An evaluation of New Senior English for China Student’s Book 1

XUAN+Yi

1. Introduction

Course books are the most outstanding and general of material support for language instruction（Brown， 2001）. Most significantly， we evaluate existing course books so that we can choose and use the most valuable materials for language program. According to syllabus， we could adapt materials to meet students needs more effectively than other alternative course books（Cheng， 2011）.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate New Senior English for China Students Book 1， one of the course books used in secondary school in China. The author will presents some key principles of language learning for high school students and establish some teaching approaches， author will present materials to show how they may be adapted to promote learning.

2. Theories of English language teaching materials evaluation

Course books reflect learners needs and meet with the requirements of the aims and objectives of the language-learning program（Cunningsworth， 1995）.Moreover， course books reflect learners uses of language as well as make students use language effectively according to their purposes. Course books consider students needs as learners which help learning processes flexibility. As a clear role for learning I agree with Alan Cunningsworth， a good course book must adapt to students needs， they can learn more from the book and complete their own purposes.

3. Brief introduction to the course book

The oldest version of Senior English for China was written in the mid-80s.Generrally the series was deemed incomplete， old-fashioned and dull. The Peoples Education Press released a fully revised edition of this textbook. With the development of China， the new edition is known as NSEFC（New Senior English for China）. It is composed of a series of eleven textbooks according to English Course Standards for High School.

4. The evaluation of course book

Evaluation of the course books have many components， it includes grammar， vocabulary， phonology， discourse， style， appropriate， four skills， etc. The first considerations are what item are included and how far they correspond to learner needs（Cunningsworth， 1995）. In the following part， we could talk about grammar use in the course books. On the first page， several items are present many grammar items， for example， unit one includes directive speech and indirect speech as well as unit 4， the attributive clauses（that， which， who， whose）.Through micro-evaluation， we see advantages and disadvantages of course books. Hycroft（1998）states that one of the primary advantage of using textbooks is that they are psychologically essential for students since their progress and achievement can be measured concretely when we use them. Course book should adapt to learners needs.

5. Conclusion， implication and suggestion

The evaluation exists on our daily life， we could through evaluation to make progress， and adapt worlds development， course books should adapt to worlds evolution. In the future， course books help learner build their confidents， making learners more active participate in the activities， and students can develop their own extra-linguistic skills. Course book should meet the students needs. Some resources relate to students daily life. Course book helps different stylistic students to learn more（Tomlinson， 1998）. Learners learning style will change according to content， learners study environment and goals they obtain， course scheduler should meet different stylistic students. Writer holds material developer should understand course book， making them meet learners needs. Such as Class A hold course book have attractive contents， Class B not interested in course book. The best solution is providing many different choices to course books learners. Using different activities and choosing different topics. Many language learners prefer to learn relax contents.

References：

[1]Brown，H.D.（2001）.Teaching by principles：An interactive approach to language pedagogy.New York，NY：Pearson Education Ltd.

[2]Cunningsworth，A.（1995）.Choosing your course book.Oxford，Heieneemann.

[3]Cheng，X.T.&Sun，X.H.（2011）.Analysis and Design of English Textbook.Foreign Language and Research Press.（程曉堂，孫曉慧.英語教材分析與設計[M].外語教學與研究出版社，2011.）

[4]Hycroft，J.（1998）.An Introduction To English Language Teaching.Longman.

[5]Liu，D.Y.（2008）.NEW SENIOR ENGLISH FOR CHINA STUDENTS BOOK 1.People Education Press.（劉道義，普通高中課程標準實驗教科書必修一[M].人民教育出版社，2008.）

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