Evaluating and Adapting Textbook Material

Evaluating and Adapting Textbook Material

1. Introduction

   Since there is more and more published material for English language teaching (ELT) on the market, selecting a proper textbook becomes relatively challenging for English teachers. As a future English teacher, we need to make appropriate choices when choosing a course book and think deliberately before making the final decision.

“No course book designed for a general market will be absolutely ideal for particular group of learners, but the aim is to find the best possible fit, together with potential for adapting or supplementing parts of the material where it is inadequate or unsuitable”(Cunningsworth, 1995, p. 5).

   In this paper, I will first refer to the “Criteria for Course Book Assessment” developed by Penny Ur(2012) and draw up my own checklist with criteria for evaluating textbooks with explanations and justifications. Following this, a critical evaluation of a unit will be made and the strengths and limitations of that unit will be reported. Finally, activities of that unit will be adapted and recommendations will be accordingly.

1. Criteria for Couse Book Assessment

   The table above are the criteria I consider as suitable to be adopted when evaluating a textbook. Further explanations and justifications are made as follow:

2.1 Interesting topics and activities

   Learners nowadays are becoming much more complicated. They are highly influenced by TV, computer games, mobile phones, etc. Thus, they may hope that a text book should be interesting and enjoyable. They might lose interests in an uninspiring material, no matter how systematical it is(Cunningsworth, 1995). From this perspective, interesting topics and activities are of great importance since they can arouse students’ attentions and may help them produce better learning outcomes.

2.2 Clear layout and presentation

  Teachers can have a general idea of a course book by looking through it. The significant features, course activities, etc. can be perceived by browsing the textbook. According to Cunningsworth (1995), this kind of overview can be defined as “impressionistic overview(p. 1)”. A clear layout and presentation of a textbook, especially of a unit, can reduce the students’ unfamiliarity and let them know what to anticipate in coming classes.

2.3 Vocabulary list included

   A vocabulary list, usually included in the appendix of a textbook, may be helpful for students to do the revision, individual or out-of-class works, as well as to prepare for the examinations.

2.4 Contains specific cultural elements

   This criterion seems to be one-sided, since a lot of global text books are used widely. However, this is the issue which still deserves to be taken into account because if the students have very different culture or life styles from which is mentioned in the text book, their motivation or willingness to interact might be adversely affected(Harwood, 2013).  

2.5 Clear presentation of the skills

   Integrating the receptive skills with productive skills becomes a trend in the modern text book design (Cunningsworth, 1995; McDonough & Shaw, 1993). Each unit should contain tasks which can develop students’ listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills and writing skills.

2.6 Adequate guidance for teacher

   According to Williams (1983), on one hand, a text book can “ be a tyrant to the teacher”(p. 251) if he or she plans to teach every details in the textbook; on the other hand, “a text book should be used judiciously”(p. 251). Thus, adequate guidance for teacher should be a must, since it can give teachers tips on how to teach the material effectively. Furthermore, some qualified teachers can benefit from this process.