1.1 The aim of this research

This research aims to evaluate two sets of textbooks that has used in WHUT for non-English learners, and determine if these textbooks fit both the students’ and teachers’ needs, and if there are some improvement to make in the future.

1.2 Literature review

Textbook evaluation refers to the evaluation of teaching materials (textbooks, handouts, etc.). The content of a textbook should fit the outline, and keep a proper amount with a strong ideological、scientific and systematic features. In a word, textbook evaluation has a variety of specific methods. During this research, the evaluation model of McDonough and Shaw (2003) suggests that there are two stages on evaluation: external evaluation and internal evaluation. External evaluation is mainly through the cover of the textbook and the catalogue and other external elements. From the external evaluation, it can roughly contains an understanding of the applicable objectives of the textbook, students’ achievements through the level of teaching, as well as the applicable teaching environment and so on. Internal evaluation is to deconstruct the teaching materials from a deeper level, including language, grammar, skills training and other aspects of the cultivation of students' personal ability. Through the internal evaluation and external evaluation, we can roughly judge whether a set of long love conforms to the norm, accord with the requirements of the syllabus, adapt to the learning needs of the students, and so on.

Among all the core journals having been read, very few of these articles includes comparison of two textbooks, most of them are focusing on one textbook only to elaborate its strong features and maybe point out some slight flaws. What’s more, as for the evaluation methods, large amounts of articles use questionnaires, but not very few of them use interviews. On top of that conclusion, a textbook-comparison evaluation with short interview is required.

1.3 Analysis of the present situation of the research

Due to the gradual deepening of curriculum reform, the upgrade of teaching materials is also an ongoing process, so the evaluation of different textbooks is quite important. In this paper, a survey will be conducted on junior and senior students who have already taken college English courses in order to obtain the truest thoughts of non-English majors on college English teaching materials.

Thus choosing a good textbook plays an important role for both students and teachers. A good textbook can not only promote students' enthusiasm in learning, but also help them to learn English well. For teachers, a good textbook can make their work much easier. A proper selected article, suitable exercises, pleasing typesetting, moderate vocabulary and grammar can all play a good educational part.

1.4 Expected outcome

The research is likely to figure out whether the textbooks are suitable for non-English major students，and answer several questions below：if the textbooks fit their needs and whether play a role in attracting students to learn，above all，if the textbooks make progress on students grates (which includes not only on test results but also some of the practical skills). As for teachers, whether the textbooks are good for students (their views of the textbooks) and whether the change of textbooks have impact on them.