Evaluating the Palestinian's English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Textbooks of the Secondary Stage Using Textbooks Evaluation Standards

Abstract

The study aimed at evaluating the Palestinian EFL textbooks of the secondary stage in terms of standards for evaluating textbooks. In order to achieve the study objectives, the descriptive analytical approach was adopted. The study sample included four Palestinian EFL textbooks of the secondary stage in the scholastic year 2020/2021. In order to evaluate the textbooks, the instrumentation of a list of (32) standards for evaluating textbooks was built. The standards were listed under five domains (textbook introduction, textbook content, textbook activities, the assessment procedures of students, and textbook layout). In light of the new instrument, the process of evaluation was conducted. The study found that the Palestinian secondary stage EFL textbooks highly met the standards for evaluating textbooks, having reached a percentage up to (75.6%, a mean of 3.78); this percentage was interpreted based on the study scale. The study offered many recommendations, the most important of which were that the planners of the Palestinian secondary stage EFL textbook should prepare the textbooks to meet the students' life, the introduction of the textbooks should identify the learning sources and guide students on how to use the textbook, and the activities of the textbook should meet the students' level.

An SFL perspective on EFL textbooks and its pedagogical implications in language teaching

“…Other research has underscored the need to customize EFL textbooks to accommodate the diverse learner types. Rezeq (2022) and Hall (2014) argued that EFL textbooks should consider the cultural and linguistic variations among learners, and an SFLbased analysis can help identify areas where modifications are required. Likewise, Llinares and McCabe (2020) emphasized the significance of incorporating functional language usage in developing EFL textbooks.…”