What is a Textbook?
The textbook is a book used as a standard source of information for formal
study of a subject and an instrument for teaching and learning. It should
be regarded as one of the many sources teachers can draw upon in creating
an effective lesson and may offer a framework of guidance and
orientation. No teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it
has its relevant textbook.
The Importance of Textbooks
Textbooks are the mostly used teaching and learning materials for both
teachers and the learners. They do not only provide a framework for
teachers in achieving the aims and objectives of the course, but also serve
as a guide to the teacher when conducting lessons. They also serve as a
support for the beginning teachers who have yet to gain in confidence. A
textbook truly affects the learners' attitudes and performance to the lesson
throughout the course. It is a fact that when learners like their textbooks,
they like the course as well and become active participants to the lesson.
The textbook is an important source of input and a great opportunity for
EFL learners to communicate in the target language, which is realized
only in classroom settings in most public schools.
Textbooks play a prominent role in conveying the knowledge to the
learners. Besides, one of the basic functions of textbooks is to make the
existence knowledge available and apparent to the learner in a selected,
easy and organized way. Textbooks provide the necessary input into
classroom lessons through different activities, readings and explanations.
They also provide the learners with a reference source on grammar,
vocabulary and pronunciation.
Without textbooks, a program may have no impact, therefore, they
provide structure and a syllabus. Besides, the use of a textbook in a
program can guarantee that students in different classes will receive a
similar content and therefore, can be evaluated in the same way.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Textbooks
Advantages:
• They provide a syllabus for the course because the authors of the
syllabus have made decisions about what will be learned and in what
order.
• They provide security for the students because they have a kind of a road
map of the course: they know what to expect and they know what is
expected from them.
• They provide a set of visuals, activities, readings, etc., and so saves the
teacher time in finding or developing such materials.
• They provide teachers with a basis for assessing students’ learning.
Some textbooks include tests or evaluation tools.
• They may include supporting materials (teacher’s guide, cd, worksheets,
and video.)
• They provide consistency within a program across a given level, if all
teachers use the same textbook. If textbooks follow a sequence, as within
a series, it provides consistency between levels.
Disadvantages
Textbooks also have limitations, which can lead to teachers’ and learners’
dissatisfaction with the course. The following list contains the most
frequently stated disadvantages of using only ready-made textbooks:
• The content or examples may not be relevant or appropriate to the group
and they may not reflect the students’ needs since textbooks are often
written for global markets and often do not reflect the interests and needs
of students.
• They may contain inauthentic language, since texts, dialogs and other
aspects of content tend to be specially written to incorporate teaching
points and are often not representative of real language use.
• The content may not be at the right level. There may not be the right mix
of activities (too much of X, too little of Y), there may be too much focus
on one or more aspects of language and not enough focus on others, or it
may not include everything teachers want to include.
•Many scripted textbook language models and dialogues are unnatural
and inappropriate for communicative or cooperative language teaching
because they do not adequately prepare students for the types of
pronunciation (Brazil, Coulthard, and Johns, 1980; Levis, 1999), language
structures, grammar, idioms, vocabulary and conversational rules,
routines and strategies that they will have to use in the real-world.
•Some textbooks are too inflexible and generally reflect the pedagogic,
psychological, and linguistic preferences and biases of their authors.
•The pedagogic principles that are often displayed in many textbooks may
also be conflicting, contradictory or even out-dated depending on the
capitalizing interests and exploitations of the sponsoring agent.
• The activities, readings, visuals, etc., may be boring.
• The timetable for completing the textbook or parts of it may be
unrealistic.
• The textbook doesn’t take the students’ background knowledge into
account.
• They can deskill teachers.
What are Materials?
Materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of
a language. They can be linguistic, visual, auditory, or they can be
presented in print. They can inform learners about the language. They can
provide experience of the language in use. They can stimulate language
use or they can help learners to make discoveries about the language for
themselves.
What should drive Materials?
The obvious answer to this question is that the needs and wants of the
learners should drive the materials. But teachers have needs and wants to
be satisfied too and so do administrators, with their concerns for
standardization and conformity with, for example, a syllabus or the
requirements of examinations and the language policies of a government.
These needs and wants can best be satisfied by localized projects which
consult learners, teachers, and administrators before, during, and after the
materials writing process.
While the situation is complicated in the case of materials produced by
publishers for commercial distribution. The author is generally concerned
to produce a text that teachers will find innovative, creative, relevant to
their learners' needs, and that they will enjoy teaching from. The publisher
is primarily motivated by financial success. Publishers obviously tend to
produce excellent books which will satisfy the needs and wants of their
users, but their need to maximize profits makes them cautious and
conservative, and any compromise with the authors tends still to be biased
towards market needs rather than the actual need and wants of the
learners.
Who should Develop the Materials?
These days most commercial materials are written by professional
materials writers according to an analysis of market needs. These writers
are usually very experienced and competent. They are familiar with the
realities of publishing and the new technology. The books they write are
usually systematic, well-designed, teacher-friendly and thorough. But
insufficiently relevant and appealing to the actual learners who use them.
Although it is thought that only a small proportion of good teachers are
also good designers of course materials, it is found that teachers
throughout the world only need a little training, experience and support to
become materials writers who can produce imaginative materials of
relevance and appeal to their learners.
What are Authentic Materials?
Authentic materials are print, video, and audio materials students
encounter in their daily lives, such as job applications, menus, voice mail
messages, radio programs, and videos. Authentic materials are not created
specifically to be used in the classroom, but they make excellent learning
tools for students precisely because they are authentic.
Benefits of authentic materials
Authentic materials help students bridge the gap between the classroom
and the outside world. Many students enroll in school to learn or improve
a language-related task, such as helping a child with homework or
speaking English at work. Others enroll because they have personal long-
term goals that involve education, such as becoming an engineer or
business owner.
They can provide meaningful exposure to language as it is actually used,
motivate learners and help them develop a range of communicative
competencies and enhance positive attitudes towards the learning of a
language authentic materials, particularly audio-visual ones, offer a much
richer source of input for learners and have the potential to be exploited
in different ways and on different levels to develop learners’
communicative competence.
Authentic materials offer real language that is contextually rich and
culturally pertinent empirically investigated the use of authentic materials
in the classroom and concluded that motivation and on-task behavior
increased significantly when learners used authentic materials.
To summarize, we can say that authentic materials are beneficial because
they:
•expose learners to language that serves a useful purpose;
•provide a refreshing change from the textbook;
•focus more closely on learners’ interests and needs;
•provide information about a variety of topics;
•increase learners’ motivation; and
•connect the classroom with the outside world.
Challenges of using authentic materials
Authenticity doesn’t necessarily mean good, just as it doesn’t necessarily
mean badIt is difficult to accurately measure learners’ motivation in
classroom-based studies. Also rating a text’s difficulty is not an exact
science and is, to some extent, dependent on the learning context in which
it is used and recommends careful planning, selection and sequencing of
materials and tasks to overcome the challenges you may face when using
authentic materials.
The list below summarizes challenges associated with using authentic
materials:
•The cultural content may seem too unfamiliar.
•The content may become obsolete too quickly.
•The language may be too difficult.
•The vocabulary may be too specialized.
•The grammar structures may be too complex.
•The preparation may require too much time.
Selecting and using locally relevant authentic materials
When you select locally relevant authentic materials, concentrate on
surface culture topics such as the arts, customs, food, holidays, places,
situations, and traditions that are relevant to your local context; in
addition, give your students opportunities to engage in critical thinking
and cross-cultural nuance by adding deep culture topics such as attitudes,
perceptions, and values. Mean-while, avoid any possible risk of offending
your students. For example, does your local context include a recent
painful chapter in its history, such as a civil war, a military coup, a
disputed election, or the competing forces of secular versus religious
influences on public affairs? If so, steer clear of these subjects or approach
them with extreme caution. In especially precarious local contexts, focus
exclusively on the surface culture topics such as foods, restaurants, arts,
magazine, newspapers, tourism places, and movies.
Reasons of Materials Evaluation
The reasons for materials evaluation activities are many and varied. One
of the major reasons is the need to adopt new coursebooks. Another reason
is to identify particular strengths and weaknesses in coursebooks already
in use. Such activities also permit teachers to make optimum use of their
strong points and strengthen the weaker areas by adapting and substituting
materials from other books. Materials evaluation also plays a critical role
in developing teachers' awareness in analyzing their own presuppositions
about the nature of language and learning, forcing teachers to set their
prerequisites and helping them to see materials as an essential part of the
whole teaching/ learning situation. And the last reason of materials
evaluation is to investigate the effectiveness of the materials.
Types of Materials Evaluation
There are possibly three categories of evaluation that applied linguists
subscribe to them: pre-use evaluation, whilst (in)-use evaluation and post-
use evaluation:
1.Pre-Use Evaluation: It involves making predictions about the potential
value of materials on people who use them. This type of evaluation is
often impressionistic, subjective and unreliable since a teacher scans a
book quickly to gain an impression about its value. This type of evaluation
is very important, particularly, in the process of materials selection. Thus,
predictive evaluation is carried out to determine if the materials are
adequate for use (i.e. for selection purposes). In other words, this type of
evaluation may be impressionistic if it is conducted
on the existing materials but it may be effective and useful predictive
evaluation if it is conducted for selection purposes.
2.Whilst (In)-Use Evaluation: measures the value of the materials whilst
observing or using them. It is more reliable than pre-use evaluation since
it makes use of measurement rather than prediction. It observes the
performance of learners on exercises, however; it cannot measure durable
and effective learning because of the delayed effect of instruction. Whilst
use evaluation and retrospective evaluation are likely to have similar
purposes (i.e. measuring the effect of the materials or determining the
effectiveness of the existing materials whilst using them). Retrospective
evaluation is the re-evaluation of materials while they are in-use to decide
if the materials work. This category has special significance since it
provides applied linguists/teachers with information that help them to
using the materials again, which activities work and which do not, and
how to modify the materials to make them more effective for future.
3.Post-Use Evaluation: is the most important and valuable type of
evaluation because it can measure the actual effects of the materials on
the users and provide reliable information. Tomlinson maintains that it
can measure short term effects such as motivation, impact achievability
and instant learning. It can also measure long term effects such as durable
learning and application. This category may be the most useful evaluation
since it is conducted after the participants have had reasonable time using
the materials. The users of the materials can then give clear and useful
opinions and suggestions about the evaluated materials. This type of
evaluation provides applied linguists with valid and reliable information
that help them to develop the target materials. Moreover, this type of
evaluation is helpful and useful for identifying the points of strength and
weakness that emerge over a period of using the coursebooks.
The findings of both whilst (in)-use and post-use evaluations will shed
light on the suitability of the materials and the suitability of the criteria
which have been used to select them. The success or failure of the
coursebook can only be determined meaningfully during and after its use
in the classroom.
Teaching materials form an important part of most English teaching
programmes. From textbooks, videotapes and pictures to the Internet,
teachers rely heavily on a diverse range of materials to support their
teaching and their students’ learning.
Guidelines for Designing Effective English Teaching Materials
Teacher designed materials may range from single use items to extensive
programmes of work where the tasks and activities build on each other to
create a coherent progression of skills, concepts and language items. The
guidelines that follow may act as a useful framework for teachers to
develop materials for their own teaching situations. The guidelines are
offered as just guidelines – not rules to be rigidly applied or adhered to.
While not all the guidelines will be relevant or applicable in all materials
design scenarios, overall they provide for coherent design and materials
which enhance the learning experience.
Guideline 1: English language teaching materials should be
contextualised
Firstly, the materials should be contextualised to the curriculum they are
intended to address. It is essential during the design stages that the
objectives of the curriculum and syllabus are kept to the fore.
Materials should also be contextualised to the experiences, realities and
first languages of the learners. An important part of this involves an
awareness on the part of the teacher-designer of the “socio-cultural
appropriacy” of things. It is essential the materials designer is informed
about the culture-specific learning processes of the intended learners, and
for many groups this may mean adjusting the intended balance of what
teachers may regard as more enjoyable activities and those of a more
serious nature. Materials should link explicitly to what the learners
already know, to their first languages and cultures, and very importantly,
should alert learners to any areas of significant cultural difference.
In addition, materials should be contextualised to topics and themes that
provide meaningful, purposeful uses for the target language. Wherever
possible, these should be chosen on the basis of their relevance and
appropriateness for the intended learners, to ensure personal engagement
and to provide motivation for dipping further into the materials. For some
ages and stages the topics may well be ‘old faithfuls’, such as money,
family and holidays. Part of the mission for the materials designer is “to
find new angles on those topics” and having done that, to develop
activities which will ensure purposeful production.
Guideline 2: Materials should stimulate interaction and be generative
in terms of language
Most people who learn to communicate fluently in a language which is
not their L1 do so by spending a lot of time in situations where they have
to use the language for some real communicative purpose. Ideally,
language-teaching materials should provide situations that demand the
same; situations where learners need to interact with each other regularly
in a manner that reflects the type of interactions they will engage in
outside of the classroom. Three conditions are necessary to stimulate real
communication, these are: the need to “have something we want to
communicate”, “someone to communicate with”, and, perhaps most
importantly, “some interest in the outcome of the communication”.
Guideline 3: English language teaching materials should encourage
learners to develop learning skills and strategies
It is impossible for teachers to teach their learners all the language they
need to know in the short time that they are in the classroom. In addition
to teaching valuable new language skills, it is essential that language
teaching materials also teach their target learners how to learn, and that
they help them to take advantage of language learning opportunities
outside the classroom. Some EFL course books also build in exercises for
students to explore their own learning styles and strategies.
Guideline 4: English language teaching materials should offer
opportunities for integrated language use
Language teaching materials can tend to focus on one particular skill in
a somewhat unnatural manner. Some courses have a major focus on
productive skills, and in these reading and listening become second-rate
skills. With other materials, reading or writing may dominate. But, at the
very least we listen and speak together, and read and write together.
Ideally, materials produced should give learners opportunities to integrate
all the language skills in an authentic manner.
Guideline 5: English language teaching materials should be authentic
Much space has been devoted in language teaching literature to debating
the desirability of using authentic materials in language teaching
classrooms. It is imperative for second language learners to be regularly
exposed in the classroom to real, unscripted language—to passages that
have not been produced specifically for language learning purposes. Texts
written specifically for the classroom generally distort the language in
some way. Learners need to hear, see and read the way native speakers
communicate with each other naturally.
What is more important than authentic texts is authenticity in terms of the
tasks which students are required to perform. Learners are required to do
real-world tasks which reflect the language and behaviours required in the
world outside the classroom.
Guideline 6: English language teaching materials should link to each
other to develop a progression of skills, understandings and language
items
One potential pitfall for teacher-designed materials relates to the
organisation within and between individual tasks. There is a very real
danger with self-designed and adapted materials that the result can be a
hotchpotch of unconnected activities. Clearly stated objectives at the
outset of the design process will help ensure that the resultant materials
have coherence, and that they clearly progress specific learning goals
while also giving opportunities for repetition and reinforcement of earlier
learning.
Guideline 7: English language teaching materials should be attractive
Criteria for evaluating English language teaching materials and course
books frequently include reference to the ‘look’ and the ‘feel’ of the
product. Some aspects of these criteria that are particularly pertinent to
materials designers are discussed below.
Physical appearance:
Initial impressions can be as important in the language classroom as they
are in many other aspects of life. Put simply, language-teaching materials
should be good to look at! Examples for factors to consider include the
density of the text on the page and the type size.
User-friendliness:
Materials should also be attractive in terms of their ‘usability’. Some
simple examples: if the activity is a gap-fill exercise, is there enough space
for learners to handwrite their responses? If an oral response is required
during a tape or video exercise, is the silence long enough to allow for
both thinking and responding?
Durabilty:
If materials need to be used more than once, or if they are to be used by
many different students, consideration needs to be given to how they can
be made robust enough to last the required distance.
Ability to be reproduced:
Language teaching institutions are not renowned for giving their staff
unlimited access to colour copying facilities, yet many do it-yourself
materials designers continue to produce eye-catching multi-coloured
originals, and suffer frustration and disappointment when what emerges
from the photocopier is a class-set of grey blurs.
Guideline 8: English language teaching materials should have
appropriate instructions
This guideline applies as much to the instructions that are provided for
other teachers who may use the materials, as it does for the intended
learners. Instructions should be clear, but, often, excellent materials fail
in their “pedagogical realisation” because of a lack of clarity in their
instructions. For instructions to be effective, they should be written in
language that is appropriate for the target learners.
Guideline 9: English language teaching materials should be flexible
Much of a student’s language learning is mediated by the materials and
course books the teacher uses in terms of both language content and
teaching technique. It is important to construct materials that allow
teachers and students to make choices—at least some of the time. The
materials designer may offer flexibility in terms of content by providing
a range of possible inputs that are not themselves organised into lesson
units and that teachers or, indeed, students, could then choose which of
these to use and which procedure to apply to them.
Materials evaluation
Materials evaluation is a procedure that involves measuring the value of
a set of learning materials. It involves making judgments about the effect
of the materials on the people using them.
Evaluation Checklist
An evaluation checklist is an instrument that provides the evaluator with
a list of features of successful learning-teaching materials. According to
these criteria, evaluators like teachers, researchers as well as students can
rate the quality of the material.
Levels of Textbook Analysis
There is a two-level model for the comprehensive evaluation of textbooks:
1. A brief external evaluation which includes criteria concerning the
organizational foundation of the textbook, as stated explicitly by the
author/publisher through the cover, introduction and table of contents
statements.
2. The second level involves an in-depth internal investigation of the
textbook, to see how far the materials in question match up to what the
author claims as well as to the aims and objectives of a given\teaching
program.
I. Textbook
a- General Shape Domain:
1. The outside cover of the book is attractive
2. The textbook paper is of good quality
3. The textbook is rich with illustrations that facilitate students'
learning
4. The textbook is free of mistakes
5. The textbook has a list of contents
6. It has a list of references
B. Objectives Domain:
1. They are related to the learners' needs and interests
2. They are clear and specific
3. They correspond with the modern developments around
the world
4. They are relevant to the local culture
5. They meet the individual differences among students
6. They make a balance between the four main skills, listening,
speaking, reading and writing
C. Content Domain:
1. Reading and Writing
1. contains a sufficient number and a variety of reading
passages
2. helps students develop fluency and enjoyment in
reading
3. Many of the reading passages are up-to-date and meaningful
4. Some writings are difficult for most of the students to
deal with
5. enhances free writing opportunities
6. The time allotted for teaching the material is sufficient
2. Structure and Vocabulary
1. Structures are designed to be taught inductively
2. The grammar is graded appropriately
3. Grammar lessons are often derived from the reading passages
4. The topical nature of the vocabulary exercises are often meaningful
to the students
5. Grammar and vocabulary are appropriate to the students' level
6. The time allotted for teaching the material is sufficient
3 Listening and Speaking
1. Cassettes are of high quality production
2. The cassettes expose the students to the voices and pronunciation of
the native speakers of English
3. The listening exercises often focus on stress, rhythm,
and intonation
4. Speech exercises invite students to talk about their
concerns and interests
5. The time allotted for teaching the material is sufficient
D. Textbook -Teaching Aids Domain:
1. The pictures and diagrams used are related to the learners'
background
2. The aids and activities used help to build students' confidence
3. The aids help to relieve anxiety and boredom
4. The activities foster the spirit of independent learning
5. They help to develop communicative skills
6. They help to de-emphasize teacher's talk
II. Teacher's Manual
A. General Features
1. Does the manual help teachers understand the objectives and
methodology of the text?
2. The correct or suggested answers are given for the exercises in the
textbook.
B. Background Information
1. Teachers are shown how to teach students to use cues from
morphology, cognates, rhetorical relationships, and context to assist
them in lexical inference
2. There is a list of true and false cognates for vocabulary words.
C. Methodological Guidance
1. Teachers are given techniques for activating students’ background
knowledge before reading the text.
2. Teachers are given adequate examples for teaching students to
preview, skim, scan, summarize, and to find the main idea.
3. The manual suggests a clear, concise method for teaching each
lesson.
