Is a Coursebook a Holy Book ?

Undeniably, a coursebook is important for any language teacher, since it is considered to be a helpful guidance on how to teach its materials in the classes.

But at the same time, it should not be treated as a holy book where the teacher has to blindly every single instruction in it. This is sometimes due to several factors. Firstly, the teacher must consider the academic levels of his/her students. So he/she should adapt the book activities in a fashion that could harmonize with the students. Out of this, we conclude that the teacher has to observe the actions and reactions of his/her students that would orient the teacher’s academic management of the classes. Secondly, some of the book activities may disharmonize with the cultural backgrounds of the students just in case the classes are taught in countries not belonging to the acquired language. Therefore, the teacher may modify these activities. Thirdly, the process of acquiring a language takes place through communicative activities. These activities basically depends on speaking skills. Hence, the teacher must set free these speaking skills of the students, as the spirit of creativity finds its way for emergence via the brain faculties. This means that the coursebook, at this point, will be an obstacle if it exclusively used in the classes.

These factors make us conclude that the coursebook can partially ignored in the classes for the sake of granting some space for the students to get involved into conversational activities with each other in groups or their teacher. The teacher must allocate time for in-class group discussion with the purpose of arousing all the innate linguistic skills of the students. Then the teacher can orient the linguistic progression of the students through unceasing feedback on their in-class and at-home assignments. The teachers are advised to allow their students to make oral presentations in groups as a means of instigating them to utilize the language in public milieu. These academic assignments will make the students capture self-confidence in their ability to successfully communicate with the others in English.

Should the students feel that their teacher is attempting to add any new phenomenal features to their classes away from the coursebook, they would positively respond to him/her. Many students would think that the answer keys of the coursebooks are enough to let know how to handle the activities. So if the teacher blindly follow the answer keys. This would tell the students that their teacher is with limited academic potentials that is just consecrated to the coursebook. The result is that the teacher could not make desirable success as he/she is wishing. The language classes scaffolded upon constructive basis prove their efficiency, as communication is the principal pillar of their success.

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