ELT TEXTBOOKS EVALUATION AND ADAPTATION By Lingjuan Ma With the rapid ELT development in the world, more and

more textbooks have made their way to the market. Choosing the right textbook has become increasingly important at all levels of ELT. With the effort from textbook writers, ELT researchers and classroom teachers, textbook evaluation and selection have evolved to systematic action. Although most classroom teachers will not be involved in the production of textbooks, all teachers have the responsibility for textbook evaluation, selection and adaptation. In this article, some principles of textbook evaluation, selection, and adaptation will be introduced. So far we have been using the term textbook. However, the focus in this article is far more than just textbooks. Nowadays, textbooks in traditional pedagogy have evolved into a great variety of resources used in language classroom such as audio programs, videos, CD-ROMs, dictionaries, grammar books, readers, workbooks, teachers books, photocopiable materials, flashcards, and other authentic materials, such as newspapers, photographs, advertisements, radio/TV programs, etc. In many cases the term materials is used in place of textbooks, which refers to anything that is used by teachers or students to facilitate the learning of a language. The term textbooks is still widely used, but its reference has expanded from books to all the materials used around or independent of the books. Evaluating textbooks An ideal systematic textbook evaluation would be a longitudinal one, which includes pre-use evaluation, whilst-use evaluation and post-use evaluation. The core of systematic textbook evaluation is to examine how well a given textbook matches the needs of a language program and how effectively and efficiently it can realize the objectives of the program. Therefore, needs analysis has to be done prior to textbook evaluation. Due to space limitation, in this unit, we will focus on general features of good textbooks and how to evaluate textbooks based on these features. Features of good textbooks: We believed good textbooks should have the following features. Good textbooks should attract the students curiosity, interest and attention. In order to do this, textbooks should have novelty, variety, attractive layout, appealing content, etc. Of course they should also make sure that learning really takes place when the students use the textbooks. It is not necessarily enough that students enjoy the textbooks. Textbooks should help students to feel at ease. The layout of presentation, tasks and activities, and texts and illustrations should all look friendly to the students so that they fell relaxed when seeing them. Textbooks should help students to develop confidence. Good textbooks help to build up students confidence by providing tasks or activities that students can cope with. Textbooks should meet students needs. What is covered in the textbooks should be relevant and useful to what the students need to learn and what they want to learn. Textbooks should expose the students to language in authentic use.

Generally speaking, textbooks written in authentic language are more motivating and challenging. Textbooks should provide the students with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes. Textbooks should take into account that the positive effects of language teaching are usually delayed. Research into SLA shows that it is a gradual rather than an instantaneous process and that this is equally true for instructed learning. So it is important for textbooks to recycle instruction and to provide frequent and ample exposure to the instructed language features in communicative use. Textbooks should take into account that students differ in learning styles. Tasks and activities should be variable and should cater for a range of learning styles so all students can benefit. Textbooks should take into account that students differ in affective factors. Good textbooks should accommodate different attitudinal and motivational background as much as possible. Textbooks should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic and emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities. Good textbooks enable the students to receive, process and retain information through multiple intelligences.

Selecting textbooks Some people think evaluation and selection are more or less the same thing. After all, we select after we evaluate. However, evaluating textbooks is one thing, selecting textbooks is quite another. For instance, when we evaluate a textbook without an intention to use it for a certain group of students, we try to examine whether what is covered in the book can really fulfill the original purposes of the writer of the book. In another word, is the book really suitable for the learners for whom the book is intended? When we evaluate a textbook with an intention of adoption, we try to match what is offered by the book with the needs of our language program. However, this is no easy job for the teachers. For one thing, teachers may be overwhelmed by the rich contents of the book, which usually has several volumes. For another, teachers are not always clear about what their students need. In order to make the job of textbook selection easier, materials researchers have developed several practical and operational checklists for classroom teachers. Grant designed a three-part questionnaire which can be used as a checklist when teachers select textbooks for their students. Basically the questionnaire helps teachers to examine the extent to which a textbook suits the students, the teacher and the syllabus and examination: Choosing a textbook: questionnaire (part 1) Does the book suit your students? YES PARTLY NO 1 Is it attractive? Given the average age of your students, would they enjoy using it? 2 Is it culturally acceptable? 3 Does it reflect what you know about your students

needs and interests? 4 Is it about the right level of difficulty? 5 Is it about the right length? 6 Are the courses physical characteristics appropriate? (e.g. is it durable?) 7 Are there enough authentic materials, so that the students can see that the book is relevant to real life? 8 Does it achieve an acceptable balance between knowledge about the language, and practice in using the language? 9 Does it achieve an acceptable balance between the relevant language skills, and integrate them so that work in one skill area helps the others? 10 Does the book contain enough communicative activities to enable the students to use the language independently? Score: 2 points for every YES answer. 1 point for every PARTLY answer. 0 for every NO answer. Choosing a textbook: questionnaire (part 2) Does the book suit the teacher? 1 Is your overall impression of the contents and layout of the course favorable? 2 Is there a good, clear teachers guide with answers and help on methods and additional activities? 3 Can one use the book in the classroom without constantly having to turn to the teachers guide? 4 Are the recommended methods and approaches suitable for you, your students and your classroom? 5 Are the approaches easily adaptable if necessary? 6 Does using the course require little or no timeconsuming preparation? 7 Are useful ancillary materials such as audio programs, workbooks, and visuals provided? 8 Is there sufficient provision made for tests and revision? 9 Does the book use a spiral approach, so that items items are regularly revised and used again in different contexts? 10 Is the course appropriate for, and liked by, colleagues? Score: 2 points for every YES answer. 0 for every NO answer. 1 point for every PARTLY answer.

Choosing a textbook: questionnaire (part 3) Does the book suit the syllabus and examination? 1 Has the book been recommended or approved by the authorities? 2 Does the book follow the official syllabus in a creative manner? 3 Is the course well-graded, so that it gives well-structured and systematic coverage of the language? 4 If it does more than the syllabus requires, is the result an improvement? 5 Are the activities, contents and methods used in the course well-planned and executed? 6 Has it been prepared specifically for the target examination? 7 Do the courses methods help the students prepare for the exam? 8 Is there a good balance between what the examination requires, and what the students need? 9 Is there enough examination practice? 10 Does the course contain useful hints on examination technique? Score: 2 points for every YES answer. 1 point for every PARTLY answer. 0 for every NO answer. Adapting textbooks Despite the great effort that textbook writers make to meet the needs of the intended users, textbooks are subjective to adaptation when they are actually used in the classroom. After all, most commercial textbooks are written for any particular class. The following options are suggested to adapt materials: omission: the teacher leaves out things deemed inappropriate, offensive, unproductive, etc. for the particular group. addition: where there seems to be inadequate coverage, teachers may decide to add to textbooks, either in the form of texts or exercise material. reduction: where the teacher shortens an activity to give it less weight or emphasis. extension: where an activity is lengthened in order to give it as additional dimension. (For example, a vocabulary activity is extended to draw attention to some syntactic patterning.) rewriting/modification: teacher may occasionally decide to rewrite material, especially exercise material, to make it more appropriate, more communicative, more demanding, more accessible to their students, etc. replacement: text or exercise material which is considered inadequate, for whatever reason, may be replaced by more suitable material. This is often from

other resource materials.

 re-ordering: teachers may decide that the order in which the textbooks are presented is not suitable for their students. They can then decide to plot a different course through the textbooks from the one the writer has laid down. branching: teachers may decide to add options to the existing activity or to suggest alternative pathways through the activities. (For example, an experiential route or an analytical route.) Textbook adaptation can be done at three levels. The first level is macro adaptation, which is ideally done before the language program begins. After comparing what is covered in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus or examination, the teacher may find that certain areas or even whole units of the book can b e omitted, and certain contents need to be supplemented. Macro adaptation is very important because it helps the teacher to avoid waste if time. It also helps the teacher to see in advance what he or she needs to supplement so that he or she can keep an eye on materials that could be used. The second level of adaptation is adapting a unit. This could be reordering the activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting or supplementing exercise material, etc. Unit adaptation helps to make the classroom teaching more smooth and cohesive. It also helps the teacher to better fulfill the aims of a unit. The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit. Occasionally an activity I regarded as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible in particular class. If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he or she needs to adapt it. Very often, adaptation involves supplementation, that is, teachers add materials from other resources to the textbook they are using. It is believed that authentic materials are better than non-authentic materials for supplementation. So teachers who make a point of collecting authentic materials find it much easier to adapt textbooks. This is especially true in ELT contents where authentic English materials are not always readily to hand. Conclusion In this article we have briefly talked about textbook evaluation, selection and adaptation. The value of these actions is so obvious that no one would argue against it. However, these actions can be done only when three conditions are met. Firstly, teachers need to have the authority to evaluate, select and adapt textbooks. In many cases, teachers are simply told to use a certain textbook. In worse circumstances, teachers are told to use a book. Some teachers are even criticized for intentionally leaving out activities that they do not consider appropriate or necessary. Secondly, teachers have to have the initiative to evaluate, select and adapt textbooks. Very often, with a heavy workload, teachers simply do not have the time or energy to do anything beyond lesson planning and marking students homework. Without explicit encouragement from authorities, many teachers do not make an effort to evaluate and adapt textbooks. Thirdly, teachers need to know how to evaluate, select and adapt textbooks. If textbook evaluation is ever done, it is mostly impressionistic judgment based on experience or intuition. In this article, we did not specifically discuss textbook creation, though some

classroom teachers are already involved in it. However, most of the suggested ideas about textbook evaluation and adaptation are also applicable to textbook creation.