IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS’ NEEDS AND COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING : A FOCUS ON 8TH-GRADE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK CONTENT

The content of textbooks should be in accordance with the needs of learners, and the 8th-grade English textbook is no exception. This descriptive study, conducted in two phases, aimed to explore 8th-grade students’ needs using a Needs Analysis Questionnaire (Nunan, 2001). Seventy-three female high school students in the 8 grade, around 15 years old, with different English language and learning backgrounds, participated in the study. They were selected based on convenience sampling. The results of students’ responses, reported in percentages, showed that the book, to some extent, meets students’ needs. The researcher also performed a content analysis of the textbook. The results showed that the book, in general, is a move forward to meet the students’ communicative needs. Most of the participants in almost all questionnaire items opted for communicative needs. The textbook needs some additions and revisions to cover the basic communication needs. Functional and communicative tasks should be added to the book. The study has implications for syllabus designers, textbook writers, policymakers, and English high school teachers.