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4. Book Evaluation Criteria
Having known the significance of the workbook from the previous explanation, the following is to know the criteria of a good workbook. It is
important to make a list of the criteria that a good workbook should have. One of the criteria is coming from
Lado’s Law of Learning 1964: a. Encouraging
students’ motivation in the learning process A good workbook should have the capability to challenge the students to
complete the exercises which are provided. When the exercises are challenging, the students are motivated to work using the workbook. Thus, it will decrease the
students’ tendency to get bored. b. Appropriate materials and exercises for the students
Materials and exercises have an important role in language learning. The students learn through the materials and exercises provided by the workbook. The
suitability of the materials and exercises w ith students’ ability will help the students
to learn the materials easily. c. Adequate tasks for the students
Tasks for students act as another guidance that will help them to learn. Adequate tasks help the students to memorize things that they have learnt in the
class. In addition, the students can learn better by practicing the language through the tasks given.
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d. Well-graded tasks Doing tasks helps students learn by themselves. Therefore, the tasks in a
workbook should be arranged from the easy to the difficult one. Well-graded tasks motivate the students to complete the tasks.
e. Clear and simple instructions in every task One of the advantages of using a workbook is that it can be used to study
individually. The workbook helps the students to learn outside the class meeting. Clear and simple instructions enable the students to work using the workbook by
themselves. f. Affordable for the students
Students have different financial background. Therefore, an affordable workbook can be accepted easily by the students since every student must have a
workbook as one of the learning sources. Likewise, some experts also propose some criteria to evaluate a book.
McDonough and Shaw 1993 propose two-stage models for comprehensive evaluation of textbooks. The first is a brief external evaluation that covers criteria
which give an overview of the organizational foundation of the textbook, ‘as stated explicitly by the authorpublisher’ through the cover, introduction and table of
contents ’ statements. The second is an in-depth internal investigation of the
textbook, “to see how far the materials in question match up to what the author claims as well as
to the aims and objectives of a given teaching program”. Those two-stage models exposes in 22 point framework criteria that can be used for
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predictive and retrospective evaluation. Predictive evaluation is an evaluation done in order to help the teachers select a textbook. Whereas, retrospective evaluation
done in order to help the teachers identify the strength and weakness of the textbook already used.
To be more specific, together with Masuhara, McDonough and Shaw examine materials of a good book in three stages, namely external, internal, and
overall evaluation McDonough, Shaw, Masuhara, 2013, p. 53. The external evaluation relates to the overview of the materials from the outside. It evaluates the
cover, introduction, and the table of contents. Meanwhile, internal evaluation performs “in-depth” investigation into the materials. Furthermore, the overall
evaluation inspects the workbook in a general use of the materials relates to the syllabus. Byrd 2001 defines three criteria to evaluate books. The first is the
suitability between the curriculum and the materials. It means that the workbooks should match with the learning objectives or goals of the learning process. The
second is the suitability between the students and the needs. It means that the workbooks should fit with the students’ need. The third is the suitability between
the teachers and the materials. It means that the workbooks can be used effectively by the teachers as cited in Ozdemir, 2007.
Tomlinson 2003, p. 16 proposes fourteen criteria that should be measured in the material evaluation process. Those criteria are described as follows.
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