English Textbook Criticism Related to the English Linguistics in Jordon
Introduction
Books play a central role in any educational institute because they provide information to students, which is helpful in guidance and future success. The role of textbooks is more important than other kinds of books because the textbook has an easy pattern to follow. The language and structure of the textbook are convenient because it is made for assistance to students. However, textbooks of any language are facing challenges in countries which are not home countries of a particular language. English is taught in many countries, and the countries which do not have the long history of familiarity with the language face difficulties to grasp it. It is especially true in the context of the Arab World where English is not known at the mass level. It is criticized that English textbooks are not made to come up with the needs and expectations of students in the Arab World. By keeping this aspect of the topic in view, the study into the criticism of textbooks of English linguistics is going to be conducted in this paper and to be precise and effective; the case of Jordan has been taken for this research. English Textbooks of linguistics lack development of the education plan and curriculum have an absence of pragmatism and are not directly helpful for students with reading and writing problems.
Background of the Study:
Classroom teaching has three fundamental elements that the absence of any of these elements can make teaching ineffective. These elements are a teacher, student, and textbook. Textbooks play a central role in education as lots of research studies have shed light on the importance and effectiveness of textbooks (Chinoda, 1982).
It is found that students spend 90 percent of their time reading and getting knowledge from textbooks and it shows that they are dependent on textbooks by 90 percent (Saif, 1994). Therefore, it is important to make textbooks effective so that students may get better assistance from the textbooks. The need gets more important and concerned when the textbook is about a language and studied aboard as in this case, English linguistics books are being taught in an Arab country, i.e. Jordon.
Problem Statement:
There is the problem in the case of English linguistics textbooks in the Arab world, especially in Jordon. These books have been developed so that students can get assistance in English language but there are some deficiencies and lack of effectiveness in textbooks of English which should be addressed accordingly. The problem to be resolved is to have a look into the textbooks of English taught in Jordan, and the content and instructions in those books have to be analyzed regarding effectiveness and usefulness.
Objectives of the Study:
- To have a critical look at English linguistics textbooks taught in Jordon
- To explore the impact of lack of effectiveness of textbooks for students
- To highlight the problems faced by students with writing and reading difficulties
- To recommend how textbooks can be made better
The significance of Study:
The study would help academic performance of Jordon as experts and teachers would be able to know how textbooks of English linguistics can be made effective. It would help teachers and students as well, and experts would get insights into how to eliminate deficiencies in English linguistics textbooks. In the result, steps can be taken to make things better for English language textbooks in light of this study as Jordan requires special attention to English language teaching.
Limitations of Study:
The study covers the topic of criticism of English linguistics books in Jordon, and it does not focus any other country in the Arab world. The issues highlighted in this paper may be specific to only Jordanian context, and they may not be applicable for the whole Arab World.
Literature Review
There are some research studies on the topic which have shed light on the previous research studies on textbooks and criticism on textbooks. In the following, the literature on the topic is going to be reviewed.
O’Keeffe, Clancy, & Adolphs (2011) have noted in his book different viewpoints of researchers in the field of Pragmatics. Pragmatic markers, interactional markers, discourse markers, response tokens, and other important elements in pragmatics have been highlighted in the book. Different researchers and their research studies have been included in the book which focused on the importance of pragmatics in teaching and learning. It is very important when criticism on a textbook is to be made. It is noted that pragmatics is the field of study in which speakers and writers are evaluated in light of their way of getting things done. Moreover, their relationship is also noted with each other. Thus, different aspects of pragmatics should be noted when criticism on a textbook is going to be made (O’Keeffe, Clancy, & Adolphs, 2011).
Alul (2000) has analyzed questions included in the English language textbooks for the eighth grade. The study was conducted in the context of Palestine and the period of the research study was from 1999 to 2000. In the study, two thousand one hundred ninety-four questions were analyzed and analyzed using Bloom’s Taxonomy. It is found that low-level questions were large in number in the books studied in the research (Alul, 2000).
Abu-Shehab, Khdair, Abkal, & Mikhamar (2004) conducted a study on the type and levels of questions asked by teachers during the classroom observation, and it was found that all of the teachers asked questions related to knowledge, 45 percent of the teachers asked synthesizing questions, and 65 percent of the teachers asked questions about evaluation (Abu-Shehab, Khdair, Abkal, & Mikhamar, 2004).
Al-Subaie (2007) has conducted the study to identify questions asked by teachers who are EFL and the number of questions was evaluated and analyzed in the research. The memory level of questions was raised by teachers who were 63.25 percent, but evaluative questions were asked at least number which was 3.01 percent (Al-Subaie, 2007).
Malkawi (2014) has found that there are different international organizations and local media reports of Jordon which state the performance of learning levels of school students is low (Malkawi, 2014). However, Hamdan and Hatab (2009) have found that the English language has socioeconomic importance to the citizens of Jordon as it is one of the prerequisites for getting a good and attractive job in Jordon. Therefore, the English language is considered as an effective for students (Hamdan & Hatab, 2009).
In the context of Jordon, Al-Khatib (2008) has found that there is more focus on results of students that they should not decrease while Asassfeh (2015) has found that there is less attention given to the ineffective literacy skills (Asassfeh, 2015). Al-Khatib (2008) has found that in the context of Jordon, there is one of the biggest problems in teaching the English language is the inadequacy of the English language. In this context of the importance of literacy skills, textbooks are important for teaching to students (Al-Khatib, 2008).
Currently, a textbook on the English language is being taught in Jordanian schools, along with a workbook and students have to follow the learning and lessons present in the textbook and accompanying workbook. It has condensed the material and knowledge which should have been in a class for learning the English language in classrooms. According to PISA assessment, it is noted that Jordanian English students are not competitive and equally capable as their peers around the world. According to Asassfeh (2015), it may be because of ineffective EFL teaching skills presently and textbooks are also not fulfilling the requirements needed by students of English (OECD.Org, 2012).
In one of the historical studies on textbooks of English language in Jordon, said (1985) found that elementary course books in Jordan cover a very limited part of familiar topics of English which are expected by students to be in books. These topics are not neutral, and there is not much vocabulary for the students (Said, 1985). However, in one of rather a recent study on the topic by Ababneh (2007) in which the researcher has analyzed the content and material present in the book for tenth-grade students. The intention and aim of the research were to know and identify the perspectives of teachers and supervisors about the content and material present in the book. The study finds that there is a lack of balance and an equal proportion of outcomes and vocabulary in the book. There is the majority of content dedicated to grammar and reading material in the book, but the book for the assistance of teachers was found to be effective for teachers. Respondents of the study liked the book, but they recommended that some of the exercises of grammar should be deleted from the book.
Moreover, they recommended that there should be a fair and equal distribution of different topics and areas of knowledge in the book so that it can present representativeness. Moreover, there was no word list to be used in phonetics, and this is not suitable for the pronunciation of words used in the book. Overall, respondents have agreed with the contents and material in the book that it suits the students’ needs and requirements (Ababneh, 2007).
Zawahreh (2012) has conducted this study in the context of Jordan and grammar activities in the six modules taught to children are analyzed in this research. The textbook which was analyzed in the research was Action Pack Seven which is taught in Jordan for students of English as a foreign language. The effectiveness and relatedness of these activities were compared with the purpose of these activities and the criterion made by Celce-Murica in 1991. The findings of the study agree that there is appropriate inclusion of grammar activities in the textbook, and all grammar activities are accurate and correct, therefore, abiding by the criterion set by Celce-Murica in 1991. There are 55 activities of grammar out of total 60 activities which fulfill the criterion of completeness and clarity. Moreover, 50 out of sixty activities of grammar are appropriate and fit for having a meaningful context. In this regard, the study finds favorable outcomes and results for the textbooks of English in the Jordanian context (Zawahreh, 2012).
In another study by Zawahreh (2012), he analyzed vocabulary items in the same book taught to the students of English as a foreign language, and for this purpose, six modules were analyzed by the researcher. These vocabulary items were analyzed to see two criteria. The first criterion is related to what was the purpose of these vocabulary items, and these items were compared with the purpose. Secondly, the criterion was to be compared with the proposed criterion of Al-Momani in 1998. The findings of the study were promising, and it was noted that these items were in line with the criterion by 100 percent and 82 percent respectively. However, the findings noted lack of balance of vocabulary activities in the textbooks as the distribution of vocabulary items was not balanced, and parts of speech were not distributed in a balanced way in the modules studied. These studies show that textbooks are important, but it is important to make them comprehensive and useful for students (Zawahrah, 2012).
It is widely noted by researchers that the effectiveness of study and reading material present in textbooks is not addressed and current standards and quality of material have not been addressed effectively. However, there are studies which are being undertaken in this domain. Freahat & Al-Faoury (2015) have researched in this domain and analyzed the textbooks taught in the university setting and high school level, i.e. 11th and 12th grades. The researcher found the gap in the focus of lessons tailored for reading for students. This gap was found at both levels, i.e. high school and university. It is one of the hurdles on the way of knowledge acquisition for students when they go to university (Freahat & Al-Faoury, 2015).
Abu-Melhim (2009) has taken this problem faced by students in Jordan as the reason why they have developed negative attitudes towards learning. Asassfeh (2015) has considered this aspect further that this scenario faced by students may cause a negative experience for students about learning process conducted before and they might tend to lose motivation and intention to study English in further education (Abu-Melhim, 2009). The importance of prior knowledge for attaining knowledge in the future is very much, and this has been noted by Maier and Richter (2014) those have conducted a study on the importance of prior knowledge as it leads to more information for students. It is because a proper understanding of the content and its relationship with prior knowledge and information is very important because it leads to the development and building of new ideas and information which help a student very much. In this way, different aspects of textbooks taught in Jordan have been revealed by researchers (Maier & Richter, 2014).
Methodology:
The paper has adopted the qualitative research methodology in which literature on the topic has been reviewed and analyzed. For the purpose of getting results, qualitative research methods are very effective especially when there is enough information is available. It has been noted that there are many research studies on the topic of textbooks in the Jordan context. These research studies have been reviewed in light of the themes emerging from them. The studies which have been chosen for this paper are valid and reliable therefore, the analysis of these studies can be done to get results. Moreover, content analysis of research studies included in the literature review has been taken as methodology for this paper.
Discussion
The methodology has been used to take lessons and points from the literature review on the topic of textbooks of English linguistics in the Jordanian context. It has been noted that teachers are less inclined to ask questions which lead students to think critically. Textbooks have not been planned according to any principles because they have been developed for instructions only. There is little focus on rigorous and integrated plan to follow and this is really a problem because textbooks should offer opportunities through which students can get education and knowledge directly. Pragmatism should be there and research studies in this paper indicate that tradition has prevailed over pragmatism because completion and finishing of textbooks is considered as the responsibility of an instructor and he is less responsible for understanding ability of students. It has been noted from the review of literature that results of students are very low and the performance of students is not up to the mark. One should have concerns over this situation. However, there are some studies which have supported the content and subject of textbooks but critical look into textbooks reveals some shortcomings that Jordan should rigorously plan the curriculum and the importance of textbooks is very much in the curriculum.
Results:
The literature review has been taken as base for implementation of methodology which is qualitative and it has been found that some of the textbooks of English language in the context of Jordan are suitable and effective. There are knowledge and information in these books but there is tendency of lack of evaluative questions in the books. Moreover, questions asked from students are mixed in their effectiveness as some questions are very basic in nature. It is found that complexity of English Language books is not there because simple exercises and lessons have been chosen in the textbooks. Thus, it is found that intuition has been relied very much which has left little room for adaptability in the Jordanian content. Absence of pragmatism is one of the results found from the analysis of textbooks. Moreover, it is found that instruction methods of English language are not effective as teachers or instructors are inclined to complete the book from page to page. Lack of education and curriculum plan has been found from this research.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
The paper concludes that there are many research studies on the textbooks of English linguistics in Jordan and these studies have been reviewed in this paper. The analysis of these existing research studies has revealed a fact that Jordan textbooks have lack of development of education plan and curriculum, there is more reliance on intuition rather than pragmatism, and textbooks are not totally in line with the needs of students. However, some of the studies have found textbooks as effective and useful. Overall, the textbooks of English linguistics in Jordan are passing through developmental and evolving phase and this process should keep going so that textbooks can better reflect the needs of students.
References
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Al-Subaie, M. (2007). Types and Levels of Questions Raised by EFL Teachers in the Second secondary classes in Saudi Arabia. Unpublished M.A thesis, Mu’tah university, Jordan.
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