scholarly journals Modal Auxiliary Verbs in Prescribed Malaysian English Textbooks

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayakaran Mukundan ◽  
Laleh Khojasteh
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Shed Light

The use of corpus-based findings in order to inform L2 teaching materials have been emphasized by many researchers owing to the fact that the studies of authentic texts have revealed some inconsistencies between the use of grammatical structures in corpora, and those found in language textbooks that are based purely on hunch. Therefore, by comparing a textbook corpus with the British National Corpus, this study attempts to shed light on the extent in which modal auxiliary verbs presented in the Malaysian prescribed textbooks are identical with those used by native speakers. The findings showed that there are discrepancies between English language textbooks and real language use. Findings from this study contribute to the improvement of pedagogical practices in the teaching of the modal system and provide a sense of familiarity with textbooks’ content thus assisting educators in identifying the particular strengths and weaknesses in textbooks already in use.

scholarly journals The “Permission/Possibility/Ability” Modals in Malaysian English Textbooks: A Corpus-Based Analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-69
Author(s):  
Laleh Khojasteh ◽  
Nasrin Shokrpour
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Modal System ◽  
Teaching Materials ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Auxiliary Verb

Malaysian learners are observed to be error-prone in terms of semantic functions of modal auxiliary verbs in English. ESL Malaysian learners’ challenges in terms of using modal auxiliary verbs suggest that there might be some inadequacies in the syllabus, which could have led to the problems encountered by these students. Thus, the semantic functions of four modal auxiliary verbs, can, could, may and might, used by and introduced to Malaysian learners in Forms 1–5 textbook corpus were the focus of this study. Apparently, the findings show that these textbooks offer a relatively one-sided picture, overemphasizing the minor semantic functions and overlooking the frequent functions used in the presentday English. It is also argued that although there are invaluable insights available in terms of modal auxiliary verb forms and their semantic functions in major corpus-based studies, this real-life language has not been well presented in Malaysian English language textbooks. The findings of this study contribute to the improvement of the pedagogical practices in the teaching of the modal system, and emphasize that the semantic functions of each core modal in the teaching materials should be given adequate importance.

scholarly journals A Thorough Scrutiny of ELT Textbook Evaluations: A Review Inquiry

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Reza Gholami ◽  
Nooreen Noordin ◽  
Shameem Rafik-Galea
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
English Language ◽  
Beating Heart ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Textbook Evaluation ◽  
Extensive Range ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Textbook Selection ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
Shed Light

It is thoroughly agreed that English language textbooks stand amongst the foremost components in any language classrooms worldwide, being referred to as valid, beneficial and labor-saving tools to fulfill an extensive range of needs. An ELT textbook is not merely a set of sheets of paper fastened together to hinge at one side, but is the beating heart of any education system whereupon the whole learning revolves. Notwithstanding their interminable benefits, it is admitted that still the compiled textbooks, especially the ones prescribed in Educational systems have to be evaluated and assessed to confirm whether they fulfil the objectives they are meant for or not, as it is said no perfect textbook exists. Having dealt with evaluation in general, this research meticulously elaborates on textbook evaluation more specifically concluding that there is a dearth of inquiry on textbook selection and evaluation. Afterwards, this research introduces the most common approaches for evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. The paper culminates with concluding remarks and implications, hoping to shed light on how textbook evaluation is practiced worldwide.

ANALYSIS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS IN TERMS OF TRANSVERSAL SKILLS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolanta Zastavnaja
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
21St Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
21St Century Education ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Collaborative Skills

In Europe in the second half of the 20th century, events such as radical economic and social change, globalisation and its expression in culture, politics, the economy and the environment, and progress in scientific and information technology had an impact on education. At school, today's students must be taught such knowledge and skills so that they can survive and be successful in the changing 21st century. Preparing students for life and work is in the spotlight in 21st-century education. The aim of the study is to explore and analyse the development of transversal skills in English language textbooks and to explore the possibilities in order to evaluate English language textbooks in terms of transversal skills. In this research, five English textbooks for 1st-3rd grade were analysed. Qualitative research, descriptive research and content analysis were used in this research. The author reveals that in the latest English textbooks, issued in 2017 and 2018, there are significantly more tasks, thus creating transversal skills for students. In turn, older English textbooks, issued in 2013, lack tasks based on a transversal skills approach. The result of this study shows which English textbooks of the five the author of this study recommends using at school in terms of their transversal skills. From this study, the author has created a recommended checklist for teachers in order to analyse foreign language textbooks in terms of communicative skills, collaborative skills, critical thinking and creativity skills.

scholarly journals An Evaluation of Sub-Skills (Vocabulary, Grammar and Pronunciation) in the Grade 9 English Textbook of Afghan Secondary Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5C) ◽  
pp. 1236-1241
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
School Textbook ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Grammatical Structures

English language is a part of the school's curriculum in all levels in Afghanistan as a foreign language. Despite it being including for decades, very little research has been done in regard to the quality and evaluation of the ELT English textbooks. The current study investigates and evaluates English Language Sub-skills of the secondary school textbook “Grade 9” to evaluate the effectiveness of the materials for the teaching and learning of the subskills. The Eclectic Checklist of Demir & Ertas (2014) has been selected for evaluating the selected English textbook. The findings indicate that the selected textbook lacks contextualized usage of vocabulary, systematic representation and sufficient explanations of grammatical structures, and appropriate usage of pronunciation activities. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the textbook needs improvements in developing and presenting the sub-skills of English language appropriately, particularly grammar and pronunciation. These findings will be helpful to policy makers and ELT textbooks developers of Afghanistan to represent the contextualized and appropriate usage of the English Language sub-skills in upcoming versions of ELT textbooks.

scholarly journals Vocabulary Learning via Reading: Is Input Modification Useful?

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1103
Author(s):  
Mojgan Rashtchi ◽  
Reza Porkar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning ◽  
The Impact

Since authentic texts address native speakers, they might lack the reader-friendly attributes which can help EFL learners to read and understand them. Also, learning the new vocabulary through reading can be difficult for EFL learners. As such, in order to utilize these texts as teaching materials in EFL classes, they should be modified. The present study investigated Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners and how they acquire English language vocabulary incidentally from modified English texts while their primary task is reading for meaning. In order to measure the impact of lexical input modification on the improvement of foreign language vocabulary learning, 60 adult Iranian EFL learners between the ages of 18 and 22 in two intact classes were selected and randomly assigned to two homogenous groups of control and experimental. The analysis of the data revealed that incidental second language vocabulary learning could be improved effectively by lexical input modifications such as lexical and typographical elaboration.

scholarly journals English Language Textbooks in EFL Education: Do They Improve Students’ National, International and Target Culture Familiarity?

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Abbasian ◽  
Reza Biria
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Coding Scheme ◽  
Content Analysis Method ◽  
Cultural Content ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Target Culture ◽  
Real Places

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate English language textbooks of grade 7, 8 and 9 in theIranian Pedagogical curriculum to see to what extent students are exposed to national, international and target cultural familiar content in their classes. As Gurkan (2012) and Ganjabi (2014) say students who are familiar to cultural content of the target language have better reading comprehension scores than those who lack familiarity to target language cultural content. Since culturally familiar content of language in international and target level increases learners‟ comprehension almost in all skills, textbooks are one of their real manifestations in curriculum.The study also intended to investigate how the content of English textbooks represents national, international and target culturally familiar content for students to be well-prepared to convey their own culture to foreigners as well as to be acquainted with other cultures that they have contact with for any means anywhere in the virtual and real places. Content analysis method was used and a coding scheme was designed according to items listed in Byram‟scultural content checklist (1993). The findings of this qualitative study showed that ELT textbooks covered a restricted range of international cultural content as well as target cultural content; moreover, the result revealed that just restricted amount of national culturally familiar content are applied in the English language textbooks. Based on the results of the study, some directions would be suggested to be appliedin the English language syllabus; moreover, the results can be used by teachers as a direction for adding some supplementary and complementary materials to develop English language textbooks in education for effective communication.

scholarly journals Identity Options and Cultural Representations in English Textbooks Used in Cambodia

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Jia Li ◽  
Juan Dong ◽  
Wei Duan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
English Language ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Target Culture ◽  
Cambodian Youth

Language textbooks play an important role in bridging learners’ understanding between the source culture and target culture. This study explores how the Cambodian and foreign characters are produced and how the source and target cultures are represented in three English language textbooks published by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS). The data were collected from textbook passages, exercises and images presented in the textbooks and the data were analyzed based on the emerging themes in language and cultural representations of the textbooks. The findings indicate that regarding the distribution in the target communities, Anglophone and their postcolonial countries are prominently highlighted in the textbooks with the exception that Japan is exclusively introduced as imagined interlocutor for cultural communication; concerning the representation of the source culture, Buddhism and Khmer are constructed as legitimate forms of Cambodian practices. Based on the findings, we argue that English textbooks produced in Cambodia have not provided Cambodian youth with balanced exposure of cultural diversity. The study has implications for designing English textbooks with the consideration of diverse identity options and cultural representations.

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