Exploring university student teachers’ beliefs and practices on textbooks in the E.S.L. Classroom

Abstract

The present study compared University of Swaziland Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) primary, Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.)Secondary and Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (P.G.C.E) students’ perceptions on the use of English Language texts in the classroom with their actual classroom practice. The study sought to establish the extent of University student teachers’ dependence on commercial textbooks in their teaching. Fifteen students formed the sample for this study with five students being purposively drawn from each of the three groups of students. A questionnaire was administered to the respondents which the investigator followed up with structured interviews. Lesson plan analyses and one hour lesson observations were done on each of the fifteen student teachers. Findings from the study point to a general lack of textbook adaptation in spirit and practice by all the three groups of students where the textbooks is taken more as a curriculum to be taught than a resource to be used. The dependence on the textbook was most manifest among the PGCE students and least prevalent among the B. Ed primary student teachers. The consistence with which this pattern manifested itself suggested the presence of a correlation between teaching experience [which the B. Ed groups had and PGCE group did not have] and ability to adapt textbook material in language teaching. It also gave the impression that primary school teachers [represented by the B. Ed primary group] are generally more adaptive in their use of textbooks than their high school counterparts [represented by the B. Ed. Secondary and PGCE groups].