An Evaluation of Mastering English Series within the CBA Classroom in Cameroonian Secondary Schools

Amah Eyovi Ntongieh Espe Njwe,Diangha Anthony Yuh

doi:10.22158/grhe.v3n4p79

Abstract

Textbooks provide an indispensable framework on which teachers and students build upon. Evaluation on its part, is a dynamic process which investigates the suitability and appropriateness of an existing practice. It is a useful device for both teachers and material writers as an underlying element in the development of innovations and modifications within the teaching/learning context. Therefore, it is obvious that textbook evaluation constitutes a crucial factor in addressing cumulative deficiencies associated with our teaching/learning institution in general and in our English Language Teaching endeavours. It has been observed that Mastering English series pose several problems to both teachers and learners of English language in Cameroon. This article sets out to investigate the Mastering English series with a focus on the students’ book 5 to find out the extent to which the book aligns with the stipulations of the CBA in Cameroon. The analysis in this study was predicated on the hypothesis that Mastering English book 5 needs great improvement to really meet both the needs of learners and the requirement of the CBA. Both the theoretical and empirical findings reveal general misgivings about Mastering English book 5 and the implementation of the CBA in the context of Cameroon.

Highlights

Given the importance of textbooks to the language classroom, the type of textbook accepted into the curriculum should be considered—and this is best done through textbook evaluation
It investigates the extent to which the students‟ book V of the Mastering English series reflects the needs of the form five learners facing the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level English Language in Cameroon, the calibration of the activities of the students‟ book V to reflect the dictates of the Competency-Based Approach (CBA), and the calibration of the enabling skills with regards to the macro skills as required of a language learner in form five
It is in this vein that this study investigates the compatibility of the Mastering English series with the Competency-Based Approach (CBA), through the analysis of the students‟ book 5 of the series. 1.1 Problem Statement As English language teachers, the researchers noticed that many colleagues complained of many problems in dealing with the students‟ book 5 of the Mastering English series

Summary

Introduction

Given the importance of textbooks to the language classroom, the type of textbook accepted into the curriculum should be considered—and this is best done through textbook evaluation. This article is an attempt at evaluating the students‟ book V of the Mastering English series using an adaptation of Tomlinson‟s (2003) Textbook Evaluation Model and Zhang‟s (2017) adaptation of the principles of Systemic Functional Linguistics to textbook evaluation This adaptation will be used in the context of the Competency-Based Approach (CBA) to language teaching being applied in Cameroon secondary schools. Since the language teacher in the Cameroonian context has little or no influence at all over which textbook is appropriate for a given setting, textbook evaluation within the confines of academic enquiry does not seem to cross the line It is in this vein that this study investigates the compatibility of the Mastering English series with the Competency-Based Approach (CBA), through the analysis of the students‟ book 5 of the series. The findings of this study will be useful and beneficial for further studies and research in this field

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion