MA Module 3

Subject: MA Module 3 Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:24 am

Make a detailed evaluation of a coursebook or set of materials that is used in your own working context. You should consider both the syllabus followed and the methodology employed.

Subject: Evaluating a coursebook Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:29 am

1. Overview
There are hundreds, not wanting to say thousands, of course books aimed at the ESL/EFL market. How do decide on which book to choose? Is there a special criterion teachers should follow in order to choose the best book available? Some experts in the field would say yes, while others would doubt it. This paper will evaluate a course book published by Pearson/Longman, by means of the criteria created by Cunningsworth (1995).

2. Introduction: The need for a checklist
When educators are looking for an ESL/EFL course book that will fit their teaching context they need to take into account external and internal influences. For example, teachers need to bear in mind the market’s perception of English – is the market driven by education and tests or by tourism or leisure. What does the education board, the teacher’s association or the parent’s association perceive the role of English to be and what do they believe to be the function of the teacher in the classroom? Internally, teachers need to consider the learners – their age, their English ability, their motivations for learning a second language and their learning styles, just to name a few.

Once all of the above have had their say, teachers need to select the proper course book. This course book needs to fulfill, as best as possible, the requirements put forward by the establishment and the learners. This may not be too difficult considering that most course books look alike. As Ariew mentions (Ariew 1986, 12), “A publisher’s success is based on the ability to satisfy the majority of the public; thus, the preference to aim for the mainstream-to sterilize situations and vocabulary and arouse as little controversy as possible.” That said it becomes harder when one walks into a bookstore and sees a multitude of ESL/EFL course books proclaiming to have a communicative approach, or offering high-interest reading passages, or having new challenging and interesting activities that will ensure greater language proficiency. All elements teachers wish for in a book. How do teachers come across by selecting the appropriate book?

Having a course book evaluation form or checklist in hand is one method teachers can employ to help them select what they believe to be the best book available. Just how detailed does an evaluation form need to be depends entirely on the teachers and what they hope to accomplish. As Dudley-Evans and St-John (1998, 173) (cited in Richards 2001, 259) point out, “… it is easier to use two or three key criteria in the first instance and then apply others if or when needed.”

The objective of this paper is to evaluate a course book utilized in my teaching context via the criteria put forward by Cunningsworth (1995). Special attention will be placed on the syllabus as well as the methodology envisioned by the course book’s author. Boost! Speaking 1 produced by Pearson/Longman and written by Jason Renshaw will be the course book evaluated for this paper.

3. Why a course book?
Why do teachers use course books rather than create their own materials? Why do they, to a certain extent, adhere to another person’s view of what a learner should learn and how?

According to Richards (2001) there are some detriments to using a commercial course book. For starters, they can include artificial language such as text created in order to present a certain grammatical function, they can be bias and unsuccessful at attaining the learner’s needs due to the publisher’s desire to produce books aimed at the market, and finally, they may have a harmful effect on a teacher’s teaching skill. For instance, teachers may become dependent on the syllabus presented by the course book rather than look to expand it.

Subsequently why do teachers and educational institutions use course books? One major reason is time. In order for teachers to create materials suitable for learners it takes time. Teachers creating their materials rather than using a coursebook will definitely work longer hours than their peers working straight out of a course book where all the materials have been created. Other reasons for wanting to work with a course book according to Brewster, Ellis and Girard (2004, 152) are “… useful learning aid for the pupil. It can identify what should be taught/learned and the order in which to do it. It can indicate what methodology should be used. It can provide attractively and economically, all or most of the materials needed. It reduces the teacher’s workload. It can provide a link between the school and the home.” O’Neill (1982) adds to this list by mentioning that the course books are good tools for learners to preview and review lessons and help learners feel at ease. In my situation, I always choose a course book which can be easily adapted to fit the needs of my learners as well as attaining the requirements of my superiors.

4. Context
4.1 Work Context
Let us begin by taking a look at my working context. At the moment, I am employed in a private language institute in Changwon City, South Korea. Students in this institute enroll monthly for 6 hours or more, depending if it is an intensive session or not, of English instruction a week. The year is divided into five sessions with an intensive winter and summer session, two spring sessions and a fall session. The intensive sessions last five weeks and the normal sessions go for roughly 3 months. The learners range between the ages of 8 and 16 or primary school and middle school and their English proficiency ranges from false-beginner to high-intermediate.

4.2. The study group
For the purpose of this paper, I will evaluate the course book used with learners aged 12 to 14 of an advanced-beginner level. There are 12 learners in the class with most of them having had between 3 to 5 years of English education primarily through the public school system. In this class, learner motivation is mostly extrinsic with reasons ranging from parent’s desire to see their young ones get that dream job to learners hoping to gain admittance into a foreign language high school. That is not to say that some learners are not intrinsically motivated by their desire to speak with people from other countries; consequently there is a need for learners to have a good command of English.

4.3. The school’s needs
According to Richards (2001) there are a number of questions that need to be answered before instructors can move on to evaluating course books. These steps are necessary to ensure that the evaluation checklist used will be in accordance to the requirements of the school.
He first looks at defining the role of the course book within the program. What is the course books place within the institute? In our institute, Boost! Speaking 1 is one of many course books that fit within the institute’s speaking program. Its role is to give the learners a first introduction to real-world and academic speaking tests. The institution takes into account major international tests such as IELTS and TOEIC when thinking about real-world tests and the iBT TOEFL when considering a course book which has an academic style speaking structure to it. The course book is purchased by the learners and is utilized for the entirety of a session.

The teachers are the second issue brought forward by Richards. What role will the teacher have with regards to using or choosing the course book? Who are and how experienced are they? The teachers teaching speaking in our institute are native Engilsh speakers with anywhere between 0 and 15 years of teaching experience. Those without teaching experience are usually given basic information on the school’s program and a short raining period. Teachers are encouraged to add supplementary tasks to the book, but to never deviate from the lesson.
Finally, Richards mentions that the learners need to be considered when selecting a course book. How much does the course book cost? or Is the course book going against leaner expectation? Given that the course book is the primary source in the class, and that it is used at home by the learners, the course book must be easily understood by the learners. In addition, it serves as a previewing and reviewing tool for the learner therefore simple instructions are required. As a final point, the cost of the book is reasonable for the market. It was not more than 12 dollars US.

5. Criteria to course book evaluation
5.1 Three types of evaluations
So far we know that in order to choose a proper course book a number of prerequisites need to be known. Now that we know the role of the course book, the role the teachers will have and how the chosen course book will impact learners an evaluation checklist needs to be drawn up. For this paper, we will take the preexisting evaluation form created by Cunningsworth(1995) with some minor adaptations.

According to Cunningsworth (1995) and Ellis (1997), there are three types of materials evaluation. The first is predictive, the second is in-use and the third is retrospective. A predictive evaluation is done before the book is brought into the classroom. A course book is chosen because it fulfills the requirements set forth by all those concerned. This is the most popular form of evaluation, but as Harmer (2001, 301) reveals “However, a problem with such assessments is that however good they are, they may still fail to predict what actually happens when the material is used.” The in-use evaluation looks at evaluating course books as they are being used and last type of evaluation, the retrospective evaluation, is seen as an evaluation that takes place once the course book has been completed. This is what Harmer (2001:301) believes to be a real evaluation because it judges “how well a book has performed in fact.” The following evaluation is of a retrospective nature.

5.2 Cunningsworth’s evaluation criteria
In 1995, Cunningsworth(1995, 7-15) puts forward four key principles which he believes form the basis of a more elaborate course book evaluation checklist. Those principles are:

1.They should correspond to learner’s needs. They should match the aims and objectives of the language learning program.
2.They should reflect the uses (present or future) that learners will make of the language. Textbooks should be chosen that will help equip students to use language effectively for their own purpose.
3.They should take account of students’ needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes, without dogmatically imposing a rigid “method”.
4.They should have a clear role as a support for learning. Like teachers, they mediate between the target language and the learner.

The above principles can only give teachers an overview of the course book being studied. There is a need for a more detailed checklist if teachers want to give a fair evaluation to the coursebook. Working off of those four principles Cunningsworth creates a checklist categorized under eight headings.

1.Aims and approaches
2.Design and organization
3.Language content
4.Skills
5.Topics
6.Methodology
7.Teacher’s books
8.Practical considerations

A point Sheldon (1988) makes and which will hold true for this paper is the idea that no evaluation checklist can be applied to all teaching and learning contexts without modification. I will remove the final two categories. For a detailed look at the checklists see Appendixes 1.

6. Evaluation
6.1 Aims and approachestion
Looking at the introduction of Boost! Speaking 1 is a good to start to this retrospective evaluation. According to the course book’s introduction,

“The Boost! Skills Series is the definitive and comprehensive four-level series of skills books for junior EFL learners. The series has been developed around age-appropriate, cross-curricular topics that develop students’ critical thinking and examination techniques. It follows an integrated skills approach with each of the skills brought together at the end of each unit.

The twelve core units in Boost! Speaking 1 follow a clear and transparent structure to make teaching and learning easy and fun. The speaking skills build and progress across the four levels of Boost! Speaking and are correlated to the next generation of tests of English.
You will find the following in Boost! Speaking 1:
 Age-appropriate and cross-curricular topics
 Realistic and relevant contexts from students’ lives
 A variety of dialogues and speeches for formal and informal speaking
 Pronunciation practice on sounds and stress patterns”

According to the author the book is meant for junior EFL learners and points to the use of age-appropriate and cross cultural topics to demonstrate this idea. This is demonstrated with the topics that are approached. This strikes a winning cord in my teaching context because my learners range between the age of 13 and 15.

A second claim made by the author is that the course book develops critical thinking and examination techniques. These claims are supported when the activities present in the book are given a closer look and when the author mentions he uses of “A variety of dialogues and speeches for formal and informal speaking.” These aims are important because they model the aims of the institute. The institute has for primary aim to help learners gain access to foreign language high schools within the country. Learners hoping to be accepted in a foreign language high school need to have a good score on either the iBT TOELF or other national or local tests.

Another point of interest for teachers surrounding the course book is regarding its adaptability. Teachers have access to a variety of activities such as noticing activities, role play, listen and repeat, etc. which the teachers can adapt to fill class requirements. This is also beneficial for learners because all learners have individual learning styles, but can be influenced to learn a new one. The listening provides the auditory learning style, the group discussion and oral presentation looks to appease the linguistic or verbal intelligence and the pictures help the visual learners.

All in all, the course book is a good fit with the institute because it complements the aims of the school and does not handcuff the experienced teacher.

6.2 Design and organization
Nunan (1998) mentions that with the advent of a communicative approach on the EFL scene in the 1980s the distinction between a curriculum and a syllabus as become confusing. Some experts in the field, Yalden (1984), see the two as equivalents whereas others see a clear distinction between the what, who and how? Let us start by defining a syllabus.

According to White (1988:92) “A complete syllabus specification will include all five aspects: structure, function, situation, topic, skills. The difference between syllabuses will lie in the priority given to each of these aspects.” I could agree with this definition to a syllabus, but will not because it does not fit the coursebook I am evaluating. Nunan (1998, 159) defines syllabus as follow: “A specification of what is to be taught in a language programme and the order in which it is to be taught. A syllabus may contain all or any of the following: phonology, grammar, functions, notions, topics, themes, tasks.” I will adhere to this definition of a syllabus because the course book I am evaluating is a speaking book and the author constructed his course book according to a skills syllabus. Richards (2001, 161) “Skills-based syllabuses have the advantage of focusing on performance in relation to specific tasks and therefore provide a practical framework for designing courses and teaching materials.”

A skill-based syllabus is in accordance with what White (1988) calls a type B syllabus, a syllabus which views language more holistically and asks the question, “How is it to be learned?” Willis (2000, 20) explains “Through language use both productive and receptive, learners become aware of language form and gradually adjust and develop their own language in light of this.

On the contrary a type A syllabus asks the question “What is to be learned? White (1988, 95) explicates that a type A syllabus is traditionally content and teacher led and that the content for the course is selected and organized by the teacher.

When looking at the table of content (Figure 1) we can see that the author/publisher presents the book with three categories. The first element present is the title of the unit, followed by the speaking skill and the speaking task. One may be tempted to say that this is a topic-based syllabus, but that would be wrong. The topic is not the main reason for the course book. It is simply a springboard to introduce the speaking skill. How are the skills sequenced and graded? The first speaking skill in book 1 is ‘Introducing yourself”, and this is followed by “Describing people” while the last speaking skill in book 1 is “Expressing opinions in debates”. It is fair to say that the book was built based on complexity and graded from easy to difficult.

The course book is quite easy to follow and this is due to the clear and organized layout of the book. Learners have no difficulty following the book and are never surprised by the next lesson. With such a clear and repetitive layout learners feel at ease with the course book because they are able to easily predict the next lesson and if they so desire they can preview the following lesson at home. The course book presents the learners with a sense of security that may not always be found in course books.

Figure 1 Boost! Speaking 1, table of contents (2007)

6.3 Language Content
Harmer (2001, 183) states that pronunciation practice “not only makes students aware of different sounds and sound features (and what these mean), but can also improve their speaking immeasurably.” In each unit of Boost! Speaking 1 there is a section dedicated to pronunciation. Boost! Speaking 1 covers individual sounds, word stress and sentences. In addition, learners are made aware of how to participate in conversations. This skill is not prominent in Boost! Speaking 1, but it is present. Finally, learners are made aware of the differences between a formal and informal language, exchanges and dialogues.

6.4 Skills
Boost! Speaking 1 is a course book dedicated to speaking therefore the only skill attacked is speaking. That being said listening and reading play a certain secondary role in the course book due to the fact that the author has made it a point to have his course book “correlate to the next generation of tests of English.” Every final page of each unit either places emphasis on reading/speaking or listening/speaking.

As a teacher I am quite happy to hear children play the roles of children in recordings. I personally find it irritating to hear grownups trying to pass as children. Good recordings with good actors do a lot for the learner because they can more easily visualize the situation. In addition, it is not difficult to visualize the conversations in a school yard or park. I believe the conversations portrait reality quite well. This is also true of the dialogues and role plays. Learners can feel somewhat more at ease participating in real-life conversations following the study of Boost! Speaking 1.

6.5 Topics
The author of Boost! Speaking 1 states “The themes and topics have been chosen to appeal to and motivate learners and feature a wide variety of different subjects from history to geography and social studies to science & technology, providing cross-curricular learning.” I believe my learners enjoyed the topics because they were able to relate to them and still get some new information. They were things they knew about and were not afraid to discuss. In addition the topics were not controversial and everyone was treated equally.

6.6 Methodology
Richards and Rodgers (2001, 217) define the type of approach the author of Boost! Speaking 1 utilized. “A skill-based approach is characterized by a focus on a specific academic skill area that is linked to current study of specific subject matter in one or more academic disciplines.” This approach is not the preferred way for my students to learn, however it fits the institute’s situation and new international testing. In Korea, where many learners hope to gain admittance into a foreign language high school and ultimately a top notch university, being able to communicate ideas or responses in a clear and organized fashion is imperative. At first learners were quite shy of voicing their opinions, but within a few classes they were right into the course book. Due to the nature of most of the speaking tasks learners do not feel closely monitored.

In order to facilitate the learning, students start off with an introduction to a dialogue which they listen to and read. For this exercise, the teacher can play the accompanying CD and ask pairs to read it aloud. This leads into a noticing activity, where learners answer a few questions regarding the dialogue. Here the teacher uses the questions to bring the learners attention to the key point of the unit. Following the noticing activity learners are introduced to the skill and practice it with a few example sentences. Here the learners are introduced the PPP approach. Entwined in the PPP methodology is a pronunciation activity. During the pronunciation activity the teacher emphasizes listen and repeat. Finally, the speaking skill is integrated with a reading or a listening passage to create an integrated task. The noticing activity is not always easy for my learners to understand, but with the speaking skill presented on the following page things become somewhat clearer for them. Most students get the gist one the PPP section has been done.

Communicative abilities are developed through the careful presentation of the speaking skill and revision of produced texts on the studied speaking skill.

Learners are always encouraged to practice the PPP section along with the pronunciation section on their own.

7. Conclusion
Boost! Speaking 1 was easy to teach and easy for my learners to follow. It was a great asset to our institute’s program because teachers were able to manipulate it as they saw fit and learners were able to preview with confidence the class to come. The checklist presented by Cunningsworth demonstrated that this book was a success with my institute. If a reproach could be made it would be with the fact that a learner would have to buy Boost! Writing 1, Boost! Listening 1, Boost! Vocabulary 1, Boost! Reading 1 and Boost! Grammar 1 to study all the study areas.

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