There is an ocean of coursebooks in the global market for the EFL teacher to select from and only one question that keeps tormenting them before the final choice: which is the best one for my class? Representatives from publishing houses will inundate us with the latest editions and colleagues will swear upon the efficacy of their choices regarding coursebooks. However, we all know that there is no such thing as the best one. So, let us remember that words have power and rephrase the question: which is the most appropriate one for my class?
Even a novice EFL teacher can grasp the importance of selecting a coursebook based on the students’ age and level so the first criterion should be age and level alignment. Let us dig a little deeper now. The second most important criterion is teachability. I’m pretty sure some of you didn’t guess it. We keep forgetting that knowledge is conveyed through us, we are the mediators of the content, the servers of the syllabus, the facilitators of the learning process. Sounds quite fancy I know but it’s true. We cannot teach effectively what we do not enjoy or cope with. Many coursebooks are crammed with tasks, obliging teachers to critically or even frantically select which ones to leave out as classroom time will not suffice for all of them. Occasionally the selection is driven by the need to simplify the content as some tasks are deemed as too demanding and ultimately disheartening for students, potentially leading to cognitive overload. Does this mean we need to choose a coursebook with simple tasks? I am confident that supporters of Krashen’s i+1 hypothesis would certainly disagree. Thus, teachability is a complex criterion. It means choosing a coursebook that can strike a balance between what students need to know at this level and what they can handle without reducing their motivation. Part of the teachability criterion is the organization of content in a clear and coherent manner. In other words, clarity and consistency. When looking at an activity, the process and the purpose should be clear to the learners and the learning outcomes should be clear to the teacher. Consistency in the way content is presented in each chapter is also beneficial. Knowing that the structure of each unit is the same as the previous one can certainly create a sense of organization and clarity for teachers and students will ultimately feel familiar with their coursebook. Readability is another integral criterion especially for students as they should be able to understand the content and be truly engaged in it. The use of colours and appealing characters is always beneficial, but the focus should be on the stories that will be told: reading passages or any other type of reading activities should reflect their interests, should be about aspects of life and culture they are familiar with or curious to learn more about. Last year for instance I had to teach a lesson about cassettes and records. It made me feel like Indiana Jones explaining the value of some ancient artifact.
Let us not forget that coursebooks are part of an overall syllabus representing a particular pedagogical orientation. A syllabus designer would probably advise teachers to opt for a coursebook that matches the teaching philosophy of the syllabus. For instance, if a structural syllabus is implemented throughout the course, then the EFL teacher should go for a coursebook with clear language grading and consistent focus on form and accuracy whereas if a functional syllabus is applied, then a communicative-oriented coursebook should be preferred. However, we know there is no single and perfect approach to syllabus design and the key is to select and integrate methods and skills that will allow our students to develop their linguistic competence to their fullest capacity. For that reason, it is important that we choose a coursebook that caters to all four language skills and promotes both accuracy of form and communicative competence. It should not be only about teaching grammar explicitly or only about oral practice. We need a coursebook that addresses both accuracy and appropriacy, the way language is formed but also the way language is used on a number of different occasions. Our students should ideally be able at some point in their lives to write the corporate email but also to travel and chat and flirt.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. I know you have heard that before, but it makes so much sense in this context. Our coursebook choice should not be based only on illustrations or promising educational apps or innovative AI activities. Appearance, innovation and technology are all valuable educational components, they alone cannot deliver a lesson or guarantee success. It would always be a good idea to bear in mind our criteria and browse our coursebook the good old-fashioned way before our final decision. We could even check how activities fit our lesson plan or host a private microteaching session only for us: we could record ourselves teaching a unit of the coursebook to see how comfortable we feel teaching it or to see the overall flow of the lesson. Asking experienced colleagues or those who have taught it to give us insight is also a good idea. The most important aspect of coursebook selection that we must never forget is that we are the drivers and it is our vehicle. Even if our final choice turns out to be not the appropriate one, it is up to us to modify and adapt our coursebook to suit our learners’ needs. We are not slaves of our coursebook or to quote my favourite film, Dead Poets Society: “When you read, don’t just consider what the author thinks, consider what you think”.
