International Journal of Asian Social Science, 2013, 3(1):150-170 150 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS USED IN IRANIAN INSTITUTES Parviz Alavinia Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Letters, Urmia University Urmia, Iran Mansoor Siyadat Department of English Language and Literature, Urmia Branch, Islamic Azad University, Urmia, Iran ABSTRACT Since most class activities revolve around the utilization of textbook, selecting an appropriate basis for teaching is one of the most important decisions a teacher is liable to make in shaping the content and nature of teaching and learning. The current probe appraised the practicality of a number of prevalent English course books in the Iranian context. To this aim, a total of 320 male learners from a range of different institutes across West Azerbaijan were asked to voice their opinions on various aspects of four English textbooks, i.e. American English File 1, American Cutting Edge 1, American Headway 1, and New Interchange 1. In line with the gained results, the researchers concluded that through using a convenient website related to a specific course book, the learners would be highly motivated and enjoy the English language learning process; indeed, the newly published book American English File 1 – with its up-to-date materials, beautiful coverage and pictures and a convenient website – was more preferred than its three counterparts by the learners participating in this research. Key Words: American cutting edge 1, American english file 1, American headway 1, Iranian institutes, New interchange 1, Textbook evaluation INTRODUCTION "While the quality of ESL reading textbooks has improved dramatically in recent years, the process of selecting an appropriate text has not become any easier for most teachers and administrators" (Wen et al., 2011). As one of the three fundamental facets of any educational context (the other two being learner and teacher), textbooks have always been regarded as a crucial basis underlying teachers' decision making on what to teach and how to teach, and for learners' general achievement. Thus, the selection of appropriate textbooks has been among the most important issues which have preoccupied the teachers' minds since long ago. To adopt Nunan (1988) words, materials and course books are among the most fundamental components "within the curriculum and more than International Journal of Asian Social Science journal homepage: http://www.aessweb.com/journal-detail.php?id=5007