HOW TO EVALUATE TEXTBOOK

HOW TO EVALUATE ELT TEXTBOOKS

Betty Sekarasih Hadi Yani, S.Pd

The success of ELT depends on many factors. One of  them is the availability of materials to support English Teaching Learning activities. Materials refer to anything which is used by the teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of Language. They could obviously be cassettes, videos, CD-ROMs, dictionaries, authentic materials, realia and also textbooks. In most ELT, however, the most frequently used material is textbook. Textbooks not only represent the visible heart of any ELT program but also offer considerable advantages for the teachers and learners. In fact, there are a lot of textbooks available in this world and millions copies are sold every year. However, not all of textbooks available in this world match to our ELT program. We need to select or evaluate the textbook so that it will work, in the sense that learner will be able to use them without too much difficulty and will enjoy the experience of doing so. Textbook evaluation can be done through systematic process in observing the program/course, skills, exercises and activities and practical concerns.

Key words : ELT, Textbooks ,materials,  selection, evaluation, characteristics

A. INTRODUCTION

Textbooks become inevitable part of ELT program. They are necessary to promote language learning due to the limitation of the time to interact using the foreign language. Textbooks can be resource for self –directed learning, presentation materials, idea, activities and syllabus (pre determined learning).

The tremendous growth of ELT creates a condition in which we can find large variety of textbooks. Many copies are sold every year and numerous aid projects have been set up to produce them in various countries.  The widely spread textbooks, however, cannot always match to the ELT program we have.  We need to measure the value of the textbooks so that they will meet the goal and the learner needs.

In fact, most textbook writers just follow their intuition rather than an overt specification of objectives, principles and procedures. And on the other hand, most of the teachers only judge the textbooks by their apparent appeal. This reality leads to the situation where the textbooks become worthless for the students. Textbooks become a formality which is very far from the learner needs. And finally it will affect the success of English teaching learning process. From this then, we have to start evaluating textbooks by observing what the learners actually do when using the materials and finding out what they seem to learn as a result of using them.

B. DISCUSSION

A. What do we mean by textbooks?

            Textbook is an almost universal element of ELT. Bayne (1998) defines textbooks as all forms of printed ELT instructional materials, commercial or non-commercial, bound or loose-leaf, and whole or part of a textbook. According to Tomlinson (2000) textbooks will include course books, self-access materials, supplementary materials and workbooks. While Gershon (2000) also states that textbooks can be in the form of in house materials. From several definitions above we can conclude that the scope of textbooks is very wide. Textbooks are in the form of printed instructional materials and they are designed to help the teachers and learners. Textbooks do not have to be published by famous publisher but they can be in house materials which are usually generated by the teachers. 

B. Why do we need to evaluate textbooks?

The development of new technologies and ELT makes the demands for textbooks continues to grow and the publishing industry responds with the new series and textbooks each year. Consequently, there are many textbooks available in this world and it is impossible to use them all at a time.

In fact, most textbook writers just follow their intuition rather than an overt specification of objectives, principles and procedures. Many textbook evaluators or teachers often find textbooks that inconsistent, weak in their instructional support for the students and teachers, fail to provide a purpose for learning, taking account student ideas and promoting student thinking. On the other hand, most teachers who take the role as textbook evaluators often fail in judging the textbooks because most of them only observing their apparent appeal.

From the exposure above, it is clear that textbook evaluation is very important in ELT. We should evaluate the textbooks first before using them in the real class. We do not want to bring our students in a strange planet in which they know nothing there. We also should not provide anything they do not need. The goal and learner needs must be the main consideration in evaluating textbooks.

            Sheldon (1988) has also proposed several reasons for textbook evaluation:

1. Signals important administrative and educational decisions in which there is considerable

     professional, financial or even political investment.

2. Enable the managerial and teaching staff of a specific institution or organization to

    discriminate between all of the available textbooks on the market.

3. Provide educators sense of familiarity with a book’s content thus assisting educators in

     identifying the particular strength and weaknesses in textbooks already in use.

4. Help the teacher in making optimum use of a book strong points and recognizing the

    shortcoming of certain exercises, tasks and entire texts.

C.  Textbook Evaluation

Textbook evaluation is an attempt to measure the value of the textbook. It should be done impressionistically and consists of attempts to predict whether or not the textbook will work, in the sense that the learner will be able to use them without too much difficulty and will enjoy the experience of doing so. The evaluation can be conducted by individual teacher/educator. In higher level (school or educational institution), evaluation usually executed by a certain committee which consists of working teacher, subject matter expert, college instructors who inherit the graduates and representative of business and industry whose employees are expected to understand the material being taught.

            The textbook evaluation can be done by analyzing the textbook based on the review on the good criteria of textbooks. There are some criteria of a good textbook and a good textbook of course is able to fulfill most of the requirement demanded. The criteria cover some parts of a textbook such as program and course, the skills offered, exercises and activities and at last the practical concern.

D. Characteristics of good textbooks

According to Tomlinson (1998), the following are some criteria of good textbooks which usually used as the consideration in evaluating textbooks:

1. Textbooks should achieve impact

     It means that text books can attract learner curiosity, interest and attention. Textbook can achieve impact through:

a). Novelty : unusual topic, illustration and activities

b). variety  : breaking up the monotony of a unit routine with unexpected activity using

                     many different text types or voices in the cassette

c) attractive presentation : attractive colors, a lot of white space and use of photographs

d) appealing content   : topics of interest to the target learners, topics which offer the

                                     possibility of learning something new, engaging stories, universal

                                     themes, local references.

2. Textbooks should help the learners to feel at ease

            Dulay, Burt, Krashen (1982) state that relaxed and comfortable students apparently can learn more in shorter period of time. Textbooks can help learners to feel at ease in many ways such as:

a) A lot of white spaces rather than different activities cramped together

b) Text and illustration are related to the learners’ culture

c) Obviously trying to help the students rather than textbooks which are always testing them

     (helping vs. testing)

d) Informal discourse features, contracted form, informal lexis

e) active voice rather than passive

f) Concreteness (anecdote)

g) Inclusiveness (not signaling intellectual, linguistic or cultural superiority over the

     learners)

3.  Textbooks should help learners to develop confidence

            It is not the process of simplification but provide the students with some activities/tasks which are stimulating, problematic but achievable too.

4. What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful.

5. Textbooks should require and facilitate learner self investment

6. Textbooks should provide opportunity to use the language

7. Textbooks should take into account that learners differ in learning styles and affective

     attitudes.

            Garinger in his article states that good textbooks should:

1. Match to the program and the course .

     We can observe this by reviewing the goal and the curriculum of the program

2. Help the students acquiring the necessary skills

3. Provide contributive, balance, progressive, varied and challenging exercises/activities

4. Consider the practical concern such as availability and the cost.

E. Steps in the Evaluation Process (How to evaluate textbook)

            A practical, thorough, and straight forward method for choosing ELT textbooks is to analyze the options according to program issues, going from board (goals and curriculum) to specific (exercise and activities). The strategy behind this technique is to eliminate unsatisfactory textbooks at each stage of analysis so that only the most appropriate are left at the end, making the choice clear and manageable. The following checklist will  be very helpful in  reviewing  of each aspect.

1. Matching the textbook to the program and the Course

An evaluator should be able to answer some questions such as:

-          Does the textbook supports the goals and curriculum of the program?

-          Is the textbook part of a series, and if so, would using the entire series be appropriate?

-          Are a sufficient number of course objectives addressed by the textbooks?

-          Was this book written for learners of this age group and background?

-          Does the textbook reflect learners’ preferences in terms of lay out, design and organization?

-          Is the textbooks sensitive to the cultural background and interests of the student?

2. Reviewing the Skills Presented

- Are the skills presented in the textbook appropriate to the course?

- Does the textbook provide the learners with adequate guidance as they are acquiring these

 skills?

- Do the skills that are presented in the textbook include a wide range of cognitive skills that

will be challenging to learners?

3. Reviewing Exercises and Activities in the textbooks

When evaluating the quality of a textbook’s exercises or activities, four key questions should be answered:

-          Do the exercises and activities in the textbook promote learners’ language development?

-          Is there a balance between controlled and free exercises?

-          Do the exercises and the activities reinforce what the students have already learned and represent a progression from simple to more complex?

-          Are the exercises and activities varied in format so that they will continually motivate and challenge learners?

-           

4. Weighing Practical Concern

One set of considerations remains: practical concerns. These issues, which include availability and cost, are often deciding factor in textbook selection, and they must be acknowledged.  The followings are the checklist for this aspect:

-          Is the textbook available?

-          Can the book be obtained in a timely manner?

-          Is the textbook cost-effective?

Sheldon (1988) suggests that no general list of criteria can ever really be applied to all

teaching and learning contexts without considerable modification, most of these standardized evaluation checklist contain similar component that can be used as helpful starting points for ELT practitioner in a wide variety situations. Some experts suggest that evaluation checklist should have some criteria pertaining to the physical characteristics of textbooks such as

-          lay-out, organizational and logistical characteristics

-          approach, aim and methodology

-          fit the learner needs

-          language, function, grammar

-          relevance linguistic item to the prevailing socio-cultural environment

-          representation of cultural and gender

C. CONCLUSION

            Textbook will affect teachers, students and the overall classroom dynamic. It can be considered as an important aspect in ELT. Since there are wide varieties of textbooks in this world and it is impossible to use them all in a language program, we need to conduct textbook evaluation. The use of an evaluation procedure of checklist can lead to a more systematic and thorough examination and to enhance outcomes for learners, instructors and administrator. Textbook evaluation is considered as significant step in conducting English language Teaching (ELT).

References:

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (1998). Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/articles/2002/07/bayne

iteslj.org/Articles/Ansary-Textbooks

www.questia.com/PM.qst

www.cal.org/0210 garinger.html

www.iranian-efl-journal.com