This thesis reports the outcome of a research conducted to discover the quality of TEFL materials of one of the biggest and most well-known English Institutions in the country and the reasons why the institution's teachers, who used the materials (Student Book and Teacher's Guide) for teaching the institution's Intermediate IV classes, encountered an enormous difficulty to convey the materials to the students and kept on whining for having to toil at imparting the materials to teenager students.
The fundamental objectives of the research were to help TEFL teachers, materials writers, and English Institutions get some insights on what kinds of learning elements should be included in the ideal TEFL materials and what should the teachers and the institutions do to improve the quality of their services.
The theoretical framework of the research is the twelve learning elements, based on the latest trends and hypotheses of world-renowned ELT specialists, that should be implemented in TEFL materials. To determine the value of the researched materials, the percentage of frequency each learning element appearing in the lessons was measured. Inasmuch as there is no specific quantification judging the quality of ELT materials discovered in the literature or stated by ELT experts, for this particular research the value is measured by the percentages of the existence of each learning element in each lesson. Thus, it is assumed that if the percentage is 90% up, the value is A (excellent), 80%-89%: B (good), 70%-79%: C (satisfactory), and less than 70%: D (unsatisfactory). Solutions to improve the materials of each lesson by implementing the learning elements in the theoretical framework are portrayed; furthermore, a sample of a lesson for students' Work Book, supplementing the materials, designed to sharpen students' skills in listening, speaking (in the form of completing dialogues), reading, and writing (in the form of arranging sentences orderly) is also depicted in this thesis.
The outcome of the comprehensive analysis of the researched materials was quite surprising because the value is A (91.66%), meaning that the quality of the materials is excellent. As a follow up, the teachers were interviewed to find the causes of their complaints. As a matter of fact, the teachers' negative attitudes towards the materials and the absence of mentorship on the institution's side were the main causes of the problems.
To sum up the research, it is suggested that TEFL materials writers implement the twelve learning elements into their materials, hoping that the materials will facilitate teachers' role as facilitators and benefit students in the teaching-learning process; while to English institutions, it is strongly recommended that they pay more attention to teacher development and welfare programs to enlarge teachers' TEFL repertoire and improve teachers' living condition. |