Local Evaluation Criteria for Global Textbooks: A Case Study from Iran

Abstract

The fact that ELT textbooks play a crucial role in most EFL/ESL settings around the globe may not be rebuffed. This role is noticeably pivotal in language institutes in Iran where global textbooks determine much of what happens in classrooms. It is therefore crucial to know how well a textbook plays the role it is assumed to do. When decisions are to be made about selecting a proper textbook for a specific teaching situation, the idea of textbook evaluation comes true. To conduct a worthwhile evaluation of textbooks, which are supposedly “the main teaching and learning aid” (Matthews, 1985, p.202), one needs to have some criteria against which textbooks could be evaluated. This study was an attempt to set some textbook evaluation criteria based on the ideas of teachers and students who used global textbooks in language institutes of Isfahan, Iran. To do so, the researcher conducted interviews with 15 teachers and 15 students in order to find out what they thought of the textbooks they were teaching and/or learning. The data gathered from the interviews showed the specifications teachers and students take into account when judging their textbook. Finally, based on the interviews two local questionnaires were developed.