Abstract
The recently proven indisputable role of textbooks in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses has led to a major trend of interest in the value of ESP textbooks. As learners and their learning needs are one of the most significant factors in ESP courses, textbook evaluation from learners’ points of view has become more common in this field. Accordingly, this paper has focused on the opinions and attitudes of the students about their ESP textbooks. Filling a questionnaire designed by Litz (2005) and answering some questions in a semi-structured interview, students of biology and psychology at the University of Tabriz expressed their opinions about different aspects of their ESP books. No significant difference was found between these two groups and they had a generally positive attitude about their textbooks. The shortcomings of the books were mentioned by some of the students in the informal interviews which led to some suggestions for material developers as well as teachers.
Highlights
1 The significant role of textbooks in the realm of English Language Teaching (ELT) and one of its major branches, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), has been proven (Harwood, 2005; Riazi, 2003; Richards & Renandya, 2002; Woodrow, 2018)
To answer the first research question, an independent samples t-test was conducted to see if there is a significant difference between the opinions of the two groups of biology and psychology students
In the level of significance at the p-value of .05, there was no significant difference between the opinion of students of biology (M = 96.40, SD = 19.10) and psychology (M =93.55, SD = 15.270); t (80) = .749, p =
Summary
Learning how to evaluate textbooks systematically can help with the professional growth of teachers. It can inform material developers of the best materials that would fit learners’ needs and objectives. To this end, there is a need to develop a wide variety of contextually appropriate criteria for textbook evaluation which is even more crucial for EPS practitioners. Having the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of teaching and learning, the materials including the textbooks, are evaluated almost regularly by the teachers themselves which is by no means sufficient. Browns’ definition of evaluation is “the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum, and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participants’ attitudes within the context” (1989, p. 231). Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p. 97) define evaluation as “a matching process, matching needs to available solutions.”
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