Examination of secondary school English textbooks in terms of social values

Textbooks are one of the most basic teaching materials used in classrooms in the Turkish education system. The information in the textbooks used in teaching the target language should also benefit students functionally. When the importance of textbooks is considered in this way, the content of English textbooks should not only provide the communication skills in the curriculum, but also contribute to the social life of the individual, the interaction between people, and have a content that is oriented towards the values of the society with which the individual interacts. The purpose of this study is to examine the social values in the themes of the textbooks of the English course, which is taught as a compulsory foreign language course in secondary schools, according to the curricula prepared with the aim of not only teaching students a language but also making them good citizens for the society they live in. In line with this purpose, the sections containing achievements and activities related to social values in the themes of English textbooks taught in secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education were analyzed. Under the concept of social values; sensitivity to the environment and nature, taking responsibility, gender equality, respect for individual differences, being a socially conscious individual, knowing one's rights and freedoms in society, having communication skills, being prone to teamwork, and having a high culture of cooperation and solidarity were examined. In this study, document analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. Within the scope of the study, the data obtained from 8 English textbooks at different grade levels (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades) taught in secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education were analyzed by descriptive and content analysis. As a result of the research, it was seen that the unit themes in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade English textbooks included the values of having communication skills, being prone to teamwork and gender equality at the highest level and knowing the rights and freedoms in society at the lowest level. It was observed that there were differences in the distribution of the 9 social values analyzed in middle school English textbooks in both grade level and textbook themes. These differences may cause students to learn incorrectly or incompletely about the importance of social values. It is thought that it is important to include social values equally at all grade levels and unit themes in English middle school textbooks. Key Words: Secondary School, English Textbooks, Themes, Social Values