See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/318215081

Teaching materials and teaching aids - 1 (teaching material)

Article · May 2017

CITATIONS READS

3 227,436

1 author:

Shravan Kumar
Amity University
34 PUBLICATIONS   5 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Feminism View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Shravan Kumar on 05 July 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Paper 12; Module 24; E Text

Principal Investigator PROF. TUTUN MUKHERJEE,

University of Hyderabad
Paper coordinator: DR. NEERU TANDON,
V.S.S.D. College, CSJM University,
Kanpur

Content writer: Dr Shravan Kumar

RKGITW, Ghaziabad

Content Reviewer DR. NEERU TANDON,

V.S.S.D. College, CSJM University,
Kanpur

Language Editor DR. NEERU TANDON,

V.S.S.D. College, CSJM University,
Kanpur

Title of the Paper: Teaching Materials and Teaching

Aids - I

Module ID MODULE 24

Subject ENGLISH

Paper English Language Teaching

 Teaching Materials and Teaching Aids - I

Module Structure:

24.0 Learning Outcomes

24.1 Introduction

24.2 Teaching Materials & Teaching Aids: Role of teacher

24.3 Guidelines for Teaching Learning Materials

24.4 Teaching Materials

24.5 Significance of Teaching Materials

Learning Outcome

After reading this module, any student will be able to comprehend the role of teacher as an

aid who uses materials in effective ways. Anyone can get to know the difference between

aids and materials and the role of materials in the classroom and their impact on the students

and their career. Students will be able to know about the usage of worksheets and many other

materials.

Introduction

Teaching is an art which includes knowledge, presentation, an art of dissemination and above

all every aspect of paralinguistics. Teaching demands broad knowledge of subject matter in

all horizons, complete curriculum with standards, positive and caring attitude with

enthusiasm, and a desire for learning and techniques of classroom management and a desire

to make a difference in the lives of young people. I am sure that nobody will deny the fact

that a teacher is an aid and the activities used by the teachers are materials in the classroom.
The existence of materials is totally based on the creativity and innovative ways of teachers.

No one can assume even a single material without a Teacher because it is a teacher who uses

the materials in the classroom effectively and the effective usage of those materials is

reflected by the involvement of the students.

We should know the difference amongst Teaching, Aid and Material. As per

www.dictionary.com,“material used by a teacher to supplement classroom instruction or to

stimulate the interest of students.”i. As per Merriam Webster, “Teaching Aid is an object

(such as a book, picture, or map) or device (such as a DVD or computer) used by a teacher to

enhance or enliven classroom instruction”ii and “Material denotes or consists of physical

objects rather than the mind or spirit.”iii

Teaching Materials & Teaching Aids: Role of teacher

Teacher is the driver of the classroom who drives the class as per his/her pace and desire.

S/he makes an environment in which all the students delve themselves in the ocean of

knowledge which happens due to usage of the materials and aids used by the teacher in the

classroom. They use themselves as an aid when they start using facts as a starting point and

ask “why” questions and then look at all sides and encourage students to predict what will

happen next. As a material, they try to engage the whole class with their questions and with

the help of their motivation and varied questions they make a live classroom where every

student gets involved. William Arthur Ward rightly says, “The mediocre teacher tells. The

good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”iv And,

this quote reveals that teacher is an aid who changes her/himself according to the desired

situation for facilitating and motivating the students in a better way. Dr Seuss also

corroborates Mr William when he says, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your
shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you

know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.”v

As soon as teacher enters in the classroom, he starts using materials which already exist in the

classroom. S/he starts talking about last classes which gives a platform to the students for

getting out something and teacher tries to link up that interaction with his/her upcoming class

and it becomes a material for a teacher. A teacher digs out the material from the classroom

and uses accordingly. Like, Students were scolded by a teacher of last class and an ELT

teacher can ask few students to come up and share the experience of last class and from there

that ELT teacher tries to hone the speaking skills of the students. These materials can be used

to chisel the speaking skills of the students and students will be speaking whole heartedly

which can be a good material to be used by any ELT specialist.

Teacher can use himself/herself to project anything in a better way by his/her gestures,

postures, facial expressions and voice. For example, a teacher can teach the presentation

strategies to the students by his/her voice modulation and facial expressions. It is the power

of speech that may turn a dull topic into an interesting one whereas poor delivery may spoil

significant presentation. So once the speaker has planned and developed the content he

should begin practicing because it is not important what to say as it is how to say. There are a

variety of delivery methods. A speech with same pitch delivered with stating pitch becomes

monotonous so there should be variation in a pitch. The voice should be well modulated with

proper pause at the right place along with normal rate of speech and fillers should be avoided.

It can be easily practiced by these materials used by teacher in the classroom.

We express our emotions through words but often the feel of emotion is expressed through

our various body parts. We can communicate by nodding our head, blinking our eyes,

shrugging our shoulders or working our hands. When we study body language we look at the

symbols of meaning that the physical movements of the body are communicating. Through

body movements true inner conditions are reflected. For the expression of these inner body

states faces, eyes, gestures & physical appearance are to be studied. For self control the

presenter should pay attention to his body language. These things can be easily learnt by the

students when they observe their teacher in the classroom and try to imitate the teacher.

Guidelines for Teaching Learning Materials:

Littlejohn and Windeatt says, “Materials have a hidden curriculum that includes attitudes

toward knowledge, attitudes toward teaching and learning, attitudes toward the role and

relationship of the teacher and student, and values and attitudes related to gender, society,

etc.”vi Materials have a basic instructional viewpoint, approach, method, and content,

including which provide linguistic and cultural information.

As Jolly and Bolitho say, “Materials should also be contextualised to the experiences,

realities and first languages of the learners. An important part of this involves awareness on

the part of the teacher-designer of the “socio-cultural appropriacy” of things such as the

designer’s own style of presenting material, of arranging groups, and so on.”vii So, It is

required to inform about the culture-specific learning processes of the proposed learners.

Materials should be interlinked by which learner can acquaint him with the materials. The

materials should be based on the experiences and realities which should be related to the

topics and it should be appropriate for the desired learner to make sure of their involvement.
Mr D Hall says, “Most people who learn to communicate fluently in English which is not

their L1do so by spending a lot of time in situations where they have to use the language for

some real communicative purpose”viii It means that the materials should stimulate interaction

and it can be achieved by providing the activities which involve the situation and their real

time conversation. Mr D Hall also says that the materials should encourage learners to

develop their learning skills and strategies and the activities such as recording of their

conversations.

According to Demetrion, “an antidote to the profusion of skills based activities and artificial

language use pervasive in the field of ESL instruction.”ix It clarifies that the materials should

be developed to help the learners towards analytical approach with a focus of learning.

As Bell and Gower suggested, “at the very least we listen and speak together, and read and

write together”x. I think the materials should be well connected with all these four skills. The

learner can integrate LSRW skills with the help of materials.

Materials should be alluring in terms of appearance, User friendliness and durability. If any

material possesses these characteristics then all the learners will readily use the material

whole heartedly which will definitely produce the positive results in the classroom. Materials

should be flexible also by which we can use that material in many places like a picture can be

used to teach parts of speech as well to enhance the spoken skills, even that picture can be

used to develop writing skills by the change of instructions. Materials should be authentic

also by which the acquirement will be better and faster and the students feel successful over

their achievement because the skills that they acquire make them feel that they can handle the
situations in the real life too. Teachers should be very cautious while choosing the materials

because the students can be demoralized if the materials are higher than the level of the

students.

Teaching Materials

Earlier it was hard to see the interactive classroom, teaching –learning materials and the

teaching-learning environment that’s why teaching became very monotonous and students

had to mostly rely on the process of mugging up. The classroom teaching was dominated by

the Lecture Method of teacher and there were some essential aids like chalk, duster,

blackboard in the classroom. Teaching learning

materials were hardly used in the classroom. The

Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) are being designed

to disable the monotonous learning methods. These

TLMs made a shift from Response Strengthening to

Knowledge Acquisition for construction of Knowledge.

In this context, a teacher provides an environment where

any student can construct his knowledge by interacting

with his physical and social environment.

A teacher should always think about his/her students before providing TLMs. A teacher

should identify the need of developing new teaching and training materials. Teachers can

classify their materials according to the need and requirement of students. A lesson plan can

be one of the effective materials. I would like to give an example of a Lesson plan for

teaching a lesson on Pronoun.

Teacher should show a chart as an aid to the students and can ask them to identify the Nouns

present in the chart. Students will response with curiosity and enthusiasm and they can spot

few names of Noun. Have a look at the Picture. I think students will tell the names of Nouns

like Road, Bicycle, Boy, Girl, Pond, Dog, Sun, Tree, flowers, swings, clouds etc. Then, s/he

can ask primary questions like:

1. Can you name girl in another way?

2. Can you name boy in another way?

Students will give answers that Girl=She and Boy= He. After getting these answers, teacher

can say these terms can be also termed as Pronoun and the terms which we use in place of

Noun are known as pronoun. I think these kinds of involvement of students will make them

enable to understand the definition and usage of Pronoun. Now teacher can elaborate the

types and usage of pronouns and students will learn very easily.

Games can be used as interesting materials in the classroom. Games can help to improve

teaching and learning processes which improve communication and social skills in the

students indirectly. I would like to mention a Grammar based questioning game.

The Teacher can ask students to write separate sentences with each word which they told

after observing the chart. Then, they need to be instructed to write a paragraph with the help

of those sentences. After this, they can be instructed to evaluate his/her friends’ copy. During

evaluation, they can be instructed to check how many students have written all the sentences.

How many sentences are correct (as per their evaluation)? How many of them have used all

the sentences to write a paragraph? How many of them have used these sentences to attain

coherence? All the students will be involved in writing and evaluation which develops the

learning process of students. Another example can be better implemented in the class as a

material to enhance the writing skills of the students. A teacher can ask the students, “Let’s
assume that you live in a room in college which you share with another student. However,

there are many problems with this arrangement and you find it very difficult to work. Write

a letter to the accommodation officer of the college. In the letter

 describe the situation

 explain your problems and why it is difficult to work, say what kind of

accommodation you would prefer”

These above mentioned games can make the classroom very lively and interactive.

A teacher should know KWL chart before starting any

topic in which he should know about the previous

knowledge of the students and the lesson plan is always

based on previous knowledge where students give the

answers on the basis of their previous knowledge which

becomes the primary answers. It decides the material of the topic because if the students are

acquainted with Noun then only they will try to learn Pronoun and it will show their will to

learn. So, the teacher should know what they are willing to learn and in the classroom

assessment a teacher can know what they learnt. For assessing the students in the classroom

we can use some materials:

1. Think- Pair-Share: In this process students can think individually, then in pairs, and

then share with the class. A teacher can involve the students in a better way where

they can talk and share their experience with more confidence. This material opens up

the ways of honing speaking skills where the students will be speaking after sharing

their thoughts which help them to reproduce many thoughts because when we talk

about second language, students say that they are unable to find out the
 words/thoughts while speaking in English. So, this material can provide the platform

of ideas/thoughts.

2. Three minute pause: The three minute pause provides a chance to the students to

think and interpret the concepts and ideas that have just been introduced to and it

would be easy for him/her to make connections to their prior knowledge for better

understanding. Human being is a creature with impetus thoughts and for effective

communication the synchronization of thoughts is very necessary. The instructed

three minute break can help out the students to think and comprehend in a better way.

3. Recapitulation of the topic: The teacher should take care of the topic which he is

covering in the assigned class. He starts by making a bridge between the previous

knowledge and the current knowledge (to be taught) and this can be better attained by

providing recapitulation. This can be achieved by asking questions related to the

topic. Topic can be recapitulated by organizing quizzes in the class or the students

can be asked to explain the topic like a teacher to the class and it really catalyses the

learning environment of the classroom. Just introduced topic should be recapitulated

by the students which would hone the understanding skill of the students.

4. Observation: Teacher can divide the classroom into the group and after assigning

some task; teacher can walk around the classroom and observe students as they work

to check for learning. The observation plays a vital role to tackle the mixed ability

classroom. By this method, a teacher can pay attention towards the weak students of

the class who do not pay attention to the class and hesitate to ask questions in front of

the entire class.

5. Face-to-Face conversation: A teacher should try to have a face to face interaction

with the students which is a key material to know the exact problems of the students.

The level of understanding of the students can be better understood by F2F.

Worksheets can also be a very effective material for learning in an effective way. A teacher

should take appropriate care while making the worksheets. Questions should be based on

skills and sub skills. Questions which are based on skills are productive and receptive. The

questions based on sub skills can provide specific information, detailed information, and

general information. Fill in the blank reveals the specific information. Multiple choice

questions identify the topic, context, function, gist. The questions can be of the following

types:

1. Yes-No Questions

2. Wh-Question

3. Tag questions

4. Choice Questions

5. Hypothetical Questions

6. Embedded questions

To improve the vocabulary of the students the word scrambles or jumbles help a lot. The

letters of each word can be mixed up and students have to put them into the proper order. A

teacher can set this type of material by keeping the scramble with the help of key vocabulary,

spelling list words, names of students in the classroom and teachers’ last names etc.

Significance of teaching materials

Allwright says, “Materials should teach students to learn, that they should be resource books

for ideas and activities for instruction/learning, and that they should give teachers rationales

for what they do”xi. Learners are oriented towards the instruction and learning. Any syllabus

or curriculum has the goals of learning, the methods of learning, etc and teachers help the
learners to learn. Teachers are required to follow the curriculum and provide a better platform

to understand the curriculum with the help of materials. Teachers may adapt, supplement, and

elaborate the materials to disseminate the content to the students and they need to monitor the

progress of the students and finally evaluate the students. Teachers and students rely on

materials to comprehend the content, and the materials become the centre of education.

Therefore, it is important for the teachers to know the correct methods, to choose the best

material for instruction and they should also know how to make supplementary materials for

the class, and how to adapt materials.

References

i. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/teaching-aid?s=t

ii. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

iii. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

iv. http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/416931.William_Arthur_Ward

v. http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizlange/2012/02/28/you-have-brains-in-your-head-you-have-
feet-in-your-shoes-you-can-steer-yourself-in-any-direction-you-choose-youre-on-your-own-
and-you-know-what-you-know-you-are-the-guy-wholl-decide-where-to-go/#23a9184a4023
 vi. Littlejohn, A., & Windeatt, S. (1989). Beyond language learning: Perspective on materials
design. In R. K. Johnson (Ed.), The second language curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press

vii. Jolly, D., & Bolitho, R. (1998). A framework for materials writing. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.),
Materials development in language teaching (pp. 90–115). Cambridge: Cambridge Language
Teaching Library, Cambridge University Press

viii. Hall, D. (1995). Materials production: Theory and practice. In A. C. Hidalgo, D. Hall, &
G. M. Jacobs (Eds.), Getting started: Materials writers on materials writing (pp. 8–14).
Singapore: SEAMO Regional Language Centre
ix. Demetrion, G. (1997). Communicative competence and second language teaching: Lessons
learned from the Bangalore Project. Retrieved 30 January 2004 from
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/George/Prabhu/cover.htm

x. Bell, J., & Gower, R. (1998). Writing course materials for the world: A great compromise.
In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (pp. 116–129).
Cambridge: Language Teaching Library, Cambridge University Press

xi. Allwright, R. L. (1990). What do we want teaching materials for? In R. Rossner and R.
Bolitho, (Eds.), Currents in language teaching. Oxford University Press

View publication stats