Materials design for esp plan: According to Tom Hutchinson

1. A materials design model
a. Input
This maybe a text, dialogue, video-recording, diagram or any piece of communication data, depending on the needs you have defined in your analysis.
The input provides a number of things:
· Stimulus material for activities
· New language items
· Correct models of language use
· A topic for communication
· Opportunities for learners to use their information processing skills
· Opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge both of the language and the subject matter
b. Content focus
Language is not an end in itself, but a means of transferring information and feelings about something. Non-linguistic content should be exploited to generate meaningful communication in the classroom.
c. Language focus
Our aim is to enable learners to use language, but it is unfair to give learners communicative tasks and activities for which they do not have enough language knowledge. In language focus, learners have the chance to take the language to pieces, study how it works and practice putting it back together again.
d. Task
The ultimate purpose of language learning is language use. Materials should be designed to lead towards a communicative task in which learners use the content and language knowledge they have built up through the unit.
These four elements combine in the model as follows
· The primary focus of the unit is task
· The language and content are drawn from the input and are selected according to what the learners will need in order to do the task.
· It follows that an important feature of the model is to create coherence in terms of both language and content throughout the unit.
· This provides the support for more complex activities by building up a fund of knowledge and skills.

3. A material design model: sample materials
The basic model can be used for materials of any length. Every stage can be covered in one lesson, if the task is a small one, or the whole unit might be spread over a series of lessons. In this part, we will show what the model looks like in practice in some of our materials. 

This material is intended for lower intermediate level students from a variety of technical specialism. The topic of the blood circulation system can be of relevance to a wide range of subjects. Apart from the general interest that any medical matter has, the lexis is of a very basic type that is generally applicable both literally and metaphorically (e.g. heart, artery, pump, collecting chamber, oxygen). Really, there are only two specific terms used, such as ventricle and auricle. So, the text is rather viewed as an illustration of the general principles of fluid mechanics than as a medical text. 

As the unit title indicates, language is approached through an area of content. The topic represents a common form of technical discourse – describing a circulatory system – although in this case, presented from an unusual point of view.

The starter plays a number of important roles:

a. It creates a context of knowledge for the comprehension of the input. Comprehension in the ESP classroom is often more difficult than in real life, because texts are taken in isolation. In the outside world a text would normally appear in a context, which provides reference points to assist understanding (Hutchinson and Water, 1981).
b. It activates the learners’ minds and gets them thinking. They can then approach the text in an active frame of mind.
c. It arouses the learners’ interest in the topic.
d. It reveals what the learners already know in terms of language and content. The teacher can then adjust the lesson to take this into account.
e. It provides a meaningful context in which to introduce new vocabulary or grammatical items.

This section practices extracting information from the input and begin the process of relating this content and language to a wider context.

Steps 1 and 2 are not only comprehension checks. They also provide data for the later language work (step 5 and 6) this is an example of unit coherence.

Learners should always be encouraged to find answers for themselves wherever possible.

It is possible to incorporate opportunities for the learners to use their own knowledge and abilities at any stages. It is particularly useful to do this as soon as the basic information contained in the input has been identified, in order to reinforce connections between this and the learners’ own interests and needs. Here for example, the learners are required to go beyond the information in the input. They have to relate the subject matter to their own knowledge and reasoning powers, but still using the language they have been learning.

 
This section gives practice in some of the language elements needed for the task. These may be concerned with aspects of sentence structure, function or text construction. The points focused on are drawn from the input, but they are selected according to their usefulness for the task. 
Further input related to the rest of the unit in terms of subject matter or language can be introduced at any point in order to provide a wider range of contexts for exercises and tasks. This helps learners to see how their limited resources can be used for tackling a wide range of problem (see also step 7).
Learners need practice in organizing information, as well as learning the means for expressing those ideas.
Earlier work is recycled through another activity. This time the focus is more on the language form than the meaning.
Language work can also involve problem solving with learners using their powers of observation and analysis (Hutchinson, 1984).
There is a gradual movement within the unit from guided to more open-ended work. This breaks down the learning tasks gives the learners greater confidence for approaching the task.
The unusual type of input gives the opportunity for some more imaginative language work.
Here the learners have to create their own solution to a communication problem. In so doing they use both the language and the content knowledge developed through the unit. The learners, in effect, are being asked to solve a problem, using English, rather than to do exercises about English. Given the build-up through the unit, the task should be well within the grasp of both learner and teacher.

The task, also provides a clear objective for the learners and so help to break up the often bewildering mass of the syllabus, by establishing landmarks of achievement.

The unit can be further expanded to give learners the chance to apply the knowledge gained to their own situation. For example, a project for this unit could ask the learners to describe any other kind of enclosed system (e.g. an air conditioning system) in their own home, place of work or field of study.