Grammar Textbook Review

8/19/2019 Grammar Textbook Review

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Running Header: GRAMMAR TEXTBOOK REVIEW 1

Grammar Textbook Review

Kathleen Hamel

Colorado State University

Author Note

Kathleen Hamel, Department of English, Colorado State University


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GRAMMAR TEXTBOOK REVIEW 2

Abstract

As I anticipate becoming an EFL/ESL teacher in the future, I must have a clear

understanding of the types of textbooks I want to provide for my students. That being said, it will

also be important for me to adapt to the textbook provided when I am required to use a course

book through a school; Cunningsworth says that teachers “...should be helped to develop

criteria...when confronted with new or unfamiliar material” (as qtd. in McGrath, 2013, p.25).

Therefore, writing a review about Understanding and Using English Grammar, written by Betty

Azar and Stacey Hagen, (2009) is crucial for my future profession.

Keywords: textbook review, grammar, EFL/ESL teacher


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Grammar Textbook Review

Introduction

Understanding and Using English Grammar is a course book designed for intermediate

to upper-level students. Written by Azar and Hagen (2009), it is the last book of three in the

Azar-Hagen grammar book series intended to teach English, although there is no indication of

which English they are targeting, i.e. North American or British. The book claims that they take

a “grammar based approach integrated with communicative methodologies to promote the

development of all language skills in a variety of ways” (p. xi). Since it claimed to integrate

communicative methodologies, this was one of the reasons why I wanted to review this book.

As a future teacher, it is within my philosophy that students receive a communicative

approach to learning in order to promote fluency development. In order to achieve

communicative fluency, an emphasis of form, function and meaning need to be taken into

consideration when teaching grammatical topics. Although these three dimensions of grammar

are stressed, Larsen-Freeman (2003) notes that ‘grammaring’ is when one applies the three main

dimensions to use grammar in a communicative way, which is my goal for my students.

Evaluative Framework

As previously indicated, Understanding and Using English Grammar will be evaluated

and is intended for intermediate-advanced English language learners. For intermediate-advanced

students, the focus of their learning should be one of form over function. Because of their level,

accuracy will need to be more centrally focused in order to provide more linguistic tools for their

fluency. For students to develop a mastery of their pragmatic knowledge, in order to strive for

focus on form, a corpus-based textbook is needed. A corpus-based textbook allows for the


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communicative accuracy that is currently being used in society; as corpuses are collections of

authentic (i.e. not created for the purposes of teaching) spoken and written texts.

These aspects will need to correlate with the communicative language approach. From

my understanding of this method, student’s focus will be communicating the language through

all four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing), with speaking and listening at the core of

this method. These two skills facilitate the negotiation of meaning and provide students with

opportunity for authentic language exchange, in order to use the language with the grammatical

patterns in mind.

Out of the twenty chapters in this book, beginning with verb tense and aspect and

concluding with conditional sentences, I will be evaluating the ways in which this textbook

presents nouns in chapter seven. Specifically, the evaluation will focus on the ways in which

they are quantified since I have conducted thorough research on this topic. In order to critically

evaluate this textbook, I have adapted questions from Garinger’s (2002) ‘Checklist for ESL

Textbook Selection,’ to serve as a basis for my criteria, which will include the following:

!

The textbook is based on corpora;

! The exercises are appropriate for their intended user;

! The activities within the textbook promote and utilize the communicative approach;

! The form, function and meaning of nouns, and the ways in which they are quantified, are

provided in an accurate, meaningful, and appropriate way for the intended user.

Corpus Based

The purpose of having a corpus-based textbook is to demonstrate authentic ways in

which speakers use English. Since I take a communicative approach to teaching, it is imperative


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that the textbook is based off of corpora, so that students are receiving the most accurate and

appropriate information when making decisions on how to functionally be able to use the

language. Reiterating my point above, students need a functional basis so that they improve their

skills and then be able to focus on form.

In the ‘Introduction’ of the book, the authors mention that the textbook includes ‘corpus-

informed content;’ it specifically notes that “grammar content has been added, deleted, or

modified to reflect the discourse patterns of spoken and written English” (Azar & Hagen, 2000,

p. xi). However, they fail to mention which aspects are corpus-informed. While analyzing the

book, one can only guess as to what is or is not corpus-informed. It would appear as though this

corpus-informed content can be found within footnotes to pages, or endnotes to charts. For

example, following the grammar chart addressing collective nouns, the note included the

differences between American English and British English when choosing a verb with collective

nouns, when the noun is referring to a collection of individuals. The examples given, The

government is vs. The government are, display that American speakers prefer the singular verb

compared to the British utilizing the plural.

This example would be useful for students, in order to determine the most appropriate

language to use in the respective contexts but since there is no indication that this is corpus

material, it could very well be overlooked by a student, or even a teacher who might want to

point this out to students. To this end, it cannot be determined if the amount of corpus-informed

content given is adequate information, or where one might even find it.


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Intended User

As previously indicated, the intended student for this textbook has an intermediate to

upper-advanced proficiency in English. But there is no indication of how this level was

determined. As stated by the Azar-Hagen series website, the textbooks in the series include

“exercises [that] are calibrated to the appropriate level” (Azar-Hagen Grammar Series, 2015);

this explanation is not sufficient since I am still left to wonder what methods were used to

calibrate these levels. A useful tool that would have provided more concrete evidence of this

would have been to utilize the proficiency standards as laid out by the American Council on The

Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The ACTFL proficiency standards are reliable, as

they are used nation-wide.

Despite this, I would overall disagree with their website’s claim. On the one hand, the

content of each chapter seems as though it would be appropriate for these students. Although, the

more advanced student might find these topics to be too easy, especially towards the beginning

of a chapter. This is due to the fact that the concepts build in complexity, from simple to more

advanced throughout each chapter; as you don’t want to overbear students with tasks that are too

cognitively demanding immediately after presenting new material (Ortega, 2009).

On the other hand, the exercises seem to be too simplistic for the learner. Most exercises

are fill-in-the-blank, correcting errors or simplistic listening and speaking tasks. These tasks are

necessary for a student to be able to practice form in an explicit way. However, having students

do the same tasks over-and-over again becomes tedious and could leave students bored, and

uninterested; an aspect that is unfavorable to a conducive learning environment (Ortega, 2009).

Only one exercise, at the end of each chapter, seems to fulfill requirements laid out by the

communicative approach. The exercises change by chapter, but they typically have students


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either write or speak with their classmates to fulfill a certain task. For example, in chapter seven,

students are required to make a list of controversial topics and then discuss these with fellow

classmates in small group settings. Through these tasks, students are then in the position to

negotiate meaning, and more authentic exchanges can be had (Ortega, 2009).

Even though the exercises are not the most appropriate for students, the textbook

provides a unique characteristic that is tailored to their needs. This can be shown when the book

goes out of its way to explain minor details that would otherwise be left up to the teacher. For

example, a footnote is added upon the first mention of the word, italics. Within the footnote, not

only does it provide an explanation as to the definition of italics but also provides a side-by-side

comparison as to how italic text looks vs normal text. From my experience with working with

intermediate to advanced-level students, most have no inclination as to what italicized text are;

this can pose a problem as to when these students are writing academic papers and italics are a

necessity when providing a works cited page. Thus, the inclusion of this information would be

beneficial for these students.

Nouns and their quantifiers

Azar and Hagen (2000) noted that they are “starting from a foundation of understanding

of form and meaning…” (p. xi). Description of forms can be seen at the beginning of the chapter

on nouns, when a chart denoting inflectional morphemes are used when describing regular and

irregular plural nouns. Meaning is shown in the next table about possessive nouns when the

textbook indicates that {’s} shows possession when added to a singular noun, not ending in s.

Although {-s} is commonly prescribed as a possessive noun, this is misleading since it is more

precisely described as the genitive case. Consequently, this information is not provided in the


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most accurate way. In line with Delahunty and Garvey’s (2010) description of the genitive, it can

be used to interpret more than the ownership of something. Along with this, the genitive

inflection is used with noun phrases, not just nouns (Delahunty & Garvey, 2010). Introducing

this concept as a possessive noun could then limit the functional dimension. This then leaves the

pragmatics of the language up to question; do they ever end up addressing it?

The answer to that question is no. When looking at the chart describing using ‘a few’ and

‘few,’ and ‘a little’ and ‘little,’ we see which one is used when using count or noncount nouns. In

addition to this, it is shown that there is a positive connotation to ‘a few’ or ‘a little’ and a

negative connotation for ‘few’ or ‘little.’ Although this chart provides examples of how they are

used, there is no indication of when one might be more appropriate than another. For example,

Celce-Murica & Larsen-Freeman (1999) describe that ‘a few’ or ‘a little’ can be the first

utterance in a discourse and ‘few’ and ‘little’ require more context in order to be the appropriate

choice (p. 331). This information is necessary for students at this level, so they “...can explain

when it is used or why it has been used instead of another structure with the same meaning”

(Celce-Murica & Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p. 5).

Another missing element is the use of the communicative approach, as mentioned above.

It would appear that the exercises that are titled ‘Let’s talk’ would provide these opportunities to

students. However, the title is misleading since most would not lead to authentic conversation

because the tasks are highly-conventionalized, leaving little to no room for authentic

communication. Therefore, in this aspect, the text is lacking in the presentation of meaning for

students.

In addition to this, the lack of the functional aspect leads me to believe that in order to

provide students with information in an accurate, meaningful and appropriate way, supplemental


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materials would be for this textbook. According to the Azar-Hagen Series website (2015), it

indicates that this series is ‘course neutral,’ implying that is intended to be able to be

accompanied with other materials in order to provide more grammar practice. So they do not shy

away from the fact that, in order to successfully achieve the communicative language approach,

this book will need to be supplemented. McGrath (2013) reaffirms this by saying, “From the

textbook writer’s perspective...seems to be a given that teachers will understand and accept that

they cannot just use the materials as they are” (p. 45). Therefore, it is essential for teachers to

evaluate their textbooks in order to know what additions need to be made.

Conclusion

Based upon the criteria laid out, this book does not adequately suit the intended user. It

would appear that each criterion is touched upon but not adequately represented in the text. The

text has corpus ‘information’ but this information is never explicitly stated as such indicating that

user of the textbook wont’ know where to find this content. Despite the fact that the material

seems to be appropriate, the exercises do not match this standard and appear to be

oversimplified. Although the material may be appropriate, it is not complete because it presents

some information inaccurately and it does give information about the functional dimension of

grammar. Yes, form should have a greater focus over function, but functionality does need to be

addressed. In order for students to be able to use the correct form, a proficiency in functional use

is necessary. And finally, the lack of attention on emphasizing communication between students

is minimal, therefore not enabling students to be proficient at ‘grammaring.’ In summation, a

teacher would need to supplement this book in order to satisfy the criterion presented in this

paper.


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References

Azar, B.S., & Hagen, S.A. (2009). Understanding and using English grammar (4th ed.).

White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman.

Azar-Hagen Grammar Series. (2015). Retrieved from

http://product.pearsonelt.com/azar/

Celce-Murcia, M., Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book . Boston: Heinle

Cengage Learning.

Delahunty, G. P., & Garvey, J. J. (2010). The English language: From sound to sense.

Fort Collins, CO: The WAC Clearinghouse.

Garinger, D. (2002). Textbook selection for the ESL classroom. ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. Retrieved from

http://mcael.org/uploads/File/provider_library/Textbook_Eval_CAL.pdf

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003). Teaching language: From grammar to grammaring .

Boston: Thomson Heinle.

McGrath, I. (2013). Teaching materials and the roles of EFL/ESL teachers. New York:

Bloomsbury.

Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. London, UK: HodderEducation.

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