Textbook Evaluation Literature Review

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A. Literature Review

In this section, the literature review covers some explanations on textbook evaluation, pragmatics, directives and requests, request strategies, contextual information and related studies.

1. Textbook Evaluation

Evaluation of textbooks is carried out due to several possible reasons. One of those reasons is that according to Tomlinson 2010, there is a disadvantage of using textbooks for language learning because not many textbooks writers apply language acquisition principles when developing materials. Tomlinson 2010 also argues that currently most local textbooks for English Language Teaching ELT are developed for commercial purposes rather than for learners’ language acquisitions recommended by scholars and educators. This fact may become an issue for language learners to learn language from textbooks that they rely on. Therefore, textbook evaluation is not only an alternative in the expectation for a better quality of textbooks but is also a need in the educational field. Masuhara 1998, in Tomlinson, 1998 categorizes textbook evaluation into three main types. They are pre-use which can be considered as a prediction about the appropriateness of the textbooks for future use, whilst-use which copes with the measurement of currently used textbooks, and post-use. According to Cunningsworth 1995, the post-use process of textbook evaluation generally refers to the process of making objective judgements after textbooks have been used for a period of time. Hutchinson and Torres 2004 point out several aspects in evaluation textbooks that one involved in the process of textbook evaluation should take into account. They are as follows. a. Evaluation should be used as a basement for teaching and learning b. Evaluation is aimed at serving as a guideline for teachers c. Evaluation will provide ‘support and relief’ for the burden of looking for materials d. Evaluation guarantees to open the ways for cognitive understanding e. A thorough evaluation provides a complete picture or the text in its most possible way f. Evaluation renders out a psychological support to the teachers when they undergo crucial problems while teaching In the textbook evaluation, there are several critera to which anyone evaluates textbooks can refer. Cunningsworth 1995 suggests at least four main criteria for evaluationg textbooks. They are as follows. a. Textbooks should correspond to the learners’ needs which means that the contents of the textbooks should fit and fulfill the necessities of what learners need b. Textbooks should reflect the different situational uses of language in real life from which learners can learn to perform and use language based on context c. Textbooks should take into account for students needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes without dogmatically imposing a rigid method d. Textbooks should have a clear role as support for learning which means that the language in te textbooks should reflect language that can be easily understood by learners to help them comprehend the materials Cunningsworth 1995 also provides a checklist for evaluating textbooks. The checklist covers those as follows  aims and objectives  design and organization  language content  skills  topic  methodology  teacher’s book  practical consideration. In relation to language content, textbook evaluation focuses on the investigation which attempts to figure out if or not the language used in the textbooks is authentic. It implies that textbooks should provide language that is really used i n the learners’ real life. This is because referring to Cunningsworth 1995 textbooks should reflect the different situational uses of language based on context.

2. Materials and Good Materials