1° Clase Presencial - Part 2

1. “Sharing and Improving our
ESP Practices”
August 8th
Module 1: Choosing your ESP
Coursebook
Profesorado Superior de Lenguas Vivas
Programa Nacional de Formación Docente

2. Objectives
 Discuss about the usefulness of ESP
coursebooks
 Discuss about the most important
aspects when choosing an ESP
coursebook
 Present a set of criteria for analyzing
coursebooks

3. Module 1:Choosing your ESP
Coursebook
 Arguments for and against
coursebooks
 Aspects to consider when choosing a
coursebook
 Break
 Criteria for evaluating coursebooks
 Evaluating your ESP coursebook
 Round - up

4.  For  Against
Coursebooks: To use or not to
use them

5.  For
 A coursebook is framework which regulates and
times the programs,
 In the eye of learners, no coursebook means no
purpose,
 without a coursebook learners think their learning is
not taken seriously,
 In many situations, a coursebook can work as a
syllabus,
 A coursebook provides ready-made teaching texts
and learning tasks
 A learner without a textbook is out of focus and
teacher-dependent, and perhaps most important of
all,
Coursebooks: To use or not to
use them

6.  Against
 If every group of students has different needs, no one
textbook can be a response to all differing needs,
 Topics in a textbook may not be relevant for and interesting to
all,
 A textbook is confining, i.e., it inhibits teachers' creativity,
 A textbook of necessity sets prearranged sequence and
structure that may not be realistic and situation-friendly,
 Textbooks have their own rationale, and as such they cannot
by their nature cater for a variety of levels
 Teachers may find themselves as mediators with no free
hand and slave, in fact, to others' judgments about what is
good and what is not
 Ansary, H. & Babaii, E. (2002) Universal Characteristics of EFL/ESL Textbooks: A
Step Towards Systematic Textbook Evaluation. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VIII,
Coursebooks: To use or not to
use them

7. Considerations for choosing an
ESP coursebook
 If you have the opportunity of
choosing your coursebook, what
aspects do you consider important to
bare in mind?
 List 5 relevant aspects

8. Criteria for evaluating
coursebooks
 Face value or Transparency
 Affective Depth
 Cognitive Push
 Coherence, Cohesion and Unity

9. Face Value and Transparency
 Materials should fit with the learners’
previous experiences and
expectations
 Balance between explicit and implicit
aims
 Materials should make the teaching
aims clear through situations, context
and examples
 Materials should not use complex
metalanguage

10. Affective Depth
 Materials should awaken associations
and echoes in the affective domain
 Materials should lead learners to
express their real and imaginary
selves through the language and
activities
 Materials should foster self-confidence
 Materials should seek to create
positive group work

11. Cognitive Push
 Materials should create a cognitive
conflict and lead the learners gradually
beyond their current level of
attainment
 Materials should help learners get
insight into the underlying structure of
the language
 Materials should seek to develop
productive learning strategies

12. Coherence, Cohesion and
Unity
 The three dimensions already explained
should be organised into meaningful
patterns
 The organisation of materials should be
clear and economic
 Devices: progression and gradation /
storyline / topic and theme
 Coherence with ruling principle
 Internal cohesion
 Robert O'Neill (1996)

13. Evaluate your coursebook
 Consider:
 Face value or Transparency
 Affective Depth
 Cognitive Push
 Coherence, Cohesion and Unity

14. To do list
Read the required bibliography from
Module 1
Post your task in the forum and
respond substantively to at least one
of your colleagues
Keep on working hard!

15. THANK YOU!
“ESP is a challenge for all who teach it, and it offers
virtually unlimited opportunities for professional growth”
(Smoak, 2003)