Textbook use; role of textbooks; textbook-based activities; textbook control

The paper presents research on textbook use conducted in lower secondary schools in Ostrava, in the Czech Republic. The main research aim was to identify the role the textbooks play in teaching and learning in lower secondary schools. The concept of the role of the textbook is discussed from several perspectives in this paper. The role of textbooks was empirically investigated from four viewpoints: prevalence of textbook use, textbook-based activities, the role of textbooks in students? homework, and textbook control. A total of 155 lessons across 20 classes were observed during English, History, Mathematics and Civics lessons and supplemented with individual semi-structured interviews with teachers and pair interviews with students. Textbooks were mainly used for activities based on text perception. Students largely ignored the textbooks for their homework. The teachers used the textbooks for various purposes: primarily as a resource for content and for assigning tasks and exercises