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3. Textbook Evaluation
According to Richards 2005: 256 “with such an array of commercial textbooks and other kinds of instructional materials to choose from, teacher and
others responsible for choosing materials need to be able to make informed judgments about textbooks and teaching materials.” Cunningsworth 1995 and
Byrd 1995, as cited in Richards, 2005 argue that there are many textbooks published with their own characteristics. It is necessary for the teachers to select
or choose the most appropriate textbooks for their students. Since textbooks have an important role in teaching-learning activity, Skierso as cited in Murcia, 1992:
432 also states that “the importance of the textbook makes the selection process crucial.” Evaluation, however, can only be done by considering something in
relation to its purpose. Cunningsworth 1995 mentions two kinds of textbook evaluation,
impressionistic overview and in-depth evaluation. Impressionistic overview gives general introduction to the material. It is appropriate when doing a preliminary sift
through a lot of textbooks before making a shortlist for more detailed analysis. But, it does not provide detail to ensure whether the textbook match with the
learning and teaching situation. The other kind of textbook evaluation is in-depth evaluation which is
more penetrating in its approach and has its own agenda. It provides what is prominent and obvious in a textbook, how specific items are dealt with, the
relation to students’ learning needs, syllabus requirements, how different aspects of language are dealt with.
13
4. Textbook Evaluation Criteria
According to Cunningsworth 1995, there are many criteria that can be used to evaluate a textbook. He says that in order to gain practical purpose, it is
important to manage a list of the most important criteria. Experts also have proposed many criteria in evaluating a textbook.
Brown 2007, propose a checklist adapted from Robinett 1978 twelve criteria to evaluate a textbook. Those criteria includes goals of the course,
background of the students, approach, language skills, general content, quality of practice material, sequencing, vocabulary, general sociolinguistic factors, format,
accompanying materials, and teachers’ guide. Skierso 1992 provides a detail but complicated textbook evaluation
checklist. The criteria in the checklist are divided into two main parts. The first part is for practicality which is consisted of bibliographical data, aims and goals,
subject matter, vocabulary and structures, exercises and activities, layout and physical makeup. The second part is the criteria for teacher’s manual which is
consisted of general features, supplementary exercises for each language skill, methodological and pedagogical guidance, and linguistic background information.
Byrd and Murcia 2001 then also propose a textbook evaluation checklist. The criteria in this checklist is arranged by considering the fix between
the textbook and the curriculum, the fix between the textbook and the students, the fix between the textbook and the teachers, and overall evaluation of the fit of the
book for this course in this program.
14 Last, Harmer 2007 proposes criteria for textbook evaluation. There are
ten criteria in his checklist. Those criteria are price and availability, add-ons and extras, layout and design, instructions, methodology, syllabus, language skills,
topics, cultural appropriacy, and teacher’s guide. Cunningsworth 1995 proposes checklist for evaluating textbook. There
are eight aspects along with the explanation of each aspect. Those aspects are aims and approaches, design and organization, language content, skills, topic,
methodology, teachers’ books, and practical consideration. The following is the description of each aspect of Cunningsworth’s checklist.
a. Aims and approaches aspect
To reach the aims, textbooks should provide all what is needed in teaching learning activities. Cunningsworth 1995: 15 says, “The content of the material
should correspond to what students need to learn, in terms of language items, skills and communicative strategies”. Another statement is stated by Riddell
2003: 206, “An ideal textbook should have variety and balance-language work, skill work, pronunciation, review units or sections, and grammar summaries”.
Those parts can also help the students to comprehend the materials. Students’ learning style is also another important aspect in order to
accomplish the aims. According to Jordan 1997: 95, “Learning style is the particular approach by which a student tries to learn”. Every student has different
learning style, so textbooks should provide various activities to make different teaching and learning style possible. Cuningsworth 1995: 16 states,
15 Textbooks also embody certain learning styles and strategies, which can
influence how individual students go about their own learning. The approach taken by a textbook towards learning strategies may not be explicit
but certain learning styles and strategies will be promoted in the book, explicitly or implicitly, and it is important to identify what they are and how
they are put forward.
Felder and Henriques 1995 propose the ways people receive sensory information as visual, verbal, and other touch, taste, and smell. Visual learners are those
prefer that information is presented visually, in pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations, rather than in spoken or written words.
Verbal learners are those who prefer spoken or written explanations to visual presentations. The last ones are touch, taste, and smell. This category plays little
part in language instruction, so it will not be addressed further.
b. Design and organization aspect
This criterion is to evaluate the design and organization of the textbooks. A good textbook should use appropriate font style and font size to make it readable.
Riddell 2003: 205 adds “textbooks should be visually attractive, well laid-out and easy to follow”. When a textbook has a good design and layout, the
information can be delivered well. Organization of a textbook is also an important aspect. According to
Cunningsworth 1995:28, organization is “continuity within the materials and the routes through the materials which are available to learners”. As stated by
Richards 2005, textbooks are efficient because they are better organized. The organization can be based on the structures, functions, topics, or skills. It will be
easy to follow if a textbook is organized.
16 As stated by Brown 2007, the other essential part of a textbook is
sequence. A good textbook should be sequenced. Riddell 2003:205 says “language covered should have a logical progression starting the book at one
level, and finishing it at the higher level.” The sequence of the content can be based on the basis of complexity, learn-ability, or usefulness. Besides sequence, a
textbook should also cover recycling process. According to Cunningsworth 1995: 28, “In the case of grammar and vocabulary, items not only need to be met in
context and actively practised, they need to be recycled three, four or more times before they become in the long-term memory”.
The next criterion of design and organization is the availability of accompanying materials. Cunningsworth 1995 stated that textbook must be
supported by the other materials. Brown 2007 and Harmer 2007 also agree that a good textbook should provide complete package to support the materials.
According to Graves 2000: 174, “textbooks may include supporting materials e.g., teachers’ guide, cassettes, worksheets, and video”.
The availability of individual study materials in the textbooks is also evaluated. Cunningsworth 1995: 106 states, “An increased degree of learner
autonomy, the availability to learn independently, and even to set one’s own learning objectives and monitor them, should be encouraged by textbooks through
the provision of material suitable for individual study”. By learning from textbooks, students are expected to be responsible for their own progression. As
stated by Graves 2000, textbooks should facilitate students for an individual study, so the students know what to expect and what is expected from them.
17
c. Language content aspect
Language content is an essential aspect for language textbooks. Skierso 1992 and Cunningsworth 1995 believe that grammar is one of the materials
must be given to the students. Cunningsworth adds, “Grammar is a major component of any general language course” p.32. Materials for grammar
covered in the textbooks should be appropriate for students’ level. According to Graves 2000: 174, “textbooks provide consistency within program across a
given level”. When the students learn materials that are suitable for them, they will receive and understand it easier.
The next material is vocabulary. Brown 2007, Skierso 1992, and Cunningsworth 1995 agree that vocabulary is one of important materials in
learning languages. Vocabulary is needed to express meaning in productive skill speaking and writing and to understand the expression in receptive skill
listening and reading. Cunningsworth 1995: 38 states that “students can communicate more effectively with knowledge of vocabulary than with
knowledge of grammar”. According to Riddle 2003: 105, “It is good to focus on vocabulary after as well as before a reading or listening task.” It is good because it
helps the students to know the meaning of the vocabulary used. If the students know how to use the vocabulary in receptive skill tasks, they will be able to use it
in productive skill. Cunningsworth 1995: 38 mentions four ways in delivering vocabulary to
the students. They are: 1
Semantic relations: word groups according to meaning, synonyms, hyponyms, and opposites.
18 2
Situational relationships: word sets associated with particular situations, such as sport, transport, and politics.
3 Collocations: words commonly found in association, such as food and
drink, for better or worse, also noun + preposition links and phrasal verbs verb + particle links.
4 Relationships of form: it is often referred to as ‘word building’, such as
long, length, and lengthen.
After knowing the vocabularies and the expressions, students should know how to use them appropriately in communication. This is called discourse
competence. Shumin 2002: 207 states, EFL learners must develop discourse competence, which is concerned with
intersentential relationships. In discourse, whether formal or informal, the rules of cohesion and coherence apply, which aid in holding the
communication together in a meaningful way. In communication, both the production and comprehension of a language require one’s ability to
perceive and process stretches of discourse, and to formulate representations of meaning from referents in both previous sentences and following
sentences. Therefore, effective speakers should acquire a large repertoire of structures and discourse markers to express ideas, show relationships of
time, and indicate cause, contrast, and emphasis.
According to Cunningsworth 1995:45, “discourse refers to the features of language use that go beyond the domain of grammar rules and include areas such
as the sequencing of sentences, cohesion, paragraphing structuring text, participation in conversations, etc”. Discourse competence is developed in
textbooks for spoken and written skills. For spoken skills, Cunningsworth 1995:46 says, “dialogue or listening should be reasonably representative of
natural spoken English”. While for written skills, he states that “A reading text should display some of the features of authentic text, such as coherent structuring
of content, paragraphing and appropriate use of cohesive devices, including
19 pronouns for anaphoric reference and conjunctives” p. 46. When students have
the discourse competence, they will be able to create meaningful texts. The next criterion is style and appropriacy. According to Cunningsworth
1995: 50, “Language is very sensitive to its context of use and is stylistically variable”. Every language has different style for communication. English as an
international language also has its style. Cunningsworth 1995:50 states, “Stylistic differences in English can be signalled by aspects of grammar, choice of
vocabulary, discourse structure and aspects of phonology”. While appropriacy is important when using a language in order to adjust to the social situations.
d. Skills aspect
Skills listening, speaking, reading, and writing are the core of language learning. According to Cunningsworth 1995: 64, “textbook deals adequately
with all four skills, taking the level and overall aims into account, and suitable balance between the skills”. In order to help the students to relate each skill,
integration is needed. As stated by Jordan 1997, “the advantage of integration is that students can see the relationship between skills, which can serve as a model
for their own studies and projects” p.141. First skill to evaluate is listening. Textbook should provide authentic
listening materials for the students. The importance of authenticity of recorded listening material is stated by Cunningsworth 1995. He says that “The speed of
speaking should be appropriate to the learners’ ability and level, and where different accents are used, they should not normally deviate too drastically from
20 whichever standard variety the students have become used to from their teacher
and previous listening” p. 67. Before listening activities, the students need to know about the materials
they are going to listen. It can be done by providing background information or pre-questions. Cunningsworth 1995 notes the importance of pre-questions in
listening activities. He says that, “this gives purpose to the activity, allows an element of prediction and makes the passage more accessible by placing it in a
context” p. 67. Field 2002: 243 also states, “The aims of pre-listening activities are to provide sufficient context to match what would be available in real life and
to create motivation by asking learner to speculate on what they will hear”. After listening activities, students’ comprehension needs to be checked. To
evaluate students’ comprehension, comprehension questions should be prepared. Field 2002 states that by giving the comprehension questions, the teachers can
ensure that the students listen with a clear purpose and measure how far the students understand the material. Another way to help the students understand the
material is by giving tasks or activities. According to Field 2002: 244, “More effective than traditional comprehension is the current practice of providing a task
where learners do something with the information they have extracted from the text”. It is effective because tasks or activities demand individual responses from
the students. Speaking skill is the second skill to evaluate. According to Cunningsworth
1995: 69, “The more mechanical aspects of speaking are also covered in pronunciation practice, where this forms part of the course package, and these
21 elements combined normally ensure that students receive good spoken models
from their teachers and ample opportunity to practise themselves”. Textbooks should provide speaking activities that can help the students to be more
confidence to participate in a conversation. Next skill to evaluate is reading skill. Cunningsworth 1995 mentions
several purposes of reading text, they are “developing reading skills and strategies, presentingrecycling grammar items, extending vocabulary, providing
models for writing, and giving information of interest to students” p. 73. There are some points that should be considered in providing reading texts. According to
Cunningsworth 1995: 73, “reading passages should be interesting, as authentic as possible considering the level, and well presented and accompanied by
purposeful activities which help the reading process”. The last skill to evaluate is writing skill. According to Cunningsworth
1995: 80, “Writing activities in textbook are normally of the controlled or guided kind, where a model is given and the student’s task is to produce
something similar, usually based on additional information given”. Writing is a process that students need to follow. Textbooks should provide appropriate
writing activities for the students. The aims of writing activities as mentioned by Cunningsworth 1995 are to familiarize students with the way written text is
organized in terms of its discourse structure and to help the students to use language with an appropriate style. He also states that “writing activities should
deal with paragraphing which is the basic unit of organization for most kind of
written English” p. 80.
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e. Topic aspect
Textbooks as part of language learning should provide materials related to real life situation. It is because the aim of language learning is to help the students
to be able to communicate in the social life. Textbooks need to equip students who have various backgrounds. As stated by Cunningsworth 1995: 86,
Learners come to class with, among other attributes, knowledge, attitudes, skills, cognitive abilities, curiosity and experience. Language learning as a
process will relate to and engage these attributes so that the learning process is enriched and made more meaningful. Textbooks can contribute to this
process by including subject matter which, whilst being primarily designed for language teaching, is also informative, challenging, amusing, exciting
and occasionally provocative. They can provide opportunities for expanding students’ experience in general, as well as in language learning.
Students will learn more enthusiastic if the topics they are learning are
interesting. Cunningsworth 1995 states, “topics which are real and immediate must command more interest and response from learners than imaginary, made-up
content” p. 86. Another discussion about topic is stated by Riddell 2003. He says that the topic for higher level should be challenging and more thought-
provoking, for example technology, jobs, culture, etc. While for the lower level, the topic should be easier.
Social and cultural context which closely related to the students can also gain their interests. According Cunningsworth 1995: 90, “textbook sets its
material in social and cultural contexts that are comprehensible and recognizable to the learners, in terms of location, social mores, age group, etc”. When the topics
are close to students’ real life, they will be able to relate the language use to their social and cultural situations.
23 Besides social and cultural context, textbooks should cover topics where
women are portrayed equally with men. The other aspects that can be discriminated such as ethnic origin, occupation, age, social class, and disability
must be presented equally in the textbooks. Cunningsworth 1995 agrees that equal presentation of those aspects will give a better perspective to the students
and will avoid negative stereotyping.
f. Methodology aspect
Every textbook has its own way in delivering the materials. According to Cunningsworth 1995: 97, “One of the functions of textbooks is to present the
language in such a way that it is learned as effectively and quickly as possible”. Textbook should be prepared for some teaching-learning situations so that it can
be used widely. Cunningsworth 1995: 99 mentions some principles to be implemented in textbooks, which are:
1 There should be controlled presentation of language
2 Rules need to be learned, either inductively or deductively
3 There should be balance of accuracy and fluency
4 Skills need to be learned both separately and in an integrated way
5 Communicative practice should resemble real-life language use
6 Learning activities should be varied
By joining teaching learning activities, students are expected to be more confident in using language they are learning. Textbooks are provided to support
teaching learning activities and help the students to understand the materials and not to make the students become dependent on the textbooks. Cunningsworth
1995: 105 states that, Textbooks have anything very explicit to say about the learner’s role in the
language-learning process, but it is clear from the nature of the material that students are expected to hypothesize about rules, participate actively in
24 leaning activities, relate material to their own experiences and personal lives
and undertake a variety of tasks which involve problem solving of one sort or another.
Textbook should concern to students’ learning style. Every student has different learning style and it should be respected by teachers or textbooks. They
cannot be forced to use certain method because as stated by Cunningsworth 1995, “individuals have different learning strategies and will not respond to
methods which they distrust” p. 106. One of solutions to overcome it is by providing advice and guidance for the students. According to Cunningsworth
1995, it will help the students to know the best learning technique for them and support them in improving skills. He also states that by providing guidance,
“students are encouraged to take some degree of responsibility for their own learning” p. 108.
g. Teachers’ books aspect
Teachers’ book is the most important package accompanying textbooks. Graves 2000 says that teachers’ book is one of the supporting materials that
should be provided by textbooks. It is important because it provides detail information about how to use the textbooks in teaching learning activities.
According to Cunningsworth 1995: 112, mentions some functions of teachers’ book. They are:
1 Setting out the guiding principles of the course
2 Stating the aims and objectives of the course
3 Describing the basis for the selection and grading of the language
content 4
Explaining the rationale for the methodology used 5
Giving an overview of the way the course is constructed, and of how the different parts relate to one another
6 Providing practical guidance on how to use the material
25 7
Giving linguistic information necessary for effective use of the material in class
8 Providing background cultural information where this is necessary in
order to understand the contexts being used in the material 9
Promoting better understanding of the principles and practice of language-teaching in general, and helping to develop teaching skills
h. Practical consideration
Practical consideration is the last aspect of the checklist. According to Cunningsworth 1995, there are several criteria to evaluate in this aspect. First
criterion is that textbooks should represent good value or money. Second, textbooks should be strong and long-lasting. Appearance of the textbooks should
be attractive in order to gain students’ interest. Besides, textbooks should be easily to obtain. And the last is whether the textbooks require any particular equipment
or not. The less equipment is needed, the more practical the textbooks are.
5. Genre-Based Approach
Since 2004, English curriculum is designed according to the expectation for the students to be able to communicate in English as one of their skills.
Agustien 2006: 2 states that “the communicative events are realized in texts: spoken and written”. The types of text genres developed in the English
curriculum include transactional conversations to get something done, interpersonal conversations to establish and maintain social relations, short
functional texts announcements, greeting cards etc., monologues and essays of certain genres. Senior high school graduates are expected to be ready to face
various texts at university level. For this reason, the text types determined for senior high school levels include: descriptive, report, news item, narrative,
26 discussion, explanation, exposition, and review. Agustien 2006: 2 says “if the
main goal is to develop communicative competence or the ability to communicate, a curriculum or a syllabus that is text-based need to be developed.”
There are some approaches that can be used to implement text-based syllabus. Two examples of approaches are the natural approach and the genre-
based approach. According to Feeze and Joyce 2002, the most effective methodology for implementing text-based syllabus is the genre-based approach.
Feeze and Joyce explain that the genre based approach to language learning was first developed in Australia through the work of educational linguist
and educators who have been working with disadvantaged groups of students. The approach is now used in all sectors of education.
6. The teachinglearning cycle
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