A Research On Evaluating The Appropriateness Of English Textbook In Rural Junior Schools

As an integral part of teaching, the textbook is one of the essential factorscontributing to the success of teaching and learning. Since the basic education reformwas launched in2001, tens of junior English textbooks emerged into the market. Atpresent, most junior high schools in Leping, Jiangxi Province, take Go for it asteaching textbook. Since the textbook was targeted for metropolitan students, it isdoubtful whether this textbook is appropriate for the rural students. Therefore, theauthor chooses this version of English textbook as research object and targets at thesecond volume of Grade Seven. This thesis attempts to find out its appropriateness inrural junior schools in Leping through questionnaire and interview.Adopting the framework model of textbook evaluation proposed in ChengXiaotang’s English coursebook analysis and design (2011), the thesis conducts bothstatic evaluation and dynamic evaluation of Go for it. The static evaluation is throughtext analysis of Go for it from the perspectives of its guiding ideology, contentselection and arrangement, column design, and supporting components. In dynamicevaluation, the investigation result is analyzed through administering questionnairesto235students of Grade Eight and conducting interviews to6English teachers fromthree rural junior high schools in Leping by using self-made questionnaire andinterview. The Cronboch alpha of the students’ questionnaire is0.721with thereliability analysis form SPSS13.0, the KMO value is0.856, and the questions ofteachers’ interview are designed according to the students’ questionnaire. The resultof dynamic analysis is generally in line with that of static evaluation.The analysis results show that most rural students (69.4%) hold positive attitudestowards Go for it. But it exists some inappropriateness of Go for it in rural juniorschools. The students think this set of textbook is difficult for them. For example, theamount of vocabulary is large (55.3%); the learning tasks in each unit are difficult forthe students to finish (47.2%); the topics and illustrations are inauthentic in the localarea (82.1%). The feedback of interview indicates that the teacher respondents arguethat Go for it is more appropriate for the urban students than the rural students.Based on the findings, here are some suggestions for the teachers, students andthe compilers respectively. For teachers:1) adding and reducing the content of Go forit appropriately;2) substituting and rearranging the content of Go for it;3) conductingteaching reflection of Go for it frequently. For students:1) learning to use Go for it;2)building confidence of learning English. Finally, the author suggests the textbookcompilers should pay more attention to the actual needs of students and teachers.