5 The Roles of Materials
Language learning will be facilitated if the materials are met the subject matter of the content course. CBI recommended authentic materials to be used to
facilitate language learning Richard and Rodger, 2001. There is a reason which underlies the choice of such materials. The reason is that authentic materials are
not originally designed for academic purposes so that they contain rich of varieties. Such materials can be in the form of tourist guidebooks, technical
journals, railway timetables, newspaper ads, radio, TV broadcast and soon. Although authenticity is important, comprehensibility is as important as
authenticity. Richard 2001: 215 notes that some modification for the authentic materials may need to do such as simplification of linguistics and adding
redundancy to text materials to maximize comprehensibility. It has been mentioned in the previous explanation about learning materials
and the role of learning materials in Content-Based Instruction. The following explanations will explain more about learning materials, such as the definition, the
criteria of good learning materials and materials related to English for mathematics.
4. Learning Materials
a. Definition and Criteria of Good Learning Materials
Tomlinson 2012: 145 defines materials for language learning as anything that can be used for facilitating the learning of a language. Those can include
coursebooks, videos, graded readers, flash cards, workbooks, games, websites and so on. He adds that materials can be categorized as:
- informative give information about the target language to the learners,
- instructional guide the learners in practicing the language,
- experiential provide the learners with experience of the language in use,
- eliciting encourage the learners to use the language
- explanatory help the learners to make discoveries of language.
Learning materials will be considered to be good materials, if they meet the criteria of good learning materials. Tomlinson 1998: 7 lists characteristics of
good materials for teaching language which are based on the principles of second language acquisition. Those are:
1 materials should achieve impact novelty, variety, attractive presentation
and appealing content. 2
materials should help the learners to feel at ease 3
materials should help the learners to develop confidence. 4
what is being taught should be perceived by the learners as relevant and useful
5 materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment
6 learners must be ready to acquire the point being taught
7 materials should expose the learners to the language in authentic use
8 the learners’ attention should be drawn to linguistics features of 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 the learners differ in learning styles 12
materials should take into account that the learners differ in affective attitudes
13 materials should not rely too much on controlled practice
14 materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback
Those criteria are general. They are often applied on most of language learning materials in general English. As the materials for the speaking club are
different from general English materials, some criteria need to be specified and should be met the principles of the applied approach in developing the materials.
b. Materials for English Tutorial Program
