Choosing a course book

Every teacher knows the students need a course book. Every teacher also knows it should be the best course book possible for those students. But what exactly is the best course book?

The never-ending search for the 'perfect' course book affects every teacher, worldwide. The EFL teacher is no exception. Teachers need to take many different factors into consideration when choosing that course book: they need to think about their students' needs, interests, ability and level.

Before discussing how to choose a course book, let's consider why a course book is needed. Any good teacher will say that he or she always brings other materials into class anyway. Does that mean they are willing to not use a course book and to create and bring in different materials for every lesson? This is doubtful. The course book provides a rich resource of materials and a structured, well thought out syllabus.

Dimitrios Thanasoulas (1999) in his article "Course Book, Take It or Leave It", presents a nice point of view when he say, "Personally, I find a course book extremely helpful, as it guides me on what and how to teach, giving me some useful advice on the best techniques for presenting the material."

For the teacher, the course book provides a plethora of ideas and materials. But why do the students need a course book? Students will learn just as well if the teacher gives them a photocopied worksheet instead of having a book, won't they? Well the answer is a resounding "NO". The good course book offers the students stability and security. The good course book offers the students a sense of progress and achievement. There is always something to go back to and revise. It offers the students a sense of confidence and satisfaction as they feel they are working within a framework and they know where they are headed and where they've been. Everyone takes the course more seriously if there is a good course book involved, be it the students themselves, the administration or the student's parents. Offering the students an endless parade of photocopied pages (from other course books undoubtedly) is disorganized and regarded as less professional by the students and everyone involved.

It would seem that a course book is an essential element in any course, at any age, no matter how young or old the students are.

Now comes the big question:

How do we choose the course books we want use with our students?

Choosing a course book is not a frivolous matter. When deciding on a course book for the students, we should be making an informed decision. It should be made based on analysis and knowledge. It shouldn't be made lightly and we shouldn't feel that 'any old course book' will do. Furthermore, we shouldn't be coerced or bullied into choosing one course book over another, by anyone. Choose your course books based on a clear, detailed analysis of what it offers and what your students need.

Many researchers have compiled checklists and guidelines for choosing appropriate course books for different students. Some are more detailed and some are less so, but all deal with more or less the same issues. It is very important to know what to look for when choosing a book.

Before choosing a course book for the students in any course, it is important to create a needs-analysis for your own students. What will the students need to know by the end of the course or school year? Once the needs-analysis is done, it's a good idea to create a list of items that you consider desirable in a course book. Based on these lists, any course book can then be analyzed.

Below are a few basic questions (to help get you started) that should be asked when we are in the process of choosing a course book for our classes and our students.

Initial Questions

• Do the principles stated in the introduction or teacher's guide reflect my own principles?
• Is the teacher's guide comprehensive and does it offer many extra ideas?
• Does the book follow the rationale of the current English curriculum?
  • How do I know this?
  • Where can I check it?
• Are the topics covered in the book appropriate for my students?
• Is the material appropriate for my students?
• Are there enough reading passages and tasks in the book?
  • Are they varied?
• Are there enough listening comprehension tasks in the book?
  • Are they varied?
• Are there enough writing tasks in the book?
  • Are they varied?
• Is grammar presented, taught and practiced in the book?
  • Is there enough practice of grammar in the book?
• Are there performance-based tasks in the book?
  • Are these varied and include both oral presentations and written ones?
• Is the language authentic?
• Is the book appealing to me?
  • Do I think the students will also find it appealing?
• Is the font size or style appropriate for the age group of my students?
• Do I think I would enjoy using this book?

Once you've analyzed the books you initially found attractive, you will know, clearly and wholeheartedly, that you have made the right choice for your students. Never settle for second best.

Have a wonderful school year.

References:

Thanasoulas, D. (1999) "Course Book, Take It or Leave It", From: http://www.tefl.net/esl-articles/coursebook.htm Last viewed: October 29, 2006

web: http://www.etni.org.il/etnirag/issue4/miri_yochanna.htm

Analysis of the Coursebook My world 5º Grade ( Miss CHECK THIS, PLEASE)

 

Importance	Criterion	Is or Not?	Comment
7	Objetives explicity laid out in an introduction, and implemented in the material.	Yes	Objetives are very clear at the beginning of the book and every unit has a description about the objectives that we want to reach.
7	Approach educationally and socially acceptable.	Yes
7	Clear attractive layout; print easy to read.	Yes	The book was made for 5º grade and it is very attractive for children because we can find many activities with pictures; language is very basic and easy to understand what students have to do.
7	Appropriate visual materials available.	Yes
6	Interesting topics and tasks.	Yes	All the topics in this book is very interesting, because the contents are related to our life.
6	Varied topics and tasks, so as to provide for different learner levels, learning styles, interests, etc.	Yes	The book has many topics and tasks very interesting, levels of learning  students can achieve and develop competencies.
7	Clear instructions	Yes	The activities are very clear for students in 5º grade
6	Systematic coverage of syllabus.	Yes
7	Content clearly organized and graded (sequenced by difficulty).	Yes	The book in general is organized and clear.
4	Periodic review and test sections.	No	At the end Every unit has a short review about the contents, that is not enough for our students.
7	Plenty of authentic language.	Yes
0	Good pronunciation explanation and practice.	No	The book does not have activities related to a pronuntiation,
7	Good  vocabulary explanation and practice.	Yes	the book is very rich in learning new vocabulary and we can find this in every unit
5	Good grammar presentation and practice.	Yes	Grammar in this book is very simple, it needs more language focus.
5	Fluency practice in all four skills.	Yes	The book just works with these skills reading, writing and listening, but in speaking the book is very poor, I would like to add more activities using the production of the language, we also have to consider this book has been made for 5 º grade.
5	Encourages learners to develop own learning strategies and to become independent in their learning.	Yes	The book has a lot of readings, so we can you the knowledge to skimming the text and then scanning,
6	Adequate guidance for the teacher; not too heavy preparation load.	Yes	The book is very helpful for English teacher,
7	Audio cassettes.	Yes	The book has incorporated a CD, so students can work it at home.
0	Readily available locally.	No

Coursebook: 5º grade my world. Gabriella lazzeri and steve marsland. 2007

In general terms the book is very attractive and helpful  for learners, because every unit develops four skills reading, writing, listening and conversation. The coursebook has a cd to complement the work at home and it is too easy to follow the activities with the cd. Some Activities need to be more focus in develop conversation because I found it too poor in development this skill, but we have to consider that in reading  and listening, the book has been made many activities related to  before reading, while and after reading, and this occurs in listening too. The contents are organized in a clear way for teachers and students, because the book has organized the contents with a logical sequence, we begin using colours, numbers, greetings to develop brief description about thing that you see in a picture or gives basic personal opinions. This book is very adequate for 5º grade.

In favour of using a coursebook or against using a coursebook ?

I think a coursebook is very good way to show the contexts in an appropiate level for

the class, we always have to consider that a coursebook is cheap to get learning material

for learners, and also teachers can use it to guidande, in some students the coursebook

could not be interesting for them, it has lack of motivation, but if we develop a great planning

with a coursebook it will be very helpful for that we expect to get  a good way of learning.

I've got to say that I'm not in favour and against using coursebook , if you work with a
coursebook you will need to have a clear idea how you engage ours students using
the coursebook.