COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

Name:
Camila Gonzlez
Valentina Riquelme.
Teacher:
Gabriela Sanhueza.
Subject:
English as a foreign language methodology
Date:
December 02th, 2014

Interview Prompts (Interview with learners/teachers)

ELICITING TEACHERS VIEWS ON COURSEBOOKS

Interview Transcription:
1. Do you think coursebooks are important?
A: Yes, I think they are very important because for teachers are a
support. Also it is a tool to complement a lesson; it is very useful and
helps teachers to order the lesson.

2. What are the criteria for choosing a coursebook?

A: When I choose a book I take into account the visual format that it
contains because in this way student are attracted by them. It is also
important to see if the content is suitable for the level in which you are
going to use it. On the other hand, it should reinforce the 4 areas of
the language, listening, speaking, writing and reading and of course it
should be done according to the communicative approach.

3. Which part(s) of the coursebook do you frequently use and which

part(s) do you seldom use?
A: I frequently use new vocabulary presented in course books. On the
other hand, I seldom use speaking activities presented in the course
book because sometimes they are not very interesting for students.

4. When, why and how do you supplement the coursebook?

A: I supplement the course book when they are not in the level of my
students, because they can lose motivation.

5. What kind of help would you like to have from the coursebook in
teaching grammar or any other aspects of the language?
A: I would like to have help from the course book in terms of
strategies to teach grammar, exercises to activate motivation.

ELICITING STUDENTS VIEWS ON COURSEBOOKS

Interview Transcription:
1. How often do you use your coursebook?
A: We use the coursebook every class, but not the whole lesson.
The teacher chooses two or three activities.
2. Which part(s) of it do you use more frequently and which part(s)
do you seldom use?
A: we use reading more frequently and we use dont use speaking
so much.
3. Which part of the book do you like best and which part do you like
least?
A: My favorite part is writing, activities such as: complete with
vocabulary or with the appropriate verb tense. And I dont like
listening.
4. Is the coursebook important to you?
A: Yes I think it is important because it contains a lot of activities.
5. What kind of coursebook would you like to have?
A: I think that the one that we use is very useful.
6. Do you like the coursebook you have now?
A: Yes, it is very useful because it has grammar exercises and
their explanation, speaking, listening and reading, although, I
prefer classes without the coursebook.

Factual detail: Assess a coursebook.

Title: Teens club 2 Medio Students Book
Author (s): Lina Alvarado Jantus, teacher of English
Publisher: Ediciones R&B
Price: giving by the Ministry of Education
ISBN: 978-956-8694-31-9

No. of Pages: 111

Components: a workbook and a reading booklet for students and a CD
for teachers.
Level: 2nd medio
Physical size: 21x27 cm
Length: one year.
Units: Unit 1 Students life
Unit 2 Challenges
Unit 3 Arts and entertainment
Unit 4 How about working
Lessons/sections: 4
Hours: 4 hours.
Target skills: speaking, writing, listening and reading.
Target learners: students between 15 and 16 years old
Target teachers: teachers from high schools
ASSESSMENT (*Poor **Fair ***Good ****Excellent)

Factor

Poor
*

1. Rationale

Good
***

Excellent
****

***

2. Availability

3. User definition

Fair
**

Comment
The activities in this
coursebook are very
communicative and
promote the interaction
between the students.

****

This coursebook is
delivered free by the
ministry of education
The coursebook does not
contain comments from
the editor.

4. Layout/graphics

****

The coursebook has a lot

of images and pictures
that could call the
students attention.

5. Accessibility

****

This coursebook is
available in our country.

6. Linkage

****

The coursebook includes

a lot of links of web pages
that can help students at

the moment of doubts or if

they need more
information and do extra
exercises.
7. Selection/grading

***

8. Appropriacy

The coursebook goes

from the easiest to the
hardest in order to make
Ss be prepare to face
challenges
****

The coursebook
demonstrates that it is
appropriate for this level
of proficiency

9. Authenticity

***

The coursebook includes:

international news,
interviews, biographies
and documents that make
it authentic and introduce
the learner into an English
context.

10. Sufficiency

***

This coursebook covers a

lot of information; also, it
suggests web pages in
the case that students
require more information,
clarification or extra
exercises

11. Cultural bias

***

In terms of equality this

book is very good
constructed, but it should
include more activities
related to our country

12. Educational validity

****

The ministry of education

has approved the use of
this coursebook in English
lessons.

13. Stimulus/practice/revision

****

The units follow a

predictable order in which
we can identify: lead in,
presentation, practice and

production.
14. Flexibility

This coursebook requires

to be develop in terms of
its structure, because the
first units are easier than
the rest. But each unit has
a beginning and the end
without the necessity to
understand the previous
unit to start the following.

15. Guidance

**

16. Overall value for money

The teacher can acts as a

monitor during the
activities but he or she
requires teaching the unit
before.
****

This coursebook is
available for every
student from high school

FACTUAL DETAILS: ASSESSING A COURSEBOOK

RAITING
Weight

GENERAL

43210

__ takes into account currently accepted methods of ESL/EFL teaching. x _ _ _ _

___ gives guidance in the presentation of language items.

x____

___ caters for individual differences in home language background.

__x__

___ related content to the learners culture and environment.

x____

SPEECH
___ is based on a contrastive analysis of English and L1 sound systems. _ x _ _ _
___ suggests ways of demonstrating and practicing speech items.

_x___

___ includes speech situations relevant to the pupils background.

_x___

___ allows for variation in the accents of non-native speakers of English.

x____

GRAMMAR
___ stresses communicative competence in teaching structural items.

_ x_ _ _

___ provides adequate models featuring the structure to be taught.

__x__

___ shows clearly the kinds of responses required in drills.

x____

Conclusion

As a conclusion, at the end of this assignment we can learn more about the
relevance of coursebooks and what they require in order to be useful for
students.
In this case in particular, we analyzed a coursebook delivered by the
government, which is very important hence it is provided for all students in the
country; therefore, the coursebook must fulfill the needs of teachers and
students and it requires some characteristics such as: authenticity, which is very
important to introduce your students in a real English context, appropriacy,
which is important to be aware of the level of proficiency of the students you are
working with, the accessibility, that means that you as teacher has to be sure
that your students are able to have the book, etc.