To fulfil the Language Strategy initiated by the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) in 2004, two foreign languages had to be introduced and implemented in all Swiss primary schools by 2015. To implement the language strategy and the educational reform, which some regions planned at the same time, new curricula and textbooks had to be designed. In Switzerland textbooks for foreign languages are usually prescribed by the cantonal ministries of education and play an important role in language teaching. Although there are some studies about textbooks in main stream education, English language teaching (ELT) textbook consumption is under-represented in research. In the focus of this research project are primary school teachers teaching English with the textbook New World in a Passepartout canton1 and how they use the mandated textbook in class.
While external evaluations were conducted with the pilot versions of the new textbooks during the pilot phase, the focus of the evaluations was always on teachers’ and learners’ satisfaction with the new materials. Passepartout has not scheduled any studies that focus on textbooks and textbook consumption.
Qualitative research methods will be employed to gain insights into how primary school teachers use the mandated textbook New World, how teachers perceive their role using a mandated textbook, the extent teachers adhere to the textbook, and the methods of ELT textbook adaptations teachers use and why they add, delete, modify, reorder, or simplify the textbook. Data will be collected from classroom observations, interviews with teachers and document analyses. The study will provide insights into ELT research and provide impulses for the further linking-up of theory and practice. Furthermore, the findings will be used in teacher education programmes to critically reflect on the topic of teachers’ textbook use and on the significance of teacher awareness of in-use textbook evaluation as well as to support (student) teacher learning at the content and the pedagogical level.
1 Passepartout: The name given to an intercantonal agreement of six cantons along the language border between the Swiss-German speaking and the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The joint venture had six major aims (see Neukonzeption des Fremdsprachenunterrichts [new conceptualization of foreign language teaching], whereof one aim concerned the development of new textbooks for French and for English at compulsory school. Most of the documents that can be found on www.passepartout-sprachen.ch are only available in German.