Critical evaluation of English lenguage textbooks used in primary schools

I ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to determine the acceptability of the course book that is used at primary school the fourth and the fifth graders of Turkish primary schools. To this end, the learning characters of the students at this level are described. Then, the suitability of the course book that is used in schools at the present time in foreign language teaching is stated according to the students' learning psychology and how it develops the communication skills of the students. Also, it is based on the comments the students and the teachers made, it proposes suggestions to the solutions of the problems in this area. The study was conducted through survey research methodology. The data was obtained by questionnaires that are filled by the primary school students at the fourth and fifth grade level and their English teachers in seven schools in Biga, Çanakkale. These are the state primary schools which started the teaching of English in the 4th grade in primary levels in the 1997-1998 school year due to the 1997 Act of Turkish Ministry of National Education. To this end, seven questionnaires were filled by the teachers of English and 343 questionnaires were filled by the students. (156 5th Grade Students; 187 4* Grade Students) Apart from that, an interview that includes 29 questions was conducted with the teachers of English. The data were analysed using the SPSS 12.0 for Windows and Excel statistic programs. The frequencies, the percentages were calculated. Its significance was taken as 0.5. In the light of the research findings, it could be stated that there are serious problems with the course books that are used at primary school grades 4 and 5 in Turkey. The course book should be written by specialists both from the universities and the Ministry of education, taking into consideration the learning characteristics of young learners at primary level.