Empirical Study On The Conformity Of Textbook Go For It To Learners' Needs

Satisfying learners'needs is the starting point and final goal of English educational reform. The reform in teaching materials is the core of English educational reform. Given the realities that learners are affected by various internal and external factors, learners'needs are different, so the degree to which learners' needs are being met is also different. The new English textbook Go for it has been spread and applied in Xi'an in the context of new curriculum reform. Nowadays many studies on Go for it are mainly from the theories angle, and empirical studies are mostly carried out from the view of teachers'quality. The researchers from whether Go for it meets the demand of learners are few. In order to understand whether the new textbook meets the requirements of learners in Xi'an or not and how far the new textbook meets the needs of local learners, and also for the sake of using the new textbook better to meet the learning needs of learners, the writer decided to investigate the suitability of the new textbook in Xi'an city.The research informants are 360 learners and 45 teachers from Xi'an Yuandong NO.2 middle school, Xi'an Kunlun middle school and middle school attached to Shaanxi Normal University. The systematic evaluation method proposed by Cheng Xiaotang is adopted to evaluate Go for it systematically. And the textbook evaluation questionnaires are designed with reference to Grant' checklist. In the meantime some interviews with teachers and learners are carried out respectively. The systematic evaluation approach of Cheng Xiaotang includes internal and external evaluation. Internal assessment is to assess the teaching materials in a static way based on National English Curriculum Standards(trial), including the guiding ideology, teaching methods, the arrangement of teaching materials, parts of the textbook, the design of teaching materials and authenticity of materials. External evaluation is to investigate the suitability of Go for it in practice. And the learners' needs are analyzed through questionnaires which are based on Hutchinson and Waters' needs analysis framework.Synthesizing the internal and external evaluations, the major findings of the present study are briefly summarized as follows:Go for it focuses on developing learners' language skills, and also takes other aspects that affect learners' language learning into account, such as cultural awareness, learning strategies. So it is considered acceptable by most of its users in Xi'an. But there are still several aspects that may affect learners satisfaction with Go for it, unsystematic grammar, attaching more importance to western culture, and teaching activities provided in Go for it not being effective accomplished that leads to the loss of learners'interest in learning English, for instance. At last some suggestions are supplied to meet learners' needs to the highest degree.