The Use of Supplementary Materials by Iranian EFL Teachers at High Schools for Talented Students

Journal of Studies in Learning and Teaching English

شناسنامه علمی شماره، دوره 1، شماره 2، فروردین 2012، صفحه 167-185   

نویسندگان

Masoomeh Salehi^{* 1}؛ Mostafa Zamanian²

¹Shahre Ghods Azad University

²Shiraz Azad University

چکیده

One of the main concerns of teachers in modern learner-centered approaches
is whether published teaching materials can meet the needs of students at
a particular leaning situation or the teachers ought to prepare their own
materials. This dilemma gets worse when the teaching situation includes
a textbook prescribed by an authority such as the Ministry of Education. In
such cases, the teacher has to compensate for the deficiencies of the textbook
by providing the students with supplementary materials. The aim of this study
is to see whether Iranian EFL teachers are aware of and cater for the needs of
their students by providing them with supplementary materials. In this study,
teachers teaching at high schools for talented students were chosen because
their students have definitely different needs from others. Forty teachers at 23
high schools for talented students in different parts of Iran were interviewed
in person or through the telephone. The teachers who taught at other schools
too (21 teachers) were also asked whether they used the same supplementary
materials at other schools. Moreover, the teachers who used supplementary
materials were also asked about the types of materials they used. The
results showed that 33 (82.5%) teachers used supplementary materials at
schools for talented students.
Out of 21 teachers who taught at other schools, 14 (66.66%) teachers used
no or different supplementary materials at other schools. It indicates that
teachers adjust supplementary materials to the needs and abilities of their
students. Considering the types of materials, teachers used different types
of materials at different grades of high school, indicating their awareness
of different needs of students at different grades.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Supplementary materials؛ Needs analysis؛ talented students؛ EFL؛ Textbook