Keyword: «foreign language coursebook»

Russian school teachers use a coursebook chosen from the list of those recommended by the Ministry of Educa-tion. Nevertheless, it does not mean that they complete-ly rely on these books and do not introduce any changes. Nowadays, they have access to a great variety of teach-ing tools, which can positively affect the learning out-comes. A controversy arises between those administra-tive requirements that restrict teacher`s activities and choices, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the same requirements encourage teachers to follow stu-dent-centered approach which suggests individualization and variety in teaching. The majority of foreign language school teachers do introduce changes into the course-books they use, thus displaying varied levels of their pro-fessional agency. In recent years, they have a unique opportunity to generate their own materials thanks to the incorporation of AI in education. The aim of this arti-cle is to find out and analyze the reasons for introducing changes into coursebooks and identify the character of such changes. The authors studied the outcomes of both Russian and foreign researchers, devoted to coursebook theory. Then they questioned school foreign language teachers to find out what changes they introduce and why. The study revealed that the overwhelming majority of the teachers are inclined to use the coursebook as the backbone of the course they teach in combination with additional materials and tools. In this decision, they are driven by the desire to promote the achievement of the course goals, keeping in mind their target learners, their preferences and abilities; their dissatisfaction with the materials and tools that the coursebook contains; their striving to diversify didactic tools and to select those materials that are in line with the students` close environment and acute events. The results of the study show that the main additions that foreign language teachers make to the teaching materials used are related to the content and technological solutions in the lesson. Based on these outcomes, it is obvious which aspects of foreign language teaching and learning theory and prac-tices require a special emphasis in pre-service as well as in-service teacher training.