Critical Review

How effective does the usage of textbooks as a primary source for teaching material

in a primary ESL classroom is a question that every Malaysian teachers face. This critical

review is a part of a coursework that seeks to enhance student’s creativity and innovative

skills in line with Shift 1 of the education Blue Print that states, “Revamp examination and

assessment to increase focus on higher order thinking students by 2016.” Developing and

using resources for primary ESL classroom is the subject for this coursework, therefore,

textbook as one of the teaching resources shall be critically reviewed by me based on the

two articles by Leslie E. Sheldon and Hasan Ansary. Once again, textbooks can be a reliable

material, but how effective can it be?

According to Hasan Ansary, no textbook is perfect. Therefore, teachers should have

the option of assigning supplementary materials based on their own specific needs in their

own specific teaching situation. Meanwhile, Leslie E. Sheldon stated that he wish to

concentrate on course books because, whether we like it or not, these represent for

both students and teachers the visible heart of any ELT programme. I agree with both

Hasan Ansary and Leslie E. Sheldon statements because course books are the main and

important guide in every lesson. In my opinion, course books play a major role in guiding

students and teachers by highlighting each topic of the subject in a neat and organized

manner rather than using other teaching materials that does not have specific guide on

certain topic. For example, if one teacher uses educational DVD or VCD in the primary ESL

classroom to teach, it would be very frustrating for the teacher because he or she needs to

set up the computer, refer back to the content of the lesson and preparing teaching aids.

Thus, this will make a very time consuming procedure as students need to be in class right

on time and the teacher need to follow the time constraints regarding the time allocated to

teach of each stages from the lesson plan.

If the teacher uses text book as the main resource for teaching a primary ESL

classroom, the lesson will be guided as the text book has sequence for each stages in the

topic. For example, if the teacher plans to teach grammar for the next lesson, he or she will

read the topic, sub topic, main title, sub title, content, sub content and illustrations related to

the lesson. This shows that when using the text book, it acts as a framework or guideline for

the teacher to teach for the next lesson. Other teaching materials such as DVDs or posters

are not bad teaching materials; it is just not properly guided as teachers need to do several

external researches based on the topic, for example referring to textbook or the internet

before they teach. Unlike text books, which are already guided and systematic therefore

does not require explicit external researches. However, if the content of the textbook itself is

unreliable, outdated or not in depth and the teacher needs to do further researches before

teaching, the teacher may do so because textbooks cannot be updated automatically and

newer versions will be printed later in the future. Once again, based on the two articles by

Leslie E. Sheldon and Hasan Ansary, a short summary is formed. Text books are a reliable

teaching resource. However, text books are not up-to date.

In spite of the lack of technological advancements compared to other modern

teaching resources, text books and course books are still the preferable teaching resources

amongst all teachers and students either in the primary ESL classroom, secondary school

level and even tertiary level education. Text books are useful and reliable as it is mobile and

compact compared to other teaching resources. Some can fit inside pockets and some can

even be as big as a door. However, the main concern is the content of the book and how

useful it is for the reader. The usage of the textbook is also varied as different teachers have

different methods in teaching and some apply the content from the textbook into the lesson

by directly copying down the whole content onto the white board or chalk and talk, transfer

relevant points or data into the lesson systematically and using the textbook as a guideline to

teach something entirely new or authentic. Other aspects such as the suitability of the

content of the textbook are also something important to ponder upon and must be taken

seriously as some students are sensitive towards certain content of the textbook, such as

racial differences and family ties. Students that came from unfortunate families dealing with

poverty, divorce and racial conflicts are some of the issues that the teacher should care of.

Therefore suitable content to teach based on the textbook must be carefully selected in order

to achieve a successful lesson. Suitable content to use to teach the students should be taken

care seriously and teachers must be smart not to hurt the students emotionally. It is the

teacher that should be able deliver the content of the lesson successfully, not the text book

itself.

Primary ESL textbooks are easy to access as most of them are easily acquired at the

library and bookshops. Therefore teachers and students should not face any problems

regarding difficulties in accessing the textbooks. In terms of interesting graphics and

captivating display, textbooks are not able to produce vivid and lush three dimensional

displays. However beautiful hand painted illustrations with different brushstroke techniques

and mesmerizing pencil sketches will keep the readers at bay. Some readers are not

interested in beautiful illustrations and colourful displays but they do appreciate the

visualization of each characters and the landscape of the environment in the illustrations

because this will enable them to understand the content better. Primary ESL students

sometimes get bored quickly by reading bland texts. Therefore, illustrations are drawn and

coloured beautifully in order to captivate the reader’s attention and make them understand

what they read better.

As a conclusion, based on the two articles by Leslie E. Sheldon and Hasan Ansary,

textbooks can be a reliable teaching material and resource because it is mobile, compact,

and full of content, contains clear guideline on the topics and have interesting illustrations to

keep the readers interested. Teachers will face no problem in using the textbooks because it

is one of the ideal teaching materials ever produced. Primary ESL learners will have no

issues using the textbooks as it is detailed and following the syllabus.

REFERRENCES

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