Materials Development for Vocational High School a. Definition of Materials

4. Materials Development for Vocational High School a. Definition of Materials

Learning material helps teacher to achieve the objectives of the learning and then achieve the goal of the learning. Hence, the existence of learning is vital in instructional process. According to Tomlinson 1998, materials are used to help teaching language learners. Materials can be in the form of a textbook, a cassette, a CD-ROM, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph written on a white board, or anything which presents or informs about the language being learned. Nunan 1992 in Indr iyati and Sa’jaun 2009:3 states that teaching materials are often the most substantial and observable component of pedagogy. They determine the quality of language input and the language practices during the learning process in the classroom. In addition, Cunningsworth in Richards 2003 summarizes the role of materials especially textbook in language teaching as: 1. A resource for presentation materials spoken and written, 2. A source of activities for learners to practice communicative interaction, 3. A reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and so on, 4. A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities, 5. A syllabus where they reflect learning objectives that have already been determined, 6. A support for less experience teachers who have not gained confidence yet. It has been noted that ESP classes deal with learners with specific needs. As a result, the learning material of ESP is actually different with the General English. ESP teachers tend to produce their own instructional materials rather than relying on the ones being sold in the store Hutchinson Waters, 1987. The commercially produced materials often cannot meet the specific needs of the ESP learners that the teacher taught. In deciding, developing, and adapting materials, a number of factors should be taken into consideration. Graves 1996 states that two of the most important factors in choosing the learning materials are the effectiveness of the materials in achieving the purpose of the course and their appropriateness for the students and teachers. Tomlinson 2003:109 describes that there are a number of principles that should be considered in designing learning materials. He mentions the six principles of material design identified by Nunan 1988: 1. Materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve. 2. Materials should be authentic in terms of the text and task. 3. Materials should stimulate interaction. 4. Materials should encourage students to focus on formal aspects of the language. 5. Materials should encourage students to develop skills, and skills in learning. 6. Materials should encourage students to apply their developing skills to the world beyond the classroom. The existence of learning materials are crucial in the process of teaching and learning. As it has been said above that learning materials are anything that helps students achieve the objectives of the learning and the goal of the learning, using appropriate learning materials makes students able to achieve their own goal in learning. Therefore, once again, the developed learning materials in this research will be developed with the aims to help students achieve their learning objectives and learning goals which can be deduced after conducting the needs analysis. There are also six principles of developing learning materials that are followed by the researcher. Those principles are: One, materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve. This means the developed will be developed based on the recent curriculum which is Curriculum 2013. Two, materials should be authentic in terms of the text and task. As it has been said the previous explanation, the tasks and texts used in the developed learning materials are the ones which are authentic and taken from the ones used in everyday lives. Three, materials should stimulate interaction, Four, materials should encourage students to focus on formal aspects of the language. The language used in the learning materials will mostly be comprised of formal language according to the proper grammar and the use of slang is reduced to the minimum. Five, materials should encourage students to develop skills, and skills in learning, and six, materials should encourage students to apply their developing skills to the world beyond the classroom. One of the way to do this is by using reinforcement tasks which are focused on activities outside the classroom.

b. Criteria of Good Learning Materials