Materials and Methods in ELT: A Teacher's Guide (review)

The purpose of this book is to apprise ELT (English language teaching) instructors around the world of major contemporary trends in ELT materials and methodology. It succeeds admirably in bridging the gap between ELT theory and pedagogical practice. This new edition is helpful in that it incorporates the theoretical gains the field has made since the publication of the first edition in 1993.

Part 1 examines the principles on which modern materials and methods are based. It begins with a look at the educational framework of materials and methods relevant to every pedagogical context, regardless of institution or locale (Ch. 1). Next, the authors discuss the development of the communicative approach and its impact on methods and materials (Ch. 2). Various critiques of the communicative approach are then examined, as well as the different ‘post-communicative’ trends that have arisen over the last ten years, including the multi-syllabus, the process syllabus, and the task-based syllabus (Ch. 3). The last two chapters of Part 1 provide the reader with strategies for evaluating and adapting these communicative-approach materials to specific classroom environments (Chs. 4–5).

Part 2 shows how the principles raised and discussed in Part 1 can be applied to the design and use of teaching materials in the four primary skill areas: reading, speaking, listening, and writing. Each skill area is treated in its own chapter (Chs. 6–9). Finally, the authors look at how materials related to all of these skill areas can be effectively integrated (Ch. 10).

Part 3 focuses on different methods for organizing and managing the resources of the classroom. Because of this specific focus, the authors do not discuss tangential topics, like testing, which enjoy extensive treatment elsewhere. The first chapter examines interaction patterns relating to student groups and pairs (Ch. 11). The authors then relate classroom structures to the concept of the individual learner, and they examine interactions between teachers and learners (Chs. 12–13, respectively). Part 3 concludes with a treatment of the shifting nature of the teacher’s role in contemporary ELT settings, examining such issues as in-service education courses (Ch. 14). Finally, there is a useful appendix that directs teachers to important ELT resources on the internet.

Throughout the book, the authors provide readers with questions that help them consider more deeply the topicunder discussion. This animates the intense scholarship of the book and makes the assimilation of the ideas come more naturally. The authors provide suggestions for further reading at the end of each subsection, which complements the text’s bibliography. Finally, in almost every chapter, the authors include copies of handouts that illustrate how the concept at hand can be applied to teacher-student interactions.

This book alerts readers to the development of the most recent ELT methods and materials, and it does so in a relatively compact form. It will be a welcome aid to instructors who are attempting to translate advances in ELT theory into real-world classroom praxis.