Philippine Normal University

National Center for Teacher Education

Taft Avenue, Manila

Faculty of Arts and Languages

TEXTBOOK EVALUATION

Submitted to:

Prof. Ali Anudin

Submitted by:

Caabay, Melissa M.

Medina, Marc Gregory D.

Roy, John Carlette L.

Tiania, Claire Andrea M.

Villaverde, Koreen Anne C.

Submitted on:

February 24, 2014

1
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction p. 3

II. External Evaluation p. 5

III. Internal Evaluation p. 10

a. Factor 1: Learning Competencies Covered p. 10

b. Factor 2: Learning Competencies Sufficiently Covered p. 14

c. Factor 3: Appropriateness of Material p. 16

d. Factor 4: Organization and Presentation of Material p. 20

e. Factor 5: Accuracy and Up-to-datedness p. 25

IV. Conclusion p. 37

V. References p. 38

VI. Attachments

2
 INTRODUCTION

Textbooks serve two important purposes in education: one is instructional guides for

teachers and the other is resources of information and activities for students. They provide

teachers a “balanced and chronological presentation of information, as well as a detailed

sequence of teaching procedures” (Fredericks, 2005). In other words, teachers use textbooks in

the classroom to employ a more organized instruction. On the other hand, students rely on

textbooks to acquire information. Also, textbooks provide instructional opportunities for their

individualized and self-paced learning, with or without the presence of a teacher.

Since textbooks are primarily used in the classroom to deliver a desired content, there is

an inevitable call for constant and in-depth evaluation of these materials. In this regard, a group

of evaluators is formed to conduct a systematic determination of the effectiveness of one

particular textbook. As the material is evaluated, the group considers five important points of

an effective textbook: (1) the lessons and activities should be aligned to the learning

competencies prescribed in the Basic Education Curriculum, (2) these learning competencies

should be sufficiently covered, (3) the lessons and activities should be appropriate and relevant

to the proficiency level of the learners, (4) lessons should be organized and well-presented, and

(5) the instruction and information presented in the lessons should be accurate and up-to-date.

The group decides to evaluate The New Dimensions in Learning English III, a textbook

written in 2004 and under the Basic Education Curriculum, for the following reasons:

3
 1. The title of the book is interesting because it suggests a fresh take on the instruction

of English. The group intends to find out whether it is “new” or still traditional.

2. The aims of the textbook found in the preface appeal to the group.

3. Lastly, the group considers the credibility of the authors as another basis for

choosing a material to evaluate. Since the authors have attained high degrees in the

teaching profession, there is no reason to not consider the material prepared by

these respected authors.

The textbook, The New Dimensions in Learning English III, is evaluated in two ways:

external evaluation and internal evaluation.

4
 EXTERNAL EVALUATION

The New Dimensions in Learning English III was written by Edna Montano-de la Cruz,

Magelende Magallona-Flores, Helen Ponce de Leon-Ladera, and Eufrocina Angeles-Guevara.

It was published, copyrighted, and distributed by Rex Book Store, Inc. in 2003 and reprinted in

2007 by the same publishing house.

The instructional material is the third in a four-series worktexts created for secondary

schools with Filipino learners of English, particularly third year high school learners. According

to the authors (De la Cruz et al, 2007), the lessons in the textbook are aligned with the third

year competencies in the 2002 Basic Education Curriculum Package prepared by the

Department of Education. For this reason, the authors utilized a balanced approach in the

textbook to teach and learn English in the Philippine setting. They also designed this textbook

to help students develop and proficiently use the four language macro skills in meaningful

communication: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Authors' view on language learning and teaching

The authors believe that language is best taught through grammatical and functional

activities (2007). They deem that teaching and learning should be interactive; therefore,

interactive activities should be used by teachers to provide students a more natural practice of

the English language structures in different functions. It is suggestive in their work that teachers

should also use techniques and strategies, which are both communicative and situational; thus,

5
linking the classroom setting to the real world. These factors, as they say, are all utilized in the

different activities in the textbook.

Aside from these considerations, the authors also apply effective reading in different

content areas, as well as composition and research writing. They also integrate lessons and

activities that require the use of the thematic approach, the process of inquiry, and higher

order thinking skills. All these approaches and methods help students not just develop critical

thinking skills but also investigate and express their own understanding of the lessons.

Organization of materials according to the authors

The textbook consists of four units, with four lessons in Units 1 – 3 and three lessons in

Unit 4. Every unit starts with a short introduction of the whole lesson, along with

pictures/illustrations that relate to the theme of each unit. Quotations also serve as

springboards in setting up the themes and values relevant to each of the lessons (De la Cruz et

al, 2007). These lessons are organized into six teachable units: Listening and Speaking, Speech

Improvement, Reading, Grammar in Focus, Writing, and Literature, and further divided into

many activities that help assess the students’ progress and performance.

First, according to the authors, the Listening and Speaking section consists of pre-

listening and post-listening activities that serve as springboards for the discussion of a particular

unit. Second, the Speech Improvement section begins with a study of minimal pairs that are

further practiced through assertion of phrases and sentences, followed by activities that

require longer utterances such as paragraphs and verses that help students practice individual

sounds, rhythm and intonation. Third, the Reading section consists of a preview of the reading

6
text, vocabulary study that help students unlock meaning of difficult words, and comprehension

questions that measure comprehension skills. Fourth, the Grammar section focuses on

grammatical patterns needed in the Philippine setting and functional activities that help

learners achieve accuracy in the English language. Fifth, the Writing section begins with guided

writing, which controls students’ choice on what to write, followed by free writing, which lets

students decide what to write on their own. Lastly, the Literature section contains both prose

and poetry accompanied by vocabulary lessons and study questions that also help students

develop deeper understanding of the literary texts.

This is the flow of the lessons and activities the authors have promised in the preface of

the book. The authors remain true to their word as they are able to attain their previously set

objectives and all evaluated lessons and activities in the textbook are organized, similar to how

the authors described it.

What the “book tells about itself”

The cover of “New Dimensions”, which shows the different tools of learning, “represents

the world of learning viewed ideally as a holistic and humanizing endeavor” (De la Cruz et al,

2007). By looking at the book externally, the group finds out that it signifies not only the need

to develop the four language macro skills in today’s people, but also the importance of being

able to use them for their holistic development.

In the table of contents, the book also makes use of the different ‘worlds’ men live in:

the world of nature, the world of science and technology, the world of art, and the world of

values. In reality, these four ‘worlds’ are niches where men’s lives revolve in, which shows that

7
the book is linked to real-life and that it makes use of real-life situations. Through this, readers

can become more aware of their environment as they become more aware of themselves.

Summary of other observations

The instructional material is to be used as the main ‘core’ course of the lessons for the

third year learners. New Dimensions serves as the main source of learning where every topic is

well-discussed, followed by enough activities and assessment that gauge students’

understanding. These lessons and activities are guided by the teacher’s book, which is in print

and locally available. However, only those teachers whose schools make use of the textbook

have access to the teacher’s book.

A vocabulary list, an index, and a bibliography are included in the book, followed by

appendices for the Philippine Center for Language Study Transcription System, a list of common

irregular verbs, preposition combinations, phrasal verbs, most frequently misspelled words, and

the differences between American English and British English. The vocabulary list assists in

unlocking difficult words learners may encounter in the textbook while the appendices serve as

additional information for the learners.

New Dimensions also contains a few charts and diagrams (best shown in pages 7, 10, 12,

33, and 74) and also a few photographs. These photographs help set the theme of the unit and

incorporate the introduction of the lessons (pages 1, 85, 199, and 373). Through these, the

photographs become integrated into the unit (pages 28, 70, 71, and 96).

8
 Pictures are also used in different activities in the textbook: some for cosmetic value

only (pages 122, 178, and 231) and some for springboards of communication activities (pages

37, 127-129, 249, and 307).

The material is not entirely culturally biased. There are no traces of either intentional or

accidental marginalization among a particular race or minority group, save for one literary text

entitled “The Story of Jazz”. This selection is found to have shown racial discrimination to the

African-Americans. This issue will be further discussed in the internal evaluation of the book.

Women are also not represented in a negative way. In the literary texts “The Diary of

Anne Frank” (p. 329) and “Florence Nightingale” (p. 378), women are given importance by

showing the active roles they portray in the society.

Lastly, the material presents a balanced picture by showing the readers two sides of the

society they live in. The authors explicitly stated that the book gives students chances to meet

people of all kinds: the powerful and the powerless, the proud and the humble, the strong and

the weak; and explore both joy and sorrow, love and hate, and fairness and prejudice.

9
 INTERNAL EVALUATION

Factor 1: Learning Competencies Covered

In the group’s sampling examination of the English textbook for third year students, the

first lesson of each of the four units are considered. Findings reveal that there are certain

lessons in The New Dimensions in Learning English III that fail to cover the competencies as

proposed in the Basic Education Curriculum for third year high school students, which has been

effective for the last eleven years.

The BEC Curriculum intends to cover the five major skills namely: Listening, Speaking,

Reading, Writing, and Literature. In this regard, the group has looked into the target skills of the

textbook and finds out that the textbook evaluated, aptly serve all five of the aforementioned

focal points, only with an additional grammar section.

The charts below show the competencies covered in each of the units, along with

sample activities and page number.

Unit I: The World of Nature

Skills Competency Sample Activities Page

Covered number

Listening

Speaking 2.3 Cite current events that would describe some of the p. 4

ways that exhibit man’s cavalier attitude towards his

10
 responsibilities to Mother Earth

4 As a group, come up with a decision – agree or p. 7

disagree on a certain issue

Reading 7. 2 Look for the other pair of unfamiliar words that gives p. 7

clues to the former’s meaning.

Supply missing item in a cause-effect chain of events.

4.2 p. 10

Writing

Literature

Unit II: The World of Science and Technology

Skills Competency Sample Activities Page

Covered number

Listening

Speaking

Reading 3 In the pre-reading phase, students give insights on p. 89

11
 the selection by going through its title

Writing 1 Students report an environmental problem p. 104

Literature

Unit III: The World of Art

Skills Competency Sample Activities Page

Covered number

Listening

Speaking

Reading 7 Students figure out definition of unfamiliar words p. 206

with the help of context clues

In the post-reading activity, students infer the

3 p. 224
content of the text based on its title

Writing 4 Students present their poems in class in the same p. 222

format as the poem Housewife

Literature 5 Students discuss metaphor in a poem and learn pp. 227 –

alliteration 229

12
Unit IV: The World of Values

Skills Competency Sample Activities Page

Covered number

Listening

Speaking 4 Students report the results of their group- p. 345

discussion

Reading 4.2.1 Students complete an outline based on the p. 352

details found in a particular essay

Writing

Literature

From the tables above, the group observes that New Dimensions pays little attention to

listening, as reflected in the number of competencies covered under this skill. Of all the

listening lessons the group has checked, no lesson has a clear path leading to the

accomplishment of any of the listening competencies. Also, all listening activities focus on

vocabulary building and comprehension questions at the end of each selection.

In all the writing lessons, the textbook attempts to engage the learners in different

activities, which can further their holistic development. However, under the macro skill of

writing, only one competency is covered: competency 4.3. In a sample activity, readers are

13
asked to create a map in presenting information. Furthermore, the textbook is consistently

unable to cover any of the competencies in literature.

Nevertheless, New Dimensions covers at least one competency of a macro-skill in each

unit and each lesson: reading.

Factor 2: Learning Competencies Sufficiently Covered

To determine whether a competency is sufficiently covered, the group refers to the

following criteria:

a) Recurring competency in the other lessons – through practice, students will have a

better chance to fulfill an activity with competence.

b) Activities are aligned to achieve such competency – we cannot expect a competency

sufficiently covered if students are misguided by the activities. For a competency to be

developed there should be a string of activities that will provide chances for learning

and development.

Listening

As aforementioned, in the chosen lessons examined, New Dimensions fail to cover any

listening competencies prescribed by BEC; and therefore, it automatically declines to

sufficiently cover any. The Listening and Speaking section of the New Dimensions in Learning

English III appears to be plain listening activities followed by comprehension questions, except

for one different listening activity found in page 2. However, it still does not provide a viable

step in the fulfillment of a competency.

14
Speaking

Two speaking competencies are covered; half of it is sufficiently covered while the other

half is covered insufficiently, for the reason that the competency 2.3 lacks supporting activities

to which the group can adhere with the competency’s sufficient coverage. (Criteria 1) In all the

Speaking sections of the New Dimensions, the students are asked to cite current issues and

their reaction to it only once; and therefore not meeting the first criterion.

However, with the second competency; the textbook is able to sufficiently cover it by

engaging students to activities that will supplement their competence in arguing and expressing

their opinions. It is notable also that, even in the other sections of New Dimensions, the

students get to practice their arguing skills given that the textbook creatively integrates it to the

other learning focuses.

Reading

Under the reading macro skill, several competencies are achieved: 3, 4, 4.2.1, 7, and 7.2.

Each of the competencies are sufficiently covered as the activities (as indicated in the charts)

are done in continuous practice to ensure the students’ attainment of the prescribed

competencies in their year level in accordance with BEC.

Lastly, the group finds out a great emphasis placed in competencies 3 and 7. These

competencies may be considered as the ones sufficiently covered as the same format in

learning unfamiliar words and inferring content from title can be observed in most lessons or

Reading sections.

15
Writing

With only one competency covered under the writing macro skill, the group believes

that the book’s activity on page 222 is a good stimulus and is definitely aligned to the

competency aimed to be attained, which, in this case, is competency 4.

Literature

The group believes that the literature lessons and activities of the book are rather

problematic. Based on the enumeration of the competencies covered, as presented earlier,

there is only one competency listed under literature which is competency number 5.

In the list of competencies under BEC, its first part underscores the relationship and

relevance of English and American Literature to Philippine Literature. The next part is

concerned with the values formation of man through literature and the last revolves around

literary devices and the like.

Finally, in all the speaking lessons, literary devices are highlighted by the textbook. For

the group, literary devices are teachable and comprehensible; competence in using them is

another issue to consider though.

Factor 3: Appropriateness of Material

Inclusivity

New Dimensions contains an array of inclusivity problems that fall into these categories:

gender insensitivity, exclusivity of religious focus, and racial discrimination. Some opening

quotes and illustrations are worth the attention, too, because they establish no sense of

16
relevance to the lesson they are located in. Here is a substantial investigation of each cases

backed by the pages from the book as evidences.

The 21st Century no longer adheres to the traditional patriarchal views as support to

feminist movements that has kept on rising today. This revolution has resulted to a number of

changes in the educational curriculum including the use of “he or she” instead of the lone “he”

in books. This issue is taken into account by the textbook by stating “Listen to your teacher as

he/she reads the text” in every Listening section. However, there is an absolute negligence to

this concept as the word “man” is used all through the textbook to refer to human beings in

general, thus marginalizing women in a way. In page 1 of Unit I (“The World of Nature”), the

whole narrative talks about how “man” and nature are related to one another. This subtle

patriarchy is also seen in titles of lessons in each book as in Lesson One of Unit I: “Man the

Exploiter: At What Price Progress?” This kind of sexism should no longer be tolerated in

textbooks today because the concept of patriarchy and male supremacy are long-gone due to

the rising support to feminist movements today.

Academic books need to be generally accommodating and unbiased. However, New

Dimensions is also guilty of a problem regarding its focus on a single religion. This fault is seen in

Lesson III (p.61) in the text “Nature’s Advertising” where a number of references to Biblical

injunctions are observed. Hence it leaves the readers/learners an unwanted sense of alienation

if they belong to a different religious affiliation. This problem has long been observed with

textbooks especially those that are made under the influence of a particular religious group. It

is often given little value by many book-designers and authors. There are also certain topics

17
that not all religions may accept as moral. For example, the concept of “Blood Transfusion” in

page 145 of Unit II Lesson III caters exclusively to religious groups that are open to this idea.

Another major inclusivity problem found in the book is the use of a text that addresses

Black Americans as “Negroes”, a direct discrimination towards Black Americans. This race

discrimination problem is found on page 261 of Lesson II in the “The Story of Jazz”.

Discrimination towards African-Americans should not be tolerated in books especially in the era

where such prejudices are no longer accepted.

Contemplating on the treatment of textbook to such issues, the group believes that

gender, religion and race are universal components that should also be addressed openly, yet

sensitively, even in instructional materials like New Dimensions.

The Student & Objectives

The textbook targets students from third year secondary level of schooling and it is

important that topics chosen should be as universal to these students as possible. Most texts

used are valid evidences that the textbook aims to have a common appeal to different students

of this particular levels. Topics like love and respect for life are some of the universal topics

found in the text and they are enough to say that the book has fulfilled its primary implicit

objective to be accommodating to the third year high school students. Page 39 and 42 are

examples of these universal themes.

Speech Improvement practices are effective because they follow a certain cohesive

order by which a person can practice his or her speaking skills. For example, the schwa sound

highlighted on page 5 of lesson one of Unit I, is orderly discussed in such a way that students

18
might get to digest the concept easily. It starts with the teacher enunciating prominently

whatever speech act must be highlighted and ends up with communication practice

conversations. The use of simple words is also a great way to address the learner’s difficulty in

conquering the word.

The listening and speaking element of the book is also fulfilled by having proper pre-,

during and post- activities. In page 86 of Lesson I of Unit II, the authors made use of prefixes to

scaffold the learners for the difficult words that they are to encounter in the during reading

stage. Having the teacher read aloud to the class makes it less boring and more interesting to

listen to. This kind of strategy guides students not just into understanding readily what the text

means by mere first-glance reading but into appreciating the affective and emotional appeals of

the story. Questions in the post-listening activities are enough ending questions because they

fulfil another aim of this book, which is to clarify things out to its readers.

The reading skill is taught in a traditional way because most reading activities in the

book require silent reading for the individuals, followed by a barrage of reading comprehension

activities. The problem with this kind of reading instruction is that it defeats one of the major

principles of the book, the adherence to the process of inquiry. These kinds of after-text

activities do not necessarily require any group work or peer participation to occur nor do they

allow the individual to move out of the reader-text convention. But these things adhere to

another principle of the text because almost all the questions found for every comprehension

tasks require higher order thinking skills. A good example is on page is on 238-244.

19
 Another commendable thing about New Dimensions is the evident link between reading

and writing. Writing compositions are required after every reading activity, which shows a

smooth transition from reading to writing (p. 244). The teaching of the writing skill in New

Dimensions is very effective for it provides numerous guided writing activities for practice

before releasing the students to free writing.

Factor 4: Presentation and Organization of Instructional Material

In the preface of the textbook, the authors clarify that the lessons are presented using

the thematic approach, in which each unit is entitled to a theme and opens with a short

introduction. The group finds out that the authors, indeed, makes use of the said approach. In

the lessons, there are actually illustrations and introductory quotations, which are associated

with the theme of the unit.

Moreover, the lessons make use of the strategies such as conversations, discussions,

contextualized grammar exercises, listening and interactive activities, readings and literary

appreciation in the activities to make sure that learning is interactive and interesting to the

students.

New Dimensions also presents the integration of grammatical and functional activities in

its lessons. Only selected grammatical features of English are used in the textbook and these

are those patterns and forms that are needed for communication purposes in the Philippine

context. Also, in the Grammar in Focus section, the activities provide interaction as well as

practice in the use the English language before they proceed to the particular language

structure.

20
 Here are some of the observations seen as good points in the presentation and

organization of the content or the lesson in the textbook:

1. In the Grammar in Focus section, the use of inductive approach complements the

structural or grammatical view of the authors in teaching the English language.

The Grammar section of the textbook reflects the traditional way of language

teaching in the Philippines, in which linguistic features being taught are not necessarily

used in communication. Furthermore, New Dimensions focuses on the selected

grammatical forms and patterns to be taught, which the authors think are needed to

improve the Filipino students’ skills. This only proves to show that the textbook follows

the structural or grammatical view in language teaching.

Also, in every grammar lesson, the linguistic feature is introduced through a set

of activities first. The grammar section in Lesson Three of Unit Two (pp. 149 – 150), for

example, starts by presenting the use of the “passive voice”. There are two activities

asking students to observe the verbs and connectives used in the paragraph. The

explanation about passive voice comes only after these two activities. It comes in the

Grammar Recall part where the form, use, and function of a particular language

structure are explained. Given these arrangements of the lesson and the activities, New

Dimensions follows the inductive approach in teaching grammar of the English language.

2. There is a clear and smooth transition between the activities.

For the fulfillment of an interactive and evaluative instructional material, the

textbook is organized around a lot of activities. Because of these activities, learners are

21
 encouraged to engage with the discussion and exercises. Their engagement, in turn,

helps their progress in competence and performance. However, the problem with this

kind of arrangement is the need to keep the activities of each section closely aligned

with each other. In the end, the group realizes that New Dimensions does not display

this particular alignment problem.

The activities in all of the sections in Lesson Three of Unit One are consistent and

are supported, if not reinforced, by one another. For example, the first activity in the

Speech Improvement section (pp. 46-48), which focuses on the sounds /ey/ and /ε/, is

supported by the next activity through the use of poems. Other than that, the activities

also stay consistent with the theme, and in the case of the first unit, the theme is about

Nature.

3. The lessons display the integration of listening and speaking in one section.

The first section in every lesson in the textbook is the Listening and Speaking

section. This section is divided into three stages: Pre-listening, Listening, and Post

Listening. The integration of the two skills in this section is helpful to the students in

such a way that not only one skill is given importance. Through this arrangement, the

students will likely be able to acquire the two skills effectively. In Lesson Three of Unit

Three (pp. 263 – 265), the improvement of the speaking skills of the students comes in

the Post Listening stage where the students can be engaged in a group discussion and

later make a report to the class. However, even though speaking only comes in the last

part of the section, there is still another section that aims to develop the speech or the

22
 speaking skills of the learners. This other section focuses on the improvement of the

English pronunciation as well as the usage of the critical sounds of English in terms of

communication.

Given the good points above, there are actually more problematic cases regarding the

organization and presentation of the lessons in the textbook. The drawbacks of the textbook

are categorized based on the number of activities, the combination of skills in one section, and

the organization of the development of skills:

1. Everything is presented as an activity.

Interactive activities inside a textbook surely encourage students in learning,

especially with the use of techniques and strategies that they can easily relate to. Such

strategies include conversations and contextualized grammar exercises. However, when

a textbook has more than twenty exercises within one lesson, learners may feel more

exhausted rather than encouraged. Lesson Three of Unit Three (pages 263- 301) already

has a total of 40 activities. Even though the activities come in a variety of ways – by

individual, by pairs, or by groups – the group believes that it is neither logical nor helpful

to bombard students with more than enough activities in one lesson.

2. There are too many reading texts in one lesson.

Even for the purpose of literary appreciation and of instilling values to the

students, having three to four reading selections in the Literature section in a textbook

is a bit of overdoing. In Lesson Three of Unit Two, the Literature section (pp. 151 – 163)

23
 includes three poem selections where questions for discussion are very limiting and are

not even enough to develop the comprehension skills and thinking skills of the learners

as well as their appreciation of the literary material. Moreover, there are few, and

sometimes none, sufficient activities that should be reinforcing the students’ skills and

appreciation of the selection. This is because most of the activities are distributed to the

first five sections of the lesson where some activities are not entirely needed.

3. The Reading section is followed by the Grammar in Focus, instead of the Writing

section.

Based on the 2002 Basic Education Curriculum, the major components of the

English program are the following: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Literature.

The focus on grammar is not emphasized in the said curriculum. However, it is still a

good thing that the authors included a Grammar section in the textbook to provide for

communicative practice and proficiency of the students.

However, the group suggests that the Writing section comes after the Reading

section. This arrangement is better because the last part of the Reading section is called

From Reading to Writing. This last part of the said section is a good way to introduce the

next section which is Writing. This way, the transition from one section to another will

be smooth because one skill is being targeted by the last part of the Reading section and

the next section itself.

24
 Factor 5: Accuracy and Up-to-datedness

Accuracy

Upon examining the language features of the textbook (grammar, spelling, punctuation,

etc.), the group has noted that, in terms of frequency, the instructional material contains errors

in English which ranges from being recurrent to being occasional. Hence, it is important to

identify these errors for effective evaluation. In this regard, the group has recorded the

following significant observations:

1. Some sentences are found to be vague and, to some extent, erroneous.

On pages 116-117 (Unit II, Lesson Two), the textbook guides students to create

an outline. The purpose of the activity is clear: to make organization of ideas easier.

However, the instruction made to deliver this purpose is rather questionable. Look at

these sentences:

“In Lesson One, you practiced writing a sentence outline, meaning complete

sentences throughout. In this lesson, you will do a topic outline, meaning you will use

words or phrases.”

Notice how the word “meaning” is used as an introduction to a clause (which, by

standards, should instead be introduced by a relative pronoun like which or that) in both

sentences. The group understands that this particular case often occurs in speech,

especially when giving oral directions. However, in written discourse, this is hardly

acceptable. Therefore, explanatory sentences like them should be avoided because they

may be transferred to students’ own writing.

25
 In the same unit and lesson, another sentence appears to be unclear and flawed.

As the material explains the importance of biographies, it highlights the “benefit” of

learning from the lives of great people. The portion of a sentence cited below seems to

be perfectly correct (in terms of structure). However, inconsistency on the use of

pronoun and determiner makes it incoherent, thus making it rather incomprehensible,

even after a few repeated readings. The spots of possible errors in the sentence below

are found by analyzing its parts.

“…their lives inspire us to make our own lives benefit not just ourselves (a

personal pronoun referring to “us”) but also those (a demonstrative pronoun referring

to “lives”) of our (determiner) fellowmen.” (p. 132)

The group suggests a clear and parallel sentence construction: “…their lives

inspire us to make our lives beneficial not only for ourselves (personal pronoun) but also

for others (personal pronoun). Or, “…make our lives beneficial to our (determiner) own

lives and to our (determiner) fellowmen’s.

2. There is an evident neglect on the proper use of comma.

A comma may be too small to be noticed but it is so important because of its

certain functions. In writing, a comma is not only used to set off independent elements

in a sentence. It also explicitly indicates grouping of ideas within a sentence.

In New Dimensions, these functions of a comma are ignored. There are actually a

considerable number of cases when a comma is misplaced, not used, and used too

much. The following are sample cases that provide evidence to this observation:

26
A. Misplaced Comma

In the textbook:

Before Mr. Kohl, the “Architect of Europe,” assumed the chancellorship of

Germany… (p. 375)

Suggested Correction:

Before Mr. Kohl, the “Architect of Europe”, assumed the chancellorship

of Germany…

B. No Comma

In the textbook:

With five of your classmates list three things which would fit the

description suggested by each group of modifiers. (p. 34)

This often results in miscommunication, with ridiculous if not tragic

outcomes. (p. 25)

Suggested Correction:

With five of your classmates, list three things which would fit the

description suggested by each group of modifiers.

This often results in miscommunication, with ridiculous, if not tragic,

outcomes.

C. Too Many Commas

In the textbook:

Let the tense of the verb be your guide, from the past, the present, to the

future. (p. 103)

27
 (Note: This sentence also observes faulty parallelism in its prepositional

phrases.)

It has a small head, in comparison with its long body, has large ears, and

thick fur that is coarse, grey, or reddish brown or black, and a long, strong

tail, which acts as its third leg. (p. 37)

Suggested Correction:

Let the tense of the verb be your guide from the past, in the present, and

to the future.

It has a small head and a long body. It also has large ears. Its thick and

coarse fur may either be grey, reddish brown, or black. It also has a long and

strong tail, which acts as its third leg.

Considering the students as readers of the material, the group believes that the

improper use of comma may affect their comprehension because of these reasons:

 A properly placed comma helps students follow an instruction and

understand information by aptly separating groups of thoughts within a

sentence. But if a comma is not carefully placed, students may find a

sentence relatively harder to execute and perceive.

 The absence of comma makes a sentence, especially one with too much

information, difficult to grasp for the students. This may cause them to miss

an instruction or information.

 The presence of too many commas makes a sentence jerky and hard to read,

rather than clear.

28
 The prevalence of such cases, as well as their effects on reader comprehension,

prompts the group to arrive at this observation.

3. A mismatch between the grammar point and the assessment activity occurs.

In order to help determine what students have learned after highlighting a

grammatical form, a textbook is normally ready to provide follow-up assessment

activities (i.e. multiple-choice quiz) for students. Therefore, the activity should aptly be

tied with the learning expectations of the unit or lesson.

This is the primary reason why the group has closely looked at the options

provided in multiple-choice tests. In New Dimensions, one particular test (Activity 6 of

Unit II, Lesson Two) almost fails to meet the learning objectives of the grammar lesson

because of an error in designing test questions. One sample question of the activity,

which appears on page 123, is shown below.

After the race ____________, the celebration began.

a. is won c. will be won

b. had been won d. has been won

The group considers option b as the possible correct answer to this question.

According to grammar rules, when two events happened at different points in the past,

the event which happened first (winning the race) takes the past perfect tense. The

other event (beginning of celebration) takes the simple past. Actually, the question in

itself is valid because it calls for one specific correct answer. However, given that the

question is intended to practice and reinforce students’ knowledge of simple past tense

29
 (grammar point of the lesson) and not of past perfect tense, the question becomes

illogical and invalid because it deviates from the learning objectives of the lesson.

Therefore, for the sake of accuracy, the group suggests two possible revisions:

one is to replace an option with “was won” or completely change the question with

another that demands students to use the simple past tense of the verb.

4. The textbook speaks in different voices (styles of writing).

A documented material with multiple authors has a higher tendency to

demonstrate inconsistent style of writing than a material written by only one author.

This particular statement is even further maintained by the results the group has

found after a thorough examination on the manner the textbook (written by four

authors) speaks to its target audience (students).

To probe this assertion, the group presents the following cases:

A. Verbose VS Brief

In a story, poem or any literary selection, it is of utmost importance to

understand not only the denotative or dictionary meaning of a word but

especially its connotative or suggestive meaning. Descriptive, words, phrases,

and expression evoke, stimulate, or suggest images in the mind that make

clear and more vivid the object or event described. (p. 39) – Verbose

Busy people don’t have time to read a newspaper from beginning to end.

Examine a typical news story. The headline gives the most important facts.

The first paragraph is the lead. The lead tells the story briefly. The following

30
 paragraphs furnish details. Look over your latest newspapers and choose an

interesting story to retell to the class. (p. 131) – Brief

B. Engaging VS Dull

Let’s talk about artists and their art. Make sentences out of the following

pairs telling what was written, composed, painted, or sung. Use the first noun

as the subject of your sentence. (p. 247) – Engaging

From each list of details, take out the sentence that does not belong.

Then, suggest a topic sentence for the remaining details. Write the

paragraphs. (p. 255) – Dull

The group understands that the textbook is a final product of a collaborative

writing process; thus, it is quite a challenge to write it while observing consistent and

accurate style. However, for the benefit of its audience, it is still important and

obligatory to maintain one consistent voice, from cover to cover.

5. Words that are not carefully chosen (or poorly chosen) are also noticeable.

The group has recognized some sentences which contain inappropriate words.

Considering the meaning they carry and bring to readers, the group assessed these

words as confusing and tasteless. Look at these sentences:

1. Figurative language is the language used when the author means something

quite different from what the words say.

2. The following words may be strange to you.

31
 In the first sentence, the word “quite” is used as an adverb/modifier for the

word “different”. However, the group realizes that the word quite rather misleads

readers from what the textbook intentionally means. By definition, quite means entirely

or completely. Since figurative language is used to describe something by comparing it

to something else, the group finds it hard to agree with the first sentence. The group

believes that figurative language is an expression used by authors to mean something

beyond what the expression literally means. For the group, literal meaning and

figurative meaning are different, but not absolutely different. In literature, these two

meanings are still related to one another. Students have to learn the literal meaning first

before they figure out the meaning beyond an expression. This explanation, instead,

should be made clear to the readers of the material.

The group perceives the word “strange” as a weak descriptive introduction to

vocabulary words. It is true that, in one way or another, vocabulary words are unusual

for readers. However, a good way of unlocking vocabulary words is to present them as

something which readers can easily be familiarized with. The group believes that the

word “strange” is distastefully and inappropriately used in the second sentence. Other

words like “unfamiliar” and “new” sound more engaging and effective than “strange”.

6. Ultimately, false information can be seen in the material.

More than looking at the accuracy of form and style, validating the information

presented in the textbook is necessary in evaluating the instructional material. To check

32
its reliability, the group takes time to research whether the information exposed in the

material can be considered authentic or not. Consider this piece of information:

Puerto Princesa, the country’s and the world’s biggest city – 253,000 hectares,

virgin forests, swamps… (p. 128)

From the activity this idea is extracted, the textbook requires students to make

an oral report in class. Acknowledging the nature of oral reports, the group supposes

that all ideas to be utilized for the said activity are factual and legitimate. However, the

information above is apparently fictitious because of the following reasons:

 By land area, the world’s biggest city/urbanized area is New York Metro

(141,300 km2) and not the City of Puerto Princesa (2,381 km²).

 By land area, the biggest city in the Philippines is Davao City (2,444 km²).

 By population, Tokyo (13.23 million) is the biggest city in the globe.

Puerto Princesa only has 222,673.

 By population, Quezon City is the biggest city in the Philippines with

2,761,720 residents.

The group has cited these geographical and demographical data (lifted from

Citymayors.com and Wikipedia.org) to show that, contrary to what the textbook says,

Puerto Princesa is definitely not the biggest city.

Therefore, the group asserts that, in this particular case, the textbook undeniably

commits an error in providing facts.

33
 Apart from the observations mentioned, the following notable sentence constructions

also demonstrate marks of inaccuracy:

1. The following is a poem, also by John Masefield. (p. 135)

The statement is then followed by two poems by Masefield.

2. If a reason is very important to you, write VI before the reason. If the reason is only

slightly important to you, write SI. If a reason is not important, write NI. (p. 141)

The underlined phrase should be slightly important, not only slightly.

3. Reading is to the mind and what is to the body. – Bacon (p. 397)

This is not Francis Bacon’s quote about reading. This statement belongs to

Joseph Addison. Francis Bacon, instead, says that, “Reading maketh a full man,

conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.”

On the whole, the group of evaluators contends that New Dimensions actually displays

several cases of inaccurate and inconsistent writing. However, regardless of disparity, the

textbook remains to be well-written and reliable. It is primarily because most of these cases are

isolated, rather than periodic.

Up-to-datedness

Finally, the group also aims to determine how current the material is by studying the

relevance and appropriateness of the topics and issues for discussion.

Considering the present times (including the students today and their experiences), the

group has contemplated that many of the topics and issues disclosed for arguments in New

Dimensions are still relevant. However, one particular topic deviates from the rest.
34
 On pages 139-140, Lesson Two (of Unit II) ends with opening a topic for debate. Along

with other discussion questions on the poem entitled Richard Cory, which is about a person

who shoots himself dead for a mysterious reason, one particular question requires readers to

take a stand on the issue of “suicide”:

Take a position (for or against) suicide.

Seemingly, there is nothing wrong about asking students to share a personal opinion

about this matter. In fact, students benefit a lot from argumentation. However, suicide is a

more sensitive issue today than it was a few years back. According to studies, in the Philippines,

the number of cases of suicide increases annually. Reports also say that, the suicide rate among

Filipinos has gone up with the majority of cases involving teenagers. Because of this particular

trend among the youth, the group is concerned about the appropriateness of discussing such

issue in the classroom. Suicide might have been a good topic for argumentation in the past,

when suicide cases can still be controlled. But it is quite risky to discuss it during these times,

especially when students are tightly engrossed in social networking sites. Studies show that

social networks like Facebook have something to do with the prevalence of such cases among

delinquents. Nevertheless, it may still be discussed in the classroom, but taking a more cautious

approach. Instead, the textbook should emphasize on helping students identify the causes and

effects of suicide, and not choose between condemning and justifying the issue. Asking

students to make a choice between supporting and disapproving suicide may only encourage

them to think about the bad and the good (which is alarming) suicide brings.

35
 Excluding the case explained above, the rest of the discussion topics and issues

embedded in the textbook, which was written seven years ago, can still be comparatively

considered timely, if not current. Some of these relevant topics include technological

advancements and environmental degradation.

36
 CONCLUSION

After an in-depth examination on the different external and internal elements of the

textbook, the group has conceded that The New Dimensions in Learning English III is arguably a

reliable and recommendable instructional material for high school teachers and for third year

high school students.

Notwithstanding the various cases of negligence and errors observed within the

textbook, New Dimensions proves to be an effective instructional material as of this writing.

This is primarily because the lessons and activities employed in the textbook, in general, are

promising, goal-oriented, organized, and highly educational. The group maintains that New

Dimensions can still be used in the classroom as a secondary, if not primary, resource material.

However, this proposition, the group believes, will no longer be true and effective in the

next coming years. Considering the observations recorded in this paper, the group suggests that

revisions and updates should be made before the book reduces its relevance and quality.

Inevitably, the Internet has already started taking the place of textbooks in the educational of

the 21st Century. Therefore, instructional materials like textbooks must constantly make

adjustments and changes in order to match the current demands in education.

37
 REFERENCES:

Fredericks, A. D. (2014). Textbooks: Advantages and Disadvantages. Teachervision. Retrieved

on February 16, 2014 from https://www.teachervision.com/curriculum-planning/new-

teacher/48347.html

List of Philippine cities and municipalities by area. (2014, January 31). In Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia. Retrieved on February 17, 2014 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Philippine_cities_and_municipalities

_by_area&oldid=593249323

The City Mayors Team. (n.d.) The largest cities in the world by land area, population and

density. Citymayors.com. Retrieved on February 17, 2014 from

http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest -cities-population-125.html

38