Applying Language Learning Principles to Coursebooks

Abstract

For many teachers the course book is the curriculum. Furthermore, because of contextual constraints such as those imposed by an external examination, the course book becomes an unexamined curriculum. Yet in such circumstances the learning outcomes may not be optimal because teachers are not applying principles; principles, in this sense, refer to research and theory about best practice in language teaching and learning. This chapter explores this issue, beginning with an examination of classroom practices in relation to course books, followed by a brief examination of the relationship between course book publication and research-based principles. It then examines and exemplifies principles teachers can apply to ensure that their classroom practice is better informed by research and theory than it would be if they relied on the course book alone. The focus will be on key principles that the survey of course books suggests appear to be absent from this conveniently ready-made but too often unexamined curriculum.