Teachers’ Higher College –Laghouat

Department of English

Time: 24hr Teacher’s Email:

lilophilie@live.fr

ONLINE TEST OF DIDACTICS (MASTER 2)

GUIDELINES:
Answer the following question in form of essay. Your essay must be sent in the same
word document (question doc) respecting the following;
Character type: Time New Romans size 12. Justified, double space. After you finish,
send it please to the email above. Any answer sent after the deadline is not accepted.
QUESTION:
Grave (2000) discussed some dangers of using the textbook such as; the irrelevance or
inappropriateness of content with students, exclusion of important items, imbalanced variety
of tasks etc. Such drawbacks may give different options to the teachers; write an essay that
discusses this in the light of what you have studied.
Student’s Name: Kawther ADJEB Grade:
The Answer:
Textbooks are considered to be an essential element in teaching-learning process. It

encompasses a set of syllabuses that are designed specifically for students to help them

through particular subject or area of study. The latter should be well-oriented by teachers to

meet certain learning requirements through well-planned schemes for the subjects to be

presented. However, textbooks, sometimes, are not purely useful in terms of the content

irrelevance, exclusion of important items, imbalanced variety of tasks and so on, that hinder

reaching the main objectives. Thus, the teacher must deal with such flaws through multiple

options.

To begin with, out-of-date materials have been a controversial issue in the field of

education. As a result of the technological revolution over the past ten years, students now

tend to place more emphasis on learning current information and developing the skills needed

for future endeavours, such as finding a job. This is because most modern jobs require

workers to be skilled in both social and digital skills, and because outdated curricula don't

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adequately prepare students for life outside of the classroom. Moreover, kids must learn not

just how to fit in socially but also culturally. Teachers' job is to act as censors for unsuitable

material that doesn't intersect with students' socio-cultural backgrounds. Consequently, it is

mandatory for teachers to adapt the content according the required up-to-date skills and

students’ socio-cultural background.

Furthermore, textbooks are central materials designed to convey certain pieces of

information along with sub-objectives. However, this material contains variety of tasks that

doesn't serve the main objective all the time. The latter is the result of generalizing the

learners needs as well as the methods to be used for meeting them. Designers are unable to

anticipateevery student's demands, they frequently assign a variety of tasks that fall short of a

subject's primary objective. As a result, teachers are in charge of grading content and

activities in relation to students’ thinking skills, using Bloom’s Taxonomy to grade the

content and tasks through several stages of thinking. Not to mention, teachers should focus on

including learner-centered tasks which demand the choice of adopting up-to-date methods that

fit in the adapted material for enhancing learners' motivation and performance, and fulfilling

the pedagogical goals.

To conclude, it is undeniable that textbooks are very useful for teachers and students in

terms of acquiring new knowledge and skills and applying them to a variety of tasks.

However, textbooks are not perfectly designed in some areas when it comes to selecting the

right content and tasks for students to build on their background knowledge and hone their

skills. Therefore, when it comes to task grading or content adaptation, teachers are highly

recommended to dissect the subjects assigned while taking into account the needs, level, and

background of the learners.