Curriculum Development and Syllabus Design

Coursebooks are considered a very important element in teaching languages. ‘Using coursebooks appropriately is an art which becomes clearer with experience’ (Harmer(b) 306). Rationale for using coursebooks Coursebooks play a major role in the classroom. They work as a learning resource as they are usually accompanied by cassettes, videos and teacher’s guides (Richards 253). For new or inexperienced teachers, a coursebook works with the teacher’s book as a “medium of initial teacher training” (Richards 253). …

…as the content and the language component are interesting, very relevant and authentic. However, I am a teacher in the UAE and I teach students who won’t be able to relate to some of the topics presented in the book that covers 50% of the book. Hence, my final decision is that I would not use the book because of its irrelevant content although it can be an excellent tool and resource in EFL classrooms.