INTRODUCTION

ELT material evaluation establish the backbone for English language education
(Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2017). Materials evaluation is a procedure that involves
measuring the (potential) value of a set of learning materials (Tomlinson, 2003).
Material evaluation is an important issue in the teaching area, it involves making
judgment about the effect of the materials on the people using them. As cited
Mohamed (2008), the primary function of evaluation is to access the suitability of
materials for a given teaching and learning context Mishan and Timmis, (2015, p.66)

In teaching learning process, textbook as an important role because it leads

teachers in conveying materials to be taught over a period of time. Also for students,
textbook make them easier to understand what has been taught. This study deals with
the issue of the representativeness of the four language skills in The Textbook Go for
English 2nd. Go for English (GFE) series has been proposed in Cote D’Ivoire from the
second half of the nineteen century till in 2018. The GFE series comprises seven
textbooks corresponding to the seven levels of the Ivorian secondary school system to
all the seven level of the Ivorian secondary school system. All the textbooks that
accompany them have the same structures no matter the level (K. Kouame 2016,
p.11).

Go for English combines the best features of traditional methodology with

imaginative new techniques of language learning to develop students’ communicative
skills. The level on which we are interested is the Go for English for 2nd classes. In
fact, designed for students of the opening classes of the second cycle, the GFE 2nd
was made by the help of some international experience British authors who work
closely with African colleagues to produce the course for the second Cycle in
secondary schools. Go for English is based on the communicative language teaching
method (CLT).

Historically, CLT originated from the dissatisfaction of the linguist to the

traditional methods which emphasis on grammar: GMT, ALM and SLT that emerged
in 1970s. The centrality on grammar in language teaching emphasis in these three
methods was questioned. Language was no longer seen as abstract grammatical rules,
but of having applications in social context and such it is not just about ‘grammar’ but

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also about functions and notion. Therefore, to make leaners to communicate in a
language, the advocates of CLT propose that teaching must develop students’
“communicative competence” Rambe (2017, p.54).

The aim of the GFE 2nd is to help students communicate efficiently and
effectively with English speakers. However, for the communication to be exclusive
and for the learning to be effective, the teaching of the language should take into
account the four language skills (writing, reading, listening and speaking) which
constitute the backbone of the new language learning. Thus the problem addressed in
this study is to investigate the issue of the representativeness of the four language
skills in the Go for English 2nd.

The objective of this study is twofold. First, through the thorough analysis of the
different skills, we intend to support the argument of the importance of the frequency
of the language skills in a successful language learning. Second show the importance
of the quality of the activities and exercises that encompasses the four language skills.
The present work comprising a checklist is organized around three major aspects.
First underlying the frequency of the four language skills in the textbooks. Secondly
check the structure of the four language skills in the textbooks and third, investigate
the objective of the textbooks and the different exercises and activities that cover the
four skills.

I- Methodology

This study adopts a qualitative content analysis based on a checklist for

generating data. The Go for English 2nd. The ELT textbook selected were designed to
be used by non- native speakers of English. The textbook comprises 96 pages and is
composed of 12 units, each unit treats of the four language skills but are not directly
expressed. The data will be collected by referring to the four first unit of the
textbooks. These four first unit represent a huge amount of the proportion that is
somehow sufficient for analysing the issue of the representativeness of the four
language skills in the Go for English 2nd. As Kumar (2006:94) states, the larger the
sample, the greater the precision and accuracy of the data is provided.

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 II- Checklist

1- The type of checklist

Commonly, a checklist introduces a progression of inquiries or categories for

judgment so the evaluator should give a response as a reaction to all the information
presented through the reviewing procedure. Numerous checklists essentially request a yes
or no sign or a response along a scale. Others, in spite of the ‘checklist’ name, additionally
incorporate space for open ended- remarks after particular prompts. The checklist that is
used in this study is a sample of checklist for textbook evaluation used by David Williams
(1983). The specificity of this checklist is the attempt to analyse the textbooks on general
aspects. This model undertakes a holistic procedure which in our case of elaborating an
analysis of the four language skills seems appropriate. The checklist was modified and
adapted in order to incorporate the broad areas the four language skills should cover. The
evaluating checklist focuses on the different aspects of the language skills by the help of
the communicative language approach.

2- Criteria for the checklist evaluation

Williams splits his ELT textbook checklist into 7 criteria. The seven criteria are general,
speech, grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing and technical but as far as this study is
concerned, the checklist has been modified to meet the need of the objective of the
research which is resume in analysing the representativeness of the four language skills in
the textbook Go for English 3e. Thus the checklist after being will comprehend 4 criteria
representing the four language skills (writing, listening, writing and reading). The numbers
given in the right columns of the checklist indicate the extent to which the GO for English
2nd satisfies each criterion on the checklist. From this,

4: to the great extent 3: to a large extent 2: to some extent1: just barely 0: not at all.

These numerical ratings will be used to compare the representativeness of the

language skills in go for English.

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 III- The analysis

Title of the book: Go for English 2nd

RATING
WEIGHT CRITERIA 4 3 2 1 0

WRITING
1- The frequency of the writing skills in the textbook x
GFE 2nd
2- Writing activities are suitable for the students’ level x
and interest
3- Writing activities use appropriate style x
4- The writing activities are design according to the
different approaches that sustain the book x
5- The writing activities can help students become x
proficient in English
6- The writing task are flexible x
x
7- Richness of the writing tasks.

READING

1- The frequency of the reading skills in the x

textbook GFE 2nd
2- Reading passage and associated activities are x
suitable to students’ level and interest
3- The reading activities are design according to the x
textbook’s approach
4- Reading task are well structure x
5- The reading activities can permit students to X
become proficient at reading
6- Reading tasks are flexible x
7- Richness of the reading tasks X

SPEAKING
1- The frequency of the speaking skills in the x
textbook GFE 2nd
2- The material for spoken is well designed x
3- The speaking activities are for real life interaction X

4- The speaking activities promote the integrated x

skills x
5- The speaking activities can help student become

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 proficient at speaking x
6- The speaking tasks can be adapted to a given
context or population x
7- Richness of the speaking activities
LISTENING

1- The frequency of the listening skills in the x

textbook GFE 2nd
2- There is some listening section at the end of the x
chapters
3- Listening activities are promoted all along the x
textbook
4- Listening activities are understandable x

5- The listening activities can permit student to

develop their listening skills x

6- The listening activities follows the principles that x

shapes the textbook
7- Richness of the listening activities x

4: to the great extent 3: to a large extent 2: to some extent 1: just barely 0: not at
all.

IV- Commentary of the result

With the above checklist applied to the language skills (writing, reading, speaking
and listening) of the textbook Go for English, we aimed at apprehending the
representativeness of languages skills in the textbook. For this experience to be effective,
we purport to analyse the writing tasks by a particular emphasis on the CBLT principles.
Besides, a detailed explanation of the different information we intend to analyse is worth to
mention in order to easy the understanding of the procedure used in this study. The first
important element to be treated in this study concerns the writing tasks.

The writing tasks on the textbooks Go for English has been submitted to the above
checklist. The writing skill contains the following techniques of task setting: gap-fillings,
matchings, puzzles, multiple choice questions and guided and non-guided writings. The
analysis has been set on 7 criteria concerning the richness of the writing activities ( the
quality of the text, subject matters), the objective and need of the learners (the ability of the

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writing tasks to take into account level of the students, their age and the reason for which
they are learning the English language), the frequency (the proportion of the writing
activities on the textbook), the style employ ( the mode of writing), the effectiveness ( the
activities can help students develop their writing proficiency), the congruence with the
CBLT approaches (the writing tasks take into account the ideology that the CBLT tends to
spread) and the flexibility (the extent to which it is easy for a teacher to adapt the materials
to suit a particular context).

In line with the answers provided in the checklist above, the mark resulting in the
proportion made shows that out of 5 as total rating, writing occupy 2,42 represented 48%
of the total marks. Regarding the reading tasks, the same criteria has been adopted and
adapted to the reading items to meet the criteria that a good reading skills should
encompass. Hence, after the analysis it has been revealed that the rating of the reading
skills is estimated at 2,57 rating out of 5. Consequently, it can be said that the reading skill
is in some extent well represented in the textbook go for English with 48,4%.

As far as the speaking skills is concerned, the checklist revealed that it is the most
represented skill among the four language skills in the textbook Go for English with 2,87
rating out of 5. It is represented at 57% of accurateness in the book. Finally, we discuss
about the listening activities which comes at to be the minority in terms of language skills
in the textbook. The listening skills has 1,86 rating out 5 representing as such 37% of the
rating. The total marks are represented in the graphic bellow,

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 3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

Writing Reading Speaking Listening

4: to the great extent 3: to a large extent 2: to some extent 1: just barely 0: not at
all.

FIGURE: the representativeness of the language skills in GFE 2nd

Conclusion

This study aims at showing out the issue of the representativeness of the four
language in the book Go for English 2nd. Through a checklist adapted from David Williams
(1983), we analysed the different language skills by means of some criteria. The
information obtained from the study led to the following conclusion. First and foremost,
there is a great proportion concerning the presence of the speaking skills in the textbook
and also, it comes out that the reading skill is significantly represented in the textbook. As
far as the writing skills and the listening skills are concerned, the checklist revealed
different result. Unlike the speaking and reading activities, the writing is barely represented
in the textbook. Moreover, the listening skills in the book seems not much sufficient to

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permit to student to become proficient English learner as it is not much emphasizing in the
book.

Another interested point revealed by the checklist is that the exercises that embodies
the language skills in the book Go for English are in general not as such in line with the
CBLT principles. Hence it can be said in the whole that the weaknesses of the language
skills in the textbook lay on their non-congruence with the CBLT principles, the non-
explicitness of some tasks, the listening activities are not well announced and does not take
into account the age and level of the learner. The forces concern, the high presence of the
language skills per units, their ability to promote interactive works, deal with matters that
is familiar to the learners’ environment, the flexibility and reliability of the different
activities, the task permits the learners to use these linguistic competences to write on the
identified social values.

Bibliography

I-Corpus

1- MONTGOMERY, Michael et al. 1993. Go for English 2nd. Workbook. Nouvelle

Edition. Macmillan press Ltd, EDICEF.

II-Books and Articles

2- ALI Isik, 2018, ELT Material Evaluation: A System and criteria, theory and
practice in language studies Vol.8 No7, pp797-812 July 2018. Academy
publication
3- BRIAN Tomlinson,2003, Developing Materials for Language Learning, London:
continuum
4- DAVID Williams,1983, Developing Criteria for Textbook Evaluation, ELT journal
37(3), 251- 255.
5- JACK Richards, 2OO6, Communicative Language Teaching Today, Cambridge
university press

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6- KOUAME Koatenin, 2016, Examining the relevance of the writing tasks in GFE
for the Ivorian CBLT classroom.
7- RAMBE Sognangon, 2017, communicative Language Teaching, English education
VOL05 No 2 July