Exploring Ready-to-Use Innovative Instructional Materials: From Newspapers to Question Papers.

The teachers of English are always in search of instructional materials (IMs) suitable to the needs of their learners. The experts in the field have discussed different facets of materials development for Teaching English Language and Literature (TELL). They have sought our attention towards one of the major trends in materials design, i.e. availability of sourcebooks. Though teachers have a choice for classroom activities, the materials available in the market appear inadequate to the needs of their learners. To overcome the limitations of available IMs, in the era of emphasis on the use of ICT tools, this article attempts to explore ready-to-use innovative IMs like newspapers in English and Indian languages, note-books, T-shirts, wrappers and question papers. The article divided into two main sections - innovative materials for teaching and innovative materials for testing - tries to make a point that availability of ready-to-use teacherproof materials negates the need to separately design IMs for TELL in Indian classrooms. The state and central textbook preparation boards encourage teachers to use supplementary materials in their classrooms situations. This article is an effort to support teachers and learners for selfinitiative to go beyond the prescribed IMs to cater to their pedagogical needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]