Maria Todorova

FN: 25692
I. DEFINE THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS:
1. Communicativeness:
The idea of communicativeness involves acknowledging the interdependence of language
and communication and its relevance to the classroom because we, as teacher, should teach
language as communication (as a functional system for the expression of meaning) and for
communication (trying to develop the learners communicative skills).
In discussing communicativeness, I believe we should take into account the following
couple of statements:
Richards and Rogers state that communicativeness involves acknowledging the
interdependence of language and communication.
Canale and Swain encapsulate the essence of communicativeness: The primary objective
of a communication-oriented second language programme must be to provide learners with
the information, practice, and much of the experience needed to meet their communicative
needs in the second language.
What we get from these ideas is the conclusion that communicativeness can be seen as a
property of language in its use for communicative purposes and that this exact property is
what should be integrated in foreign language teaching since language and communication
are inseparable domains and students need to be aware of this interrelation rather than of
pure grammatical correctness of the language they are studying.
2. Communication is a two-way process and is always undertaken for a purpose and this
purpose is getting the message across. If this message is received correctly, communication
becomes the link between us and other member of society; therefore, what communication
is in its very essence is a process of message managing. Through this process, we impart
information, establish content and reach some level of understanding. There are 2 aspects
of message: the informational (what is the information expressed) and the relational (the
effect of the message on the communicive partners and their relations) and according to
these actions, communication has 3 three interrelated aspects which should be taken into
account in language teaching:
Perception this aspect is related to how you as a teacher perceive the textbook and how
the students perceive it in their turn.
Communication this aspect should be taken into account with regard to the messages
the speaker uses and which are thought.
Interaction this aspect deals with the kinds of patterns of communication. What should
be taken into account in FLA is how does the textbook organizes the interaction between
learners and teacher.
Canale further describes seven elements of communication, [1] the continuous evaluation
and negotiation of meaning on the part of the participants [2] ... social interaction ... [3] a
high degree of unpredictability and creativity in form and message ... [4] clues as to correct
interpretations of utterances ... [5] a purpose ... [6] authentic language and [7] success being
judged on the basis of actual outcomes.

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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
3. Communicative Competence
CLT involves developing language proficiency through interactions embedded in
meaningful contexts. This approach to teaching provides authentic opportunities for
learning that go beyond repetition and memorization of grammatical patterns in isolation.
A central concept of the communicative approach to language teaching is communicative
competence: the learners ability to understand and use language appropriately to
communicate in authentic (rather than simulated) social and school environments.
Communicative competence can be further divided according to the following four aspects
of communication:
Linguistic: requires the student to be acquainted with the relevant to the communicative
situation vocabulary, language conventions (grammar, punctuation and spelling) and
syntax.
Socio-linguistic: requires the student to be aware of the social rules of the language
(formality, politeness, directness), the relevant nonverbal behaviours (body language) and
cultural references (idioms, proverbs, expressions, background knowledge).
Strategic: requires the student to be acquainted with the relevant to the communicative
situation techniques, which allow them to overcome language gaps, plan and assess the
effectiveness of communication, achieve conversational fluency and modify text according
to audience and purpose.
Discourse: requires the student understand how ideas in language are connected through
patterns of organization (coordination, subordination) and cohesive and transitional
devices.
4. Language function
According to Peregoy & Boyle, language function is the communicative intentions or
purposes of speakers' utterances, therefore, an ESL teacher should have as one of their
priorities to organize the material (with the help of the textbook) in such a way that the
students learn how to be able to achieve their communicative goals using the appropriate
language units and devices. We can list numerous functions which can be found in any
everyday conversation such as apologizing, making request or demands, giving directions,
etc., however, the pioneer of functional grammar Michael Halliday has outlined 8 main
functional types, to which all of the above can be ascribed:
Instrumental function: serves to manipulate the environment, to cause certain events to
happen in other words, the language used to satisfy needs.
Regulatory function: the use of language to control events others behaviour, attitudes
or feelings.
Representational/Informative function: the use of language to make statements, convey
facts and knowledge, explain, or report to represent reality as the speaker sees it.
Interactional function: this use of language serves to ensure social maintenance.
Personal function: when language is used to express emotions, personality, and gutlevel reactions;
Heuristic function: when language is used to acquire knowledge, to learn about the
environment.
Imaginative function serves to create imaginary systems or ideas, making up stories or
even creating new worlds.
Divertive: the language used when expressing jokes or puns.
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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
In the ESL classroom, those functions can be taught through specially-oriented exercises
such as using video or audio materials for exemplifying the functions and further exercises
on the relevant vocabulary and structures.
5. Otherness: the quality or state of being different. It does not mean that someone is better
or worse when compared to someone else. It rather implies that people are not alike. The
concept derives from social psychology and is used when we study group identities. It is
wholly concentrated on studying the mentalities of social groups. When we talk about
otherness we should keep in mind that stereotypes are involved. The concept is related
to making generalizations, oversimplifying groups of people. Stereotypes, however, do not
reveal true characteristics of a social group; they are used to justify the position of a
dominating one.
The quality of being different, on the other hand, goes together with the process of
respecting and accepting. In other words, it is a two-way process I (being the other)
should respect the person who is different than me and vice versa.
Such a socio-cultural perspective should be included in textbooks and we have to take into
consideration the target culture. When a teacher applies this in a classroom, he/she has to
teach both language and culture and take into consideration the students needs, their
previous experiences, age, status, level of fluency and their attitude towards language and
culture. The teacher, however, should not point out whether or not a culture is good or bad
and remind the students that everyone is different and everyone is in the position of being
the other.
6. Backwash Effect
The backwash effect can be defined as the direct or indirect effect of examinations on
teaching methods. According to the effect of examinations on what we do in the classroom
we may refer to positive and negative backwash. The most thorough treatment of the
concept of backwash is that of Alderson and Wall (1993), who suggest that washback as
they call it, is more complex than has hitherto been assumed. They make the valid point
that there is no one-toone relationship between tests, good or bad, and their effect on the
classroom. In their view, before a test has any impact on classroom practice it is mediated
by factors such as the place of examinations in particular societies, the teachers
competence, and the resources available within the school system.
Whether the backwash effect is positive or negative, how it operates in particular contexts
- indeed, whether it exists at all - must be explored empirically. Many of the assumptions
about backwash are untested and simplistic. Alderson and Wall (1993) point out that very
little observation of the effect has been carried out, and that what evidence there is points
to the highly complex nature of the process.

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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
II. GIVE AN EXTENDED ANSWER TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. What are the most important didactic and psychological roles of the textbook as an
educational tool in present day language teaching?
The textbok is the most tangible and visible aspect of language teaching and learning in the
classroom and provides the springboard for pedagogical action for teachers and learners alike.
The TB materializes specifications concerning language teaching objectives and content. TBs can
help define the goals of the syllabus and the roles of teachers and learners. It organizes the language
to be taught in a certain way. (nowadays - along functional lines). Textbooks provide psychological
support and security for teacher learners and parents. Nowadays the textbook is a tool to help
learners learn how to communicate.
2. What are the principles on which a Triple A course is based?
The principles on which a Triple A course is based are autonomy of learner, authenticity (text
language behavior) and awareness of language and culture.
Autonomy helps learners to express themselves both emotionally and intellectually. In other
words, it helps them learn. Autonomy is based the principle of freedom and responsibility. As a
whole, it is more creative thinking oriented.
Authenticity concerns itself with three aspects:
authenticity of studied texts;
authenticity of learner behavior students are given an authentic reason for their
behavior;
authenticity of learners attitude teaching of language culture and language (NB:
harmful examples of cultural stereotypes must not be included in textbooks).
Awareness is the state of being aware of your own culture. Being an other plays a vital role when
it comes to respecting a culture other than yours. Stereotypes are to be avoided, too. Awareness
also has to do with text simplification the teacher has to simply grade the tasks in such a way
that they should correspond to the learners level of fluency.
3. Why do we say that today the teacher is viewed as a co-author of the textbook he is
using?
In the classroom, the teacher acts as a mediator between the textbook and the learners. The teacher
needs to humanize the textbook. (B. Tomlinson it means to add activities which help to make
the language learning process a more affective experience. It also means to find ways of helping
the learners to connect what is in the book to what is in their minds). Nowadays we view teachers
as individuals who dont have to follow page by page, they can and should develop the textbook
and make it correspond to the learners ideas, needs and lives in general. The teacher can humanize
the TB, they can localize it when it fails to relate learners real life experience to the process of
language learning. When in considers only language, not learners as whole persons. For example,
if the textbook is adult-oriented, yet, it includes topics or information presented in a more-or-less
child-like manner, the teacher needs to adapt the materials or even provide new ones in order to
keep the interest of the learners. Whats more as an objective observer of the learning process of
their students, the teacher knows what aspects of the studied material present a greater difficulty
to their students and therefore has to find ways, whether by providing new materials or repeating
old ones with a new view, in order to adapt the pace of the learning process to the pace of the
learners involved.
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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
4. Give a verbal and visual representation of the relationships in the system: teachertextbook-learner; teacher-learner-textbook; learner-textbook-teacher; textbookteacher-learner.

TEACHER

TEXTBOOK

I need you to give structure to my lessons.

I want to provide you with relevant exercises.
I need you to reflect the structures Im teaching.
I need you to guide the students through my content.
I need you to not be distracting but to-the-point. Ill help you get the students interested in English culture.

TEXTBOOK
LEARNER
I want to help you practice and revise.
I need you to help me and guide me through the material.
I want to be interesting to you.
I need you to be both informative and funny.
I want to acquaint you with real life topics.
I need you to help me communicate.
TEACHER
I want to make you interested in the material.
I want to motivate you to communicate.
I want you to be consistent in your learning.

LEARNER
I need you to make me passionate about English.
I need you to be patient with me.
I need you to set objective goals for me.
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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
5. What are the major issues in transforming Textbook Evaluation from an intuitive,
rule-of-thumb act into a scientifically based procedure?
Textbook evaluation and the need for it is a rather underdeveloped theory worldwide. What
we need to know in evaluating a textbook refers to several aspects of the teaching-learning
process:
1) the present day characteristics of the textbook as an educational tool
2) the current methods and approaches (the communicative approach)
3) awareness of the teachers role in relation to the textbook teachers as direct
experiencers of the textbook should give recommendations how to adapt it.
4) the way backwash effect influences textbook design (and in particular, its content).
Since textbook is not a developed scientific area, meaning the teachers evaluate a textbook
relying on their intuition (rule-of-thumb evaluation).
The two most important reasons behind text evaluation are the two major functions of
evaluation itself. First of all, evaluation helps teachers get familiar with the strengths and
weaknesses of the respective textbooks and thus adapting them to the needs of the students.
Second of all, evaluation helps teachers with the process of decision making when it comes
to the gathering of the appropriate material for class. There are, however, three types of
evaluation a) pre-use the prospective performance (the decision making process); b) inuse during the process of working in which a textbook can only be tested in class; c) postuse a kind of a retrospective evaluation evaluating a textbook after it was used( the teacher
acts a reflective practitioner).

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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
III. EXAMINATION PAPER:
1. Analyze and compare three /3/ English Language Textbooks evaluative checklists:
I have chosen to analyze and compare the checklists of Cunningsworth, Harmer and
Daoud & Murcia in the following manner: first, I will present the concepts they more-or-less
have in common in the form of a chart (it shows which features are considered in each of the
checklists) and secondly, I will summarize the advantages and disadvantages I personally find
in each of the individual checklists.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

LANGUAGE
ORGANIZATION
STUDENTS
TEACHER
CONTEMPORARINESS
PHYSICAL MAKE-UP
RECOMMENDATIONS

CUNNINGSWORTH
+
+
+
+

HARMER
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

DAOUD&MURCIA
+
+
+
+
+
-

As a whole Cunningsworths checklist is the most linguistically oriented one it is too vague
and concentrates on aspects which are not so much practically oriented. For example, it includes a
question on the distinction between structural/functional linguistics. Its probably best feature is the
Motivation and the learner because it clearly takes into consideration the extrlinguistic factors
concerning the level of interest the textbook should inspire into the learners. I dont think that the
7th part of the checklist is well-organized because it doesnt give the evaluator particular
characteristics to look for and analyze but just overall guidance. Another disadvantage is the lack
of regulations for the textbooks physical make-up.
Daoud and Celce-Murcias checklist is one idea closer to practical orientation. It is more
exhaustive, includes the physical appearance of the textbook (however, I believe that Illustration
and Physical make-up can be merged under one title) and takes into consideration the
extralinguistic side of SLA. What I consider a disadvantage in this particular checklist is the fact
that it lacks appropriate consideration of the teacher as a mediator between the textbook itself and
the learners. This creates an expectation of a somewhat passive classroom atmosphere, which takes
it further from the contemporary teaching practice and the communicative approach in particular.
In my opinion, Harmers checklist is the most thorough out of the three. Moreover, it is more
contemporary and takes into consideration the relevant approaches of the time (the communicative
approach in particular). It is to the point, leaves nothing vague for interpretation and is highly
practically oriented. Its most original feature in comparison to the other two checklists is the
presence of additional materials feature this, again, makes the checklist most the most modern
one and makes it relative to the current foreign language teaching approaches.

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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
2. Compile a checklist of your own and evaluate a textbook of English that you are
currently using, have used or are contemplating using. Attach copies of contents page

and pages illustrating some of your arguments and conclusions.

Below is a checklist I have comprised on the basis of my analysis of the existing checklist.
I have analyzed Headways Intermediate Textbook according to it.
TEXTBOOK EVALUATION CHECKLIST
A. CONTENT RELEVANCE
1. Cultural relevance: Does the textbook create a meaningful intercultural connection
between English and Bulgarian culture?

No, it doesnt. It is generally concentrated on British and American culture only.

2. Proficiency level relevance: Does the textbook respond to the level of proficiency it is
supposed to teach?

Yes, it does.
3. Socio-cultural relevance: Is the textbook universal or aimed at a particular part of society
(e.g. doctors, immigrants, teachers)?

No, it is universal and anyone can use it regardless of their cultural background.
4. Age relevance: Is the textbook aimed at a particular age-group or is it universal?

It is more-or-less universal. I have used it for teaching both high school students and
adults. However, in being more universal, some of its topics are too oriented towards
young learners, and some towards adult ones.
5. Relevance to the extralinguistic world: Does the textbook reflect realistically the world
and age the students live in (is it too outdated or fictional)?

Yes, it does. All the materials are taken directly from the extralinguistic world and
adopted to the linguistic purposes of the textbook.
B. HOW DOES THE TEXTBOOK RELATE TO THE STUDENTS AND THE
TEACHER?
1. Are the materials in it interesting and engaging for the students?
Yes, they are.
2. Does it give enough supporting structure for the teacher to use?
Yes, it does. It is well organized and includes a teacher book.
C. LANGUAGE CONTENT AND ORGNIZATION
1. Are the structures included in the textbook organized in the units in a balanced way?
No, they arent. I believe there are language structures for which too little time is spared in
comparison to other easier ones (Present Perfect Simple is one unit, while theres a whole
unit on verbs going with TO and ING forms).
2. Are there structures which are too difficult or too easy?
There arent structures that are too difficult, however, some of the easier structures take up
too much of the planned lessons.
3. Is the included vocabulary relevant to the studied structures?
Yes, it is.
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Maria Todorova
FN: 25692
4. Is the included vocabulary appropriate for the level of proficiency of the users?
Yes, it is.
5. Is there a balance between the grammatical, writing, listening, reading and speaking
materials?
Yes, I am very pleased with the distribution of the materials because the students get to practice
the new structures in all communicative aspects of language. (see exemplary pages)
D. EXERCISES
1. Are all the exercises meaningful are there some which seem more to be just fillingup space instead of providing something progressive?
As a whole, the exercises are to the point and helpful, however, I have encountered some whose
purpose evades me (for example, an exercise where the students just had to copy some
sentences and not use any critical thinking see exemplary pages).
2. Are there appropriate exercises for all the studied structures?
Yes, there are, nothing is left out.
3. Are the studied structures revised and repeated in subsequent lessons?
There are some such exercises and this is mainly because of the level of the textbook
(intermediate). However, in textbooks by the same publisher only lower levels the amount of
revision and repetitive exercises is insufficient and I have seen this most clearly with students
at the Beginner level who quickly forget the new structures once they have moved to a new
one.
4. Are there additional materials (e.g. a workbook) which give the students the
opportunity to practice further at home?
Yes, the workbook has proven to be of great help, especially for use at home.
E. APPEARANCE AND ADD-ONS
1. Is the textbook cover appealing in its appearance?
Yes, it is.
2. Are the exercises and illustrations organized in an appealing manner?
As a whole, they are. However, in some cases appearance is prioritized above practicality and
this creates confusion in the students (see exemplary pages).
3. Are there additional materials which help the teacher adopt the communicative
approach more freely?
Yes, there are CDs, a workbook, a testbook, a grammar synopsis at the end of the students
book and a teachers book.
4. Are the illustrations too distracting (if the textbook is for children)?
Since its not a book for children, this doesnt present a problem.
F. RECOMMENDATIONS: Once you have considered all of the above features of the
textbook, what overall recommendations would you give?
I think the textbook is good in its universality. I can give minor recommendations on rethinking
exercises as the one from the exemplar pages and the ordering of some of the exercises.
However, my more major recommendations concern firstly, the distribution of the grammatical
structures through the units and secondly, the lack of intercultural content, relating the
material to the cultural experience of Bulgarian students.
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