How To Choose Text Books

Ricchezza, Betina-Vellere, Paola.

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How to choose textbooks
Inglés y su enseñanza II
Fernandez, Adriana.

HOW TO CHOOSE TEXTBOOKS

Introduction

Many teachers take the decision to work without textbooks, a decision which may well be of benefit to their student if, and only if, the teacher has the experience and the time to provide a consistent programmeof work on his or her own and if he or she has a bank of materials to back up the decisions that are taken. These teachers who have a very poor opinion of textbooks say that they are boring and often inappropriate for the class in front of them. Such people decide to rely on their own ideas, pages from magazines and a variety of other sources. These criticisms of textbooks are due to teachers useits content as the only material to take into their classroom, always approaching a piece of teaching and learning in the way the book says it should be done.
Despite these opinions, textbook use is very useful and has many advantages for both students and teachers. For students, the textbook is reassuring. It allows them to look forward and back, giving them a chance to prepare for what is comingand to review what they have done. Now that books tend to be much more colourful than in the old days, students enjoy looking at the visual material in front of them. Students feel positive about textbooks. For teachers, textbooks offer a consistent syllabus and vocabulary; good textbooks have a range of reading and listening material and workbooks, for example, to back them up. They havedependable teaching sequences and, at the very last, they offer teachers something to fall back on when they run out of ideas of their own.
But sometimes not everything in the textbook is wonderful and teachers have to bring their own personality to the teaching task. That is when teacher´s own creativity really comes into play. That´s when the dialogue between the teacher and the textbook really worksfor the benefit of the students. The author Neville Grant suggests four alternatives when the teacher decides the textbook is not appropriate. Firstly, he or she might simply decide to omit the lesson. It allows him or her to get on with something else. There is nothing wrong with omitting lessons from textbooks. However, if teachers omit too many pages, the students may begin to wonder why theyare using the book. Grant´s second option is to replace the textbook lesson with one of the teacher´s own. If the teacher is dealing with the same language or topic, the students can still use the book to revise that particular language/vocabulary. The third option is to add to what is in the book. If the lesson is boring, too controlled, or if it gives no chance for students to use what they arelearning in a personal kind of way, the teacher may want to add activities and exercises which extend the students´ engagement with the topic or language. The final option is for the teacher to adapt what is in the book. For example, if a reading text in the textbook is dealt in a boring or uncreative way, he or she can adapt the lesson, using another text, but doing it in his or her own style.
Atmany stages during their careers, teachers have to decide what books to use. How should they do this, and on what basis will they be able to say that one book is better or more appropriate than another? There are nine main areas which teachers will want to consider in the books which they are looking at. The areas are:
* Price: Can students afford the book? Will they have to buy a workbook?Can they afford both? What about the teacher; can he or she pay for the teacher´s book and tapes?
* Availability: Are all its components (student´s book, teacher´s book, workbook etc.) in the shops now? What about the next level? Is it available?
* Layout and design: Is the book attractive? Does the teacher feel comfortable with it? How user-friendly is the design?
* Methodology:...