When it's not what you do but the way that you do it: How research into second language acquisition can help teachers make the most of their classroom materials.
It's not controversial to note that materials used in language classrooms need to tick a lot of boxes. They need to be engaging, but not be so long and complex that they out live their potential to engage; they need to be pitched at a level which is challenging, but not so challenging as to risk inviting failure; they need to convince learners as well as teachers that within them reside useful language learning opportunities in vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics. While no amount of empirical inquiry can set out what counts as engaging, or too short, too long, too difficult, too easy or insufficiently responsive to the needs of a particular group of learners, a considerable body of SLA research has illuminated more broadly how materials might be used in classrooms by incorporating, for example, solitary and group planning time, task repetition and task sequencing. The chapter briefly reviews the body of published research into task repetition and planning time. It then selects some existing commercial materials, widely available to language teachers today, and considers, in the light of this research, how they could be used in a classroom to support second language development. Good teachers of course are skilled at adapting materials to suit their particular classes; this chapter will offer a research based string to their bow.