Thematic and
Integrated Approach to English Material Development
I Made Markus
This article discusses and gives and
example of how English material development should be done using the thematic
approach as suggested by the 1994 English curriculum of SMU (high school) and
using the integrated approach in which various language exercises
(pronunciation, vocabulary, structure and the four skills) are integrated naturally
in line with what happens in real life communication. The example given is to
develop a unit of English material with the theme of Student Exchange
and the sub-them of Looking for an Accommodation so the students will be
able to use English in their effort to find a good accommodation when they have
the chance to join a Student Exchange Program in the future. The unit will
start with a reading activity (reading advertisements) to find possible
accommodation from the newspaper. Then they will have to ring a few landlords
who have rooms or apartments to get further information about the accommodation
advertised (speaking/listening practice) and so on until they get the good
accommodation they need at the right cost they can afford. In this way, a story
line can be constructed for the whole programs (with various themes and
sub-themes) to make the program more interesting.
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Markus, I M. (1997). Thematic and integrated approach to English material
development. TEFLIN Journal, 8(1), 90-102.
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