2000 which says that the communication between teachers and students is all that matters. Meanwhile the more popular one, Allwright’s 1981 which
questions the necessity and credibility of textbooks in the ELT classroom have arisen many following rebuttals defending the importance of textbooks such as
O’Neill 1982, Sheldon 1988, and Hutchinson and Torres 1994. More studies, as if remarking the fact that textbooks survive with millions of copies sold every
year Hutchinson and Torres, 1994, have been moving on to the more exhaustive discussion such as textbooks in use Brown, 2008; Johnsen, 2001 and textbooks
assessment or evaluation Garinger, 2002; Gilmore, 2004; Johnson et al., 2006; Littlejohn, 2011; Williams, 1983.
To examine the importance of textbooks, it will only be more befitting if it is to be related to the roles of textbooks in ELT classroom. The researcher
reviews some areas where textbooks play some important roles elaborated in the following sections.
a. Learners-related Roles
The first and foremost advantage of textbooks for EFL learners is, thanks to their nature of being convenient packages O’Neill, 1982; Ur, 1999,
that they enable learners to learn on their own anywhere and anytime the learners want to, or in other words, the autonomy advantage. Torres’ study in Philippine
showed that learners find the textbooks helpful when they are having discussions, doing activities and exercises, studying on their own, doing homework, and
preparing for tests Hutchinson and Torres, 1994. Textbooks also make it possible for learners to prepare in advance for an upcoming class O’Neill, 1982;
Ur, 1999; Freebairn, 2000 or look back at for revision Freebairn, 2000; Harmer, 2001. As it is not always the case of when learners are self-motivated, in some
occasions such as when learners missed the lessons or in a more unique situation where some particular learners are having trouble staying in touch with the
average level of the group they are in, they can use textbooks to try to catch up O’Neill, 1982. In addition to the autonomy, Hutchinson and Torres 1994
address the matter of organization of learning both inside and outside the classroom. In this manner, textbooks act as archives or records.
Another excellence of textbooks, which unfortunately is the least discussed reason of using textbooks as O’Neill 1982 points out, is that they have
attractive appearances. Harmer 2001 is in agreement with O’Neill on this matter as he believed that the visual can have a powerfully engaging effect for learners.
Furthermore, Sheldon 1988: 238 makes a bolder statement saying, “It is a cruel paradox that for students, teacher-generated material ...
often has less credibility than a published textbook, no matter how inadequate that may be. Against the public endorsement implied by
printed covers, home-grown materials appear in a poor light.” It can actually be understood that learners will be more attracted to the
glossy cover or the colorful pictures as it can be seen when many textbook publishers are competing to present the best-looking textbooks they have.
Teachers are not always around, while the modern learners-centered approach demands more of learners’ autonomy. Textbooks have for years assisted
learners to learn on their own and helped avoiding the teacher-dependent classroom Ur, 1999. After all, textbooks enable learners “to learn ’better, faster,
clearer sic, easier sic, more’” Hutchinson and Torres, 1994: 318.
b. Teachers-related Roles
Teachers, as the facilitator in the classroom, naturally have considerable amount of works which key is to be able to manage their roles both inside and
outside the classroom. Textbooks offer helps for teachers in managing their lessons as Hutchinson and Torres 1994: 318 find out in their study that the
teachers interviewed mostly saw textbooks as helping hands to make teaching “easier, better organized, more convenient”. It is not unusual that in practice
teachers use the activities in the textbooks as homework when it is convenient. Teachers also refer to textbooks when they conduct a discussion as it makes it
easier to guide the learners into discussion. Textbooks also contain directions to lessons which teachers often make use of. The fact is that those utilizations of
textbooks save much of their time Ur, 1999. One role of textbooks which Hutchinson and Torres 1994 find to be
very important is that they provide teachers with confidence, security, and reassurance. There are times when teachers are to plan at the last moment or to
prepare things in limited time. Teachers with textbooks on them will not go panic or have their barely prepared lesson go unsuccessful, instead they will be able to
manage better with the ready-made resources at hand. Textbooks also provide useful guidance and support, particularly when teachers do not have yet much
experience or occasionally unsure of their knowledge of the language Ur, 1999. However, this is by no means that the particular teachers are to rely much on
textbooks. On the other hand, they are to use textbooks to gain experience in a
more effective way and learn their craft Freebairn, 2000.
