Implementing the Communicative Approach in Tenth-Grade Iranian High School English Language Textbooks: An Analysis of Vision 1
حوزههای تخصصی:
The present study aimed to examine the Iranian high school teachers’ perceptions towards the new English textbook named Vision 1 and tried to find the level of these textbooks' communicative aspects based on the teachers' perceptions. To do so, one hundred participants were selected based on convenience random sampling, including 65 male and 35 female Iranian EFL teachers. To collect teachers' perspectives on Vision 1 , a questionnaire, adapted from a similar previous study (Razmjoo, 2010), was used. To gain more valid data and to triangulate the data, a semi-structured interview was also conducted with 25 teachers. The results indicated that Vision 1 was considered poor in terms of vocabulary, writing, and critical discourse analysis components by most teachers, but they rated it appropriate in terms of structure, reading, listening, and speaking tasks. The general methodological considerations of Vision 1 were perceived to be good, but some believed that they were poor. The findings of the interview revealed that the participants agreed that Vision 1 is based on the approach of CLT. Notwithstanding, they argued that this method has not been properly operationalized in the content of the book. The teachers pointed out that Vision 1 has some features like conversations and pronunciation practices, which are beneficial for developing the communicative competence of the students. The results have implications for teachers and materials writers as well as the policy makers.