Overcoming bias in elt textbooks: a study in the indian context

Textbooks form the primary resource of English language teaching in classrooms in most second language scenarios of the world. Their primacy as the basic source material lies as much in their versatility of production, as in their ease of use in actual classroom situations. Furthermore, textbooks serve as models of language materials, graded and refined, and made to suit the level of learners in accordance with the immediate and long-term requirements of the policy makers, both at macro- and micro-level contexts. Though some commentators have degraded the importance of textbooks in ELT, and described them as “a shackle for the innovative teacher”, (Saraswathi, 2004, p. 120), the primacy of textbooks in English classrooms has not been effectively challenged to this day