| English textbooks play an important role in English teaching and learning. Especially in China, students greatly rely on textbooks both in and out of the classroom. It can influence many aspects of the teaching and learning.With the curriculum reform putting into practice, the situation of using only one kind of textbook for one syllabus has been changed. A lot of textbooks are compiled and published in the market. Therefore, textbook evaluation becomes very important, because textbook evaluation can not only help to put the syllabus into practice but also provide advice for the education administration to compile or choose teaching materials. Especially, it can help teachers to adapt or adjust the textbooks and give them teaching guidance and students a great help with their study.In this thesis the author chooses the following two sets of English textbooks to investigate as they are widely used in primary schools of Shanxi Province. They are New Standard English (published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press) and Oxford English (published by Shanghai Education Press).By the guidance of evaluation criteria, the thesis evaluated the two sets of textbooks from the aspects of design and organization, language knowledge and skills. The data of the thesis was collected from questionnaires, interviews, and the textbooks. The data collected from questionnaires were analyzed by computer software SPSS11.5.Based on the evaluation, the two sets of English textbooks generally meet the requirements put forward by the currently designed syllabus. The language content and activities in New Standard English textbook are well accepted by teachers. It gives more attention to the development of students'capabilities to use language comprehensively. However, the set of New Standard English is also insufficient in learning methodology and strategy for lack of cooperative learning model. While in Oxford English textbooks, it takes learners'needs into consideration and pays more attention to the guidance of students'learning strategies. The tasks designed in it deepen the understanding of the texts and consolidate the knowledge learned. However, the set of Oxford English is a bit far from perfect for lack of variety and communicative topics. These deficiencies are needed to be taken into consideration in material adaptation.By means of evaluation we can gain in depth insight into the textbooks. This will help us select the one that best fits the specific teaching context. |
