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Another finding, as stated by Corbel 1985, materials are designed through four-stage procedure p. 74. Those four-stage procedures are:
1 Identify the learners’ areas of interest in broad thematic terms.
2 Identify series of communication situations related to that theme and link
them to form an action sequence. 3
Select or devise materials appropriate to the situations in the action sequence. 4
Choose language points to focus on from the materials. That four-stage procedure enhanced that a good material should provide a
stimulus to learning and embodies a view of the nature of language and learning, as stated by Hutchinson and Waters 1987, p. 107.
In fact, material development or design must fit into the students so that it is designed based on the learners’ need. Besides, materials help to organize the
teaching-learning process by providing a clear, systematic, and coherent unit structure. Then, Hutchinson and Water 1987 proposes a model for material
design p. 108. The aim of this particular model is to provide a coherent framework for the integration of the various aspects of learning, while at the same
time allowing enough room for creativity and variety to flourish. The model consists of four elements: input, content focus, language focus, and task.
4. Model of Material Design
a. Input
This may be a text, dialogue, video-recording, diagram or any piece of communication data, depending on the needs of the designer which have been
defined in hisher analysis. The input provides a number of things, such as
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stimulus material for activities, new language items, correct model of language use, a topic for communication, opportunities for learners to use their existing
knowledge and their information processing skills.
b. Content Focus
It is non-linguistic part of the design. It is a means of conveying information and feeling about something. Non-linguistic content should be
exploited to generate meaningful communication in the classroom.
c. Language Focus
Good materials should involve both opportunities for analysis and synthesis. In language focus, learners learn the linguistic part. They have the
chance to take the language to pieces, study how it works and practice putting it back together again.
d. Task
Materials should be designed, therefore, to lead towards a communicative task in which learners use the content and language knowledge they have built up
through the unit. Through those elements, the language and content are drawn from the
input and are selected according to what the learners will need in order to do the task. The model is used for writing our own materials. In developing material, the
designer can also modify the existing materials which are called as materials adaptation. Materials are modified in order to specify or change the existing
material so that they become suitable with the learners’ need.
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Figure 2.2 is the framework for material development as proposed by Hutchinson and Water 1987.
Figure 2.2 Material Development Hutchinson and Water, 1987, p.96
Low 1989 outlines a number of procedures for developing units of work. He suggests that the traditional four-phase unit structure, which was reflected in
materials design, is as follows. a.
Presentation: 1 of language to be learned 2 of language description
b. Controlled exploitation
c. Free exploitation generalizing to areas than those in the presentation
d. Synthesis pulling disparate strands together and sometimes creating an ‘end
product’
5. Contextual Teaching and Learning
