Master of Arts in Primary Education: Pre-School years K-3
CULTURE-LANGUAGES-MEDIA
Degree Project with Specialization in English Studies
and Education
15 Credits, Second Cycle
Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Use of
Textbooks in English Teaching
Lärares attityd till användningen av läroböcker i engelskundervisningen
Sofie Sjögren
Beatrice Svensson
Acknowledgments
Through this research and the writing of this case study, we would like to thank our supervisor Chrys for all the help along the way. Furthermore, we would like to thank the participants in our interviews as well as our observations. We could not have done it without you.
Abstract
The subject area of this study is English Teachers’ usage and attitudes towards textbooks when teaching. From personal work and practice experiences, teachers base their English teaching solely on textbooks. For many years, the use of textbooks in different subjects has been criticized. Despite this, the textbook is still a teaching aid that is widely used today. This study examines how the teachers use the textbook in their English teaching and how much room it gets.
This case study begins with a presentation of different findings together with a literature review where it will display the nature of textbooks and teachers’ attitudes towards the use of textbooks. Furthermore, this case study will present the textbooks, and how they relate to the English subject in the Swedish curriculum. This, and how to accommodate the learners when teaching ESL will be displayed.
This case study is based on two observations, one in grade 3, and one in grade 4. The observations are done in the same school, which will be referred to as the second school in this study. The contrast between the use of textbooks in the different grades will be analyzed through a review of content. This study will further present what other teaching materials are used. The observations will be analyzed and compared to interviews with six different teachers. Three teachers at one school, two of them in grade 3 and one of them in grade 4, and one teacher in grade 3 and two teachers in grade 4 at the second school.
The results of this case study concluded that the use of textbooks differs depending on what school the teacher works in, what view the school has when using teaching aids, and if it is the decision of the teachers or the schools on what teaching aid should be used. The problem where the textbooks are not compatible with the curriculum can be considered as the most frequently appearing mistake that affects the development of young ESL learners. Moreover, any benefits of using textbooks will further be presented.
Key terms: Textbooks, Attitudes, ESL, Teachers’ Perspective, Curriculum, Teaching Aid Analysis.
Individual contributions
We hereby certify that all parts of this essay reflect the equal participation of both signatories below:
The parts we refer to are as follows: • Planning
• Research questions selection
• Article searches and decisions pertaining to the outline of the essay • Presentation of findings, discussion, and conclusion
Authenticated by:
Sofie Sjögren Beatrice Svensson
Table of content
1. Introduction………...7
1.1 Problem definition………...……...9
2. Aim and research questions………...10
3. Literature review………...11
3.1 Textbooks in teaching……….……….…….11
3.1.1 Nature of textbooks and workbooks……….…...13
3.2 Teachers attitudes………...14
3.3 Textbooks and Swedish curriculum………...16
3.3.1 Accommodating the learners………...………....17
3.4 The difference between grade 3 and 4………....……...18
4. Method………...19 4.1 Choice of method………...…...……...19 4.1.1 Structured interview………...…...20 4.1.2 Textbook analysis………...21 4.1.3 Observation………...22 4.2 Participants………...22 4.3 Procedure………...……...24 4.4 Ethical considerations………...……...25 5. Results...………...27
5.1 What teaching aids do teachers use in the English subject?...………...27
5.1.1 Textbooks……….………...29
5.1.2 Workbooks……….…………..31
5.1.3 Children’s stories………...32
5.1.4 Multimedia teaching aids………...33
5.2 Teachers reasoning about their teaching content ………...34
5.2.1 Textbook choice and syllabus………...35
5.3 How do teachers’ attitudes towards the use of textbooks differ from grades 3 and 4………...36
5.4 Observation findings………....38
6. Discussion………...41
6.2 The attitudes………...43
7. Conclusion………...46
7.1 Suggestion of future research……….47
References………48
Appendices………...51
Appendix 1 - Interview questions.………...52
Appendix 2 - Consent form………...54
Appendix 3 - Template for teaching aid analysis………...57
Appendix 4 - Observation checklist………..61
List of tables
Table 1 - Participants………24List of figures
Figure 1 - What teaching aid do you use?...29Figure 2 - Text Type - Learn English and Join the Quest………30
Figure 3 - Text Type - Learn English and Attack your grammar……….32
Figure 4 - Use of teaching aids in grade 3……….……..39
1. Introduction
Due to the differences in our University degrees, it was preferable to immerse the subject area of this study to concern how to teach English in the third grade and compare this to the fourth grade. When discussing personal work experiences in these different grades, it appeared that it was common for teachers to base their ESL teaching practice on textbooks. Thus, the topic of textbooks used in these grades emerged as one possible research interest, specifically regarding the quality of the textbooks, and how the utilization of textbooks differs from the third grade to the fourth grade, where the students are more exposed to ESL.
Danisman (2019) is a researcher who made a case study of the same area of interest. Unlike us, he researched teachers' use of textbooks concerning the subject of mathematics. This study together with a study made by Skolverket (2006) was the basis of this research. Skolverket (2006) presented disadvantages and advantages of the use of textbooks in ESL, and further presented interviews as an instrument with teachers processing the same phenomenon as Danisman (2019), although, concerning ESL. These sources together with personal work experiences indicated that the problems of engaging the complete teaching practice in using textbooks occurred in different subjects, such as language teaching as well as mathematics.
To accumulate data and sources to build this case study upon, we decided to look at the usage of textbooks at an early stage until now, the different attitudes to the problem, how it differed in the third grade as well as the fourth grade, how much space the textbooks have when teaching ESL, and what other teaching aids are used to fulfill the knowledge requirements and aims created by Skolverket (2020). Our personal work experiences origin from textbook-oriented teaching where all subjects are based upon this teaching aid. When we attended primary school, there were no digital tools and no other material that could be a supplement to the textbooks and workbooks used in the classroom. However, with Swedish society at this point, completely digitalized and broad internet use of many ideas on how to teach and what materials can be used, the textbooks perhaps lost some space in the teaching practice of ESL.
Furthermore, one issue that might be common in this area of interest is that some teachers may feel insecure when teaching ESL. According to Gaak (2011), teachers somehow base their ESL
teaching practice on textbooks due to the insecurity in teaching a language that is not the mother tongue of neither the students nor the teachers. Thus, the insecurity in teaching ESL can increase in the use of textbooks and further contribute to teachers feeling less stress when planning the ESL content. Skolverket (2006) advocates that this problem occurs in their study where class teachers were interviewed and expressed their concerns with teaching ESL. All participants in this survey assess the textbook as a basis in the teaching practice, which is planned and implemented mainly from the use of textbooks. However, according to half of the respondents in this study, it is important to implement other teaching aids such as songs, storytelling, and other multimodal tools to offer a variety to the subject. Also, four out of five respondents determined that the textbook is the most important teaching aid when teaching ESL (Skolverket, 2006).
In the article about the use of textbooks in the subject of mathematics, displayed by Danisman (2019), it turned out that most of the teachers found it hard to teach this subject. The reason for this is that they did not find themselves to have the right qualifications. Eight out of ten teachers in Danisman’s (2019) survey did not like to use textbooks in their teaching. The reasons for this were that the textbooks contained a lot of mistakes, they were not interesting, did not measure up to students' different ways of learning, and did not correspond to the curriculum. Moreover, the second article, written by Skolverket (2006), agreed with the problems that were encountered. What became clear when reading this article was that the teachers had fun teaching the English subject, but they found themselves untutored to do so. To be able to offer the students the right education they had to rely on the textbooks to give a structure to the subject (Skolverket, 2006). It becomes clear that the importance of textbooks when teaching ESL is a fact. However, it is accurate that the textbooks contain several mistakes such as not being compatible with all students, no matter what subject is processed. According to Skolverket (2006), there is no security when only using textbooks. This is due to the lack of collaboration between the writer of the textbook, the knowledge requirements and aims stated in the curriculum (Skolverket, 2020).
1.1 Problem definition
The general perception of teaching English is that teachers solely use teaching materials in the form of textbooks and workbooks in their practice. It is common that teachers read from the
textbook to the students and that the students answer connected questions in their workbooks (Lundberg, 2011). The assignments in the workbooks are often related to topics that are part of the students' everyday lives. Areas such as after school, lunch, break time, sports, clothes, weather, and animals are all topics that are considered to be familiar to the students (Skolverket, 2020). This corresponds to what Skolverket (2020) advocates to be areas that increase the students’ chances to achieve the aims and knowledge requirements for these grades. This case study is meant to delve deeper into how textbooks are used in schools and how other teaching materials are designed in today's schools. The textbooks are a helpful method used by teachers when structuring their English teaching, as long as the goals are achieved based on the curriculum (Panezai & Channa, 2017). Thus, the textbook is useful, but not enough when teaching English (Burns & Richards, 2018).
2. Aim and research questions
The main focus of this case study is to present the teachers’ attitudes towards the use of textbooks as a teaching aid. This case study further investigates if teachers base their teaching on textbooks and if there are teachers that use different teaching aids and, in that case, what does this look like? This part will be followed up with figures, tables and diagrams where the teaching aids that are used will be displayed.
This case study also displays a comparison between the observations and structured interviews with teachers in grades 3 and 4. In addition to this, the materials used in the form of textbooks and workbooks are analyzed to see if the preconceived notions were correct. This case study examines if the teaching aids encourage students in developing their abilities in ESL and if the governing documents are followed in the textbooks upon which many teachers base their practice (Skolverket, 2009).
Based on these aims the following research questions have been formulated:
● How do the attitudes of English primary school teachers in grades 3 and 4 towards textbooks influence their teaching in the classroom?
● What are the differences between teachers’ attitudes towards the use of textbooks in grades 3 and 4?
3. Literature review
Under this heading, research, reports, sources, and governing documents will be highlighted on which the case study is based. The role of the textbook in teaching from a historical viewpoint and today’s society will be discussed. This will be followed by a discussion of the history behind the textbook's origin, its use, teachers' attitudes towards it, and how it reflects the abilities of students in grades 3 and 4 (Skolverket, 2020). A display of how the use of textbooks differs in these age groups will be presented.
3.1 Textbooks in teaching
The textbook and its use have been criticized in Sweden for a long time (Skolverket, 2006). Skolinspektionen (2011) mentions that many of the school subjects are considered to be textbook-driven. On top of this, Skolverket (2006) expresses their worries about how insecure some teachers are when teaching ESL. This leads to an insecure teaching environment where the textbook becomes a lot more included and is not, at this point, only used as an instrument to remain structure (Skolverket, 2009). Panezai and Channa (2017) agree with this and advocate that earlier teachers’ education may contribute to this insecurity found in some teachers’ opinions. The reason for this is that the earlier teachers’ education did not include all subjects. Instead, one needed to pursue the subject to be able to obtain the right qualification (Skolverket, 2006).
According to Burns and Richards (2018), it is common for many teachers in today’s schools to use other teaching aids while teaching ESL. The reason for this is that the textbook is considered to be a bit vague in its content and not interesting enough for the students.
Lundgren (2017) advocates that the textbook was initially used for the students to be able to read and relate it to pictures that fit the text. Philosophers like Comenius found this being an advantageous way of learning where the knowledge stays in the learners’ memory longer than if the learner only read without any images displayed in the textbook (Lundgren, 2017). The method is related to today’s scaffolding where the teacher can read a fictional story to the students and simultaneously show pictures of the different words and events. This was made for the students to be able to understand the meaning behind it. However, the textbook may
have been the core of this method. This can also be accomplished by using other teaching aids such as digital tools (Lundgren, 2017).
Säljö (2017) advocates that textbooks are based on behaviorism. This is where everything is learned part by part together with a workbook that processes the different chapters through questions. To answer the questions the students need to read and understand the text and to understand the text they need to view the illustrations as support (Säljö, 2017).
The Swedish state is the force behind the curriculum and syllabus (Skolverket, 2020). Earlier they were also a force to what teaching aid and textbooks the teachers should use (Lundgren, 2017). This is now every teachers’ own decision as long as they follow the curriculum and syllabus (Skolverket, 2020). If a teacher only uses the textbook as a teaching aid, this will not be in accordance with the curriculum and syllabus (Danisman, 2019; Gaak, 2011; Panezai & Channa, 2017). The reason for this is that even if the author of the textbook says that it is approved by the Swedish state, this is not obliged to be true (Johnsson, 2009). Through this research, it has become clear that not many teachers are aware of this which can lead to students not being well prepared when transitioning from grade 3 to 4 where the ESL teaching is given on a more exposed and advanced level (Johnsson, 2009).
Danisman (2019) is another researcher within the same area of interest, however, this research was made in Turkey and processed by teachers of mathematics. It concluded the same thing as Panezai and Channa (2017) and Skolverket (2006), insomuch as the textbooks made up a large portion of the teachers' teaching practice. Both of the researchers in this matter wanted to dissociate from the textbooks (Panezai & Channa & Skolverket, 2006). The reason for this was that it contained many errors such as misspellings, they were not individually tailored, not interesting, did not consider every student, and did not correspond with the curriculum (Danisman, 2019; Panezai & Channa, 2017; Skolverket, 2009).
According to Ton Nu and Murray (2020), more pragmatic content in the textbooks could be included for the students to achieve a more pragmatic competence, which in this case can lead to greater student development. This means that the students are given a greater experience of how language is used and can perform correctly when a pragmatic clause is directed to them. The content is learned through a social context where the students need to be exposed by
speaking exercises for them to learn a language (Ton Nu & Murray, 2020). Maxwell (1985) advocates that the content is not appealing or relevant to the students, and this is one of the problems when teachers use textbooks as their main teaching aid. The ESL lacks multimodal content, which is what should be focused on to correspond with the curriculum (Skolverket, 2020). This is further seen in Burns and Richards (2018), where they advocate that the textbooks are vague in their content and not appealing to the students. This can further prevent the student from developing their language skills.
3.1.1 Nature of textbooks and workbooks
The nature of the textbooks and workbooks consists of a combination for the students to be able to both see and hear for the knowledge to stay in their memory and to increase their development. This is done through exercises where the teacher reads from the textbook while the students are looking at different illustrations in the workbook (Lundgren, 2017). The original purpose is to teach interactively with pictures and text as a focus (Lundberg, 2007). Comenius, according to Lundgren (2017), is considered to have been the first one to create a textbook. In this textbook from 1658 the combination of image, text, graphics, and abstract metaphors were the main parts. The reason for this content was to offer an interactive method for learning where all these parts interact to help the students to memorize what they have learned. The method is based on the German philosopher Wolfgang Ratkes who believed that through people’s experiences and senses they can achieve knowledge development (Lundgren, 2017).
Historically, it is the Swedish state that has been in control when it comes to shaping the teaching content and the teaching materials used in Swedish schools (Säljö, 2017). Teachers must follow the curriculum and syllabus to be in phase in their teaching practice and for the students to be able to achieve the knowledge requirements (Skolverket, 2020). This is a common thing for all teachers and in the commentary material that they received for the curriculum, there was also a suggestion as to which teaching materials and textbooks could be considered suitable for the subject in question (Skolverket, 2020). The component on how learning is to be conveyed has often been in the form of textbooks (Skolverket, 2006). According to Skolverket (2020), this tradition lives on in today's modern schools when it comes to both forms and content of teaching. According to Johnsson (2009), it was the municipalities of the schools that made the state no longer as involved in the methods of acquiring the students
to reach the knowledge goals. Today, there is greater freedom for the teachers to shape the teaching practice, based on their preference (Skolverket, 2020). It is up to every producer and consumer to decide the quality of textbooks and teaching materials and decide for themselves whether these should be used or not (Johnsson, 2009).
3.2 Teacher attitudes
According to a study conducted by Danisman (2019), where the attitudes towards the use of textbooks are mostly negative, Turkish teachers in the subject of mathematics are trying to distance themselves from the textbook as much as possible. The reason for this is because the teachers find the textbooks to be vague in the content, that they are not suitable for the different levels of the students, there are misspellings and such that can harm the students’ learning, they are not interesting, they do not evoke learning, and the textbook is not cooperating with the curriculum’s knowledge requirements. Despite this, the result that this study presented showed that some teachers still base their teaching on textbooks (Danisman, 2019). This reflects on what Johnsson (2009) and Skolverket (2006) state about ESL teaching, where the attitudes are split into two different sections, one where half of the teachers in this study completely base their ESL teaching on the textbook because of its high level of structure, while the other half of the participants do not use textbooks at all or in a small amount connected with other teaching aids. Still, most teachers agree with the mistakes displayed by Danisman (2019). The reason for this is that the teachers basing their teaching on textbooks have always done so and do not find it interesting enough to develop their teaching with other teaching aids (Danisman, 2019; Johnsson, 2009; Skolverket, 2006).
Panezai and Channa (2017) are researchers who advocate what Danisman (2019) describes as a result of their research
.
The study of Panezai and Channa’s (2017) concluded that the outer appearance of textbooks failed to attract the students’ interest, failed to help the students develop their writing skills, too many exercises made it overwhelming for the students and some were left behind to keep the tight schedule of learning English, did not offer help to the students in developing their communication skills, no use of peer learning, and failed to encourage the students to become independent in their learning.Another study is pointing in a different direction and teachers' attitudes differ in some ways depending on which country they work as teachers in (Panezai & Channa, 2017). According to
Ton Nu and Murray (2020), a way to develop the textbooks for a better and more rewarding language acquisition could be to include more pragmatic information in the textbooks for the learners to develop a more pragmatic competence of languages, this means a content created from a sociocultural perspective. The study was made in Vietnam, where the teachers have limited access to give input to changes in the textbooks although every teacher solely bases their teaching practice on the use of textbooks (Ton Nu & Murray, 2020).
Connecting to previously stated findings, an older article written by Maxwell (1985) agrees with other teachers' attitudes towards the use of textbooks. He discusses the quality level in textbooks and how this has declined, there is barely anything to excite the students’ minds, too many illustrations, and too little text, concluding that there is inadequate intellectual content. Making the content in the textbooks more accessible to a wider range of students has rendered the textbooks and learning materials too easy and most students find the content boring. Maxwell also discusses the fact that teachers are not involved in the process of choosing the teaching material they will use. However, in the cases where the teachers are involved, they are not prepared to make those choices and given an insufficient amount of time and resources needed to make a careful selection (Maxwell, 1985).
According to Gaak (2011), there are both advantages and disadvantages to the use of textbooks as a teaching aid, although the researcher sees the textbooks as a leading teaching aid. It all depends on how they are used and in what context they are used. Advantages could be that the textbooks offer the students visual materials and do not bring any stress to their learning in the same way as if they would not see what is coming next. Furthermore, the textbooks, according to Gaak (2011), give the students more activities of learning methods and the teacher does not have to find learning materials. This could cause less stress for the teacher. It is also an advantage that the teacher can put more effort into assessing the learners since the teacher can see what the learners have answered in the upcoming questions with which the chapters end. Also, for unqualified teachers that are not secure about teaching ESL, it is easier to adapt their teaching to existing textbooks. In that way, the textbook can provide more security and confidence to the teachers’ (Gaak, 2011). Possible disadvantages mentioned are that the content in the textbooks needs more focus and does not match every student's needs, the learner can find the content boring and find it hard to keep up with its peers when making tasks in the workbook combined with the content of the textbooks (Gaak, 2011).
3.3 Textbooks and Swedish Curriculum
Swedish textbooks are generally written by authors who have no direct connection to the National Agency for Education (Skolverket, 2020). Thus, there is no guarantee that they have been reviewed to achieve goals and requirements based on the curriculum (Johnsson, 2009). As mentioned before, it is for every school and teacher to choose the right teaching aid and textbooks for their teaching practice (Skolverket, 2020). However, it is important to be critical when doing so. Even if the teaching aid is marked as reviewed from the perspective of the curriculum, it could still include mistakes that make it hard to completely rely on it (Johnsson, 2009).
The curriculum includes a chapter on the syllabus. The syllabus further tells what the purpose of the teaching content is and what role it has in the teaching practice (Skolverket, 2020). It also contributes to the central content of the course and what knowledge requirements there are. The latter, however, only applies to the sixth grade and up (Skolverket, 2020). The syllabus in English describes that teachers must have a communicative and functional basic view of language learning. The commentary material for the syllabus in ESL teaching states that all teaching exercises at the younger ages should be carried out orally (Skolverket, 2020). However, according to Dick, Carey, and Carey (2001), the learning experts look at the material’s effectiveness and its assurance, and learner verification before approving any teaching aid, in this case, textbooks. It is further described that the syllabus is based on the practical use of the language, which means that the focus is on the communicative ability. The communicative language skills involve production, reception, and interaction, which is further included in a template for the teaching material analysis in this case study (see Appendix 3). These concepts reflect the central content of the syllabus at all ages (Skolverket, 2020). The syllabus of ESL teaching is, when it approaches the communicative part of the language, based on the Council of Europe's Common Reference Framework for Languages, further referred to as CEFR (Skolverket, 2020). They believe that language will be a common factor for the population to be able to communicate around the world and therefore they want the purpose of learning a language to be communicative (Skolverket, 2020).
According to Nguyen (2011), the textbook generally offers a small number of speaking activities, such as communicative exercises. Except for the textbooks being vague in their content, the few speaking activities do not match the daily use of the language. Nguyen (2011)
further attributes that the textbooks contain many wrongs and topics that are not realistic to the learners and continues with the fact that the food the students learn in the textbook is not the food they would normally order in a restaurant. The complaints were that the speech acts are unrealistic. If this study would be applied to the Swedish syllabus, it would go against what the syllabus intent by teaching ESL. The knowledge requirements state that students should learn how to communicate in the English language due to areas that they can easily connect with in their everyday life (Skolverket, 2020).
The curriculum lacks exact instructions and guidelines on how the teaching should be conducted, making it very interpretable for each individual (Skolverket, 2020). It is important that each teacher is aware of their didactic choices on how their teaching of the subject will be conducted (Skolverket, 2020).
3.3.1 Accommodating the learners
According to Lundberg (2007), the purpose of teaching ESL is to give pupils the right opportunities to develop a communicative ability. This means developing their skills in written and spoken English to be able to communicate in different situations. To reach development in ESL, the learning should be interesting enough for the learners to progress. The textbooks, in general, have been mentioned as a boring and not a stimulating teaching aid, wherefore the learner characteristics will not be fulfilled (Burns & Richards, 2018).
According to a research conducted by Skolverket (2004) called “English in eight European
countries” where the attitudes of Swedish students are presented, there is a clear picture of the fact that students often perceive English teaching as traditional, teacher-led, and teaching aid-centered. The teaching material-centered part turned out to be based on common teaching materials that all teachers at the school in question use and solely rely on (Skolverket, 2004). Lower levels of primary school teaching, included in this context, are exposed to English learning from a textbook where it is seen as a requirement to be able to read to understand the content, and if not, it will be hard to understand and achieve development in this subject. To include everyone in this matter it would be profitable to use supplementary resources such as illustrations, games, and movies to connect the written language in the textbooks. This should proceed through topics that the students can relate to (Skolverket, 2006).
According to Skolverket (2020), textbooks are beneficial for the students to be able to practice their skills through a structured approach. However, the main benefit of using textbooks as a complete teaching aid is received by the teacher, who saves time from planning, and again, the structure that is given (Skolverket, 2006).
Another opinion in this matter comes from Hwang and Frisén (2012), who mentions that the textbooks, in general, are not individually adapted. It is important to consider every level of knowledge when solely relying on a textbook, which cannot fulfill this. Moreover, the zone of proximal development is created in students when they are challenged with tasks that are considered as laying one step ahead of their development but at the same time, not too far ahead (Lundberg, 2011). Hwang and Frisén (2012) further advocate Vygotsky, drawing attention to the fact that collaboration between teacher and student is the best way to develop knowledge since this is where the teacher sees the capacities of every student and creates collaboration in the classroom environment through this. Informal teaching linked to the formal means that the students learn together and can then help each other to develop through being challenged in their knowledge of the social and cultural purpose (Hwang & Frisén, 2012). This approach in connection with digital tools could then be an excellent way to develop linguistically (Hwang & Frisén, 2012).
3.4 The difference between grade 3 and 4
To begin with, the timetable for learning English increases markedly from grade 3 to 4. In primary school, it is today optional for the teacher to postpone all the English teaching to the third grade, as long as you reach the same quality and stick to the timeline for the subject (Skolverket, 2019). The English subject is provided with 60 hours in total in grades 1 to 3 in Sweden and this number increases up to 220 hours in grades 4 to 6 (Skolverket, 2020). The large time difference for year groups can come as a shock to the students when all of a sudden ESL goes from being a minor activity to a major seriousness in grade 4. The transition between these grades happens with only a summer break in between (Skolverket, 2009). English is taught to younger ages to prepare and encourage learning to contribute to language security and development for the future (Skolverket, 2020). However, the curriculum for grades 3 and 4 still differs in a way where the subject becomes more prominent in grade 4. The reason for this is that the fourth grade is preparing for the sixth grade where the students will be graded based on their abilities (Skolverket, 2009).
4. Method
4.1 Choice of method
In this case study, it was decided to use a qualitative method. This method is more flexible, that is, the method fits and to a greater extent allows for spontaneity and adaptation in the interaction, which in this case is about structured interviews (Ryen, 2004). The participants are allowed to give a fuller answer to the different questions and at the same time, the answers can be elaborated and given in more detail (Ryen, 2004). However, according to Christoffersen and Johannessen (2015), the answers can be mixed because of the discussion being formal where the questions are adapted to the person interviewed, depending on if the participant answered yes or no to the question about if they use textbooks or not.
According to Ryen (2004), structured interviews can lead to the participants telling the researcher what they need and what they want to hear and not answer the questions from real personal experiences. To prevent this from happening, it was decided to include two observations, one in grade 3 and one in grade 4. This was done to see what the teacher, already interviewed, was practicing during the ESL. Stukát (2012) advocates that observations should be done with already made templates (see Appendix 4) for the researchers to keep objective and not put any personal values when analyzing the results.
The method in this case study is based on three different methods (Brinkkjaer & Høyen, 2013). According to Hjerm, Lindgren, and Nilsson (2014), these methods are called coding where it is all about data reduction and the researchers choose their valid data. The next step is about thematization where the researcher presents the valid data and last but not least the summation of this case study where conclusions and verification are being made (Hjerm, Lindgren & Nilsson, 2014). Moreover, according to Brinkkjaer and Høyen (2013), to count a qualitative method as valid the research needs to be done within a small area where a few participants were involved. Thus, this collection of data was reduced to only involve two schools.
This case study involves six participants for the method to remain to be qualitative and structured. The study included three teachers in one school and three teachers at another school, to get results that later could be analyzed and compared.
To find the background of this study, the search was kept isolated to the specific interest, which in this case was the teachers' attitudes towards the use of textbooks and how it differs between grades 3 and 4. To further present this research and be able to answer the research questions with a wider understanding than only through structured interviews, valuable sources, and other audited documents were searched through. When searching for recent articles it was hard to narrow the results down to only one subject, such as English. Instead of this, an article was found with the same area of interest, however, it was related to another subject (Danisman, 2019). This made it clear that the use of textbooks was not only a problem for teaching ESL but also other subjects (Danisman, 2019). To justify the area of research and the method used, the case study was built upon this article, although focused on the Swedish school system and the teaching of ESL. Moreover, it was preferable to base this case study on Danisman’s (2019) method section since he also used a qualitative method where only a few teachers were included through structured interviews.
4.1.1 Structured interview
This case study is based on structured interviews when gathering information and data to the area of interest. The purpose of this was to gain a deeper understanding of teachers' thoughts and reasoning about their use of teaching aids, for the most part, the textbook. A qualitative study means that the researchers’ study a phenomenon in its natural environment which in this case becomes the school (Brinkkjaear & Høyen, 2013). The researchers then try to interpret the impressions to give meaning to the questions. Structured interviews aim for the same thing (Stukát, 2012). According to Stukát (2012), structured interviews are a type of interview in which the researcher asks a particular set of questions. The questions are planned and created in advance, which means that all participants are asked the same questions in the same order, with deviation if they answer yes or no to the previous question about the use of textbooks (see Appendix 1). The structured interviews used in this case study are created as Stukát (2012) advocates. However, the interviews are structured in a way where they change depending on what the answers were to the previous question. No follow-up questions were used due to this matter. The answers to the structured interviews represent the respondent’s thoughts, experiences, and opinions about the specific phenomenon, in this case, the use of textbooks in English teaching (Fekjaer, 2016).
According to Christoffersen and Johannessen (2015), structured interviews are given for the respondents to be able to develop their answers and also be given the freedom to answer with
a larger width to the questions of the researchers. As when Danisman (2019) made structured interviews collecting data for his research, it was decided to base the structured interviews used in this research on a similar method. Danisman structured his interviews through different sections where one focused on the textbooks concerning their use, another focused on the textbooks concerning the curriculum and the last one was general about the teachers’ view of teaching (Danisman, 2019). However, the interview questions used in this research were further structured into four sections, one processing teaching aids, one about the use of textbooks, another processing teachers’ attitudes when teaching ESL, and the last section processed other opinions about the same matter.
4.1.2 Textbook analysis
To make it clear why some teachers decide to engage their whole teaching in ESL on textbooks it was preferable to analyze the ones that were found during this research. The textbooks that were found came into interest through structured interviews as well as the observations. The analysis could also display why some teachers did not use textbooks in their teaching practice.
The analysis indicates what topics the textbooks address as well as what text types were found (see Appendix 3). The analysis was also made to display if the textbooks were completely reliable in the teaching practice or if there was any need for the teachers to use supplementary resources. This was due to the knowledge requirements and aims found in both the curriculum and in the content section. Since many of the participants in this survey used other teaching aids than textbooks, these were analyzed to find if they were beneficial to ESL learning. However, those teaching aids and supplementary resources are only displayed in the results to present how often and how much they are used in the teaching practice of the participants.
This template (see Appendix 3) was formed with CEFR (Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages) in mind, together with the knowledge requirements and aims created
by Skolverket (2020). Through the textbook analysis, the purpose of this template was to see how they were built, what language visions, and which abilities were processed (Denscombe, 2009). The templates (see Appendix 3 and 4) used are produced through ideas taken from Denscombe (2019).
4.1.3 Observation
When deciding on what time to observe an ESL class, the time slots differed in their amount. The third grade could only offer one day per week while in grade 4 there were three time slots to choose from for one week. Each lesson in both grades was about 40 minutes long.
Field notes were made while observing two classrooms, one in the third grade and one in the fourth grade. This was done to maintain an awareness of the surroundings in the classroom, such as how well exposed the students were to the English language, and if there were, for example, English words to name different things in the classroom (see Appendix 4). The observation checklist (see Appendix 4) was created as an instrument to see what happened during the lesson without interfering with the process (Stukát, 2011) Furthermore, the field notes were used as an instrument to display what an English lesson could look like and how much space the textbooks have in the third grade as well as in the fourth grade. The template created for this part was created out of categories such as textbook, workbook, digital, exposure, and others.
When looking at the textbook, the main reason for this was to see how much space it got as well as how it was used. Workbook displays if the students in the classroom are allowed to work in their workbook and if it was connected to a textbook. Digital processes if there were any digital tools used and, in that case, which ones? Exposure describes if there are any vocabulary practices connected to materials, furnishings, and more, as well as good morning and goodbye songs. Others stand for if the students were exposed to the English language in any other way such as through literature written in English (see Appendix 4).
4.2 Participants
For this case study design, it was decided to observe a smaller group of teachers through observations in their classroom when teaching English, as well as hold interviews with already prepared questions. The observations would include two classrooms, one where a teacher in third grade showed how they teach English and if the textbook were involved and, in that case, how. Another observation was made in the fourth grade. Later, the results were analyzed and compared to the interviews. To find answers to questions created from the area of interest, it was decided to interview six teachers, three in grade 3 and three in grade 4. These methods
were created to see how the use of textbooks could differ in these year groups and if there were any certain similarities or differences in the teaching in these grades.
The participants in this study were three class teachers in the third grade. All teachers in this section were qualified to teach ESL. Two of the class teachers in the third grade are working at the same school while the third one is working in the second school that participated in this study. The three class teachers in this section are called T3-1-1, T3-1-2, and T3-2-3. The T stands for teacher, the first number stands for what grade they practice in, the second number stands for which school they work in, and the last number stands for which teacher the citation refers to. In the fourth grade, the participants are called T4-1-4, T4-2-5, and T4-2-6.
The ages differ with all of the participants, this is considered to be interesting due to the amount of work experience and what teachers' education they are referred to. In the third grade, T3-1-1 is a young teacher with six years of work experience, T3-T3-1-1-2 is a middle-aged teacher and has 15 years of work experience. Both of these participants work in the first school participating in this study. T3-2-3 is a teacher who has about 30 years of experience and is due to retire in 2021. This teacher works on the second school participating in this study.
Further included in this study were three class teachers in grade 4. Two of them are certified in teaching ESL while the third one is not certified but still teaches ESL in middle school. Two of the teachers are working at the second school and the third one is working at the first school included in this study. T4-1-4 has eight years of work experience and is immersed to be qualified in teaching ESL, T4-2-5 has 25 years of work experience, and T4-2-6 has 11 years of work experience. Both of the last-mentioned teachers are working at the second school participating in this study, while the first teacher mentioned is working at the first school participating in this study.
Table 1. Participants
Teachers who participated in this study, what grades they are teaching in, and experience.
Teacher Grades School Work experience
Teacher 1 (T3-1-1) 3 1 6 years Teacher 2 (T3-1-2) 3 1 15 years Teacher 3 (T3-2-3) 3 2 30 years Teacher 4 (T4-1-4) 4 1 8 years Teacher 5 (T4-2-5) 4 2 25 years Teacher 6 (T4-2-6) 4 2 11 years
4.3 Procedure
To find the participants in this research, they were contacted through email. The participants had to meet the criteria of what this study focused on such as teaching ESL. In the third grade, it is common that all teachers teach in every subject while in the fourth grade this is not always certain. The participants got a schedule where they could choose times for the interviews. The interviews were done through the platform Zoom. This was preferable due to the current pandemic, Covid-19. The interviews were nevertheless made personal, where the researchers and participants had an informal conversation, to begin with, to get to know each other. This was for the participants to feel safe while answering the questions (Christoffersen & Johannessen, 2015; Dörnyei, 2007). For the observations, two of the participants at the second school were contacted, one in the third grade and one in the fourth grade. Due to the pandemic, only one of the researchers could observe. The participants offered time slots to the researcher when the observation could take place.
The data from the interviews and observations were collected and analyzed. Considering that the interviews could not get stored on a device that had a connection to the internet, no recording was made. Instead, everything was written down on the computer and in that way was transcribed directly. Due to this being a qualitative study where the data is carefully used and examined after collecting it from interviews and observations, this case study agrees to
reliability. Furthermore, the data used in the literature review is peer-reviewed, which makes the sources reliable.
Processing the analysis of textbooks and workbooks, a self-designed template (see Appendix 3) was made with ideas from Denscombe (2009). However, it was hard to find categories that work for all textbooks and workbooks as they can be different in both structure and content. The category called “others” could in this case be skewed and not comparable with the results between the analyzed textbooks and workbooks, although this category gives an overview of the results from the textbooks. This case study is assembled to only analyze textbooks found through the research made by structured interviews and observations. This could make the analysis a bit vague. The results could differ if more textbooks, workbooks, and observations were included. However, this study aims to be small and only include materials that are brought up by the participants (Denscombe, 2009).
4.4 Ethical considerations
When building a case study there is a lot to consider before doing so. Thus, it was decided to deepen the understanding of this matter before starting the process. When sending emails to the participants in this research, the four ethical principles were applied, to assure the participants that the research is done anonymously and every participant will be given a pseudonym. The participants were aware of what information would be used from the observations and the structured interviews in the analysis.
The structured interviews and observations were done considering the European GDPR-law (GDPR, 2018), no names or information about the respondents were included. This case study presents the participants' specialty as teachers and if they work in the first school or the second school. This was mentioned as T4-2, for example. A third number was included to describe the order of the participants (see Table 1). Additionally, connected to the ethical conditions, before conducting an interview or observation the consent forms were sent out to the participants to make sure that this would be done correctly. This form can be found in the appendices (see Appendix 2). Those participating in this case study have been allowed to remain completely anonymous. The interviewed teachers are all adults and have signed a consent form developed by the researchers. At the observations where students were present in the classroom, they were introduced to the situation and found it interesting. The data collected at the observations does
not refer to any students and therefore, permissions for their participation were not necessary. All participants gave their approval to be part of this research (Christoffersen & Johanessen, 2015).
All of the respondents’ information will be kept by the researchers and descriptions of their professions were used to describe them in this research. The consent forms and transcriptions of the interviews will be kept for two years if there is anyone who would like to see them.
The four ethical principles mentioned by Brinkkjaer and Høyen (2013) include the following points, The information requirement is where the respondents become informed about the purpose of the case study. The respondents in this case study were informed through email and also through zoom while the interviews were made. The consent requirement is where the respondents can decide for themselves if they would like to be involved in this case study. All respondents contacted for this case study wanted to be included, as well as the students in the observations. The confidentiality requirement is where data on all participants included in a survey shall be kept as confidential as possible and the personal data shall be stored in such a way that unauthorized individuals cannot access them. Instead of making a record of everything that happened or was said, it was decided to write everything down, both through field notes and the complete interviews. The utilization requirement is that data collected on individuals may only be used for research purposes. All respondents filled in a consent form before participating (Brinkkjaer & Høyen, 2013).
5. Results
Under this heading are the results on what teaching aids teachers in the field use when teaching ESL and how they are used, together with the teachers’ attitudes towards the textbook. The results will process what teachers’ teaching practice looks like and what different content the teaching aids comprise. Moreover, the results will process how the different teaching aids are designed and how well they relate to the curriculum. The reader will see how the different participants that have chosen to be involved in the structured interviews reason about their teaching method regarding their choice of teaching aids. Furthermore, it will present how the teachers’ attitudes towards the use of textbooks differ in grades 3 and 4. During the interviews, it was seen that four out of six teachers used other teaching aids than the textbook. This will be presented as one of the results of this case study. Other teaching aids became relevant to this study when it was revealed that they were used by many of the participants.
5.1 What teaching aids do teachers use in the English subject?
Teaching aids that were encountered through this research within the structured interviews were Small Step, Learn English, Join the Quest, Pick a Color, Caterpillar, Gruffalo, The
Grammar Company and Attack Your Grammar. These teaching aids differ where Small Step, Learn English, and Join the Quest are considered to be textbooks used in the third grade. Pick a color and The Grammar Company are multimodal teaching aids while Caterpillar and Gruffalo are considered to be children’s stories used as a teaching tool. Attack your Grammar
is a workbook only used by the fourth grade. Moreover, some teachers have mentioned that they use different multimedia tools as well as self-made teaching materials used as a supplement (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T4-2-6).
The first school in this research does not buy any textbooks for the English subject in grades 1 to 3 (T3-1-1). Not until the fourth grade are the students presented with their first textbook, as long as the teacher wants to include it in the teaching (T4-1-4). According to the participants in both schools, it is their decision if they want to include the textbook or not. It is also their own decision what kind of textbooks they would like to use. This is explained as a positive experience when interviewing T3-1-1 and T3-1-2 since they can create and plan their lessons out of interest and different themes. However, T4-1-4 considers this to be hard in the way of structuring the ESL practice where they lack the support from the school in this sense. The
attitudes of the teachers of the second school, T3-2-3, T4-2-5, and T4-2-6 all find it fun to create their self-made content when teaching ESL. Sometimes, the participants use a textbook to maintain a balance into the structure, and not only as a supplementary material (T3-2-3; T4-2-5).
Small Step is mostly used as a supplementary resource. T3-1-1 and T3-1-2 use reading aloud
and discussion tools created from this textbook where the students can speak from the vocabulary exercises in the textbook. Slideshows are used where the students get to see pictures that they later can connect with different words in their local area that are familiar to them. Moreover, learn through play is a concept that many teachers relate to, and thus, the teachers like to include songs and plays to learn English through a playful method (T3-1-1 & T3-1-2).
“Finding a good teaching aid as a basis, I think, is very important. Do not be afraid to still work thematically, for example, Christmas, Easter, etc. - and bring in fiction, etc. “- T4-2-6. T4-2-6 advocates that finding a good teaching aid as a basis is important. This way the teacher can always base their ESL teaching on this and fulfill a structure into the practice. This can be built upon through different topics and themes to make the content more appealing.
To make the different teaching aids used by the participants in this survey clearer to the reader, the following figure was created.
Figure 1. This diagram shows what teaching aids are used and how many of the participants use them. This is displayed by percentages that are further described in the following section.
In this figure, it becomes clear that where half of the participants can only use one kind of textbook while the other half of the participants can only use another kind. This is because of the age differences and the different grades. Learn English and Join the Quest are two textbooks only used by two participants each in the third grade while Attack your Grammar is a workbook only used by the fourth grade. However, that makes the calculation of 5,6 % clear because only one out of three participants in the third grade use Learn English and Join the Quest as a textbook (T3-2-3; T3-1-2) while Attack your Grammar is only used by one out of three participants in the fourth grade (T4-2-5). Small Step is however used by two of the participants in the third grade and one of the participants in the fourth grade which calculates this to 16,7 % (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T4-2-6). The Gruffalo, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Pick a Color are used by three of the participants in this study and therefore equals 16,7 %. This due to these multimodal teaching aids only focusing on the grades between 1 to 3 (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T3-2-3). The Grammar Company is used by all participants in the fourth grade and equals the same percentage as Small Step and the multimodal teaching aids (T4-1-4; T4-2-5; T4-2-6).
5.1.1 Textbooks
Through interviews and observations, in this case study, it was seen that teachers in the third grade (T3-1-2; T3-2-3) use different textbooks such as Learn English and Join the Quest. The textbook called Learn English is a teaching aid that includes a textbook, a teachers’ guide, a workbook, digital reads, and different stories and songs for the students to develop their knowledge in ESL. Join the Quest is a teaching aid that contains many different text types. These text types cover many areas of language learning for students. This way, it raises the students' language level and makes it easier, as a teacher, to individualize their teaching. This teaching aid covers third grade and included in the package is a teacher’s web, textbook, and workbook.
To make the content clear as well as its teaching methods in the form of text types, this was analyzed with a template in mind (see Appendix 4).
Figure 2. This diagram shows what text types can be found in these two textbooks used in the third grade by two participants.Article stands for news and different reviews, instruction stands for recipes, message stands for letter writing, fact stands for factual text, dialogue stands for conversation and pronunciation, description stands for experiences and places, fictional stands for stories, and others stands for songs and such.
The activities in the form of text types are considered to count the number of exercises related to this heading, in each textbook.
This diagram shows that the text types differ a lot in these textbooks. One reason for this could be that Join the Quest contains more chapters and more pages than Learn English. Furthermore, another reason could be that the content is more mixed in Join the Quest than in Learn English. All text types except fictional are more seen in Join the Quest than in Learn English. The reason for this can be that Learn English offers more storytelling in the textbook while Join the Quest is more oriented to articles, instructional texts, factual texts, and descriptive texts.
5.1.2 Workbooks
The workbooks that were found during this research were Learn English, Small Step, Join the
Quest and Attack your Grammar. Learn English is a workbook that is connected with the
textbook. The students need to fill in the blanks while either listening to the teacher reading from the textbook, or a CD while working on their listening comprehension (T3-2-3). The chapters in this workbook contain dialogues for the students to practice their speaking ability through processing topics that they can relate to.
Small Step is a workbook that is intended for beginners in the first grade and goes all the way
up to the eighth grade. The students are presented to the language through numbers, colors, animals, body parts, verbs, etc. At the end of this workbook, the students find the vocabulary that is being processed through the chapters. This is a workbook where the students shall work more independently after short reviews from the teacher (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T4-2-6). Together with Join the Quest, the textbook and the workbook follow when using this package in ESL learning. This teaching aid covers grades 1 to 3 and is only for beginners (T3-1-2). When reaching grade 4, you are not considered to be a beginner anymore. There are three different booklets included in Attack your Grammar, an independent practice material that can be used when teaching basic grammar. The exercises are primarily aimed at students in school grades 4 to 6, but they can also be used as repetition material in the later school years. Each booklet consists of 48 pages with ten to eleven sections. Each section begins with a rule box and is later followed by varied exercises with increasing difficulties. After each finished section, there is a diagnostic test to be done (T4-2-5).
To see how the content differs further in the workbooks, this was also analyzed. Learn English and Attack your Grammar are workbooks used in two different grades. The analysis was done to see the comparison in the content of the third grade and the fourth grade.
Figure 3. This diagram shows the kinds of text types in the two workbooks used in grades 3 and 4 - Learn English and Attack your Grammar. Article stands for news and different reviews, instruction stands for recipes, message stands for letter writing, fact stands for factual text, dialogue stands for conversation and pronunciation, description stands for experiences and places, fictional stands for stories, and others stands for songs and such.
The activities in the form of text types are considered to count the number of exercises related to this heading, in each workbook.
These workbooks differ a lot from each other. The workbook in grade 4 is focused on grammar while the workbook in grade 3 is more customized for fun learning. When it comes to text types
Learn English varies a lot in this category while Attack your Grammar contains more
descriptive tasks.
5.1.3 Children’s stories
Using children’s stories as a teaching aid the students practice their vocabulary when hearing the words in the story. The children’s stories that are found in this case study are very familiar to the researchers and can be used as the reason for themes alongside each term of learning English (T3-1-1). The teacher in the third grade can combine the story with the students drawing pictures, however, in grade 4, they are still not capable of reading it by themselves even though they have been more exposed to the vocabulary (T4-2-6). The stories under this heading are texts that contain illustrated pictures, so the students who cannot read just yet can connect the pictures with the storyline. Stories used in the interviews and observations were
The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Gruffalo (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T3-2-3). The Very Hungry Caterpillar is used as a distinctive collage. The book teaches children how to count in English
and can bring themes into the teachers’ ESL teaching with a butterfly’s life stages, where this is organized in the classroom. Moreover, The Gruffalo is also a story that processes fun learning with different themes and such (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T3-2-3).
5.1.4 Multimedia teaching aids
Multimedia teaching aids can be seen as a digital tool, a way of learning through materials found on the internet. There is a lot of material on the internet that contains good information created by companies that work together with the curriculum (T3-1-1). During this case study, two different multimedia teaching aids came into interest, The Grammar Company and Pick a
Color, both created by UR, Swedish Educational Radio.
In The Grammar Company, the material is focused on teaching in grades 4 to 6. The material includes a teachers’ guide that can be used as an aid when teaching the students. This material is produced by UR and they claim that their programs are characterized by objectivity and that they always incorporate a learning element. Included in the material is a short introduction to
the episode, possible preparations, how the teacher can work with the episode step-by-step, and how the teacher can continue to work with the content (T4-2-5). Mentioned in the guidelines are different examples of questions the teacher could ask. What makes this material relevant and a good base to start with at a younger age is that it is simple and humorous and it leaves a lot of room for the teacher to set up the grammar teaching in a less formal way (T4-2-5). Pick
a Color is another multimedia teaching aid. This process learning in a fun way where the
students learn to count, learn the numbers, and much more. This teaching aid is used in the grades between 1 to 3 (T3-1-1; T3-1-1).
5.2 Teachers reasoning about their teaching content
The participants in this study can decide for themselves or in working groups on what teaching aid to use in their ESL teaching practice. This applies to both schools in the survey. T3-2-3, T4-1-4, T4-2-5, and T4-2-6 are using the textbooks or workbooks, such as Learn English, Join
the Quest, Small Step, and Attack your Grammar as a supplement to endure a structure in their
teaching practice while some of the teachers do not rely on textbooks when teaching. This is due to the lack of appealing content as well as the textbooks being considered to not completely cooperate with the curriculum (T3-1-1; T3-1-2). Most of the teachers in this study find it important to use teaching aids that are considered fun and appealing (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T4-2-6). Furthermore, the students need to find the materials interesting and exciting for the knowledge to proceed when learning ESL (T3-1-1; T3-1-2; T3-2-3; T4-2-6).
In grade 3 the fun is the most accurate part to lead to development (T3-2-3). The teaching should not be demanded by the curriculum only containing parts where the students shall be prepared for what to come (T4-2-6). In grade 4 it gets more serious where the students shall learn vocables to develop a vocabulary which they will be tested on (T4-1-4). Even though most of the teachers in this survey still want to provide an appealing way of learning, it is considered hard due to the demands that differ in grades 3 and 4 (T4-2-6). However, since the earlier teachers’ education, some of the teachers in today’s school do not have the right qualification in teaching ESL. Due to the teacher shortage, the teachers are still needed in this subject (T4-1-4). English is considered a wider subject now because of its globalization. Still, it is not seen as one in the timetable (T3-2-3).
“It should be fun to learn and I am passionate about the English subject” - T4-2-6.
This quotation is from a teacher in grade 4. This teacher is qualified as an English teacher, while another teacher in grade 4 who is not qualified in teaching ESL says:
“It is partially fun to teach English. I do not feel secure when teaching it, which makes it feel somewhat oppressive. Especially the speaking and writing parts.” - T4-1-4.
The contrast between these two teaching the same grade lies in the relation to qualification and security. The teachers who lack the qualification in teaching ESL to find it oppressive to do so.
This affects T4-1-4’s attitude when teaching ESL who base the teaching practice on the textbook to endure a structure.
According to one teacher in grade 4 in the second school included in this research, the content in textbooks does not fulfill the different students' needs and is not fun enough (T4-2-6). Due to that, this teacher has decided to use different multimedia teaching aids to complement this. The participants use words that they come across as vocabulary drills using these teaching aids (T4-2-5; T4-2-6). Through this research, the participants have expressed the importance of creating content that is based on students’ prior knowledge. This is due to seeing the different levels of knowledge and to see what the students need to practice when learning ESL (T3-1-1; T3-1-2). Teachers in these interviews have expressed their interest in an idea bank where they can turn to find materials and content that work well with their topic when teaching ESL (T3-1-1; T3-1-2).
5.2.1 Textbook choice and syllabus
According to this research, through the interviews of the participants, there are three teachers’ that feel comfortable relying their teaching completely on textbooks and workbooks (T3-2-3; T4-1-4; T4-2-5). A participant in grade 3 who does not feel comfortable basing the teaching practice in ESL on textbooks and workbooks said:
“Even if it says, ‘approved based on the curriculum,’ there is nothing that agrees with this. Just because the author says it is, it does not have to be the case that the National Agency for Education agrees” - T3-1-1.
According to T3-1-1, the textbooks are often written by authors who do not work in a direct connection with the National Agency for Education. There is no guarantee that the material has been reviewed to completely fit with the goals and requirements based on the curriculum. Thus, it is important to be critical when choosing teaching aids such as textbooks and support them with supplementary resources to be able to ensure the ESL teaching concerning the curriculum.
Simultaneously, another teacher in grade 3 states that textbooks are completely reliable as every material claim that it has been reviewed based on the curriculum.
