A Critical Study of Prospect One Based on the Models Proposed by Cisar and Basturkmen

The current study was conducted to evaluate 7th grade English course book entitled Prospect 1, which is the most recently designed English textbook intended as the initial instructional material for Iranian schools. To this end, Cisar’s (2000) model which is used to evaluate language books and reflects the principles of American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) was applied. Furthermore, to run a more comprehensive analysis of the book, Basturkmen’s (2006) framework was utilized, as well. The findings of the current research indicate that though the authors of Prospect 1 have succeeded, to a large extent, in alleviating the pitfalls of the previous series, it seems that the entire book configuration still suffers from a number of serious drawbacks. Among these ostensible shortcomings mention can be made of the partial inadequacy of audiovisual resources used in the book. Furthermore, the occasional inclusion of some aspects of target culture in addition to those of Iranian culture might help ameliorate the efficiency of the book. Finally, using more variety in designing the book exercises might help augment learners’ motivation.