Abstract:
Teaching materials are an integral part of education. The teaching materials
that are used in classrooms should be more inclusive to all the learners in
the classroom. No two learners are alike. A classroom may consist of diverse
learners with wide variation in geography, climate, culture, language, and
local customs. The textbooks and teaching materials have greater impact on
the learners. Given the importance of recent developments in the relevance
of localized teaching materials, the present Action Research study attempts to
explore the need for inclusive teaching and localized teaching and learning
materials in a multilingual and multicultural classroom context. Further, this
study examines how traditional teaching resources on British and American
English—affect students’ cultural identity and engagement. The study
employs a qualitative action research approach with an intervention plan,
which consists of four phases such as planning, action, observation, reflection
suggested by Kemmis and McTaggart. The study was conducted with a
group of 20 second year undergraduates in a lower level proficiency class
in a Sri Lankan state university. The data were collected using classroom
observations, student interviews, and content analysis of teaching materials
and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the sole use
of British and American English materials limit learners’ connection to their
own cultural backgrounds, prior knowledge and potentially affect motivation
and participation. Further, the findings after the intervention revealed that
incorporating locally relevant materials have resulted in learners’ increased
participation, motivation, engagement and to some extent the learners’ ensured
their identity, voice and felt sense of valued in the classroom. Accordingly,
the study provided useful insights into critically look at the material use in
the ELT classroom and promotes the importance of incorporating localized
materials.
