COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS

UNIVERSITY MASTER'S DEGREE IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH AS SECOND

LANGUAGES/FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Oral Comprehension and Expression 39012

Professor: David Bell

Students:
Veronika Kozlova
Iana Kotelnikova

2022
 Name of Course Book /Webpage: Third Edition Solutions (student’s book)
Author(s):Tim Falla, Paul A Davies
Publishers: OXFORD University Press
Year: 2017
1. What are the main objectives? What kind of syllabus does it follow? How is it
structured?

The main objectives of this coursebook aren't written down. But on the official
website it is said that this coursebook is suitable for teenagers seeking to improve their
language skills. This edition is convenient for teaching, both in private and in public
schools. The materials developed in the textbook contribute to the preparation for
language state exams. As it contains:
● Regular exam practice and preparation activities, as well as specific
“exam skills trainer” sections in the student’s book;
● Critical thinking and project work develops skills for the real world;
● Skills development and recycling new language helps every student
succeed.
This book is stimulating enough for low motivated students and is designed for a
15 weeks course. As you can see in the table below, there are 9 lessons in this edition,
and each is divided into 8 sections – Vocabulary and Listening, Grammar-1, Culture,
Grammar-2, Reading, Speaking, Writing, Word Skills. After each uneven unit, there
is an “Exam Skills Trainer” section, where different exam sections are worked out and
strategies for their implementation are analyzed.

2. For which particular type of learners is it appropriate? (according to the needs,

difficulty, previous knowledge, etc.)?

According to the book, it is related for people with the intermediate level of
English proficiency. So it means that a learner should have a previous knowledge of
English. But if we are talking about particular learners we would say that this book is
for visual or writing/reading ones because there are a lot of visual materials (like
images, pictures, etc.) and exercises with reading articles or with writing essays.
Moreover, on the official web site it is said that this is the best-selling course for
teenagers, so basically it’s mostly adapted for adolescents but it doesn't mean that we
can’t use it for adults as well.

3. Does it make it clear to the learners what they are doing and for what purpose?

Anyone using this Сoursebook can look at the table of contents, which clearly
describes what each subsequent unit will be about. The topics of the chapters, rules and
vocabulary are described there. So students can see in advance if they are familiar with
that context, as well as learn about the purpose of the subject.

4. Does the content coincide with the announced objectives?

We believe that it does coincide since the content of the book is precisely
focused on working out the stated “objects” (as we mentioned before they are not
provided by the book): the development of critical thinking, thanks to a separate section
"speaking"; the study of exam skills in the "exam trainer" part and etc.

5. Does it take into account both linguistic and sociocultural aspects of the language?

The “Solutions” pays much attention to both linguistic and the cultural aspects
of the country and the language. A lot of time is devoted to the study of English culture,
literature, films and traditions. The textbook also has a separate section “Culture”
dedicated to the study of this particular topic.
6. Are there explanations and activities for linguistic items and all skills?

There are explanations for listening, reading, writing and speaking skills which
appear in separate bloques in different colors. Usually they contain some instructions or
hints on how to do the exercise or how to improve the particular skill.

7. Are there integrated skills activities?

As it was said before, each unit is divided into 8 sections – Vocabulary and
Listening, Grammar-1, Culture, Grammar-2, Reading, Speaking, Writing, Word Skills.
There is a combination between all of them. So in the coursebook are included different
types of all integrated skills activities.
8. How does it structure the teacher-student relationship?

In this situation we think that a teacher, as a more experienced one, has the task
of creating and maintaining goodwill and mutual understanding. The relationship
between a teacher and a student is based on their joint work, as well as success in
achieving the goal.

The teacher should give freedom in answering students and encourage them, as a
result they will become stronger communicators every day. Thanks to the
communicative method of this book, the teacher can try to maintain positive
relationships with students and help them become more successful in the classroom.

9. Are there individual, pair, group and whole class activities?

This book contains all types of activities, depending on needs that should be
worked on. For example, most of the Speaking tasks are made to work in pairs or in
small groups. And all the rest, we think, mostly are for the whole class or to do
individually. There is also (at the end of the book) a project task that students prepare
independently in groups.

10. Is there a good sequencing of activities?

We believe that there is a good sequencing of activities because it’s logical and
well structured, so every student can easily understand how the book works and how to
do this or that activity. Units start with the speaking exercise which is considered as a
warm-up activity or as an ice-breaker, is continued with the listening task or with the
small text to explain the main purpose or topic of the unit, then there are grammar
exercises and it finishes with the speaking activity again but in pairs or in groups (so it
differs from the task in the beginning).

11. Does it promote student autonomy (learning to learn)?

 We think that this course book does not provide any student autonomy. There is
a possibility to study by yourself but it will be really hard because no one will explain
the rules to you and there is no way that you can do speaking activities alone. In our
opinion it is suitable only for studying with a tutor or in a group.

12. Are there summaries & evaluations of students’ progress?

It does not include the exact summaries & evaluations but there is a part which
is called “Exam skills trainer”. It is some kind of a section which checks students’
knowledge of the passed unit. It starts with listening and ends with writing and all
exercises are about the topic that they had in that unit .

13. Does it contain appendixes (for grammar points, vocabulary, tapescripts etc.)?

The book appendix provides the following additional resources: Grammar

Builder and Reference, Vocabulary Builder, Culture, Exam Skills Trainer, Extra
Speaking Tasks, Videos Tasks. It's perfect for extra activities. But, unfortunately, there
are no transcripts for the listenings and vocabularies lists. In general, in the book the
author included more practice information for the reader to explore on their own or with
a teacher.
14. Does it make use of authentic materials?

All the texts and audios in the book are based on authentic materials: about
famous books, historical personalities, historical events, world events, interesting true
cases; some parts of the psychology articles, etc. So all presented information is true
and not made up.
15. Is it attractive for the particular learners?

We believe that the textbook is more convenient for people aged from 14 to 25
years, since it deals mainly with topics for adolescence. But the material is also suitable
for adults. It raises quite modern problems and topics that were very popular among
young people not so long ago. What’s more, in order to successfully study it, students
must have previous knowledge, at least A2 level.

16. Does this course book promote the communicative approach?

We think that it does promote the communicative approach. For example, almost
every unit (except for the “Exam skills”) starts with the communication exercise: it lets
students think about some of the topics or describe the picture, etc. Moreover, there are
always exercises for discussing something in groups or in pairs. So it focused on the
communication skills of the students.
17. Which approach(es) or methodologies can you identify within the course book?

Solutions appears to use a communicative language teaching approach, it can

also be seen to follow the 'Presentation, Practice, Production’ method. The approach
falls into the function category of communication as the practical uses to which in
coursebook book put language, most usually in interaction with other people via
dialogues and working in pairs.

18. Focus on the oral comprehension activities (listening )? How are they arranged?

According to the authors, this course book provides a new modern

comprehensive listening syllabus including word skills lessons which offers students to
master key listening skills and enlarge their vocabulary and to become confident
communicators.
 Talking about the structure, we should mention that every unit includes a section
“Listening”, where students are supposed to do different listening exercises: usually
they have to listen to the audio and do the following tasks after. In reality it ends up with
a big amount of new words to learn and a small part of listening practice, for example,
normally it has only one audio to play for 3 exercises. Is it that effective for students?
Yes and no, because on the one hand, they can get all the information from the audio, on
the other hand, they can lose interest.

Additionally, in every part of the unit (A,B,C and etc.) there is always a listening
task but the most primitive one (like really simple dialogues) and usually with the
transcript.

Also the advantage of this book is the parts which are called “Listening
strategy”. They explain to students some life hacks of good listening or tell them what
they should focus on while listening. So they are presented like helping tools.
19. Focus on the oral expression activities (speaking)? How are they arranged?

This book mostly focuses on communicative approach, so great attention is paid

to the part of oral expression activities. Every unit includes a section “Speaking”, where
students are supposed to do different speaking exercises: usually they have to ask
questions, tell their opinion about the topic, make dialogues or, for example, to listen to
the audio and present something to the class.
The advantage of this book is the part which is called “Speaking strategy”. It
explains some tips of good conversation: what to use and how to use words or
expressions while talking. Moreover, there we meet every useful functional language –
phrases for conducting a discussion, describing and comparing pictures, passing
interviews, describing problems that you may encounter while traveling – and it will
come in handy in life, and will not be superfluous at the exam.

20. Would you recommend this book/webpage for the particular learners? Why or why
not?

We would recommend this course book because, firstly, it has interesting and
up-to-date material which keeps students fully engaged and motivated. Secondly, it has
lots of additional resources to make your lessons even more creative (flashcards, video
tasks, crosswords, projects works, etc.). And, thirdly, it helps students to work on every
language skill thanks to a wide range of different activities and exercises including the
reflection on the work done.