The Evaluation of the Textbook—Go For It

Gong+Yue

【Abstract】Through evaluation of the textbook， most teachers have a clear direction for what to teach， how to teach and assist students to acquire and improve their English level.

【Key words】evaluation； English level

1. Introduction

English is regarded as the second language， we do not have the natural environment to listen and speak English， so English materials become extremely important for teaching and learning. Textbook is a coursebook， which provides the core materials for a course and its aims are to provide knowledge and contents for teachers and students（Tomlinson， 1998）. In order to understand and utilize the textbook better， English teachers need to comprehend it totally and have evaluation criterion about English textbooks， who can own the ability to choose and use different teaching contents and methods flexibly according to students requirements and the actual teaching conditions. This paper pays more attention on the merits and demerits of the textbook， Go for it.

2. The Evaluation of Go For It

Huchinson and Waters （2002） say that evaluation is a matching process. Something needs to be fit for a specific purpose. Textbook evaluation has the same reason. Nunan （2004） states that the aim of Go For It is to implement task-based approach in the English language teaching to make students learn about how to use language rather than acquire some simple knowledge points. In the following part， I will evaluate the textbook- Go For It from the strengths and the weakness.

2.1 Strengths

Firstly， Cunningsworth （2002） claims that coursebooks have to take account of students needs and promote their interests on study. In this book， each page with attractive pictures that are fit for students psychological features because they like interesting and valid paintings. One of the most important characters of this book is vital knowledge accompanied entertaining pictures， which is apt to imagine by students. Secondly， Ur （2000） refers that supplementary materials are useful to get a better understanding about the contents that students learn. When all units are finished， the textbook adds some useful knowledge to each chapter， through the notes on the text， students grasp key points and grammars. It is convenient for them to make notes in order to review timely in the final examinations. I have to emphasis that tapescripts are attached on the behind of this book. It facilitates students to listen materials again.

2.2 Weaknesses

Each coin has two sides. Go For It also has some disadvantages. Firstly， the content scope is so broad that teachers have to need to research a large number of materials to prepare lessons， which is a large challenge for them to get the start. Secondly， although the contents are plentiful， the relevance among each unit is little. For example， unit one discusses about holiday. However， unit two talks about exercise. It is difficult for teachers and students to memorize contents and establish relevance among knowledge.

3. Conclusion

The textbook of Go For It is regarded as a relatively complete material. Topic， grammars， vocabularies， sentence-structures are suitable to students needs and levels. It is based on task-based teaching and the training of skills on listening， speaking， reading and writing is provided a large amount of activities so that students play the subject role to express their various skills in the learning process. Whats more， previous learned knowledge are combined with newly learned contents well. But we know that there is no perfect textbook. （McGrath， 2002） teachers“should see the coursebook not as the course， but as an aid to fulfilling the aims and objectives which they have themselves formulated”. I hope that my evaluation on Go For It will take much assistance for educational researchers， which make them have new awareness to adopt and adjust the textbook. Learners maximize to develop their learning skills in the learning process.

References：

[1]Cunningsworth，A.（2002）.Choosing Your Coursebook.Shanghai：Foreign Language Education Press.

[2]McGrath，I.（2002）.Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching.Edinburgh：Edinburgh University Press.

[3]Nunan，D.（2004）.Task-Based Language Teaching.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.

[4]Ur，P.（2000）.A Course in Language Teaching：Practice and Theory.Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Cambridge University Press.

[5]Tomlinson，B.（1998）.Materials Development in Language Teaching.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.

作者簡介：鞏玥（1993-）， 女， 漢族， 遼寧沈陽人， 渤海大學， 外國語學院學科教學（英語）， 研究生。