The Lincom Guide to Materials Design in ELT

Handoyo Puji Widodo & Lilia Savova
Politeknik Negeri Jember; Indiana University of Pennsylvania

This much-needed volume offers focused approaches and frameworks of designing or developing English materials in both EFL and ESL contexts. Informed by current empirical, theoretical, and practical grounds, the text treats key issues in English language teaching (ELT) materials design or development and sample ELT materials in which the justifications for such materials design or development are also discussed. Through the sample teaching materials included in the text, the readers can see underlying principles or frameworks of how those materials are designed or developed. In other words, this volume is a user-friendly guide to materials design or development for language teachers/practitioners in that theoretical or empirical considerations are balanced with practical materials.

Thus, The LINCOM Guide to Materials Design in ELT is a valuable collection not only for language teachers/practitioners, but also for language materials writers and developers, graduate students majoring in TESOL, pre-service teachers, and teacher educators and trainers who teach or engage in ELT materials design or development on secondary school, college, and university levels.

Contents: The Consumer-Designer Frame-works for Materials Writing (David Hall) - The Student-Situational Analyses for Adapting English Materials (Winnie Cheng) - Materials for Adult Learners of English (Ruth Epstein) - Literature in the CLT Classroom: Materials Design (Andrzej Cirocki) - Materials Development for Young Learners (Helen Emery) - Developing Materials for Content-Based Instruction (Michele de Courcy) - Materials for the ELT Classroom in the Post-Anglophone Period (Andy Kirkpatrick) - Learning Autonomy in the EFL Classroom through SAL Materials Development (Sugeng Ariyanto) - Developing Corpus Oriented English Materials (John Spiri) - Materials Design Task-Based English Adult Language Learning (Jonathan Newton) - The Use of Visual Aids in ELT Materials (Adriadi Novawan) - Culture and English Materials (Jane Orton) - ESP Materials Design in Action (Handoyo Puji Widodo, Ririn Pusporini) - Developing Task Based Materials, Ownership, and Identity Construction (Sharon K. Deckert) - Design Principles in Materials Development (Lilia Savova) - Using E-Portfolio to Engage Pre-Service Teachers in Developing CALL-based Materials (Muhammad Kamarul Kabilan, Mahbub Ahsan Khan).

ISBN 9783895862526 (Hardcover). LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 12. 320pp. 2010.

Los procesos metodológicos de la enseñanza-aprendizaje de lenguas mediante tareas

Kerwin Anthony Livingstone
University of Guyana

Este presente trabajo pone énfasis en los procesos metodológicos involucrados en la construcción de cursos de lenguas basados en tareas respecto a la enseñanza-aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras (LE) y segundas lenguas (L2). La primera parte de este trabajo hace hincapié tanto en el diseño de la lección didáctica como en las distintas fases del diseño de tareas tales como la fase de pre-tarea, de la ejecución de la tarea, y la de post-tarea. Se va a prestar especial atención a las diferencias significativas entre la metodología de la enseñanza tradicional tanto como la metodología de la didáctica moderna. La segunda parte de esta obra se va a concentrar en la estructura participativa de la que deben ser parte los alumnos y el profesor.

Además, se va a establecer la importancia del trabajo colaborativo/ cooperativo en la resolución de las tareas. Es absolutamente necesario poner de relieve que el tipo de proceso metodológico que se implemente va a tener un impacto profundo en la ejecución de las tareas presentadas durante el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de los alumnos. Palabras claves: Enseñanza-Aprendizaje de Lenguas Mediante Tareas, metodología, diseño de tarea, tarea, plan de estudios, procesos metodológicos, estructura participativa, focalización en la forma.

ISBN 9783862901876. LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 13. 40pp. 2010.

El diseño de cursos de lenguas basados en tareas

Kerwin Anthony Livingstone
University of Guyana

Este presente trabajo pone énfasis en el diseño de cursos de lenguas basados en tareas respecto a la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera (LE) o segunda lengua (L2).

Se hace mención respecto de los orígenes del Enfoque por Tareas (Enseñanza-Aprendizaje de Lenguas Mediante Tareas) y su necesidad para que los aprendices logren la competencia comunicativa y lingüística en la lengua que están aprendiendo. Se discute sobre la justificación para un plan de estudios y cursos basados en tareas y las razones por las cuales se prefiere un plan de estudios basado en tareas en vez de un plan de estudios lingüístico. Se discute también sobre la clasificación de tareas, el contenido temático y la secuenciación de tareas, los cuales son los tres aspectos centrales en función del diseño de cursos y planes de estudios basados en tareas.

En este trabajo se hace hincapié en que el Enfoque por Tareas es el más propicio para la adquisición de una L2. Palabras claves: Enseñanza-Aprendizaje de Lenguas Mediante Tareas, diseño, tarea, plan de estudios, diseño de curso basado en tareas.

ISBN 978 3 86290 024 4. LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 14. 40pp. 2010.

Writing for Ourselves: Poems and Short Stories for Young Learners of English

Alan Maley, Jayakaran Mukundan, Handoyo Puji Widodo (eds.)

Writing for Ourselves: Poems and Short Stories for Young Learners of English, a collection of poems and stories written by Asian teachers, continues the work of the Creative Writing Group in existence since 2003. The aim of the group is to encourage writing in English to produce interesting materials which can then be used with students. The group holds a workshop annually in a different Asian country. So far, eleven workshops have been held in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Nepal, and Indonesia. The current collection is the result of a workshop held in Jember, Indonesia in 2011. In addition to the poems and stories, the book contains sections introducing ideas for developing this kind of work to teachers in the region. There are also suggestions for organising a writing field trip with students, and for the publishing of student writing. The current collection is of special interest to teachers and teacher trainers in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).

ISBN 9783862883509. LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 15. 96pp. 2012.

Artificial Intelligence and Error Correction in Second and Foreign Language Pedagogy

Kerwin A. Livingstone
University of Guyana

This paper is an attempt to ascertain the suitability of computers for second and foreign language (SL/FL) error correction, especially those made by SL/FL learners. For this purpose, the handling of such errors proposed in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) literature will be examined. Subsequently the technologies capable of evaluating student output and identifying and correcting Non-Native Speaker (NNS) errors will be examined.

Though it will be made quite clear that the computer cannot substitute a human being in total language processing, some strengths of artificial intelligence in partial language processing will be pointed out and their suitability for L2 error correction will be highlighted. The article will conclude emphasizing that the use of high quality multimedia applications and programmes stimulates and fosters language learning.

Key words: computer, language errors, error correction, second language (L2), Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Intelligent CALL (ICALL).

ISBN 9783862883813. LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 16. 38pp. 2012.

El enfoque cooperativo y su idoneidad para la enseñanza-aprendizaje de segundas lenguas y lenguas extranjeras

Kerwin A. Livingstone
University of Guyana

Este trabajo es un intento de poner en relieve que el Enfoque Cooperativo es una de las metodologías didácticas más idóneas para la enseñanza-aprendizaje de segundas lenguas (L2) y lenguas extranjeras (LE). El Aprendizaje Cooperativo es la actividad de aprendizaje en grupo organizada de tal manera que el aprendizaje sea dependiente del intercambio socialmente estructurado de información entre aprendices en grupos, y en el que cada aprendiz es responsable de su propio aprendizaje, y es motivado a aumentar el aprendizaje de los demás. Se da un esbozo de los orígenes del Enfoque Cooperativo y las razones por su introducción e inserción en la enseñanza de lenguas. Igualmente, se establecen las características principales del Aprendizaje Cooperativo. Se hace hincapié en la problemática metodológica actual sobre la didáctica de lenguas. Se proporciona una visión panorámica sobre la teoría y tipos de aprendizaje tanto como las actividades de enseñanza en torno al Aprendizaje Cooperativo de Lenguas. En este trabajo se hace hincapié en que el Enfoque Cooperativo es uno de los métodos más idóneos para la adquisición de una L2 y para mejorar la competencia lingüística y comunicativa de los alumnos en función de la lengua que están aprendiendo.

Palabras clave: enfoque cooperativo, aprendizaje cooperativo, enseñanza-aprendizaje de lenguas, trabajo en equipo.

This work is an attempt to highlight that the Cooperative Approach is one of the most suitable teaching methodologies for second and foreign language teaching and learning. Cooperative Learning is a learning activity in a group, organised in such a way that learning is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information among learners in groups, and that each learner is responsible for his own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of the others. A sketch is given as it relates to the origin of the Cooperative Method and the reasons for its introduction and insertion in language teaching. Also, the principal characteristics of Cooperative Learning are established. The current methodological problems on language teaching are emphasised. A panoramic vision is provided to us with regard to theories and types of learning as well as teaching activities, all centred on Cooperative Language Learning. In this work, emphasis is made on the fact that the Cooperative Approach is one of the most suitable methods for second and foreign language acquisition and for improving linguistic and communicative competence of the students with respect to the language that they are learning.

Keywords: cooperative approach, cooperative learning, teaching-learning of languages, group work.

ISBN 9783862883820. LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 17. 38pp. 2012.

Integrating Computer-Mediated Communication into Foreign Language Education

A Vietnamese Sociocultural Context of Higher Education

Long V. Nguyen
University of Danang

The book investigates the nature of both synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication and how these two modes of communication may complement each other and contribute to collaborative learning in an EFL classroom environment. Results from the research indicated promising avenues for the application of various CMC technologies in the Confucius heritage language classroom. The quality of discussion was persuasively better in the online synchronous mode. The use of wikis as a new platform for peer exchanges can be considered an innovation, liberating the students from the conventional, narrow, and linear practice of pen-and-paperbased peer editing. Furthermore, indications of trends in terms of quality were positive toward the online essays. Learners’ reflections on and perceptions of the introduction of CMC into language learning presented a potential picture of a technology-enhanced classroom. This book is therefore aimed at researchers, language teachers, and graduate students with an interest in computer-mediated communication and computer-assisted language learning.

Long V Nguyen, PhD in Applied Linguistics, is a lecturer at the University of Danang. His research interests are in the areas of educational technology and communication in foreign language learning and teaching, sociocultural perspectives in language learning, digital literacy, and language teacher education.

ISBN 9783862884100. LINCOM Studies in Second Langauge Teaching 18. 328pp. 2013.

Creative Writing: Poems and Short Stories for English Language Learning

Alan Maley, Jayakaran Mukundan, Handoyo Puji Widodo (eds.)

Creative Writing: Poems and Short Stories for English Language Learning, a collection of poems and stories written by Asian teachers, continues the work of the Creative Writing Group in existence since 2003. The goal of the group is to produce original stories and poems, which would appeal to secondary school students in the Asia region. Writing these poems and stories is geared to offer accessible texts to the students because of their local themes and subject matter. The current text also attempts to meet a need for using poems and short stories for learning English as an additional language (EAL) in that both poetry and fiction remain an underused resource among students. Yet, they are of paramount importance, inasmuch as they act as a catalyst for a deeper appreciation of emotion and because of the way they are expressed vividly through words and through the rhythms and cadences of the language.

ISBN 9783862884650. LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 20.102pp. 2013.

The Interface of Romance Languages

Using Plurilingual Sensitivity as a Pedagogical Tool

María Alonso Alonso, Carlos Cernadas Carrera, Laura Torrado Mariñas
Universidade de Vigo

Having focused part of their research interests in plurilingual education and foreign language acquisition, María Alonso Alonso, Carlos Cernadas Carrera and Laura Torrado Mariñas are currently working at the Universidade de Vigo and at the Universidade Federal do Pará. With their present proposal, they aim to satisfy the existing demand for bringing theory and practice together in the field of language teaching. With this aim in mind, linguistic theory will be directly applied to a specific philosophy and methodology to provide a plurilingual approach to the teaching of French, Spanish and Portuguese to English-speaking students in order to maximise their potential.

Following the CEFR’s expected learning outcomes, common challenges for the students’ performance in the target languages will be identified in order to implement a theoretical approach that will be complemented with practical orientation. Essentially, the main focus is to infer that it is of paramount importance to consider the linguistic structures shared by the three curricular Romance languages and English, to promote the transfer of a cognitive/academic competence. With this key motivation, this monograph claims that an active development of plurilingual sensitivity is needed for students so they can benefit more effectively from foreign language instruction.

ISBN 9783862884759. LINCOM Studies in Second Language Teaching 22. 176pp. 2013.