“As far as I can tell, assigning a textbook to your college class is academic malpractice.”

And so begins a very strong anti-textbook post by Seth Godin.

What I’m amazed about is that I am no longer 100% anti-textbook. I’ve complained about them – price, tendency to become out dated rather quickly, how impersonal they are, etc. But are they always bad? What do schools, teachers, and students do that make them bad? And what makes them good?

Bad Practice 1: Your book=Your English Level

Common language school malpractice is to equate a course book to a language level. If you’re a beginner student for example, your course book could be Market Leader Elementary. When you finish the book – you finish the level. Common practice, but totally not correct.

When you finish a course book, you’ve done just that: Finished a course book. Hopefully you’ve learned some new vocabulary, you’ve hopefully improved your reading, and listening skills – but have you actually mastered enough English to move up to an intermediate level?

Most course books in the ESL market boast content that averages between 60 to 120+ hours of course time. But is that enough time? According to Cambridge University, the average post beginner student (A2) needs at least 80 to 200 hours of class time to move up to the next level. (See Guided Learning Hours from Cambridge website.)

So equating your course book to your language level is NOT the best way to make use of your course book. Your course book should help make your course better – more interesting. It should support you through the learning process by giving you activities and lessons to review – but should never tell you when your ready to graduate to the next level.