Escuela de Postgrado

Universidad Nacional de Educación

Enrique Guzmán y Valle – La Cantuta

MASTER’S PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Major: Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Name :

Key/Code : 7207 / MIG-0204

Course : Production of materials and resources for ELT

Course code :

Title of work : Textbook Evaluation Standards: Finding the Rationale

Tutor : Mg. Miguel Oré de los Santos

SEMESTER 2017 – II
 Guidelines for this academic work

All participants are expected to produce a sound rationale for each of the
standards elaborated for the evaluation of ELT textbooks.
Your contribution has to provide the likely theoretical grounds you may consider
most fittingly related to each of the criterion proposed. Along this line, we expect an
appropriate quoting and the necessary source referencing.
You are also expected to contribute to round out the standards provided by
spotting any specific line or concept that might, from your perspective, have some
degree of inconsistency and suggest some concrete alternative rewording or
revision. This course of action should be grounded as well on the pertinent
rationale.
Your expected contribution can be made in pairs.
 STANDARDS PROPOSED TO EVALUATE TEXTBOOKS

ABOUT LANGUAGE

Standard Rationale

1. The book advances a 1.

communicative view of
language.

2. Includes and fosters the 2.

development of communicative
situations.

3. The contents proposed 3.

integrate language and
communicative skills.

4. Presents language in context. 4.

5. The grammar approach 5.

responds to current trends.

ABOUT LEARNING

6. The units/lessons depart from 6.

what the learner knows.

7. The topics proposed are 7.

articulated with other areas of
knowledge (or other academic
subjects familiar to the
learners).

8. The contents show regard for 8.

the students’ needs and
interests.

9. Provides varied activities that 9.

reflect concern for the learners´
different learning styles.

10. The contents are carefully 10.

graded and sequenced.
11. The contents foster an 11.
intercultural approach.

12. The goals proposed all through 12.

are realistic and seemingly
achievable (in relation to the
specific context).

13. Provides activities and 13.

opportunities for transfer.

14. Unit closings provide activities 14.

that encourage the teacher’s
and learners’ reflection (meta-
cognition).

15. Fosters autonomous learning. 15.

16. The overall approach (from 16.

contents ´to class activities
suggested) show regard for the
learner´s self-esteem.

OVERALL LAYOUT / SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

17. Contents and illustrations are 16.

appropriately interweaved.

18. The illustrations are 17.

intercultural-sensitive.

19. Typesetting, illustrations and 18.

overall layout are motivating
enough.

20. It is complemented with 20.

materials and/or resources that
facilitate the learning process.
Here´s a few examples of what I expect from you (by way of rationale):

 As explained by Kolb (1975), ‘different people naturally prefer a certain

single different learning style’.
Thanks to the book the students can work independently, discovering
always some new to learn in response to their different rhythms, styles,
capacities, possibilities and kinds of intelligence.
Not all students learn in the same way, they all have different learning styles
(Gardner, 1972).

 ‘The students know’, and this is a factor that influences decisively the
learning process (Ausubel, 1968).
Learning is bringing something new into our cognitive structure and
attaching it to our existing background knowledge (Ausubel, 1968).

 ‘To learn meaningfully, learners must relate new knowledge to relevant

concepts they already know. New knowledge must interact with the learner’s
knowledge structure’ (DCN, 2008).
Meaningful learning ‘subsumes’ new information into existing structures and
memory systems, and the resulting associate links create stronger retention
(DCN, 2008).
If the book activities promote learning in practical situations related to the
student’s life, they are then meaningful for them (Ausubel, 1968).