Is the textbook benefiting my students?

So this year I have stirred the water a bit in my classes and department because I made receiving a textbook optional for my students. I have a class set of books in every room I teach and allow students who want a text book to have one checked out to them for the year (and the entire text is online and located on my Web page). I, of course, use the text in my lessons and planning and cover all of the material within the text, but I wonder is learning how to speak a language best done from a textbook?
I remember learning Spanish and using premade questions about Juan y Carmen and where they go/went and what they do/did; however the bottom line was, "Who are Juan and Carmen? and Why do I care what they do and where they go?" The answer was simple. I didn't care (and still don't and neither do my students). I'm really am not sure of the value of constantly practicing fictitional dialogs about fictional people. I think you should use language to communicate and engage with others.
I hope that all foreign language teachers (myself included) will begin to take a more communicative and applicable approach (I actually think our office is moving quickly in this direction). My hope is that we can use some of the PLC time to create more authentic learning activities and assessments to engage students in creating the languge to communicate on a personal level. I don't think that it is a coincidence that the students who come to us from private schools that are well above the average language learner didn't use a text book.