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ELT Journal 1994 48(4):315-328; doi:10.1093/elt/48.4.315
© 1994 by Oxford University Press
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Articles

The textbook as agent of change

Tom Hutchinson and Eunice Torres

Associate Director of the Institute for English Language Education, Lancaster University. He is also the author of the Project English (OUP) and Hotline (OUP) coursebook series, and co-author of ESP: A Learning-Centred Approach (CUP), and Interface (Longman).
Local counterpart to the University of the Philippines in the Visayas/British Council English for Fisheries Project in the Philippines, and co-authored the project textbook English for Fisheries Technology. She is currently doing a PhD at Lancaster University on the role of textbooks in classroom second language learning.

Why does there appear to be apathy and even hostility to the ELT textbook in the literature? Why does it survive and prosper apparently in contradiction to the development of ideas in applied linguistics? In this paper, we first consider the role of the textbook in terms of its normal day-to-day use in teaching and learning English, and then consider its role in the process of change. We refer to data from a study carried out in the Philippines into the introduction of an ESP textbook. In the light of our analysis, we challenge some of the assumptions that underlie the anti-textbook view. We argue that the textbook has a vital and positive part to play in the everyday job of teaching and learning English, and that the importance of the textbook becomes even greater in periods of change. Finally, we consider the implications of a more informed and positive view of the role of the textbook, emphasizing, in particular, the need to see textbook creation and teacher education as complementary and mutually beneficial aspects of professional development.1


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R. N. F. Lee and A.-M. Bathmaker
The Use of English Textbooks for Teaching English to 'Vocational' Students in Singapore Secondary Schools: A Survey of Teachers' Beliefs
RELC Journal, December 1, 2007; 38(3): 350 - 374.
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