Textbook Projects

Tips for Starting a Textbook Project

The following list of "dos and don'ts" are based on previous projects implemented in the region

DOs

• Involve your SPELT trainer(s) and fellow(s) in the project from start to finish. If SPELT trainer(s) and fellows(s) become seriously/heavily involved in helping to facilitate the many inter-workings of a textbook writing project and offering training workshops for textbook authors, their schedules should be adjusted to accommodate this additional work.
• Familiarize yourself with the textbooks that are in circulation. Ask your SPELT fellow(s) and trainer(s) to acquaint themselves with international textbooks available in British Council and USIS libraries. Fellow(s) and trainer(s) need not intensively evaluate the texts, but review them enough to have some knowledge of their content. In this way we hope to monitor the authenticity of locally generated EFL course books and other materials. Please note that, in fostering local textbook production and publication, it is of great importance for the foundations and OSI not to be associated with any kind of plagiarism or violation of copyright.
• Assess/know what the needs are concerning new and current teaching material. Identify the textbook "target audience" - who the textbooks are for (i.e. secondary school students, university students). Take pains to see to it that the new texts will be widely accepted and in accordance with the teachers’ and the students’ interests, as well as with teachers’ professional abilities.
• Ask your SPELT trainers and fellows to make an elaborate teacher training curriculum and schedule that may start simultaneously with the textbook writing project. Request that SPELT fellows/trainers "test" the materials for the new textbook as they are being produced.
• Ask OSI-Mongolia to send you copies of the Mongolian textbooks recently published (and assisted by OSI-Mongolia). Ask for copies of the Romanian textbook series—consider contacting Ruxandra Popovici (Textbook Project Manager) at the British Council in Romania who is a consultant and workshop leader, ruxandra.popovici@britishcouncil.ro. In addition, you may want to contact OSI-Uzbekistan whose ELP and SPELT trainers have worked with the British Council and ministry on textbooks for secondary schools.
• Know/select the publisher in advance so that requirements, extent of artistic freedom/license, design, and copyright policies are known up front. The publisher should work with the team of textbook authors from the beginning and have expertise in layout, design, copyright, promotion, and distribution.
• Have the collaboration with the ministry clearly defined in writing so that setting unreasonable deadlines may be avoided, and more importantly, so that your foundation and SPELT fellows/trainers may have a deciding word in the selection of textbook author teams.
• Strategize and, if possible, find financial and collaborative partners for the project, putting together a realistic narrative and budget proposal for the project so that it is clear that the project is well-thought-out. Obtain approval (and hopefully financial support as well) from your local ministry and liaise with officials in charge of curriculum design and national examination in the planning stages of the project. Ask other organizations in the EFL field (e.g. schools in different regions) to support the textbook project.
• OSI should be involved in the selection of writers and in the decision as to who will oversee the work that they do. Put together an OSI committee to interview the selected textbook authors. Your committee may consist of yourself, SPELT fellows and teacher trainers, representatives from other international organizations in the EFL field (e.g. British Council), etc. If your committee finds out that anyone of the selected authors is not up to the level of the task, revise the team before continuing with the project.
• Selected textbook authors should be exceptional EFL teachers or specialists with a strong command of English, as well as those who have had training in methodology, team building skills, computers, and material development. They should also have a clear understanding as to why the new texts are needed.
• If selected textbook writers need training, ask your SPELT teacher trainer(s) and/or other international partners to coordinate this.
• Make sure the team writers work well together and have a clear and good understanding of the requirements of team work.
• Textbook writers should brainstorm and think about/discuss things like - what they would like their students to be able to do after studying/using the book, the textbooks in circulation now: likes/dislikes, the format of the textbook, designing lessons, choice of topics, etc.
• Carefully consider the choice of the writing team coordinators. They should have solid methodological knowledge, professionalism, and personal skills to enable them to gain the appreciation and respect of the whole team, organize work, advise with the materials and participate actively in the writing of the textbook.
• The material included in the book should be original. If you’re considering using material that is not original, make sure permission to use material from other sources is granted and properly referenced. Be cautious and check to make sure, because of your involvement in the project, that there is no violation of copyrights (e.g. using material from published EFL materials) as this could not only be potentially very embarrassing, but a legal problem.
• Liaise with publishing editors and get help with copyright clearance for the illustrations and authentic materials you would like to have included.
• The local textbook writers need to be given a reasonable amount of time off to accomplish and be compensated for their work on the project.
• Decide with SPELT trainer(s), fellow(s), textbook writers, the committee, and the publisher on a realistic timeframe. Set goals for completing each phase of the project.
• Ask a native speaker to proofread the text(s) for spelling, grammar, cultural references, and accuracy.
• Have teachers "test" the new materials in the classroom prior to including them in the final draft o f the textbook. This is important because many things that look good in a textbook do not actually work in the classroom.
• Make sure a plan is made for distribution of the books, so that targeted schools, teachers and students will be able to use and afford them.
• Train teachers in the country in using the new books, as the books are being written. Do not wait for the books to be published to start teacher training.
• Organize a piloting stage in that teachers have a clear understanding of what they need to do to pilot the texts/present the lessons and how to do it, and students have a clear understanding of their tasks/lessons to learn.

DON'Ts

• Don’t forget to include your SPELT trainer(s) and fellow(s) in the project from the beginning.
• Don’t proceed with a textbook project that is not approved by the local education authorities.
• Don’t endorse any team writers who do not, or a project that does not, support the methodological principles that OSI’s ELP is trying to implement.
• The appointment of the textbook writers should not be made by a single person, organization, or local ministry, but by a committee of different specialists in the EFL field such as OSI, the ministry, SPELT fellows and trainers, and other EFL specialists.
• The selection of textbook writers should not be based on academic credentials or local popular awards they have earned.
• The majority of project work should not be done by writers of the team at home by themselves, or individually without consultation with other members of the team.
• Do not violate copyrights (i.e. using material from published EFL materials) as this could not only be potentially very embarrassing, but a legal problem. Textbook activities should not be taken directly from seminars given because a lot of the content of seminars and workshops is not original, but from published materials. If you use any published work that is not original, do not neglect to obtain permission from the publisher and author, written authorization, and reference the work in a bibliography or footnote.
• Don’t set unrealistic deadlines or sacrifice quality by hurrying to meet a delivery date.
• Do not wait for the books to be published to start teacher training. Train teachers in the country in using the new books, as the books are being written.