1
ChapterⅠ Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
In 1999, the Ministry of Education opened the market to all the publishers interested in producing textbooks for high school students and left the selection of English textbooks to each individual senior high school. From then on, senior high school English teachers were faced with the task of choosing teaching materials. As a matter of fact, the level of students in each school is different; therefore, English teachers in each school have to select their own teaching materials for the specific needs of their students. They are entrusted with the mission to choose the most suitable English materials for their students. Such decisions are usually made on the basis of models of what constitute good materials that we all, possibly unconsciously, carry in our heads. (Chambers, 1997)
Although new textbooks provide a wide variety of topics and large amounts of content, the time available for instruction disallows English teachers to go through the whole book lesson by lesson. In order to meet the schedule, they tend to teach some lessons carefully in class and leave some for students to read on their own, or they even totally skip some lessons without including them in school exams. The lessons skipped by English teachers will be the focus of this study.
1.2 Motivation of the study
The motivation of the study can be traced back to the researcher’s personal experience of teaching in public and private high schools. Usually in the beginning of a semester or after each monthly exam, some experienced teachers would co-decide which lessons could be treated as self-learning materials. That means teachers didn’t have to teach theses lessons so carefully in class or could even skip them because only
2
little or none of these lessons would be included in the school exam. In this way, teachers could meet the teaching schedule planned in the beginning of the semester or spend more time on the other materials.
This triggers the researcher’s interest in exploring whether the other high school English teachers do the same since little research is found concerning the skipping of textbook lessons. If teachers skip lessons in class, what topics/text types are chosen more frequently? What are the reasons to skip these topics/text types? Are these skipped lessons included in school exams? The researcher attempts to learn the considerations English teachers give to their skipping of the textbook lessons. Also, she would like to discover if the skipped topics/text types share any similarities or differences in different series of textbooks.
1.3 Research Questions
In this study, the focus will be on the high school English textbook lessons not carefully taught or skipped in class. The teachers in charge of the English subject in all the private and public senior high schools in Taiwan will be the participants of this study. The researcher attempts to investigate what topics/text types of lessons in each volume and series of high school English textbooks are more often selected for students to study on their own or skipped in class, and to discuss the reasons why these lessons are skipped.
The research questions of the present study thus include:
1. Do high school English teachers in Taiwan skip lessons in class?
2. If English teachers skip lessons or teach every lesson in class, what are their reasons?
3. What topics/text types of reading passages are more likely to be skipped in class and why?
3
4. Are there any similarities or differences of the skipped lessons chosen in different series of textbooks?
5. Are the skipped lessons included in school exams?
1.4 Significance of the Study
1. As this study surveys the high school English textbook lessons not carefully taught in class, the results can offer useful information for textbook material writers, publishers, and textbook selection committee members.
2. As this study explores the lessons skipped in high schools in Taiwan, the results can inspire English teachers to reflect on their use of English textbooks.
Adjustment on their selection of lessons based on this reflection may generate better teaching results.
3. The investigation of teachers’ considerations behind the selection can reveal teachers’ beliefs on language teaching, which can offer information for teacher educators.
