46th IATEFL ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

ELT Coursebooks: past, present and possible symposium

21 March 2012

ALICE KIAIDepartment of EnglishCatholic University of Eastern Africa

Centre for Applied Linguistics

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IDEOLOGY IN

TEXTBOOKS

PRODUCTION OF

TEXTBOOKS

USE OF

TEXTBOOKS

Place of materials in the TESOL curriculum; Content analyses; Accounts of the design process from authors and publishers

• Need for research on materials production and use• Need for research that facilitates exchange among syllabus planners, authors, publishers, teachers and learners

What does a ‘conceptualization to the classroom’ research perspective reveal about textbook development

in a TESEP context?

• To contribute a TESEP perspective to textbook research arising from the particularities of the educational publishing context of this study

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Holliday’s (1994) BANA/TESEP distinction helps distinguish the instrumental/language school orientation found in much of the textbook literature from the institutional orientation arising from this study which focuses on locally produced secondary level school textbooks for Kenyan learners

Participation in authorship of secondary school English series for local publisher (2002-2005)

Post - authorship experience of materials in use while observing my BEd. students on Teaching Practice

Post - authorship experience of interacting with teachers through textbook promotion by publishers

Change in educational publishing: a shift from state monopoly towards liberalization of the textbook market

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Warwick 5

KIE Curriculum

and Syllabus

English Textbook

Form and

Content The

ClassroomTeachers

and Learners

The PublishersEditors

and Authors

• To analyze the textbook as a teaching and learning resource.

• To describe the life cycle of a textbook from conceptualization to the classroom.

• To explore interrelationships evident among the different stakeholders in textbook development.

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Class Level

Local Publishers/Series Title Multinational Publishers/Series Title

Parastatal Private

KLB

Excelling in English

JKF

New Integrated English

EAEP

New Horizons in English

LONGHORN

Advancing in English

OUP-EAHead Start

MACMILLAN

MacMillan Secondary English

LONGMAN

Explore English

Form 1

x x x x x x

Form 2

x x x x

Form 3

x x x x x x

Form 4

x x x x10/04/23

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Preliminary WorkPreliminary Survey questionnaire to teachers (103 responses)

Content analysis of the 2002 English syllabus (current)

Analysis of TextbookContent analysis using Littlejohn’s (1992, 1998) framework (4 students’ books and teachers’ guides)

InterviewsCurriculum developer (KIE) (1 participant)Publisher and authors (2, 4 participants)Teachers (17 participants)

Classroom Observation4 English lessons with 4 different teachers and their learners using the selected textbook

Representation: how meaning is inscribed in the way artefacts are represented, either visually and/or verbally.

Identity: social identities and lifestyles associated with the artefact.

Regulation: how political, economic and other factors regulate the circulation of meanings.

Production: how the artefact is designed, produced and marketed.

Consumption: how consumers can identify themselves as members of a group or make identity statements about themselves through their consumption and use of commodities.

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Components were held together and explored by adopting and adapting the Circuit of Culture (Gray, 2010) as a theoretical framework

RQ1: WHAT DOES EACH PROCESS (MOMENT) IN THE CIRCUIT OF CULTURE CONTRIBUTE TO THE TEXTBOOK BIOGRAPHY? Outstanding Features Representation/Identity:

Prevalence of reading texts; Learner as decoder of meaning, seeker and producer of knowledge; Teacher as authority, guide, decision maker.

Regulation/Production: Syllabus designers overtly focused on ‘integration’; Syllabus designers focused on 3 hypothesis in Krashen’s Monitor

Model; Producers generated own reading content as the fulcrum for each

unit. Consumption:

Teachers and learners appreciated most the reading content; Suggested learner-to-learner interactional opportunities in the

classroom were often sidestepped.

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A: Listening & Speaking

B: Reading

C: Grammar

D: My Text

(E:Literary Moment)

F: Close Shave

Text + Questions

Discussion+Text + Questions +Discussion

Grammar Points + Practice Exs.

Text+Questions

Literary Points+ Text+ Questions

Text+Questions

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General format for a unit in the textbook

...virtually every passage

is new...something

fresh...It was more based

on the research...people

want interesting things.

One of the things that emerged

from the students is that the books

were boring ...boring passages,

long passages....

Editor, speaking on pre-writing research findings and subsequent decision for authors to generate reading content

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Why is it that they are taking more interest in this Close Shave?

Teacher on the capacity of Close Shave to engage his learners

My textbook is: exciting, funny, entertaining, a comic book, a friend...

Learners describe their coursebook in relation to Close Shave

In our moments of story telling...somebody would tell a funny one...

...to sweeten the pill of language learning ...the bait on the hook

Authors on genesis and rationale for Close Shave

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The Linkage Model (Havelock, 1969)

Links users, near and remote resource systems in problem-solving

Implies need for:Strengthening of research among participants in all groupsGreater and sustained collaboration and feedback across different groups

A textbook journey from conceptualization to the classroom via the circuit of culture shows the potential for textbook development studies to be part of a problem-solution and good practice dynamic drawing input from regulators, producers and consumers of materials.

Further study, especially of teacher-textbook-learner relationships within the consumption moment is required of practitioners and researchers.

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Thank You

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