LANGUAGE LEARNING

RESOURCES
TEXTBOOKS: HOW TO ENHANCE LIMITATIONS

When building a new car, constructors may use wrenches, grips, hydraulic jacks and, of
course, other tools. Let us think of textbooks as screwdrivers taking part in the construction of
that brand new car. What it is meant here is that textbooks are only one of the gears in a teachers
tool set for assisting learners build their own language competence. Certainly, due to their
limitations, textbooks have been questioned (Allwright, 1981). However, these limitations can be
overcome and more profit can be taken out of textbooks. Likewise, it is common to enter a
classroom and find the teacher using a textbook. The reasons for textbook use may be related to
the teachers level of teaching expertise, a mandate from the administration, or the focus of the
curriculum. However, whatever the case be, if a teacher has to implement a textbook, he/she can
take good profits out of it despite the limitations of this resource. Three common limitations of
textbooks are that they are a sole source of information, they do not consider learners
background knowledge, and the level of difficulty does not match that of the students.
One of the constraints textbooks display is that there are many times in which texts
represent the only source of information. The implication for this fact is the language learners
have one perception only which at the same time limits their perspectives of a given topic and
desires to know more of the world. Recently, Tomlinson (2008, p. 3) has argued that especially
global textbooks contribute to the failure of lots of English learners in the acquisition of basic
competences and the development of abilities to use language effectively. Nevertheless, a
possible solution to mitigate this issue is to provide the learners with more sources of
information so that they widen their view of the topic under study. Books, web links, and
encyclopedias are some examples of complementary materials. As it can be noticed, sometimes
textbooks are a sole source of information, but there is more to be explored.

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Another limitation of textbooks is when they do not take students background
knowledge into account. This happens when the teacher does not adjust the lesson activities
contained into the textbook to the specific particularities and interests of the learners. The
implication here lies in the fact that learners may either get bored if they do not care about the
topic or feel overwhelmed if it is way advanced to their current language proficiency level.
Besides of this, adds Tomlinson (2008), textbooks continually fail to provide opportunities for
language acquisition and development (2008). However, this limitations can also be overcome.
In this case what the teacher should do is to find out what the students know about the topic
under study prior to teaching the lesson. After the teacher has discovered the students
background, he/she can design the lesson plan based on that knowledge. Added to the issue of
little consideration to students background knowledge is the concern of difficulty level.
The other restriction textbooks present has to do with the level of difficulty. On the one
hand, when the textbook questions or tasks have a low level or are fact-based (learning based on
arrays of facts), as to the light of the writers concern, students assume that learning is simply a
collection of facts and figures in isolation. On the other hand, when, on the contrary, the level is
too high (in readings, for instance) then the learners cannot read and understand relevant
concepts. Fortunately, teachers can make adaptations in either case. First, for low-leveled
textbooks, teachers might ask higher-level questions as well as provide creative thinking and
problem solving tasks. And second, for textbooks with high-level issues, the teacher may use
more complementary materials such as library books, Internet, CD-ROMs, and the ones the tutor
considers.
As it has been argued, although textbooks have a series of constraints, there are ways of

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overcoming them. Textbooks are not the main tools when talking about teaching a language; they
are just part of the whole implements that can be used to teach. It is certain that a teacher may
feel constrained and unable to fulfill his/her students needs. It is also true that no textbook is
perfect or complete. It is just a matter of regarding textbooks as only one way at a teachers
disposal in the long run of language teaching and learning.

SERGIO OSPINA TELLO (eportfoliosergio)

MAURICIO CADAVID PALACIO (eportfoliomauriciocadavid)
References
Allwright, R. (1981). What do we want teaching materials for? United States: Oxford
University Press.
Tomlinson, B. (2008). English language learning materials a critical review. London:
Continuum.