r
il
conforme pÍoposta por Almeida Filho (1999) poderá indicar esses pesos e medidas das abordagens em contato e o quê resultâ como equação reaÌ dessas cônstituiçõês individuais e das interaçóes vividas. Produzir materiais nâo é apenas ne-cessário * é vital para o processo de ensino e aprendizagem de língruas e de ouüos materiais, na verdade. Formaçáo ade-quada ó a que consulta uma base teórica apropriada e que pode nos êsperançar paÍa supêrar a tradição e nos ajudar a fazer o país na educação pelas línguas,
Refe rê n ci as b i b I i ogrâf i cas
ALMEIDA FILHO, J. C. P. (201'7). Fundamentos de aborda' gem e de Íormação de ptofessores e'PI'E e outÍas Ilngruas. Campinas: Pontes Editores.
. (2007). LÍnguÍstica Aplicada, ensino de Línguas e comunicaçâo. Campinas: Pôntes Editores.
(1999). O prafessor de LE emformação. Campinas: Pontes Editores.
(1993). Dimensões comunicalivas no ensino de língruas. Campinas: Pontes Editores.
ALMEIDA FILHO, J. C. P.; BAGHIN, D.; CONSOLO, D. A.; CABRAL DOS SANTOS, J. B.; BARçANTE ALVAREN-GA, M. e VIANA, N. (1991). "A representação do pro-cesso de aprender no liwo didático nacional de língua estrangeira modema no 10 Grau." Ttabalhos em Lin'
guística AplÍcada, ÜnicamP, val. 77'
OMAGGIO, A. (1984). Teaching in context: prcficÍency oiented insüucüon. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers Inc. PRABHU, N. S. (1988). "Materials as support: mateíals as
constraint". Singapura: RELC Seminar. (mimeo)
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capítulo 2
MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT FOR LANCUACE LEARNING: PRINCIPLES OF CULTURAL AND CRITICAL AWARENESS
BrianTonlinson Hitomi Masuhara
P ri nci p led M ater i al s Development
The literature on materials development in the last decade has quite dghtly focused on principles for effective materials development, For example, McGrath (2002), Tom-linson (2003a) and Mukundan and Ahour (2010) have concer-ned themselves with establishing principles and criteria for materials evaluation; Saraceni (2003), Tomlinson and Masu-hara (2004a) and McDonough, Shaw and MasuMasu-hara (2012) have proposed principles and procedures for materials adap-üation and Harwood (2010); Ellis (2010) and Tomlinson (2010, PEREIRA, A. L., GOTTHEIM, L. (Orgs.). Materiais didáticos para o ensino de língua estrangeira: processos de criação e contextos de uso. Campinas: Mercado de Letas, 2013.
2017, 2012) have proposed principled procedures for develo-ping langruage leamÍng materials. \Alhat has been missing though are specific proposals for principles of cultural aware-ness and principles of .critical awareaware-ness for materials deve-lopers to consider when evaluating, adapting and designing materials. This chapter aÍms to put that right by proposing such principles for materials developers and teachers to think about and to adapt for their own purposes.
Principles of Cultural Awareness
l,Cultural knowledge and cultural awareness Let us first clailry what we mean by culture and by oultural awareness, An anthropologist may define cuJture as thÊ totality of customs, artistic achievements and generai civilisation of a country or people (e.g. Inca culture, Brazilian culture). A sociologist may prefer a definition of culture as the totality of a way of life shared by a group of people linked by common and distinctive characteristÍcs, values, attitudes, activities and circumstances (e,9, Christian cultures, youth cultures, techno cultures, footbalt cultures), Çulture may so-metimes be used in relation to intellectual and aesthetic refÍnement as in 'cultured person' or in 'high or low cultures,, Holliday et al. (2070), after evaluating various definitions, emphasise ühe nature of culture as dynamic and interactive and they describe qultures as socially construçted reaÌities that could manifest ttremselves in many different ways. Wo would lÍke to adopt the socÍological definition of culture in this arlic]e with an added çaution that culture is complex, overlapping, interaçtive and variable.
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What then do we mean by 'cultural awaÍeness'?Tomlin-son and Masuhara (2004b) contrast 'cultural lo:owledge' and 'cultural awareness'. They (200<tb, p. 6) define cultural knowled-ge as 'information about the characteristic of our own and other people's culture', which tends to be extemally given, static and often simpliÍied (e,9, books on Japanese suÌüure and her people though the experience of the writers). Cultur.-al awareness, on the other hand, is defined as 'perceptÍons of our orrrn and other peoples cubures' ffomlinson and Ìvlasuhara 2004b, p. 6). They describe cultural awareness as t trically:
a a a
internal in that awareness develops in our minds; dynamic in that our perceptions change;
multi-dimensional Ín that cultures are represented in our brains as sensory, cognitive and affective substance;
interacüive in that our perceptions interact and connecu variable in thaü our awareness is modified from ex-perience..
Tomlinson and Maçuhara (2004b, p, 7) argrue that Inçreased cultural knowledge can give us increasçd çre-dibility and expertise, Increased çultural awareness can helpus to achieve culturalempaúy and sensitivity.Itcan also faciütate language acquisitiou, as being positive, empathetic and inqúsitive can çontribuÍe to one of the optimal conditions for language acgúsition: motivated exposÌre to language in use,
We need to conÉider an addÍtional dimension in the global era when we contrast cultural awareness with cultural
a a
knowledge. Nowadays millions of people with different cul-tures use English as a lingnra franca for communication (Kirk-patrick 2070). This means that 'English speaking culture' no longer belongs to any pârticular group. In each êncounter, users of a lingnra franca have to manage cultural interactions Ílexibly, appropriately and effectively. Cultural awareness nuÍtures inner compêtence and help the users of a lingua franca cope in their joumeys into a cultural maze.
We will now discuss what we think are important principles in developing maüerials in order to help teachers and writers, as well âs the leamers, develop cultural aware-ness. Let us firstly e:çlore literature which point out the culturaÌ insensitivities noted in English teaching matêrials.
2. Sensitivity to the Leamers' Cultures
One Õf the recent controversies in cultural studies has been in rêlation to the effects of globalisation on the contênt and methodology of English language teaching. By content, we mean the multimodal textual contênt (e.9, têxtual, visual, audio) of materials.
Based on his analysis of ELT coursebooks, Gray (2010) supports Kumaravadivelu (2008) and Holliday (1999) and ar-gues against cultural pidgeon-holing and cultural imperia-lism (Pennycook 1998) in ELT materials. Cook (2002) describes the diversity of global L2 leamers in all walks of life and points out that ELT materials tend to depict L2 learners as immatute, helpless and dependênt creatures with low proficiency. In the next section, we will discuss sterêotyping of the target cultures as well as of other cultures.
Compared with the more obvious culturaÌ insensitivi-ties of the multi-modal textual content in ELT materials, an
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exploration of cultural conflict between mêthôdolôgies and contexts requires a little more careful investigation at the subliminal level. Dogancay-Alrüuna (2005) provides a summa-ry of studies from various parts of the world (e.9. China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa) that investigatê whether imported mêthôdolôgies of communicative langua-gê têaching (CLT)withtheir inherent assumptions fltwiüh the expectations, attitudês, values, and beliefs of the users in different cultures. Cortazziand Jin (1996) discuss 'Cultures of Leaming' of China and Hu (20A2) argues that CLT has not aÕhieved the expected impact on ELT in China becausê of thê conflict between the assumptions underlying CLT (e.9. coo-perative leaming, teacher roles) with the Chinese traditional style of leaming (e.g. the importânce placed on gÍammatical analysis, the expectéd teacher authodty as thê expert, the reluctance among students to participate in inteÍactive acti-vitiês such as group work and dêbates, the imporüance placed on memorization of knowledge).
Pham (2A07) describes similar problems in Viet Nam and adds further challenging factors such as large classes, exam pressure and teachers requiring training. He describes the potentÍal conflicts between the importêd methods and the local context:
When Vietnamese students are asked to use Ënglish to conduct a 'real.life' game in pairs, the question raised is whether they are really engaged in genuine communica-üon. Furúermore, the use of 'authentic' matedal, mea-ning auúenúc to native speakers of Engüsh, can be problematic in the Vietnamese or Chinese classroom. As Kramsch and Sullivan (1996) point ou! whatis authentic in London might not be auúentic in Hanoi. Also, the
large class size in Vieüram (berween forty and sixf) also challenges the use ofpair work and group work. (pham 2007,p,196)
Pham (ibid., p. trg6), howevel, does not negate ÇLT altogether, as Bax (2009) seems to do. Instead he argnres that while there are certainly probrems in the transfer of cLT methods from the Westem contexts to others, it is guestiona_ ble whether these problems negate the potential usefulness of the CLT theory', He believes that the fundamental tenets of CLT theories seem valid and applicable:
CLT sets the goal oflanguage learning üo be the teaching oflearners to bç able to use the language effectively for their real comrnunicative needs, rather than simply to provide learners with the knowledge about the grammar sysüpm of that language. This goal is consistent wiú the long-term goal, if not the immediate goal, of Engüsh language insfiuçtion in many contexts of the world. (Pham 2007, p. 196)
Pham propgses that local teachers should critically evaluate the principles behind rhe imported methodology and consider ways oÍ implementing them. We support pham in the sense that we shourd not mix the discussion of theoreticar validity of methodologies from the difficultios of implementa-tion. If the problems summarjsed in Dogancay_AÌiiruna (2005) should come from attempts to simplytransplantthe packages of technigues and tools that were originatty designed to suiü particular contexts in Westem çountries, we should be gues_ tioning careless direct Ímplementation rathor than blaming
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the methodologies or the maüerials. CLT with its various curent incamations (e,9. Task-based, Content-based) are based on theories of Ìanguage, language learning and tea-ching. Theories may prove to be in need of improvement. Discussion of improvement of theoíes should take place after a very careful and critical consideration, We advocate that teaÇhers and materÍals developers in each context should critically evaluate the theories behind any methods and make optimal use of classroom implementation technigues and tools in order to suit the leamers and their contexts in deve_ loping culturally sensitive materiaÌs.
3. Sensitivity to Other CüÌtures
Bao (2006) investigates the cultural stereotyping in eight popular global coursebooks published during the 1ggO's and 2000's. Based on the relevant literature, Bao e:<plains that stereotyping is a common and natural function of human brains and a way of coping with complicated reality with our limited processing capacity. His research of evaluating eight coursebooks reveals a fair amount of stereotypical informa-tion, mainly through virsual illustrations and, to a lesser de, gree, in the interaction between the texüs and üsuals in terms of nationality, gender, behaviour and lifestyles. For example, Bao (2006, p. 73) describes an activity in one of the courso-books from Oxford University press: the leamers are asked to match the illustration of a collection of characters with ex_ ptessions such as 'He must be an American,, 'He could be South American' and 'She can't be English,. The ülustrations show an overweight man, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a cowboy hat; a slim youngÌady, looking elegant; a
mean-loo-ír
iI
,i
I lìri
king man in a flashy and flamboyant suit, wearing sunglasses and smoking a pipe. Bao refers tó Jandt (2001) who discusses how print media contributes elements of prejudice by sho-wing êxamples from numerous sources including the New YorkTimes, the Wâshington Post,.the Chicago Tribune, Time and Newsweek.
Bao (2006) provides an aneodotal but persuasive evi-dence of how stereot]rpes can seêp into our sub-conscious mindswhenhe observed an Englishclass inViet Nam, young Vietnamese sh-rdênts were asked to predict a villain in a story by looking at three photos: a good-looking Caucasian young man, an old bearded Caucasian man, and a good-looking young black man. Bao reports that ,within two seconds almost all thê studênts pointêd to thê black man' (ibid. , p. 71). When asked forthe reason, however, the cl,ass could not come up with a concïetè erçlanaüion apá-rt frorn ,hunch, or vague memories of watching action films in which black guys are depictèd as bad characters. A similar enperiment was done in another class with three different set of photos including a clearly innocent and cheerful black man but the result was the same. He comments:
people accept stereotypical images and information from movies, úe media, teleüsion comnercials, crime-related television programmes, friends, parcnts, public opinion. Interestingly, what is often overlooked is the fact that EFL coursebooks undeniably supply such ste* rcotypical images and information. @ao 2.ffi6,p,72)
Bao explores how sterêotlping may entêr coursebooks and offers some possible reasons, One of thern is the fact that
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materials writers ourselves ârê not free from the influences of stereotypiÕal treatment of people, objects and events.
4. Developing Intêr-Cultural Awareness
How can we develop cultural awareness? Tomlinson (2001b) argues that cultural âwarêness involves 'gradually developing àn inner sense of thê eguality of culturee, an inereased understanding of your own and other people's cultures, and 4 positive intêrest ln how cultures both connêct and differ. Such awareness can broaden the mind, lnoreage tolerance and facilitate intemational communication' (Tom-linson 2001b, p. 5).
Tomlinson and Masuhara (2004b) propose general pro: cedures in developing principled cultural âwarenêss matê-rials. They then describe Íive activity types which thêy havê found welcomed by teachers and leamers in many pârts of thê world who have elçerienced them. ï?rey also provide examples before dirscussing strêngths for each activity tJ&e: Text-driven; D,I.E. (Description, Interpretation, Evaluation) ; Simulations; Scenarios; Task-Driven.
Mason (2010) rêpôrts his attempt to dêvêlop coursê materials designed to help Tunisian University students im-prove thêir intercultural competence. His attempts are signi-ficant especially in relation tó the time when the tensions between Arab and Westem cultures were high aÍter Septêm-ber 11. After having consulted litêraturê by leading intèrcul-tural academics, he chose as thê focus of his materials three intercultural competences that 6eêm most relevant for the T\rnisian leamers in an EFL contexü: inquisitiveness, open-mindedness and diplomatic skills:
Someono who is interculturally competent is someone who is inqulsitive - wanting to leam about other cultures; so_ mçone who is also open-minded _ wiüiry to se€ issues from oüer people's perspectives; and somçone who has diplo-màtic skills * being úle to communicaúe otherperspectives topeople in theirown çulüre, as their ownperspectives to people in other sulüJre"s, (Mason 2010, p. 72)
His materials included use of stimulus DVDs prior to discussion, student initiated research, jigsaw ,eading and debates, cross-cultural tasks. He analyses the leamers, ques-tionnaires, interviews and their essays on interculturar issues before and aíter the course. His Íindings include that:
r a variety of materials and actÍvities help in developing multiple dirnensions of intercultural competence; o certain kinds of materials seem to have achieved
more lmpaqü than tho others for different skills. Ìrvhat is interesting is the fact that his students sêem open to culturally differenü teaching approaches;
Despite the fact that my studeuts were generally used to mçthods of rnemorization and repefitiou, and to having lectures diçtated, they responded well to the variety of maüprials I used. I suspçct that students in similar situa-tions elsewhere would also respond well, as Iong as the new types of materials and activities werç infrodused carefully. (Mason 2010, p. g1)
Troncoso (2010) explored ways of incorporating inter_ cultural awareness into materials for teaching Spanish in universiüies. Since he had to use his coursebook, he decided
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to adapt the materials by, for example, adding dialogrues showing a critical incident of intercultural çonÍliçt. He used the Texl-Driven Approach (Tomlinson 2009b) as it involves a flexible framework that helps the writers ,to write princÍpled and coherent materials quickly, effectively and consistently (TomÌinson 2003b, p, 110).
We will suggest a framework fordeveloping Çultural and CriticalAwareness Materials and proúde examptes in our secüion on Procedures for Culnual and Criüicai Awareness Materials.
5. Summary of Pfinciples of Cultural Awareness In our view intercultural language leaming materials should help leamers:
t. leam through experience as if they are living in the intercultural moments;
leam through cgnscÍous understanding ofthe ex-perience that they have had;
discover and become aware of their own subcons-cious assumptions, beliefs, attitudês and sense of values that drive behaviours in their ovrn and othêr cultures;
become more tolorant of ambiguity;
assess situations and recognise various possible interpretations without jumping to evaluative conclusions or falling back on stereotyping or ethnocentrism:
become able to assess potential and actual con-flicts, analyse their causes and identify options for solution and prevention for future recu[ence; develop the ability to use langruage appropriaÌely and effectively in a variety oÍ cultural contexts. 2.
3.
4.
o .
r
Principles of Critical Awareness 1. Representation of the World
Language leaming mateïials inevitably present their leamers with a representation of the world which is manifes-têd through their texts, tasks and illustrations, In sôme coun-tries publishers are constrained by government policies which detêrmine the sort of world which can be depictêd. In Vietnam, for example, matêrials havê to bê vètted for political correctness before theiÍ publication is permitted (Le 2OI2), in Malaysia and Singaporê illustrations and local texts have to givê propôrtional represêntatiÕn to thê ethnic groups which are members of their populations, in Singapore the use of Singllsh (a local lingua franca) is banned-and in Malaysia textbooks have to represent important íalues such as patrio-tism and family solidarity (Mukundan 2009).
Most publishers of global textbooks are under-standably kêen to avoid offendÍRg any of the users of their books and they often give their writers lists of tâboo topics which thêy arê not allowed tô use (e.9. religion, history, politics, sex, alcohol and drugs). Thié has led to objections to what is seen âs excessive caution (e.9. Wajnryb 1996; Tom-linson 2001a) and to complaints abôut the bland and saniti sed neutrality of commercially published materials. ïomlinson (1995) has compared this with mateÍals published on national pÌojêcts and especially with the Namibian côur-sêbÕok On Target, in which such controversial topics as marital violence and drug abuse are included in order to engage students and to get them to think about important social issues. Banegas QAn) describes a two part Sêcondary school syllabus in use in Argentina. Syllabus 1 follows a global coursebook white Syllabus 2 is a nêgotiatêd syllabus
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which includes such topics as gay mârriâgê and child abuse suggested by the teachers and such topics as divorce and. single parenting suggêsted by the studènts. To resource this syllabus the teachers have developed a sourcebookofauthen-tic rêading and listening texüs from which they can develop actiúties which provoke the students to think and respond cÍitically to the issues involved. Gray (2010) examines pub-lishers' documenB which prevent their writers from ustng prôvocativê topics such as politics, religion, alcohol, and sex and he also reports cônvêrsaüions with publishers in whloh thêy disÕuss the need to ensurê thât thêir matêriâls mâtêh the sensitivities of their markets, Gray is critical of the fact thât thê topics and texts which publishers allow theirwriters to use prômôte a successful, materialisttd and aspirational EFL world. WaiJnryb (1996, p.297) criticisês rhê fâct that the world portrayed in EFL textboolc is too 'safe, clean, harmo-nious, benevolent, undisturbed'. Tomlinson (2001a, p. 68) understands why publishers are so cautiôus but claims that 'it is ffgruable that provocative texts which stimulaté an affective rêsponse âre more likely to facilitate leaming than neutral texts which do not.'
Our position is thât materials developers should be encouÍaged to make use of cóntroversial topics and texts which aÍe accêptable in their leamêrs' cultures âs this would increase the potential for stimulating affective êngagêmênt, for empowering leamers in the real world they live Ín and for helping leamers tô think critically.
2. Representation of Values
Many critical theorisüs and socio-cultural thêôrists are critical of the role of English language teaching in a globali-sation process which they claim to be little more than a
propaganda campaÍgn for westem, capitalist and materialis-tio values. Phillipson (1992), Pennycook (1994, 1998), Fergu-son (2003) and Block (2006) in parricular have been critical of the link between English and Empire, and Whitehead (2011, p. 367) shows how materials can help to 'develop counter-he-gemonic disçourses' by encouraging critical engagement with issues connected to globalisation. Gray (2010, pp. 1,6-17) claims that English has become 'a form of llngnristic capital, capable of bringing a profit of distinction to those speakers with the ability to aÇcess it (or more accurately, its socially legitimated varÍeties), and as an increasingly commodified dimension of labour-power.' Gray shows how the global cour-sebook has become an arüefact, a commodity which promotes socÍo-economic values through its texls, tasks, values and illustrations. He anaÌyses Íour best-selling British course-books and finds that they all celebrate personal and profes-sl onal suocess, individualism, pleasure, mobility, egalitarianism and materialism. After examining publishers, guidelines and interviewing publishers he decides that a standardized product is being 'dolivered through the stand-ardized methodology embodied in the coursebook into the global marketplace - in which all are assumed to want and need exactlythe same thing' (p, 138). He attributes this to the pubiishers prohibiting the use of inappropdate topics and restricting theirwriters to discrete-item approaches in which linguistÍc content is 'made deliverable for teachers in mana-geable ponions and finally made testable by examinaüions' (p. 137). Not all users of gtobal coursebooks would accept these accusations of neo-colonialism though. See, for exam-ple, Bisong (1995) for the perspective of Nigerian users.
Otherwriters have commented on the development of the coursebook as a consumer commodity. Tickoo (1995, p. 39), for e:<ample, sees materials development in a
multilÍn-EDÍTORA MERCADO DE LETRAS MATERTATS DrDÁïco$ PARA o ENslNo DE ÚNGUA ESÍRANGEIRA
gual and multisultural society as satisfying different sets of criteria. 'Some of them aiise from such a society's need to teach the values it wants to foster' Some arise in the desire to make education a handmaiden of economic progress and social reconstruction,' Toh (2001) reveats how the content of Singapore coursebooks reflects conÍormity to Westem socio-cul-twal norms. Singapore WaIa (2003) views the coursebook as a communicative act, 'a dynamic afiefact that contributes to and creates meaning togetherwith other participants in the context of langnrage teaching.' (p, 59)' She examines coursebooks in Singapore and concÌudes that'a coursebook is not just a collec-tion of lingnristic items - it is a refleccollec-tion of a pa$icular world-view based on the selection ofresources' (p. 69).
Holtiday (2005) asserts that education has been colnmo-dified and that students have become consurners and Mukun-dan (2009) talks about the 'declared agenda' of the classroom which involves the teacher being orchestrated by the text'book writer to create a 'zoo-like environment, where leamers behave Ìike caged animals, perforrning planned tricks for Ïhe animal trainer ' (p. 96). See also Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990); Alptekin (1993); Zh'arg (1997); Çoftazzi and Jin (1999); Gray (2000) and Tomlinson (2005) for critical discussion of iszuers relaüing to culture and materials development.
In our opinion coursebooks always communicate a view of teaching and leamÍhg, a view of the target language and the cutture(s) they represent and the worldview oÍ their producers. This is potentially damaging as the coursebook is accorded excessive reverence in many classrooms as the ultimate authorÍty and there is a risk that its users might accept Íts views and values uncritically' However, our er<pe-dençe in many countries is that teachers and leamers are capable of being more critical than they are given credit for
and they often do not 'buy' the commodity they are being invited to consume
3. Developing Critical Confidence
Despite what we say above about learners being capa-ble of criticality we think that it is important that mat€rials are designed so thatleamêrs arê êncouragedto be critical and that theiÌ views are valued. To do t,|is is easy. What the materials developers need to do is to make sure they use spoken and written texts which stimulatê the leamers to think and feel and which stimulate controversy. They also need to make use of open-ended tasks which invite personal responses and'give the leamers opportunitiês to share their thoughts with othèrs without fear of corïection. Of course this meâns thê teachêr accepting that thglre €Ìrê no right orwrong ânsweÍs and that the tasks caÌÌnôt bê used as comprehension têsts. But what the teacher loses the leamers will gain.
4. Developing Critical Thinking
Many Ministries of Education make prominent men-tion of critical thinking in their curricula but in our experience the matedals used to implement thesê curricula often give the leamers few opportunitiês to think for themselves. They ofüen tèll the leamers what to think, what to say and how to say it. If they are serious about helping their leamers to become critical thinkers in their L2 th:ey need to make sure that their materials:
e provide controversial texts forthe learners to respond to; . rnake use of texüs which arê likely to engage the
leamers affectively and cognitively;
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o make use of tasks before and afüer engagêment with the têxt which stimulate individual thinking; r make use of tasks whlch invitê thê leamer to be
constructively critical ôf thê úews, opinions and attitudes expressed in the texüs;
o focus on meaning rather than on forms.
Materials which do êncourâge critical thinking tênd to do so only at Upper-Intermediate and Advanced levels. At lower levels they seem to think that the learners do not have the langnragê to ê)rpress their own thoughts and thêÌ6 is sometimes an unfortunate assumption that leamers who are at â low level linguistically are also at a low level intêllectual-ly. Of course, L2 beginners can be very mature and intêlligênt human beings and can get very frustrated at being restricted to saying what they are told to say. As long as the input is in t}le L2 the leamers can still galn langnrage acquisition and educational development by responding through gesturês, through mime, through drawing and initially through the usê of their L1. And, of course, the teacher can always make herself available to help the leamers to express themselves in their L2, lVe have both used all thêsê mêans of encouraging low level leamers' tô think critically and to express their thoughts and views in their new L2, both in Japan and i:r Oman. .
5. Developing ConstruÕtive Oriticism of Leaming Procedures
Really brave têxtbÕoks and teachers can also contribu-tê tó the development of Õtitical awarêness by making use of evaluation tasks which invite the leamers to be constructively critical of thê'pedagogic approaches and materials which are
DouÌg *socr [' lrt,rr1.r r,lr(.]llÌ t.-, r'urrr arr L2. Doing thir- ca' als. contrtbuto tcl tlrr.l cr'vt,r,prrrorrt
or roar'or confidonce ancr to .rr unprovement in tho rn{ìtoriols and the methodoÌogy. See JoÌÌy and BoÌitho (2011) and Saraceni (2003) for ways of encouraging such constructive criticism in cooperation with the teacher.
6, Summary of principÌes of Critical Awareness In our view Ìanguage learning materials should: L, reflect the reai world that the learners live in; 2, not promote the vaÌues of the producers of the
maüerials:
g. expose thê leamers to differing views and vaÌues; 4. help the Ìeamers to develop ühe abihty to be cons_ tructively critical of societies, of values, of ideas and ofbehaviour;
5, help the leamers to develop the ability to be cons_ tructively criüical of language use;
6. help the leamers to developìhe ability to be cons_ tructiveÌy critical of language learning materials; Z. help the_learners to develop the ability to ühink
independentÌy for themselves:
8, help the learners to develop critical confidense. Our experience ia many countries is thaü leamers typi_ cally welcome materials with such principles regardÌess of üheir societal norms, that teachers in aü societies are often suspicious ofthem because they reguire teacher change and that the authodties are often worried about the dangers of developing subversive students (Tomlinson Z00b). We have also found that it is possible to develop such matenals for use in
46
EDIoRA MERCADo DE LEIRAS
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\-countries zuch as lran, Japan, Oman and Singapore where respect for autÌrority is an ÍmportarÌt cÌlÌüural value. It is up to each soclety to decide the extent they wish their süudents to develop independent thought but it is pointless countdes highlightng critical thinking as a curricr:lum goaÌ úthey then onjy penrut the use of materials which tell the Ìeamers what to think.
Procedures for Çultural and Crìtical Awareness Materials 1.4 Suggested Framework for Mabrials Developers l. Find a written or spoken text with the potential to
engage the target leamers cognitively and affectively. 2. Deüse readiness açtivities which ready the learners,
minds for experiencing the tçxt and which makes sure that the lesson begins in úe leamcrs, minds. E.g.:
i) ,Think of your own first day at school. See pictures in your mind of what you did and talk to yourself about how you think you felt.,
ii) 'See pictures in your mind of people you admire. Talk to yourself about why you admire ttrem.,
3. Devise initial response activitiçs which makç sure the learners arc thinking and feeling as they expe_ rience the text. E.g.:
i) .See pictures of the politician in your mind as you read -
the exüact and for each of his actions ask yourself, .ï/hy
did he do/say that?,,,
ii) ,As you read the plan for inmoducing salmon fishing inúo the yemen keep asking yourself, ,TVill that work?,. 4. Deüse intake response actiüties which will help the
leamers úo develop and articulaúe theirpenonalrespon_ ses to the text úey have just experienced, E.g.:
5.
i) 'Do you like the old lady?'
ü) 'Do you agÍee with the proposed plan?' Devise development activities which invite úe lear-ners to develop their own text as a response, revision or extension of the text they have experienced. E.g.:
i) 'Re-write the proposal so that it reflects what you think will be an ethically,
"truiroamsltelly and productively valid project.'
ü) 'Write an ending to the story which will achieve impact with the readers and at úe same time invite them to question the values of the two main characters inthe story.' iü)'Re-write úe story so that it is set in your country.' Devise input acúvities which invite the leamers to make discoveries which wi-ll help them to develop their pragmaúc, cultural or critical awareness. E.g.:
i) 'Why do you think the father'uses so many interrogati-ves in his conversation with his son? Why do you think the son often responds by using imperative structures? What does this dialogue tell you about the functions of the interrogative and üe imperative?
ü) '\ilhich procedures of the Indonesian wedding ceremo-ny in the story are similar to procedures in wedding ceremonies in your culture and which are different? What do you think are the reasons for the differences? iii)'What do you think are the intended outcomes of the poücies outlined in the document? Why do you think úe poücies are expressed in úe way úat they are? Devise revision activities inviting the learners to make use of their discoveries in 6 to improve their texts in 5. E.g.
i) 'Revise your dialogue making use of the intenogative and úe imperative when you think they would be effecúve.'
7.
EDITORA MËRCADO DE IEÌRAS MAïËRIAIS DIDÁTICOS PARA O ËNSINO DE tÍNGUA ESÏRANGEIRA
ii) 'Rewrite your response to the document making use of any of úe discoveries you have made about the writers' intenúons.'
This framework is adapted from the one in Tomlinson (2003b).
Conclusion
We feel that it is very important that leaming mâteriaÌs help leamers of,â second tangnrage to develop culturaÌ and critical awareness. This will not only contributê to their edu-cation but it will empower them as independent users of the langnrage. The experience of responding cognitively and per-sonally to engaging erçeriences in the target language will also contribute positively to their langnrage acquisitiÔn and development (Tomlinson 241'2).
References
ADASKOU, K. D.;BRITTEN, D. ândFAHSI, B. (1990). "Design decisions on the cultural content of a secondary En-glish course for Morocco
"'
ELT Joumal, 44.7, pp. 3-10. ALPTEKIN, C. (1993). "Target language culture in EFL
mate-ria\s." ELT JownaL,47.2, pp. 136-143'
BANËGAS, D. L. QA77). "Teaching morê than English in secondary êducatiôn," ELT Joumal,66.!, pp. 80'82. BAO, D. (2006). "Breaking stereotypes in coursebooks", .th:
MUKUNDAN, J. (ed.), Readings onELTmatertals. Pe-taling JaYa: Pearson MalaYsia.
BAX, S. (2003). "T?re end of CLT: a context approach to langmage teaching. " ELT Joumal, 57 . 3, pp. 278'287 .