Unit 2 - Assignment 2: ESL Materials Evaluation - TESL 0150


Assignment 2: ESL Materials Evaluation
Evaluating Sentence Structure Materials


Profile of Target Learners
Learner Type: International Students
Age: 18 and up
English Level: IELTS 5
Goals: To prepare students for future College programs and courses
Specific Needs: Academic English, Knowledge of essay writing, Note Taking
Proficiency with Technology: Students MUST have a laptop and internet access to participate in the class.
Learning Objectives
This course is designed to develop academic reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The students will learn relevant grammar to write strong sentences, paragraphs and essays. They will develop effective oral communication skills in order to listen and speak in common academic scenarios. Students will expand their academic vocabulary to assist them in future college programs and courses.
Selected resources:      www.englishclub.com
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/sentence/sentence-structure.htm
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/sentence/sentence-structure-quiz.htm
A grammar explanation that details the different types of sentence structure including simple, compound, complex and compound-complex. I’ve also included the quiz that pairs with the explanation page.





Material Evaluation based on criteria from Tomlinson (2014)
Evaluation Criteria
Grade out of 5
(1=Poor, 5=Excellent)
Comments
To what extent are the materials related to the wants of the learners?
4
These materials are related to the wants of the learners. The students objectives are to expand their knowledge of essay writing and academic writing, in order to accomplish this they must have the basics of sentence structure first.
To what extent are the materials likely to stimulate emotional engagement?
1
These materials likely will not stimulate emotional engagement. The materials do not present an opportunity for students to share their feelings on the topic. These materials have a low degree of student centeredness.
To what extent are the materials likely to promote visual imaging?
3
The materials may promote some visual imaging with the provided example sentences. For example, “Our car broke down; we came last.” This may evoke the image of a broken down car and individuals arriving late to an event. The quiz would most likely not promote visual imaging.
Does the material achieve impact (attractive presentation)?
5
I believe the materials are presented attractively and they will achieve impact. The presentation of the information about ‘clauses’ and ‘conjunctions’ are presented in colourful boxes. This create more impactful and attractive materials and easier to follow information.

Will these materials help the learners develop confidence?
4
These materials could help a learner develop confidence. Many students in this context will already have ideas about sentence structure but they may not have the appropriate background information to give them the confidence to use it. The learners will likely not feel too much anxiety or hesitation if we consider the length of the materials. According to Larry Lynch (2009), a key to successful material adaptation is “adjusting the length of the materials.” However, I don’t believe we will have to adjust the length as the materials are already comprehensive and short therefore aiding in the development of a learners confidence.
Will the learners perceive these materials as relevant and useful?
5
Given the context, I believe these materials would be perceived as useful for academic and essay writing.
Do the materials expose the learners to language in authentic use?
3
These materials somewhat expose the learners to language in authentic use. According to Rogers (1988), the term authentic “is used to refer to language samples… that reflect a naturalness of form and an appropriateness of cultural and situational context that would be found in the language as used by native speakers.” The materials provide several examples that could be used in situational contexts by native speakers. Such as, “He left in a hurry after he got a phone call but he came back five minutes later.” However, there are also several sections of the materials that would not be considered authentic use, such as the sentence structure quiz.
Materials take into account different learning styles?
2
These materials do not take into account different learning styles. They are very focused on verbal learners. There is some focus on visual learners. We must consider that these materials are a writing skill focus and we must consider the learner’s strengths and weaknesses and that “all teaching/learning situations are unique.” (McGrath, 2002)
Material’s provide opportunities for outcome feedback?
4
These materials provide opportunities for outcome feedback. The sentence structure quiz provides a formative assessment that will provide immediate feedback for the students. This feedback separates the materials as a separate language feature; it only provides feedback on the student’s ability to determine sentence structure. Tomlinson (2014) argues that “materials ideally should see it as part of language, not a separate feature to be learned for its own sake.”
Provides opportunities for individual practice?
3
These materials provide some opportunity for individual practice via the online quiz and possible partner exercises that could be adapted from these materials. However, we should take into account, that according to Tomlinson (2014), “grammar practice… is not language practice.”






Conclusion
Total Score for the Evaluation Criteria: 34/50
In conclusion, the goal of this course is not to use this language point conversationally but to use these materials academically. With this in mind, I believe these materials could be used effectively despite the fact that they are not considered authentic use and language practice. These materials could be adapted into an assessment or evaluation that is more appropriate for the learner’s context such as with academic or essay examples. I also believe that these materials are presented in an easy-to-follow manner that should achieve impact due to its attractive presentation. There may be an issue with the feedback of the quiz as it only provides feedback to the students ability to identify sentence structure, it is isolated and not treated as part of language. These materials do require some adjustment and the degree of student centeredness could be improved, but overall, they could be used as background information prior to essay writing and the quiz could be adapted to provide useful feedback for the learners.



















References
Collins. A. (2016) Framework for Evaluating ELT Materials. Retrieved from http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/te714ac792/2016/02/29/framework-for-evaluating-elt-materials/
Lynch, L. (2009). How to Adapt Authentic Materials in English Language Teaching. ESL Base. Retrieved from https://www.eslbase.com/teaching/adapt-authentic-materials

McGrath, I. (2002) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Pesce, C. Keepin' It Real: 8 Best Authentic Sources of Reading Material. Busy Teacher. Retrieved from https://busyteacher.org/16195-reading-material-8-best-authentic-sources.html

Rogers, C., & Medley, F., Jr. (1988). Language with a purpose: using authentic materials in the foreign language classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 21, 467–478.

Tomlinson, B. (2014) Developing Materials for Language Teaching. Great Britain: Bloomsbury Academic




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