This power point is about issues in developing material for ELT books

1. ISSUES IN
COURSEBOOK
EVALUATION
Ch1
Presented by Noushin Rahimian

2.  Since books are inseparable component of most
language classes therefore they need to be
evaluated. Therefore a few questions should be
addressed:

3. Questions on Material Evaluation
1) Why should anyone bother about book
evaluation?
2) How is it possible to evaluate books?
3) When should books be evaluated?
4) Who should be in charge of book evaluation?

4. Why book evaluation?
 Based on Sheldon (1988), there are two main reasons for
ELT book evaluation.
 First, it can help program developers, syllabus designers,
and language instructors select the best possible book for
the learners in their present educational setting.
A book selected may not match with the learners’ needs and
interests which will certainly have negative impacts on
their learning outcome. based on systematic and objective
evaluation of the book the evaluators will secure the match
between the students’ needs and the objectives of the book.

5.  2. In addition to the fact that evaluation helps in
selection of suitable books, it also provides useful
information for curriculum writers who wish to make
adaptations to less successful parts of the selected
book.
 It is almost impossible to find a book that perfectly
suits the learners’ needs. Therefore, curriculum
designers will often find
themselves obliged to make changes to its content or
activities.
 Book evaluation results help them diagnose any
problematic section in the book while it is being taught.
Once these parts have been detected, they are discarded
from the course outline.

6.  Similarly, course instructors benefit from evaluating
books, which shows the merits and demerits of the
books they are using.
 An awareness of the possible strengths and weaknesses
of the books enables teachers to replace the less
successful parts with more useful and suitable content
and tasks. This creates an opportunity for instructors to
improve the teaching quality and learning outcome of
their future instruction

7.  In traditional educational systems, ELT books are
developed by the Ministry of Education and mandated
to be used at schools. In such systems, even when the
books do not prove useful, most teachers will simply
continue teaching them because they are given no other
choice than covering the entire syllabus and preparing
their class for an examination. In less radical settings,
the teacher may be allowed to use alternative materials
to replace the book prescribed by the Ministry.
 In these systems, few people usually complain since the
general assumption is that the book is provided for
‘free’.
 However, it should be noted that any state-sponsored
textbook
has its own hidden costs (Mukundan, 2003).

8. How to evaluate books?
1.
impressionistic
evaluation
2. scale-based
evaluation
3. teacher logs
4.
software
packages
5. composite
frameworks
Methods of book evaluation vary. Five different ways will be discussed
here,
including

9. Impressionistic Evaluation
This form of evaluation relies on evaluators’
intuitional decision about the usefulness of the book.
The evaluator looks into some pages while flipping
through others and making holistic judgments on the
usefulness of the book. This form of evaluation
extensively relies on the evaluator’s experience and
expertise.
Novice practitioners find it challenging to make
reliable judgments impressionistically. The reason is

10. that they still need some time to gain experience
and develop the implicit set of criteria based on
which they can make good decisions.
Impressionistic evaluation is cost-effective and
takes a relatively short time, but its main
shortcoming is its high subjectivity which puts
the reliability of its outcome at risk.
Also, impressionistic evaluation is implicit and
intuitive

11. Scale-Based Evaluation
 Scale-based evaluation provides a set of evaluative criteria in the
form of a checklist, based on which the evaluator examines the
most crucial features of a book.
 The result of such evaluation will often be valid if the checklist is
developed and rigorously tested for its validity. It will also result in a
reliable decision if the evaluator has sufficient experience.
 The outcome of scale-based book evaluation is commonly more
explicit, sophisticated, and comprehensive than that of
impressionistic evaluation
that is implicit and intuitive.
 Checklists commonly focus on the most significant domains to be
considered in evaluating ELT books. The outcome therefore usually
covers most of the constructs related to the issue of ELT book
evaluation.
 A lot of ELT book evaluation checklists are available in the literature
(e.g., Cunningsworth,
1995; Harmer, 1991; Ur, 1996).

12. These checklists help language instructors and
evaluators examine important features of the
selected book, features like physical attributes,
aims, layout, methodology, organization,
presentation of language skills (i.e., speaking,
listening, reading, and writing), language sub-
skills
(grammar, vocabulary, etc.), and language
functions, among others.

13.  Checklist can be
 Quantitative based on likert scale that is rated,
‘poor’, ‘fair’, ‘good’,or ‘excellent’.  (Factual
details’ )
 Qualitative ,open ended questions
subjective
 combination of qualitative and quantitative
items.

14. Reflective Logs
 Reflective or teaching logs provide another option for evaluating ELT
books.
 Teachers may keep logs either in a structured or an unstructured way.
Structured logs are easier to work with since they provide a list of
questions for the teacher to
reflect upon, questions like:
1. Which part(s) of the book was effective?
2. What part(s) can be adapted and improved in future classes?
3. What were the students’reactions to the lesson presented by the book?

15.  On the other hand, teachers may keep a journal-
like unstructured log on how the book works in the
real class situation. Unstructured logs do not limit
the scope of evaluation, leaving the teacher free to
evaluate a book as it works. This sometimes results
in more creative and natural evaluation on the part
of the teacher, and if shared with the book authors
or publishers, it provides them with more original
feedback on what needs to be changed in the next
editions.

16. Despite the useful information they can provide,logs are not very
popular among teachers.
Keeping a log is an added task to language teachers’ heavy
schedule. Therefore, some teachers may refrain from keeping a
log, and in cases it is mandatory, some teachers do not take it
seriously and just dumb it down.
In addition, some teachers may not find it easy to write about the
way a book works. There may also be a lot of redundant
information in a log which makes its analysis taxing.
Finally, teacher logs are highly subjective which reduces the
generalizability of their outcome. Therefore, some curriculum
evaluators may find field notes compiled by an expert who
impartially observed the class while the book was being taught
more reliable sources of feedback and a better alternative for
teacher logs.

17. Software Packages
 In recent years, computers have enabled book evaluators to
examine the load and distribution of vocabulary items
presented by ELT books quickly and accurately.
 Software packages like Concordance, EZText, HAMLET,
HyperResearch,
MicroConcrd, and MonoConc Pro, TextQuest, WordNet, and
WordSmith can be used to find useful information on the
words used in a book, such as:
1. Total number of running words (tokens),
2. Total number of different words (types),
3. List of all the words in alphabetical order or ordered based
on their frequency, and
4. Concordance listing of a word, which shows a selected word
as it was used in the book with five words before and five
words after it.

18.  Research on ELT book evaluation using computer software prevails. These
studies focus on the presentation of varying vocabulary or grammatical items
presented in ELT books, to name but a few, articles (Mukundan, Leong, &
Nimehchisalem,2012), modal auxiliary verbs (Khojasteh, 2012), prepositions
(Norwati, 2013), and phrasal verbs (Zarifi, 2013).
Software like WordSmith offers a unique method to investigate how well a
Word has been presented and repeated in a book, but this provides a narrow
worm-view of the suitability of a book. The overall suitability of a book cannot
be based on the outcome of such studies. Another shortcoming of this
method of ELT book evaluation is that it fails to study the book as it works in
the real classroom setting.
Finally, in some cases, analysis may be demanding. Software can help only
When the book is available in text-file format. Otherwise, the book has to be
scanned, converted to text-file format, and edited before analysis.

19. Composite Frameworks
 A composite framework of ELT book
evaluation integrates two or more methods
to evaluate the suitability of an ELT book
(Mukundan, 2009). A good example is
Retrotext-E (Mukundan, 2010), which enables
an evaluation of:
1. Word loading and distribution patterns,
2. Checklist evaluation, and
3. Teacher log

20. When to evaluate books
Depending on the purpose of their evaluation,
It is possible to evaluate books
 before they are used,
 while they are being used,
 as well as after they have been used,

21.  Pre-use evaluation is appropriate for predictive
purposes. When a syllabus designer is looking
for a book that best suits the needs of the
students in their target teaching situation, s/he
needs to evaluate several books before they
have been actually used.

22. Sometimes program evaluators need to assess the usefulness of a
book that has been recently selected to be used in their present
teaching situation. This type of assessment, which is called in-
use or progressive evaluation, will help the program evaluator
observe the way in which the book is used by a teacher in real
language classroom setting and find out the strengths and
weaknesses of the book.
This form of evaluation often results in valuable findings that can
be used for making adaptations for certain parts of the book
which were not really suitable for the students. These changes are
observed in future classes and may be revised or may replace the
original part in the book. This type of evaluation is formative in
nature and allows an on-going assessment of each lesson and
activity as they are taught throughout the course

23.  Finally, at times ELT books may be evaluated after
they have been used for retrospective purposes.
Post-use evaluation gives the evaluator an overall
picture of the way a book worked or failed to work
in a given learning-teaching situation.
 Based on the findings of such evaluation, ground
rules are set for developing similar materials in the
future

24. Who should evaluate the
books?
 The person that seems to be the best candidate to evaluate an ELT
book is the teacher who is using it.
However, it
should be noted that the teacher should have the adequate expertise
and experience to provide a valid and reliable evaluation of the book.
Apart from these, it should be noted that teaching is a low-paid and
highly demanding job with heavy workload. Experienced teachers are
usually busier and having to evaluate a book may be the last straw.
Therefore, it is equally important to consider that the teacher is given
sufficient time with extendable deadlines to evaluate a book.

25.  Determining who should evaluate books is a very tricky
decision to make particularly in situations where textbooks are
prescribed by the State. If the same state-sponsored publisher
that developed the book is demanded to evaluate it, the
results will definitely be biased. Even if the best instrument is used, the
Evaluation outcome will be far from reliable. Therefore, it may be
argued that the best person who can evaluate ELT books is an impartial
expert that is also an experienced teacher trained for this purpose.
However, the question in such situations is whether this individual is
familiar with all the students’ needs and interests as well as all the
teachers’ preferences

26. Conclusion
 This chapter has discussed four basic
questions in ELT book evaluation.