Brandon McLeod

FL 561 Teaching Languages

Dr. Burnett
29 September 2015
Textbook Review 1

The textbook selected for this review is Reading Connections 5: From Academic Success
to Everyday Fluency by Andrew E. Bennett (2011). The textbook is content-based, so each unit
has a different theme to try to engage the students. Each chapter in this textbook follows the
same format: Pre-reading Questions (accessing prior knowledge), Vocabulary Warm-up, Part I
Reading, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Building, Part II Focus Areas (affixes, grammar,
discussion questions, short answer writing, and testinglisting comprehension and reading
comprehension), and Supplementary Reading. Overall, the textbook provides a decent startingoff point for instructors. That is, it is not nearly sufficient on its own.
Utilizing the Shrum and Glisan (2010) chart (p. 65), the format of the text adequately
covers numbers: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 (though only for writing, and even that is only meant for the student
and the instructor to see), 17, and 20. There are very few interactive activities where learners
would need to negotiate meaning (only small group discussions, where negotiation would arise
incidentally). The readings and audios in the textbook are contrived, though they do fit the
themes well. For the most part, activities in the text follow the content of the chapters, but they
are not contextualized as to how they relate to larger communicative goal. Moreover, the
grammar points covered seem arbitrarily chosen at best. For instance, Unit Three covers the

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difference between whereas and whereby, while Unit Fourteen covers Expressions of Quantity
+ Subject/Verb Agreement (Bennett, 2011, p. ix-xi). As for visuals, realia, and authentic
materials, there are pictures in the textbook, but that is the full extent of visuals. There are no
realia or authentic materials used. Additionally, there are no activities that encourage the students
to follow up on the content they are interested in; there are no activities to encourage the use of
the language with native speakers; and, though there are (very short) practice tests, there are no
strategies given on how to study for, practice, or take tests. In summary, while this textbook does
have a few good qualities, it is not one that I would recommend for the ESL/EFL classroom. Its
lack of authentic materials and engaging activities show that it is inadequate.
Textbook Evaluation
Rate each criterion on the following scale: 3 = Excellent
Rating

2 = Satisfactory

1 = Poor

Criterion

1. Features an organization based on relevant and interesting topics and cultural

contexts

2. Provides activities in which students talk to each other, share information and
opinions, ask personalized questions, and express feelings and ideas

3. Provides tasks in which students must negotiate meaning with one another

4. Provides authentic oral input (audiotapes, videotapes, CD-ROM programs) that

has engaging content and tasks

5. Provides authentic printed texts (newspaper/magazine articles, ads, poems, short

stories) that have engaging content and tasks

6. Suggests strategies for comprehending and interpreting oral and written texts

7. Includes pre-listening/pre-viewing/pre-reading tasks

8. Includes tasks in which students speak and write to an audience of listeners/

readers (i.e., process-oriented tasks)

9. Provides contextualized and meaningful activities that relate to a larger

communicative goal

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10. Presents clear, concise grammar explanations that are necessary for
communication

11. Presents vocabulary thematically, in context, and with the use of visuals and
authentic realia

12. Provides for integrated practice of the three modes of communication

13. Presents an accurate view of the cultures in which the target language is spoken

14. Includes visuals for presenting vocabulary and illustrating authentic cultural
aspects (overhead transparencies, visuals, PPT slides, realia)

15. Provides opportunities for students to discover and explore the products of the
culture and their relationship to cultural perspectives

16. Provides opportunities for students to discover and explore the practices of the
culture and their relationship to cultural perspectives

17. Provides opportunities for students to use the target language to learn about other
subject areas

18. Engages students in using the target language to acquire new information on
topics of interest

19. Provides opportunities for students to compare key features of the native and
target languages in interesting ways

20. Provides opportunities for students to compare products, practices, and

perspectives of the native culture and target cultures in interesting ways

21. Includes activities in which students use the target language with peers in other
communities and target language regions (e-mail, World Wide Web, interactive
video, field trips)

22. Provides opportunities for students to select authentic texts to explore for
enjoyment and learning

23. Provides contextualized, performance-based achievement tests with scoring

rubrics

24. Suggests strategies for assessing student progress in attaining standards

25. Integrates technology effectively into instruction (audiotapes, videotapes,

interactive video, CD-ROM, World Wide Web, e-mail, online chatrooms)

Source: Shrum & Glisan, 2005, original material; revised 2008. (modified from Shrum and
Glisan, 2008, p. 65)

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References
Bennett, A. (2011). Reading connections 5: From academic success to everyday fluency. Boston,
MA: Heinle.
Shrum, J. and Glisan, E. (2010). Teachers handbook: Contextualized language instruction.

Boston, MA: Heinle.

McLeod, Brandon 6!
Brandon McLeod
FL 561 Teaching Languages
Dr. Burnett
29 November 2015
Textbook Review 2
The textbook selected for this review is Leap Advanced Listening and Speaking by Ken
Beatty (2013). The textbook is content-based. Each chapter utilizes a different them to try to
engage students varying interests. Each chapter has identical formats which go in the following
order: Overview; Gearing Up; Vocabulary Build; 3 listening sections including Before You
Listen, While You Listen, After You Listen; Warm Up Assignment, Academic Survival
Skills, and Final Assignment. Overall, while the textbook does cover interesting topics and
utilizes authentic materials, it falls short in areas related to skill building, meaningfulness, and
applicability. For an instructor to use this textbook, they would need to incorporate large amounts
of other materials and activities.
Utilizing the Shrum and Glisan (2010) chart (p. 65), this text scores excellent ratings only
20% of all assessed areas: 1, 4, 5, 17, and 18. What is worse is that it scores as inadequate on
40% of all assessed areas. Even in the areas where the scores were highest, the excellent rating
was only given because of the vagueness of the assessment chart. For instance, items 3 and 4 on
the Shrum and Glisan chart received 3s because all recordings and readings are authentic.
However, the content is questionable in its applicability. There are few students who will need to
know terms like embodied cognition (Beatty, p. 44 62). In this regard, though the content is
authentic (taken from publicly available podcasts and interviews), they are not necessarily

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beneficial for the students. Additionally, the text makes use of a variety of dialects. Though this
does add to the authenticity of the material, it is quite difficult, even for advanced students to
switch between dialects even within the same chapter. Moreover, there are very few interactive
activities where learners would need to negotiate meaning (only small group discussions, where
negotiation would arise incidentally). Grammar is not a focus of this text and would have to be
covered by the instructor as supplemental instruction. There is some use of online materials,
which, at first, seems promising, but the content available online is less beneficial than the
content within the text. In the text, the students must analyze and interpret text and audio, but the
online activities are only vocabulary cloze exercises (presented without context) and listening
comprehension questions (the listenings are the same as the ones within the text). In addition, the
online components frequently had errors and would not function properly. In the end, this text
was an attempt at being contemporary and authentic, but the result is that students will become
overwhelmed with vocabulary that is not useful and website activities that do not work. In other
words, instead of being actively engaged, the students will be frustrated. It seems as if the writer
just did the amount of work needed to make the text appear more authentic and relevant. One
example of what one should expect in this text can be found on page vi. In the chart describing
the areas of focus for each chapter, chapter 8 lists ccommunications [sic] (p. vi). Overall, I
would not recommend this text for use in the ESL/EFL classroom.
Textbook Evaluation
Rate each criterion on the following scale: 3 = Excellent
Rating

Criterion

2 = Satisfactory

1 = Poor

McLeod, Brandon 8!

1. Features an organization based on relevant and interesting topics and cultural

contexts

2. Provides activities in which students talk to each other, share information and
opinions, ask personalized questions, and express feelings and ideas

3. Provides tasks in which students must negotiate meaning with one another

4. Provides authentic oral input (audiotapes, videotapes, CD-ROM programs) that

has engaging content and tasks

5. Provides authentic printed texts (newspaper/magazine articles, ads, poems, short

stories) that have engaging content and tasks

6. Suggests strategies for comprehending and interpreting oral and written texts

7. Includes pre-listening/pre-viewing/pre-reading tasks

8. Includes tasks in which students speak and write to an audience of listeners/

readers (i.e., process-oriented tasks)

9. Provides contextualized and meaningful activities that relate to a larger

communicative goal

10. Presents clear, concise grammar explanations that are necessary for
communication

11. Presents vocabulary thematically, in context, and with the use of visuals and
authentic realia

12. Provides for integrated practice of the three modes of communication

13. Presents an accurate view of the cultures in which the target language is spoken

14. Includes visuals for presenting vocabulary and illustrating authentic cultural
aspects (overhead transparencies, visuals, PPT slides, realia)

15. Provides opportunities for students to discover and explore the products of the
culture and their relationship to cultural perspectives

16. Provides opportunities for students to discover and explore the practices of the
culture and their relationship to cultural perspectives

17. Provides opportunities for students to use the target language to learn about other
subject areas

18. Engages students in using the target language to acquire new information on
topics of interest

19. Provides opportunities for students to compare key features of the native and
target languages in interesting ways

McLeod, Brandon 9!

20. Provides opportunities for students to compare products, practices, and

perspectives of the native culture and target cultures in interesting ways

21. Includes activities in which students use the target language with peers in other
communities and target language regions (e-mail, World Wide Web, interactive
video, field trips)

22. Provides opportunities for students to select authentic texts to explore for
enjoyment and learning

23. Provides contextualized, performance-based achievement tests with scoring

rubrics

24. Suggests strategies for assessing student progress in attaining standards

25. Integrates technology effectively into instruction (audiotapes, videotapes,

interactive video, CD-ROM, World Wide Web, e-mail, online chatrooms)

Source: Shrum & Glisan, 2005, original material; revised 2008. (modified from Shrum and
Glisan, 2008, p. 65)
Total rating: 45 out of a possible 75 (and a minimum possible score of 25)

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References
Beatty, K. (2013). Leap advanced listening and speaking. Saint-Laurent, QC: Pearson.
Shrum, J. and Glisan, E. (2010). Teachers handbook: Contextualized language instruction.
Boston, MA: Heinle.