Anti-textbook arguments revisited: A case study from Iran

ELT materials (textbooks) are believed to play a pivotal role in English classes. In recent years, however, there has been a lot of debate throughout ELT profession on their actual roles (e.g. Harwood, 2003; Hyland, 2000, 2002). This paper is an attempt to first summarize some of the arguments put forward by the pro and anti-textbook camps and then discuss the results of a complex evaluation process of the EAP textbooks used at the four leading universities of Iran (IUT, UI, PNU and IAU) to assess whether these anti-textbook ideas have any validity in the field of EAP specially in an Iranian setting. The evaluation was done via three questionnaires (namely Students Needs Analysis Questionnaire, Students Textbook Evaluation Questionnaire and Teacher Textbook Evaluation Questionnaire) answered by more than 300 EAP students and teachers. In combining the results of the three questionnaires used, it was found that although a lack of fit between the needs of the students and the textbook contents and organizations was rather apparent, EAP textbooks deemed necessary and useful for EAP classes. Teachers should, therefore, be given more autonomy to accommodate students’ needs and interests when essential. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.