Abstract

Teaching conversation skills is a difficult task for teachers and requires careful attention when selecting the textbook that best suits learners' needs and interests in addition to their different learning dispositions. This study proposes a system for analyzing the content of the conversation English textbook for second-year undergraduate students in An-Najah National University according to five major rubrics: topic consistency, frequency of drill use, type of syllabus, self-expressing activities, and the appropriate type of language they use. These rubrics, which include the different learning dispositions, determine the appropriateness or the inappropriateness of the textbook used for teaching oral communication depending on the level of existence or absence in the textbook. After analyzing the content of the conversation textbook, it was found that it lacks creative and interactive activities. Besides, it is revealed that there are not enough exercises to practise the language naturally and authentically. Based on these results, the researcher recommended specialists and conversation textbook designers to include adequate role-playing activities and problem-solving activities that enhance students' interaction, motivation and develop their speaking ability in constructing further conversation textbooks.

Key words: conversation English textbook, second-year undergraduate students, rubrics for analyzing oral communication, interactive activities.