Abstract:

Since the English language acquires status as the lingua franca, non-native speakers pursue various aims of learning it around the world (Atar & Erdem, 2020). However, countries that are included in The Expanding Circle according to The Concentric Circle Model (Kachru, 1985) like Turkey encounter assorted problems in the process of learning. Even though the unrealistic expectations for learners are outdated thanks to World Englishes (WE), the scarcity of realistic and authentic textbooks that are used in EFL classrooms appears concerning. The rise of World Englishes and acknowledging varieties within the English language across the globe have helped sociolinguistics to gain a vital position in evaluating textbooks that are widely used in language classrooms. Therefore, the present paper aimed to evaluate a textbook that is commonly used in state schools in Turkey from the sociolinguistic perspective. By adopting a qualitative design through The Sociolinguistic Textbook Evaluation Rubric (Atar & Erdem, 2020), the results revealed the insufficiency of the textbook in terms of sociolinguistic aspects for target learners. Additionally, the results are compared to studies that used the same rubric and it is found that the textbooks in Turkey should be developed in areas that should not be overlooked.

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