LESSON 4

SESSION B

Evaluating and selecting a course book: Reflection task (Page 2 of 8)

Use your own experience with course books both as a learner and a teacher to choose five
important criteria for a good textbook.

PART ONE

1. The aims and goals of the book match those of the course

2. THE ACTIVITY TYPES ARE VARIED AND SUIT DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES.

3. THE SYLLABUS IS ORGANIZED BY GRAMMAR STRUCTURES.

4. THE SYLLABUS IS ORGANIZED BY NOTIONS AND FUNCTIONS.

5. The syllabus is organized by lexis.

PART TWO

6.-THE BOOK CONTAINS REGULAR REVIEW SECTIONS.

7. The content of the book is relevant to students' lives.

8. The book contains authentic material.

9. THE BOOK FOCUSES ON TEACHING COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS AND STRATEGIES.

10. There are a lot of course components.

EVALUATING A COURSE BOOK (PAGE 3 OF 8)

Listen to the recording to hear about criteria for evaluating a course book. Compare what you hear
with your answers on the previous page.

Narrator: There are many different kinds of English language teaching materials on the market.
Selecting the appropriate coursebook becomes quite a challenge when there are so many choices.
Here are some basic questions to ask yourself to help you choose the right book.

• Level: Is your class absolute beginner, beginner, intermediate, high-intermediate, advanced, or a

mix of levels?
• Class schedule: How long is your class? How many hours per week will you meet? How many
weeks is your term? Does the book provide enough material? Does it provide too much for your
students to finish?

• Aims and goals of the course: Which skills will you focus on? Is the course an academic course, a
test prep course, or a general English course? What should students be able to do when they finish
the course?

• Vocabulary: How does the book present and practice vocabulary? Is it recycled at all?

• Grammar: How is the grammar presented? Is the grammar practiced in a variety of ways? For
example, is there a focus on form or usage? Is grammar practiced at the sentence level as well as
in a larger context?

• Course components: Are there any supplementary components for the book, for example a
teacher's edition, a CD-ROM, transparencies, or the like? When you can rely on a teacher's book
and don't have to prepare all the supplementary materials yourself, it makes teaching much
easier.

• Cost of the book: Who pays for the course books? Is the cost affordable for them?

Which points were not mentioned in the listening? Choose all that apply. Listen again if needed.

1) aims of the course

2) amount of material
3) BALANCE OF SKILLS
4) cost of the course book
5) course components
6) how grammar is practiced and presented
7) how vocabulary is presented and practiced
8) length of class period
9) STUDENT LEARNING STYLES
10) student level
11) VARIED ACTIVITY TYPES
12) VARIED INTERACTIONAL MODES

EVALUATING AND SELECTING A COURSE BOOK (PAGE 4 OF 8)

WATCH VICKY SAUMELL TALK ABOUT A HELPFUL WAY TO EVALUATE A COURSEBOOK.

Vicky Saumell: Hello, again! In the previous activity, we reflected on criteria to think about
as we evaluate a course book. Let's continue creating a framework for evaluation with a
helpful checklist we can use as we move toward selecting a text.
The most important question to begin with is: What are the aims and goals of the course?
Then we can move on to thinking about what types of approaches we as teachers use and
the type of learners and learning styles we will most likely encounter in our language class.
It's important that the material suits our teaching styles and our student's learning styles.

To determine this, we need to look at how the course book is organized and the design of
the course series. Is the content organized lexically, functionally, structurally, or is there a
mix? As you flip through the book, check to see if there is enough review and recycling of
vocabulary, grammar, and functions.

In order for textbook to work, it has to be interesting and relevant for students. Look at the
content and topics included in the book. Are they relevant to your students' lives and their
purposes for studying English? Many textbooks include authentic material to ensure that
there is a strong connection with real life. Check to see that there is authentic material
included, for example real life situations and tasks.

As teachers, our goals include encouraging our students to become autonomous learners.
Does the book do this also? We also want to use material that teaches communicative skills
and strategies, helpful skills our students can take with them after they leave the classroom.

In the reflection task, we mentioned course components. Does the book come with a
teacher's guide? Good teacher's guides provide useful information and can make lesson
preparation a lot easier. Review the teacher's guide for step-by-step teaching notes and
teaching tips on language and cross-cultural issues.

Is there other support material such as answer keys and transcripts of audio and video
recordings? For example, does the course include a class audio, a CD-ROM, transparencies,
vocabulary flashcards, assessment tools, or a course website? Of course it would be
important to have the necessary equipment to use these components.
Adapting a course book (Page 5 of 8)

Look at the chart to see the strategies a teacher can use to adapt a coursebook.Adapting a
course book

A teacher will often need to adapt the course book as the semester progresses. There are a
variety of reasons for adapting the material; for example, your students may work faster or
slower than you thought, the book may have more material than you have time to use
during your course, the book may not have enough material, or you may find that the
content and activities of the course book are just not working with your particular group of
learners.Watch a slide show about the process of adapting a course book.

ADAPTING A COURSE BOOK: CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE TASK (PAGE 6 OF 8)

NOW THAT YOU HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT HOW TO ADAPT COURSE BOOK MATERIALS, APPLY
YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE.

1 The students like the tasks, but many are too easy or difficult. CHANGE THE TASK LEVEL

2 The students did not demonstrate understanding of the language item. ADD EXTRA
PRACTICE
 3 There is not enough material in the book for a class or the semester. USE SUPPLEMENTARY
MATERIAL

4 The book has unit tests. REVIEW THE MATERIAL

5 The activities in the book always follow the same sequence. The students seem bored. RE-
ORDER THE MATERIAL

REFERENCE RESOURCES (PAGE 7 OF 8)

CONSULTING REFERENCES

As part of lesson preparation, teachers will need to consult reference resources from time to
time. There are a huge number of resources available to teachers who are lucky enough to
have access to a good teacher's library. These "resource banks" include references such as
teacher's guides, teacher handbooks, methodology books, dictionaries, grammar books,
word frequency lists, research journals, websites, blogs, and CD-ROMs. The list is a long one,
so it's important for teachers to know where to look in order to get the information they are
looking for.

Teachers commonly consult references in order to check one of the following: accepted use
and form of grammar structures, check pronunciation, spelling, definition or usage of
vocabulary, how to use the material in their coursebook, getting extra practice material,
new ideas for lessons, advice on preparing their own materials, It's important for teachers to
have a set of resources they can refer to as needed.

Coursebook supplements

Many coursebooks from major publishing houses contain ready-made extra resources and
materials. These resources can provide valuable course-specific information and time-saving
extra materials for busy teachers. These resources may typically include things such as:

• teacher's edition with lesson plans, grammar explanations, audio transcripts, and answer
keys

• audio-CD, CD-ROM

• workbooks with extra practice activities for homework

• companion websites with interactive games, internet links for further information,
downloadable worksheets and Mp3 files of the course audio for student self-study

• photocopiable resource pack with worksheets, graphic organizers, vocabulary logs

 • test pack or CD-ROMs featuring ready-made quizzes and tests or software that allows
teachers to customize tests for their teaching situation.

To find out if these resources are available for your coursebook, it's best to check the
website or catalogue of the book's publisher. Doing a general web-search of the book's title
may take you to book stores that are selling that specific title without offering information
about other components.

Where would you not expect to find this information? Choose the best answer from the
drop box to find __________

1photocopiable extra activities, don't look in the WORK BOOK

2estimated timings for lesson activities, don't look in the COURSEBOOK

3self-study material, don't look in the TEACHER'S EDTION

REFERENCE RESOURCES, CONTINUED (PAGE 8 OF 8)

Reference resources

Reference resources provide information about language learning and teaching. Teachers can
use resources to find material that clarifies questions they may have on a language issue, to
generate teaching ideas, or to find materials to supplement their course book.

A teacher may use a reference resource to:

• check the form and use of grammatical structures

• check information on lexis, spelling, or pronunciation

• find suggestions on how to use the course book material differently

• find extra activities to supplement the course book

• find new teaching approaches and keep up to date with methodology

• get advice on a particular lesson or group of students

• generate ideas for creating a personal lesson plan

• create supplementary material to suit the students' weaknesses and strengths

 See below a list of each type of resource.

Learner Characteristics

Language reference resources – teacher-training books, grammar books, monolingual and

bilingual dictionaries, websites

Resources for teachers producing their own material – teacher-training books, professional
magazines, methodology books, colleagues

Ideas for planning lesson – methodology books, teacher's editions, colleagues, websites

Materials for learners – dictionaries, software/CD-ROMs, workbooks, websites

Mark these statements true (T) or false (F).Reference resources

1.-During a class, teachers should use more material from reference resources than from the
course book. F

2.-Students can also use reference resources as a learning tool.T

3.-A teacher's colleague could be a reference resource. T