Relationship Between the Quality of English Textbooks in Iranian High schools (input) and the Studentsʼ Speaking and Writing Performance (output)

Iranian high school students’ English proficiency status especially as depicted in productive skills is not merely a problem to be recognized; it is a self-evident indication of an absolutely bitter and undeniable fact. This study investigated the relationship between high school graduates’ English productive proficiency level and the quality of English textbooks in high school public education.The participants in this study were 60 high school English teachers (30 males and 30 females) and 120 high school seniors (60 girls and 60 boys) . In view of examining students’ productive proficiency level and the quality of English textbooks at high school, this study was totally descriptive. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between students’ productive proficiency and the quality of English textbooks.The quality of English textbooks was investigated with the help of questionnaires administered to language teachers and students. 60 students (30 boys and 30 girls) were randomly chosen from among those 120 students for the purpose of data collection for productive proficiency by means of speaking and free writing tests.The findings indicated that both teachers and students had a low view of the qualityof English textbooks. Furthermore, participants’ performance in the two tests provided strong empirical support for the idea that typical Iranian high school graduates’productive proficiency is at a very low level. Moreover, a meaningful relationship was found between the quality of English textbooks (input) and the studentsʼ productive proficiency (output).

Keywords:

Input , Output , Productive proficiency