Evaluation of American English File and its Teacher’s Manual
Subject Areas : Journal of Language, Culture, and Translationرضوان آتش پنجه 1 , فاطمه کولی نیا 2
1 - دبیرستان رتبه سازان، گلسار، رشت، ایران
2 - دبیرستان رتبه سازان، گلسار، رشت، ایران
Keywords: Evaluation, American English File, ELT coursebooks,
Abstract :
This study aims to evaluate the explicit features and pedagogic values of the American English File series and its teacher’s manual based on McGrath’s approach (2002). The selected material for evaluation is a five-level English coursebook accompanied by their teacher’s manuals. Therefore, a quantitative design was used through online distribution of an evaluative checklist adopted from Miekley (2005) among 40 EFL teachers who had experienced teaching the series of books under this study. The participants of the study were asked to rate the checklist according to a five-point Likert scale (0 (totally lacking the feature), 1 (poor), 2 (adequate), 3 (good), and 4 (excellent)). The analysis of the obtained data showed that the series of books under this study fulfilled the objectives claimed to be set for the student book and the teacher’s manual. The finding of this study could be fruitful for EFL teachers, syllabus designers, and material developers.
References
Amalsaleh, E. (2004). The representation of social actors in the EFL
textbooks in Iran. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Shiraz
University, Shiraz.
Ascher, A., & Saslow, J. (2011). Top Notch Series. Longman: Pearson
Education.
Brown, J. D. (1989). Language program evaluation: A synthesis of
existing possibilities. The second language curriculum, 222-241.
Atashpanjeh, R. & Kolinia, F. / Journal of Language, Culture, and Translation 4(1) (2021), 246–264
261
Brown, J. D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: A systematic
approach to program development. Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 20
Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116.
Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing your coursebook. London:
Longman.
Chadran, J. (2001). Content-based instruction: An Indonesian Example.
In S. B. Stryker & B.L. Leaver (Eds.), Content-based instruction in
foreign language education: Models and methods (pp. 219-235).
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
Ellis, R. (1997). The empirical evaluation of language teaching materials.
ELT journal, 51(1), 36-42.
Hutchinson, T., S Torres, E. (1994). The Textbook as Agent of change.
ELT Journal, 4-8, 315-320.
Haycroft, J. (1998). An Introduction to English Language Teaching.
England: Longman.
Harmer, J. (1996). The Practice of English Language Teaching. London:
Longman.
Jahangard, A. (2007). Evaluation of the EFL materials taught at Iranian
high schools. The Asian EFL Journal, 9(2), 130-150.
Lynch, T. (1996). Communication in the language classroom (pp. 105-
121). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
McGrath, I. (2002). Materials Evaluation and Design for Language
Teaching. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Miekley, J. (2005). ESL Textbook Evaluation Checklist. The Reading
Matrix 5/2, 9-17.
Nunan, D., & Carter, R. (Eds.). (2001). The Cambridge guide to teaching
English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge university press.
Nation, I.S.P. & Macalister, J. (2010). Language Curriculum Design. New
York: Routledge.
O'Neill, R. (1982). Why use textbooks? ELT journal, 36(2), 104-111.
Rastegar, Z. (1992). The Analysis of Dialogues in Iranian Guidance and
High School Texts in Terms of their pragmatic Functions. Unpublished
master’s thesis. Shiraz University, Iran.
Razmjoo, S.A. (2007). High schools or private institutes textbooks?
Which fulfill communicative language teaching principles in the
Iranian context? The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly, 9 (4), 125-139.
Sheldon, L. E. (1988). Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. ELT
journal, 42(4), 237-246.
Atashpanjeh, R. & Kolinia, F. / Journal of Language, Culture, and Translation 4(1) (2021), 246–264
262
Tomlinson, B. (1999). Developing criteria for evaluating L2 materials.
IATEFL Issues, February-March, 147, 10-13
Tomlinson, B. (2001). Material development. In carter, R. & Nunan, D.
(2001), The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other
languages. (PP. 66-70). Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Tomlinson, B. (2003). Developing materials for language teaching.
London: Continuum.
Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2011). Materials development in language
teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Toolabi, J. (2002). Characterization of Language Functions in the Iranian
High School English Textbooks. Unpublished master’s thesis. Shiraz
University, Iran.
Vellenga, H. (2004). Learning Pragmatics from ESL & EFL Textbooks:
How Likely? TESL-EJ, 8(2), 1-18.
Yarmohammadi, L (2002). The evaluation of pre-university textbooks.
The Newsletter of the Iranian Academy of Science, 18, 70-87.