Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin

Facultad de Educacin
Learning and Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language

COURSEBOOK ANALYSIS

Names: Nayareth Hernndez

Karen Utreras

Factual details
Title: Bounce 3 in Chile
Author(s): Julie Kniverton, Angela Llanas and Lina Alvarado Jantus
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers S.A de C.V./Ediciones Cal y Canto Ltda
Prize: Not available
ISBN: 9789563390285

No. of pages: 158

Components: Workbook, Answer key, Glossary

Level: Not specified
Length: 158 pages

Units: 10

Target skills: Reading, listening, speaking and writing

Target Learners: Beginners
Target teachers: School Teachers

Lessons sections: 2

Hours: 2

Analysis
FACTOR

POOR

FAIR

Accessibility
Linkage

EXCEL
LENT

Rationale
Availability

User definition
Layout/graphics

GOOD

Selection/grading

Appropiacy

Authenticity

Sufficiency

Cultural bias

Educational validity
Stimulus/practice/revision

COMMENTS
It is grammar oriented
This book is available for all public schools for free which
have included in their educational project the curricular
proposal of English.
It does not have
It is colorful; it has a variety of images and the quality of
those is good
It is given by Ministry of Education for free.
It provides 2 links per unit
It has a sequence in terms of content between units; They
are linked in terms of vocabulary and grammar.
It is appropriated for target learners (children from 8-9
years) in terms of layout and graphics, but it is not
appropriate in terms of content, because it is grammar
oriented and children do not need to be aware of the rules,
they need to use the language in a communicative way.
There is no real material. The units are based on imaginary
situations in which they are not related to the real world.
It is focused mainly on writing. According to the objective
of the book which is grammar, it is enough.
It is not culturally oriented all information is in general
terms.
It is validated by Ministry of Education
The warm up is well defined it is composed of questions
and pictures. The practice promotes receptive and

Flexibility

Guidance

Overall value for money

productive skills. Finally, the revision reinforces what has

been taught.
It is not flexible because at the beginning of every unit, the
warm up connects previous content about vocabulary and
grammar which was previously taught to the next unit.
The units are differentiated by colors and it easy to find the
information required for both students and teachers
As it is delivered by Ministry of Education, it is given for
free

CATEGORIES

Do you think
coursebooks are
important?

What are you

criteria for
choosing a
coursebook?

Importance of
coursebooks.

Criteria for choosing

a coursebook.

PARTICIPANT

I think that course books are important

depending on who you are training who
you are teaching. I dont think they should
be used to teach future teachers I think
teachers need to be taught in a more
comprehensive way, integrated culture and
advanced topic of discussion. But I think
they are very useful just to teach general
English lets say for example people from
others majors at the university or high
school students. I think Course books are
very school oriented mainly.

The criteria, the main criteria should be

the purpose and something that is not a lot
consider at university I think is the age
properness of the textbooks because I feel
that sometimes when
using at the
university textbooks which are main for
teenagers and that makes the topics are too
shallow or they are too simplistic .

COMMENT
Considering teachers opinion about this
category She/ he points out that course
books should be related to who you are
teaching; so that, she considers that course
books are not appropriate to teach English
at university level(English Pedagogy). It
can be noticed that the teacher disagree in
using course books at universitary level.
Having in mind that she/he works at
university, she let us know that she doesnt
use course books.
According to this,
Beare
poits
out
thati
important
considerations include the age, final course
(are the students going to take a test?),
objectives and whether the class is made
up of students learning for work purposes
or for hobby.

Regarding this criteria, she highlights that

the main criteria is the purpose of teaching.
Additionally, she points out the fact that
some textbooks are oriented for teaching
teenagers (schools students). It implies
that topics of course books are very
superficial when it comes to future
teachers. It seems that she has some
theoretical ideas as English for Specific
(ESP) purpose to fuel her opinion towards

course books.

Which part(s) of
Parts of CB most
the coursebook do
used.
you frequently use?

Which part I used most? I use the

listening parts because the material is
good, and probably the grammar focus
when there is one some books dont have
them but some books do I think they help
students to organize their studies but not
teacher to be others students

In this category, the interviewee

recognizes that she/he frequently uses the
listening part due to quality of the
material, however she did not explain what
is a good material for her. Also, it is
necessary to mention that she/he
is
phonetics and phonologys teacher; so
that, it could be inferred that she uses this
part in order to emphasis pronunciation.
Furthermore, she/he also uses the grammar
part because she/ he explains that it could
help to organize the knowledge when
school students are studying. According
to littlewood (1981) she uses structural
Activities in order to teacher grammar.
Finally in terms of organization that the
teacher explains, Yochanna argues that
course book offers the students stability
and security. The good course book offers
the students a sense of progress and
achievement. There is always something to
go back to and revise. It offers the students
a sense of confidence and satisfaction as
they feel they are working within a
framework and they know where they are
headed and where they've been

Which part(s) of
the coursebook do
you seldom use?

When do you
supplement the
coursebook? why?

The one that I seldom use I think are the

reading material I think is tooah the
level and the topics are not interesting
Parts of CB less used. enough for me and I think they are not
challenging enough for the students.

Context/reasons for
supplementing.

I think that youre not in the real word you

are not going to meet those simplistic texts
that you find in the textbook.

Regarding the parts of course book less

used she/he affirms that it is reading part
because she doesnt consider the reading
material interesting. It seems that the
problem of reading material is suitability
of content. Nutall (n-d) explains that
suitability of context refers to text should
be interest for readers. Finally, the teacher
hinks that reading materials are not
challenge enough for university students.
According the explanation of Littlewood
(1981) of real material he emphasizes that
the materials chosen should be a little bit
challenging compared with the students
English level. It is also supported by
Krashens theory who explains that the
input should be +1.
Considering teachers opinion about this
criteria she tends to supplement activities
of course books when she reads a text and
it is too simply for future teachers.
According the explanation of Littlewood
(1981) of real material he emphasizes that
the materials chosen should be a little bit
challenging compared with the students
English level. It is also supported by
Krashens theory who explains that the
input should be +1. The teacher explains
that students are not going to find that kind
of text in a real situation.

How do you
supplement the
CB? procedure
or activities for
supplementation

What kind of help

would you like to
have from the CB
in teaching
grammar?

What kind of help

would you like to
have from the CB
in teaching
pronunciation?

I usually supplement course books with Referring to supplementing course/books

real material, realia from websites, from she/ he looks for real material from
different sort of sources; magazines,
newspaper, from magazine.
website, newspapers.

Kind of help in
teaching Grammar.

Kind of help in
teaching
pronunciation.

I think they are very useful for teaching

grammar I personally think that
grammar is very important and Im
not afraid of teaching grammar oriented
classes because when training teachers
maybe not in a communicative class
like for others purposes but I think they
help students to organize their
grammar knowledge.
I think they need most textbooks need
to be more explicit about the teaching of
pronunciation, and intonation, particularly
because of the people we are training and
in general I think teacher should be not
only the books but teacher should be more
conscious about pronunciation and
intonation they should pay more attention
they should correct more they should really
give the importance that pronunciation and
intonation has because it creates a lot of
misunderstanding when youre not
pronouncing correctly.

She considers that course books are useful

when you want to teach grammar in order
to organize your knowledge. However, she
recognizes that it is not appropriated when
youre following a communicative
approach.

Regarding this criteria, it is possible to

infer that she doesnt think that course
books
help
you
when
teaching
pronunciation is concerned.
For this
reason, she says that course books should
be more explicit about teaching
pronunciation. Furthermore, she thinks that
teacher should be more aware of
pronunciation and intonation. Moreover,
teachers should provide more feedback
when students make mistakes in order to
avoid pronunciation misunderstandings

What kind go help

would you like to
have from the CB
in teaching lexis?

Kind of help in
teaching lexis.

What kind go help

would you like to
Kind of help in
have from the CB
teaching skills.
in teaching skills of
the lg?

I think that lexis is what most books do but

I still think that the level of books that we
are using is not good enough I think that
there are much better books in the market if
you want to use them but I think the best
way of really getting in contact with real
lexis and vocabulary is to use real
material to be exposed to real English
because English is changing sometimes we
are teaching with books that are already
kind of old fashion in their vocabulary.
I think as Im not very keen on course
books but I guess they kind of separate the
skills some of them better than others and
I think for school teachers they might
help in the development of different
skills unfortunately the problem is that
most schools teachers dont use the
teachers book and so they do not
develop the strategies properly because
they use just the students book and
students book just got the activity it
doesnt have of the previous strategies, so I

She admits that lexis is the most part used

in course books; however, she/he points
out that the level is not enough. According
to this the teacher has a similar idea to
Gilmore (2004) investigation, which states
that textbook writer use more explicit
language than normal speech. That is way;
she suggests using better books available
in the market. In contrast, she/he thinks
that the best way to teach lexis and
vocabulary is to use real material because
of the changes of the language. Also,
she/he argues why she/he uses real
material
She knows that teachers could improve
the way they teach ing strategies in order
to help students to develop the four skills.
Oxford (1990) mentions the importance of
teaching strategies. They do not use the
material given as a teacher (teachers
book). She argues that the main criteria for
choosing coursebooks is to keep in mind
the target leaners. Every course book
should be related to the level and purpose
of teaching.

think it is helpful in terms of skills but

always when we talk about course books
we should keep in mind who are we
teaching and why are we teaching. So, I
do not think every course book is good
for every purpose

Interview taped

I think that course books are important depending on who you are training who you are teaching. dont think they should be used
to teach future teachers I think teachers need to be taught in a more comprehensive way, integrated culture and advanced topic of
discussion. But I think they are very useful just to teach general English lets say for example people from others majors at the
university or high school students. I think Course books are very school oriented mainly.

The criteria, the main criteria should be the purpose and something that is not a lot consider at university I think is the age
properness of the textbooks Because I feel that sometimes when using at the university textbooks which are main for teenagers
and that makes the topics are too shallow or they are too simplistic .

Which part I used most? I use the listening parts because the material is good, and probably the grammar focus when there is one
some books dont have them but some books do I think they help students to organize their studies but not teacher to be others
students

The one that I seldom use I think are the reading material I think is tooah the level and the topics are not interesting enough for
me and I think they are not challenging enough for the students yes, I usually supplement course books with real material, realia

from websites, from newspaper, from magazine, real English not graded stuff I think that you re not in the real word you are not
going to meet those simplistic texts that you find in the textbook.

I think they are very useful for teaching grammar I personally think that grammar is very important and Im not afraid of teaching
grammar oriented classes because when training teachers maybe not in a communicative class like for others purposes but I think
they help students to organize their grammar knowledge.

I think they need most textbooks need to be more explicit about the teaching of pronunciation, and intonation, particularly
because of the people we are training and in general I think teacher should be not only the books but teacher should be more
conscious about pronunciation and intonation they should pay more attention they should correct more they should really give the
importance that pronunciation and intonation has because it creates a lot of misunderstanding when youre not pronouncing
correctly.

I think that lexis is what most books do but I still think that the level of books that we are using is not good enough I think that
there are much better books in the market if you want to use them but I think the best way of really getting in contact with real lexis
and vocabulary is to use real material to be exposed to real English because English is changing sometimes we are teaching with
books that are already kind of old fashion in their vocabulary.

I think as Im not very keen on course books but I guess they kind of separate the skills some of them better than others and I
think for school teachers they might help in the development of different skills unfortunately the problem is that most schools
teachers dont use the teachers book and so they do not develop the strategies properly because they use just the students book
and students book just got the activity it doesnt have of the previous strategies, so I think it is helpful in terms of skills but
always when we talk about course books we should keep in mind who are we teaching and why are we teaching So I do not think
every course book is good for every purpose.

References
Beare Kenneth (no date ). How To Choose a Coursebook and Other Classroom Materials. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://esl.about.com/cs/teachingresources/ht/coursebook.htm. [Last Accessed 01-12-2014].
Gilmore, A.(2004). A comparison of textbook and authentic interactions. ELT Journal. 58 (4), pp.363-374
Hongzhi, H. (2005). Applying Communicative Teaching Method in English-teaching Classroom. Sino-US English Teaching. 2
(9), pp.35-38.
Laurence, A. (no-date ). English for Specific Purposes: What does it mean? Why is it different?. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.laurenceanthony.net/abstracts/ESParticle.html. [Last Accessed 01-12-2014].
Nutall, C. (n-d). 'Selection texts'. In: Teaching Reading Skills for a Foreign Language. Adrian Underhill (ed) 1st ed.. pp.170180.
Yochanna Miri (1997). Choosing a Course Book. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.etni.org.il/etnirag/issue4/miri_yochanna.htm. [Last Accessed 01-12-2014].