ELT course books and Global English: the case of Greek lower secondary state schools

Abstract

This article investigates whether aspects of Global English (GE) are echoed in textbooks used in the English classes of Greek lower secondary state schools. Given that English is no longer another foreign language but the world lingua franca, we argue that ELT students should be prepared to cope with the international, diversified linguacultural demands. Since listening is associated with intelligibility and comprehensibility, issues of utmost importance for effective communication of the messages conveyed, we conducted an analysis of the listening components of two main textbook series, Think Teen . Findings indicate that despite the variety of topics and their relevance to the learners’ needs and interests as observed in the audios, there is a limited amount of authenticity and genuineness. What’s more, there was an over-reliance on British English (BrE) Standard accent and a lack of well- structured tasks rendering learners unable to reflect upon the realistic use of English, permeating thus British- bound stereotypes and attitudes among them. Finally, we recommend that ELT listening materials be adequately modified so that the global reality is represented. A recommendation of a potential adaptation of a specific listening section included in one of the two textbooks is provided.