English instructors' views on the teacher's books in university preparatory programs in Türkiye

This study investigates the use of teacher's books (TBs) in English language teaching (ELT) at the university level with a focus on instructors' views and practices within a Turkish university context. Although TBs are designed to guide lesson planning and enhance instructional consistency, their role in university-level instruction remains under-researched. This qualitative study looks into how Turkish university-level ELT instructors interact with teacher's books, as well as frequent usage patterns, factors affecting their reliance on these resources, and the challenges that they experience when using them. The participant group consists of 15 Turkish ELT Instructors from 12 different state and foundation universities in Türkiye. The participants were chosen by using purposive sampling to guarantee that participants had experience with teacher's books. The data for this qualitative study was collected through semi-structured interview questions. The findings reveal that TBs are found beneficial by a majority of the university-level English instructors in the Turkish universities' context. The data also shows that instructors utilize different sections within TBs significantly more than the different sections they omit in TBs. In contrast, the study also reveals that the challenges and limitations expressed by instructors overwhelmingly surpass the number of benefits mentioned. The study concluded that teacher agency and individual teaching preferences significantly affect views regarding TBs and their usage whereas teaching experience or institutions revealed less diversity in difference of views. The findings suggest that there is a need for flexible and locally relevant materials for ELT instructors in Turkish universities, and also a need for an improvement in institutional awareness regarding the needs of their instructors in their relevant contexts. Keywords: Teacher's Books, Instructional Support, Instructional Materials Evaluation, English Language Teaching (ELT), University-level Instructors