Seameo regional language centre

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summary or reproduction in oral or written forms, and/or further discussion of the 
topic.
The Writing section may begin with a model, followed by activities that guide 
students through the writing process such as model analysis, language work, and 
guided writing. The text types students are required to produce vary from personal 
and formal letters to narratives, chart, graph and table description and expository 
essays.
The Language Focus section comprises two parts, Pronunciation and Grammar and 
Vocabulary. The Pronunciation component focuses on practice of sounds (vowels, 
consonants, and clusters) that might present difficulty to students, basic stress 
patterns, rhythm and intonation. These features are firstly practiced as discrete forms 
and then repeated in sentences. The Grammar and Vocabulary component aims to 
consolidate the target forms covered in the unit. Despite the claim made in the 
preface of the books that the forms are to be practiced both in exercises and 
communicative situations, this practice, however, is de-contextualized and non-
communicative (see 2.4.1 for more detail). 
The six review units, called “Test Yourself”, aim to help students assess their own 
progress and serve as sample tests for teachers when designing 45 minute tests for 
their classes. Each review has four main components: Listening, Reading, Writing and 
Language Focus. No speaking practice is included. 

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As mentioned earlier, the three textbooks are accompanied by student’s workbooks 
and teacher’s manuals. Like the student’s textbooks, each workbook consists of 16 
units structured into four sections: Reading, Language Focus, Speaking and Writing. 
The workbooks are constructed based on the same topics as the textbooks. Each 
teacher’s manual comprises three main parts: introduction to the English syllabus, 
overview of the textbook, and lesson plan guidelines with keys to exercises. 
In general, a brief glance at the new textbooks seems to suggest that they have a clear 
organizational structure, which can be very helpful for teachers in conducting their 
lessons and students in managing self-study. There is an adequate number of review 
units, which means students have the opportunity for regular revision and self-
assessment. More importantly, the books seem to cover all four language skills 
adequately and allow for an integration of skills at the pre and post stages. Thus, they 
seem to look more communicative than the old series which focus almost on reading 
and grammar. However, as many tasks are poorly designed and many language forms 
are taught and practiced out of context, the book may not actually be as 
communicative as they are intended to be. In the following sections, I will analyze 
and evaluate the teaching of language skills and language elements to examine the 
communicative nature of the textbooks in greater depth. 

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