An Evaluation of Pre – University Book One
By:
Mohammad Heidari Chegeni ( M.A. in TEFL)
Autumn 1386
In God We Trust
Introduction
For years and years English text books for high school students in Iran placed the major emphasis on long grammar explanations and a great deal of exercises covering those points in details. Furthermore, selected reading sections were either too short having nothing special to convey or much too to be covered and discussed in one session. Some parts labeled as Language Functions aimed at oral presentation assumed to serve the communicative aspect of language learning (without paying attention to culture which made it impossible or at least to a large extent difficult to be useful in real situation use. ) The lessons either had no pictures or the pictures were only black and white in some cases somehow unclear or even misleading. Even the kind of the paper used was not in high quality.
English book for Pre –University Students which was first published in 1383 and then revised in 1384 can be considered as a point of departure for a shift from such books mentioned above into reading based books after a relatively long period of time. The book consists of 8 lessons for an academic year. Lessons 1 to four are covered in the first term and lessons five to eight are for the second term. It has 97 pages , a map of the book, an introduction ( for teachers ) , how to study this book ( for the students) (pp. i – v ) , Review of English book3 (pp vi – viii ) , irregular verbs at the end of the book ( pp 80-82 ) , word list in alphabetical order ( pp 83 – 96 ) Idioms and Expressions ( p 97 ).
Before You Read
Each lessons begins with a part titled before you read accompanied by a picture related to the topic. An introduction has been mentioned at the bottom of the picture to help understand the lesson better. Some general questions covering
( to take care ) relating to the topic are introduced to be used as warm up activities. In lessons one and three we have tables with three columns (:
1. statement 2. Agree 3. Disagree) to encourage more students to take part in discussion as much as possible. In lesson two, a list of ideas about parts of a good speech has been mentioned (p. 12) which seems to be an activity of open ended questions to rank the items from the most important parts to the least
important ones. In lesson four a drawing illustrating the different layers of the Earth has been provided for the students (and teachers as well ) to make the subject more fully understandable.
This pre – reading section can play a better role to help students understand the main points of the reading in comparison to that of other high school books ( mainly using New Words which as the name itself implies is actually different from a real reliable reading activity).
Reading section includes a lengthy text with main new words with their synonym or definitions in the colored right margin. Each reading section at least takes two session to be covered (if taught in a right, systematic approach).
Lessons are about:
Lesson one: Why Exercise Is Important
Lesson Two: How to Give a Good Speech
Lesson Three: Global Warming, Global Concern
Lesson Four: Earthquakes and How to Survive Them
Since these topics are attention arousing and to somehow related to daily events heard her and there ( in comparison to a reading like : The Little Old man Who Could not Read) it is more likely expected that many more students more willingly show their interest to participate in classroom discussions.
Each reading has been divided into different paragraphs using headings.
This makes it easier to survey and find the specific information. This can be helpful especially in planning or organizing more post reading activities (or questions) on the teacher's behalf.
Other advantages of the book can be stated as following:
1. Comprehension Check:
Here, Three different types of questions are planned so as to check students' understanding. These are :
1. (True - False – Not Mentioned )
2. Multiple Choice Items
3. Finding the exact sentence from the text.(Copy Down …)
The latter, in fact, is a kind of summarizing. Previously ,we had only true or False items to check a sentence which somehow suffered from the effect of guessing, but adding the third item ( Not mentioned ) leaves room to claim that this section has become more plausible and upgrades this type of exercise to the level of understanding.
2. Sentence Function
Though limited in comparison to its first edition ( 1383 ) still, this part can be useful in comprehending and / or analyzing the sentences used in different texts of the book( and even applicable to unseen passages) to have a better command on arriving at the higher levels of reading process.
3. Reading Skills:
Having a glance at reading skills ( though limited). This can be useful and positive for making students familiar with key concepts in managing reading unseen texts to serve as a means of gaining power in handling those of University Entrance Exam)
4. Focus on grammar:
Presenting grammar via reading and making students subconsciously familiar with grammatical points is, in fact, a shortcut to get the gist of it.
To be exact and precise, when students are referred back to the text or the examples used in it or taken from reading which has already been covered by the students, a warm and positive attitude is welcomed on their part which in its turn gives more reasons to accept the idea behind the fact that they are more confidently able to grasp those chosen parts for the grammar.
5. Plausible Body of Grammar :
This acceptable feature ( except lesson four ) is another good point of it.
6. Vocabulary Review
This part and variety used (completion Form, definition, and finding the words based on the word relations mainly, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, etc.) is admirable enhancing understanding of vocabulary.
7. Grammar Digest
This section, briefly and directly, goes through the grammatical points of each lesson. Using bold face type to highlight the main points and remembering them more easily are of great value.
8. Other remarkable features In Brief :
- colored pictures or illustrations
- large size
- up - to - date texts
- giving the internet addresses
- using tables
- providing pronunciation of words in phonetic
- word list
SHORTCOMINGS
Despite all these positive points and advantages mentioned above, it seems still there are some shortcomings or at least room to improvise the book. The followings are listed as cases in point:
1. The number of Multiple Choice ( M. C) :
The number of Multiple Choice ( M. C) questions of reading is not adequate. In each lesson just one question is used. Since the format of questions in University Entrance Exam is in M.C. items it would be highly appreciated if more of this type had been used.
2. The above shortcoming, even more seriously, can be pointed out in grammar part where we find none. Claiming that the book is reading based is not / or can not be an acceptable excuse and in fact can't justify lack of this item.
3. Sentence Functions:
The kind of exercise planned in the book are not of good quality. It was better to have a section covering the functions regarding identifying the kinds of functions and /or realizing their kinds in a given text. ( Not merely to write a sentence which does not seem to be an appropriate level itself; that is to say, making a sentence is at producing level and needs some steps to be taken before fulfilling this aim. As far as I have noticed and analyzed , for weak elementary and even intermediate students the job is not an easy one .Indeed , it's an elephant task.
4. Picking up the grammatical parts which can be used interchangeably ( to take care most of the time ) has made a dilemma for students in distinguishing and learning as well as for teachers in teaching and testing. As a case in point " when " and " as " ( time ) :obviously the definition used in grammar digest of lesson one is not as clear cut as the one mentioned here. There are cases in which they are used exactly the same with no difference ,with a bit difference / s and or preferred use.
5. One page 9 (Exercise two No.3) " Some people change their eating habits as they get older."
Actually this is an example of "as" in proportion case which, now, has been deleted The Pre University book published in 1383 had used four different applications for "as".
6. On page 17, the book has presented an exercise followed by a table. There is question needing a big question mark. What's the use of this exercise?
In stead of it, there were so many better activities to be used.
The way of ranking is not clearly vivid and the comments which should be given all fall in the domain of imperatives (which is not a new category, discussed in details in English book 3, lesson 4)
7. Lesson 3 ( page 30. EX. No.3) and ( P. 31. EX. 2. No. 3) deal with reducing adjective clauses into adjective phrases. Regarding the explanation given in the book on active and passive structures ,these two exercises can not be justified and most colleagues have trouble with students doing them or have difficulty in justifying the issue. (To make the minds refresh, these two sentences fall in the domain of Semi – Passives).
8. On page 42. Grammar Digest : ( so + adjective )
I wish the structure dad been used as : ( so + adjective / adverb )
Since the second example of the same structure is: she ran so fast that she forgot to take her keys. Needless to say that in such a sentence " fast " is an adverb to modify the verb " run ".
9. On page 42, the structure :Such + ( adjective ) + noun it was be better to be used as Such ( a / n ) + ( adjective ) + noun and give an example for such an as well.
ROOM FOR IMPROVISMENT
Since the book place a huge amount of emphasis on" reading and vocabulary"
I wish it had the following items to make it a more comprehensive and reliable book.
1. CLOZE TEXTS:
(Each lesson should have had at least one cloze along with the reading.)
2. Review of Grammar:
(at least after every two lessons and a general review at the end of each book).
3. Choosing Heading
(To have a sample of final exam questions and to be in line with emphasizing headings, I wish there would be room for such a fruitful and valuable section).