1. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
1
Coursebook Analysis
Juan Rosales Torres
Victor Gonzalez
Gerardo Valdivia
Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC)
Author note
This Reaction Paper was prepared for Didactics of English, taught by Roxanna Correa.
3. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
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Factual Details
Title: Travelers
Author(S): Lina Alvarado Jantus
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9789568623548 >
Price: Provided by the Ministry of Education
No. of Pages: 222
Components: SB/TB/CD
Level: Intermediate.
Length: 100 pedagogical hours (approximately)
Units: 4
Lesson/sections: 20
Target Skills: Listening & reading 10 lessons, speaking 9 and writing 8
Target Learners: Teenagers
ASSESSMENT
Poor Fair Good Excellent Rating and comments
Rationale
X
TBL and collaborative work.
Availability
X
The book is provided by the Ministry
of education,so it is easy to get as it is
present in every public school.
Layout/Graphics
X
Representative and appropriate images
according to the task. Balance between
text and images. Good use of colours.
Selection/Grading
X
Congruent relation between activities .
It goes from easy to harder tasks .
Authenticity
X
1. unit 1, p.54, dialogue 1
In this dialogue the following
discourse features were identified:
4. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
4
-false starts: “so”, “well”.
-hesitation: “oh”
2. unit 2, p.95, dialogue 23
in this dialogue the following
discourse features were identified:
- false starts: “well”, “OK” (?)
- pause: this appeared like this in the
dialogue “...”
3. unit 4, p.172, dialogue 47
in this dialogue the following
discourse features were identified:
- back channels: “oh, sure”
- false start: “so”
Cultural bias
X
Chilean oriented, but it could be
categorized as eclectic because in
some activities there are references to
world wide festivities. Also, It has
images of touristic places and provides
equal reference to british and US
features; it shows the different
spellings of similar words from
American English and British English.
Stimulus/Practice/
Revision
X
Stimulus: The book shows a deficient
type of lead-ins, as they are only
5. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
5
questions to the students. Practice: It
has plenty opportunities to develop
and participate in the tasks, since it
goes from simple predictions to
complex reading , listening, writing
and speaking tasks.
Revisions are quite good, the book
gives the chance to check answers in
every task .
Flexibility
X
You can teach a unit ignoring another
one.
C- Activities
Do the materials a chosen unit provide a balance of activities that is appropriate for your
students?
Yes
Lesson
No
Select
Reject
Adapt
Extra
Material
Holidays and 1
7. This item was rejected 3. we would change the
Celebrations
2
because it is sort of instructions. instead of the
(3 classes)
6
boring.
9
confusing
It
is
because
also students
work
with
a
the partner, we would create
instructions say that some two groups so that the
slots will remain empty students
compete.
The
and others do not. usually, idea is that each group
most of the students will have people that represent
6. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
6
intend to fill all the slots.
them, and these people
have to go to the board
5. it is a useless activity and
write
as
many
since they did something cognates as possible in a
similar in item number specific amount of time.
four.
4. we would change the
instructions.
11-12.
These
instead
of
two telling the students to
activities were rejected simply
guess
the
for three reasons. First, in celebrations, we would
this lesson has nine items tell them to identify and
already, so with two more write
down
the
items it would be too celebrations they listened
much for the students. in the recording.
Second, they have no
connection with the topic, 8. The students would not
so they are useless. And only listen and identify
third, since students have the incorrect information
to ask for information to in the sentences, but also
their classmates.
they will write the correct
information.
10. Teacher will read the
numbers aloud, instead of
playing the recording, and
students will repeat after
him in order to practice
pronunciation.
Two Chilean 3.
celebrations
5.
2. As it is another lead-in 1.
Instead
of
reading
activity we will keep only aloud the text that refers
7. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
(3 classes)
6.
7
number one.
to the images, we would
7.
only present the images
8.
12. It is a redundant and they’ll have to predict
9.
activity,
10.
already have information from.
11.
about celebrations in the
because
we where the celebrations are
previous activity.
4. Instead of students
looking up the words in
14.
We
already
have the dictionary, the teacher
activities which are better provides the meaning of
than just listen and repeat.
them on the whiteboard.
15. The activity is too 6. Instead of only thinking
mechanical and simple. It about the answers they
basic as the previous one.
have to write down the
answers.
13. Different students will
read each paragraph of
the text aloud, instead of 1
student reading.
Three
“Top 2.
1. We prefer to consider 8 and 9. They will be
of the Pops” 3.
activity number 2 as it is added to number 7 in
(3 classes)
6.
more
complete
as
7.
brainstorming activity.
a order to do a complete
activity.
10.
13.
4.
It
does
14.
coherent with previous interview will be given.
activities.
not
have 11. The question for the
8. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
8
5.
lt
needs
activity
number to be done.
12. The activity is boring
and a waste of time, it is
only focused on details.
15. It only refers to
memorization.
Four “Myth 1.
and
3.
2. Repetition of activity 7.
number one.
Students
partner
Legends” (3 4.
providing
simple
the
without
the
correct
5.
10.
6.
irrelevant, what a myth
9.
and legends are should be 8. Teach the past simple
10.
classes)
Too
but
find
and order of the events.
explained before.
test, and then do the
activity.
12. Students may feel
embarrassed acting out in
front of the class.
Five “Chile’s 2.
1. The instructions are not 4. Instead of answering
3.
clear enough. We prefer Kelly’s questions, they
Dance”
(3 5.
to use activity number 2 just answer what they
classes)
6.
National
as a warm up activity.
know about Cueca.
7.
10.
9. It requires the same 8. Teacher models the
13.
information as the 10th language.
activity.
9. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
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12. Students compare and
11. It is irrelevant, it is exchange information.
only
a
repetition
of
previous activities.
14. The activity is not
related to the main topic
of the lesson.
Dialogues
10. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
1. Unit 1, p.54, dialogue 1
In this dialogue the following discourse features were identified:
-False starts: “so”, “well”.
-hesitation: “oh”
So, tell me Mike, what is your favorite celebration?
Well, my favorite celebration is Halloween.
Why Halloween?
‘Cause we wear costumes and go trick-or-treating; I love playing tricks! It's wicked! And
you, Ana?
I like all the celebrations in Brazil, but my favorite one is Carnival.
What do you like about Carnival?
I love the parades, dancing samba and playing with water in the street all night long! I
never miss this celebration!
Do you have a favorite celebration, Elizabeth?
Oh, yes! Christmas is my favorite. It is the day when families get together for big parties.
And what do you like most about it?
I love the food, the tree, and of course, receiving presents!
Francisco, can you tell us about your country?
The most important celebration in my country is Independence Day. It's great that we have
two days off, 18 and 19th September.
And what do you do in those days?
People usually go to the ‘fondas’ to listen to national music and eat traditional food.
Children often fly kites this time of the year. Sometimes it rains, but we love this holiday
anyway
Lexical Density:
71.4%
2. Unit 2, p.95, dialogue 23
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11. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
In this dialogue the following discourse features were identified:
- False starts: “well”, “OK” (?)
- Pause: this appeared like this in the dialogue “...”
This is WPST 97.5, HELP FOR YOU! You've got questions? We've got answers! Hello!
What's your name?
Hi, I'm Kevin.
How are you, Kevin? What's the matter with you?
Well…I really don't like drugs, but two of my friends do, and they want me to try them.
How old are you?
I'm fourteen.
OK, Kevin. Do you want to stay healthy? Then stay away from drugs.
How can I do that?
You must avoid situations of risk or you can get rid of those friends.
What?
It is simple, Kevin! One of the most important things you can choose is your friends. You
should keep your principles and just say NO! Thank you for calling, Kevin.
Thank you!
Good afternoon, who's calling?
Hello, my name's Lily.
Have you got a problem?
Well, sort of. I don't know what to do or say when someone offers me drugs.
Well, it's easy. Say “no, thanks”. This technique is fundamental, but you can also change
the conversation or talk and talk and talk about anything else!
Sometimes I get very nervous
Lexical Density: 86.4%
3. Unit 4, p.172, dialogue 47
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12. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
In this dialogue the following discourse features were identified:
- Back channels: “oh, sure”
- False start: “so”
Your name is Daniel Radcliffe, but have you got a nickname?
Oh! Sure! Everybody calls me Dan.
O.K. Dan. When were you born?
I was born on the 23rd of July, 1989.
So, your star sign is Leo. Where were you born?
In London.
Have you got any brothers or sisters?
No, I’m an only child.
What about your everyday life? Have you got a pet?
Two dogs - Binka and Nugget.
What do you like doing in your free time?
I love PlayStation and football - I support Fulham Football Club.
What would you do with magic powers?
I would like to be invisible!
And you, Emma, have you got a nickname?
Yes, my nickname is Em.
When and where were you born?
I was born on April the 15th, 1990, in Oxford. My star sign is Aries.
What can you tell us about your family?
I live with my mother and with my younger brother Alex.
Sarah: Do you like animals?
Yes! I love cats – I’ve got two: Bubbles and Domino
What are your favorite pastimes?
I love playing hockey.
What would you do with magic powers?
I would... I would act with Brad Pitt in Harry Potter! It would be great!
Lexical Density: 85.7%
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14. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
Analysis of lessons based on the Communicative Methodological Framework
(Littlewood,1981:86).
Unit 1, lesson 1
Items
1. Quasi-communicative: because students only have to indicate the names of the
celebrations and the ones they celebrate.
2. Quasi-communicative: because students only have to match they do not have to
produce neither written nor oral speech.
3.Social interaction: because students have to work in pair, discuss and make lists about
the topic.
4. Functional communication: because they have to listen to specific information, then
express that in their words.
5. Functional communication: because they have to listen to specific information, then
express that in their words.
6. Quasi-communicative: They do not have to produce language, but they have to show
understanding of the recording by matching the pictures.
7. Quasi-communicative: because they have to look for specific information and the use of
language is limited.
8. Quasi-communicative: because they just have to identify for specific mistakes in the
sentences, but they do not have to produce language.
9. Quasi-communicative/Functional communication: because some sentences must be
completed using specific information, however can be completed using what students
believe is correct.
10. Quasi-communicative: Students only have to listen to and repeat after the recording.
11. Social interaction/Quasi-communicative: It is a Quasi-communicative because they
have to replace the underlined parts with information that is given. It is also a social activity
because they have to role play with the dialogue
12. Social interaction: Because they have to choose the celebration and work with their
classmates.
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15. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
Unit 2, lesson 1
1. Functional communication: the students have to indicate whatever they believe is
correct and they do not have restrictions.
2. Quasi-communicative: Students only have to choose according to what they think it
helps them to be fit.
3. Quasi-communicative: because they have to answer using only “yes or no” with given
answers.
4. Functional: because students are free to choose the words they know and categorize
them in the way they wish to do it.
5. Quasi-communicative: they only have to choose an option.
6. Quasi-communicative: they only have to check if their prediction was correct.
7. Quasi-communicative: Students have to answer the questions by selecting given
alternatives
8. Social interaction: Students have to discuss and reflect with their partner about the topic
9. Social interaction/Quasi-communicative: it social because students have to discuss and
do group work and is quasi because they have to talk about the questionnaire following a
given pattern
10. Quasi-communicative: Students have to complete using two given options
11. Quasi-communicative: because they have to ask questions to their classmates that
were already given in the previous activity and also complete a paragraph using specific
information
12. Quasi-communicative: Students have to listen and repeat only.
13. Quasi-communicative/Social interaction: Quasi because students have to complete
the dialogue with specific given information and it is social because they have to role play
it with a partner.
14. Quasi-communicative: Students have to identify words in a Word search puzzle.
Unit 1, lesson 4
1. Functional communication: Students can answer the questions in the way they want
2. Functional communication: Students do not have limited options to answer, so they can
do it in the way they want.
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16. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
3. Quasi-communicative: Students only have to match
4. Quasi-communicative: because they have to look for the cognates in the text, but it
functional because they have to predict what the text is about.
5.Quasi-communicative: students only have to use the evidence in the text to support their
ideas.
6. Quasi-communicative: Students have to complete the diagram using specific
information
7. Quasi-communicative: students only have to reorganize the tiles and then write the
correct sentences according with the tiles.
8. Quasi-communicative: Students have to fill the blanks using specific information
9. Quasi-communicative: Students only have to listen and repeat
10. Quasi-communicative: Students have to follow the path to find the meaning of myth
and legends.
11. Quasi-communicative/Social interaction: quasi because students have to complete the
dialogue with specific word and social because they have to role play it with a partner.
12. Social interaction: Because they have to role play the dialogue and act it out in front of
the classroom.
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17. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
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Interview essay
Margarita Barra is an Elementary Pedagogy teacher with mention in English. She
is a graduated from the UCSC, and is currently teaching History and English at “Colegio
Basico Huachipato, Talcahuano”. This essay is a review of an interview which aim was to
identify what the school teacher thought about course books, expressing what parts of the
course book she frequently used and what extra things a course book should have.
Margarita uses course books in History and English classes because she thinks that
course books are useful and have interesting topics to cover throughout the units. Also,
Margarita suggests that they are not difficult to understand for students.
In addition, Margarita argued that she cannot choose the course books, since they
are given by the Ministry of Education. Thus, she has two options: to plan the classes
according to the given book, or bring extra material. It is necessary to mention that
Margarita did not clarify if she could use other types of books.
On one hand, Margarita explained that she frequently uses reading activities, as
they are appropriate for students and they contain vocabulary that is easy to be understood.
Also, she stated that a big problem in her class is that students do not bring the course book.
On the other hand, the school teacher does not use listening activities from the course book
because they are too difficult for students. She explained they have a basic level of English,
so is difficult for them to comprehend listening activities.
Moreover, Margarita stated that she used worksheets for grammar created by
herself since the ones in the course book were too difficult for students. It was said by
Margarita that the course book should have more games to be photocopied to teach
18. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
grammar, and needed to be more didactic. Finally, Margarita affirmed that the course book
has good material, but it should have more.
To conclude, the school teacher seemed to prefer using the course book. The main
reason is because they are useful at some point in her lessons, and because they are given
by the Ministry of Education. Secondly, according to her, course book are appropriate for
student in order to make reading activities. However, in the case of listening activities she
did not use them frequently. In addition, Margarita stated that course books are a tool useful
to teach, but apart from that, they should have more games and printable or photocopiable
material as well.
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19. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
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Course Book Essay
The course book analyzed for this assignment was the Travelers course book for
teachers, and it corresponds to eight graders. The objective of this essay was to analyze the
parts of the course book that are related to the developing of the topics for the teacher to
present. It was also necessary to answer the following questions: are the topics appropriate
for the students? Can the students work appropriately with those topics? Are they well
balanced according to gender, equality, the relation and reference of ethnics groups?, and
do the topics are vary in content?. Finally, an analysis of skills will be shown, where it will
be mentioned whether the textbook attends the four skills equally or not and if each skill is
well organized in order to provide the best approach possible to teach it and have the
expected results from the students.
The Travelers textbook has a name that probably can indicate to the reader its
contents. In fact when the book was analyzed, it can be noticed that it fulfills the readers’
expectations about the topics that it had. The textbook had a wide variety of topics to be
taught. If go along the book in unit one, students will find topics about famous special
celebrations such as Halloween, Christmas, valentine's day, etc. There are also activities
that permit to work with the topics like music, myth and legends, etc. The same happens
with the rest of the units that deal with self-care, famous people and places, the different
life styles that exist around the world, etc. Moreover, and especially in unit two, the topic of
bullying is treated. Thus, this expresses that the textbook have a commitment with the
students in the sense that provides them activities and topics that will be interesting for
them because can be contextualized. Consequently, the teacher's labor is vital in this area
20. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
because since the topics are familiar to the students, they need to be well covered in order
to develop and expand the vision of world that learners have.
If a quick look is taken over the whole units and the entire book, it can be noticed
that have very important and up-dated topics, one example in the bullying topic. The whole
textbook tried to get the students quite engage at the beginning of each unit, as Brown
(2007) indicated, warm-up activities must be motivating and relaxing and not focus on
target language. That is what the book provided; warm-up activities that are motivating and
relate the activity to what the students already know or have lived in their own lives. Even
though the language used is quite clear and simple for the students, for instance it turned to
be complicated for them. Sometimes, the language doubts that students could have are
related to details, specific words that they will need to look up in a dictionary. However, the
book always presented a glossary with certain words that could be difficult to understand.
The aim when presenting a glossary is to make the activities or the path throughout the
book smoothly and not so complicated, thus students do not get trapped looking for the
definition of a word.
When it came to the equality of topics and the relation of women and men and
ethnic groups, the textbook is well organized as it covers many of these aspects. For
example, in every unit there is a "friend" that makes the learners questions about certain
activities. This friend is a girl in the first part of the book and in the other part is a boy. In
addition, the book made a good labor by permitting the students to know about cultural
realities around the world. The last two units were related to places and "different lives"
where learners can know, learn and practice English through activities that will make them
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21. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
acquire knowledge about cultures from Africa, Asia, North America, and about religious
behaviors, etc.
The textbook provided a very good balance in terms of skills. It attended the
writing, speaking, listening and reading skills with similar amount of task in every unit.
There were at least two activities per skill to be covered in a normal lesson. Within the unit,
the text provided the teacher's part where he/she can take some ideas to cover the lesson.
Yet, Brown (2007) stated that the teacher do not have to just choose the workbook and use
it, you have to find a creative way to pick those pieces of advice and modify them to
provide a creative use of the workbook. Moreover, at the end of every lesson there was a
group activity that tended to integrate the skills practiced. Littlewood (1981) presented the
social communicative activities where students exchange answers, experiences or the
activities are in groups. According to what the author provided, the book made a group
activity where students have to listen to the peer's answers, take notes about it and explain
what they have written.
Along the entire workbook, the reading aspect is well covered as it is provided by
many readings with a suitable amount of words and paragraphs. In addition, the topics of
certain readings are familiar to the students as there are love letters, readings about
festivals, famous people, etc. As for the listening skill, the book has a CD with all the
recordings that could be used. In our analysis about the dialogues and following Gilmore's
discourse features (2004), we found that they are not authentic because their lexical density
is higher than real data and they do not have enough discourse features in them. However,
in the speaking aspect, the course book provided good and entertaining dialogues to be
read, because they are related to real life topics, thus students feel that they would be useful
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22. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
for them in a real context apart from the classroom. Brown (2004) proposed the adaptation
of speaking activities and the teacher must check if the activity or the lesson is
appropriately geared for the students. Finally the writing activities go from fill in the blanks
to the creation of a piece of writing about the corresponding topic. These activities do not
go from scratch, they start from reviewing the content and certain words and then students
start writing the final product.
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23. COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS
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References
Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language
pedagogy. Pearson Education.
Gilmore, A. (2004). A comparison of textbook and authentic interactions. ELT journal,
58(4), 363–374.
Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction. Cambridge
University Press.
McGrath, I. (2002). Materials evaluation and design for language teaching.
