2. 1. THE OLD, THE NEW, THE NEWEST: AN INTRODUCTION TO MATERIALS AND RESOURCES FOR LANGUAGE
TEACHING.
Not only is it important to consider materials as a central aspect of the profession but also as a decisive element in the relationship
among the teacher, the learner and the language (not to mention the community of users of that language and their culture).
Materials and resources have been divided into three sections: the old, the new and the newest. The first one includes the most
traditional elements in a language classroom: the blackboard, the textbook, visual aids and hand-made materials. The second
comprises the over-head projector, the audio player and the video camera and video player. Finally, the latter section deals with the
information and communication technologies which represent the brand-new present and the future of our profession.
2. TRADITIONAL RESOURCES
In this section the focus will be on the most traditional of these materials and resources. Teachers are encouraged to choose among
the wide range of today’s possible aids as a way of promoting diversity and variety in the classroom.
3. 2.1. The blackboard
Each classroom is different. One may have posters, another may have fixed rows of seats; in another there is a good classroom library whereas a
fourth one does not have a single book.
However, if there is a piece of furniture every classroom has, that is a blackboard. However, nowadays the position at the metaphorical centre of
the classroom has been occupied by the learner in what has been termed as the “learner-centred approach”.
Learner-centred instruction is characterised by (Brown 2001: 46-7):
techniques that focus on or account for learners’ needs, styles and goals.
“Even if the authors acknowledge the existence of other terms (“chalkboard”, “whiteboard”, etc.), blackboard is still the most frequent one.
However, there exists the problem of confusing blackboard (a piece of classroom furniture) and Blackboard (a piece of educational web-based
software). The capital letters will distinguish the latter.”
4. 2.2. Visual aids: realia, flashcards, wall charts and posters
The link among the visual, the aural and the conceptual has to be worked out in the classroom. With that idea in mind, the teacher should use a
variety of visual resources to complement their writing and their speaking. Two general types of visual aids can be used: realia and ready-made
materials.
a) Which “realia” surrounding you could be brought into an EFL classroom to teach “classroom English”?
Flashcards can be prepared by the teacher and the learners or they can be acquired as printed material.
Finally, wall charts and posters offer the learners more complex visual stimuli.
2.3. The textbook
Penny Ur (1996: 184-5) gives some reasons for and against the use of a textbook. In favour of using a textbook she mentions the sense of structure
and progress, its use as a syllabus, its being ready-made, its price (which sometimes is not so reasonable or affordable), its convenience as a
package, its guidance help for teachers and that it gives the learner some degree of autonomy. Against using a textbook, she mentions its
homogeneity and inadequacy for individual needs and objectives, its irrelevance and lack of interest in many occasions, its limitation of initiative
and creativity, its homogeneity and its over-easiness.
However, most teachers would agree that the textbook is the most important (and frequent) single resource they can use.
5. 2.4. Hand-made materials
Teaching is not a repetitive profession. Creativity, as one of the basic competences to be promoted through education, must be a permanent feature of
a teacher.
Anyway, a number of ideas are listed below to help you think about your own materials.
Before inventing, search (especially the Internet) Before inventing, ask other colleagues or your nearest teacher resource centre. Once inventing,
appearance is important. Students can also design and create teaching materials Be accurate and be neat Colourful better than black & white Variety is
a guarantee of success.
3. Audio and visual resources
In this section we are dealing with electrical and electronic appliances commonly used in the classroom (Overhead Projector, Audio Player, Video Player
and Camera). Although they have been labelled as “New Technologies” until recent times, we prefer to denote them as Audiovisual Technologies (AVT)
in order to distinguish them from what today are called ICT, which involve mainly the use of computers and networks.
6. a) Do you think AVT are old-fashioned?
We would like to state first that materials and resources are not an end in themselves, that is, we should not listen to a tape or watch a video without any
particular aim, but as an aid to improve the students´ learning progress.
3.1. The Overhead Projector (OHP) – The image
It is the only audiovisual appliance which was especially designed for teaching foreign languages in the early 40´s .Since then, it has been widely used not
only for teaching languages but it has also been a helpful, powerful, popular presentation device in other subjects or fields and in training or conference
rooms for many years.
It is as simple as effective. A light is shone through a transparency the size of a sheet or a note paper, projecting it onto an ordinary film screen or a white
board or wall, which will focus the student’s attention. All in all, the OHP can be considered a helpful mate for any teacher.
7. 3.2. Audio player - The sound
Together with the blackboard, the audio player is one of the most common pieces of equipment when teaching languages. One of the reasons could be
that most textbooks are supplemented with audiotapes to carry out listening activities. The most recent ones even provide the students with audio CDs so
that they can practice orally at home these activities.
3.3. The video player and the video camera - the image and the sound.
The combination of both sound and image shown in a context is a powerful tool in the ESL classroom. The speakers, the setting, the gestures, can be seen
and heard and, at the same time, technical features of video players allow the teacher to pause, to go forward and backward or to play video recordings. It
is also possible for students to make their own video performances, reating their own stories, video-clips, dialogues by using the video camera.
8. 4. ICT for the Teaching of English: definition
Information and Communication Technologies are increasingly integrating into our daily lives. They are changing the way we live, the way we
spend our spare time and the way we work. That is why most European countries have stated the importance of the integration of ICT into
their educational systems.
4.1. Building the physical setting: An ICT classroom.
Most classrooms in our country are still four walls, desks, chairs and a chalkboard. There are many teachers who react against technology
arguing the failure of the language lab in the 1960s and 1970s, but this frustration was “largely due to human failures, a lack of investment in
training teachers how to use it and a lack of imagination”
9. 4.2. INTERNET
Internet is also changing the way we work, the way we spend our free time and the way we learn and teach.
The Internet is comprised of computers and computer networks connected to a global network where everyone can communicate with
everyone else.
At the beginning the connection to the Internet was made through a telephone line, nowadays other forms of connection can take place:
satellite, cable, over electric lines, mobile phones or related devices and TV.
4.4 SUMMARY
This chapter has intended to show the variety of materials and resources a teacher may use. Their advantages and disadvantages have been
described together with the possible activities in which they can be incorporated. A creative and critical stance has been taken to the use of
these materials and resources so that learners and teachers remain at the centre of the educational process as a communicative, purely
human activity.
10. 4.5 FURTHER READINGS
Lonergan, J.(1984): Video in L anguage Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This is a very useful guide about using videos in the
classroom.
Jones, J.R.H. (1982): Using the Overhead Projector. London: Heinemann. The book deeply describes the different types of OHP, and very useful tips
about the usage of this piece of equipment.
Warschauer M., Shetzer H., Meloni C. (2000): Internet for English Teaching. Bloomington. TESOL. From general considerations about Internet to the
explanation of how to create your own web pages.
Boswood, T (Ed.) (1997): New ways of Using Computers in Language Teaching
11. 4.6. TASKS FOR PAPERS
1) Design a learning task which requires the use of the blackboard and other two resources mentioned in this chapter.
2 Find two different Primary Education textbooks (preferably one older than the other) and evaluate them using the checklist provided in this
chapter. Which one would you choose?
3) Discuss about your experiences as a learner: how do you feel about ATV? What is your personal opinion? Which ATV do you think is the most
useful for the EFL classroom? Which one do you enjoy most? Which one is the most frequent in your classroom?
4) In small groups, make an inventory of the AVT available in your classroom and make a survey of the frequency of their use.
5) In pairs, ask the teachers´ personal opinions about them and which ones are their favourite in accordance with the tasks designed.
6) Elaborate a small library (a collection of transparencies, video or audio tapes) to be used in one didactic unit of your own.
7) Identify in a primary textbook activities which can’t be carried out without the AVT. Make suggestions for other activities in which the use of
them could improve the achievement of the goals.
12. 4.7 BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Ahmad, K, Corbet, G, Rogers, M and Sussex, R.(1985): Computers, Language Learning and Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
AA.VV. (1992): Medios Audiovisuales Para Profesores .Curso de Iniciación a los Medios Audiovisuales y a la Publicidad. Huelva: ICE Universidad de Sevilla en Huelva.
Bazalguette, C. (1991): Los Medios Audiovisuales en la Educación Primaria. Madrid: Morata y MEC.
Boswood, T (Ed.) (1997): New ways of Using Computers in Language Teaching. Bloomington: TESOL.
Brown, H. D. (2001): Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Addison Wesley Longman.
Cabrero Almenara, J. (1989): Tecnología Educativa: Utilización Didáctica del Vídeo. Barcelona: Promociones y Publicaciones Universitarias, S.A.
Carbonell, N. (2001): Bricolaje didáctico por ordenador : la creación de imágenes y sonidos para la enseñanza de E/LE. Madrid: Edinumen.
Davies, G. and Hewer, S. (2002): Introduction to new technologies and how they can contribute to language learning and teaching. Available at:
http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod1-1.htm (downloaded June, 2003)
Dudeney, G. (2000): The Internet and the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Edge, J. (1993): Essentials of English Language Teaching. London: Longman.
Egbert, J. and Hanson-Smith, E. (eds) (1999): CALL environments. Research, Practice, and Critical Issues. Alexandria: TESOL.
Fernández Pinto, J. (2002): ¡E/LE con Internet!. Edinumen: Madrid.
Freiermuth, M.R. (2002): “Internet Chat: Collaborating and Learning via E-conversations”. TESOL Journal. 11,3.
Gitsaki, C. and Taylor, R. (2000): Internet English. New York: Oxford University Press.
Guías Practicas Anaya (ed) (1998): Tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. Madrid: Anaya.
Hanson-Smith, E. (1997): Technology in the Classroom. Alexandria: TESOL.
Jones, J.R.H. (1982): Using the Overhead Projector. London: Heinemann.
Levy, M. (1997): Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lonergan, J. (1984): Video in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McLaren, N. and Madrid, D. (1996): A Handbook for TEFL. Alcoy: Marfíl.
Marsland, B. (1998). Lessons from Nothing: Activities for Language Teaching With Limited Time and Resources. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Peyton, J.K. (1999): “Theory and Research: Interaction via Computers”, in Egbert, J and Hanson-Smith (eds): CALL Environments. Research, Practice, and Critical Issues.
Alexandria: TESOL.
Rodríguez Diéguez, J.J. and Saéz Barrio, O. (1995): Tecnología Educativa. Nuevas Tecnologías Aplicadas a la Educación. Alcoy: Marfil.
Salaberri Ramiro, Mª S. (1996). “Audio-visual and technical resources”. In Neil McLaren and Daniel Madrid. A Handbook for TEFL. Alcoy: Marfil.
Scrivener, J. (1998): Learning Teaching. Oxford: MacMillan Publishers Limited.
Toyoda, E. (2001): “Exercise of Learner Autonomy in Project-Oriented CALL”. CALL-EJ Online. 2, 2.
Trenchs Parera, M. (ed) (2001): Nuevas Tecnologías para el autoaprendizaje y la didáctica de las lenguas. Lleida: Milenio.
Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Warschauer M., Shetzer H. and Meloni C. (2000): Internet for English Teaching. Bloomington: TESOL.
Warschauer, M. (1996). “Comparing face-to-face and electronic discussion in the second language classroom”. CALICO Journal, 13, 2, 7-26.
Warschauer, M. (2000). “The death of cyberspace and the rebirth of CALL”. English Teachers' Journal, 53, 61-67.
Wright, A. and Haleem, S. (1991): Visuals for the Language Classroom. London: Longman.
