Merits and Demerits of English Language Coursebooks Designs: A Scoping Review

Abstract

The evaluation process of English coursebooks in Saudi schools began long back when the English curriculum was updated in the 1980s. This paper reviews the works that have surveyed the Saudi English syllabi from the 1990s to the present. It aims to explore the timeline of the most prominent evaluation endeavors. The findings reveal that the common components of evaluations include content, form, learning tasks, and instruction methods. The majority of these attempts were executed using standardized checklists but implemented on a relatively small number of respondents. However, one study was conducted as part of a project launched by the Ministry of Education (MOE) for the development of the English curriculum. The distinctive satisfaction themes of merits among all evaluations were the visuals, syllabi appearance, and overall content. While teaching methods and the difficulty of tasks were highlighted as demerits. From a cultural perspective, syllabi tend to be contextualized in a Western way, based on the local Saudi culture. This paper recommends conducting a more comprehensive evaluation process online to cover more participants, developing a well-tailored checklist that suits the content and culture of Saudi Arabia, and considering the new technological changes in coursebooks.