Paper 2 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units

Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Website: www.jeltal.org Email: editor@ jeltal.org An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units Dawit Dibekulu Alem Lecturer at Mekdela Amba University, College Social Scinces and Humanities, Departement of English Language and Literature ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Received: February 13, 2020 Accepted: March 2, 2020 Volume: 2 Issue: 1 KEYWORDS The last decade has seen lots of changes in many fields of education. The field of Education, Text book, and Language skills given for listening skills, the notes in grammar section the text book called syllabus design in foreign language instruction is no exception. The main purpose of this paper is thus to examine critically Grade 10 English Students text book. So, based the selected unit is tried to organized in good way but little attention was language focus, the skills were not that much integrative and to evaluate the skills the tasks is not varied in terms of their types. The reading text and poems are authentic because the texts are not prepared for teaching purpose. 1- Introduction Materials are the backbone of every teaching and learning process so the materials need to bed designed in more constructive and effective way. They play a role in actualization of the plans and decisions into interesting and useful materials, tasks and activities (Kurkgöz, 2009; Richards, 2001). To make this practical we need to apply effective evaluation. Brown (1989: 231) defines evaluation as “the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum, and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participants’ attitudes within the context”. Coursebooks are often considered by teachers and learners to be key elements of the language tuition. According to, Mukundan (2011), “as a part of the materials used in the language classroom, the textbook can often play a crucial role in students’ success or failure” (p. 100). The learning outcome very much depends on the quality of a coursebook. So, in this short paper I tried to evaluate grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” published by Federal Democratic Republic of Ministry of Education (MoE,2003), which is widely used by many provinces and schools. This Text book has 12 units in total. But my focus is only on unit 8 and 12 By setting different criteria suggested by different scholars. In this paper, the evaluated coursebook I chose is 10thGrade, each unit consists of two parts: Section A, Section B. I choose Unit 8 and 12 entitled as “Education” and “Birth, Wedding and Funerals” respectively. To evaluate the units my instance is criteria stated by different scholars. The main objective of this paper is: ➢ To evaluate Grade 10 English text book as per different criteria suggested by different scholars? 9 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units 2. Review of Related Literature In practice, given the widely differing circumstances prevailing in the world of English language teaching,' the roles of comsebooks in the learning/teaching process can vary considerably, reflecting the nature of the partnership between the teacher and the coursebook. The amount of reliance placed on the coursebook by the teacher and the extent to which he or she depends on the book is indicative of the perceived place of the coursebook! in the whole earning/teaching process. This can also often tell us a lot about the underlying approach of the educational system in question. Reasons for materials evaluation activities are many and varied. The intention to adopt new coursebooks is a major and frequent reason for evaluation. Another reason is to identify particular strengths and weaknesses in coursebooks already in use, so that optimum use can be made of their str01;1g points, whilst their weaker areas can be strengthened through adaptation or by substituting material from other books. Inevitably evaluation will involve elements of comparison, especially when coursebooks are in competition fm:adoption or where existing materials are being challenged by newly produced material. For comparative evaluation of this kind, a standard procedure and a common set of criteria, applied evenly to the different coursebooks, will be of great help in making the process more objective> leading to more reliable results. Coursebook analysis and evaluation is useful in teacher development and helps teachers to gain good and useful insights into the nature of the material (Cunningsworth,1995. 3. Methodology To examine the data in this paper descriptive design was employed. According to Kothari (2004), descriptive research studies are concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group. Similarly, Creswell (2014) also explained it provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population. As the nature of the study is describing the text book design based on McDonough and Shaw (1993), Ellis, 1998, and Cunningsworth (1995) method of evaluation so descriptive design is felt to be appropriate. So, the data obtained from the text book were analyses through narration and different tabular data also analyzed qualitatively. 4. Data Analysis and Discussions 4.1. General Outlook of the Text Book In this paper I tried to see the general over view of the book as a whole. So, as far as I am concerned on the book, the book is entitled as “English for Ethiopia: student text book Grade 10 “ by FDRE ministry of education first edition 2003 E.C. the author of the book is Donna Bailey and the evaluators were Assefa Kassa, Ejeta Negeri, Getahun Geberemedhin, and Tesfaye Gebreyes. The book contains 12 units (which talks about different issues and incorporate macro and micro skills).Each unit consists of two parts: Section A, Section B. 4.2. Evaluation of Unit Eight and Twelve 4.2.1. Macro/External Evaluation of the Units 10 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units My evaluation first stands from the definition of McDonough and Shaw (1993) external evaluation should be conducted firstly to have an overview of the organizational foundation of the course book. So, when we look the general design of these two units, it is good and attractive, unit 8 entitled as “ Education”and unit 12 is “Births ,wedding, and funeral’’ As Ellis (1997) explained that Macro-evaluation aims to answer one of the questions listed below: 1. To what extent was the programme/project effective and efficient in meeting itsgoals? So, based on this, I think that these chapter meets with the goal for the grade level being mentioned, it also the contents which are incorporated in this unit also good. 2. In what ways can the programme/project be improved? (Ellis, 1997: 218) The first question relates to Weir and Roberts’ (1994) ‘accountability evaluation’, and the second to ‘development evaluation’. In this regard, both of the chapters are accountable because the contents are valid and enhance the education. There are also many other factors which are to be taken into account at this external stage of evaluation (macroevaluation) as follows: No Points Yes Unit Unit 12 No Unit 8 8 1 Are the materials to be used as the main 'core' course or to be ✓ ✓ supplementary to it? 2 Is a teacher's book in print and locally avail-able? ✓ ✓ 3 Is a vocabulary list/index included? ✓ ✓ 4 What visual material does the book contain(photographs, charts, ✓ ✓ diagrams) and is it there for cosmetic value only or is it actually integrated into the text? 5 Is the layout and presentation clear or cluttered? ✓ ✓ 6 Is the material too culturally biased or specific? ✓ ✓ 7 Do the materials represent minority groups and/or women in a ✓ ✓ The inclusion of tests in the teaching materials (diagnostic, progress, achievement); would they be useful for your particular learners? Are there any digital materials? ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ How essential are they to ensure language acquisition and development? ✓ ✓ negative way? Do they present a ' balanced' picture of a particular country/society? 8 9 10 Table 1: external stage evaluation of the two chapters adapted from McDonough and Shaw (1993) 11 Unit 12 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units From table 1 we can understand that both of the units are tried to be used as the main 'core' course rather than supplementary subject, and the teachers have got printed, as I observed that on strengths of this units is they were designed by different colorful by visual material (photographs, charts, diagrams) in terms of this the layout and presentation is clear and motivate the students to do the tasksfor example in chapter 8 on page 140, 146/7…. And chapter 12 210,219 there are different pictures which try to grasp students. Moreover, both of the units were culturally related to the country of Ethiopia based that is not too much specific but try to cover in generally way by the way the book as a whole try to cover all the culture and belief of Ethiopia but in this two selected chapter especial on chapter twelve the cultural content is diversified from other countries in the world. On the other issue, both of the unit does not have any gender baseness. On the issue of digital materials, the units have different listening task which need digital material but I am not sure that in Ethiopia context that we practical observed the ire is no audio and video material which helps to support the learners effectively. Finally, when we look these two units in terms of language acquisition, both are incorporated different task which are essential to ensure language acquisition and development. In addition, on this, I raised the following question and tried to see the selected units in Macro level/ external evaluation as follow: ➢ What kind of a syllabus is the book based on? Forasmuch as the passage extracts have been arranged from easy to difficult, the unit seems to be based on a linear syllabus; however, it is not impossible to go through the extracts randomly so a cyclic syllabus can be said to be true for the units. In fact, there is a general overlap between the two. ➢ What are the organization and the connection of the units like? The unit containsreading activities unit 8 extracts, “ a history of modern education in Ethiopia”, “two Ethiopian children” which have been planned for Reading Comprehension (1), ……… for. Each extract is accompanied with itself a number of questions as exercises. Writing skills (letter writing, completing the passage) speaking skills (discussing issues, pronunciation practice, and listening skills (explanation and comprehension), and unit 12 also tried to incorporate all skills. ➢ What claims are made about the book approach and methodology? The writers of the units believe that the passages they have extracted help the learners who intend to strengthen their reading comprehension skill for academic, personal, or career purposes. Furthermore, they consider the book a great help for the university students who are attending the Reading Comprehension courses that were mentioned previously. ✓ Layout Looking the layout of the book as well as each unit is on of macro level evaluation of any text book. In doing this, I come up with following critical points as follow: 12 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units ➢ Does the table of contents facilitate orientation? Since my evaluation focused on two selected chapter of the text book, I tried to see how the table of content in regarding to this two chapter. There is systematic table of contents. One reason can be that the passages have been included topic-free for the purpose of guessing the main idea or choosing a suitable topic for the extract. Not only for the passages but also for other skills the tables of contents were designed in systematic way to facilitate the teaching learning process. ➢ What visual material does the book contain and does it help in the learning process? The units contain picture or other visual material, so students are exposed integrate this contents with the orthographic content. 4.2.2. Micro/Internal Evaluation of the Units In this part of my paper I tried to come up the internal/ micro evaluation of the unit. McDonough and Shaw (1993) and Ellis(1998)defines micro-evaluation in this manner: “A micro-evaluation is characterized by a narrow focus on certain aspects of the curriculum. All the curricular and administrative aspects can be subjected to a micro-evaluation. In the case of materials one can find out the efficiency of a task or an activity in a lesson unit of a course book to fulfill the objectives of the book and the curriculum. One way of understanding evaluation is to accord the teacher perspective in the evaluation, which can be achieved by a microevaluation”.(Ellis, 1998: 219) As we understand from the above clear explanation of micro evaluation, the main focus is on the critical and detailed evaluation, the tasks, the contents and other basic elements of the text book indeed that for the units also. So, on this part of my paper I tried to come up with the contents which are related to micro/ internal evaluation. 4.2.3. Micro Evaluation of the Units Based on the Frame for Evaluating Course Books 4.2.3.1. Evaluation Related to Teacher The teachers are the main element need to be considered in teaching the units. So, In relation to the teachers, their status, both at national and institutional levels, their training, mother tongue, attitudes to their job, experience, expectations. Teachers have class autonomy in teaching method following the department syllabus requirements. The department syllabus serves as a guide, suggesting a methodology and grading system. So, based on this, when we look this selected units as far as my evaluation concerned both of the units try know the educational level of Ethiopian teachers because we know that currently the teacher are BA degree holders few of them may be MA degree holders so the unity are familiar with them and they can teach the contents effectively. Moreover, Stern(1983) cited in Nikoopour and Amini (2011) stated that for most EFL/ESL teachers make their own syllabus by asking the following significant questions: 13 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units ❖ Are the units easy to adapt? Both of the units are moderately easy to adapt and they have the opportunity to adapt other related material to teach. For example, in unit 12 there is on speaking task which is describing the picture but the picture is about other countries culture at this time the teacher has to adapt other pictures from Ethiopia. ❖ Do the units have opportunities for personalization? Yes, both of the units have good opportunities for the teachers. ❖ Does the unit cater for teachers with different teaching styles? As similar to learning style the teachers have also different teaching style. So, the units need to be designed to probe every teacher teaching style. ❖ Do the units introduce teachers to new techniques? To somehow the units are trying to introduce a new techniques of teaching because the text book is the new mode which was published in 2003. But rather than saying it the unit’s artery to enhance the teacher different teaching methodology. ❖ Is the decision-making weighted towards the teacher? No, rather it is designed in both sided because the units also need not only the teacher’s reflection rather it also the student’s active enrollment. ❖ Is there guidance on using material and an answer keys available for the teacher? Yes, there is teachers’ book which is designed for the teacher to help the teachers. This implies in this selected units designed in well-organized way even though there are some gaps. So, in these two units, the teachers’ role is guiding, teaching and evaluating student to perform tasks in the unit. The teacher’s role cannot be ignored here although the book seems to have been presented on a learner-centered basis. The teacher is the one who makes all the significant decisions. But the attempt is to induce more learner-centeredness to learning. The teacher can act as a facilitator, guide, or teacher to teach some basics. 4.2.3.2. Evaluation Related to Student In relation to teacher the students also need to be considering them because the primary consumer of the material is they themselves. “Learners, after all, are the main consumers of materials. It is they, as much as you, the teacher, who have to try and make any materials work for them in their learning. The more we involve them in exploring learning materials with use the more likely it is that they will want to refine the materials for their use.” (Breen and Candlin 1987:28) So, this concept indicates that how the students are important in designing the syllabus especially for the practicality of the syllabus. More over to evaluate the selected unit in terms of the students’ side I tried to raise the following issues: ➢ Interest (as with age, this may help in the specification of topics and learning activities): so, interms of this aspect both of the chapters are good because the students are grade 10 students and most of the contents were learnt 14 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units lower grade level especial at grade 9th so they are familiar with them and the passages and the tasks were country based. And both are motivated the students to perform. ➢ Level of proficiency in English (aptitude): when we look these two chapters in terms of their language profession, English is foreign language but they were learning the language from grade one up to the current level, but they may not be practically proficient as we order practically. But when we look this chapter it tries to consider them effectively but the language skills are not propositional measure in both chapters. ➢ Mother tongue academic and educational level (attitudes to learning, motivation), reasons for learning: as per this issue these two units is good because the entire task were designing by considering their mother thong. When we look their purpose of the student learning they were learned to achieve their secondary school level and to be certified it to pass on the next level so to do this the unit try to teach them by providing different issue. ➢ Preferred learning styles personality: Learning styles refer to differences in how people learn based on their preferences, strengths and weaknesses. The differences may pertain to various elements of the learning process such as taking in, comprehending, memorizing and recollecting information. Language learning styles and strategies are among the main factors that help determine how –and how well –our students learn a second or foreign language (Oxford, 2003). Oxford (2003) also asserts that learning styles are the general approaches – for example, global or analytic, auditory or visual – that students use in acquiring a new language or in learning any other subject. So, based on this, when we look these selected chapters try to deigned by considering the learners learning style. Moreover, Cornett (1983, p.9) defines these styles as “the overall patterns that give general direction to learning behavior”. Generally, to sum up this part, the learner’s role of in this unit is performing the tasks in the unit. They are expected to get themselves involved actively in the activities the book has provided. They should work on the extracts lexically as well as grammatically to be able to carry out to have perfect skimming or scanning over the text contents. 4.2.3.3. Evaluation Related to Contents Content that are incorporated in the units of the book are very essential. Williams (1983, p.251) calls it a “question of relevance.” Using someone else’s checklist without adapting it means we accept another’s view for our own situation. McDonough and Shaw’s evaluation framework is best suit for evaluating the contents of the course book. So, to evaluate the contents of the units I mainly focus on the following questions: Key: the numbers in the table represents these degrees: 1- excellent 5 –poor 6- Totally lacking 15 2- V.good 3-good 4- average/adequate An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units No Criteria’s Related To The Contents Unit 8 1 2 3 4 ✓ 5 6 Unit 12 1 2 3 4 5 ✓ 1 Does the unit contain some authentic texts and tasks? 2 Is the unit culturally sensitive? /Does it help build intercultural awareness? ✓ 3 Is the unit related to real life? ✓ 4 Does the unit reflect the nature of language learning?9 ✓ ✓ 5 Is the content primarily form or meaning-oriented? ✓ ✓ 6 Does the unit present grammar in context? 7 Does the unit contain interesting/ up to date topics? 8 Does the unit provide opportunities for recycling? ✓ ✓ 9 Will students find the unit suitably challenging? ✓ ✓ 10 To what extent does the unit contain lively and interesting materials? ✓ ✓ 10 To what extent does the unit provide a sensible progression of language items? ✓ ✓ 11 To what extent does the unit include varied topics? ✓ ✓ 12 To what extent does the unit contain an assortment of suitable text types? ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Table 2: criteria’s for evaluating the units related to the contents of the units From table 2, we can deduce that both the units were designed by incorporating by valid contents. Both contain some authentic texts and tasks (unit 8 on page 146 picture of students and teacher in class with tasks, on page 148 a reading passage” two Ethiopian children” with authentic tasks) where as in unit 12, on page 219/220 there are poems but the contents may be difficult to the students, and on page 210 there are some picture which may be new to the students, culturally sensitive but I saw some gaps on unit 12 because on page 210 there are picture which shows the wedding of Japans, and Indian , and on page 212 three reading passage were talking about the wedding ceremony of the world to develop students awareness in the world that is good but it is better to include different nations and nationalists of Ethiopia. In doing this both are related to students’ real life. And when we look the nature of language learning there are different language and learning theories designed by different linguistics (interactionism, functionalist and structuralism , and cognitive contrast to behaviorism’s emphasis on the learner’s outward performance, cognitivism shifts the focus internal, to the learners’ processing of information, and their ability to relate new information to 16 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units preexisting knowledge. Significant emphasis is placed on the learners’ organization of information. The instructor’s role is viewed more as a guide; they are tasked to not only help students adequately structure their knowledge for better recall and application, but also to understand the importance of what they are learning. “The learner must believe that the knowledge is useful in a given situation before he or she will activate it” (Ertmer& Newby, 2013, p. 52). A cognitive approach is ideal for teaching higher levels of learning, such as critical analysis and problem-solving. Many topics in law are relational in nature – court structure, the relationship between statutes, cases, and regulations, the hierarchy of legal information, etc. – so generating efficient methods of processing this information is critical. Feedback plays a crucial role in cognitivist theory; rather than simply telling a student the right answer to a missed quiz question, provide a student with advice on how to approach the problem differently in the future, behaviorism (implies for teaching :Correct behavioral responses are transmitted by the teacher and absorbed by the students. As its name suggests, behaviorism focuses on learning as expressed through behavior. A common example given is that a learner, when presented with an equation (stimulus), should be able to produce the proper solution (response). Instruction that employs a behaviorist theory emphasizes repetition and reinforcement as the means to achieve mastery; mastery comes when the learner is able to generalize this new knowledge and apply it to other, similar scenarios.), humanism and constructivism (implies for teaching: The teacher facilitates learning by providing an environment that promotes discovery and assimilation/accommodation) And, Constructivism focuses even more on what the individual brings to the topic being learned. Focusing on preexisting knowledge and the unique backgrounds of each individual learner, constructivists believe that learners apply new knowledge to their own realities, and that therefore they will construct their own meaning from the knowledge being acquired. In constructivist thinking, meaning is constantly evolving, and one’s knowledge of a particular concept takes on new meanings every time it is applied in a new situation or perspective; therefore “it is critical that learning occur in realistic settings and that the selected learning tasks be relevant to the students’ lived experiences” (Ertmer& Newby, p. 56). So, to sum up the evaluation of thse units in regarding to the language and learning theory both of the chapter were try to related their content by considering this theory indeed. And both of the units contain interesting and suitably challenging topics because they talk about unit 8 “education” and unit 12 “Births, Weddings and Funeral”. It provides a sensible progression of language items but in terms of listening skills both of the units did not give more attention than other skills but they are good in the varied topics of the topics but the topics were designed based on the chapter. The degree of the content selected according to structure, functions, situations, topics is good. 4.2.3.4. Evaluation Related to Tasks The task is diversified and tried to develop the students’ language proficiency. A 'task' can be described in terms of its objectives; the input it provides for the students to work on (i.e. the verbal or non-verbal information supplied); the conditions under which the task is to be performed (e.g. whether in lockstep with the whole class or in small group work); the procedures the students need to carry out to complete the task (e.g. whether the students have the opportunity to plan prior to performing the task); and outcomes (i.e. what is achieved on completion of the task). The 17 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units outcomes take the form of the product(s) the students will accomplish (e.g. drawing a map, a written paragraph, some kind of decision) and the processes that will be engaged in performing the task (e.g. negotiating meaning when some communication problem arises, correcting other students' errors, asking questions to extend a topic). First, in chapter 8 , the title is education so it includes different asks like speaking skills about discussing on education ,discussing statistics, education topics, pronunciation practices, reading skills : a history of modern education in Ethiopia, two Ethiopian children. Listening: education in Ethiopia-where is it going. Key: 1- Excellent 2- V. good 3- Good 4- Adequate 5- Poor 6- Totally lacking No Questions related to activities Unit 8 1 Unit 12 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 ✓ ✓ 1. To what extent do the activities meet the objectives stated in the syllabus/curriculum? 2. To what extent do the activities fit with students' level? ✓ ✓ 3 To what extent do the activities promote critical thinking (application, analysis...), and development of study skills (underlying, note-taking…)? ✓ ✓ 4 To what extent do the units contain optional oral and written activities? 7 To what extent are the activities varied and sufficient? 11 To what extent do the exercises promote communication and meaning full? ✓ 14 To what extent do the units provide warm-up introductory activities? ✓ 15 To what extent encourage personalized application of the language? ✓ ✓ 16 To what extent do the activities incorporate individual? ✓ ✓ 17 To what extent do the activities incorporate pair or group work? ✓ ✓ 18 To what extent are grammar presentations clear and the linguistics data accurate? 22 To what extent does the presentation of tasks move gradually from simple to more complex? Table 3. checklist in relation to activities/tasks 18 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 6 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units So, from table 3 we can understand that the activities in both of the units were help to meet the objectives stated in the syllabus, and most ly it fit with students level because the student are expected to take the Grade 10th national examination to that mater it fit with students level. the activities also promote criticalthinking (application, analysis...), and development of study skills (underlying, note-taking…) because it incorporates varied tasks for example in unit 8 on page 140 it help to develop students application skills and on the listening skills part the students will develop note taking skills eventhoghu their degree of varieties and balance for critical thinking skills were not that much good. And the text books are good in incorporating different written and oral materials and task. In regarding this, the tasks are varied but on the listening skills in both of the units the activities are only on so, I saw this as a limitation. But all the tasks are meaning full and the advocator for the current ELT methodology (communicative language teaching methodology). In addition, the units have warming up activities at the begin g of the chapter as well as in the internal part this help to make the students personalize the language. And in terms of participation the tasks were designed for the individuals as well as for the group also. In terms of linguistic accurateness, the units are good and the task were designed simple to complex but I think the listening task should be better if it comes at the middle because the students are aware of the concepts and they will perform it in good way. Generally, a clear and explicit description of the task is a necessary preliminary to planning a micro-evaluation. As suggested above, a task can be described in terms of its objective(s), the input it provides, conditions, procedures, and the intended outcomes of the task. So, the units are good in such manner. 4.2.3.5. Evaluation Related to the Language Skills Language syllabus is aimed to teach the language skills effectively so, the skills are need to be cover sufficiently with purposive and meaning tasks. In this regard, in the selected units the skills are diversified but their coverage is not that much balance because. So, to evaluate the units I tried to see by the following checklists: Key: 1-Excellent 2.- V. good 3- Good 4- Adequate 5- Poor 6- Totally lacking No Questions related to skills Unit 8 1 2 Unit 12 3 ✓ 4 5 6 1 2 ✓ 1. To what extent does the unit integrate the skillswell? 2. To what extent does it focus on the one(s) it claimsto? ✓ ✓ 3 To what extent does the unit provide fluencypractice in all four skills? ✓ ✓ Table 4: check list in relation to skills 19 3 4 5 6 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units As stated in table 4, the skills in the units were tried to integrate each other and their focus is sufficient for each skill except listening skills and vocabulary and for each skill it provide adequate practical aspect. So as to clarify the evaluation of language skills I tried to evaluate it in separate way as follow: i. Evaluation of listening skills Listening skills is one of the essential language skills in which the current language trend of Ethiopia negeligate or that does not give much emphasis in teaching as well as in testing and assessments also. So, based on this I come up with the evaluation of the selected units’ in terms of this skill. Form the begging these units have only one listening tasks: unit 8 on page 141 and unit 12 on page 208 and 216. ❖Is listening material well recorded, as authentic as possible, accompanied by background information, questions and activities which help comprehension? Yes but the listening text is existed on teacher book and the teacher is expected to read the text for the students but the listening text is authentic but in unit 12 the listening text is about weeding of Kenyan people” but if it is related to Ethiopia the student easily comprehend it . ❖What kind of listening material is contained in the course? Does listening form part of dialogue conversation work? are there specific listening passages? On both of the units the material is listening text. ❖If there are specific listening passages, what kind of activities are based on them comprehension questions, extracting specific information, etc? For unit 8 the activities are designed for listening from collecting information and discussing purpose where as For unit 12 the activities is note taking, listening for gist and specific information and listening comprehension. ❖ Is the listening material set in a meaningful context? Are there pre-listening tasks, questions, etc? The materials were meaningful but the tasks are not designed in order(pre listening, while listening and post listening activities). ❖ What is the recorded material on audio-cassette like in terms of sound quality, speed of delivery, accent, authenticity? And is there any video material for listening? There are no any audio and video materials for the tasks. ii. Evaluation of speaking parts Speaking skills is also the macro skills in language in which these two units give high emphasis on these skills. Different material for speaking is contained in the course: pictures, dialogues, figure and other material were employee for teaching this skill for teaching this it employs tasks like oral presentation and practice of language items, dialogues, 20 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units role plays, and communication activities. And most of the materials help learners to cope with unpredictability in spoken discourse. iii. Evaluation of writing skills These selected units try to incorporate different writing task but separately both of the chapter are employee free writing tasks but integrative with the other skills it also controlled writing, guided writing and free or semi-free writing. So, it is appropriate progression and variety of task. It also helps to teach by giving emphasis on the style of written English by attention given to the language resources specific to the written form, such as punctuation, spelling, layout, etc. Moreover, the controlled activities are giving emphasis on accuracy. iv. Evaluation of Reading skills The reading passages and associated activities suitable for your students' levels, interests, etc and there is sufficient reading material but on units to some are not fit with Ethiopian culture. The text is also trying to introducing new language items (grammar and vocabulary) by consolidating language work by focus on the development of reading skills and strategies. But because of the units try to teach the skills separately the reading material linked to other skills work. When we look the length of the text is good it helps to teach intensive/extensive reading? But the activities are not that much varied in reading skills like comprehension questions are asked: littéral (surface) questions, discourseprocessing questions, inference questions. v. Evaluation of grammar parts Grammar part is another essential part of language in which every language includes it. In this unit, different grammar items include (unit 8: quantity and quality, making wish, articles, state verbs, and unit 12: congratulation, invitation, using even, present perfect tense and past simple tense, and using to get) which corresponds to students' language needs. So, to teach this grammar items it employs different way of presentation techniques and ways to practiced (the presentation and practice: related to what learners, already know and to what has already been taught, appropriately controlled and organized, representative of the grammar rule to be learned, relevant to learners' needs and interests). It also is there an emphasis on language on form and also meaning. vi. Evaluation of vocabulary part The vocabulary part of the units is good but in both of the units the vocabulary content and tasks is related to reading skills but the tasks is not that much varied. And the vocabulary tasks are few in number and it does not show the students to apply different vocabulary learning strategies as compared to other skills. 4.2.3.6. The Evaluation of the Units by their Appropriateness for the Teaching Program The teaching aims are the pillar for the success measurement of any teaching programs so the appropriate text books play a prominent role for achieving it effectively. So, in regarding these issues I tried to evaluate the units by the following forwarded checklists as follow: 21 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units N.B: Keys: for each number in the table the representative is for 1- Excellent 5- Poor 6- Totally lacking No Questions related to aims 2-V.good 3-Good 4-Adequate Unit 8 Unit 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 1 To what extent do the units fit the students' background, age and need? To what extent do the units seem to be socially acceptable? To what extent do objectives explicitly lay out in the introduction? To what extent do the units seem to do what it claims to do? To what extent do the aims and objectives of the units seem to be in tune with syllabus? To what extent is the cultural content integrated in the text, dialogs and exercise? To what extent do the chapters provide integrate revision of key items? 2 3 4 5 6 7 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 2 3 4 5 6 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Table 5- Appropriateness and aims of the Textbook to Teaching Programs From table 5 we can understand that the units are fit with student linguistic, cultural and other background because the contents are familiar with them. but on unit 12 there are some contents which are socially related with Ethiopia but it is accepted by other people in the world and the objective of the units are stated at the beginning of the chapter and help to achieve the syllabus and try to integrate then skills. 4.2.3.7. Evaluation Based on Scientific Aspects of the Textbook To evaluate the units in terms of their scientific advantage I tried to use the following checklists: 1. N o Excellent 2. V. good 3. Good 4. Adequate 5. Poor 6. Totally lacking Questions related to Scientific Aspects of the Textbook Unit 8 Unit 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 1. To what extent does the unit give heuristic information? (guided discovery) ✓ ✓ 2. To what extent does the unit give procedural information? ✓ ✓ 3 To what extent does the unit provide concept type of information? 4 To what extent does the unit give principles / rules clearly? 5 To what extent does the unit give information indifferent ways? 22 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units 6 To what extent is the given information fit with students’ needs? ✓ 7 To what extent does the given information fit with students’ age? ✓ ✓ 8 To what extent does the given information fit with students’ level? ✓ ✓ 9 To what extent does the given information seem to be sufficient? ✓ ✓ ✓ Table 6- scientific aspects of the textbook As stated in table 6 the scientific aspect of the text book is good and interesting. Bothe of the units are excellent give heuristic and procedural information, but in terms of conceptual information there is some gap because the concept are covered in their grade 9th text books so they are familiar with them so if nee conceptual things are include its is good, in explaining the rules the in both of the units the notes are short especially on grammar part both the contents are fit with students level and age but there is no that much sufficient information on the contents. 4.3. Evaluation the Units Based on Different Varieties Besides the above evaluation of the units I tried to evaluate the books as follows: 4.3.1. Length and Clarity of the Units Length and clarity of the unit is highly crucial concept that the syllabus designer need to consider. Too long, too short units may have their own limitation rather the units need to be moderately balanced. And in terms of clarity the contents as well as all the activities, instructions should be better if it is clear. Because the activities and their instruction are good and the students are able to understand it effectively. 4.3.2. Presentation and Practicality of the Units Presentation and practicality of any syllabus is highly important in teaching effectively. So, in relation to presentation both of the chapters are written effectively. The kills were presented in these chapters. But teaching them integrative way is more effective and the students will able to know and develop their skills effectively but in these units the task involved in each skill were not teach integrative. For example, in chapter 8 on page 142, there is a reading passage with tasks “a history of modern education in Ethiopia” so, based on this passage the units have a chance to teach writing skills as well as speaking skills rather than teaching them separately. Similarly, unit 12 also designed in such away. So, I think that teaching the language skill in integrative way than separately is more effective way of teaching the language skills. Moreover, in relation to practicality the units are practical in real life because most of the contents were taken from Ethiopia and the students’ practically do them effectively. 23 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units 4.3.3. Variety and Regularity of the Units Variety and regularity of the text book is essentially important in language teaching so, I tried to see these concepts in this two selected units. In terms of variety the units tried to incorporate variety of topics, skill, and issue. And the units were regularly deigned in similar way. But I still some gaps because both of the chapters were not give varied issues especially for listening skills. 4.3.4. Unit Grading and Sequencing In terms of unit grading and sequencing, both of the chapters are sequencing orderly. But I think that unit 8 should be better if it comes at the beginning of the text book because it creates and motive the study by informing the purpose and history of education. Moreover, I tried to evaluate unit grading and sequencing based on the following question: No Checklists Unit 8 Yes Unit 12 No Yes ✓ No ✓ 1 Is there any evident basis for the sequencing of the content? 2 Is the sequencing based on complexity, learn ability, usefulness, etc? ✓ ✓ 3 Is there any other basis for sequencing - eg functional organization, situational organization, organization according to topic? ✓ ✓ 4 It several influences come to play on the sequencing, how well are they balanced? ✓ ✓ 5 Are new language items adequately recycled? ✓ ✓ 6 Are the staging and sequencing suitable for the learners? 7 Is the progression of the course linear? 8 Is the progression of the course cyclical? ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Table 7: checklist related to Unit grading and sequencing From table 7, we can understand that the contents of the units are not that much evidence based but they are sequencing by giving introductory lesson. for example, in unit 8 the listening skills comes at the beginning but to make it more understandable if it comes at the middle or other part of the unit it will be more convehencive. In terms of complexity, learn ability, and usefulness of sequencing of the units both of the units were designed easy to complex. And as the basis for sequencing such as functional organization, situational organization, organization according to topic the units are designed in good way. But the skills and the content to teach the language skills were not and the language skills are not that much recycling because the skill were thought independently. But the staging and sequencing are suitable for the learners. And the contents are cyclical because all the units in the text book are related. 24 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units 4.3.5. Form of the Units Form of the unit is on critical issue in designing the text book. So, in related to this I tried to evaluate the units based on the following issues: ➢ Visual Appeal: visual appeal is on aspect in syllabus design because there are different students in the class. So, in these two selected units there are different visual activities and contents. For example, in units for on page 140 “introduction lesson “ there is a picture of student who are going to school to teach speaking skills, on page 144 there is vocabulary games, on page 146, picture of students and teachers n classroom for the purpose of teaching grammar. And on page 151 also to teaching “too and enough”. Where as in unit 12 on page 210 there is a picture of different cultural celebrations to teach speaking skills but some of the pictures are not form Ethiopia like Japan and Indian weeding ceremony and African. So, our students my not aware of this culture especially rural students. And on page 219 there are a poem with pictures and on page there is number puzzle. ➢ Illustrations: the units are designed by incorporating different example to explanation and clearness of the lesson ➢ Design: the design of the units is good. The units have clear, smart and well-organized structure or design. And I tried to evaluate the design of these selected units by asking the following questions as follow: ❖ Do the units have a clear and logical layout? Yes, because both of the units designed in well organized and all of the contents. But I don’t think that the skill sequence is not that much logical and integrated each other in both of the units. ❖ Do the units have clear instructions? Yes of course, both of the units have clear and understandable instruction for each skill. ❖ Do the units have catchy visuals? Yes there are different pictures which help to attract and grasp the students attention i.e. in unit 8 on page 140 introduction lesson picture of students, and on page 147 picture of customer, taxies and material and in chapter 12 on page picture of different countries weeding ceremony. ❖ Is there continuity and/or a route through the units? Yes because the contents are sequencing in order to achieve language mastery and other aspect. ❖ Do the illustrations inspire students to be creative? The examples are illustrated to make the students more critical and analytical. 4.3.6. Support Personnel, Management and Administration When we look this units in terms of supportive personnel’s, managements and administration even though it is difficult to measure it in single units the supportive personnel for teaching this unit is not available as we know in actual occurrence not only for this units for the subject matter as a whole because there is no lab assistant in high school level at the current time in Ethiopia so the teacher him/her selves run the teaching learning process individually. But for supervising and other thing the administrator and the management personnel were engaged. 4.3.7. Resources Available and Time Resources available and time management are the fundamental things which help to achieve the goals of any academic programme. So, when we look these units in terms of these criteria the units have their own schedule to accomplish it 25 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units but in terms of resource especially for listening skills I do not think there are no sufficient materials (audio and video materials) but for other skills the school library may have sufficient supportive materials. 4.3.8. Physical Environment, and The Socio-Cultural Environment The contents in this unit are directly related to the physical and socio cultural environment because so, they are easily teaches by connecting the contents with the actual environment. For example I unit 12 the content is wedding so the teacher may adapt other contents about Ethiopian marriage and try to teach it effectively as such other contents also designed by considering the physical environment like classroom arrangement number of student, the blackboards and other things. 4.3.9. The Compatibility of the Book with the Ethiopia Curriculum/Syllabus In this part of my paper I tried to come up with the compatibility of the books in short and the selected units in detail. Referring to the objectives of the Ethiopian curriculum, it can be concluded that the units is compatible with the objectives: it is suitable for improving the student’s comprehension ability while it cannot increase their listening skills since there is no varied activity to focus on this skill. But the units as well as the books tried to include all language skills by integrative way eventhough there is some gapes. Especially, on these units for each skill the activities need to be varied. In short, the units are compatible with the syllabus. 4.4. General Recommendations and Suggestions of the Evaluator Finally, in this part I come up with my finally recommendations and suggestions for the evaluation made on the selected units. So the well organized material is a prominent one for the success of every teaching and learning process. So, based on the critical evaluation made on two selected units in grade 10th students’ text book the following recommendations and suggestions were forwarded by the evaluator: ➢ Even though the units tried to varied the skills and incorporate all macro and micro skills of language little attention was given for the listening skills. But listening skills is one of the prominent language skills which help to their language proficiency as well as their academic performance so it should be better not only the units the text book as a whole give equal; attention for listening skills. ➢ Teaching the language skills in integrative way is more effective way to teach in language skills. But in these two units even though they tried to integrate it stile it lacks some gaps i.e from reading passage we can teach vocabulary skills but they lack it. So, it should be better if the skills were teaching integrative way by connect their contents and task employee in it. ➢ Even though the book is edited and reviewed by a number of Ethiopian experts but the writer of the book is from foreign but now a day Ethiopia has different expertise in the area so this chance should be given to this expertise this may help to make the text books as well as the units be authentic and fit with the students linguist and cultural backgrounds, level and age etc because they are a member of the target group. 26 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units ➢ The tasks are essential for achieving the objective which are designed for each units even though the tasks are the varied in type still I saw some gaps so, for each skills the tasks should be varied i.e to teach writing skills the tasks should be controlled, guided and free writing this is similar to for other skills. ➢ For the teachers, they should be better if they are aware of the adapting the materials in which they got different tasks/Content which are related to the student’s level because it makes the teaching learning process more effective. ➢ For the learners, they need to be actively engaged for each task to achieve the goals of the units, textbook, the syllabus and the curriculum. ➢ Finally, for the curriculum developer the theoretical notes they give for these units are too short especial for grammar parts so, it should be better if it is more clarified in good way. Generally, this evaluation is made on unit eight and unit twelve, so based on the evaluators outlook this unit is designed moderately in good way but some contents of the units may be difficult to the current students of Ethiopia this may vary from pace to pace. So, it may lead the load of teacher is high but the current teaching policy of student centered. In short, the units are designed by advocating communicative language teaching methodology. 5. Conclusion The aim of this paper is to evaluate grade 10th English student text book focusing on unit eight and twelve. Even though there is no common criterion to evaluate the course but I tried to evaluate it by supporting different scholars’ checklist in different way. So, based on my evaluation I tried to conclude that the selected unit is tried to organized in good way but little attention were given for listening skills, the notes in grammar section the text book called language focus, the skills were not that much integrative and to evaluate the skills the tasks is not varied in terms of their types. The reading text and poems are authentic because the texts are not prepared for teaching purpose. Supporting my conclusion on this Mishan ( 2005) explained that The ELT course book as a genre has to deal with two culture-related problems: one regards the English language culture it presents; the second regards the culture/s of the learners who use it. He also added that authenticity can be measured in terms of task varieties and the contents of the task so in terms of this the units are authentic enough but there is some picture and text which are out of Ethiopia. Acknowledgement Undertaking this paper has been a truly life-changing experience for me and it would not have been possible to do without the support and guidance that I received from many people. First of all, I would also like to extend my thanks to my colleagues in the English Language and Literature Department in Debre Markos University who encouraging me in all my endeavors to make my dream come true. And Mekdela Amba University for giving different internet access to compile these papers. About the Author Dawit Dibekulu Alem is a Lecturer in TEFL at Mekdela Amba University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of English Language and Literature. He was born in Ethiopia, East Gojjam. He finished his BA studies in English Language and Literature at Woldia University in 2014, then he accomplished his MA studies in TEFL at 27 An Evaluation Grade 10 “English for Ethiopia” on Some Selected Units Debre Markos University in Debre Markos Ethiopia in 2019. Dawit is a faculty member in the Department of English Language and Literature, and English Language Improvement Center coordinator currently. He is a member of the Reviewer Board for some international journals (International journal of learning, teaching, and educational research).His research interests include language assessment, language learning strategies, CALL, and material development, psychology, educational psychology, and other language related areas. He has published articles on many domestic and international journals and presented some papers in various conferences. References [1] Abdelwahab, M. M. (2013). Developing an English Language Textbook Evaluative Checklist. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education, 1(3), 55-70. [2] Bailey,D.(2003). English for Ethiopia: Student Text Book Grade 10th.Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ministry of Education. [3] Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing Your Course Book. Oxford: Heinemann. [4] Dickinson,P.(2010).Evaluating and Adapting Materials for Young Learners. Assignment submitted forMaster of Arts in Applied Linguistics. EdgbastonBirmingham:Centre for English Language Studies Postgraduate Programmes, The University Of Birmingham [5] Ellis, R. (1997). The Empirical Evaluation of Language Teaching Materials.ELT Journal, 51(1), 36-42. doi:10.1093/elt/51.1.36. [6] Griffiths, C. (1995). “Evaluating Materials for Teaching English to Adult Speakers of Other Languages.”English Teacher Forum, July, 50-51. [7] McDonough, J and Shaw, C. (1993).Materials and Methods in ELT. Oxford: Blackwell. [8] Mishan,F.( 2005). Designing Authenticity into Language Learning Materials.UK Intellect Ltd. [9] Nikoopour,J and Amini,M.F. (2011) . English Language Teaching Material Development Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.retrieved from [10] Richards, J.C.(2005). Materials ESL Textbooks and Materials: Problems in Evaluation and Development. Development and research: Making the connection. Paper presented at a colloquium on research and materials development at the TESOL convention, San Antonio. [11] Tomlinson, B. (2011). Materials Development in Language Teaching (2nded.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 28