A Study of Junior High School English Teachers'' Perceptions of the Liberalization of the Authorized English Textbooks and their Experience of Textbook Evaluation and Selection

• Main Authors: Li-Yun Wang, 王麗雲
• Other Authors: Shih-Guey Joe
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/20844397895795254295

碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 應用外語系碩士班 === 93 === The current study was done to explore junior high school English teachers’ perceptions of the liberalization of the authorized English textbooks and their experience of textbook evaluation and selection. Due to the lack of the qualitative research on teachers’ perceptions of the policy of decentralization and teachers’ experience in textbook evaluation and selection, the researcher conducted qualitative interviews to explore the two issues above. The researcher interviewed six certified junior-high-school English teachers in Taiwan. In order to choose the six subjects, purposive sampling procedures were conducted. The researchers utilized the open-ended interview questions together with the interview guide as the instruments to conduct the interviews. Cross-interview analysis was employed to analyze the data. All the data were transcribed verbatim, compared, coded, categorized into topics, and presented in a narrative way. Findings were summarized as follows. First, three major themes were identified to capture teachers’ perceptions of the liberalization of the authorized English textbooks: (a) decentralization as a dynamic for changes, (b) striving for adjustments, and (c) expecting remedial actions. First of all, most teacher participants considered that the decentralization of the authorized English textbooks caused the changes in the teachers, learners, and textbooks. Also, teachers made efforts to accommodate themselves to the new teaching context. Moreover, teachers expected that the textbook writers and the government would take remedial actions to improve the quality of the textbooks and to solve the problems teachers and students encountered in reality. Second, the researcher proposed three major themes to characterize teachers’ experience of textbook evaluation and selection: (a) limitations of predictive evaluation, (b) importance of retrospective evaluation, and (c) participatory process of textbook selection. First of all, the teacher participants indicated the limitations of predictive evaluation. Besides, the retrospective evaluation offered teachers useful information on selecting textbooks or revising the evaluation criteria. Furthermore, teachers were extensively involved in the decision-making process, followed the democratic principle to select textbooks, and were relevant to the outcome of textbook selection. Based on the findings, the researcher offers several suggestions for the junior high school English teachers, the government authorities, the textbook writers, the publishers, and the future research.