ELT coursebooks for primary school learners

This article reports on the findings of a comparative study on songs in four English coursebook series for primary school learners, with two published in China and another two in the UK. Detailed analysis focuses on the number, the coverage, the teaching purposes, and the instructional arrangements of songs. The findings show that although the total number of songs in coursebooks from China outnumbers that from the UK, no correlation exists between learners’ grade levels and the number of songs in each fascicle. The study further demonstrates that the purposes of songs in all four series are mainly to arouse learners’ interest, to improve pronunciation, and to enhance vocabulary and sentence structure understanding, revealing a lack of due attention to fostering learners’ intercultural awareness. Regarding the pedagogical approach and other instructional arrangements, British coursebooks feature a more diversified approach, highlighting the integration of learners’ physical, psychological and cognitive development, whereas Chinese coursebooks concentrate on providing simplistic and unified instructions which may pose a challenge for novice teachers but an opportunity for experienced teachers. Based on the findings, recommendations are offered to future coursebook writers.