Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

The centrality of textbooks in basic education calls for periodic assessment of their pedagogical, substantial and assessment features, thus ensuring optimum development of students―the end-users of all educational efforts. Cognizant of the fact that textbooks define the backbone of “micro” organizations for classroom activities (Schmidt, McKnight, & Raizen, 1997), this exploratory undertaking is aimed at identifying the dominant emphasis of a select group of Philippine textbooks in English with regards to macro skills, facets of understanding, and learning strategies. A total of 12 textbooks across four curriculum levels published from 2004 to 2006 were subjected to content analysis. Results indicate that Philippine English language textbooks put a premium on the writing and reading skills of students. There is continuing emphasis on the knowledge aspect of language assessment strategies, leaning toward behaviorism. Cognitive strategies are extensively employed alongwith memory strategies. Policy implications of the study are also discussed in this paper.