Based on research literature and empirical data from a questionnaire and interviews conducted among FL teacher trainees during the one-year teacher training programme at a Finnish university, the presentation aims to shed light on the use of textbooks in the FL classroom from the perspectives of teacher trainees.
Despite of the central role of textbooks in foreign language (FL) teaching and learning (see e.g., Guerrettaz & Johnston 2013), there is surprisingly little help for teachers or teacher trainees on how to use them in practice. In teacher training programmes, too little attention seems to be paid to the use of teaching materials (see e.g., Augusto-Navarro et al. 2014), although it is the use of the textbook that often makes the difference between novice and experienced teachers. Against this background, this presentation aims to shed light on the use of textbooks in the FL classroom from the perspectives of teacher trainees. Based on research literature and empirical data from a questionnaire (N = 51) in 2014 and interviews (N = 12) in 2016 conducted among FL teacher trainees during the one-year teacher training programme at a Finnish university, the following questions are discussed: What are pre-service language teachers’ reflections on FL textbooks and their use? What kinds of experiences teacher trainees had with FL textbooks during the one-year teacher education programme? The data is categorised and analysed qualitatively by searching for recurring themes. The results of this study can give ideas of how to develop courses for FL teacher education in which more attention is paid to the use and adaption of textbooks and production of other teaching materials. References: Augusto-Navarro, Eliane H., Luciana C. de Oliveira, and Denise M. de Abreu-e-Lima. 2014. Teaching Pre-service EFL Teachers to Analyse and Adapt Published Materials: An Experience from Brazil. In: Garton, Sue & Kathleen Graves (eds.), International Perspectives on Materials in ELT. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 237–252. Guerrettaz, Anne Marie & Johnston, Bill. 2013. Materials in the classroom ecology. The Modern Language Journal 97 (3), 779–796.
