General English coursebooks have dominated classroom-based ELT for 40 years. Their legitimacy seems unchallengeable; we can hardly remember a time when things were different, or imagine a time when coursebooks will not be used. And yet, coursebooks make assumptions about language learning that are contradicted by robust SLA research findings; they give teachers and students little say in decisions affecting course content and delivery; and they are influenced by commercial interests which some blame for the increasing commodification of education. This article reviews the case against coursebooks and briefly presents three alternative approaches to ELT. We argue that these alternatives have not been given the exposure they deserve in journals, conferences, and teacher training programmes, and that it is time to engage in more open, critical discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the ubiquitous coursebook.

中文翻译：

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我们需要谈论课本

40年来，通用英语课程一直主导着基于课堂的ELT。他们的合法性似乎不可挑战。我们几乎记不清情况有所不同，或者想像不使用教科书的时间。然而，课程手册对语言学习的假设与可靠的SLA研究发现相矛盾。他们在影响课程内容和授课的决策中没有给予老师和学生发言权；并且它们受到商业利益的影响，而商业利益的增加则归咎于商业利益的增加。本文根据教科书审查了该案例，并简要介绍了ELT的三种替代方法。我们认为，这些替代方案并未在期刊，会议和师资培训计划中得到应有的关注，现在是时候进行更开放，