners can use its content and knowledge. Therefore, the tasks are built up through the
unit. d.
Materials writing Jolly and Bolitho 1998 propose a framework for materials writing. The
points are listed below. 1
Identification of needs for materials 2
Exploration of needs 3
Contextual realisation of materials 4
Pedagogical realisation of materials 5
Production of materials 6
Student use of materials 7
Evaluation of materials
4. Task-Based Language Teaching
