course book

Course Book Analysis


J.Alejandro Avila Moncada

Lissette Millacoi Aguayo

English Methodology II

Miss Roxana Correa

November 25th, 2011

COURSEBOOK ASSIGNMENT/ NOV 25

FACTUAL DETAILS


Title: Objective PetAuthor(s): Lousie Hashemi and Barbara ThomasPublisher: Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of CambridgePrice: US$31.20ISBN: 9780521805780 No. of Pages: 208Components: SB/TB/WB/Tests/Cassettes/Video/CALL/Other: CDLevel: Pre-intermediate Physical size: 276 x 219 mmLength: Units: 30 Lesson/sections: 4 Hours: Target skills: Writing and listeningTarget learners: Target teachers:

ASSESSMENT (* Poor ** Fair *** Good **** Excellent) . Factor Rating and comments .

Rationale: * At first glance the book seems aimed to help students with their grammar, because on almost every page there is a section dedicated only to explain the grammar that the different activities of each unit contain. Nevertheless, there are still some sections dedicated to listening skills, and some others to reading. It seems, as a first glance, as if there is no much dedication to writing. All in all, grammar is THE topic of the book.

.Availability : * The book is not currently available for sail which is not quite a problem because some people may say that in the market there are more course book available; however, if this book is unavailable for the moment, means that the rate at which it is bought is high. Therefore, it usefulness and help to teachers as well as for students must be of the utmost importance. To it, not to have the book available to buy seems as a waste. .

User definition: ****The user of this book are students with a pre-intermediate level of English, which means that students that use this course book should be able to speak and understand English with not much hesitation, at an academic and colloquial level.The students shall be developing reading and writing skills.

.Layout/graphics: *** The colours and pictures used in the book allow the user to be, if not entertained, at least concentrated in what he/she is doing. Though at times the information looks rather crammed; therefore, it seems as if it was too much information to apprehend and too much to do in just a few pages.

Accessibility: * The book is not available on the internet. It is quite hard to find it in bookstores, as well.

Linkage: * Units are not connected to each other, they are independent. This independency allows the students to use the book freely, without following a logical or complexity order.

.Selection/grading: **The selection of contents is well-chosen. Units and contents agree with the level of proficiency of the students.

.Physical characteristics: ** The book, as every course book, looks like a course book. Therefore its appearance is rather dull and academic. These two features does not make the book appealing to the user’s eyes which makes the user not want to use it or buy it, unless it is strictly necessary. .Appropriacy:*** The book seems appropriate enough to the user, content speaking. Meaning that the content of the book is adequate to the level of English the user should have. It


develops the necessary skills for the user to move on to the next level of proficiency. .

Authenticity: ** As it is a Course Book, there is not much room to authenticity, because it must follow a pattern in its inside i.e that listening, reading, writing or speaking activities must look a certain way. Its organization it is also similar to some other course books. So, there is no much room to authenticity in this kind of books.

.Sufficiency: *** The amount of contents of the book seems enough for the kind of abilities it aims for and for the user of the book. However, at times, it looks as if the book is trying to cover too many things at a time and the pages do not seeme wide enough. Nevertheless, if we think of the amount of practice a person needs to learn a language it does not seems as if it was too much. .Cultural bias: ** Though at times the book shows some incorporation of another cultures (rather then just an Eurpean culture), the pictures depict the European culture all over the book; moreover, they also show some context which are not reachable for some socio-economic standards.

Educational validity: **** The educational validity of the books is quite good. This is due to the amount of vocabulary that it delivers for the user to learn, also for the amount of practice that the user is able to perform with the book and all the grammatical features it has to help the learner learn and correct as well.

Stimulus/practice/revision: *** When referring to how stimulating the book can be, we have to take a look at the pictures, the length of the texts and the amount of activities it has per page. This results in a no very stimulating kind of book. However, when we revise the amount of practice it offers to the user then we can say that the book has a fair amount of practice spaces for the user. The revision that the book has goes to a great extent to. It works as a kind of exam at the end of each unit which contains all the topics that were reviewed in the given unit.

.Flexibility: Flexibility: * It is not necessary to follow the units in a logical order, they are not organized by complexity order but by topics. Unit are not completely conected, so when you choose a unit it is not completely necessary to complete the previous one because they are independant units.

.Guidance: **** The guidance given to the different activities are suitable to the activities as well as for the user. They are clear and precise; therefore, there is a small change for somebody not to understand what he/she has to do, unless he/she has some vocabulary issues.

.Overall value for money: *** The prize of the book seems fair enough, contrasting it with some other Chilean course books, it seems more complete and better organized; therefore its prize is

Source: Sheldon (1988: 242)

Language content

Does the coursebook cover the main grammar items appropriate to each level, taking learners’ needs

into account?

Is the material for vocabulary teaching adequate in terms of quantity and range of vocabulary,

emphasis placed on vocabulary development, strategies for individual learning?

Does the coursebook include material for pronunciation work? If so what is covered: individual

sounds, word stress, sentence stress, intonation?

Does the coursebook deal with structuring and conventions of language use above sentence level, eg

how to take part in conversations, how to structure a piece of extended writing, how to identify the main

points in a reading passage? (More relevant at intermediate and advanced levels.)

Are style and appropriacy dealt with? If so, is language style matched to social situation?

Skills

Are all four skills adequately covered, bearing in mind your course aims and syllabus

requirements?

Is there material for integrated skills work?

Are reading passages and associated activities suitable for your students’ levels, interests, etc? Is

there

sufficient reading material?

Is listening material well recorded, as authentic as possible, accompanied by background

information, questions and activities which help comprehension?

Is material for spoken English (dialogues, ropleplays, etc) well designed to equip learners for real-life

interactions?

Are writing activities suitable in terms of amount of guidance/control, degree of accuracy,

organization of longer pieces of writing (eg paragraphing) and use of appropriate styles?

Topic

Is there sufficient material of genuine interest to learners?

Is there enough variety and range of topic?

Will the topics help expand students’ awareness and enrich their experience?

Are the topics sophisticated enough in content, yet within the learners’ language level?

Will your students be able to relate to the social and cultural contexts presented in the

coursebook?

Are women portrayed and represented equally with men?

Are other groups represented, with reference to ethnic origin, occupation, disability, etc?

Methodology

What approach/approaches to language learning are taken by the coursebook? Is this appropriate to

the learning/teaching situation?

What level of active learner involvement can be expected? Does this match your students'

learning styles and expectations?

What techniques are used for presenting/practising new language items? Are they suitable for

the learners?

How are the different skills taught? How are communicative abilities developed? Does the material

include any advice/help to students on study skills and learning strategies?

Are students expected to take a degree of responsibility for their own learning (eg by setting their

own individual targets)?

Source: Cunnigsworth (1995:3-4)


LANGUAGE CONTENT AND METHODOLOGY

A course book can be useful for those who are willing to learn a little bit more of English in their own, or

that are learning the language in a course and not as a career. In this report the course book chosen

was Objective Pet. This book is aimed for pre-intermediate language learners of English. The approach

that, we consider, the book has, is the Communicative Approach. The course book emphasized the


teaching/learning of grammar, this is done through the content of the book. Vocabulary is important, but

as said before, the focus is on grammar. The other two skills – listening and speaking - are also

integrated in the course book, but as a secondary item of the book, and always focused on grammar.

The methodology the book uses is the Communicative Approach, this approach was created as a

response for the inadequacy of the grammar translation method in the 1970’s, but it has an even earlier

track in the 1960’s with the work of Chomsky, as stated by Al-Humaidi (n.d) The aim of the

Communicative Approach is to teach language communicatively by setting a context of communication

in real-life situations. The Communicative approach “recognizes that all communication has a social

purpose - learner has something to say or find out” (www.aber.ac.uk) The course book allows students

to practice using real life situation language, which allows students to participate in the discovery of the

new language in an active way. However, as a real context is used in the book, the usage of formal

language does not have the relevance it should for students of this level of proficiency. But then again

the aim is for students to be able to communicate in daily context, not academic ones. All tasks within

the book give the possibility for students to communicate with each other with different activities aiming

the different skills. Most activities are made for students to work in pair sharing, orally, what the are

doing or have done. As all the instructions are given in the book in a clear and specific way, the teachers

does not need to interfere much while students do the different activities in the book because of this.

This means that, the participation of the teacher is passive and students are the ones that are compelled

to communicate in different forms (speaking, reading, writing, listening). The teacher acts only as a

guide to the students.In addition, and as a controversial point to the book and to the approach, what

students do is only to produce the language in a written or spoken form, but they do not set themselves

aims to obtain different goals refereeing to their language skills.

The aim of the book, as said before, is not focus on students achieving goals, instead it is focused on

the language content, basically on grammar taught through real context. This aspect is develop through

different activities which are made based on real life context that students can feel closer to, at a certain

level. Although, students with different skills can do the activities in the book and if not, then the teacher

and other students can aid the ones that cannot fulfil the purpose of a given activity.

Choosing a textbook

Does the book suit your students?

1. Is it attractive? Given the average of YES PARTLY NO

your students, would they enjoy using it?

2. Is it culturally acceptable? YES PARTLY NO

3. Is it about the right length? YES PARTLY NO

4. Does it achieve an acceptable balance YES PARTLY NO

between the relevant language skills,

and integrate them so that work in one

skill area helps the others?

Does the book suit the teacher?

5. Is there a good, clear teacher’s guide YES PARTLY NO

with answers and help on additional

activities?

6. Are the recommended methods and YES PARTLY NO

approaches suitable for you, your

students and your classroom?

7. Are the approaches easily adaptable YES PARTLY NO

if necessary?

8. Does the book use a ‘spiral’ approach YES PARTLY NO

so that items are regularly revised and

used again in different contexts?

Does the book suit the syllabus and the examination?

9. Has the book been recommended or YES PARTLY NO

approved by the authorities?

10. If it does more than the syllabus requires, YES PARTLY NO

is the result an improvement?

11. Is there a good balance between what YES PARTLY NO

the examination requires and what the

students need?

Score: 2 points for every YES answer, 1 point for every PARTLYanswer, 0 for every NO answer:

19/22ptsSource: Grant (1987:122-6)

http://www.aber.ac.uk/


References

Al-Humaidi, M. (n.d) Communicative Language Teaching .retrieved from http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/alhumaidi/Publications/Communicative%20Language%20Teaching.pdf November 25, 2011.

No author, (n.d) Communicative Approach. Retrieved from http://www.aber.ac.uk/~mflwww/seclangacq/langteach9.html November 22, 2011

http://www.aber.ac.uk/~mflwww/seclangacq/langteach9.html

http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/alhumaidi/Publications/Communicative%20Language%20Teaching.pdf

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