FINAL DRAFT_Coursebook Evaluation

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 1

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY & HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES FACULTY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

COURSEBOOK EVALUATION CHECKLIST  Course:

MTESOL

 Subject Code and Title:

AEG 1502 EVALUATION

 Group members: Nguyen Manh Thao

3843612 (Leader)

Nguyen Hong Thanh Lan

3843616

Nguyen Ngoc Thuc

3831774

Nguyen Ngoc Thanh

3831786

Nguyen Tuong Nhu

3832265

 Lecturer: Prue Morris  Due Date of Assignment: 1. The professional context

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 2 According to Brogan (2007), “The economic changes have demanded that more Vietnamese citizens become proficient in English, in the English language domains of Viet Nam. The type, number and size of these domains are increasing” (p.2). Pham (2001) considers that the open door policy causes a tremendous growth of English centers (p.31). In that scenario, choosing coursebooks becomes an urgent matter, especially for universities. Those who are in charge of choosing cousebooks select the books from the bookstores which they think are suitable for their students. Some lecturers find articles from the internet and process them into a coursebook. Choosing coursebooks like this is too subjective, because it may not be suitable to the users. It seems that there is no wellestablished criteria for choosing the right coursebooks. A carefully worked-out evaluation checklist is therefore essential for choosing the adequate coursebooks in the status quo of Vietnam. 2. The evaluation checklist and its audience In this paper, we would like to introduce an adjusted evaluation checklist which can be utilized by teachers, students, and curriculum designers at universities in Vietnam. The original checklist, designed by Tomlinson, Masuhara and Rubdy (2001), was divided into 7 sections with 39 items (see appendix 1). To be contextually appropriate, we have moved a number of items and modified some items to suit our situation. The new checklist has 26 items (see appendix 2). 3. The justification for the adjustment The following items refer to the ones in the original checklist. The changes made or the adaptations to the checklist are highlighted (see appendix 1). Section I: Flexibility Items 1, 3, 4, 5 are irrelevant because they seem broad and can be applied to any student groups in any context. We keep item 2 due to its connection to students’ cultural background and knowledge. We made a slightly change to items 6 and 7 to suit Vietnamese learning culture.

Section II: Syllabus

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 3 This question in the scholars’ checklist: “8. Does the syllabus have sufficient coverage?” does not specify what is meant by sufficient coverage and we do not know how much the materials should cover to meet the need of Vietnamese learners unless we change it to: “Does the syllabus have sufficient coverage that is useful in the Vietnamese context?”. Items 9 and 10 look broad and can be applied to any student groups in any context. Items 11, 12, 14 are of great importance, being an necessity in the learning process. Item 13 should be changed to suit Vietnamese learning culture. For these reasons, we have left out items 9 and 10 and made a slight change to items 8 and 13. Section III: Pedagogic approach Item 15 is related to the type of skills development which Vietnamese students may find it hard to learn and which seems to require substantial training either for them or for their teachers to make it happen. Items 16, 21, 23 can be applied to any student groups in any context. Items 17 and 18 seem too Western and promote a cultural feature not common in Vietnamese behaviour and mindset. These items have therefore been taken away from the checklist. We keep items 19, 20 due to their essential necessity in the learning process. Section IV: Topic content We think items 23, 24, 25 are of great importance in the learning process. They are relevant to the Vietnamese context and connect to students’ cultural background. Item 26 is irrelevant and has been left out because it can be applied to any student groups in any context and it promotes a cultural feature not common in Vietnamese behaviour. Section V: Teachability In this section, we keep items 27 and 28 because they are relevant to the situations of EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam.

Section VI: Design and illustration

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 4 We keep item 29 because it is a universal feature of a coursebook. It is important that a course book be attractive and have sufficient variety of design to achieve impact. Item 30 has been removed. No cultural issues are required for culturally homogeneous students because they are all Vietnamese. This item works only with cultural diverse groups. Item 31 has also been left out because it is not a key quality in course materials. It is optional and it is not important for a coursebook to have enough white space to achieve clarity. Item 32 is kept because it is a universal feature of a coursebook and it is essential to task-based language teaching. We have deleted item 33 because it is optional and unimportant. We keep item 34 because it is essential for a coursebook to have various attractive illustrations. We also keep items 35, 36 due to their importance. In addition to facilitating learner visualization, all illustrations in a coursebook must be functional so that students can understand the meaning of a word as well as the grammatical structure. Section VII: Reading texts Item 37 has been taken away from the checklist because it is optional and not important. We agree to keep items 38 and 39 because they are of great important, being an essential necessity in the learning process. 4. Conclusion In general, our adaptation is both thoughtful and arbitrary- thoughtful in the sense that every item is re-selected and modified with a clear reason in mind; arbitrary in the sense that we repair the items based on our own perception and experience of what works for Vietnamese students. Such decisions, however, may vary from teacher to teacher and may not reflect the views of all teachers. On a similar note, what seems to be viewed by the researcher as mostly suited to Vietnamese students may also vary as there are always a number of students who veered away from the ways on which the majority of students would prefer to learn.


To sum up, our adapted coursebook evaluation checklist may provide teachers, students and curriculum designers with an effective instrument to select the right coursebook which is contextually appropriate. (999 words)

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 6 References Brogan, M. (2007). Maintaining the Learning- EFL Teacher Education in Vietnam. In Burns, A. and H. de Silva Joyce. Planning and Teaching Creatively Within a Required Curriculum for Adult Learners. TESOL Inc. : USA, 59-92. Pham, H.H. (2001). Teacher Development: A Real Need for English Departments in Vietnam. Forum, 39(4), 30. Tomlinson, B., Masuhara, H., Rubdy, R. (2001). Review of Adult EFL Course in ELT Journal Vol.55/1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 7 APPENDIX 1 THE ORIGINAL COURSEBOOK EVALUATION CHECKLIST Adapted from Brian Tomlinson, Hitomi Masuhara & Rani Rubdy’s Review of Adult EFL Course in ELT Journal Vol.55/1 Jan 2001. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The items that our group has changed or adjusted are highlighted.

Coursebook Evaluation Worksheet (Total grade

Flexibility (Total grade

/200)

/35)

1. Would the course be appealing and useful to your students? 2. Does the course provide opportunities for you and your students to localize activities? 3. Does the course provide opportunities for extensive reading? 4. Does the course provide opportunities for extensive listening? 5. Does the course provide opportunities for informal acquisition as well as formal learning? 6. Does the course cater for different preferred learning styles? 7. Does the course prepare your students for the realities of language use in their situations? Comments

Syllabus (Total grade

/35)

8. Does the syllabus have sufficient coverage? 9. Does it likely to meet the needs and wants of your students? 10. Does the syllabus focus on language in use? 11. Does the syllabus pay attention to accuracy, fluency, and appropriacy of language use? 12. Does the syllabus include communication strategies?

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 8 13. Does the syllabus include learning strategies? 14. Are the syllabus components frequently recycled in different ways? Comments

Pedagogic approach (Total grade

/40)

15. Does the course challenge your students? For example, do the activities involve your students in mental activity, thoughtful discussion, and help the development of high-level skills? 16. Does the course help your students? 17. Does the course encourage independent learning? 18. Does it respect and treat your students as individuals? (Such as allowing learner choice, helping students to personalize their language learning) 19. Does it help your students to revise what they have learned? 20. Are the activities likely to involve your students affectively? 21. Are the activities sufficiently varied to achieve impact? 22. Does the course aim at developing cultural awareness? Comments

Topic content (Total grade

/20)

23. Are the topic sufficiently varied and engaging to appeal to your students with different interests and personalities? 24. Are the topics familiar to your students’ cultural background? 25. Does the course give any choice of topics, provoke personal responses, and encourage your students to express their own views? 26. Does the course avoid potentially embarrassing or disturbing topics? Is the course open-minded in its attitude towards the topic? Comments


Teachability (Total grade

/10)

27. Does the course help you to minimize your preparation time? 28. Does the course help you to cater for mixed ability students and classes of different sizes? Comments

Design and illustration (Total grade

/40)

29. Does the book retain visual appeal throughout? Is there sufficient variety of design to achieve impact? 30. Does the book potentially attractive in view of your students’ cultural background? 31. Is there enough white space to achieve clarity? 32. Are tasks target clear to the learner? 33. Is there consistency in the use of icons, headings, labels, icons, italics, etc.? 34. Are the illustrations attractive and varied? 35. Are the illustrations functional? 36. Do the illustrations facilitate learner visualization without imposing complete visual images? Comments

VII. Reading texts (Total grade

/15)

37. Is there a variety of text types, genres, and lengths? 38. Are the texts likely to interest your students? 39. Are the texts likely to engage your students both cognitively and affectively? _______________________________________________________________________ _


Collation Sheet Coursebook: Evaluators: Total grade Criteria Flexibility

Syllabus

Pedagogic approach

Topic content

Teachability

Design and illustration

Reading texts

Lessons evaluated: /200 Grade

Comments and examples



Syllabus

Pedagogic approach

Topic content

Teachability


Reading texts



Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 12 APPENDIX 2 THE ADAPTED COURSEBOOK EVALUATION CHECKLIST

Coursebook Evaluation Worksheet (Total grade

Flexibility (Total grade

/200)

/35)

1. Does the course provide opportunities for you and your students to localize activities? 2. Does the course cater for preferred learning styles of Vietnamese students? 3. Does the course prepare your students for the realities of language use in their situations of English use in Vietnam? Comments

Syllabus (Total grade

/35)

4. Does the syllabus have sufficient coverage that is useful in the Vietnamese context? 5. Does the syllabus pay attention to accuracy, fluency, and appropriacy of language use? 6. Does the syllabus include communication strategies? 7. Does the syllabus include learning strategies which Vietnamese students can easily learn and which do not require much training? 8. Are the syllabus components frequently recycled in different ways? Comments

Pedagogic approach (Total grade

/40)

9. Does the course help your students? 10. Does it help your students to revise what they have learned? 11. Are the activities likely to involve your students affectively? Comments


Topic content (Total grade

/20)

12. Are the topic sufficiently varied and engaging to appeal to your students with different interests and personalities? 13. Are the topics familiar to your students’ cultural background? 14. Does the course give any choice of topics, provoke personal responses, and encourage your students to express their own views? Comments

Teachability (Total grade

/10)

15. Does the course help you to minimize your preparation time? 16. Does the course help you to cater for mixed ability students and classes of different sizes? Comments

Design and illustration (Total grade

/40)

17. Does the book retain visual appeal throughout? Is there sufficient variety of design to achieve impact? 18. Does the book potentially attractive in view of your students’ cultural background? 19. Is there enough white space to achieve clarity? 20. Are tasks target clear to the learner? 21. Is there consistency in the use of icons, headings, labels, icons, italics, etc.? 22. Are the illustrations attractive and varied? 23. Are the illustrations functional? 24. Do the illustrations facilitate learner visualization without imposing complete visual images?

Coursebook Evaluation Checklist 14 Comments

VII. Reading texts (Total grade

/15)

25. Are the texts likely to interest your students? 26. Are the texts likely to engage your students both cognitively and affectively? _______________________________________________________________________ _



Syllabus

Pedagogic approach

Topic content

Teachability


Reading texts





Syllabus

Pedagogic approach

Topic content

Teachability





Reading texts

FINAL DRAFT_Coursebook Evaluation

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