‫الملتقى العلمي االول بقسم اللغة االنجليزية‬
“Materials Selection and Development: Designing a Unit”
Presented by: Lecturer Nour Zakaria
Date : 15-5-2013
Introduction
During my master’s degree, I have already desined a unit of book which is unit seven
and called it hotel reserveation. It is for ninth grade students in Jordan. Therefore I want
to share you my experience.
However, English language teaching has changed a great deal in the past few decades in
terms of content, pedagogy, assessment, and achieved learning outcomes (Crystal, 2003).
Can this be true for Jordan as well?!
In Jordan, English is thought of as an educational and instrumental language. It is a
means of promoting relations, understanding and cooperation between Jordan and the rest
of the world.English is formally introduced in Jordan as a compulsory subject to the
Jordanian learner in Government schools as early as the first class (at the age of 6), and it
is taught over the rest of the school years up to the 12th class (Tawjihi; at the age of 18).
On average, there are 4-5 contact class periods (45 minutes each) a week. Therefore, the
pupils’ contact with the English language is very limited since it is virtually non-existent
outside the classroom. Khamis and Scharer (1990) pointed out those communicative
textbooks, which were introduced in Jordan in 1988, placed great emphasis on the use of
English as opposed to the mother tongue Arabic in the classroom.
Culture
Culture is an important part of the thematic input in this unit ,and builds students’
knowledge of national and international culture, past and present. Numerous reading
passages, activities and exercises deal with specifically Jordanian themes. To take one
example, in speaking skill “Petra”
Organizing lessons
Jane Willis (1996), in her book A Framework for Task-Based Learning (TBL), outlines a
model for organizing lessons, which is typically based on three stages: The first of these
is the pre-task stage, during which the teacher introduces and defines the topic and the
learners engage in activities that either help them to recall words and phrases that will
be useful during the performance of the main task .
This stage is followed by what Willis calls the “task cycle”. Here the learners perform the
task (typically a reading or listening exercise or a problem-solving exercise) in pairs or
small groups. They then prepare a report for the whole class on how they did the task and
what conclusions they reached. Finally, they present their findings to the class in spoken
or written form.
The final stage is the language focus stage, during which specific language features from
the task is highlighted and worked on. Feedback on the learners’ performance at the
reporting stage may also be appropriate at this point. The main advantages of TBLT are
that language is used for a genuine purpose meaning that real communication should take
place, and that at the stage where the learners are preparing their report for the whole
class, they are forced to consider language form in general rather than concentrating on a
single form.
The Title of the unit “Hotel Reservation”
I have chosen this topic for many reasons:
1. Tourism is one of the most important sectors in Jordan's economy . In 2010, 8
million tourists from various countries visited Jordan, its major tourist attractions
include visiting historical sites, like the worldwide famous Petra.
2. From my teaching experience, students find difficulties in reservation at a hotel
because they lack suitable vocabulary that is used in such context that supports
them in speaking when they are communicating to people.
3. It is a good topic to know about in terms of getting a job such as receptionist in a
hotel.
Scope and sequence
SEQUENCE AND SCOPE
Unit /
contents
Reading
skills
Vocabulary
Grammar
Language
Speaking
skill
function
Listening
Writing
skill
skill
Glossary
“7”
Hotel
Reservation
Preview
-ing
reading
text.
“Cool
Hotel”
Using
context
clues to
understand
vocabulary.
Reviewin
g of
Countabl
e
/uncount
alble Nouns
Choose the
correct
words to
complete
the
sentences.
How
much/ho
w many?
Making
inquiries
Ask and
answer in
pairs
Discussi
ng
with
partner.
Acting
out the
conversat
ion
Listening
carefully
then
answerin
g the
questions
Disscussin
g in
groups
and
writing a
paragraph
in
answering
to the
questions
Defining
key words.
Writing
your
essay.
100–
Importance Of Listening Exercise
This kind of listening comprehension aims to train students to understand what is being
said in the dialogue and try to extract specific information . So , it is necessary to do this
job, because it can develop the abilities of learners’ listening comprehension.
It is considered vitally important to train students in this skill (e.g. the ability to
understand what is important even though the listener cannot understand everything)since
they may well have to comprehend listening in just such a situation in real life.
Listening Skill
Pre -listening
Check for any words that your students may not know.
(check voc).(see page 16)
While- listening
Try to play the recording once for overall comprehension and then for specific details .
Listen carefully again and answer the following questions.(see page 17)
Post –listening
After answering the listening questions, compare your answers with your partner’s answers(see
page 18,ex.c).
Background Of Vocabulary
The role of Vocabulary: it is a vital aspect in language and mastering vocabulary is very
important for the students who learn English as a foreign language, because it appears in
every skill of language listening, speaking, reading and writing skill.
Stages of presenting vocabulary in this unit :
1. Setting up a context, which is relevant to learners’ interest and age, builds on or
incorporates learners’ experience. To deduce the vocabulary meanings from the
written context. (see page 8)
2. Choose the correct words to complete the sentences. (see page 9).
Reading Skill
 Pre –Reading:
Before read the text, students are asked some questions.
To identify the topic for students.
To activate their knowledge about the subject of the reading.
To learn the students the key vocabulary.(see page 4).
 While –reading :
To make students aware of what they are reading by taking notes through
underlying the key points. (see page 5)
 Post –reading:
After reading is followed by check comprehension questions.
(see page 7).
Grammar
The importance of grammar:
Knowing about grammar helps us understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear,
interesting and precise.
Objectives of grammar in this unit
To review using countable nouns and un countable nouns in sentences. (see page 10)
To practice using how many and how much in asking questions. (see page 11)
Language function
According to Richards and Rodgers (1986/2000), language functions refer to the
purposes in which we use language to communicate.
Students will have the incentive to focus attention more clearly to language itself and “it
may lead learners to switch attention repeatedly between accuracy and restructuring
and fluency” (Skehan, 1996:27). In this unit ,students are asked to asking and answering
questions about reservation in a hotel.(see page 13).
Background of Speaking Skill
Foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak.However, it is not easy to
design and administer speaking activity.
In class where all, or a number of the learners share the same mother tongue, they may tend to use
it: because it is easier, because it feels unnatural to speak to one another in a foreign language,
and worried about making mistakes, or fearful of criticism.
Effective speaking activity
According to Penny’s view (2000:120), an effective speaking activity includes four aspects as the
following:
1). Learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact
occupied by learner talk (see page 14).
2). Participation: Classroom discussion is dominated by all to get a chance to speak. (see page
15)
3). Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic
4). Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in utterances that are
relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. (
Background of writing skill
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and students face certain problems in teaching To
have students acquire an understanding of the purpose and structure of the writing.
TBLT is to integrate all four skills and to move from fluency to accuracy plus fluency. The range
of tasks available (reading texts, writing offers a great deal of flexibility in this model and should
lead to more motivating activities for the learners. (see page 19)
The writing process
Pre- writing and planning
To give students a clear idea about what they are going to do in class and to provide the context
in which students will construct their writing.
 Working on draft
(see page 20)
 Preparing for final version
Giving feedback
(see page 21)
Glossary
It is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for
those terms. Traditionally, a glossary appears at the end of this unit and includes terms within
that unit.(see page 22).
References
Crystal, David (2003). english as a global language (2nd Edition). Cambridge
University Press.
Davis, R. (1998-2012). General listening quizzes: Hotel Reservations. Retrieved
from http://www.esl-lab.com/hotel1/hotel1.htm
Hatamleh, I., & Jaradat. D. (1984). Evaluation of elementary TEFL textbook and
classroom teaching lessons. Abhath Al-Yarmouk. Jordan.
Khamis, M. & Scharer, J. (1990). Training EFL teachers: A handbook for
training the Jordanian teachers of basic education stage. Ministry of
Education: Jordan.
Richards. J. C., and Theodore S. Rodgers. (1986-2000). Approaches and methods in
language teaching. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching Press
Ur, . (2000). A Course in language teaching: Practice and theory. London: Foreign
Language Teaching and Research Press.
Willis, J . (1996). A framework for task-based learning. London: Longman.