An investigation into teacher's beliefs and practice about developing supplementary materials for ielts learners at language centers in Ho Chi Minh city - 21

Subthemes

Count

Code

Count

The notion of supplementary materials in IELTS classrooms

Purposes of supplementary materials for IELTS

classrooms

12

Providing extra exercises

7

Filling the gaps between coursebooks and learners’ expectations or the examination

5

Benefits of supplementary materials for IELTS

classrooms

20

Compensating for the weaknesses in main coursebooks

8

Replacing the inappropriate content in coursebooks

1

Raising interests among learners

3

Improving lexical and grammatical capacity

3

Bearing a resemblance to the real test

2

Improving teachers’ own language knowledge

3

Sources of supplementary materials for

28

IELTS commercial textbooks

8

Authentic materials

9

IELTS

classrooms

IELTS websites and blogs

5

Main coursebooks’ addons

1

Materials from sources other than IELTS

4

Materials written by test takers achieving a high score

1

Internal and external sources

Teachers' Experience

10

Personal experiences as a learner

6

Personal experiences as a teacher

4

Teaching Context

19

Learners’ need

6

Other teachers’ practices

5

Language centers’ policies

8

Theoretical Knowledge

3

Knowledge from teacher training courses

3

Personalities

2

Personal preferences

2

The washback effect of the IELTS

examination

9

Focusing on academic language

4

Focusing on the four language skills

5

Selecting supplementary materials

20

Length and level of difficulty

4

Relevance to the IELTS examination

4

Quality of the material

6

Interesting materials

3

Topics similar to those in main coursebooks

1

Relevance to real-life situations

2

Designing supplementary materials

15

Materials’ content

10

Materials’ layout

5

Adapting supplementary materials

13

Adding more materials

5

Eliminating inappropriate materials

2

Modifying existing materials

6

Convergence

11

Developing materials to match learners’ need

4

Using IELTS commercial textbooks

2

Using authentic materials

2

Using supplementary materials to improve lexical and grammatical capacity

1

Using supplementary materials to compensate for the weaknesses in main coursebooks

1

Using supplementary materials to raise interests among learners

1

Divergences

2

Influence from other teachers’ practices

1

Influence from language centers’ policies

1

Examples

Providing extra exercises

If the supplementary materials are immediately relevant to the topics that I teach in classes, they will be a way of consolidating knowledge and offering extra practice and resources. (P7)

Filling the gaps between the available coursebooks

and learners’ needs/ examination

When the coursebooks do not provide ample exercises, they update new trends in society, contemporary news, and topics for learners to practice. These materials are more practical than textbooks. (P8)

Compensating for the weaknesses in main coursebooks

When my students learn how to write an introduction for an essay, the main textbook only presents vocabulary but does not cater to the instruction. I have to prepare those instructions for my students. (P9)

Replacing the inappropriate content in coursebooks

Some coursebooks are not appropriate for the students’ levels of proficiency. For example, while students are only at the elementary level, the coursebooks’ content is too difficult. (P6)

Raising interests among learners

Videos on Youtube are used for listening skills. These are mainly short clips for my students to relax, and they are not really relevant to the teaching content. (P2)

Improving lexical and grammatical capacity

As for such reading texts, I often use them to improve my students' lexical capacity instead of creating a complete set of questions for them to practice reading comprehension. (P5)

Bearing a resemblance to the real test

Secondly, they [supplementary materials] add variety to my teaching. For example, the degree of reliability and resemblance to the actual test. (P10)

They [supplementary materials] help teachers broaden their knowledge. They also provide other information, such as scarce topics in the IELTS test. (P11)

IELTS commercial textbooks

The IELTS examination is designed by Cambridge (UCLES). Therefore, books by the press are accurate and close to the test questions. (P3)

Authentic materials

Besides, articles in magazines or newspapers can be used to help learners improve their reading comprehension skills. (P5)

IELTS websites and blogs

When other textbooks do not have what I need, then I have to go online and search for materials from reliable sources, namely IELTS Simon or IELTS Liz. (P9)

Main coursebooks’ add- ons

Normally, IELTS coursebooks are accompanied by workbooks or other products such as electronic books, online practice websites, or mock tests. (P10)

Materials from sources other than IELTS

Usually, I use materials from PET [Preliminary English Test] and KET [Key English Test] because they are suitable for the pre-IELTS level. (P6)

Materials written by test takers achieving a high score

Books written by teachers who achieve band 9.0 in the IELTS examination (P8)

Personal experiences as a learner

Previously, I was a student of a teacher who specialized in IELTS Writing and developed her own materials for lessons. Therefore, I have a tendency not to use a particular book but synthesize from many books, sources on the Internet, or available worksheets of other teachers to create my own hand-out. (P6)