English Language Teaching Materials Research Articles

Neoliberalism for young learners in an EFL context: a mixed-methods approach

ABSTRACT Studies on the salient role of neoliberalism in education have increased rapidly in recent years. These studies highlighted the presence of neoliberalism in language teaching materials in different contexts. However, research exploring the reality of neoliberal mentality in young learners’ (YL) English language teaching (ELT) materials are sparse. Contributing to this barely-touched line of research, this study, employing a mixed-methods approach, examined the two most frequently used young learners’ ELT textbooks (i.e. ‘Family and Friends’; ‘Super Minds’) taught in Iranian private language institutes. We further explored teachers’ perspectives on neoliberalism. The findings revealed that young learners’ textbooks are notably filled with neoliberal values such as ‘fame & celebrity’ and ‘material wealth’. The qualitative findings also revealed that most teachers are unaware of the presence of neoliberalism in the textbooks. Implications for teachers, young learners, and policymakers are discussed.

Focus on Indonesia: Reconstructing Cultural Contents in English Language Teaching Materials

It is undeniable that language and culture are formed and shaped in the way they influence each other. This fact is really important to understand how cultural contents play their roles in English Language Teaching and Learning. Currently, there have been more diverse contested cultural contents in language learning, especially in Indonesian contexts as cultural understanding of English-speaking countries, local norms, and other countries can be opposite each other. However, to optimize learning outcome, those cultures above should be equally understood to enable language learners can fully understand how the language is used in particular contexts. This complex discussion about the cultural contents is presented in this article along with prominent arguments of reconstructing the learning contents by considering three main aspects in which English is constructed in English-speaking countries, taught in Indonesia, and used as medium of communication in South East Asia.

Gender in Nepalese Higher Education Curriculum: An Example from Tribhuvan University

This paper analyses the course entitled 'English Language Teaching (ELT) practices and materials' offered by Tribhuvan University for Master's level in English education from a gender perspective. The main objective of the paper is to explore and analyse gender inequalities underlying in the processing and production of the course. Taking the course documents as the primary source of data, this paper found that the course falls short in gender mainstreaming and has revealed gender-blindness in content selection and recommended/reference materials encouraging gender inequality during the course development process as well as in its production.

Textbook Series and English O-NET: Alignments of Prepared Knowledge and Secondary School Final Year Assessment

The preparation for English language teaching materials in Thai secondary schools rely primarily on the use of western-published textbooks. Reasons are given by teachers that the books have assured the accuracy of the language (Ulla, 2019), and they provide proper models of language use (Tomlinson, 2008; Ulla, 2019). By using these textbooks, one of the ultimate goals for every school is to prepare students for the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET) in the final year of their secondary education (Grade 12). It is therefore interesting to examine whether or not the textbook series equip students with the knowledge and skills of language which align with the secondary school final year assessment. The preliminary investigation of this study (Sritrakarn, 2021) found that the English O-NET test items designed during the years 2016-2019 were partially aligned with the learning domains of the basic education core curriculum. This present study examined further the alignments of the O-NET tests and the school’s equipped knowledge through textbook series. Taking the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) genre-based approach, the texts and discourses used in the textbook series of one school were compared with those found in the O-NET test items. This paper discusses the findings and the implications of how to prepare the sources of input knowledge for the national assessment.

Images from Japanese English Teaching Materials as an Ageist Hidden Curriculum

Ageism in mass media is of great concern with older individuals often being stereotyped or simply rendered invisible. Yet research is largely silent on ageism in English language teaching (ELT) materials. Given the power of English education, the impact of visual media, and the tendency for English teaching materials to include visual depictions of people, such research is warranted. In response, a content analysis of 7350 visuals of people from Japanese ELT resources was conducted in the study described here. The goal was to understand four issues. First, how visible were the elderly overall? Second, given intergenerational friction as one outgrowth of ageism, did these materials normalize intergenerational interactions including the elderly? Third, to what extent did these materials exhibit ageism of women since ‘gendered ageism’ is an especially important issue? Fourth, to what extent did these materials either reproduce or subvert stereotypes of the elderly? Findings indicated that the amount of representation was biased against the elderly, that intergenerational interactions involving the elderly were scant, and that older women were especially underrepresented. While some of the elderly depictions were stereotypical, others did portray elderly people positively, as socially-involved and vigorous. These findings demonstrate the need for greater sensitivity to an ageist hidden curriculum in ELT.

ANALISIS KEBUTUHAN BAHAN AJAR BAHASA INGGRIS DENGAN METODE TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) BERBASIS PENDIDIKAN KARAKTER DI SEKOLAH DASAR

This study aims to describe English teaching materials and identify the needs of English language teaching materials based on character education by using the Total Physical Response (TPR) method at SDIT Mutiara Bunda Kota Pariaman. This research is a Research Development (R and D) with qualitative descriptive research design. Participants of this study were teachers and students of grade V SDIT Mutiara Bunda Kota Pariaman. Instruments of this research are questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The results showed that teachers and students needed English-based teaching materials based on character education. The teaching material needed is a teaching material that is easy to understand and comprehend and it can be used by teachers and students. In addition, the teaching materials are also able to make students active, creative, and communicative. Moreover, the attitude the students wants are a confident attitude, responsibility, and love to to work hard. Thus, it can be concluded that English teaching materials need to be developed using Total Physical Response (TPR) method based on character education

Analyzing the current English language teaching materials in line with the academic and professional needs and interests of diploma theology students

The study analyzed the current English language teaching/learning materials in line with the academic and professional needs and interests of diploma theology students. The study was a descriptive survey that made use of a mixed-method approach. Thus, the researcher employed convergent parallel mixed method design. The data were collected using a questionnaire, interview, and content analysis. The participants of the study were second and third-year diploma theology students, former theology students, and English as a Foriegn Language instructors. All the students(112) were chosen using comprehensive sampling technique, and five former theology students who were working as priests and evangelists were chosen using the snowball technique to fill out the questionnaire. EFL teachers were also chosen for the interview. Additionally, the skills of three units of the current English language teaching materials were evaluated using the checklist. The reliability of the questionnaire were checked using Cronbach Alpha, and the quantitative data were analyised using SPSS version 22. The study revealed that both students and EFL teachers perceived the teaching materials as they less assist the students in their academic and professional contexts. Finally, the researcher recommended that preparing teaching materials that fit the needs and interests of the students.

A Systematic Review of Teaching English in Rural Settings: Challenges and Solutions

Teaching English Language is deemed challenging and arduous for English Language teachers, particularly when it is done in rural settings where students have minimal English Language exposure. The paper presents a systematic review of the challenges encountered by English Language teachers in teaching English in rural settings and the solutions to overcome the challenges. The findings reveal a myriad of issues and challenges in teaching English in rural settings which have thwarted the development of English Language education in rural settings. The lack of qualified English Language teachers, inadequate facilities, infrastructure and teaching materials, students’ limited competence in English and their negative attitudes towards learning English as well as the lack of parental support are the identified challenges confronted by English Language teachers in teaching English in rural settings. Several pragmatic solutions are suggested to overcome the aforementioned challenges such as to provide proper trainings for English Language teachers, foster positive attitudes towards teaching English among English Language teachers, improve and upgrade the facilities, infrastructure and teaching aids as well as to promote effective communication between parents and teachers. The limitations of the past studies and the recommendations for the future research are also discussed.

Designing English language materials from the perspective of Global Englishes

ABSTRACT Driven by a growing body of research on Global Englishes (GE) in English language education, this article showcases the integration of GE into language materials. The goal of the article is to propose a practical way of designing GE-based language materials from a critical ecological perspective. First, we discuss the recontextualization of GE in designing English language materials. Then, we present a critical ecological framework for designing GE-based language materials. Finally, we discuss the principles of designing GE-oriented English language teaching (ELT) materials. We conclude by reframing ELT materials in the post-Kachruvian circle context where English is seen as an interculturally globalized lingua franca.

Utilising Natural Language Processing to Assist ESL Learners in Understanding Parts of Speech

The field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) is growing rapidly, as is the number of companies investing in this technology. NLP is changing the way we learn and teach languages. However, it has not been used in ways that benefit ESL (English as a Second Language) educators. It is implied that there is a gap in the application and the use of an NLP tool that focuses on English Part of Speech (POS) analysis to aid the English teaching and learning process. Herein, in this paper, we discuss the prospect of utilising POS analyser to accommodate ESL educators in teaching English POS. The tool development is divided into two sections: 1) the development of a POS analyser; and 2) the implementation of an interface to make the tool become a user-friendly application. We use SpaCy, an NLP opensource library, for the English POS analysis. It offers both statistical and neural network models. It also comes with pre-trained models that can predict the POS. This paper also provides Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool that can be used to create effective and engaging English language teaching materials for learners. GUI tool is created using python programming language. Thus, we first review the NLP-based applications for ESL education, followed by an introduction and overview of our simple POS analysis tool, which is customizable. In the future, we intend to evaluate our tool with the help of ESL educators who are not computer scientists or linguists. The python script used to develop tool is provided at Github: https://github.com/yashmgupta/literate-robot

Adoption Social Media- Movie Based Learning Project (SMMBL) To Engage Students' Online Environment

Developing ICT as English Language Teaching (ELT) materials in Indonesia is still being studied in higher education contexts. Nowadays, amid covid 19 there are many tools, apps and technologies are being integration in virtual classroom. ICT can be used as media for teaching and learning process it should be related today’s fact by integrating ICT easy enough to share it and easy to access by the students’ technologies devices (Muthmainnah, et.all, 2021 and Apriani et.al, 2021 The purposes of this study is to investigate the impact of development instructional design incorporating social media- movie based learning project (SMMBLP) in Computer Science Faculty in learning English to engagement student’s online environment. The method of this study is quantitative research and used pre-experimental design to investigates the impact of SMMBLP on students’ English skill and student’s motivation in ELT. The participants in this study were the first semester students of Computer Science Faculty academic year 2020-2021 at Universitas Al Asyariah Mandar consisted 40 students. The data were collected by test; pre-test, post-test and questionnaire. The result of the study implied the impact on integration social media- movie based learning project (SMMBLP) that very effective to enhancing students’ English skill and motivation. The study suggests SMMBL can be integration in online or Hybrid/ Blended environment for the next education teaching model in ELT for EFL students.

Analysis of the English Language Needs of the Saudi Tourism Workforce: A First Step into Designing ESP Teaching Materials

Communication skills are extremely important for the tourism industry; they form an integral part of most tourism activities. Using English, as the international lingua franca, is an essential part of these skills, especially for international tourism. Saudi Vision 2030 places a high importance on international tourism as a driving force for economic growth. Since the inception of the Saudi Vision 2030, the tourism industry in Saudi Arabia, along with its workforce, has been growing substantially. Therefore, designing English language teaching materials for the tourism industry workforce in Saudi Arabia is a necessity. The current study firstly aimed to analyze the English language communicative needs of the Saudi tourism workforce, and then propose an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) model for teaching English based on their needs. A nation-wide survey was designed and distributed to sixty-two male and fifteen female workers serving in the Saudi tourism industry to determine their English language communicative needs. Listening and speaking were found to be highly important to their profession, in particular understanding instructions and requirements and providing details about touristic attractions. Reading and vocabulary were found more important than writing and grammatical accuracy. The study concludes with a proposal of an ESP teaching model to meet the English language communicative needs of the tourism workforce in Saudi Arabia.

Key Issues and Challenges of English Lesson Materials: An Analysis of the G.C.E. Ordinary Level English Textbook

When examining the English Language Teaching (ELT) materials available in Sri Lanka, it could be said that most of them are alien and takes center-stage. As a result, in the process of language acquisition, students’ own experience, contexts and lifestyles are devalued through under emphasis and trivialization; hence the sense of linguistic and cultural insecurity that the average student faces when confronted with English being reinforced. This study looks at the issues and challenges faced by teachers and learners when it comes to the use of Sri Lankan English in the local classroom context. This study employs the qualitative data analysis method and a textual analysis of the Grade 11 English textbook of both old and new syllabi is done to examine the core language issues found in teaching material in a classroom context where English is taught/ learnt as a second language. The objective of this study is to examine the appropriateness or mismatch of the teaching materials to the classroom context. According to the findings, the materials that are discussed in this study consist of several components outside the range of experience and comprehension of the second language learners. These textbooks are not culturally appropriate, as they impose the culture of the western/inner circle countries in which they reflect the colonial views and attitudes. Hence, the study proposes that the English textbook designed for the Ordinary Level students should be designed in a way that would facilitate their second language learning process, and it looks at the extent to which that objective/ requirement is fulfilled through the selected textbooks.

Second language acquisition research and materials development: Need to bridge the gap between theory and practice

This research paper highlights the issue of the lack of connection between second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research, particularly with regard to language pedagogy and its practical implementation in language teaching materials/textbooks. Based on a theoretical review of the major theoretical perspectives in SLA, the paper underscores that a gap exists between the theory developers (who develop theories through research) and the practitioners (who bear the responsibility for the implementation of theoretical knowledge) in the fields of SLA and materials development. This lack of cohesion between the theory developers and the practitioners causes the development of ineffective English language teaching (ELT) materials which, consequently, fail to make a substantial contribution to effective English language teaching and learning. The paper highlights that it is important to explore SLA theory and research and ensure its implementation in ELT materials. Similarly, there is a need to carry out research about the implementation of SLA theory in materials development and instructed language learning. Such research will be a significant contribution to the field of materials development and will open new horizons in language pedagogy from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Thematic Progression in EFL Learners’ Writing: A Literature Review

By examining relevant research articles published in reputable journals or conference proceedings in 2013-2020, the literature review article attempted to shed light on the areas: (1) contributions of thematic progression to the coherence and cohesion quality of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ writing, (2) EFL learners’ problems regarding thematic progression in their writing, and (3) research on pedagogical implications of thematic progression on teaching writing. While there have been extensive studies on thematic progression, it remained intriguing to investigate the extent to which this topic had been explored by scholars, particularly in the context of English as a foreign language. The previous studies had consistently confirmed the following results: (1) thematic progression contributes to the coherence and cohesion quality of EFL learners’ writing, (2) problematic thematic progression in EFL learners’ writing included the emergence of the brand new theme, double rheme, empty rheme, empty theme, overuse of constant theme pattern, overwhelming selection of textual theme, and (3) some studies evidenced good results of integrating thematic progression in teaching writing. The research suggests that further research develops a more detailed and systematic procedure of teaching thematic progression in a specific EFL teaching-learning context by integrating thematic progression theory with English language teaching materials. Furthermore, the research calls for more experimental research on teaching thematic progression to determine the significance of this method in enhancing students’ writing quality.

Use of ‘I-Do’ methodology in integrating moral characters into the development of ELT materials for transactional speaking skills

This study is aimed at improving the quality of teaching English at the university level by aligning the students’ needs and the expectations of the lecturers (a needs analysis) with moral values in developing moral character-based English language teaching materials. Development research method is used to carry out this research by employing the ‘I-DO’ methodology which contains three distinct phases namely; 1). The input phase which is passed by a needs analysis involving 60 participants (55 students and 10 lectures). The participants were purposively selected. Questionnaires were used to collect the data which were analyzed by using descriptive approach. 2). The development Phase which is passed by formulating goals and objectives based on the information gathered from the needs analysis. 3) The output phase which is completed by making lesson plans, and producing prototype of the moral value-based teaching materials. This research has built one prototype of a well-developed ELT material for transactional speaking skill. We believe that our findings on the use of ‘I-DO’ methodology could have a profound impact on the way ELT materials is developed in language program.

Diverse ELT reading materials: Cross mapping gender ideas of respective readers

Textbooks including other academic factors play a crucial role in the gender construction process as highlighted by various researchers. However, there is less research to delve into the process. The present study is an attempt to explore the gender conceptions carried by the readers of two diverse varieties of English Language Teaching (ELT) materials produced by local and foreign publishers, in Pakistani academic settings. For the said purpose, a mixed-method research method has been used; whereas, the instruments of the study are a semantic differential score list and a semi open-ended interview. The population of the study is comprised of two groups of students at the elementary level from two different types of Pakistan schooling system i.e. Government sector and private sector, as they are using different types of ELT material. The results of the study reveal that students exposed to these two varieties of materials have a difference in their gender conceptions. There is an observable difference in the way readers of each set of books relate different attributes to each gender group. Further, the participants of the interview also agree that characters in the textbooks are more often relatable and acceptable for them in real life. The research to some extent agrees that gender ideas provided to young minds in their textbooks contribute to their psychological construction of gender along with other instruments; however, more research is still needed. Finally, it is suggested that the revision of textbooks concerning offered stereotypical gender ideologies can help to reduce gender disparity, to some extent.

Earning the Keys to the Kingdom: Students’ Language Awareness, Identity and Representations of English-Speaking Others

The present linguistic reality involves finding ways of communication in the globalized environment, where people move all around the world in order to find work, learn, or share experiences. One issue arising from English language teaching is that it has mainly overlooked teaching culture across the curriculum, thus allowing the increase of negative attitudes and stereotypes.
 This paper is set out to determine to what extent English language teaching (ELT) materials demonstrate the traits of the English-speaking Other, it what ways children are accessing the target ‘Kingdom’, and which are the best teaching strategies to provide them with the keys to the target world. Anchoring our perspective in CLIL and the 4 Cs, this study looks at ways of developing cutting-edge syllabi to develop intercultural awareness and preventing stereotypes. Findings from the application of the syllabi and resulting from an analysis of the cultural content of two internationally distributed ELT textbooks are reported. The present research put in evidence that cultural aspects are practically absent from the analyzed textbooks, thus lacking a key dimension in English Language Teaching and Education. Therefore, some recommendations for future textbook writers and EFL classroom practice are suggested.

A Review of Intercultural Language Teaching from the Perspectives of ELT Teaching Material Evaluation and Application

Review on the evaluation of English Language Teaching (ELT) materials has been carried out by many researchers. Focusing on the cultural aspect, the review covers the three important participants in a classroom setting - coursebook, instructors and students. The review aims to reveal the evaluation of the culture content on ELT materials, to explore and students’ attitude towards source culture and international culture teaching in English as Foreign Language (EFL) class as well summarize some strategies adopted by teachers in their teaching process to give inspirations to current EFL teaching. After analyzing the objects, methods and findings of Several empirical researches in a bottom-up method, this review found: 1) there is an imbalance of cultural representation in ELT textbooks between target culture, home culture and international culture; 2) students show a positive attitude towards home culture and international culture learning in the learning process; 3) teachers notice the importance to cultivate students’ awareness of their own culture and culture relativism consciously and take measures accordingly in their class.

Socio-cultural Sustainability through Study Material: English Language Teaching in India

Teaching materials are the primary source of input in the language classroom. The potential of English language teaching (ELT) materials to preserves and transmit our culture, value, identity, and language make it significant for socio-cultural sustainability. The materials developed by the National Council of Education and Research Training (NCERT) are far and wide running study materials in primary and secondary schools in India. India exhibits a massive variety of cultures, customs, languages, and religious beliefs. The selection and development of apt materials is, therefore, a matter of serious deliberation. The centrally developed material, despite numerous benefits, often lacks in representing different groups of students, especially the backward and marginalized ones. The contents, in most cases, are representative of the mainstream. Therefore, the study suggests teachers developed supplementary materials to which learners from all the groups can relate. The researcher has taken the context of Jharkhand and illustrates self-developed supplementary materials prepared using contents from learners’ social and cultural backgrounds. The article offers various suggestions on how to develop such materials that could bring socio-cultural equity in the classroom, making a significant contribution to social sustainability.