1. THE ROLE OF MATERIALS
Course: ESP
Presenter: Melika Rajabi
Instructor: Dr. Estaji

2. Materials are used in all teaching.
Core materials paper-based
 Audio and video cassettes
 Computers
 Real objects
 …

3. Purpose of the materials
Four reasons for using materials in
ESP contexts:
1. As a source of lg
2. As a learning support
3. For motivation and stimulation
4. For reference

4. Source of language
In EFL context, ESP classes may be the only source of
English
materials play a crucial role in exposing learners
to the lg.
implies that
Materials need to present real lg and full range that
learners required

5. If classroom: primary source of information, materials
need to maximize exposure to the lg.
Ex:
By providing additional material, interested learners
will use it for their own learning practice.
another source of lg in materials: rubrics

6. Learning support
Materials need to be reliable:
To work to be consistent and to have some
recognizable pattern.
To enhance learning: materials should involve:
1. Learners in thinking about lg
2. learners in using the lg
Activities need to stimulate cognitive processes not
mechanical.

7. Stimulation and motivation
Materials need to be challenging yet achievable to:
Offer new ideas and information.
the input contain that are familiar, but it
should:
 Offer sth new
 A reason to communicate
 To get involved
Concepts
and
knowledge

8. Reference
Lack of time makes many ESP learners to rely on a
mix of classes, self-study and reference materials
Materials need to be complete, well laid out and self-explanatory.

9. Materials will need to take account of different
learning styles and:
Follow through a train of thoughtexplorer
Pick and choose at randombrowser
Work through methodicallysystematist

10. Writers or providers of materials
One of the myths of ESP: you have to write your
own materials.
Only a small proportion of good teachers are good
designers of course materials and will be able to:
 Select appropriately from what is available
 Be creative with what is available
 Modify activities to suit learners’ needs
 Supplement by providing extra activities

11. Selecting from what is available
To make good choices we need to have a good
criteria on which to base our decision.
Initial Q to ask when selecting materials:
a) Will the materials stimulate and motivate?
b) To what extent does the material match the stated
learning objectives and your learning objectives?
c) To what extent will the materials support that
learning?

12. Sometimes we need to evaluate a unit or an activity
so we should:
 Identifying and separating the real content and the
carrier content of particular activities.
We need to be a student to check this
must be appropriate
must match the course obj

13. Being creative with what is available
When we have no suitable carrier content, we can
change the situation and be creative.
With input where the carrier content is out-of-date,
learners could:
 Extract what is no longer true
 Separate what they already know from what is new
 Extract what is true and re-write or re-tell it
Irrelevant carrier content focus on real content

14. Modifying activities to suit learners’
needs
Modifying activities is for the time that the input
and carrier content are adequate but some or all
of the exploitation is unsuitable.

15. Possible modifications
select activities that are central to the core objReason1
Replace them with activities that focus on contentReason 2
Change the rubric to change the focus or drop the activityReason 3
Add in an activity or two before those given in the materialReason 4
With an established, high-level group, ask them what the problem
is. Otherwise omit the exercise.
Reason 5

16. Supplementing by providing extra
input and activities
There is no black-and-white dividing line between
modifying materials and supplementing with extra
input and activities and preparing materials from
scratch.
in each case it is a Q of degree and perspective.
Changing the input is to preparing new material

17. Skills ESP practitioners need to provide
different input and extra activities
 Matching carrier content to real content
 Providing variety
 Grading activity level to learning and lg level
 Presenting the material well

18. Teacher-generated material
 Real content
- the main purpose of the course
 Carrier content
- aspects that is used to assist the real content

20. Providing variety
Variety is essential in any lg class. And we need to:
 Practice a number of micro-skills in one class.
 Introduce a range of activity types.
 Vary the type of interaction taking place during the
class

21. Providing variety
 Variety in micro-skills
- Focus on more than one macro-skill (e.g writing,
speaking, reading, listening)
 Variety in types of activities
- Using visuals & thinking based activities (e.g
diagrams, flowcharts)
 Variety in interaction
- Changes from teacher input to individual work
to pair work to class discussion

22. Grading exercises
Grading basically helps provide learners with
enabling them to do a set of exercises and with
tasks at different levels of difficulty.
One way to achieve this is by setting tasks in three
levels.
 unsupported
 partially supported
 fully supported

23. Presenting the material well
It is the final step which includes:
 writing good, consistent rubrics
helps learner to focus on learning rather than
working out
 planning layout and proofing

25. Learner-generated material
Materials specifically generated by learners for their
own learning experience.
 Examples:
 Framework materials
 Activities that are devised by learners

26. Framework materials
 Remove the difficulty to balance the levels and
appropriateness of carrier and real content
Framework materials do not provide:
1. Carrier content
2. Lg input
 Set a context or a framework
 learners fit their own carrier content and their
existing language competence
but

27. What do framework materials look like?
Tables, matrices and flow diagrams.
Flow diagram a learner :
 Describe the whole of a process/(state the purpose)
 Focus on a stage which is problematic or particularly
crucial
A classification tree:
 Justifying why items are grouped together or
explaining differences

28. Using framework materials
They may be used as:
a practice stage after specific lg input
Or
As a starting point for a deep-end approach
Specific lg practice
Framework materials are enjoyed by people with
right-brained learning style because they have
visual representations

29. Devising frameworks
First, It is recommended to use published frameworks
Devised and tested by others.
Content variablesVisual variables
Cause and effectShape
Process and sequenceSize
Generates particular interactions like:
Presentations, decision making, problem solving, brain
storming, evaluation
Color
Relative position
connections

30. Activities that are devised by the learner
 Text comprehension
- A pair of learners prepare some comprehension
questions (as well as the answers) and exchange them
with another pair. Each pair will answer the other
pair's set of questions.
 Note taking / Information transfer
- Learners themselves can think of some creative
activities to transfer information for their peers (and
their teachers)
 Vocabulary Development
- Learners can generate their own sets or word
partnerships

31. Materials and technology
Technology offers possibility of alternative materials
and classroom interactions.
1. Audio and video cassettes
2. Computers in the 1980s
3. Computer-Assissted Language Learning (CALL)
4. Development of CD-ROM (offers inf and repetitive
practice and also offers greater interactivity than
paper-based materials).

32. Thanks for your attention