Conditions for Optimal Computer Assisted Language Learning

33

a. Definitions of Material

There are some definitions of material used in the study. According to Tomlinson 1998, material refers to anything that could be used to increase the learners’ knowledge or experience of the language. In other words, material could be books, dictionaries, workbooks or anything that could help learners understanding the language they learnt during the teaching learning process. Newby, Stepich, Lehman and Russell 2000 define that material or instructional material is the specific items used in the teaching and learning process and delivered through various media. If a teacher uses a book entitled Diary of Anne Frank to explain what journal is and how to make it, then we could say that the book is the material used by the teacher. Moreover, it is in line with what is being proposed by Tomlinson. O’Neil as cited in Kitao, 1997 adds that material is better to fit the students’ needs. The material would be better giving the chance for the students to prepare and review the lessons they learnt. b. Development of Material There are some points that should be taken into consideration in developing material for the teaching of languages. Tomlinson 1998 states some basic principle of the material development which is very beneficial for the improvement of language teaching and learning. Those are as follows. 1 Material Should Achieve Impact The material has given impact if it has obvious effect on learners in which their curiosity level increases and when learners’ interest and attention are attracted. There are some ways that could be done to create impact, those are 1 34 adding unusual topics, interesting illustrations and activities in the material, 2 adding variety kinds of activities, variety kinds of texts taken from various sources, using various instructor voices in the cassette or recording, 3 providing attractive presentation by using attractive colors, adding photographs, and 4 offering interesting topics, possibility to learn something new or adding stories or universal themes. However, the impact achieved might not be the same within each student. In order to maximize the impact achievement, the material designer should consider the students needs, the things that could attract their interest and provide various texts and activities. 2 Material Should Help Learners to Feel at Ease It is important to create comfortable ambience to support teaching learning