The University Guide

Archive for August, 2010

An Evaluation of a General Education Textbook in English: “Managing College Freshman Language Skills”

The role of the textbook in a College English General Education (GE) course is highly regarded in the Philippine educational system, being considered as the primary material that guides the flow of both teaching and learning. For the students, it serves as a reference to which they can consult. Thus, its content, structure, and approach must be suitable for the academic needs of the students. Also, the textbook provides a common ground between the teachers and students—both preparing for the next chapter. However, the limitation of a single reference must be recognized and addressed by both parties. Yet, this apparent central function of the textbook in the Philippine educational system demands both quality and quantity.

The textbook that is evaluated here is “Managing College Freshman Language Skills” used in English 1 taken by first year students of Far Eastern University. The criteria for this evaluation are: approach, style, content, visuals, and presentation, which are important considerations in textbook selection. This evaluation leads to a conclusion that states whether the book is suitable for a College English General Education program or not. With the assumption that the textbook is a primary reference in the classroom, this evaluation can be considered as a basis for the quality of language education in terms of textbook selection. Recommendations are given at the end of this paper.

APPROACH
The title of the book leads one to assume that its approach on Teaching English as a Second Language is behavioristic. Learning takes a period of time to increase both competence and performance through suitable input from the environment. The preface states the goal of the textbook, which is to equip students with English language skills (e.g. the four macro skills) to make them linguistically and functionally competent users of English, a perspective from systemic-functional linguistics wherein communication is the chief function of language. The lessons are widely varied and divided into four units, namely (1) Managing the Demands of College Life, (2) Managing the Demands of Communication, (3) Managing the Demands of the Discipline, and (4) Managing the Demands of Society. The unit division reflects Halliday’s theory on the functions of language from the individual’s concern to the level of society. However, this wide variety of content is not proportional to the depth of discussion provided in the textbook. In this case, the textbook serves as a supplement or a guide in classroom discussion. Another influence of this book is Krashen’s Input Hypothesis, as shown in the progress from easy to complex lessons. The first unit concentrates on the need of the individual and proceeds to the complex role of language in the society. The book is guided by theories like systemic functional linguistics and Krashen’s Input Hypothesis which have gained acceptance in the academic circle.

STYLE

From cover to cover, the book has a certain style. Its green cover is an indication of FEU. Its quality paper and colored visuals mark its relatively high cost. But there is more between the covers that tells of its style. Font size is often a basis for a book’s difficulty. For this textbook, font is larger than that of other textbooks, which leads to a presumption that its content is fairly easy. Language, to which the font size directs to, supports this impression. It uses high-frequency vocabulary, easy enough to be understood by the majority of freshmen. However, as the lessons progress, less-frequency words are introduced such as ingrain and verbatim. This is complemented by the sentence structures which are simple enough for easy comprehension. Long and complex sentences are limited to the articles that are attached for reading comprehension. Aside from these, the grammar follows the rules of Standard English to present itself as an illustration of academic writing. The book is well written, being able to follow accuracy, coherence, and organization.

CONTENT
The content of the book is widely varied—from grammar, writing process, communication models, and basic linguistics to everyday tasks such as giving directions, identifying fallacies, and leadership skills. This wide variety of topics shows the students how wide the scope of language is. It integrates language into different skills including reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Each lesson begins with a concept map that provides a clear picture of what is being discussed and how these are interrelated with each other. Aside from the map, the goal setting provides the students’ focus in each lesson. It also sets the expectations for each lesson. A beginning task follows, diagnosing what the students already know about the lesson. This diagnosis, if considered by the teacher, provides the starting point of the discussion. There are numerous articles to practice reading comprehension and to expose students to different reading materials. However, there is a lack of literature incorporated in the book. It also lacks introduction of new words. Lessons, reading materials, and tasks do not elicit bias in terms of age, sex, region, and religion. Instead, it promotes appreciation of language and communication skills through presenting different applications of them. It encourages students to learn appropriate use of language based on the situation.

VISUALS
The visuals in the book have different functions. Some, like the icons beside subtitles elicit interest from the students by stimulating their visual sense and supplementing meaning to the text. An important visual used in each unit is the concept map which provides a bigger picture of the lessons allowing the students to see the interrelationship of the topics. A noticeable feature of numerous visuals is that they are multi colored; even college students prefer looking at colored visuals. A colored image would attract the attention of most students, therefore directing their concentration onto it. No image depicts negative concepts such as racism, ageism, etc.

PRESENTATION AND ORGANIZATION
The units and lessons are organized in such a way that the level of difficulty is paralleled—from Managing the Demands of College Life to Managing the Demands of the Society. This also presents the students the wide scope of language, so that he/she realizes its necessity in his/her life. Each lesson is composed of an introduction, body, and conclusion. It starts with a briefing about the lesson and a diagnostic activity, proceeding with the main lesson and a supplementary reading material. It is followed by a list of important points and finally an assessment.

CONCLUSION
“Managing College Freshman Language Skills” used in Far Eastern University is able to provide first year students appropriate lessons that they need in college and beyond. Through the structure of the book, it is able to show how language is incorporated in the different aspects of one’s life. In terms of textbook selection, the English 1 course of FEU equips students with language skills that are necessary in their own endeavors. However, it fails to provide comprehensive discussions and extensive examples for each lesson. Much of the content is devoted on testing the student, which provides the teacher readily available assessment strategies, instead of providing input for the students. I recommend that there be more space for discussion and illustrations/examples, and less for assessment. In this way, students are encouraged to study comprehensively when anticipating the assessment. It will also give the teacher room for creativity. Reference: Madrunio, M.R., Villamarzo, P.C., Vizconde, C.J., & Ward, A.M.G.S. (2009). Managing College Freshman Language Skills. Manila: UST Publishing House.

Monumenta Musica Neerlandica: Sweelinck’s Fantasia Chromatica played by ernst stolz on an Italian style harpsichord in meantone tuning Sweelinck was born in Deventer (NL), in 1562, as the eldest son of Peter Swybbertszoon and Elske Jansdochter Sweeling. His mother’s father, was a “chirurgyn”. a well known doctor, perhaps that’s why he chosed her family name. The family moved to Amsterdam, where from about 1564 Swybbertszoon served as organist of the Oude Kerk. Jan Pieterszoon must have received first lessons in music from his father. Unfortunately, the latter died in 1573. He subsequently received general education under Jacob Buyck. He was probably influenced to some degree by the organists of St.-Bavokerk, Claas Albrechtszoon van Wieringen and Floris van Adrichem, both of whom improvised daily in the Bavokerk. According to Cornelis Plemp, a pupil and friend of Sweelinck’s, he started his 44 year career as organist of the Oude Kerk in 1577, when he was just 15.
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