文斌Unit 1demonstration1123.docx

文斌Unit 1demonstration1123.docx

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文斌Unit1demonstration1123

1.Whatisatextbook?

AccordingtoWikipedia,“atextbookisamanualofinstructionorastandardbookinanybranchofstudy.Theyareproducedaccordingtothedemandoftheeducationalinstitutions.Textbooksareusuallypublishedbyoneofthefourmajorpublishingcompanies.Althoughmosttextbooksareonlypublishedinprintedformat,somecannowbeviewedonline.”

Textbookisateachingtool（material）whichpresentsthesubjectmatterdefinedbythecurriculum.Auniversitytextbookisrequiredtocontainthecompleteoverviewofthesubject,includingthetheories,aswellastobeofamorepermanentcharacter.

Nowadays,textbooksintraditionalpedagogyhaveevolvedintoagreatvarietyofresourcesusedinlanguageclassroomsuchasaudiocassettes,videos,CD-ROMs,dictionaries,grammarbook,readers,workbook,teacher’sbooks,photocopiedmaterials,flashcards,andotherauthenticmaterials,suchasnewspapers,photographs,advertisements,radio/TVprogrammes,etc.Inmanycasestheterm“materials”isusedinplaceof“textbooks”,whichreferstoanythingthatisusedbyteachersorstudentstofacilitatethelearningofalanguage.Theterm“textbooks”isstillwidelyused,butitsreferencehasexpandedfrombookstoallthematerialsusedaroundorindependentofthebooks.

2.Textbookandinstructiondesign

We'dliketoarguethattextbooksaregenerallyanelementinalargerinstructionaldesign（e.g.acourse）.Thereforeonemuststartbylookingatthefunction（s）ofatextbook.Inotherwords,useandproductionofatextbookisrelatedtoa"normal"instructionaldesignproblemsandonecanrelyonvariousdesignmethodsandinstructionaldesignmodels,basedinturnonunderlyingpsychologicalandpedagogicaltheory.

Textbooksareusuallypartofapedagogicaldesign,i.e.itcanbethecenterpieceofacoursesyllabus,itcanbeusedforself-study（studentsandprofessionals）,teacherscanassignjustpartsforreading.Accordingtousecontexts,functionsofatextbookarenotthesame.Butwedoargue,thatonecanidentifyparticularfunctionalandstructuralquestionsrelatedtoproduction,structure,function,use,etc.oftextbooks.

3.Theadvantagesanddisadvantagesofusingatextbook

3.1Advantagesofusingatextbook:

∙Itoffersacoherentsyllabus（whatshouldbelearntandtheorderofit）

∙Studentsaremoreawareoftheirprogress,theyseepurposeinlearning

∙Studentscandoactivitiesontheirownaswell–theyaremoreautonomous

∙Itprovidesthemethodology（+activities,texts,differenttypesoflearningmaterial…）

∙Itisvisuallyattractive（pictures,comics…）

∙Itofferslotsofinterestinginformation（e.g.culturalinf.）

∙Itofferslotsofextramaterial（CD-ROMs,audiocassettes,videocassettes,flashcards,tests,etc.）

∙Youdon’tneedtoprepareyourownmaterialandsyllabus

∙Itisaconvenientpackage（comparedtohand-outs）andusuallyeasytocarry

3.2Disadvantagesofusingatextbook:

3.3Over-relianceonabook（Harmer:

‘Theyareproposalsforaction,notinstructionsforuse’;BrewsterandEllis:

‘thetextbookisamenufromwhichyouchoose,notarecipewhichyoufollow’）

3.4VeryoftenproducedinAmericaorGreatBritainforthewholeworld（nolocalinformation,specificculture,noreferencetoourlearners）

3.5Quicklygetsoutofdate（e.g.topicsoncurrentpopsingers）

3.6Mightnotsuityourlearners’needs,doesnotcaterformixedabilityLs

3.7Mightstifleyourcreativity,leadtoboredomandlackofmotivation

4.Evaluatingtextbooks

4.1Why&whatdoteachersevaluate?

WiththerapidELTdevelopmentinChina,moreandmoretextbookshavemadetheirwaytothemarket.ChoosingtherighttextbookisbecomingmoreandmoreimportantatalllevelsofELTinschools.Althoughmostclassroomteacherswillnotbeinvolvedintheproductionoftextbooks,allteachershavetheresponsibilityfortextbookevaluation,selectionandadaptation.Inthisunit,wewillintroducesomeprinciplesoftextbookevaluation,selection,andadaptation.

4.2 Howtoevaluatetextbooks?

Systematicevaluationoftextbooksisbasedonspecificationofobjectives,principlesandprocedures.Anidealsystematictextbookevaluationwouldbealongitudinalone,whichincludespre-useevaluation,whilst-useevaluationandpost-useevaluation.

Thecoreofsystematictextbookevaluationistoexaminehowwellagiventextbookmatchestheneedsofalanguageprogrammeandhoweffectivelyandefficientlyitcanrealisetheobjectivesoftheprogramme.Thereforeneedsanalysishastobedonepriortotextbookevaluation.Duetospacelimitation,inthisunit,wewillfocusongeneralfeaturesof“good”textbooksandhowtoevaluatetextbooksbasedonthesefeatures.

4.3Featuresofgoodtextbooks

BasedonTomlinson’s（1998）conceptionofwhatconstituteseffectivelanguageteachingmaterials,webelievegoodtextbooksshouldhavethefollowingfeatures.

1.Goodtextbooksshouldattractthestudents’curiosity,interestandattention.Inordertodothis,textbooksshouldhavenovelty,variety,attractivelayout,appealingcontent,etc.Ofcoursetheyshouldalsomakesurethatlearningreallytakesplacewhenthestudentsusethetextbooks.Itisnotnecessarilyenoughthatstudentsenjoythetextbooks.

2.Textbooksshouldhelpstudentstofeelatease.Thelayoutofpresentation,tasksandactivities,andtextsandillustrationsshouldalllookfriendlytothestudentssothattheyfeelrelaxedwhenseeingthem.

3.Textbooksshouldhelpstudentstodevelopconfidence.Goodtextbookshelptobuildupstudents’confidencebyprovidingtasksoractivitiesthatstudentscancopewith.

4.Textbooksshouldmeetstudents’needs.Whatiscoveredinthetextbooksshouldberelevantandusefultowhatthestudentsneedtolearnandwhattheywanttolearn.

5.Textbooksshouldexposethestudentstolanguageinauthenticuse.Generallyspeaking,textbookswritteninauthenticlanguagearemoremotivatingandchallenging.

6.Textbooksshouldprovidethestudentswithopportunitiestousethetargetlanguagetoachievecommunicativepurposes.

7.Textbooksshouldtakeintoaccountthatthepositiveeffectsoflanguageteachingareusuallydelayed.ResearchintoSLAshowsthatitisagradualratherthananinstantaneousprocessandthatthisisequallytrueforinstructedlearning（formallearning）.Soitisimportantfortextbookstorecycleinstructionandtoprovidefrequentandampleexposuretotheinstructedlanguagefeaturesincommunicativeuse.

8.Textbooksshouldtakeintoaccountthatstudentsdifferinlearningstyles.Tasksandactivitiesshouldbevariableandshouldcaterforarangeoflearningstylessoallstudentscanbenefit.

9.Textbooksshouldtakeintoaccountthatstudentsdifferinaffectivefactors.Goodtextbooksshouldaccommodatedifferentattitudinalandmotivationalbackgroundasmuchaspossible.

10.Textbooksshouldmaximiselearningpotentialbyencouragingintellectual,aestheticandemotionalinvolvementwhichstimulatesbothrightandleftbrainactivities.Goodtextbooksenablethestud5’ntstoreceive,processandretaininformationthrough“multipleintelligences”.

5.Selectingtextbooks

Somepeoplethinkevaluationandselectionaremoreorlessthesamething.Afterallweselectafterweevaluate.However,evaluatingtextbooksisonething,selectingtextbooksisquiteanother.Forinstance,whenweevaluateatextbookwithoutanintentiontouseitforacertaingroupofstudents,wetrytoexaminewhetherwhatiscoveredinthebookcanreallyfulfiltheoriginalpurposesofthewriterofthebook.Inanotherword,isthebookreallysuitableforthelearnersforwhomthebookisintended?

Whenweevaluateatextbookwithanintentionofadoption,wetrytomatchwhatisofferedbythebookwiththeneedsofourlanguageprogramme.However,thisisnoeasyjobforteachers.Foronething,teachersmaybeoverwhelmedbytherichcontentsofthetextbook,whichusuallyhasseveralvolumes.Foranother,teachersdonotalwayshaveaclearawarenessofwhattheirstudentsneed.Inordertomakethejoboftextbookselectioneasier,materialsresearchershavedevelopedseveralpracticalandoperationalchecklistsforclassroomteachers.

Grant（1987）designedathree-partquestionnairewhichcanbeusedasachecklistwhenteachersselecttextbooksfortheirstudents.Basicallythequestionnairehelpsteacherstoexaminetheextenttowhichatextbooksuitsthestudents,theteacherandthesyllabusandexamination:

Choosingatextbook:

questionnaire（part1）

Doesthebooksuityourstudents?

1 Isitattractive?

Giventheaverageageof              YES  PARTLY   NO

yourstudents,wouldtheyenjoyusingit?

2  Isitculturallyacceptable?

                         YES  PARTLY   NO

3  Doesitreflectwhatyouknowaboutyour             YES  PARTLY   NO

students’needsandinterests?

4  Isitabouttherightlevelofdifficulty?

                YES  PARTLY   NO

5  Isitabouttherightlength?

                         YES  PARTLY   NO

6  Arethecourse’sphysicalcharacteristics              YES  PARTLY   NO

appropriate?

（e.g.isitdurable?

）

7  Arethereenoughauthenticmaterials,so              YES  PARTLY   NO

thatthestudentscanseethatthebookis

relevanttoreallife?

8  Doesitachieveanacceptablebalancebetween         YES  PARTLY   NO

knowledgeaboutthelanguage,andpracticein

usingthelanguage?

9  Doesitachieveanacceptablebalancebetween         YES  PARTLY   NO

therelevantlanguageskills,andintegratethem

sothatworkinoneskillareahelpstheothers?

10  Doesthebookcontainenoughcommunicative         YES  PARTLY   NO

activitiestoenablethestudentsto