An analysis of English language teaching coursebooks by Turkish writers: "Let’s speak English 7" example

Abstract

It is known that English language coursebooks written by Turkish writers is widely used in Turkey although much research is needed to assess their quality as educational materials. In this research study, opinions of 7th grade students’ and teachers’ on Let’s Speak English 7 were studied through teacher and student questionnaires containing Likert-scale items, and an open-ended item for the teachers. Among 130 participants, 50 were English teachers 80 were seventh grade students studying at a primary level State school. SPSS 13.0 was used to compute frequencies and percentages along with T-tests and One-way ANOVAs to calculate the possible differences in attitudes between different groups, including class, sex, age, experience, and education. The results suggest that both teachers and the students have rather negative feelings about Let’s Speak English 7, the teachers having more negative feelings towards it. The disconcerting problems with Let’s Speak English 7 demonstrated that in order to minimize the negative effects of the coursebook, a series of support materials were needed.