Coursebook review:

Lets Go Student Book and Audio CD Pack (Level 4)

by Ritsuko Nakata, Karen Frazier, Barbara Hoskins,
and Carolyn Graham (4th Edition, 2011, OUP)
Reviewer: Federica Maggioni

The Lets Go Student Book with Audio CD pack (level 4, 4th Edition) is
part of a 7-level series, first published in the 1990s in response to the
unfulfilled needs of a fast developing ELT international market for
young learners, especially in Japan (Nakata 2015).
Lets Go has been named as a best-selling course (OUP ELT Global
Blog 2015) which arose from the long-term collaboration between four
well-noted educators and the highly respected Oxford University Press
(OUP). According to the reviews and information on the publishers
website (OUP ELT 2015), the new edition promises up-to-date
resources aligned with principled pedagogy and emerging technology.
A macro-evaluation of the materials external features, including
cover, introduction and table of contents (McDonough, Shaw &
Masuhara 2013, p. 53), reveals the developers effort in producing a
child-friendly product characterized by an appealing colourful design,
a clear layout, and a consistent use of visual aids. The cartoon images,
colour coded labels and icons greatly contribute to illustrate meaning
(Ur 2012, p. 200).
A communicative-interactional approach and a cumulative view of
language learning show through the table of contents. The topicbased syllabus (Arnold & Rixon 2008, p. 42) featuring graded and
sequenced learning experiences (McDonough, Shaw & Masuhara 2013,
p. 62; McGrath 2013, p. 116) alternated by revision units teach and
support vocabulary recycling and internalisation of relevant
utterances (Cunnigsworth 1995, p. 19; McGrath 2013, p. 110).
The claim on the back cover that Conversations and question-andanswer practice get children talking from the very beginning could be
misleading if interpreted as a guarantee of immediate self-generated
output. In fact, a detailed examination (Cunnigsworth 1995, p. 8;
Littlejohn 1998, p. 191) of the materials internal features reveals a
high degree of modeling and designed-in scaffolding (Hammond &
Gibbons 2005) within listening and speaking activities conducive to
controlled oral practice. Nevertheless, young learners acquisition of
automaticity though purposeful repetition and imitation is believed to
also enhance comprehension and meaning-making strategies (Garvie
1990, cited in Arnold & Rixon 2008, p. 42). Moreover, childrens L2
development benefits from a supportive and engaging learning

environment (Harmer 2012, p. 202; Shin & Crandall 2014, p. 34)

where affective and experiential/kinaesthetic engagement (Tomlinson
2003, p. 19; Harmer 2012, p. 206) have priority over critical and
higher-order thinking.
As outlined in the Teachers Book, the Student Book includes a number
of activities - such as dialogues, chants, games and short text, which
foster personalization (Cunnigsworth 1995, p. 19) and contribute to
developing listening, speaking and reading skills while concurrently
expanding learners vocabulary and raising their phonological
awareness. The length and variety of the proposed activities cater for
young students displaying a typical short attention span (Shin &
Crandall 2014, p. 29; Tomlinson 2003, p. 31; Ur 2012, p. 259) and a
multitude of learning styles (Arnold & Rixon 2008, p. 42; Harmer
2012, p. 92).
With its intentional focus on developing oral communication, the
Student Book does not ensure a balance of the four strands (Nation
2011, p. 57) which can nonetheless be pursued through the
integration of supplementary materials, including the recommended
Graded Readers, Workbook, Skills Book, Online Practice and iTools
(OUP ELT 2015).
In order to reach a favourable compromise between the coursebooks
affordances and a teachers intentions (Cunnigsworth 1995, p. 10),
caution must be taken in selecting only necessary items from the
overwhelming amount of complementary materials.
Though free from noticeable biases and filled with multicultural
flavour, the Lets Go products feature American spelling and
pronunciation, which could reduce their usability and adaptability
(McDonough, Shaw & Masuhahra 2013, pp. 60-61) in contexts where
different varieties of English and EIL perspectives are favoured.
Nevertheless, where such restrictions do not apply and there are
favourable conditions for a long-term investment (McGrath 2013, p.
119; McDonough, Shaw & Masuhara 2013, p. 51), I would recommend
the up-to-date Lets Go series as an attractive, innovative and eclectic
global course (Tomlinson & Masuhara 2013, p. 247) which provides
EAL educators, young students and their parents with paper-based,
multimedia and digital resources underpinned by a coherent and
principled approach.
References
Arnold, W & Rixon, S 2008, Materials for Teaching English to Young Learners, in B
Tomlinson (ed.), English Language Learning Materials: A Critical Review, Continuum,
London; New York, pp. 38-58.
Cunningsworth, A 1995, Analysing and Evaluating Coursebooks: A Rationale and
Some Guidelines, in Choosing Your Coursebook, Heinemann, Oxford, pp. 8-24.

Hammond, J & Gibbons, P 2005, Putting Scaffolding to Work: The Contribution of

Scaffolding in Articulating the Contribution of ESL Education, Prospect, vol. 20, no.
1, pp. 6-30.
Harmer, J 2012, Essential Teacher Knowledge: Core Concepts in English Language
Teaching, Pearson Education, Harlow, Essex, England.
Littlejohn, A1998, The Analysis of Language Teaching Materials, in B Tomlinson
(ed.), Materials Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge; New York, pp. 149-190.
McDonough, J Shaw, C & Masuhara, H 2013, Materials and Methods in ELT: A
Teacher's Guide, 3rd edn., Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, England.
McGrath, I 2013, Teaching Materials and the Roles of EFL/ESL Teachers: Practice and
Theory. Bloomsbury Academic, London.
Nation, ISP 2011, My Ideal Vocabulary Teaching Course, in J Macalister & ISP Nation
(eds), Case Studies in Language Curriculum Design: Concepts and Approaches in
Action Around the World, Routledge, New York, pp. 49-62.
Nakata, R 2015, About IIEEC: History: 1990-200 the decade of changing
technology, Institute for the International English Education of Children (IIEEC)
Training Centre, viewed 27 November 2015,
<http://www.iieec.com/en/about/history3.html>
Oxford University Press (OUP) English Language Teaching (ELT) Global Blog 2015,
Blog Authors: Karen Frazier, viewed 27 November 2015,
<http://oupeltglobalblog.com/blog-authors/>
Oxford University Press (OUP) English Language Teaching (ELT) 2015, Lets Go:
American English Course for Primary, viewed 27 November 2015,
<https://elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/young_learners/lets_go_fourth_edition
/?cc=global&selLanguage=en>
Shin, JK & Crandall, J, 2014, Teaching Young Learners English: From Theory to
Practice, National Geographic Learning/Heinle, Cengage Learning, Boston, MA.
Tomlinson, B 2003, Developing Materials for Language Teaching, Continuum,
London.
Tomlinson, B & Masuhara, H 2013, Adult Coursebooks, ELT Journal, vol. 67, no. 2,
pp. 233-249.
Ur, P 2012, A Course in English Language Teaching, 2nd edn, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.