评价体验英语综合教程第一册

摘要:通过衡量体验英语综合教程第一册,得出教师对于教科书必须持客观态度,并通过教师自己的修改和补充,来更好的利用它。

Abstract: This article aims at evaluating Experiencing English Integrated Book 1 by using Ur's criteria for coursebook evaluation and reaches the conclusion that teachers must take an objective view towards coursebook and try to make best use of it with teachers' own efforts of modifying and supplementing it.

关键词:教科书;评估;充分利用

Key words: coursebook;evaluation;make best use of

中图分类号:G42文献标识码:A文章编号:1006-4311(2010)18-0193-01

1Introduction

Coursebooks are indispensable tools in language teaching. There are some arguments for using a coursebook according to Ur (1996, p.184): ①A coursebook provides a clear framework. ②In many places the coursebook serves as a syllabus. ③A coursebook provides texts and learning tasks which are likely to be of an appropriate level for most of the class. ④A coursebook is the cheapest way of providing learning materials for each learner. ⑤A book is a convenient package. ⑥For teachers who are inexperienced or occasionally unsure of their knowledge of the language, the coursebook can provide useful guidance and support.⑦The learner can use the coursebook to learn new material, review and monitor progress with some degree of autonomy.

Experiencing English Integrated Book 1 is published by higher education press, in the year 2002.

Before my analysis, I would like to cite Ur's criteria here and give ticks according to their importance of evaluating a coursebook from my own understanding.

2Analysis and Evaluation of Experiencing English Integrated Book 1

Experiencing English Integrated Book 1 is used for the freshmen majored in English in the integrated English class for the first term. The book consists of eight units. In each unit, there are four parts: listen and talk, read and explore, write and produce, and culture salon. Each unit has a specific topic. In the listen and talk part, there is a passage with some blanks to be filled in, some pictures to talk about, two dialogue samples to read, and two speaking tasks to finish. The read and explore part with two intensive passages in it, is the central part in a unit. Almost all the new words, language points and grammar are learned in this part. Some exercises are designed to help the learners master the new knowledge. The write and produce part is composed of general writing and practical writing. The last part in each unit is culture salon, which emphasizes culture information.

The methodology of this book is quite acceptable to the target community-freshmen in the college. The materials discuss and identify areas of student need, for example, new words, interesting topics, general writing, practical writing, etc. It encourages the balance of deductive approach and inductive approach to learning, for it has exercises and examples for both approaches. The learners are encouraged to use language creatively. The book's attitude to mistakes is unbearable for the book contains some mistake correction exercises to make students be aware of not making the mistakes. The book uses English all the time, so the attitude of this book towards learners' mother tongue is negative. What is more, language accuracy is balanced with language fluency in the book.

This book has clear attractive layout. The whole book is printed in white paper with high-quality and uses colored words and pictures here and there. The book has some visual materials, such as PPT slides. The topics in the book are closely related to students' life, such as college life, study online etc. But the topics lack variety because all of them have something to do with school and learning, so this book is not suitable for thoselearners who have left school for a long time. The instructions of the book are very clear and easy to understand. The content in this book is clearly organized and graded sequenced by difficulty. For example, the length and difficulty of the passages in unit 1 are shorter and easier than that of passages in unit 8. The language in the book is authentic because all the lessons are adapted or selected from western newspapers or books written by native speakers. The pronunciation explanation in the book can be only found in the vocabulary list after the new words. The vocabulary explanation in the book is also very limited, though it is bilingual, it only mentions the usage appearing in the passages. The four skills of English are practiced in this book and it encourages learners to develop their own learning strategies and to become independent in learning. This book has audio cassettes and learners can also reach the electronic version of the book online. This book is so popular that it can be easily found in bookstore and the cultural content is quite rich.

To sum up, Experiencing English Integrated Book 1 can meet the needs of teaching English for freshmen. It has clear objectives, attractive layout, interesting topics, plenty of authentic language, adequate guidance for teachers, audio and visual aids, practice for all four skills in English and it is well organized and edited. The shortcomings for this book are that it lacks varied topics and periodic review and test sections.

3Conclusion

No coursebook is perfect. As Cunningsworth(1984,p.15) asserts "Course materials for English should be seen as the teacher's servant and not his master", so coursebooks must be evaluated objectively and teachers should try to select suitable coursebook for students and make best use of it with efforts of modifying and supplementing it.

References:

[1]Cunningsworth, A. (1984). Evaluating and selecting EFL teaching materials. London: Heinemann Educational Books.

[2]Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching: practice and theory. Cambridge: CUP.