Post-use Material Evaluation

With the economic development in China,there is an increasing demand for interdisciplinary talents who are professional both in business and English language.Under the circumstances,the experimental major of Business English was established in China in 2007 yet with many issues remained to be solved,especially on coursebooks.It is still under great effort for domestic specialists to localize an authentic foreign coursebook series of Business English with Chinese characteristics.The research in this paper focused on Business English material evaluation.Firstly,the paper made a literature review of both Business English and criteria as well as empirical studies of material evaluation.Then it investigated post-use feedback from users(both teachers and students)based on theoretical framework of McGrath’s systematic approach and Cunningsworth’s checklist for ESP materials.It aimed to evaluate the activity design of this Market Leader Coursebook based on feedback and comment from its users through questionnaires and interviews,and thus to summarize its merits and demerits and further to provide references for adaption and suggestions for teaching and learning.The evaluation results demonstrated that participants basically spoke highly of activity design in this coursebook,as there is an organic integration of business knowledge and language knowledge,a balance of four language skills training with multiple activity forms.Yet they still pointed out several shortcomings of this coursebook,such as out-of-date business cases,useless grammar section,low level of difficulty in practice and tasks and lack of examples for role play or simulation.Finally,based on the overall evaluation of both strengths and weaknesses of this coursebook regarding activity design,theoretically the author complemented a specialized activity checklist for Business English with Cunningsworth’s,meanwhile practically the author put forward implications for teaching and learning as well as suggestions for future adaptation as references.It is advisable to provide supplementary business courses to better satisfy learners’ needs.Also,complements rely heavily on teachers to add extra team or group work,expand students’ horizon about business background as well as enrich their vocabulary bank.For learners,it is necessary to realize the importance of self study after class.For those administrators and editors,it is highly suggested to conduct localized adaption of this coursebook with Chinese characteristics.