Teacher -developed materials for language teaching and learning

This book is the compilation of seven research studies. Six studies were carried out by the in-service teacher students from the Master's in Education with Emphasis on English Didactics at the School of Education in Universidad Externado de Colombia, and two professors from the same Emphasis conducted one study. It illustrates the students' research process focused on English didactic issues relevant to the EFL community of teachers. 

This issue comprises seven chapters. The first article reports the results of developing undergraduates' argumentative competen ce through ln-dass debates on social issues supported by the design and implementation of six contextualized workshops and subsidiary worksheets at a private university. The second describes the implementation of contextualized materials, based on topics of students' interest in an EFL context, to develop their reading comprehension in a state-funded school. The third explores how the design and implementation of workshops, focused on phonemic awareness and sensory-based activities, fostered the development of preschoolers' writing at a private school. The fourth presents the results of implementing materials based on role-plays to shape fourth-grade students' interaction skills at a private school. The fifth describes the process of designing and implementing contextualized materials, based on the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLlL) approach, to develop two oral communication micro skills (body language and fluency) among preschoolers in a bilingual private school. The sixth reports the results of implementing songs to improve students' learning of English and artistic skills at a state-funded school. The seventh describes the impact of both contextualized materials and comic strips on eight graders' writing process in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) dassroom, at a female state-funded school. Each chapter describes the corresponding research process undergone by the students and the professors, which entail the theoretical considerations, instructional and research designs, data analysis and findings, and condusions, pedagogical implications and questions for further research in relation to their research concern.