Materials development is the principled process of creating teaching and learning resources, including coursebooks, worksheets, digital content, audio/video, and task sequences, grounded in theory, research, and knowledge of learner needs. It is distinct from materials adaptation (adapting existing materials) and materials evaluation (assessing materials' suitability), though the three processes are closely related.
Brian Tomlinson, the leading figure in this field, has argued consistently that materials development should be driven by principles of second language acquisition, not by publishing conventions or commercial pressures (Tomlinson, 1998, 2011).
Tomlinson (2011) synthesised research into a set of principles for effective materials:
| Principle | Implication for materials |
|---|---|
| Rich and varied input | Expose learners to extensive, diverse, and authentic language, not just graded, simplified text |
| Affective engagement | Materials should engage learners emotionally: curiosity, humour, personal relevance, surprise |
| Noticing facilitation | Help learners notice features of input through tasks, highlighting, or consciousness-raising, not just explicit rules |
| Opportunities for output | Provide meaningful tasks that require learners to produce language for communicative purposes |
| Contextualised practice | Present and practise language in meaningful contexts, not in isolated drills |
| Catering for differences | Allow for different learning styles, speeds, interests, and proficiency levels |
| Achievement and confidence | Activities should be challenging but achievable; learners need regular experiences of success |
| Delayed grammar teaching | Allow learners to encounter and process language before explicit analysis (Tomlinson's "text-driven" approach) |
Establish who the learners are, what they need, and in what context they will use the language. Without needs analysis, materials are generic at best and irrelevant at worst.
Define what the materials should achieve, ideally aligned with learning outcomes and backward design principles.
Establish the overall structure: how many units, what sequence, what recurring task types, how skills are integrated. This overlaps with scope and sequence and course design.
Write texts, design tasks, create visuals, record audio. Each component should serve a clear pedagogical purpose. Questions to ask:
Test materials with actual learners. Observe what works and what does not. No amount of desk-based planning substitutes for classroom trialling.
Revise based on piloting feedback. This iterative cycle (write → pilot → revise) is what separates principled development from one-shot production.
Systematic evaluation after use, feeding into the next iteration.
Language schools and programmes that develop their own materials (rather than relying solely on published coursebooks) gain:
The cost is time and expertise. A minimum viable approach: use a coursebook as the spine, develop supplementary materials for gaps, and gradually build an institutional materials bank through iterative piloting and revision.