COURSE BOOK EVALUATION
Steve Banfield

Pre-session reading & task
'Choosing Your Coursebook', Alan Cunningsworth, Heinemann 1995, chapters 4 and 5.
Prepare a mini-presentation, evaluating a coursebook you currently use.
Be ready to talk about it with a partner, covering the following points:

· language covered
(does the book give ss enough practice in the points they need to learn for exams etc?)
· skills covered
(does the book give enough practice in skills they need to use?)
· topics covered
(are they appropriate to the culture? should any be avoided?)
· authenticity of material
(is there a mix of authentic/non-authentic materials? how appropriate are they for your students?)
· approach to testing
(are there any tests included? do they fit in with the testing requirements of your institution? are the tests in keeping with the approach in the rest of the book?)
· what is missing?
(make a list of things you think need adding; do the book's advantages outweigh the disadvantages?)

The session
Please use this link if you miss the session.

Follow-up reading
Post-session reading:
1. Coursebooks - A Human, cultural and linguistic disaster? - Jeremy Harmer, MET Vol 10, No 3, July 2001
2. Coursebooks - the Roaring in the Chimney, - Scott Thornbury and Luke Meddings, MET Vol 10, No 3, July 2001