Compare JHS textbooks: Sunshine(2), New Crown(3), and New Horizon(1)
Research Question: How many task activities are in each textbook?
Rationale: Many English teachers teach as the textbook instructs but the students’ English skills do not improve. Textbooks have a huge impact on how people teach.
Why task?
The new Course of Study (がくしゅうしどうようりょう)for Foreign Languages says that students have to improve their communication skills. Task activities can help communication skills. The reason is that they provide real communicative situations.
Methodology
Criteria:
- Focus on meaning
- Gap
- Using learners’ resources
- Achievement is not assessed by language use
Results
- Sunshine has the most activities but most do not meet the task criteria
- New Crown has fewer activities but almost all activities meet some task criteria.
- New Horizon had the fewest that met the task criteria.
- The criterion easiest to achieve was Gap.
- The hardest to achieve was resource.
Implication
- To encourage authentic communications teachers will need to make activities outside the textbook.
Veronica: SETT (Self Evaluation of Teacher Talk)
Aim: Get teachers to think about classroom interaction as a means of improving both teaching and learning.
The framework is comprised of four classroom microcontext or modes. Microcontexts or modes have clearly defined goals and distinctive interactional features. They are determined largely by teachers’ use of language.
Managerial mode: Organize learning. To set up or conclude classroom activities. The features are one long teacher turn. “Today, we are going to learn about…..” “I want you all to work in groups of 4”
Classroom context mode: Opportunities for genuine communication. Learners have more opportunities to talk. Focus is on the content, not the form. The teacher is a conversation partner or listener.
Skills and systems mode: Provide language practice in relation to a particular language system. It focuses on accuracy more than fluency. It is characterized by extended teacher turns and display question (questions for which the teacher knows the answer)
Material mode: Focusing on the materials being used such as the textbook.