Teaching-Learning Materials (TLM) — REET English Notes

What is TLM, and why does it matter?

Teaching-Learning Materials are all the tools that make language teaching more effective, interesting and easier to understand — real objects (realia), pictures, charts, flashcards, radio, TV, computers and multimedia all fall under this umbrella.

TLM is especially valuable in teaching a second language like English because it connects a word to something the learner sees or does, not just hears or reads — which means even abstract words become easy to grasp.

Classifying TLM by the sense it uses

A picture is only seen (visual), while TV and film are both seen and heard (audio-visual) — REET tested this exact distinction directly.

Educational technology: Hardware vs Software approach

Hardware is the physical equipment; Software is the method or programme used with, or even without, that equipment.

Recognising a good textbook

A good English textbook has exercises that are well-selected and graded from simple to difficult, so the learner can progress in a logical, step-by-step order.

The teacher's role in textbook selection is considered central — English-teaching literature holds that only a teacher who genuinely knows their students' level, interests and difficulties is in a position to choose a suitable textbook for them.

Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience

Education-technology expert Edgar Dale proposed the 'Cone of Experience', a model that arranges learning experiences on a scale from concrete to abstract. At the base of the cone sit experiences where the learner does something directly and purposefully (direct purposeful experience); at the very top sit experiences that come only through words and symbols (verbal symbols).

The teaching implication is simple: the more concrete and direct an experience is, the deeper and more lasting the learning. This is why, in English teaching too, using real objects (realia), role play and demonstration usually produces better results than simply making students memorise definitions.

Cone of Experience: levels and examples (base to top)

The more an experience is rooted in the concrete base of the cone, the deeper the learning; the purely verbal level at the top is considered the weakest and least lasting form of learning.

Low-cost / no-cost TLM for English teaching

Effective TLM doesn't need expensive electronic equipment — word cards (flashcards), real objects (realia, such as showing actual fruit or vegetables to teach their names), hand puppets for conversation practice, and a classroom 'Word Wall' (a growing chart of new words on the wall) all work just as well.

A 'Language Corner' — a corner of the classroom stocked with English books, magazines and picture-stories — encourages children to read on their own in spare moments, and helps build both vocabulary and reading fluency, almost entirely free of cost.

Characteristics of good TLM

Effective teaching material has a few clear markers — it is directly tied to the lesson's learning objective, matches the age and level of the students, is easy to use, is durable, and, as far as possible, activates more than one sense at once (such as both seeing and hearing).

Good TLM should also encourage children's active participation — material that children can touch, use or take part in works better than material that only the teacher displays, because it makes the learning stick.

How to teach children

REET 2024 questions (solved)

Practice questions

Frequently asked questions

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