Evaluating the ELT Coursebooks for Young Learners: The Issue of Affective Engagement

Year 2023, Volume: 3 Issue: 3, 50 - 63, 30.06.2023

Belkıs Benlioğlu , Beliz Şahin Elif Sönmez Mehdi Solhi

Abstract

Coursebooks are known to be the most well-acknowledged language learning and teaching materials. The effectiveness of the coursebooks for fruitful language learning can be augmented with considerations of the second language acquisition theories. Among these, affective engagement is one of the significant contributors to language acquisition characterized by the active involvement of the learners’ emotions, such as enthusiasm, excitement, curiosity, enjoyment, and purposefulness. This study investigates the affective engagement elements of a series of coursebooks used in private elementary schools in Turkey. To this end, six commonly used coursebooks were evaluated based on one criterion set by Tomlinson and Masuhara (2013) to determine to what extent they are likely to be affectively engaging. A group of four researchers made a consensus on the selection and evaluation process of a coursebook from the series, as well as two chapters from each coursebook. The affective engagement was evaluated according to the content delivery, activity types, visual elements, and possible involvement of the audience of the coursebook, and each coursebook was scored 1 to 3. Results indicated that coursebooks have the potential to be effective in terms of emotional engagement; however, this potential has been minimally utilized. The results are discussed in alignment with the literature, along with recommendations to the coursebooks designers and practitioners.

Keywords

Affective engagement, coursebooks evaluation, material evalua- tion, EFL learning

Çocuklar için Hazırlanmış ELT Ders Kitaplarını Değerlendirmek: Duyuşssal Bağlılık Sorunu

Abstract

Ders kitaplarının en çok kabul gören dil öğrenme ve öğretme materyalleri olduğu bilinmektedir. Verimli bir dil öğrenimi için ders kitaplarının etkinliği, ikinci dil edinimi kuramlarının dikkate alınmasıyla artırılabilir. Bunlar arasında, duyuşssal katılım, öğrenenlerin şevk, heyecan, merak, zevk ve amaçlılık gibi duygularının aktif katılımı ile karakterize edilen dil edinimine önemli katkı sağlayanlardan biridir. Bu çalışma, Türkiye’deki özel ilkokullarda kullanılan bir dizi ders kitabının duyuşsal katılım unsurlarını incelemektedir. Bu amaçla, yaygın olarak kullanılan altı ders kitabının, ne ölçüde duyuşsal olarak ilgi çekici olduklarını belirlemek için Tomlinson ve Masuhara (2013) tarafından belirlenen bir kritere dayalı olarak değerlendirmesi gerçekleştirilmiştir. Dört araştırmacıdan oluşan bir grup, seriden bir ders kitabının ve her ders kitabından iki bölümün seçilmesi ve değerlendirilmesi konusunda fikir birliğine varmıştır. Duyuşsal katılım, ders kitabının içerik sunumuna, etkinlik türlerine, görsel öğelere ve olası dinleyici katılımına göre değerlendirilmiş ve her ders kitabı 1’den 3’e kadar puanlanmıştır. Sonuç olarak ders kitaplarının duyuşsal açıdan etkili olma potansiyeline sahip olduğu, ancak bu potansiyelden asgari düzeyde yararlanıldığı ortaya konmuştur. Sonuçlar, ders kitabı tasarımcılarına ve uygulayıcılarına önerilerle birlikte literatürle uyumlu olarak tartışılmıştır.

Keywords

Duyuşsal katılım, ders kitabı değerlendirmesi, matery- al değerlendirmesi, EFL öğrenimi

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