This study examined how teaching and learning activities in primary English textbooks include the components of creativity and character building. Three third and fourth grade level textbooks based on the 2015 revised curriculum were analyzed in order to find the proportions of the components of creativity and character building, and the types of learning activities that embody those components were analyzed by examining the teachers’ guides. The analysis revealed that all of the textbooks examined included diverse components that were intented to increase creativity, among which components stimulating divergent thinking and originality were a high proportion, while convergent thinking and dispositional aspects appeared less frequently. Among character building components, care-forgiveness and responsibility were two of the more popular components, while honesty and moral judgment were few and far between. From these findings, this study suggests that the components of creativity and character building should be more evenly distributed across textbook activities since they should be of equal importance in education.

The 7th national curriculum takes a strong stance for a student-centered curriculum as well as operating and management flexibility at the school level. This study explored the procedures of and the status on implementation of the 7th national English curriculum at the primary level. It examined the processes taken by the local boards of education in due course of facilitating the schools with the school level curriculum implementation, and the schools and teachers for the actual curriculum implementation. To achieve the goal of the study, it was conducted by questionnaires for teacher and supervisors, classroom observation, and teacher interviews. Results were interpreted by the core aspects of the 7th national curriculum: curriculum reconstruction, student-centeredness, and specialization of the curriculum. Three major elements were found in the process of curriculum modification: firstly, the local boards of education was not enough to support so that the schools developed and implemented the school-based curricula secondly, teachers did not exert autonomy in interpreting and applying curriculum to their classrooms, and finally, there was a high demand for teachers and experts with potential in the schools as well as in the board of education. For the successful settlement of curriculum, continuous efforts are needed to involve teachers in the process of curriculum implementation.