Textbook Evaluation

English textbook used in K to 12 Curriculum; English for the Globalized Classroom

Series: English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Author(s): Paolo Niño M. Valdez, PhD

Copyright 2016

ISBN: 978-971-06-3754-6

Evangelista Jean

April, 2019
 AUDIENCE

1. Who are the learners? The learners are students ages seventeen

and above of any nationalities which are

studying at the Grade level of 11 and 12.

For this material evaluation, tracks and

specialization taken by these students may

despised the materials requirements.

AIMS

2. What are the aims of your course? As the English language augments greater

ground in different transactions all over the

world, the urge for competent English

language skills in professional and

academic writing becomes a vital concern

among educators. Intended to be teacher-

and-student-friendly, the English for the

Globalized Classroom Series: English

for Academic and Professional Purposes

worktext aims to render meaningful inputs

for the advancement of reading and writing

skills of students.

CONTENT
 1. What kind of language description

do you require? Should it be

structural, notional, functional,

discourse-based, some other kind, a

combination of one or more of

these?

Materials Evaluation:
Subjective Analysis

2.

The language description that the book should require are the combination

of structural linguistics, transformative and generative grammar, and functional and

notional grammar.

English for the Globalized Classroom Series: English for Academic and

Professional Purposes should engage learners in rhetorical modes of writing that

are essential in academic work. This could be managed if the language used are in

proper syntagmatic structures (structural linguistics) where it could be classified as

a statement, questions, or requests. This language description will yield variations

of words within the structural frameworks and that sentences with different

meanings can be generated. The relationship between the word and sentences

should also be taken into account (transformative generative grammar) where

sentences of same structure should be analyzed whether of having or not having the

same meaning. They will be using such writings in dealing with professionals,

should it be writing a business letters to persuade, letter of complaints to address

 issues etc. so that the learners are able to use the English language in pedagogical

manner while considering quality of their writings (functional and notional

grammar).

3. What language points should be covered?

As a writer, it is important not only to think about what you say,

but how you say it. Effective communication is not confined in having well

organized ideas expressed in complete and coherent sentences and paragraphs. One

must also think about the style, tone and clarity of his/her writing, and adapt these

elements to the reading audience. In particular, the language points that should be

covered are the structures, and vocabulary areas. The book should be considerate

of how learners would distinguish the use of appropriate words depending on the

type of academic text they are writing and how it would match the formality of the

situation and the relationship between the writer and reader.

4. What proportion of work on each macro-skill is desired? Should there be skills

integrated work?

Language teaching covers four macro-skills needed for communicating –

listening, speaking, reading and writing. Good language teachers plan lessons, and

sequences of lessons, which include a mixture of all the macro-skills, rather than

focusing on developing only one macro-skill at a time [1]

Learners of the K to 12 curricula were being trained to be an effective

communicator, both for speaking and writing means. The book English for the

Globalized Classroom Series: English for Academic and Professional Purposes

should take more focus on balancing productive skills (Speaking and writing) since

learners need to produce language to communicate their ideas in either speech or

text.

5. What micro-skills do you need?

 In contrast to the macro-skills, "micro-skills" are things that underlies the

four basic language skills, like grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling.

Language educators need all these micro-skills to be able to help learners cope with

the lesson while deducing the unfamiliar words that the textbooks contain.

6. What text-types should be included?

Text-type that should be included are manuals for further readings, letters

for samples and as guide for academic writings, books with exclusive context that

may be used to create reaction, concept or critique papers.

Teaching text types is different from assigning text types. If learners are to

use text types to write for different purposes and audience, they need to understand

how each text type works. The structures, features, and uses for each text type needs

to be modeled via mentor texts and teacher Talk-alouds. Students will need to

practice through guided writing tasks, collaborative tasks and then independently

with frequent feedback from peers and teachers. [2]

7. What subject-matter area(s) is/are required

Since the focus of the book is to use the English language in academic and

professional writing, subject-matter areas require can be for language teaching,

business grounds or journalism.

What level of knowledge should be assumed?

The level of knowledge that should be assumed are for first year college.

Though the book is designed for the learners of K to 12 curricula, the advancement

of the book content should be beyond the level of knowledge of the graders.

What type of topics are needed?

 Topics needed for the course are reading and writing for academic and

professional purposes: academic writing style and aspects of professional and

academic language. This could also include the writing strategies in writing

academic and professional texts.

Topics of this course may vary depending on what type of writings are to

be done by the learners. It may be topic about the political, social and economic

issues that may be use to produce critique papers, or should it be something to write

a position, concept and reaction papers about, or technical reports.

What treatment should the topics be given?

The learners of the course are not considered children anymore, that is why

the treatment of the topics should be given straightforward, factual, and taking into

issues and controversies.

8. How should the content be organized throughout the course?

Content of the textbook should be organized throughout the course by

language points, subject matters and study skills. Language points is to provide

learners proper language descriptions, subject-matters is to focus on providing

meaningful inputs for the development of reading and writing skills of the learners

and study skills for the competence of language use (in writing) to be built by

learners throughout the course.

9. How should the content be organized within the course units?

By the set pattern of components, contents within the course units could be

more achievable. This provides the course a framework where and what to start in

a specified unit as it follows a certain pattern. The content could also be organized

by allowing a clear focus, and that is providing the learning what academic and

professional writing and how is it to be done more, than integrating other areas that

may be far related to the course (e.g. examining a book, then doing a book review).
10. How should the content be sequence through the course?

The content should be sequence through the course from easier to more

difficult. Though learners of the course are not at the level of lower grades,

sequencing of the content in teaching academic and professional writing is

important and should still start from its preliminaries or basics for there is no such

learners that are enrolled in such course that is already a professional.

11. How should the content be sequenced within the unit?

The content should be sequenced within the unit from comprehension to

production and from accuracy to fluency. Since reading and writing are the main

target to be enhanced, guided from reading, learners are expected to comprehend

given topics from the units and be able to produce and substantiate such topics on

their own by the means of writing. Through this, the sequence from accuracy to

fluency shall be observed and enhanced.

METHODOLOGY
12. What theory/ies of learning should the course be based on? Should it be behaviorist,

cognitive, affective, some other kind, a combination of one or more of these?

Behaviorism and cognitive code learning theory should be the basis of the

course. Behaviorism in aspect where learners are passive receiver of information

long before they were able to create their own, and cognitive code where learners

should be an active processor of information through learning and using a rule that

requires the learners to think and apply these learnings during and right after the

course.

13. What aspects of the learners’ attitudes to/ expectations about learning English

should be the course take into account?

Given that learners are different in various ways, it is indeed important to

consider what should be their expectation or attitudes about learning English in the

specific course. Since English for the Globalized Classroom Series: English for

Academic and Professional Purposes’ main concern is on how the use of the

English language be effective in academic and professional writing, learners should

aim to learn new ideas about writing to function effectively in the target situation

(necessities). Should it be writing a proper letter of complaints to address issues

and resolve conflicts in a much professional way.

Learners are already an intellectual being, focusing on what they already

know in the course would be a waste of time. Learner should show enthusiasm in

fulfilling what are lacking in order achieve the goal of their course.

14. What kind of exercises/tasks are needed?

Since the book focused more on writing, tasks needed for the course should

be language skills practice to language use and should be done by the whole class

into group and finally by individual. This is to assess how do the learners

comprehend the course through collaborations, teamwork and self-assessment.

 There should also be exercises that deals about language-based to content-

based writings to examine how learners are able to apply the language being used

and put it into context of writing.

15. What teaching-learning techniques are based to be used?

The teaching-learning techniques basis to be use is through individual

outputs of the learners. In this sense, the learners are not able to depend on other

people’s decision and rely on their own knowledge and learnings of the course.

16. What aids are available for use?

Aids available for use for the course are videos, should it be about a film

documentation of social and political issues or handouts and or articles that may be

use to write an academic writing like concept papers, reaction papers, position

papers or technical reports.

17. What guidance support for teaching the course will be needed?

In terms of guidance support for teaching the course may be needed for

technical information as it contains instructions and data that is exclusive for

technical writings , language guidance for it is one of the factors to be considered

in academic and professional writing, language-skills and points to assess the level

of competency of the learners.

18. How flexible do the materials need to be?

The materials should not only be confined on what the textbook imposes. It

should seek for further studies and or activities that support the aim of the book and

that may be helpful in developing the learners’ skills in reading and writing

academic and professional texts. This may be through the means of providing

online resources for further readings or online sources that may be use for drills and

exercises.
19. What price range is necessary?

The price range necessary for the textbook is raging from Php250.00 to

Php310.00, or it may still vary depending on the publishing company. The reason

for the price is to be able to provide a number of learners the materials in a

reasonable and affordable price.

20. When and in what quantities should the materials be available?

The materials should be available a year before it should be used, so that it

will all be ready to be reproduce when it will be needed by the learners. The

quantity of the materials somewhat depends on the number of learners who were

able to purchase it.

References:

[1] https://www.indigoz.com.au/language/teachmacro.html

[2]https://www.centralriversaea.org/curriculum/literacy/writing/text-types-

purposes/

https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/how-important-subject-matter-knowledge-
teacher

classroom.jc-schools.net/finchums/textbook.doc
 Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Pablo Borbon Main I
Rizal Avenue Extension, Batangas City

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Secondary Education Department

Textbook Evaluation

English Language Arts, Grade 3; Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms

Author(s): Margo Gottlie and Gisela Ernst-Slavit

Copyright 2014 by Corwin

ISBN 978-1-4522-3479-3

Evangelista, Jhoana Jean B.

April, 2019
 Materials Evaluation:
Subjective Analysis

1. Who are the learners?

The learners are students ages eight to eleven of any nationalities which are

studying at the grade level of 3 to 5 with the knowledge of the English language.

Learners are objected to study such course to be able to pass the next grade level

should there be with or without their interest.

2. What are the aims of your course?

The English language for this course focuses on the importance of how oral

academic language development expedites their written language development

(Frey, Fisher, & Nelson, 2013).

The aim of the course should be on how to boost learner's ability to express

their thinking in academic ways through talk, so they can more efficiently read the

academic language of others and produce sophisticated writing that allows them to

influence the understanding of others.

3. What kind of language description do you require? Should it be structural, notional,

functional, discourse-based, some other kind, a combination of one or more of

these?

The language description that the book should require are the combination

of structural linguistics, transformative and generative grammar, and functional and

notional grammar.

Educator of Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms should

provide an environment in which academic language is featured prominently. This

may be possible through teaching proper syntagmatic structures (structural

linguistics) where it could be classified as a statement, questions, or requests. This

language description will yield variations of words within the structural

frameworks and that sentences with different meanings can be generated. The

relationship between the word and sentences should also be taken into account
 (transformative generative grammar) where through oral communications those of

with the same structures should be analyzed whether of having or not having the

same meaning and deduct misinterpretations. They may be using such principles of

language descriptions in conversing with professionals, should it be addressing

problems with authorities in a much-sophisticated manner, or writing some simple

formal letters that may be useful for studies like researches or thesis on the latter

part of their educational progress (functional and notional grammar).

4. What language points should be covered?

Since this is an academic language book, it talks more about the pedagogical

perspective of the learners. That is why the language points that this book should

cover are more of the language structures, functions and vocabulary areas.

The book should take into consideration on how learners would distinguish

the use of appropriate words depending social-conversational interactions they are

involve and how it would match the formality of the situation and the relationship

between the them as the speaker and his/her conversational partner as the listener.

5. What proportion of work on each macro-skill is desired? Should there be skills

integrated work?

Learners of grade level of 3 may not be consider as a child anymore. They

are supposed to have at least average ability of the macro skills namely, listening,

speaking, reading and writing. Since this book focuses more on the use of English

language in an oral conversation, Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms’

textbook should cover the balance of productive skills (Speaking and writing) since

learners need to produce language to communicate their ideas in either speech or

text.

6. What micro-skills do you need?

In contrast to the macro-skills, "micro-skills" are things that underlies the

four basic language skills, like grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling.
 Language educators need all these micro-skills to be able to help learners cope with

the lesson while deducing the unfamiliar words that the textbooks contain.

7. What text-types should be included?

Academic language could be further understood through manuals for

additional readings, like academic papers that deals with languages that may be

newly discover and use these languages to enhance learner’s communication skills

in field of professionalism.

The course should also include text-types with dialogues to set a pattern and

guidelines of a proper model of conversation flow. This would also help learners

engage in the lesson more active than reading and comprehending the entire

textbook alone.

8. What subject-matter area(s) is/are required?

Since the focus the book is books devoted to highlighting

academic language use in the design, implementation, and reflection

of standards-referenced English language arts units in Grades 3 through 5, subject-

matter areas require can be for language teaching, business grounds or journalism.

What level of knowledge should be assumed?

The level of knowledge that should be assumed are for secondary school.

Though the book is designed for the learners of grade levels of 3 to 5, the

advancement of the book content should be at least at the average level of learning.

What type of topics are needed?

Topics needed for the course may include language teaching: dimensions of

academic language, aspects of academic language or different context where such

languages are to be used.

What treatment should the topics be given?

 The pressures on all students are tremendous, but think about school for

English language learners (ELLs) who are trying to learn (and in some cases,

relearn) through a language that they have not yet mastered, English. Teachers are

duly challenged in needing to become more aware of the unique features of this

growing segment of the school population and to plan instruction that is

more strategic and nuanced for content learning that will benefit an entire

classroom of learners. School leaders, in their quest for student achievement,

are also realizing that academic language has to be a central curricular

focus for all students (Gottleib, 2014).

Learners of this course are still lacking the ability to deal in such field of

academic technicalities, that is why it is better to have treatment of the topics that

is straightforward, interesting yet factual.

9. How should the content be organized throughout the course?

Content of the textbook should be organized throughout the course by

language points, subject matters and study skills. Language points is to provide

learners proper language descriptions, subject-matters is to focus on providing

meaningful inputs for the development of reading and writing skills of the learners

and study skills for the competence of language use to be built by learners

throughout the course.

10. How should the content be organized within the course units?

By the set pattern of components, contents within the course units could be

more achievable. This provides the course a framework where and what to start in

a specified unit as it follows a certain pattern. The content could also be organized

by allowing a clear focus, and that is providing the learning what academic and

professional writing and how is it to be done more, than integrating other areas that

may be far related to the course.

11. How should the content be sequence through the course?

 The content should be sequence through the course from easier to more

difficult. Topics of the first chapter may include exploration of the complexities of

academic language, yet it seeks to eliminate possible challenges that may be

encounter throughout the course.

Since learners of the course are at the level of lower grades, sequencing of

the content in teaching academic language is important and should still start from

easier to more difficult to be able to cope up with the following topics of the course.

12. How should the content be sequenced within the unit?

The content should be sequenced within the unit from comprehension to

production and from accuracy to fluency. As teachers serve themselves as models

for the teaching of academic language, learning from them proceeds learners to be

an active participant of the course.

Since academic language is central to schooling and is one of the most

important factors influencing academic success it is also reading and writing that

are the main target to be enhanced, guided from reading, learners are expected to

comprehend given topics from the units and be able to produce and substantiate

such topics on their own by the means of speaking. Through this, the sequence from

accuracy to fluency shall be observed and enhanced.

 METHODOLOGY

13. What theory/ies of learning should the course be based on? Should it be behaviorist,

cognitive, affective, some other kind, a combination of one or more of these?

Behaviorism and cognitive code learning theory should be the basis of the

course. Behaviorism in aspect where learners are passive receiver of information

long before they were able to create their own, and cognitive code where learners

should be an active processor of information through learning and using a rule that

requires the learners to think and apply these learnings during and right after the

course.

14. What aspects of the learners’ attitudes to/ expectations about learning English

should be the course take into account?

Given that learners are different in various ways, it is indeed important to

consider what should be their expectation or attitudes about learning English in

the specific course. Since Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms’ main

concern is on how to achieve academic success in English language art, learners

should aim to open themselves to new exposed environments where they are able

to use English language proficiently to function in every target situation

(necessities).

Learners are already an intellectual being, focusing on what they already

know in the course would be a waste of time. Learner should show enthusiasm in

fulfilling what are lacking in order achieve the goal of their course.

15. What kind of exercises/tasks are needed?

As a content target assessment, the third-grade should use a performance-

based assessment that will allow differentiation related to how English language

proficiency levels affect reporting of content knowledge. Students will create

foldable study guides summarizing key points from the unit reading.
16. What teaching-learning techniques are based to be used?

The teaching-learning techniques basis to be use is through individual

outputs of the learners. In this sense, the learners are not able to depend on other

people’s decision and rely on their own knowledge and learnings of the course.

17. What aids are available for use?

Overhead projectors could work as aids to be use for the course. It will

help the teacher as well as the learners to grasp their goal in a much clearer way.

This is way efficient that reading the entire book alone. This would also help the

learners get brief information as it would only focus on important details of a

certain topic.

18. What guidance support for teaching the course will be needed?

In terms of guidance support for teaching the course may be needed for

technical information as it contains instructions and data that is exclusive for

academic practices , language guidance for it is one of the factors to be considered

in language and academic success, language-skills and points to assess the level of

competency of the learners.

19. How flexible do the materials need to be?

The materials should not only be confined on what the textbook imposes.

It should seek for further studies and or activities that support the aim of the book

and that may be helpful in developing the learners’ skills in reading and writing

academic and professional texts. This may be through the means of providing

online resources for further readings or online sources that may be use for drills

and exercises.

20. What price range is necessary?

Since the book contains almost a hundred-page, price range necessary for
 this is Php 150.00 to Php 300.00, or still may vary depending on the publishing

company or where it will be purchased.

21. When and in what quantities should the materials be available?

The materials should be available a year before it should be used, so that it

will all be ready to be reproduce when it will be needed by the learners. The quantity

of the materials somewhat depends on the number of learners who were able to

purchase it.
 References

https://www.pdfdrive.com/academic-language-in-diverse-classrooms-english-language-

arts-grades-3-5-promoting-content-and-language-learning-d157973698.html