Novice and experienced language teachers’ experiences of designing materials: A comparative case study

Language teachers’ experiences as materials designers have been identified to be influenced by various factors at different contextual levels, including teaching experience. Language teachers with varying experience levels exhibit different ways of responding to the challenges they experience. However, there is an inadequate understanding of the influence of teaching experience on language teachers’ professional development in their role as materials designers. This article reports on a comparative case study investigating the similarities and differences in the challenges that novice teachers and experienced teachers encounter and the strategies that they use to address these challenges. We collected data from interviews, personal materials, and WeChat conversations with four teachers who were in the process of designing teaching materials. The findings show that although these teachers face similar challenges in relation to, e.g., knowledge in materials selection and task design, experienced language teachers tend to interact with colleagues and students and draw upon prior experiences to respond to these challenges, while novice language teachers’ responses are more cognition-oriented. This highlights the need to provide resources and support tailored to each group of teachers, bolstering novice teachers' ability to utilize social resources while also enhancing experienced teachers' motivation to acquire more knowledge.