an evaluation of english language textbooks from the perspective of english language teachers

The study evaluates the quality of english language textbooks for 3-year lower secondary school which was introduced by the ministry of education in iran. a survey questionnaire was used in this study to elicit the perspective of 40 english language teachers in golestan province educational zone about the textbooks in question. the question consisted of 64 grouped under 12 main categories: the general appearance, design and illustration, accompanying materials, objectives, topic appropriateness, learning components, socio-cultural contexts, skills developments, teachability, teaching methods and practice and testing. the data was subjected to analysis through descriptive analysis. two different type of computations were done; a per-item analysis, a per category analysis. the findings generally were not in favor of the textbooks except some sub-category items. out of 64 items, only 8 items had the arithmetic means more than 2.50. the categories that had the highest mean were the ones on general appearance, design and illustration, objectives, language skills, practice and testing, while the categories that had the lowest were accompanying materials, topic contents, socio-cultural contexts, teach ability, flexibility, and teaching method.