A Discursive Analysis on Gender Biased Issues in the International ELT Textbooks

Although textbook is one of the traditional ELT material that playacts an authentic hazardous character in all English language classrooms, in the latest decades there has been a lot of controversies all over the ELT business on the real role of mediums in teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Other points that have appeared in these years encompass textbook designs and practicality, the authenticity of materials in terms of the appropriateness and equality of gender representation, and cultural components. This research is an attempt to scrutinize the representational method of genders in English learning book series, i.e., Face 2 Face Student Textbooks. To reach this end, of the four volumes of the English textbook series “Face 2 Face” were studied with a stress on the representation rate of male and female characters by conducting the content analysis of gender attributed lexicon such as names, nouns, pronouns, and adjectives to see if the two genders are equally distributed. Chi-squares based on five factors (female vs. male’s characters, titles, order of appearance, engaging activities and, pictorial representation) as well as gender representation in conversation accomplished to determine the proportion and frequency of the male vs. female discrimination. The findings revealed that this series is significantly bearing sexism; Male is more foregrounded than female. Comparing with females, males are outstanding in many ways such as independence, status and occupations.

How do textbooks from Brazil, the United States, and Japan deal with fractions?

Background: Researchers recognise the importance of textbooks for teachers’ lesson planning and the importance of fraction knowledge for shaping students’ future mathematics performance. Objectives: The finding of discrepant achievement by Brazilian, American, and Japanese students in the last three editions of PISA led us to investigate how textbook authors from these countries approach fraction content in elementary education relating to magnitude, flexibility, reasonableness, as well as conceptual and procedural knowledge from both symbolic and nonsymbolic perspectives. Design: The quantitative performances in mathematics of Brazilian, American, and Japanese students in the last three PISA editions lack qualitative and exploratory research to understand some reasons presented by the numerical results. Data collection and analysis: To achieve the objectives, we selected three textbook series, one each from Brazil, the United States of America, and Japan, that schools in those countries widely use. Results: The main results revealed that all textbook series practised flexibility and reasonableness with different emphases, but not the sense of magnitude. Brazilian and U.S. textbooks were based primarily on part-whole interpretation and on a procedural approach. In contrast, Japanese textbooks emphasised the understanding of measurement as the iteration of unit fractions and more conceptual development. Conclusions: The fraction knowledge approach in the Japanese textbook series seems to be close to what the mathematics education researchers recommend, which can be an essential differential to explain the Japanese results in PISA.

English Language Teacher Agency in Rural Sarawak: Exploiting Teaching Materials

This paper explores English language teacher agency in rural Sarawak, Malaysia within the context of materials exploitation. The introduction of an international textbook series in all primary schools in Malaysia has brought about significant challenges for teachers who work in socially and economically deprived educational settings, where resources are scarce and where the textbook’s cultural references may be alien to the learners. In order for it to be meaningfully used in the classroom, language teachers need to adapt and localize the textbook for their learners. However, diverting from the officially prescribed material and scheme of work may be a risky business and it requires high levels of teacher autonomy and agency. The data show that although research participants find the materials in need of adaptation, not all make changes due to possible deficiencies in their capabilities or their lack of willingness to act. Those who make changes and thus enact their professional beliefs and values are motivated by completely different reasons. The study found that teachers’ interpretation of their work context significantly influences their agential roles and that teacher agency emerges from an interaction of individual capability, professional action, and the professional and social contexts in which the teacher operates.

‘Ignoring the elephant in the room’: (Under-)representation of impoliteness phenomenon in popular ELT textbooks

One of the underrepresented aspects of pragmatic competence development is perceiving and responding to impoliteness acts. The present study reports on a quantitative and qualitative investigation of two international English language teaching (ELT) textbook series published by Oxford and Cambridge University Press; it focuses on the books highly popular among a thriving representative sample of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) across four language proficiency levels and explores their coverage and treatment of impoliteness acts and their responses. Drawing on stringent models and taxonomies, the findings reveal that this unpleasant side of language is ignored and misrepresented in the textbooks, particularly at lower proficiency levels. We draw on our own and others’ previous incivility studies and argue for the inclusion of impoliteness especially from earlier stages of language learning owing to its saliency in authentic interactions. The study concludes with implications and suggestions for language learners, instructors, textbook writers, and researchers.

Strategies employed by EFL teachers at a Vocational High School for selecting appropriate English textbook

Textbook is a tool which functions as a manual instruction in any branch of study included in language learning. Therefore, teachers should select an appropriate English textbook to support the learning activity because it have a big influence in the learning process. This study is about strategies of EFL teachers at a vocational high school in Semarang for selecting appropriate English textbook. The main purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ strategies in selecting appropriate English textbook and dr. This study drew from the teachers regarding their criteria in selecting appropriate English textbook. Hence, this is a qualitative study that investigate the EFL teachers as the subjects. In collecting the data, we used open ended interview, questionnaire, and document analysis checklist. This study eployed theory of Garinger (2002) and BNSP by Permendikbud (2013) to analyse the data in order to know the strategies and the criteria used by the teachers in selecting appropriate English textbook. Based on the interview and the questionnaire, the finding showed there are some strategies in selecting appropriate textbook: teacher matched the textbook with the 2013 curriculum, read the KI, KD, Syllabus and learning objective. The data showed that all teachers select textbook based on their chosen, so that they were free to choose their textbook to support learning activity. However, some teachers select textbook by involving administrator and head school. There are also some textbook criteria there are: considering the goals and curriculum, textbook series, learning objective in the textbook, the age and background of the students, the availability and the effective cost. Based on the document analysis checklist, this research showed that the criteria of appropriate textbook in line with the Garinger (2002) and 2013 curriculum aspects based on BNSP. Next, the teachers also considered about the price of the textbook that must be cost effective and the textbook is easy to obtain. We argue that the identified strategies and criteria can be used as a consideration by English teachers to selectan appropriate English textbook.

(Post-)colonial Myths in German History Textbooks, 1989–2015

This article examines the evolution of textbook representations of colonialism in two North Rhine-Westphalian textbook series for the Sekundarstufe II since 1989. On the one hand, the article shows that the developing post-colonial discourse in the German public debate had a particularly strong impact on schoolbooks in the mid-2000s. Textbooks reacted quickly to changes in the public debate and have increasingly attempted to deconstruct colonial narratives. However, implicit mental conceptions of African “backwardness” continue to exert some influence even on today’s textbook generation. On the other hand, the article identifies the distortions that appear when colonialism as a global phenomenon is discussed within a curricular framework that focuses on national and European history. Because of the close curricular link between High Imperialism and World War I, textbooks strongly focus on the global rivalry of the European powers, whereas other aspects of colonialism come up short.

Evaluating ELT Textbook in Bangladesh: The Case of English for Today (Classes Nine-Ten)

The paper evaluates the ELT textbook English for Today (Classes Nine–Ten) which is used as a dominant instructional material in secondary level schools and madrasahs in Bangladesh. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) of Bangladesh published the revised edition of the textbook series English for Today in the academic year 2013 incorporating the guidelines proposed in National Education Policy (NEP, 2010) and National Curriculum (NC, 2012). Ever since the introduction of the ELT textbook series, systematic evaluations to examine their pedagogical usefulness and constraints have been found inadequate. The purpose of the study is, therefore, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the textbook which will help the teachers do maximum application of its strengths in the classroom, and make sensible decisions about the weaknesses. This study followed the ‘whilst-use’ evaluation type, and adopted mainly the checklist method. The checklist was designed drawing on suitable criteria from the popular checklist developed by McDonough, Shaw and Masuhara (2013). In addition, a short semi-structured interview was conducted with 10 secondary English teachers in order to explore how the teachers would perceive and evaluate the textbook. Though the evaluation identified the textbook’s rewarding features, it also revealed a number of limitations which require sincere attention of the curriculum and materials developers. The study implies that the textbook requires both internal and external improvements in order to maximize the learning outcomes and meet the curriculum objectives. The paper also makes recommendations for the curriculum experts and textbook writers for consideration during future editions of the textbook.