As proposed by Ansary and Babaii, a textbook is a tool that “regulates and times the

programs” and without which learning may be considered purposeless for learners (2002). In

accordance with Ellis’s types of material evaluation, American English File 1 by Clive Oxenden,

Christina Latham-Koenig, and Paul Seligson, is evaluated in my paper following the ‘pre-use,’

‘in-use,’ and ‘post-use’ types of material evaluation (1997). Light is to be shed on the topics the

textbook discusses, the content, and the skills.

1. Content

As the well organized syllabus provided right after the coverpage shows, this 180-page

and 276x219 mm textbook consists of 8 units; each divided into 5 sections that are to be

discussed in five sessions, as the teacher’s book states. There are 4 two-page sections, referred to

each by a letter. In addition to one three-page section labelled as Practical English, Writing, and

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Review and Check. There are also a large appendix at the end of the textbook that includes

Grammar Bank, Vocabulary Bank, communicative drills, and audioscripts. Having these

accessible references adds a sense of organization to the design and prevents having loads of

information at one place that may give the impression of slow progression. This serves as a ‘pre-

use’ evaluation step for the textbook based; based on learners’ insights (Ellis, 1997).

For adult learners whose level is High beginner to High-intermediate (according to the

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (North, 2007)), having a

clear layout outlines the learning process and provides a sense of security and readiness; as was

concluded while applying Elli’s ‘in-use’ textbook evaluation type (1997) by the researcher.

Each ‘letter’ includes a variety of exercises that cover grammar, pronunciation, and

vocabulary; assisted by reading or listening drills. Recycled information is heavily used

(information learners already know and reemphasized using different drills). Although the idea

of integrating phonological transcription [as in 3.a page 5] may be criticized as irrelevant to the

target situation, having such sophisticated input raises a sense of responsibility for beginner adult

learners towards the language, and gives them the impression that what they are learning is

different from what teenage and child beginner learners are (which is almost the same).

However, this completely failed with having exercises as 4.a [page 5] and 2.a [page 8]; adult

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learners may feel offended by being explicitly introduced to the way letters and numbers are

pronounced. A better substitution for the same objective could be by choosing the right

pronunciation for a letter pronounced in two different ways as a listening drill.

Practical English is a section that makes comparison between American and British

English using a scenario that is discussed in detail below in 2. In addition to real life situations

with ‘survival’ language (as referred to in the teacher’s book); highly related to travel, which

indicates the fact that modern textbooks exhibit ‘indigenous learning situations’ (Haines, 1996,

p.27).

American English File 1 also exhibits a logical progression from receptive to productive

skills, as apparent in having speaking and writing preceded by reading and listening.

2. Topics

Topics introduced in American English File 1 highly adhere to what Haines (1996) refers

to as ‘US publisher dominance’; American touristic sites [page 70], movies [page 45], habits

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[page 28], meals [page 16], celebrities [page 22], and cultural aspects are introduced. There also

exists some references and texts related to other cultures, but only discussing phenomenal

aspects and strange incidents [page 32, 90].

It has always been criticized that most of EFL textbooks neglect cultural restrictions the

culture of the learners has (Sheldon, 1998). Weninger and Kiss (2013, p.2) believe that the

purpose of such integration is implementing socially and culturally transformative agendas.

Promoting for the source culture is inevitably there. However, the idea of discrediting the target

culture does not seem there in the book because due to the imperialism that the world witnesses,

many cultural aspect started to decline and were replaced by international customs; showing

differences among cultures nowadays requires in a way or another, resorting to certain remaining

aspects that are culture-specific is a need; and in this case, they may not necessarily be appealing

or good representatives. Furthermore, having non-native speakers contribute in listening audio

has benefits for learners; they’ll be prepared to the idea of interaction with different varieties of

English users in cosmopolitan societies. This notion is not always biased and serves as an

attempt to present indigenous learning situations.

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 Other topics that the textbook discusses are mainly related to adult life, e.g. Sports,

dating, bad habits, cooking, etc. Such topics are highly authentic and simulate real-life

interaction.

Practical English, that was referred to above, is a section that revolves around the story

of an American man, Mark; who works for a music company, and his British colleague Allie;

who works in the UK branch. Mark goes to the UK for conferences and a variety of different

linguistic structures between the two accents are introduced within in different occasions

following a context of functional-notional language use, which is defined as:

A sensitivity to the individual needs of students. Based on the idea that the ability to use

real, appropriate language to communicate with others is the primary goal of most foreign

language learning. (Finocchiaro& Brumfit, 1983)

3. Skills

Sheldon (1988) describes how textbooks may exhibit a failure in accurately identifying

the language levels of learners and how the use of certain EFL terminologies makes coursebooks

difficultly compared to others (p. 239). As the teacher’s book claims following the Common

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European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), American English File 1 is made for

learners who start with ability to understand basic everyday expressions and who can answer

about personal details (Level: A1), ending up with learners who are capable identifying

experience, and using and comprehending matters related to work, school, leisure, etc. (Level:

B1). As having the textbook taught for several times, the downside of having serveral levels

included in this coursebook is that some learners may be very familiar with what is being

introduced at the beginning and will find difficulties with the second level of the coursebook.

Reading extracts at the beginning follow bottom-up reading skills; answers can be found

by literal scanning. Then as the units proceed, the focus moves to comprehension skills like

getting the gist of the extract.

The fact that grammar rules are explicitly shown in the Grammar Bank and implicitly

integrated with the units makes comprehension smoother and effortless.

Listening skills are improved following material that is used for language

teaching, and to some extent extracted from naturally occurring communication in the native-

contexts following the standard native norms, which makes it more authentic as the units proceed

as well (Awasthi, 2006).

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 References

Ansary, H., & Babaii, E. (2002). Universal characteristics of EFL/ESL textbooks: A step

towards systematic textbook evaluation. The Internet TESL Journal, 8(2), 1-9.

Awasthi, J. R. (2006). Textbook and its Evaluation. Journal of NELTA, 11(1-2), 1-10.

Ellis, R. (1997). The empirical evaluation of language teaching materials. ELT journal,

51(1), 36-42.

Finocchiaro, M., & Brumfit, C. (1983). The functional-notional approach: From theory to

practice. Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016.

Haines, D. (1996). Survival of the fittest: Are British publishers facing a watershed in

international ELT publishing?. BOOKSELLER, 26-28.

North, B. (2007). The CEFR illustrative descriptor scales. The Modern Language Journal,

91(4), 656-659.

Sheldon, L. E. (1988). Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. ELT journal, 42(4), 237-

246.

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 Weninger, C., & Kiss, T. (2013). Culture in English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

textbooks: A semiotic approach. TESOL quarterly, 47(4), 694-716.