This paper aims to discuss the evaluating reading taxtbooks for use in ESL/EFL classrooms. Classroom teachers spend much time using textbooks in class, so choosing an appropriate one is important. Moreover, the paper describes the role of the textbook. Using this will make the textbook selection process more efficient and more reliable. Since the textbook provides teachers with guidance in course and activity design, it assures measure of structures, consistency and logical progression in class; It meets a learner's needs of having something concrete to work from and take home for further study.
.
Introduction.
What is a textbook? .
A textbook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. It is produced according to the demand of educational institutions. Textbooks are published in printed format; many are now available as online electronic books. The ancient Greeks wrote texts intended for education. The modern textbook has its roots in the standardization made possible by the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg himself may have printed editions of Ars Minor, a schoolbook on Latin grammar by Aelius Donatus. Early textbooks were used by tutors and teachers, who used the books as instructional aids, as well as individuals who taught themselves. Compulsory education and the subsequent growth of schooling in Europe led to the printing of many standardized texts for children. Textbooks have become the primary teaching instrument for most children since the 19th century. Two textbooks of historical significance in United States schooling were the 18th century New England Primer and the 19th century McGuffey Readers.
Textbooks are important aid guide to me as a teacher. Thus, scholary views on the role of the textbook and recommendations on how to use it in everyday classroom practises very often reflect little more than personal opinion and common sense. The administrative de- emphasis of the teacher in ESL would suggest that teachers must learn how to integrate and organize content of a textbook to make learning an interactive and meaningful experience, as oppossed to an act that completed alone by self-directed study with a textbook.
