The Evaluation To PEP New Senior English(04) For China Student's Book 3 From The Perspective Of Communicative Competence Development

Teaching textbooks are the carrier of teaching organization and fulfillment. It is significant to choose a kind of teaching materials to achieve the teaching goals required. Since the autumn of 2006, PEP New Senior English(04) for China Student's Book 3 has come into use, which soon becomes the most widely used book in China. There are a lot of comments and arguments raised from senior English teachers. Thus many articles from different perspectives are always found on all kinds of newspapers, journals and websites. However, little research has been done from the perspective of developing communicative competence.This paper first gives a definition of communicative competence, then goes on to explore its theoretical origins, teaching principles and characteristics. On the basis of the two aspects, the paper puts forward criteria for interior textbook evaluation with regard to teaching objectives, teaching methods, teaching contents and contents organization. It points out that in respect of teaching objective textbooks for developing communicative competence should set the ultimate goal of developing students' language knowledge, language skills, positive attitude towards language learning, learning strategies and cultural awareness. It should make students learn how to learn English. In respect of teaching methods, it should emphasize learner-centeredness, corporative learning, interaction and the creation of authentic language environment. In respect of teaching contents, the materials of the textbook should tally with the characteristics of humanism, authenticity, openness and variety. The contents should be structurally and systematically arranged and it should also be easy to operate in respect of contents organization. Meanwhile, the contents' gradualness, difficulty, reoccurrence should also be considered.After analysis and surveys about the users, the paper sums up the advantages of PEP New Senior English(04) for China Student's Book 3, which are: the textbook embodies the thoughts of humanistic education, modern teaching methods, the basic concepts of developing language communicative competence and it meets the new requirements of the English Curriculum Standard; the contents and ways for students' evaluation appear in the textbook, which emphasizes students' centeredness in evaluation; its materials are up to date, wide-ranging, interesting, and rich in information, catering to students' experiences, interests and motivation; its language is idiomatic; the combination of language and culture is stressed; various communicative tasks are organized under the same topic to form a task chain so that the textbook is gradual, systematic and operational. Certainly, the textbook has some weak points. They mainly come as the following: some texts are not familiar to students; reoccurrence rate isn't enough; there are not enough and effective measures for students to learn its vocabulary; the gap between input and output is wide; teachers feel difficult to deal with it; some language structures are not systemic; some tasks are unfamiliar to rural areas' students. Therefore the book needs improving in the revised edition. As for teachers, they should make best use of the advantages and bypass the disadvantages of the textbook when using it.