3 a) Analyse and briefly discuss FIVE criteria that you would look into when evaluating an English

Language course book for a primary school in Malaysia.

BY,SHALINI KANGAN

T3 TESL 1

• Textbook provides a useful table of contents, glossary and index.

• Layout is consistent and chapters are arranged logically.

• Chapters contains clear and comprehensive introductions and summaries.

• Reading level is appropriate for age/grade.

• The visual imagery is of high aesthetic quality.

• The printing quality is high error-free.

• The cover of the book is appealing.

• The visuals used are relevant to the content.For example: pictures, drawings,

• The style of writing is interesting, clear and appropriate for the students’ ability level.

• The content is in line with the curriculum and the syllabus.

• Must meet students needs for learning English.

• Information and instructions are clearly written and explained.

• Activities in the textbook:- appropriate to the level of the students.- apply to a diversity of student abilities, interests and

learning styles.

• The content contain real-life issues that challenge the readers to think critically about his/her overview.

• The text selections represent variety of literary genres.

• The four language skills are developed systematically and in a balanced way.

• The chapters cover a variety of topics from different fields.

• The texts are up-to-date and accurate.

• The grammar rules are presented in increasing order of difficulty.

• There is enough reinforcement and practice of the structures of the grammar.

• The new vocabulary words are repeated / recycled in subsequent lessons to reinforce their meaning and use.

• A good distribution (simple to complex) of vocabulary load across chapters and the whole book.

• Activities in the textbook are balanced among the four skills.

• Activities that involve speaking skills / real life communication is a must.- Communicative Language Approach.

• Gradual development of the four skills throughout the textbook.

• The skills used are balanced throughout each chapter.

• activities that are appropriate for each level if the students.

• Interactive and task-based activities that require students to use new vocabulary to communicate.

• Activities that require students to do a research / study on a certain part of the topics.

• Activities that stimulate higher order thinking skills.

b) Create a checklist for text book / course book evaluation containing five criteria and justify the criteria stated in your checklist

• Organizational feature- Systematic and up-to-date.- Create an interest for the pupils to use the

book and apply the knowledge- Error-free: to encourage pupils to avoid

mistakes/errors

• Content- Suitable and appropriate to the proficiency level of

the pupils (cater pupils language ability)- Pupils must know what are they learning and the

content should be up-to-date as well as relevant accurate.

• Vocabulary and Grammar- Pupils are encouraged to learn new words per day.- Grammar is emphasized so that pupils could write a

good piece of essay.- Fluent speaker

• Four Language Skills- Pupils need to learn and apply four language

skills in their daily life.- The language skills are taught in a balanced

way.

• Activities- Helps pupils to stimulate higher order thinking

skills.- Help pupils to improve their language skills.

4. You wish to use the following comic strip to teach listening and speaking to a Year 3 KSSR class.

a) Briefly describe ONE listening and speaking activity which you can carry put

in this lesson.• Activity:1. Teacher pastes the pictures in the comic strip on the white board. (BIG

pictures) 2. Teacher gives the comic strip to each pupil.3. Teacher reads the descriptions for each pictures and the pupils must

number the pictures.E.g: Picture 1 : The title of the comic strip is “Garfield”Picture 2: Mr. Garfield walks silently.Picture 3: Mr. Garfield meets a teddy bear.Picture 4: Mr. Garfield goes near the teddy bear.Picture 5: Mr. Garfield hugs the teddy bear.Picture 6: Mr. Garfield dances with his teddy bear.Picture 7: Mr. Garfield puts the teddy bear down.Picture 8: Mr. Garfield continues his journey.

3. After numbering the pictures, teacher reads the descriptions again and selects a few pupils to come to the front and number the pictures on the white board.

4. Teacher asks other pupils to check their answers.

5. Teacher asks pupils to be in pairs.

6. Teacher shows a sample of short dialogue between Garfield and the teddy bear.

7. Teacher asks pupils to take the role as Garfield and the teddy and create a simple dialogue between each other.

8. Teacher gives time for the pupils to practice.

9. Teacher selects few pupils to come to the front and start their dialogue session.

b) Give TWO reasons and justify your reasons of exploitation of this material

as in (a) above.• A good way to test pupils’ listening and

speaking skills. - Communicate Language Approach

• Cost-effective and easy to be prepared.- saves teacher’s time and money.- can be provided to all the pupils.

2 c) Based on your teaching experience, briefly justify the selection and evaluation of the teaching and learning material below with reference to at least TWO factors in an ESL classroom in the school you have taught.

• Proficiency level- This teaching and learning material is suitable

for above average pupils.- When considering the suitable level of

materials we need to think about, for example, how much new vocabulary is included, and what grammar structures predominate, and how adult the topics and content are.

• Clarity - The material needs to be clear to see (visual- Blurry pictures, or texts have little value. - The meaning of the text should be clear, not

overwhelmed with idiomatic expressions. • Font size can be an important factor especially

for younger learners who don’t have the attention span to keep staring at the text and work their way through it. (cause pain)

• Some students may also have poor eyesight.