5 A framework for materials writing
Exercise 1 Students in British language school classroom doing exercises in pairs as suggested; the focus here is on
5.3 Case studies
The case studies which follow illustrate, from different teaching con
texts, how the steps in the path are taken into account in actual samples of material.
Identification of need for materials
Exploration of need
Contextual realisation of materials
Pedagogical realisation of materials
Production of materials
Student use of materials
Evaluation of materials against agreed objectives 1
2
3 (a)
4
5
6 Dynamic path Optional steps and feedback loops
Notes
a) Even in the creation of entirely new materials, it may be the case that some of the steps envisaged have already been done for the writer.
b) Materials may be produced and evaluated without student use, e.g. by a colleague or professional. Most publishers still work this way. This does not reduce the need for evaluation after use by specific groups of students.
Figure 5.2 A teacher’s path through the production of new or adapted materials
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114
CONTEXTUAL REALISATION
PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION
PHYSICAL PRODUCTION IDENTIFICATION
OF NEED
EXPLORATION OF LANGUAGE
In reading a text, students come across the sentence: ‘It’s time the Prime Minister lis
tened more carefully to his critics.’ They are puzzled by the apparent clash between the past form and the actual meaning of the verb ‘listened’. They ask for an explanation and further examples.
The teacher promises to respond and con
sults Practical English Usage (Swan: 286, see Appendix) on ‘it’s time…’, and a couple of other pedagogic grammars to get a cross sec
tion of views on hypothetical meaning.
The teacher decides to produce worksheets on ‘Hypothetical Meaning’ to try to anchor the concept and the related language in stu
dents’ minds and decides to provide simplified contexts for practice, based in students’ own daytoday experience rather than on exter
nal text sources (Figure 5.3). The worksheet is for class use, to reinforce actual teaching.
The names used in Step Three of the work
sheet are those of students in the class and of a coteacher.
The teacher decides on a contrastive appro
ach (facts vs. hypothesis) initially with an exercise focusing on the distinction, and on the verb forms involved (Step One). Enough examples are provided to establish a pattern for students to work from.
Once basic notions are recognised, com- municative functions of sentences involving hypothetical meaning are elicited (Steps Two and Three). The focus is on unspoken mean
ing and speaker’s attitude. The teacher pro
vides references for further practice/study.
The worksheet is produced as a Word document, photocopied and distributed to learners.
5.3.1 Case study 1
Materials produced for a class at upperintermediate level.
A framework for materials writing
115 There is an introduction in class, followed by completion of the worksheet at home and checking in the next class.
Student comments and difficulties with the worksheet, for example:
1. ‘In Step One there is a fact and a hypothesis in the sentences. It’s confusing.’ (This sent the teacher back to ‘Pedagogical Realisation’
and led to the changed ins tructions and underlinings in Version 2, Figure 5.4.) 2. ‘Can’t the “if” sentences also be posi
tive, do they only express regret?’ (This student had noticed an important over
sight which took the teacher back to the exploration stage and led to the inclusion of two further examples in Step Two of the revised version of the worksheet.)
3. Teacher noted problems with ‘I wish you would finish …’ vs. ‘I wish you had finished …’. Further exploration led to production of a followup worksheet on
‘possible vs. impossible wishes’.
4. The class liked Step Three and enjoyed making up similar sentences about other members of the group.
EVALUATION USE
Figure 5.3 Version 1, Hypothetical Meaning
HYPOTHETICAL MEANING: WORKSHEET STEP ONE
(a) Fact or hypothesis? Tick the right box for each statement
1. I’m pleased that you’ve finished the work.
2. I wish you would finish the work.
3. It’s time you finished the work.
4. I wish you had finished the work.
5. If only you had finished the work.
6. I see that you’ve finished the work.
7. If you had more time you would soon finish
8. I’m surprised that you’ve finished the work.
FACT
the facts HYPOTHESIS
the work.
(cont.)
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116
3. It’s time you finished the work.
4. I wish you had finished the work.
5. If only you had finished the work.
6. I see that you’ve finished the work.
7. If you had more time you would soon finish
8. I’m surprised that you’ve finished the work.
(b)
have in common? What do the hypotheses have in common? What is the Here are some more examples, from the press, to help you with the answers to these questions.
1.
change.
Now underline the verb forms of ‘finish’ in each sentence. What do the facts
2. If I were in government I’d think twice before interfering in another country’s affairs.
It’s time the Americans substituted action for words on climate paradox about some of these verb forms?
the work.
4.
been hit so hard by the recession.
5.
STEP TWO
There is an idea ‘behind’ many of these sentences with hypothetical meaning. Look at these examples:
It’s time you had your hair cut. (It’s too long) I wish my brother were here with me. (But he isn’t) If only I had worked harder. (But I didn’t) (a)
1. I wish you didn’t smoke so heavily. ( ) 2. It’s time we went home. ( )
3. Just suppose you had dropped the bottle. ( ) 4. If only you had listened to your mother. ( ) 5. I’d have bought the car if it hadn’t been yellow. ( )
If the UK hadn’t insisted on sticking to the pound, we might not have
If only England had a player of Ronaldo’s calibre.
Now provide the ideas behind each of these statements.
3.
invaded Iraq.
There are plenty of senior figures in government who wish we hadn’t
(cont.) Figure 5.3 (cont.)
A framework for materials writing
117 If only I had worked harder. (But I didn’t)
(a)
1. I wish you didn’t smoke so heavily. ( ) 2. It’s time we went home. ( )
3. Just suppose you had dropped the bottle. ( ) 4. If only you had listened to your mother. ( ) 5. I’d have bought the car if it hadn’t been yellow. ( ) 6. It’s high time you got rid of that old jacket. ( ) 7. If I were you I’d catch the early train. ( ) 8. He looked as though he’d seen a ghost. ( ) Which of the above examples expresses (a) regret?
(b) advice?
(c) strong suggestion?
Now provide the ideas behind each of these statements.
(d) a wish?
(e) reproach?
(b)
of statements:
I.
(b) ‘It’s time we left.’
II.
(b) ‘It’s time you got up.’
III.
(b) ‘It’s high time we took a break.’
STEP THREE
Make statements to respond to or develop these situations, using the instructions in brackets in each case.
1.
this.) 2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
suggestion.) 7.
Now try to explain the difference in the speakers’ minds between these pairs (a) ‘It’s time to leave.’
(a) ‘It’s time to get up.’
(a) ‘It’s time for us to take a break.’
It’s 9.30 and René still hasn’t arrived in class. (Comment reproachfully on
Adrian’s hair is rather long. (Advise him to have it cut.)
Nathalie hasn’t done her homework. (Advise her to do it next time.) You haven’t worked very hard during the course. (Express regret.) Pauline is still teaching at 12.45. (Reproach her.)
Thomas asks to borrow your rubber for the tenth time. (Make a strong
You went out last night and there was a James Bond film on TV. (Express (cont.) Figure 5.3 (cont.)
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118
this.) 2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
suggestion.) 7.
regret or relief.) 8.
painting her toenails. (Use a question to make a strong suggestion.) Adrian’s hair is rather long. (Advise him to have it cut.)
Nathalie hasn’t done her homework. (Advise her to do it next time.) You haven’t worked very hard during the course. (Express regret.) Pauline is still teaching at 12.45. (Reproach her.)
Thomas asks to borrow your rubber for the tenth time. (Make a strong
You went out last night and there was a James Bond film on TV. (Express
It’s 8 pm and your landlady still hasn’t put dinner on the table. In fact, she’s
References (for students) Look at:
Murphy, R. 1996. English Grammar in Use (2nd edn.) Units 37 and 38. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Swan, M. 2005. Practical English Usage (3rd edn.) Sections 258–264. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(cont.) 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6 7.
8.
s?
HYPOTHETICAL MEANING: WORKSHEET STEP ONE
(a)
box in each case.
FACT
Fact or hypothesis? Look at the verb forms underlined and then tick the right
I’m pleased that you’ve finished the work.
I wish you would finish the work.
It’s time you finished the work.
I wish you had finished the work.
I see that you’ve finished the work.
If only you had finished the work.
If you had more time you would soon finish
I’m surprised that you’ve finished the work.
HYPOTHESIS
the work.
Figure 5.4 Version 2, Hypothetical Meaning Figure 5.3 (cont.)
A framework for materials writing
119 (cont.) 3.
4.
5.
6 7.
8.
(b)
What is the paradox about some of these verb forms?
Here are some more examples, from the press, to help you with the answers to these questions.
1.
change.
It’s time you finished the work.
I wish you had finished the work.
I see that you’ve finished the work.
If only you had finished the work.
If you had more time you would soon finish
I’m surprised that you’ve finished the work.
What do the facts have in common? What do the hypotheses have in common?
It’s time the Americans substituted action for words on climate the work.
2.
country’s affairs.
3.
invaded Iraq.
4.
been hit so hard by the recession.
5.
STEP TWO
There is an idea ‘behind’ many of these sentences with hypothetical meaning. Look at these examples:
It’s time you had your hair cut. (It’s too long) I wish my brother were here with me. (But he isn’t) If only I had worked harder. (But I didn’t)
(a) 1.
2.
3.
4.
If I were in government I’d think twice before interfering in another
There are plenty of senior figures in government who wish we hadn’t
If the UK hadn’t insisted on sticking to the pound, we might not have
If only England had a player of Ronaldo’s calibre.
Now provide the ideas behind each of these statements.
I wish you didn’t smoke so heavily. ( ) It’s time we went home. ( )
Just suppose you had dropped the bottle. ( ) If only you had listened to your mother. ( ) Figure 5.4 (cont.)
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120
(cont.) these examples:
It’s time you had your hair cut. (It’s too long) I wish my brother were here with me. (But he isn’t) If only I had worked harder. (But I didn’t)
(a) 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Now provide the ideas behind each of these statements.
I wish you didn’t smoke so heavily. ( ) It’s time we went home. ( )
Just suppose you had dropped the bottle. ( ) If only you had listened to your mother. ( ) I’d have bought the car if it hadn’t been yellow. ( ) It’s high time you got rid of that old jacket. ( ) If I were you I’d catch the early train. ( ) He looked as though he’d seen a ghost. ( ) If I hadn’t screamed we’d have crashed. ( )
Suppose you hadn’t had your chequebook with you. ( )
(b) advice?
(c) strong suggestion?
(d) a wish?
(e) reproach?
(f) relief?
(b)
of statements:
I.
(b) ‘It’s time we left.’
II.
(b) ‘It’s time you got up.’
III.
(b) ‘It’s high time we took a break.’
STEP THREE
Make statements to respond to or develop these situations, using the instructions in brackets in each case.
Which of the above examples expresses (a) regret?
Now try to explain the difference in the speakers’ minds between these pairs
(a) ‘It’s time to leave.’
(a) ‘It’s time to get up.’
(a) ‘It’s time for us to take a break.’
Figure 5.4 (cont.)
A framework for materials writing
121 I.
(b) ‘It’s time we left.’
II.
(b) ‘It’s time you got up.’
III.
(b) ‘It’s high time we took a break.’
STEP THREE
Make statements to respond to or develop these situations, using the instructions in brackets in each case.
1.
this.) 2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
(a) ‘It’s time to leave.’
(a) ‘It’s time to get up.’
(a) ‘It’s time for us to take a break.’
It’s 9.30 and René still hasn’t arrived in class. (Comment reproachfully on
Adrian’s hair is rather long. (Advise him to have it cut.)
Nathalie hasn’t done her homework. (Advise her to do it next time.) You haven’t worked very hard during the course. (Express regret.) Pauline is still teaching at 12.45. (Reproach her.)
Thomas asks to borrow your rubber for the tenth time. (Make a strong suggestion.) 7.
regret or relief.) 8.
painting her toenails. (Use a question to make a strong suggestion.) References (for students)
Look at:
Murphy, R. 1996. English Grammar in Use (new edn.) Units 37 and 38. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Swan, M. 2005. Practical English Usage (3rd edn.) Sections 258–264. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
You went out last night and there was a James Bond film on TV. (Express
It’s 8 pm and your landlady still hasn’t put dinner on the table. In fact, she’s Figure 5.4 (cont.)
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122
Introduction and instructions at top.
Pictures handdrawn and handwritten, photocopied.
With European, Asian and North African stu
dents on an academic writing course. Students asked to produce drafts; no time limit.
This revealed that:
1. The need had been correctly identified.
2. That other needs remained unfulfilled because no adequate language explor- ation had been done, e.g. language of time duration.
3. The contextual realisation was very good and well understood, but in some ways factually inaccurate.
4. There were flaws in the pedagogical realisation which had led to poor prac
tice by students: (i) writing was distorted through lack of a sense of audience; (ii) the instructions were confusing; (iii) some labelling was confusing.
5. There were flaws in the physical produc- tion, particularly in the visual aspects which confused students.
5.3.2 Case study 2
Materials to practise the description of development and change over time (need identified by teacher with reference to the writing syllabus).
Not carried out.
Simple, universal context of an isolated island seen at four stages in its history.
Introduction to information. Instructions to student. Four labelled diagrams, show ing development in pictorial form and notes (Figure 5.5).
IDENTIFICATION OF NEED
EXPLORATION OF LANGUAGE CONTEXTUAL
REALISATION PEDAGOGICAL
REALISATION
PHYSICAL PRODUCTION
EVALUATION OF MATERIALS USE OF MATERIALS
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123
Writing DEVELOPMENTAL NARRATIVE
THE VOLCANO ON HEIMAEY
Introduction Heimaey is an island near Iceland. Volcanoes which have been inactive (dormant) for a long time may erupt violently, blowing out previously solidified material and scattering volcanic ash.
Writing Study the following pictures carefully and then write a description of the development of the island of Heimaey during the last 1,000 years.
The ocean floor
(1) (2)
(3) (4)
Rocks
Steam
Molten rock (lava)
Jetty for fishing boats
Rich soil
Ash and lava
Dormant crater
Church Fish factory An erupting volcano
900 A.D.
1970 1979
Harbour
School
The North Atlantic Ocean
Figure 5.5 Version 1, The Volcano on Heimaey
Rewriting of materials
The evaluative feedback led to a revamping of the materials and the production of Version 2 (Figure 5.6) in which changes were made on the basis of (3), (4) and (5) above.
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124
DESCRIBING DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE IN THE PAST
Writing THE ISLAND OF HEIMAEY
Introduction Heimaey is an island near Iceland, in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a volcanic island, formed in the year 300. Volcanoes which have been inactive for a long time may erupt violently, blowing out volcanic ash and previously solidified material.
Writing Task Study the following pictures carefully. They show the changes on Heimaey from its formation to 1973. Write a description of this development, on the page opposite, using the notes given to you.
Mount Eldfell (volcano) (2) (1)
Volcanic ash Steam
Molten rock (lava) Rocks
Natural harbour The newly-formed island of Heimaey
Ocean floor
Eldfell erupting
year 300 Population: 5000 (95% in village near harbour) Church Fish
factory
75% pop. escaped Boats and helicopters used
Light- house
Harbour
year 900 Houses
Rich soil Sheep farming
Mount Eldfell (dormant volcanic crater)
(4) (3)
Ash and lava Atlantic
Ocean Jetty for
fishing boats
year 1970 year 1973
School
Figure 5.6 Version 2, The Volcano on Heimaey
A framework for materials writing
125
Before the year 300 AD, the island of Heimaey did not exist.
At about that time,
In approximately 900 AD, people came from Iceland and settled on Heimaey.
In the next thousand years,
A few years ago, Heimaey’s peaceful development was suddenly disrupted when
Figure 5.6 (cont.)
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126
CONTEXTUAL REALISATION
LINGUISTIC EXPLORATION
PHYSICAL PRODUCTION
PHYSICAL PRODUCTION PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION AND USE PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION
… that session on shopping with group 4 today was a bit flat
… in fact, can they shop effectively at all … I mean, can I really say, hand on heart, that Duda or Kristina could get a small sachet of lemon shampoo from the pharmacy, … or Miguel his cotton shirts? … I’ll have to give it another go tomorrow, but I can’t have them sitting in pairs doing an A-B exercise … what do I want? … They must be able to ask for an item, and ask about size, colour, amounts, quantities … The contents of the book were OK, perhaps a bit too diverse … Shall I concentrate on food, clothes, newsagents and general personal items you can get from the pharmacy? … But sitting in pairs was very flat, no urgency,
… they weren’t really … Now what happens when they need to go and shop for something, what is going on?
Yes, you’ve got an idea of what you want, say bananas or apples and you also have other things in your head, like how many you want and you also want to find things out like where the apples come from, whether they are sweet or less sweet … so … so … what I can produce is a set of cards, cue-cards which they can work from … the cards should be analogous to what would be in their heads as they went into the shop. I can put a picture or draw one on each card to represent the items and on the right-hand side I can put various cue words to indicate what needs to go on in the shop. I’d better go over the cue words in a quick exercise before we start … what sort of cues … you need some general clues such as ‘sizes’ or ‘colours’
so that they can ask ‘What colours do you have?’ and so on … and you also need specific cues, such as ‘small’ or
‘red’ so that they have to ask things like, ‘Have you got a small one?’ … What I need is some card divided into two by three inch rectangles … I could colour code it so that blue cards are newsagents items and red ones are for food shopping and so on … should be easy enough. Perhaps EVALUATION
IDENTIFICATION OF NEED
LINGUISTIC EXPLORATION 5.3.3 Case study 3
With this case study (Figure 5.7) we intend to highlight the fact that the writing of materials is rarely a neat, selfcontained, linear process, but an activity which is intimately bound up with all questions that teaching itself raises: learners’ needs, syllabus, schemes of work, lesson plans, classroom management, resources, outcomes and assessment, the relation of learning/teaching to real life and so on.
Figure 5.7 Teacher’s evening reverie
A framework for materials writing
127 NOTES MADE
language
exploration FOOD:
CLOTHES:
Special questions – quantity/amount General questions – types? sizes?
Special questions – colours, sizes, materials General questions – colours? materials?
(Items: jeans, blouses, shirts, skirts, socks …) pedagogical
realisation signs on cards ! = REQUEST
? = QUESTION
Examples of Materials Written physical
production
material?
blue?
grey?
sizes?
2!
Chianti?
£?
1½ litres!
cotton?
colours?
sizes?
cost?
1!
Irish?
cost?
1½ kilos!
PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION AND USE further
EXPLORATION after
IDENTIFICATION PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION
they can do it in groups first … one group doing the food cards and one doing the clothes and one for the pharmacy and so on … then I can shuffle the cards and they can practise on me as the shop assistant … not a bad role if you work it up … they can take random cards further … hang on ... they were having problems with containers and things so maybe I’d better do a preliminary exercise on that ... box, packet, sachet, tube tub, car, tin ball, packet, carton, bundle ... any more ... ? I’ll go and look in the cupboard downstairs ... yes bottle, mustn’t forget that one! … yes I’ll give them a simple list of items and they can give me the right containers … or do it with each other and then have me check them … now, I’d better make some notes on all this before I forget it …