A Comparative Study On Two Sets Of College English Viewing, Listening And Speaking Textbooks

As an emergent course in recent years, college English viewing, listening and speaking is gradually recognized, spread and popularized. College English Viewing, Listening and Speaking Textbooks (shortened as CEVLSTs below), as one of its essential carriers, have been paid attention to and done a lot of research on concerning its compilation, selection and evaluation. However, studies both at home and abroad focused on either its theoretical basis or a single set of textbooks. Little research has been done on the comparison or analysis of two or several sets of textbooks.The present research, mainly based upon the theoretical basis of the compilation of CEVLSTs and the evaluation theory put forward by Cheng Xiaotang (2002), is a comparative study between New Horizon College English Viewing, Listening and Speaking Textbook (shortened as NH below) and New Era Interactive English Viewing, Listening and Speaking (shortened as NE). It is generally done from five aspects: teaching guiding ideology, teaching methodology, the arrangement and selection of content, components of textbooks and the authenticity of language. Besides, questionnaires and interviews to teachers and students are also included in an attempt to provide some constructive suggestions for choosing and evaluating CEVLSTs. There are three questions the study specifically address:(1) What are the similarities and differences between NH and NE? (2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the two sets of textbooks respectively? (3) What are the essential features of an ideal CEVLST for textbook users like teachers and students?Through data analysis, the results are summarized as follows:(1) The two sets of textbooks have a lot in common. For instance, both are graded textbooks and take into account the emotional factors of students. But their distinction obviously exists. NH stresses the cultivation of students'cross-cultural awareness, while NE puts an emphasis on the improvement of students'interactive capability and comprehensive competence;(2) Students are basically satisfied with the two sets of textbooks. For example, NH offers rich cultural content, while NE attaches importance to students'formative evaluation. However, there are also some problems. For instance, the language authenticity of NH is not very good; the Online Course CD-ROM of NE is irreversible, etc;(3) As for teachers and students, an ideal CEVLST should have the following features:enriched themes, interesting and profound materials, emphasis on the development of listening and speaking microskill competence, and increase of interactive learning activities, etc.Based on the results, the author offered several suggestions for the compilation of CEVLSTs:it should indeed follow the principle of "learner-centeredness", and start from the practical needs and long-term development of learners by choosing themes close to students'life, covering corresponding exercise of CET-4 or CET-6 online examinations, providing authentic and vivid language contexts and increasing interactive learning activities.There might be some limitations in this study, but it does play a practical role in the compilation, selection and evaluation of CEVLSTs.