30.2425, Review: Applied Linguistics: Tomlinson, Masuhara (2017)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-2425. Wed Jun 12 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.2425, Review: Applied Linguistics: Tomlinson, Masuhara (2017)

Moderator: Malgorzata E. Cavar (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Student Moderator: Jeremy Coburn
Managing Editor: Becca Morris
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Everett Green, Sarah Robinson, Peace Han, Nils Hjortnaes, Yiwen Zhang, Julian Dietrich
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Jeremy Coburn <jecoburn at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 14:30:34
From: Oksana Bomba [oksanabomba at mail.usf.edu]
Subject: The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of Materials Development for Language Learning

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36500838


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-159.html

AUTHOR: Brian  Tomlinson
AUTHOR: Hitomi  Masuhara
TITLE: The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of Materials Development for Language Learning
PUBLISHER: Wiley
YEAR: 2017

REVIEWER: Oksana Bomba, University of South Florida

SUMMARY 

“The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of Materials Development for
Language Learning” by Brian Tomlinson and Hitomi Masuhara attempts to combine
theoretical explanation with a practical approach to language learning
materials. It aims “to help teachers, researchers, students, publishers and
writers to know, understand and be constructively critical of what has been
achieved to date” (p. viii). Consisting of 15 chapters, each devoted to a
specific topic, the book provides an examination of issues in materials
development as well as writing instructions for language learning activities –
with a focus on materials development for English learning. The book’s
chapters generally include a list of recommendations from the authors, a brief
summary section, a list of discussion questions, and practical tasks. The
authors begin the book by expressing desire for it to help readers take a
stance based on their experience and bring more voices to the field of study.
The final part of the book incorporates useful resources such as information
on the materials development professional community, links to corpora, the
names of relevant journals, and titles of recent publications. Importantly,
the authors direct readers to internet resources including activities, texts,
and images that may be practically applied by language teachers. 

Materials development is defined in Chapter One as “all different processes in
the development and use of materials for language learning and teaching” (p.
1). The first chapter provides an initial overview of the current state of
affairs of commercial language learning materials (e.g. coursebooks, digital
materials, supplementary materials, self-access materials), and existing
materials development projects and publications. It is stressed that there is
no one-size-fits-all approach and demand continues to grow for more research
in the field of materials development.

In Chapter Two the authors outline the ongoing debate regarding the value of
traditional textbooks and the desirable characteristics of language learning
materials. The authors explain that while coursebooks are convenient
commodified resources which organize the process of education and save time
and money, they often do not meet the needs of every student. Since these
so-called “global textbooks” lack engagement and adaptations, it is necessary
for educators to make individualized decisions about what would work best with
a particular class. At the same time, language learning is facilitated by
humanistic materials, implementing authentic language, and emphasizing meaning
over form. The authors favor a text-driven approach, in which a bank of
potentially engaging and even controversial texts are employed, to engage
learners and stimulate their interest while simultaneously allowing space for
individual differences and self-expression. Overall, the authors note,
priority in materials development goes to learner agency, task authenticity,
as well as affective and cognitive engagement.

Chapter Three stresses out the importance of planning out the evaluation of
materials in pre-, in- and post-stages. The authors state that, when
evaluating materials, the team of materials writers should consider all
stakeholders and set universal and local guiding criteria, predicting the 
effect of the materials for the users. Universal criteria should be applicable
in a variety of contexts for different learners, while local criteria take
into consideration specific context and learners. The teachers, in turn, are
strongly encouraged to develop their own criteria rather than simply accept
the externally imposed ones. The authors also provide specific examples for
each type of criteria from their practical experience. Last but not least, the
importance of conducting a retrospective evaluation via the collection of
feedback both from learners and teachers is given attention. 

Next, Chapter Four argues for materials adaptation as a way of bridging the
gap between what is needed and what is available for the teacher. The authors
highlight an unprecedented need for materials adaptation due to disconnects
between those who create the materials and those who use them, especially in
light of the increasing role of English as a lingua franca around the world. A
range of empirical studies are explained to demonstrate that teachers adapt
materials for various reasons, such as to engage learners and raise cultural
awareness. This is followed by a listing of the major guiding principles for
materials adaptation and a real-world example which employs these principles.

In Chapter Five the authors argue for establishing principles for materials
development prior to writing that would go in hand with SLA research. The
criteria and principles for materials development are discussed through the
lens of existing literature. They stress that materials development requires
collaboration and productive work and provide their own recommendations such
as working in teams, including universal and local criteria, deciding on
specific framework (e.g. text-driven framework), and sequencing out procedural
steps recommended in the process of writing. 

Chapter Six contains all aspects of publishing English language
coursebooks/textbooks. The authors outline five stages in coursebook
preparation: planning, establishing a writing team and principles, creating a
draft, receiving feedback, and actual production/post-production. Further
elaboration is provided by applying these stages to the development of global
coursebooks. The chapter concludes with a personal reflection on a successful
coursebook project and a list of the factors that should be considered in the
process, starting with meeting the needs of stakeholders and ending with an
accounting of production costs.

Chapter Seven considers strengths and weaknesses of using digital materials
from a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) perspective. The authors select and
analyze a few sources of digital materials and note their interesting rich
content, authenticity and ability to have the learner focus on meaning. At the
same time, they discuss potential pitfalls such as loss of focus or missing
opportunities for spontaneous synchronous interactive feedback. For instance,
they explain that computer games may be effectively employed if they prompt
learners’ interaction in the target language. While teachers are encouraged to
take advantage of new opportunities in the technological area, this should not
be at the cost of face-to-face interaction or personalized teacher feedback.
The conclusion of this chapter is that more research is needed to justify
investment in the costly development of digital materials.

Chapter Eight discusses the ways in which coursebooks should address
grammatical, lexical and pragmatic competences. For grammatical competence,
the authors advocate a discovery approach where learners make sense of target
structures through engagement with authentic texts. For lexical competence,
the authors favor incidental learning through extensive reading and listening,
activities facilitating deducing meaning from context in text-driven or
task-based approaches. In addition, the researchers recognize the difficulty
of teaching pragmatic competence explicitly and argue for providing multiple
opportunities of authentic communication. The use of corpora is also discussed
within the context of developing pragmatic competence.

Chapter Nine discusses materials development in terms of addressing the four
language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The authors claim
that listening deserves more attention as this skill supports all the others.
When analyzing six different global coursebooks, the authors note that they
mostly focus on practicing language through isolated activities focused on
separate skills and do not provide specific advice on skills development. They
also observe that listening and speaking are not tested in many contexts,
resulting in a negative washback effect on classroom materials. The chapter
advocates an integrated approach in terms of four language skills and
affective and cognitive engagement in “skills” activities.

Chapter Ten provides recommendations in terms of materials development for
young learners, providing the empirical findings. It highlights the existing
problem of overlooking age-specific factors, as well as the existing gap
between what is provided in materials and what helps young learners acquire
the target language. The authors argue for implementation of meaning-focused
tasks often involving kinesthetics and a variety of genres such as games,
stories, songs or drawing. In addition, they favor content and language
integrated (CLIL) activities where learners make discoveries and begin
noticing through exploring, as opposed to language drills. Therefore, such
factors as motivation, engagement, developing positive attitude and raising
self-esteem are given priority in materials development for the young
learners’ age group.

Chapter Eleven analyzes materials development for teenagers and adults,
claiming that materials should include achievable challenges, promote
competitive spirit, provide opportunities for collaboration and potential
social rewards, connect their learning to the outside world and provide
individual support. Such tasks can become possible through implementing
task-based and text-driven approaches. The authors note that adult learners
tend to be interested in using language for professional purposes and
materials should meet learner’s expectations in terms of relevance, time,
needs and quality. They should also establish rapport and connect to the
learners’ lives.

Chapter Twelve discusses materials development for different levels and
different purposes and calls for employing underlying principles and
pedagogical approaches where the content should be relevant, meaningful and
interesting for learners with different L2 goals, varying from English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) to English as an international language (EIL). 

Chapter Thirteen calls for greater effort in ensuring that visuals fulfill an
educational role and align with learning objectives. For instance, materials
may effectively use visuals for sparking curiosity and inspiration, engaging
learners, initiating discussion, providing explanation,
illustrating/explaining specific instructional procedures, or provoking
thoughts and reactions. The authors claim that global coursebooks are often
visually appealing but do not always match the pedagogical goals due to lack
of cooperation in the production stage between business professionals (e.g.
graphic designers) and educators. Throughout the chapter, the teachers are
encouraged to be active collaborators in the process of designing coursebook
illustrations, ensuring that the latter effectively support instructions and
assist learner’s understanding of the target language.

The focus of Chapter Fourteen is the importance of clear and effective
instructions in language-learning activities. Material developers can ensure
the effectiveness of instructions by piloting them with learners and observing
whether the learners carry out the assignment as intended, or by having
colleagues provide peer evaluation. This chapter provides a range of criteria
for giving instructions, addressing sequencing, sufficiency, succinctness, and
specificity, among other areas, and offers illustrations via several examples.

Chapter Fifteen concludes with a concise summary of the existing studies on
materials development previously mentioned, placing the studies into specific
categories. The authors express the hope for more research in terms of the
actual effect of different types of materials on L2 ability to communicate.
They also discuss other potential areas for future research, such as measuring
the learning effect from typical coursebook activities, ways of implementing
innovative materials and helping learners benefit from those implementations,
and comparing the effects of various materials formats on a learner’s
motivation. The authors rightfully state that the focus of the book is not
materials themselves but skillful and effective ways of using them, as well as
the existing areas for further work in order to meet needs of all
stakeholders. 

EVALUATION 

This thought-provoking and resourceful book will be of great help for
teachers, publishers, and researchers interested in materials development. In
addition to informing the reader about historical tradition, providing the
results of the latest empirical findings, and summarizing the existing trends
in materials development, the authors voice their own beliefs coming from
their many years of personal and professional experience. The authors posit
multiple questions for consideration, promoting an individual approach to
materials development and pushing readers to adopt a critical stance and think
for themselves what principles and recommendations are especially relevant in
their classroom.

While the book is infused with references and recommendations, it relates its
examples to outside sources such as other ESL/EFL coursebooks or units which
may not necessarily be accessible to a wider audience (e.g. p. 109). It would
also be helpful to find a way to incorporate more specific examples when
trying to exemplify the various theoretical principles and criteria. This
would facilitate an even better understanding of the terminology and allow for
grasping all of the principles and recommendations covered in the book –
especially when it comes to the novice materials developer. That being said,
“The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of Materials Development for
Language Learning” is undoubtedly an excellent source that offers a rich
repository of knowledge for professionals who desire to develop their
expertise in materials development for language learning.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Oksana Bomba is a doctorate student in Linguistics and Applied Language
Studies (LALS) at the University of South Florida. Her research interests
include second language acquisition, language teaching, and corpus
linguistics. She has taught English and Russian in various contexts and to
language learners from several age groups.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************    LINGUIST List Support    ***************************
 The 2019 Fund Drive is under way! Please visit https://funddrive.linguistlist.org
  to find out how to donate and check how your university, country or discipline
     ranks in the fund drive challenges. Or go directly to the donation site:
               https://iufoundation.fundly.com/the-linguist-list-2019

                        Let's make this a short fund drive!
                Please feel free to share the link to our campaign:
                    https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-30-2425	
----------------------------------------------------------