Afghan EFL teachers’ evaluation of grade 8 ELT textbook

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current in-use English textbook of Grade 8 ‘‘English for Afghanistan’’ in terms of subject and content, skills and sub-skills, layout and physical make-up, and practical consideration from teachers’ perspective. For this purpose, Demir and Ertas’ (2014) eclectic checklist, was used to collect data from one hundred and thirty high school ELT teachers in Afghanistan. The checklist consists of four categories with a total of 56 items. Data was analyzed to find out frequency and percentage for each item and is displayed through tabulation. The findings show that subject and content, skills and sub-skills except listening, and layout and physical make-up were considered suitable for the situation but need some adaptations. However, practical considerations of the textbook was found as not suitable and need to be changed entirely. Importantly, it was found that the textbook is not equipped with appropriate listening and speaking materials to develop students’ the mentioned skills. The findings gained from this study might be of use to the EFL teachers, syllabus designers and material developers.