Textbook Analysis
University of Latvia
Faculty of Humanities
Department of English Studies
Textbook Analysis
3rd year, group B student
Kristaps Briedis
Riga 2013
Introduction
The “Focus on Advanced English C.A.E.” is written by Sue O’Connell and first published in Pearson Education Limited at the Edinburgh Gate, Harlow in year 1999, and the edition at hand is the thirteenth impression printed in 2006. The textbook is oriented for students preparing for the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English examination. Further, the analysis of syllabus will be based on the material given in the revised and updated edition of the “Advanced English C.A.E.”
The whole text book consists of 240 pages. It includes fourteen units, which are divided according to different topics (e.g. Severe Weather, Time Eaters, Stress etc.). Each unit of the “Advanced English C.A.E.” is devoted to the development of all language skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking. Moreover, there are grammar and vocabulary tasks in each unit.
One unit from the “Advanced English C.A.E.” (Unit 12 “Living Dangerously”) was chosen for the analysis of the whole book, because each unit is devoted to the development of all language skills and thus, it is enough to analyze only one of them in order to understand how the whole book “works”.
Reading
Reading can be defined as the process of constructing meaning from written texts (Online 1). Thus, learning reading skills means understanding the text what one reads. But why do we need to understand what we read? According to Harmer (2001:200), there are two types of reasons for reading. The first is instrumental reason, which means that people read because it helps him/her to achieve particular goal (e.g. people read road signs in order to know where to go). The other type is called pleasurable. That means that the reason for reading some particular text is to get pleasure (e.g. reading illustrated cartoon). Thus, it does not matter what reason the
Faculty of Humanities
Department of English Studies
Textbook Analysis
3rd year, group B student
Kristaps Briedis
Riga 2013
Introduction
The “Focus on Advanced English C.A.E.” is written by Sue O’Connell and first published in Pearson Education Limited at the Edinburgh Gate, Harlow in year 1999, and the edition at hand is the thirteenth impression printed in 2006. The textbook is oriented for students preparing for the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English examination. Further, the analysis of syllabus will be based on the material given in the revised and updated edition of the “Advanced English C.A.E.”
The whole text book consists of 240 pages. It includes fourteen units, which are divided according to different topics (e.g. Severe Weather, Time Eaters, Stress etc.). Each unit of the “Advanced English C.A.E.” is devoted to the development of all language skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking. Moreover, there are grammar and vocabulary tasks in each unit.
One unit from the “Advanced English C.A.E.” (Unit 12 “Living Dangerously”) was chosen for the analysis of the whole book, because each unit is devoted to the development of all language skills and thus, it is enough to analyze only one of them in order to understand how the whole book “works”.
Reading
Reading can be defined as the process of constructing meaning from written texts (Online 1). Thus, learning reading skills means understanding the text what one reads. But why do we need to understand what we read? According to Harmer (2001:200), there are two types of reasons for reading. The first is instrumental reason, which means that people read because it helps him/her to achieve particular goal (e.g. people read road signs in order to know where to go). The other type is called pleasurable. That means that the reason for reading some particular text is to get pleasure (e.g. reading illustrated cartoon). Thus, it does not matter what reason the
References: 1. Harmer J. (2001) English Language teaching. England: Pearson Education Ltd. 2 3. Rost, M. (2002) Listening Tasks and Language Acquisition. Available from http://jalt-publications.org/archive/proceedings/2002/018.pdf [Accessed March 5, 2013]. 4. Kramiņa, I. (2000) Linguo-didactic Theories Underlying Multi-purpose Language Acquisition. Riga: University of Latvia. 2. Available from http://tlc.cet.ac.il/ShowItem.aspx?ItemID=ccd2b528-84f5-4078-a76f-d6b1243f26e9&lang=EN [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 3. Available from http://fis.ucalgary.ca/Brian/611/readingtype.html [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 4. Available from http://www.multiplechoicequestionsservice.com/multiple-choice-questions-advantages/ [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 5. Available from: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/definition.htm [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 6. Available from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-are-writing-skills-important.html [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 7. Available from: http://villagehiker.com/research-writing/what-is-writing-a-definition.html [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 8. Available from: http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/cleftterm.htm [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 9. Available from http://www.skillsyouneed.co.uk/IPS/Listening_Skills.html [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 10. Available from http://miguelbengoa.com/elt/?p=86 [Accessed March 6, 2013]. 11. Available from http://www.englishclub.com/speaking/what-is-speaking.htm [Accessed March 6, 2013].