Melissa Sainz

FLT 807 Temples

December 13, 2015
Cover Letter for Final Draft
In revising from my first draft to my final draft, I made several corrections. First, I
took the textbook reference information out of the first paragraph and inserted it into a
table at the beginning. Then, I corrected any awkward phrasing, grammar issues, and
citations that needed to be addressed throughout my writing. I also deleted some of the
description of the textbook, so that I could get to the analysis faster. I explained more
thoroughly how these materials are to be used in conjunction with the core curricular
materials. I, also, explicitly stated the strengths and weaknesses that I found when
examining the textbook. I organized my analysis based on these strengths and weaknesses
and revised my concluding paragraph to reflect the stated strengths and weaknesses from
the paper in regards to how well it supports the learning of ELL students. Finally, I added
a reference page at the end.

Melissa Sainz
FLT 807 Temples
December 13, 2015
Textbook Review
Title:
Grade Level:
Consulting
Authors:
Publisher
Information:
Year of
Publication:
Edition:
Number of
Pages:
ISBN:

Pearson Language Central English Language Development (ELD)

5th Grade Teacher Edition and Student Reader
Jim Cummins, Lily Wong Fillmore, Georgia Garcia, and Jill Kerper Mora
Pearson Education
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
2011
First Edition
220 pages
978-1-428-43516-2 and 978-0-328-63438-5

My intention is to review the Pearson Language Central teacher edition and

student reader for 5th grade as it is aligned with core content objectives for fifth grade,
along with its ability to give English language learners explicit language instruction that
they will need in order to master grade level content. Pearson Language Central is meant
to supplement the grade level content included in the Reading Streets textbook. The
intended population for these materials is fifth grade students that have been identified as
English Language Learners (ELL) based on a home language survey and their score on
the WIDA assessment. All students are given access to the main curriculum during their
traditional ELA core lesson with their homeroom teacher. ELLs are then pulled at a
separate time to work in a small group with the ELL teacher for approximately sixty
minutes using these materials.
Both the Reading Streets 5th grade textbook and the Pearson Language Central
textbook are comprised of the same six units organized by theme. The Pearson

Language Central book also includes a comprehension handbook at the beginning and a
vocabulary handbook at the end. Each unit of the Pearson Language Central contains
five subsections that are aligned with the weekly stories taught via the grade level
textbook from Reading Streets, also published by Pearson. Inside each subsection, there
are five activities that are aligned with the question of the week. Objectives are not
listed in the student textbook, but are printed in the teacher edition that accompanies it.
Each week contains five activities: vocabulary in context, language workshop,
comprehension support, grammar, and think, talk and write. These activities range from
reading and comprehension to specific focus on grammar forms and practice to writing
and discussion. Throughout the textbook, the authors have included several types of
graphics and illustrations to support students language skills. Also, a wide variety of
cultures are included throughout the book and supporting activities. This is important,
especially for ELL students, as they realize that one language or culture should not
dominate another one. All language learning should be additive, not subtractive
(Larsen-Freeman and Anderson, 2011, p. 169).
The authors have also included some reference material in the student reader.
First, there is a glossary that contains the pronunciation, part of speech, and definition for
each vocabulary word. Another is a comprehension handbook, entitled Picture It!. This
consists of illustrations that describe twelve different comprehension skills. Examples of
the skills included are authors purpose, drawing conclusions, generalizing, literary
elements, and sequencing, among others. Finally there is a vocabulary handbook, entitled
Words!. This consists of illustrations and strategies for eleven language forms. Examples

of the language forms included are antonyms, context clues, prefixes, suffixes, and word
families, among others.
According to their website, www.pearsonschool.com, this textbook is designed to
support students in mainly productive skills. I agree with this statement as a majority of
the tasks involve discussion and written expression, although students will have inherent
opportunities to work on receptive skills during the discussion and readings. It is up to the
teacher to ensure that students are getting appropriate teaching in both receptive and
productive skills. This textbook seems to be based on the presentation-practiceproduction (PPP) model. Each activity consists of a presentation of a skill, followed by a
practice that usually involves a discussion, and an opportunity for the students to practice
on their own. Tomlinson (2012) states that the PPP module usually incorporates a
focus on discrete forms and frequent use of such low level practice activities as listen and
repeat, dialogue repetition, matching and filling in the blanks (p. 160). The activities in
the book represent both top-down approaches in the reading comprehension sections, as it
focuses on comprehension skills, as well as bottom-up approaches, as it focuses on
specific language forms in the grammar, vocabulary and language sections. I believe it is
essential for the ELLs to receive teaching in both top-down skills, as well as bottom-up
skills, in order to support the students in their learning and mastery of grade level content,
but I would like to see more higher level activities represented.
Pearson Language Central encourages the teaching of language and content
together following the method of content-based instruction. In a CBI class, teachers
want the students to master both language and content (Larsen-Freeman and Anderson,
2011, p. 139). This textbook follows the exact objectives as the general education

curriculum. When ELL students are pulled out of class for a small group, they are getting
additional support in not only language but also the current ELA objectives from their
class. As the students make meaningful connections to content taught in the general
education class, their level of motivation in both their ELL small group and their general
education class may increase. Additionally, a majority of the units include science and
social studies content through the stories. As students read, discuss and write about these
stories, they are also learning that content.
Overall, this seems to be a sound program designed to explicitly teach ELL
students and accelerate their growth for success in their general education setting.
However, I am concerned about the decreased level of rigor compared with the general
education textbook. The Pearson website claims that students use English in real-life,
meaningful settings. Using Pearson Language Central, students are required to read two
or three short paragraphs while in class they may be required to read fifteen page stories
or more. The authors may be intentionally simplifying the content in order to focus more
intensively on reading and writing skills. However, this can become a problem because as
the materials are altered, they become less authentic. As a teacher, I would be concerned
that the language level that the students produce would match the level of material that
they are receiving. This can become a problem as they attempt to transfer the skills they
are learning in their ELL small group to the general education setting.
The ELL teachers implement this textbook in a small group setting as a
supplement to the core curriculum, although curriculum specialists that are far removed
from the classroom developed it. According to Graves (2014), if there is problems in
implementation, the fault is often seen as the teachers for not following the curriculum

plan faithfully (p. 52). I am concerned that this would be the case with this curriculum,
especially at my school since we are highly encouraged (if not mandated) to follow the
textbook explicitly, almost verbatim. I believe that this textbook would best be used in
combination with the grade level curriculum that is individualized to students needs
according to formative assessment and a needs analysis. I would encourage teachers to
utilize the activities included in this textbook, but also create their own authentic tasks
that build upon these activities. For example in a grammar section where the focus is on
future tense, the teacher could create a project in which students must use the future
tense, instead of solely relying on the short grammar activity. I am interested to research
more on the assessment types provided by Pearson that are aligned with Pearson
Language Central, as well as teacher created assessments that are used in the classroom. I
would like to interview teachers to better understand how they utilize either assessment
type to inform their teaching and implementation of this textbook.
Overall, I believe that it is beneficial for the students to have specific ELL
curricular materials in a school. Additionally, it is valuable to have a curriculum that is
designed as a supplement to the core curriculum that is already in use in the building.
This allows both the teachers and students to make explicit connections between what
they are learning in different contexts. It is also beneficial for students to get instruction
in both top-down and bottom-up skills for reading and writing. This will allow for these
students to get the support that they need for both specific language forms, as well as
support in a more holistic approach to reading and writing. I like that this textbook
includes several graphics and illustrations throughout the units and has a great diversity
of cultures represented throughout the texts. There are also many opportunities for

students to work on their productive skills in speaking and writing throughout the six
units. In using these materials, I would encourage that teachers only utilize what is
appropriate for their learners based on a needs assessment and then supplement for areas
that their students need but are not covered by this material. For example, teachers may
also want to incorporate more higher-level thinking skills within the tasks and activities
that are provided within the textbook or provide more explicit activities to support
receptive skills.

References:
Graves, K. (2014). Ch 4: Syllabus and curriculum design for second language teaching.
In Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Snow, M.A. (Eds.), Teaching English as a
second or foreign language (4th ed.) (pp.46-62). Boston, MA: Heinle.
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques & principles in language
teaching (3rd ed.). Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language learning and
teaching. Language Teaching, 45(2), 143-179.