National vs International Course Book Analysis: An English as a Foreign Language Case in the Slovak Context

Abstract

Even though the learning of English is no longer compulsory in the Slovak education system, it remains the dominant foreign language in most schools. It is usually taught from the third grade of primary school but is often taught from first grade and even in kindergartens. Research indicates that course books are heavily relied upon by those teachers teaching English, giving them a critical position in the process of language learning. However, most of the course books used are those produced for international markets and not those written with the specific needs of Slovak learners in mind. This paper analyses three English language course books for primary school learners and discusses their suitability for the needs of Slovak primary school learners. The research tools for collecting and processing data were qualitative document analysis, categorisation and comparative analysis (Flick, 2009). Data collected from the chosen course books were assigned and compared in the following categories: linguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic and non-verbal competences. Conclusions are drawn from the findings that English language course books should target the needs of specific learners and that national course books meet the needs of Slovak learners better in all four of the addressed categories.