Comparision of Textbooks

My topic

Take a textbook from 1980s. Compare it with a textbook published after 2000 at the same level. You do not need to compare the whole textbooks, but the parts that you think are interesting. Give reasons for choosing these parts.


My topic is to compare two textbooks. For this I have selected two textbooks of English for class-5's students, one published in 1983, and another published in 2006. Both are totally different, as far as Structure, Content, Format and Layout are concerned.

English is still being taught through Grammar Translation Method. In spite of its wide use in teaching and learning English, this approach does not allow learners to use English in real life. The main drawback is that it does not equip the learner with Communicative Competence. In Gujarat the teaching of English was more or less based on Structural Approach. In spite of having enough knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, our students fail to communicate in English. The reason behind this failure is not that they lack ideas but they can't express their ideas. Because traditional teaching was structure based not skill based. English Language Teaching (ELT) has two main divisions:

[1] Traditional Language Teaching.
[2] Communicative Language Teaching.

[1] Traditional Language Teaching:-

Traditional language teaching refers to the Grammar Translation Method, Audio-Lingual Method, Direct Method and Structural Approach of teaching. In simple words we can describe structural approach as an approach which uses language structures to teach that language. The example of the text book which prefers Traditional Language Teaching is standard-5th textbook published in 1983. The motto of this teaching method is:

"Practice Structures and learn English"

[2] Communicative Language Teaching:-

The Communicative Language Teaching is a recent development in the field of English language teaching. It aims at teaching English for communication. It advocates the extensive use of role-play, dialogues, group-work, language games, and the focus on teaching is linguistic appropriacy and feasibility of expression. It includes C.A.L.T means Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. It also includes Functional Approach, which means language teaching with the help of different functions of language. The example is the textbook of standard – 5th, Published in 2006. The motto of this method is:

"Use English and learn English"

I am going to compare the major and minor differences of the old textbook and the new textbook.

MAJOR DIFFERENCES:-

1) The very fundamental difference is there on the cover page of the both textbooks - Old textbook has a title "ENGLISH STANDARD-5" that means, here they are treating English as a subject not as a language. On the contrary the new textbook's title is "ENGLISH (Second Language) STANDARD-5" So they are treating English as a second language for students. That's why the treatment to the text writing is different from each other because aims and objectives are different totally.

2) The old textbook is black and white, while new textbook is colored. The old textbook has pictures but they are few in quantity compared to the new textbook. The new textbook is full of colorful pictures which make the textbook more interesting and attractive. The content pages of both textbooks are different. In the old textbook only lessons' names are given on the content page, while in the new textbook first the introduction of the book is given, then names of different divisions of the book, then Units' Titles, the Sample Question paper and the Vocabulary Section. There are pictures on the content page too.

3) Another major difference is that in the old textbook there are no proper guidelines for teachers regarding the use of the textbook, only teaching points are given at the end of each chapter, which are all grammar's structures. While in the new textbook there are proper guidelines not only for teachers but for parents as well, so that students can get maximum amount of advantage of the new textbook. There is a list of Do's and Don'ts for teachers which guide them to utilize the new textbook properly.

4) The other major difference is that the old textbook contains lessons and revision chapters only, while in the new textbook varieties of learning items are given like Oral work, Written work, Reading unit, Tasks which motivate students to speak in English, Self-learning materials, Sample question paper, Interesting exercises, Language games, Jingles and Rhymes.

5) Learning a language demands learning of four basic skills like Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The new textbook has covered all four skills of language, while the old textbook doesn’t focus on these skills. The old textbook works under this ratio. Oral work – 5%, Performance - 20%, Writing tasks – 75%, while the new textbook follows this ratio. Oral work - 25%, Performance – 70%, Writing tasks – 5%.

6) If we look further into both of the textbooks, we can see that in the old textbook Lesson wise teaching is prescribed while in the new textbook Day and Unit wise teaching is prescribed. In the old textbook the very first lesson named, "Anil and Kusum" teaches the use of "This and That". The given teaching point is "This is + noun = This is Meena". But in the new textbook the first chapter's title is "Hello" which teaches the function called "Greeting". So the old text teaches structures and the new text teaches functions.

7) After observing both textbooks I can say that the new textbook uses jingles and rhymes in its best possible way. New textbook instructs the teacher to recite rhymes with dance and actions in the classroom. There are some more instructions regarding how to use rhymes and jingles in the classroom. The rhymes of the new textbook are fully related to their teaching items. While in the old textbook only three rhymes are given. No specific instructions are there regarding how to use rhymes.

Let's looks at the examples:

old Textbook

johnny,johnny,what papa?

Eating sugar?

No,papa!

Open your mouth!

Ha!ha!ha

________________

New Textbook

The moon is near the stars

A... E.... I....O....U.

The moon is near the stars.

The stars are in the sky

A.... E.... I....O....U.

The stars are in the sky.

8)Last major difference is regarding the language of lessons. Old textbook's language seems artificial. Generally we don't use such language in real life. Let's take one example from the old book, Lesson No-23.

"Anil : I have a ball
Salim : You have a ball. I have a bat "

If we read it, then we can find that Salim unnecessarily speaks the first sentence.He can directly say that he has a bat, but to practice this structure that I and You take have, this kind of language is there. Old text's language is structural language, which seems strange sometimes, while the new text's language is real life language. Example.Unit-2.

"Asma : Yes, samir, It is the king of the jungle, Now look at the monkey?
Samir : Monkeys ? Where? "

In this conversation Samir doesn't ask "where are the monkeys?" because the context is already there. So by asking only "where" we can understand that he is asking about the place. Its language is contextual language.

Minor Differences:-

New Textbook:-

Active participation of students

learner centered class

Varities of tasks

Group-work

It's like a workbook

Cild-friendly

Self-learning materials

Sample Question Paper

Less typographical mistakes

Comprehension

Fluency

Old Text book:-

Passive participation of students

Teacher centered class

Repetition of tasks

Individual tasks

It's like a textbook

Teacher friendly

Teacher guided materials

No Sample Question Paper

Glaring typographical mistakes

Tanslation

Accuracy

Every textbook has different parts. Mainly there are four parts of a textbook (1) Layout (2) Format (3) Structure (4) Content. According to me these are the most interesting aspects of a textbook. I am going to give reasons for selecting these aspects to be compared.
Layout of a textbook matters a lot, specially its cover page which gives brief idea regarding that book. I came to know the very first difference by both books' cover pages.

Another reason is that good layout of a book adds beauty to that book. So second difference is that old textbook is not much attractive but new textbook is attractive due to its good layout.
We can judge a textbook through its content. I have found large amount of differences regarding content of both books. Guidelines help to do any work in a better way. So the third difference is regarding guidelines. New textbook gives guidelines for teacher as well as parents which help to utilize this book in a proper way. Importance of content page is high as it gives overall idea of a text. So I have mentioned difference regarding content pages of both texts.

Fifth difference indicates the difference regarding the structure of both textbooks.
Sixth difference is regarding the format of texts as one follows day wise format and another follows lesson wise format.

Jingles and Rhymes play an essential role as far as language learning is concerned. To understand rhythm of language we should use such rhymes.
The language of a textbook matters a lot. The reason for preferring the new textbook to the old one is the difference of the language they use. The new one uses contextual language, while the old one structural language.

At last, I would like to mention that the old textbook emphasizes "Accuracy" first and the new textbook "Fluency". The new textbook is very useful to students only if the teacher utilizes it properly.