This document provides guidelines for analyzing, evaluating, and selecting coursebooks for teaching English as a foreign language. It discusses different approaches to using coursebooks, from too much dependence to a balanced approach. It also outlines types of materials evaluation, purposes of evaluation, and guidelines for evaluating whether coursebooks correspond to learners' needs, reflect language use, and facilitate learning. Checklists are provided to evaluate various components of coursebooks, including organization, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, discourse, style, and English varieties.

1. By: Monir Ghasemi

2. Analyzing and Evaluating Coursebooks:
A rationale & guidelines
 1. Selecting Coursebooks
 A. Analysis
 B. Interpretation of the data
 C. Evaluation
 D. Selection
 2. Uses of coursebooks
 A. Advantages (merits)
 B. Disadvantages (demerits)

3. Too much dependence on coursebook
 Advantages
 A. centrally-set syllabus
 B. Prescribed coursebooks
 C. Lack of trained qualified staff
 D. short courses
 E. limited teaching approaches
 Disadvantages
 A. a lack of variety in teaching procedures
 B. reduced range of response to the individual needs of the
learners
 C. Lack of spontaneity
 D. lack of creativity in teaching approaches / techniques

4. Balanced Approach
 Advantages
 Providing a common framework
 More practical for less experienced teachers
 Chance to replacing the weaker parts with other books
 More variety of classroom activities and& teaching
approaches
 More flexible response to individual needs

5. Extreme Approach
 Syllabus with no set coursebook
 Some may find it frightening
 Some may revel in it
 Creativity, flexibility and originality depends on the
teachers’ ability, energy, and time
 Demanding, time consuming but potentially rewarding

6. Types of materials evaluation
 Type A: In-use Evaluation
 Type B: Post-use Evaluation

7. Purposes of Materials Evaluation
 Adopt new coursebooks
 Identify strong and weak points in coursebooks
 Comparative evaluation
 Help teachers to gain good insights to the nature of
materials
 Teacher training and sensitizing pre-service teachers to
look for important features in coursebooks

8. Evaluating for potential or
suitability
 Evaluating for potential
 What would this coursebook be good for?
 Evaluating for suitability
 Would it be good for my class

9. Guidelines for Evaluation
 A. coursebooks should correspond to learners’needs
 B. coursebooks should reflect the uses of language
 C. cousebooks should facilitate learning processes
 D. coursebooks should mediate between the target
language and learners

10. Case study
 Guidelines in Practice
 Choose a coursebook (one unit) and evalute it based on
the guidelines. Two examples are provided at the end of
chapter 2.
 Good luck

11. Chapter 3 & 4
A: Checklist for the make-up of the courseboo
What are the components which make up the course
package?
How well do the parts relate to each other and to the
whole? Is there an overall guide to using the package?
Which parts are essential and which parts are optional?

12. Checklist
 B: Checklist for the organization of the coursebooks
 How is continuity maintained in the materials?
 What techniques are used for recycling ?
 How is earlier learning developed in later sections?
 Are there reference sections? are they well integrated?
 Is there an index of language items?
 Is there a list of new vocabulary?
 Is the materials appropriate for self-study? Does it
have a key to answers?

13. Chapter 4
1. language form & language use
2. grammar
3. vocabulary
4. phonology
5. integration of pronunciation teaching with other work
6. discourse
7. style and appropriacy
8. varieties of English

14. Grammar
Checklist for grammar items
 What grammar items are included? Do they
correspond to the students’ needs?
 Are they presented in small enough units for easy
learning?
 Is there an emphasis on language form?
 Is there an emphasis on language use?
 How balanced is the treatment of form and use?
 Are newly introduced items related to and contrasted
with items already familiar with learners?

15. Vocabulary
 Is vocabulary-learning material included in its own
right? If so, how prominent is it? Is it central to the
course or peripheral?
 How much vocabulary is taught?
 Is there any principled basis for the selection of
vocabulary?
 Is vocabulary presented in a structured, purposeful
way?
 Does the materials enable students to expand their
vocabulary independently by helping them develop
their learning strategies?

16. phonology
 Articulation of individual sounds
 Words in contact
 Word stress
 Weak forms
 Sentence stress
 Intonation
 Is pronunciation built on other types of work?
Listening
 Is the phonemic alphabet used?
 How much terminology is used? Is it comprehensible?
 Are there audios for pronunciation practice?

17. Discourse
 Does the coursebook deal with any aspects of
discourse? If so, what aspects are covered?
 Conjunctives?
 Other features of cohesion? ( reference pronouns,
substitutions, …)
 Paragraphing and organization of written discourse
 Structures and conventions of spoken discourse?
 Do the examples provide a good model for learners?
 Is the treatment of discourse sustained and progressive
throughout the course?

18. Style and appropriacy
 Is there any reference to appropriacy?
 If so, is it dealt with thoroughly or incidentally?
 Is appropriacy taught with reference to :
 Choice of grammar
 Choice of vocabulary
 Choice of structure
 Choice of pronunciation
 Is there any attempt to match the language style to
social situation
 Does the coursebook identify areas where learners
should use appropriate style, e.g., when complaining

19. English Varieties
 Which geographical variety of English is taught:
 American English
 British English
 Other
 International
 Whichever variety is taught, is there any reference to
other varieties?