A procedure for ESP textbook analysis and evaluation on teacher education courses

The article examines the applicability of an approach employed in the Open University's four-stage “Group Study Skills” sessions to ESP textbook analysis and evaluation (TAE) during a teacher education course. The major factors affecting on-course TAE procedure are suggested, and the OU's approach to study skills sessions is set out. It is suggested that on-course TAE factors lend themselves to the OU approach.

The author describes a recent attempt to apply the four-stage OU approach to TAE during a teacher education course in Manila, the Philippines. In particular, an example is given of a TAE “script” used, and an evaluation is made of the TAE procedure in practice. It is concluded that this four-stage procedure is a distinct advance over the inflexible, predetermined “check-list” approach, and may indeed be equally applicable to other components of teacher education courses.