2. Teacher’s Interview
As Paula Morales expresses course books are important to guide teachers in
certain specific topics using grammar, pronunciation and listening. However, according
to Miss Morales’ point of view some sequences of units are not coherent to be followed
step by step. Therefore, she states that when the activities are boring and not appealing
to students’ interests it is important to adapt and supplement them by taking into
account students’ background, students’ age and their likes and dislikes. Moreover, her
own preferences are another important fact because if she can find another activity that
suits the class better and that deals with the features that students have to learn, she
changes it. For this reason, she explains that the way for adapting and supplementing
the activities of the course book it is based on having present the level of students and
the topics covered in the book so they become motivated.
Although Miss Morales supplements a big part of the course book she uses, she
finds very useful the speaking activities it has. She mentions that she develops the
speaking parts because students can practice grammar and phonetics at the same time,
being grammar one of the aspects which students found boring.
At last but not the least, Miss Morales considers that course books are useful as a
guide for teachers although is not advisable to be ruled by them. Moreover she
expresses that she would like them to have more music and more kinesthetic activities
that allow students to move and speak at the same time.
3. FACTUAL DETAIL
Title
Author
Straight Forward Pre-intermediate
Student’s book
Philip Kerry
Publisher
Macmillan Publishers Limited
Price
$14.720
ISBN
978 1405 01057 3
978 0230 02079 5 (with CD Rom)
159 pages
N° of pages
Components
Level
Workbook without key and CD pack
Workbook with key and CD pack
Teacher’s book
Class CDs
Portfolio
Pre-intermediate level
Length
One year
Units
12 units
Lesson/sections
48 lessons (four per unit, ABCD)
Target Skills
Speaking (is the main skill to be
emphasized)
Listening
Reading
Writing
Young adults and adults
Target Learners
Assessment (* Poor ** Fair *** Good
Factor
Rating
Rationale
****
Availability
*
**** Excelent
Comments
It can be said that the book
integrate the four skills in a
very balanced form. It
integrate functional language
The Straight forward book is
available in LibreriaInglesa in
Concepción.
4. Layout/graphics
****
The straight forward book is
appropriate for young adults
and adults due to the images,
pictures, graphics and some
cartoons are authentic pictures
and full of color.
Selection/grading
**
Authenticity
****
Cultural bias
****
The units of the book are not
graded due to every of them
has independent topics and
target language.
In terms of dialogues the
“Straight Forward” course
book presents very authentic
material, in which most of the
dialogues are related to reallife situations and
conversations and spoken by
native speakers.
The book is British oriented
primarily, due to the CD audio
is mainly recorded by British
native speakers
This course book includes
components that help to
stimuli the students in their
own learning. It contains
workbook and CDs that also
help students to improve
properly their abilities
development.
The course book units are not
interrelated, so the teacher
could skip some units without
affecting the learning process.
Stimulus/practice//revision ****
Flexibility
****
5. The following activities were taken from the pages 46-49 and 52-53 of the book
“Straight Forward”.
Lesson
U5D:
Holiday
heaven.
We decide
to put first
the lesson
5D
because it
makes
more
sense to
deal with
the places
of
destination
than mean
of
tranport.
(Planes)
Select / Adopt
Reject
Adapt
Reading (part 1): Read the Reading (part Vocabulary(1).Speaking
webpage and match the 2): Read about (1,2).
pictures A-H to the some
more
different holidays.
holidays.
These activities
What type of
will be adapted
It worth retaining this holiday
are
by mixing them
activity because it is a they?
in
just
one
good introduction to the
activity.
With
topic.
We do not
the vocabulary
intend to use
provided
the
Reading (part 3): Match this activity
student has to
the paragrahpd 1-4 to the because
the
create a dialogue
holidays in the webpage part 1 of the
in which he/she
advertisement.
reading
is
is a tourist guide
enough as an
of her/his own
It is worth retaining this introduction
city so they have
activity because students to the topic.
to decide what
can relate the use of the
he/she intends to
vocabulary in a real Vocabulary
do with the
context.
(part 2,3)
tourists
to
present it in
Pronunciation (1,2,3).
We do not
class.
intend to use
It is worth retaining this this activity
In this way it
activity because students because they
would be easier
can practice and learn the have
to
for the student
new vocabulary of the prepare
a
to create the
unit.
dialogue and
dialogue
with
it will be
the
new
boring to have
vocabulary
two
similar
because
the
activities.
activity will be
more
personalized.
Extra
Material
6. U
5B: Speaking: Work in pairs. Think of
Planes
a
long/interesting/boring/frightening
journey you have been on.
Describe your journey.
It is worth retaining this activity
because it is an effective way to
introduce the topic.
Vocabulary (2) : Put the phrases
in the correct order.
It is worth retaining this activity
because student can identify the
verbs often used with the new
vocabulary.
Listening (2,3):
It is worth retaining these
activities because they have to
acquire listening skills and this is
a good way to develop it.
Pronunciation: Intonation
(1.45)
It is worth retaining this activity
because it is important for second
language students to acquire the
correct intonation as a part of the
pronunciation.
Functional
(1).
language:
Requests
It is worth retaining this activity
because completing the chart with
the different ways of responding
the request it is a good way of
learning them by hard.
Pronunciation: Vocabulary (1)
Intonation
Listening (1)
(1.45,1.46, 6)
These activities will be
We do not adapted by mixing
intend to use them. Students will
these
have to find new
activities
vocabulary
in
the
because there pictures above and after
are more like that describe what is
listening
happening in
each
activities than picture.
pronunciation
practice and In this way it would be
they already better for the student to
practice
use the new vocabulary
listening.
previously recognized
in the pictures to create
Roleplay (7).
sentences.
We do not
intend to use
these
activities
because they
already had
other listening
activities that
we considered
more
important that
this one and
having
a
similar
one
would
be
boring
for
them.
Functional
language:
Requests (2).
Find 5 more
mistakes
in
the dialogue
and
correct
them.
We do not
intend to use
this activity
7. because it is
not necessary
if
they
complete the
chart with the
correct form.
U
5A: Speaking (1).
Tourist
Trail.
It is worth retaining this activity
because
students
would
participate more if the activity
involves their real context.
Reading (2,3).
It is worth retaining these
activities because there are good
ways to prove they understood the
reading.
Vocabulary (1,2,3).
It is worth retaining these
activities because it is necessary
that
students
learn
about
compound nouns and discussing
with a partner is a good way to
activate previous knowledge.
Grammar (1,2,3).
It is worth retaining these
activities because they need to
read the grammatical rule for
future plans, in that way they
would be able to develop any
activity related with the future
tense. Moreover, the 3rd part of the
activity is a more interesting way
to make them produce what they
just learnt.
Reading (1).
Vocabulary (4).
We do not
intend to use
this activity
because
it
does not seem
relevant for us
to do it.
This activity will be
adapted by doing it as a
speaking, because in
that way students can
make a relation between
the compound nouns
they learnt and use them
in a real conversation.
8. The following activities were taken from pages 48-49 and 50-51 of the book “Straight
Forward”.
Lesson:
Planes
5B
1. Speaking: This activity is Communicative of the social kind
because although the book give the students the topic they
have to discuss, they can answer however is more convenient
to them and also giving freedom in their answers.
2. Vocabulary (1): This is a Pre-communicative activity of the
quasi-communication type because students have to relate the
vocabulary words studied with the images provided of a real
context.
3. Vocabulary (2): This is a Pre-communicative activity of the
structural type because students have to practice the
grammatical rules previously learnt at the moment of ordering
the phrases.
4. Listening (1): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because they have to produce a speaking by
making a relation with the structures previously learnt.
5. Listening (2): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because is a controlled activity and they have
to relate the new vocabulary with the images of the book.
6. Listening (3): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because students have to listen and make a
relation between what they learnt and what they are hearing of
a real context situation.
7. Functional Language: requests (1): This is a precommunicative activity of the structural type because they are
learning the grammatical structure of requests by identifying
them in a text and completing a chart.
8. Functional Language: requests (2): This is a precommunicative activity of the structural type because they
have to correct grammar mistakes inside a text.
9. Pronunciation (5): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because students have to listen and make a
relation between what they learnt and what they are hearing of
a real context situation.
10. Pronunciation (6): This is a pre-communicative activity of the
quasi-communicative type because students have to practice
with a given situational dialogue which is more a controlled
activity.
11. Role play (7): This is a communicative activity of the
functional type because they have to use the language they
learnt in a given situation.
9. Lesson: 5C A
weekend
break.
1. Vocabulary and speaking: Hotels (1): This is a Precommunicative activity of the quasi-communicative type
because they are relating the new words learnt from the box to
the use of language in a real context.
2. Vocabulary and speaking (2): This is a Pre-communicative
activity of the quasi-communicative type because they are
choosing from a given list of activities so they are making
relations between what they learnt and a real context.
3. Vocabulary and speaking (3): This is a Communicative
activity of the functional type because there is not an
interaction with other person so it cannot be social.
4. Vocabulary and speaking (4): This is a communicative activity
of the functional type because students have to answer to
specific question so it is more guided.
5. Listening (1): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because they have to explain why they would
like to stay there using the language they have learnt.
6. Listening (2): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because students have to listen and make a
relation between what they learnt and what they are hearing of
a real context situation.
7. Listening (3): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because of the same reasons of the listening
above.
8. Listening (4): This is a communicative activity of the
functional type because they have to retell a story which was
given using the structures learnt.
9. Grammar (1): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because students have to complete a sentence
with the words given so they solve the problem.
10. Grammar (2): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because the students have to make a decision
on what to say in a real context.
11. Grammar (3): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because although it seems as a grammar
activity they have to decide which verb it is the best in a
sentence which they already learnt the grammatical structure.
12. Grammar (4): This is a Pre-communicative activity of the
quasi-communicative type because although they have to
practice a dialogue in pairs, this is a situational dialogue which
means it was given.
13. Did you know? (1): This is a communicative activity of the
functional type because students have to infer what it is the
answer of the question before reading the text.
14. Did you know? (2): This is a Communicative activity of the
functional type because students have to answer the given
questions which makes the activity more guided.
10. Skills and Topic
Tomlinson (2011) suggested that a course book aims to provide as much as
possible in one book and is designed so that it could be used as the only book that the
students necessarily use during a course. Such a course book frequently includes work
related to the systems of the language, functions and the four skills. The Straight
Forward course book seems to be very complete not only in terms of the four skills but
also in terms of the system of the language, which are grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation, due to every unit has been divided into them in order to promote a
complete learning of the language. Concerning grammar, the straight forward book
emphasizes it through targeted activities at the end of each unit in which the
grammatical rules are explained in detail.
In terms of the skills, they are emphasized in a great number of activities. First
of all, regarding to reading activities, the Straight Forward book contains a great number
of reading activities (two or three per unit) that are associated with the interests of the
students; moreover, the contents of the reading, and the vocabulary of it corresponds to
the level of the pre-intermediate students level.
in terms of listening, Ur (1996) argued that in listening comprehension activities
the students should learn to function successfully in real-life listening situations, what
means that is not very helpful for them to base listening exercises on passages that are
read aloud and followed by comprehension questions, on the contrary, Ur(1996)
highlighted that the listening activities should be based on simulated real-life situations,
because it will be more interesting and motivating for the learners than contrived
textbook comprehension exercises. In the case of the course book the reading and
listening comprehension activities are presented in a contextualized way, in which the
11. students have the chance to predict before they start reading or listening the text or file;
moreover, the organization of the activities follows the receptive skills lesson plan
format which is pre-task, while-task and finally post-task. Listening activities are
presented in at least one or two lessons in each unit and they are related to specific topic
and real-life situations such as phone calls, school days experiences, and radio interview
to mention some of them. As complements, there are two CDs recorded by British
native speakers. The first volume is just for the recordings and there are 64 files that
correspond to the 12 units presented in the book. The recordings emphasize some
features of phonetics such as pronunciation, specifically intonation and stress. The
second volume contains the activities and the tests from the 12 units. There is a wide
variety of topics including social issues and other ones related to social life. The fact
that the files are recorded by British native speakers makes it to promote real and
authentic language.
Speaking is one of the most important skills in a second language, due to it is the
primarily form of communication, and as Ur (1996) mentioned, most of the foreign
language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak. The Straight Forward
book presents a lot of speaking activities; there are at least one or two speaking
activities per lesson, which indicates that the book emphasizes speaking activities over
the rest of the skills. McGrath (2002) argued that “drama activities” such as role play
and to lesser extent simulation are used to provide opportunities for students to use
language spontaneously and creatively; furthermore, Ur (1996) suggests that role-play
activities are virtually the only way that gives learners the opportunity to practice
improvising a range of real-life spoken language in the classroom and it is a particularly
effective technique if the students are confident and cooperative. In the straight forward
12. book it can be found a lot of activities related to role-play, dialogues and describing that
help students to become more flexible communicators in English language.
Finally, in terms of writing, the straight forward book does not present many
activities related to writing; moreover, in most of the activities the instructions and the
structures the students have to follow are very clear, and also they are related to realcontext due to students are asked to write emails (formal and informal), descriptions (of
their friends or family members and of their cities, for instance) restaurant and film
reviews among others.
Another important component of this book is related to its topics. Regarding this
issue, the Straight Forward presents a wide range of topics, which are interrelated in
every unit.
The material presented in all the units are separated in different lessons
connected to the main topic of the unit. The content of every lesson is sufficient for
students’ interest due to it includes many themes, such as, education topics, tourist
trials, global issues, fashion, and animal lovers among others. To complement this, Ur
(1996) suggests that teachers can adapt some themes and make them even more
interesting for students. For this reason, students are able to be involved sooner or later
in the lessons. Together with this, students are put in different current situations while
doing the activities; therefore, they can enrich their experience when learning the target
language with highly sophisticated content carefully selected based on students’ level of
English. In addition, the Straight Forward course book put especial emphasize on social
and cultural contexts, so students can learn and use the language in common real
situations and make use of it in order to promote fluent interaction with native English
speakers. Another important aspects that is worthy to mention, is that this book does not
13. present genre preferences, in other words, it can be used for both, men and woman, with
no disadvantages for any of them. Moreover, in several units this book presents
different lessons related to different cultures around the world such as the Machu Picchu
and the Empire of China, which makes this course book very flexible for the teacher due
to its variety of content.
As a conclusion, it can be mentioned that the book integrates the four skills in a
real-life context activities and in a very organized form. Besides, it is necessary to
highlight that the Straight Forward course book emphasizes speaking over the other
skills with the intention to promote a communicative learning. This linked with a
perfect variation of topics to cover up all students’ interests in order to make the lessons
more catchy and interesting for them.
14. References
McGrath, I. (2002). Materials evaluation and design for language teaching.
Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2011). Materials development in language teaching.Cambridge
University Press.
UR,
P.
(1997).
A
course
in
Language
Teaching:
CambriageTeacher Training and Development.
Practice
and
Theory.
