ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute OBJECTIVES You will understand 1. Criteria for selecting a core textbook and supplementary materials for a course. You will be able to: 1. Select appropriate materials for a course.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute INTRODUCTION The materials selection stage of the curriculum design framework includes two main decisions: core textbook selection and supplementary resource selection. Supplementary resource selection includes consideration of supplementary textbooks, internet resources, audio-visual materials, and teacher-made materials. The above decisions all answer two crucial curriculum design questions:  What instructional materials will be used to teach the content?  What materials will support the teacher’s instruction?

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CORE TEXTBOOK SELECTION In the ACE TESOL Certificate the pro’s and con’s of using core textbooks in a course were debated. While textbooks have their disadvantages, they do provide structure and standardization to a course. They also save the course designer a lot of time, because most generation of the language content has been done by the textbook developers. It is important to realize that there is no perfect textbook for the course you are designing. The purpose of the core textbook selection process is to find the textbook that is the best fit for what you need. You then select other materials that compensate for the weaknesses of the core textbook. Today, we have a huge range of textbooks to choose from when selecting a core textbook for a course.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute EVOLUTION OF TEXTBOOK PUBLISHING To demonstrate just how far textbook publishing has come over the past thirty years, see the following comparison of books from the two time periods, as adapted from Jack Richards:

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CONSEQUENCES OF GREATER TEXTBOOK SELECTION Rather than making our textbook selection task easier, this wide range of choice has in fact made our task more difficult. With more choices available, we must make sure that our selection process is logical, methodical and thorough. We do not want to select the first book that we find; a good place to start in core textbook selection is publisher catalogues and publisher websites (listed below). Your local publisher representative is also a good source of textbook information.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CORE TEXTBOOK SELECTION CHECKLIST The ACE TESOL Certificate introduced a basic checklist to use when selecting a resource textbook. A few more criteria have been added to the checklist, to consider core textbook selection from a curriculum designer’s perspective: 1. Layout and design: Is the textbook attractive and colorful? Is the material easy to read? Is the textbook easy to navigate? 2. Syllabus: Are the structures and language at the right level? Are they in a logical order? 3. Methodology: Does the textbook have a good balance between Engagement, Study Focus, Study Practice, and Activate activities? 4. Skills: Is there a balance of reading, writing, listening and speaking activities? Is there Study Practice and Activate skill work? 5. Content: Are the topics/themes appropriate and interesting? Are they up to date? 6. Student Needs: Does the textbooks meet student needs as determined in the needs analysis? Does it reflect the uses the learners will make of the language?

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute TEXTBOOK SELECTION CONTINUED 7. Motivation: Is the material in the textbook motivating? 8. Instructions: Are the activity instructions clear and easy to follow? 9. Culture and Language: Are different language dialects and cultures treated in a balanced way? Is the language authentic? 10. Support Materials: Is there: a teacher’s manual; tapes; CD’s; videos; DVD, CD-ROM; website; student workbook; tests; grammar references or vocabulary lists at the back of the book? 11. Economical: Is the textbook economical for students to purchase? Is it durable (is it well constructed so that it will last a long time)? 12. Availability: Is the textbook readily available for students to purchase?

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute SUPPLEMENTARY RESOURCE SELECTION Once you have selected your core textbook, you need to determine which gaps in that textbook need filling in, and look for supplementary resources that can fill in those gaps. Each of the following options for supplementary resources have something different to add to the overall set of materials for a course: A. Supplementary textbooks B. Internet resources C. Audio-visual materials D. Teacher-made materials *See pp of this module’s lecture notes for details on each of the supplementary options listed above.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute MATERIALS SELECTION Use the textbook selection criteria to select a core textbook for the international teenager course introduced in lesson If you recall, the course is four weeks long and is for international teenagers coming to Canada to practice their English. A good starting point in your selection process is the internet, specifically the websites of the major publishers. Include the reasons why you chose the book you did. Describe what material you would use to supplement the core textbook you chose. Briefly discuss why you chose each of the materials selected.