Unit18EvaluatingandAdaptingTextbooks 1 1.docx

Unit18EvaluatingandAdaptingTextbooks 1 1.docx

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Unit18EvaluatingandAdaptingTextbooks11

Unit18EvaluatingandAdaptingTextbooks

Aimsoftheunit：

1.Whataretextbooksfor?

2.Whyandwhatdoteachersevaluateandadapt?

3.Howshouldteachersevaluatetextbooks?

4.Howshouldteachersselecttextbooks?

5.Howshouldteachersadapttextbooks?

I.Whataretextbooksfor?

Inallmodernschoolsystemsthetextbookhaslongservednotonlytosupportinstructionbuttosymbolizethatinstruction,inotherwords,thetextbookdefinesthecurriculum.

1.Textbooksorteachingmaterials

Nowadays,textbooksintraditionalpedagogyhaveevolvedintoagreatvarietyofresourcesusedinlanguageclassroomsuchasaudiocassettes,videos,CD-ROMs,dictionaries,grammarbook,readers,workbook,teacher’sbooks,photocopiedmaterials,flashcards,andotherauthenticmaterials,suchasnewspapers,photographs,advertisements,radio/TVprogrammes,etc.Inmanycasestheterm“ma-terials”isusedinplaceof“textbooks”,whichreferstoanythingthatisusedbyteach-ersorstudentstofacilitatethelearningofalanguage.Theterm“textbooks”isstillwidelyused,butitsreferencehasexpandedfrombookstoallthematerialsusedaroundorindependentofthebooks.

Task1

ThinkaboutyourEnglishlearningexperienceandmakealistofthematerialsyouused.Trytobeasspecificaspossible.Thenbasedonthelist,answerthefollowingquestions:

Didyouparticularlylikeordislikeanyofthem?

Why?

Werethematerialsonyourlistwidelyused?

Aretheystillusednow?

Whenyouareready,gointogroupsandshareyourlists.

2.Textbooksandlanguageresources

II.Evaluatingtextbooks

weoftenhearteacherssay“Oh,thisisagoodtextbook”or“Well,Idon’tthinkmystudentswilllikethisbook”.Thesecommentsareusuallybasedonadhocevaluation,thatis,impressionisticevaluationbasedonintuitions,experienceofclassroomuseor‘justfirstimpression”.Contrarytoadhocevaluation,systematicevaluationoftextbooksisbasedonspecificationofobjectives,principlesandprocedures.Anidealsystematictextbookevaluationwouldbealongitudinalone,whichincludespre-useevaluation,whilst-useevaluationandpost-useevaluation.

1.On-the-pageevaluation;evaluatethetextbookitselfirrespectiveofitsusers.

2.In-the-pageevaluation:

evaluationisdonebasedontheusers’opinions（teachers’aswellaslearners’）

3.Externalevaluation:

lLookattheclaimsmadebytheauthorsofthetextbook.

lLookthroughthetableofcontentsandotherdetailsinthetextbook.

4.Internalevaluation:

lThegradingandsequencingofthematerials,naturalandappropriate?

lThelanguageinputselected,interestandlevel.

lPracticeofskillsandstrategies.

lActivitiesandtasks.Suitableornot.

lStudent-centered

Thecoreofsystematictextbookevaluationistoexaminehowwellagiventextbookmatchestheneedsofalanguageprogrammeandhoweffectivelyandefficientlyitcanrealisetheobjectivesoftheprogramme.Thereforeneedsanalysishastobedonepriortotextbookevaluation.

5.Featuresofgoodtextbooks

BasedonTomlinson’s（1998）conceptionofwhatconstituteseffectivelanguageteach-ingmaterials,webelievegoodtextbooksshouldhavethefollowingfeatures.

Goodtextbooksshould:

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Attractthestudents’curiosity,interestandattention.

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Helpstudentstofeelatease.

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Helpstudentstodevelopconfidencebyprovidingtasksoractivitiesthatstudentscancopewith.

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Meetstudents’needs.

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Exposethestudentstolanguageinauthenticuse.

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Providethestudentswithopportunitiestousethetargetlan-guagetoachievecommunicativepurposes.

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Takeintoaccountthatthepositiveeffectsoflanguageteachingareusuallydelayed.

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Takeintoaccountthatstudentsdifferinlearningstyles.

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Maximiselearningpotentialbyencouragingintellectual,aes-theticandemotionalinvolvementwhichstimulatesbothrightandleftbrainactivi-ties.

Task2

Takeatextbookthatyouhaveusedoryouarefamiliarwith.Lookthroughthebookandseetowhatextentthebookhasreflectedthefeaturesofgoodtextbooksoutlinedabove.Whenyouareready,gointogroupsandshareyourfindings.

　（providetextbooksforprimarystudentsorjuniorstudent）

III.Selectingtextbooks

Whenweevaluateatextbookwithanintentionofadoption,wetrytomatchwhatisofferedbythebookwiththeneedsofourlanguageprogramme.However,thisisnoeasyjobforteachers.Foronething,teachersmaybeoverwhelmedbytherichcontentsofthetextbook,whichusuallyhasseveralvolumes.Foranother,teachersdonotal-wayshaveaclearawarenessofwhattheirstudentsneed.Inordertomakethejoboftextbookselectioneasier,materialsresearchershavedevelopedseveralpracticalandoperationalchecklistsforclassroomteachers（SeeGrant,1987）.

Lookatthequestionnairesonpage171

Choosingatextbook:

questionnaire（part1）

Choosingatextbook:

questionnaire（part2）

Choosingatextbook:

questionnaire（part3）

Task3

Choosetwosimilartextbookswhichareusedinthemiddleschoolsorcollegesintheplacewhereyouarestudying.UseGrant’squestionnaireandmakeadetailedevaluationofthetwotextbooks.Thencomparethetwotextbooksbasedontheevaluationresults.（picture）

IV.Adaptingtextbooks

Despitethegreateffortthattextbookwritersmaketomeettheneedsoftheintendedusers,textbooksaresubjecttoadaptationwhentheyareactuallyusedintheclass-room.Afterall,mostcommercialtextbooksarenotwrittenforanyparticularclass.Maley（1998:

281）suggestedthefollowingoptionstoadaptmaterials:

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omission:

theteacherleavesoutthingsdeemedinappropriate,offensive,unpro-ductive,etc.,fortheparticulargroup.

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addition:

wherethereseemstobeinadequatecoverage,teachersmaydecidetoaddtotextbooks,eitherintheformoftextsorexercisematerial.

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reduction:

wheretheteachershortensanactivitytogiveitlessweightoremphasis.

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extension:

whereanactivityislengthenedinordertogiveitanadditionaldimen-sion.（Forexample,avocabularyactivityisextendedtodrawattentiontosomesyntacticpatterning.）

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rewriting/modification:

teachermayoccasionallydecidetorewritematerial,espe-ciallyexercisematerial,tomakeitmoreappropriate,more“communicative”,moredemanding,moreaccessibletotheirstudents,etc.

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replacement:

textorexercisematerialwhichisconsideredinadequate,forwhat-everreason,maybereplacedbymoresuitablematerial.Thisisoftenculledfromotherresourcematerials.

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re-ordering:

teachersmaydecidethattheorderinwhichthetextbooksarepre-sentedisnotsuitablefortheirstudents.Theycanthendecidetoplotadifferentcoursethroughthetextbooksfromtheonethewriterhaslaiddown.

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branching:

teachersmaydecidetoaddoptionstotheexistingactivityortosuggestalternativepathwaysthroughtheactivities.（Forexample,anexperientialrouteorananalyticalroute.）

Textbookadaptationcanbedoneatthreelevels.

Thefirstlevelismacroadaptation,whichisideallydonebeforethelanguageprogrammebegins.Aftercomparingwhatiscoveredinatextbookandwhatisrequiredbythesyllabusorexamination,theteachermayfindthatcertainareasorevenwholeunitsofthebookcanbeomitted,andcertaincontentsneedtobesupplemented.

Thesecondlevelofadaptationisadaptingaunit.Thiscouldbereorderingtheactivi-ties,combiningactivities,omittingactivities,rewritingorsupplementingexercisema-terial,etc.

Thethirdlevelisadaptationofspecificactivitiesinaunit.Occasionallyanactivityisregardedasvaluable,butitisnotwell-designedoritisnotfeasibleinaparticularclass.Iftheteacherdoesnotwanttogiveuptheactivity,heorsheneedstoadaptit.

Veryoften,adaptationinvolvessupplementation,thatis,teachersaddmaterialsfromotherresourcestothetextbooktheyareusing.Itisbelievedthatauthenticmaterialsarebetterthannon-authenticmaterialsforsupplementation.Soteacherswhomakeapointofcollectingauthenticmaterialsfinditmucheasiertoadapttextbooks.ThisisespeciallytrueinELTcontextswhereauthenticEnglishmaterialsarenotalwaysreadilytohand.

Task4

Chooseatextbookthatyouarefamiliarwith.Imagineyouaregoingtousethebookwithaclassinyourlocality.Findaunitthatyouthinkneedsadaptationandadaptit.

V.Conclusion

Inthisunitwehavebrieflytalkedabouttextbookevaluation,selectionandadaptation.

Thevalueoftheseactionsissoobviousthatnoonewouldargueagainstit.However,theseactionscanbedoneonlywhenthreeconditionsaremet.

Firstly,teachersneedtohavetheauthoritytoevaluate,selectandadapttextbooks.Inmanycases,teachersaresimplytoldtouseacertaintextbook.Inworsecircumstances,teachersaretoldhowtouseabook.Someteachersareevencriticizedforintentionallyleavingoutactivitiesthattheydonotconsiderappropriateornecessary.

Secondly,teachershavetohavetheinitiativetoevaluate,selectandadapttextbooks.Veryoften,withaheavyworkload,teacherssimplydonothavethetimeorenergytodoanythingbeyondlessonplanningandmarkingstudents’homework.Withoutex-plicitencouragementfromauthorities,manyteachersdonotmakeanefforttoevalu-ateandadapttextbooks.

Thirdly,teachersneedtoknowhowtoevaluate,selectandadapttextbooks.Atthetimewhenthisbookisbeingwritten,veryfewELTteachereducationprogrammesinChinaofferspecifictraininginmaterialsevaluationanddesign,andpublicationsonELTmaterialsarehardtofind.Iftextbookevaluationiseverdone,itismostlyadhocimpressionisticjudgementbasedonexperienceorintuition.Iti