1/The Structure of the Books at the Primary Stage

English language has been taught in all levels of education since
the establishment of the Iraqi government in 1921. Different textbooks
have been applied in Iraqi schools following various approaches and
methods of teaching such as: the grammar translation method, the direct
method, the reading method and the situational method.
The English textbooks used in Iraqi schools before 1968 for the
primary and the intermediate schools entitled English for Iraq (Books 1
to 5). The five books follow the same approach as that of the Oxford
English books developed in the late 1940 s and 1950 s. They are
vocabulary centered and they manifest a clear bias towards the direct
method, i.e., the teaching of language skills through reading.
In 1973, a new series following the aural-oral approach has been
produced and applied and this series is entitled New English Course for
Iraq beginning with the fifth primary grade till the sixth preparatory
grade.
In 2002, another series entitled Al-Rafidain English Course for
Iraq has been applied in the primary stage (fifth and sixth grades).
Unfortunately, there is a gap between the primary stage following the
total physical response method and the communicative approach, and the
secondary stage following the aural-oral approach.