Textbook Critique
!Dime! (Extended Teacher’s Edition)
Alex Draughan
EDU 399
Dr. Guy Arcuri
4/23/06
The purpose of a textbook critique in the foreign language methods class is to
encourage students to begin the process of being discerning reflective teachers. But some
may ask, why critique a textbook at all? Are not textbooks written as the result of the
collaborate efforts of experts in the field? Are not they all equally valid if diverse in
teaching methods? Quite simply, the answer is no. Assuming that a text book is the
infallible guide to teaching is a grave error that can cause teachers to rely solely on the
text for language education without exploring creative and communicative learning
experiences for their particular groups of students and without staying up-to-date
regarding current research on the most beneficial teaching methods. Teachers should
always approach the textbook with caution and not assume that simply because it has
been published that it is one-hundred percent reliable as the best teaching resource. While
the text book is often a necessary and very beneficial resource for teachers, it remains in
the best interest of the discerning and discriminating teacher to evaluate the approaches
and theories included or assumed in the text in order to use it as a support and/or catalyst
for communication in the classroom. In this way the teacher represents the classroom
expert tailoring language teaching to the needs of the students and the modern day
foreign language class, using the textbook as only one tool in a very complex process.
The most innovative and important language teaching theory today is referred to
as Second Language Acquisition Theory. Above and beyond other language methods,
this theory takes the position that language education should be approached naturally—
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Textbook Critique
!Dime! (Extended Teacher’s Edition)
Alex Draughan
EDU 399
Dr. Guy Arcuri
4/23/06
students acquire a second language in the same way that they acquired a first language.
First there is much language input from parents and other people. Children learn to
respond to commands. They are able to say one and two word utterances, describe things
and able to give commands. Eventually they being to creatively construct the language as
they pick up the social language patterns that surround them to create their own unique
and personal communication output with the individuals with which they interact. This
theory is so important because it has been so revolutionary in second language education.
As a result, I decided from the very beginning to view whatever textbook I happened to
choose through the lense of Second Language Acquisition Theory as the primary
foundation for critique. Secondarily I will include references to methods such as
Grammar Translation, Total Physical Response, Community Language Learning, Audiolingual Approach and the Communicative Approach.
Originally I set out to prove that even the worst textbook could be used in the
foreign language classroom as a great tool by teachers. This was because I did not expect
to find a textbook that was structured around Second Language Acquisition Theory, as is
the particular text in my critique. However, no teacher, or pre-service teacher, should
simply assume that such a textbook is perfect. This critique will highlight the high points
of the text as well as show how a good textbook is still merely a tool and can always be
improved upon.
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Textbook Critique
!Dime! (Extended Teacher’s Edition)
Alex Draughan
EDU 399
Dr. Guy Arcuri
4/23/06
!Dime! is a textbook for High School Spanish I students. I chose a Spanish I
textbook because I wanted to see how a text approached beginning language learners who
are likely to heavily rely on their first language to navigate a second (known as Grammar
Translation). I chose this text in particular because of the colorful graphics, comics, and
dialogues. More than any of the other texts I browsed through, I thought that students
would find the text attractive and, most importantly, unintimidating. !Dime! focuses
heavily on a communicative approach that is structured around Second Language
Acquisition Theory. The title then makes since. It’s all about getting students to use the
language, not merely memorizing the objects in a classroom and translating them in the
textbook exercises (a method known as Grammar Translation, which can inhibit the
second language thought flow of second language acquirers).
The !Dime! Extended Teacher’s Edition provides a basic lesson plan framework
in the beginning of the book which includes communicative goals, culture, structure, and
reading and writing strategies. The text includes eight units with a short preliminary unit
to introduce students to the language class. Each unit structures learning within the
context of a different city and country in the world where Spanish speakers can be found
(Montebello, CA; San Juan, Puerto Rico; México D. F., México; San Antonio, Texas;
Madrid, España; Guadalajara, México; Miami, FL; Segovia, España. Each unit is divided
into three major lessons that center around a particular context such as a first day at
school, interacting with staff at a restaurant, travel, shopping, etc. Each unit and each
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Textbook Critique
!Dime! (Extended Teacher’s Edition)
Alex Draughan
EDU 399
Dr. Guy Arcuri
4/23/06
lesson includes major communicative goals, cuture lessons, reading and writing strategies,
and grammar structures that are to be addressed and acquired by students through the
various communicative student activities and support dialogues. This book has no active
vocabulary lists, but recommends that students keep a personal notebook of words that
the teacher can also guide students into.
This book discourages the use of translation to learn the language. Instead it includes
many cartoons that represent authentic dialogues between native speakers providing a
real immersive context for teacher vocabulary and structure.
This text provides many great opportunities to create a very communicative
classroom, lesson, and activities. Page T4 of the Extended Teacher’s Edition summarizes
why the main purposes of the text include such a communicative approach:
!Dime! is designed to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing
competency in Spanish by taking into consideration current second-language
acquisition research and the Proficiency Guidelines developed by the American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Educational Teaching
Service.
To develop competency in a foreign language, students must learn to perform a
variety of language functions: to list, ,to ask questions, to describe, to give and
follow directions, to narrate, to express opinions and to defend them, to
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Textbook Critique
!Dime! (Extended Teacher’s Edition)
Alex Draughan
EDU 399
Dr. Guy Arcuri
4/23/06
hypothesize, and so forth. Students must learn to perform these in a multiplicity of
contexts, for example: at home, in school, at work, when traveling, while
shopping, while playing…
This is a great framework for any teacher to consider, whether or not he or she sticks
closely to the order of the text book.
Another great way this text provides a very authentic communicative atmosphere
of language learning is through the cartoons/comics that include authentic dialogues
supported by visual and audio media (Audio-lingual Approach). While other textbooks
often include such a resource for learning, this text is peculiar in its use of repeated and
slightly revised dialogue regarding the same situation. For example the first lesson of the
first unit includes a video clip depicting a student’s encounter at a new school. She is
introduced to a variety of teachers, staff and students at the school. Page 18 includes a
sequence of still frame images from the video with the pertinent dialogue available in
speech bubbles. Later on page 19 there is a cartoon that includes this student’s first day at
school but includes different introductions. In each introduction the dialogue is slightly
changed. The first dialogue includes formal introductions, the second an introduction that
results from a accidental collision between two students in the hallway. This is an
important aspect of language acquisition because students understand that
communication is not simply about regurgitating strictly memorized phrases and
formulas but it is a creative expressive process that is very dependent upon the social
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Textbook Critique
!Dime! (Extended Teacher’s Edition)
Alex Draughan
EDU 399
Dr. Guy Arcuri
4/23/06
situation as well as language preferences, comfort and choices of the speaker in response
to the speech of other individuals. Other dialogues are also included in the text in play
writing dialogue format supported by a single visual image. All of these are helpful
because students can explore and learn the creative and social aspects of language and
explore personal communication in response to the many language options there are. For
example, in response to these dialogues the text outlines a dramatization for students to
go through. “Initiate a conversation with various classmates, especially ones you don’t
know. Greet each other. Introduce yourself. Say good-bye and introduce yourself to
another classmate” (p. 26). Or “A new student has the locker next to yours. Role-play
your first conversation. Be creative in acting out how you meet. Greet each other
appropriately. Introduce yourselves. Ask each other how you are doing. Say good-bye
before rushing off to your classes” (p.26). These are real social contexts that students will
need to explore in order to communicate with individuals outside of the classroom.
Clearly this textbook does a great job of providing contextualized ideas for
communicative experiences.
Although this text is good, teachers can (and should) go outside the bounds of text
book prescribed activities and lessons in order to enhance student interest (Community
Language Learning) by teaching them what they would like to learn to say regarding the
topic. Teacher can expand the contexts within which the communicative objective is
taught (interacting with strangers and sales clerks at a shopping center, or meeting new
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Textbook Critique
!Dime! (Extended Teacher’s Edition)
Alex Draughan
EDU 399
Dr. Guy Arcuri
4/23/06
people at a friend’s birthday party) to provide for and motivate more student interaction
with language construction and communication. Teachers can also make the class a more
immersive setting by giving students directions in the target language and teaching
cultural things such as directing them to give appropriate gestures and postures (such as
hand shaking, etc.) use in introductions and interactions both formal and informal (Total
Physical Response). They can also expand the context by integrating elements from other
classes high school students take such as art, biology, history, and so forth. They can use
the communicative goals, lessons, and activities as a foundation for meeting the standards
and objectives in their respective state standard course of study. One advantage of this
text is that it seeks to follow the ACTFL standards important in the North Carolina
Standard Course of Study of my own state.
In short, this textbook is a great resource for a teacher of a communicative
classroom. It gives great ideas and activities that teachers can build upon and expand and
provides many authentic language contexts that give students a better overall perspective
of the language and communication. Finally, the discerning teacher will evaluate any
textbook, and whether good or bad, will be able to use it positively in order to make their
classes as communicative as they can possibly be. I recommend !Dime! as a great
resource and Spanish I textbook over many others that I have seen because it provides a
great foundation for communication while giving opportunities to expand the activities
provided in order to meet the needs of students in the foreign language classroom.
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