TEACHING MATERIALS: ADOPTING AND ADAPTING

Abstract

Teaching materials are important parts to help teachers achieve better teaching and students’ desired learning outcomes.  Carefully selecting materials, language teachers can present new knowledge and language items to be taught clearly, purposefully and systematically. As a result, students learn better because appropriate tools enhance their interest and understanding, practice and internalization. This paper aims to provide some suggestions for novice English teachers in selecting teaching materials. Practically, there are two processes to prepare teaching materials: Adopting and adapting. For adopting materials, any course-books or commercial textbooks can be used. However, using a textbook needs evaluation in order to select the most suitable materials for the course’ goals and objectives, students’ language proficiency and learning styles. Alternatively or additionally, teachers can use authentic materials that involve the real language use such as news, flyers, newsletters, etc. For adapting materials, the adaptation should reflect the concern of the course’s objectives as well as learning atmosphere and the student learning achievement. During the material preparation, teachers should evaluate the selected materials. Once the possible problem areas are recognized, teachers must consider the type of format adaptation and determine what activities to be adapted and how to adapt it to get the best of the material used.