An Analysis of an Intensive English for Academic Purposes’ (IEAP) Textbook: A Case Study of Pannasastra University of Cambodia (PUC)

In this study, the researcher uses document analysis to explore the contents of one textbook—New Interchange 1, which has been used in an intensive English for academic purposes (IEAP) programme at Pannasastra University of Cambodia in Siem Reap (PUC-SR). This analysis is aimed at exploring how communicative the textbook is in nature. To do this, the contents/texts in the textbook are analysed and grouped into 10 categories, namely: (1) ask and answer dialogue; (2) situational dialogue; (3) communicative dialogue; (4) information-gap activity; (5) opinion-sharing activity; (6) reasoning-gap activity; (7) learner autonomy; (8) focus on meaning; (9) thinking skill; and (10) focus on form. Results show that the textbook prioritises “information-gap activity” and “opinion-sharing activity” followed by “ask and answer dialogue” and “situational dialogue.” In stark contrast, “learner autonomy” and “thinking skill” appear least frequently in this beginner textbook. However, the textbook is generally seen to be high-communicative in nature, because mixed tasks/activities are used throughout the textbook, so that students can be exposed to a wide range of communicative activities. Moreover, these tasks/activities are claimed to be communicative task types in the literature.