Reading Learning Principles Reading Theory

graded readers, flash cards, games, etc Tomlinson:2012. In line with Tomlinson, Graves 2000 denotes that materials development is a plan creation, in which the teacher creates and organizes the units and lesson to achieve the goals and objectives of the course 2000:149. In short, learning materials cover many kinds of ways to improv e students’ ability in learning a subject matter and teachers can explore the materials based on the students’ needs and objectives. The types of materials can be differenciated into five as what Tomlinson theorizes 2012: informative informing the learner about the target language, instructional guiding the learner in practising the language, experiential providing the learner with experience of the language in use, eliciting encouraging the learner to use the language and exploratory helping the learner to make discoveries about the language. Richards also divides forms of materials into three: printed materials, non-printed materials, and materials complied as both printed and non-printed materials. Further, materials should provide authentic use of language for the input and also cover the activities that can promote students’ awareness towards the language elements that they learn Tomlinson: 2008. Authentic materials can expose the real use of the language to the students. Philips and Shettlesworth 1978; Clarke 1989; Peacock 1997in Richards 2001 claim that there are several main advantages of using authentic materials:  They have a positive effect on learner motivation.  They provide authentic cultural information.  They provide exposure to real language.  They relate more closely to learners needs.  They support a more creative approach to teaching. Besides of containing authentic materials, there are some other criteria to decide whether the materials can be said as the good one. On the following section, there will be a discussion about the criteria of good materials that should be considered in designing materials.

b. Criteria of Good Materials

Developing English learning materials should follow some criteria as a guide. Tomlinson 1998:7 states the criteria of good materials as follows. a Materials should achieve impact b Materials should help learners to feel at ease c Materials should help learners to develop confidence. Relaxed and self confident learners learn faster Dulay, Burt and Krashen, 1982 d Learners should perceive what is being taught as relevant and useful. In ESP materials it is relatively teaching points which are relevant and useful by relating them to know learners interests and to “real-life” tasks which the learners need or might need to perform in the target language. e Materials should require and facilitate learners‟ self-investment. f Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught. g Materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use. h The learner‟s attention should be drawn to linguistic features of the input. i Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purpose. j Materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually delayed. k Materials should take into account that the learners are different in learning styles and affective attitude. l Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction.