Abstract:

Textbooks usually play an important role in guiding teachers toward certain content, topics, and a certain way of approaching language skills development. They undeniably play a role in suggesting the prime focus to the teacher and influence even the way teachers approach their students´ thinking. In this sense, textbooks need to be considered a powerful actor since they can both stimulate and restrict the learning process. This is the case especially when teachers choose to follow the textbook syllabus rigidly. Rigid adherence to the procedures suggested by the textbook author can limit the learner´s opportunities for development in the areas which were not considered relevant while designing the material. Even though a textbook might aspire to high pedagogical standards, this does not necessarily guarantee that it will serve the needs of a particular group working with this material. This study presents findings from a content analysis of textbook tasks present in a typical textbook for a secondary school for the English language. It focused on measuring the ratio of tasks developing higher-order thinking skills to tasks developing lower-order thinking skills. Specific attention was given particularly to tasks supporting creative or critical thinking. The results suggest that even modern language textbooks have a tendency to accent the language practice purposes and apply mainly lower-order thinking skills although some tasks were evaluated as suitable for quick modification. This has been characterized as a one-step modification of a task that would shift the prime focus from lower-order to higher-order thinking skills. Higher-order thinking skills were being overtly focused on in less than 30% of textbook tasks. Teachers as the main agents of the teaching process play an important role in choosing or modifying textbook tasks according to what their students need. Thus a subsequent focus group was conducted to reveal the typical processes teachers apply in planning their lessons and whether the cognitive focus of the textbook tasks is their concern. The results show that teachers usually do not take into consideration which cognitive domain is the focus of textbook tasks. They prefer modifications towards making the tasks more personalized, more creative, or more interesting. The cognitive challenge does not appear to be their main focus.

Keywords:

Textbooks, teaching materials, textbook modification, critical thinking, creative thinking, teacher education, sustainable education.