Diseño de Materiales - Week 3 - Choosing Materials - First Steps

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 3 of the course Diseño de Materiales. In this class we will share some of your beliefs about teaching and learning and articulate how the can inform your approach to materials evaluation. We will also discuss some of the key concepts from the assigned chapter that gives an over view to different ways of analyzing and evaluating coursebooks.

Today's Goals:

• Contribute to a group document that expresses your collective beliefs about the teaching-learning process and propose related criteria for effective materials.
• Discuss the importance of developing a critical mindset regarding materials design and evaluation.
• Consider factors to take into account when carrying out an analysis of context and learner needs.
• Review four methods of materials analysis.

Guiding Questions:

• What are my beliefs about teaching and learning and how will they influence my choice of criteria to evaluate didactic materials?
• What methods of analysis can I use to evaluate didactic materials?

Task 1: Sharing our Learning Manifestos

Take a moment to share your manifestos with your partners. For the sake of time, be breif in your explanations. After each person shares, use the framework below to facilitate your group discussion.

Task 2: Categorizing Beliefs

Click the link below and add some of your most important beliefs to the document. Choose from the existing categories or write new categories in the spaces provided.

• Group Document: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Reading Concepts Discussion

Take a few minutes to discuss the prompts below related to the assigned reading for this week. 

• Critical Mindset: McGrath talks about the importance of teachers developing a critical mindset about materials. Look at the slide below and answer the question. 

• First Steps: McGrath reminds us of the importance of identifying important factors related to students' needs and the learning context before starting the process of materials evaluation. Look at the slides below and answer the questions. 

References:

McGrath, I. (2016). Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press.