c. Roles Related to the Practice of Learning and Teaching Activity
In the first meeting, teachers are to introduce the big pictures of what the learners will face in the coming classes which are closely related to the
syllabus. The problem is, it will be difficult for teachers to present the syllabus as it is. Not only that the learners will not easily understand the technical terms used
in the syllabus, but also they will find it inaccessible when teachers only talk about it. In this case, Hutchinson and Torres 1994 mention two roles of
textbooks which they called negotiation and orientation. Textbooks’ role in negotiation refers to the representation of textbooks as equal access for all the
contents and procedures being negotiated by those related to classroom learning and teaching activities. Meanwhile orientation underlines the importance of such
expectations as objectives which should be reached, how much to be covered in a given time, what to be expected form the learners, what is acceptable and
desirable in terms of content, etc. According to these two roles, they suggested that only textbooks can fulfill such need by being the full and accessible map.
Meanwhile, Ur 1999 and Freebairn 2000 more straightforwardly mention that textbooks effectively provide language syllabus.
In the process of learning and teaching there is always a possibility of inadequacy and monotony, whether it is coming from the teachers, materials,
learners, or the lesson as a whole. In response to this, O’Neill 1982 argues that indeed there can be no ideal teacher, or lesson, or learner, or textbooks. There is a
basic need of choice and variety. Individually, they might interest some while appear unappealing to some others, but together they offer choices and variations
to the learning and teaching activities. Textbooks complete the lacks of other learning and teaching elements.
Another interesting role of textbooks pointed out by Hutchinson and Torres 1994, is that textbooks offer the best means of providing structure to the
learning and teaching activity. As they refer to Prabhu 1992 in Hutchinson and Torres 1994 that in practice there is this natural and inevitable social
routinization. As he observes that “... the encounter becomes increasingly stereotyped, to reduce the unpredictability, and thereby the stress, for those who
are active participants in the event”, textbooks are beneficial as they impose structures on the interaction or clear frameworks within the learning and teaching
activities Hutchinson and Torres, 1994: 319; Ur, 1999.
d. Curriculum-related Roles
Textbooks cannot stand by themselves without the curriculum. They are, or rather, they should be heavily influenced by the curriculum as it can be
seen in Indonesia where textbooks have always been in accordance with the ever- changing curriculum. More specifically, textbooks deal with the objectives of the
curriculum as it translates the goals specified in the curriculum into structured units Sercu, 2000. This seemingly one-way relationship is actually mutually
beneficial for both sides as textbooks, forming the core of many teaching programs, define the curriculum in its implementation Altbach, 1991 and in
many cases takes place in the curriculum or become the curriculum Brown, 2008. In addition, Garinger 2002 mentions four different purposes the textbooks
can serve, “... as a core resource, as a source of supplemental material, as an inspiration for classroom activities, even as the curriculum itself.”
Beyond the area of clearly visible outcome of language learning and teaching activity based on the objectives specified in the curriculum, textbooks
also hold a significant role regarding the less noticeable outcome which is known as the hidden curriculum. Jackson 1968 in Margolis 2001, acknowledged as
the one coined the term, observed that there were values, dispositions, and social and behavioral expectations that brought rewards in school for students and that
learning what was expected along the lines was a feature of the hidden curriculum. Using textbooks as their data, Littlejohn and Windeatt 1989: 174 argues that
materials cover a hidden curriculum by its contribution to “... learners’ perceptions of knowledge, language learning, and roles, to their affective and
cognitive development, and to their general stock of information about the world.” This is especially true for textbooks which contain a package of texts with their
topical issues and common sense, language features which firmly related to certain cultures, activities with their specific instructions, etc. Implication to this
one role of textbooks is probably most concerned with the textbook authors who need to design the materials in the textbooks thoughtfully and the teachers who
need to be careful of their materials selection. More to the contributions of textbooks to the curriculum is the famous
concept introduced by Hutchinson and Torres 1994, textbooks as agents of change. The change here mainly refers to the curriculum change as they base their
idea on Van den Akker’s experiment of comparing teachers accompanied by
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