CELTA Online Unit 23 Task 1: Reflection
You have now had some experience of using a coursebook to varying degrees with your learners. Make
a list of the advantages and disadvantages of using coursebooks for both students and teachers. Try and
complete the table with three advantages and three disadvantages for each.
Your Response
For students
Advantages they are a valuable language
reasource
revision and reclycling activities
are usually built in
Disadvantages because textbooks tend to follow
tyhe pattern unit after unit
Suggested Response
For students
Advantages  They are a valuable language
reference resource for
students (e.g. for grammar)
and enable them to look
ahead and/or revise
 Revision and recycling
activities are often built in, so
the students are constantly
recycling the language they
have covered in previous
units
 They are graded
appropriately for the
students’ level
 They provide students with a
variety of topics, skills and
language work
 They give a logical structure
to the course. For example,
the skills work becomes
increasingly challenging to
reflect the students’ progress
Disadvantages  Because coursebooks tend to
follow the same pattern from
one unit to the next, they can
become predictable or dull
For teacher
they provide a syllabus which cover key
areas for the level
when teachers want to create their own
material
over reliance on a coursebook can
mean that a teacher becames less
responsive to student's interests and
needs
For teacher
 They provide a syllabus which
covers key areas for the level
 They save the teacher valuable
planning time
 When teachers want to create their
own material, coursebooks give
teachers a useful starting point from
which to plan their lessons
 Most coursebooks come with a
teacher’s book and/or a resource
book which often suggests ways to
adapt, and activities to supplement,
the coursebook
 The disadvantages for students
are also disadvantages for the
teacher as bored, disengaged
and unchallenged learners are
  Coursebooks are written for a clearly an issue for the teacher
general audience and are not  Over-reliance on a coursebook
specifically relevant to the can mean that a teacher
needs of a particular student becomes less responsive to
or group of students students’ interests and needs
 Some of the topics may be over time, as well as dampening
unsuitable for certain the teacher’s own creativity
learners. For example, dating
and relationships is a very
common topic in General
English coursebooks and it
can be an inappropriate topic
for discussion in certain
cultures
 They can date quickly if they
use topical or current
subjects (e.g. articles about
popular celebrities)

Commentary
There are clearly both advantages and disadvantages to using coursebooks. That is not to say, however,
that coursebooks should be abandoned, rather it is important to recognise that coursebooks have their
limitations and teachers need to bring in other resources to supplement their lessons.