Spark 3 Based on Criteria Designed by Alan Cunningsworth jolanda gjergji

Motivation and the learner

1. 
   Variety and pace.........................................................................................18
   
2. 
   Subject matter of reading texts and listening passages...............................18
   
3. 
   The composition of learning activities........................................................18
   
4. 
   Layout, visuals, typography........................................................................18
   
5. 
   Personal involvement..................................................................................19
   
6. 
   Cultural setting.............................................................................................19
   

6.7 Aspects of British or American culture........................................................19

7. 
   Conclusions and overall evaluation
   

1. 
   Objectives...................................................................................................20
   
2. 
   Meeting aims................................................................................................20
   
3. 
   Strengths of the material.............................................................................20
   
4. 
   Weaknesses..................................................................................................21
   
5. 
   Learning situation........................................................................................21
   
6. 
   Comparisons with other materials................................................................21
   

CONCLUSIONS.........................................................................................................24

Introduction
What is materials evaluation? Materials evaluation is a procedure that involves measuring the value of a set of learning materials. It is ironical that those teachers who rely most heavily on the textbooks are the ones least qualified to interpret its intentions or evaluate its content and method. The selection of a coursebook is one of the most important decisions a teacher will make in shaping the content in which it is going to be used, following the aims of teaching program, as well as fitting the personal methodology of the teacher.
Choosing a course book can be extremely difficult. When selecting a textbook, the teachers can be overhelmed by choosing the right one and the most appropriate one. We cannot get a good picture of the suitability of a book until we have been working through it for some time. The teacher’s responsibility involves not only student assessment, but also the evaluation of the teaching and learning process itself. This means that the materials must be evaluated as well. Therefore, teachers should prepare a course book evaluation form, which can be used to analyse their coursebook.
There are several criteria to consider when evaluating new textbooks. Alan Cunningsworth suggests in his book a checklist of evalution criteria. I am going to evaluate the textbook ‘Spark 3’ based on criteria designed by Alan Cunningsworth. Here are some to consider: language and content, selection and grading of language items, presentation and practice of new language items, language skills and communicative abilities, supporting materials, motivation and overall evaluation.
In this paper, I will apply these criteria designed by Cunningsworth to a coursebook used to my own working context. In doing so, I hope to appraise the strengths and weaknesses of Spark 3. Spark 3 is an English course written by Virginia Evans and Jenny Dooley. It is published by Express Publishing in 2013 and designed for pupils of English at Elementary Level, which is the corresponding level for EFL learners of the 8^th grade of Albanian secondary school.