An Evaluation of High School English Textbooks in Iranian EFL Context: Teachers’ versus Learners’ Perceptions

Abstract

Textbooks play a very crucial role in the process of language teaching and learning. They affect the whole language learning/teaching process. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and suitability of the EFL textbooks produced by the Ministry of Education and used in Iranian educational system from teachers’ versus learners’ points of view in a comparative way. To this end, the study employed a survey based design. The data were collected through questionnaires with 27 close-ended items consisting of five different sections. The results showed that both the teachers and the learners believed that the high school English textbooks are highly ineffective in increasing learners’ motivation to learn English, in increasing the learners’ accuracy in producing pragmatically correct sentences, in increasing learners’ fluency in speaking English, in improving learners’ language skills, and in engaging the learners in learning about the target language culture. It can be concluded that the English textbooks used in Iranian high schools cannot meet the Iranian learners’ and teachers’ needs and wants since they are grammar-based. Thus, based on the findings of this study, the textbook designers can take into account the teachers’ and learners’ preferences and perceptions when designing the new editions of these textbooks.