Despite the growing interest in ELT textbook studies, how English teachers use textbooks in real classrooms has been inadequately investigated (Harwood, 2014). The paucity of textbook use research may result in a distorted picture of ELT textbooks, as static analyses of textbook content can never reveal the full nature of textbooks, neglecting how they are consumed by users through contextualized interpretation and dynamic interaction (Weinberg & Wiesner, 2011). In addition, the majority of previous textbook use research has focused on teachers' interpretations of textbook content, but has neglected the fact that textbooks are also objects with material qualities (Kolbeck & Röhl, 2018). According to Nevile et al (2014), objects make significant contributions to the trajectories of human interaction in social settings, while in ELT classrooms, classroom interaction has been regarded as central to effective teaching (Walsh, 2011). To fully understand the interactions involved, how teachers interact with the materiality of textbooks as objects and how teachers employ the materiality of textbooks to interact with students require detailed and systematic analysis. Besides, the global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted face-to-face teaching routines and shifted courses to emergency online teaching, enforcing various constraints on classroom interaction. One major challenge in Chinese universities is that teachers have to interact in online classrooms where there is zero visibility of participants, and the materiality of textbooks is not presented in the form of printed books but displayed through computer screens. In thisscenario, how teachers verbalize textbooks and manipulate them through the computer screen and mouse becomes a key influencing factor in classroom interaction.
The present study, drawing on the strengths of interaction analysis, which foregrounds the significance of real-life data in local contexts and pivots on the interpretation of speaker intent encoded in both verbal and nonverbal signals in interaction(Gumperz, 1982), aims to investigate the affordances and constraints of ELT textbook materiality in emergency online classroom interaction. Through interaction analysis of one Chinese university teacher's 11 video-recorded lessons, the study reveals various strategies involving verbalizing the textbook and manipulating it through the computer screen and mouse to cope with the interactional challenges arising in emergency online classrooms. The study has important implications for ELT textbook development, highlighting the need for special attention to material qualities of textbooks. Implications can also be drawn for teacher development programs designed to enhance English teachers' interactional competence, especially in emergency online classrooms.
Gumperz, J. J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge University Press.
Harwood, N. (Ed.). (2014). English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kolbeck, G. & Röhl, T. (2018). Textbook practices: Reading texts, touching books. In E. Fuchs & A. Bock (Eds.), Palgrave handbook of textbook studies. Palgrave Macmillan.
Nevile, M., Haddington, P., Heinemann, T. & Rauniomaa, M. (Eds.). (2014). Interacting with objects: Language, materiality, and social activity. John Benjamins.
Walsh, S. (2011). Exploring classroom discourse: Language in action. Routledge.
Weinberg, A. & Wiesner, E. (2011). Understanding mathematics textbooks through reader-oriented theory. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 76(1): 49-63.
