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book-review2017
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Book Review © The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0033688217701954
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McGrath, I.
Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching, Second Edition
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016), 344 pp. ISBN 978-0-7486-4567-1. £21.99 (Pbk)

Reviewed by: Gail Sylvia Steele, SEAMEO RELC, Singapore.

Teaching materials are of vital importance to the language teacher, therefore careful eval-
uation of any materials, particularly coursebooks, is essential to ensure they meet the
requirements of the teachers, learners and the course itself. The second edition of Materials
Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching, replaces its predecessor after 14 years and
acknowledges important changes that have occurred in TESOL over this relatively short
time. Since writing the first edition Ian McGrath, who has over 30 years’ experience as a
materials writer, has conducted extensive research. He has incorporated much of this
knowledge and experience into this updated edition. Whilst there have been significant
changes within language teaching since the previous edition, McGrath’s intention with the
new edition is to provide a practical guide which exemplifies what he terms ‘a way of
thinking’ about materials, teacher responsibility and learner contribution.
One important acknowledgement in the new edition is that learners’ needs may not be
just linguistic but may include cultural awareness, digital literacy, language learning
strategies or specific content e.g. history. In recent years, there have been changes to
coursebooks to promote greater intercultural awareness, following criticisms of predom-
inantly white, middle-class stereotypes. McGrath mentions an ESL learner in the USA in
2010 resisting reading materials that he felt represented an attempt to assimilate him into
the American way of life. Efforts are being made to incorporate other representatives of
the English speaking world e.g. the West Indies and India into materials. Today’s materi-
als writers need to consider a range of learner differences and realize that a particular
coursebook will never meet the needs of all learners. Personalization is therefore one of
the principles motivating teachers to change the content to suit their students.
All chapters in the second edition have been revised and updated. Each chapter ends
with a Reflection, Discussion, Action activity section, for the teacher to critically con-
sider the relevance of the information to their particular teaching context and profes-
sional practice. Additionally, the Appendices have been updated, with the inclusion of
extracts from published materials i.e. coursebooks’ units; a list of teacher-recommended
websites and evaluation checklists.
The first edition concentrated on text materials and it is notable that the chapters pre-
viously entitled Choosing a Coursebook 1 and 2 are now entitled Choosing Materials to
take into account enhanced forms of course delivery. Many of the new, extended sections
2 RELC Journal

within the chapters recognize the multimodality of language teaching; the ubiquity of
digital literacies and online materials; and the differentiation of materials incorporating
language and content i.e. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).
A key distinction McGrath makes is between coursebook-led and coursebook-based
language courses. Whereas content in coursebook-led courses is often delivered in lock-
step, and is standardized and prescribed, the content in coursebook-based courses is open
to modification and adaption, depending on the particular needs of the learners. McGrath
maintains only coursebook-based teaching is justifiable because the aim is to develop
communicative competence. A valuable soundbite is McGrath’s reminder to the experi-
enced teachers who are the intended readership of this book, that it is important to ques-
tion how the coursebook contributes to the aims of the course to ensure that the course
does not become aimless.
Whilst McGrath acknowledges Scott Thornbury’s Dogme stance of 2000, using just
the teacher, student and environment of the classroom, he does not suggest abandoning
the coursebook completely. Indeed, there appears to be some agreement with Thornbury
when McGrath states that content should have salient, relevant and inherently interesting
themes, with the best themes being those volunteered by the students. The key word used
throughout the second edition is for materials to have relevance, which is considered by
McGrath to be the sine qua non of materials selection, whether materials are verbal,
textual or digital.
The author stresses the importance of teachers considering the coursebook as an aid
to fulfil their particular objectives, in other words, the teacher mediates between students
and the materials. Given the economics of publishing and the production of coursebooks
for the widest possible audience, it is inevitable that the contents will overlook local
needs and conditions. McGrath cautions materials design by teachers should be a last
resort as it is time-consuming and painful to produce, but gives practical advice to adapt
and supplement teaching materials and includes a template to create worksheets.
A significant change within the language learning classroom concerns the realign-
ment of teacher-student roles resulting in a more humanistic, sociocultural environment.
Instead of passively completing exercises in textbooks, a learner-centred classroom
approach encourages learners to devise their own questions, tell stories, create and even
present the materials, thus providing more opportunities for genuine communication and
interaction.
This is where McGrath’s book becomes an engaging read for in-service teachers as he
provides examples from his classroom research with schoolchildren in Singapore. In the
first example, primary schoolchildren re-told a picture book story using PowerPoint
slides. In the second, Primary 6 12 year-olds told a story to their partner for the partner
to recall and retell. McGrath writes that this speaking opportunity gave the learners
opportunities to scaffold each other, asking each other for clarification of meaning rather
than grammar. Writing of these research experiences with schoolchildren, McGrath ani-
mates the book with his first-hand experience of the learners’ enthusiasm, pride and
excitement during the activity. This substantiates his advice to give greater opportunities
for learners to provide content themes.
As McGrath observes, evaluation of materials has always proven problematic and in
an ideal world should be longitudinal. In the past, evaluation was based objectively on
Book Review 3

the students’ test scores but more recently, it has taken account of the sociocultural turn,
to become more qualitative and personalized. The author advises teachers to adopt more
spontaneous evaluation by asking students for their opinions about the course and mate-
rials or organizing small group discussions i.e. focus groups. Learner diaries are another
way of gauging the response to course materials but McGrath suggests that the teacher
will need to provide explicit prompts.
In acknowledgement of the advances made using the internet and mobile technology
for language learning, McGrath has extended the section to include Moodle and VLES
or Virtual Learning Environments, which enable the delivery of instructional content in
flipped and blended learning environments. Whilst such innovations appear to have sig-
nificant advantages, the author advises teachers to creatively exploit technology but
apply the same evaluative criteria used for paper materials and coursebooks.
The book is of particular value to teacher trainers on postgraduate courses or as a set
text on modular Masters courses. It is also of particular interest to experienced, practising
teachers with an independent interest in professional development.