Evaluation of English Textbooks in Pakistani Context: 7th and 8th Grade

Abstract

It is a frequent practice to evaluate and examine textbooks in the area of academic process in order to get assistance for the selection of a suitable book for a particular context. The present study focuses on the analysis and evaluation of English textbooks Step Ahead 2 and Step Ahead 3 which are taught to grade7 and grade8 in elite English medium schools, Beacon House School System in Pakistan. It is to investigate to what extent a pre-use textbook meets the requirements of a learning process and how much favourable the tasks and activities are. McGrath’s impressionistic and in- depth methods (2002) have been applied by using his checklist technique to interrogate the contents of the textbooks. The analysis reveals some problems related to the four skills and cultural representation which demand an apt attention for improving. The major skills lack to find equal emphasis and mere foreign culture has been overly exposed. The findings assert the essential proceeding of revising the textbooks by the authors for this act would play an active role for the improvement of the English textbooks at school level.