The Materials Evaluation of New Century College English Integrated Course

1. Introduction

Teaching material plays a extremely important role in teaching， and it is the main basis for instructors to organize teaching activities， also the main media for learners to acquire knowledge and skills. This paper studies the theory of English language teaching materials evaluation in China and abroad， analyzes and evaluates the New Century College English Integrated Course systematically.

2. Theories of English language teaching materials evaluation

The research on English textbook evaluation has a long history， which can be traced back to 1960s. Thus far， many theoretical systems and evaluation standards have been formed. Cunningsworth （1984） believes that the choice of teaching materials has four principles and put forward the teaching evaluation from eight aspects： aims and approaches； design； language and organization； content； skills； topics； methodology； teacher s books； practical considerations. There are few people engaged in the research of textbook evaluation in China. Cheng （2011） in his book evaluation methods are divided into two categories： impressionistic evaluation and systematic evaluation.

3. Brief Introduction to the textbook

Integrated Course is the experts of Shanghai foreign language education press organized nearly 30 famous experts of English Majors in College English teaching， according to the Ministry of Education promulgated in 2007 of the teaching requirements. It focuses on cultivating students' comprehensive ability of English application， especially listening and speaking ability.

4. The Evaluation of Integrated Course

4.1 Textbook arrangement

To evaluate the teaching materials， we should first evaluate the guiding ideology of teaching， so as to grasp the direction of teaching materials from the macro （Cheng， 2011）. The classroom teaching is mainly based on Text A， the teaching aim is to cultivate students' reading ability to understand and change of thinking ability， learning writing vocabulary， grammar and rhetoric， to guide the students according to the text of opinions. Text B is designed to guide students to carry out independent learning， learning to teachers to check students autonomous learning based. Overall， the structure of textbook is clear.

4.2 Content selection

The text is mainly from the twentieth Century British and American publications and network articles， and the first note after the article annotated the source of the article. Genres include narrative， exposition and argumentation. Varied and interesting topics in a textbook can be a powerful factor in strengthening the motivation of the learners as well as teachers （Cunningsworth， 1995）. Topics related to language， culture， society， life， ethics， education， sports， psychology. It follows the law from easy to difficult. Each textbook final vocabulary line is in accordance with the latest teaching requirements proposed by the “general and higher requirements”.

4.3 Preparation of exercises

The exercises include consolidating vocabulary， grammar， word formation， Text A rewrite the cloze test， sentence translation （Chinese to English）， passage translation （English to Chinese or Chinese to English）， the theme of writing and appreciation of humor， it should be said that the ability to use multiple types of comprehensive training students' language. Grammatical approaches tend to prevent students from being able to say what the material has the opportunity to develop oral skills and adapt to the learner （ Dickinson， 2010）.

4.4 Autonomous Learning

Encourage learners to build their own learning strategies， develop self-learning ability（ Penny， 2000）. Text B aims to guide students to study independently， the number of narrative more. Most of the text is more difficult than the Text A slightly simple， reading comprehension exercises is easy. The general trend of the teaching method is to emphasize the importance of the factors of the learners in the teaching process（Zuo， 2002）. In addition to Learning CD covers not only the students inside and outside the classroom teaching activities， but also add language exercises and songs， video etc.

5. Conclusion

Teaching material is the basis of teaching syllabus and the main source of students' knowledge and skills. The choice of teaching materials， understanding， and use effectively affect the quality of teaching. As Dai and Wang （2005） point out， teachers should be assessed objectively textbooks， neither blindly rely on， is not completely abandoned， but to unearth its reasonable ingredient.

References：

[1]Cunningsworth，A.（1984）.Evaluating and Selecting Teaching Materials.Oxford，Heienemann.

【作者簡介】趙亮（1992- ），女，漢族，吉林大安人，渤海大學外國語學院，學科教學（英語）專業(yè)，研究生。