Coursebooks Analysis

Straightforward Pre- Intermediate

Authors : Mara Jos Acua Pamela Humeres

30/11/2014

Factual Details
Title:
Author:

-Straightforward Pre-intermediate students

book
Philip Kerry (Straightforward students book)
Matthew Jones and Philip Kerr (Workbook)

Publisher:

Macmillan Publishers Limited

Price:

Between $20.000 and $25.000 (at Libreria

Inglesa)

ISBN:

978 1405 01057 3

978 0230 02079 5 (with CD-ROM)

Number of pages:

159 pages

Components:

- Students Pack (Students book + CD- ROM)

- Workbook Pack (with key + Audio CD)
- Workbook pack (without key + Audio CD)
- Teacher's Book & Resource Pack
- Class Audio CD
- Portfolio

Level:

Pre-intermediate level

Physical size:

27,8 cm x 21,9cm

Length:
Units

One year
12 units

Lessons/sections:

Four lessons per unit (A, B, C, D)

Hours:

10 hours per week

Target skills:

Target learners:

Reading
Listening
Writing
Speaking
Adults and young adults

Target teachers:

University English Language Teachers

Review
As a general review from the answers given from the teacher, we can inferred that she tend to
have communicative approach. She makes reference to the four skills of the language but she
does not mention grammar spot or the systems of the language. In general the interview makes
reference to the use of course book as a guide than as a central or essential element during the
class. The teacher considers the book by itself as a supplementation; because she prefers to create
activities by her own that the students can related easily with real context opportunities. The
teacher point that there are a lot of elements to consider at the time of choosing a course book or
activities from a course book , such as level of English of the Ss. , quality of printing , variety of
topics and activities . More over the teacher mentions the importance of clear and instructions
and the enough amounts of examples. To sum up with we can say that the teacher insist on the
idea of providing the same amount of time and preparation to the four skills of the language, even
though she does not make reference to the systems of the language. It is possible to infer that the
interview considered course book as a helper, but not as a bible for teaching.

Question

Category

Participant

Comment

Do you think Importance

coursebooks are Coursebooks
important?

of Emm, I think that they

are a good guide for
the teacher, okay...
especially at schools,
where
coursebooks
are supposed to be
selected according to
the curriculum that
teacher must follow,
but they are not
essential.

The teacher points out that the

course books are mainly used as
a guide, where teachers can
support their knowledge, but it
can be inferred that, the
interview does not consider
them as something essential. In
addition it is important to
mention, that she stated that
teachers do not have to follow a
course book pattern, but they
must
follow
a
specific
curriculum.

What are you Criteria

criteria
for choosing
choosing
a coursebook
coursebook?

for uuh... lot of things,

a level of English, eeh...
printing quality, topics,
variety of activities, if
they include the four
skills or not, basically
those things.

The interview makes reference

to the different elements that
must be considered at the time
of teaching using a course book.
The interview makes reference
to the four skills of the language,
but does not make reference to
grammar spot. The main thing
that can be inferred from the
answer given is the idea of the
importance of the context level,
at the moment of selecting
teaching material.

Which part(s) of Parts of the I try to use them all, in

the coursebook coursebook most order to try to develop
do you frequently used
the four skills
use?

We might infer that as the

teacher makes reference to the
four skills of the language, she
tends to have a communicative
approach. But teacher do not
seems to be aware or grammar.
According to Littlewood (1981),
it is possible to infer that
teacher makes reference to the
use of an integrated skills
approach, in which the same
amount of time is devoted to
the four skills of the language.
As Oxford mentions
(2001) This approach allows
teachers to track students'
progress in multiple skills at the
same time. Integrating the
language skills also promotes
the learning of real content, not
just the dissection of language
forms. Finally, the integratedskill approach, whether found in
content-based or task-based
language instruction or some
hybrid form, can be highly
motivating to students of all
ages and backgrounds.

Which part(s) of Parts of the Maybe the grammar

the coursebook coursebook less spot, or the grammar
do you seldom used
focus, because I try to
use?
teach that part in
context, not as an
equation, okay... so
sometimes I use my
way to teach the
grammar points

The interview makes references

about the parts of the course
books that she avoids to use.
The teacher points out that the
grammar part is constructed in a
more grammar oriented way
that makes the structures more
explicit. When grammar is
taught as a formula is less
probable that students will be
able to relate with the real
words, which is really on the
contrary of the Communicative
approach that is the one that
the Educational Ministry is
implemented in the national
curriculum.

When do you Context/reasons

supplement the for
coursebook?
supplementing.
Why?

Okay, umh...When I
find that the activities
are not attractive for
the group of students,
when the topics are
not interesting, or
when the level of
English doesn't fit my
students.

The teacher states that when

the content of the course book
is not enough it is necessary to
supplement it. She also makes
reference the importance of
considering
the
students
level. According to Littlewood
(2005) students need exposure
to lots and lots of authentic
materials. According to Peacock
Authentic materials are those
that have been created to fulfil
specific purposes in the
language community (1997). As
we can infer in teachers
answer, a course should be an
authentic material, and if it fits
students needs.

How
do you Procedure
for By looking for my own
supplement the supplementing.
emm... images or
coursebook?
examples, creating my
own worksheets or
powerpoints, that's all

The teacher states that when

supplement the course book is
necessary, she tends to use her
own material in order to provide
better sources. The interview
considers that the course book
by itself is a supplement.
She has a procedure that is
more oriented to visual sources.
According to Oxford (1990), the
process of relating information
or knowledge with images has
four advantages.
For Oxford, the process of
relating the verbal with mental
images has four advantages:
First: Visual information is
better stored in the brain than
verbal information acquired
through speech and more
efficient.
Second: Through mental images
we can transfer information
efficiently to long-term memory.
Third: Through mental images

we can recover verbal material,

easily
Fourth: Most of learners prefer
visual learning
After
exposing
the
four
advantages, it is necessary to
state that for visual learners it is
mainly important to use images
in the learning process
What kind of help Kind of help in Mmmh, basically an
would you like to teaching
easy way for students
have from the CB Grammar.
to understand the
in
teaching
structure that we are
grammar?
dealing
with
and
providing good and
clear enough examples
for students
What kind of help Kind of help in Lots
of
would you like to teaching
drillings
have from the CB pronunciation
in
teaching
pronunciation?

According to the teacher the

fact of delivering good and clear
examples is something crucial at
the moment of using a course
book.
When providing clear example is
very oriented to the use and the
meaning of using grammar but
not to the form.

listening, The interview makes reference

to the concept of drilling in order
to teach pronunciation, drilling
according to the British council is
At its simplest, drilling means
listening to a model, provided by
the teacher, or a tape or another
student, and repeating what is
heard. This is a repetition drill, a
technique that is still used by
many teachers when introducing
new language items to their
students. The teacher says
(models) the word or phrase and
the students repeat it. Another
important aspect that we can
infer from teachers answer is
the idea that, pronunciation can
be acquired by listening, such
idea can be baked up into
Harmers idea (2001 pp.238)
Listening is especially important
since it provides the perfect
opportunity to hear voices other

rather than the teachers enables

students to
acquires
good
speaking habits as a result of the
spoken English they absorb , and
help them improve their own
pronunciation. It is possible to
relate both of the concepts with
pronunciation learning process.
What kind of help Kind of help in Mmh, emm... different
would you like to teaching lexis
contexts in which the
have from the CB
students can find that
in teaching lexis?
vocabulary

In this extract of the interview it

is possible to infer that the idea
that has about offering variety of
context in which the students
may apply the vocabulary. In
order to create real learning
opportunities for the students
and give them learning purpose.

What kind of help Kind of help in To

provide
equal
would you like to teaching the skills quantity or practice for
have from the CB
each of the skills
in teaching the
skills
of
the
language?

The Interview makes reference

again, about the Integrated skills
approach.
She is got a communicative
approach but not really focus on
the. The interview got a
communicative approach but
does not make reference directly
to the direct

Rating

Factor

Rating Analysis

Rationale

Related to the Rationale, this coursebook is mainly based on the concept of

Integrative-Skills Approach (Oxford, 2001). It is a useful tool to develop
students fourth skills. It embraces integrated language input and it is also
helpful at the moment of reinforce functional language.

Availability

This course book is available at Librera Inglesa in Concepcin.

User definition

This book is mainly for adults and young adults. It is for beginners, more
specifically for students in a pre-intermediate level.
This book is used for teachers at Universidad Catlica de la Santsima
Concepcin, in majors as English Pedagogy, for first year students.

Layout/
Graphics

Because of this book is for adults and young adults, it has a lot of pictures of
real places, objects, drawings, cartoons and also pictures of real people.
The books material is appropriate for the user that is determined by the
editors. Colours used in the course book are also appropriate for users.

Accessibility

This books is available at Librera Inglesa. Even though it is a little

bit expensive, is easy to find.

Linkage

This book has a webpage which owns to Macmillan editorial, there users
can find exercises, worksheets among other things.

Selection/
Grading

Every unit of the coursebook is divided into activities to practice each of the
four skills. In addition, there are activities focused on grammar,
pronunciation and vocabulary
Even though, there is a lot of activities created in order to develop the four
skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) activities are not graded.

Appropriacy

Straightforward pre-intermediate is a book provided with activities oriented

to make students improve their skills by working in each of the units in the
book. It is a book appropriated to the determined user, and its activities are
very simple and precise perfect to pre- intermediate level. The goal of this
course book is mainly improve students skills through practice.

Authenticity

This course book presents an extensive variety of authentic material

(Peacock, 1997). It is provided with
real life examples, as images, articles and news, even though it also has
fiction, as cartoons among other things. The materials mentioned before
are crucial factors at the moment of talking about authenticity.

Sufficiency

This book helps students to improve their listening, speaking, writing and
reading skills. Even though this book is more oriented to receptive skills, it
also has activities that are oriented to productive skills. In addition it has a
workbook and a CD that user can use to practice.

Cultural Bias

The course book involves many cultural factors and from many countries in
where English is the mother tongue. This book was made by native
speakers, mainly by British speakers.

Educational
Validity

This book is at the Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin since

2012. It was bought with money from the MECESUP project.

Stimulus/
Practice/
Revision

This book has a review section, in which students are able to check and
summarized the knowledge acquired through the development of the units.
It includes two CD with exercises to practice the content of each unit
especially with receptive skills, and also a workbook with grammar and

writing exercises, which is more oriented to productive skills. Both of these

sources have the solutions, in the case of the workbook, there is an answer
key and in the case of the CDs, at the time that student do the exercises
he/she can check his answers and also at the end of the unit.
Flexibility

The course book offers the opportunity of applying different units for
example without losing the coherence of the aspects to be treated, and this
flexibility is because of the variety of activities, and also because the way
that the skills are integrated in the different units. The consideration of the
context makes this book really appropriate and useful to be used in
teaching English process.

Guidance

This book has a review section, in which students are able to check and
summarized the knowledge acquired through the development of the units.
It includes two CD with exercises to practice the content of each unit
especially with receptive skills, and also a workbook with grammar and
writing exercises, which is more oriented to productive skills.

Overall value
for money

The estimated value of the course book is around 20 and 25 thousand

Chilean pesos.
Considering the Chilean educational context this might be a little high, but
because of the educational value of the book, it makes it worthy to pay.

=Excellent
= Good
= Fair
=Poor
It is mainly important to mention, that in our opinion is an excellent book for those who are in a
pre-intermediate level. We used this book when we were in our first year of the major and it was
completely useful, we are very satisfied with the resources obtained by the MECESUP project,
because it is an useful tool that pre-intermediate students can use in order to improve their
productive and receptive skills and obtain a better level of English, what in fact is the first goal that
pre intermediate learners want to reach.

References
British Council (2004). Drilling 1. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/drilling-1. [Last Accessed November, 28th, 2014].
Harmer J., (2001). The practice of English language Teaching. 3rd ed. England: Pearson Education
Limited.
Littlewood, W.. Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction. New York: Cambridge
University Press. 1981.
Nation. P, (2001). Teaching Vocabulary . 1st ed. New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington
Oxford, R.L. (2001). Integrated skills in the ESL/EFL classroom. ESL Magazine, 16(1).
Oxford, R.L., (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know.
Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Peacock, M. (1997) The Effect of Authentic Materials on the Motivation of EFL Learners in English
Language Teaching Journal 51, pp 2