Although teachers of English are aware of the great
amount of materials available to use when teaching (for instance textbooks,
videotapes, and pictures, among other commercially accessible resources), many
teachers still prefer to create their own. They search, select, evaluate and
adapt materials to teach a particular group of students. Why English Language
teachers may choose to design their own materials?
Jocelyn Howard and Jae Major in their work Guidelines for designing effective English language
teaching materials mention some advantages and disadvantages of designing
your own teaching materials.
Advantages:
- Commercial
materials such as textbooks provide a good outline of what to teach and when to
teach it. But is it authentic language? Is it aimed at your specific group of
students? These materials lack of contextualization,
they are aimed at an ideal group of people sharing the same background knowledge
who are supposed to react and answer in a particular way. But you know your
students are all individuals living in a particular context and many of them
may do not share the same background knowledge. If you make your own materials
for teaching, you can adapt it to your specific group of students taking into
consideration their learning environment, their needs, their performances,
their capacities, etc.
- In
connection with contextualization are the individual
needs. Creating your own materials you try to make the level appropriate for
your students, ensuring a challenge when learning. You also adapt it according
to their cultures, their first language, their learning needs and experiences.
At the same time you have more control over what to teach as regards topics,
situations, notions, functions, skills, etc.
- Personalization is another advantage. Teacher-made materials add a
personal touch and students would appreciate that since it is your effort. This
may increase motivation and engagement. At the same time, once you are used to
create your own materials, you may feel more comfortable with the classroom
situations and it may give you more freedom and scope for spontaneity.
Disadvantages:
- As I
mentioned before, coursebooks organize in some way the teaching process. “Teacher-designed
materials may lack overall coherence and a clear progression” (Howard J. and
Major J., Guidelines for designing
effective English language teaching materials, p. 102).
- Sometimes
it is expensive.
- You
may run out of ideas.
- You
may experience a feeling of uncertainty since you do not know whether it is
going to work or not.
- It
is really time consuming.
Even though designing your own materials may seem to
be hard work and time consuming, we consider it would be highly profitable
since it will be adapted to your particular group of students attending to
their specific needs. Make sure you know
your students well, their
aspirations and purposes for learning English. Take into account the curriculum and the context of the
place/institution where you are teaching. Finally, you also need to be aware of
the resources and facilities
available when teaching.
Hope it helps and good luck!
Virgi and Giuli
Source: Jocelyn Howars and Jae Major. Guidelines for designing effective English language teaching materials. Pages 101-107.
