Evaluation a Course Book
Part 1
Selecting a course book is an important task for any English language teacher or evaluator. Cunningsworth (1984) observes that few English language teachers do not depend on a course book. For this reason, “the selection of materials probably represents the single most important decision that the language teacher has to make” (Hutchinson, 1987, p. 37). It is very important that the teacher has the capacity to evaluate any course book in order to choose the most effective and suitable one (McDonough and Shaw, 1993; Littlejohn and Windeatt, 1988). According to Cunningsworth (1985, p. 14), the purpose of an evaluation is to investigate the strong and weak points in specific material. However, the teacher can adapt the weak points of the text and develop them according to her/his students’ needs. This paper will identify a set of criteria for the evaluation and adaptation of an English Language Teaching (ELT) course book before using these criteria to analyse and evaluate two specific parts of the Inside Out course book, the contents page and Unit 10.
To save preparation time, it is more useful and convenient to evaluate any course book before using it with students. As English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, we must follow evaluation criteria or a set of questions that are suitable and correspond to the students’ goals. As Dougill (1987, p. 32) argues, the quality of criteria is more important than the quantity. This research paper uses several of McDonough and Shaw’s (1993) and Cunningsworth’s (1985) criteria which we will explore further below. The reasons behind choosing these criteria are that they are easy to observe, they help in identifying essential issues and they are comprehensive. The best criteria from each of McDonough and Shaw’s (1993) and Cunningsworth’s (1985) criteria were chosen in combination in order to fit my teaching context.
Students will be at the intermediate level, aged between 11 and 13 years. They are all Saudi females
Selecting a course book is an important task for any English language teacher or evaluator. Cunningsworth (1984) observes that few English language teachers do not depend on a course book. For this reason, “the selection of materials probably represents the single most important decision that the language teacher has to make” (Hutchinson, 1987, p. 37). It is very important that the teacher has the capacity to evaluate any course book in order to choose the most effective and suitable one (McDonough and Shaw, 1993; Littlejohn and Windeatt, 1988). According to Cunningsworth (1985, p. 14), the purpose of an evaluation is to investigate the strong and weak points in specific material. However, the teacher can adapt the weak points of the text and develop them according to her/his students’ needs. This paper will identify a set of criteria for the evaluation and adaptation of an English Language Teaching (ELT) course book before using these criteria to analyse and evaluate two specific parts of the Inside Out course book, the contents page and Unit 10.
To save preparation time, it is more useful and convenient to evaluate any course book before using it with students. As English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, we must follow evaluation criteria or a set of questions that are suitable and correspond to the students’ goals. As Dougill (1987, p. 32) argues, the quality of criteria is more important than the quantity. This research paper uses several of McDonough and Shaw’s (1993) and Cunningsworth’s (1985) criteria which we will explore further below. The reasons behind choosing these criteria are that they are easy to observe, they help in identifying essential issues and they are comprehensive. The best criteria from each of McDonough and Shaw’s (1993) and Cunningsworth’s (1985) criteria were chosen in combination in order to fit my teaching context.
Students will be at the intermediate level, aged between 11 and 13 years. They are all Saudi females
References: Boonkit, K. (2010) Enhancing the development of speaking skills for non-native speakers of English. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences,2,1305-1309. Cunningsworth, A. (1984). Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Material. London: Heinemann. Cunningsworth, A. (1985). Materials and Methods in ELT (2nd ed.). Oxford: Heinemann. Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing Your Course book. Oxford: Heinemann. Dougill, J. (1987). Not So Obvious. In Sheldon, L. E. (ed). ELT Textbooks and Materials: Problems in Evaluation and Development. ELT Documents 126 (pp. 29-36). London: Modern English Publications. Dubin, F. and Olshtain, E. (1986). Course Design: developing programs and materials for language learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. Graves, K. (2000). Designing Language Courses: A Guide for Teachers. Boston, Mass. London: Heinle & Heinle Hutchinson, T Littlejohn, A. and Windeatt, S. (1988). Beyond Language Learning: perspectives on materials. In R. K. Johnson (Ed.), The second language curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McDonough, J. and Shaw, C. (1993) Materials and Methods in ELT: a teacher 's guide. Oxford: Blackwell. McGrath, I. (2002) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Richards, J. C. (2001) Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2002) Developing Materials for Language Teaching. London: Continuum.