Pearson's Top Notch Book Series: A Deep Dive for Learners and Educators

Pearson's Top Notch series is a leading English language teaching resource for adult and young adult learners from beginner to intermediate levels. Developed by Joan Saslow and Allen Ascher, it uses a communicative approach focusing on practical, real-world language use. The system integrates Student's Books, Workbooks, Teacher's Editions, audio resources, and the MyEnglishLab digital platform.

The series supports various learning environments including language institutes, universities, private tutoring, and self-study. Covering proficiency levels A1-B1 (CEFR), it connects seamlessly with Pearson's Summit series for advanced learners. Its methodology emphasizes meaningful communication through activities that balance fluency with accuracy.

I. Identifying the "Top Notch Book": Introduction to the Pearson ELT Series

When educators and language learners discuss the "top notch book" in English language teaching circles, they're typically referring to Pearson's acclaimed Top Notch series. This comprehensive educational resource has established itself as a cornerstone in English language instruction worldwide, recognized for its practical approach and comprehensive methodology.

Pearson English Language Teaching (ELT), one of the world's leading educational publishers, developed this series under the expert guidance of renowned authors Joan Saslow and Allen Ascher. Their combined expertise in language pedagogy has shaped a series that stands out in the competitive ELT market.

The primary objective of the Top Notch series focuses on equipping adult and young adult learners with functional, communicative English skills necessary for both social interactions and professional environments. The series emphasizes real-world language use through a carefully structured curriculum that builds confidence and competence across all language skills.

II. Understanding the Target Audience: Who Uses the Top Notch Books?

As we've established what the "top notch book" series encompasses and its foundational approach to language instruction, it's equally important to understand who benefits most from these materials. The carefully crafted pedagogy serves specific learner profiles across various educational contexts, making it essential to identify the target users before exploring the components in detail.

• Primary Learners: The Top Notch book series primarily serves adult and young adult language learners ranging from false beginners to intermediate level students. These learners typically study English as a foreign or second language and seek a structured approach to developing communicative competence. The series accommodates various learning backgrounds, including those with limited previous exposure to English who need systematic progression through foundational concepts.
• Typical Learning Environments: Top Notch books find their home in diverse educational settings. Language institutes frequently adopt them as core curriculum materials, while university language programs incorporate them into their English communication courses. Private tutors rely on the series for its comprehensive structure and support materials. Additionally, motivated self-study learners can effectively utilize the complete package of components, including digital resources, to advance their English proficiency independently.

II. Key content of the Top Notch book

The Top Notch book consists of 3 volumes, with each volume having a Workbook and a Student's Book, corresponding to the A1, A2, and B1 proficiency levels. The content of each book is essentially the same, with only the conversational topics changing.

The series contains 30 Units with 137 Lessons. The lessons are presented through engaging videos, covering common topics in daily life such as greetings, introductions, age, etc.

Additionally, the textbooks provide karaoke sections in English, allowing learners to enjoy and practice the language through music. After completing the 3 volumes of this textbook series, learners can reach a B1 proficiency level, equivalent to a TOEIC score of 700 or an IELTS score of 5.0.

Specifically, the content of each book in this textbook series is as follows:

1. Top Notch - Student’ Book 

2. Top Notch Workbook 

The Workbook includes exercises corresponding to each unit in the book. The exercises include grammar, listening, and speaking practice, with accompanying high-quality audio.

III. Advantages and disadvantages of the Top Notch book

The Top Notch book has received quite a few prestigious awards and has been selected by many training institutions in their teaching programs. Here are some of the pros and cons of this textbook series that you should consider:

IV. Reader feedback on the Top Notch book 

Below are some genuine reviews from learners and instructors who have used the Top Notch book for learning and teaching:

• Marry shared: I had lost my foundation in English, especially conversational English. However, when I started working, I needed to use basic conversational English. The Top Notch book provided me with an approachable and effective method for learning conversational English.

• Kate: Top Notch primarily covers common, familiar English conversation topics from everyday life, so it's very accessible, especially for those who have lost their English foundation.

• Ms. Lisa: The Top Notch book has very effective approaches to learning conversational English. I have applied these methods in teaching my students and found them to be excellent. For example, the song lyrics at the end of the books allow students to learn through songs, and the dialogue and real-life scenario exercises help practice conversation.

V. Further Clarifications: Answering Key Questions About Top Notch

1. How does the 'Top Notch' series typically differ from Pearson's 'Summit' series?

While both created by the same author team, these series serve distinct proficiency levels within a continuous language learning progression. Top Notch covers beginner to intermediate levels (A1 to B1 on the CEFR scale), focusing on establishing fundamental communication skills and core grammar structures. Summit functions as the natural continuation, targeting intermediate to advanced learners (B2 to C1 levels) with more sophisticated language functions, complex grammatical structures, and nuanced communication strategies. Institutions frequently implement both series sequentially to provide a complete language development pathway.

2. What defines the "communicative approach" as implemented in the Top Notch books?

The communicative methodology in Top Notch manifests through practical activities that prioritize meaningful language use over mechanical drills. Lessons regularly incorporate information gap activities where learners must exchange details to complete tasks, role-plays simulating realistic scenarios like business negotiations or travel situations, and guided discussions on relevant topics. Grammar instruction appears within functional contexts rather than isolated exercises. The approach balances fluency development with accuracy, always emphasizing the practical application of language in authentic contexts that learners will encounter beyond the classroom.

3. What are the main types of exercises found within a typical Top Notch Student Book unit?

Each Top Notch unit incorporates diverse activity types that engage multiple learning styles. These include structured conversation practice with guided prompts and model dialogues, listening comprehension tasks using realistic recordings at appropriate speeds, controlled grammar exercises such as sentence completion and transformation, thematic vocabulary building through categorization and collocation practice, reading passages with pre- and post-reading tasks, speaking activities ranging from simple exchanges to extended presentations, and scaffolded writing tasks that progress from sentence to paragraph level.

4. Is the MyEnglishLab component essential to effectively use the latest editions of Top Notch?

While the core instructional content remains accessible through the physical books alone, the MyEnglishLab component has become increasingly integrated into recent editions of the Top Notch series. MEL provides substantial additional practice opportunities, automated assessment functions, and multimedia content that significantly enhances the learning experience. Though not technically required for basic implementation, many instructional designs now incorporate MEL activities as integral course elements. The full instructional value of contemporary Top Notch editions is best realized with this digital component included, particularly for programs emphasizing independent practice and comprehensive assessment.

VI. Wrap Up

Pearson's Top Notch book series represents a comprehensive English language teaching system built on communicative principles and practical application. Through its carefully structured progression across multiple proficiency levels, integrated components spanning physical and digital formats, and emphasis on real-world language use, the series delivers an effective learning pathway for adult and young adult learners.

For educators and learners seeking a reliable, proven language instruction system, the Top Notch series offers a balanced approach to developing communicative competence. By understanding the series' structure, components, and implementation considerations outlined in this guide, users can maximize the benefits of this widely respected ELT resource and achieve their language learning objectives.