SELECTING AND EVALUATING

A TEXTBOOK

Prof. Zdenka Gadusova, PhD.

zgadusova@ukf.sk
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
• Whilst a good language teacher can struggle to
make the best of a bad coursebook, a good
teacher can become a better one with a carefully
selected, engaging coursebook containing topics
relevant to the student profile, the country
culture and learner experiences of real life.

• There is no such thing as a perfect coursebook

but it is possible to carry out sufficient research
to narrow down a choice of 2 or 3 that best fits
a particular group of learners.
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
Guidelines for evaluation:
• CBs should correspond to learners´ needs. They
should match the aims and objectives of the
language learning programme.
• CBs should reflect the uses (present and future)
which learners will make of the language. Select
CBs which will help to equip Ls to use language
effectively for their own purposes.
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
• CBs should take account of Ls´ needs as Ls
and should facilitate their learning processes,
without dogmatically imposing a rigid ´method
´.
• CBs should have clear role as a support for
learning. Like Ts, they mediate between the
target language and the learner.
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
Evaluation can only be done by considering
something in relation to its purpose.

A book may be
• ideal in one situation (it matches the needs
of that situation)
• quite unsuitable in a different situation (little
material, not challenging for Ss and Ts,...)
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
Before one can evaluate a CB information
is needed on the following issues:

1. Role of the CB in the programme

2. The teachers in the programme
3. The learners in the programme
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
1. Role of the CB in the programme
– Is there a well developed curriculum (describing
the objectives, syllabus and content of the
programme) or will this be determined by the
CB?
– Will the CB provide the core of the programme
or is it one of several CBs that will be used?
– Will it be used with small or large classes?
– Will learners be expected to buy all components
of CB set?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
2. The teachers in the programme
– How experienced are the teachers in the
programme?
– Are they native speakers of English?
– Do they tend to follow the CB closely or use it as
a resource?
– Do they play a part in selecting the CB they teach
from?
– Are they free to adapt and supplement the CB?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK

The learners in the programme

– Is each L required to buy a CB?
– What do Ls typically expect to find in a CB?
– Will they use the CB in class and at home?
– How will they use the CB in class (primary
source of activities)?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
Some general considerations
• How long is your course?
• Who is the book for?
• How many hours do you teach a class per
week?
• Is the structural grading in the book
appropriate?
• Is the vocabulary useful and in current use?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
• Are the students taught the kind of
idiomatic English they need early enough?
• Will the reading passages, or the story
line, interest the students?
• Are the dialogues realistic and relevant
and lively?
• Is the book visually alive and well
presented?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
The best CB available for Ts and their Ls
should satisfy 3 conditions:
• It should suit the needs, interests and
abilities of the learners.
• It should suit teacher.
• The CB must meet the needs of official
public teaching syllabuses or
examinations.
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
Student´s point of view
• Cost?
• Is there plenty of scope for him to work on
his own?
• Are there too many cultural, or political
barriers?
• Will the book make students feel they are
working with an up-to-date, convincing
method?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
• Does the book give opportunities for student
identification and personal expression, or will
the learner just have to go along with what is
presented to him?
• Is the book so long that it never seems to
come to an end?
• Do all the lessons follow the same plan so that
the student always knows what to expect?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
Teacher´s point of view
• Will the book help to produce good, lively
teaching plans?
• Does it conform to your own teaching approach?
• Can additional material be used effectively, or is
there sufficient already?
• Will it stimulate you to use the techniques you
feel are necessary?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK

• Will teaching parts of it embarrass, inhibit, or

limit you?
• Will it allow you to get the necessary speed
and tempo, or will it drag you down?
• Does it bring out all the secondary skills you
want to teach your students?
• Is each lesson the right length so that it fits
in well with the timetable?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK - PRELIMINARY INFORMATION

Background information on the students

– age range
– proficiency level in English
– sex distribution (segregated or mixed)
– level of general education
– reasons for studying English
(is it required or optional, is it
professionally or socially advantageous)
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
Course syllabus (whether predetermined or left
to the teacher)
– relative emphasis given to each skill (L-S-R-W)
– those tasks each skill is needed for most (e.g.
reading technical literature in physics)
– relative emphasis given to each language
area (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation)
– the use to which the language material will
be put (e.g. how much of the vocabulary will be
used for recognition or for both recognition and
production purposes)
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK

Institutional data
– typical class size
– time: years and /or hours per week
allocated to the study of English
– type of physical environment/support
(i.e. classroom size, flexibility of seating
arrangement, blackboard space, audiovisual
equipment)
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
– preferred dialect of English (British,
American)
– institutional or national objectives for
English instruction
– nature and form of any required
international/external English
language examination
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK

Evaluation – a 3-staged process:

• initial evaluation - Does it fit?
• detailed evaluation - If it fits, how
well does it fit – and how does it
compare with others that also fit?
• in-use evaluation - Later: Does it
really fit?
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK

Evaluation – a 3-staged process:

1. Survey
2. Analysis
3. Judgement
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
1. SURVEY
Skim through:
the Introduction
the Table of Contents
the Text
the Glossary or Index
in order to get idea about
purpose
organization
method of presentation
as well as
the range and kind of materials that the
book
includes
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
2. ANALYSIS
The textbook
– subject matter (topics, contexts)
– vocabulary and structures covered
– exercises
– illustrations
– physical make-up (cover, size, binding,
paper, printing, lay-out of the page)
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
The teacher´s manual:
– general features (Is a rationale provided? Is there
a useful index with references made to the textbook?
Are answers supplied for all textbook exercises?)
– type and amount of supplementary exercises
for each language skill
– methodological/pedagogical guidance in the
presentation of lessons/exercises and use of
aids, etc.
– Linguistic background information – perhaps
from contrastive analysis or error analysis
(gram., vocab., pronunc.)
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK

3. JUDGEMENT
To arrive to a final decision, the
teacher must make judgements
about certain quantitative and
qualitative elements of textbook
and teacher´s manual.
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
To this – a checklist may prove useful
(as a tool to use in the judging process) -
the teacher/rater evaluates the textbook for
each question by making a check in the
appropriate column according to the following
rating scale:
excellent 4
good 3
adequate 2
week 1
totally lacking 0
SELECTING AND EVALUATING
A TEXTBOOK
The CATALYST test
C – communicative?
A – aims?
T – teachability?
A – available add-ons?
L – level?
Y - your impression?
S – students´ interest?
T – tried and tested?