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Review - Outcomes Intermediate Second Edition

Category: Adult Coursebooks

Title: Outcomes Intermediate Second Edition

Author(s): Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley

Publisher: National Geographic Learning

Reviewed by: Alex Warren

Published date: 2015 - Review date: November 2015

Overall rating: 

 

Criterion      5 Star Rating         

Originality (3.5)        

How original can a second edition really be? That’s the question when looking at any course that’s been deemed worthy enough of a second outing. So, is this one of those second editions which has 80% the same content with a few updated readings and listenings, or a completely new reimagining, with all new content? Or somewhere in between?

The first edition of Outcomes had a reputation for being somewhat on the dry side, but this edition looks to address that issue head on. In a nutshell what this new edition does is take all the best bits from the previous edition, namely a strong language focus, and repackage it with an all new look, a smattering of new readings and listenings and brand new video content. In doing so a more rounded and all the more gratifying course is created. There’s no doubt that the authors have taken full advantage of Cengage’s partnership with National Geographic Learning (why wouldn’t they?) and used their resources to such an extent that in many ways it now more closely resembles stable-mate Life. Importantly, however, it still very much retains its own identity.

So, what’s new? First of all, the ‘look’, but more on that later. Suffice to say that it now looks like a course that ‘looks’ more interesting and therefore more motivating. Content wise, there’s a fairly even split of old and new, especially with regards the receptive skills areas of reading and listening. The grammar syllabus remains essentially the same as before, covering all the expected grammatical areas for this level, while the vocabulary input has also been updated rather than re-written. The writing bank at the back of the book also remains virtually the same, save for a couple of changes, covering story writing, formal emails, reviews and essay writing among others. However, the fact that these input areas were a strength of the original edition means it continues this tradition, only in an updated manner.

Culturally this second edition seems to have become more global – there is no reliance on popular or western culture, more an effort to educate and broaden horizons through English. It is very much a world view that is being addressed in this respect. This is evident through the visuals as well as texts and video content. With regards the reading tasks, we are treated to texts on disaster tourism around the world, (Intermediate Unit 3,) terrible jobs around the world, (Intermediate Unit 5,) world food, (Intermediate Unit 8,) nights out around the world (Intermediate Unit 10) and gamers from around the world (Intermediate Unit 14). You get the picture. However, it also deals with world issues, including housing (Intermediate Unit 9) and immigration and refugees (Intermediate Unit 13). In including these topics in this way it seems to be encouraging students to reflect on their place in the world and how their views and those of their country fit in. Indeed, more often than not there is ample opportunity for reflection, personalisation and critical thinking in activities linked to the reading tasks and in this respect there is plenty of opportunity for communication.

An area that has been updated and which gives the course some originality is the ‘Conversation Practice’ activity at the end of first lesson of each unit. On the face of it, it just looks like a normal freer personalisation activity for the students and if you so wish, that’s all it needs to be. However, slip in the DVD, download the worksheets and suddenly you have much more than a quick five-minute activity to end the class. The video has two students role-playing the scenario as an example and the worksheets have accompanying activities, including standard comprehension questions, a video script gap fill, a pronunciation focus and a ‘karaoke’ role-play task. “What’s a karaoke role play?” you might well ask. Well, it works in tandem with a second version of the model role play, where certain parts of the dialogue are muted out, but comes complete with subtitles and bouncing ball, a la karaoke. The students then follow along, joining in when prompted. This might sound a bit ambitious (or even a bit wacky) but my students really enjoyed doing this and found it helpful for when they came to do the task for themselves. Speaking to them they said it helped give them a structure for the conversation, as well as confidence in what they needed to do.

There is also new DVD content, so as well as exploiting the National Geographic pictorial archives, it has also raided the video archives for some input. In this respect we are taken on a journey around the world, from the Masai in New York (Unit 2) and Abu Simbel in Egypt (Unit 4) to the science of air pollution tracking (unit 14) and the secrets of bee therapy (Unit 16). Each is a standalone lesson with good before, during and after tasks with a strong communicative focus, thus making it a strong addition to the course. Also included in these lessons is an ‘Understanding Fast Speech’ section which is based around playing the audio at normal pace as well as a slowed down version to help with pauses and sentence stress. It’s certainly something different and unique and once your students buy into it can be quite interesting, especially as an awareness raising activity.

Practicality 4 stars

The format of the course is the same as before, with the syllabus set over 16 different units. The benefit of 16 units is that there’s a greater variety of topics covered, thus a wider range of vocabulary which it is able to focus on strongly. Starting with a visual input and speaking double-page spread, each unit has three distinct language input and skills lessons with their own title (eg Unit 14 on Technology has lessons called My Computer Hates Me, Games People Play and It’s a Neat Gadget). This makes the lessons more distinct and easier to plan from a teacher’s perspective. Throughout the course the texts and the listenings are well exploited for language, providing good context for vocabulary and grammar development. There are plenty of noticing tasks with an inductive learning approach preferred in the main, thus ensuring a very much student-focussed approach. Just as pleasingly there is also plenty of recycling of language throughout each unit and the course as a whole, thus aiding the learning, retention of and development of the target language. This is evident especially through the number of speaking tasks scattered across each unit, making Outcomes very much a communicative course.  

Every second unit there is an additional video lesson as well as a review page of the previous two units which focuses on testing grammar and vocabulary. This works better than the more ‘gamesy’ review section from the first edition, which appeared only after every four units. However, as the review focuses on language systems rather than skills, it lacks any connection to CEFR Can Do statements which might have been useful to help students assess their own development. The writing lessons come at the back of the book in the form of a writing bank as before which, depending on your persuasion, can be seen in both a positive or negative light. Does putting it at the back of the book really help with the image of writing being the so-called Cinderella Skill? Regardless of that they are good solid lessons, with grammar and vocabulary input aiding the product writing approach.

With regards the Teacher’s Book, while it doesn’t have the wealth of resources in terms of additional grammar, communication and vocabulary activities that other courses have, (it only has one additional activity per unit,) there is a decent amount of additional material available via the website (www.ngl.cengage.com/outcomes). Several of these are akin to the review page input from the previous edition and include a selection of vocabulary and grammar revision games, dictation tasks, unit quizzes, pronunciation worksheets, learner training tasks as well as the worksheets for the conversation practice lessons. You can also stream all the video content from here and download Word versions of the reading texts and audio and video scripts for further exploitation. Taking all that into account there is plenty of extra for the teacher to exploit, so long as they are willing to make the effort to download it all.

Materials aside, the Teacher’s Book itself is very supportive of the teacher. In this respect it seems to have taken a leaf out of courses like Straightforward, which not only supports teachers but looks to help them develop too. With that in mind then, as well as the usual optional extra activities, there is also a wealth of Teacher Development sections dotted throughout. These cover areas as varied as using dictionaries, correcting, feedback, back chaining, listening for chunks, justifying answers, using concept checking questions, setting up role plays, organising pair and group work as well as using different language games. From a practical point of view this can be really helpful for all teachers, especially those fresh of a CELTA course in need of all the help and support they can get. Also hidden at the back are the requisite end-of-unit-tests which focus on grammar and vocabulary and are quite thorough in this respect with a variety of different activity types. However, having them in editable Word format would have been beneficial. That said, as an addition to this there is also the ExamViewer software which allows teachers to create exams and online tests. It’s intuitive and easy to use and allows teachers to focus tests on specific language points as deemed necessary.

For the students there are also two websites available for extra practice activities. First of all there is the Outcomes webpage (www.ngl.cengage.com/outcomes) where they can find three vocabulary sections. There’s a downloadable PDF Vocabulary Builder for every unit which provides dictionary details on all the words in that unit, plus a selection of activities split into different sections, including word families, prepositions, phrasal verbs and collocations. However, this has essentially taken over from the Vocabulary Builder that was previously found at the back of the Student’s Book as a like for like replacement. Then there’s an Interactive Vocabulary Builder which allows students to build their own personalised wordlists (essentially an online vocab book) and finally a Test Your Vocab feature. This allows students to test themselves on any words, from any page, from any unit, from any level. This is very much a case of repetition, repetition, repetition in a bid to help students not only to learn but know the words they come across in the course; and for those students motivated enough it is a useful tool.

That merely acts as an aperitif for the additional online self-study material available via the publishers’ myELT VLE portal. The online content is of a high standard and complements the coursebook really well. All the listenings, readings and videos from the main course are available with additional activities, thus further exploiting the materials. There are of course plenty of additional grammar and vocabulary activities, which take on the form of gap fills and drag and drop activities. There are also additional activities using the Conversation Practice videos and more impressively pronunciation activities where students can listen to models and then record themselves to compare which is a really nice little feature. What’s more there is also access to the Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary, which is a whole world of learning by itself. The only catch is that it’s American English. As well as a standard dictionary it includes word webs and picture dictionary content, a thesaurus, grammar explanations and an activity guide organised under word umbrellas. It’s certainly a handy little addition. Equally course tutors can access it with an instructor’s account where you can set assignments, monitor student progress, even identify areas of weaknesses. Best of all it means there’s less marking to do. All in all it’s a very thorough and user friendly system and a useful component.

The final component of the course is the Workbook and as workbooks go it’s pretty decent. There’s a good amount of additional grammar practice as well as vocabulary development activities, including a vocabulary quiz which links to the downloadable Vocabulary Builder for each unit. There’s also a substantial reading task as well as further Developing Conversations and Developing Writing sections. This allayed to the online content means that there is plenty to keep students busy.

Presentation    4.5 stars

For all the changes in the content, it is the presentation of this new edition which is the most noticeable and striking change. Just looking at the cover suggests a change in direction. Gone is the somewhat dry look and in its place we have a kaleidoscope of colour through inspirational and thought-provoking photographs. Clearly the link with National Geographic Learning and its database of photographic material has breathed new life into the series and this has been incorporated well throughout the books. With each unit starting with a double page photograph plus speaking task, students are automatically drawn in and (hopefully) inspired in regards the theme of the unit. For visual students this provides real motivation and it continues across the units, with good use of relevant photographs to support and break up the input and practice material. This really suits the more adult appeal of the course.

The spreads are generally well laid out, even when photos aren’t used and there is a lot of information. While some pages do come across as very text and content heavy, good use is made of headers to signpost the different stages of the lesson. Colour shading and box-outs also help to split the information up, thus making it more accessible to the student. The only area that really suffers is the Grammar Reference section at the back of the book. It is a stream of grammatical information and practice which becomes somewhat of a blur the longer you look at it. However, this is only a minor issue (and it is after all a grammar reference section) and doesn’t detract from the overall presentation of the course. It’s well-organised, well-designed and visually stimulating for students.

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

Strengths

  • A more adult course than others and one with very much a global flavour
  • Good use of authentic video content
  • There is a strong language systems focus, with a good mix of skills
  • A good writing bank. The writing lessons constitute full lessons and a range of skills and input, not just an after-thought
  • The Conversation Practice videos can work really well with the right class
  • Good online support for students and teachers

Weaknesses

  • The Grammar Reference section needs to be more user-friendly and needs an irregular verb chart
  • While there is lots of authentic reading, the same isn’t true of the listening material, which lets it down a little
  • Lack of photocopiables in the Teacher’s Book

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

Outcomes’ strength is in its clear identity as a general English course aimed at 18+ adults. However, with a strong language focus and with a good range of skills tasks, specifically writing, it could also be used as an introduction to Cambridge First with some activities replicated, specifically in the Review lessons at the end of every second unit.

Other comments

Overall, this is clearly an improvement on the previous edition and as such is a very well-rounded course. It has all the components that you would hope for in a course, whilst having its own identity and enough original features to make it an attractive choice on any general English course, regardless of teaching context.

© Copyright BEBC REVIEW PANEL 2015 – this review may be reproduced but only with this acknowledgement