Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS an in use evaluation of the ESP coursebook for ha tinh medical college students according to the learning centred approach

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LƯU NHƯ QUỲNH AN IN-USE EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSEBOOK FOR HA T

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

LƯU NHƯ QUỲNH

AN IN-USE EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSEBOOK FOR HA TINH MEDICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS ACCORDING TO THE LEARNING-CENTRED APPROACH

(ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGHÀNH ĐANG

ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG CHO SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG Y

TẾ HÀ TĨNH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY HOẠT ĐỘNG

HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM)

PROGRAM I M.A.MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

LƯU NHƯ QUỲNH

AN IN-USE EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSEBOOK FOR HA TINH MEDICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS ACCORDING TO THE LEARNING-CENTRED APPROACH

(ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGHÀNH ĐANG

ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG CHO SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG Y

TẾ HÀ TĨNH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY HOẠT ĐỘNG

HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM)

PROGRAM I M.A.MINOR THESIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality of the thesis i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations vii

List of figures, tables and charts viii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Design of the study 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: Literature Review 4

2.1 An overview of ESP 4

2.1.1 Definition of ESP 4

2.1.2 Characteristics of ESP course 5

2.1.3 English for Medical Purpose (EMP)…… …… 5

2.1.4 Learning-centred approach in ESP 6

2.2 Roles of using the coursebook in Language Teaching and Learning 7

2.3 Material evaluation 9

2.3.1 Definition of material 9

2.3.2 Definition of material evaluation 9

2.3.3 Types of material evaluation 9

2.3.5 Models for material evaluation 11

2.3.6 Methods of material evaluation 13

2.3.7 Criteria for material evaluation 13

2.4 Material Adaptation 14

2.5 Summary 15

Chapter 2: Research Methodology 16

2.1 An overview of current ESP Teaching and Learning at HTMC 16

2.1.1 The context 16

2.1.2 The ESP course objectives 16

2.1.3 The material description 17

2.2 Research Methods 17

2.2.1 Research Questions 17

2.2.2 Participants 17

2.2.3 Instrument 18

2.2.4 Data collection procedures 18

2.2.5 Data analysis procedures 18

2.3 Summary 18

Chapter 3: Data Analysis And Dicussion 19

3.1 The teachers’ evaluation on the ESP coursebook 19

3.1.1 The aims 19

3.1.2 The content 19

3.1.3 The Methodology 22

3.1.4 General evaluation 23

3.2 The students’ evaluation on the ESP coursebook 24

3.2.1 The students’ need of learning ESP 25

3.2.2 The aims 26

3.2.3 The Content 27

3.2.4 The Methodology 32

3.2.5 General evaluation 33

3.3 Findings 34

3.3.1 The suitability and unsuitability of the ESP coursebook to the aims 34

3.3.2 The suitability and unsuitability of the ESP coursebook related to the content requirement 34

3.3.3 The suitability and unsuitability of the coursebook related to the learning-centred methodology 35

3.4 Recommendations 35

3.4.1 Content improvements 35

3.4.2 Methodology improvements 37

PART III: CONCLUSION 38

1 Conclusion 38

2 Limitation and suggestions for further research 38

References 39 Appendixes I Appendix 1 I Appendix 2 IV

1 Rationale

English language teaching coursebooks in general and ESP ones in particular are considered as one of the most important elements in any educational system Appropriate materials are thought to stimulate effective teaching and learning Because of their role and contribution to second language acquisition, material evaluation has become a major concern of several researchers Cunningsworth (1995) and Ellis (1997) have suggested that coursebook evaluation helps teachers move beyond impressionistic assessments and help them to acquire useful, systematic and contextual insights into the overall nature of the material

The ESP coursebook for the students at Ha Tinh Medical College (HTMC) is a self-edited collection extracted from various sources It has been used at HMC for five years During teaching and learning process, the ESP coursebook has had certain positive impacts on ESP development here However, there are still some complaints and dissatisfaction about it Until now, no evaluation or consultation has been conducted to determine its weaknesses and its strengths The aim of the ESP coursebook at HTMC is, by the end of the course, at enabling students to describe a number of diseases, their causes, indications and treatment, to acquire and improve their reading skills to read easy medical documents later The coursebook has not paid attention to developing learners‟

communication ability which is very necessary when learning a foreign language nowadays

The above is the reason why I should carry out this research: to evaluate the current ESP coursebook at HTMC according to the learning-centred approach in order to design an effective ESP material later What distinguishes ESP from General English is not the existence of a need as such but rather awareness of the need It means that ESP is an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners Thus the purpose of this evaluation is to examine how well the ESP coursebook is used and if it can meet the course requirements in terms of aims, content and methodology

2 Aims of the study

- To evaluate the ESP coursebook in terms of its Aims, Content and Methodology from the point of view of both the teachers and students

- Suggest some improvements to make the ESP coursebook more effective in responding to the course requiremens and learners‟ needs

3 Significance of the study

The study is hoped to be useful to both the teachers and the students at HTMC

Firstly, it provides a foundation toward improving the quality of the currently used ESP coursebook for the students at HTMC in order to make the course more relevant to the learners‟ need Secondly, it helps the teachers get the learners‟ feedback to adapt the material or adjust their ways of teaching to meet the learners‟ expectations better Finally, the results of this research are hoped to make several contributions to material evaluation

field

4 Scope of the study

Due to the limited scope of a minor thesis, although there is a great number of book evaluation criteria, this study only evaluate the ESP coursebook for the students at HTMC in relation to its aims, content and methodology

Basing on the findings and the learners‟ need, it provides some suggestions to improve the ESP coursebook at HTMC

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion

The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the research question, the significance, the scope and the design of the study

The development includes three chapters:

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature Review 2.1 An overview of ESP

a foreign language?”

2.1.2 Characteristics of ESP course

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), the traditional ESP course design has two major drawbacks: firstly, the development in the learner of a capacity to communicate is neglected, and secondly, there is a failure to analyze and take into account the realities of the ESP learning situation

Tickoo (1988) states that there are three features of ESP courses including authentic material, purpose-related orientation and self-direction The use of learning authentic material is entirely feasible and can be modified or unmodified in form, which is indeed a feature of ESP Additionally, purpose-related orientation refers to the simulation

of communicative tasks required of the target setting involving the preparation of papers, reading, note taking and writing Finally, self-direction is the characteristic of ESP courses

in that the “…point of including self-direction…is that ESP is concerned with turning learners into users”

2.1.3 English for Medical Purpose (EMP)

English for Medical Purpose is a subset of English for Specific Purposes education that most often focuses on teaching aspects of medical English, particularly terminology Hull (2004)

Hull also points out the characteristics of Medical English Generally, English for Specific Purposes materials and courses are designed for adult learners who desire or need

to learn a second/foreign language for use in their specific fields, (i.e science, technology, health care/medicine, and academics) ESP assumes that the target group has a degree of language competency in their first language as well as in English English for Medical Purposes is even more specific It is fraught with technical, academic language and replete with slang, colloquialisms, abbreviations and acronyms It has its own rules and structure

Health professionals must read, write, interpret, give directions, etcetera using a wide variety of abbreviations and acronyms that are extremely career-specific Medical English

is also contextual Doctors and nurses use academic and technical language interspersed with common speech and workplace jargon It rarely focuses on complete or proper sentence structure

2.1.4 Learning-centred approach in ESP

The approach to ESP developed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) is the learning-centred approach which is concerned with language learning In other words, the concern of ESP is not “what people learn”, but “how people learn” ESP is an approach to language learning with the aims to meet the needs of particular learners As a result, a learning-centred approach has a very important role in course design Therefore, in order to determine whether the course book is effective, it is necessary to evaluate it according to the learning-centred approach

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) also states that “ a truly valid approach to ESP must be based on an understanding of the processes of language learning” The learning-centred approach is based on the assumption that describing and exemplifying what learners do with language is important as this will help to define the course objectives It means that telling the learners what to do with language alone will not enable them to learn

it , it must be combined with language learning or telling the learner how to learn it, because the ultimate goal of language education is to develop learner autonomy Learners should be equipped with learning strategies for life-long learning

The learning-centred approach is based on the principle that learning is totally determined by the learners Learning is seen as a process in which the learners use what knowledge or skills they have in order to make sense of the flow of new information

2.2 Roles of using the coursebook in Language Teaching and Learning

Using the coursebook in Language Teaching and Learning has both advantages and disadvantages

Grant (1987) mentions that the coursebooks help to solve the problem by creating opportunities for the learners to use the target language in the classroom before using it in their real life Because of this possible vitality, Ur (1996) states the advantages of the coursebook as follows:

a They provide a clear framework which the teacher and the students know where they are going and what is coming next

b Mostly, they serve as a syllabus which includes a carefully planned and balanced selection of language content if it is followed systematically

c They provide ready-made texts and tasks with possible appropriate level for most of the class, which save time for the teacher

d They are the cheapest way of providing learning material for each student

e They are convenient packages whose components are bound in order

f They are useful guides especially for inexperienced teachers who are occasionally unsure of their language knowledge

g They provide autonomy that the students can use them to learn new material, review and monitor progress in order to be less teacher-dependent

Besides, coursebooks as preplanned teaching materials have some possible disadvantages (Richards and Renandya, 2002):

a They fail to present appropriate and realistic language models

b They propose subordinate learner roles

c They fail to contextualize language activities

d They foster inadequate cultural understanding

e They fail to address discourse competence

f They fail to teach idiom

g They have lack of equity in gender representation

2.3 Material evaluation

2.3.1 Definition of material

Tomlinson, B (1998) constructs a quite comprehensive definition of material:

“Materials are anything which is used to help to teach language learners Materials can be

in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspapers, a paragraph written on a whiteboard: anything which presents or informs about the language being learned”

2.3.2 Definition of material evaluation

There are several ways of defining material evaluation

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), “Evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions” (p.97) Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose “Given a certain need, and in the light of the resources available, which out of number of possibilities can represent the best solution There is no absolute goog or bad-only degrees of fitness for the required purpose”

Dudley (1998) states that, “Evaluation is a whole process which begins with determining what information to gather and ends with bringing about the change in current activities or influencing future ones” (p.128)

2.3.3 Types of material evaluation

According to Cunningsworth (1995), there are three types of material evaluation including pre-use evaluation, in-use evaluation and post-use evaluation This classification

is similar to Ellis (1997) with different names He divides material evaluation into three types: Preliminary, Formative and Summative evaluation

Pre-use evaluation is often carried out before the course starts with the aim to select the most appropriate materials for the particular group of learners and for the aims of the course

In-use evaluation often takes place during the learning process, involving

“matching the course book against a specific requirement including the learners‟

objectives, the learners‟ background, the resources available, etc” (Cunningsworth, 1995,p.14) The results of this stage can be used to modify what is being done or in other words, such results may suggest the development of the material in the future

Post-use evaluation is often undertaken after the course has been finished to judge

its overall effectiveness The findings of this evaluation will lead to the decision whether to

repeat or use the materials again or not

2.3.4 Purposes of material evaluation

Evaluation have many different purposes

Cunningsworth (1995) states that when conducting an evaluation we can assess whether the course is the most appropriate for the target learners at different levels and in different teaching settings

According to Robinson (1991), through evaluation, we can know about the advantages and disadvantages as well as the effectiveness of the being used materials

2.3.5 Models for material evaluation

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divide the material process into four main steps which can be presented in the following model It is a macro-evaluation

Figure 2: Materials Evaluation Process ( Hutchinson and Water 1987, P.98)

Ellis (1997) suggests a Micro-evaluation model which is probably clearer and more detailed:

1 Choosing a task to follow;

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS How does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?

MATCHING How far does the material match your needs?