Notes: Teaching Learning Material | English Language & Pedagogy for CTET & TET Exams - CTET & State TET PDF Download

Teaching aids are essential in every classroom, offering numerous benefits such as enhancing learners' reading comprehension skills, illustrating or reinforcing concepts, providing differentiated instruction, and alleviating anxiety or boredom by presenting information in novel and engaging ways.

Teaching Aids

Learning and teaching are ongoing processes where teachers continuously seek ways to make the teaching process effective and engaging. Language teaching is a dynamic process, and teachers are well-versed with the objectives of teaching English. Teaching materials should be selected with these objectives in mind to develop skills such as reading, understanding, listening, and speaking.

Teaching Aids or Teaching Materials

‘Teaching materials’ is a general term used to describe the resources teachers use to deliver instructions. These materials can support student learning and increase their success. Teachers should design appropriate learning activities focusing on teaching objectives. By starting from a low starting point, taking small steps, using diversified activities, and providing instant feedback, teachers can encourage active participation from students during the learning process to help them master skills and methods through collaborative learning.

Teachers should exercise discretion in the appropriate use of teaching aids. Effective teaching aids not only enhance students’ interest in learning but also consolidate their knowledge, thus achieving teaching objectives. Common teaching aids include concrete objects, figures, models, word cards, number cards, and audio-visual equipment such as tape recorders, headsets, wireless induction loop systems, and multimedia teaching aids.

The design and organization of teaching materials should be student-oriented. They should be systematically selected and collated to serve their purpose. Teaching materials provided by departments or other academic institutions can also serve as references for teachers.

Characteristics of Teaching Aids

• Teaching aids should be large enough to be seen by the students for whom they are used.
• They should be meaningful and serve a useful purpose.
• Teaching aids should be up-to-date and accurate.
• They should be simple, inexpensive, and can be improvised.
• Teaching aids should be realistic and appropriate for the mental level of the learners.
• They should develop interest and curiosity among learners.
• Teaching aids should help in achieving stipulated learning objectives and provide reinforcement for better learning.
• They should develop learners’ perception towards the content.

Audio Aids

Audio aids facilitate learning through the sense of hearing, especially in language teaching. Examples include:

1. Radio: Radio helps learners with correct pronunciation and exposure to various forms of English.
2. Audio Cassette Player: Used for scientific and effective teaching by playing subject matter recordings.
3. Linguaphone: Enables learners to speak English by listening to native speakers in various situations.
4. Language Laboratory: Equipped with audio-tapes for listening activities specially designed for English language learners.

Visual Aids

Visual aids appeal to learners’ visual organs and help in achieving cognitive, affective, and psychomotor objectives. Some examples include:

1. Chalk Board or Soft Board: Used for teaching sentence structure, new words, and grammatical examples.
2. Pictures and Charts: Used to introduce new topics, tell stories, and teach new vocabulary.
3. Flannel Board: Displays inspirational thoughts, ideas, and news headlines.
4. Narrative Charts: Used for arranging facts and ideas, and expressing events over a period.
5. Flash Cards: Useful for small group discussions, drill and practice, and applying information to new situations.
6. Maps and Models: Present geographical facts and relate complex concepts to students.

Audio-Visual Aids

Audio-visual aids appeal to both sense and visual organs, facilitating cognitive, affective, and psychomotor objectives. Examples include:

1. Television: Combines visual and auditory senses, effective for developing comprehension abilities and vocabulary.
2. Cinema or Motion Pictures: Stimulates imagination and mental imagery, clarifies ideas, and supplements textbooks.
3. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Uses computers for presenting teaching materials with multimedia options.
4. Film Strip and Slide Projector: Film strips and slides with images and recordings are used for inexpensive visual aids.

Textbook

Textbooks are one of the most common teaching materials used by English language teachers. They should meet certain criteria:

• Selected based on the age, interests, and individual differences of learners.
• Cover the objectives of English teaching and be free from errors.
• Attractive, illustrative, and with a high-quality cover.
• Each chapter should contain exercises and practical work related to its content.
• Chapters should relate experiences that enlighten and provide values.
• Language should be appropriate for the age and interest of students.

About Teaching Learning Material

About Teaching Learning Material

Teaching-Learning Materials

• The aids used by the teacher or facilitator in the classroom to make his teaching more understandable and effectively are known as the teaching-learning materials or teaching aids. It can be big or small and can be bought or made easily by both the teacher or students. For example, blackboard, map, chart, globe, tape recorder, etc.
• Teachers should use teaching-learning materials in an appropriate way. It not only helps students to enhance their learning but also make their learning permanent. Before selecting the teaching aids, teachers should first think about their practical use and assess whether the aim of using aids i.e., the purpose of teaching can be achieved or not. The aids should be student-oriented and should be selected systematically to fulfil the purpose.