Analyzing Linked to the World

Linked to the World is quite effective enough according to its layout and design.
Why do I say that ? Firstly, the textbook includes detailed overvie of the functions,
structures and vocabulary that ill be taught in each unit. !he overvie can be found in
"age vi of the book. !his is called #ontents $a". In this "art, e can see the general
%aterial &ex"ressions, structure, etc' that ill be taught in all the cha"ters in the book. !hen
in the beginning "art of each unit, e can see the learning ob(ectives that ant to be
achieved in each unit. !hen at the second "age of each unit, e can find a "art hich is
called #once"t $a""ing in that "art, e can see the skill that ill be taught to the students
and also the vocabulary keyord that ill be taught. !hen, in each unit, e also can find a
section called Functional )kills and *ra%%ar +otes. In these sections of the book, e
can find the ex"lanation about the ex"ressions and also ,nglish gra%%ar that is taught in
the unit. )econdly, the layout and design of the book is quite a""ro"riate and clear. )tarting
fro% its cover, the book has an interesting cover that has so%e "ictures that %atch ell ith
the title of the book. Its color is also not so bright and not too dark so it %akes e feel
co%fortable hen e see it. !hen in each unit, the task and the ex"lanations is
differentiated by so%e boxes. !he task box is sy%boli-ed by a box that is ritten !.)/
0.. on it and the ex"lanation is sy%boli-ed by using box that has Functional )kills or
*ra%%ar +otes that is ritten on it. .ctually, the using of the box to differentiate the task
and the ex"lanation is quite good but it is a little bit confusing hen the si-e of the task box
so%eti%es is s%all, so%eti%es it is big, so%eti%es it is long and %any %ore. I think it ill
be better if the task box using one si-e box sha"ed to %ake it easier to identify it. !hen,
another good thing that I found in the layout and design of this book is it has a lot of
"ictures in all units. !he "ictures in each unit are used as the re"resentative of the to"ic
talked in the unit. !hose "ictures can i%"rove students interest to read the book and also
%ake the students easier to understand hat are taught in the book. !hirdly, the book is
organi-ed quite effectively. ,ach unit in the book is se"arated by a beginning "age that has
the na%e of the unit, learning ob(ective and conce"t %a""ing on it. !he task, ex"lanation
and revie are se"arated by different boxes that hel" the students to easier to recogni-e it,
the "roble% only co%es fro% the si-e of the boxes like hat I ex"lained before. Fourthly,
the book has vocabulary list or glossary in it &"age 1234125'. !he glossary is co%"iled
based on the unit here the vocabulary a""ears hich %ake e beco%e easier to find the
%eaning of it hile teaching6studying it. Fifthly, the book has adequate revie sections and
exercises. !he unit revies is "laced at the last "age of each unit. !he unit revie consists
so%e questions that re"resent the hole %aterials that are taught in the unit. !he exercise is
for%ed as so%e task hether it is a grou" task or individual task. !he exercises that are
given in each unit are based on the %aterials that are talked. )ixthly, the book has adequate
testing suggestion. In each task that is given in each unit, there ill be ex"lanation hat
should the students do and ho they should do it. )o%e of the tasks require the students to
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do it in a grou" and so%e of the% require the students to do it individually. !he co%"arison
beteen individual task and grou" task is about 789 for individual and 389 for grou".
!his is a good co%"arison because the students are not alays asked to do their task by
the%selves but so%eti%es they are give chance to do it in grou" hich can %ake the%
learnt and ex"erienced ho to ork in grou". )eventhly, the %aterials ob(ectives are
a""arent to both of the teacher and student. !he %aterial ob(ectives that ant to be
achieved in each unit are a""ro"riate to the teachers and es"ecially to the students real life
necessity in the future. :o"efully, the %aterial ob(ective can be a""lied in both of the
teachers and students real life in the future. !hose are all the good things that I found in
the book and the only one eakness that I found in the book is doesnt have guidance ho
the book can be used to the ut%ost advantage.
Linked to the World is quite effective enough according to the activities. Why do I
say that ? Firstly, it "rovides a balance activity. In the textbook, e can find both of ritten
activity and oral activity. !he exa%"le of ritten activity can be found in "age 1; task 18
and the exa%"le of oral activity can be found in "age 5 task <. !he variety in the activities
can hel" our students to i%"rove their co%%unication ability hether it is ritten o orally.
)econdly, the activities encourage sufficient co%%unicative and %eaningful "ractice. !he
activities that are ritten in the book give the students a ide chance to i%"rove their
co%%unication ability &reading, s"eaking and listening' by "roviding various "ractice tasks
by using different ex"ression according to the given to"ic. !hirdly, the activities
incor"orate individual, "airs and grou". !he tasks or the activities that are "rovided in the
book is not only done by individual, but it is also "rovided so%e tasks that are done by
"airs and grou"s for exa%"le in "age 5, task 7 is done in "airs and in the sa%e "age , task <
is done in grou"s. !his various ay to do the tasks6activities %ake the students not only be
able to i%"rove their knoledge but also it is trained and give the students so%e ex"erience
ho to ork in "airs and grou"s that ill be useful for their future life. Fourthly, the
activities "ro%ote creative original and inde"endent res"onses. !he activities that are
"rovided in the book like in "age 5 task = , let the students to "roduce their on creative
original and inde"endent res"onses hich ill be different fro% one student to the others.
!his kind of activities ill i%"rove our students ability in using vocabulary and ex"ression
according to the given to"ic and also hel" our students to develo" their language ability to
the ut%ost level. Fifthly, the textbook activities can be %odified or su""le%ented easily.
!he activities that is "rovided in the text book is not a totally fixed activity that cant be
%odified at all, in contrast, the activities in the text book Linked to the World are a quite
easy %odified activities, for exa%"le in "age 21 task 18. !here, the activity is a totally free
%odified activity, it only gives the students the general situation about ho the task should
be done and it gives the students a ide o""ortunity to %odify it as long as it is still
a""ro"riate to hat the task requires the students to do. !his kind of task ill lead our
students to develo" their creativity in using various ,nglish ex"ressions and i%"rove their
vocabulary %astery.
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Linked to the World is quite effective enough according to the skills. Why do I say
that ? Firstly, the %aterial in the book includes the %aterial that both of the teacher and
students need to "ractice. .ll the ,nglish skills like s"eaking, reading, riting and listening
include in the textbook. !hose four ,nglish skills are a %ust for both of the teacher and
students need to learn in order they ill be able to co%%unicate ell ith the ,nglish
s"eaker in their real life. )econdly, the %aterials "rovide an a""ro"riate balance of the four
language skills. !he %aterials that "rovide in the text book have a balance co%"arison in
the using of riting skill, s"eaking skill, listening skill and also reading skill in its activity.
!he %aterials in the book are not only focus on one ,nglish skill but it focus in all the four
,nglish skills that "rovide in the book. It is "roven by the various tasks that re"resent all
,nglish skills in the book. !hirdly, the textbook "ays attention to sub4skills, those are
listening for gist, note taking, ski%%ing for infor%ation etc. Like hat I ex"lained before,
the textbook has various activities that re"resent the four ,nglish skills. >eside than the
four ,nglish skills, it also "ays attention to the sub4skills of the four ,nglish skills. Like in
"age ;< task 2, the activity "ays attention to the listening sub4skills &extensive listening'
Listening for co%%unicative )ti%ulus4?es"onse that is for%ed as dialogue and so%e
questions. !hen in "age 2< and ;8 task 3 and 5, it "ays attention to reading sub4skill
,ski%%ing for infor%ation hich for%ed as a "assage that is folloed by so%e %ulti"le
choice. !he anser of the %ulti"le choices are stated in the "assage so the students have to
"ay attention to so%e keyords to find the s"ecific infor%ation as the anser of the
%ulti"le choice. !hen in "age 3; task 11, the task "ays attention to sub4skill of reading,
reading aloud here the task asked the students to read the "assage aloud then the teacher
ill assess the students "ronunciation ability and give so%e corrections to the students
"ronunciation ability if they do any %istakes. Fourthly, the textbook highlights and
"ractices natural "ronunciation &that is, stress and intonation'. @ronunciation, es"ecially
stress giving and intonation are an i%"ortant thing to be learnt by the students to hel" the%
to be easier to co%%unicate ith the others in the future. !he %astery of a good an correct
"ronunciation ill hel" the students to avoid %isunderstanding hen they co%%unicate
ith the others in their real life in the future. !hats hy "ronunciation "ractice is a %ust
activity to be done by the students. In this book, the "ronunciation "ractice is taught
hether by folloing the teachers ay in reading so%e ords like in "age 3 task 3 or by
asked the students to listen to the teachers ay in reading so%e sentence and asked the% to
"ay attention to the intonation and the re"eat it like in "age 1= task 5. !hose kind of
activities es"ecially that related to "ronunciation "ractice ill hel" our students to i%"rove
their s"eaking ability es"ecially in giving stress, intonation and %any %ore to be able to
create a %eaningful conversation ith the others in the future.
Linked to the World is quite effective enough according to the language ty"e. Why
do I say that ? Firstly, language used in the textbook is quite authentic, that is, like real life
,nglish. .lthough not all of the language in the textbook Linked to the World is authentic
but there is still so%e authentic language that is used there, for exa%"le in "age <3 until <5
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task 7 and "age 183 until 185 task <. >oth of those "assages are taken fro% an authentic
sources. !hen about the language that is used in the "assage is quite si%ilar to the ,nglish
that is used in our real life co%%unication. !his kind of language can be found in "age 1<
task A. ,ven that is not an authentic language but the ex"ressions that are used there are the
ex"ressions that e often hear or %aybe use hen e co%%unicate ith the others in our
real life. @roviding this kind of language in the text book ill hel" the students in a""lying
their ,nglish ability in their real life in the future. )econdly, the language used is the right
level students current ,nglish ability. In %y o"inion, the overall the language that is used
in the hole Linked to the World textbook is quite a""ro"riate for the students level of
%astery, in this case first year of )enior :igh )chool. !he language that is used in the
textbook is not too difficult for the first year of )enior :igh )chool students but it is also
not too easy for the%. It is in the %iddle "osition beteen difficult and easy. ,ven there are
so%e difficult ords that %aybe %ost of the students dont kno hat it %eans, but
fortunately the book already had vocabulary list hich can hel" both of the students and the
teacher to find the %eaning of difficult ords easier. !hirdly, the "rogression of gra%%ar
"oint and vocabulary ite%s is quite a""ro"riate. !he book start ith )i%"le @ast !ense in
its first unit and then folloed by @ast #ontinuous in the second unit. !hen in cha"ter three,
the books talked about si%"le "resent tense. In %y o"inion, the "rogression fro% si%"le
"ast tense to "ast continuous tense is a good thing because students have to %astered or at
least kno about si%"le "ast tense first before they learn about "ast continuous. >ut, one
thing that I% a little bit disagreed is the "osition of si%"le "resent tense that is discussed
after "ast continuous tense. In %y o"inion, it ill be better if e "ut si%"le "resent tense in
the first cha"ter then it folloed by the other ty"es of "resent tense, after finishing
discussed about "resent tense then e %ove to "ast tense. Why do I suggest that ? In %y
o"inion, si%"le "resent tense in the %ost basic tense that should be knon by the students,
after having a good understanding about it, it ill be easier for the students to learn and
%astered the other tenses. !hen, if e arrange the tense teaching carelessly, like teaching
"ast tense before "resent tense, it ill %ake the students %ore difficult to %aster the tenses.
!hen, if e talk about the vocabulary ite%s, the vocabulary ite%s that is used in each units
is a""ro"riate to the title of each unit. Fourthly, the gra%%ar "oints are "resented ith quite
brief and easy exa%"les and ex"lanations. !he gra%%ar "oints are "resented ith brief and
easy exa%"les that is easy to be understood by the students. Bnfortunately, the exa%"les
that are given in the textbook are only in the for% of "ositive sentence. !he book doesnt
give the exa%"le of negative sentence and interrogative sentence for the gra%%ar "oint
es"ecially tenses. It ill be %uch better, if the book also gives the exa%"le of negative
sentence and interrogative sentence of each exa%"le of "ositive sentence that is ritten in
the book. !hat ill hel" the students to be able to %astered all ty"es of sentences according
to the gra%%ar "oints that are taught. !hen, if e talked about the gra%%ar ex"lanation in
the book, e %ay say the general ex"lanation, in this case about the using of the tenses is
easy to be understood but unfortunately if e talk about the gra%%ar ex"lanation
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es"ecially about sentence "attern, it is not clear enough to be understood. !he textbook
doesnt "rovide the "attern of the sentences in it. It only gives the using of the sentence and
its exa%"le. .ccording to %e, it ill be %uch better if the textbook also "rovides sentence
"attern beside the using and the exa%"le of the sentence. If e "rovide the sentence
"attern, it ill hel" the students to easier to study the book by the%selves herever they
ant and in other hand, if e dont "rovide it, it ill %ake the students beco%e %ore
difficult to study it at ho%e ithout any guidance by their teacher.
Linked to the World is quite effective enough according to the sub(ect and content.
Why do I say that ? Firstly, the sub(ect and the content of the textbook is relevant to the
students needs as an ,nglish learner&s'. !he sub(ect and the content that is "rovided in the
book is a""ro"riate to the needs of the students these days. $ostly the ex"ressions that
"rovided in the book like introducing oneself in "age 2A, introducing others in "age 2A,
ex"ressing ha""iness and attention in "age A, etc are the ex"ressions that ill be often used
by the students in their real life. When they %eet so%eone at the first ti%e, they need to
kno introducing oneself ex"ression to be able to introduce the%selves to the others, hen
they ant to introduce so%eone to their relatives , they need to kno introducing others
ex"ression and %any %ore. )econdly, the sub(ect and the content of the textbook is
generally realistic. Like hat I stated before, the sub(ect and the content of the book like the
ex"ressions that are taught in the book is the ex"ression that ill be often used by the
students in their real life in the future. !he ex"ressions that are taught is al%ost the sa%e as
hat they often hear in the daily conversation in their real life in the future. !hirdly, the
sub(ect and the content of the textbook is interesting, challenging and %otivating. !he
sub(ect and the content of the textbook and also the ay the textbook "resent the sub(ect
and the content itself is very interesting, challenging and %otivating. Like in unit one, it
talked about Friendshi". .s for senior high school, friendshi" is a interesting to"ic to be
discussed because a lot of "eo"le find their best friend in their senior high school. !hat is
hy (ust by looking to its general title, the first unit is so interesting. !hen if e see the
ay the sub(ect and contents are "resented in unit one, it is so interesting because in the
first task, it shos a lot of interesting "ictures to the students. !hose "ictures are quite
fa%iliar for the students. !hen, the ay the first task should be done is quite challenging
and %otivating because the task asked the students to re%ind to their "ast ex"eriences that
related to the given "icture and then tell it in front of the class. In %y o"inion, that kind of
sub(ect and content and also they ay ho the sub(ect and content are "resented is quite
interesting, challenging and %otivating for the students to kee" a keen eyes on it. Fourthly,
there is sufficient variety in the sub(ect and content of the textbook. !he sub(ect and the
content that are discussed in each unit are different one another. For exa%"le in unit one, it
talks about Friendshi", then in unit to, it talk about school life, unit three talks about
do%estic touris% and so on. In each different unit, this textbook also talks about different
ex"ression, different gra%%ar "oints and %any %ore. !he sufficient variety of the sub(ect
and the contents of the book ill hel" to reduce or %aybe avoid the students fro% being
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bored hile reading their textbook. Fifthly, the %aterials are not culturally biased and they
do not "ortray any negative stereoty"es. In %y "ers"ective and fro% hat I have seen in the
book, the hole contents and sub(ect of the book doesnt lead to do negative thing. Linked
to the World textbook is a clean textbook fro% those bad things. It is a "ure textbook that
hel" the students to %aster ,nglish through a good exa%"les ithout giving any bad
doctrines.
Linked to the World is quite effective enough according to the hole as"ects. Why
do I say that ? Firstly, fro% all the ex"lanations that I stated above, e %ay say that the
textbook entitled Linked to the World can raise the students interest to study ,nglish for
further because it has an interesting looks, contents and %any %ore. )econdly, I ill choose
to teach by using Link to the World textbook again, at least until I found another textbook
that can cover all the eakness of this textbook like having a better ay in giving
ex"lanation about gra%%ar "oints, ty"es of sentences and %any %ore. If dont, Ill choose
to use this book again but by giving so%e additional ex"lanations to cover the eakness of
this textbook.
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