Beyond the Text Book: the Role of Commercial Materials in Language Teaching

Abstract

In many schools and language programs, the textbooks used in the ESL program are the curriculum. If we wish to determine what the objectives of the ESL course are, the kind of syllabus being used, the content which the students will study, and the assumptions about teaching and learning that the course embodies, we need look no further than the textbooks used in the program itself. Textbooks and other commercial materials in many situations represent the hidden curriculum of the ESL course. Textbooks thus play a significant part in the professional lives of teachers. But what are the benefits and costs of the impact of textbooks on teaching? This paper seeks to answer this question by examining the role commercial textbooks play in instruction, why they have achieved their present status, and what the consequences are.

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