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Critical Textbook Review: English For Science
Critical Textbook Review: English For Science
Cade M. Carson
English for Science is an English language learner coursebook that uses a thematic
syllabus centered around exercises and activities that require learners to apply the scientific
method and critical thinking to a variety of circumstances. This immersive style or content-based
learning is consistent with metalinguistic exceptions (Thornbury, 2006). The four aspects of skill
acquisition are addressed through vocabulary building, lexical chunks, derivational conversion,
reading for comprehension, argument structure, and syntactic relationships. Basic college level
academic writing style are presented through a principled framework and schema for each
chapter.
Student-based Criteria
Zimmerman claims that the lessons and exercises have enough flexibility to facilitate
their adaptation for a remedial English course aimed at native speakers, despite stating the
motivation and design of the book only included the English language acquisition community as
the target audience. Materials in the text were developed from a learner-centered study, of which
student-needs analyses were conducted at the American Language Institute in San Diego and
Layout
Brief Content provides a skeletal framework for a quick reference, followed by a more detailed
Table of Contents that names each activity throughout the text. The former is listed below:
5. Defining - Energy p. 67
6. Exemplifying - Heat p. 82
The titles follow a naming convention where it reflects the language element addressed
within the chapter and the context in which the content is presented throughout the lesson. Each
section’s introduction provides a topic and implies the linguistic or rhetorical device that will be
formally introduced in the section labeled Using English for… and the subsequent exercises
extoll aspects related to the science-related field(s) where the grammar then becomes explicit in
the various vocabulary exercises and writing sections. The science curriculum functions both as a
medium to teach a writing and communication style for the purpose of engaging in the scientific
applied with other inductive learning approaches. In the first chapter, the grammar concept
revolves around active and passive voice. There is evidence of pre-reading with the introduction;
be considered more of the same? The position of the review is that it does provide a different
avenue or dimensional meaning of the subject, although it does not make use of a separate mode,
CRITICAL TEXTBOOK REVIEW 4
such as a discussion task which would ground the information, giving it a physical reference in
corporeal time.
Content
Other skills are divided up among the other 11 chapters and their successive subchapter
sections labeled Reading Skills, Using English…, Listening Skills, Discussion Points, and Writing
Skills. Between the exercise headings there are open-ended interim questions that call upon the
learners to reflect upon their lived experiences, inciting conversation among themselves and
other classmates or taking the form of private or self-talk. Commonly contrasted concepts are
compared, i.e., reading/writing and speaking/listening, and are present in the questions as tasks.
Claims.
The author makes the claim, “Most of the material is adaptable for remedial classes for
native speakers as well,” (Zimmerman, p. xix, 1989). Proposing the use of this syllabus for an
adapted application seems nonsensical at best. The fact that the author tacks on a, but it’s really
for everybody, statement at the end of the Preface diminishes the integrity of the text. The strict,
metered approach taken in this context and its use as an accessible English language teaching
text are mutually exclusive: the presence of one negates the other. In no way has this text implied
The author targets community college and university English language learners that have
science classes with an increasing level of difficulty. How will potential language learners with a
lower competence in scientific studies or language skills be able to grasp the concepts or develop
CRITICAL TEXTBOOK REVIEW 5
the necessary grammar to succeed? It seems irresponsible and misleading to make claims like
that and a disservice for people in need of acquiring an increased proficiency in either area.
Appropriateness.
sequencing structure for learners to follow, as well as employing multimodal learning strategies.1
There is a nice lead into the material that allows learners to draw upon their lived experiences
and configurate mental imagery that support meaning-making and distinguish a referent, relative
Science is] Designed for academically oriented students to provide language skill practice
needed for effective participation in basic science course” (n.d.). On the other hand, within the
context of the mixed curriculum there is also evidence of a two-fronted failure at both a
As a survey science course, it makes sense that the first chapter should ease into the
curriculum and establish a foundation of knowledge from which the learners will continue to
accrue greater awareness of themselves and the language. Beginning in that familiar structuralist
way of developing slowly, and gradually ramping up. Chapter 1 starts slow, and goes slowly
still, and even slower, until there is the realization that the chapter has lasted 33 pages and the
only science material that has been covered are the three stages of matter and what could be
referred to as an eclectic lexis of nouns and adjectives for the associated reading tasks with short
1
‘Pre-reading’ for Chapter 1
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It seems to be a
Understanding Paraphrases, which comes after three pages of content and a simpler
identification exercise.
Here we can see all six items in the activity with the first one solved as an
example. Presumably, by the 33rd exercise in the book, one might have the expectation that the
student would have a firm grasp on the nature and organization of the exercises, especially the
overly simplistic identification activities that disregard the three pages of contextual information
Visuals.
Most visual elements are unassuming and simple. The cover layout is quietly stylized
with top and bottom stripling enclosing the frame, which have equidistant page margins. Three
black abstracted images sit at the midland region evenly distributed in their relation to one
another and as a grouping to the other elements. These block abstractions are monochromatic
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rough or skewed 2 halves (Golden Ratio, 2015). The inverse of the classical frame distribution
model is present, where the larger portion rests above the smaller half in a cardinal position
displaying the title clearly in the left, upper third of the frame. Slightly off-center in a left-
justified position, the title is in the top third of the frame below the stripling near the top. Stark
black and white elements on the cover vacillate between clashing and assuaging with the
From there, every visual within the text is a black line drawing of a cartoonish style or a
chart or graph, some of which are interactive with the exercises and others are there for comedic
relief? It seems unlikely that the author or the artist thought the drawings were funny when they
2
Based on phi (ϕ), or more precisely, the conjugate of the golden ratio. Sometimes represented by
a capital Greek phi, ɸ (0.618033) and shows a numerical representation of slightly more than half. Visible
throughout art, design, music, and nature.
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were arranged with the rest of the material. The visuals are organized to clearly reflect the
The 186 pages of the text tally up to grand total of 39 images, excluding the cover
images, graphs, and charts. The quotient of total images inventoried, and the number of pages
create an average of 1 image per 4.7692 pages. Further breakdown of the findings went on to
categorize all 39 images according to their potential functional value for a learner using this
coursebook. If an image serves more than one use in respect to an activity or depicts information
in more than one way it is considered multidimensional. Images that serve a single didactic
purpose are labeled unidimensional and images with no perceived use other than placeholders
are WASTE. Of the 39 images, 24 are considered WASTE due to the absence of a didactic
purpose for the lesson. There are 12 images that are unidimensional and 3 showing
With this information available, the probability was calculated for the likelihood that a
given page in the book will result in an image (21%) for each category and from that the
purpose-W.
Probability of image
21% Multidimensional-M Unidirectional-U Serve No Purpose-W
occurrence
For the second section of the review the extant features of Chapter 7, Giving Evidence:
Smoking, Drugs, and Alcohol will be evaluated for their appearance, organization, efficacy, and
cohesion. The universal criteria that will guide the discussion address a variety of factors similar
to those laid out in Developing Materials for Language Teaching (Tomlinson, 2013):
Supports the autonomy of its users and their individualized education paths,
Serve as a dynamic artefact (Tomlinson, 2013) for meaning beyond its context,
Convey trust in the user by making good on the claims set out within the text.
Being that this coursebook follows a thematic syllabus for a specific purpose, the lesson
review would follow the specific criteria associated with the methodology of systemic functional
linguistics for the overall format guidelines. While elements of systemic functional linguistics
will be used to further investigate the conceptual and communicative elements of the lesson,
integration of other aspects from differing evaluation methodologies provide a robust approach
to reviewing materials and their design. This eclecticism draws from visual criteria, creativity
approaches, multimodal learning, authenticity, relativity, affect, and agency. The last two pages
of the review after the References page are an outline derived from the Table of Contents for
Chapter 7 to provide a format guide to highlight the schema, of which is the principle organizing
Criteria for the instructions consist of metrics that speak to the brevity of the instructions,
effectivity of the language used, independence of the instructions, consistency of the language,
logical order of the sequencing, a consistent lexis throughout the text, and the likelihood that
Learning Principles
maximum amount of activities that will promote a continued dynamic interaction with the data
(pattern-finding within lexical sets over rote memorization of word lists to develop self-sufficient
users of text in the target language) fits into this concept (Tomlinson, p. 234, 2013). The target
learners of English for Science are adults and some specific criteria for adults poses an added
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challenge to teaching this group of learners. Aspects that pertain to adult learners that specifically
relate to motivation and fostering positive attitudes towards the target language are listed below
Chapter 7 begins with the Introduction presenting a short exposition about the history of science
and ancient thinkers, like Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Einstein in relation to the burden of proof
and the importance of providing evidence for claims. The next element presented is a line
drawing showing a man’s head looking at a planet and some star, taking up half the page and
demonstrating no value to the information or learner other than providing a large amount of
negative space. Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire is the next short reading activity about the
CRITICAL TEXTBOOK REVIEW 12
transformation of the public paradigm surrounding smoking cigarettes and the evidence for the
demonization of it therein.
Using English to Give Evidence directly follows the passage where the author explains
the thesis and subsequent arguments as evidence. It also explains the difference between opinion
and proof briefly. Following that section is the first interactive exercise, Identifying Evidence.
This section presents two statements for each activity for the learner to perform generative
procedures by identifying and selecting the conclusion with a single underline and the evidence
with a double underline. This exercise does not engage the affect of the learner. There is an
absence of space for the learner to make a connection between their lived experiences and the
information presented, which is rudimentary and asymmetric to the reading at the beginning of
the chapter. Tasks involved in the activity are presented clearly with the process and outcomes
stated and an example begins the exercise. There is no communicative aspect to this exercise,
and it has a very narrow available set of possible outcomes that dismiss the previous reading that
set up the learner to create mental images of smoking side effects and infamous scientists
learner is expected to choose the correct conclusion that can be extrapolated from the evidence
statement for each activity and circle its corresponding letter. Statements include There is a high
statistical correlation between smoking and emphysema, accompanied by two possible answers,
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a. Emphysema patients like to smoke and b. Smoking is a cause of emphysema. This activity does
employ Metacognitive and Cognitive strategies for organizing the task in relation to the possible
answers and evaluating them to produce b. Smoking is a cause of emphysema, possibly based on
the prior knowledge that the learner has about the copula be and causality, the relationship that
and demonstrates, or due to the lack of lexicosemantic understanding about the verb like or
patients. Additionally, these conclusions could rely on the effect of priming that the collocations
On the heels of that task comes another identification exercise called Evaluating
Evidence. There is an increased level of difficulty where the learner is expected to read the
proposition and evaluate the four following statements and deduce which statements provide
evidence for the proposition given. For each activity there may be more than one answer, which
2013). Associated with the degree of uncertainty is anxiety and doubt that negatively affect a
learner’s performance by engaging the sympathetic nervous system with the introduction of
cortisol and other stress hormones. Effects of the stress response are likely to cloud decision-
making, distract the learner’s attention to other external stimuli, significantly decrease executive
functions, and other cognitive processes because their bodies are reacting to a perceived physical
threat on a physiological level. On page 225 of Developing Materials for Language Teaching,
Brian Tomlinson points out that the learners themselves are underutilized resources for teaching,
“1. The capacity of the brain to learn from experience and, in particular the role that
2. The knowledge, awareness, and experience which learners bring to the process of
Evaluating Evidence is a good example of what not to do, but does serve as a negative model of
an affect engagement strategy that promotes the opposite of the desired outcomes, where the
Here Zimmerman makes a substantial step up in the difficulty of the content with the
introduction of formal logic3. There has not been sufficient interactionary support scaffolding
innately confusing concept for relatively new learners of English. Evidence of this type of
asymmetric comprehension disparity is present throughout the text unexpectedly. From the
Introduction of the chapter up to this point, there is a fair attempt at incrementally working
towards this, but the little work done on sentence patterns in Chapter 3 do not begin to support
the syntactical aptitude necessary for deconstructing arguments and propositions in this way. The
connection drawn between the two subjects is rightfully so, but transcribing English into formal
logic requires an initial understanding of English at a level much higher than a level that would
Paragraphs
preceding the
instructions are
Figure 4. Taken from English for Science, p. 101.
revealed explain the
differences between inductive and deductive reasoning in a simple and direct manner that is
3
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2093503/english-to-predicate-logic
CRITICAL TEXTBOOK REVIEW 15
appropriate for this advanced level of English learner. The exercise is simple enough to test the
provides implicit metacognition about their learning process as well. It would have been more
beneficial to start a discussion prior to this point with questions for the learners to preemptively
engage their affect that would get them to think about their opinions about their learning in the
past to conjure up mental representations for pre-reading and bridge the content gap with lived
experiences.
Using reasoning.
This section provides models of false conclusions for both types of reasoning in isolated
forms and integrated into a body paragraph. This is the first communicative task that the
materials initiate by explicit direction. If the learners have not engaged in discussion as of yet,
section also allows the learner to process the new information in a social setting at their
discretion.
Vocabulary building.
This exercise offers the learners an opportunity to associate the meaning of the given
vocabulary with their synonyms within the text to have experience with the words collocations as
CRITICAL TEXTBOOK REVIEW 16
well. The vocabulary list seems to be a mixture of lexical nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
that could be part of various lexical sets (Thornbury, 2006). Coverage of the lexis looks to be of a
mid-range frequency, words like doses and detrimental setting the bar at a lower percentile of
coverage with alert, beneficial, and calms most likely providing the upper limit of coverage.
Grammar rules look to be delivered implicitly by way of the reading in this exercise and in most
nominalizing verbs. The generative procedure of this transformational process aims at achieving
the pedagogical outcome of noticing how and which nouns overtly derive from certain verbs
related to technical sciences and when it is appropriate do translate them. The morphological
spelling change processes are described with only one model of the suffixation. First the lexis is
affixed with -ion to nominalize the given verbs to create process nouns. Then the words are
displayed in their verbal form for the learner to nominalize to create verbal nouns. This exercise
is well thought out and allows for multiple processes. It lacks a communicative element, but the
receptive skills are some of the best matching/identification activities that the text has to offer.
Vocabulary in context.
This exercise is simple and direct with clear instructions that draw upon the information
that the learner has gathered about the lexis presented at the beginning of the Vocabulary section.
Learners are given a definition and presented with two vocabulary words, of which they circle
the word that they believe matches the definition. A generative procedure that serves a
pedagogical outcome.
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Skimming is presented as a new skill for the learner to acquire by enumerating rules
surrounding the skill: Always skim textbooks as pre-reading, skim references for research papers
to find relevant sources, skim difficult reading materials to capture the schema and organization
of it to make it an easier read. While these are helpful tips, the pitfall is that learners will rely on
doing so before they have an adequate grasp on aspects like collocations, homonymous
relationships between words, and synonymous wording that could cause false positives in their
This exercise correlates to the Reading section directly following it titled The Danger of
Drugs and provides the content of which the comprehension questions are related to. There is
another True or False generative processing, comprehension check at the end of the reading to
expose the information to the mental representation for a fourth time which should present a
more developed understanding of the material than any other presented in the chapter.
Listening Skills
authentic context. The words are presented in sentences where the meaning can be extrapolated
and circling one of two terms below the given sentence. The possible answers are antonyms and
the word in the given sentence is a synonym of the vocabulary word shown below. There is no
options available to the learner due to its mechanized format, but it also employs the use of
collocations and synonymous usage to help the learner understand the multidimensionality of the
word.
Note-taking.
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This section urges the learner to explore the text to draw out relevant facts and other
useful elements from the text. The engagement with the learner is nil, but the idea related to
guided brainstorming is beneficial and allows for the other aspects of affect to bridge the
information gaps that may remain for the learner between their mental representations and the
information provided.
Another exercise that checks for comprehension, but this instance it is to be based on the
notes that they have presumably taken from the process writing that tests the reading skills that
have been presented in the chapter thus far by marking each statement True or False.
Discussion Points
This section involves presenting their opinion to the class based on evidence that they
have collected from the readings and tasks of reading for purpose. Learners are given a list of
topics to choose from and prepare their materials for classroom debate. It seems important to
note the language used within this prompt as it states, “Be prepared to give your opinion on one
of these topics, offering evidence for why you think the way you do.” The underlined portion
being an addition made to emphasis the direction of the prompt turning to incite and engage with
Writing Skills
The exercise for the writing section is called Giving Evidence and it consists of six brief
excerpts that each demonstrate a different kind of evidence used. The learner’s objective includes
identifying the evidence form or type and write about it briefly. It refers to the theme of Chapter
6 where those topics were covered. Reviewing the previous information from the earlier chapter
is good to do and the topics of the excerpts are not sugarcoated, of which Dat Bao would agree
CRITICAL TEXTBOOK REVIEW 19
with. He explains that point on page 411 in Developing Materials for Language Teaching,
“Textbooks in today’s context, apart from being communicative, have a tendency to focus on
themes of global significance and harmless topics to suit as many contexts as possible,”
(Tomlinson, 2013).
This activity allows more autonomy than the previous exercises as it allows the free
The final exercise is more or less an abstract of the argument exercise in written form, but
the learners are given the option to write about any of the points that were available in the
Discussion Points activity. It looks to be a preparatory task for a coming task that may ask of
them to write a short essay by the sequence of given instructions explain the layout of the
paragraph for this task. This is also an opportunity that could be presented in the directions of the
activity to integrate a storytelling element for greater relativity and engagement from the learner
Synthesis
The primary issue found within this text relates to the schematic organization of the
information that Zimmerman presents. Each lesson starts over from the ground up, nullifying the
opportunity to build upon the information that has been presented in the previous lesson. In
doing so, the work performed by the student is dismissed and assumedly, the information and
There are few opportunities for learners to produce spontaneous speech within the chapter and
only 1 activity where speech is addressed directly. How and when is the learner supposed to
develop the necessary muscle memory of the mouth and throat? Entirely out-of-class?
Concepts where this text is the strongest lie in the vocabulary sections that call for
processes where the learner is asked to deal with meaning and produce generative matching and
simple inference tasks. Content and Language Integrated Learning is applied in the modern sense
to mean subject-based learning both in the sense that a shared topic is given, but this coursebook
was developed based on an actual needs-based assessment conducted for understanding the gap
that was present for students at the American Language Institute in San Diego, California.
A cumulative science survey course is positioned against this aspect intrinsically, but that
only makes the need for cohesion amongst the materials and comprehensive review that much
more important in English language learning materials design. It could be assumed that there is
more instruction to this fact in a teacher’s manual; however, disclosure of the learning objectives
and direction should be built into the curriculum already, so learners are able to maintain their
References
Bolitho, R. & Tomlinson, B. (1995). Discover English (new ed.). Oxford, Heinemann.
http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=Golden_ratio&oldid=36395
Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford, United Kingdom: Macmillan Publishing Limited.
Tomlinson, B. (2013). Developing Materials for Language Teaching (2nd ed.). London, United
Zimmereman, F. (1989). Englilsh for Science. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3528054-english-for-science
CRITICAL TEXTBOOK REVIEW 22
[CHAPTER] 7
INTRODUCTION
a) Identifying Evidence
c) Using Reasoning
b) Using Reasoning
C. READING SKILLS
1. Vocabulary Building
b) Vocabulary in Context
2. Skimming
D. LISTENING SKILLS
a) Vocabulary in Context
1. Note-Taking
E. DISCUSSION POINTS
F. WRITING SKILLS
1. Giving Evidence