Topic: Materials for Developing Writing Skills

Resources:
Tomlinson, B. (2011), Materials Development in Language Teaching (2nd edn).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tomlinson, B. and Masuhara, H. (eds) (2010), Research for Materials Development in
Language Learning: Evidence for Best Practice. London: Continuum.

Introduction

It is an understatement to say that producing materials for the development of the

writing skills of Filipino students is difficult. In fact, it must be extremely difficult since
it requires so much time, energy, and expertise. To address this concern, production and
adaptation courses have been taught to teachers to be able to develop materials,
especially in writing, without the downside of time and cost. Materials in the market are
abundant from textbooks to online resources, but the question is, “Do these materials suit
to the needs of our learners?”

Therefore, the main focus of this term paper is to introduce ways on how to adapt
materials, or if it is possible to produce with the help of existing resources, so that
Filipino students will really get the best out of writing courses they are supposed to
undertake. In addition, the reference materials used in this paper are utilized by way of
extracting discussions on text-types and a model of materials design. They are important
components that a teacher should get to know in order to adapt or produce just right
writing materials for a writing class. Another important issue that is going to emerge is
the relevance of knowing the proficiency level of the students in crafting learning
materials.

Claim

Needless to say that it is impractical to start developing materials from scratch.

According to Tomlinson, B. (2011), teachers might spend up to 15 hours of laboring
instructional materials for just a one-hour writing class. Imagine the sacrifice that a
teacher should endure, plus the cost it entails. Thus, it is worth sharing the roles of
materials in writing instruction (Tomlinson, B., Masuhara, H., 2010).

1. Models: Sample text exemplars of rhetorical forms and structures of target

genres.

2. Language scaffolding: Sources of language examples for discussion,

analysis, exercises, etc.

3. Reference: Online or paper-based information, explanations and examples of

relevant grammatical, rhetorical, or stylistic forms.
 4. Stimulus: Sources which stimulate writing. Usually paper or internet texts,
but can include video, graphic or audio material, or items of realia

The preceding roles give teachers directions of what really is the objective of writing
tasks. For models, teachers give examples of text for them to refer or follow. This is a
good practice of a certain genre. Students are exposed of newsletters and magazines, for
example, so they will get the hang of their structures and vocabulary words in that genre.

The second is language scaffolding in which texts are used to provide opportunities
for discussion, guided writing, and analysis. This involves students in thinking about and
using the language. For instance, grammar is taught through a short story, but language
scaffolding encourages meaning and dissuades compartmentalized understanding of
grammar from the story itself.

Reference as role of materials in writing mainly concerns knowledge. This includes

grammar books, dictionaries, and reference manuals. These materials are relevant since
they support the learner’s understanding of writing through explanations and examples.

Lastly, stimulus materials are used to provoke ideas and connections among learners.
Such materials provide stimulating activities that enhance students’ creativity in their
write ups. Oftentimes, these materials are poems, stories, and magazine articles.

The four roles of materials in writing helps teachers who are asked to adapt/produce
materials in understanding that texts vary in function. With this, no educator is
misguided on the choice of materials.

Based on the Australian ‘Certificate in Spoken and Written English’ ESL

curriculum, there are six broad families of text-types. Knowledge of these text-types
helps teachers see what students are able to do and what they need to learn. These are the
following:

1. Exchanges: emails, letters

2. Forms: simple and complex formatted texts

3. Procedures: instructions, procedures, protocols

4. Information texts: descriptions, explanations, reports

5. Story texts: recounts, narratives

6. Persuasive texts: expositions, discussions, opinion texts

Furthermore, teaching the text-types enables the students to establish the kinds of
language and skills they need to learn to complete writing tasks assigned to them.
 Apart from knowing the text-types, another issue raised by Tomlinson is
authenticity. Should teachers only give authentic reading materials or can other materials
complement when it comes to developing writing skills? The answer to this question
simply lies on its conditions. “The kinds of texts that students will need to create in their
target contexts cannot be easily imitated for pedagogic purposes as simplifying a text.”
(Tomlinson, B., 2011). However, not all authentic materials serve as good text models
because even teachers find them difficult to exploit effectively in the classroom. Instead
of arguing about it, one must only aim, whether authentic or not, to ensure that students
get good writing models with material that is not so far beyond them that they become
discouraged.

The second and most important consideration in developing material is the level of
proficiency of the students. It ensures that teachers start where the students are. This
means conducting some analyses of both the present situation and target situation
(Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998). This entails gathering information about learners’
proficiency and linguistic skills in writing.

Evidence

Hutchison and Waters (1987) framework for materials design is a useful guide
for teachers. This comprises four key components: input, content, language and a task.

This framework/model reflects the roles of writing materials in instruction and takes
into account even the text-types discussed above. The following is the summary of the
four key components given by Hutchison and Waters (1987):

1. Input - This is a paper in the writing class, but it can also be a dialogue, video, or
picture. This provides the following:

 A stimulus for thought, discussion and writing

 A context and a purpose for writing
 Genre models and exemplars of target texts
 Opportunities to process information
 Opportunities for learners to use and build on prior knowledge

2. Content: topics, situations and information to generate meaningful

communication

3. Language: Should involve opportunities for analyses of texts and for students to
integrate new knowledge into the writing task.

4. Task: Materials should lead towards a communicative task, in which learners use
the content and language of the unit, and ultimately to a writing assignment.
 The first component is said to be crucial because teachers cannot just give writing
assignments to students without guiding them to the process. Input helps generate ides
and contain those ideas in a more organized way. Besides, students find so much
difficulty with a writing task that they cannot relate to or that they are clueless of.
Prompts like short phrases in the beginning of an essay will trigger students’ creative
juices.

Moreover, input is not limited to words. Pictures and videos can also be sources of
stimulation for the students especially in the digital world. So, it is emphasized that
students should not only be given a topic and asked to write about it. There are writing
activities which probe first what they know and elicit valuable responses from them.

There is a notion that materials design should begin by determining a gap of the
materials to the proficiency of the students because the textbook fails to meet the needs
of the class (Jolly and Bolitho, 2011).

As regards the content, teachers are advised to use the text-types as guides in
identifying the purpose of the materials. No students want to be confused with the
hodgepodge of texts not related to one another. Authenticity also counts in since texts
with real-life situations and examples mark meaningful experiences.

With the language focus, learners ought to be exposed with materials which provide
opportunities to scrutinize the language components like syntax and lexicon. In the
previous discussion on language scaffolding, it is given attention the meaning of the
integrated text for grammar teaching. It is not merely teaching the s-v agreement, but
also savor the beauty of the correct grammar in crafting short story.

Finally, the task is the end goal of the materials design after considering the first
three components. All what the students learn must be manifested in the writing task
from following the text exemplars to mastering the writing genre assigned by the teacher.
One example of activity that leads to a task is to provide students with a set of jumbled
paragraphs which they have to reconstruct into a text by identifying the structure or text-
type.

Conclusion

The discussion has provided the roles of materials in writing instruction, six families
of text-types, issues on authenticity and proficiency of the students, and four key
components of materials design. Indeed, materials development in writing in the
Philippines is not popular since it is tedious and not convenient. But, on the other hand, it
can be an extremely satisfying activity if done with the correct process and passion.

It is still a long way to go before Filipino English teachers imbibe this rigorous
work. But, as also a teacher, I am hopeful and excited to practice what I have learned
from this research and to share this, too, with my colleagues. There are two valuable
lessons we can get from this write-up about materials development. One is, teachers no
need to rely heavily on the use of available textbook materials. There are also electronic
materials such as video, digital pictures, and internet resources. We are taught of
adapting the materials to suit to the needs of our learners.

The other one is that, writing skills can be more attainable through the knowledge of
the roles of writing and the various text-types. We should guide our students in writing
by provoking ideas through inputs so that they will not start writing from the scratch.
Furthermore, they must understand that writing has always a purpose, and bearing that in
mind leads to direction. Thus, no students are going to write blindly just because asked to
write. I hope that this short paper will be useful for others who look for ways and
knowledge regarding materials development in writing.
 BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL
City of Malolos, Bulacan

MATERIALS FOR DEVELOPING WRITING

SKILLS

A Term Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements of Skills and Development in

ELE 905: Production, Adaptation, and Evaluation of

Testing Materials

Submitted by:

Mariano, Gerald Y.
MAED - ELE

Submitted to:

Prof. Chita G. Glorioso

Professor, ELE 905

Date:

March 7, 2020