Reflection on Tutorial Task Week 6

My group received the task; Evaluating the English textbook in the US for Intermediate level using Cunningsworth’s checklist. We were required to pick 2 chapters in which we have decided after a brief discussion which is  chapter 4 and 6. In each chapter, it was further divided into 5 sections each. For each section, there were 3 to 4 exercises namely A, B, C and D. We had decided to evaluate each section which would be 10 sections altogether. From our evaluation, it can be seen that the coursebook did not have an “outline” indicating that communicative is one of its aim.

Through our discussion, we discovered that there are small parts of the activities that require learners to discuss in a small group or do pair works. From the whole section, there might only be one small part that emphasises on CLT. In this task, we evaluated the coursebook using Cunningsworth’s checklist. It was easy to analyse and evaluate as the checklist only focuses on CLT. However, we found out that only some parts of the coursebook chapters are communicative. This makes it harder for us to evaluate as we were limited to only CLT. Furthermore, our understanding of ‘communicative’ varies among us. Thus, we faced a clash of opinions when we need  to evaluate based on the checklist

In conclusion, I find the checklist to be suitable if we were to look at the coursebooks based on CLT only. However, my group came up with a suggestion that Cunningsworth’s checklist is suited as an additional checklist for other checklist. This means that, it is an important checklist but the full use and potential of this checklist can be portrayed when it is used as a part of other checklists.

After doing this task, I now know how difficult it is to find a good coursebook. It is important to evaluate a coursebook based on what we want but we should not be biased in evaluation as not all parts of a coursebook is deemed unusable. Furthermore, everyone has their own opinion on how a coursebook should be as well as the types of checklist suited to be used. Thus, it is important for teachers to equip themselves with various materials and activities in order to adapt the coursebooks as well as to be able to use the coursebooks to their full potential.