Corpus analysis reveals substantial divergence between external grammar benchmarks and instructional input in K–12 English textbooks, highlighting the need to localize learner profiles.
Key Points
To evaluate how external, learner-output-based CEFR and English Grammar Profile descriptors align with the pedagogical input, sequencing, and grammar coverage provided in K–12 school textbooks.
Analyzed government-approved K–12 English as a foreign language textbooks to assess the curriculum-facing applicability of A1–B2 grammar descriptors from the English Grammar Profile.
Tracked descriptor attestation, non-attestation, distributional salience across schooling stages, and level sequencing mismatches using rule-based consolidation.
Produced a localized pedagogical profile of 465 attested and consolidated grammar descriptors organized by within-level instructional salience.
Observed the highest rates of non-attestation among B2 descriptors, showing that upper-level output benchmarks are poorly represented in mainstream textbook input.
Identified pronounced variation across A2 and B1 bands alongside sequencing mismatches, reflecting a developmental input–output lag rather than curriculum error.