More recently, Châtry-Komarek co-authored an article about materials creation in the National Literacy Acceleration Program in Ghana. The authors document the timeline for the project and the backgrounds of people who worked on the project, which is helpful. However, it is difficult to determine how the team made decisions because of the heavy use of the passive voice in phrases like “books were developed” and “templates of all the materials were elaborated in English”. Additionally, the authors discuss the ways that Ghanaians from 11 language groups collaborated and were able to share and learn from one another’s experience, with greater feelings of empowerment and Ghanaian identity afterward. However, details of who actually stood in the more powerful position of training-designer and template-maker remain unknown \cite{rosekrans_education_2012}, 609-611#. 
An article by Catter describes a case where translating materials was  large part of the creation process. Nicaragua used an intercultural bilingual education approach to materials for the Miskito and Sumo-Mayangna lagnauges development until 2000. During that time, teaching and learning mterials for those languages were directly translated from Spanish. After changing to the intercultural bilingual approach, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport drafted some materials directly children’s native language. Other materials were not translated directly, but instead went through a process of translation, interpretation, and contextualization \cite{Valiente_Catter_2011}
A few other texts offer some helpful insights into materials creation, although not in the length of the texts already mentioned. One mentions that in Uganda, not all language communities had reached consensus on their orthographies. To ensure use of an acceptable orthography in the materials, the project staff spent six months working intensively with technical experts and local language boards to discuss, validate, and standardize the orthographies for those langages. Next, the porject team trained writers in using the newly affirmed orthographies, and then the teaching and learning materials were creted using those orthographies \cite{rti_international_planning_2015}, 33. Ilboudo briefly describes the materials development process for several languages in Burkina Faso. For the pilot program, a team of technical experts wrote materials in Mooré, the most widely spoken national language in Burkina Faso. These materials were then pre-tested, revised, and validated in Mooré. After that, linguistic teams from other languages adapted or translated the materials with assistance from the original design team. AFter one to two years of use, the textbooks were evaluated by pupils, parents, teachers, and other educators. \cite{ilboudo_bilingual_2010}, 82-83. Finally, the Read Malawi program worked with teachers in a writing workshop to transform stories into books. Teachers wrote stories about topics that would interest their students, which were then tested in classrooms to ensure they were appropriately leveled. Local artists created images to support the texts, working with both the authors and editors to ensure that they were relevant and high quality. The project also created teacher's guides that provided a patterned approach to instruction. \cite{sailors_developing_2017}, 201-202.

Overview of the Process

From both the how-to texts and the case studies, a general pattern for the materials creation process emerged. While not all cases or recommendations include all steps, the phases appear in multiple texts and serve as a useful overview. For brevity, each step will include some suggested references, but other texts may also discuss that part of the process. Additionally, the process is not linear, and there is usually movement back and forth between some of the steps, particularly revision and testing.
 

Research

A key part of the process is gathering information about the community or communities that the materials will serve. Preapring to create materials requires understanding some aspects of the culture, language, demographics, school environment, etc (chatry Komarek, Rai). This research often means researching the langauge itself, including the sounds within it, grammatical structures, and grapheme frequency (Morren, Kelley, Weber).

language development:

The research phase may reveal some functions that the language has not had to fulfill before. It might never have been used in writing before, been used only for a short time. In that case, it may be necessary for the community to establish a writing system, or to revise and improve an exisiting writing system (Morren, RTI). Often, the languages have not been used in formal schooling before, so the community has not yet agreed on some of the words that will be used in teavching and learning materials. The community may need to come together to identyify or create words for scientific, mathematical, or pedagogical concepts (Fafunwa).

Deciding on the Curriculum and Methdology

To make quality materials, the materials creation team needs to know wht to teach and how to teach it. Developing the curriculum is a matter of deciding what skills and knowledge students should learn, and choosing a methodology means identifying an overarching approach to conveying those skills and knowledge. The team needs to consider the source, assumptions, structure, and limitations of the various available models (Chatry Komarek, Kelley, Fafunwa).

assembling a team:

It is normal for this process to be performed by a team, so at some point the people facilitating the process need to identify who will work on the materials. This can include Ministry of education officials, educational consultants, educators, speakers of the langauge, elders, editors, illustrators, linguists, and community members. (Ng'asike, RTI, Rosarek)

content creation

The most obvious and least optional step in the whole process is creating the content. The materials must have text, and usually contain exercises and illustrations, too. Someone has to generate the stories, explanations, activities, and pictures in the materials. (Foerster, Stringer, Ng'asike, Chatry Komarek, Catter)

formatting

Although it may not seem interesting, the way the content is laid out on the page, the size of the books, and the printing style have an impact on how teachers and students use the materials, so the team will have to make decisions about formatting. (chatry komarek, kelley)

testing and evaluation

Once some verson of the materials is complete, it can be tested and evaluated to see how it fucntions in a classroom and what the community thinks of it. A common way to test the materials is to print some and use them with a small number of students for a term or a year, which is sometimes called a pilot test (Fafunwa, Chatry-Komarek, Rai, Ilboudo).

revision and editing

As with anything publication, the first draft of the materials will have significant room for improvement. Materials may have spelling errors, unclear directions, or culturally inappropriate material. Based on testing, teachers may have ideas for how to make the materials more interesting and effective. Revision and editing will likely occur throughout the creation, formatting, and testing processes. (Fafunwa, Ilboudo)

Full scale use

It is always the intention that after the creation, testing, and revision steps, the materials will be used to benefit many students.

[Issues in the Process]

(not sure about including this section. I'm incorporating some of these ideas based more on the analysis of my own data, rather than the literature review.)
From the literature, the issues in this process come down to three major decisons

Who makes decisions?

may not be people with experience in materials creation within the community
  • Who are the participants? What are their perspectives and their roles in development? What does it mean for them to participate? \cite{kelley_issues_1988}, 120 #. 
  • who makes decisions about quality control? 
  • What content to incorporate?

    what content from the dominant and non-dominant culture?
    what languages? only ND or also dominant?

    What methodology to use?

  • What is the model's source? Waht are its limitations and assumpetions? What structure and flexibility are offered?  \cite{kelley_issues_1988}, 120 #
  • bottom-up or top-down reading strategies
    scripting

    Policy and Provision of Teaching and Learning Materials

    There is also a body of literature that addresses the topic of the policies and provision of textbooks. These generally do not offer specific guidance on the process of creation, but some address issues around language that would be helpful in planning at a larger level. The most recent resource found is a toolkit published by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on planning for language use in education. It touches on materials development briefly, but spans the wider process with recommendations for engaging stakeholders, supporting language standardization, developing language policy, and monitoring outcomes \cite{rti_international_planning_2015}. The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) published a report on policies and practices around the provision of teaching and learning materials. It touches on language, but takes a rather negative approach toward the use of local languages, citing financial complications, complexity in teacher training, politics, and different levels of population and development between language communities \cite{read_learning_2011}, 15. Also writing about publishing, Edwards and Ngwaru acknowledge the constraints on local language publishing, but provide possible solutions. To provide supplementary reding materials, publishers may be able to increase non-dominant language book sales by identifying more interesting topics, altering distribution patterns, and providing books at lower price points \cite{edwards_multilingual_2011}, 443–445.