Textbook consumption in the classroom: A study of ESL textbook use in a Saudi Arabian tertiary education context

The aim of this research is to explore English language teachers’ attitudes towards the English language textbook English Unlimited Special Edition (Rea, Clementson, Tilbury & Hendra, 2017), used in the English Language Institute (ELI) in King AbdulAziz University (KAU) located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In addition, this study also focuses on the role that this textbook plays in the context it is being used. This textbook was produced specifically for the ELI in collaboration with Cambridge University Press and may therefore be seen as a ‘localized’ textbook (Garton & Graves, 2014). In addition to the role of the textbook and the teachers’ perceptions towards the textbook, this study also investigates teachers’ actual use of the textbook and the extent to which they adapt it. Furthermore, this research also aims to examine the learners’ attitudes towards the textbook used in the ELI, as this is an aspect of textbook research that has not been given much attention in the literature, and enables me to compare teachers’ and learners’ views towards the textbook. Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, ten teacher participants were observed during lessons and interviewed, along with 116 students who participated through a questionnaire, which contained both open-ended and closed-ended questions. Teachers’ views towards English Unlimited Special Edition (Rea, Clementson, Tilbury & Hendra, 2017) are split, with some teachers projecting contentment, some teachers showing negativity and finally some teachers holding a more nuanced view towards the textbook. Furthermore, regarding the extent teachers used the textbook and the role that it actually played in this specific context, it was obvious that the textbook plays a prominent role in the ELI. However, this does not imply that the teachers used it slavishly, as it was clear that there were many adaptations made by teachers to the textbook. Four adaptation techniques (adding, editing, deleting, replacing) were observed to have been applied, with editing and deleting being the most commonly used adaptation techniques. Teachers reported many justifications for resorting to these adaptation techniques, the most common reasons being the proficiency level of students, time constraints, cultural reasons and pedagogical beliefs. With regards to the second group of participants, the students, disturbingly the majority of the responses towards the textbook were negative, and there was a marked contrast between teachers’ and students’ views regarding the coverage of grammar in the textbook, the students being more positive about this aspect of the book than the teachers. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications arising from the study. These implications are divided into four salient issues relating to teacher education, the teachers’ book, institutional support for teachers, and finally implications for textbook publishers.