TKT: Module 2: Part 2

Coursebooks and reference sources

by Russell Whitehead

Overview: These practice materials are designed to help you

exams

with Module 2: Part 2: Coursebooks and reference sources. In

these materials you will think about how to select and how to use
coursebooks.
Note: These materials do not focus on using teaching aids and
supplementary materials. That is the subject of another set of practice
materials, Module 2: Part 2: Thinking about Resources.
Time: 3060 mins

These materials are all about coursebooks. You will get much more value from them if
you have a couple of coursebooks with you to refer to.

Think about
Coursebooks can sometimes look as if they are the complete solution to all teaching
issues. It seems that if you just go through the book, page by page, activity by activity,
with your class, then that is what is called learning English. This is unlikely to be the
case. And if all you do is follow the coursebook, then you are not really teaching in the
true sense of the word.

Notes for teacher trainers

Before getting down to ELT books, have trainees discuss coursebooks

and textbooks for other subjects they have studied in the past. What
was the role of those books in their learning and in the teaching
they received?
Bring in a collection as varied as you like of coursebooks, and
encourage a free and informal chat about them among trainees in groups.
Give trainees a questionnaire (if possible, this would be at least in part
devised with them) to fill out for each book (distribute according to
numbers/time etc). The results can be collated, displayed, and reported
on in presentations or written articles, etc.
If appropriate, you could organize a formal debate on the value or future
of the coursebook.
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EXAMS / TKT Practice Paper / Module 2: Part 2

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 TKT: Module 2: Part 2
Coursebooks and reference sources
by Russell Whitehead

Stage 1: Considering
EXAMS

a) Look at the coursebooks you have with you, and think about others that you have used or
know about.

What are the advantages of using a coursebook? Make some notes:

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b) What disadvantages do think there could be to using a coursebook?

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c) Now look at these comments. Are they showing advantages or disadvantages of using
coursebooks?
This books full of varied illustrations, including lots of colour photos.
My job as a teacher is to deal with my students needs, not to follow a course designed by people
who have never met my students.
My students are very young, and are often bored by the content of articles and so on in the book.
Everyone in the class has to take the same exam, and theres a lot of practice in this book.
The order of activities and exercises in this book doesnt seem very logical to me.
My job is rather stressful, and I have very little time to prepare each class.
This coursebook doesnt have enough detailed information about grammar, which is what my
students have to know about for their exam.
A lot of the students in my classes simply cant afford that kind of coursebook.
Theres the students book, the teachers book, a workbook, an extra CD-ROM, some practice
tests, further material linked to a website There just arent enough hours in the year for all this.

d) Read these questions about ways of choosing whether to use a particular coursebook.
Use them to think about the books you have with you.
What level is the book designed for? What levels will it work well for?
How many hours of class and of self-study does the book seem to be based on?
Will my students feel that the books content is accessible to them in terms of culture?
What ages is the book suitable for?
What is the balance of skills work in the book?
Are the explanations about language clear enough for my students?
How much active practice is included in the book?
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Coursebooks and reference sources
Author
by Russell Whitehead

How is the book organized? Is there a clear map of the contents?

subject
EXAMS title

Is the book relevant to any exam requirements my students have?

Are there opportunities for me to add in some extra activities to increase my students interest?
Would it be easy to miss out certain sections?
Does the teachers book look like the sort of book I would feel happy using?

Think about
You can...
adapt things in a coursebook to suit your class.
miss boring or difficult or easy things out.
add more relevant activities.
change the order of activities.
make things more interactive for the learners.

Stage 2: Experimenting

e) Look at this list. It is a mixture of aims in learning and teaching, and of instructions from
coursebooks. The aims include main teaching aims, subsidiary teaching aims and activity
aims. Put the aims into their three groups and decide which things on the list are instructions.

to practise skimming
form two teams and prepare questions for the quiz
to explain the meanings of words needed to understand the article
to focus on forming passive sentences
to develop spoken fluency
listen again and check your answers with your partner
to raise awareness of intonation in questions
to increase accuracy in writing
to practise creating words with affixes
to recycle vocabulary from the previous section
to encourage learner autonomy
match the words for the objects with their definitions
to revise recently studied grammar through a game

Main aims Subsidiary aims Activity aims Instructions

Now check your answers.

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 TKT: Module 2: Part 2
Coursebooks and reference sources
by Russell Whitehead

f) Now try this part of a sample TKT exam task.

EXAMS

For questions 1-3, match the coursebook instructions with the teaching aims listed A-D.
There is one extra option which you do not need to use.

Teaching aims

A to focus on collocations
B to practise reading for gist
C to focus on lexical sets
D to practise reading extensively

Coursebook instructions

1 Identify words in the article that relate to the same topics.

2 Go through the article quickly and decide which picture shows the situation.

3 Find words in the article that go with make and do, and put them into two lists.

Now check your answers.

Stage 3: Reflecting

What have you learnt from using these practice materials?

You have been thinking about the following:

the advantages of using coursebooks in your teaching
the possible disadvantages of relying on a coursebook too heavily
choosing which coursebook to use
understanding what coursebooks are trying to achieve at all times
adapting coursebooks to suit your particular class(es) and situation you have
linked this to a part of a sample TKT exam task for Module 2 Part 2.

Set yourself this target

Try to have discussions with a teacher or teachers of other subjects about their
coursebooks and the issues they feel are important. What common ideas seem to cross
the boundaries of subjects?
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Coursebooks and reference sources
Author
by Russell Whitehead

Suggestions for independent learning

subject
EXAMS title

Really try to add a bit or change a bit with a coursebook if youre using one, either as a
teacher or as a learner.
If possible, talk to staff in a bookshop that sells ELT coursebooks, and see what they
have to say about why some books seem to be more popular than others.
Read some reviews of coursebooks in magazines, websites, etc.

Dont forget
A coursebook is only as good as the way you and your class use it.

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Coursebooks
Title and reference sources
by Russell Whitehead
Author

Answer key
exams
subject title

Stage 2 e) suggested answers.

Main teaching aims:

to practice skimming
to develop spoken fluency
to increase accuracy in writing
to encourage learner autonomy

Subsidiary teaching aims:

to focus on forming passive sentences
to raise awareness of intonation in questions
to practise creating words with affixes

Activity aims:
to recycle vocabulary from the previous section
to revise recently studied grammar through a game
to explain the meanings of words needed to understand the article

Instructions:
form two teams and prepare questions for the quiz
listen again and check your answers with your partner
match the words for the objects with their definitions

Stage 2 f) suggested answers.

1. C
This instruction in the coursebook is getting learners to group words together by topic to
form lexical sets (eg weather: snow, cold, breeze, etc)
2. B
This instruction in the coursebook is getting learners to identify the main idea or situation
described in the text the gist meaning.
3. A
This instruction in the coursebook is getting learners to observe closely how certain word
partnerships collocations are formed (eg make a mistake, do a test, etc)
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