| As we all know, textbook plays an important role in English language teaching and learning. Not only is it the main bases for the teachers to conduct the classroom teaching activities, but also the important sources for students to acquire their knowledge and skills. Thus it is really important for us to analyze the textbook in order to select and use a suitable one for English teaching and learning. Textbook evaluation can not only provide information for compilers to improve the textbooks, but also offer suggestions for teachers to adapt or adjust the textbooks, which give students a great help with their study. The series of Cambridge Young Learners English (CYLE) Textbooks, related to Cambridge Young Learners English Tests Scheme and developed in 2000, have been warmly welcomed by millions of children, parents and teachers. However, few people concern their suitability for Chinese children. Based on such a situation, the author attempts to conduct an in-depth study to probe whether they are really suitable for Chinese children.This thesis elaborates on the definition of textbook, the criteria and the practical studies of material evaluation at home and abroad. On the basis of these evaluation theories and criteria, this thesis makes a systematic evaluation of CYLE from the aspects of aims, design and organization, language content, skills, topics, and teachers' & parents'book. The data of the textbooks are collected from questionnaire set up for 41 teachers who have used or are using CYLE (Movers) from 12 English training centers in Guilin. Exactly speaking, the study aims to explore the following 4 questions:1) Do the series of CYLE textbooks reflect Chinese children's psychological characteristics and learning features? 2) Do the textbooks meet the learners'needs? 3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of CYLE textbooks? 4) What suggestions could be set forth for the compilers and teachers to improve this series of learning materials?The paper consists of six chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction to the background information and the purpose of the.study. Its overall structure is presented as well.Chapter Two reviews some related theories and studies on material evaluation, upon which a working model of the study is set up for evaluating the CYLE series.Chapter Three and Chapter Four are the main body of this paper. Chapter Three makes a preliminary evaluation by analyzing the overall design, the compiler's claim, language knowledge and skills, topics and cultural content, and teachers and parents'book. Chapter Four focuses on the statistic analysis. An in-use evaluation of CYLE (Movers) is conducted by means of questionnaire to teachers.Chapter Five summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of CYLE textbooks for further improvement. And Chapter Six gives a conclusion and points out the implications and limitations of the present study.The results of the study indicate that CYLE textbooks not only accord with the requirements of CYLE Syllabus (2000), but also reflect children's psychological and age characteristics and cognitive ability. The content and the format of the textbooks, with the characteristics of activeness, amusement, relaxation, and continuation, are well accepted by both teachers and students. However, the textbooks still have some weaknesses, such as the systematic way of phonological teaching, the recurring frequency of vocabulary and the amount of cultural content, etc. Therefore, some suggestions are proposed for textbook compilers and teachers to make them better. |
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