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What stage of development are you in? |
I've started putting together ideas for my textbook? |
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18% |
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I have an outline. |
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9% |
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I have most of the content created. |
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18% |
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Content is complete and ready for the editor. |
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Edited and in the layout stage. |
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9% |
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Print ready. |
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Published. |
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27% |
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In Edition (x). |
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Total Votes : 11 |
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ejmlab
Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Location: Pohang
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject: Textbook Development |
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I've been putting together some of my ideas regarding writing textbooks for ESL over the last couple of months. I'm wondering how many other posters on Dave's have developed their own course material (as a formal textbook or course packet). I'm guessing a high percentage have (at least to some degree).
Does anyone know of any resources on the web for the textbook development process? I've been looking on and off for the past couple of years and there doesn't seem to be much information out there. I've started my own blog on the subject but I'd love to get recommendations for other sites. To start the ball rolling I found a paper on �Universal Characteristics of EFL/ESL Textbooks: A Step Towards Systematic Textbook Evaluation� by Hasan Ansary and Esmat Babaii. You can find their article on iteslj.org at (http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ansary-Textbooks/)
For those that are in the planning (or development) phase of a textbook I made up a worksheet, based on some of Ansary and Babaii's results, that can be used to organize the overall aims and direction of your textbook. I've posted it on my blog here http://fontispublishing.com/textbook
Good luck in your textbook writing endeavors
Cheers
Last edited by ejmlab on Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SuperHero

Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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Myself and the_beaver have an outline prepared, a timeline, and several chapters complete. |
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Novernae
Joined: 02 Mar 2005
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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Your link is broken (both from here and on the main page). |
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ejmlab
Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Location: Pohang
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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@Novernae
Sorry about the broken link. I was messing around with the wordpress template (I didn't realize they were fragile) and I messed it up. I tried to fix it but ended up with an ungodly mess so I'm just re-uploading all of the posts now. Sorry about the gaff.
The new link for the Textbook Worksheet is
http://fontispublishing.com/textbook
Cheers
edit: corrected broken link
Last edited by ejmlab on Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:27 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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SuperHero

Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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Your RSS feed isn't working. First off you should turn on auto-discovery and then stop having it redirect to http://englishoncall.com/ |
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ejmlab
Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Location: Pohang
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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@Superhero
While I was trying to fix the mess that I made this morning I decided to reinstall the site. I reinstalled it to another one of my domains. So, now, after mucking about for the past hour I've moved it back to the original site and reposted the articles. All of this because I made a little change to the header image that caused the template to break. Yikes! Anyways, I appreciate the feedback. Hopefully, the site will work now.
Cheers |
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SuperHero

Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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autodiscovery is working and I subscribed to your feed. |
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dogshed

Joined: 28 Apr 2006
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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In Germany I bought a textbook for learning German. It was for all the adult immigrants. There was only German in the book. This way they could make one book for all the immigrants and the lack of another language actually made it easier to learn German in my opinion. I think I looked up a few words in my dictionary but mostly I learned through the examples and pictures in the book. I left it in Kansas so I don't have any information about it handy. -Jeff |
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Hotpants
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:31 am Post subject: |
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I've made up my own writing course textbooks, but they're heavily based on existing material. I think there is enough good material out there already. It's just a matter of trying to find it.
I did toy with the idea of making my own conversation English book. However, I reflected on the following points: There are some teachers out there, especially in universities who have books which have gone on national sale. Jazz English and Disscussion Topics for University Students are 2 examples which have wide distribution in Korea. (Also see the work of Andrew Finch from Kyungpook on his site). Initially, these books seemed like a good thing, but having used them, they didn't work that well for me for various reasons. It would seem that there is no possibility to make an end all textbook for English namely because of differing class types, and more importantly, I'm coming to recognize, is that as teachers we have certain preferences as to how and what to teach and that many existing textbooks are therefore to our dissatisfaction. There's also the issue of changing trends. Many 'new' textbooks look outmoded or have redundant articles and photos even before they hit the shops.
Having said that, any attempt to do something different is always welcome, and I'm sure that there will be those that will benefit from your endeavors. Perhaps you could use a site like lulu.com or cafepress.com to self-publish and distribute your work around the world if you can't find a conventional publisher to print your work. |
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ejmlab
Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Location: Pohang
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:57 am Post subject: |
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@hotpants
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It would seem that there is no possibility to make an end all textbook for English namely because of differing class types, and more importantly, I'm coming to recognize, is that as teachers we have certain preferences as to how and what to teach and that many existing textbooks are therefore to our dissatisfaction. There's also the issue of changing trends. Many 'new' textbooks look outmoded or have redundant articles and photos even before they hit the shops |
I couldn't agree with you more. I think the whole idea of individual teachers writing their own material (or collaborations between teachers in the same faculty) allows for the best match for any given teaching situation. I've published my own textbooks since 1998. My first textbook is in it's 4th edition and I currently publish a full color magazine bi-annually. I encourage other teachers to do the same.
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Perhaps you could use a site like lulu.com or cafepress.com to self-publish and distribute your work around the world if you can't find a conventional publisher to print your work. |
I think POD publishers like lulu.com are great for dispersed distribution but for concentrated distribution (ie. several hundred copies to one shipping destination) you're much better off going with local offset printers. Print costs are much cheaper and you get much faster turn around. I'm not looking to get rich or famous off of publishing ESL textbooks. I just want material that is suited to my students and can be used in a multi-level environment.
Thanks for the feedback. |
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Hotpants
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Please tell us more about your 'full-color magazine' ejmlab!
Do you think the students take in your magazine in earnest? I just ask because my school has an English language magazine which has to essentially get re-written by a native English instructor because the Korean reporters compiling the magazine do such a bad job. Then, when it's released (it's a free publication) there are not many students who take a copy, and even fewer who actually bother to read it. It seems like a lot of work has gone into producing something that reaches such a small audience.
Virtually every single darn lesson, I'm telling my students to read more widely, especially newspapers and magazines, but when I collate feedback at the end of the courses as to whether anyone has followed my advice, I get about 1% affirmative response. It seems the students are so entrenched in studying from these Korean produced TOEIC study guide books and nothing beyond.
I also know other teachers trying to do English weblogs with their students. Again, little response. Why? Koreans are too attached to the MiniHompi to consider other formats of web expression.
Getting students to be more pro-active in using material that I've taken the time to produce seems to be my biggest issue in my current job. |
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ejmlab
Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Location: Pohang
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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@hotpants
I hear what you're saying about getting students interested in the material you produce. I'll be honest, the majority of the material I produce is received with a pretty ho-hum attitude. Here's a sample page from the March 2006 edition that drew alot of attention from my students. You can guess why.
However, I do find that the medium (in this case non-linear, colorful and glossy) does help get the message across.
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Do you think the students take in your magazine in earnest? I just ask because my school has an English language magazine which has to essentially get re-written by a native English instructor because the Korean reporters compiling the magazine do such a bad job. Then, when it's released (it's a free publication) there are not many students who take a copy, and even fewer who actually bother to read it. It seems like a lot of work has gone into producing something that reaches such a small audience. |
My students don't give much of an "earnest" response to anything. However, I solve the problem of reaching the audience by working through the material in class. I also aim activities at multiple levels with different expectations for each level so that ALL students can take something from the content. Having said that, when I include content that specifically addresses their range of interests, the response is much more "provocative" then when I use dry material.
I hope this gives you a little insight into my process. |
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HapKi

Joined: 10 Dec 2004 Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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While I think Korea has an over abundance of intergrated skills EFL books (a trip to Kyobo or the others will show how hard it is to pick a coursebook), what I think is lacking in the Korean EFL field is 1 hour conversation based lessons for the college level (like the Lessons for Tired Teachers format). I've made so many of my own conversation activities through the years I'd really like to publish a book, as its an area that seems to not be represented.
An article on coursebook design and selection for the classroom
http://www.cal.org/resources/Digest/0210garinger.html
Also, Alan Cunningsworth has a very readable book called 'Choosing Your Coursebook", which looks at criteria in how to find or create the best materials for your class, as well as evaluate your existing materials |
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robot

Joined: 07 Mar 2006
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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good thread.
like many teachers i also write my own materials due to dissatisfaction with existing books.
totally agree with the idea that there's no one end-all book due to different teaching/learning styles.
i've got an excellent idea for an unexplored area of english language learning. outline done, classroom-tested material.
how should i proceed? i'm curious what others in this position are doing. i intend to use these books in class and at workshops, but they would be useful to intermediate students internationally.
if i seek a publishing deal instead of self-publishing, i guess i should look outside of korea, and do this soon before completing too much of the book, right?
i'm such an amateur with this kind of stuff. i've been taken advantage of in a contract with one textbook i wrote already, selling it all for a lump sum and no cut of sales, so i'm unsure how to proceed.
ROBT. |
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ejmlab
Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Location: Pohang
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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@Hapki
Thanks for the to "Textbook selection for the ESL Classroom". I've actually come across the article before and I agree that it's a good read for those developing course material. I think you should put your conversation materials together into a book. As you've stated it's difficult to find pure Conversation oriented texts. The one's out there are generally one level integrated skills textbooks that really don't target any specific learner.
@Robot
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i've got an excellent idea for an unexplored area of english language learning. outline done, classroom-tested material. |
If you've already got an outline and an assortment of tested material I think you're well on your way to developing your textbook. I recently made a post on my site on content creation from an outline (http://fontispublishing.com/textbook You're probably somewhat beyond the point described in my article but it might give you some insight into the way that I've developed in the past.
Beyond that, you'll probably want to move your content into a page layout application at some point to get the document ready for the printer. You can, however, use Word all the way to a print ready. I guess it just comes down to your comfort level with the software and software availability.
Once you've packaged a print ready document you can take it to a commercial printer to have it produced or, alternatively you could use lulu.com (or a variant) to POD your book.
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i've been taken advantage of in a contract with one textbook i wrote already, selling it all for a lump sum and no cut of sales, so i'm unsure how to proceed. |
Here's an article ( http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v86/k0503sew.htm ) on how the Big 4 Textbook publishers in the US have cornered the market and squeezed the author out of the equation. Pretty englightening information regarding the state of the industry and the status of writers.
I hope this helps.
Last edited by ejmlab on Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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