An evaluation of lifelines elementary as the english course book at the central professional school of archives and records management no ii

typical characteristics of the students at this school, which accounts for the choice of Lifelines Elementary as the English course-book at the school.. Reasons for selecting Lifelines E

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AN EVALUATION OF LIFELINES ELEMENTARY AS THE

ENGLISH COURSE-BOOK AT THE CENTRAL

PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL OF ARCHIVES AND RECORDS

MANAGEMENT NO II

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by NGUYỄN TRƯƠNG ANH TRÂM

Supervisor NGUYỄN HOÀNG LINH, M.A

Ho Chi Minh City, 2006

typical characteristics of the students at this school, which accounts for the

choice of Lifelines Elementary as the English course-book at the school In this

chapter, the aims of the study and an overview of the thesis are also presented

1.1 A general description of CPSOARM and the characteristics of the learners at this school

The Central Professional School of Archives and Records Management

No II was established in 1977, directly dependent on Ministry of Home Affairs The school is a public base in the south of Vietnam, responsible for training the manpower of records, archives and office work for the provinces from Quang Tri

to Ca Mau

Hence, a vast majority of students come from the central part while the remainder from western provinces of Vietnam Especially, most of them are from rural and remote areas, which partly justifies their lack of knowledge in general and their poor English in particular

As a matter of psychology, most of the students find learning English horrifying This partly results from the fact that Vietnamese learners are timid and shy by nature Since then, shyness and passiveness are inherent in their study manner Particularly, in language learning, this characteristic unsurprisingly forms a barrier between learners and the target language Having the same nature, the learners at CPSOARM are not very ‘affectionate’ towards English because this language is still alien to them They are likely to have the sense of inferiority complex that they cannot study well, let alone make progress in

studied English for seven years, some three years, and some never studied it However, all of them share the same feature that they lack a solid foundation of this language

1.2 Reasons for selecting Lifelines Elementary as the English course-book

As a result, the course-book selected for English teaching is Lifelines at elementary level because all the learners are assumed to be beginners due to their weakness of English language Besides, according to the requirements of the training areas (Records Administration and Secretarial Office-work mainly served in state offices rather than in foreign companies), English is just introductorily exposed to them It means that the learners are not required to invest much in this subject

The teaching staff is unanimous in presuming that the selected book will

be suitable for the learners At first sight, Lifelines gains the teachers’ enjoyment because of its rich content and vivid pictures that they hope will engage the learner’s eye and mind Additionally, Lifelines is counted as one of the latest and the most updated books which presumably benefit learners more than old-fashioned ones Moreover, the teachers assume that this course-book is not the one with which learners have to wrestle strenuously

Consequently, in 2003, the long-time used Streamlines was replaced with the new-fashioned Lifelines However, I can say, the use of this book to substitute for Streamlines is just based on the teaching experience of the teachers without any backing of scientific proof, and undeniably Lifelines is not tailored for any particular kind of second /foreign language learners; thus the practical

After all, the objective of this research is to supply the teacher with scientific evidence that makes her have a proper evaluation of the book In this sense, the findings of this thesis will be a solid base for the teacher’s decision to adapt or modify the book to suit her students’ tastes While using the book, the teacher does not know if it is completely suitable for the learners or not and she wonders what problem may arise from the use of the book However, the teacher cannot impulsively give any conclusion In her opinion, any decision and conclusion must be based on solid scientific evidence For this reason, the research is brought forth As mentioned above, the purpose of this study is to examine the fitness of the book for the learners at CPSOARM in respect of psychology and ability and to discover the most serious problem resulting from the use of this book

On this basis, the examination was performed on the data collected from the direct observation during the course, questionnaires distributed to the learners inquiring their own evaluation of the course-book, and interviews with both sample students and other English teachers in the same school

1 4 The research questions

The purpose of this study is to examine the suitability of Lifelines

Elementary as the English course-book at the Central Professional School of

Archives and Records No II Specifically, this study is aimed at pointing out

in what aspects the book was suitable and in what aspects it is unsuitable for the learners at this school Thus the questions guiding this study are:

1 In what aspects is Lifelines Elementary suitable for the learners at this school?

their ability and psychology?

(2) How do the students evaluate their proficiency after using the book? (3) What is the most difficulty they have in using this book?

1.5 An overview of the thesis

Except the abstract, this thesis consists of six central chapters:

Chapter 1, Introduction, includes five sections The first one, A general

description of CPSOARM and the characteristics of the learners at this school,

exposes the background to the study giving a sketchy description of CPSOARM

as well as the characteristics of the learners at this school The second section,

Reasons for selecting Lifeline Elementary as the English course-book accounts

for the reason why the English course-book selected for learning and teaching at

this school is Lifelines Elementary The third section reveals the aims of the

study, the fourth the research questions, and the last one gives an overview of the

thesis

Chapter 2, Literature Review, presents other literature that is relevant and

fundamental to this study In this chapter, principles central to the materials evaluation are listed, several teaching approaches are introduced and one related study in the same field is presented

Chapter 3, named Methodology, portrays three data collected procedures

employed in this study: 1) the direct observation of the learners’ behaviors performed by the teacher during the course; 2) questionnaires asking the learners

to give their assessments of the book; 3) interviews with both learners and teachers

and gives several recommendations on teaching and learning method

Chapter 6 leads to conclusion

1.6 Summary

This chapter has presented a description of CPSOARM as well as the

characteristics of the learners at this school before elucidating the reason why

Lifelines Elementary has been chosen as the English course-book in this school

The following sections reveal the aims of the study as well as the research

questions and deliver an overview of the entire thesis

the nature of a course-book evaluation so that the reader has a notion of the aim and the perspective of the writer on the issue because the term

‘evaluation’ itself is almost universal which may lead to many ways of understanding The second section presents some studies that instruct the ways to evaluate materials in general These instructions were useful to the study because the writer employed some of these principles as standards for the evaluation of Lifelines The third section gives a view over some typical teaching and learning approaches whose advantages and disadvantages are revealed This part was useful in that it helped the writer identify and evaluate the learning and teaching approach suggested in the book The fourth portion introduces existing literature that has given an evaluation of Lifelines

Eventually, the last section gives brief introduction to Lifelines Elementary

2.1 The nature of the course-book evaluation

“Oppression makes the wise man mad”

The relationship between teaching and learning has long been a subject of controversy In metaphorical terms, teaching and learning is a form of art, the creation of beautiful or thought-provoking works In this sense, it is far from easy

to execute teaching and learning effectively From the angle of teachers, to pass their knowledge on to learners is not a simple matter as “ for every person wishing to teach there are approximately thirty who don’t want to learn much” (W C Sellar, a British writer of humor, Encarta, 2004) On the part of learners, learning is more than just memorization In this view, learning is synonymous

with understanding, arranging, acting on the material with which learners are engaged (Newsam, Encarta 1994)

Noticeably, if the roles of teachers and learners are overemphasized during the process, the role of course-books as a medium of these two extremes is likely

to be neglected Thus, selecting, considering and evaluating a course-book is an essential process

As part of the mentioned process, this thesis only centers on evaluating the course-book after it is brought into use over a period of time to identify its strengths and weaknesses

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 a number of possibilities can represent the best solution? Evaluation is, then, concerned with relative merit There is no absolute good or bad – only degrees of fitness for the required purpose

According to this assumption, the evaluation of this course-book is, in fact, turned to the evaluation of its degrees of suitability for the users because the book is presumably perfect in itself In the same view, it is specified that the purpose of this thesis is to discover if the course-book employed is suitable for the users’ ability and psychology or not, and in what aspects it is inappropriate for these learners

2.2 Studies instructing the ways to evaluate materials in general

There has been little existing literature concerning evaluating a particular course-book so far However, there are numerous studies instructing the ways to evaluate materials in general

First of all, a definition of materials evaluation is raised In chapter 9 of the

book Materials Development in Language Teaching (1998) edited by Brian

Tomlinson, materials evaluation is characterized as “a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose, There is no absolute good or bad – only degrees of fitness for the required purpose” (p.96) In the same spirit, this study did not evaluate the book on its positive and negative side on the assumption that the book is intrinsically faultless, but it is just aimed at examining the levels of suitability of the book for the students’ ability and characteristics at CPSOARM

In Materials Development in Language Teaching, the author instructs the

way to evaluate materials in general Accordingly, evaluation is mainly a matching process: matching needs to available solutions From this principle, the evaluation process can be divided into four major steps:

First, materials should achieve impact “Impact is achieved when

materials have a noticeable effect on learners” (1998:7) They should arouse the learners’ curiosity and attract their attention because learners’ curiosity and attention compose learners’ motivation for learning

Second, materials should help learners to feel at ease According to

Tomlinson, learners will feel at ease in many ways First, learners will feel

comfortable with materials with lots of white space than they do in the materials whose pages are fully covered with lots of different activities In fact, in terms of

psychology, such materials relieve learners’ anxiety about abundant tasks As a result, they are unlikely to find their course-books too ponderous to study, or at

least they do not feel required too much for the course Second, they will feel at

ease with texts and illustrations “that they can relate to their own culture” (1998:8) In fact, they may find it discouraging to encounter those texts on

unfamiliar and exotic culture Third, learners prefer materials that help them to learn to the ones that always test and challenge them Fourth, materials should

help learners to develop confidence Helping learners to develop confidence is not synonymous with giving them too simple and easy tasks Tomlinson argues that “it often only succeeds in diminishing the learners They become aware that the process is being simplified for them and that what they are doing bears little resemblance to actual language use” (1998:9) They also become aware that they are not really using their brains and that their apparent success is an illusion And this awareness can even lead to “a reduction in confidence” (1998:9) To him tasks given in a course-book should be “stimulating and problematic” but

“achievable” This will encourage students and make them engage in many skills such as being imaginative, being creative or being analytical Especially, he emphasizes “at elementary level learners can often gain greater confidence from making up a story, writing a short poem or making a grammatical discovery than she can from getting right a simple drill” (1998:9)

Third, what is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful Tomlinson claims that “in ESP materials, it is relatively easy to

convince the learners that the teaching points are relevant and useful by relating them to known learner interests and to ‘real-life’ tasks which the learners need or might need to perform in the target language’ It signifies that learners only perceive what they are taught as relevant and useful when it satisfies their needs and helps them to reach the targets they are in pursuit of

Fourth, materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment

The author confirms that “it is extremely useful for textbooks to facilitate learner self-investment” (1998:11) In his experience, it is profitable to make learners interested in a written or spoken text to which they can respond and analyze a particular linguistic feature of it in order to make discoveries for themselves

Fifth, learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught

“Readiness can be achieved by materials which create situations requiring the use or variational features not previously taught, by materials which ensure that the learners have gained sufficient mastery over the developmental features of the previous stage before teaching a new one and by materials which roughly tune the input so that it contains some features which are slightly above each learner’s current state of proficiency It can also be achieved by materials which get learners to focus attention on features of the target language which they have not yet acquired so that they might be more attentive to these features in future input” (1998:12) Accordingly, learners are ready to learn a new feature if they perceive that it is slightly above their current state of proficiency and that they have not yet acquired it while there are many situations created requiring the use

of that feature However, it is not expected that all the learners are ready and

willing to learn a teaching point selected

Sixth, materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use Accordingly, learners are encouraged to interact with authentic input; for

example, they can listen to stories, listen to songs and fill in forms Noticeably, learners’ interaction with authentic input does not mean that they always produce language to the input, but it means that they may response to the input either mentally or physically

Seventh, the learners’ attention should be drawn to linguistic features

of the input Many researchers argue that “helping learners to pay attention to

linguistic features of authentic input can help them to eventually acquire some of

those features.” (1998:13) In fact, learners may be paying attention to the input and be aware of the gap between a particular feature of their interlanguage and the equivalent feature in the target language Noticing this gap helps the learners gradually acquire features of the target language rather than immediately change the learner’s internalized grammar The learners are invited to compare and contrast their use of a particular feature with the way it is used in a transcript of a native speaker conversation, which would be one approach that could be built into course-book materials

Eighth, materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes In other words,

materials should facilitate learners’ activeness and creativeness by giving them opportunities to use language “for communication rather than just to practice it in situations controlled by the teacher and the materials (1998: 14) Accordingly, when learners have a chance to communicate with each other, they will engage all their skills and widen their knowledge of using language Especially they can check the effectiveness of their internal hypothesis

Ninth, materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually delayed It cannot be denied that acquisition of language

is a gradual rather than an instantaneous process That is the reason why we should not expect a learner who learns a new feature to be able to use it right after that So the delayed effect of instruction suggests that production activities should be based on the objective of reinforcement rather than accuracy Or the production should be postponed to another (or subsequent) unit which is placed after further exposure, instruction and practice relating to the same feature has been provided Or the initial production plays the role as an output which might help the learners “notice the mismatch between what they are doing and what native speakers typically do” (1998: 16)

Concisely, Tomlinson (1998) suggests that for the sake of language acquisition, “it is important for material recycling instruction and to provide frequent and ample exposure to the instructed language features in communicative purpose” (16) It connotes that learners should not be forced into

‘premature production’ of the instructed features as they will get them wrong and that tests of proficiency should not be delivered right after instruction as they will fail

Tenth, materials should take into account that learners differ in learning styles Different learners have different preferred learning styles For

instance, many prefer studial learning while others prefer experiential learning

So materials should provide various activities and tasks to meet all learning styles

Several styles of learning are listed as the follows:

- visual (e.g the learner prefers to see the language written down);

- auditory (e.g the learner prefers to hear the language);

- kinaesthetic (e.g the learner prefers to do something physical, such

- independent (e.g the learner is happy to learn from their own experience of the language and to use autonomous learning strategies)

So a material should be catered for all learners with different learning styles However, it is not necessary to expect all learners can benefit from the same approaches as the good learners

Eleventh, materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes Learners have different motivations in learning language and

different feelings and attitudes towards their course-book, their class and their teacher No materials can cater for all these variables but “it is important for anybody who is writing learning materials to be aware of the inevitable differences of the users of the materials” (1998:18) Tomlinson lists many ways

to do this (1998:18-19):

- providing choices of different types of text;

- providing choices of different types of activities;

- providing optional extras for the more positive and motivated learners;

Twelfth, materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction “It has been shown that it can be extremely valuable to delay L2

speaking at the beginning of a course until learners have gained sufficient exposure to the target language and sufficient in understand it” (1998:19) Delaying speaking is assumed more effective than premature speaking This is the period when learners have gained definite sufficient knowledge until they are able to produce the target language However, it does not mean that learners absolutely keep silent in class There are many activities to activate learners during this period in which they have ‘things to do’ For instance, learners are required to listen to some instructions and respond to them, or students listen and repeat what they have heard

Briefly, those are several principles presented by Tomlinson relevant to the development of materials for the teaching of languages In some aspects, they can be considered as some standards set for an evaluation of a course-book

On the same subject, in the section of Analyzing and Evaluating course

books, Cunningsworth (1991) categorizes materials evaluation into three

common types: pre-use evaluation, in-use evaluation and post-use evaluation Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses Pre-use evaluation is carried out before a course-book is used This is the most difficult kind of evaluation because “there is no actual experience of using the book for us to draw on” (1991:14) In-use evaluation takes place while the materials are in use Post-use evaluation is performed after the course book is brought into continuous use over

a period of time This kind of evaluation is very useful in that it provides the users with scientific evidence to decide whether the same course-book will continue being used in future or not, particularly for courses that are repeated from time to time

The author also points out two main ways of evaluation: evaluation for potential and evaluation for suitability Evaluation for potential is the case in which we evaluate course-books “without any predetermined in mind” to see what it might be good for and in what situation it could be expected to be successful Whereas, evaluation for suitability is aimed at whether the course-book meets some requirements concerning the learner’s objectives, the learners’ background, the resources available, and so on

Cunningsworth has given some guidelines for evaluation which can be

considered as criteria for evaluating a book in general First,

course-books should correspond to learners’ need in terms of both language content and communicative abilities The content of the course-book corresponds to what learners need to learn, helps them obtain their objectives, and makes them

progress and reach their goals effectively Second, course-books should reflect

the uses (both current and subsequent) which learners will make of the language

So we should select course-books that are suited to each individual’s purpose

“This involves us in looking beyond the confines of the classroom and focusing our attention on the use which individual will make of what they have learned” (1991:15) Because the book is aimed at enabling learners to use the language by themselves in real situations, it will motivate learners to learn the language

effectively Third, course-books should take account of students’ needs as

learners and should facilitate their learning processes, without dogmatically imposing a rigid ‘method’ In fact, a course-book helps learners to learn in many ways, which depends on its design Its items and units are designed from the familiar to the unfamiliar or from easier to more difficult ones in respect of

‘learning ability’ However, the approach applied in the course book “should not

so much impose learning styles as meet students’ needs by allowing them to use styles of learning which suit them” (1991:16) This might improve and promote

learners’ ability to learn the language and motivate them considerably Fourth,

course-books should have a clear role as a support for learning Like teachers, they mediate between the target language and the learner That is the reason why course-book writers, “like learners and teachers, could be said to be participants

in the learning/teaching process” (1991:17) Course-books support students in many ways by providing exercises and activities to promote fluency and accuracy in the use of English and giving explanations or contextualized examples to help learners to understand how the language works

Last but not least, Nunan (1988) has identified some theoretical principles

of materials design (cited in Hidalgo et al, 1995) These principles are specially used for materials design However, in some aspect they are useful for reference

in terms of materials evaluation because materials evaluation and materials design undoubtedly make a dual side of building a complete material Accordingly, there are six principles totally:

First, materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve He

suggests that the actual writing of the materials base on the syllabus intended for students who tried out the materials themselves Then ESP teachers in charge are required to evaluate the curriculum by giving their feedback, comments and suggestion for the materials The book is revised on the basis of this feedback

Second, material should be authentic in terms of text and task Nunan

(1998) describes two types of authenticity: (1) authenticity of the texts which play the role as the basis for materials development, and (2) authenticity of the tasks which learners perform in connection with the texts To him, “texts and tasks are authentic if they were designed for purposes other than language teaching” (cited in Hidalgo et al, 1995: 173) For instance, an authentic text is that taken from a magazine or a newspaper, and an authentic task is one which people perform on their job

Third, materials should stimulate interaction Interaction among students

promotes language in many ways, including

1 providing greater opportunity for students to use language In deed, while communicating with one another, students are in need of learning to use language rather than learning to know language Interaction offers them numerous opportunities to learn from one another and even outside the classroom, which stimulates the subsequent investment and self-discovery because they themselves have experienced and perceived the usefulness and practicability of the language;

2 creating a less stressful environment for language use In this case, students do not find it compulsory to learn language On the contrary, they would see that it is their own desire to learn language to satisfy their communicative needs;

3 allowing students to use a greater range of language functions Interaction involves a variety of specific and authentic situations in reality concerning students’ personal information That is the reason why students are allowed to use numerous language functions flexibly;

4 encouraging students to help one another In other words, this is the chance for students to learn from another rather than rely too much on teachers To some extent learning from one another is more effective than learning from teachers because, somehow, it is more ‘authentic’ that enables them to memorize language features longer;

5 increasing motivation to learn Evidently, as mentioned above, because students interaction provides greater opportunity for them to use language While using language, students, who try out the language, know exactly what they really need or what their strong and weak points are Just then they would have study strategies to overcome their current

difficulties This method motivates students a great deal because they ceaselessly find ‘ways leading on to ways’

Fourth, materials should allow learners to focus on formal aspects of

the language “A focus in part of each unit on grammatical structures relevant

to the initial teacher’s input, either spoken or written, enables the learners to improve their spoken and written English in the context of an overall emphasis on meaning” (Hidalgo et al, 1995:178) This is especially important

to learners who learn English as a foreign language or those who live in non- English speaking environment The input is the primary factor that decides learners’ output So learners are likely to imitate or copy what they have read

or heard from the initial input

Fifth, materials should encourage learners to develop skills, exactly

skills of learning Accordingly, learners are helped to learn on their own, outside the classroom and after their years as students Five key aims of instruction which helps students to acquire learning skills are identified by Nunan (1988) as follows:

1 “to provide learners with efficient learning strategies

2 to assist learners to identify their own preferred ways of learning

3 to develop skills needed to negotiate the curriculum

4 to encourage learners to set their own objectives

5 to develop learners’ skills in self-evaluation.”

Sixth, materials should encourage learners to apply the development of

language skills to the world beyond the classroom Importantly, students need to know clearly how they apply what they have learned to outside the classroom So texts and tasks in a book should enable the students to apply their linguistic ability to the outside world

2.3 The Conceptual Basis of Second Language Teaching and Learning

All cultures have their own concepts of teaching, learning, and education

This is likely connected with a diversity of teaching methods In English teaching, there has long been a debate about the appropriateness of teaching methods In fact, the appropriateness of a teaching method is determined by many factors in which psychological, and especially cultural elements take the primary roles According to David Nunan (1999), “pedagogical action needs to

be sensitive to the cultural and environmental contexts in which teaching takes place.” (p 5) Knowing this helps a teacher develop a method that is suited to the psychology of learners in order to gain the effectiveness in language teaching

As a matter of psychology, there has been a debate over the question of

“whether learning is a matter of mastering a body of content “received” from former generations, or the development of skills and attitudes in particular.” (Nunan,1999: 5) In fact this question is involved in the nature and target of education in which learners are trained to ‘digest’ all the knowledge bequeathed

by former generations or to have ability to acquire knowledge by themselves in developed skills To illustrate this, Nunan (1999) has pointed out three learning

and teaching approaches: communicative language teaching, learner-centered

instruction, and task-based language teaching According to this author, “these

three ideas, which are all interrelated, are part of an interpretative view of education, a view that argues against the notion that learning is a matter of having skills and knowledge transmitted from the teacher to the learner.” (p 5)

2.3.1 Communicative language teaching

During the 1960s, there was a common belief that language was a system of rules “Language was seen as a unified system, and the ultimate aim of the learner was to approach the target language norms of the native speaker” (Nunan, 1999: 9) As a result of this, learners’ target was to master the structures of the language, ignoring or minimizing the development of vocabulary and semantic system

However, in 1970s, another concept of language began to appear Accordingly, “language was seen as a system for the expression of meanings, rather than as a system of abstract syntactic rules” (Nunan, 1999: 9) Compared

to traditional approach, communicative language teaching approach is more effective because it motivates learners by encouraging them to learn everything

By contrast, the former method limits learners to syntactic system only and unintentionally separates language from knowledge, which leads to their not attempting to learn everything Whereas, the latter approach allows learners to be more active in learning process, reducing the power and control of teachers in classrooms This notion leads to the change in focus “away from the teacher and the textbook and toward the learner.”

2.3.2 Learner-centeredness

Since the focus has been changed from teacher-centeredness to centeredness, “learners are therefore systematically educated in the skills and knowledge they will need in order to make informed choices about what they want to learn and how they want to learn” (Nunan, 1999:12) However, this tends

learner-to entail the conflict between learners’ desires and teacher’s pedagogical agenda Besides, many learners have no ideas of what they want That is the reason why learner-centeredness is carried out in another dimensions In such classrooms,

learners do all the work, or learners are actively involved in the learning process

In other words, learners contribute considerably to their learning process To achieve this, teachers should move learners along the negotiation Nunan has set

a series of steps for the negotiation

Step 1: Make instruction goals clear to learners Step 2: Allow learners to create their own goals Step 3: Encourage learners to use their second language outside the classroom

Step 4: Raise awareness of learning processes Step 5: Help learners identify their own preferred styles and strategies Step 6: Encourage learner choice

Step 7: Allow learners to generate their own tasks Step 8: Encourage learners to become teachers Step 9: Encourage learners to become researchers These steps are very useful for language teaching and learning environment

in which learner-centeredness is encouraged The only problem is how to apply them to specific situation in which the characteristics of learners vary depending

on their levels and cultures Personally, the question of how to apply these suggestions to students in Vietnam is raised

2.3.3 Task-based language teaching

“Task-based language teaching is an approach to the design of language courses in which the point of departure is not an ordered list linguistic items, but

a collection of tasks” (Nunan, 1999: 24) In such classrooms, learners are instructed to do things using language (e.g making reservations, writing letters, finding street destination in a directory, and so on) Task-based language teaching presumably facilitates the development of a learner’s general language

proficiency Task-based approach helps learners react to instructions, and this reaction is considered as a sign of language acquisition

In short, three views of language teaching mentioned above are not independent of each other In contrast, they are interrelated to each other to serve the common purpose that learners are focused in teaching and learning process in order to gain the most effectiveness in educational process

2.4 Existing literature concerning evaluating Lifelines as a book

course-In February 1998, there was a review concerning evaluating Lifelines intermediate level) written by Tom Hutchinson (1997, OUP) This review was given by Richard Watson Todd, a teacher and teacher trainer at the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology in Thonburi, Thailand In this literature, he emphasizes four key spelling points that distinguish Lifelines from other course books on the market These points consist of a discovery approach to grammar, texts from authentic resources, pronunciation syllabus, and a section called

(Pre-‘Reflection on Learning’ In general, in this writing, the author gives some compliments and critiques on Lifelines in some aspects After all, he wonders whether this book is suitable for the educational system in the aspect of culture This review reminds us of the situation of Vietnam where Lifelines has been used in many colleges and professional schools The question of whether this course-book can be applied to English teaching and learning in Vietnam or not is a matter of concern

2.5 A general description of Lifelines Elementary

The following is a general description of Lifelines Elementary (extracted from the few first pages of Elementary Teacher’s Book), comprising four main

parts: Who is Lifelines for?; What are the main features of Lifelines?; What does

Lifelines Elementary consist of?; and What does a Student’s Book unit contain?

Who is Lifelines for?

Lifelines is a three-level general English course at elementary,

pre-intermediate, and intermediate level Lifelines Elementary presents the basic

structures of English and develops them through a variety of different contexts Emphasis is also placed on enlarging the students’ knowledge of vocabulary, and

on developing their ability to communicate effectively There is thorough treatment of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills The course is most appropriate for students who have limited previous experience of learning English, and who need to practise and consolidate basic structures and vocabulary from the beginning

What are the main features of Lifelines?

The three key features of Lifelines are flexibility, interest and coherence

1 Flexibility Each unit of Lifelines Elementary Student’s Book contains a basic core

of material that focuses on a particular area of grammar and vocabulary, with Reading and writing, Listening and speaking, and Pronunciation sections After every two units, there is an Extension section, which revises the main language areas of the previous two units and provides further skills-based practice to recycle the language of the core material This, along with the photocopiable material in the Teacher’s Book, allows you to adapt the material to the specific needs of each class

2 Interest The key to successful learning is motivation Lifelines presents and practises the language in contexts that are relevant to modern Lifestyles and interests

3 Coherence

Language learning is a complex multi-layered process that requires a wide range of different approaches, from the language analysis and rule formation to free communication Lifelines provides the necessary range of reflection, practice, and use, and links these elements together into a coherent unit structure that combines steady development with sufficient recycling

What does Lifelines Elementary consist of?

• Student’s Book

- 14 units

- 7 extensions

- a Grammar Reference section

- a Functional Language reference section

- a wordlist with IPA transcription

- a tapescript of the listening activities

- a list of irregular verbs and the International Phonetic Alphabet

- additional photocopiable materials to accompany each unit

- extra ideas for classroom activities

- notes on language and cultural points

- tapescripts

- answer keys for the Students’ Book activities

- three photocopiable Progress Tests with, covering grammar, vocabulary, and functional language

What does a Student’s Book unit contain?

• Getting started unit This unit aims to introduce the students to one another and to deal with some basic elements of language:

- numbers, colours and plurals

- useful classroom language, including objects and basic instructions

- simple functional areas, including introducing yourselves, giving personal information, ordering something to eat and drink, and understanding prices

As well as giving the students an immediate sense that they can do something in English, these basic elements of language will enable you to conduct the subsequent lessons English as much as possible The activities will also you the opportunity to assess the students’ existing knowledge of the language

• Main units Each of the remaining units is based around a theme and has a main structural focus, which is recycled and developed through the unit Each unit contains these sections:

- Grammar

- Vocabulary

- Reading and writing

- Listening and speaking

- Pronunciation

1 Grammar The Grammar section presents and practises a structural area

Each section has these three stages:

Grammar in use: In this stage the students see the grammar point

in use in a presentation text or dialogue

Rules: Here extracts from the text or dialogue are used to

exemplify the structure’s form and use Wherever possible, students are asked to use the examples and their previous knowledge to work out

the rules for the structure Finally they are referred to the Grammar Reference section at the back of the book to check and consolidate

their knowledge of the rules

Practice: This stage provides activities in which the students use

the structure The exercises are graded from controlled to free, and great emphasis is put on the use of the structure to talk about students’ own lives

2 Vocabulary

This focuses on a vocabulary area, such as food and drinks, parts

of a house, or clothes, or on a more general aspect of vocabulary, such

as phrasal verbs The Vocabulary section draws its focus from the Reading and writing and the Listening and speaking sections, and

practises some of the vocabulary that students will need for those sections

3 Reading and writing

Using a range of texts, the Reading and writing section develops the students’ reading and writing skills through a variety of exercise types, and extends their vocabulary relevant to the reading passage, such as jobs or prepositions of movement Language focuses present and practise a small area of grammar such as some and any or past

tense spellings, and continue grammatical input beyond the Grammar section The Reading and writing section ends with a writing task based

on the text students have read

4 Listening and speaking

This section deals with everyday spoken language in common situations, such as making arrangements, buying clothes, or asking about times There is a wide variety of listening tasks Most of the

sections have a feature called Conversation pieces, which presents and

practises useful expressions from the dialogues Some sections also

contain a Language focus or Vocabulary file Useful language from the Listening and speaking sections is drawn together in a Functional Language reference at the back of the book

5 Pronunciation Each Pronunciation section has two pairs The first part deals

with the sounds of English, and includes an introduction to the IPA The second part focuses on other aspects of pronunciation, including word stress, sentence stress and intonation

• Extensions After every two units there is an Extension section This consists of two parts:

- The Language check contains exercises which revise the

main language areas of the previous two units Structures and functions are covered, and there are vocabulary activities in which

students refer to the wordlist at the back of the book

- Extra! gives further skill-based practice, usually in listening

and speaking, to recycle the language of the previous units Three of these sections include a song

The Extension sections provide controlled and free revision of the

previous material and can be used by you and the students to evaluate their progress They add no new language, so, if time is limited, they can

be omitted without the book losing its integrity

2.6 Summary

In brief, this chapter is comprised of four main sections The first section presents several principles some typical of which were employed as the criteria for the assessment of the suitability of Lifelines for the students’ psychology The second section that presents some typical teaching and learning approaches functions as a basis for the writer to effortlessly identify the teaching method implied in the book The third part involves existing literature on evaluation of Lifelines, which ensures that this thesis is not the first one to evaluate Lifelines while it is in use in a particular environment As

a final point, the last section gives a detailed description of Lifelines so that the reader has a chance to grasp all the content as well as the teaching methodology suggested from the course-book

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Background

The Central Professional School of Archives and Records Management No.II consists of two main departments: Records and Archives Students make a choice to be trained in either of these two fields As described in the first part of this study, their knowledge of English is considerably restricted Because of these reasons, they are considered as beginners and the selected course-book is Lifelines Elementary (1999) by Tom Hutchinson The book is divided into fourteen units and is completed after three semesters Additionally speaking, Lifelines by Tom Hutchinson comprises three volumes (Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, and Intermediate) Each volume consists of a series of three books (Teacher’s Book, Student’s Book and Work Book)

In terms of teaching facilities, a large board, chalk, and a cassette player are equipped in each classroom The learners practised listening in the laboratory room

3.2 Methodology

3.2.1 A general description of the research process

Because the learners’ levels of English knowledge were nearly equal when they first entered this school (most of them did not have firm foundation of this language), disharmony in class was the primary element excluded from this study as the learners did not find the book inadequate and unsuitable for their level at first sight Besides, to ensure the credibility of the research, this study was performed on the assumption that only a very small number of the members were taking other English courses outside classroom

This number did not interfere considerably with the credibility of the findings

The study was carried out over a 10- week period from early September

to late November, 2005 in the Central Professional School of Archives and Records Management No II The subjects were all second- year students from two classes (Office 7B and Archives 10) and they had already studied English for one semester in the previous year

In this experimental semester, they studied five successive units (6, 7, 8,

9 and 10) for ten sessions Each session consists of four periods The teaching and learning process partially were based on the instructions presented in the Teacher’s Book

At the end of this course, questionnaires were distributed to the students

of those two classes The questionnaires were employed as a means to help the researcher get information from the learners This information reflected the learners’ perceptions of the course-book in terms of suitability for their ability as well as expressed their attitudes towards it However, certainly, the information collected from questionnaires cannot gain the absolute credibility

in case some learners are not willing to express their true feelings and points

of view To limit this weakness, direct observation during the course and interview after the course were also employed as instruments to ensure the credibility of the research findings

The interview was carried out both on students and teachers However, for the part of students, the interview was not applied to the whole population but only a part considered as the typical samples for these two groups Data collected from other English teachers through interview were aimed at ensuring the objectivity and credibility of the research findings

3.2 2 Subjects

To carry out my research, I chose randomly two typical classes involving the two training domains (Archives and Records Management) as mentioned above (I was in charge of teaching English at these two classes) Each class consisted of approximately 50 students Exactly, the two classes comprised 95 students totally They were second-year students, and they got familiar with this book already as they had learned five units of the book for one semester in the first year The process of experiment and evaluation were applied to the second semester because then the students had obtained a definite amount of knowledge, which, to some extent, ensured the adequacy and the quality of the research result

Following is the summary of the characteristics of the total subjects (including age, gender, the place where they came from, and the time they began to lean English) (Table 3.1)

Table 3.1: Summary of sample characteristics

The time they began to learn English

Elementary school = 0 (0%) Junior secondary school = 53 (55.8%) Senior secondary school = 40 (42.1%) The current school = 2 (2.1%)

The table shows that most of the subjects were 20-21 years old (born in 1984-1985) The female students outnumbered those of the opposite gender (13.7% vs 87.3%) The marked feature is that 29.5% of the students came from the countryside and up to 45.3% from remote rural areas, which partly bespeaks their limited experience of English language and their incompetence

in this language The last but very important feature of these students is that 55.8% of them began to study English at junior secondary school while nearly half of them began to get acquainted with this language at senior secondary school Meanwhile 2 out of this number had never studied English before Indubitably, the duration of learning English is worth mentioning because it basically decides the background of a learner and her subsequent proficiency in this language

3.2.3 The research questions

The purpose of this study is to examine the suitability of Lifelines

Elementary as the English course-book at the Central Professional School of

Archives and Records No II Specifically, this study is aimed at pointing out

in what aspects the book was suitable and in what aspects it was inappropriate for the users while it was in use Thus the questions guiding this study are:

1 In what aspects is Lifelines Elementary suitable for the learners at this school?

2 In what aspects is the book unsuitable for the learners at this school? Three sub-questions:

(1) How do the students perceive the book in terms of suitability for their ability and psychology?

(2) How do the students evaluate their proficiency after using the book? (3) What is the most difficulty they have while using this book?

Whereas, “the intent of qualitative research is to understand a particular social situation, event, role, group, or interaction It is largely an investigative process where the researcher gradually makes sense of social phenomenon ” (Creswell, 1994:161)

In summary, this research design used a questionnaire, direct observation and interview to get information in relation to three following aspects: 1> the students’ background and personal information (name, class, gender, age, where they were from, and when they began to study English.); 2> the learners’ views and attitudes towards this course-book; and 3> the dominant weakness of the students arising while they were using the book

3.2 5 Instruments:

3.2 5.1 Observation (Appendix 8)

The teacher carefully observed what was happening during the learning process to see: 1> whether the book attracted the attention of the participants or not and 2> their manners while dealing with tasks involving the four skills, grammar and pronunciation Noticeably, data collected from direct observation just gave the researcher a look at the outside of the problem In other words, with data from observation, the writer is only brought to the surface of the problem

To have insights into the problem, the researcher had to rely on the data collected from questionnaire

Part B consisted of 5 items particularly concerning the impact of this book on the learners’ psychology and their study manners This part is very important because the impact materials achieve will influence a great deal on the learners’ study manners and determine the results of their study According to Tomlinson, “impact is achieved when materials have a noticeable effect on learners, that is when the learners’ curiosity, interest and attention are attracted” (1998:7) In fact, it is undeniable that curiosity, interest and attention compose learners’ motivation for English learning In

the same nature, this part was designed out of the purpose to explore how much the course-book influenced the psychology and the study manners of the learners:

(1) the learners’ enjoyment of the book (Question 1);

(2) their feeling at ease (Question 2);

(3) their confidence development (Question 3);

(4) the learners’ perception of the book’s relevance and

(5) their self-investment and self-study (Question 5)

Accordingly, the first item was involved in the learners’ enjoyment of the book, which was considered as the primary element and one of decisive factors leading to the efficiency with which the learners deal with a foreign language The second item explored how much the learners felt at ease while using this course-book, or to what extent what they felt comfortable with the book According to Tomlinson (1998), learners feel more comfortable with lots of white space than they do with materials occupied by different activities on the same page, with texts and illustrations that they can relate to their culture and with materials that are trying to help them to learn than that which are always testing them

The third item investigated the confidence degrees of the learners’ developed by the book Tomlinson (1998) affirms that activities engaging learners in imaginative, creative or analytical skills earn them greater confidence Especially to this author, “an elementary level learner can often gain greater confidence from making up a story, writing a short poem or making a grammatical discovery than can from getting right a simple drill” (1998:9) For this part, Lifelines covers the activities and tasks of such sorts However, in

reality, to what degree it helped the students gain confidence was a matter of concern

The fourth item was designed to evaluate the learners’ perceptions of the relevance and usefulness of the book It is very important for learners to perceive what is being taught as relevant and useful because a course-book that comprises those qualities greatly motivates learners Accordingly, a course-book was required to help learners reach their target by satisfying learners’ needs

The last item of this part focused on another aspect considered as one of standards for materials evaluation This question explored how much this book required and facilitated the learners’ self-study and self-investment This item measured the learners’ activeness to spread their study beyond what required by the book In deed, self-discovery activities are very important because they betoken a learner’s language knowledge development in subsequent years

Part C included a series of 3 questions (seven items) regarding the learners’ evaluation of their proficiency in the four modes of language use (reading, writing, listening and writing) and three language components (grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation) For each item, the students were required to make one out of five choices (the items were based on a five-point numerical scale from “a very small extent” to “a very great extent”) This part was aimed at investigating and evaluate the learners’ language ability expressed in the four skills and other components such as grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation This part was important in that it reflected both quality (how well) and quantity (how much) aspects In other words it would reflect how much knowledge the learners had and how much they had been improved resulting from using this course-book after the experimental period

Part D consisted of 7 items with the purpose to evaluate the suitability of the course-book for the learners’ ability in relation to the degrees of difficulty

of tasks Specifically, the items explored how difficult the students found this book to learn, ranging from the four skills to grammar and pronunciation These items manifest themselves as the questions of how difficult the students find all the tasks and exercises from the book, and how difficult they perceive specific tasks on listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar and pronunciation

3.2 5 3 Interview

The third instrument employed in this study was interview Normally, data collected from interview make the findings of a study more convincing in case some informants do not give adequate information about themselves An interview is useful in that it involves a face-to-face meeting between interviewer and interviewee which gives the interviewer a chance to get information more sufficiently and exactly from the interviewee From this, the researcher had insights into the nature of the problem

The interview employed in this research comprised two parts: one for students and the other for teachers

The first interview for the students consists of 6 questions as the follows (appendix 4):

1 Do you like this book? Why?

2 Do you feel at ease with this book? Why?

3 Does this book develop your confidence? In what ways?

4 How useful and relevant do you think it is? To what extent?

5 Does the book stimulate your self-investment and self-discovery? Explain

6 What do you perceive is the most problematic skill while you are using this book? Why?

Additionally speaking, the interviewer gave more explanation to questions 4 and 6 during the interview In question four, the interviewee had to explain to what extent and in what aspects they found the book useful for their need at present and their work in future In question six, the interviewee was expected to give information on the skill which was certainly listening (I knew this from questionnaire data) that caused the most trouble to her before being asked to identify the cause of this problem

The second interview was organized to get information from two other English teachers (there are only three English teachers at this school, including me) to discover, in their experience, what the students’ weakest point was This interview was carried out after the researcher had collected all the data from the direct observation, and the questionnaires in case these data were inadequate and insufficient This interview includes the following questions (Appendix 6):

1 During the process of learning, did your students show their enjoyment of this book?

2 Did they feel at ease with this book? Why or why not?

3 Did the book develop their confidence? In what ways?

4 How useful and relevant did they think it was? To what extent? Why?

5 What skill among the four ones do you perceive troubled your students

6 What was your teaching strategy for this skill?

3.3 Data Collection Procedures

1 The questionnaires (appendix 1) were delivered to the students of these two classes (95 students) The students were allowed to complete the

questionnaire within 20 minutes To make things clearer and to get precise responses, the questionnaires were bilingual in English and Vietnamese The teacher observed the whole activities and gave explanations if necessary The students seemed very interested in filling the questionnaires because, they revealed, this was the rare chance for them to express their opinion on the book There was almost no trouble during the process After the time was over, all the students submitted their questionnaires (95 in total)

2 Interviews with both students (Appendix 4) and teachers (Appendix 6) were also performed in this research The teachers and the students were interviewed separately in response to two different sets of questions

After the end of the course in December, 2005, 12 students accounting for 12.6% of the population, (including 3 males and 9 females), were chosen at random for the interview Additionally speaking, all of them came from the rural, remote areas or the countryside Each student was interviewed for about 10 minutes

The interview with teachers was carried out afterwards These two teachers were questioned one by one Each interview lasted over 20 minutes Both of them were very sincere and cooperative to answer the questions The interview with teachers was performed twice on the same pattern However, in the second interview, the two teachers were required to give more details on their teaching strategies for this skill

3 Direct observation (appendix 8) was carried out to get information concerning the participants’ interest in the book and their study manners when they performed the tasks required in the book In class, the teacher played the dual role of an instructor and observer During the course, the observer took note

of everything she observed from her students in relation to their study manner, their attitude toward the book as well as the way they performed tasks to see