Theresa Clementson – author of English Unlimited
This week Theresa Clementson came to present a little about the process of designing a book which she has published, English Unlimited, which is a book we have evaluated as part of the module.
She highlighted some interesting areas which I want to reflect upon in this post: the industry, the process of writing a coursebook and her perception of how much of her as a teacher is represented in the coursebook.
Firstly, she explained that she had been in the industry of materials design and publishing for approximately 15 years but still is a teacher at Brighton University. She made a few comments, throughout the presentation, about the industry which I found very interesting.
1. There can be a friction between authors and publishers.
This idea was new to me but now seems obvious because in any creative industry there is usually a producer and a creator and their roles are naturally conflicting. However, in the industry of education I find this hard to digest as for me as a teacher the ultimate goal shouldn’t be that the material is a best seller but that the learner has optimum opportunities to learn from the materials they are using.
2. Out of date methods and approaches affect what an author can publish.
The idea that fashion and trend plays a part in coursebook publishing is another area I find difficult to see positively and possibly for the same reasons in point 1. Most coursebooks I’ve seen state that student centredness is a core principle. But how can that be the case when the publisher will refuse to publish certain materials because it is ‘out of fashion’? I get an overwhelming feeling when I think that as a teacher I try to meet the needs of my students using published materials that are centred around fashion and conformity.
3. Authors are pushed by the publishers and sometimes don’t feel proud of their work.
After the first two points this now seems obvious. But what is becoming apparent is that a published textbook isn’t necessarily at its full potential. The experts have fought for materials they think students need but the industry has let the authors (experts), teachers and students down by not breaking conformity and using their reputation to change EFL for the better. Having said that, publishers spend a lot of time and money on market research and so their decisions are probably informed by current perceptions by teachers, experts and learners in the industry, so maybe the incremental changes in publishing are the best way forward.
Secondly, she explained the writing process which in her case was collaborative and her team of 3 members worked on the entire book together rather than dividing it up and working separately. She explained that devising the principles and aims of the book were initially informed by market research but once the group sat down to begin the writing process they had to rewrite the principles and aims so that a student was able to understand them as the book was student centred.
Finally, she talked about her as a teacher and how that defuses into the writing of the material. This was an interesting point as this is how I feel evaluation of materials works. It seems impossible to separate the writers from the materials as it seems impossible to separate the evaluators from the evaluations. And this leads me back to first points in this post. Of course publishers need to have the final say in the textbook as they are the ones taking the risk and paying for the development. But as the industry is changing radically, this method might not be ideal in future. Teachers are having more and more access to free resources online, even though they aren’t necessarily generated and tested by experts, many of the materials are developed on strong methods and approaches and teachers can take this material and adapt it to suit them. I feel this is where the industry is going and the publishers need to start making bigger changes to their coursebook and that might include making bigger risks and moving away from the trend.
Hi Bea, yours is an interesting post of reflection on Theresa’s session. I like how you almost depict a journey of realization in terms of how the publishing world of EFL works. You start with expressing a personal point of view of how maximizing students’ opportunities to learn should be the publishers’ ultimate goal when deciding about materials and courses, only to shatter this ideal view through a few – almost painful – realizations about common trends, fashion, conformity and perceptions of teachers and learner needs. I like how you come to your own, uninfluenced conclusion about how – through technological advances and shifts in using them in and outside of our classrooms -, publishers should be altering their practices and though it the way the industry is moving. You go girl! 🙂
Yep, it’s worth reflecting on that ‘natural conflict’ between authors and publishers. Jack Richards has written about this in Richards, J. C. (2001) Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Interesting to see your comment on the conservative approach of publishers. You say “publishers spend a lot of time and money on market research and so their decisions are probably informed by current perceptions by teachers, experts and learners in the industry.” What dominates is the marketability of the book in a pretty conservative industry. I suspect most teachers want to be able to just pick up a new book and use it; teachers don’t want to have to relearn how to use the book: if you challenge this then your book bombs. You might want to go back and reflect on the different key principles that the teachers in your seminar group had and how you would create a book to appeal to such a diverse range of principles.