“It has been widely accepted that a textbook is an essential component of the EFL classroom.

Evaluation
of textbooks, therefore, is of utmost importance so that its pedagogical contribution to the teaching and
learning process can be assured” (Wong, 2011). Thanks to the publication of Circular No. 31 issued by
MOET on 14 December 2015, we can evaluate the textbook base on the quality system of criteria. The
criterion 35 (about content) and 37 (about design) are chosen by us in this refection.

CRITERION 35: Writing exercises are put into context, have specific purposes, high possibility
and fit students’ level.
1. Writing exercises are put into context 
Context plays an important part in teaching writing. “Writers need at least four kinds of knowledge when
they approach a writing task: knowledge of content, writing process, context, and language system.”
(Christopher, 2001). The Tieng Anh 10 textbook does a great job of designing writing exercises which
has meaningful and specific context helping learners know about the situation, choose language tone
(formal or informal), and the right layout, etc. We can see from the examples below.

In Unit 2: Your body and you, the students are

placed in the context which they are food
specialists and reply to Scott’s enquiry. The book
also provides an example letter. As a result, the

Tieng Anh 10: Unit 2: Your body and you - Writing - Exercise 3
students know what to do and write efficiently.

The context is not only broad but also relevant to

students as the book make sure that they have
model examples to follow. Thus, they will learn
how to use language flexibly.
Tieng Anh 10: Unit 4: For a better community - Writing - Exercise 5

The textbook also provides learners with helpful

notes raising the awareness about context.

Tieng Anh 10: Unit 4: For a better community - Note

 2. Writing exercises have specific purpose and high possibility
As mentioned above, student must have knowledge of content, writing process and language system in
order to do writing exercises, so the writing part is the one which shows the learner’s ability to acquire
and apply what they have learned through former parts. Once again, the textbook has fulfilled this goal
by bringing about tasks having particular purposes.
Moreover, high possibility is another factor considered so that the student can use it outside of class.

In Unit 4, the topic is about volunteer work, after learning

relevant vocabularies and phrases, knowing reasons that
people do volunteer work and local community
development (input). The students produce output in
writing part.
Unit 4: For a better community - Writing - Exercise 5
Besides, the task is close and practical to students, they
know how to write a formal letter and can use it in daily life.

3. Writing tasks fit students’ level

With this factor, we compare Tieng Anh 10 to Tieng Anh 12 to see whether the content is commensurate
with leaners’ proficiency or not.

In

Tieng Anh 10 Unit 4: For a better community - Writing - Ex. 5 Tieng Anh 10: Unit 1: Family life - Writing - Exercise 4
Tieng Anh 10, the book familiarizes students by beginning from short sentences to short paragraphs. The
tasks are about writing short biography, formal letter, etc. The topics are accustomed, so it’s easier to
brainstorm ideas and use related words. There are also a lot of models and small exercises to guide
students.
In Tieng Anh 12, after 3 years, students’ skills as well as knowledge are developed. It’s high time the
book brought out academic writing tasks which demand a high level of skills and knowledge. Instead of
follow examples and ideas provided like before, grade 12 students are required to express their opinion
though essays and their skills by describing graphs. The topic is wider and demand a lot of social
knowledge such as: urbanization, cultural identity, the mass media, etc.

Tieng Anh 12 - Unit 2 - Writing Exercise 3 Tieng Anh 12 – Unit 3: The green movement – Wring Exercise
2

There are less sentence-writing tasks and other small tasks, the book focuses on developing ideas and
provide academic phrases, writing process. Then, learners are asked to write essays from 150 to 250
words.

Tieng Anh 12: Unit 4 - The mass media - Writing Exercise 1

Tieng Anh 12 - Unit 2: Urbanization - Writing Exercise 1

To sum up, the textbooks success to meet the 35 th criterion by designing high-quality writing exercises
which have specific purposes, high possibility and fit students’ level.
CRITERION 37: The book is beautifully designed. Headings, symbols, punctuation, typography,
page numbers are used consistently with no printing error.
According to Cheawjindakarn, Suwannatthachote, and Theeraroungchaisri (2012), well-designed and
well-written textbooks not only help instructors design course content to provide a meaningful
educational experience but also help students improve their learning outcome. Therefore, the design is an
important criterion in evaluating a textbook. That is the reason why we decide to choose the criterion
number 37 to discuss.
1. Design
The cover of the book has a simple yet beautiful design with wonderful illustration. Through that, the
book content was conveyed as written in the introduction that "This book introduces two themes that are
familiar to students: Our lives and Our society".

The cover also includes necessary information: the front one contains a bold big yellow title, grade
number, book chapter and the publisher so that students can
find each edition easily; the back one also provides addresses
where people can buy books.

Moreover, the book map in the front of the textbook includes a

detailed overview of the functions, structures, vocabulary, etc.
that will be taught in each unit.
Tieng Anh 10 book map
 In addition, a glossary is given with a clear four-column
layout: Word, Transcription, Meaning, and Unit at the end of
the book. As a result, students can look up for unfamiliar words
quickly.

Tieng Anh 10 glossary

Photographs, drawings and graphs are all colorful and attractive helping set context for activities,
support the content as well as intrigue students.

Tieng Anh 10 Unit 1: Family life - page 9

Page 53 Tieng Anh 12

In terms of design, another important element that influences the choice of a textbook is the layout.

Most of the pages follow a two-column layout, which can significantly

reduce the number of pages used. However, this doesn't hinder students'
reading ability because the given font size is unchanged.
Tieng Anh 10

Instruction and task numbers are presented clearly. Task

number is green, the instruction is bold, sentence numbers
are red.
2. Headings

When it comes to the books’ heading, the book does great job by designing and arranging them smartly
so that they are easy for teachers and students to recognize.

Red and bold heading for appendix placed at the top of the
paper.

The headings of each unit are big and bold, placed

at the top of the paper with unit number.

The title of each segment is highlighted with bright yellow

color helping readers find what skill/part they are in.

3. Symbols

There are many kinds of nicely-designed symbols in the book.

The headphone symbolizes listening activities so it is easy for

teachers and learners to find and quickly know that they will
listen to a tape.

A boy with thumbs up lies at the left of “Do you know...?”

part indicates that students should concentrate on the new
knowledge.
4. Punctuation

Punctuation marks are put in the right place with no error.

Take an example from Tieng Anh 10 page 25, students have to
underline the word in italic that best complete the sentence.

+ Dot (.) is put at the end of the narrative sentence

+ Forward slash (/) to separate words in a sentence.

+ Comma (,) to mark the boundary of sentence’s section or

show where there is a slight break in a sentence.

5. Typography

According to Tracey and Morrow (2002) even the font size and font type of the text can influence the
interaction of the readers with the text.
The font is readable and used consistently through the book with no typing errors.

Tieng Anh 10 page 9

6. Page numbers
Page number is placed at placed on the bottom corner of
the paper which helps readers easily follow each part of
the book.
In conclusion, the 37th criterion is fulfilled sucessfully by planning sections and parts logically,
designing cleverly and ensuring accuracy which promote the participation of students in the
lesson and offer simple access to information for both teachers and students.
References
Wong, L., (2011). Textbook evaluation: A frame work for evaluating the fitness of the Hong Kong new
secondary school (NSS) curriculum.

Cheawjindakarn, B., Suwannatthachote, P., & Theeraroungchaisri, A. (2012). Critical success

factors for online distance learning in higher education: a review of the literature.
Creative Education, 3, 61-66.
Christopher, T., (2001). Small Corpus Studies and ELT: Theory and practice.
INDEX
CRITERION 35: Writing exercises are put into context, have specific purposes, high possibility
and fit students’ level.

1. Writing exercises are put into context.

2. Writing exercises have specific purpose and high possibility.

3. Writing tasks fit students’ level.

CRITERION 37: The book is beautifully designed. Headings, symbols, punctuation, typography,
page numbers are used consistently with no printing error.

1. Design.

2. Headings.
3. Symbols.

4. Punctuation.

5. Typography.
6. Page numbers.

REFERENCES