Running head: Texbooks evaluation 1

Titulo
ELT Texbooks Evaluation
English Language Teaching Textbooks Evaluation
Jessica Elizabeth Pinargote Reyes
Eloy Alfaro de Manabí University
 Texbook Evaluation 2

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to present the results of English Language Teaching
Textbooks Evaluation, where skills and criteria are assessed in an individual and
global way, it applied a checklist, wich has been validate for a author and conclude,
if this textbook is appropriate to work during all year with children

Keywords: English texbooks evaluation, checklist, skills

 Texbook Evaluation 3

Full tittle
In today's world, the English teaching-learning process help students in general to
access to better opportunities, allowing the development and strengthening of
communicative competences; nevertheless, it is indisputable that English has
become the third language of Global communication for excellence and the most
used in the world with a percentage of 402 million people who speak it as their first
language, being a very important Language used in many fields, especially in the
educational area considered a tool of great importance and crucial for success.
Nowdays, English language teaching-learning has changed successfully with a
very innovative proposal. First, considering the necessary instruments including the
assessment and indicators to determine the level of students. Second, the planning
activities. Thrird, variety of didactic rosources for teaching-learned another, dynamic
classes where exists interaction between teacher and students. Finally, a great
variety of methods and techniques, in which students can learn effectively the four
English language skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing.
There is a great variety of didactic resources for the teaching-learning of the
English language, textbooks are a tool considered as an essential component of any
ELT course; thus, the selection of the best suitable book for a particular context
demands careful investigation. "A textbook can be referred to as a published material
specially designed to help language learners to improve their linguistic and
communicative abilities” (Sheldon, 1987).
The Ecuadorean Ministry of Education presented an agreement 0052-14, which it
was established that the teaching of the English language from 2016-2017 (Sierra)
and 2017-2018 (Costa) will be compulsory from second grade of Basic General
Education to third Course of baccalaureate. This measure applies to all public,
private and fiscomision institutions, considering that Ecuador is ranked 35th with low
level in English according to the English proficiency index (EF EPI) 2014; on the
other hand, the Textbook Evaluation in Ecuador is basically through rubrics or check
list; besides, it takes in consideration many aspects used as general guideline to
evaluate texbooks across the curriculum areas using a qualitative or cuantitative
method and determine the degree of valuation to conclude, whether the book is
appropriate or not to work with all students.
General Objective:
 Texbook Evaluation 4

To determine whether the reviewed English Language Teaching Textbooks

Evaluation is appropriate or not for (the ss of 8th basic at the school…..) to satisfy
the requirements of English pensum.
Specific Objectives:
1. To Review the basic Literature
2. To apply the appropriate methodology
3. To select the criteria for the texbook analysis
4. To present the final results of the evaluation

Literature review

Speaking more than one language has become essential, due to an enormous
phenomenon called globalization. Also, it implies successful opportunities in different
areas, such as: business, tourism, science, technology and education; in addition, is
important to emphasize that English language is the most important and relevant
language these days which, is a path of opportunities that lead to success. “The
world of English languaje teaching will help you make the right decisions” (Fancesca
Target, 2002,2003).
According (Standards The Ecuadorian in-Service English Teacher, 2009):
Given the fact that Ecuador is a multicultural country, a certain number of
Ecuadorian students who are learning English may descend from indigenous
cultures— where Spanish is their second language; and English their third—
the second domain is about “Culture”. Therefore, Ecuadorian English teachers
need to have knowledge of other cultures and know how culture may affect
their learning of English in Ecuador. (…). The proficiency levels set by the
CEFR and established as the benchmarks for Ecuador’s ELLS are A1, A2,
and B1. The progression of the levels is the following:
Educación General Básica (sublevel Elemental and Medio)
 Level PREA1: at the end of 3rd year
 Texbook Evaluation 5

 Level A1: At the end of 5th year

 Level A2: at the end of 7th year
Educación General Básica (sublevel Superior and Bachillerato General
Unificado)
 Level A1: At the end of 9th year
 Level A2: At the end of 1st year
 Level B1: At the end of 3rd year

A textbook is a very important manual of instruction in any branch of study,

according ( Awasthi, 2006) “A textbook is teaching material for the teacher and a
learning material for the learner”, considered the “visible heart of any ELT
programme” (Sheldon L. E., 1988, pág. 237).
(Richards J. C., 2001) seems to be more explicit to define a textbook:
Texbooks are a key component in most language programs. In some
situations they serve as the basis for much of the languaje paractice that
occurs in the classroom. They may provide the basis for the content of the
lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of languaje practice the
students take part in. In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily
to supplement the teacher’s instructions. For learners the textbook may
provide the major source of contact they have with the languaje apart from
imput provided by the teacher. pag.1.
(Hutchinson & Torres, 1994) Affirm: The textbook is a medium that is used in
almost every country in the world for the same purpose as teaching the English
language. Thousands of copies that publishers distribute and sell these English
books every year (p.315); furthermore, ELT textbooks have the solution to many
answers “but are frequently seen by teachers as necessary evils” (Sheldon L. E.,
1988, pág. 237)
On the other hand (GARINGER, 2002) believes that “a textbook can serve
different purposes for teachers” as a fundamental requirement that is considered as
a source of secondary resource, that the enthusiasm emerge within classes so that
the students are encouraged to perform the different tasks and activities; moreover,
textbooks should be handled carefully; for instance, each class has diverse study
 Texbook Evaluation 6

environments and teaching-learning objectives variety, “textbook should be used

judiciously (…) can present examples of common difficulties, but diere are problems
specific to different language groups which are left for the teacher to deal widi”
(Williams, 1983, pág. 251)
Textbooks has become an essential tool for English teachers, they are
undoubtedly a remarkable help in many aspects such as: planning and organizing,
getting information, learning strategies, and so on; similarly, Richards and Rodgers
(2001) agree, “course-books are an unavoidable element of the curriculum because
they specify content and define coverage for syllabus items”.
Some authors like points out that using textbook is important, (Bird, 2001) thinks
that a large part of teachers have a connection with textbooks, considering it a very
important tool; in addition, to content it covers a great part of activities for teaching
and learning with favorable results.
In contrast, some authors see that using textbook is not important and even
consider it a problematic in teaching-learning English language. (swales, 1980)
Cited by Sheldon believes “ that textbooks, especially coursebooks, represent
a‘problem’, and in extreme cases are examples of educational failure”. On the other
hand (Morris & Pearson , 1987) believe that the most problematic in the use of the
textbook are the specific objectives since at the moment of accomplishing a task the
students; in fact, for the beginners are confused instead of being instructed, being
these objectives too much confuse, that brings as a consequence the disinterests
and confusion of the student.
Other authors have criticized textbooks because they say that they harm socially
and culturally, researchers such as Porreca (1984), Florent and Walter (1989),
Clarke (1990), Carrell and Korwitz (1994) and Renner (1997) have shown that many
EFL textbooks contain contents of gender and gender bias; firstly, that there is no
equality of gender, superiorizing the masculine gender mainly as it has been seen
since decades ago, and second, that involve social and occupational roles, for this
reason, exists some evidences that the investigators have came to conclude that the
prevalence continues.
Many authors make known from their point of view a great variety of advantages
rather than disadvantages that the textbooks have, in my personal opinion these
textbooks are a very useful tool that help to develop the teaching-learning ability of
 Texbook Evaluation 7

the English Language in similar parts for both teachers and students, according
(Richards, 2001) lists the principal advantages of using textbooks:
• They provide structure and syllabus for a program (…)
• They help standardize instruction (…)
• They maintain quality (…)
• They provide a variety of learning resources (…)
• They are efficient (…)
• They can provide effective language models and input (…)
• They can train teachers (…)
• They are visually appealing (…)
(Richards J. C., 2001) takes as an example a book, this book can be the same
with the difference that is used in different classes, remembering that the content is
the same and that can be evaluated in the similar way but in the different
classrooms, and that we are currently in a technological era, which most of the
books are accompanied by a great variety of didactic and technological resources
that help an efficient and productive teaching-learning such as: workbooks, cassette,
videos, CD Roms, and guides to make the student have better understanding of
English.
(Richards, 2001) lists the following list of the disadvantages of using a textbook:
• They may contain non-authentic language
• They may distort content
• They may not refl ect students’ needs
• They can deskill teachers
• They are expensive.
Is the power that textbooks have to help both the teacher and students in the ELT
curriculum, he is sure that they are an effective material for learning, are a
presentation material, where ideas and activities are freely displayed, a source of
reference for students, a program of studies with learning objectives and help for
less experienced teachers (Richards, 2001, pag.2).
Choosing the best textbook to work with students during all school year, is a work
so dificult that professors have to face, because they have to analize many aspects
with respect to the class and students, for example, level of knowloge and course
or grade which the texbook will be applied “Teachers are often faced with the task of
choosing what teaching materials to use” (Ellis, 1997).
 Texbook Evaluation 8

(Skierso, 1991) pointed out a number of factors that should be taken into
account before the process of evaluating a textbook, these are: information about
students, teacher and institution. (Pag 432).
Regarding to the reasons for evaluating a textbook, the more significanty, is to
achieve a significant learning on students; in addition, there are different criteria that
allows teaches as well as experts to give conclusions about using certain texbbook
to certain students. (Sheldon L. E., 1988) Mentions two basic reasons to evaluate
textbooks; first, the evaluation will help the teacher or program developer make
decisions on selecting the appropriate textbook; finaly, evaluation of the merits and
demerits of a textbook will familiarize the teacher with its probable weaknesses and
strengths.
Diverses authors have suggested diferents manner of helping teachers in
particular to be more sophisticated in their evaluative approach, by positing
‘checklists’ based on supposedly generalizable criteria (Sheldon L. E., 1988, pág.
240).
Some checklist formats use a variety of "scoring" methods to evaluate the
textbooks that will be counted in the final process to determine whether the textbook
serves or not (Tucquer, 1975, Williams, 1983 and Alwright, 1981). According
(Sheldon L. E., 1988):
We can be committed only to checklists or scoring systems that we have had a
hand in developing, and which have evolved from specific selection priorities. So
we need some points around which our thoughts can crystallize”. (pag. 242).
Finally when a book is selected, your success or failure will be completed before
and after its use in the classroom. (Sheldon L. E., 1988, pág. 242). This author
concludes that thanks to what has been said and written regarding the choice of a
good textbook, these materials have become a very useful and necessary
educational tool that both students and teachers need to develop a new language,
also emphasizes the importance that the teacher has to feedback his classes so that
the student learns better. Pag. 246.

METODOLOGIA PAR EVALUAR (Methods for Evaluating Textbook)

(AbdelWahab M. M., 2013) affirms:
There are three basic methods for evaluating textbooks. The first is called the
impressionistic method and it involves analyzing a textbook on the basis of a
 Texbook Evaluation 9

general impression. (…) the second method, which is called the checklist method.
This method is systematic in the way that the criteria on the list are checked off in
a certain order. (…). The third method, the in-depth method, suggests a careful
examination of representative features such as the design of one particular unit or
exercise, or the treatment of particular language elements.

Ellis (1997) mentions two types of materials evaluation “a predictive evaluation

designed to make a decision regarding what materials to use, and a retrospective
evaluation designed to examine materials that have actually been used.
Retrospective evaluations can be impressionistic or empirical”. It is true that
teachers have a very difficult task, such as knowing what is the right material to
use for the period of a school year with their students, teachers are asked to
perform a predictive evaluation, then after this process that they have used the
material, teachers can take their own detions and conclude whether the material
is good or not, this is proccess is known as retrospective evaluation. This author
talks about empirical evaluation, tells us that the most optional is through a micro-
evaluation, which consists of selecting a specific task, and this in turn is subjected
to an empirical evaluation in detail, this process is the basis and Can help a
macro-evaluation. He relates the evaluation of textbooks with task firstly doing a
micro-evaluation of tasks, secorndly Describing a task, third choosing a task to
evaluate and finally describing the task .

QUE ES CHECK LIST- DEFINICION

A checklist is a instrument that help practitioners evaluate textbook in a
effective and practical way.
According ( Brun, 2011) “A checklist is a list of items you need to verify, check or
inspect” is based on a list of questions, where is certain elements, details and
criteria in a concise and actionable way that can be used many times to determine
the weaknesses and strengths in their process.
(AbdelWahab M. M., 2013, pág. 59) affirm “A checklist is an instrument that helps
practitioners in English Language Teaching evaluate language teaching materials,
like textbooks” allowing a sophisticated evaluation of the textbook with respect to a
 Texbook Evaluation 10

set of evaluative criteria, this autor found two types of checklists, they can be in a
way quantitative or qualitative .

(Skierso, 1991) comment about Quantitative checklist establish an objective

evaluation of textbook using Likert-style rating scales. The opposite of the
quantitative checklists, is that the qualitative ones use open questions, with the
objective of obtaining subjective information from the textbooks. Qualitative
checklists are used for a textbook to be thoroughly evaluated, but quantitative
checklists are the most commonly used, reliable and convenient instruments
(Richards J. C., 2001).

Farr and Tulley (cited in Chambliss, 1994) Released 70 checklists of English

textbooks and found that the number of criteria in the checklists ranged from 42 to
180 items.

( Brun, 2011) Affirms that a checklist to be reliable it must follow five steps:
1. Make each item clear and concise (…).
2. Group your items by category (…)
3. Make each item actionable (…)
4. Don’t skip anything on the list (…)
5. Ensure your notes, evidence or other results are used to improve performance
(…)

Method
The English Language Teaching textbook assigned to be analyzed in this paper is
big importanc because; it is addressed to (beginer, intermediate or high). In order to
perform the analysis some characteristics of the student’s need must be taken in
consideration, they are: the classroom size (45 of student y de 8th grade), the
 Texbook Evaluation 11

students belong to public or private school, their socioeconomic status is upper or

lower class, I used a universal method that is a checklist, the autor is Dr. Montasser
Mohamed AbdelWahab, the critetrius evaluated were Physical and utilitarian
attributes, efficient outlay of objectives and supplementary materials, Learning-
teaching content and Language Skills.

Que metodos aplicastes

Results
Through looking at the results of the analysis according to the applied criteria,
name del libro
Cuales son los resultados que ahs optenidos

General Discussion

PENDIENTE

(Sheldon L. E., 1988)“Coursebooks are often seen by potential consumers-

teachers, learnersand educational purchasers-as market ephemera
requiring invidious compromises between commercial and pedagogical demands”.pag.237
 Texbook Evaluation 12

Textbooks are designed in such a way that their tables suggest a gradual
development refers to linguistic forms and functions going from the easy to the
difficult, with the sole purpose of the emergence of communicative language,
unfortunately despite so much effort of designers, Publishers and publishers, there
are shortcomings that give rise to disinterested students (Richards & Rodgers,
2006).

Bibliography
Awasthi, J. R. (2006). Journal of Nelta (Vol. 11).
Brun, J. (12 de 10 de 2011). Nimonik. Recuperado el 17 de 07 de 2017, de
https://nimonik.com/2011/10/what-is-a-checklist/
AbdelWahab, D. M. (2013). Developing an English Language Textbook Evaluative
Checklist (Vol. 1).
AbdelWahab, M. M. (2013). Developing an English Language Textbook Evaluative
Checklist (Vol. 1).
Alwright. (1981). What do we want teaching material for?
Bird, P. (2001). Textbooks: Evaluation for selection and analysis for implementation.
Chambliss, M. J. (1994). Evaluating the quality of textbooks for diverse learners.
Ellis, R. (1997). The empirical evaluation of LanguageTeaching Materials (Vol. 51).
Fancesca Target. (2002,2003). Working in English Language Teaching. London: The
Times.
GARINGER, D. (2002). Textbook Selection for the ESL Classroom. Obtenido de
file:///C:/Users/diegomarcelo/Downloads/Textbook+evaluation+7%20(1).pdf
Hutchinson, T., & Torres, E. (1994). The Textbook as Agent of Change (Vol. 48).
 Texbook Evaluation 13

Morris , & Pearson . (1987). ELT Textbooks and Material: Problems in evaluation
and development. Modern English Publications .
Richards. (2001). The Role of Textbook in a a Language Program.
Richards, J. C. (2001). the role of texbooks in language program. Obtenido de
http://www.professorjackrichards.com/wp-content/uploads/role-of-
textbooks.pdf
Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2006). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.
Sheldon. (1987). A Content Evaluation of Iranian Pre-university ELT Texbook.
Obtenido de
http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol04/05/17.pdf
Sheldon, L. E. (1988). Evaluating Elt Textbooks and Materials. Obtenido de
https://es.scribd.com/doc/82849387/Leslie-Sheldon-evaluating-Elt-Textbooks-
and-Materials
Skierso, A. (1991). Textbook Selection and Evaluation. Celce, Murcia: Heinle and
Heinle Publishers.
Standards The Ecuadorian in-Service English Teacher. (2009).
swales. (1980). Evaluating Elt Textbooks and Materials.
Tucquer, C. A. (1975). Evaluating beginning Coursebooks.
Williams, D. (1983). Developing criteria for textbook evaluation.