English Language Teaching Textbooks Research Articles

Evaluating the International and Intercultural Orientation of an ELT Textbook in Cambodia through the Lens of Global Englishes Language Teaching

AbstractThe plurality of the use, users, and forms of English has prompted Global Englishes scholars to advocate the need for English language curricula to more accurately reflect the current sociolinguistic landscape of English and the intercultural nature of contemporary communicative exchanges. However, the scarcity of teaching materials has been identified as one of the key barriers to achieving meaningful change, leading to observations that the impact of Global Englishes on English language teaching (ELT) textbook design has been minimal. This paper challenges this perception via presentation of preliminary findings of a qualitative research project investigating a Cambodian secondary school ELT textbook. Analyses of textbook features reveal concrete instances of efforts undertaken by the textbook editors to steer the book away from privileging native speakers' lingua‐cultural norms. Findings reveal a non‐deficit portrayal of a diverse range of English speakers, exposure to more than a single variety of the English accent, minimal involvement of inner circle English speakers in the interactions between textbook characters, and a reduced reliance on Anglo‐centric cultural references. The voices of the editors are amplified in this study to further help justify the rationale behind the inclusions as well as exclusions, which are often missing in ELT textbook research.

The Representation of Pragmatic Knowledge in Moroccan High School English Language Teaching (ELT) Textbooks

Studies in the domain of English language teaching reveal a significant disparity between pragmatic findings and the approaches employed in English language instruction (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010). Investigations into the effectiveness of textbooks for teaching communicative skills, mirroring real-life conversations, show that English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks often lack clear and thorough explanations of English conversational dynamics (Berry, 2000; Burns, 1998; Cane, 1998; Grant & Starks, 2001). According to the available literature on EFL/ESL textbooks, speech acts, and other pragmatic elements are largely neglected in both quality and quantity (e.g., Vellenga, 2004; Salazar Campillo, 2007; Neddar, 2010). Therefore, this study examines how textbooks cultivate pragmatic competence and evaluates the pragmatic content in EFL textbooks used in Moroccan high schools from 2006-2007. It aims to assess the depth and quality of pragmatic information covered in these textbooks. In addition to concentrating on metapragmatic details, the study discusses register, illocutionary force, politeness, appropriateness, and usage, as well as how textbook authors present speech acts. However, the study findings reveal that the selected textbooks provide insufficient pragmatic information. This underscores the necessity of supplementing EFL textbooks with more authentic materials and ample meta-pragmatic information. It is also essential to consider pragmatics during the textbook design process and enhance teachers' abilities to incorporate them into their classrooms.

Changes in English Language Teaching (ELT) Textbook Syllabuses in Korea Since 1994

Changes in English Language Teaching (ELT) Textbook Syllabuses in Korea Since 1994

The confluence of the creativity components in the ELT textbooks of inner, outer, and expanding circle countries: An investment theory of creativity

The concept of creativity is complex and significant in the process of learning English as a foreign/second language. Hence, the purpose of this study was 1) to investigate if creativity components, which are critical to developing learners' creativity, were present in the ELT (English language teaching) textbooks and 2) to examine the confluence among the components. Using basic content analysis, we analyzed the creative content of three ELT textbooks developed and used in Iran (expanding circle), India (outer circle), and the USA (inner circle). We investigated creativity using the investment theory, which considers factors such as intelligence, knowledge, thinking styles, personality, environment, and motivation. The ELT textbooks of Iran, India, and America all include components of creativity with a focus on knowledge in Iran and personality and intelligence in India and America. Furthermore, the findings revealed that Indian textbooks had a balanced inclusion of creativity components compared to the other two countries. We also found that creativity components overlapped across tasks and activities in the ELT textbooks of all three countries. We concluded that materials developers' beliefs and practices, the quality characteristics of creativity components, and the societal characteristics of the contexts where the ELT textbooks were developed and used might influence the confluence of creativity components in ELT textbooks.

İNGİLİZCENİN YABANCI DİL OLARAK ÖĞRETİMİ ALANINDA YÜKSEKÖĞRETİM BAĞLAMINDA TÜRK ÖĞRETMENLERİN ve ÖĞRENCİLERİN İLETİŞİMSEL GÖREVLERİN YARARLILIĞINA İLİŞKİN ALGILARI

Communicative tasks have been integrated into mainstream English language teaching (ELT) curricula and ELT textbooks not only at K-12 but also at the tertiary level on a global scale for over two decades. Despite the widespread implementation of the communicative tasks in different educational institutions with diverse learner profiles, the observation of classroom practices and anecdotal evidence from teachers and students denoted that there were varied perceptions concerning the effectiveness of communicative tasks between both parties, which indicates a need for the exploration of these perceptions. This qualitative study set out to investigate the perceptions of the EFL teachers and students at an English preparatory school of a large state university in Turkey regarding the effectiveness of communicative tasks in relation to the effectiveness of the communicative tasks. The data were collected through the open-ended items on the student questionnaire, the standardized open-ended teacher interviews and the teacher journals. Eight tasks with a relatively high communicative potential from the coursebook called Language in use intermediate – classroom book by Doff and Jones (1994) were used in the study. The data in the study were analyzed via inductive content analysis. The findings revealed that both the EFL teachers and students at the preparatory school of the university held favourable perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the communicative tasks. They also indicated a general alignment between both parties’ perceptions of communicative tasks in the study. The study incorporates some implications for in-service teachers in the EFL contexts as well as some suggestions for further research.

Investigating the Local Folktales in the English Language Teaching Textbooks: A Case from Central Sulawesi

As a culturally diverse country, every region in Indonesia has local wisdom that must be passed down from generation to generation. Folktale is a type of local wisdom shared by every Indonesian tribe. Pamona tribe has potential folktales that could be incorporated into English learning materials. This integration will not only benefit ELT, but will also help to preserve the local heritage. This descriptive study attempted to investigate the inclusion of local folktales in English teaching materials in the South Pamona Sub-district, Central Sulawesi. The researchers used interviews, observation, and document analysis to collect data. An English teacher and some high school students from the South Pamona Sub-district served as informants. The documents were EFL teachers’ English textbooks. The data were examined using an interactive model. The findings revealed that all the folktales found in English textbooks originated outside Sulawesi. As a result, this study suggests that it is critical to document the existing folktales in South Pamona so that EFL teachers can use them in English teaching materials to preserve and appreciate local wisdom among Indonesian learners.

Investigating the coverage of speech acts in Hong Kong ELT textbooks

In this investigation, speech acts targeted for instruction in ELT (English Language Teaching) textbooks commonly used in Hong Kong were examined using relational content analysis. The aim was to discover which speech acts are frequently presented or not evident, so that this information could be compared to that which has been found in prior studies in other locations. This is important because, from a pedagogical viewpoint, teachers need to ensure textbooks help students learn to use as wide a range of speech acts as possible. As textbooks also need to provide clear examples and information to help learners understand how and when to use speech acts, in this research, the presentation of the speech acts was examined to identify the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic information. It was found that there was a tendency to include certain speech acts much more frequently than others, and that some were not included at all. There was also a general lack of clear pragmalinguistic (such as the presentation of indirect speech acts) and sociopragmatic information (such as dealing with high degrees of social distance) presented. This suggests that these factors could be given further consideration and that there are improvements that could be made to both the way that textbooks are written and selected for use. Therefore, this study contributes valuable information about the speech acts in Hong Kong ELT textbooks to and has important implications for both textbook writers and English teachers regarding the field of pragmatics.

World Englishes in English Language Teaching Textbook of Public Primary Schools

There is a dearth of research on English textbook analysis with respect to World Englishes in Punjab, Pakistan. The current study aimed to identify the nouns used in English textbooks at primary level with a major focus on Pakistani English (PakE). The data for this qualitative research was collected from English Textbook of Grade 5, published by PCTB (Punjab Curriculum Textbook Board). The current study employed Kachru’s three concentric circle model comprising of inner, outer, and expanding circles to analyse the data. The findings depicted that most of the vocabulary used in this textbook was derived from South Asian Englishes (SAmE) and common Standard British English (SBrE), which are norm-providing countries. The authors obtained lexemes from these standardised varieties of English. However, the presence of PakE variety equals the use of SAmE which apparently shows that Pakistanis are creating their own vocabulary which they are unaware of. The current study would help the authors of English textbooks and policy-makers to determine which variety of English they should focus on, with the aim of using it consistently.

Multicultural content in English language teaching textbooks

The aim of this study is to explore two sets of widely used English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks in Iran – an American ESL series known as Top Notch and an indigenous Iranian series of high school EFL textbooks known as Vision – in terms of their representation of multicultural elements at the surface and deep cultural levels, and their potential to promote language learners’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Interpretive content analysis is used to identify the cultural patterns in the ELT textbooks. The findings reveal that the Vision series only limitedly presents cultural elements associated with both the local and international community, and covers fewer categories and subcategories of cultural elements, whether at the surface level or at the deep level of culture. In addition, its deep culture representation is confined to the local (i.e., Iranian or Islamic) cultures. In contrast, the Top Notch series presents many cultural elements associated with the international community and embraces more categories and subcategories at the surface level. It also includes more multicultural elements at the deep level. Consequently, the Vision series limits the development of language learners’ ICC, while the Top Notch series is a better resource for multicultural education and intercultural communication. One common ground between the two series, however, is that they both present culture mostly at the surface level; thus, both series could benefit from the incorporation of more cultural elements at the deep level. This study deals with the cultural features that are presented in these two series.

NATIVE-CENTEREDNESS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING MATERIALS: A MULTIMODAL CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON INDONESIAN ELT TEXTBOOKS’ COVER

This is a multimodal critical discourse analysis of three Indonesian English language teaching textbooks. The study focused on the representation of the visuals on the cover to describe English as an International Language paradigm in Indonesia. This study was a qualitative study where the data were presented in the form of a narrative story. The researcher also employed themes to answer the research questions. The result showed that the orientation of English language teaching in Indonesia was native-centeredness where correctness was the focus of the process. Meanwhile, the practice would not prepare the student to have cross-cultural communication where English was used as the Lingua Franca. The result was likely to be in accordance with the latest study on Indonesian teachers’ perspective of the EIL paradigm which showed reluctance.

Review Locally Tailored ELT Textbooks to Meet Primary Students’ Need: Textbooks Development

Since there is an emerging issue to strengthen students' local identity particularly in expanding circle countries in the midst of globalization, local culture integration in English language teaching (ELT) has lately grown to answer the challenge. Regarding the case, this study presents a textbook development with local culture integration in ELT for young learners as an effort to build students’ identity at early ages. It exposes that local culture integration can be inserted to all units in the textbooks for primary students which complement the theme-based curriculum as mentioned in the Ministry of Education and Culture Regulation No. 22 Year 2016. It implies that English textbooks with local culture integration may be modified as a viable and acceptable technique of addressing learners' local cultures while learning foreign language. Further, this textbook development provides current guidance for English teachers on how local culture integration in ELT might increase the energy, motivation, and reasoning for Indonesian young learners to learn English in a meaningful context.

Grammar Practice Activities in ELT Textbooks: Types, Order, and Interrelated Series

The purpose of this study was to analyze the grammar practice activities used in 14 recently published pre-intermediate and intermediate English language teaching textbooks. More specifically, this study analyzed the types of grammar practice activities that occurred, the order of such types, and the prevalence and composition of interrelated series of grammar practice activities. Results indicate that mechanical activities were less common than the other controlled alternative, meaningful activities, and also the least common type overall. Also, the results show that pre-communicative grammar practice activities were the most numerous grammar practice activities and comprised approximately 40% of all grammar practice activities. Additionally, it was found that grammar practice activities generally progressed from form-focused grammar practice activities to meaning-focused grammar practice activities. Last, it was found that multiple series of interrelated grammar practice activities were present with 54 distinct series appearing across the 42 lessons examined, and comprised almost half of all 246 grammar practice activities recorded as well.

From Functionalism to Language Development: A Comparison of FCE and Summit Books

Introduction: This paper aimed to analyze FCE and Summit books which are among popular English language teaching textbooks. In particular, this study was an attempt toward the objective analysis of reading passages by finding the differences and similarities of the books in terms of their processes.
 Methodology: To conduct the study, a corpus of 1964 clauses from reading passages of the two books named Ready for First Certificate of English FCE and Summit was formed, classified, and coded. The corpus was then analyzed based on Halliday and Mattheisen’ (2004) transitivity system.
 Results: The findings of the study revealed that there were significant differences between Summit and FCE books in terms of relational, existential, and verbal processes.
 Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that analyzing the schemas of the texts not only reveals the mindsets of their authors, but also can be an objective method for better understanding of a text The results were also discussed from an educational perspective, and suggestions were made for future research.

Neoliberalism for young learners in an EFL context: a mixed-methods approach

ABSTRACT Studies on the salient role of neoliberalism in education have increased rapidly in recent years. These studies highlighted the presence of neoliberalism in language teaching materials in different contexts. However, research exploring the reality of neoliberal mentality in young learners’ (YL) English language teaching (ELT) materials are sparse. Contributing to this barely-touched line of research, this study, employing a mixed-methods approach, examined the two most frequently used young learners’ ELT textbooks (i.e. ‘Family and Friends’; ‘Super Minds’) taught in Iranian private language institutes. We further explored teachers’ perspectives on neoliberalism. The findings revealed that young learners’ textbooks are notably filled with neoliberal values such as ‘fame & celebrity’ and ‘material wealth’. The qualitative findings also revealed that most teachers are unaware of the presence of neoliberalism in the textbooks. Implications for teachers, young learners, and policymakers are discussed.

Factors Obstructing English Teaching Effectiveness: Teacher Voices from Thailand’s Deep South

Administering English language teaching (ELT) in rural settings of the three southern border provinces has been challenging for both teachers and learners due to two decades of political unrest, eruptions of violence, fears, and insecurity. To enhance ELT, this study aimed to investigate factors affecting the ineffectiveness of ELT in these three educational environments and introduce a new lens of contextualized English instructions for learners in schools located in Southernmost Thailand, where learners live amid linguistic and cultural diversity. In this qualitative study, data were collected from teachers operating in two schools of each province (totaling six institutions) by semi-structured interviews and analyzed by content analysis. Findings revealed that five primary factors deteriorating English language learning efficiency in the three southern border provinces were Implementation of Broad-Spectrum ELT Policies; Insufficient Teaching Integrations with Islamization; Inadequate Awareness of the Significance of English; Inconsistencies between ELT Textbooks and the Sociolinguistic Reality of English; and Impractical Classroom Arrangement. The findings could be beneficial if they are further utilized by the Ministry of Education in establishing policies for ELT in specific contexts as well as school administrators and teachers in formulating instructional approaches, managing learning resources, and arranging classrooms based on local needs and identities. Although this study has a specific spatial scope, which is the three southern border provinces of Thailand, its findings can be adapted for a broader application as a part of the global perspective and a clue to solve language learning problems across ELT communities encountering a similar challenge.

‘I’ve got all these little problems that I’m circling in my head’: Creativity in expert ELT textbook writing

Retrospective accounts of materials development in the applied linguistics literature speak to the relationship between creativity and textbook writing, but this study forges another path by examining how an expert ELT (English language teaching) textbook writer deploys creativity during ongoing coursebook production. Qualitative content analysis of data collected via concurrent verbalization, during which the author thought aloud while producing textbook chapters, pre- and post-concurrent verbalization interviews, field notes, and a diary record revealed the creativity that characterized her work at both the process and product levels. Creativity ultimately helped her navigate the publishing constraints in place for her project, including appropriateness controls (e.g. taboo topics), and maintain her focus on learning, teaching, product usability, and publication goals. This study reveals how creativity impacts textbook production during unfolding writing sessions, making an empirical contribution to the research field of materials development. It also provides a view of the constraints associated with commercial publishing, showcases the operations of a skilled author, and demonstrates the usefulness of concurrent verbalization to materials development research: contributions relevant to ELT practitioners interested in textbook production.

Investigating Peace Values Portrayed in Non-Government English Textbook for Senior High School Students

Textbooks are often perceived as a platform that could greatly influence students' development in terms of character. Students could receive influential peace education through textbooks as a medium of teaching and learning. Consequently, it is absolutely necessary for any textbook used by the teacher to contain the necessary peace values required to shape students' excellent character. This study was an effort to carefully examine the portrayal of peace values in English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks for senior high school students in Indonesia. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and semiotic by Roland Barthes's (1977) framework was selected as the tool to further elaborate on the kinds of peace values presents within the English textbook and also how exactly those peace values voice out the peace values. The result showed that the selected textbook has managed to integrate the necessary peace values. However, massive imbalances of representation can be identified due to the lack of peace with nature and the abundance of social peace.

English Language Teaching Textbook in Makassar University

The aims of this study is to investigate the experiences of 12 Makassar University lecturers lecturers in planning and writing their English language teaching (ELT) textbooks. The results of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) revealed that, despite a number of pedagogical issues and challenges, these lecturers had a positive attitude toward writing their ELT textbooks, as revealed by an in-depth semi-structured individual interview (IDI) and a focus group discussion (FGD). They believed that creating teaching resources for their classes would not only help them meet their students' linguistic demands, but would also improve their lecturing experience. This article argues that writing a textbook for classroom use is a form of pedagogical reflective practice for lecturers that allows them to provide their students with appropriate activities and lessons for effective language teaching and learning, drawing on Tomlinson's notion of the importance of personalizing and localizing ELT textbooks to maximize students' learning. The findings' ramifications are addressed, and recommendations are made.

A Corpus Linguistics Approach to the Representation of Western Religious Beliefs in Ten Series of Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks.

The early Sino-Western contact was through the way in which religion and language interact to produce language contact. However, research on this contact is relatively limited to date, particularly in the realm of English language materials. In fact, there is a paucity of research on Western religions in English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks. By applying corpus linguistics as a tool and the Critical Discourse Analysis as the theoretical framework, this manuscript critically investigates the significant semantic domains in ten English language textbook series that are officially approved and are widely used in Chinese universities. The findings suggest that various Western religious beliefs, which are the highly unusual topics in previous Chinese ELT textbooks, are represented in the textbook corpus. The results also show that when presenting the views and attitudes toward Western religious beliefs, these textbooks have adopted an eclectic approach to the material selection. Surprisingly, positive semantic prosody surrounding the concept of religion is evident and no consistent negative authorial stance toward religion is captured. Atheism has been assumed to be in the center of Chinese intellectual traditions and the essence of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. Interestingly, the findings from this study provide a new understanding of Chinese foreign language textbooks in the new era, and its addition to the literature on the study of ELT textbooks, as well as its development worldwide.

A framework for characterizing communication-oriented ELT textbooks

Textbooks hold a fundamental position in English Language Teaching (ELT). Today, their main aim is to contribute to the development of the learner’s communicative competence. This paper sets out to set the basis for constructing a framework for characterizing ELT textbooks, in terms of their opportunities to promote communicative competence. In order to provide a theoretical foundation for the framework, it first introduces the notions of input (Krashen, 1989) and output (Swain & Lapkin, 1995). Then, it presents two influential models of communicative competence, i.e., those of Canale and Swain (1980), and the Common European Framework for Reference of Languages (Council of Europe, 2001, 2018). Following that, it presents two significantly quoted sets of principles for the study of learning materials in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), i.e., the principles of Richards and Rodgers (2014) and Nation (2007). Building on the models and principles, the paper suggests eleven criteria for characterizing communication-oriented ELT textbooks, covering input in the form of topics and texts, and output in the form of activities. A short discussion of the main affordances of the suggested framework is provided at the end of the article.
 
 Keywords: Communicative Competence, ELT Textbooks, Textbook Analysis, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).