As the population of non-native English speakers rises in the United States, so too does the need for effective English language instruction, and with that, effective instructional materials. With a growing population of adult English language learners with below basic prose literacy, the need for effective adult English language literacy instruction is also evident. Because people do not use one skill at a time, this project evaluates the reading materials in two adult English language integrated skills textbooks from major publishers of ESL materials in order to provide insight into the preparation of effective integrated skills textbooks designed for adult ELLs. Reading lessons from five units from each book are evaluated in terms of physical description of the activities, the required actions for each activity, and assumptions made about the underlying reasoning behind the creation of each activity. Results found strengths in regards to visual appeal and coherence. Results also found room for improvement in regard to decision-making by students in the classroom, use of students’ intelligence, cultural understanding, and critical language awareness. Recommendations are giving for improving the lessons and evaluating further materials.
","abstract_html":"<p>As the population of non-native English speakers rises in the United States, so too does the need for effective English language instruction, and with that, effective instructional materials. With a growing population of adult English language learners with below basic prose literacy, the need for effective adult English language literacy instruction is also evident. Because people do not use one skill at a time, this project evaluates the reading materials in two adult English language integrated skills textbooks from major publishers of ESL materials in order to provide insight into the preparation of effective integrated skills textbooks designed for adult ELLs. Reading lessons from five units from each book are evaluated in terms of physical description of the activities, the required actions for each activity, and assumptions made about the underlying reasoning behind the creation of each activity. Results found strengths in regards to visual appeal and coherence. Results also found room for improvement in regard to decision-making by students in the classroom, use of students’ intelligence, cultural understanding, and critical language awareness. Recommendations are giving for improving the lessons and evaluating further materials.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["McVanner, Ingrid"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"International and Multicultural Education (IME)","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:50Z","subjects":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/106","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["McVanner, Ingrid"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-09-16T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["International and Multicultural Education (IME)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/106"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["As the population of non-native English speakers rises in the United States, so too does the need for effective English language instruction, and with that, effective instructional materials. With a growing population of adult English language learners with below basic prose literacy, the need for effective adult English language literacy instruction is also evident. Because people do not use one skill at a time, this project evaluates the reading materials in two adult English language integrated skills textbooks from major publishers of ESL materials in order to provide insight into the preparation of effective integrated skills textbooks designed for adult ELLs. Reading lessons from five units from each book are evaluated in terms of physical description of the activities, the required actions for each activity, and assumptions made about the underlying reasoning behind the creation of each activity. Results found strengths in regards to visual appeal and coherence. Results also found room for improvement in regard to decision-making by students in the classroom, use of students’ intelligence, cultural understanding, and critical language awareness. Recommendations are giving for improving the lessons and evaluating further materials.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Teaching Reading As An Integrated Skill: An Evaluation of Two Popular ESL Textbooks"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["McVanner, Ingrid"],"dc:date.available":["2014-09-16T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["As the population of non-native English speakers rises in the United States, so too does the need for effective English language instruction, and with that, effective instructional materials. With a growing population of adult English language learners with below basic prose literacy, the need for effective adult English language literacy instruction is also evident. Because people do not use one skill at a time, this project evaluates the reading materials in two adult English language integrated skills textbooks from major publishers of ESL materials in order to provide insight into the preparation of effective integrated skills textbooks designed for adult ELLs. Reading lessons from five units from each book are evaluated in terms of physical description of the activities, the required actions for each activity, and assumptions made about the underlying reasoning behind the creation of each activity. Results found strengths in regards to visual appeal and coherence. Results also found room for improvement in regard to decision-making by students in the classroom, use of students’ intelligence, cultural understanding, and critical language awareness. Recommendations are giving for improving the lessons and evaluating further materials.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/106"],"dc:subject":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education"],"dc:title":["Teaching Reading As An Integrated Skill: An Evaluation of Two Popular ESL Textbooks"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["International and Multicultural Education (IME)"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:50Z"}