ESL/EFL GRAMMAR TEXTBOOK REVIEW

I am reviewing the Advanced Oxford English Grammar Course (OEGC) by Swan and Walter (۲۰۱۱) by Oxford University Press. According to the introduction, OEGC teaches modern British English, and it deals with the grammar of speech and writing in both formal and informal styles. Since I am interested in preparing students for standardized tests (such as the IELTS and TOEFL tests), this grammar book could be considered a good resource. In addition, I might need to choose an appropriate grammar book for my students in the near future, and reviewing this book is a good opportunity for me to analyze a grammar book based on very specific criteria. This textbook was evaluated according to a set of defined criteria that were determined by the course instructor: (a) completeness, (b) accuracy, (c) appropriateness, and (d) captivation. The details of these criteria will be explained throughout the paper where relevant. For reasons of space, I will only examine one specific grammar topic, indirect speech, to discover if the chapter is explained well enough so as to generalize about other grammar topics in the textbook. The author chose The Grammar Book (Celece-Murica & Larsen-Freeman, ۲۰۱۶) as a reference since it is one of the comprehensive resources.