An Evaluation of English Textbooks for Intermediate Students: An Iranian English Institute Case Study

The use of EFL published teaching and learning materials is becoming more widespread. However, selecting a good and suitable book for the purpose of teaching language is one of the most controversial issues in the field of language teaching. No precise investigation has been done to help instructors find the best source for their teaching. This paper mainly focusses on the evaluation of two somehow widespread books which are used by Iranian language institutes, Top Notch 3A and English File book. Harmer’s (2007) model was used to investigate the two books; quality of the materials, tasks, and the methodologies. The research finding showed that both books were satisfactory as they were affordable by the learners, consist of attractive layout, and clear instructions; the textbooks methodologies were satisfactory and were according to new methodology, they contain integrated -skills tasks, and different sorts of topics which are related to the learners’ real life. Although, English File textbook does not contain any adds-on online materials; Top Notch textbook provide some links for online practice. Therefore, in addition to textbook as their main teaching material, teachers have some extra online resources which help them to practice more on the topic and present the materials in accordance with the students’ needs and interest.

An Evaluation of English Textbooks for Intermediate Students: An Iranian English Institute Case Study Keywords:

EFL Published Materials , English Textbooks , Textbook Evaluation , English Language Teaching