The document analyzes a teacher's perspective on a course book used for teaching English. The teacher finds the course book provided by the Chilean government to be important, but thinks it focuses too much on grammar and needs more engaging, communicative activities. He supplements it with materials from other sources. While the course book provides structure, its topics are sometimes boring and it lacks suggestions for teaching diverse age groups. The teacher believes course books should be more updated to hold students' interest.

1. UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE LA SANTÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN
FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN
PEDAGOGÍA EN EDUCACIÓN MEDIA EN INGLÉS
“COURSEBOOK EVALUATION”
Course: English Methodology II
Teacher: Roxanna Correa
Student name: José Miguel Casanueva
Camila Cuevas
Gary Torres
Concepción, October 28th, 2013

2. Interview prompts
The purpose of this essay is to analyses the teacher’s point of view won a course book. In
order to do this, the teacher has been asked a series of questions related to the importance of a
course book, the criteria at the moment of selecting a course book and the parts of a course book
that a teacher frequently and seldom use.
Firstly, it is remarkable to say that the teacher who was interviewed works at a Public School
for adults and he uses a text book called “Global English” that is provided by the Chilean Ministry of
Education, and others that he finds suitable. According to the first question about the importance of
the course book, the interviewee stated that a course book is undoubtedly important in every single
lesson that he prepares and also it guides him in two issues basically; what and how to teach
considering the student’s profile for his school. Moreover, the teacher declared that it is very
difficult to select a course book and he believes that a good course book must include: tips about
how to carry out the activities proposed, grammar tips, and useful advice on different techniques
for engaging the students. He focuses his attention on the “Planes y Programas de Inglés para
Adultos” even though he supplements this course book with activities take from the internet or
other books that “common students” from Secondary Schools is currently using.
According to the parts of a course book that he frequently and rarely uses, he answers that
he seldom uses the parts that gives broad and big pieces of information because his students
usually get bored. However, he finds the course book very useful because the context is well
exposed using vocabulary and grammar features. Moreover, the interviewee states that he would
like to find some tips about how to deal with those classes in which the age range is considerably
way broad. Consequently, the school teacher has said that the course book provided by the
government does not include updated activities. For this reason, he generally looks for other
exercises, worksheets and activities taken from the internet. The interviewee generally combines
“Planes y Programas” with activities from different sources.

3. As a matter of conclusion, the teacher considers course books really important in the students’
performance, even though he would like these course books to be more updated in order to engage
the students. In addition, he considers the government course book mainly focused on grammar
and he would like it to be more communicative. For this reason, he is constantly searching
information online. On this point, we strongly agree with the teacher’s opinion, the main problem
of the course book is that it is extremely focused on grammar, leaving vocabulary and phonetics
isolated. Also, some of the topics are too boring for the students and it rarely engage them to
perform the activities. The main issue here is that student’s likes and dislikes change very fast and
the course books should consider the different topics that are relevant for the students in order to
make the course book more fun and engaging.

4. Factual details
Title: Texto para el Estudiante. Global English.
Author (s): Jolanta Polk Reyes
Publisher: Ediciones Calycanto/ Ministerio de Educación Price:
ISBN: 1-8446-918-1
No. of pages: 153 pages
Components: Student’s Book/Teacher’s Book/ Audio CDs
Level: High School
Length: 1 year
Units: 6 units Lesson/section: 4 Lessons.
Target skills: Reading, listening, speaking & writing.
Target learner: High School.
Assessment: (* Poor
** Fair
***Good
****Excellent)
Rationale: Pre-communicative activities: mostly structural activities.
Availability: It is provided by the Chilean Ministry of Education.
Layout/ graphics: The organization of the course book is organized in two parts, which is Click on
1a and Click on 1b. First of all, each unit starts with specific vocabulary items, and then moves to
grammar, communication activities, listening activities, reading and writing exercises. The course
book has attractive images, and each activity has an example to follow.
Selection/grading: The course book starts with a basic level of English, and it goes up to a higher
and challenging level of proficiency.

5. Authenticity:
1° Dialogue
Discourse feature
Textbook data
Lexical density
61
88,4%
Repetition
0
0%
Back-channels
2
2,89%
2° Dialogue
Discourse feature
Textbook data
Lexical density
64
95,5%
Repetition
0
0%
Back-channels
0
0%
3° Dialogue
Cultural bias: British &
Discourse feature
Textbook data
Lexical density
46
93,87%
Repetition
0
0%
Back-channels
1
2,04%
American oriented.
Stimulus: From the point of view of the teacher this text is a good support for the teacher’s lessons,
however, it is mostly focused on pre-communicative activities when the importance nowadays is to

6. get the students to produce English. There are not enough speaking and writing activities for
students to practice spelling, pronunciation or language usage.
At the end of the book there are “self-evaluation” and “test your knowledge” exercises, which help
students to identify their strengths and weaknesses in certain activities/units. Moreover, there is a
list of answers for each activity, so students can constantly checking if what they are doing is correct
or wrong. It also includes useful web pages for students, in which they can find activities and
exercises which are similar to the ones in the course book.
Flexibility: It would not be possible to move from one unit to the other since the structure of the
book is designed to be done sequentially. One activity requires the previous knowledge provided by
the previous exercises and activities.

7. Lesson
Select
Reject
Adapt
Supplement
One
Readin
g
3: It will help Ss to establish
a relation between the two
languages; hence, it will
create a safe atmosphere for
them.
2: very similar to n°8
and it is too open.
4: Add an image to
the name of each
game, since it will
help Ss remember.
Images of games.
1: It is a simple activity and it
is contextualized to their
reality.
5: It is an activity Ss enjoy
performing while reading
because they are asked to
identify certain assertions
and it is easy to assess.
8: It gives Ss the opportunity
to express their opinions
and get to know their
partner. T can observe them
working.
11: It helps Ss put into
practice their knowledge
and it has a competitive
aspect Ss enjoy.
6: not very engaging.
7: The level of
complexity of this
activity is high and it
takes a lot of time.
10: It does not have
clues or any guidance.
12: Very similar to
activity n°4.
9: Instead of
asking for help to
complete the
second sentence,
Ss need to create a
new sentence
using the verb
given.

9. Two
Four
Listening
Listening
1: it is a good idea asking
3: It is not particularly
2: Update image and
2: gives Ss the opportunity to
1: The engaging.
forIttheir predictions so
entertaining or question is too open the adjective used
changes 4: Increase the number
express their opinionsrelax the
and the objective is notthe classification. use updates
they can express and with
in very of films and
4: Same as act. N°3.
whole class.
clear.
images from films that
themselves.
10: The activity if too long
6: Put the are more meaningful for
sentences on a
5: Instructions are chart
to be used for this lesson. not veryand the names of
them.
clear.
the two girls, so that Ss
5: Is Ss make predictions it
have to choose instead the same
is very important to check
10: It is very similar to
13: Perform of
writing their namesworking in pairs.
them.
11: The activity is not
previous activities.
task but (it
takes less time).
appropriate for the level
3: Use Ss predictions to get them
of the Ss since it requires a
engaged.
7: True or false activities
8: Use
lot of time. The length of the lesson the same
12:
are very useful to check
expressions but make Ss
does not allow this activity.
understanding.
take roles.
6: Check their predictions.
9: It is a very simple
activity and the images
14: The activity is too long
are appropriate.
for the lesson.
7: Using a chart it is a good option
for a listening lesson.
15: The activity is not
appropriate for the lesson
content.
6: The films are well chosen and so
are the images. The activity helps
Ss synthetize the ideas they are
listening to.
Three
Reading
9: True or false activities are also
good when listening since it is a
5: It is perfect so Ss can
7: It is a bit complicated
simple way to check
have the chance to give extra task
understanding, plus, the and Ss may have
of correcting false statements asks understanding
their opinions
problems
them to do an extra effort. instructions.
11: It has the right amount of
.
complexity for the Ss.
6: Ss have the
opportunity to practice
their writing while
answering questions.
10: It is easy to follow
and it has updated and
contextualised topic.
11: Questions are well
prepared and give the
freedom Ss need to
create a good
discussion.
1: Express their
predictions orally.
3: Choose artists that Ss
may like and use updated
images of them.
4: Predictions of the text
based on the images.
8: Ss work in pairs and
discuss their answers.
9: Instead of using a CD /
cassette player, use a
mobile phone and some
speakers.
Mobile and speakers.

10. The course book that we analyzed covered the four skills of the language and according to
Oxford (1990), these steps must be included to enhance our own language learning. Each unit of the
book contains activities for each skill (reading, listening, writing and speaking). The term skill simply
means ability, expertness, or proficiency which is what students are expected to develop with the
use of this book. However, this course book does not adequately cover the four skills in a productive
way. Most of the activities are pre-communicative, focusing in structural activities which are much
like grammar exercises that help learners to relate the structure they are studying to the use of
language.
Recorded material included in the course book in authentic and easy to follow. It includes
activities which are accurate to the level of English that the students are supposed to have.
Moreover, the text in general has this type of exercises that are developed according to the
students’ interests. Language should be taught by dialogues and texts (Cook, 2001), the course book
also has attractive and very accurate images for the kind of students it was made for, and each
activity has an example to follow. In addition, the reading material is very complete and it has new
vocabulary in each unit for the learners.
Furthermore, the speaking skill is the least developed in the entire course book, causing
different problems on the learners, for example pronunciation and spelling mistakes. In addition to
this, the listening activities that can be found in the course book are very structured and teacher
oriented when it is supposed to be completely the opposite. Speaking activities should be one of
the most important focuses on the course book, since this type of a activities create interaction
between the students and self-confidence in a long time scale.

11. The topics of the course book are really updated, they engage students to learn. The
material seems to be carefully selected in order to draw the attention of the students. The variety
of the course book is one of the key elements in order to keep the students busy; music, films,
showbiz, sports and news. Some of the units present in the course book are very well structured,
but the most important aspect is that they are related to the students’ interest. For instance,
exercises which include famous music bands or singers or activities related to traditions of a certain
country are something very unique and engaging for students, making their attention span grow
and relating topics considerably as the lessons are developed. This course book does not show any
proof or any type of discrimination. Actually, ethnic groups and even women are shown as equals as
any kid or man appearing in the book. This fact promotes respect among students, which is an
important matter in school nowadays.
The course book does not really help students to expand their language awareness since it
only focuses on topics that are mainly related to entertainment. Thus, the course book focuses on
general aspects and it does not create consciousness about the outside world. However, the course
book can be really successful because the topics that it provides are really connected with what
students are interested.
As a conclusion, the course book has some notorious advantages and disadvantages. In
terms of skills, even though the text book covers the four of them, they are not appropriately
integrated with one another. Moreover, some skills are clearly more developed than the others,
being the listening skills the less developed in students. Furthermore, the varieties of topics
included in the course book are one of the positive aspects of it. Even though this book is mostly
teacher oriented (pre-communicative activities), it has good and appropriate images and graphics,
being attractive to students and obviously engaging for them.

12. References
Cook, V. (2001). Second language learning and language teaching (3rd. Ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc.
Oxford, R. (1990). Language learning strategies: what every teacher should know. Boston:
Heinle&Heinle.
Polk, J. (2008). Global English: texto para el estudiante. Ediciones Cal y Canto Ltda.