Did we pick the suitable teaching materials? : an evaluation of two reading textbooks in Macao

Abstract

Textbooks have been one of the essential components in English language teaching (ELT) and the quality of textbooks to a certain degree determines the quality of ELT (McDonough & Shaw, 2012). Therefore, evaluation of textbooks for their pedagogical value is vital. Moreover, in the Macao context, The Requirements of Basic Academic Attainments (BAA Requirements), has only taken effect in secondary schools since 2017 /2018 and it is thus urgent to evaluate textbooks through the lens of the recent implemented official curriculum. <br><br> The present study proposes a set of principles for the evaluation of ELT materials and employs the checklist method and in-depth analysis method to evaluate two commercial textbooks currently in use in Macao secondary schools. The two textbooks were Reading Explorer: theme-based anthology (Chase, Johannsen & Bertram, 2014) and New Treasure Plus (Hughes, Cole & Neale, 2018). Quantitative data were collected and the results indicated that as global commercial textbooks, the overall features of Reading Explorer and New Treasure Plus are acceptable and suitable for SLA, but Reading Explorer may not be a good choice for Macao students as the topics, themes, text genres do not fit Macao students’ needs. Furthermore, Reading Explorer did not align much with the BAA Requirements and only scored 57% while New Treasure Plus did well and better matched the official curriculum at 78.6%. Both textbooks were designed in a language-based approach and only partially adhere to the teaching goals of the BAA Requirements. Given this evaluation, it is suggested that teachers who are using either of the two textbooks should be informed about the strengths and weakness of the textbooks and where applicable provide supplementary materials to fulfill their teaching goals.