It is not teachers who decide the content of the syllabus but the Ministry of Education, an authority which is in charge of assuring that the same type of teaching is applied to all classes at the same level. Not only is the syllabus decided by the ministry but also the textbooks from which teachers have to choose for their classes. These textbooks should be correlated with the syllabus.
Strengths
- They respect the syllabus
- They have supplementary material and activities available
- The material is lively and interesting
- Teachers are not obliged to search material for each class
- It is the main aid material in the teaching process
- Identical formats of units make textbooks easier to handle and to use
Weaknesses
- They are rigid tools of teaching
- They are focused more on introducing new language
- They have the same format for all units
- The lack of variety in activities
- The lack of balance in activities
- They do not treat students individually
- They tend to be focused on controlled work
Opportunities
- Students can easily revise grammatical and functional items of high interest
- Students can study on their own at home
- Students are shown which items are new and which have been studied
- Teachers can discard unnecessary points from the units
Threats
- Textbook may not be suitable for the class as teachers have to choose it before they get to know the class
- Textbooks impose some decisions teachers take about the students activities
- The repetition of similar activities may bore the students
- The overuse of textbooks might make teaching boring and less motivating for students who would lose interest in the class
- The influence of other colleagues and the pressure of the syllabus make teachers follow only the textbooks
- They can tie teachers to a certain style of teaching which repeated could become boring for the students
SWOT Analysis of School Textbooks without Passive Voice
English my Love – 9th grade
Strengths
- deals with important topics
- it refers to English culture and civilization
- has an available activity book
Weaknesses
- the activity book is not for free
- pictures are not updated
- lacks additional grammar exercises
- few available listening activities
- use of cassettes
- the texts are old and the information is not current
- lack of important grammar issues: Passive Voice, Reported Speech
Opportunities
- the extra activity book is a good home practice for students to improve their English
- students are encouraged to learn more about English culture and civilization
Threats
- students are not encouraged enough to practice their speaking
- students are not motivated to develop their listening skill
- students forget some important grammatical issues: passive voice and reported speech.
SWOT analysis of school textbooks with Passive Voice
Prospects Advanced Student’s Book – 12th form
Strengths
- gives additional explanation at the end of the book
- has a workbook with additional exercises
- passive voice is dealt with twice in the whole book and t is combined with reading skills
Weaknesses
- lack of exercises in the students’ book
- lack of passive practice in conversation
Opportunities
- students can learn passive inductively through reading, being able to recognize passive forms
- passive texts are an useful example of training for the final English exam
Threats
- students are not encouraged to practice more passive exercises
- students are not accustomed to learning grammar summaries unless the teacher tells them
- in the final form are not interested in grammar forms.