Coda: An Expanding Research Agenda for the Use of Instructional Materials

Harwood, Nigel

doi:10.1111/modl.12683

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…A handful of recent classroom‐based studies of LLT materials (e.g., Matsumoto, 2019; Pourhaji, Alavi, & Karimpour, 2016) have responded to these calls. However, most existing studies on materials use have narrowly focused on textbooks and ELT (e.g., Canagarajah, 1993; Guerrettaz & Johnston, 2013; Opoku–Amankwa, 2010), thus necessitating a conceptual expansion regarding what counts as LLT materials—beyond textbooks (although see Harwood, 2021). Moreover, the emphasis on ELT represents another problematic gap in the literature that this guest edited issue attends to by examining a diversity of languages in relation to LLT materials in use.…”

Section: Research On Language Learning and Teaching Materials In Use4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirically Defining Language Learning and Teaching Materials in Use Through Sociomaterial Perspectives

Guerrettaz

Engman

Matsumoto

2021

The Modern Language Journal

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Language learning and teaching (LLT) materials—like teacher‐created handouts, textbooks, and overhead transparencies—are central elements of language classrooms worldwide. Nonetheless, how language students and teachers actually engage with and deploy LLT materials has rarely been the focus of research. In response, this issue offers the first compilation of classroom‐based studies of ‘materials use’ in language education and includes research on Ojibwe, Japanese, French, and English language pedagogy. In this introductory article to the special issue, we set the stage for the 7 empirical articles by offering much‐needed definitions for the concepts of ‘LLT materials’ and ‘materials use.’ These definitions are based on a metasynthesis (i.e., an integrative qualitative analysis) of all of the materials used throughout the 7 empirical articles. Additionally, we explore sociomaterialism as a compelling and well‐suited framework for the study of materials in use. Sociomaterialism is not a unified theory but rather a research orientation that seeks to examine connections between the social and the material world. In addition to substantively and theoretically advancing the field, all the articles of this special issue also have practical implications for language pedagogy.

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Section: Research On Language Learning and Teaching Materials In Use4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirically Defining Language Learning and Teaching Materials in Use Through Sociomaterial Perspectives

Guerrettaz

Engman

Matsumoto

2021

The Modern Language Journal

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“…Moreover, this paper engages in the most recent theoretical advancements in the field of language education (Guerrettaz et al, 2021), which have advanced posthumanist (Pennycook, 2018) and materialist (Canagarajah, 2018;Toohey, 2019) orientations highlighting the complexity of meaning-making processes involving materiality within language instructional contexts. Therefore, this paper responds to calls for research on teaching materials to appreciate the complexity of the role that instructional materials play in the broader educational context (Harwood, 2021). Consequently, it addresses what Sørensen (2009) refers to as a "blindness toward the question of how educational practice is affected by materials" (p. 2).…”

Section: The Implementation Of the Communicative Language Teaching Approachmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The current paper falls under the material consumption level of Harwood's (2014) categories. Yet, this paper would broaden the concept of materials to go beyond textbooksas described in Harwood's (2014) classificationto the use of everything teachers and learners use to make English learning more efficientincluding but not limited to textbooks and teacher-designed worksheets (Harwood, 2021).…”

Section: Conceptualizing Language Teaching and Learning Materials Within Sociomaterialismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, this perspective has the potential to shift instructional practices from seeking predictability and control towards understanding teaching and learning as emergent and Arab World English Journal www.awej.org ISSN: 2229-9327 313 unpredictable systems (Fullan, 2003). Understanding language teaching materials through a sociomaterial lens implies that language teaching materials are not teacher/learner-proof (Harwood, 2021). Thus, the message that needs to filter through here is that material use is an unpredictable practice because teachers and learners may react to and engage with materials differently.…”

Section: Q1: To What Extent Do Language Teaching and Learning Materials Affect Clt Implementation In Saudi State Schools?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Sociomaterial Perspective of the Challenges of Implementing the Communicative Approach in Saudi State Schools

Fallatah¹

2021

AWEJ

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Despite its dominance in the field of teaching English as a second/foreign language, the implementation of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach continues to be challenging and problematic. A similar set of constraints – including but not limited to challenges related to educational cultures, contextual and conceptual factors, and lack of authentic materials and facilities – have been reported as factors hindering CLT implementations in many contexts. Language teaching and learning materials and facilities are crucial elements that have been found to affect communicative language teaching implementation. However, the issue of how those material elements can affect CLT implementation has rarely been the focus of research in CLT implementation studies. In this paper, the researcher examines the effect of language teaching and learning materials on teachers’ ability to teach communicatively. Thus, informed by sociomateriality this paper attends to a gap in the literature about how material elements of the curriculum hinder the implementation of the communicative language teaching approach in the Saudi context. The data examined in this study were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the findings indicated that material elements in the curriculum exerted agency and power, hindering teachers’ ability to teach communicatively and learners’ ability to improve their learning experiences. The report concludes with practical implications related to the complexity of curriculum development and implementation and the emergent nature of such processes as webs of entangled human/nonhuman relations that give rise to education.

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“…The assumption that underpinned our study was that the productive use of materials requires considerable knowledge and skills on the part of teachers [15]. Learning more about the knowledge base that teachers draw on in materials use is an important agenda for the sustainability of the teaching profession [16][17][18]. Thus, our goal was to understand this professional knowledge by outlining its possible components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustaining the Effective Use of Materials in Language Classrooms: A Conceptual Understanding of Teacher Knowledge for Materials Use

Zhan

2021

Sustainability

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Materials use is a critical yet understudied domain of language teaching across jurisdictions and educational contexts. This study explored what knowledge constituents that English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers mobilize in their use of materials. Based on the social theory of human cognition in tool use and the conception of foreign language teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, a qualitative multi-case study involving eight EFL teachers at one university in China was conducted. Data from interviews, lesson observations, and documents across three consecutive semesters revealed that teacher knowledge for materials use is multi-dimensional and developmental. The constituents of this professional knowledge are manifested in four domains, i.e., subject matter, pedagogical, curricular, and contextual domains. The study concluded that the professional knowledge needed for materials use is not merely an individual trait, but mediated by both human and nonhuman elements. Therefore, new forms of agency from both teachers and materials are required to foster the growth of this professional knowledge. Based on the findings, suggestions were made for teacher learning through materials use in language classrooms.

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Coda: An Expanding Research Agenda for the Use of Instructional Materials

Cited by 25 publications

References 45 publications

Empirically Defining Language Learning and Teaching Materials in Use Through Sociomaterial Perspectives

Empirically Defining Language Learning and Teaching Materials in Use Through Sociomaterial Perspectives

A Sociomaterial Perspective of the Challenges of Implementing the Communicative Approach in Saudi State Schools

Sustaining the Effective Use of Materials in Language Classrooms: A Conceptual Understanding of Teacher Knowledge for Materials Use

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