New Bridge to Succes: Friends Series

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. iii

PART I. AIMS AND APPROACHES.......................................................................... 1

1.1.Aims ........................................................................................................................ 1

1.2.Approaches to Evaluation ....................................................................................... 1

1.2.1.Impressionistic Approach ......................................................................... 1

1.2.2.In-Depth Evaluation ................................................................................. 1

1.3.Impressionistic and In-Dept Evaluation of New Bridge to Succes.......................... 2

1.3.1.Impressionistic Overview ......................................................................... 2

1.3.2.In-Depth Evaluation.................................................................................. 3

1.4.The Role of The Coursebook .................................................................................. 3

PART II. ANALYSING AND EVALUATING COURSEBOOKS ..................... 4

2.1. Selecting Coursebooks .......................................................................................... 4

2.2. The Uses of The Coursebook ............................................................................... 5

2.3. What The Coursebook Claims.............................................................................. 7

2.4. Material Evaluation............................................................................................... 8

2.4.1. Types of Material Evaluation................................................................. 8

2.4.2. Purposes of Material Evaluation............................................................ 8

2.4.3. Evaluation For Potential Performance and Suitability .......................... 9

PART III. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSEBOOK ............................ 9

3.1. Recycling .............................................................................................................. 9

3.1.1. Grammar Recycling in New Bridge to Succes .................................... 10

3.1.2. Vocabulary Recycling in New Bridge to Success ............................... 10

PART IV. SKILLS .......................................................................................................... 11

4.1. The Four Skills in General Coursebooks ........................................................... 11

4.1.1. The Treatment of Skills in General in the Coursebook ....................... 12

4.2. Listening .............................................................................................................. 12

4.2.1 The Coursebook Treatment of Listening ............................................... 12

4.3. Speakıing ............................................................................................................. 13

4.3.1 The Coursebook Treatment of Speaking ............................................... 14

4.4. Reading ............................................................................................................... 15

4.4.1. The Coursebook Treatment of Reading .............................................. 16

4.5. Writing .............................................................................................................. 18

4.5.1. The Coursebook Treatment of Writing .............................................. 19

PART V. THE LANGUAGE CONTENT ............................................................... 21

5.1. Language Form and Language Use ................................................................. 21

5.2. Garmmar ........................................................................................................... 21

5.3. Vocabulary......................................................................................................... 22

PART VI . SELECTION AND GRADING ......................................................... 24

6.1. The Syllabus Base ............................................................................................. 24

6.1.1. Content Base Syllabuses ..................................................................... 24

6.1.2. Structural and Functional Syllabuses .................................................. 25

6.1.3. Situational and Topic Based Syllabuses ............................................. 26

PART VII . TOPIC , SUBJECT CONTENT AND SOCIAL VALUES .......... 26

7.1. Topic and Subject Content ................................................................................. 26

7.2. Social and Cultural Values ................................................................................ 27

PART VIII . METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 29

8.1. Learner’s Needs .................................................................................................. 29

8.2. Guiding Principles .............................................................................................. 29

8.3. Procedures For Learning and Teaching .............................................................. 31

8.4. The Student’s Role .............................................................................................. 31

8.5. Study Skills .......................................................................................................... 32

PART IX . TEACHER’S BOOK .................................................................................. 32

9.1. The Teacher’s Role .............................................................................................. 32

9.2. Teacher’s Book .................................................................................................... 33

PART X . QUESTIONNAIRE ...................................................................................... 35

APPENDIXES ....................................................................................................................... 38

REFERENCES

In this research we tried to make an pre-use evaluation of the new course book New Bridge to Success.

In every part we first looked into the evaluation criterias for coursebooks and general features which are requried for being an efficient coursebook in the light of CunningsWorth’s guide book (Cunningsworth;1995). After seeing what should a coursebook include and what should not,we tried to show the features of the book New Bridge To Success seperately in every part after the general methodological explanations.

We tried reflect the good and bed sides of this coursebbok,it’s potential performance. We tried reflect to what extent it can corresponds to learner’s and teacher’s needs. In order to see the learner’s needs more clearly we used a Student Questionnaire about New Bridge To Success,its general features and activities. Then we prepared graphics to make the outputs clearer and gave the results with comments. We put all the questionnaires in the appendixes part. We paid great attention and gave importance to every detasil in that researc in order not to cretae a wrong impression about the new coursebook New Bridge To Success.

We saw that New Bridge To Success does not very much correspond to learner’sd and teacher’s needs in general and needs some changes about its cultural side,illustrutions, vocabulary parts and activity types. You will see these in detail in the following parts.

“English Language Teaching” has been an important concept in today’s world. There are lots of courses, coursebooks and other materials for teaching English ,so that some institutions and publishers try to their best to benefit from this area. As a result of this situation, there are various materials prepared for teaching this popular language.

Generally speaking, the basic and most frequent used language teaching material is the coursebook. A good language teacher should know this material very well as s/he uses it in most of language classes; therefore, some knowledge about coursebooks can help a teacher a lot in her/his profession.

Coursebooks are generally written by experienced and well-qualified people, and the materials contained in them is usually carefully tested in pilot studies in actual teaching situations before publication. Teachers therefore can be assured that coursebooks from reputable publishers can serve them well. However, we know that some professionals advise teachers to know the criteria for evaluating coursebooks to find out the appropriate coursebook which will help them in reaching the goals of the language teaching / learning. That is why in our study, we tried to examine the series of the course-book named “Friends” published by Longman.

In this work of assignment ,we tried to identify the potential strenght and weaknesses of Friends series ,so that we decided to work on some main topics .We firstly We also aimed to reflect what extent Friends 2 can corresponds to learners’ and teachers’ needs. In order to see the learners’ ideas on the coursebook more clearly, we used a Student Questionnaire about Friends 2,its general features and activities.We also wanted to reflect the teachers’ ideas about Friends 2 which they use in Mef Schools. We prepared some graphics to make the outputs clearer and gave the results with comments.

In every part, we first looked into the evaluation criterias for coursebooks and general features which are requried for being an efficient coursebook in the light of “Choosing your Coursebook” written by Cunningsworth(1995) and other materials. After seeing what should a coursebook include and what should not,we tried to show the features of Friends and the classroom procedure.

Cunningsworth (1995:5) states that a sound way to approach the selection of coursebooks is firstly to identify the aims and objectives of a particular teaching programme.

There are a number of factors to be taken into consideration while identifying the aims and objectives.The teacher firstly has to answer the question “What ,at the end of the learning process,will the learners be able to do that they can not do now?”The other factors are:

Cunningsworth (1995:15) also explains that aims and objectives can reflect learners’ needs in terms of both language content and communicative abilities.Coursebooks should be selected which will help in attaining these objectives.Cunningsworth (1995:15) maintains that the aims and objectives of a learning/teaching programme should determine which course materials are used,and not vice-versa,reflecting the principle that coursebooks are better servants than masters.It is very important that coursebooks should facilitate learners’ progress and take them forward as effectively as possible towards their goals.As a result,the content of the material should correspond to what students need to learn,in terms of language items,skills and communicative strategies.

· Encouraging individual students’ input by inviting opinion and stimulating discussion

· Developing fluency through functional language practice and balanced skills work.

· Consolidating progress in the “revision” section which also includes vocabulary and pronunciation work

· Maintaining students’ motivation by offering a variety of exercises and activities

The main aims of Friends 2 relate to four language skills which are systematically treated throughtout the input units.

Cunningsworth (1995:5) states that analysis of learning/teaching situation give teacher a profile of the context for which teacher is selecting the teaching materials and some of the requirements that the materials will have to meet.He maintains that the learning/teaching programme should have at its base a clear view of what students need to learn in order to make effective use of the language in personal,professional,academic or whatever other situations are relevant.

The most suitable coursebooks for learners will reflect as closely as possible to language content,language skills and patterns of language use that are needed. Cunningsworth (1995:15) states that this involves teachers in looking beyond the confines of the classroom and focusing teachers’ attention on the use which individual learners will make of what they have learned.

Learner-centered language teaching aims to bring learners to a point where they reach a degree of autonomy and are able to use the language themselves in real situations outside classroom. Cunningsworth (1995:16) states tahat this progression from dependence on the teacher and on the coursebook towars growing confidence and independence is often difficult but it is curricial to the individual success of learners and to the success of teaching programme.He maintains that coursebooks can contribute to achieving this aim by incorporating authentic materials,creating realistic situations and encouraging learners to participate activities which help develop communicative skills and strategies.

Cunningsworth (1995:16) explains that by engaging students interests and challenging their intellect,coursebooks can provide much of the stimulation wich will motivate them to become more independent in their learning and in their use of English.He maintains that this can be done by including interesting ,stimulating topics and by encouraging learners to think for themselves aroud this topics and discuss them with others.

Friends 2 adresses the learning needs and interests of such students and has been specifically written for their cognitive level.It takes into consideration that children between the ages of 11-12 are very receptive to visual ,auditory,and kinaesthetic cues.They need to be offered a wide variety of exercises and activities in order to maintain their interest and motivation . It is also easier for them to learn sentences and phrases rather than complicated grammar rules.

Friends 2 acknowledges the fact that students’cognitive skills are developing and thus grammar is presented more explicitly throughout ,although the fun element of songs and games is still present in the books.Students are also encouraged to take more responsibility for monitoring their learning process.Students have a chance to increase their knowledge about English speaking countries and they are provided with extra reading material to complement the lessons.

Building confidence has also been given special consideration in Friends 2 as it is a very important factor for young students who are just starting to learn a language.

The input units all follow the same pattern so that students can quckly recognize and learn what is expected of them.Activities are as simple as possible to set up.This helps students to feel in control of their learning and therefore confident.Nothing seems too difficult to understand to the students and their confidence is reinforced for successful learning.

To be able to understand how comprehensive is the coursebook,we should look at the content and the layout,the order of the grammatical structure,look at the grammar in terms of its usefulness.For example,we look for the place of the present continuous tense.Students can use it immediately at any stage.It is sometimes in the middle of the book,sometimes in the beginning or at the end. We may change its place according to our objectives.

When we look at the content of the book ,we look for some kind of context . All the items should be organized in a proper way.When everything and organization is clear ,then the courseebook is comprehensive for students.

Present perfect tense and articles are very important in the sense that we do not have similar forms in Turkish so that they are the difficult to learn for Turkish students.It is important whether the coursebook gives both the meaning and the function of present perfect,or it just gives the form.We expect explanations of some words ,the sound of which we hardly discriminate.

The question of what is needed is very important.We have no certain answers for our students’ priorities.That depends on us,on our syllabus requirement,teaching/learning programme.There is no fix table of criteria.Criterias all the time depend us,our students,students’ expectations,desires,needs,their age and interests.For the question of what is needed,first of all,we should look for what students and teachers need,then we should look at the coursebook to see whether it includes the times in an exact order as we like.

Friends series present ”a/an” at the very beginning of Friends Starter. The exercises for the use of “a-an-the” place on page 5 in Friends1.(See app.1,Friends 1, p.5) Students can look at the table which shows how the articles are used and complete the gaps.In Friends 1,students learn only one usage type of the.In Friends 2 ,the articles are presented in a meaningful context.Now,students are introduced with the different usages of “the”.The coursebook does not firstly give the rules,but teaches the items in a text.After students read the quiz and listen to the cassette,the student’s book show a table where the uses of “the” are taught and exemplified. (See app 2,3 ,Friends 2,p:32-33).Then the students practice the items by correcting the mistakes in the sentences.

After the students make practice , coursebook has a letter where students can recognize the use of “a-an-the”.Then they look at the table which shows some examples about the articles.The coursebook also provides some exercises for students to complete the sentences by using articles.

In our observation class,when the 11^th unit was studied,the teacher firstly asked students to complete tha gaps from the choices.Then she gave a task to students;she asked students to underline the articles in the quiz and try to classify them according to their usage.When the time was over for this task,the teacher wrote the students’ findings on the bord.Then the teacher asked some questions to help students recognize their usage.

Friends 2 introduces the Present Perfect Tense in a context through a dialogue on page 52.(See app.3).The dialogue can be seen in real life,so that it is useful for students to see the usage of Present Perfect Tense in a meaningful context. Then the rules are presented in a table. Students see the rules and then do some practice.

There are two kinds of evaluation to see whether the coursebook is suitable for users or not.

“We can form a general impression of a cousebook fairl quickly just by looking through it and getting and overview of its possibilities and its strengths and weaknesses, noting significant features which stand out.”(Cunningsworth,1995:1)

By looking for these criteria we can get an impressionistic overview of coursebook.In Friends 2,there are very colorful, interesting pictures, photos and drawings which are very attractive and clear for young learners. They help students to understand the content.

Friends Starter entry is suitable for complete beginners or students who have had a small amount of exposure to English, perhaps through oral work or songs. Friends 1 is a suitable entry point for students who have experienced a minimum of two years of primary English. While thsese students are very young they can now cope with the more difficult aspects of Friends 1 due to their previous exposure to the language.The first half of Friends 1 covers the same grammatical items as Friends Starter, but with a wider scope of knowledge and lexis; the second half introduces new language .Friends 2 and Friends 3 also start from a through revision of the previous level. We think that this system helps weaker students become more confident learners, and more talented students have a chance to be come fluent.

Cunningsworth (1995:2) states that the impressionistic overview can not give detailed information to choose the best coursebook.That is why we need in-depht evalution .There are some questions for this evaluation :

· Does it deal with the organization of the language above sentence level?Does it give in a context ? Does it exemplify the forms in a text?

In Friends 2,the present perfect tense and articles are firstly introduced in texts and dialogues.Students are helped to recognize the usages and functions of these items by the help of teachers’ questions in the classes.Then the coursebook provides some example sentences to take students’ attention on these items.After that,the students practise the items by filling the gaps and completing the sentences.

There are pronunciation parts in revision sections of Friends.In these parts phonetic symbols are introduced.Exercises are designed to be fun,so that the students can enjoy themselves while learning the new symbols and practicing reading them.For example,in Friends 2 on page 48,there is a good one.The students are given a secret message given in phonetic symbols(See app.4).They firstly try to find what is written there and then they check whether they have found the correct message by listening to cassette.

“Most coursebook packages consist of at least a student’s book and teacher’s book.

The student’s book is probably taught of as the main plank of the package, and rightly so as it is the main point of contact with students. Workbooks and activity books are also commonly included in course packages and are intended to give students extra practice in items already introduced in class. Cassettes normally figure prominently in course packages, and are generally used for listening and pronunciation work.” (Cunningsworth,1995: 25)

The Students’ Book consist of units where language items are introduced and practised. Every unit is followed by a Revision unit. Revision units are divided into Vocabulary, Pronunciation chant, Grammar and Fun Time or Song Time sections. Every Revision unit is followed by a Reading Corner or Culture Corner- an integrated skills lesson in which all four skills are systematically exploited. In addition to these, the Students’ Book contains:

The Activity Book exercises are intended to be used for homework. However, if time allows, they can be done in class and treated as an additional revision of the units. Friends Activity Books contain the following sections:

Language Diary is a summary of the lesson. The language Diary compromises the following sections:

The language diary is followed by exercises organized in grammar and vocabulary sections. There is a Use your English exercise at the end of each unit. Every cycle of four units is followed by a one page self-assessment test. Through these regular tests teachers can encourage the students to evaluate their own progress and understand what they need to review. Every Check Yourself page is followed by a Skills Corner page. Its aim is to practice reading and writing skills. The game at the back of the Activity Book is a summary of material from the Students’ Book. Students ask each other questions about information acquired during the course.

In addition to the tests in this Teacher’s Resource Book, the Test Book offers additional Language Tests and Skills Test. The following sections are in the Test Book:

There is a chart in Teacher’s Book to show teachers the link between components and how to use these in an effective way in the lesson. ( See app. 5,6,Friends 2,p:6-7 )

“It is rarely sufficient for students to meet new items only once. In the case of vocabulary and grammar, items not only need to be met in context and activity practised, they need to be recycled three, four or more times before they become stored in long term memory. As a basic principle of learning is to move from the familiar to the new, and to relate new items to those already known, recycling of previously taught items can be linked to the first presentation of a new item. Many students and teachers are happier when they have a straightforward route through a course, and they sometimes feel more secured when the conventional beginning to end direction is used.” (Cunningsworth,1995: 28)

Revision sections are after every four input units in Friends. Vocabulary exercises in Revision sections consolidate vocabulary from the whole units. By using various types of exercise types they help students to remember the vocabulary better. In Friends 3, the vocabulary about sports is introduced to the students in Unit 6, in a dialogue and story context. In the revision part of the book on page 24 the vocabulary about sports is again presented to the students in a puzzle, in a different exercise context. (See app. 7,8,9;Friends 3,p:18-19-24) Grammar revision sections consolidate the language from the units. The exercises are very varied and very often practice language through games and activities. We can say that grammar parts are revised in different context. For example, in Friends 3 Past Simple is introduced to students in “Famous People” context. (See app.10,11;Friends 3,p:8-9) and in the revision part of the book Simple Past is presented to the students in the context of “TV Ads”. At that point we see the comprehension of Past Simple with Past Continuous. In Friends 2 Present Simple is introduced to the students as grammar point of the first unit. While presenting Present Continuous and Past Simple, Present Simple is given to the students once again. Thus we can say that Friends uses cyclical progression in books as it deals with the grammar and vocabulary items by relating them each other, comparing with the new items.

When we consider the principle of recycling, we see that Friends is moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from the known to the unknown. Every book of Friends starts with revision of the previous book. This shows us that Friends is using recycling principle: from the familiar to the unfamiliar. In Friends 2, students learn about Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous. Friends 3 starts with the revision of these tenses.

There are grammar reference sections in each unit and they are pointer of the reading texts. For example, in Friends 3 reference section is given about comparative and superlative of short adjectives. The same adjectives and comparative and superlative form them are placed in the reading text- The Londoners. (See app.12,13;Friends 2,p: 28,29) there is a word reference section at the end of the book under the heading of each unit. (See app.14,Friends 2,p: 106)

The Activity Book of Friends is suitable to self-study. In Teacher’s Book it is suggested that students can do Activity Book as homework. Through the tests in Activity Books, students can evaluate their own progress by using the key from the back of the Activity Book. The Students’ Books of Friends are suitable to self-study partly, because there are grammar reference sections in each unit but the answers of the exercises are only available in Teacher’s Book.

While Friends is a multi-syllabus course,covering communication,vocabulary and skills,special emphasis has been placed on the grammar syllabus.Grammar is introduced methodologically and gradually.It is always followed by thorough practice exercises.The writers of the Friends claims that his approach organises the framework of the language in the minds of the students. (Mugglestone, Friends 2 Teacher’s Book,2003:4)

The grammar of language is the description of the ways in which words can change their forms &can be combined into sentences in that language. While grammar does indeed involve form, in order tocommunicate, language users also need to know the meaning of the forms and when to use them appropriately. Diana Larsen-Freeman , Series Director of Grammar Dimensions; (2000:XV) states that it is sometimes not the form, but the meaning or appropriate use of a grammatical structure that represents the greatest long-term learning challenge for Ss.

An inductive activity is one in which students infer the rule or generalization from a set of examples.students internalize or grasp the rule of the structures from the context.The primary attention is on the use.

In a deductive activity,the students are given rule and they apply it to the examples.The focus is on the form.It teaches the form of a new grammatical item without emphasis on its meaning by giving strict rules.

Cunningsworth (1995:28) emphasizes that as a basic principle of learning is to move from the familiar to the new,and to relate new items to those already known,recycling of previously taught items can be linked to the first presentation of a new item.

“Working on one dimension of a form and then returning to the form from time to time as the need arises.”

The other choice is to start with the easy one and go through with the difficult one.But these criterias change according to the participants,setting and place.

Teacher should check whether the coursebook has a linear and cyclical progression.In grammar order,these two concepts should be taken into account. Cunningsworth (1995:60) explains that a course with linear progression adaopts an order of presentation which deals with each language item exhaustively before passing on to the next item.He also emphasizes that a cyclical progression moves fairly quickly fromone language item to another,and then progressively returns to each item,may be on several occasions,later in the course.

When deciding between a linear or cyclical progression teacher needs to be aware of the individual and cultural preferences of the learners,the lenght of the course,its goal and whether the students will follow the course to its end. (Cunningsworth ,1995:60)

Grammar exercises consolidate the target structure.They also enable the teacher to see if students are able to manipulate the target language.They start from very controled practice,which is a comprehension of the box,andmove on to freer exercises at the end of the lesson.

There are languages boxes in Friends.These serve to focus on new language items introduced in the presentetion texts and dialogues.In some units there are two language boxes(See app.15,Friends 2,p:17)

Grammar sections consolidate tle language from the input units.The exercises are very varied and very often practise language through games and activities.

The songs also focus on new language items.They are linked to the content or topic of the particular unit in which they occur,so they can be a meaningful and enjoyable part of the lesson for the students.(See app.16,Friends 2,p:105) By the help of this song, ”will/won’t/adjectives/question forms” are revised.

From the beginning,it can be said that deductive teaching of grammar is avoided.Grammatical items are given in language boxes.There are “question forms/positive and negative sentences” in the boxes.Examples are given but there is no rule in the boxes.

The book follows “cyclical progression”.It moves from one item to another very quickly and sometimes returns back to each item in a different context. (See app.17,18,19;Friends 2,p:5,7,11)

Language is made memorable through interesting and motivating materials.For this reason great care has been taken in Friends to present language items in distinct thematic unit types.The different thematic units are called “strands”.There are four strands in Friends.These are:

This first strand follows the lives of a group of school friends living in london.Through this strand students learn the language they need for everday situations.Students also learn about life in Great Britain.

In this strand,two cartoon dedectives,shirley Holmes and George Clueless, and their housekeeper Mrs Smith can be seen in a number of amusing situations, allowing language they need items to be presented in a humorous context.

Students always enjoy humour and the language is made memorable to them through funny situations and jokes.

This strand is a magazine for friends around the world.The magazine is run by two editors and features letters and interviews from children all over world.students can expand their knowledge about the world as well as identify with the lives of other children at a similar age.

In this strand,three fiction stories are used to introduce new language items.There is a realistic story about the conflict between environmental issues and development,a science-finction story set in 3089,and a romance set in the 17^th century and based on the journey of the Pilgrim Fathers from England to America in search of religious freedom.

In Friends 2,the garmmatical items go through from easy to difficult.(See app.24,25 ; Friends 2,p:2-3)Present Perfect Tense is introduced in 17^th unit and it is compared with Past Simple Tense.

When we speak or understand someone speaking a language we know, the sounds produced or heard are related to specific meanings by the language system. George Yule emphasizes

“ Phonology is the description of the system and patterns of speech sounds in a language .”(1985 : 44)

Jeremy Harmer (2001:28) also states that when speaking , we construct words and phrases with individual sounds and we also use pitch change, intonation and stress to convey different meanings, Cunningsworth (1995:41) explains that most recent courses include the teaching of phonology to a greater or lesser extent . Most of them cover the articulation of individual sounds, words stress,sentence stress and some aspects of intonation(Cunningsworth, 1995:41).

“Imagine that a restaurant manager who has always had trouble with the spelling of English words places an advertisement for a new SEAGH. You see the advertisement and your confusion leads you to ask how he came to form this unfamiliar word. It is very simple, he says. Take the first sound of the word SURE, the middle sound of the word DEAD, and the final sound of the word LAUGH. You will , of course , recognize that this form conveys the pronouncation usually associated with the word chef “ (1985:33)

Yule (1985:33) emphasizes that this tale may serve as a reminder that the sounds of spoken English do not match up , a lot of time, with letters of written English.

The areas of phonology include individual sounds ,words and phrase/sentence stress , intonation, and phonetic symbols.

Cunningsworth (1995:42) states that as a general principle though,learners should be given terminology whenever it will help them to analyse English, categorize it and as a consequence understand beter how it work. This principle applies equally to the use of the phonenic alphabet and we should see whether the CB uses it and includes it for reference.

In Friends 2 , there are revision units , which recycle material in the previous units. Revision units are divided into 3 sections, and Pronouncation is one of these sections(See app.26,Friends 2,p:48).In these sections, phonetic symbols are introduced. There is a chart containing all of the phonetic symbols introduced at the back of the Students’ Book.(See app.27;Friends 2,p:112)

Patricia Mugglestone, Ela Les’nikowska and Kasia Niedzwiecka explain that being able to read phonetic symbols will enable Ss to read the pronouncation given in dictionary entries and will give them more confidence when dealing with the pronouncation of the language they are learning. Exercises in these sections are designed to be fun, so that the Ss can enjoy themselves while learning the new symbols and practising reading them.

Almost all series of Friends give importanceto phonotic symbols.But in Friends 3, word stress is also emphasized.(See app. 28,Friends 3,p:24)

Victoria Fromkin and Robert Romdan (1993:238) state that speakers of a language know which syylable receives primary stress or accent,which receives secondary stress, and which are not stressed at all; it is part of their knowledge of the language.

Patricia Mugglestone,Ela Les’nikowska and Kasia Niedzwiecka writers of Friends Teacher’s Book , state(2004:11) that pronouncation exercises are worthwhile activities because clear, intelligible pronouncation can be achieved by young learners.

Exercises, in Friends 1, include rhymes,tongue twisters and word repetition. It is emphasized in Teacher’s Book (2004:11), these exercises are designed to build in an awareness of individual sounds to prepare learners for the more in-depth phonological work in the upper levels of Friends.

There is a variety of pronouncation exercises in Friends. Phonetic symbols are taught in different context. Sometimes they are taught by the help of tongue twisters or word 1/26 repetetion or rhymes . These activity types are givenin the same title “Listen and repeat”.

In Friend 2, different exercises are added. Puzzle is one of them. And also there is “the rhyme” part . In these ways. Ss can enjoy themselves while learning the new symbols and practising reading them.

There is an enjoyable activity in Revision 4. It is given a secret message by using phonetic alphabet and Ss try to find what is written.

In Revision Unit 8, there is another challenging exercise. The aim of this activity is to measure both vocabulary knowledge and phonetic knowledge.

In Friends 3, the emphasize is on intonation and stress. In every Revision Unit there is a recorded chants for Ss’ to learn. Patricia Mugglestone,Ela Les’nikowska and Kasia Niedzwiecka states that these chants are designed to be fun so that the Ss can enjoy temselves while practising their pronouncation. They also emphasize that they provide an important change of pace for the lesson and chance to relax.

In Friends 3, all the activity types are the same. Students should listen to the chant, then they repeat.In Revision 3, we can see both the example of intonation and stress.(See app 29;Friends 3,p:36)

Jeremy Harmer states that intonation is used to convey emotion,involvement and emphaty. It is crucial in communicating meaning. Harmer emphasizes that listeners frequently get the wrong messages from intonation when foreign speakers use it in an idiosyncratic way. That is because intonation tells us what someone means and how they feel about it. He also explaining that we recognise the difference between making a statement and asking a question. We are aware of the fact that someone is surprised , for example , and we gather from their intonation that they are being polite or rude.There is an example of this in Revision 8 where students should emphasize the words given in bold. (See app.30;Friends 3,p:96)

Vocabulary teaching is of great importance in language teaching.As to the importance of vocabulary teaching,Cunningsworth(1995:38) states that students can communicate more effectively with a knowledge of vocabulary than with a knowledge of grammar.Jeanette S. Decarrico (2001:285) states that vocabulary learning is central to the language acqusition,whether the language is first,second or foreign.Decarrico also states that there is now general agreement among vocabulary specialists that lexical competence is at the very heart of communicative competence,the ability to communicate successfully and appropriately.That is,vocabulary plays a central role in comprehension as well as communication.

New words should not be presented in isolation and should not be learned by simple rote memorization.Jeannette emphasizes the importance of teaching vocabulary in context,stating;

“It is important that new vocabulary items be presented in contexts rich enough to provide clues to meaning and that students be given multiple exposure to items they should learn.”(Jeanette,2001:288)

Making the transition to independent leraning can be easier and more efficient if teachers help students learn to recognize clues to guessing word meaning from context.

Selection of vocabulary is to be included in coursebooks.Cunningswort (1995:38) says that there should be detailded explanation of how the vocabulary coursebooks icluded has been selected.Different learners have different needs depending on their backround and the purposes they will need the language . Therefore,as Cunningswort (1995:41) states there should be principled basis for selection of vocabulary and these principles should be correlated with students needs and purposes.

Students’ comprehension depends on the presentation of vocabulary. Cunningsworth (1995:38) states that it is worth examining the nature of the activities and exercises to ensure that they help learners to extend and develop their vocabulary in a purposeful and structured way. Jeanetta (2001:288) also emphasizes that new words should not be presented in isolation and should not be learned by simple rote memorization. She points out that it is important that new vocabulary items be presented in contexts rich enough to provide clues to meaning and that students be given multiple exposure to items they should learn.

Cunningsworth (1995:38) states that vocabulary exercises should sensitize learners to the lexicon of English and to the various relationships that exist within it.Vocabulary exercises should be based on:

Ø semantic relations-word groups according to meaning,synonyms, hyponyms, opposites

Ø situational relationships-word sets associated with particular situations,eg sport,transport,politics

Ø relationships of orm (often referred to as ‘word building’),eg long,length,lengthen

While choosing vocabulary sets,teacher should consider two criterias;Teacher shouldn’t depend on only one criteria ,she should think about both of them.They are inadequate without one. (Yavuz,M:Lecture Notes)

1-Usefulness:It depends on the situation.First teacher idendify situation that students need,then list the vocabulary.For instance;coursebooks mostly include “complaining letter”.In our daily life it is not necessary actually.

These two criterias depend on the situation and the purpose of students’ learning language.

It’s important in the case of teaching vocabulary. Cunningsworth (1995:28)emphasizes that in the case of vocabulary,items not only need to be met in context and actively practised,they need to be recycled 3,4 or more times before they become stored in the long-term memory.He points out that in this way students learn the form and the sound of a language item through progressive exposure,and by meeting it in a number of different contexts they develeop an icreasing understanding of its use and meaning.

“The amount of vocabulary introduced is determined by the level and the needs of the learners.But,in general it is expected that at least 1000 new words taught in each stage of a general course,where a stage represents 120-140 hours’ work.”( Cunningsworth,1995:38)

In Friends 2,vocabulary is taught in highly controlled manner.New words are presented in the Presentation sections.No new words are introduced in the Activity Book or in the Revision Sections.The very few new words used in the Culture and Reading Corners are introduced in the context of illustrations(See app. 31;Friends 2,p:51).Numeous exercises in the input units,Revision and the Activity Book help students to retain in the new words.

New words are presented and practised in lexical sets,this makes it easier for students to remember them.Each cycle presents from one to three new sets of vocabulary.In the Activity Book these sets of words are listed in the Language Diaries(See app. 32,Activitiy Book 2,p:28).In this way students are encouraged to record vocabulary systematically and meaningfully.In Friends 1,Study Skills boxes within the units introduce students to various ways of remembering new vocabulary(See app. 33,Friends 1,p:67).

Vocabulary exercises in Revision sections consolidate vocabulary from the whole module.

In this exercise,students organise words into sets according to topics “news” and “adjectives”

2.”Complete.Use the words in the box.Then listen and repeat”(See app. 35;Friends 2,p:21)

8.”Look at the words in the box.Are they similar in your language?What do they mean?”(See app. 41;Friends 3,p:55)

9.”What are they usually made of?Find the words and match.”(See app 42;Friends 3,p:60)

10.Put the letters in the correct places on the signs.(See app. 43;Friends 3,p:72)

One of the main reasons for getting Ss to listen to spoken English is let them hear different varieties and accents. Jeremy Harmer emphasizes that in today’s world, they need to be exposed not only to one variety of English( British English, for example) but also to varieties such as American English, Australian English ,Caribbean English, Indian English West African English.

Birsen Tan Tütüniş (It’s Easy to Teach English,16) explains that in practice it is difficult to isolate listening from speaking,since we have to listen carefully in order to understant what is said in the interaction. She also mentions about that in the first language learning process , a child listens to every sound, to evrey utterance for a period of time, then comes the stage of active trial and it tries to imitate what it hears.

Listening exercises play an important role in Friends. As well as helping students to develop strategies to undrestand spoken discourse, they also help students to expand their knowledgeand experience of the sound, system, rhytmn, intonation and stress of English. There is a variety of listening exercises in Friends, some of which check the general comprehension of the text and some of which train students to listen for specific information.

Listening activities vary according to our objectives.Some of them can be listed as follows:

Birsen Tan Tütiş(It’s Easy to Teach Engilish:17) explains that pre-listening activities are conducted as a warm up to the topic;while-listening activities are designed in accordance with our objectives;and post-listening activities lead to other activities which integrated all skills into one another.

In Friends series,there are lots of different activity types related with this title.

This is a closed activity (solutions are known).Its aim is to reinforce “directions” by drawing a route on a map or diagram following taped instructions.

In Friends 1,again there are activities like the previos one.Aim is the same,but the type is different.

The aim of this activity is to reinforce a particular structure “imperatives and function” giving and obeying instructions.This activity is very enjoyable for knesthetic students,because they like acting.

The aim of the examples shown below is the same ,but activity types are different.

In life,ourlistening activities naturally focus on the gist comprehension.Birsen Tan Tütüniş (It’s Easy to Teach English:21) states that when we listen to the news for example,we concentrate on the content not on the intonation,accent or the language unless it is absurd.

“Friends” give some strategies for listening.éListening for gisté is one of them.First the information is given in a box,then this box is followed by an exercise to practise the skill.(See app. 48;Friends 3,p:81)

Friends 3 gives strategy for listening for specific informaion.It’s explained some tips,then the box is followed by an exercise to practise the skill.(See app. 51,Friends 3,p:57)

Ø Listen and number the pictures.There is one extra picture.Then listen and check.

It’s a closed activity,matching the pictures and texts.(See app. 52,Friends 2,p:99)

The song is used to reveise grammatical items (will/won’t,adjectives,question form)

Especially the songs focus on new language items.They are always linked to the content or topic of the partyicular unit in which they occur,so they can be a meaningful and enjoyable part of the lesson for the students.

Listening is integrated with reading in ths activity.Recorded listening passage is for comprehension and extraction of information.

Friends provides pre-listening activities to focus learners’ attention on the topic of the passage.Cunningsworth (1995:67) explains that pre-listening activities can take the form of pre-questions,or asking students to look for certain items of information contained in the listening aterial.This gives a purpose to the activity.

There is a pre-listening activity in this example.First students discuss the questions and then they listen to check whether their answer is correct or not.This provides a purpose to listen

Ø Listen and put the sentences in the correct order (See app.55,Friends 2,p:21)

The book gives strategy about that again.The box is followed by an exercise to practise the skill.

As we know speaking is very important in language learning. If you can’t talk, can’t show

your performance, competence is nothing. As a teacher if you want your students to talk, first

“Speaking is the most problematic part in coursebooks. If you provide necessary knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and if you provide proper context, the they easily understand and speak. You should present various topics and background information about these. You should help them to pour their wordly knowledge to the class. Provide informative, provocative, motivating topics to take their attention. If the topic is interesting they listen to you, read the text and speak. You should give the sample structures, necessary vocabulary set and grammar set should be introduced” (Yavuz, M:Lecture Notes).

“Few courses treat speaking as a seperate skill in the same way as listening, reading and writing. Speaking practice takes place through the oral presentation and practice of new language items, in dialogue work and in roleplay” (Cunningsworth,1995:69).

Speaking is mostly based on grammar items. Firstly coursebook provides, introduces the grammar items throug texts or dialogues. Students see the usage of grammar items in a

context (See app. 56; Friends 2, p.22 ). Then coursebook gives rules of the grammar items and

provides pictures and necessary information to make students speak. (See app.57;Friends 2, p.23)

We can talk about integration and seperation. Speaking is mostly integrated with reading and listening. There is a story (See app.58;Friends 2, p.70).The students read this story and then talk about it. For example they talk about the end of the story (See app. 59;Friends 2, p.71).

In the coursebook set dialogues are for reading or listening. The students create their own dialogues on a subject. The coursebook provides pictures and necessary information. They create a dialogue (See app.60;Friends 2 ,p.79)

Discussions are an important part of speaking.the coursebook sometimes gives place to discussions. It gives an incomplete story (See app. 61;Friends 2, p.14),then provides three

endings and wants the students to discuss which one is the best ending for the story (See app. 62 ;Friends 2, p.15)

Role plays are very good activities especially for young learners. There are “Fun Time” parts in the coursebook. One student act something out and the other student tries to guess what s/he is doing (See app.63;Friends 2, p.7 )Young learner can move thanks to role plays.

Coursebook includes info gap activities. The students try to get information of each other by asking questions. There is a table about three people. One student has information about two of them and one student has information about the third person. They ask questions and talk about them (See app.64 ;Friends 1, p.49).making request, asking for permission are real life situations and coursebook also provides these situations. The students can practice these situations with their friends (See app. 65;Friends 2, p.65)

Teacher’s Book tells the steps of activities. The teacher can folllow these steps. It

sometimes gives extensions to practice the grammar items for speaking (See app.66;Teacher’s Book 2, p.77).

In the lessons teacher makes students speak through games. The students are very eager to speak. They are talkative and they like playing games. The teacher gives importance to fluency while the speak. The students are not allowed to speak Turkish in the classroom. They have to tell everything in English. This is very good for real life interactions.

“Writing is the last skill that is acquired when we think about the natural order of acquisition of skills. That is way writing is generally placed at the end of the units. In order for students to write they need background information, necessary vocabulary and grammatical knowledge about the writing. This requires the integration of writing with other skills.” (Yavuz, M: Lecture Notes)

In Friends writing parts are always at the end of the units and usually integrated with other skills such as listening, speaking and reading in terms of topic. Through the integration of these skills students are having background information about the topic, practicing necessary grammatical knowledge and vocabulary. At the end they are ready to start writing(See app. 67;Friends 2, p.27).

“Progression is very important in writing and it can be dealt with under three headings in writing: writing in word level, writing in sentence level, writing above sentence level. A coursebook series, if it is taking students from the beginner level, should start writing in word level and bring students till the point of writing above sentence level because progression in wiriting requires this.” (Yavuz, M: Lecture Notes)

In Friends, we can say that there is a progression in wiriting. Students are introduced to write in word level in Friends Starter, then writing in sentence level and writing above sentence level is presented to students by following each other.( See app. 68,69,70;Friends Starter, p.7,13,19)

“The style of written English is in most cases significantly different from that of the spoken language and learners need to exposure to written styles with their salient features pointed out. Writing makes use of different language resources than speech, for instance paragraphing, spelling and punctuation.” (Cunningsworth, 1995:82)

In Friends the difference between spoken English and written English is presented to students with the help of the integration of writing with speaking and listening. Through “listen and write” activities this difference is covered to the students. Punctuation rules such as where to use capital letters and the usage of “‘s” are introduced to the students. (See app.71; Friends 1, p.23).

“Coursebook should be dealt with paragraphing, which is the basic unit of organization for most kinds of written English.” (Cunningsworth, 1995:80)

Friends deals with the organization in writing. It gives students some strategies about paragraphing and through the integration with reading, it presents topic sentence activities. As Friends are designed for young learners it gives these strategies shortly and mostly focuses on practice of these strategies rather than the theoretical part. (See app. 72-73; Friends 2, p.9; Friends 1, p.85 )

“The types of writing task can be quite varied and include writing factual accounts such as a report for an newspaper, filling in grids, writing notes to others, making lists, filling in forms, writing a diary, writing formal and informal letters, summarizing texts and many others.” (Cunningsworth, 1995:80)

Friends presents students different conventions of writing such as letter writing, e-mail writing, story writing and some practical strategies about how to write in these different conventions.( See app.74-75;Friends 2, p. 33, 45)

“In real life writing is done with a readership in mind and writers need to know who their readers are in order write appropriately for them. They need to judge how much knowledge of the subject their readers already have, so as not to patronize them on the one hand or mystify them on the other.” (Cunnigsworth,1995: 82)

In Friends readership is stated in the real life writing activities such as letter writing, e-mail writing but in other writing activities such as writing a descriptive paragraph no readership is given to students. (See app.76,77;Friends 2, p.45, 57)

“Writing activities in coursebooks are normally of the controlled or guided kind, where a model is given and the student’s task is produce something similar, usually based on additional information given.” (Cunningsworth, 1995:80)

In Friends, free writing activities are more dominant than the controlled writing or guided writing activities. Controlled writing activities are mostly used for the practice of mechanics in writing whereas guided writing activities are mostly used for teaching paragraphing and organization. (See app.78-79;Friends 1, p.49; Friends 2, p. 95)

“Editing is important in writing. As the writing procedures requires, first writing is done for fluency and the second writing is done for accuracy. In both of these steps editting takes place.” (Yavuz, M: Lecture Notes)

As Friends are designed for young learners editting part is not emphasized in Student’s Book, but in Teacher’s Book, in some activities it is stated that students should read each other’s writings implying editting written work. (See app.80;Teacher’s Book 3, p. 105)

It is an undeniable fact that writing is the most neglected skill of all. This is the same in the class that I have observed. Writing parts are usually given as homework to the students. Our trainer said that she was trying to do writing in class as much as possible but because of lack of time she sometimes neglected it and she added that when writing parts were given as homework she always collected them and gave feedback to the students about general mistakes.

According to my trainer teacher, writing strategies in Friends are very important. She

said that she always emphasizes this parts and then she gave the writing practice as homework. The teacher focused on the writing parts that students can use in their real life such as post card writing, e-mail and letter writing, etc. The teacher finds the organizationimportant and she said that sometimes she made students activities aiming finding topic sentences.

“Reading is the one activity that can be done easily and without any equipment by studentsoutside the classroom.All they need is access to suitable texts and reference material,such a dictionary or wordlist. This can be provided easily by the coursebook and most include reading passages from early on at elementary level.”(Cunnigsworth, 1995: 73)

Although all four skills are thoroughly developed in Friends, there is special emphasis on reading. Friends claim that reading is an especially important skill as it enables students to become independent learners. Friends provide reading passages from early on at starter level.Students who study Friends Starter are firstly intoduced with dialogues,then they start to read passages .The first reading passage places on page 44 in Friends Starter.(See app.81)

“Reading texts can be used for several different purposes,and this is reflected in

Friends uses reading texts for these different purposes .Through reading,students learn new vocabulary and spelling, recycle grammar and learn how to structure written texts.(See app.82,Friends 2,p:20)

“Reading can be linked to other skills work, particularly listening and writing. Some coursebooks have reading texts recorded on cassette and ask learners to listen as they read.” (Cunningsworth, 1995: 73)

Reading materials are linked to other skills in Friends .It has dialogues and texts which are recorded and can be presented in a variety of ways.Teacher may decide that students should listen to them first with their books closed or that they should follow the text in the books(See app.83,Friends 2,p:10).Students make their own questions after reading and they ask to their partners.( See app. 84,Friends 2,p:11)Sometimes students use the reading texts as a resource for writing.They write similar paragraphs after they read.( See app.85,Friends 2,p:93)

“When analysing the reading content of a general coursebook,we need to consider:

· The nature and range of exercises and activities linked to the reading passages”

When we look at “Friends”,we see the target language is presented in a meaningful and interesting context,making learning a pleasurable experience.(See app.82, Friends 2,p:20) Each level of Friends adresses the learning needs and interests of students and has been specially written for their cognitive level.

The subject matter is appropriate to students.There is no topic which can be culturally

Friends 2 uses a multitude of different types,including letters,transcripts of interviews, extracts from magazines,questionnaries,extracts from factual books,diaries,short stories ,dialogues and e-mails.( See app.82,88,89,90,Friends 2;see app. 91,Friends 2 Activity Book.)When the texts are looked at from the point of view of the authenticity of their language,it is seen that there aren’t many authentic texts.There are only 4 authentic and 4 semi-authentic texts.(See app.92,Friends 2,p:63)The rest of the dialogues and passages are specially written,depending on the students’ level.

The texts are generally complete but there are some gapped texts,so that learners not

only have to read the text with understanding,but also have to supply missing words or

sentences.For example,when students read “Missing Spaceship” on page 59 in Friends 2,they

are asked to complete the text by using the sentences taken out from it.(See app.93,Friends 2,p:59)

According to Cunningsworth,we would expect the exercises and activities accompanying the reading texts to help learners to read with understanding and enjoyment.(1995,75).When we look at Friends we see that reading passages are well presented and accompanied by purposeful activities which help the reading process.

The pre-reading questions demand learner's knowledge of the world.For example,on page 4, students are asked to answer that “Is London the capital of Great Britain?” before reading.(See app.88,Friends 2,p:4) Then they read a short paragraph where they can find the answer.The coursebook also helps students’ comprehension by providing maps,photos,etc.

Every input text is followed by a comprehension exercise,which develops understanding.This is a very important step,which helps teachers to see if students understood the text or dialogue and whether some words or phrases still need to be explained.There are several types of comprehension exercise in Friends such as wh- questions,true/false sentences,yes/no questions,putting the sentences in the correct order and matching tasks(See app.94,95,96,Friends 2).There aren’t any literal questions.The questions generally require surface understanding.They don’t require processing of the text at a deeper level. However,there are some inference questions on Teacher’s Books.(See app.97;Teacher’s Book 2,p:20)

In all Friends series,there is a focus on the development of reading skills and strategies. Students are encouraged to acquire effective reading strategies such as prediction techniques, skimming for general meaning, scanning for specific information and dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary.For example;

Page 11:circling the new words and guessing the meaning of the new words from the content (See app.99,Friends 2)

Page 23:summarizing the story by using the linking words given (See app. 100,Friends 2)

Page 74:reading the text and finding what the words refer to(See app.101,Friends 2)

There is a focus on reading for pleasure in Friends series .The texts are generally interesting, funny and enjoyable ,so that students enjoy reading.According to the results of the questionnaire we did with the students who study Friends2,the most favourite unit type is “Crazy Detectives” where two cartoon detectives and their housekeeper can be seen in a number of amusing situations.Students always enjoy humour and the language is made memorable to them through funny situations and jokes.They read “Crazy Detectives” especially for pleasure.(See app. 102;Friends 2,p:18)

There are also 2 parts in the book,which focus on reading for intellectual satisfaction.”The Londoners” and “Culture Corner” provide texts for intellectual satisfaction. (See app. 103-104;Friends 2;p:16,26)

The teacher likes this book and she tells that it is appropriate for her student’s level.She says that it introduces lots of new words in meaningful contexts.She also says that there are lots of dialogues which reflects real-life situations.Through reading passages and dialogues,students learn language they need for everyday situations.

According to the observation,the teacher sometimes plays the tape-recorder and students listen to the text while they also read.She sometimes asks students to read.While a student is reading,she stops him and wants another to continue.The teacher claims that this technique keeps students alert ,but it is clear that it also interrupts reading and it has a bad effect on comprehension.

The teacher often follows the Teacher Book step by step.She asks questions about the pictures on the coursebook and reads the pre-reading questions.Her aim is to create purpose to read and she is usually successful.She sometimes teaches only the words that inhibit understanding the text/meaning or asks students to guess the meaning of new words from the content.

The topic and subject content of the coursebook should be suitable to level and interests of

“Although language coursebooks are primarily a means for facilitating language learning,they cannot simply do that no more, because language is used in real situations for real purposes. Learners come to class with, among other attiributes knowledge, attitudes, cognitive abilities, curiosity and experience. Students may learn better when they are not only concentrating on learning the target language, but are also using the language to do otherthings or learn about other subjects. A genuinely communicative coursebook is one which not

only helps to teach the mechanics of the communication, but which also communicateseffectively itself about worthwhile subjects and promotes meaningful communication among its users.” (Cunningsworth,1995:86-88).

The coursebook set of Friends includes four books. These are Starter, 1, 2 and 3. The topics which are included in the books mostly not real topics. There are stories and reading texts which are fictions (See app.105, Friends 1, p.24). there are few texts which are more realistic (See app.106,Friends 2, p.8 ). The number of these realistic topics is not too much.

Topics sometimes contribute to enriching their experience (See app.107;Friends 1, p.28)

Learners come to school with some kind of wordly knowledge. Rules are some part of their knowledge, and the book reflects those wordly things as much as possible.( See app.108 Friends 1, p.30).

The topics which are presented in the book are sophisticated enough for young learners. The book gives information about a few countries and the language is very appropriate to their level linguistically ( See app.109 ;Friends Starter, p.42).

“The amount of cultural information and extra reading material is increased” (Mugglestone, 2004:3).

Actually there are culture corner parts in the books and the parts reflect what the coursebook claims. The books provide information about the USA and Great Britain (See app.110;Friends 2, p.26 ). Moreover the books provide humorous parts for young learners (See app.111;Friends 2, p.30).

The students who are the users of this coursbook set like humorous parts. Accordig to the uestionnaire “Crazy Detectives” is the part which they like most. Culture corner parts are

used for projects in the school. Ecah of the students prepare a project abour the subject of

Social and cultural values are an important part of language learning because we learn not only but also its culture.

“On a more practical plane, we need to ensure that the coursebook sets its material in a social and cultural contexts that are comprehensible and recognizable to the learners, in terms of location, social mores, age group, etc. In addition to the physical context, the relationships,

be interpretable by the students, so that they can relate the language used to its purpose in the social contexts.”

In the books there are culture corner parts and in these parts the social life in other countries and cultural contexts are presented in a proper way. The texts are comprehensible both linguistically and mentally (See app.112,113;Friends 2, p.50 ;Friends Starter, p.78 ). Actually most of the social and cultural values are Britain and British spoken countries. For example “A market day of a British person”. (See app.114;Friends 1, p.40 ). Fewthings are related to own country and the other countries. Istanbul is presented once with ashort paragraph. (See app.115,Friends 2, p.93 ). India is also presented in this book but only theproblems of this country arereflected (See app.116;Friends 2, p.92 ). When we look at thesewe see the bad sides of other countries for example overpopulation, traffic. Pollution, etc.

If we look at the people who are portrayed in the coursebook set we mostly see their lives.First, some information is provided about them. By this way users can understand the relations which are presented in a text or dialogue. People’s intentions and behaviours can be understood better (See app.117;Friends 2,p.76)

In the coursebook set women are not given fixed attributes all the time. Sometimes a woman is presented as a house wife who is cleaning her house (See app.118; Friends 2, p.77) Sometimes a woman is presented as a teacher (See app.119; Friends Starter, p.8)As well women are seen as mother with their husband and children. They are vey happy in their houses with their families (See app.120; Friends Starter, p.26 ).When we look at emotional sides of the people women are more sensitive and presented like this (See app.121; Friends 1, p.59)

Language of feeling is presented in texts or dialogues. Characters talk about the situation in which they are included and reveal their feeling (See app.122; Friends 1, p.58)

Social and cultural values are given how they are presented in the book to students. Teachers introduce the cultural things and make conversations about the social and cultural values . The students tell their experiences in the lessons. Moreover these cultural and social values are given as a project by teachers. The students learn very specific things about these items.

As we know language learning requires too many things. One of them is to be able to satisfy learner needs. The coursebook should provide necessary things for learners.

“The authors of The New Cambridge English Course (Swan and Walter 1990) identify the need to respect the learner, adding that people generally learn best when their experience, knowledge of world, interests and feelings are involved, and a course must allow students to be themselves as fully as possible’ ” (Cunningsworth,1995:97).

“Each level of Friends addresses the learning needs and interests of students and has been specifically written for their cognitive level. In Friends Sarter language is introduced in small chunks which are easy to remember. There are many songs and games, which help students acquire grammar rules unconsciously. Friends 1 focuses mainly on retaining new vocabulary. Friends 2 and Friends 3 acknowledge the fact that students’ cognitive skills are developing and thus grammar is presented more explicitly, although the fun element of songs

When we look at the books we see the things that teacher’s book claims. Languauge is represented with songs, games and small phrases (See app.123; Friends Starter, p.9). Friends 1 provides lots of vocabularies. It gives new vocabularies in a context (See app.124; Friends 1, p.14) and then the new vocabularies are used in activities, so the students reinforce new vocabularies (See app.125; Friends 1, p.15). Friends 2 and 3 are for the later levels. That’s why they give more importance to grammar. The learning is more conscious, but the funny points are still involved, like playing games (See app.126; Friends 2, p.43).

The students are young learners. That’s why they need fun. The teachers use games too often. They know learner needs of that age period. The teachers try to make lessons very interesting. The students mostly learn unconsciously through games and songs.

Language learning is a vey important process. In this process there are lots of things to beencountered with. There should be some guiding principles about grammar teaching,vocabulary teaching, skills, wordly knowledge in texts, intersting content and situations, etc. For example for garmmar teaching we have two approaches, inductive and deductive.

“Inductive learning refers to the sort of learning where the starting point consists of examples of language which illustrate a rule, without the rule being stated. Deductive learning refers to the sort of learning process where explicit rules are given and learners seek to understand these rules and then produce correct sentences, etc based on them, perhaps with the help of a few examples given in the book. Rules are given to learners, without having to be worked outand this may seem to be an easier way of learning. There is no right or wrong approach here, students learn differently and in any case the two processes can be used to support each other.” (Cunningsworth,1995:99)

Coursebook set deals with grammar both deductively and inductively. Firstly the grammar items are presented in a context through texts or dialogues then it provides the rules of the grammar item.for example The Present Perfect Tense is given in a context (See app.127; Friends2, p.52) then the rules and activities about the subject are given (See app. 128; Friends 2, p.53) .This situation is also stated in Teacher’s Book:

“Each input units is divided into three steps- Presentation, Comprehension and Practice. These clear headings make the teaching sequence very easy to follow” (Mugglestone,2004:4).

The sequence of the items is very clear. First presentation takes place then the students comprehend the subject and lastly practice takes place as the Teacher’s Book claims (See app. 129-130; Friends 2, p.16,17 ).

There are common mistakes which are made by learners. The coursebook set mostly focuses on these common mistakes with “Be Careful” parts (See app. 131; Friends2, p.31 ). Moreover the books encourage learners to use language creatively. The students mostly create their own dialogues in speaking parts. They can create it however they want.(See app.132 ;Friends 2). And with info gap activities they can use language very creatively with their questions to find out the missing parts (See app. 133; Friends 1, p.104). The coursebookset includes four books and in Starter Book we see mostly acquisition provided by songs and games which take place in “Fun Time” parts (See app.134; Friends Starter, p.23). When we look at the later levels (elementary, pre-intermediate) acquisition leaves its place slowly to learning. We see much more rule parts and practices for the learnt grammar items (See app.135; Friends 2,p.17)

In classroom teachers give importance to fluency while the students are talking, but if there is something written this time accuracy is important because it shouldn’t be learnt and copied wrongly. Learners are not allowed to use mother tongue in classroom. When we think about grammar, teachers don’t present grammar items too often. With the help of texts, worksheets , songs and games the students acquire/learn grammar items. The teachers sometimes give a topic and want students to create their own dialogues or they use the dialogues in the books. The teachers don’t use only one thing, they try to use different things which are beneficial for young learners. This is the right decision methodologically.

For learners meaningful context is vey important. Language items should be taught in

“We can apply the same principles of presenting the item in context and in clear relationships with one another. Lists of unrelated words are difficult to learn because the words appear in isolation and, lacking any context, do not apper to the learner to have any real meaning. Presenting new lexis in association with visuals, or in a text, has the built-in advantage that the words are encountered in a context, whether non-linguistic (visuals) or linguistic (text)” (Cunningsworth,1995:102).

New words are mostly presented in a context (text-dialogue) (See app.136; Friends 2, p.46 ) and the new are taught with visuals if possible (See app.137;Friends 2, p.47). Moreover we see semantic relations. By this way vocabulary learning is getting easier. For example words with their opposites are learnt easier (See app.138; Friends 2, p.29). If the words are presented according to situational relationships this may also makes the vocabulary learning easier. For example the words of sports, the words of camping etc. (See app. 139;Friends 2, p.21).

“The usage of visuals for presentation and practice in order to provide meaningful contexts is almost universal in coursebooks and forms one of the planks of language-teaching methodology. However, when looking at coursebooks it’s important to consider whether the visuals are an integral part of the teaching material or are there simplt for decorative purposes, to make the page look better. Whilst attractively presented materials are desirable, visuals which have a teaching purpose are clearly more central to the coursebook.”

In the books the visuals are used extensively. Especially in Friends Starter we see too many pictures (See app. 140; Friends Starter, p.44). As we can see in the example the picture occupies half of the page. It’s very big. Moreover in other series there are extensive pictures (See app. 141;Friends 2, p.39). The pictures, visuals are very attractive and acceptable for young learners. They like colorful and funny pictures. The books provide this. (See app.142; Friends2, p.66).

In the lessons words are taught by pictures if possible. The pictures are shown to students and they can learn by seeing the words. Sometimes the teacher tells the words by using body language. For example for the word ”hurt” the teacher behaves as if her arm was hurt. Thelanguage to present everything is English. Teacher explains eveything in English and sometimes the blackboard is used to present words by drawings. We can say that mostlyvocabulary teaching and visuals go hand in hand, like drawing something on the board to explain a new word.

Courses can be teacher and student centered. As the teories on language learning improve

wee see that student centered teaching is very beneficial. Namely students should be active in

“Relatively few coursebooks have anything very explicit to say about the learner’s role in language learning proces, but it is clear from the nature material that students are expected to hypothesize about rule, participate actively in learning activities, relate material to their own experiences and personal lives and undertake a variety of tasks which involve problem solving of one sort or another. Coursebooks often show awareness that students have different

learning styles and that these should be respected as far as possible. An increased degree of learner autonomy, the ability to learn independently, and even to set one’s own learning objectives through the provision of material suitable for individual study”

“Teacher’s Book claims that the projects which are included in reading or culture corner provide students the chance of individual working, and students can add their own ideas to these projects.” (Mugglestone,2004:12).

When we look at one of these parts we see a project about the differences of Great Britain and the USA. The students are expected to participate actively. They can find different informations from different sources and create their own projects (See app.143; Friends 2, p.27).

There are different learning styles. All the students can’t learn in the same way.Some of them are visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc. The coursebook set takes care all the learner types. For visual students there are lots of pictures. The students look at these pictures and talk about them. The grammar items are practiced with the help of pictures (See app. 144; Friends 1,p.17). There are audio-visual students. They need both sounds and visuals. The students can listen to a text and write the necessary things under the pictures (See app. 145; Friends 1, p.29). Auditory students can achieve a task just by hearing something. They can listen and answer the questions (See app. 146;Friends 2, p.11). Kinaesthetic students are in need of moving, walking, running, acting, drawing, coloring, etc. There are “Fun Time” parts in the books. They are vey beneficial for kinaesthetic students (See app.147; Friends Starter, p.33).

The coursebook set provides activity books as additional material. The students can use this book for independent study. Moreover there are some activities to be used for

independent study. The students can work at home individually. They can collect leaves and

In the classroom teachers make the students play games, do different activities. So the students are involved actively. The teachers know that the students need lots of things because they are young learners. They make them play games. They use different materials for different learner type (cassettes, videos, pictures, games,etc.). The teachers give students worksheet and projects as additional material to practice the items which are already taught.

“Most general EFL courses, and some specialized ones, provide teachers’ books as a part of the whole materials package. They are very important parts of the whole as they can exert a considerable influence on how the course is taught. A good teachers’ book is invaluable in offering, among other things, guideliness on how to make best use of the course, detailed plans for teaching each unit and keys to exercises.” (Cunningsworth,1995:112)

Friends Teachers’ Books are consist of different parts that explains teachers mainly how to make best use of the book:

teachers to test students’ progress in a short and quick way. These questions are prepared to check students’ short term progress. (See app. 155;Teacher’s Book 3, p.111)

“Teachers books should meet the needs of their users as fully as possible and should be flexible as much as possible. Teachers’ books of course whenever possible be pitched appropriately to the level of the users. If they are addressed potentially to a wide range of users, the needs of the less knowledgeable and confident should not be neglected.” (Cunningsworth, 1995:113)

In Friends Teacher’s Book the language that is used for explaining the principles of the book and the activities is quite clear and understandable. Of course, it includes some terminological terms of ELT but they are easy to understand with the clear explanations as shown below:

“While Friends is a multi-syllabus course, covering communication, vocabulary and skills, special emphasis has been placed on the grammar syllabus. Grammar is introduced methodoligically and gradually . It is always followed by thorough practice exercises. This approach organises the framework of the language in the minds of the students.”(Mugglestone, Friends 3 Teacher’s Book,2003:4)

As it is seen “multi-syllabus” is an ELT term, it can be something unfamiliar for some teachers. By taking this possibility into consideration, Friends Teacher’s Books give the elements of multi-syllabus-communication, vocabulary and skills.

“We need to check that there are stated objectives for each unit and that sufficiently detailed information is given about language items to be taught. Details of predictable problems that learners may encounter are also very helpful.” (Cunningsworth, 1995:113)

In Friends Teacher’s Book, the objectives of the each lesson is stated at the beginning of each unit under the heading of “Lesson Objectives” Lesson objectives include three points:structures, functions and key vocabulary. At the end of the lesson students are expected to achieve these stated objectives. (See app. 158;Teacher’s Book 3, p. 28) Detail information about language items to be taught is not given in Friends Teacher’s Book. This information is available in Friends Student’s Book, so teacher has to look at Friends Student’s Book if s/he wants to have information about the language items to be taught in lesson. Some predictable problems that learners may encounter are also given in Friends Teacher’s Book under the heading of “Be Careful” boxes. These boxes highlight special difficulties in order to help students avoid certain language errors. (See app.159;Teacher’s Book 3, p.14) Background information about the topic of the units is also available in Teacher’s Books. This background information is mostly about the cultural issues. (See app.160; Teacher’s Book 3, p.26)

“Teachers will expect a teacher’s book to provide suggestions for the planning and teaching of lessons. They will seek guidance in what to do and how to do it. We should therefore check that the teacher’s book provides suggested procedures for the planning, preparation and teaching of lessons. It is also important that attention is given to the sequencing and progression of lessons and the planning

Friends Teacher’s Books give clear guidance both in planning the lessons and explaining the activities. At the beginning of the units there is a part called “Before Class” explaining teachers what to do for the preparation of the lesson before coming to the class. (See app. 161;Teacher’s Book 3, p.42)

Friends mainly divides the lesson procedure into three parts: Presentation, Practice and

Comprehension. Under the headings of these parts, the activities are explained step by step in a clear way. (See app. 162;Teacher’s Book 3, p.44) In some units teacher’s book provides some useful tips such as charts, graphs for teachers to present the lesson in a more effective way.( See app. 163;Teacher’s Book 3, p.20) Extension activities are provided in most of the units in order for students who need more practice in some specific items.

“The way guidance is presented in teacher’s book is also important. Are the different sections clear, and coursebook units be related easily to their corresponding sections in the teacher’s book? This can be helped through cross-referencing by page number and by clear page layout. An incresingly popular format is to interleave the pages of the teacher’s book into the student’s book.

The result of is that the pages of the student’s book and the teacher’s book always appear next to each other, so that the teacher does not have to fumble about with two separate books at the same time.” (Cunningsworth, 1995: 114)

In Friends Teacher’s Books there is cross-referencing by page number to the Student’s Books and Activity Books. There is no interleaved pages of studen’s books into teacher’s books so teacher has to use student’s book simultaneously with the teacher’s book because of that disadvantage. In teacher’s book just the procedure of the actvities and answer keys are given. No page of Student’s Book is available in Teacher’s Book except for the content page. (See app. 164-165;Teacher’ Book 3, p.22-23)

“Teachers’ books can give useful advice on the use of correction techniques and can also provide keys to exercises for the benefit of teachers who are not entirely confident of their English. Keys can also give suggested or specimen answers in the case of open-ended tasks where there is no “correct” answer.” (Cunningsworth,1995:114)

There is no correction techniques stated in Friends Teachers Books. This means teachers are left alone without the guidance of the coursebook on error correction in the class. The answer key of student’s books, activitiy books are available in the each unit in teacher’s books.( See app.166;Teacher’s Book 3, p.27) The answer key of check tests are presented at the end of the teacher’s books. (See app. 167;Teacher’s Book 3, p.119) Tapescripts of the listening material in Student’s Books are also available in Teacher’s Book in order for teachers to feel secured. (See app.168;Teacher’s Book 3, p.29)

“Teacher’s book can also offer regular tests which can be used to give students feedback on their progress, and also to give teachers information on which areas of language need to be revised and have yet to be consilidated.” (Cunningsworth,1995:114)

Friends Teacher’s Book offer teachers “check tests”. Every cycle of four units is followed by a one page self-assessment test. Through these regular tests teachers can encourage students to evaluate their own progress and understand what they need to review (See app.169; Teacher’s Book 3, p.112) If teacher uses these tests effectively s/he can get feedback about the students’ learning process and plans his/her lesson on the basis of this feedback.

“Learner motivation is a major factor in succes in language learning and teacher’s book can help by providing advice on including sufficient variety of activity in lessons, on using topics of real interest to the learners, on extending coursebook exercises to match the level and the ability of the learners. They can save a lesson that is losing momentum as well as providing teachers with a welcome additional sense of security.”(Cunningsworth,1995:114)

Friends Teacher’s Book claims that Friends is bursting with new ideas, activities and exercises which are so interesting that students will be tempted to read the book and do the exercises in advance. The book has songs, chants, games, puzzles, projects, quizzes and a play to perform. The very high quality of photos, illustrations and audio material will add to students’ motivation and desire to learn. These facrors make Friends lively and inspiring, and in such a rich context language is easier to remember.

“A blank space should be left at the end of each section or unit in teacher’s book, for noting down any additional ideas that have come up whilst planning or teaching the lesson. Evaluative comments on lessons taught could also be noted down there, particularly if the comments related to ways of using the material, so that they could be reviewed the next time the same unit was taught.” (Cunningsworth,1995:115)

There is no blank for teachers to write down their ideas at the end of each unit in Friends Teacher’s Books. This means that if teachers have any suggestions about the book they will have to reach the writers through web page of Friends,www.longman.com/friends .

“Learners are becoming more sophisticated, particularly through the influence of television and computer games, and they expect high standarts of production and presentation, especially where visuals are concerned. They also expect textbooks to make learning easier and more enjoyable and can be quick to lose interest in dull and uninspiring material, no matter how sound it may be methodologically. Faced with rich variety of coursebooks available, how do we make our choices? Should we choose the books with the most attractive illustrations? Would we best advised to go for the ones that are strongly made and look as though they will survive several years of fairly rough classroom use? It is advisable to select among the cheapest, leaving more money in the budget for buying equipment such as cassette players? “(Cunningswoth, 1995: 1)

Friends is a good book when we examine the book in terms of visuality and quality of paper. The books of Friends have hard cover that’s why they are long lasting and they can be used many times. The books, especially the student’s books are very colourful, suitable for theyoung learners. They include lots of drawings and pictures that the young leaener students enjoy. The activity books are black and white and the quality of the paper is ordinary but this should be remembered that activity books are designed just for one using, not many times so the quality of the paper and the black and white appearence can be ignored here. Students will

Friends is difficult to obtain in the market because it is published in 2004 and it is really a great problem to find the bookstores to buy Friends. At least we have this difficulty while trying to find the book. We obtained the book through our trainer in MEF Schools. She wanted the books from the local publisher. That’s why we think that you cannot obtain the further supplies of the book at a short notice. It took us more than one month to obtain the books from its local publishers. The price of the book isn’t problem for the students in MEF Schools because it is a private school but it is clear that the book is very expensive when we think about the books imported from UK.

Cassette recorder is needed for the listening parts in Student’s Books. The book has a web site on internet: www.longman.com/friends. On this website there are some worksheets, games and quizzes for students. As this book is used in a private school, there is no difficulty in finding the equipment required by Friends.

This questionnaire are applied to the 5^th grade students in MEF Schools. The number of students is 16 and they are 11 years old. The questions of this questionnaire is prepared in Turkish in order for students to understand the questions completely and give sincere answers because our aim is not to assess students’ comprehension in English but to get the most sincere feedback about the coursebook that they have been using-Friends. (See app.170)

In the first question we asked the students what their primary aim in learning English is. Our purpose was to identify the students aim in learning English.We gave them 4 choices. Three of them were identified by us as:

The fourth was a free response option. The students would fill in there if none of the options given by us is suitable for their answers.

56 per cent of the students said “I am learning English because it is the most acceptale language in the world.” 38 per cent of students said “I am learning English because I like learning English.” 6 per cent of the students said “I am learning English because it is a compulsory lesson.” None of the students chose and filled free response option.

These numbers tell us that most of the students are aware of the importance of learning a foreign language and they don’t see English as a lesson that is studied just for the sake of studying it. This question was important in terms of seeing the students’ eagerness in learning a foreign language, especially English. The answers proved that although the students are in young learner (K-12) category, they are aware of why they are learning English.

GRAPH SEQ Şekil \* ARABIC 2: WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART IN FRIENDS STUDENT’S BOOK?

The second questions was “What is your favourite part in Friends Student’s Book?”

88 per cent of students said “Crazy Detectives is my favourite part in Friends”. 6 per cent of students said “Friends’ Club is my favourite part in Friends”. 6 per cent of students said “Story Time is my favourite part in Friends.”

These numbers tell us that young learners like cartoons and learning languages through cartoons. Crazy Detectives are two cartoon detectives, Shirley Holmes and George Clueless, and their housekeeper Mrs Smith, can be seen in a number of amusing situations, allowing language items to be presented in a humurous context. Students, especially young

learners (K-12) always enjoy humour and the language is made memorable to them through funny situations and jokes. Students also like magazines. Friends’ Club is a magazine for friends around the world. The magazine is run by two editors and features letters and interviews from children all over the world. Students can expand their knowledge about the world as well as identify with the lives of other children at a similar age. Students also like stories.”Story Time” is three fiction stories that are used to introduce new language items. Each story is written in a different style. There is a realistic story about the conflict between enviromental issues and development, a science-fiztion story set in 3089, and a romance set in the seventeeth century and based on the journey of the Pilgrims Fathers from England to America in search of religious freedom. As the students become involved in stories, the new language items are imprinted on their minds for easy recall. “Londoners”, which is about the lives of a group of school children and the daily life in Great Britain; “Reading Corner” and “Culture Corner” are out of concern of the students. Maybe, this is because of the richness of the cultural issues on these parts. This richness may make students bored.

In the third question we asked students how they find the topics in Friends Student’s

38 per cent of the students find the topics informative. 37 per cent of the students find the topics funny.13 per cent of the students find the topics unnecessary. 6 percent of the students find the topics interesting. 6 per cent of the students find the topics boring.

These numbers tell us that most of the 5^th grade students are satisfied with the topics in

GRAPH 4: DOES FRIENDS PROVIDE NECESSARY ENGLISH KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU CAN USE IN REAL LIFE?

In the fourth question we asked students whether Friends provide necessary English knowledge that they can use in their real life. 81 per cent of the students said “yes, it provides us necessary English knowledge that I can use in real life. 19 per cent of the students said “no, it doesn’t provide us necessary English knowledge that I can use in daily life.”

This question has also an explanation parts where the students have to explain why

“When I go abroad, that English knowledge will help me communicate with the foreigners there. I have 2-3 friends that I have gained through that English knowledge.”

“If I have a problem that I can solve by English in another country, I can use that

This numbers shows us that most of the students are satisfied with English knowledge presented them in Friends Student’s Book. They think they will use that useful knowledge when they go abroad. In the light of the answers, we think the students who says “no” to thatquestions may have problems about the book or teacher rather than the coursebook.

In the fifth question we asked students’ opinions about the drawings and pictures in

31 per cent of the students said “the pictures and drawings are colourful”. 26 per cent of the students said the pictures and drawings are well-prepared”. “19 per cent of the students said “the pictures and drawings are funny.” 17 per cent of students said “the pictures and drawings are useful.” 5 per cent students said “the pictures and drawings are boring”. 2 per cent of the students said “the pictures and drawings are in a low quality”.

These numbers shows that most of the students are satisfied with the quality of the drawings and pictures. As they are young learners coursebook should be funny and satisfying in terms of visuality. In the light of the students’ answers we can say that Friends manage to reach a high quality as it is claimed in its Teacher’s Books.

In the sixth question we aimed to get feedback about the instructions of the activities from the students, so we prepared the question in an indirect way: “While I am doing the activities I need...” We wanted the students to complete this statement with the given options below:

62 per cent of the students said “I don’t need anyone’s help.” 19 per cent of the students said “I need my friend’s help.” Another 19 per cent of students said “I need my teacher’s help.”

This numbers shows us that most of the students understand the instructions and do the activity without having any help. 38 per cent of the students need others’ help while doing the activities, that is they don’t understand the instructions clearly. This is of course a matter

having multi reasons such as simplicity of the book, students’ English knowledge, etc. Here the important duty is the teacher’s, that is if the instruction is complicated, teacher should explain it in a simplified way in the target language.

The seventh question was about the sufficiency of grammatical items in Friends. We asked this question in yes/no question form. 69 per cent of the stuudents said “I think Friends is enough in practising grammatical items” while 31 per cent of students said “I don’t think Friends is enough in practising grammatical items”.

This percantage shows us that most of the students are satisfied with the number of the activities used for practising grammatical items. The students who says “no” for this question may have different reasons such as the availability of the components, teacher’s attititude in making students practise the grammatical items,etc other than the coursebook itself.

As the final question of questionnaire we asked students a general question-“Would you like to use the other book of Friends in the next year?” This question is asked in yes/no question form and expected students to explain their answers. 69 per cent of the class said “yes, we would like to use the other book of Friends in the following year” whereas 31 per cent of the students said “no, I don’t want to use the other book of Friends in the following year.”

“It is better to use different books every year. Maybe if we use the same books of Friends, it

As it is understood from the answers and explanations of students most of the students would like to use the other book of Friends in the following year. Their reasons are much or less the same-funny, good, amusing, interesting,etc. The ones who don’t want to use the other book of Friends don’t necessarily mean that they don’t like Friends. They have very logical explanations for their answers as you see above. We think that these students are open to new changes, trials.

To conclude Friends is satisfactory enough for 5^th grade students in MEF Schools. They have sensible reasons from their childish point of view. There is one clear thing, that is we should never underestimate their own powers because they really know what kind of coursebook they want: amusing, colourful, funny, having a lot of drawings and pictures...

This questionnaire is applied to three English teachers who are using Friends Coursebook in 5th grade classes in MEF Schools in order to increase accuracy of the questionnaire. As the 5^th grade students are in young learner (K-12) category, we use the questionnaire that is presented in the book “Teaching English in the Primary Classroom” by Susuan Halliwell, Longman, 1992. Besides, we added two open ended questions about the aims of the teaching programme and whether they would like to use Friends again. (See app.171)

We want to mention about experiences of the teachers who answered this questionnaire voluntarily. Teacher 1 (T1) and Teacher 3 (T3) have almost the same experience in ELT, almost 5 years. T2 has more experienced than the other two teachers. She has 12 years experience and master degree in ELT. Thus, we have the chance to evaluate the opinions of less experienced teachers and experienced teacher about Friends.

In the questionnaire we wanted teachers to give grades from 1 to 5 (1 is poor, 5 is very

good) to the questions asked. The answers of the teachers are shown on the chart below as T1

The first question was about the priorities. We asked teachers whether their priorities match with the book’s priorities. All of the teachers gave 4 points to that question. This means that most of our priorities match with the book’s priorities. This is an expected answer because it is really difficult to find a coursebook that both priorities are matched exactly.

The second question was about the claims of the coursebook. Friends claims that the book is teaching English through motivating, memorable and fun exercises. The lessexperineced teachers-T1 and T2 gave 4 points. This means Friends is doing most of what it claims to do. The experienced teacher-T3 gave 5 points. This means Friends is doing totally what it claims to do.

The third question was about the clearness of the book which means whether it is easy to use the book or not. All of the teachers gave full points to that question. This means Friends is clear and easy to use for teachers.

The fourth question was about the clearness of the the way the book is structured and graded. The less experienced teachers (T1 and T3) gave full points. This means Friends is clearly structured and graded. The experienced teacher (T2) gave 4 points. This means Friends is clearly structured and graded but it has some deficiencies.

The fifth question was about the integrated revision parts in Friends. The less experienced teachers (T1 and T3) gave full credits to that question. This means Friends provide enough integrated revision of key items. The experienced teacher (T2) gave three points. This means that Friends cannot provide enough integrated revision of key items.

The sixth question was additional materials provided by Friends. All the teachers gave different credits to that question. T1 gave full points to that question which means I am completely satisfied with the additional materials provided by Friends. T2 gave 3 points to that question. This means I think additional materials could be much better. T3 gave 2 points to that question which means I am satisfied with the additional materials provided by Friends but they have some slight deficiencies.

The seventh question was about practical ideas offered by Friends. T1 and T2 gave 3 points to that question. This means that Friends cannot give good practical ideas completely. T3 gave 4 points to that question. This means Friends gives good practical ideas but it has some unimportant deficiencies.

The eighth question was about the balance of skills on Friends. The less experienced teachers(T1 & T3)gave 4 points to that question which means there is a balance between the

skills on Friends but this balancecould be improved. The experienced teacher (T2) gave full credits to that question. This means that there is a balance of language skills on Friends, the

The nineth question was about the varied practice of language items on Friends. T1, one of the less experienced teacher gave 3 points to that question. This means Friends is neither good nor bad at providing plenty of varied practice of any one set of language items. T2 and T3 gave four points. This means that Friends are good at providing varied practice of language items but it has some slight negative sides.

The tenth question was about the tests provided by Friends. T1 and T2 gave three points. This means that I am not using the tests provided by Friends in preparing my exams much. T3 gave 4 points to that question which means that I am mostly using the tests provided By Friends in preparing my own examinations.

The eleventh question was about avoidance of sexual, racial and cultural stereotypes in Friends. All the teachers gave different answers to that question. T1 gave full points which means Friends avoids sexual, racial and cultural stereotypes. T2 gave points. This means Friends does not avoid sexual, racial and cultural stereotypes much. T3 gave 4 points. This means that Friends avoids sexual, racial and cultural stereotypes mostly.

We asked teachers to write down the aims of their teaching programme. There is one common thing of all the teachers, that is, learning through English. This means target language should always be used in the lessons both by the teachers and students. Let us see their explanations below:

“Learning through English. Not memorizing. Students should be the part of the process. They should prove their four skills.”

“It is not possible to write the aims of our teaching programme in one paragraph.“Learning through language” is very important for us. Students can learn a lot about the world by using this book. It also provides them with a lots of practice in all four skills. At the end of this year, students will be able to go to England and stay there for a month (alone!!!). They will be able to express themselves.”

As the final question we asked teachers whether they would like to use Friends again or not. All of the teachers said “I would like to use it again” but one of the teachers added that she had another book in her mind. Let us see their answers below:

“Friends is OK. However, I think “Happy Earth” is much more better than that (Friends). It is more student centered.

While evaluating a coursebook ,we should know the principles to look for.After deciding on certain principles and working through them,we can identify the coursebook’s weaknesses and strengths.

In our study,we evaluated Friends series (especially focusing on Friends 2) and we couln not find much weaknesses of these series.Instead of negative criticism ,we have positive ideas on them.

According to our evaluation,Friends takes into consideration that children between the ages of nine and ten are very receptive to visiual,auditory and kinaesthetic cues as it claims.As we know these learners need to be offered a wide variety of exercises and activities in order to maintain their interest and motivation.Friends Starters achieves the correspond these students’ needs and helps them to learn sentences and phrases rather than complicated grammar rules so that we decided that Friends Starter has been designed properly.

Friends 1 takes into consideration that the learners are one year older and have some command of English already.It starts to introduce the language step by step.Songs and games help students to practise grammar in a fun way.students lea new vocabulary.

Friends 2 and Friends 3 acknowledge the fact that students’ cognitive skills are developing and thus grammar is presented more explicitly throughout,although the fun element of songs and games is still present in the books.These books also develope students’ autonomy.Students are encouraged to take more responsibility for monitoring their learning process.Skill boxes give some strategies and help students to improve their listening, writing, speaking and reading skills.

Friends series use lots of colourful and interesting pictures which take students attention on the contents and set the scenes for reading,speaking,listening and also writing.The very high quality of photos and illustrations adds to students’ motivation and desire to learn.

Friends 2 develops a balance of the language skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing. It claims to set up a real language use, and it provides pairwork activities which really involve communication.It provides reading for pleasure and also intellectual satisfaction.In coclusion,we see that the book’s priorities match with the teachers’ priorities in Mef Schools and we decided that Friends 2 is suitable and a good choice for the students in 5^th grades in Mef Schools.

	QUESTIONS	1	2	3	4	5
1.	Do the book’s priorities match with your priorities? e.g: If you take learning through communicating as your priority, does the book aim to set up geniune interaction? Real language use?				T1 T2 T3
2.	Does the book seem to do what it claims to do? e.g: If it claims to set up a real language use, does it provide pairwork which really involves communication and not just learnt dialogues?				T1 T3	T2
3.	Is it clear how to use the book?					T1 T2 T3
4.	Is the book clearly structured and sequenced?				T2	T1 T3
5.	Does it provide integrated revision of key items?			T2		T1 T3
6.	Are there additional materials provided which you personally can’t otherwise obtain? E.g: Authentic materials? Native speaker tapes?			T2	T3	T1
7.	Does it offer lots of practical ideas?			T1 T2	T3
8.	Does the book develop a balance of the language skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing which suits your needs?				T1 T3	T2
9.	Does the book provide plenty of varied practice of any one set of language items?			T1	T2 T3
10.	Does it help you to set tests if they are required by your school?			T1 T2	T3
11.	Does it manage to avoid sexual, racial and cultural stereotypes?		T2		T3	T1