Abstract-Most of the studies in the field of textbook evaluation in Iran have evaluated the textbooks from the perspective of teachers and have ignored the perceptions of the learners. The purpose of this study was to shed some light on the perceptions of Iranian EFL learners towards tasks and to compare their perceptions with the actual content of their textbooks. To this end, the study employed a descriptive and survey-based design. A questionnaire consisting of two different sections was distributed among 100 first-year high school students in four schools. One class in each school participated in the study. The first-year high school English textbook was carefully analyzed with respect to the percentages of tasks and non-tasks. The results of the questionnaire analysis were then compared to the results of the content analysis of the textbook. The comparison showed that the students generally rated tasks as being highly effective in the learning of English. In contrast, in their actual textbook, there was a much less number of these sorts of communicative activities. These findings show that there are wide gaps between the Iranian learners' perceptions and the actual content of their textbooks. These findings can be used by the textbook designers in order to take account of the learners' preferences and perceptions while designing new editions of textbooks.

Abstract-The perceptions of the EFL learners have been ignored in most of the textbook evaluation studies inIran. This study aimed to make a comparison between the attitudes of Iranian EFL learners towards speech acts and the actual content of their textbooks. To this end, a descriptive and survey-based design was employed. A questionnaire was distributed among 100 first-year high school students in four schools. The first-year high school English textbook was also carefully analyzed with respect to the different types of speech acts. A comparison was made between the results obtained from the questionnaire analysis and the results of the content analysis of the textbook, which revealed the fact that the students generally had a positive attitude towards the teaching of speech acts. On the contrary, they rated the Language Functions Section in their textbook to be ineffective in terms of the teaching of speech acts. A closer examination of the dialogues in the Language Functions Section revealed that the range of speech acts covered in the textbook is extremely limited. These findings show that there are gaps between the Iranian learners' perceptions and the actual content of their textbooks. The findings can be useful to the textbook designers as well as language teachers.