The document discusses the importance of materials evaluation and design in language teaching. It notes that materials evaluation, syllabus design, and learner assessment are central activities in applied linguistics. Experienced teachers are able to predict how learners will respond to different types of published materials and know what to use, adapt, and supplement. The document emphasizes that language teachers need the competence to make informed decisions about choosing and using teaching materials, as well as developing their own materials when existing options are inadequate.

1. Materials Evaluation
and Design for
Language Teaching:
Ian McGrath

2. Materials evaluation and
design along with
syllabus design, learner
assessment are centrally
important applied
linguistics activities.

3. The appropriateness of
materials as a field of
serious study is reflected
in many publications and
in an increasing inclusion
in Master´s programmes.

4. Materials writing and
publication has become a
professional track within
the professional field of
teaching ESL

5. From the first day I went to school I had
to bring my textbooks. Throughout my
school years I learned with textbooks. It
was not until entered college that I was
told not to use textbooks, and I had to
design my own teaching materials
during teaching practice.

6. “Every day I have to strive to
bridge the gap, to satisfy the
demands of a textbook, but in
ways that will be satisfying to
those who learn from it.”

7. Trainees need to develop the
capacity to evaluate existing
materials in relation to the
teaching-learning purposes

8. Experienced teachers are able
to predict how learners will
cope with and respond to
certain types of published
material.

9. They will have a sense of
what to use and what not
to use, what to adapt and
where to supplement

10. It seems logical therefore
that one of the most
important foci for in-service
education should
be guidance in the
selection of course
materials.

11. Language teachers need to
possess the confidence and at
least the basic competences to
(1) make informed decisions
about the choice and use of
materials and (2) develop
materials when existing
materials are found to be
inadequate.

12. Teaching materials
play a crucial role in
teaching-learning.

13. When these take the form of a
textbook it is essential that the
textbook be carefully selected to
meet both external requirements
and the needs of the teachers.

14. It is also important that
teachers be able to
mediate between the
textbook and the
learners, adapting and
supplementing the book
as necessary.