Classroom materials for second‐language proficiency

Collaborative Textbook Selection: A Case Study Leading to Practical and Theoretical Considerations

“…Consumption includes not only teachers' and learners' perspectives related to textbooks, but also how they actually use textbooks in particular contexts (Harwood, 2014). Textbook consumption depends on various contextual factors, such as allegiances to certain educational standards, specific program-wide goals, or course objectives (Angell et al, 2008;Birckbichler, 1987;Tomlinson, 2003). Other factors impacting how teachers and learners use textbooks include class length, number of meeting times, number of semesters, preparation of students or teachers, economic resources, students' motivations, and the teachers' degree of autonomy in the classroom (Angell et al, 2008).…”

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Selecting Textbooks for College‐Level Language Programs

“…Similarly, rigid, generic guidelines contradict the "emphatically local" character of selection criteria and ignore the inherent variability in lahguage programs and in individuals' second language acquisition (Sheldon, 1988, p. 241). While objectivity may, according to some, discourage decisions based on idiosyncratic approaches and individual preferences (see Birckbichler, 1987), others note that evaluations are inherently and inescapably subjective, since evaluation "involves making judgments about the effect of the materials on the people using them" (Tomlinson, 2003b, p. 15).…”

“…One criterion that arguably transcends these theoretical and methodological biases is the extent to which textbooks enact new theories or findings in second language acquisition or current teaching methods (Aski, 2003(Aski, , 2005Olivares-Cuhat, 1999), or follow a proficiency-oriented approach (Hadley, 2001). Birckbichler (1987), however, holds that few evaluation instruments are grounded in knowledge about the process of teaching and learning, emphasizing that the primary criterion for selection should be the extent to which materials promote students' "linguistic or cultural proficiency" (p. 299). Front matter and margin suggestions in instructors' editions have been criticized for exhibiting "a terminological looseness (for example, 'communicative', 'authentic', 'notional/functional', 'lexical syllabus', etc.)…”