The Evaluation of English textbook

劉艷妮

【Abstract】Nowadays， the world is in the way of globalization， and people communicate with each other by using a common language—English， a universal language in the international community. Therefore， more attention has been put into English textbook evaluation. In order to evaluate textbook effectively， we should review the theories of textbook evaluation have an insight on the textbook which is used in school.

【Key words】textbook； evaluation； New Senior English for China（students book 5）

I. Introduction

background

Textbook plays an important role in language teaching and learning process. It provides teaching materials for teacher and learning contents for students. According to English curriculum standards， it is essential to improve quality of English teaching and learning .Thus， textbook evaluation should be paid great attention. The ability to evaluate teaching materials effectively is a very significant professional activity for all English teachers. In this paper， a series of theories about evaluating will be firstly discussed. Then， it moves to evaluate one particular English textbook， New Senior English for China （students book 5） used by high school students in China.

II. Theory of textbook evaluation

Definition of textbook evaluation

Linguistics thinks that evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of textbook for students. There is no absolute good or bad. We can make evaluation from some aspects， such as an overall assessment of whether an entire set of materials has worked， or one particular teaching task in which he or she has a special interest for detailed empirical evaluation.

III. Brief Introduction of New Senior English for China （students book 5）

This book is written in the form of module by using diversified teaching program. It consists of six modules. Each module is constituted by the following parts： introduction， reading and vocabulary， listening and vocabulary， listening and speaking， writing， function and everyday English， grammar， pronunciation， cultural corner and task.

IV. The evaluation of New Senior English for China （students book 5）

In this section， this paper will discuss the general impression of the textbook， pointing out its strengths from some aspects.

4.1 The unambiguous aim

In the Preface， the proposed teaching methodology is stated， and the description of the features of the books is clear and concise， and the learning objectives of each module are explicitly stated in the students book.

4.2 Convenient supporting materials

When using New Senior English for China， there is several of supporting materials. In addition to the students book itself， teachers book， exercise book and radio tape are available to the teacher， all of these are convenience for teaching and learning process.

4.3 The targeted exercises in each module

Following task–based teaching approach ， New Senior English for China （students book 5）provides various kinds of communicative tasks which are related to real -life situation， also， it lists a series of targeted exercises .For instance， in this module ，many such kind of exercise can be found ： Read the quotation and answer questions ；Listen and answer ；Work in pairs and discuss； Write article about Chinese language. By doing those exercises， it is likely to develop students learning strategies to cope with all kinds of difficulties.

4.4 Listening skill involved in each module

According to the New Senior English Curriculum， students are expected to be able to listening not only for main ideas but also for specific points. In each module， listening exercises are designed in a way fit the requirement of curriculum. For example， in Module One， students are asked to listen for main idea， while when it comes to Module Two， the objective of listening is to listen for specific information. Both of them are beneficial for students to improve listening skill.

V. Conclusion

At the beginning of the paper， the significance of evaluating teaching materials is discussed. ， and the main definition of textbook evaluation is also involved. Besides， by evaluating the New Senior English for China （students book 5）， the advantages are obvious. Therefore， we can get the conclusion that this textbook is appropriate for high school students.

References：

[1]Ur， P.（1996）.A Course in language Teaching：Practice and Theory.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.