Criterion

Grade: 5/4/3/2/1

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

Originality/

Content

4.5

For a new coursebook to come onto the market and break up the holy trinity of leading EFL coursebooks – namely English File, Headway and Cutting Edge – it needs to be something a little bit different and a little bit special. But that’s exactly what Speakout has done since being first published in 2012. By no means is it a revolutionary course, but what course is in this day and age? Instead it seems to have learnt from its forbears, taking all the best bits, developing them, making them better and adding its own unique features and flavour. What this means in practical terms is that we end up with a very well-rounded, balanced, fresh and enjoyable book, from both a teacher’s and student’s perspective.

So, what makes Speakout such a good coursebook? It might sound obvious given its name, but Speakout has a lot of speaking. Wherever possible speaking tasks are incorporated into the lessons and are very often at the heart of the lesson. Every language input lesson has speaking tasks, each DVD lesson is coupled with a speakout task, the functional language lessons are all about communication, while the majority of the supplementary tasks in the Teacher’s Book are communicatively based. Thus it’s clear to see that communication and the communicative approach are at the heart of the Speakout.

In terms of content it, has what all coursebooks of this ilk have – a topic-based syllabus, with integrated language input – but its advantage is that it is more up to date while attempting to take the topics on from a different angle. So, while topics such as Identity, Jobs, Success and World (Intermediate) and Issues, Stories, Media and Culture (Upper Intermediate) are generally familiar ones, the content of the units is refreshingly new. For example Stories, (Upper Intermediate, Unit 4,) has lessons titled And the Moral Is… and A Life In Six Words while Media (Upper Int, Unit 7) has Best of the Beeb and The News That Wasn’t and News Blunders. The lessons are well balanced, with grammar and vocabulary always well contextualised and integrated with the audio and written input. In doing so it takes an inductive/guided discovery approach to learning and development wherever possible and this is absolutely the right approach for this level. So, noticing/analysing tasks are followed by controlled and freer, communicative practice activities, allowing students to get to grips with the target language and allowing them to use it in a productive fashion.

The texts are interesting and wherever possible in keeping with the course outline – authentic. In this respect many of the texts are taken from the BBC and cover a variety of genres. So whether it’s reading articles about Comic Relief (Upper Int, 2.1) The World’s Worst Invention (Upper Int, 5.1) and Conspiracy Theories (Int, 2.2), TV listings about The Apprentice and The Real Hustle (Int 4.3, Upper Int 9.2) or news items (Int 2.2, Upper Int 8.1) and web content (Int 8.2 + 9.4), they are designed to replicate what students might encounter in the real world. Similarly, the tasks that accompany them also aim to replicate authentic purposes of reading. There aren’t just comprehension questions and gapfills, but summary and reading for specific information tasks as well as tasks encouraging students to react to and comment on texts. A coursebook is never entirely authentic by its very nature, but Speakout does its best to replicate authenticity at every turn. The same goes for the audio content too. As well as the DVD lessons and podcasts (more on these in a moment), audio is also drawn from BBC radio extracts at the Upper Intermediate level (You and Yours 1.1, Traveller’s Tree 3.2, Today 4.2), as well as scripted listenings. These are exploited with a variety of tasks including note-taking tasks as well as comprehension and listening for detail activities. More often than not the listenings are quite long, thus challenging students and with good language input. Certainly the students are able to develop their listening skills.

However, for all this, where Speakout really excels, and what sets it apart from its competitors, is with the DVD content, which takes on a two-pronged attack. The headlines are righty reserved for the BBC content, which is a real feather in the cap for the series – the BBC being the standard bearer for quality. All too often, many series produce badly acted, non-authentic DVD content, but this isn’t case with Speakout. The authors have clearly gone through hours and hours of BBC programming to select the most engaging material possible. These range from the travel and adventure of Bruce Parry’s Tribe (Intermediate, Unit 8), the comedy of Gavin & Stacey (Intermediate, Unit 4), documentaries (How to Live to 101, Upper Int, Unit 6, The Human Animal Upper Int, Unit 8, The Virtual Revolution, Intermediate, Unit 3), the thrills and spills of Top Gear (Int, Unit 5), all the way to the classic BBC costume dramas of Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Upper Intermediate, Unit 4). Plus everything in between. What’s all the more impressive is the way these materials are exploited and linked to speaking (speakout) and writing (writeback) activities, thus making the most of the input material. For example the DVD lesson for 50 Things To Do Before You Die (Upper Int, Unit 3), is followed up by a speakout task focussing on students giving recommendations on things to do and try and a writeback task asking students to write about a special experience for a web forum.

As good as the BBC content is, though, it is the podcasts (once you’ve found them tucked away at the end of each unit in the Lookback section) which really help make Speakout stand out. Taking a camcorder onto the streets of London and interviewing people on various topics - greatest achievements (Intermediate, unit 7), what makes a good flatmate (Upper Intermediate, Unit 1), behaviour that gets on your nerves (Upper Intermediate, unit 8) - might not sound like rocket-science, but what it does is provide students with genuinely authentic, unscripted input, complete with ums, errs, accents, glottal stops and ‘real’ language which is so lacking in coursebooks. More than that, it provides a real challenge for students. With excellent accompanying worksheets and plenty of possibilities for follow-up work (eg student own vox-pops) it is a standalone lesson of the highest quality, even if at first glance it looks only like a footnote on the page. In this respect Speakout further succeeds in its stated aim of bringing the real, authentic, world into the classroom.

Where Speakout also impresses is with the ActiveTeach CD-ROM that comes with every student’s book – from a student’s perspective having access to all the audio and video content from the book is a real bonus, especially when it comes to self-study and reviewing classes. As a classroom tool it can also add some extra zing to the class and can help with a change of focus, while the Teachers’ ActiveTeach has further functionality, including the ability to add weblinks and extra activities, for use with IWBs. It also includes some fun little vocabulary games such as Pelmanism and Noughts & Crosses to help add a further dimension to lessons.

Practicality/

Functionality

5

As a coursebook, Speakout works well, using an appropriate methodology which ensures student learning and development. Each lesson links well, making it easy for students to follow and for teachers to teach. In other words, it’s well put together. The opening page of each unit details the aims and content of the unit and this is followed by two language input lessons, delivered through listenings and readings, with the target language integrated well. The Vocabulary and Language Banks are well signposted and are just the sort of thing students want – detailed grammar explanations, plenty of practice and lots of vocabulary, presented in a visually stimulating way. These are then followed by a functional language lesson and the BBC DVD lesson complete with follow-up speaking and writing tasks. Rounding off each unit is a Lookback, review-style lesson, complete with the aforementioned Podcast lesson. It all runs smoothly and is well organised. Throughout the units are also a number of Speakout Tip boxes, offering extra information and advice on all areas of English use as well as study skills, offering further practicality to the course for students.

As a teacher Speakout has pretty much all you could wish for – certainly teachers should never have cause to complain that there isn’t enough to do, rather the opposite. Were that to be possible. One common complaint from teachers is that there is never enough grammar practice, but with a well-stocked Language Bank at the back of the book, plus additional controlled and freer practice activities in the Teachers’ Book, this really isn’t an issue. Indeed the Teachers’ Book offers excellent support with extra ideas, optional extra activities and homework ideas as well as a generous number of additional worksheets for each unit (2 x Vocabulary, 2 x Grammar, 1 x Functional Language). These worksheets are generally very communicative, getting students to actively use the target language, thus furthering the course’s credentials in encouraging spoken production at every opportunity. Importantly, it also tells you when to use them, something which isn’t always clear with some courses.

Other additional support comes in the form of extra downloadable explicit writing lessons (www.pearsonlongman.com/speakout/), audio and video scripts in Word format for further exploitation and comprehensive unit and end of book tests. Soon enough you realise that Speakout is a teacher’s dream. The accompanying Workbook, though industry standard, offers good further controlled practice for grammar and vocabulary development as well as additional reading and listening tasks. Very simply put, the materials are all there to make a teacher’s life very straight forward, it’s just up to the teacher how to best exploit and develop them. As with all Pearson titles, it can also be further linked to MyEnglishlab for extra materials and practice, with teachers able to set additional tasks online.

Presentation

5

As a coursebook, Speakout just feels fresh – and this isn’t just an illusion created by the brightly coloured covers. Once you open the books its clear to see that the course makes excellent use of photography, especially on the DVD lesson pages. It’s bright, engaging and stimulating. The accompanying ActiveBook (in all students’ books) and ActiveTeach CD-ROMs only further to highlight this – allowing the teacher to bring the book out of the book and onto the IWB. The pages are never crammed with information and are therefore not overbearing – the swathes of grammar rules and practice activities are saved for the more densely packed Language Banks – thus giving it a visually motivating feel.

Conclusions and Comparisons

At BSC Bournemouth we’ve used the series several times, and although not perfect (what books is?) each time it receives very positive feedback from students and teachers alike. From a student perspective it’s easily accessible, with good, interesting, up-to-date topics for them to get involved in. All the while it provides an excellent balance of skills and systems so that students really feel like they’re improving all areas of their English. From a teacher’s point of few, it’s very supportive and engaging. It’s easy for a newly qualified CELTA recruit to ‘pick up and go’ and refreshing enough for even the most jaded TEFL ‘lifer’ to rediscover the joy of teaching.

In this respect it certainly rivals, even exceeds, the more established titles such as English File, Headway and Cutting Edge, (probably its most direct competitors in terms of structure, content and target market,) and certainly it takes full advantage of being the new kid on the block with lots of up-to-date content. As such there is a real freshness about it which other titles on their second, third and fourth editions just don’t have. With all its features and additional components Speakout makes all the right noises and should rightly be seen as one of the leading courses presently on the market. The DVD content helps distance it from its rivals and with all that in mind, it’s a series which we are confident in using and it is one title that is firmly ensconced in our yearly programme.

Overall rating

4.5

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

+

BBC DVD Content and linked lessons

Podcasts, full of authentic language

Up-to-date, interesting content

Lots of supplementary and support material

Lots of speaking practice

Vocabulary, Photo and Language Banks which are clear and useful

Authenticity of content

-

Functional language section – not always inspiring

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

Speakout is a series that is ideal for young adult or adult general English courses and one which would satisfy the vast majority of students given its content, range and balance of skills systems.

Other comments

Don’t be fooled by the footnote look of the podcasts – they’re a great additional resource.

Use the ActiveTeach CD-ROM for a change of focus and some games and activities.