A Comparative Analysis and Overall Evaluation of Elt
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Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences Foreign Language Teaching Department English Language Teaching Division A Master’s Thesis A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND OVERALL EVALUATION OF ELT COURSEBOOKS PREPARED IN UZBEK, TURKISH AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CONTEXTS IN TERMS OF COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS BUILDING Jamola Urunboeva 2501091223 Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Muazzez Yavuz Kırık Istanbul 2012 ABSTRACT A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND OVERALL EVALUATION OF ELTCBS PREPARED IN UZBEK, TURKISH AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CONTEXTS IN TERMS OF COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS BUILDING JamolaUrunboeva This study evaluated the three Eighth Grades Intermediate English CBs (CBs) published in Uzbekistan, Turkey and the UK. Fly High English 8 was published by the Ministry of Education of Uzbekistan, English Net 8 was published as a representative CB taught in the primary schools in Turkey, and Solutions Intermediate was published by Oxford University Press and is considered to be a commercial CB, which was selected as a supplementary one to compensate the other two CBs. The main purpose of the study is to evaluate how the above mentioned CBs reflect communicative skills building. Further, these CBs are analysed comparatively within the central question the extent to which these three CBs could have commonalities in skill objectives reflected in curriculums in terms of student`s mobility, since to equip students for the challenges of intensified international mobility and closer co-operation is the crucial objective of The Common European Framework of Reference. In this context revealing the strengths and weaknesses in the CBs, determining how well the CBs meet the standards of a good textbook in terms of communicative skills building, resolving to what extent do the CBs would expose commonalities in curriculums, aims and objectives and deciding whether they are suitable, or need supplementation for optimal learning is important for this study. Six research questions were addressed in this study: To what extent do the contents of the CBs meet the set objectives? What syllabuses do the CBs take up? Are skill practices in all three CBs presented in a balanced and in an integrated way? Do the CBs use authentic materials at an appropriate level? To what extent do the CBs use communicative activities and tasks? To what extent do the curriculums that the CBs are constructed accordingly reflect common objectives? The study is performed by a retrospective evaluation research design. As a result, in terms of communicativeness Solutions Intermediate Student`s Book is found to be more communicative comparing to Fly High 8 and English Net 8. The study concludes by drawing the implications and results of the evaluation. Key words: CB Evaluation, ELT, EFL 111 ÖZ Bu çalı 2mada Türkiye’de, Özbekistan’da ve 0ngiltere’de basılan ve sekizinci sınıflarda 0ngilizce ö/retiminde kullanılan üç ders kitabı de /erlendirilmi 2tir. Bunlar Özbekistan Milli E /itim Bakanlı /ı tarafından hazırlanan Fly High English 8, Türkiye’de ilkö /retimde kullanılan English Net 8 ve bu ders kitaplarının eksiklerini tamamlayıcı nitelikte kullanılan ve Oxford University Press tarafından basılıp dünya piyasasına sunulan Solutions Intermediate kitaplarıdır. Çalı 2manın temel amacı yukarıda adı geçen ders kitaplarının ileti 2imsel dil becerilerini nasıl yansıttıklarını de /erlendirmektir. Bu temel amaç do /rultusunda, Avrupa Dilleri Ö /retimi Ortak Çerçeve Programı’nın önemli hedeflerinden biri olan uluslararası ö /renci de /i2imi ve i 2birli /i ba /lamında, ö /rencilere 0ngilizce‘de yeterlilik kazandırmada kullanılan bu ders kitapları hedefler ve müfredatlar da gösterdikleri ortaklık düzeyi açısından da kar 2ıla 2tırmalı olarak analiz edilmi 2tir. 0ngilizce ders kitaplarının zayıf ve güçlü yanlarının açı /a çıkarılması, ileti 2imsel becerilerin geli 2tirilmesi ba /lamında iyi bir ders kitabının standartlarını kar 2ılama düzeyinin belirlenmesi, iki ülke müfredatındaki ortaklık düzeyini, amaç ve hedeflerin ne düzeyde aktarıldı /ının gösterilmesi ve etkili ö /renme için bu ders kitaplarının uygunluk düzeyinin, ya da ek kaynak/çalı 2manın gereklili /inin belirlenmesi bu çalı 2ma ba /lamında önemlidir. Bu çalı 2mada altı ara 2tırma sorusu temel alınmı 2tır. Bunlar: Ders kitapları belirlenen hedeflere hangi düzeyde ula 2mı 2lardır? Hangi izlencelere göre hazırlanmı 2lardır? Ders kitaplarında yer alan becerileri geli 2tirmeye yönelik etkinlikler dengeli ve entegre bir 2ekilde verilmi 2 mi? Ders kitaplarında yeterli düzeyde özgün metin ve etkinlik kullanılmı 2 mı? Ders kitaplarında ileti 2imsel dil etkinlikleri hangi düzeyde kullanılmı 2tır? Ders kitaplarının içeri /ini belirleyen müfredat hedeflerinin ortaklık düzeyleri nedir? Bu çalı 2ma artgörümlü ara 2tırma yakla 2ımıyla yapılmı 2tır. Sonuç olarak, Solutions Intermediate Student`s Book ders kitabı Fly High 8 ve English Net 8 ders kitaplarıyla kar 2ıla 2tırıldı /ında daha ileti 2imsel yakla 2ımla hazırlandı /ı görülmü 2tür. Çalı 2ma de /erlendirme ve sonuç bölümleriyle sonlandırılmı 2tır. Anahtar Kelimeler : 0ngilizce Ders Kitaplarının de /erlendirilmesi, 0ngilizce Ö /retimi, Yabancı Dil Olarak 0ngilizce 10 PREFACE Language instruction has five important components - students, a teacher, materials, teaching methods, and evaluation (Kitao, Kitao, 1997:3), and which of these components is important in teaching context is a daunting point. Since the end of 1970s, there has been a movement to make students rather than teachers the center of language learning, ‘according to this approach to teaching, students are more important than teachers, materials, curriculum, methods, or evaluation. As a matter of fact, curriculum, materials, teaching methods and evaluation should all be designed for students and their needs’ (ibid, 1997:4). Though the instruction of teaching foreign language should be learner-centered, teachers and students are dependent on CBs, and the CBs become the center of instruction . Actually, the teachers have no free time to make additional materials to teach, it causes CBs made for international markets become very significant in language instruction. That`s why, it is essential for language instructors to know how to select the best material for the course and how to prepare extra materials for the instruction. The most consequential device for many language teachers is, generally, the CB. No matter of the extent to which it is used, the CB is an almost general characteristic of English language teaching. Millions of copies are sold each year all over the world. “CBs are generally viewed as a tool in realizing the goals which have already been set regarding students’ needs, thus they are inevitable components of a course”. However, the language CB is often criticized “because many ELT educators consider textbooks a necessary evil, the ability to evaluate them effectively is an essential professional skill” (Faucette, 2001). So, the current study taking the responsibility of that `essential professional skill`, has been conducted for the purpose of evaluating the three above mentioned “necessary evils” with specific reference to a comparative analysis to determine to what extent do the objectives and the learning outcomes of these CBs could show commonalities in terms of communicative skills building. 0 I am honestly thankful to my adviser, Asst. Prof. Dr. Muazzez Yavuz KIRIK for all her professional advice, guidance, patience and motivation throughout accomplishing this thesis. I would also like to present my best thanks to my committee members, Prof. Dr. Ay 2e Dilek Erbora, Asst. Prof. Dr. Dilek 0nal, Asst. Prof. Dr.Özlem Etu 2 and Asst. Prof. Dr. Ramazan Zengin for their considerable assistance, pertinent suggestions and constructive feedbacks. I am also indebted to Lec. Dr. Gülay Kıray for her contributions and guidance for my thesis. I would like to acknowledge that I am sincerely grateful to my parents, Ikramjan and Jamila URUNBOEVs most of all without whose love, patient, continual support and motivation this thesis would not have been completed. 01 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... iii PREFACE .............................................................................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... vii TABLE OF APPEND 0CES ................................................................................................................... ix TABLE OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... xii TABLE OF EXAMPLES .................................................................................................................... xiii ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................. xiv INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................. 1 1. THE THEORTICAL BACKGROUND OF THE EVALUATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CBS ................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1. Current Approaches of Teaching Foreign Languages 888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888