Materials Evaluation and Design - Week 7 - Introduction to the Text-Driven Approach

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 7 of the course Materials Evaluation and Design. In this class you will participate in a demo lesson following the Text-Driven Approach (TDA), discuss theory and motivation behind the stages in TDA, and review the instructions for your TDA demo next week. You will also share one of your materials and the supporting theory from your Materials and Macroskills research paper.

Today's Goals:

• Participate in a demo lesson following the Text-Driven Approach.
• Analyze the demo, the TDA framework, and its underlying theory.
• Review the instructions for your Text-Driven Approach assignment.
• Share your sample material and supporting theory from your Materials and Macroskills paper.

Guiding Questions:

• How can I use texts in innovative ways to increase student engagement and reduce teacher workload?
• What have I learned through my research about using materials to teach a macroskill?

Warm Up: Halloween Trick-or-Treat Puzzle

Click the group link below and go to the section of the document that corresponds to your group number. Read the clues to solve the puzzle.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Task 1: Roleplay - Little Charlie and the Doctors

You will now role-play a scene between Charlie and his doctors at the institution. Decide who will be Students A, B, and C. Then read your roles below and press play on the video timer and start your role-play. When the time is up, move to Task 2.

• Student A: You are Charlie. You are bored and tired of being locked up in the institution. You want to go back home as soon as you can but you know that the authorities have locked you up here for a reason. It is time for your semester evaluation interview with your assigned doctors. Use your charm to convince them that you are reformed and you are no longer a danger to others.

• Students B and C: You are doctors in the psychiatric institution where Charlie is being confined. Over the last few months you are aware of his past behavior but in the six months that he has been here, he has been a model patient. He is very polite, orderly, and well behaved. It is time for your semester evaluation interview with Charlie to decide if it is safe to allow him to return to his home.

Task 2: Continue the Story

Now it is time for you to work with your partners to continue the story. Click your group link below and follow the instructions in the document.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Demo Analysis

Now let's think about the demo lesson that you just participated in by discussing the following questions.

• What are your initial reactions to the lesson?
• Summarize what happened in the lesson sequence?
• What role(s) did the text play in the lesson?
• What did you learn about the Text-Driven Approach and what questions do you have?

• Demo Lesson Plan: CLICK HERE
• Description of TDA Stages: CLICK HERE

TDA is certainly a departure from the typical way that students are asked to interact with a text in a traditional Pre/While/Post framework for receptive skills. Despite its benefits, the approach has not gained much popularity among coursebook writers. However, there is an exception. The Norwegian book series Searching is one of the only ELT series that is fully TDA and it is Tomlinson's favorite commercial ELT textbook.

• TDA Coursebook: CLICK HERE

Task 4: Group Sharing

Take a moment to share what you learned in your Materials and Macroskills research assignment. Briefly mention the theories, frameworks, or techniques related to materials. Then share your original sample material and explain the theory or model behind it. 

References:

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

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) (2013). Developing Materials for Language Teaching. Bloomsbury Academic.