ELT Materials

Selection and
Adaptation
Expansion

Text must be lengthened in some way.

 Add one or more sentences/paragraphs
to the beginning & end of the text.
 Add specific items/sentences within the
text (e.g. adjectives).
 Add comment within the text.
 Reduction

Text must be shortened in some way.

 Remove clauses/specified items (e.g.
adjectives)/sentences
 Combine sentences.
 Rewrite in a different format.
Media Transfer
Text must be transferred into a different medium
or format.
 Transfer into a visual form (e.g. pictures,
graphs, maps, tables)
 Turn prose into a poem (vice versa)
 Turn a letter into a newspaper article (vice
versa)
 Turn a headline into a proverb (vice versa)
 Turn a poem into an advertising slogan (vice
versa)
 Turn a prose narrative into a screenplay.
Matching

A connection must be found between the

text & something else
 Match text with a visual representation
 Match text with a title/another text
 Match text with a voice/music
Interpretation

Personal knowledge/experience must be used to

clarify and extend the meaning(s) of the text.
 What does this remind you of?
 What image does this produce?
 What associations does it have?
 What questions do you wish to ask the author?
 What does the text not say that it might have
said?
 Formulate WH-questions on the text.
Creating text

Text is to be used as a springboard for the

creation of new texts.
 Write a parallel text on a different theme.
 Use the same story outline/model to
write a new text.
 Use the same title but write a new text.
 Combine these texts to create a new
text.
Analysis

Text is to be submitted to some form of language-

focused scrutiny
 Work out the ration of one-word and two-word
verbs
 How many different tenses are used? Which
are most/least frequent?
 List the different ways in which the word X is
referred to in the text (anaphoric reference)
 List all the words to do with (the sea,
movement, ecology etc.) in this text.
Project

 Text is used as a springboard for some

practical work with a concrete outcome.
 Use the text as a centerpiece of an
advertising campaign/mini
bulletin/brochure/TV commercials, etc.