Journey-Oriented Materials Adaptation: Responding to Change

Language teaching under the umbrella of the communicative approach gives greater prominence to the issue of learner-centeredness. Learner-centeredness being emphasized, instructional materials designers are to add a process dimension. In other words, in instructional materials development there ought to be an emphasis on process rather than on static knowledge. There should be a response to change – a change from destination-oriented design to journey-oriented one. Three common ways are employed in materials development. A teacher might attempt to write his/her own new materials. Another might evaluate teaching materials by matching it with his/her own teaching purpose. Some others – in fact most teachers – are involved in the last way, adapting materials. Materials adaptation involves changing the existing materials so that they become more suitable for specific learners or classroom situations. This indirectly involves sequencing tasks or activities that lead both teachers and students through a learning journey that is engaging – providing motivating and useful practice. The workshop objectives are to enable the participants to explore a range of interactive tasks, to appreciate the importance of adapting existing materials creatively for use inside the four walls of the classroom for the sake of the world out there, and to experience a model of cooperative class. Through out the workshop, the participants are to be actively involved in performing some tasks. The workshop participants are supposed to be in action especially to attain the predetermined workshop objectives. The facilitator of the workshop then leads the workshop following the global procedure presented in the paragraph below. The workshop participants will initially undergo a model of interactive classroom as the result of the proposed materials adaptation which is journey-oriented. A brief discussion of the theory underlying the workshop will be revealed shortly after the model. They will then be involved in group work adapting or modifying the prepared existing instructional material. The workshop participants are expected to devise interactive tasks keeping the journey-oriented design. To enable the workshop to be successful, the participants are suggested to do their best and to work cooperatively.