Ever since reading Autonomy and development: living in the materials world (by Julian Edge and Sue Wharton, in Tomlinson's Materials Development in Language Teaching -- CUP, 1998) several years ago, I've been fascinated by the idea that we can build coursebook materials that provide choices for learners and teachers, and facilitate more autonomy and diversity in the way material is selected and used in the classroom.
I liked the examples provided in that article from a commercial coursebook that provided a 'choices' section at the bottom of select pages, which basically allowed learners to choose the way in which they progressed forward at that point in terms of specific practice or follow up. Similarly, I quite liked seeing the same basic principle applied in Ken Wilson's Smart Choice series (OUP), which also went a bit further by providing a digital supplement to the books allowing teachers to tailor make their own worksheets.
From my own perspective, my only criticism is that, while it is great to see commercial coursebooks provide these 'choices', I don't think they go far enough. I think classrooms need more than two choices at the bottom of every second or third page.
Let's avoid, for a moment, the pragmatic view of commercial publishers that this would all be fine and dandy if it didn't result in too many pages in a coursebook to make it economically viable, and if it didn't result in coursebooks that would upset teachers, students and parents based on them coming home with sections of them passed over or not completed. Let's pretend, for a moment, that digital versions and/or delivery of such material could avoid such complications. Heck, let's be dreamers and go so far as to say that, whether print-based or digital or both, course material of this nature has major potential for the development of autonomous learners who pick and choose the sorts of additional language work they might like to try beyond what ends up selected and covered in the limited confines of the classroom...
So let's take this notion of choices and really swing it around a bit on a coursebook page. For the sake of exploration.
This is a reading passage I developed for a post elsewhere on this blog, but here I have adapted it to explore the 'major range of choices' idea.
Below the main text, there are three sets of options:
A: Options for doing particular types of practice or extension, linked closely to the text on this page.
B: Options for sticking with the general topic or theme represented here, but switching skill 'mode' (to say listening, writing, speaking or project work integrating all of the skills).
C: Leave the topic and passage altogether and try something new.
So, in A, the options basically extend from the main text. Learners can answer comprehension questions, develop vocabulary, convert the text to listening practice (say filling in gaps or doing dictation or dictogloss based on this original text), pick out grammar patterns and rules based on the input text, rewrite or extend/adapt the text, or use the text as a basis for classroom discussion and debate.
In B, the options are to switch to a another skill mode and a new text of some sort, but related to the general topic or theme represented here. (Think from earthquakes to tsunamis to world aid organisations, etc.).
And, of course, C recognises that the topic and text may not be of much further interest or relevance to the students, and it is time to make a more dramatic change...
These options could follow immediately on from the page here, or they could be packpaged into their own sections later in the coursebook. For example, the coursebook might start with 20 topics and reading passages, then sections dedicated more to the other skills as starting points, then all the follow up language practice and extension activities, each gathered into its own section (but with page number references/links to help learners continue to navigate their way through the material).
The homework aspect and group work notions (where learners get together and plot their own way through a coursebook) are intriguing ones.
Of course, a digital version of this format would mean the options linked directly to a particular text can become pop up or insertion options within the interface itself...
Sure, this sort of approach would result in a rather voluminous amount of material and options. Just what so many teachers and learners have been telling us they want for years.
Or am I wrong in that conclusion? Do teachers and learners (for the most part) want everything compact, packaged and sequenced in advance?
As a teacher, would you be interested in using materials of this nature (and format) with your learners? Do you want this range of choice, or would you like to see the concept of 'choice' applied differently?
=D
