The Effect of Adapting Textbook Activities to Make Them More Communicative on Classroom Communication Orientation: An Action Research Study

Classroom communication depends on many factors, including teacher, learner, syllabus, instructional materials, textbook activities and learning environment. Textbook activities can function as communication venues by either providing the learners with production and reception opportunities to engage in to be able to use the target language in a purposeful way or preparing scripts for learners’ communicative language practice. Establishing good communication between and among learners and teachers can mobilize the classroom atmosphere and stimulate learners’ attendance, engagement and achievement in a positive way. To get to know where the students need to improve, learners should be observed by the teacher through the use of video recordings of the learners’ performances. The present action research was intended to explore the effect of adapting textbook activities with the aim of making them more communicative on classroom communication orientation. Two English language classes were observed by the use of COLT observation scheme. In one class the teacher used textbook activities based on the guidelines provided in the book and teacher’s guide without making any modifications. In the second class, the teacher modified the textbook activities to make them more consistent with CLT principles. Numerical and descriptive comparisons of the main parameters of teachers and students’ verbal interactions of the study were done and the collected data were analyzed and interpreted. It was revealed that the use of textbook activities in a communicative way supports and facilitates classroom communication. The overall results lend weight to the idea that textbook activities are focal to cultivating classroom communication in EFL settings.