an evaluation of iranian junior high school english textbooks “prospect” series from teachers’ perspectives

Textbooks play a significant role in the process of teaching and learning in the classroom. the present study investigated the appropriateness and effectiveness of the high school english textbooks “prospect” series to point out the shortcomings which have been hindering the iranian students from mastering the english language in high school. the participants of the study consisted of 42 english teachers in khorasan razavi, iran. the evaluation of the textbook was conducted quantitatively through questionnaire developed by litz (2005) and open ended questions. the checklist consisted seven main criteria: practical consideration, layout and design, activities, skills, language types, subject and content and overall consensus. the results of the study revealed that although the teachers’ perception were almost positive in some aspects, they believed that the english textbooks are not appropriate for iranian junior school students in terms of communicative skills, activities, subject and content. teachers also referred to limitations which hinder them from practicing the communicative activities in the classroom. the results of this study can be helpful for teachers to use appropriate teaching techniques to compensate for the deficiencies of the textbook and the materials developers and syllabus and curriculum designers in ministry of education to revise the current textbooks according to the needs of the students.