How Important are Textbooks After All?
Can they decide the fate of our
Students?
By Enrique Rojas R. M.A.
Taking
a look at schools around the world, at its different levels, we can notice that
textbooks, and textbook series in the case of foreign language teachers, have
acquired, for a sizable number of years now, but still in the increase, an
enormous importance in the view of parents and school authorities alike. This is
so much so that when there is an issue at a school in foreign language teaching
there will always be someone who will contend that the problem could be solved
just by changing the book series.
This
is placing too much reliance on the textbook, which although being enormously
useful, shouldn’t comprise the strainer that separates success from failure in
the classroom. Not when there is a professional teacher to stir the helm of
learning.
It
is true that textbooks have made unquestionable progress in later years, in
content as well as appearance. Now they come in digital versions, boasting
beautiful and profuse photos and illustrations, all in glorious Technicolor, not
rarely offering an ultramodern layout, containing DVDs and links to stimulating
websites; and they come accompanied by posh workbooks and all of these centered
on topics and characters especially appealing to the age group for which they
are directed, since the segmentation of the publics to which these books are
destined have been carefully worked out. On top of all this uppermost linguists
and globally recognized professors are hired by the editorial houses to make
these books even more knowledgeable and enticing.
And
yet, these series are made for all kinds of students in the world. It is only
the individual teacher who knows their own students and their characteristics.
It is only them who know what they need and what they lack, which is the best
approach to reach them, what is and what is not that makes them vibrate.
The National Council of Teachers of English in the
United States (http://www.ncte.org.) asserts that “It is the teacher who acts
as facilitator, resource person and language model for the second- language
classroom” and adds: “In developing units, the teacher needs to predict the
possible needs of the students and have communicative language activities
readily available to meet these needs.”
This
means that the role of the teacher is not to follow the instructions of the
textbook to the letter. This should be a tool in their hands and not their
master. What motivates Asian students, for example, may not set in motion the
creativity of our own learners. Even the different regions that our country possesses
offer different opportunities and demand diverse approaches to teaching. The
activities planned around the students’ interests and dealing with subjects
about which they have more knowledge, will always prove more successful.
Another
piece of advice from the Council of Teachers is: “While remaining the person
with whom the students will communicate most often, one of the main functions
of the teacher will now be to discover or invent ways to encourage students to
communicate meaningfully with each other.”
This appears as the essence of the communicative approach.
Some
of the ways in which language textbooks are very useful to us are that they can
actually train inexperienced teachers, help provide ideas on how to plan and
teach lessons, make available the basis for the content of the lessons, the
balance of skills, the kind of language practice, provide structure and a
syllabus for a program, deliver effective
language models and input and offer a variety of learning resources, among
others.
On
the negative side, it is not uncommon that they present a romanticized view of
the earth, may not reflect the students’ needs, may contain inauthentic
language and, perhaps, occasionally disqualify the teacher. (Richards) Another
point, important in a country like ours, is their high price.
Summing
up, although it is true that “much of the language teaching throughout the
world today could not take place without the extensive use of commercial
textbooks,” it is also correct that it is the teacher who will aim to set up
conditions for meaningful practice in the classroom and then let his disciples
take on the role of resourceful people, leading them to acquire the capacity of
becoming successful independent language learners.
References:
Richards, Jack C. The
Role of Textbooks in a Language Program.
http://www.professorjackrichards.com/wp-content/uploads/role-of-textbooks.pdf.
Retrieved July 4, 2016
http://www.professorjackrichards.com/wp-content/uploads/role-of-textbooks.pdf.
Retrieved July 4, 2016
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Graduated in Journalism at the PUCP, Peru, Enrique Rojas R. holds a MA
in Journalism and MA in Inter American History from Southern Illinois
University, USA; an MA in Literature from University of the Americas, Puebla,
Mexico, all the coursework for a MA in TEFL at Universidad de Piura, Peru and
BA in Education from Universidad Federico Villarreal. He has also obtained
Certificates of Proficiency in English both from Cambridge University and the
University of Michigan and the Diploma for EFL Teachers from Universidad del
Pacifico. He is an Oral Examiner for the Cambridge University exams and has
been awarded the title Expert in E-Learning from Asociacion Educativa del
Mediterraneo and Universidad Marcelino Champagnat. He has worked as a professor
in universities in Peru, Mexico and the United States; as a newscaster and a
producer in radio and television stations in the United States and Mexico, and
as a writer and editor in daily newspapers of the same countries. He has been
in the staff of CIDUP for 17 years teaching English and Spanish specializing in
International Exams, English for Business, ESP and Teacher Training. He is a
member of the Research Area of Centro de Idiomas de la UP.
