The purpose of this study was to analyze the grammar practice activities used in 14 recently published pre-intermediate and intermediate English language teaching textbooks. More specifically, this study analyzed the types of grammar practice activities that occurred, the order of such types, and the prevalence and composition of interrelated series of grammar practice activities. Results indicate that mechanical activities were less common than the other controlled alternative, meaningful activities, and also the least common type overall. Also, the results show that pre-communicative grammar practice activities were the most numerous grammar practice activities and comprised approximately 40% of all grammar practice activities. Additionally, it was found that grammar practice activities generally progressed from form-focused grammar practice activities to meaning-focused grammar practice activities. Last, it was found that multiple series of interrelated grammar practice activities were present with 54 distinct series appearing across the 42 lessons examined, and comprised almost half of all 246 grammar practice activities recorded as well.

Ballena, Mae Karr Ruth & Shim, Young-Sook. 2018. “Representation of Social Struggles in Korean and Philippine ELT Textbooks”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 26(1). 201~228. The present study investigates the representations of social struggles depicted in middle school English textbooks published in Korea and the Philippines. The data consists of 200 reading selections from 18 volumes of Korean textbooks and 108 reading selections from 3 volumes of Philippine textbooks. A total of 39 instances of social struggles were identified from the data analysis, and the following categories emerged from careful reviews of those instances: (1) social struggles involving social groups, which are further divided into subcategories such as gender, generation, socioeconomic class, social rank, race, and the colonizer/colonized; and (2) social struggles involving resources, which are subdivided into education, basic necessity, and technology. Findings show that social struggles associated with gender, colonization, education, and technology are common among Philippine and Korean ELT textbooks. The data analysis also reveals that Philippine textbooks present a wider array and more in-depth contextualization of social struggles while representational issues on stereotyping, desensitization, and juxtaposition of elements are found in Korean textbooks. Related to the research findings, some educational implications are provided particularly from the perspective of critical pedagogy.