Critical Analysis of Syllabus and Textbook for B.Ed

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Critical Analysis Of Syllabus And Textbook for B.Ed

Critical Study of Syllabus and Textbooks

General Information
Complete and Original Name of the Textbook(s) with Author(s)

Sl. No	Name of Book	Author(s)	Yr. of First Edition	Year of Last Edition	Price
1	Beehive		2012	2019	Free
2	Moments		2015	2018	Free
3	Spoken English Practice Book
4	An Approach to English Grammar

Name of Publisher with complete address:

The Assam State Textbook Production And Publication Corporation Ltd, On Behalf of Govt of Assam for Free Distribution.

Place -Guwahati

(a) Subject – English

(b) Class – IX

The syllabus of the subject:

Sl. No.	Content (Unit)	Marks Allotted
1.	The Fun they Had (1)	Prose	21
2.	The Sound of Music (2)
3.	My Childhood (6)
4.	The Bond of Love (9)
5.	A visit to Kaziranga and Sivasagar (12)
6.	The Road Not Taken (1)	Poetry	12
7.	The Lake Isle of Innisfree (4)
8.	A Legend of the Northland (5)
9.	No Men are Foreign (6)
10.	A Slumber did my Spirit Seal (10)
11.	The Adventures of Toto (2)	Supplementary Reader (Moments)	10
12.	The Happy Prince (5)
13.	Weathering the Storm in Ersama (6)
14.	A House is Not a Home (8)
15.	Reading Comprehension (two prose passages-one seen, another unseen)	10
16.	Writing (translation/amplification, article/story, notice writing/report writing)	16
17.	Grammar (tense, use of passive voice, word order, narration, preposition, degrees of comparison, question patterns)	21

Criteria of a Good Syllabus

A good syllabus serves a variety of purposes that go well beyond the confines of a specific course. A good syllabus is a road map or even a guidebook. It is also a map of the general subject and perhaps even of the field you are teaching, and should give students a clear sense of the disciplinary lay of the land.

A good syllabus is a resource for students. It should, at the very least, offer suggestions to assist students in pursuing topics that interest them, but it can also serve as a reference, a field outline to which they can refer long after they have finished our course.

A good syllabus should be child centric, dynamic and related to everyday life.
It should have a smooth linkwith the syllabus of the previous class
In preparation of the syllabus the the maturity level of the pupils should be taken into consideration
A good syllabus should be flexible, allowing for periodic revision, reasonable change depending on historical reconstruction. It should be able to meet any particular teaching problem of the individual school.
It should contribute to a full life for the learners.
It should provide a balanced perspective of history avoiding repetition
It should allow learners to handle a wide range of evidence.
A good syllabus should offer a balance between local, national and world history so that the three have proportional coverage.
A good syllabus should include the study of some topics in depth showing clearly the interrelationship of social, economic, political, cultural and technological factors.
A good syllabus should give some guideline for the teacher on how to carry out the process of instruction and there by help the learner learn.
A good syllabus should also say what the expected outcomes of the courses of the courses are. They should match with the objective of the courses.
It should explicitly list the pedagogical goals for the course.
It should be elastic and flexible in nature.

Analysis of the Syllabus

Sl. No.	Enquiry	Give a tick	Give a tick	Give a tick
1	The units of the syllabus are	Appropriate	√	Not Appropriate		No comment
2	The psychological level of the contents are	Appropriate		Not Appropriate		No comment	√
3	Difficulty level is	Proper	√	Not Proper		No comment
4	Revision of the previous class	Exist		Does not exist	√	No comment
5	Groundwork for the next class	Exist	√	Does not exist		No comment
6	Sufficient provision for linking with life	Exist	√	Does not exist		No comment
7	Provision for co-relation with other subject	Exist		Does not exist		No comment	√
8	The syllabus is	Too Heavy		Too light		Reasonable	√
9	Is the syllabus based towards a particular area ? (Prose/poetry/grammar/algebra/arithmetic/geometry, etc.)	Yes		No		Justified	√

Overall Assessment of the Syllabus-

The NCERT Class 9th English textbooks are well known for its updated and thoroughly revised syllabus. The NCERT English Books are based on the latest exam pattern.

Class IX syllabus consist of a textbook and a supplementary reader. The textbook contains 12 comprehensive units (lessons, exercises and activities) and 12 poems of varying lengths.

The supplementary reader has 4 chapters meant essentially for self-study promoting reading for information and pleasure.

Besides, it includes an oral/Spoken English component, Reading Comprehension and Grammar.

In the case of textbooks, it is imperative that layout and illustration etc are treated as integral to the text rather than as mere cosmetic add-ons.

The syllabus is based on the psychological needs and interests of students. It is related to the student’senvironment. It has various topics like prose, poetry, story, biography, narration, description etc. It has practical utility as well as informative.

The materials are topic-based, but these topics were chosen haphazardly. It is clear that it is an integrated syllabus. Not only is it topic-based syllabus, but it is also a Notional/Functional/ Situational syllabus in the sense that learners are required to ask appropriate questions, make comments, describe, give suggestions, and so on.

Structure and vocabulary are presented and practised in context. For example in teaching tense (present, past, future) and vocabulary, learners are required to use these elements in different contexts and situations.

Criteria of a Good Textbook

Diction of the Test-book should be According to the Age and Standard of Pupils:

Good text-books must be suited to the age, ability and interests of the pupils for whom these are written. Thus they should be child centred and should reflect the stage the child has reached.

Text-books should be well illustrated:

Good text-books should contain pictures, maps, charts, time-lines, graphs and sketches of various historical events to make the subject-matter easily understandable and to sustain the interest of the pupils

Text-books should be written in Clear and Simple Language:

The author should write the books in a clear and simple language. It is possible for the author to present the events and thoughts in very clear manner if he has command over the subject. The style adopted in textbooks should be lucid.

Free form Bias:

Text-books should be free from bias and should tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Good Printing and Get-up:

The printing and the get-up of the text-books should be good; otherwise the students shall not get interested in the text-books.

Able to Inculcate the Spirit of Internationalism and World Fraternity:

Text-books should aim at inculcating, in the students, the feeling of internationalism and world fraternity besides national integration. Text-books should not develop narrow outlook in the students.

Element of Selectivity:

While constructing a curriculum, the principle of selectivity is to be kept in mind only such events and facts are selected for inclusion in the curriculum that is helpful for upholding social values and make a progressive step.

Psychological and Scientific:

Textbooks should be written on the basis of the principles of psychology. They should be scientifically planned and written.

List of Contents and Bibliography:

There should be a list of contents in the beginning of the book and in the end, there should be a bibliography. List of contents helps the students in finding out the topics which they want to study without wasting much of their time. The bibliography gives them the subject matter for further study of the subject.

Questions at the End:

At the end of every chapter, there should be certain questions. These questions should be so designed that they may help the students to recapitulate the topic that they have read. These questions should be psychologically planned and scientifically put.

Analysis of the Textbook

(a) Physical aspects (Give tick marks against the appropriate box)

Sl. No.	Characteristics	Tick	Tick	Tick
1	Shape and size	Demy/Double demy		Crown/Double crown		Any other	√
2	Cover design	Attractive		Moderate		Not Attractive	√
3	Quality of paper and print (colour)	Good		Average		Poor	√
4	Printing mistakes	Lots		A few only	√	Not at all
5	Price	High	√	Reasonable		Low
6	Illustrations and diagrams	Appropriate		Not appropriate	√	Not given at all
7	Overall look	Excellent		Good		Ordinary	√

(b) Analysis of the contents and organizations

(i) Does the book contain the whole prescribed syllabus?

Yes

√

(ii) Is organization of the contents as per need of the pupils?

Yes

√

(iii) Does the contents fulfill the need and interests of the pupils?

Yes

√

(iv) Are there any incorrect information, statements, principles, laws, theories, figures or illustrations?

Yes

√

(v) Are the topics ably supported with pictures, diagrams, graphs, etc.?

Yes

√

(vi) Are the subheadings, subtopics distributed properly ?

Yes

√

(vii) Is the summary recapitulation at the end of each chapter being incorporated?

Yes

√

(viii) Mention whether each chapter has begun with a brief introduction?

Yes

√

(ix) Whether any controversial matter has been included in any unit?

Yes

√

(x) Will the textbook help the students in linking the subject with their daily practice?

Yes

√

(xi) Which ones of the following maxims you have observed in the presentation of the topics?

Sl. No.	Maxim	Exists	Does not exist
1	Simple to complex	√
2	Concrete to abstract	√
3	Known to unknown	√
4	Particular to general	√
5	Easy to difficult	√
6	Analysis to synthesis	√
7	Indefinite to definite	√
8	Near to far	√

(xii) Are the information given in the textbook up to date?

Yes

√

(xiii) Give tick mark in the following regarding the evaluation/exercise of the textbook.

Sl. No.	Question	Yes	No
1	The exercises are appropriate and relevant	√
2	The exercises are sufficient	√
3	Is there any provision for unit test ?
4	Which of the following test items are used to evaluate ?
Essay type	√
Short answer type	√
Very short answer type	√
Objective type : Simple recall	√
Completion	√
True false	√
Matching type	√
Classification	√
Analogy	√
Multiple choice	√
5	The exercise is
Too long	√
Too short

(xiv) Have you found any table in the book?

Yes

√

(xv) Is there any appendix in the book?

Yes

√

(xvi) Is bibliography available in the book for further study?

Yes

√

(xvii) Does any index exist in the book?

Yes

√

(xviii) Is there any profile of the author (authors) of the book?

Yes

√

(xix) Are teaching points for the teacher available in the book?

Yes

√

(xx) Give tick mark in the appropriate box if you appreciate the following regarding language/ presentation style/ any other character of the textbook.

Lucidity	√	Simplicity	√	Preciseness	√	Scientific way of writing	√
Un-ambiguity		Clarity of expression	√	Free from superfluous words	√	No derogatory remarks against a particular community	√
Exactness	√	Well-planned	√	Very good first impression/ Face validity		Proper arrangements of the chapters	√
Simple, short and correct sentences	√	Footnotes are given whenever required	√	Recent edition is available		Very good as a resource book

(xxi) Give Your Overall Assessment Here

English is a global language which is used not only in a day to day communication but also at an academic level.There is a total of 24 chapters in this textbook, out of which 12 chapters are related to Beehive English prose and the remaining 12 chapters fall under class 9 Beehive poems section.

The chapters of the class 9 English Beehive textbook include- The fun they had, the sound of music, the little girl, Packing, My childhood, the bond of love, etc. And the poems include -the road not taken, Wind, No men are foreign, on killing a tree, etc.

The textbook lessons and poems contain different types of themes like: Philosophical, social, moral, scientific, aesthetic, environmental and national understanding. These themes are varied from lesson to lesson.

The textbook is attractively presented and are student friendly. The covers are colourful with the name and series number printed clearly.

The cover page is followed by “Foreword” to the book, written by the Director, NCERT seems to be very inspiring and motivating. It describes the nature of the book. It emphasises to follow the recommendations of NCF, 2005.

The Director, NCERT appreciated the hard work done by the Text book Development Committee and expressed his gratitude to all the members. He also emphasised on development of reflective thinking among teachers and provision of space, time and freedom to the children for generating new knowledge.

Texts are interposed with sketches and pictures which improve the readability of text. In the textbook guide lines for the teachers is given at the beginning of the book.

There is a conventional content page in the textbook but the presentation of the topics is dissimilar.

The textbook is divided into chapters, there is a brief review and revision of the topic, then the topics are presented with a considerable number of solved and practice exercises.

The themes of the lessons and poems are relevant to the age level of the students. Most of the lessons are interesting because of fantasy, suspense and thrilling incident etc.

The more emphasis is given on the content than on the language aspect. The communicative perspective of teaching English language is reflected in the textbook.

The subject matter is related to the age level of the students. The textbook lessons are found to be prepared for inculcation of different values.

The lessons arenot be very long. There are Plausible proportions between prose, poetry, story, biography, lesson etc.

The style of the textbook is based on the principle of simple to complex. The subject matter is presented in a logical manner and it is appealing to the students.

There are sufficient numbers of exercises at the end of every lesson. The interactions about the exercises are brief and clear. The exercises are well selected and graded. Different types of exercises have been included in the textbook.

Overall the book is quite good for the students of class IX. Though, to some extent the book is appropriate and effective but it has some faults too

There aren’t sufficient pitches, pictures and diagrams to support the student to understand clearly the topics. Also some given pictures are unclear.
Bibliography, appendix, about the author, appropriate/sufficient footnotes are not available in these text books.
These books lack the quality that it can encourage the motor skill development of the students.

(xxii) Roll No. and signature of the group of members

Roll No.

Signature :

Study on The Probable Lessons of the Book

Unit No. (1)	Probable No. of classes to finish the text part of the unit (2)	No. of classes for product (Exercises) evaluation (3)	No. of classes for Unit test & Remedial classes (4)	Total No. of classes Y=(2)+(3)+(4)
The Fun they Had (Prose)	2	3	2	8
The Road Not Taken (Poem)	1	2	2	5
Tense (Grammar)	3	3	2	8
The Adventures of Toto (Supplementary Reader)	2	2	1	5
Question Patterns (Grammar)	1	2	2	5
The Sound of Music (Part I & II)	6	2	2	10
Active Voice (Grammar)	2	2	2	6
The Lake Isle of Innisfree (Poem)	1	2	1	5
The Happy Prince (Supplementary Reader)	2	2	1	5
Passive Voice (Grammar)	3	2	1	6
Article Writing	3	3	3	9
Narration (Grammar)	3	2	2	7
A Legend of the Northland (Poem)	1	2	2	5
Comprehension	4	2	3	9
Report Writing	2	2	2	6
Paragraph Writing	3	2	2	7
My Childhood (Prose)	2	2	2	6
Word Order (Grammar)	3	1	2	6
Preposition (Grammar)	2	2	2	6
The Bond of Love (Prose)	2	2	2	6
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal (Poem)	1	2	1	4
Degrees of Comparison (Grammar)	3	2	1	6
Notice Writing	2	2	1	5
A Visit to Kaziranga and Sivasagar (Prose)	2	2	1	5
Translation (Grammar)	4	2	2	8
Weathering the Storm in Ersama (Supplementary Reader)	2	2	1	7
A House is not a Home (Supplementary Reader)	2	2	1	5

Table 3

Comparative Study and Analysis of Significance

Analysis made in Annual Scheme Book

Lessons required as shown in the Table 3 (Y)

Difference

D = X-Y

Working days

Exam days

Holidays & Vacation

Other activities

Actual class days (X)

234

186

170

Explanation of the significance

ii) If D>0 : I have completed my syllabus according to the available number of actual class days. I the case of sudden local holiday or school remained closed for some other reasons I take 16 extra days.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that the textbook is interesting enough to capture the student’s attention. The interest level can be improved providing touching dialogues, elements of suspense, simple sentences and decreasing the length of the lesson.

There are number of examples of different type of values. The teacher should discuss the importance of these values using the examples and illustration from real life.

Though there are varieties of themes in the textbook lesson, at least one lesson should be added containing the knowledge about new technologies and computer.

The new grammar structure should be introduced by increasing more illustrations. The teacher should explain forms of different grammar structure and provide more illustrations of the respective grammar structures while teaching in the classroom.

The new vocabulary items should be repeated to consolidate the use of the new words. Textbook writers should prepare the lesson of the textbook in such a way that the new grammar structures and new vocabulary items happen to be repeated for practice to students. More emphasis should be given on the language aspect than to subject matter while preparing the textbook.

So that sums up the critical analysis of the syllabus and textbook for B.Ed. Hope you like it.

Critical Analysis of Syllabus and Textbook for B.Ed