Criterion

Grade: 5/4/3/2/1

Comments (5 being the highest grade and 1 the lowest)

Originality

4

The most impressive thing about this new addition to the Collins English for Life series is the volume and variety of text types it contains. For example, learners will find: online-style classified shopping ads, guided walking tours, wedding invitations, poems, kitchen gadget warranties, cartoons and many other types of reading text. The author has included a large number of texts that appear to be taken from websites (some authentic, some probably not) to give the book an up-to-date, ‘for-the-kids’ feel. Also there are several units that focus on very practical, day-to-day issues (particularly in section 2 called ‘Production and service information’). Students can choose to do the units that are relevant to them as there is no need to follow the book in sequence (thankfully, as some learners may find some of the texts dull and uninspiring, e.g. unit 10 ‘Updates, traffic and weather information’).

There are useful ‘Reading tip’ boxes included in some units that give excellent advice about things to consider when reading a particular text type. In unit 3 ‘Online Forums – Looking for advice’, for example, learners are asked to ‘think about the writers’ attitudes to help you decide which advice to ‘trust’ when reading informal advice that people post online. The tip suggests the learner consider factors such as the length of the text and the tone in order to establish the validity of the advice given by the different people.

‘Language note’ boxes make learners aware of grammatical aspects of the texts such as how homophones are used in jokes (p90) and how the ‘type of language used when making requests reflects the social position of the sender and recipient’ (p14).

Practicality

5

English for Life Skills: Reading B2+ is straightforward for B2 students to use without the support of a teacher and has clear instructions, an answer key and also a mini-dictionary with some of the idioms and phrasal verbs mentioned in each unit. Students don’t require another book or CD-Rom to use the material and it is a handy, portable size and weight to study outside school or when on the move.

Additional information and advice is given in four appendices that include suggestions on how to improve reading speed and other study tips. Some of these are useful or practical but others are less enlightening, for example this tip from a section titled ‘using the internet’ on p102:

“The quantity of information can sometimes be overwhelming, so use search engines to help you to find the correct page” (Thanks for that…)

Although the book is designed for self study there are free online teacher resources available with plans and suggestions for how to develop the material for use in the classroom.

Presentation

4

The book benefits from a modern-looking, tasteful design that its shares with the other books in the English for Life series. Having such a wide range of text types helps to make the book more visually interesting and appealing because of the contrasts. There are maps, photos, sections of web pages, hand-written letters and so on which help to make the 20 units less repetitive.

Overall rating

4

What outstanding strengths/ weaknesses do you feel this title possesses?

Strengths

• Range of functions and variety of text types
• Focus on reading skills (e.g. skimming, guessing meaning of vocabulary from context, etc.)
• Useful reading tips and advice
• Excellent for exam students who need to improve their reading
• Some units are very practical and are helpful for understanding the meaning in texts that learners may encounter in their every day lives (e.g. warning labels, operating instructions)

Weaknesses

• The content of some of the reading texts may not be interesting for all students. Just four units out of twenty come under the section called ‘Reading for pleasure’, which may tell you something about how pleasurable the texts in the other sections must be to read.

On which courses do you envisage being able to use this material?

It is most appropriate for someone who needs to improve his or her reading skills to prepare for an exam such as Cambridge First (FCE) and wants extra self-study practice. I can imagine the book would also be suitable for people with a B2 level of English living in an English-speaking country to help them understand some of the many texts that they could encounter in their daily lives.

The book could be used to supplement general English courses at B2 level and above and on Cambridge exam preparation courses.

Other comments

The Collins English for Life: Skills series has separate books for speaking, reading, writing and listening at three levels A2, B1+ and B2+.