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Selecting
Texts for the Adult ESL Classroom: Part 2 Checklist for Textbook Adoption
Oliva Fernandez, Marketing
Director, Adult and Higher
Education
(This article is excerpted and
adapted
from a monograph by MaryAnn
Florez, series consultant for Pearson Longman's Center
Stage. Florez is
currently director for the Adult Education Professional Development
Center for DC LEARNS,
a coalition of adult education and literacy providers in the District
of Columbia.)
Last
month we talked about important issues to consider when selecting
textbooks for the adult classroom. This month we're proivding a model checklist (in PDF format) you can use to review textbooks and materials that you are considering for adoption.
The benefits of a checklist
One of the cardinal rules of any assessment effort is evidence. Since
assessment is essentially what textbook evaluation is, there needs to
be a means of collecting and recording evidence. A checklist is an
efficient and consistent tool for doing this, one that can be used with
any material reviewed to gather and organize concrete data. With a
checklist, the recorded data is accessible and allows people to compare
specifics more easily. It also provides a record for the future and
demonstrates a responsible process.
The downloadable checklist is a simple grid with space to record your
own notes on aspects that are particularly relevant to your needs and
interests. The points addressed in the checklist concentrate on
important review categories that reflect both generally accepted good
practices in ESL instruction and in evaluating and selecting materials.
The checklist offers some simple, worthwhile guidelines for evaluating
texts. You may want to add or even delete some questions to customize
it for your specific needs. But if you take the time to examine these
elements and record your reactions on a checklist, you will have a
comprehensive bank of information from which to make decisions about
textbooks.
As you work with the checklist, you should also keep the following questions in mind during the text selection process.
- Are the materials a match for the program?
- Do the materials incorporate current pedagogy and instructional perspectives?
- How conducive are the presentation layout to pedagogy?
- How much support is built in?
- How well does the publisher support adoption/retention of program materials?
- How well does the Teacher’s Edition support instruction?
Next month we’ll go into these questions in more detail.
Download the checklist (PDF format).
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