Principles of designing second foreign language teaching material

Abstract

The improvement of second language learners' linguistic performance seems a tortuous process especially for the advanced English learners in China. Although native speakers give their witty sayings and sparkling comments, the majority of Chinese students could only rigidly apply English phrases they have learned from the textbooks very passively. Guided by foreign monographs in English language acquisition, a learner-centred second language teaching material is designed, underpinning the principles of providing authentic input for learners, drawing learners' attention to the linguistic features of input, providing opportunities for learners to communicate in target language, fostering learners' autonomy and offering guidance for autonomic learning. The activities designed in this teaching material have especially catered to the needs of advanced English learners, by providing them with more input resources, more feedback as well as more guidance in self-evaluation and self-learning after class for their further improvement. The material design would enlighten modern textbook compilers in guiding advanced second language learners' autonomic learning.