Comparative analysis of activity instructions of the study materials Step by Step 1 and Step by Step 3

Abstract

The motivation to write this thesis comes from the wish to comparatively analyze the study materials of different skill levels suggested to students of English as a foreign language in Estonian schools. The aim of this thesis is to comparatively analyze how the study materials Step by Step 1 and Step by Step 3 meet the required language proficiency levels of their respective learners. The research question for this paper is “In which ways do the activity instructions of the study materials Step by Step 1 and Step by Step 3 compare and contrast in reference to their respective language proficiency level?” The thesis consists of an introduction, which presents the background of the thesis and its purpose, the literature review of background knowledge on written instruction language, the comparative analysis of the study materials and the conclusion, after which the references and appendices follow. The materials used for the analysis are the Step by Step 1 and Step by Step 3 workbooks and the Companion volume of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. For the methodology, the two workbooks are introduced, the chosen activity instructions are presented and comparatively analyzed, and finally conclusions are presented.