April 2007 Volume 3 Issue 1
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Article Title
    Innovating the Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course with Discourse Analysis

Author
Theron Muller

Bio Data
Theron Muller is co-owner of Noah Learning Center in Nagano City, Japan. His research interests include task-based learning and the effects of culture on communication. He received his MA from the University of Birmingham, UK and is an editor on The Language Teacher and the Asian ESP Journal. He can be contacted at theron@theronmuller.com

Abstract
This paper concerns itself with adaptation of the Longman Preparation Series for the TEOIC Test: Advanced course for use in a communicative classroom by applying principles of written discourse analysis to the contents of the text in order to create communicative materials.

Key words
TOEIC preparation course, curriculum innovation, adapting textbooks

Introduction
In this paper I will consider an innovation of the Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course (Lougheed 1996a) using discourse analysis (DA).  When I began teaching using the text at a private language school in July of 2003, I immediately encountered problems, evidenced through student feedback that described the book as “difficult” and “boring”.  Having already purchased the text and studied with it for several months with another teacher, the students were reluctant to try another book, so I innovated the text to increase student motivation and interest.  In innovating the course, I adapted the text for DA.

There are two dimensions to modern DA, spoken and written.  Spoken DA analyzes natural, spoken conversations.  An example of a spoken DA is Cunningham’s (2001) analysis of movie dialogues, where she examines patterns imbedded in the interactions between different characters.  Written DA concerns the patterns apparent in written samples of natural language, which is also interactive (Moon and Caldas-Coulthard 2000: 9).

The entire Longman book is a written discourse, as even the listening materials are scripted, so spoken DA applications are not relevant.  However, written DA may be appropriate, because even though the Longman course consists of contrived texts and contexts, the artificial contexts must be communicated for a given problem to make sense, so those contrived contexts may exhibit patterns of organization similar to communicatively generated texts. 

Before applying written DA, a definition and explanation of DA is necessary.  Section 1 will present the findings of written DA, Section 2 will offer a justification for analyzing the Longman course using DA, Section 3 will offer an evaluation of the Longman course and how it incorporates DA, and Section 4 will offer suggestions for possible innovations of the textbook.

1                The Findings of Written Discourse Analysis
Johns (2001:102) noted that successful ESL and EFL readers have a tendency to keep the overall picture of the text in mind and not get lost in details, while unsuccessful readers concentrate on each unknown lexical item, often reaching for their dictionary when they are unsure of a word’s meaning.  The make-up of the overall text is dependent on the words used in its construction, meaning that a successful discourse in English both transmits the author’s message and signposts itself as to what has already come, and what will be said later in the text (Winter 2001: 47).  Such signposting reveals patterns of consistencies within texts, although the traditional grammatical unit, the sentence, helps little to indicate how one sentence may relate to adjoining sentences (Winter, 2001). 

In attempting to define the workings of English beyond the sentence, DA has offered four major insights into the structure of discourse: patterning, clause relations, cohesion, and genre.  These elements are further discussed below.

1.1             Patterning
Text patterning attempts to describe written discourse at a level beyond the grammatical sentence.  Prominent patterns in English discourse include problem/solution, general/specific, claim/counterclaim, and question/answer (McCarthy 1991: 157; Holland and Johnson 2000).

1.1.1          Problem/Solution
The problem solution pattern is evident in Extract 1.

Extract 1: Example of Problem/Solution Pattern (Winter 1976 in Hoey 2001:28

The problem/solution pattern involves presentation of a situation, “I was on sentry duty”, a problem, “I saw the enemy approaching”, and a solution to the problem, “I opened fire” (Hoey 2001: 28).  There is also an optional result or evaluation, “The enemy retreated” (Hoey 2001: 31).  Hoey (2001: 30) shows how the problem/solution pattern can be developed into a dialogue representative of questions and answers, constituting the sub-elements of the problem/solution structure.

Extract 2: Projection of Extract 1 into Dialog (Hoey 2001:30) 

Hoey (2001: 37) further explains how the problem-solution sequence is signaled through verb tense, lexical signaling, and position.  In Extract 1 the primary signaling device is position, as changing the clause order and maintaining coherency requires contextualization of the contents (Hoey 2001: 28). 

1.1.2          General/Specific
The general/specific pattern refers to the evolution of a text from general statements to more specific ones that help to further clarify or elucidate the original general statements, then concludes with another general statement (McCarthy 1991: 158).  An example of this pattern is included in Extract 3.

Extract 3: Example of General/Specific Pattern (Cambridge Weekly News in McCarthy 1991:159)

In Extract 3 (1) is a general statement, followed by specific statements in (2), (3), and (4) that serve to support and prove (1).

1.1.3          Claim/Counterclaim
The claim/counterclaim pattern is a means of projecting argumentation into text, and involves assertion of a claim or hypothetical observation, followed by a counterclaim, or real observation, and is evidenced in Extract 4 (McCarthy 1991: 80).

Extract 4: Example of Claim/Counterclaim Pattern (New Society 28 August 1987, p. 10 in McCarthy 1991: 80)

The underlined vocabulary items in the above extract are lexically indicative of the claim/counterclaim pattern (McCarthy 1991: 80), and the text proceeds by making a claim in (1), historians are agreed, then in (2) makes a counterclaim, that they do in fact disagree.

1.1.4          Question/Answer
The question/answer pattern asks questions and then answers them, as evident in Extract 5.

Extract 5: Example of Question/Answer Pattern (Moneycare October 1985, p. 4 in McCarthy 1991:80)

While the structure of the question/answer pattern above may be obvious, it is also worth noting that it follows a general/specific pattern at the same time, stating that London is expensive then giving an example of how expensive.  The objective of finding patterns in texts is not to create restrictive rules, but to apply descriptive patterns to texts in an effort to better understand and explain their organization and structure. 

1.2             Clause Relations
While patterning concerns the organization of texts into patterns, clause relations consider how different clauses within a text and across texts compare and contrast with each other.  Thus patterning may consider the text as a whole, while clause relations concentrate on individual clauses and their interactions with other clauses.  According to McCarthy (1991:29) clause relations include logical sequencing and matching relations. 

1.2.1          Logical Sequencing
Aspects of logical sequencing include instrument/achievement, condition/consequence, denial/correction, basis connection, concession and cause, phenomenon/reason, and phenomenon/example (Coulthard and Johnson  2000:31).  Examples follow.

1. instrument/achievement: “Once on this page I announced ‘I am no warped spinster waving the feminist flag’, and thereby gravely offended some spinster readers” (Winter 2001: 53).
2. condition/consequence: “If the Russians were not to blame, then the Americans must be” (Winter 2001: 54).
3. denial/correction: “The Russians were not to blame; the Americans were [to blame]” (Winter 2001: 54).
4. basis connection: “Perspiration offends others. It should offend you, too” (Winter 2001: 54).
5. concession: “I’m not rich and yet I am happy” (Winter 2001: 55).
6. cause: “I’m rich and therefore I am happy” (Winter 2001: 55).
7. phenomenon/reason: “The stress is on documentary and rightly so. Arty photographs are a bore” (The Guardian, 27 October 1988:24 in McCarthy 1991: 28).
8. phenomenon/example: “Naturally, the more people pay for their houses, the more they want to rename their neighborhoods. Suppose you’ve just coughed up 250,000 for an unspectacular house on the fringe of Highgate—an area with loads of cachet. The estate agent tells you its Highgate. You’ve paid a Highgate price. There’s no way you’re going to admit that it’s in Crouch End” (Hoggart 1990: 5 in McCarthy 1991: 28).

1.2.2          Matching Relations
Matching relations are concerned with how a reader should interpret the relationships between clauses.  Coutlhard and Johnson (2000: 38) note how clauses in a text can be matched ‘for compatibility’ and ‘for contrast’.  They note the pervasiveness of matching both within texts and across texts.  Two of their examples are included below.

Extract 6: Examples of Intratextual and Extratextual Matching Relations (Coulthard and Johnson 2000: 39)

1. a news paper advert

Beautiful by design
Paris by lunchtime
Car by Rover

2. Sun front page headline August 23rd 2000 “Sex, pies and videotape” (matched with the film Sex, Lies, and Videotape)

In Extract 6, number 1, the linguistic repetition of by is indicative of a pair of 3, with the third element in contrast to the first two elements.  Such a pairing of 3 elements is a matching skill taught through children’s fairy tales and stories like “The Three Little Pigs”, “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”, etc (Coulthard and Johnson 2000: 38).  Number 2 associates the newspaper headline with a popular movie, through use of the same linguistic items, sex and videotape, and the rhyming of pies and lies.  As Coulthard and Johnson (2000:38) point out, in certain cultures such matching skills are taught from young ages, thus the skill of recognizing matching patterns may be learned, and ESL learners might need to be explicitly taught the common English matching patterns.

1.3             Cohesion
While patterning concerns the structure of a whole text and clause relations consider the relationships between different clauses within a text and between texts, cohesion focuses on words and how they interrelate within a text and between texts.  Cohesion includes grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion, though Moon (2000:55) warns that the categories aren’t exclusive and there is considerable overlap between them.

1.3.1          Grammatical Cohesion
‘Grammatical cohesion is created through grammatical words and structures’ (Moon 2000:56), and can be divided into four types, cohesion through reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction, as summarized in Table 1 (Moon 2000: 56-59).

Table 1:  Organization of Grammatical Cohesion and its Sub-Elements (based on Moon 2000:56-59)

1.3.2          Lexical Cohesion
Lexical cohesion concerns the linking of content, or lexical words within a text, and has two subcategories: reiteration and collocation, though collocation is often considered a problematic category (Moon 2000: 62).

“Reiteration is simply the repetition of lexical items” (Moon 2000: 62) and includes “synonyms or near-synonyms and superordinates” (Moon 2000: 63).  Often, reiteration is evident in newspaper headlines and story text, as in Extract 7, where pirates and bootleg publishers are examples of reiteration (Moon 2000: 63). 

Extract 7: Example of Reiteration (Moon 2000: 63)

Reiteration and synonymy can exist between words within a text even if in an outside context the words may be unrelated.  Thus, pirates may not be associated with publishers in the general lexicon, yet within Extract 7 they are reiterations of each other.

Collocation, as has been mentioned earlier, has a problematic definition, and is defined as “the regular co-occurrence of particular words” (Moon 2000: 65).  In Extract 8 the words light, illuminations, and fire create a chain of collocation (Moon 2000: 65)

Extract 8: Example of Collocation

1.3.3          Other Cohesion
Moon (2000: 67) further indicates a kind of cohesion referred to by Winter (1977 in Moon 2000: 67), and entitled “Vocabulary 3”, which encompasses words that are neither entirely functional nor grammatical, like “reason, conclusion, consequence, result” (Moon 2000: 67).

Moon (2000: 68) also introduces cohesion through the use of “anaphoric nouns, advance and retrospective labels”, noting that “examples include accusation, acknowledgement, approach, example, idea, implication” (Moon 2000: 68).

The final type of cohesion referred to by Moon (2000: 69) is prediction, “which commits the writer at one point in the text to a future discourse act” (Tadros 2001: 70).  Tadros provides an example of predictive cohesion, “(1) Two problems arise in this case. (2) First, there is the universal alibi… (3) Second, the possibility is admitted in theory…” (Lipsey 1963: 154 in Tadros 2001:70).  (1) predicts the existence of (2) and (3) to follow later in the text.

1.4             Genre
Genre is concerned with the analysis of texts that occur with “a regularity of form or regularity of purpose” (Johnson 2000: 74).  Examples offered by Johnson include haiku poems, because of their rigid syllable order requirements, and holiday postcards, because of their holiday communication purpose and their limited space allowance (Johnson 2000: 74).  Genres in general education include narrative stories, recount stories, factual reports, factual discussions, and factual expositions (Johnson 2000: 78).  There is also the concept of genre in spoken discourse, though Bahktin notes, “the wealth and diversity of speech genres are boundless because the various possibilities of human activity are inexhaustible” (2001: 121).  A spoken genre would be defined by its communicative purpose and medium, and examples might include a university lecture, radio broadcast, etc.

2.               Justification for Analysis of Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course
The Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course describes itself as “ideal for a TOEIC test preparation course or self-study” (Lougheed 1996a: back cover), yet it seems to be designed for independent study and not as part of a course.  Thus the textbook, while presented as a ‘course book’, doesn’t fill the role properly within the classroom.  Yet, since the text was chosen well before I began teaching the course, and the students had purchased and become accustomed to it, my best choice appeared to be innovating the book by making it more classroom compatible.               

In the introduction to the Longman course a passage suggests DA might offer a workable solution to the challenge of innovation:

To prepare for the TOEIC test, you must recognize the familiar, routine ways thoughts are organized into words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs.  Learning to recognize these organizational patterns will help you understand the meaning of the words and phrases more readily and more completely.  This will help you score well on the TOEIC test. (Lougheed 1996a: 3)

While a noble theme, the text fails to implement it.  Instead, explanations follow grammatical frameworks.  For example, 2 of the 3 sections in the Reading Review portion of the text are titled “Grammar Patterns” (Lougheed 1996a), and have as sub-headings, “adverbs of frequency”, “conjunctions”, “prepositions”, “verbs: causative”, “verbs: conditional”, “verbs: tense”, etc (Lougheed 1996).

The book is structured much like the TOEIC test, with each section offering problems intended to reflect the kinds of problems students will see on the TOEIC test.  Thus the Table of Contents from the Longman book reflects the make-up of the TOEIC test itself, with the course divided into two sections, “Listening Comprehension” (Lougheed 1996a: v) and “Reading” (Lougheed 1996a: vi).  Subsections of the text follow the subsections of the test, as evident in Extract 9: Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course Table of Contents.

Extract 9: Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course Table of Contents (Lougheed 1996a: v-vi)

In Part VII: Reading Passages: Thematic Patterns, the short readings are organized into the categories “Advertisements” (Longman 1996a: 126), “Bulletins” (Longman 1996a: 129), “Forms and Tables” (Longman 1996a: 132), “Labels” (Longman 1996a: 135), “Letters and Memos” (Longman 1996a: 138) and “Miscellaneous Reading Passages” (Longman 1996a: 142).  In this section there are 20 different short reading passages organized into the above categories, but there is no explanation as to why they were organized that way.  Instead, each passage is followed by three questions, mirroring the format of the TOEIC test itself, but there is no attempt to compare or contrast the different readings within or between the assigned categories.  Thus it is left to the teacher to find a way to show students the ‘routine ways thoughts are organized’ (Lougheed 1996a: 3). 

Is DA applicable to the passages in the Longman course?  Since DA concerns the analysis of natural English, or English created for communicative purposes, the social context of any given text is important (Moon and Caldas-Coulthard 2000).  By contrast, the sample test problems in the Longman book are created for an evaluative purpose, so the ‘social contexts’ of sample problems in the Longman book are artificially contrived.  Section 4 will address this concern by evaluating whether or not DA can be applied to the texts in the Longman book. 

3.               Evaluation of Course: To what extent does it account for Discourse Analysis?
The Longman course does not explicitly take into account the findings of DA, yet the patterns identified within DA are evident within the Longman text.  Thus the different elements of DA, discussed in section 2, can be identified within the Longman text itself.  Examples are offered below.

3.1             Inclusion of Patterning
See Extract 10 for an example of the problem/solution pattern from the Longman text. 

Extract 10: Example of Problem/Solution Pattern from Longman TOEIC (Lougheed 1996a:141)

The text in Extract 10 lends itself well to projection into dialog, following Hoey’s model (Hoey 2001:30), as demonstrated below. 

            A: What is the situation?
            B: This is an internal office memo at Binell, addressed to managers.
            A: And the problem? 
            B: Cars are illegally parked and block access to authorized vehicles.
            A: What is the solution?
            B: We will tow the cars. Please inform your staff of this measure.
            <No evaluation component is included in the passage>

The problem-solution sequence can be signaled through verb tense, lexical signaling, and position (Hoey 2001: 37).  Thus ‘It has come to our attention…’ could be a lexical signaler of the upcoming problem and the position of ‘unauthorized persons are parking their cars in spaces reserved…’ could be labeled as the problem because of its location near the beginning of the text.  Also, in the solution, there is a switch of tense from the present progressive ‘are parking’ to the future ‘will have…cars towed’.  The switch of verb tense may signal a change from the problem to the solution part of the problem-solution pattern. 

3.2             Inclusion of General/Specific
An example of the general/specific pattern is included in Extract 11.

Extract 11: Example of General/Specific Pattern from Longman TOEIC (Lougheed 1996a:144)

Extract 11 has a series of general statements.  For example, the general statement “Crestview City’s efforts …have been successful” is followed by specific information “…from two thousand visitors…to ten thousand visitors this year.” Also, the general statement “citizens are committed…” is supported by specific information “approved tax incentives…enabled building the mountain lodge…provided accommodations and jobs.”

3.3             Inclusion of Clause Relations
Clause relations are evident in the problems section of the Longman course, as indicated in List 1.

List 1: Examples of Clause Relations as they occur in Longman TOEIC Questions (all of the following are taken from problem sections of the Longman course)

1. instrument/achievement:  ‘The course is individualized and self-contained; consequently, you may take the course at any time’ (Lougheed 1996a: 140).
2. condition/consequence: ‘If a problem arises regarding property or services purchased under your credit card, you may have the right not to pay the balance due’ (Lougheed 1996:130).
3. denial/correction: ‘…these violators are not employees of the company, but are people with business in the other surrounding offices’ (Lougheed 1996a: 141)
4. basis connection: “Our challenge is to providecost-effective services, without sacrificing assistance to people in need.  We must encourage economic development without sacrificing our neighborhoods.” (Lougheed 1996a: 131).
5. concession: ‘Our department did not reach its monthly quota even though we worked a lot of overtime’ (Lougheed 1996a: 94).
6. cause: ‘But without the publicity effort undertaken by the newly elected City Council, these attributes would remain largely unknown’ (Lougheed 1996a: 144).
7. phenomenon/reason: ‘Enclosed is a duplicate copy of the report on Logan’s media and policy, which you requested in your letter of May 16’ (Lougheed 1996a: 153).
8. phenomenon/example: “There are two limitations on this right: The purchase has to have been made in your home state or within 130 miles of your current mailing address.  The price of the purchase has to exceed fifty dollars” (Lougheed 1996a: 130).

3.4             Inclusion of Grammatical Cohesion through Reference
Extract 12 highlights grammatically cohesive words through reference as they appear in a short reading from the Longman course.   

Extract 12: Examples of Grammatical Cohesion through Reference from Longman

 TOEIC (Lougheed 1996a:141)

Extract 12 also offers an example of ellipsis, We can only assume that these violators are not employees of the company, but are people with business in the other surrounding offices where the subject after but is elided.  Replacing the elided subject would yield, We can only assume that these violators are not employees of the company, but these violators are people with business in the other surrounding offices.

With manipulation, Extract 12 exhibits causal conjunction, Because unauthorized persons are parking their cars in spaces reserved for senior corporate officers, visitors to Binell, and medical personnel, as of next Monday, January 8, we will have all illegally parked cars towed at the owner’s expense.

3.5             Inclusion of Genre
Genre can be found in the short readings section of the Longman course, from which Extracts 10 (p. 13), 11 (p. 14), and 12 (p. 15-16) were taken. Extract 11 could be classified as an example of the newspaper editorial genre, and Extracts 10 and 12 could be classified as an example of the office memo genre.

4.               Innovating the Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course
As stated in the introduction, the objective of innovating the Longman course was to find a way to better utilize the book in the classroom.  While the book asserts itself as “ideal for a TOEIC test preparation course or self study…” (Lougheed 1996a: back cover), it has no suggestions for how to develop exercises from the book into classroom lessons.  Additionally, the book is designed to reflect the actual TOEIC test, and thus is understandably not designed for group work or discussion. 

Below each of the different components of DA are considered for their compatibility with teaching the Longman course.  There is no attempt made to systematize the suggestions into a class syllabus or plan.

4.1             Innovating Patterning
As patterning is generally concerned with complete texts, it is most applicable to the “Short Readings” section of the TOEIC test.  In two practice tests in the Longman course there are 13 and 15 short readings, which cover a total of 40 questions.  There is also a “Reading Review” which offers additional short readings, as well as a section where short readings are divided into Genres (see below).  As demonstrated in 3.1 and 3.2, some short readings in the Longman course contain instances of the problem/solution pattern and the general/specific pattern.  A class activity applicable to those patterns could be asking students to attempt the dialog expansion Hoey (2001: 30) demonstrates and which is included in Extract 2.  An interactive activity using dialog expansion could involve the following:

1. Groups A and B expand two different texts into a series of questions and answer dialogues, Dialog A and Dialog B
2. The groups exchange their dialogues
3. Group A attempts to reconstruct the original text from Dialog B, and Group B reconstructs the text of Dialog A.
4. Differences between the original passages and the reconstructed passages are discussed.  Students are asked to determine whether differences between the originals and the reconstructions are in meaning or form.

An application of the above is included in Appendix A.  Comparisons between the groups’ reconstitution attempts and the original passages might help to highlight important information in the original text and how it is placed and signaled.  It could also reveal how the texts were interpreted or misinterpreted by the students.

                  Innovating the claim/counterclaim pattern or the question/answer pattern is more problematic, as the Longman course offers no obvious examples of either form.  Sources from outside the book, such as newspaper clippings, could be used to demonstrate the nature of the two patterns, then students could be asked to modify a text from the course so that it reflects a claim/counterclaim or question/answer pattern.  This could help students become aware of how the different patterns are composed, and how to move between them.

4.2             Innovating Clause Relations
Several clause relations are evident in the Longman course, as demonstrated in 3.3.  One way to exploit clause relations in class would be to present students with a text whose clauses have been separated, as in Example 1, based on Extract 10.

Example 1: A Worksheet with which to Exploit Clause Relations

Students could be asked to explain the purpose or function of each of the different clauses, and why they go together in the order presented. 

            Another activity would involve putting the clauses or sentences on separate pieces of paper, or printing them in a scrambled order, then asking students to reconstruct the original order of the text, an activity from Holland and Johnson (2000: 12).

4.3             Innovating Cohesion
The innovation of cohesion could involve asking students to perform operations similar to those in Extracts 6 and 7.  Using the text from Extract 10, a group of students could be asked to underline every reference to people who illegally park their cars, circle every reference to the managers, box all instances where cars are referred to, etc.  In such an activity, shown in Example 2, students’ papers would end up looking like Extract 11.

Example 2: A Passage Innovating Cohesion

Discussion regarding Example 3 could concern whether words which are synonymous in the passage could be considered synonymous outside the above context.  Also, the use of the plural form, “our attention”, “we” instead of the singular “my attention”, “I” could be considered. 

4.4             Innovating Genre
In the short reading passages section of the Longman course, the different readings are divided into the different genre categories of “advertisements”, “bulletins”, “forms and tables”, “labels”, “letters and memos”, and “miscellaneous reading passages” (Lougheed 1996: 126-142).  In this part of the course there are a total of 20 short reading passages, of which Extracts 10 and 11 are examples.  A class activity could involve copying the different passages onto separate cards then presenting them to the students without the labels assigned by Lougheed and asking them to order the different passages into categories, or genres.  For example, Extract 9 could be considered an ‘office memo’, and Extract 10 an ‘editorial’.  The student generated categories could be compared and contrasted with the categories created by Lougheed.  A next step could involve asking students to identify the major characteristics representative of each of the different categories.  For example, an office memo may generally contain a Title, To field, From field, Subject field, Introduction, and Body.  A further refinement would be to discuss any exceptions to the major characteristics identified.  For example, Example 11 doesn’t have a closing, such as “Sincerely”. 

Another task using Genre could involve changing a text from one category to another; for example, changing an advertisement into a letter, as in Example 3.

Example 3: Moving Across Genres

A standard letter format is as follows:

Important questions include:
                        Who is the letter to?
                        Who is the letter from?
                        Why is the letter being written?
                        Why is the reader interested in the letter?

5.               Conclusion
Teaching requires a balance between the needs and expectations of the teacher, the students, and the textbook.  Jennings and Doyle (1996: 177) note how, even in an innovating environment in which the school curriculum was recreated using student and teacher suggestions and feedback, students still insisted on using textbooks even though the textbooks were not easily compatible with the new in-class curriculum.  Hutchinson and Torres (1994) show how useful the textbook is in an ESL teaching context, and conclude that the textbook offers “a degree of order within potential chaos” (1994: 327).  They further argue that “rather than denigrating and trying to do away with textbooks, we should recognize their importance in making the lives of teachers and learners easier, more secure and fruitful…” (1994: 327).

Thus, in innovating the Longman course, the question asked was not, “What is wrong with the textbook?” but “What can be done to more effectively use the textbook as a resource in class and to help better meet student needs and desires?”  One possible innovation of the textbook is to incorporate the findings of discourse analysis, which the Longman course introduction alludes to but doesn’t expand upon.  As has been demonstrated, discourse analysis offers a variety of activities that can be performed in class to help demonstrate to students how texts are structured and how readers can effectively decode texts.

Since innovating the Longman course my students seem more involved during class and discussion has increased.  Instead of working independently on problems or listening to me explain a particularly obscure grammatical construction, they are asking one another about the class assignments and discussing the different strategies necessary to decode them.  Perhaps this success is due to concentrating on texts, rather than the test questions asked regarding the texts.  With my students, understanding the components of a reading passage and the category or genre it fits into is not automatic.  Instead, the tools necessary to understand and decode a text require explicit teaching.  After students understand the context and components of a passage, answering the test questions about it may be simpler because they understand where they should look for the correct answer, be it at the beginning, middle, or end of the passage.

Future innovations could include transferring more power to the students by allowing them  to select the focus for the day’s lesson, developing the above suggestions into a class plan for the Longman course, and asking students to generate exercises to be used with the next generation of Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC Test: Advanced Course students.

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Tadros (2001). Predictive categories in expository text. In M. Coulthard (Ed.), Advances in written text analysis (pp.69-82).  London: Routledge.

Winter (1976). Fundamentals of information structure: A pilot manual for further development according to student need. Mimeo, Hatfield Polytechnic. Cited in M. Hoey (2001). Signaling in discourse: a functional analysis of a common discourse pattern in written and spoken English. In M. Coulthard (Ed.) Advances in written text analysis (pp. 26-45).  London: Routledge.

Winter (1977). A clause-relational approach to English texts: A study of some predictive lexical items in written discourse. Instructional science 6(1), 1-92. Cited by Moon (2000:67).

Winter (2001). Clause relations as information structure: Two basic text structures in English. In M. Coulthard (Ed.), Advances in written text analysis (pp. 46-68).  London: Routledge.

Appendix A: Dialog Expansion using the Problem/Solution pattern

This memo is from page 141 of your book.

You and your partner are managers, and you need to explain this memo to your employees.  Unfortunately, your printer is broken, and your office is too small for all employees to look at your computer screen.  So you must explain the memo to everyone.  Please plan what you want to say and what questions your employees will ask.  The first two lines of the conversation are done for you.

You:                 We have a problem.
Employee:       What’s the problem?
You: