The document discusses materials writing for English language teaching. It provides background on the author's experience writing materials for lessons, publications, and self-publishing. Tips are given for evaluating materials using checklists, including considering the context, students, teachers and formatting the checklist. Additional advice covers developing principles, collaborating with others, considering stakeholders, layout, inclusivity, and resources for writing multiple choice questions and gap fills. The presentation aims to share knowledge around best practices for creating effective teaching materials.

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What I think I know about materials
writing
Sandy Millin
IATEFL Belfast 2022
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iatefl22
While you’re waiting
 Say hello to others
 What’s your interest in /
connection to materials
writing?
 Why did you choose to
come to this
presentation?

2. http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iatefl22
Background
 For my lessons
 Materials on my blog
 For publishers
 Self-publishing
 MaWSIG / IATEFL
 NILE MA
= not necessarily new!

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Evaluating materials
 Selected materials as DoS, but with no training = sometimes problematic!
 Consider: What works? What doesn’t work?
 Checklist = more principled materials selection?
 Use checklist on your own materials too
 My MA checklist:
https://sandymillin.wordpress.com/2022/05/11/an-example-of-a-materials-
evaluation-checklist/

4. http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iatefl22
Tips for writing a materials checklist
 Context
 Student(s)
 Teacher(s)
 Lesson format
 Lesson / course length
 List your own ideas – what could be
effective here?
 Frame as questions: ‘To what extent…?’
 Group in categories
 Check for overlaps
 Don’t go overboard! Keep list of criteria
manageable
 Scoring system: e.g. 0-4
 0 = not at all, 1 = just barely, 2 = to some
extent, 3 = to a large extent, 4 = to the
greatest extent
 Weighting: e.g. 1-3
 1 = desired, 2 = preferred, 3 = essential
 Space for comments
 Collaborate with others: before, during, after

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Resources for writing checklists
 Cunningsworth, A. (1995) Choosing your coursebook, Macmillan.
 Gearing, K. (1999) ‘Helping less-experienced teachers of English to evaluate teachers’ guides’. ELT
Journal, April, 53(2), pp. 122-157.
 Hutchinson, T. (1987) ‘What’s underneath?: an interactive view of materials evaluation’ in Sheldon
(ed.) ELT Textbooks and Materials – Problems in Evaluation and Development, British Council, pp.
37-44.
 McGrath, I. (2016) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching, 2nd edition. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
 Mukundan, J. and Ahour, T. (2010) ‘A Review of Textbook Evaluation Checklists across Four
Decades (1970-2008)’ in Tomlinson, B. and Masuhara, H. (eds.) Research for Materials
Development in Language Learning: Evidence for best practice. London: Continuum, pp.336-352.
Sheldon, L. E. (1988) ‘Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials’. ELT Journal, October, 42(4), pp.
237-246.

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‘Framing principles’
Jill Hadfield, IATEFL Manchester 2015 Journal > Principles
(Sorry about my poor
photography!)

8. http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iatefl22
Materials Development for TESOL, Freda Mishan and Ivor Timmis (2015:1)
[Principled materials development is…]
materials development which takes into account current
practice, but goes beyond it to consult first principles
drawn from second language acquisition (SLA) and
language teaching theory.

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An initial list of my beliefs (MA assignment)
 Materials should engage the learners’
interest through the choice of topics, and
maintain it through varied activities.
 Developing positive group dynamics are a
key factor in effective teaching.
 Materials should train learners to be better
listeners and readers, not just test their
abilities.
 Materials should provide plenty of
opportunities for learners to speak and write,
as well as support to help them do so.
 Materials should help learners to become
more autonomous.
 Language work should not be purely
grammar focussed. It should also include
work on lexis, including lexical chunks, on
pronunciation, and on functional language to
improve the quality of learner discourse.
 New teachers need and guidance support
with their teaching.
 Materials should be inclusive and accessible
to all. Learners should see themselves
represented in the materials they use.

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Using your principles
 Before
 Relevant to this context?
 Principles v. project demands
 During
 Sticking to them?
 Hard to follow?
 Help needed?
 After
 Checklist for proofreading / editing
 Reflect

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Considering other stakeholders
 Not just you, the writer!
 The user – put yourself in their shoes
 How easy is this for me to understand?
 Do I have all of the information I need to
make the most of these materials?
 The designer
 Clear artwork brief (see blogpost for
tips)
 Keep it simple (esp. self-publishing!)
 The editor (thanks Penny Hands!)
 Copy editing?
 Proofreading?
 Do it yourself first!
 Accept the feedback – don’t mourn
previous work too much

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Layout
 Number exercises and questions.
 Use a different font / coloured background
for rubrics.
 Add spacing before / after exercises and
questions.
 Use lines / boxes to separate sections on
the page.
 Use tables not text boxes to organise a
word-processed document.
 Use page breaks and section breaks to
create new parts to your document.
 Use styles, including Headings.
(Thanks Jon Hird and John Hughes!)
= improved usability and accessibility
Ask
Google!

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Sandy’s
materials
adapted
from
Beyond
A2+
Student’s
Book

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Inclusivity
 What names have you used?
 Is everybody the same colour? Gender? Body
type? Age?
 What kind of things are the people doing?
 Who are they with?
(Thanks Tyson Seburn, Heloisa Duarte, Ila Coimbra,
James Taylor…)
Image credit: https://depositphotos.com/stock-
photos/older-black-women.html?qview=140406490

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Other useful resources
 Sue Kay: How to write multiple-choice
activities
 Leo Selivan: Mind the ______:
rediscovering gap-fills (the last section of
the post)
 John Hughes: 50 ways to avoid gap-fill
fatigue (the second section of the post)
(summaries linked on my blog)

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http://eltplaybook.wordpress.com
https://sandymillin.wordpress.com/my-books/
Buy my books 
e-book only
e-book
paper book

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What I think I know about materials
writing
Sandy Millin
IATEFL Belfast 2022
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iatefl22
What did you learn today?
What questions do you
have?