Learner's Reality Reflected in Dialogs of the Korean Elementary School English Textbooks

Learner's Reality Reflected in Dialogs of the Korean Elementary School English Textbooks

Advocating the importance of real-life relevance of learning material, this paper investigates how well learners' reality is reflected in the dialogs of the present elementary school English textbooks. More specifically, it examines speakers/characters, settings, and contents of the dialogs from the viewpoint of relevance to learners' real life situations. The results of the study suggest that more attention should be given in order to provide elementary school learners with materials with greater degrees of relevance to their lives. Suggestions are made for future textbook development. It is hoped that this initial attempt toward giving due respect to learners' reality will evoke more active discussion on providing materials Korean learners can easily associate to their own reality.