Conceptualisations of learning materials

It seems that ‘learning materials’ is a clear concept since practitioners in language education are likely to have an intuitive definition of learning materials (Tomlinson 2013). Many might say that learning materials are textbooks, coursebooks, books, newspapers, magazines, films, music, menus, leaflets, recipes, news portals, YouTube videos, or realia such as (relevant to this study’s Irish context) a shamrock itself. In fact, defining ‘learning materials’ precisely is difficult as the examples are intended to suggest it. Although this list of examples seemingly supports the general idea that

‘anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language’

(Tomlinson 2011: 2, emphasis added) can be considered learning materials, it is important to highlight in Tomlinson’s view that only those things can be regarded as learning materials that are ‘deliberately used to increase the learners’ knowledge and/or experience of the language’ (Ibid.). Hence, focusing on the facilitation of second language acquisition could really make anything a learning material.

In the context of this study, learning materials are proposed to constitute texts and illustrations conveying information that is to be processed cognitively as well as affectively through the accompanying activities (see Figure 2.11, based on Mishan and Timmis 2015). Thus, also drawing on Tomlinson’s definition of materials (2011), learning materials are resources (things) with a ‘pedagogic purpose’ added to it (Mishan and Timmis 2015: 3); consequently, a YouTube video remains a resource (or a text) only until tasks based on it are devised and implemented. However,

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especially in the case of the presentation of the findings of the survey questionnaire (in Section 5.1 in Chapter 5), resources are often referred to as ‘materials’ in this study, but the researcher attempts to comply with the distinction between resources and materials by references made.

Figure 2.11. Learning material: combination of texts and illustrations, and accompanying activities (based on Mishan and Timmis 2015)

Mishan (2005) claims that a text is data that ‘can be paper-based or electronic (audio or visual) which can be in graphic, audio or print form’ (xiii) and include ‘video, DVD, television, computer-generated or recorded data’ (Ibid.). Texts serve as a basis for the accompanying task(s) which is a ‘learner undertaking in which the target language is comprehended and used for a communicative purpose in order to achieve a particular outcome (goal)’ (Ibid.). Mishan’s concept of text is refined by Weninger and Kiss (2015), according to which written and spoken data are called text, but visualised data is termed image. This study adopts this distinction because images, called ‘illustrations’ in this study, became important in the materials analysed and evaluated by the researcher (see Section 5.2 in Chapter 5).

At the same time, there seems to be no consensus on the differentiation of the concepts of task, exercise, and activity in the literature. The concepts task and activity have not yet been delineated, and they often appear to be used interchangeably (for example, Carter and Nunan 2001, Barrett et al. 2013, Weninger and Kiss 2015).

However, due to the significant presence of communicative language learning, especially task-based language learning (TBLL), the difference between task and exercise have been outlined more precisely. In TBLL, the primary focus of a ‘task’

text / illustration activity activity activity

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is on expressing meaning in order to achieve a specific communicative outcome by filling in a communicative gap using one’s own resources of the target language (Ellis 2009). According to a similar conceptualisation, the primary units of language constitute ‘categories of functional and communicative meanings as exemplified in discourse’ which are reflected in the structure of the language uses in an effort to facilitate the expression of meaning through ‘interaction and communication’

(Richards and Rodgers 2014: 89-90). On the other hand, an exercise focuses on language form (Prabhu 1987), and drawing on the conceptualisations of task, it involves more control over the target language by practising predetermined language structures and, as there is no explicit communicative purpose, there is no direct communicative gap to fill in either. Activity could be considered an ‘umbrella’ term for task and exercise as it simply, or rather vaguely, describes ‘any procedure in which learners work towards a goal’ (Richards, n.d.). Table 2.6 below illustrates the comparison between task/activity and exercise according to their focus, gap to be filled in during their undertaking, language resources used, and outcome (based on Ellis 2009).

Table 2.6. Comparison of task/activity, and exercise (based on Ellis 2009)

Learner undertaking

task/activity exercise

focus meaning language form

gap communicative linguistic

resource learner’s own L2 L2 provided outcome communication language use

The terms task and activity are used interchangeably in this study with both meaning:

a goal-oriented communicative activity with a specific outcome where the emphasis is on exchanging meanings, not producing specific language forms; however, the use of activity is considered more preferable to avoid the connotative meaning of task in TBLL.

According to Bolitho (1990, 2019), ‘learning materials’ is part of an interactive triangle of stakeholders in a language classroom besides teachers and learners (Bolitho 1990, 2019). Bolitho (1990) and McGrath (2013) argue that there exist four

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types of bonds between materials, teachers, and learners: (1) a linear connection starting from materials through teachers to learners, (2) a hierarchical interrelation where teachers and materials are at the same level above learners, (3) a circular (same-level) interplay, and (4) an interactive relationship which could be represented by a triangle of often unequal sides denoting closer or farther identification with the other two stakeholders as Figure 2.12 below illustrates.

material

teacher learner

The unequal relationship between materials, teachers, and learners (as Figure 2.12 above shows) refers to the tendency that ‘learning materials’ often dominate teachers and learners (Bolitho 1990; McGrath 2013). In fact, Mukundan (2009: 96) goes as far as to say that learning materials could easily make teachers ‘animal trainers’, and learners become the ‘caged animals’ to be trained in a ‘zoo-like environment.’

Therefore, it appears pivotal to (constantly) investigate learning materials in order to ensure that they are suitable for both the teachers and the learners not only in teaching ESOL, but also in any English language teaching (ELT) context.

Language learning materials can take various forms when delivered, in different modes. Firstly, materials can be commercially published, or teacher-made, consisting of textbooks (or coursebooks), digital materials, supplementary materials that add further language experience to textbooks, and self-accessed materials where the learner studies the language without anybody to monitor the process of language learning (Tomlinson and Masuhara 2018). Secondly, materials can be delivered by the teacher only, through blended learning (learning via traditional face-to-face as well as online/digital teaching), and can be processed by the learner in the form of

Figure 2.12. Scalene triangle of stakeholders in a language classroom (based on Bolitho 1990, McGrath 2013)

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self-accessed materials (Mishan 2012). As materials can be presented in different modes, and in their combinations, the potential to ‘enrich the repertoire of the learner’s communication resources’ (Alfonso and Giralt 2013: 117) can be increased by using a variety of different modes. This multimodality in language learning is particularly important in a digital age, especially when, for the first time in history, education including language learning, was forced to move online due to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020; which is likely to have a substantial long-term impact on the modes of communication outside the virtual classroom, too.

It is unsurprising that materials have gained such an import part in language education since they themselves constitute the learning and teaching content. Unlike in teaching History, for example, language is only used to convey content, but in language learning materials, language is the content. Accordingly, materials fulfil several unique roles that are indispensable to language learning. As learning materials, they ‘inform the learner about the target language’, ‘guide the learner to practise the language’, ‘provide the learner with experience of the language use’,

‘encourage the learner to use the language’, and ‘help the learner to make discoveries about the language’ (Tomlinson 2012: 143 cited in Tomlinson and Masuhara 2018:

2). In parallel, as teaching materials, they provide the teacher with information about the target language, and guidance on how the language can be used, practised and discovered. Besides providing exposure to the language, materials are ‘vehicles of information’ (Mishan and Timmis, 2015: 6) about the culture(s) of the target language, and other cultures – the aspect that this study focuses on; materials can be seen as a psychological aid for learners by creating motivation and an organised way of progression; and materials stimulate other activities performed by learners or devised by teachers (Mishan and Timmis 2015). Last but not least, materials are important part of teacher education (Ibid.) as teachers could develop if they create their own materials (Masuhara 2019). Creating own materials is pivotal in an ESOL context (where there is a shortage of appropriate ready-made materials and where, therefore, there is a growing need for tailor-made materials) to meet the needs of learners from diverse cultural backgrounds (Kett 2018; Mishan 2019; see 1.3.4 in Chapter 1). Self-made learning materials often exploit authentic written and

audio-348

visual texts (discussed below) which is echoed in the findings of the survey questionnaire presented in Chapter 5.