Reading Texts Are Usually Too Bland, Offer Little For Learners To Think, Speak, Or Write About

By Author: John
Total Articles: 47
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In this review, we have limited the scope to student's and teacher's books only. What we realized was that in some courses writing has been moved to a Workbook or CD-ROM (Straightforward, face2/ace, Framework). An innovation does not have a writing component at all. Learners who come to the UK for General English short courses may be more interested in listening and speaking but what will the consequence be for E F L learners overseas? A neglect of writing and a lack of feedback could mean a further decrease in opportunities for language Merrell Boots acquisition. We would like to urge publishers to consider the pros and cons very carefully in continuing with the multi-component course. It is possible to design books which can be used differently in different circumstances and which are economical and effective at the same time (e.g. Maley 1998).

The comparison of content maps seems to reveal basic similarities in coverage across all the courses. Grammar and vocabulary are consistently included in every course. What is notable is the prominence given to vocabulary. ...
... Inface2face, vocabulary is given equal importance to grammar. Straightforward claims to offer a lexical syllabus and to place strong emphasis on vocabulary development (teacher's book: viii). Total English considers that vocabulary plays a central role in communication and thus offers revisions and practice of high-frequency useful vocabulary. An innovation emphasizes its strong focus on idiomatic use of the language such as 'collocations, fixed expressions and idiomatic language' (blurb). New English File gives the same prominence to grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation (introduction to the teacher's book). It is reassuring to know that courses are responding well to the recent developments in corpus-based studies.

Another welcoming trend seems to be renewed appreciation of function, that is, pragmatic use of language, e.g. inface2face, Straightforward, Quick Smart English, Just Right, and Framework, just Right offers some activities in which learners are guided to pay attention to appropriacy of language use. We were very disappointed, however, to find that all the courses failed to recognize the fact that in real life there is a purpose for communication and we change how we communicate according to the target audience and the intended effect. Almost all the communication activities seemed to be 'classroom' activities and to lack purpose, specified audience, and real-life outcomes.
Most of the courses give much greater prominence to listening and speaking than they do to reading and writing. It seems to have been decided in most of the courses that classroom time should be spent mainly on listening and speaking practice. This may be due to the market demands from the General English users but it certainly works against E F L learners whose opportunities for Merrell Shoes exposure to language use is often very limited outside the class. What is especially worrying is the scarcity of extensive reading. For example, Straightforward combines listening and reading and Innovations uses the script from the listening activity as reading material. One of the negative consequences of downgrading reading is that in most courses there is no substantial content for the learners to respond to.

The reading texts are usually too short or bland and offer very little for learners to think, speak, or write about. There are comparatively interesting extensive texts in Just Right, Quick Smart English, and New English File but even these texts have no more than seven paragraphs. Even worse still, the potential engagement of these interesting texts is often interfered with by comprehension questions that require intensive reading or by language-related exercises. We strongly regret that confusion still exists between 'teaching language using reading texts' and 'reading for real-life purposes' (Masuhara 2003).