Interlanguage: English for Senior High School Students XI for Science and
11 Richards 2001 and Brewster, Ellis and Girard 2004 have stated some of good
reasons for using a textbook. All of those experts agree that the textbook can help reduce the teachers’ workload by providing guidance of what should be taught,
plus the materials needed. Thus, it also saves the teachers’ time and provides more opportunity for the teachers to focus on their teaching.
Despite the advantages, it cannot be denied that a textbook also brings disadvantages to the teachers. Indeed, a language teaching and learning process
always depends on situations which happen in the classroom and backgrounds of the students. Therefore, probably there would be no perfect textbook for each
teacher that can suit all the needs in each class. Richards 2001 mentions that since a textbook is made for general market, they may not suitable for every
learner. Graves 2000 also warns that one of the weaknesses of using a textbook is that “the content or examples may not be relevant or appropriate to the group
you are teaching” p. 174. Additionally, the teachers may become so dependent on a textbook that
they can only teach based on what is written on the textbook. If this happens, the teachers become less creative in teaching or responding to their students. In other
words, as what is stated by Richards 2001 and Crawford 2002, being too dependent on the textbook may deskill the teachers. Richards 2001 says that if
the teachers neglect the function of teacher’s manual and only depend on the textbook, their role will be reduced as a technician that merely presents materials.
Meanwhile, Crawford 2002 mentions teachers may merely follow the textbook
12 and as a result they lose the control of classroom and awareness to respond and
provide feedback for their students. However, many language teaching experts still believe in the benefits and
importance of the availability of a textbook. The fact that a textbook brings many benefits to the teachers makes a lot of teachers prefer to use a textbook in their
teaching. Skierso 1991 mentions “No teacher is entirely satisfied with the text used, yet very few manage to teach without one” p. 432. There are many
teachers who still decide to use a textbook for its benefits. Facing the pros and cons of using textbook, Graves 2000 states that “the
textbook is a stimulus or instrument for teaching and learning” p. 175. Therefore, a textbook should be a tool that helps the teachers in teaching, and should not be
the teacher itself. The textbook should be used wisely and carefully by the teachers. Crawford 2002 mentions that it is the problem of balance. It means that
the teachers should be aware of both the positive and negative sides of using a textbook.
Additionally, if teachers find that what is written on textbook is inappropriate with what they need, actually they are free to adapt, add or replace it.
Harmer 2007 proposes four steps that can be done if this situation happens. The first step is the omission of the content that is not appropriate. The second step is
replacing the materials of the textbook with teachers’ own materials. The third step is adding the materials in order to extend tasks and practices. The last one is
adapting the materials like rewriting the texts or replacing the vocabularies according to the students’ level.