Definitions of evaluation
Knowledge and effective teaching of language is very important as it assists people in connecting from different nations. In the course of this communication, it has been established that English is the most frequently used language. It is used as an official or semiofficial language in over 60 countries across the globe (CIA, 2018). New headway Beginners is a course targeted to teach the basics of the English language to beginners. This report will to evaluate the book for the purpose of improved learning of students.
Evaluation is simply the process of determining the extent to which the educational objectives are being met (Thompson & Alba-Juez, 2014). It is a crucial process for understanding the impact as well as the learnings. This report lays emphasis on evaluating a beginner’s student handbook titled “New Headway” and coauthored by Liz and John Soars. The book is written with an academic purpose of tutoring students about the basics of the English language and grammar. In this report, efforts have been made to evaluate the book as a whole as well as one particular unit of the book has been evaluated in detail. For the convenience of the reader, certain principles and approaches of evaluation have been enlisted.
Evaluation is a much broader term than measurement (Tsagari & Sifakis, 2014). It is comprehensive and goes a step ahead of measurement. Various educationists have deciphered and inferred different meanings of the term evaluation. Few such approaches have been mentioned in the report. Certain tasks from the book have been adapted and modified for the purpose of improvising and enhancing the learning of students. Book evaluation is an art and it is imperative that the aim of the author is clearly understood by the one evaluating the book (Newcomer, Hatry & Wholey, 2015). Without the understanding and sharing of author’s idea and purpose behind the book, it would be unfair to evaluate the same.
This particular book “New Headway” has been written by the author with an aim to teach students the basics of grammar and English vocabulary. The book is written in a simple language for students to understand Basic English and be able to use the same in their everyday written as well as spoken language.
Various educationists across the globe have given education a different meaning and definition based upon their understanding of the term.
James M. Bradfield defined evaluation as the simple assignment of symbols with the aim of characterizing the worth or value of a particular phenomenon usually with reference to scientific or cultural standards (Thompson & Alba-Juez, 2016).
Approaches to evaluation
Thorndike and Hegan opinionated that evaluation is closely related to measurement. They mentioned that in some ways it includes the informal and intuitive judgment of a pupil’s progress (Cresswell & Poth, 2017). It is the process of describing something in terms of selected attributes and then judging the suitability as well as acceptability of what has been described.
Norman E. Gronlund and Robert L. Linn define evaluation as a very systematic process of collecting analyzing and interpreting information to determine as to what extent are pupils achieving their instructional objectives.
The definitions of evaluation have been explained time and again to suit different aims and purposes of different evaluators. A book can be evaluated using various approaches of evaluation (Zare-Behtash & Banaruee, 2017).
There are various approaches to evaluation. This report has evaluated the New Headway book using Cunningsworth’s 1995 and McGrath’s 2002 theory in order to evaluate the book. The checklist has been used in various different part of the report. It is important that course books fulfil the purpose of learning and educating children in the most effective manner.
New Headway is a beginner’s student book written by Liz and John Soars with an aim to educate young students about the basics of English grammar and vocabulary. The book successfully covers all the basics of English language (Aksoyalp & Toprak, 2015). In the process of reading and learning through this book, students are expected to go through numerous grammar, reading, writing and comprehension activities.
When it comes to beginners books it is often difficult to gauge the kind of material that would be relevant for students and help them learn the basics in a simple yet enriching manner. New headway beginner seems to be the perfect book for such a purpose. It is the first book in the headway series. It aims to cover various topics such as grammar, vocabulary, writing and speaking across 14 units. Every unit is approximately 8 pages long which does not make the subject too lengthy but also manages to cover all the important aspects of the course (Gerday, 2015). The activities provided within the lessons are easy to follow and simple to understand. Authors have ensured that in every lesson, students will perform various activities that will put all their language skills to good use.
One interesting aspect of the book is that it includes various partner activities which would encourage students to work together and practice their speaking skills. There are four language skills and all four of them would be used in these activities. It has been noted that conducting activities leave a better chance of learning and remembering that learning for the students rather than theoretical knowledge. Theory helps the students in knowing a concept while activities help students in applying that concept. The grammar boxes within each chapter also helps students get examples for more difficult grammatical lessons.
New Headway – About the book
The aim of the book is to provide basic grammar and vocabulary lessons to young children who are absolute beginners and are just starting to learn the language. The course book effectively does justice to fulfill these aims. The 14 chapters included in the book, cover all the necessary topics that are required by people for Basic English language communication. The idea is to make sure that upon completing the course, students would be able to understand and converse with each other in English. Therefore, it is safe to say that the aims of the book are well in line with the teaching objectives for this course in regard to these particular students.
The course book is pretty flexible and the teaching the module can modify it to suit the students better. A rigid course book leaves less room for the teacher to innovate and modify the teaching methodology. The course book is extremely communicative. The small blue boxes have been made for specific grammar teaching (James, 2017). The activities provided in the book also enable further communication. There are various pictures used throughout the book which further better the communication process and help to enhance the understanding of student. The visually appealing book makes it look like the book is speaking to the students which is a brilliant quality.
The book has various activities that aim to ensure that the students have learnt the objectives of the book and its various chapters. The activities are developed for the students to practically understand the topic rather than having just theoretical knowledge about it. The best part about the book is that the authors have specified four to five activities for each chapter. The large number of activities will ensure that the students have surely learnt what the chapter is meant to teach them. And this learning has come to the student in a practical manner (Parkay & Anctil, 2014).
The activities of the book also require some team work and some partner work. This would require students to converse among themselves and often work as a team. This is extremely crucial as it enriches the learning process for the children and also teaches them the team spirit and enables them to work together.
The most creative part of the book is that elements of genuine communication are also present (Harwood, 2014). In a few activities students are expected to ask each other questions and answer them spontaneously. This would ensure that students get real time learning and provides for a scope of a genuine, real time communication which is on the spot and honest.
Cunningham and McGrath’s checklist
The organization of the book is also done in an effective manner. The chapters are properly aligned. This makes sure that students have the necessary skills and ability to understand and grasp what is being taught in every chapter. The index is well placed and the chapters have been marked with perfect headings and subheadings. This makes it easier for reader to find their way around the book.
The visuals of the book could have been more creative. For example the use of animated images or cartoons would help garner attention of children and make them more interested in the book. The visuals currently used are predominantly photographs. Such a style is acceptable to children. Moreover many real time images are used which would help students gain a deeper insight about the topic.
The materials discussed in the book completely identify the needs of the students to learn Basic English grammar and vocabulary. The authors have been sensitive towards the current skills set of the students reading the book and hence the language has been kept simple and interesting. The content of the book is absolutely appropriate to the learner’s needs.
The book seeks a perfect balance between subject specific language items like grammar, vocabulary, discourse structure and the operational skills with the help of various activities. The learning activities have set outcomes and it would be easy for the students to identify their performance or for the teacher to guide them on the same.
The learner involvement in the book is very high which makes is easy for the teachers to engage students (Baker, 2015). Also the book is sensitive towards the teaching requirement if it needs to be modified if deemed necessary by the learner. Overall the book is a fine creation and fulfills the goal of teaching the core of English language to beginners.
However, no matter how efficient the book is, it is required by the learners to take additional responsibility by ensuring that they continue to use the terminologies learnt in the book, in their daily lives. This would help to ensure that the students know the book well and they can move beyond theory and use the language in their everyday life.
The 8th unit of the book throws light on enhancing geographical knowledge and letting students know where they live. The unit begins with teaching students about different part of their house. This unit is expected to teach students in understanding the very basic of their daily routine and focusing on different areas of their house and other places that they often visit. For example where they sleep or where they eat. The language used in this unit is very easy to understand. The bedrooms are explained by drawing beds and dining rooms are explained by drawing a dining table with chairs which would help students get a practical idea about their house. Interesting thing to note is that the unit has different activities.
A part of the unit encourages students to talk through prepositions. This would involve students analyzing exactly where everything is kept in their classroom or in their house. Therefore this unit is also expected to helps students in understanding the position of various elements that they see in their lives. There are various real life pictures in the book which are sure to help students get a very practical idea about what a bedroom or a kitchen must look like. This section also helps in enhancing the student’s geography and basic knowledge about Sydney by activities which include pointing out famous Sydney locations in the image. This is helpful as every student must know the landmarks of the city in which they reside. One of the sections encourage students to learn the signs of a bank, a medical store, a hotel, a theatre and even a church. This would help students in the longer run in identifying these signs.
There are various team activities which require students to communicate with each other. This would assist in building team work. At the same time, the lessons in the unit are expected to help students communicate with each other as well as with people in general. They would be able to learn the importance and art of communication. Therefore it also further enhances the chances of communication with others. Once they understand or have a few topics in find, it would be easier for them to build a network of people which has long term benefits in people’s lives.
The aim of the unit is to help students develop basic communication skills and enhance their learning about the usage of prepositions. This aim is being properly fulfilled by the unit matter. As a teacher, my aim has been to prepare these young children to communicate effectively in the English language with people outside the classroom (Shin & Lidster, 2016). Therefore this unit is extremely beneficial in fulfilling this learning objective for the students. The best part about the activities of the unit is that they are very flexible from the perspective of both students as well as teachers. As a teacher, I can effectively mold the activities mentioned to suit the student’s learning better. For example the communication activities can be conducted in a group rather than one on one communication between two people.
The book is written in a manner that it effectively communicates with the reader. Most of the units of the book are explained pictorially which helps young children in understanding the topic better. To a very large extent, the content of the unit mirrors real life situations. This helps in better understanding of the context. The organization of different aspects of the book is also done in an effective manner (Ismail, Maasum & Bakar, 2017). It does not confuse children.
In a classroom full of students, as a teacher I find it very beneficial that students get along well with each other. In order to achieve the same, the partner exercises in the unit which requires students to ask their partner questions about their daily life are very useful. These activities are creatively designed to enhance interaction among students. At the same time, the unit assists the students in improving their grammar. The aim of which is to make the students more fluent in English speaking as well as English writing. Such activities present the students with elements of genuine communication like expressing real feelings and sharing real information with the students (Mishan, 2015).
The visuals of the unit are reasonably well produced. They are attractive as well as relatable to children in their everyday lives. The style of the visuals used are photographs which are acceptable to children. However the use of cartoons or slightly funnier drawings would have garnered more attention from the readers. The methodology of the unit encourages students to use the language creatively and makes a very clear distinction between learning as acquiring knowledge (Liebowitz & Frank, 2016).
The material and content discussed is the unit is on point and sensitive to the needs of young children. The learners are young which is why the language is kept simple so that the students are equipped with the skills to understand the content. Lastly, it is important to note that the students must take a degree of responsibility towards learning the language and not simply rely on reading the book once and performing activities in class (Mann & Copland, 2015). It is important that they are encouraged to effectively use and apply these learnings in their everyday lives in order to better their communication, listening as well as speaking skills and will help them build a better personality. Once they start communicating with people using the guidance provided by the book, they will surely be able to connect with people and enhance their skills further.
The aim of the this book is to make sure that students learn basic English speaking through improved grammar and correct use of language. As a teacher, I found that the book completely succeeded in accomplishing that aim. The book is efficient for my target students. The book is well written and highly easy to understand. It caters to all the four skills and hence helps in overall development of student’s language. Many of the topics introduced have a real life implication. The pages of the book have a clear layout which makes it easy to understand.
Unfortunately as per McGrath’s checklist the book must give a clear introduction to this foreign language along with a brief idea about the language’s history and origin. But the new headway beginner provides no such introduction. According to McGrath’s evaluation, analysis comes first and format comes last. However, the book has an effective content as well as an efficient format. The examples and the activities within the book are practical and easy to perform. Lastly, the list of contents is clear but the summary is missing.
There are two activities from the book that have been chosen in order to modify slightly to enhance the learning prospects of the children. The students of the book are young children who are just beginning to learn the language therefore it is necessary that the book caters to their skill set and current learning experience.
This section of the unit has an activity where in the classroom students are expected to ask for and give directions about common areas like the bus station or chemist store. However, the exercise appears a little vague as the book is used in many countries and it would impossible to make sure that everyone is aware about the place that is being talked about. It has be to be noted that in such a scenario, some students will not relate to the place mentioned in the book while some students may consider different bus stands.
Therefore, this exercise could be changed to make a list of places near to the school. As a teacher, I could make a list of 5 common places of the area. These five places could be:
- Movie theatre.
- Coffee shop
- Metro station
- School
The five places could be changed depending upon the students. Now one by one the students will be asked to provide for directions to either of the five places from different areas of the city. This would help students converse with people outside and enhance their knowledge of direction in the most real time basis.
The rationale behind changing this activity is that the students who would be referring to this course book are young children who do not have the necessary knowledge of directions. The new activity would increase involvement of the class which forms an important part of a teacher’s job (Tomlinson, 2016). It will fulfill the necessary aims of teaching students the basic of directions and geography of their area and at the same point of time it would help them in getting to know each other’s areas better. If the areas of their city are selected for the exercise, then they would be able to perform the exercise better and in real term.
This activity displays the picture of a bedroom and asks the students to identify where various objects are kept in the picture. The idea behind this activity is to teach students prepositions used in everyday life. The idea is to enable students to speak fluently about the placement of different objects and would eventually lead to smoother communication in their daily life.
However, this activity can be made more interesting by asking students about things that are physically present in front of them rather than showing on a picture. It would enhance learning and better their understanding of prepositions. The course book could simply include a list of objects and the teacher could take responsibility of the placing the objects in the room. Once this has been done, the students would be asked to pinpoint the objects listed in the book and write down the placement of those objects with respect to another object. This would help them use such prepositions in their daily life.
The rationale behind this activity is that firstly it serves the purpose of teaching students prepositions and their uses in daily life. Secondly, it will help students in building their communication (Declerck, 2015). The teacher must take responsibility to ensure that students are using these prepositions correctly in their life. It must be noted that this exercise is an improvement over the one given in the book because this is more innovative and it provides for a real life and live example for the students which would help the students in learning better.
Conclusion
New Headway beginners is a basic English language book used by teachers to teach the basics of English vocabulary and grammar to beginners. The book is coauthored by Liz and John Soars. This report has attempted to evaluate the book using Cunningham’s 1995 and McGrath’s 2002 theories of evaluation. The book fulfills the aims of the teachers and the desired set of students. The language used in the book is simple and easy to understand. The organization, grammar and composition of chapters is effectively thought of. The learner’s goals are also aimed at being fulfilled by the book. However it is recommended that the teachers could adapt a few parts of the book to suit the convenience of their students. Every student has a different way of learning and that must be respected at all costs. Lastly, the students must also take an additional responsibility to use the language learnt from the book on a daily basis to ensure practice and fluency of the language. As a teacher I would strongly recommend the use of this book by various universities and schools for beginners in the language to grasp and take control of the English language speaking, reading, writing and understanding skills in their everyday lives.
References
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