Teaching Grammar and Writing - Week 11 - Materials for Developing Writing Skills

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 11 of the course Teaching Grammar and Writing for the Master's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IC 2023. In this class we will continue our focus on writing by considering the kinds of materials that can be developed or adapted for the purposes of writing instruction. We'll also look at your TTT cyle as an alternative, deep end approach to lesson design and we will save time at the end of the lesson to go over feedback regarding your Grammar Syllabus Proposal.  

Today's Goals:

• Demonstrate the features of your original TTT sequence.
• Explore issues in the area of materials development for writing instruction.
• Reflect on the experience of developing your grammar syllabus proposal.

Guiding Questions:

• How can a deep end approach to grammar lesson design be carried out in a practical way?
• What roles can instructional materials play in the development of L2 writing ability?
• What challenges did I face and insights did I gain through the creation of my grammar syllabus proposal?

Task 1: Activity Type Demo - TTT Sequence

In this course you will be asked to create sample grammar activities in order to compile a portfolio of grammar activitiy types that describes their basic features, strengths, and challenges. 

• Characteristics: What are the features of the TTT lesson design sequence?
• Example: What activity did you create?
• Strengths: In what ways is the concept of TTT beneficial in grammar and writing instruction?
• Challenges: What potential limitations or challenges are associated with the TTT approach to lesson design in the grammar class?

• Additional Considerations: CLICK HERE

Task 2: Reading Response - Materials for Developing Writing Skills

Let's take a moment to discuss these questions related to your assigned reading for this week.

• Initial Thoughts: What role do materials play in what you do as a teacher? How important is it for teachers to develop a critical stance toward the materials they are required to use as well as complimentary materials they select or develop themselves? 

• Quote: “Together with teaching methodologies, materials represent the interface between teaching and learning, the point at which needs, objectives and syllabuses are made tangible for both teachers and students. They provide most of the input and language exposure that learners receive in the classroom and are indispensable to how teachers stimulate, model, and support writing (Hyland, 2013, p. 391).”

• Functions of Materials: Brian Tomlinson, one of ELT's most cited experts on the area of materials development has in several publications referred to four broad roles that language learning materials can play. In this chapter, Hyland lists four specific roles for writing instruction materials. Click the group link below.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE
• Additional Information: CLICK HERE

• Sources of Materials: According to the author, one potential source of materials for writing instruction are authentic materials, ones not created for the purpose of language teaching. In your experience, what are some of the challenges and opportunities when working with authentic matierals? What strategies can help mitigate the challenges?

• Textbooks, whether they are the primary materials source used on a course or simply a compliment, are perhaps the dominant source of materials in all language teaching contexts. In your experience, in what ways do coursebooks approach the skill of writing? What has your experience been like when relying on textbook materials to have students perform a writing task?

• Textbook Exploration: CLICK HERE to access a PDF with a sample of explicit writing tasks found in four popular commercial textbooks. Although the particular version of some of these series may have an outdated layout, the content and tasks represents the typical features of most commerical English textbooks today. Skim through the pages and discuss the following questions:

• What do the tasks require students to do?

• How are the instructions given?

• What input, if any, is given to students before they write?

• Can you use any of Hyland's functions to describe the materials you see?

• Models, Language Scaffolding, Reference, Stimulus

• What do you like/dislike about the way the task is presented? What would you change?

• Developing Materials: The author provides two frameworks for the task of writing materials adaptation or development. Let's take a look at the Hutchison and Waters model more carefully.

Click to View Full Sized Image.

• "The processes of creating new materials and modifying existing ones are very similar, and here Hutchison and Waters (1987) framework for materials design is a useful guide for teachers. This comprises four key elements: input, content, langauge and a task..."

• "This model reflects the instructional roles of materials for writing ... and emphasizes the integration of key elements in materials design. It also reflects the distinction originally made by Breen, Candlin, and Waters (1979) between content materials as sources of information and data and process materials that act as frameworks within which learners can use their communicative abilities. Materials lead to a task, and the resources of language and content that students need to successfully complete this task are supplied by the input. Input is crucial as students cannot learn to communicate effectively in writing if they are simply given a topic and asked to write. While they need to have something to write about, they also need to know how to generate and draft ideas, and to have sufficient language and genre knowledge to perform the task. The materials students are given must guide them towards this, and as a result materials development, whether this means creating new materials or adapting existing resources, is likely to begin by noticing the absence of one or more of these elements (p. 401-402)."

• Final Quotes: Let's consider these final quotes which summarize the main ideas from the chapter.

• “Teaching is largely a process of transforming content knowledge into pedagogically effective forms, and this is most in evidence when teachers are considering both their learners and their profession in modifying and creating materials.”

• “The central idea in this chapter is that teaching writing skills can never simply involve giving students a topic and asking them to write about it. Materials are a key element of what it means to teach writing and their choice and design must always be sensitive to local conditions and to the professional expertise of teachers (p. 403-404)."
  
  

Task 3: Reflecting on your Grammar Syllabus Proposal

With the submission of your TTT cycle design, we've officially come to the end of the grammar strand of this course. Your assignment for this week is to represent your designs in an organized and visually appealing way in the form of a portfolio. For this you will need to select at least 7 of your designs. However, you may include all 10 if you like. 

Let's take the final minutes of our lesson to discuss your other major grammar assignment, the syllabus proposal.

• Overall: What were your initial thoughts about the assignment?
• Strategies: What strategies did you use to make decisions about the CEFR content, vocab and grammar structures, and suggested tasks? Why did you organize the final product the way you did?
• Challenges: What challenges did you face while completing this assignment?
• Insights: What insights did you gain through this process? What are your takeaways?
• Alternatives: This is just one way to develop a curriculum. What alternatives or variations might also be viable strategies to develop a curriculum with a grammar component?

References:

Hyland, K. (2013). Materials for Developing Writing Skills. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.) Developing Materials for Language Teaching (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury.