SKKU TESOL TEXTBOOK EVALUATION : I Can Speak_intermediate
Amy, Claire, Michelle
Textbook Evaluation
Textbook Title:
I can Speak (3Blue)
Target Age and Proficiency Level:
Teenagers and adult / Intermediate
Publisher: Wit&Wisdom, Kyung-Sil Park
Date of Publication: 2011
Evaluated By:
(S1) Amy
(S2) Claire
(S3) Michelle
Book Evaluation Checklists
1. Layout and Design
Is the textbook attractive?
Is the design “user-friendly” for teachers and for students?
Is the amount of information on each page about right?
Are the illustrations(photos, cartoons, graphics, etc) useful?
2. Language Skills
Does textbook cover proper skills?
Is there a good balance between them?
Are they well- integrated?
Do you think the activities and exercises related to each skill will help
learners to develop that particular skill?
3. Topics
Does that text contain any interesting variety of topics?
Are the topics relevant to Korean leaners at the age and proficiency level
specified by the text?
Are they appropriate?
4. Language Skills
Are the instructions clear for both teachers and students?
Are there activities and exercises to promote both fluency and accuracy?
Will the activities engage learners both affectively and cognitively?
Do they provide realistic and authentic language input?
Do they encourage meaningful language production?
5. Vocabulary
Does the book provide opportunities for vocabulary development and word
study?
Will students understand the vocabulary?
Will students encounter the vocabulary in various sections of a unit?
6. Accompanying Materials
Are there accompanying materials such as workbooks, CD/tapes(audio&/or
video), a teacher’s guide, online materials or a set of tests assessments?
Would you like to see others?
7. Cultural Content
Is there cultural content in the text?
Do you think it is meaningful cultural content?
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SKKU TESOL TEXTBOOK EVALUATION : I Can Speak_intermediate
Amy, Claire, Michelle
7. Cultural Content
Is there cultural content in the text?
Do you think it is meaningful cultural content?
8. Learner Autonomy
Does the text foster leaner autonomy?
Are there, for example, opportunities to think about or discuss what was
learned in a unit?
Are there opportunities to assess one’s own progress?
Does the text provide strategies for developing one’s English outside of the
classroom?
Does the textbook provide leaners with a choice of activities or exercise or
reading to be completed?
Does it seem to foster leaner autonomy in other ways?
9. Conclusions
Based on your analysis, is it more communicative or traditional in its
approach or language learning?
Would you be happy if you had to teach using this text?
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This text book has 16 lessons in total and each lesson includes a warm up activity, two
dialogues which presents the lessons theme and language points within real life context,
language focus boxes which highlight key language from the dialogues, speaking
activities which allow learners to practice and personalize the lessons language focus,
reading section and a writing section.
The cover page is very simple with white background and a design of letter I
(representing the title of this book “I” can speak) and an outline of a person presenting
the title of the book which is in a speech bubble. There are no photos or picture in the
cover page. This can be in a way very simple but less attractive to the viewers. It looks
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SKKU TESOL TEXTBOOK EVALUATION : I Can Speak_intermediate
Amy, Claire, Michelle
more like a student workbook.
Inside the book it contains both illustrates and photos. But compared to other
communicative textbooks the visual aids are less used. This won’t matter much for adult
learners but it can be a bit boring for young learners.
Each lesson consists of 4 pages which seems the right amount. It is not too burdening
and not too short. Font size of the letter are larger compared to other textbooks that I
have studied and looked over. It’s comfortable to look at. Some textbook tries to contain
too much context in one page they use very small font and insert as much information
as possible which can lose learners focus. Some might consider this book has too little
context compared to other textbooks but I think it is not always effective when there are
over flooded information.
Design is both user friendly for teachers and for students. There are some spaces in
each page so students can take notes if they wish. It can be easily looked at and
students won’t feel much pressure with this kind of design however some might think
there should be more information added in one page. In teachers’ point of view, the
whole textbook can be used in class whereas some textbooks with too much information
teachers tend to skip parts and only choose what seems necessary and essential due to
limited class time.
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Amy, Claire, Michelle
While many textbooks teach grammar by using and focusing on target grammar in
each lesson (ex. Past simple vs. present perfect simple) and sometimes giving specific
explanation, this book does not teach grammar explicitly. They use the grammar in an
implicit way and relate the language focus on each lesson to the topic and situation. For
example, Let’s look over lesson 1.
Lesson 1. The disadvantages of Mexico is that it’s too hot
Theme : vacation
Language focus : 1) advantages and disadvantages
- The/A(main/big/great) disadvantage of Mexico is that~
2) fears
- Do you like~?
- Are you scared of~?
[Figure 1. Example of Lesson 1]
The activities and exercises used in each lesson are all related to the theme and the
focused language which can be reflected in real life situation. However the reading
section seems a little weak. It surely gives an opportunity for learners to react to written
stimulus based on the lesson’s theme, but it could have been better if more intensive
reading was included. This book mostly emphasizes on English conversation so it also
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Amy, Claire, Michelle
gives attention to pronunciation and even intonation. I’m guessing it’s because it is
published by Pagoda books which is a Korean company and Koreans consider accurate
pronunciation as a major factor in spoken English.
This book covers a variety of topic. Here are the themes in each lesson.
Vacations / travel practicalities / traveling in foreign countries / education
/ finding a place to live / difficult people / health / wedding customs /
crime / emergencies / job hunting / at work / vacations2 / technology /
for and against / hopes and dreams
[Figure 2. Themes in Each Lesson]
Each topic is very practical and can be applied in real life situation. Learners can use
them when they go on a trip to another country or when they run into an emergency or
even when they are having job interviews. A lot of these topics can easily come up in a
conversation with different people in different conditions. But many of these topics seem
irrelevant for young learners even though they will eventually be exposed to these
situations when they grow up. Even the education is based on university level. (ex. asking
for someone’s major)
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Every lesson begins with warm-up section and dialogues which contain follow-up
questions. The questions are so simple that both teachers and students can easily
understand what they’re going to do next and what they’re going to talk. Also, activities
here are designed to activate both fluency and accuracy. This is supported by the fact
that both top-down(from finding a gist after reading dialogue to focusing on specific
information and language) and bottom up(from pronunciation to word to the
meaning)skills used in one lesson. And since the activities are quite related to the reallife situation, their affective filter might be low and be willing to say while doing the
activities. But one thing that we pointed out is that the pronunciation parts sometimes
use many meta languages like prefix, suffix, it could be cognitive burden for students
when they first look at the pages.
The most impressive thing is that it offers learners authentic language input that
Americans really use in their life. This is especially good for people who have never been
abroad and haven’t experienced the western cultures because they have little chance to
learn those authentic English at school. Also, since most of activities have information
gap or personalized answers from each learner, they are more likely to be engaged to
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the activities to find the genuine responses.
Warm-up section, at the very first part of this book, provides some key words before
beginning class and it makes learners get some ideas about themes what they are going
to learn. But since this book is for developing English speaking skills and aimed at
intermediate learners and adults, it does not teach all of the words explicitly from lessons
in comparison with traditional communicative books only key words. Learners should
pick up and acquire other vocabulary in the book or when learners discuss or share their
ideas in other sections. However, in consideration of the target of this book, it may not
be that challenging for the learners. Furthermore, the themes and contexts including
vocabulary are usually related to our real-life such as a blind date, job interview, wedding
and so on, so it will be very interesting for adult learners.
This book provides two accompanying materials. They are Audio CD and MINI Book.
Audio CD is for listening to dialogue and pronunciation sections but students can
download MP3 files as well from the website due to the fact that these days most
people use smart phones.
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[Figure 3. Mini Book]
And one of the greatest points of this book, I think, is ‘MINI Book’. It contains all the
Dialogue and Pronunciation sections from the book, which means that it puts the most
important parts into a very tiny book. These dialogues and pronunciation materials from
each lesson allow learners to practice before they come to class, wherever they are.
Besides, it includes wordlists of each lesson which are not provided in the textbook. The
wordlists can make learners come to class prepared and ready to speak. Only with MP3
files and MINI Book, students can make full use of this book.
In this text book, we can find a variety of cultural contents. One of the most salient
things is that the book contains western-related cultures in almost every lesson. For
example, in lesson 1, the three people are talking about the Mexico and Florida’s weather,
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making students notice each region’s usual weather in the dialogue 1.
[Figure 4. American Wedding Culture]
Also, in lesson 6, the theme covers some personal questions in Western countries such
as age, which could contradict Korean culture because most Koreans ask people who you
meet at first how old you are. Therefore, this can make leaners that have different
cultural background understand other cultures. The similar situation is also seen in lesson
8. Learners can compare the two different wedding customs between Korea and America
through the two dialogues, pictures and invitation cards. This makes leaners assimilate
into alien custom and culture more easily.
Another cultural point is that it covers the latest trend in some culture. To be more
specific, lesson 14 covers the newest technology such as how to download useful apps in
smartphone or many high-tech devices through dialogues. Also, compared with some
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SKKU TESOL TEXTBOOK EVALUATION : I Can Speak_intermediate
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old fashioned pictures or images in some English textbook, the pictures of images show
more realistic up-to-date devices like iphone or smart TV in this book, which makes
learners empathize with the IT culture.
In addition to this, the book also contains students’ culture in lesson 4 especially for
education. Through the dialogue and talk section, leaners can recognized what kinds of
subjects American students study in universities and what differences each country has in
education.
But one thing that they did not consider is the ethnic group; almost all people in
pictures and images are white even though America consists of many ethnic groups. This
could be somewhat danger in terms of giving racial prejudice. If the book contains rich
and various ethnic groups in America in the images and pictures, leaners will be
understand their race more.
This book does not promote leaner autonomy except for the language focus and
pronunciation section. This is because most activities here should be done by pairs. For
instance, in lesson 3, two people are supposed to talk about driving customs and do a
role paly based on the talk. If leaners study this book by themselves, they cannot but
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SKKU TESOL TEXTBOOK EVALUATION : I Can Speak_intermediate
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skipping this section. Also, even though writing sections are given in the last part of each
lesson, sample writing answers or tip is not provide in this book. This can make learners
demotivated in their leaning because they do not know whether they are going wrong or
not. In addition, learners cannot assess their own progress because the assessment part
is missing in this book. To assess their own developmental progress in the English
Speaking proficiency is one of the important points to make learners motivated.
Therefore, I recommend that this book should include evaluation section such as selftests and give guideline for the desirable answers.
While this book is not proper to the autonomous learning, the one thing that is good
for practicing speaking alone is the pronunciation section. Leaners not only listen and
repeat some certain pronunciation, but also they can learn supra-segmental features
such as intonation or stress, which could be very important to deliver the meaning.
1) OVERALL REVIEW
In this text book, the layout and design is user friendly and comfortable for both
teachers and students even though the cover page is not that attractive for learners.
Compared to other communicative textbooks, this book has fewer visual aids, but this
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SKKU TESOL TEXTBOOK EVALUATION : I Can Speak_intermediate
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won’t matter much for adult learners. Each lesson consists of 4 pages, which seems the
right amount, and this is not too burdening and is better than over-flooded information
in a textbook.
In terms of language skills, this book uses some certain language forms in the implicit
way and relates the language focus on each lesson to the topic and situation. However,
the reading section seems a little weak, so we think it could have been better if more
intensive reading was included as an comprehensible input to activate learners’
background knowledge before they speak.
Each topic covers real-life situation so that learners can learn authentic English and
applied it into their lives. The quality of practice material is relatively high. This is
because the book gives clear instructions for both teachers and students by giving
related pictures or showing example language expressions. Also, it is beneficial for
learners to practice fluency and accuracy at the same time because of making leaners do
role play and practice specific pronunciation.
When it comes to vocabulary, most warm-up sections in this book provide some
vocabulary before the main speaking activities and it makes learners guess what they are
going to learn and ready to go into speaking activities more smoothly. The
Accompanying materials are CD, Mini book and MP3 files. When you practice
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SKKU TESOL TEXTBOOK EVALUATION : I Can Speak_intermediate
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pronunciation from native speakers, this CD will be helpful. Also, since the Minibook
includes main dialogues and pronunciation from the original book, you can practice
those everywhere carrying the Minibook and downloading the files.
This book also contains various cultural contents such as American wedding culture
so that learners can assimilate into the culture. But the book should have covered more
ethnic groups of people in America. Lastly, this book does not foster leaner autonomy
except for the language focus and pronunciation section, because many activities such as
role plays and discussion are designed to practice speaking with partners. .
2) TOP THREE THINGS THAT WE LIKE
It promotes communicative speaking. There are not only displayed questions but
also many referential questions in which the other partner does not know the answer. For
example, page 64 in lesson 7 has some referential questions like ‘what do you do to
treat a sore throat? In those questions, the point is learners really want to know the
partner’s genuine responses and this eventually makes learners forced to have a
conversation.
It fosters both fluency and accuracy. While main activities are designed to develop
leaners’ fluency, pronunciation sections and the accompanying MP3 files allows them not
to overlook the supra-segmental features like intonation or stress which is very important
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to deliver intended meaning in English.
It contains cultural aspects in every lesson. Every lesson has one real-life situation
using authentic materials such as invitation cards or real pictures, which contains cultural
contents. From those contents, learners easily have access to the foreign cultures and
understand them without visiting the countries and this process, in the end, assimilate
into the cultures.
3) TOP THREE THINGS THAT WE DISLIKE
It is not proper way of autonomous learning. Most activities except for
pronunciation and some language focus sections are designed to do role paly or
discussion with your partner. If you do not have a partner, you might skip many of those
activities.
It does contain little amount of reading to promote speaking. Just short dialogues
and guess the gist and specific details from the conversation are insufficient for learners
to elicit the speaking.
It has disproportionate ethnic groups. Even though this book covers American
culture in the most of lessons, people presented in the pictures of images are usually
white people. This could cause racial antipathy or learners not to understand other ethnic
groups in America.
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4) HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS TEXTBOOK IN YOUR CLASS?
As teachers or teacher-to-be people, we would like to happy to teach students English
speaking with this book. First, we can teach speaking in a systematic order in one lesson.
But what we should be careful is to consider the level of your students. If some contents
look difficult or demanding in their level, you can choose one of the two talk
sections.(talk 1, and talk2) Also, one thing that we should not miss is to provide extra
cultural materials such as relevant video clips to let students understand their cultures
and customs such as wedding or education culture or various races in America. Last one
that we should do is to give students writing assignment presented at the end of each
lesson to consolidate what they learned and expand it with their own experience or
opinion.
To sum up, even though this book has some drawbacks that we’ve mentioned before,
many benefits far overweigh the pitfalls , and therefore could be helpful for speaking
practice.
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