Definition of Textbook Theoretical Description

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. 13 Based on the elaboration above, focusing on the good sides of the textbook, Harmer 2007 shows that textbook should not be something harmful for teachers. On the other hand, it can be a good partner for the teachers as long as they use it wisely. “We are using coursebook’s strength but marrying them with our own skills and perceptions of the class in front of us” Harmer, 2007:146.

3. Textbook Evaluation

Since the textbook has a lot of advantages, it can be considered as an important tool for teachers. However, there are a lot of textbooks that teachers can choose. Sometimes the selection process can be confusing. Richards 2001 argues that since there are many published commercial textbooks and the other form of instructional materials, teachers are expected to make judgments about the textbook and other teaching materials. Textbook evaluation can be seen as a way to see and to analyse the content of a textbook. It can help teachers to select the most appropriate textbook to be used in their classroom. One reason or aim for evaluating textbook is to provide feedback for revision Mukundan, 2007. Therefore, a process of textbook evaluation can also be done to improve the quality of the textbook. Textbook evaluation is done through a careful evaluation. Cunningsworth 1995 mentions two general approaches for evaluating a textbook that are called as impressionistic overview and in-depth evaluation. What is mostly done by the teachers when they get a new textbook is the impressionistic overview. It refers to