A Post-use Evaluation Of English Listening Textbooks For English Majors In Vocational Colleges

Listening comprehension is difficult in English learning and important in English teaching. According to the College English Curriculum Requirement (2007),"in designing College English courses, requirements for cultivating competence in listening and speaking should be fully considered". Obviously, listening teaching is attached with more importance. According to Rost (2002), the center of listening teaching is the listening materials. Therefore, well-designed listening materials will facilitate students’ listening. However, in spite of the gradual increase in the research on materials evaluation, empirical research on listening materials is insufficient. In order to enrich this focus, more quantitative research on the evaluation of listening materials should be conducted.The present study aims to evaluate the English listening textbook, Listen This Way1used by English majors in vocational colleges from the perspectives of users, namely teachers and students. The main purpose is to find out the merits and demerits of the textbook and to provide solutions to improve it by combining quantitative and qualitative methods, namely, questionnaires and follow-up interviews. The research subjects were3English teachers and130sophomores of Business English. The research questions are as follows:1) What are the merits and demerits of Listen This Way1?2) What measures should be taken to improve the demerits in this textbook?It was found that most students and teachers are not satisfied with the textbook, especially, the layout, topics and task design. Some suggestions are given accordingly so as to improve or adapt the textbook. Meanwhile, it is also suggested that teachers should adapt the textbook to better meet students’needs. Overall, the study may contribute to future research on listening textbook evaluation as well as listening teaching in vocational colleges.