My Experiences and Observations

My own experiences have influenced the direction of this study. The content of this section is reflective, though somewhat eroded by the passage of time. This thesis would not have been designed as it is in the absence of these experiences and observations.

1.3.1 Teaching of English and Authorship

As a secondary school teacher of English in a private secondary school in 1997, I used Integrated English by KIE/JKF as the coursebook. In preparation for the literature ‘set books’ that my lower secondary school learners would later be required to read, I sought to encourage wider reading during school holidays by requiring them to hand in a book review. At this early stage in my career, I also had my first experience of authoring and publication with a guide to one of the literature books,Looking for a Rain God and other Short Stories from Africa. Later, I moved from secondary school to teaching linguistics and communication skills at university, where my learners were Bachelor of Education (English and literature in English)

primary school learners and most recently, I was among three co-authors who wrote the secondary school English textbook series for the East African Educational Publishers (EAEP). For three and a half years (mid 2002-2005), we co-authored four secondary school Students’ Books and a corresponding number of Teachers’ Books.

Publishers submitted their manuscripts for schools to the KIE for annual vetting (Appendix II) and materials had to be ready for use in schools every January between 2003-2006. Following vetting, publishers printed, distributed and marketed their publications. Towards the end of 2005, the final books in the series were placed on the market for the 2006 school year. This marked the end of the textbook writing project.

1.3.2 Interaction with Users

Subsequent experiences with the publishers’ marketing department put me in touch with potential users of the textbooks. In 2005, I accompanied a marketing team to a school to facilitate a workshop organized by the publishers. At the time, publishing houses were keen to facilitate workshops for teachers, during which they promoted their textbooks.12 Media reports at the time indicated the kind of change that was to be expected (Aduda, 2006), but teachers tended to welcome persons who were possible sources of information with whom to share their concerns and discover if

12_{With free primary education in 2003 and subsidized secondary education in 2008, the government}

disbursed funds to public schools, including funds for purchase of textbooks. Publishers marketed their books to schools in a competitive environment. Many were marked ‘new syllabus’, ‘revised syllabus’ or ‘approved by the Ministry of Education’ on the cover.

they could obtain authoritative answers. 13 In addition to this experience, during Teaching Practice supervision in a few secondary schools (2006), I found that the new textbooks were in use, and this presented me with yet another perspective of the materials. From the limited sample that I observed, Head Start, one of the fully approved textbook series (Form 1-4) seemed preferred.

Prior to my experiences and observations among textbook users, I had viewed textbooks from a writer’s perspective. As du Gay et al (1997, p.5) point out, meaning-making is an ongoing process; production does not mark the end of the textbook story. Although the conclusion of the writing project marked an end of sorts, my experiences with teachers and observations in classrooms inclined me to ask more questions about what textbook development really meant. In reflecting upon what a textbook development study could entail, I adopted the view that textbook development is, ideally, a cyclical process that should be constantly informed by those who have a stake in the textbook. My experiences with the publishers marketing team had indicated that although publishers had their message for teachers, teachers in turn had concerns that could not fully be addressed without reference to other sources of authoritative information. In addition, as an author who had access to classrooms where the new materials were being used, I was curious to discover what drove textbook choices in the liberalized market, and to observe more closely how the authors’ vision was interpreted by users of the materials.

13 _{Rumours of oral testing and the rather late release of a sample paper for the new KCSE}

examination format (2006) fuelled teacher uncertainty about what the syllabus changes meant. There had existed a tendency to gloss over the listening and speaking section, since it was not tested in the national examination. Subsequent media reports (Orende, 2005) recorded a feeling of relief when actual oral testing was excluded, although elements of oral skills were included. The attempt to reflect integration in the examination caused some teachers to believe that it was a new idea

The purpose of this study, therefore, is to articulate the biography14 of an English language coursebook from conceptualization through to the classroom. My initial visualization of what my study would entail included the English syllabus arising from the 2002 curriculum review, to which the materials were responsive, publishers, authors, teachers and learners (Fig. 1). As I engaged further with the research in this area, and obtained feedback, this visualization evolved. I present it as a provisional conceptual framework (Fig. 4) following my review of the literature in Chapter 2.

Fig 1: An Early Visualization of the Study

14_{Littlejohn (1992) observes that establishing the ‘biography’ of a particular published title involves}

gaining access to the basis on which decisions were made, thus uncovering matters of history since textbooks routinely take more than five years from ‘conception to production.’

The Classroom Teachers and Learners The Publishers Editors and Authors KIE Curriculum and Syllabus English Textbook Form and Content