Teacher's Manual
The companion volume to a coursebook, written for the teacher rather than the learner. Also published under the labels teacher's book, teacher's edition, and teacher's guide — usage varies by publisher and market, with no consistent technical distinction between them.
Standard contents
Most teacher's manuals contain four kinds of material. A short methodological introduction explains the approach the coursebook embodies: its syllabus type, its skills integration, its assumptions about practice. Lesson notes walk through each student-book page with timing suggestions, board work, instruction wording, and pre-emptive notes on items learners typically misread. Answer keys cover the student book and often the workbook. Photocopiable supplementary worksheets (tests, extra activities, communication games) sit at the back of the volume.
Methodological role
Cunningsworth and McGrath both treat the teacher's book as integral to coursebook evaluation rather than a peripheral add-on. A strong teacher's book makes the rationale of the materials transparent (why this sequence of activities, why this text type at this point) and so functions as a kind of professional development embedded in the package. A weak teacher's book reduces to an answer key, which gives little support to less experienced teachers or to those new to the methodology.
Design tensions
Teacher's manuals balance prescriptiveness against teacher autonomy. Too prescriptive and they reduce the teacher to a script reader; too open and they offer no real support. The best balance varies by audience — novice teachers need more procedural detail, experienced teachers need fewer obvious steps and more rationale.
Reduced-print editions
Modern coursebook packages increasingly migrate teacher's-book content online: interactive lesson plans, downloadable worksheets, video walkthroughs, classroom-management tips by unit. The printed teacher's book in many series has shrunk accordingly, with some publishers now offering only a digital teacher's pack.
Evaluation criterion
The teacher's book features explicitly in Cunningsworth's eight categories and in McGrath's in-depth evaluation criteria — what it provides, how clearly, and at what level of teacher experience it targets.
References
- Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing Your Coursebook. Heinemann.
- McGrath, I. (2002). Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching. Edinburgh University Press.
- Richards, J. C. (2014). The ELT Textbook. In International Perspectives on Materials in ELT. Palgrave Macmillan.