Is Cutting Edge Textbook suitable for Saudi Cadets - Essay Example

? Is Cutting Edge Textbook suitable for Saudi Cadets? The soldiers of Royal Saudi Air Forces learn English as a second language at the English Language School at Prince Sultan Air Base. The textbooks for this school are designed by the Technical Studies Institute in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It is found that the English language of the students are weak and needs are identified to replace the textbooks with the world renowned Cutting Edge textbooks developed by Pearson Education. In consequence of this finding, 75 cadets at Prince Sultan Air Base are given Cutting Edge textbooks for learning English as an experiment. This study is aimed at analyzing the extent of suitability of Cutting Edge Text books for the cadets of Prince Sultan Air Base. This thesis aims at studying the importance of English language and the role it plays in the life of individuals. It discusses in length the influence of good knowledge of English on the job place, society and the career of an individual. This study evaluates the suitability of Cutting Edge textbooks by making survey of students through questionnaire to assess their experience related to the use of the new textbooks of Cutting Edge. The findings of this study will help in making decision whether the Cutting Edge textbooks are suitable for the cadets and its usage be extended to the entire community of cadets at the Saudi Air Forces. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Problem 1.3 Research question 1.4 The purpose of study 1.5 Thesis structure CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Significance of Education 2.2 Importance of English Language 2.3 Concepts and scope of Evaluation 2.4 Role of English language textbooks CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Choice of Study 3.2 Research Philosophy 3.3 Research Approach 3.4 Data Collection Method 3.5 Data analysis 3.6 Reliability and Validity CHAPTER FOUR: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 4.1 Results of Questionnaire 4.2 Findings from Result CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION 5.1 Role of English Language Materials 5.2 Suitability of Cutting Edge Textbook CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION 6.1 Conclusion 6.2 Implications 6.3 Strengths and Weaknesses 6.4 Suggestion for further research REFERENCES CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Seventy five students at the English Language School of Prince Sultan Air Base of Saudi Arabia are given Cutting Edge textbook for learning English. They are given six months for experiment and see the suitability of these new textbook compared to the previous textbook which they used. Previous textbook was designed by the Technical Studies Institute of Dhahran Saudi Arabia. This study is aimed to research the influence of Cutting Edge textbook and the improvements it brings in the skills, knowledge and understanding of English language. 1.2 Problem The skills and knowledge of English language of cadets of Saudi air forces is not found up to the required standard. It is believed that English being the second language for Saudi students, it requires more planned and organized textbook for learning. Decision to give 75 students the textbook of Cutting Edge for English learning is made to experiment for six months. The problem identified for research of this study is to find out the suitability of the Cutting Edge textbook to the cadets selected for experimenting English learning with it 1.3 Research question “Is Cutting Edge Text Book suitable for Saudi Cadets?” 1.4 The purpose of study The purpose of this study is to understand the importance of English language in daily life and what are the reasons for its significance. It is also aimed in this study to learn about the various materials and techniques used in the Cutting Edge textbook. The audience addressed by the Cutting Edge textbook, the exercises used and places where it is implemented successfully are included in the purpose of research. The main objective is to evaluate the contents of the Cutting Edge textbook and find the extent of its suitability for the Saudi cadets. 1.5 Thesis Structure This section gives a structure of every chapter within this thesis. This thesis consists of six chapters. First chapter gives an introduction to the background information about this research, defining the problem, describing the research question and the purpose of the research. Second chapter makes literature review on defining significance of education and importance of English language. It also gives concept and scope of the evaluation process and the role of Cutting Edge textbook in learning the English language. Third chapter gives methodologies used for approaching research and find the answer to the posed question so as to fulfil the purpose of this thesis. Fourth chapter is about the empirical findings and give the results from the collected data. Fifth chapter is aimed at discussing the answer of the research question derived from the results of the survey. Finally, chapter six concludes the empirical findings by describing it and suggesting further actions. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Significance of Education Education is the process of learning. There are two ways in which learning takes place. The first way in which learning takes place is by observation and experience. The most common example of learning by observation and experience is that of an infant baby who when comes in this world has very little knowledge about the way things need to be done. As the time passes by, the baby begins to recognize his parents, demand milk by crying, and struggle to do what other people do around him. First sit up, and then walk and then talk, this entire learning takes place only through experience and observation of parents and baby’s surroundings. The second way in which learning takes place is through academic education in which there is a teacher, textbooks, other tools and the student. Student acquires the knowledge by listening and understanding the lectures of the teacher, reading the textbooks and other course materials. Education generally refers to this second way of learning. Every human being has an intellect that helps him to think and understand anything around him. However, understanding requires knowledge. The only way of acquiring knowledge is through the process of learning either by experience and observation or by education. Knowledge helps a person to understand the creations of God and science helps in accepting it through reasoning and experimenting. The source of knowledge is God and therefore it is infinite. Man only struggle to search and acquire knowledge to get benefits out of it. The human capacities of knowledge are developed by education which is a creative and continuous process. The ability to read and write is obtained only through education. People who are not educated cannot read or write. Never in the history of mankind, was education as important as it is today. The countries and societies where people are educated have progressed and led a high quality of life with access to peace, harmony and comforts. The most important factor for getting education is communication which is a process in which the sender (speaker) sends a message through a channel to a receiver (listener). Figure 1 illustrates this process. The sender and the receiver both have thoughts in their mind. The sender uses the thought to develop a message, encoding it and sending it through a channel such as voice, noise, etc. The receiver receives it in his thoughts, decodes it and understands it. Any message which does not reach the receiver or the receiver is not able to understand it is an incomplete communication (VU Handouts, 2005) Figure 1: Illustration of Communication Process (VU Handouts, 2005) The most important work in the process of communication is encoding and decoding of the message which requires the knowledge of a language. Messages are conveyed mostly through language. The fundamental need of education is to learn a language which can be used for communication with others. Infant baby learns the language of his mother referred commonly as mother tongue, only through observation and listening. However, he is not at any stage able to read or write in his mother tongue unless he learns the language. The only way to learn to read, write and understand properly is by education. It is necessary for each and every single person to educate himself with at least one of the most popular languages. A language is a mode of communication between two or more people. Speaking, reading, writing, composing and comprehending are the basic tasks of language which a person needs to practice and perfect. The world has 6,909 languages with 41,186 primary names, alternate names and regional language names. An extract from ‘Ethnologue’ which is primary source of world languages is shown in Figure 3 which gives important information about world living languages ( Lewis, 2009) Figure 2: Extract from Ethnologue source of world languages (Lewis, 2009) Taking English language as an example, the structure of any language can be easily understood. Each language is constructed with the symbols. Symbols are called letters of a language (a, b, c). Each letter has a sound and it is pronounced in a particular accent. A letter has two cases; Upper Case (A...Z) and lower case (a...z). The group of letters makes a word and the group of words makes a phrase. Any phrase which has a meaning or sense makes a sentence. Each language has its own grammar which defines the tenses such as present, past and future, persons such as I, you and he or she, gender such as masculine (male) or feminine (female), noun that describes a name, place, animal or thing, verbs that describes action or beings, adjectives that helps to define the attributes of nouns and adverbs that helps to define verbs. The number of words of a language that have meanings is referred as ‘vocabulary’ Education of a language is the process in which a person learns its letters, words, sounds, grammar and vocabulary. Education develops the skills for speaking, reading, writing, comprehending and composing through lessons and activities. 2.2 Importance of English Language In fifth century the migration of people brought English language into being. It became the world language in the 17th century when American colonies were founded. The cultural and trade politics of British Empire in the 19th century strengthened the world position of English languages as ‘language on which the sun never sets’. The English language was developed over seven different forms and ages (Graddol, 1997) as under;- 1. Pre-English period (AD 450) 2. Early Old English (450-850) 3. Later Old English (850-1100) 4. Middle English (1100-1450) 5. Early Modern English (1450-1750) 6. Modern English (1750-1950) 7. Late Modern English (1950...) The hybrid and flexible nature of English language made it today the language of entire world. The evolving of English language was based on its free borrowing of words from many other languages such as Celtic, Latin, Scandinavian, Norman French and languages of various British colonies. It allowed English language to rapidly expand into new domains. The ability of English language to reflect and construct the identities and changing roles of its speakers already created its many varieties (Graddol, 1997). Today there are varieties of English Language based on country or region as illustrated in Figure 3 which include British, American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian Subcontinent and Africa (English language, 2011). Figure 3: Branches of World English (Graddol, 1997) In the world today, English is spoken by three types of speakers. The first type of speakers is those for whom it is primary language. The second type of speakers is those who speak it as an additional or secondary language. The third type of speakers is those who speak it as a foreign language (Graddol, 1997) There are 375 million people whose primary language is English. This type of speakers mostly belongs to the countries and parts of the world where dominant culture is dependent on English. Migration to these regions from other countries of the world has increased linguistic diversity of their population. There are also 375 million people who use English as a secondary or additional language of communication which they use in different context. Speakers of secondary type use local form of English with fluency in international English varieties. (Graddol, 1997) There are 750 million people whose native language is different from English. They learn English as a foreign language for example Saudi Arabia. In recent years the number of people learning English as a foreign language has risen rapidly. One of the reasons for its rise is the mandatory requirement of passing an English Language Test for getting higher education in world top class universities of USA, UK and Australia (Graddol, 1997) These three types of English speakers are divided into three groups represented by circles as shown in Figure 4. The primary type of speakers are referred as ‘inner circle’, the secondary type of speakers are referred as ‘outer circle’ and the third type which learn English as foreign language is referred as ‘expending circle’. The speaker numbers in millions show the magnitude of the difference between all the three types. (Graddol, 1997) Figure 4:Three Groups of English Language Figure 5: Domain of Global Activities The significance of English language can be realized from the fact that the twelve international domains of global activities are governed by English language. Figure 5 shows the list of these twelve domains. (Graddol, 1997) The first global domain is the activities of world institutions (like United Nations), agencies (like International Energy Agency) and their subsidiary organizations (like World Bank). Their activities include helping of world nations to manage crises, conflicts and events. Crystal (1997) estimated that 85% of these world institutions, global agencies and organizations use English as their working language. (Graddol, 1997) The second global domain is scientific publication. Books, journals and articles on thousands of subjects are written in English language most of which are easily accessible for higher education, development and improvement of quality of life. Figure 6 shows that 28% of the world’s books publications today are in English (Graddol, 1997) Figure 6: World Publications – Language Percentages Figure 7: German Disciplines The international currency of science and technology is English and any student who intends to attend higher education and acquire university’s degree need to have good knowledge of English language. Major contributor and role is played by USA which ensures that the English should remain the global language of discovery and experiment. (Graddol, 1997) In Germany where the primary language is German and where the entire government and the common man use German as their national language, English is used in their various academics disciplines as shown in Figure 7. Contributions in ‘Ethology’ journal was in German language in 1950 which had a German name ‘Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie’ but by 1984, 95% of the contributions were moved to English language. (Graddol, 1997) The third domain of global activities is international banking, trading and economic affairs for which financial institution play vital role. Key financial institutions of the world were established by major American involvement. The globalization opened door for many countries to flows of goods, culture, knowledge and finance from all over the world which spread the influence of English every where as it was used for documentation of contracts. (Graddol, 1997) The remaining nine domains of global activities include advertising for global brands, cultural and entertainment products such as film, T.V., music in audio-visual forms, international tourism, tertiary education, international safety, international law, language for interpretation and translation, technology transfer and internet communication (Graddol, 1997) The global value of English language forced nearly all the countries of the world that had national language other than English to adopt English either as a secondary language or as a foreign language and encourage their people to learn it. The core reason for this development was need of interaction amongst two or more people or nation one or none of which speak, read, write or understand English language for example Japan and China. This resulted in hierarchy of languages in a country where there were several other languages as well spoken locally and officially by the government. Figure 8 shows hierarchy of India, World and Europe where large number of other languages are spoken as well (Graddol, 1997) Figure 8: Language Hierarchy (Graddol, 1997) INDIA WORLD EUROPE 2.3 Concepts and Scope of Evaluation The essence of education is the contents and materials to be used for teaching. Inappropriate or insufficient contents can lead to poor quality of education. The most common form of teaching materials includes textbooks of the subject to be taught. It is therefore essential that the quality of the textbooks and its contents are evaluated as to whether they are appropriate, sufficient and suitable for the prospective students. By evaluating the textbooks, unsatisfactory features as well as positive aspects of the curriculum are found which helps in the improvement of its contents (Scarino, Angela and Others, 1988) Textbooks are a key component of most language courses. It is one of the pillars and backbone of education process without which there is no value of education. They serve as important resources for teachers as well as students (Richards, 2001) Textbooks serve as models that can be modified or imitated as it provide important knowledge about the language, exercises for practicing and examples of using it (Azevendo, 1978 pp 400) Textbooks are evaluated with an analytical process of matching of needs to the availability of solutions (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987). They can also be evaluated by judging their effectiveness and worth (Hijailian, 1999). There is a difference between assessment and evaluation of textbooks. Judgment about how textbooks will perform is the assessment while judgment about what textbooks really achieved is the evaluation (Alamri, 2008) Evaluation is about relative merit of the contents and gives only the degree of fitness of the textbooks (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) Gaps and repetition in the textbooks are found in evaluation which helps to improve its contents (Sawin, 1990) Evaluation of textbooks is done in two ways. The first way is to evaluate during the process of education while textbooks are in use of teachers and students. The second way is to evaluate after the completion of education process when textbooks are not used (Cunningsworth, 1995) There are two major purposes for evaluation of textbooks; accountability and development. Accountability examines effects of textbooks at important end points of an education cycle which is beneficial for decision maker. Development examines the performance of teachers and students to identify needs of development (Weir and Roberts, 1994) 2.4 Role of English Language Textbooks The role of textbooks is to match the objectives and aims of learning program and meet the needs of the students. The present and future use of the textbooks is well reflected and the students are motivated to use the language for their own purposes. The process of learning should not be rigid instead it should facilitate them. Students should know their role clearly so that they are settled and satisfied with the language (Cunningsworth, 1995) Textbooks contents should arouse learners, recap previous lesson, inform next lesson, explain new lesson relating it to previous lesson, make learners think about new contents, motivate learners to give feedback, practice, understand their doings, review progress and make efforts to improve (Rowntree, 1977). Textbooks contents should have spoken and written materials, communicative and interactive activities, source of reference to grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. It should also have a source of ideas and stimulation for activities in the classroom (Cunningsworth, 1995) The textbooks contents should impact yet make learners feel at ease, building in them confidence and perception about usefulness and relevancy of the learning material. The contents should also facilitate and involve learners in self-investment, ability to acquire what is taught and giving exposure of authentic use and linguistic features. The contents should help learners to achieve skills of speaking, reading and understanding the language (Tomlinson, 1998) Different learning styles are used in materials to account for different type of learners. It should also maximize learning potential by involving learners in intellectual, aesthetic, emotional and brain activities without any controlled practices (Tomlinson, 1998) Layout of textbooks should influence its utilization in the classroom having decorative illustrations that serve a specific purpose. Clearly defined objectives reflecting interests and needs of the learner are given for each lesson in the textbooks. The learning influence should show the development of language skills in the learners motivating them to participate different teaching situations. The teachers should be provided with effective testing scheme (Mariani, 1980) A good English textbook meets the needs of teachers and students, linguistic and pedagogical demands which is published in a series for different levels of teaching (A-Jarrah, 1987) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLGY This chapter describes the methodology used in research. The first section discusses why this study was chosen, second section tells about the philosophy used for research. Third section tells about the approach used, fourth sections gives the strategy used for research, fifth section tells about the methods used for collecting data, sixth section gives analysis of data and the seventh section outlines the validity and reliability of collected data. 3.1 Choice of Study This study is chosen to evaluate the suitability of Cutting Edge textbooks for the 75 students enrolled at English Language School at Prince Sultan Airbase. The process of evaluation identifies specific weaknesses and strengths in the textbooks that are already in use. The points of strengths can be used for optimum learning while weaker points can be substituted or adopted from contents of other books (Cunningsworth, 1995 p.14) The study will help in deciding if any improvement is needed in the course contents and whether these textbooks should be extended to other areas of learning. 3.2 Research Philosophy There are five main branches of philosophy out of which three are most prominent; Epistemology which is the study of knowledge. It is defined as “the study of the origin, nature, and limits of human knowledge” (Epistemology 2011) , Ontology or Metaphysics which is the study of existence. It is defined as “the study of being in general, or of what applies neutrally to everything that is real.” (Ontology 2011), Axiology or Ethics also called Theory of Value which is the study of action. It is defined as “the study of goodness, or value, in the widest sense of these terms.” (Axiology 2011) The three most important philosophical schools of thoughts are Positivism, Interpretivism and Realism Positivism holds that the scientific method is the best method to uncover truth. It is concerned with positive facts and phenomena excluding speculations upon ultimate causes or origin. It is defined as “Any philosophical system that confines itself to the data of experience, excludes a priori or metaphysical speculations, and emphasizes the achievements of science.” (Positivism 2011) Interpretivism view holds that all knowledge is based on the interpretation and how one perceives and interprets it according to his or her own understanding. It is because of this reason that this position focuses more on people and indicates that external events do not determine the reality but reality is determined by the people. Interpretivism is therefore considered as the best approach to conduct research studies within the realm of business administration and finance as it is also viewed from the perspective of social interpretivism. Realism indicates that the reality is not beyond the human mind. Realism can be divided into two distinct parts i.e. direct realism and indirect realism. Direct realism indicates that what we see is the actual reality and what one experiences is basically the portrayal of that reality. One approach therefore indicates that the world is not a constant place and it keeps on changing whereas another approach indicates that the world is stationary therefore the two conflicting philosophical views give birth to the need of having a unique and new theory which can model these conflicting views and define the reality in most appropriate manner. Research philosophy for this research is based on the following: The purpose of this study is to enumerate and critique the suitability of Cutting Edge textbooks for the students of English Language School The literature review gave the role of English Language textbooks in education The aim of this research is to evaluate the suitability of the Cutting Edge textbooks in light of the role of English Language textbooks defined in the literature review. This research selects realism as its ontological philosophy. 3.3 Research Approach There are two categories of research approach. Deductive approaches are mostly used in quantitative studies where data proves any theory which has already been defined. Deductive approach is “a top-down approach, which means that one or more theories produce a hypothesis and aim at data collection. This hypothesis is then tested and will either be confirmed or rejected. Finally, the theory itself will be confirmed or revised.” (Bryman and Bell, 2003) The second category is Inductive approach. Inductive approaches are often used in qualitative research because researcher attempt to generate or formulate theory from the data gathered. It is “the opposite of the deductive approach in that it is a bottom-up approach. The researcher therefore infers the implication of his or her findings. Theory is the outcome of this approach (Bryman and Bell, 2003) This study uses Deductive approach as it is more suitable for this research. 3.4 Research Strategy There are two methods for research strategy, qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative methods emphasize on words instead of quantity for data collection and analysis. Quantitative emphasize on quantifying the data and its analysis. Interviews generally collect qualitative data whereas questionnaire collects quantitative data. “Qualitative methods are not concerned with numbers instead; they emphasize words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data. A common form of qualitative research tool is an interview. Quantitative methods entail the collection of numeric data; hence the results will often be presented in numbers. Usually, the data is collected by use of a questionnaire (Bryman and Bell, 2007) In line with the deductive research approach, quantitative method of research strategy is chosen. The questionnaire is expected to be well responded and this method is able to infer findings that will be useful for decision making 3.5 Data Collection Method There are two types of data primary data and secondary data. A self-completion questionnaire is made to collect the primary data. Self-completion questionnaire The questionnaire is necessary to collect appropriate and relevant data to quantify the role of each vital constituent of the textbook evaluation. It is also the most cost effective way of collecting primary data. “A self-completion questionnaire is one of the most cost-effective ways of collecting data (Cohen & Manion & Morrison, 2007).” Sample selection It is decided to collect data from all the 75 students who are enrolled at the English Language School. Design of questionnaire The questionnaire will contain a matrix comparing earlier textbook with current textbook with questions about five different skill sets: 1. Quality of course material 2. Method of teaching 3. Learning Experience 4. Development Experience 5. Perception and practice Each question has a multiple choices and only one choice is required to be selected by the respondent. The total counts of a question will determine the share of each option and these data is used to do the analysis. A sample questionnaire will be submitted after approval of this proposal Survey procedure To be decided after discussion with the relevant authorities 3.5 Data analysis This study uses quantitative method to collect data. The basic techniques used for analyzing is univariate analysis that analysis one variable at a one time. This kind of analysis provides a frequency tables that report the percentage of each of categories and diagram that easy to interpret and understand. All of number and percentage are produced with windows Excel software. 3.6 Reliability and Validity Reliability is related with the persistency of data. The questions asked in Questionnaire are mostly related with the persistent matters and hence data can be relied upon fully. Validity of data is concerned with “the integrity of the conclusions that are generated from a piece of research (Bryman and Bell, 2007, p.41).” The data in Questionnaire will be filled by the respondents who are students at the English Language School. They all will use their own judgment in selecting the choices. Except for the individual limitation, the data is quite valid for analysis. CHAPTER FOUR EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 4.1 Results of Questionnaire The results of the Questionnaire will be submitted in the final dissertation 4.2 Findings from Result The findings form results will be submitted in the final dissertation CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION 5.1 Role of English Language Materials Discussion about the result regarding role of English Language materials will be discussed in the final dissertation 5.2 Suitability of Cutting Edge Textbook Discussion about the result regarding suitability of Cutting Edge Textbook materials will be discussed in the final dissertation CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION 6.1 Conclusion To be submitted in final dissertation 6.2 Implications To be submitted in final dissertation 6.3 Strengths and Weaknesses To be submitted in final dissertation 6.4 Suggestion for further research To be submitted in final dissertation REFERNCES Alamri. A.(2008) An Evaluation of the Sixth Grade English Language Axiology. (2011). In Encyclop?dia Britannica. Retrieved from Azevendo, Milton. M. (1979): Trends in Elementary Spanish Texts. The Brown, J.D. and Rogers, T.S. (2002) Doing second language research. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press. Bryd, P. (2001). Textbooks: Evaluation for selection and analysis for implementation. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.) Teaching English as a second or a foreign language (3rd ed.), pp. 415-427. Boston: Hienle & Hienle Publishers. Brymman, A. and Bell, E. (2007), Business research strategies, Business research methods, second edition: 3-37. United States: Oxford University Press Bugmaster, R. (2005). Reading and reading skills. Modern English teacher 14 (2),38-41. CAKIT,I (2006) Evaluation of The of The EFL Textbook “New Bridge to Success 3” From The Perspectives of Students and Teachers, A Thesis Submitted to Graduate School of Social Sciences of The Middle East Technical University. Cohen, L., Manion, L., Morrison, K., (2007), Quantitative data analysis, Research methods in education (ed.): 501-508. New York: Routledge Cunningsworth, Alan. (1995). Choosing your coursebook. Macmillan Heinemann. Ellis, Rod. (1997). The empirical evaluation of language teaching materials. ELT Journal, 51 (1), pp. 36-42 [Electronic version]. English language. (2011). In Encyclop?dia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188048/English-language Epistemology. (2011). In Encyclop?dia Britannica. Retrieved from Graddol, D. (1997). The future of English? The English Company (UK) Ltd. Retrieved from website: http://www.britishcouncil.org/de/learning-elt-future.pdf Grant, M. (1987). Making the most of your textbook. London: Longman. Hedges, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Second Language Classroom. Oxford:Oxford University Press. Hijailan, T. (1999) Evaluation of English as a Foreign Language Textbook for Third Grade Secondary Boys’ Schools in Saudi Arabia. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, USA. Hutchinson,T and Waters, A (1987)English for Specific purposes, a learning centered approach, Cambridge University Press Lewis, M Paul (ed.) (2009). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition, Retrieved from website: http:// http://www.ethnologue.com/print.asp Modern Language Journal.V13: No. 1&2PP. 400-406 Nunan, D. (1988) Learner-Centered Curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress. Nunan, D. (1988). Syllabus Design. Oxford: O.U.P. Ontology. (2011). In Encyclop?dia Britannica. Retrieved from Positivism. (2011). In Encyclop?dia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/471865/positivism Richards, J. C. (2001). The role of textbooks in a language program. Cambridge University Press. Rowntree, D. (1977) Assessing Students. London: Harper & Row Sawin, E.L. (1990). Evaluation and the Work of Teachers Wordsworth Scarino, Angela, and Others(1988)Evaluation, curriculum renewal, and Teacher Development, Curriculum Development Center, Commonwealth of Australia Sheldon, L. (1988). Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. English Language Teaching Journal, 42(4), 237-246. Tomlinson, B (1998). Glossary of basic terms for materials development in language teaching and introduction. In B. Tomlinson ( ed.), Materials development in language teaching. (pp. 1-24). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Tomlinson, B. (2003) Materials Evaluation. In Tomlinson, B. (ed) (2003) Developing Materials for Language Teaching. London and New York: Continuum. VU Handouts. (2005). MCM Communication Skills. In (pp. 001-194). Lahore: Virtual University of Pakistan. Weir, C. J. and Roberts, J. R. (1994). Evaluation in ELT. Oxford: Blackwell. Read More