3. Criteria and guidelines for selecting texts for classroom studying
Activity 5. In a group of four make a list of criteria which are most important in choosing a text for reading in the classroom. Discuss the criteria with the whole group.
Activity 6. Range the criteria in order of importance.
Criteria for evaluating texts for reading development
Suitability of content
Exploitability
Readability
Authenticity
Presentation
Guidelines for choosing texts for classroom study
Take a critical look at texts you currently use for comprehension work: do they fulfill these criteria?
1. Will the text do one or more of these things?
a) tell the students things they don't already know.
b) introduce them to new and relevant ideas, make them think about things they haven't thought of before.
c) help them understand the way others feel or think (e.g. people with different backgrounds, problems or attitudes from their own).
d) make them want to read for themselves (to continue a story, find out more about a subject, and so on).
2. Does the text challenge the students' intelligence without making unreasonable demands on their knowledge of the language?
3. Is the language natural, or has it been distorted by the desire to include numerous examples of a particular teaching item (e.g. a tense)?
4. Does the language reflect written or spoken usage? (the spoken language presented to beginners is often limited to describing the obvious - e.g. a picture; this may carry over into coursebook texts.)
5. If there are new lexical items, are they worth learning at this stage, and not too numerous? Can the meaning of some of them be worked out without the help of a dictionary? Can some be replace by simpler words.
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: |
