Using Miekleys checklist in evaluation - Assignment Example

Using Miekley’s Checklist in Evaluation of an EFL Saudi Textbook Supervisor Using Miekley’s Checklist in Evaluation of an EFL Saudi Textbook Textbook evaluation serves as a significant tool in teachers’ disposal as a means to curb the uncertainty in opting for the right material before commencing their teaching career. This paper aims at evaluating an English language textbook by the name “Traveller 2” used in Saudi Arabia for first year intermediate grade. The evaluation of this book is of great significance as it reaches a very large audience of Saudi Arabia’s students.

The methodology used involves the use of a Checklist designed and prepared by Joshua Miekley (2005). Discussion of Evaluative Questions A. Content The book has that modules that are organised logically and topically. It has a total of 8 modules namely: Youth Culture, What an experience! , Going places, Nowadays, Help, Time out, Good job and diversity. The selections seem authentic and relevant for the students learning the English language. The modules take the students through the daily activities they usually engage in including how we communicate with others and even the type of foods they eat like what is described in page 22.

Consequently, making the book highly interactive and stimulates the reader to think critically. The book has explored multiple sentence structures including questions and statements. B. Vocabulary and grammar This book provides a lot of reference to grammatical rules and regulations and great order in the manner of their presentation. This is clearly seen in some of the exercises they provide like the one in page 14 where they talk of adjectives describing personality. The book has also dedicated sections of vocabulary and grammar in all of its modules.

It even goes further to introduce some vocubaries used in the activities that students have already engaged in such as those described about travelling in page 35. The topics under the different modules are interrelated thus their repetition in subsequent lessons helps reinforce their meaning and use among the students. It is worth noting that the book makes of simple English vocabularies that do not pose any difficulty to the students as they go through the passages and exercises in the book. C. Exercises and Activities Exercises and activities in the text book are highly varied in requiring students to make use of new words, thus enhancing their communication.

The exercises include true-false, multiple-choice, and filling in the blanks. With regard to activities the book has a lot of that in the activities, listening and speaking sections of the different modules. Some of the activities include pairing up and discussing about certain topics provided by the book and looking at pictures and deducing what is being done for example in page 105 where the book asks the students to interview each other than report their partners response to the class. The book also has a section of self-assessment like the ones in page 73.

The instruction in the book tells the students to read for comprehension of the text. Luckily, comprehension plays a prerequisite role in a lot of activities in the book. When it comes to the use of grammar rules, there are so many activities involved including completing dialogue with phrases given by the book. It is good that some of the questions require the learner to think critically, but they are very few as most exercises just require short answers. It even goes further to provide tables that show grammar and usage in both British and American English. D. Attractiveness of the text and physical make-up Traveller 2 student’s book has varied colourful characters with pictorial reference on the cover page.

The imagery used is frequent in nature and is very attractive and eye catching for the student eyes. The pages have tried as much as possible to integrate text and images together to allow for better understanding and also induce interest in the student. The visual imagery is definitely of high aesthetic value and the text is very much interesting allowing the student to enjoy reading it. E. Context The goal of the writer of the book was to impart English grammar and vocabulary knowledge and skill and this is highly met by the book.

The book is very appropriate as its level of difficulty is that which the students can handle. The examples are well integrated with the topics under discussion thus making them readily understandable for the students. Travellers 2, is a book that is definitely geared towards meeting the felt needs of the student to learn English. References Mitchell, H. R., & Malkogianni, M. (2012). Traveller 2. MM Publication, 73, 14-105.