An Analysis of the Textbook: Flame English Reader for Grade Four

Abstract

This study presents an evaluation of Flame English Reader for grade four. The book has been evaluated and analyzed on the basis of its physical and academic aspects. The data for the present study were collected through the primary and secondary sources. The researcher collected the data from the teachers and the students of six private schools of Kavre district. The sample population of the study consists of thirty teachers and forty students who were selected by judgmental or purposive sampling procedure. On the basis of the collected data, the qualities of the textbook are determined using simple statistical tool like percentage. The major findings of the study show that the physical aspects of the book are satisfactory. The cover page is attractive, the binding is durable, printing is neat and clean, the type size of cover page is suitable for the age group, paper quality is good, pictures are related to the texts, the book is free from errors and the pictures and photographs are clear enough to visualize. Regarding the academic aspects, the language is difficult to understand in some texts, the course emphasizes on study as well as practice also, the contents are relevant to the students' need but not applicable in daily life, presentation of subject matter is easily understandable, the book encourages the students for self-study, the book provides enough exercises to work in pairs, group and discuss, the exercises are fit for students' level, there are different flavours of texts like stories, poems, passages and dialogues, many difficult words, no listening materials to develop listening skills, it contains different visual materials, there are enough exercises for developing communicative skill but no extra activities which would add variety to the lesson, and there are enough exercises for developing reading, writing and speaking skills in the book.

The present thesis is divided into four major chapters. The first chapter presents introduction ,general background, history of English language teaching in Nepal, definition of curriculum, syllabus and course of study, a brief introduction to textbook, importance of textbook, types of textbook, relationship between curriculum and textbook, qualities of a good textbook, advantages of using textbook, use of textbook for teachers and students, textbook analysis, the purposes of textbook analysis, importance of textbook analysis, objectives of teaching English at primary level, importance of English textbook in primary level, review of related literature , objectives of the study and significance of the study. The second chapter deals with the methodology used to carry out this study which includes sources of data, sample population and sampling procedure, tools for data collection, process of data collection and limitations of the study. The third chapter includes the analysis of the data collected from the primary and secondary sources. The data have been analyzed by using simple statistical tools such as: percentage and table. The fourth chapter lists the findings and recommendations of the study. In the final section of the study the references and appendices are included.