Using textbooks in the lessons of L1 and literature
Submitted by:
Helin Puksand
Abstract:
Textbooks are teaching materials that are written according to the content and objectives of the curriculum. These are drafted for a specific grade level, and are normally the primary teaching material. It is believed that the teacher usually teaches based on textbook and a textbook is the main learning aid for pupils. Although textbooks are necessary study aid for learning, teachers should not rely solely on textbooks in the modern school. This seems to be a common problem in Estonia that teachers use textbooks too much and do not use other learning aids or authentic texts. However, the previous problem is based on an opinion only and no studies have been carried out in Estonia. Therefore, we wanted to know what the situation really was at school. We used the focus group interview. There were two groups of teachers: one of them was an expert group, including curriculum developers, textbook authors, L1 society’s board members, testing specialists or otherwise active teachers. Second group was composed of in-service teachers. Both groups involved 4-5 teachers of the L1 and Literature. The interview was transcribed and encoded. The preliminary analysis shows that teachers use textbooks more for younger students, but they produce learning materials more frequently for upper secondary students.
Keywords: teaching, textbooks, authentic texts