A PRELIMINARY RESEARCH ON TEXTBOOK EVALUATION

English language teaching materials (textbooks) play
a very important role in many language classrooms,
but recently there have been a lot of debate
throughout the English language teaching profession
based on the actual role of materials used for
teaching English as a foreign language. Arguments
have encompassed both the potential and the
limitations of materials used for guiding students
through the learning processes and curriculum as
well as the needs and preferences of teachers who
are using the textbooks that are available. Other
issues that have arisen in recent years include
textbook design and practicality, methodological
validity, the role of textbooks in innovation, the
authenticity of materials in terms of their
representation of language, communicative textbooks,
and balance in presenting the language skills as
well as cultural components.
The purpose of this book is to report the findings
on a study carried out in 2006 into how Iranian
textbooks could be made more communicative. The
textbooks referred to are three English language
textbooks which are currently used in Iranian
Secondary Schools.
www.dahmardeh.com

Dr. MAHDI DAHMARDEH has received his BA in English Language Translation from Iran. He has then come to Great Britain in order to pursuit his studies. He has received his PhD from the University of Warwick and his MA in TEFL from Lancaster University. Dr. Dahmardeh's academic interest lies in CLT along with research on TEFL/TESL.