tingELTmaterials:Level,contextandflow

BYJOHNHUGHESonDECEMBER15,2015

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ThispostoriginallyappearedontheOUPGlobalELTBloginNovember2014intwopartsandwascalledHowtowrite
yourownEFLmaterials.Ithasbeeneditedhereintoonepost.
IfyouwanttowriteyourownEFLmaterials,wheredoyoubegin?Letsstartwithaquestion:Whatdomost
establishedEFLmaterialswritershaveincommon?Firstofall,theyvealltaughtforanumberofyearsandtheyare
fairlyconfidentaboutwhatwillandwontworkintheclassroom.Secondly,throughouttheirteachingcareer,theyhave
alwayslovedcreatingtheirownmaterials.Thirdly,mostmaterialswritersthatIknowhavealsospenttimeworkingas
teachertrainers.Infact,Ipersonallybelievesomekindofteachertrainingexperienceshouldbearequirementforall
materialswritersitsonlybyworkingwithandobservingotherteachersthatyoucanreallyunderstandhowtowrite
materialsforusebyotherteachers.
Finally,Ithinkthatalleffectivematerialswritersunderstandeitherknowinglyorunknowinglyhowtowritematerials
thatareatthecorrectlevel,aimedattheappropriatecontext,andorganisedintoaseriesofstageswhichflowto
formacohesiveandcompletelesson.

Writingatthecorrectlevel
Whenwetalkaboutthelevelofthematerial,weareusuallyreferringtowhetheryoucanuseitwithanelementary,
intermediateoradvancedstudent.Soknowinghowtowritefordifferentlevelsrequiresthatyouhaveexperienceof
teachingatlotsofdifferentlevels.Inadditiontothat,therearesometoolsthatcanhelpyou.Forexample,ifyouare
writingoradaptingatextforreadingmaterialsthenyoucanassessthelevelofthetextwithatoolliketheOxfordText
Checker.Byputtingthetextintothetextcheckeritwillshowyouwhichwordsarenotwithinthetop2000or3000
keywordsofEnglish.Asaresult,youcandecidehowtoadaptthelevelofthetextandwhichvocabularycouldbe
taughtasnew.
Aswellasconsideringthelanguagelevel,materialswritersalsoneedtothinkaboutthecognitivelevelofthestudents
forexample,writingmaterialsforyounglearnersisquitedifferenttowritingforadults.Also,theresthedangerthat

whenwewritematerialsforstudentswithalowlanguagelevel,wewritematerialswhichtreatthestudentsasifthey
havelowintelligence.Evenmaterialsforelementarylevelsmuststillbeintrinsicallyinteresting,andmotivatingin
otherwords,ifyouarewritingforgrownupadults,thenthematerialshouldfeelgrownup.
Levelinmaterialswritingalsoreferstothelevelofanexerciseortask.Inotherwords,theexerciseortaskitselfmust
beachievable.Soifyouaskstudentstofillthegapsinaconversationwhilelisteningbuttherearetoomanygaps,it
becomesimpossibleregardlessoftheirlanguagelevel.Similarly,ifyouwriteaspeakingpracticetaskwhichrequires
morethanthreesentencesofinstructions,thenthetaskisprobablyoverlycomplexforusebytheteacherand
students.

Creatingcontext
ContextisthesecondareaofEFLmaterialswritingthataffectshowandwhatyouwrite.BycontextImreferringtoa
numberofdifferentelements:Firstofall,thewriterneedstounderstandtheclassroomcontextinwhichthematerial
willbeused.Inotherwords,ifyouarewritingmaterialforGeneralEnglishadultstudentsbooksthatcouldbeused
anywhereintheworld,thenyourmaterialmustappealtoabroadspectrumofpeople.Similarly,youhavetoremember
thatanexercisemustbeabletoworkwithaclassoffiftyaswellaswithaclassoffive.
SomethingelsetoconsideristheculturalcontextachoiceofphotographortextthatwillappealtostudentsinSouth
AmericancountriesmaynotworkforstudentsinMiddleEastcountries.Andculturedoesntjustrefertonational
culturesthecultureandinterestsofyoungerstudentswillbedifferenttothoseforolderstudents.Genderisalsoan
issuemalewritershavetoconsiderwhethertheirchoiceofcontextsandmaterialswillalsoappealtofemalestudents
andviceversa(whichispossiblywhysomanysuccessfulcoursebooksarecoauthoredbyamanandawoman.)
Onemorecontextwhichaffectspublishedmaterialsinparticularistime.Ifyouareusingacoursebookwhichisover
fiveyearsold,forexample,youmaynoticethatphotographsoftechnologylookoldfashioned,readingtextsareoutof
date,orperhapssomesocalledfamouspeoplearenolongerfamous.Soifyouwantyourmaterialstohavelongevity,
thentopicssuchastechnologyandpopularcultureareoftenworthavoidingortreatinginawaythatwillmeanthey
dontdatetooquickly.

Makeyourmaterialflow
Havingselectedappropriateimages,textsandexercisesthatareatthecorrectlevelandareappropriateforthevarious
contextsinwhichthematerialwillbeused,youneedtomakesuretheyfittogetherinalogicalorder.Inpractical
terms,thismeansthatifyouhavesixexercisesorstagesonaworksheet,thenanyteachershouldbeabletopickup
thatworksheet,takeitintoclass,startatexercise1andfinishatexercise6.Yesitsimportantthatthematerialisalso
flexibleenoughforthosetypesofteacherswholiketomisssomepartsout,changetheorderorevenaddtheirown
supplementarymaterials,butitsprimaryfunctionistoofferacompletelesson.
Youhavetowritethematerialsothatoneactivityflowsintothenextandthatitfollowsbasicprinciplesofgoodlesson
planning.Inotherwords,thereisprobablysomekindofleadintaskthatengagesthestudents,perhapssome
comprehensionworkwithatextfollowedbylanguageanalysisandfinallyafreepracticestageofsomekindinwhich
studentsusethelanguagepresentedinthelesson.
Partofwritingmaterialswithflowisalsotoprovideclearnavigationaltoolsthathelptheteachertoorientatethe
studentsthroughthelesson.Thesetoolsincludeuseofheadings,numbering,referencingandtherubricsor
instructionswhichaccompanyanexerciseorexplainaprocedure.Youknowwhenthesefeaturesarebadlywritten
becauseyoucantfindyourwayaroundthematerialoryouareunsurewhattheaimoftheexerciseis.Ontheother
hand,whentheyarewellwritten,youbarelynoticetheyexistalongsidetherestofthematerialandeverythingflows

logically.
Finally,onceyouvewrittenyourmaterials,youmayfinditusefultocheckthemagainsttheseninekeyquestions.
Betterstill,handyourmaterialstoanotherteacherand,withoutanyexplanationfromyou,seeiftheycanwalkinto
classandusethemsuccessfullywiththeirstudents!