In last Wednesday’s #eltchat one of the topics discussed was ‘Is using the coursebook a bad thing?’ A topic I was eager to discuss not just because I suggested it 
but because since becoming active online, it always feels like the majority of ELT people are anti-course book and it interests me as to why.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t think we should slavishly adhere to the coursebook but nor do I believe that dogme is the second coming of ELT approaches. What interests me is that point when teachers seem to switch – when do they go from the coursebook as the thing they think they can’t do without , to coursebook the spawn of satan that must be avoided at all costs.
As a CELTA and DELTA trainer, I have never come across a trainer that takes a new teacher and says you must religiously follow a coursebook. The mantra in most sessions I have watched or delivered on the topic, is meet the students’ needs not follow the coursebook. The coursebook can be the starting point , exploit, adapt, cut, supplement and yes deal with emerging language if you so wish. I have also been lucky enough to have worked in schools that don’t insist the book has to be covered down to the last comma though unfortunately I know of many schools that do.
As a starting teacher could I really have survived without a coursebook? As an inexperienced teacher do I really have the skills to put together a clear syllabus that my students can follow – not just once but 13 times (one for each class I had) and indeed unless I go on and do an advanced teaching course will I ever learn this skill? After all it’s not something that school workshops really address. As we get more confident we feel happier leaving the book behind but are we doing do so for the good of the students? I have seen many a delta lesson where the ‘this is a good piece of authentic material’ has clearly ignored the fact that it was not quite the piece of material for that class. This is the fault of the teacher not the material, the same way that forcing a coursebook exercise on the students is not the fault of the coursebook but the teacher.
I have been lucky enough to be involved in the development and writing of a number of coursebooks. Despite what some people think they aren’t thrown together. They are usually written by teachers, most of whom try out materials before they get into the book. Many texts are taken from the Internet, the same sources as those that eschew coursebooks in favour things they can find online. Yes they can be bland, yes they are not perfect, yes they are not going to meet the needs of the whole class but then again is anything you do going to always meet the need of every student? But importantly it is a piece of material, something to lessen the stress of finding something to do with every class to be taught that week. It ‘s also nice and colourful and professionally produced unlike so many of the photocopies I see teachers taking into class. And what’s more there are no copyright issues. In my opinion people who are vehemently against coursebook use are forgetting that the coursebook is merely another classroom tool. It’s up to us to choose to use or not, the same way that technology is merely another tool and the resource book ‘teaching unplugged’ is another tool.
Back to #eltchat, the discussion was more balanced than I thought it would be, with many excellent points coming out of it (you can get a full transcript here). It seems to me that before we write off coursebooks, we need to look at ourselves, look at the CPD training teachers get and as with many things we debate in the ELT world, bear in mind that it is not the tool but how it is used that is important, perhaps best summed up by one of the quotes from the chat “A coursebook is a good servant but a poor master.”
As a footnote last week’s chat has lead to a number of posts on coursebooks, two that I found an interesting read are by Henrick Oprea and Paul Braddock
