AbstractAlthough global English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebooks have been subject to numerous (critical) analyses, the changes occurring to their contents over different editions have received ...scarce attention. In this study, the researchers examined the transformations over different editions of Interchange series (level 2) regarding some selected aspects of their textual contents. Seeking experienced English teachers’ views of the global coursebooks’ transformations over the past decade was another aim of the study. The analysis and comparison of the included topics and titles, characters, sites and contexts in Interchange series as well as interviews with 12 English teachers revealed that the content-based changes of different editions of this coursebook are superficial and cosmetic-like and despite the claims for globality, fallacies such as real-life-ness, representation and globality are still evident. We hope the findings of the study would aid curriculum and policy makers, institute managers, and language teachers to reconsider the functioning and value of current global ELT coursebooks.
The international role of English has made it the most taught foreign language in the world. As a result, standard native varieties have thrived as models within the field of English language ...teaching, particularly Standard British English and Standard American English, and alongside, the cultures associated with them. Although the majority of English language learners are part of Kachru’s Expanding Circle, teaching materials have continued to focus on native speaker models, neglecting many of the times other examples of successful communication among non-native speakers. Bearing this in mind, it is critical that teaching materials take on a more ELF-aware perspective, where intercultural communicative competence and intercultural awareness are fomented. In view of this, a comparative analysis was conducted between coursebooks in Portugal and Turkey. A locally published (LP) and an internationally published (IP) coursebook of the first year of secondary education from each country was analyzed. The aim of this analysis was twofold: to identify the similarities and differences between (1) Portuguese and Turkish EFL coursebooks and (2) LP and IP coursebooks in Portugal and Turkey, as far as an ELF-aware approach is concerned. After comparing the coursebooks and verifying that much can still be done for a more ELF-aware pedagogy, various implications are put forth for the sake of a more critical approach towards materials development.
Framed by MCDA, our study examines diachronic changes in gender representation in five New Headway Elementary (NHE) editions. Our findings demonstrate that NHE's gender representation is established ...on heteronormative binaries indicating bias against women in recreational, domestic, professional, and educational spaces despite few important attempts by the coursebook writers to address gender bias. Gender representation in recreational spaces is built on stereotypical discourses. At home, women mostly have nurturing roles while men are depicted as relaxing or playing with their children. At work, men's professional representation focuses solely on their professional career, whereas women are represented with reference to their domestic and caregiving roles. At school, men are presented as teaching and learning various subjects and sports, while women are mostly associated with teaching and learning languages and art only. In closing, we offer teachers three activities to develop learners' critical awareness against gender discrimination while using NHE.
Since the introduction of task-based language teaching, tasks have become an integral component of the curriculum, ESL classrooms, and ELT coursebooks in the Philippines. Hence, this study examines ...the complexity of tasks in selected ELT coursebooks. Specifically, this study sought to determine the complexity features of tasks per grade level and how they progress from the simplest to the most complex within each ELT coursebook level and across grade levels. Based on the analysis, almost a quarter of the language activities in these coursebooks are tasks, most of which have complexity levels 3, 4, 5, and 6. Further findings reveal that none of the ELT coursebooks show a linear progression of task complexity within and across grade levels. Implications for ELT coursebook development and future studies are discussed.
The relation between gender and language is bi-directional; that is, gender is reflected by language and language helps to shape gender. English Language Teaching coursebooks are important as tools ...of learning a second language and a second culture. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to maintain gender equality in them to enhance gender equality in life. The aim of this study is to investigate how gender is embedded into English teaching course books in the first four-year period of state schools in Turkey and to discuss whether gender is explicitly or implicitly presented; the indirect aim is, however, to raise teachers’ and textbook writers’ awareness in gender related issues.
This study analyses the integration of Information and Communication Technology into current English Language Teaching coursebooks and the use of these multimedia resources in language classrooms. ...After giving theoretical underpinnings of ICT use in language learning, a study was conducted to unearth which ICT tools are integrated or ignored in the current ELT coursebooks that have been used during the last three years by English Preparatory Schools of five universities in North Cyprus. The study also discusses the reflection of ICT-integration in the coursebooks based on recent literature. Finally, certain pedagogical implications are addressed of these research findings.
The goal of this paper is to verify up to what point ELT textbooks used in Spanish educational settings comply with the official regulations prescribed, which fully advocate the Communicative ...Language Teaching Method (CLT). For that purpose, seven representative coursebooks of different educational levels and modalities in Spain - secondary, upper secondary, teenager and adult textbooks - were selected to be analysed. A full unit randomly selected from each coursebook was examined through the parameters of the communicative potential of the activities - measured on a scale from 0 to 10 - and the communicative nature of the methodological strategies implemented - measured on a dichotomous scale (yes/no). Global results per educational levels point to the prevailing communicative nature of all the materials, which was shown to be above 50%. The remaining non-communicative block was covered by activities focused on the formal features of language (grammar and vocabulary). This resulting degree of dissociation between official regulations and what is really found in teaching materials may be positive, since the learning of languages is complex and results from the intervention of multiple factors and learning styles, as is evidenced by the professional experience of teachers from different backgrounds and beliefs. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
ELT coursebooks are the fertile soil for the transmission of cultural perspectives and also strong tools for shaping L2 learners' behaviors and expectations. This study investigated the existence of ...covert/ hidden curriculum in two of the widely used ELT coursebook series-- Top Notch and English File . To do so, the content of the series was analyzed via Moran's (2001) model of dimensions of culture and Chao’s (2011) main categories of culture . The results indicated that the series, along with covering different dimensions of culture, are biased mainly in favor of the western products, persons and perspectives, and that despite their global EFL/EIL audience, they vividly base their dialogues, reading and listening on the norms and values of the English-speaking countries, with almost no attention to the local, especially Asian values. The study, discussing the implications of such culture- related covert curricula in the ELT coursebooks, makes relevant suggestions for the design of ELTcoursebooks in the present global village.
Though reports of pedagogic materials production point to the range of compromises authors make when writing language teaching textbooks, many accounts are retrospective in nature. This study sought ...to expand the research perspective by interrogating writing episodes via qualitative content analysis to discover how two expert ELT (English language teaching) textbook writers managed compromises during ongoing coursebook development. The authors’ data sets – primarily composed of think-aloud protocols and transcripts of pre- and post-concurrent verbalization interviews – revealed that they applied pragmatic judgement when contemplating the incorporation of textually authentic material and reconciled continuity and variety when developing unit frameworks and content, all with textbook audiences, contexts, and purposes in mind. Further, one of the authors reached compromise with project partners to integrate monologue and dialog texts into his book, while the other squared pedagogic imperatives with publishing realities by skillfully navigating textbook length, design, and deadline parameters during her project. By reconciling ostensible opposites to reach compromise, the authors balanced complexities to see their books through to completion. This research may inspire neophyte textbook writers’ efforts as they examine the architecture of writing sessions and prompt teachers to weigh authorial choices and balances during ELT textbook evaluation.
PDF
