An Evaluation on an English Textbook: Interactive English for the Seventh Grade of Junior High School

Abstract

The objective of this research was to discover whether the English textbook analyzed met the criteria of a good textbook proposed by Pusat Perbukuan (Pusbuk) and some ELT experts and whether the textbook was relevant to the 2013 Curriculum. This research was categorized as a content analysis study which employed four procedural steps proposed by Ary, et.al. (2002). They were: (1) referring to the criteria of English textbook evaluation suggested by Pusbuk in 2011 and some ELT experts and making some modification to suit the 2013 Curriculum, (2) deciding on the evaluation subject, that was an English textbook entitled Interactive English for Junior High School for Grade VII, (3) applying the criteria for textbook evaluation by using a simple tick and cross system as judgments, and (4) analyzing the textbook. The data were gathered by evaluating the English textbook using the checklists containing the criteria of textbook evaluation. In the data analysis, the calculation was done by dividing the total of criteria points which were met in the texbook for each sub-aspect with the total of criteria points in each sub-aspect. Then, it was multiplied by 100 % to achieve the sum points. For ensuring the credibility of the research, consensus and triangulation were applied. The results showed that Interactive English for Junior High School had fulfilled the criteria of a good textbook by achieving the fulfillment score of 61 % with coverage 71 % for relevance of materials to the curriculum, 100 % for materials accuracy, 30 % for supporting materials, 56 % for language appropriateness, 50 % for presentation technique, 67 % for teaching and learning technique, and 56 % for presentation coverage. The textbook  was relevant to the 2013 Curriculum due to the presentational activities and character building. It was then recommended that teachers should modify the tasks which did not meet the criteria of a good textbook especially in the area of content aspects.

Key words:  content analysis, textbook evaluation, Pusbuk, 2013 Curriculum