NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CURRICULUM STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF IRAN | Year:2014 | دوره:12 |Papers Count:3

INTRODUCTION: NOW DAYS, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES IS THE GROWING MOMENTUM OF SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS ETC…. TECHNOLOGY IS THE APPLICATION OF USING TOOLS, MATERIALS, PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS BY HUMAN TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND PROVIDE BENEFITS TO HUMANKIND. (GILLETT, 1996) [1].WE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN PURPOSE OF IMPROVE OUR ENVIRONMENT. THESE IMPROVEMENTS MAY RELATE TO SURVIVAL NEEDS (E.G., FOOD, SHELTER, DEFENSE) OR THEY MAY RELATE TO HUMAN ASPIRATIONS (E.G., KNOWLEDGE, ART, CONTROL). (HENDERSON, 1996) [2].EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY INVOLVES A BROAD SPECTRUM OF KNOWLEDGE AND ACTIVITIES. EFFECTIVE EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY COMBINES KNOWLEDGE OF CONTENT, PROCESSES AND SKILLS TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO LEARNING. ON THE OTHER HAND INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY DEALS SPECIFICALLY WITH USE OF COMPUTERS AND DIFFERENT SOFTWARE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY. THE SUCCESS OF THE HUMAN DEPENDS ON SUCCESS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION. (PAULSEN, 1995) [3].IN RECENT YEARS, THERE HAS BEEN A GROWING INTEREST IN THE CREATION AND USE OF WEB-ACCESSED DIGITAL VIDEO AND AUDIO THROUGHOUT THE EDUCATION SECTOR. DIGITAL LEARNING IS INCLUDED A WIDE SPECTRUM OF TOOLS AND PRACTICE, INCLUDING USING ONLINE AND FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT, INCREASING FOCUS AND QUALITY OF TEACHING RESOURCES AND TIME. (HARA & KLING, 2002) [4].

INTRODUCTION EDUCATION IS NOT AN END, BUT A MEANS TO AN END. THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF EDUCATION IS TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THEIR FUTURE LIFE. REGARDING THIS FACT, ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES AND TEXTBOOKS CAN BE USED AS TOOLS FOR IMPROVING LEARNERS' LIFE SKILLS. MEANWHILE, INFORMATIVE TEXTBOOKS WITH RICH SOCIO-CULTURAL CONSTRUCTS THAT FOSTER LEARNERS’ LIFE SKILLS ARE NEEDED. TO ASSESS THE RANGE OF THE IRANIAN EFL TEXTBOOKS RICHNESS IN THESE ASPECTS, A LIFE SKILLS QUESTIONNAIRE WAS DISTRIBUTED AMONG ELT TEACHERS (N=73) AND EFL LEARNERS (N=1112) ALMOST ALL OVER IRAN. THE RESULTS ORIGINATED FROM DATA ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT IRANIAN EFL TEXTBOOKS DON’T IMPROVE THE EFL LEARNERS’ ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS CONSIDERABLY ESPECIALLY LEADERSHIP LIFE SKILLS, CRITICAL THINKING LIFE SKILLS, AND DECISION MAKING/PROBLEM SOLVING LIFE SKILLS. THE FINDINGS OF THIS RESEARCH AND THE DESIGNED LIFE SKILLS QUESTIONNAIRE CAN BE USED BY EDUCATIONAL POLICY MAKERS, SYLLABUS DESIGNERS, MATERIALS DEVELOPERS, RESEARCHERS, TEACHERS, ETC. TO EXAMINE AND ANALYZE THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONSTRUCTS OF IRANIAN EFL TEXTBOOKS FOR CONSIDERING IN THE PROCESSES OF PUBLISHING NEW EFL TEXTBOOKS FOR THE ISLAMIC-IRANIAN SOCIETY OF IRAN.

INTRODUCTION: HAVING AN APPROPRIATE TEXTBOOK IN THE TREND OF TEACHING AND LEARNING IS A VITAL ELEMENT AND IS LOOKED UPON AS AN INDISPENSABLE PART. HENCE; SELECTING OR PROVIDING A PROPER ONE IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. TEXTBOOK EVALUATION AND DESIGN HAS TURNED INTO A VERY IMPORTANT AREA IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING TO EVALUATE THE APPROPRIATENESS OF TEXTBOOKS FOR A PARTICULAR TEACHING-LEARNING SITUATION. TEXTBOOK EVALUATION IS AN APPLIED LINGUISTIC ACTIVITY THROUGH WHICH TEACHERS, SUPERVISORS, ADMINISTRATORS AND MATERIALS DEVELOPERS CAN “MAKE JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE EFFECT OF THE MATERIALS ON THE PEOPLE USING THEM" (TOMLINSON, ET AL 2001: 15). MCGRATH (2002) BELIEVES THAT TEXTBOOK EVALUATION IS ALSO OF AN IMPORTANT VALUE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING PROGRAMS.BOOK EVALUATION SEEMS SPECIALLY VITAL FOR ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS SINCE ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE IS GOING TO BE DOMINANT IN ALL ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION AMONG PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD URGING PEOPLE TO LEARN IT AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO BE ABLE TO CONTACT WITH PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES WITH DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. RECENTLY, BASED ON DOING NEED ANALYSIS AND TEXTBOOK EVALUATION THE DECISION WAS MADE, BY TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF IRAN, TO REPLACE “RIGHT PASS THROUGH ENGLISH” BOOKS WITH “PROSPECT SERIES” BOOKS. AS TEXT BOOK EVALUATION IS AN ON-GOING PROCESS, THERE IS A NEED TO EVALUATE THIS NEWLY PUBLISHED SERIES, TOO. SINCE TEACHERS ARE THE ONES WHO ARE CONTINUOUSLY DEALING WITH THE TEXTBOOKS, THEY ARE A VALUABLE SOURCE FOR ITS EVALUATION. HENCE, THIS STUDY WAS AN ATTEMPT TO EVALUATE THE NEWLY PUBLISHED ENGLISH TEXT BOOK OF IRAN BY PUTTING THETEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON SPOTLIGHT.AS FAR AS THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE IS CONCERNED, IN IRAN SEVERAL PROJECTS HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT TO EVALUATE TEXTBOOKS, AMONG WHICH ANSARY AND BABAII (2002), YARMOHAMMADI (2002), AND AMALSALEH (2004) ARE TYPICAL EXAMPLES. THE RESULT OF THESE STUDIED LEAD TO THE DIAGNOSING OF THE MERITS AND SHORTCOMINGS OF THE SOURCES UNDER THE INVESTIGATION.