EVALUATION OF DAYBREAK COURSEBOOK I evaluated that coursebook against 15 criteria below, using a 10-point rating scale (minimum 1 to maximum

10). I then converted the score of 150 (10 points x 15 criteria) into 100, averaged my scores and agreed on my comments. Material (5th grade) = Abbs, B. & Worrall, A. & Ward, A. (1997) Daybreak Longman

CRITERIA 1- To what extent does the material provide exposure to English in authentic use?

POINTS 6

COMMENTS This book is wanted to use by teachers who lectures to 5th grade students by ministry of national education. For this reason it is supposed to be providing exposure to English in authentic use with its Social and Cultural Contexts as well. It fails in this respect. Even the names are reflects UK & US culture etc. Sally, John. But each unit offers reading dialogues about daily life and those dialogues in coursebook state adaptation of authentic texts accomplishedly. (e.g. Unit 2 At the swimming pool, Unit 6 What Can You Do?, Unit 7 Its Snowing, page 28 What is the weather like? Page 31 Where can you buy a doll? ). The coursebook does not include personalization that much according to my personal idea. In whole book there are few activities that meaningful to the target learners. More than half of the coursebooks activities are consisted of dialogues and in them topics are always related to other peoples lives. But games at the end of the each unit may be meaningful to the learners. In this expect I can say that the coursebook is prosperous. The topics may attract 5th grades. For example in Unit 5 A Shapes Jungle drawing of an elephant with basic shapes (triangle, circle, square etc.) is showed in a dialogue. According to my personal opinion that types of texts are likely to interest the target learners.

2- To what extent is the exposure to English in use likely to be meaningful to the target learners?

3- To what extent are the texts likely to interest the learners?

4- To what extent are the activities likely to provide achievable challenges to the learners?

When I examine the workbook of the coursebook it is apparent that book follows classic methods far from being creative such as filling the blanks, matching. There are not so much pair activities. (e.g page 31, Where can you but a doll? Talk to your friend. Page 17 Australia quiz- Answer the questions about Australia with your friend.) But they are achievable for the 5th grades. Coursebooks main intention is giving basic/daily English use. Coursebook is full of attractive visuals, engaging texts and involving activities such as Unit 1, Unit 3 and Unit 4 introduces Australia. (Australian family, animals that live in Australia, Australia map). But pity that checking the understandability lacks in workbook. In Unit 4 Part 5 page 17 there is a game named guess the animal. It wants learners to act animals out and partner to guess. Unit 8 part 6 page 33 involves a shopping game. Unit 14 part 4 page 55 involves a Snakes and Ladders game. It is a well known game but it still helps learners to learn while they are having fun. Unit 18 part 3 page 71 involves a board game. The coursebook has some discovery activities. (e.g. guess the animal, guessing who is s/he) It has some useful activities to engage learners affectively and cognitively but their focus is use of English not on form that much. Games, dialogues and writing activities in the coursebook. (e.g. Unit 17 writing a letter to your friend, page 17 Guess the Animal game, Unit 7 Its snowing dialogue, Unit 9 Can you ride a bicycle?) There is no feedback both in Pupils Book and in Activity Book in the material of Daybreak. The only feedback seems to be the answer keys or teachers feedback.

5- To what extent are the activities likely to engage the learners affectively?

6- To what extent are the activities likely to engage the target learners cognitively?

7- To what extent do the activities provide opportunities for learners to make discoveries about how English is used? 8- To what extent do the activities provide opportunities for meaningful use of English? 9- To what extent does the material provide opportunities for the learners to gain feedback on the effectiveness of their use of English?

10- To what extent is the material likely to sustain positive impact?

There are interesting topics that may attract target learners. (e.g. Unit 4 Australian animals, Unit 5 a shapes jungle, Unit 10 making pancakes).The coursebook seem to try to vary its format to a certain degree. Although dialogues in the coursebook assume the outside world, it is not evident that activities try to make use of English speaking environment outside the classroom. In Unit 7 involves weather terms but all the activities seem to be for classroom sessions. The material Day Break seems to make explicit connections to how the classroom learning can be applied outside the classroom. In that there some activities prepare learners to real life interaction on the outside. (e.g. Unit 1 Bens new friend , Unit 2 At the swimming pool , Unit 6 What can you do? , Unit 7 What is the weather like? , Unit 10 Making pancakes , Unit 11 What time is it? , Unit 13 At the Fair, How do you feel? , Unit 14 Whats your favorite lesson? , Unit 15 Phone for a taxi ). However they are constricted. Some of the characters in the Daybreak book are from different cultures (e.g. Unit 4 A Project about Australia). But there are not any specific sections to treat English as an international language. There are no culture-specific units except from the Unit 4 A Project about Australia . In Unit 4, it introduces to learners capital city of Australia, Australian animals, Aborigines etc. The material Daybreak provides opportunities for making discoveries. (e.g page 5 Where are you from? Talk to your friend , page 9 swimming race game, page 11 a map of Australia , page 16 Australian animals , page 17 guess the animal game , Unit 5 A Shapes Jungle , Unit 8 Shopping , Unit 10 Making Pancakes etc.). And also the coursebook is language focused according to learners cognitive level.

11- To what extent does the material help the learners to make use of the Englishspeaking environment outside the classroom? 12- To what extent does the material help the learners to operate effectively in the English-speaking environment outside the classroom?

13- To what extent does the material treat English as an international language? 14- To what extent does the material provide opportunities for cultural awareness? 15- To what extent does the material help learners to discovering English in use?

Total (out of 100)

56