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Materials in ELT: Coursebooks: Why Teachers and Learners Need A Book Why Learners Need A Book

1) Coursebooks are central to language teaching as they dictate what is taught, the order, and how learners learn. 2) While some advocate book-free teaching, books are still widely used due to benefits for both teachers and learners. Books provide structure, save preparation time, and offer linguistic and cultural support. 3) Teachers view coursebooks differently - some follow them closely while others only use parts. Overall, coursebooks are seen as important teaching tools but not the only resource.

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Paula March
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60 views4 pages

Materials in ELT: Coursebooks: Why Teachers and Learners Need A Book Why Learners Need A Book

1) Coursebooks are central to language teaching as they dictate what is taught, the order, and how learners learn. 2) While some advocate book-free teaching, books are still widely used due to benefits for both teachers and learners. Books provide structure, save preparation time, and offer linguistic and cultural support. 3) Teachers view coursebooks differently - some follow them closely while others only use parts. Overall, coursebooks are seen as important teaching tools but not the only resource.

Uploaded by

Paula March
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Materials in ELT: Coursebooks

Coursebooks are a central element in teaching-learning processes. Books will tend to


dictate what is taught, in what order and also how and what learners learn.

In spite of the fact that some relevant voices in the ELT world advocate for a book-free
approach to language teaching, books are present in many, not to say most, English
language teaching contexts. There are several reasons why teachers and learners
usually feel they need a coursebook. The following table contains some of them:

Why teachers and learners need a book Why learners need a book
• It is a map. It shows where one is • It defines what is to be learnt
going and where one has been. and what will be tested.
• It provides language samples. • It reinforces what the teacher
• It offers variety. has done and makes revision
and preparation possible. It
thus offers support for learning
outside the class.
Why teachers need a book
• It provides a structure for teaching.
• It saves time. To prepare materials from scratch for every lesson would be
impossible.
• It offers linguistic, cultural and methodological support.
• It is easy to keep track of what you have done and to tell others where you
have reached.
• Teacher’s books provide on-the-job training for inexperienced teachers.

Teachers see the book from different points of view. Some follow the book almost literally
while some others use only parts of it. To a certain extent, each teacher has his or her
own metaphor that could define his or her attitude towards coursebooks. Some of this
metaphors are: a recipe, a straightjacket, a holy book, a springboard, a compass, a
survival kit, a crutch, a supermarket…

New teachers may find it a bit daunting to explore the book market and see what’s on
offer, but they should be aware that it is relatively easy to contact publishers’
representatives, who will be happy to send samples for review. In Catalonia, the

Materials i tècniques per a l’ensenyament de l’anglès com a llengua estrangera


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mainstream publishers are Oxford, Macmillan and Longman and Cambridge. Other
publishers excel at supplementary material.

A good way to get in touch with publishers is at teacher training events. In Catalonia
there are Jornades de Llengües Estrangeres yearly, but the venue varies. Tarragona
hosts the event every other year. APAC also organizes a yearly convention where you
can find almost any publisher.

Once we are familiar with coursebooks, we may have to decide which one to use. This
means that we will have to evaluate the teaching material. As Tomlinson (2003) says,
materials evaluation is a procedure that involves measuring the value (or potential value)
of a set of learning materials. It involves making judgements about the effect of the
materials on the people using them and it tries to measure some or all of the following:

● the appeal of the materials to the learners


● the credibility of the materials to the learners, teachers and administrators.
● The validity of the materials
● The reliability of the materials
● The ability of the materials to interest and motivate learners and teachers.
● The value of the materials in terms of short-term learning (important, for
example, for performance on tests and examinations).
● The value of the materials in terms of long-term learning.
● The learner’s and teacher’s perception of the value of the materials.
● The assistance given to teachers in terms of preparation, delivery and
assessment.
● The flexibility of the materials.
● The contribution made by the materials to teacher development.
● The match with administrative requirements.

The evaluation of materials fully depends on the context in which they are
to be used. It is not the materials that are being evaluated, but their effect on the
people who come into contact with them.

An evaluation is not the same as an analysis. It can include an analysis or follow


from one, but the objectives and procedures are different. An evaluation focuses on the
users of the materials and makes judgements about their effects.

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When analysing what coursebooks can offer to our students, we can follow different
criteria. Several authors have written checklists that can be a good guide. Sometimes,
we will feel comfortable using criteria from different lists. Here is an example of such
checklists:

This list and other ones by Peacock, Woodward and Haliwell are available from the copy
shop.

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Moodle tasks related to this content

1. Read and analyze these coursebook choice checklists: Haliwell, Harmer,


Peacock

2. Explore these three tables of contents from intermediate-level books. Then,


have a look at a lesson from each book: English File, Face2Face, Total English
3. Use the forum “Book choice” to tell the class about the book you chose
after following this process:

1) Look at the table of contents and choose the book you feel would suit a 15-
student homogeneous intermediate group of adults.

2) Look at the lessons and see if you would change your mind or if you’d still stick
to your initial choice.

Ideally, his task should be done in groups of two or three students. You’re
free to form groups. Write the names of the group members in your posts.

References:

Tomlinson, Brian (ed.) 2003. Developing materials for language teaching. London:
Continuum.

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