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.

General English Textbook Evaluation: A Closer Look at “Four Corners”

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 2325
Author(s):  
Nastaran Chegeni ◽  
Behrooz Kamali ◽  
Atousa Noroozi ◽  
Nasrin Chegeni
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Educational Materials ◽  
Teaching Materials ◽  
Textbook Evaluation ◽  
Four Corners ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Materials Used

There is no doubt choosing specific language teaching materials can influence the quality of teaching and learning procedures. The textbooks can often play an essential role in students’ success or failure as a part of the materials used in the language classrooms. Consequently, special care should be taken in evaluating educational materials based on dependable and valid instruments. Some of the usual instruments to evaluate the English Language Teaching materials are the checklists. An evaluation checklist is an instrument that allows the evaluator with a number of features of successful teaching and learning materials. Regarding this, the present study is an attempt to evaluate the recent general English textbook by Richards and Bohlke (2012) titled “Four Corners” using Daoud and Celce-Murcia’s (1979) evaluation checklist. The finding of the study supports the strengths of the aforementioned textbook putting it in one of the reliable available textbooks.

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 Representation of Women in Occupational and Domestic Roles in EfT Textbooks

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Afroza Aziz Suchana
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Primary School ◽  
English Language ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Young Learners ◽  
Domestic Activities ◽  
Extensive Range ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
Domestic Roles ◽  
Research Studies

The study aims at examining the representation of women in the English Language textbooks of Bangladesh for the primary school learners. Existing research studies find unfair manifestation of women both in the occupational and domestic activities. However the existing investigations indicate the necessity of further studies in this area. Therefore, the study explores whether women are projected appropriately in the textbooks for young learners. With reference to critical theory, the analysis of data reveals that women are devalued in their unpaid domestic jobs. In addition, they are shown occupied in the less challenging occupations while men are shown in an extensive range of professions. The study also notices that whereas in contemporary Bangladesh women are engaged in diversified professions, their contribution to the society is often disregarded in the textbooks. Such biased representation of women may affect the young learners adversely. Therefore, the study states the inevitability of raising consciousness among the textbook authors and suggests ensuring appropriate projection of women in the textbooks.

Ethnic Identity in English Language Textbooks: Considerations for a Multicultural Society

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Puspalata C A/P Suppiah ◽  
Ramesh Nair
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
English Language ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
Verbal Language ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
Selection Of

There is evidence to suggest that young children more readily absorb the subtle messages that are encoded in any type of text and talk, and what they take away from these texts contributes in helping them develop their own identity in relation to their role in society. In this paper, we examine the construction of ethnic identity in a selection of English language textbooks targeted at young Malaysian children in primary schools. Based on a content analysis of visual and verbal language in two Primary Three English language textbooks, we report on the encoded messages that are transmitted to young Malaysian children about their place in society. The findings reveal significant imbalances in the way characters of different ethnic backgrounds are represented. This imbalance is a cause for concern as the message conveyed to young Malaysian children could be potentially damaging. Keywords: textbook, ethnicity, identity construction

Teacher-student interaction and management practices in Pakistani English language classrooms

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-134
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ahmad ◽  
Aleem Shakir ◽  
Ali Raza Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Classroom Management ◽  
English Language ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Student Interaction ◽  
Teacher Talk ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Teacher Student Interaction ◽  
Language Classrooms

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the amount and type of teacher-talk, frequently asked questions and feedback provided by the teacher on learners’ performance in a language classroom. For this purpose, a lecture was recorded from a secondary level English language classroom of a public sector school and interpreted in the light of teacher-student interaction and classroom management model by David Nunan. Results revealed that the maximum amount of time (i.e. 80.1%) was consumed by the teacher which was appropriate. However, certain deviations from classroom management principles were also observed regarding frequently asked questions (i.e. 50% of the total questions were elicitation questions) and the feedback (it was ‘romantic’ in nature). Moreover, wait-time was sufficient but it was of no use to the learners. The study concluded that classroom practices did not conform to the principles therefore, it proposed to ask questions and provide feedback appropriately.

Rethinking the notion of the high-performing education system: A Daoist response

2021 ◽  
pp. 174549992098369
Author(s):  
Charlene Tan
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Mutual Learning ◽  
System A ◽  
High Performers ◽  
Major Implication

This article challenges the dominant notion of the ‘high-performing education system’ and offers an alternative interpretation from a Daoist perspective. The paper highlights two salient characteristics of such a system: its ability to outperform other education systems in international large-scale assessments; and its status as a positive or negative ‘reference society’. It is contended that external standards are applied and imposed on educational systems across the globe, judging a system to be high- or low- performing, and consequently worthy of emulation or deserving of criticism. Three cardinal Daoist principles that are drawn from the Zhuangzi are expounded: a rejection of an external and oppressive dao (way); the emptying of one’s heart-mind; and an ethics of difference. A major implication is a celebration of a plurality of high performers and reference societies, each unique in its own dao but converging on mutual learning and appreciation.

A Process Approach to Educational Systems Design

1973 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-204
Author(s):  
Donald W. Meals
Keyword(s):  
Educational Technology ◽  
Education System ◽  
Iterative Process ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Educational Environment ◽  
Process Approach ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Dynamic Quality ◽  
Technology Systems

An examination of the steps in systems design reveals it to be an iterative process. The complexity and dynamic quality of the educational environment require designers of educational technology systems to emphasize this process and at the same time take into account conditions within the education system and the community that provide essential data. Examples of attempts to cope with these features of the design processes are presented along with implications for changes in the approach to the design of educational technology systems.

A comparison of degree intensifiers across English corpora: Is it ‘flagrant’, ‘blatant’, or ‘sheer’ audacity?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 74-92
Author(s):  
Julija Korostenskienė ◽  
◽  
Lina Bikelienė
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
English Language ◽  
Academic English ◽  
News Values ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Present World ◽  
Linguistic Means

Due to its free-adjoining nature, the category of adjuncts is generally viewed as somewhat peripheral to the forefront of grammatical relations. Meanwhile, given the significance of the media in the present world and the ever-growing prevalence of the notion of news values, outlining the criteria conducive to a message becoming news and including values such as negativity, superlativeness, prominence, timeliness, proximity, etc. (Bednarek, Caple 2014), the broad range of linguistic means encoding intensification, thereby foregrounding a given phenomenon, presents a considerable interest. In this corpus study, we focus on three adjectival emphasisers, flagrant, blatant, and sheer, and examine their use in adjective + noun collocations across a variety of English corpora on the Sketch Engine tool (Kilgarriff et al. 2014) in the academic and the news registers: the “British Academic Written English Corpus”, the “Cambridge Academic English Corpus”, the “English Language Newspapers Corpus”, the “Brexit WR Corpus”, and the “English Timestamped JSI Corpus 2020–10”. We also consider the nominal element the adjectives in question collocate with, seeking to provide an account as to their differences in English. The findings of the study may have implications both for language classrooms and for more specialized fields, such as media studies.

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