English language high school textbooks in Iran from students' and teachers' perspectives

Abstract

English language teaching (ELT) textbooks play an important role in language classrooms. The textbooks are worthy to be examined by researchers to determine if they are designed based on learners’ language needs. High school ELT textbooks in Iran were written three decades ago based on structural approach. This approach does not take into account learners’ language needs and the skills that should be incorporated in ELT textbooks in Iran.The purpose of this study is three fold. The research investigated learners’ language needs and the perspectives of learners and teachers on English language textbooks used in Iran. Besides, it examined whether the participants’ perspectives on the textbooks meet the learners’ needs. The instruments to gather data in this study were questionnaire (to examine the learners’ needs) , checklist (to investigate the learners’ and teachers’ perspectives on ELT textbooks) and interview (to clarify unclear points). Based on random sampling, 300 Iranian students from three different high school grades (year 9, 10 and 11, aged between 15-17 years old ),and 10 Iranian English language teachers were selected to participate in the study. Teachers and students were required to respond to questionnaires and checklists, and 30 students were selected for an interview session to provide clarification. With regards to learner’s language needs, the findings showed that the students considered speaking skill as the most needed skill, followed by other skills such as discussion, listening and writing practices. Besides, it was discovered that the textbooks did not incorporate communicative skills and tasks, and lack meaningful practices.The findings showed that the materials generally did not focus on the skills needed by learners as the books did not provide an appropriate balance of the four skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. Lastly, the results showed that the content of the ELT textbooks do not meet the learners’ needs. In conclusion, the discoveries of this study provide evidence that future ELT textbooks in Iran need to be written based on investigation of learners’ needs.