EFL Textbooks as Hidden Curriculum: Practical and Critical Perspectives

The textbook continues to function as the central teaching medium in lower secondary EFL classrooms and are viewed as a form of “hidden curriculum”
(Thaler, 2011), that strongly shapes content, methods and progression.
In this SSSQ seminar, students will be introduced to commonly used textbooks and explore their structure and functions.
However, this seminar also emphasizes a critical perspective, hence, students will learn to analyze task formats, skill integration and choice of topics, as well as issues of representation,
including cultures, gender and social class.
Drawing on the “coursebook as sourcebook” approach (Möller, 2016), the seminar conceptualizes the textbook as a flexible resource rather than a script to be followed page by page.
Students will practice adapting and supplementing textbook materials in order to design context-sensitive, inclusive and pedagogically justified learning opportunities.