Research Information System
in: Coursebook Evaluation In English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Education, Handan Çelik,Servet Çelik, Editor, vizetek yayncılık, Ankara, pp.13-46, 2022
The
teaching-learning experience is mainly comprised of three essential components:
students, teacher, and instructional materials. In the field of English
Language Teaching various materials like coursebooks, flashcards, pictures,
computer, projectors, smart boards and Web tools are available. Either printed
or as e-books CB seems to be the main resource that presents information for
the students and teachers, since it provides much of the language input and
exposure students receive to learn a foreign language in a classroom
setting.
Hutchinson
and Torres (1994) describe CB as a universal element of ELT teaching. McGrath
(2013), Tomlinson (2012) emphasizes the importance of CB underlining that they
are the indicators of what is going on in the classroom. Similarly, Abdelwahab
(2013) suggests that the use of a CB in a program “can guarantee that students
in different classes will receive a similar content and therefore, can be
evaluated in the same way” (p. 55). The increasing domination of CBs in a
global ELT industry worth close to $200 billion (Pearson, 2016). This interest in CB promoted the number of CBs
available in the market for language teachers.
In Turkey to standardize ELT, Board of
Education and Discipline, a committee of Ministry of National Education (MoNE)
has the books written by specialists. Books are distributed free of charge by
MoNE in the beginning of each new academic year. Under this circumstance, teachers
may not have a chance to choose the CB they would like to use in their classes.
Still, Pre-service English Teachers (PSELTs) and in-service (IST) teachers need
to be equipped with the knowledge of evaluating a CB to adapt for the needs of
their classes. This chapter will firstly focus on and give guidance on CB
selection in ELT, main types of CB evaluation and checklist types used for
evaluation.