Abstract :
With growth of EFL in Iran, based on context requirements, textbook evaluation has received substantial attention. Teachersʹ experiences and perceptions play vital roles in the process of book evaluation. The study is based on the Jolly Phonics series (Lloyd & Wernham, 1995) used by number of institutes and colleges in teaching in Iran. The main objective of the study was to find out whether this teaching material follows the essential objectives for teaching English as a foreign language to children or not. Considering the point that teachers have an indispensable role in analyzing and making an applicable and practical decision on evaluating and choosing the best possible material to be taught, the study focused on the teachers’ perceptions. The series were evaluated against Nokelainenʹs (2006) checklist. To this end, 72 female experienced teachers of Baby College institutes in Tehran and Gorgan branches, Iran, were randomly selected and given the Pedagogically Meaningful Learning Questionnaire (PMLQ) of 40 questions to fill in. The findings showed that teachers mostly believe Jolly Phonics series and the teaching method can stand as a capable and trustable material for young EFL learners. However, in order to make it more profitable it may involve using decisions in adapting textual materials to the needs and interests of pupils as the learnersʹ requirements are changing regarding the adventures of their environment. It is suggested that being a teacher’s guide to educate the teachers how to adapt and teach the materials on the base of learnersʹ needs would be much better than just knowing or learning how to teach it. The textbook will continue to play an important role in helping teachers in teaching process, but it should not be a dictator (Williams, 1983), and the investigated material is respectful to this idea as it can well cover the flexibility, motivation, applicability, learner control and learner activity objectives since most of the teachers agreed on this fact.
