Evaluating the SAMT English Textbook for BSc Students of Physics
Subject Areas : آموزش زبان انگلیسی
مینا
سجادی
1
(Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran)
وحیده
هادوی نیا
2
(Shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran)
Keywords: Evaluation, ESP Textbook, Physics BSc,
Abstract :
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) are developing branches of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction in Iran. These branches have a marginal status in the tertiary education, and the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology’s high commission offers no clear guidance for selecting and developing basic academic instructional materials related to the linguistic or communicative standards expected by teachers (Mazdayasna & Tahririan, 2008). This paper tries to evaluate an ESP textbook written for BSc students of physics entitled, ‘English for the students of physics’, which is prepared by the Center for Studying and Compiling University Books in Humanities (SAMT). The present research was based on qualitative and quantitative research techniques and included two steps. First, internal, external and overall evaluation of the book was carried out based on McDonough & Shaw (1993) model. While conducting the external evaluation of the book, the intended audience, the proficiency level, the context of use, the language, the author's views on language and methodology, the inclusion of a vocabulary list/index, visual features, and the cultural aspects were examined. The internal evaluation included the presentation of the skills, grading and sequencing, discourse skills, listening section, the representation of different learning styles. And in overall evaluation, general suitability of the textbook was assessed. In the second step, six teachers each responded to a 22-item textbook evaluation questionnaire to express their perceptions concerning various aspects of the textbooks. The results revealed the extent of appropriateness of the textbook used by BSc students of physics. Suggestions are offered for the future revision and/or designing the textbooks.
Amalsaleh, E. (2004). The representation of social factors in the EFL textbooks in Iran. Published doctoral dissertation, Shiraz University: Shiraz.
Ansary, H. & Babaii, E. (2003).Subliminal sexism in current ESL/EFL textbooks. Asian EFL Journal. 5 (1), 184-192.
Azizifar, A., Koosha, M., & Lotfi, A. R. (2010). An analytical evaluation of Iranian high school ELT textbooks from 1970 to the present. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 3, 36–44.
Chambers, F. (1997). Seeking consensus in course book evaluation. ELT Journal, 51(1), 29- 35.
Çobanoglu, E. O., Sahin, B., & Karakaya, C. (2009). Examination of the biology textbook for 10th grades in high school education and the ideas of the pre-service teachers. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1, 2504–2512.
Dudley-Evans, T. & ST. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (1997). The empirical evaluation of language teaching materials. ELT Journal. 51 (1), 36-42
Hemsley, M. (1997). The evaluation of teacher's guides. ELT Journal. 3 (1), 72-83.
Hutchinson, T. & Torres, E. (1994). The textbook as agent of change. ELT Journal, 48(4), 315-328.
Keibari, S. (1999). Text analysis and evaluation of TEPSOL coursebooks. Published master's thesis, Shiraz University, Shiraz.
Kırkgöz, Y. (2009). Evaluating the English textbooks for young learners of English at Turkish primary education. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1, 79–83.
Mazdayasna, G. & Tahririan, M.H. (2008). Developing a profile of the ESP needs of Iranian students: The case of students of nursing and midwifery. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7, 277-289.
McDonough, J. & Shaw, Ch. (1993). Materials and methods in ELT: a teacher's guide. Oxford:Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2nd ed.
Miekley, J. (2005). ESL textbook evaluation checklist. The Reading Matrix. 5 (2).
Peeters, M.J., Churchwell, M. D., Mauro, L. S., Cappelletty, D. M., & Stone,G. E. (2010). A student-inclusive pharmacotherapeutics textbook selection process. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 2, 31–38.
Pritchard, R.M.O. & Nasr, A. (2004). Improving reading performance among Egyptian engineering students: principles and practice. English for Specific Purposes. 23, 425- 445.
Rajabi, P., & Azarpuor, N. (2011). Academic needs of Iranian business administration students in ESP classes. Contemporary Online Language Education Journal, 1, 20-32.
Razmjoo, S. A. (2007). High schools or private institutes textbooks? Which fulfill communicative language teaching principles in the Iranian context? Asian EFL Journal. 9 (4).
Richards, J. C. (2001). The role of textbooks in a language program. Retrieved November 12, 2 2008, from http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/role-of-textbooks.pdf
Sharp, Alastair. (1990). Staff/student participation in course evaluation: A procedure for improving course design. ELT Journal, 44 (2), pp. 132-137 [Electronic version].
Soodmand Afshar. H. (2007). A critical evaluation of Interchange series (third edition) with a special focus on vocabulary strategies. Research Journal in Humanities. 8 (21), 115-141.
Stollera, F. L., Horna, B., Grabea, W., & Robinson, M. S. (2006). Evaluative review in materials development. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5, 174–192.
Uyulgan, M. A., Ozbayrak, O., Alpat, S. K., & Alpat, S. (2011). Opinions of teachers and students on secondary education chemistry textbooks. Procedia Computer Science, 3,
1126–1130.
Yakhontova, T. (2001). Textbooks, contexts, and learners. English for Specific Purposes, 20, 397-415.
Yarmohammadi, L. (2002). The evaluation of pre-university textbooks. The Newsletter of the Iranian Academy of Science, 18, 70-87.
Xu, Iris Hong. (2004). Investigating criteria for assessing ESL textbooks. A doctoral dissertation,186 pages. University of Alberta, Canada, UMI no. AAT NQ96339. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=813774781&sid=6&Fmt=2&clientId= 5596&RQT=309&VName=PQD