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Curriculum Material Development

Assignment of Material Evaluation
Debora Setyaningtiyas_2215081434_08REGDIKB
12/6/2010

STATE UNIVERSITY OF JAKARTA

[DEBORA SETYANINGTIYAS (2215081434)_ 08REGDIK B December 6, 2010

I. Theories about effective foreign language learning

1. Materials should contain exercises that lead the students to learn the target language interactively. 2. Cultural aspects of the target language should be a part of the material.

II. Criteria of effective foreign language learning

1. Exercises of the coursebook mostly ask the students to do pair-work, problem-solving tasks, dialogue, discussion. 2. 3. Include materials that illustrate the connection between language and culture. Engage students with activities and materials which bridge them in real-world context. 4. In learning process, teacher tells the students the cultural connotations, especially the sociolinguistic aspects of language. 5. Teacher screens his/her techniques for material that may be culturally offensive.

III. Some quotations from experts that are used to support the theories
Wilga Rivers in Brown: Through interaction, students can increase their language store as they listen to or read authentic linguistic material or even the output of their fellow students in discussions, skits, join problem-solving tasks, or dialogue journals. In interaction, students can use all the posses of the language all they have learned or casually absorbed in real-life exchanges. .... Even at an elementary stage, they learn in this way to exploit the elasticity of language. (1987: 4-5) p. 165. In the Interaction Hypothesis, Michael Long proposes that while both input and output are necessary for second language acquisition, in order to gain a greater understanding of how this works, one should focus more attention on the interactions language learners engage in (Long, 1981, 1983a, 1983b.). blog.mangolanguages.com/tag/interaction-hypothesis/

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[DEBORA SETYANINGTIYAS (2215081434)_ 08REGDIK B December 6, 2010

Especially in second language learning contexts, the success with which learners adapt to a new cultural milieu will affect their language acquisition success, and vice versa, in some possibly significant ways. (Brown, p.65) In reality, what most teachers and students seem to lose sight of is the fact that knowledge of the grammatical system of a language [grammatical competence] has to be complemented by understanding (sic) of culture-specific meanings [communicative or rather cultural competence] (Byram, Morgan et al., 1994: 4). Culture in language learning is not an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It is always in the background, right from day one, ready to unsettle the good language learners when they expect it least, making evident the limitations of their hard-won communicative competence, challenging their ability to make sense of the world around them. (Kramsch, 1993: 1) The teaching of culture is not akin to the transmission of information regarding the people of the target community or countryeven though knowledge about (let alone experience of) the target group is an important ingredient (Nostrand, 1967: 118). Language does not exist apart from culture, that is, from the socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determines the texture of our lives (Sapir, 1970: 207). radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/...3/7-thanasoulas.html

IV. Course book Identity

Title Authors : Be Global with English 1 : 1. Deddy Suryana 2. Sri Sugiharti 3. Ety Zuriaty 4. Kusmana

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Publisher

: Yudhistira

[DEBORA SETYANINGTIYAS (2215081434)_ 08REGDIK B December 6, 2010 Year of publishing : 2007

V. Chapter Evaluation
According to Nunan, here are things that can be used to evaluate a course book; Clarity of Instruction Instruction is one of the important components of a course book. It reflects how the authors of a course book lead the users to do series of exercises which is aimed to achieve certain objectives. If the instruction is stated clearly, the comprehension will be gained, vice versa. What I learn from the chapter 1 of Be Global with English 1 course book is each instruction is clearly stated with the use of simple words and very easy to understand. It is important to know that every chapter of this book seems to emphasize oral cycle and written cycle. Therefore, it influences the way of the author writes the instructions. In oral cycle, instructions are written to sharpen speaking skill of the students. Besides, all of the instructions of this part try to apply interactive learning as I mentioned above. For example, students are asked to make a dialogue with their partner, make a group of three to practice a dialogue, and speak up in front of the class individually. In written cycle, instructions are intended to sharpen the writing skill of the students without forgetting the interactive point itself. The instructions in both of oral and written cycle also reflect real-world context, so according to such considerations, I assume that this book is interactive and suitable to use in language learning process. Clarity of Layout

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[DEBORA SETYANINGTIYAS (2215081434)_ 08REGDIK B December 6, 2010 Comprehensibility of Texts Texts in this book are understandable and interesting to read, so it can encourage the students to learn. Theres no text in this book which is too long and difficult too understand because the choice of words of the authors seem to adjust the cognitive aspect of Junior High School students. The content of the texts in general represents what happens in the real world also. Then illustrations are given to visualize what the text means. The texts can be categorized applying interactive language learning because the follow-up activity after reading those texts is mostly practicing the dialogue. However, cultural aspects which are important in language learning process do not consider as a necessary point. Thats the minus point of this book. Achievability of Tasks I believe that good instructions along with the comprehensible texts and tasks are perfect combination to gain the achievability of tasks. So far, I learn that Be Global with English 1 course book has all those components. Im sure that if students use this book as their English course book, they can do most of tasks successfully because the arrangement of the tasks is systematic enough. Here, the authors arranged the tasks from the simple task to a little bit complicated one. The tasks of this book also try to connect the previous task with the new task. Besides, the tasks stimulate the students to learn interactively. Flexibility of the Materials

Appeal of The Materials In the first page of this chapter, there are a prologue which gives us a description in general about the chapter Self Identity, four basic skills which try to be reached by the students after studying this chapter, communication zone and talking grammar. Most of the exercises of this coursebook are dialogue. It proves that the materials try to lead the students to learn interactively. Therefore, the materials are effective in language learning process. The focus of this coursebook are divided into two cycles oral cycle and written cycle. Exercises are emphasized based on such cycle. Sufficient illustrations are given to help the students
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understand the material easily. Another prove that this coursebook is interactively lead the students to learn is communication zone which focuses on greeting and introducing. What

[DEBORA SETYANINGTIYAS (2215081434)_ 08REGDIK B December 6, 2010 makes this coursebooks different from the other books is the existance of FYI column which tells additional information for the students about certain topic. It is one of the good point of this book but since the effective language learning process also need to consider cultural aspect of the target language, it will be better that the coursebook attaches the information about cultural aspect too like FYI column. For example, it is not polite to ask a persons age in conversation. Next, I will comment on talking grammar part. The topic of this chapter is greeting and introducing. But somehow, I think of what is written in talking grammar part is irrelevant with the topic. Motivating Power of the Materials Overall the content of this coursebook can motivate students to learn English because this coursebook has important components such as, clear instructions, comprehensible texts and tasks, sufficient illustrations. Theres also good words to say column which also tries to build students motivation.

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