Luận văn an evaluation of the writing component in the english 12 textbook in terms of content and methodology

AN EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE « ENGLISH 12 » TEXTBOOK IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND METHODOLOGY : A CASE AT UONG BI HIGH SCHOOL, QUANG NINH PROVINCE DANII GIA PIIAN VIẾT TRO

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & TNTERNATIONAT STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATF STUDIES

ki ĐH 4 tr 4 Ki tk VY

TRAN TID TANG

AN EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE

« ENGLISII 12 » TEXTBOOK IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND

METIIODOLOGY : A CASE AT UONG BI TIIGIE SCHOOL, QUANG

NINH PROVINCE

pANII GIA PHAN VIET TRONG CIIUONG TRINII SACII GIAO

KIIOA LỚP 12 VỀ MẬT NỘI DƯNG VÀ PHƯƠNG PHIÁP : NGHIÊN

CUU TAI TRUONG THPT UONG Bi, TINH QUANG NINH

M.A Minor Thesis

Ficld: English Mcthodology

Code: 60 1410

Hanoi — 2010

AN EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE

« ENGLISH 12 » TEXTBOOK IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND

METHODOLOGY : A CASE AT UONG BI HIGH SCHOOL, QUANG

NINH PROVINCE

DANII GIA PIIAN VIẾT TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH SÁCH GIÁO

KHOA LOP 12 VE MAT NOI DUNG VA PHƯƠNG PHÁP : NGHIÊN

CỨU TẠI TRƯỜNG TIIPT UÔNG Bi, TINEI QUANG NINIL

MA Minor Thesis

Field: English Methodology

Code: 60 1410

Supervisor: Hoang Xuan Hoa, Ph.D

Hanoi - 2010

§: Sludents

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1 The materials evaluation nrodel of Hutchinson and Waters ( 1993: 98) 9 Figure 2: The process of writing (Tribble, 1996: 38) 17

Table 3.1 Teacher’s rank of the sinderts’ interest and students’ mterest on MOET topics

Table 3.3: The teachers and students’opinions about wsing four intergrated macro-skills in

Table 3.4: Teachers and students’ opinions about the amount of knowledge given in

Table 3.5: The students and teachers’ judgement on each part of the writing component in

Table 3.9: Students’ opinions of ihe teaching methods used by the teachers during the

Table 3.10: Students’ expectations about the ways the English teachers’ teaching writing

Scope of the study

Significance of the study

Mcthod of the study

7, Design of the study

PART 11: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theorctical Background

1.1 Teaching Materials in Language Teaching and Learning

1.2.1 The concepts of Materials Livaluation

1.2.2 The reasons for Malcrials Evaluation

1/2.3 Types of Materlals Evaluatlom chi

1.2.4 Materials l¿valuators

1.2.4.1 Maleridls Evalualion by QulSẪEF cà eceeriiriieeiE

1.2.4.2 Materials Evaluation by Iisider scene cnsieenniee cine

a

La

1.2.5 Models for Malerials Evaluation

1.2.5.1 Evaluation model hy Huchinson and Waters

1.2.5.2 Evalucation model by EWR8 cesses cso 1.2.5.3 Evaluation model by McDonough and Shaw 10

Criteria defined by Huichinson and Waters 1H

1.4, Theoretical backgraunds to writing and teaching writing

1.4.1 Reasons for teaching writing 14 1.4.2 Main approaches to teaching writing 15

Chapter 2: The study

2.1 Gverview of the current situation of teaching and learning English writing

2.1.1.1 The teachers at Uong Bi high shool 18 2.1.1.3 The learners at Uong Bi high school si ce TẾ 2.1.2, The new English textbook for grade 12 (Standard Taxfbook) 18 2.1.3 The current teaching and learning of inglish 12 writing component at Liong

2.1.3.L-The opportunities of the context ào sec TÔ 2.1.3.2 The constraints of the context a 20 2.2 The study

2.2.3.1 Document analysis 22

2.2.4, Data collection procedure

Chapter 3: Results and discussions

3 1.1, Description of the writing component of in the “English 12

3.1.2 Requirements of the writing component of the course 25

3.2.1 The appropriateness of the writing component to the content of the course 26 3.2.2 The appropriateness of the writing component in terms of

3.3.2 The suitability of the writing component to the students’needs in terms of

3 Suggestions for fiather sPHÄÿ à óc ch HH Home 42 REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1: AN OVERVIEW OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE ENGLISH 12

TEXTBOOK

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS

APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENT

APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNATRE FOR STUDENTS ( Vietnamese version) XIV

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale of the study

Nowadays English has become increasingly important as a means of global communication and a lridge 1 mankind's knowledge In the process of global integration, the teaching and Jeaming English has become a great concem in Vietnam, Therefore, the government has changed the curriculum in order to tran the citizens who can use English for conmmmicative purposes Ry doing this, in 2002 the Ministry of Eđnealion and Training (MOET) announced a new textbook project for upper secondary school level The new textbooks comprised two sets Set 1, unofficially called “sách chuẩn” (¡e “standard texthooks”, was intended for students pusuing Ban cơ bản (.c The nomspecialization program) and Ban ty nhiễn (ie specialization in sciences) Set 2, unofficially called “Sich ning cao"tie advanced textbooks), was intended for Ban x4 héi (ie specialization in social sciences and hnmanities) Each set comprised of three books, from English 10 to English 12

‘The new English textbooks for high school students are claimed to adopt the latest teaching and learning approaches: comumicalive approach and learner-centered approach and aim

at developing both language skills and language knowledge for students, Each unit in the

new English textbooks consists of five parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus

English 10 and English 11 were approved and officially introducad into schools by MOET

in the academic years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 respectively However, English 12

textbook has only been used nationwide since the academic year 2008-2009 Therefore,

English 12 textbook is rather new (o the students and teachers and littls rescarch has boon cared out to evakuate this textbook

Uong Bi High school, ons of the high schools in the country, adopted “standard textbooks” Asa teacher of English, the rescarcher has worked quite closcly with the new textbooks It

is noticed that although the textbooks have shown a great deal of improvement compared

1o the olf series of gramnmar-based textbooks, the implementation of this textbook causes 4

largo tumiber of difficuttics, aspocially the writing componont

Evaluation of teaching matetials is obviously a very important process in language teaching and leaming The results from materials evaluation help to determine whether the

the reason why the researcher conducted an evaluation of the writing component in

“Tinglish 127 textbook

2, Aims of the study

‘The study is aimed to evaluate the Writing component in “English 12” textbook at Uong Bi

secondary school in terms of content and mothodatogy to determine whether il uly reflects the objectives prescribed by MOET for the course and suitable to the students’ needs of English It is expected that the findings from the study would make contribution

to the improvement of ths lexthook or propose changes to enhance the effectiveness of the material for the future use

3, Rescarch questions

The study is to find out the answers to the following research questions

1 Does the writing component of the “English 12” textbook mect the requirements of the course in terms of content and methodology?

2.18 the writing component, of the “Fngtish 12” lextbook suitable fo the students’ needs in terms of content and methodology?

4, Scope of the study

Though the author is awa

at in order to lave a comprehensive evaluation of any material, a great number of critaria should be taken into consideration, such as the audience, the content, the methodology, the cultural bias, the authenticity, the layout ete, and each

criterion needs taking inte account various aspects With the scope of this minor thesis, this

study is only aimed at cealnating the suitabilily of the writing component in English 12 textbook in the standard in terms of content and methodology

This study is a in-depth survey at Uong Bi Iligh School in Quang Ninh Therefore, the findings of the study arc not intended to be gencralized to other school contexts, Indeed the findings may not apply beyond the actual participants in this particular study

5, Significance of the study

The findings of the thesis will serve as a back-up for the improvements of the writing component in the “English 12° textbook, teachers’ method adjustment and materials adaptation as well Practically, the findings are beneficial for both teachers and learners at

La

Uong Bi Ligh school from the experience of reflection Secondly, the findings of the study will contribute information to textbook writers and cducalors lo dolzmuinc puricula and program direction It is also hoped that the thesis will be of contributions towards the development of the writing component in general and the writing component in “English 12” textbook in particular

6, Method of the study

In order to evaluate the writing component of the ‘English 12” textbook, document analysis

and survey questionnaires were cruployed lo addrass (he lwo questions bog invostigats Document analysis was one of the main instruments with a thorough objective analysis of the textbook under evaluation Survey questionnaire was used to collect the data that

tol: sử to the toaclurs’ and students’ porspoclives and altitudes lowards the lexthook they have just finished, The findings are expected to provide convincing evidence for the contribution to the improvement of the textbook for the future use

7 Design of the study

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

‘The introduction provides the basic information such as the rationale of the study, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the significance of the study and the methods of the study

‘The main content is divided into 3 chapters Chapter one reviews the literature on materials

evaluation 11 first presents the Totes and types of inalerials in language leaching, Then il presents major issues in materials evaluation, including reasons for materials evaluation, types of materials evaluation, who carries out and who provides data for materials evaluations, models for materials evaluation and criteria for materials evaluation Next it provides the information about mulcrials adaptation such as reasons for adapting and adapting techniques, Finally, it focuses on theoretical backgrounds to writing and teaching writing, which consists of reasons for teaching writing and main approaches to teaching writing This part plays an important role in the cvaluation of the writing component in the study Chapter two focuses on the methodology employed in the study, including the research questions, research method, dala collection procedures and the participants Chaptor thrag reports discussions of the results, the findings and the recommendations for the improvement of the materials, The conclusion presents a review of the study, the limitations and some suggestions for further research

Materials are used in ail language teaching and their role in the process of language teaching and learning is of great unportance (Dudley Evans & St John, 1998; Richards, 2001) ‘The role of teaching materials in language teaching will be discussed in more details in the next part of this ssation

1.1.1 The roles of teaching materials

Significant roles that teacting materials play in language teaching are discussed by differcnt authors in the Tilerature Richards and Rodgers (ited in Numan, 1991) view instructional materials as detailed specifications of content, and guidance to teachers on both the intensity of coverage and the amount of attention demanded by particular content

or pedagogical tasks

Richards and Rodgers’ perspective is supported and clarificd by Richards (2001), who points out that teaching materials can serve as the basis for much of the language input that the learners receive and as the source for much of the language practice hát oocurs in the classroom Richards further explains that materials provide basis for the content of the lesson, the balance of skills taught, and the kind of language practice students take part im

In addition, good teaching materials are of great help to inexperienced leach

s and poorly trained teachers (Sunan, 1991, Richards, 2001) They can serve as “a form of teacher training” (Richard, 2001: 251) and teachers can get ideas on how to plan and teach the lesson from the materials

Obviously, teaching materials arc a key and crucial conponen! in any language (caching contexts, the teacher needs to take account of the roles as well as the requirements of teaching materials when designing or selscting materials for his/ her own teaching situation

to facilitate the most Icarning from the students

1.1.2 Types of materials

Materials in use can vary from a textbook, institutionally prepared muterials or the teacher's own malcriats (Richards, 2001) The former is referred to as publishad textbooks and the latter in-house materials by Robinson (1991) Which one to choose, published textbooks or in-house materials is what specialists in the field of English language teaching

(ELT) weigh up arguments O'Neill (cited in Robinson, 1991:58) suggests that no other

medium i: casy lo us: alexthook Morc important “a textbook is complete not just in

the physical sense but in the sense that the whole term’s or year’s course is available to the

students at once” Iowever, Ewer and Boys (cited in Robinson, 1991) reject it in terms of

the va ity of the linguislic contents, the accuracy of the explanations and examples given, and the number and covarage of the exercises because the writers just focus on approach and methodology Moreover, as Swales (cited in Robinson, 1991:57) inilicate published

self s

axtbooks arc [ficient in practice materials and in coverag of skill areas” so

these textbooks need to be supplemented by some other materials

‘There are also arguments for and against the use of in-house materials On the one hand,

as Robinson (1991) suggests, there are three advantages of in-house matcrials, Firstly, in- house materials are likely to be more specific and appropriate than published material and

to have greater face validity in terms of the language dealt with and the contexts it is presented in Secondly, in house materials may be more flexible than published textbooks Finally, the writers of in-house materials can make sure of the suitability of methodology for the intended learners, On the other hand, Robinson (1991) points out making in-house materials is lime consuming and expensive Whal is worse is that many locally produced materials “show a striking resemblance to the published materials that have been rejected”

(Swales, cited in Robinson, 1991: $8)

As a mule, there always lwo sides of one problem, And as it is always said that there is no perfect textbook which fits all teaching- leaming context So, an evaluation of materials is really important before a course book is chosen

1.2 Materials Evatuation

1.2.1 The concepts of materials evaluation

There are many ways of defining evaluation According to Brown (1995) evaluation is defined as “ the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum and assess its cfivotivencss within the context of the particular institution involved” ‘his definition requires that information be gathered and analyzed in a systematic manner and thal only relevant information should be included, thal is other information can be ignored

‘Nunan (1988) suggests that evaluation be “a process not a final product” that means it takes place at any time of the material design ‘The first and foremost emphasis of

the fitness of something for a particular purpose “Given a certain need, and in the Hight of the resources available, which oul of tumber of possibitities can Tepresent the best solution? There is no absolute good or bad- only degrees of fitness for the required purpose”

From the above dofinilions, it can be inferrad thal malerials valuation invalves the determination of what needs to be evaluated, the objectives and requirements for the materials, and the judgments of the value of the materials being evaluated in relation to the objectives and requirements determined

1.2.2 The reasons for materials evaluation

‘There are two main reasons for carrying out materials evaluation Vistly, there may be a need to choose among the materials available the most suitable ones to use for a particular situation, Secondly, there can be a nced for materials cvaluation to determine whether the material which has been chosen works for that situation after it has been used for a petiod

of titne (FNis, 1997)

Robinson (1991) adds, evaluation can be used as part of quality control Through evaluation, we can know about the advantages and disadvantages as well as the effectiveness of the being used materials Then we can decide whether the materials can be reused or whether it needs to be adapted to meet the need of the particular teaching situation or we need to change it absolutely

In short, the findings of materials evaluation will provide input for responsible people to

evaluate the clfectivenzss of the materials

1.2.3 Types of materials evaluation

There are three types of evaluation according to the reasons for materials evaluation: Preliminary cvaluation, formative evaluation and summative evaluation

Preliminary Evaluation

This types of evaluation is carried ont before a course beg

order to select fhe most

suitable and relovant materials for a particular group of learners

This also has the purpose of identifying which aspects of the published materials need to

be adapted to suit the purposes of the evaluators (Robinson, 1991; Ellis, cited in ‘Tomlinson,

“3

1993), This can be done by “determining a set of criteria which are used to reach a decision rogarding which book to adopt and how il needs Lo he adapted” ( Ellis, ciled in Tornlin 1993: 220)

Formative Evaluation

This type is normally carried oul during Ihe fife of course project and the results obtained can be used to modify what is being done, Or in other words, such results may suggest the development of the materials in the firture

Summative Evaluation

Summative evaluation is referred to as evaluation as retrospective evaluation (Ellis, 1997)

It takes place at the end or sometimes after the course has been implemented and very

* (Duđley — Evans, 1998) Accordiryr to Richards (2001), a

summative materials evaluation is conducted to determine whether the materials have

valuable for “durable cours

worked well ‘The findings will normally lead to the decision whether to repeat or use the materials again or not: and which aspects of the materials need to be changed and how to

modify them to make the materials after they have been uscd This kind of cvaluation

therefore can serve as a means of “testing” the validity of a before- program evaluation and

il can point ont “ways in which the predictive instruments can be improved for future use”

(Ellis, 1997: 37)

In short, whatever the types of evaluation, prehminary, formative, or summative are, it is

very imporlant that the evaluator identifies clearly the reasons for their evaluation so that iL

can be beneficial for the use of the materials (Robinson, 1991)

1.2.4 Materials evaluators

A great deal of published work on materials evaluation (Dudley —Lvans & St John, 1998; Tomitinson, 1998; Robinson, 1991; Richards, 2001) reveals thal materials evaluation can be cared out by outsiders (those who are not involved in the program, for example,

consultants inspectors, and adminstrators } or insiders (e.g teachers, students, course or

materials designers); cach method has its own advantage as well as disadvantages

£2.41 Materials evaluation by outsiders

As many researchers think, the advantages of having outsiders involved in materials

evaluation wre obvious They can Ining “ fresh” and “ objective” perspeetives into the

evaluation However, there may be some disadvantages, outsiders as evaluators will have

their own views on language teaching methods ‘hey may not understand the teaching and

may be hard for them to make exact judgements and realistic recommendations; or may be whal they find has already been found ( Dudiey- Evans & St, John, 1998)

1.2.42 Materials evaluation by insiders

Materials evaluation by insiders has some advantages especially if the overall purpose of evaluation is for “ development” and thns for better use in the future, As they have already involved in the program, they will understand the teaching and Jearning situation well

(Lomlinson, 1998) ‘fomlinson’s view is strongly supported by Holliday (cited in Dudley — Evans & St John, 1998) and Richards (2001) According lo Holliday (1998: 296), the

evaluator’s understanding of “ cultural and political factors” of the institution in which the evaluation takes place would be very important for the evaluator to make exact judgements and realistic recommendations Richards (2001) holds the view that the involvement of the insider plays a very important role in the success of evaluation because “as a consequence, they will have a greater degree of commitment to acting on its results”, Richards also points oul insiders, especially teachers, can “monitor when the malerials are being used, they therefore can determine if and to what extent the materials ‘ work’ for their purposes and thus they can make modifications to improve the effectiveness of the materials However, the insiders “may be loo close and involved” (Dudley-Fvans & SL John, 1998: 131) so the evaluation may be influenced by their teaching experience and their subjective views

In short, who will carry out the evaluation outsiders or insiders should be determined according to the purposes of Ihe evaluation and lo the ficilitizs as well as the constraints of the situation in which the evaluation takes place,

1.2.5 Models for materials evaluation

There are different models for materials evaluation suggested by different authors in the literature ‘the popular models are the ones suggested by Hutchinson and Waters (1993), Tillis (1997) and McDonough aud Shaw (1993)

1.2.5.1 Evaluation model by Huchinson and Waters

Hutchinson and Water (1997)’s mode] is a macro- evaluation which as defined by Ellis (1997:37) as the “overall assessment of whether an entire set of materials has worked” for

a particular situation In their model, Ilutchinson and Waters (1993: 96) defined materials

valuation as a “Matter of judging the fit s of something for a particular purpose” Tn this view, the evaluation is divided into 4 steps (see Figure 1)

What realizations of the oriteria How does the material being

do you want in your course? evaluated realize the criteria?

Figure 1: The materials evaluation model of Hutchinson and Waters ( 1993; 98)

As can be seen in IHigure 1, this model presents a logical procedure for materials evaluation

To examine whether the matzrials are suitable for a ccrlain group of lcamers or nol, There

must be certain criteria against which our judgments or evaluation are based It is also a must to determine the objectives or the requirements for the materials because we can not

measure the success of a particular activity or a whole sct of matcrials if there is no clear

objective for i

1.2.5.2 Kvaluation model by Eis

A Micro — cvaluation is the evaluation of one particular teaching task which Lhe evaluator

has a special interest in (Ellis, 1997) In this model Ellis suggests the practice of'a detailed

empirical evaluation and focuses on evaluation at the task level with reference to its actual

teaching-learning context ‘The aim in this model is to identify the match between task

planned and task in use He also suggests thal dimensions focused on waoro- evaluation (e.g approach, purpose, focus, scope, evaluators, timing, and types of information) can also be applicable to micro evaluation This type of evaluation can only be conducted when the materials are being used in the classroom The steps involved in the evaluation model suggested by Ellis (1997) are:

1 Choosing a task to follow

2 Describing Ihe task with specification of input, proccduras, Iamguage activities, and

outcome

3, Planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above

A, Collecting information before, while and afar the task was used, and what and how the task was performed,

5 Analysis of the information collected

6 Findings of the evaluation and making recommendations for futurs teaching: and

7, Writing the report,

It could be said that a micro evaluation may be more manageable than a macto- evaluation,

‘Dull il is time-consuming

1 Evaluation madel by McDonough and Shaw

Mc Donongh and Shaw (1993) suggest a three-stage evaluation model, namely external

evaluation, internal evaluation and overall evaluation:

- Extemal evaluation (Macro-Evaluation) is the examination of the claims made for the whole materials by the author or publisher They can be in the forms of claims made on the cover of the book, the instructions, and the table of content ‘The evaluation at this stage holps to identify whether the material is potontially appropriate TP the external evaluation shows that the materials are potentially appropriate then the internal stage starts, if the findings show that the materials are inappropriate, the evaluation will be finished at the

oxtomal stage

- ‘The internal stage (Micro- Evaluation) requires an in-depth look at two or more units to examine whether the claims mads by the author are the one found in the internal evaluation, + The overall evaluation of the matorials is to determine the suitability of the materials by considering a number of factors such as the usability factor, the generalizability factor, adaptability factor and flexibility factor

‘As presented above, this work aimed at investigating the suitability of the writing sections

in the new textbook English 12 to the particular teaching and learning situation, ie the

sachers, thơ siudenls and the (caching and learning conditions al UB high school Moreover, this research is not to check the potential appropriateness of a writing materia for fitture use or the fitness of a specific writing task but to evaluate the whole writing sections which arc being used by the teachers and students al UB high school With these purposes in mind and after a careful consideration of the purposes of the above evaluation models, the researcher decided to use the evaluation model by Llutchinson and Waters (1993)

1.2.6 Criteria for matertals evaluation

Criteria are what cvaluators usc to “teach a decision regarding what needs to be evaluated” (Tomlinson, 1998; 220) which are the bases upon which evaluators depend on when inaking judgments Defining enteria for evaluation is one of Ihe crucial issues evaluators must take into account before any evaluation can take place, Criteria for materials evaluation depend what is being evaluated and why they need to be evaluated (Dudley — Tvans and SL John, 1998) But becanse the researcher chose the evaluation model by Hutchinson and Waters, it is umch more reasonable to have deeper

understanding about its criteria

Criteria defined by [lutchinson and Waters

Hutchinson and Walers (1993) in their checktist for malcriats evaluation suggeste

criteria for evaluation as follows

Audience:

The first critzria in materials cvaluation is the audicnce of the matcrials with regards to different information such as sex, ages, study or professional fields, status with respect to professional fields, knowledge of English, of areas of work or sludy and of the world,

educational background, interest and so om.

Aims:

;valuslion of the

Like any language course, which has its own aims and objectiv

course needs to be carried out to find out if the materials can satisty those aims and objectives of the course

Content:

Content 1s one of the most important elements of the matarials As far as material content

is concerned, it is necessary to measure if the content of the materials is suitable to the conlenl proscribed in terms of language description, language poinls, macro — skiffs and their promotion, and micro- skills The evaluation also needs to find out if the text types

of the materials are suitable to the requirement of the course In general it is very important

to take into consideration the learners’ subject — muatiers in terms of level of kntowdedge, types of topics, and how these topics are presented Finally, the evaluation needs to find out if the way the content is organized and sequenced within a unit and throughout the course is appropriate

is the teaching and leaming techniques, Whether the teaching- leaming techniques that can

be used with the materials are those required by the course and suitable to the loarnsrs Furthermore, the evaluation also needs lo discover if toacking aids available for use are those required by the materials, In addition, the evaluation needs to find out whether the materials supply the teachers with necessary guidance and support for teaching the course Finally, it is ucczssary to determine if the materials arc flexible so that they can be used in

different orders to svit the teaching contexts

Other criteria

Tn addition to the criteria mentioned above, some other critcria are also suggested such as price and availability of the materials

‘To sum up, in this thesis the researcher used the evaluation model by Hutchinson and Waters because the criteria, definad by Hutchinson and Waters appsared to be tore

manageable and suitable to the objectives of the current study However, due to the scope

and purposes of the research, she was to use the two criteria: content and methodology

They are the most important criteria when making materials evaluation

1.3 Materials adaptation

1.3.1 Reasons for adapting

Once the materials have boon evaluated, polortial problom arsas can be identificd: What the materials offer can not be exactly what our leamers’ need; The materials methodology may not match our own, Our general aims may not match the aims of the materials; the aims ofa particular losson/ unit in the materials may not match oar lessom- by — Ìosson aims, We will have to priotitize and select We may need to supplement the materials

‘There are five ways of modifying materials

1.3.2 Adapting techniques

13.2.1 Adding

‘The notion of addition is that materials are supplemented by putting more into them, while taking inlo account the practical effect ơn time allocation First we can certainly add in this quantitative way by the technique of extending “This means that the techniques are being applied within the methodological framework of the original materials: in other words, the model is not itself changed” ( MeDough and Shaw, 1993: 89), We can do this in the following situation: A second reading passage parallel to the one provided is helpful in reinforcing, the key linguistic tbatures- tenses, sentence structures, vocabulary, cohesive devices — of the first text Second, mors far-reaching perspective on addition of materials can be termed expanding This kind of addition is not just extension of and existing aspect

of content, They go futher than this by bringing about a qualitative as well as a quantitative change This can be thought of as a change in the overall system” (McDonough and Shaw, 1993:90)

1.8.3.2 Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the appasite process to thal of addition, As we saw in the previous section that matcrials can be addod both quantitatively (exlonding) and qualitatively (expanding), the same point applies when a decision is taken to omit materials The most straightforward aspect of reducing the length of materials is subtracting

Addition and deletion often work together Material may be taken out and then replaced

with something clsc The methodological change is greater when, for cxumpls, grammar practice is substituted after the ontission of an inappropriate communicative function, or when a reading text is replaced by a listening passage

1.8.2.3 Modifying

Modifying’ can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is rewriting, when some of the linguistic content needs modification, the second is restructuring, which applics to classroorn Tranagcrnzrl

13.2.4 Simplifying

‘The technique of simplification is a type of modification, namely a “rewriting” activity The clements of a lanynmge which can he simplified arc: The instructions and oxplanalions that accompany exercises and activities, and even the visual layout of materials so that it

becomes easier to see how different part fit together Llowever, texts, most often reading

passages are applied this technique Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences- bound clements to match the text more closely to the proficioncy level of a particular group of learners

1.3.2.5 Re-ordering

This procedure refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a course book in a different

order This may mean adjusting the sequence of presentation within a unit, or taking units

ina different sequence fran that originally intended

1.4 Thenretii

I backgrounds to writing and teaching writing

1.4.1 Reasons for teaching writing

* Writing is a language skill which is difficult to acquire” (Tribble, 1996-3)

This stalement is always right under any cireumstancss First and foremost, written language is quite different ftom spoken Janguage Tribble assures that in speaking the primary emphasis is on the building of relationships; in writing emphasis is on recording things, on complsting tasks, or on developing ideas and arguments,

When we lear a second or a foreign language, we leam to communicate with other people: lo understand them, talk to Uhem Ar integral part of participating fully ana new cule solting is learning how (o comumutivale when the other porson is mot right there in fiont of us, listening to our words and looking at our gestures and facial expressions,

Visitors to another country will offen have to Jeave a note for the mailman, fill out a

customs declaration form, give wrillen instructions, or write a thank-you leticr

But the fact that people tiequently have to communicate with each other in writing is not the only reason to include writing as part of ours syflabus Raims (1983: 3) thinks there is

am atlditional and very important reason: writing helps our students learn.” She shows three ways in which students can Jearn through writing:

First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that we have

ben teaching our students, Second, when our students write, thoy also have a chance Lo be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learned to say, to take ricks ‘Thirdly, when they write, they necessarily become very involved with the new language; the cfferl to express idzas and the constant usc of aye, hand and brain is a urique way to reinforce learning,

As well as speaking writing is a productive skill, so it is writing that provides students with a chance to put all those language elements they have Jeamt inio practice They practice the language itsclf and practice communicative skill at the same time, Through the act of writing students will realize what they are already good at and what they still need to learn to become a helter and more effective writer (also a beller leaner!), By lar, the difficult question for teachers to answer is not “why teach writing”, but it is how to create good reasons for writing

1.4.2 Main approaches to teaching writing

14.2.1 The product approach

Prior to the advent of leamner centuedness, ELT ( English Language Teaching) was largely pre-occupied with the finished proctuet in directing learners towards pre-specific objectives

Tn the product approach, studznls’ alicntion focuses on adhering to and duplicating modsts

of the concrete language Typically, students, in the class adopting product approach, would find themselves studying model texts and attempting various exercises aimed towards drawing attention to relevant featurcs of a text Thess exereises would require students to complete sentences or add logical connections, and in a final exercise, students would produce parallel texts based on their own information, Robinson (1991, cited in Hulclinson, T & Wartors, A 1997: 116) summurises this approach in the following way Model text ,, Comprehension/ Analysis/ Manipulation _,

New Input — , Parallel lext

‘The product approach, while still very popular, fils to consider non- native students"

individual necds in, for example, wanting lo determin how nalive s come to their final produets White (1988) and Jordan (1997) argue that adopting such an approach not only does ths very nature of the sequence provide little or no insight into the actual process involved in mumaging to arrive at the Gnal product, Int the sludents are atso restricted in what they can write

1.4.2.2 The process approach

Recently, teaching of writing has bogun to move away from a concentration on the wrillor product to an emphasis on the process of writing The process approach has emphasized the idea of writing as problem-solving with a focus on thinking and process ‘he process approach developed by the way of a reaction to the confines grasented by the product approach Consequently, students changing classes from product to process- fiom an approach devoted to correct form and accuracy- would find themselves liberated with an approach concemed with individual levels of fluency and expression The process approach cmpowers its students, thercby cnabling them to make clearer decisions about direction of their writing by means of discussion, task drafting, feedback and informed choice This process encourages studsnis to be tespousibls for making improvement themselves as opposed to the mimicking of pre-determined modsls, As the process approach focuses on the writing process and the writers’ gradual improvement, it involves

several stages Robinson (1991, cited in Tulchinson, T & Waters, A, 1997: 117) presents

the writing stages as followed

Writing Task — Dratt 1 Feedback > Revision — Input —>Dratt2+Feedback

Revision + Draft 3

Tribble (1996), Imving similar point to that of Robinson, proposes # simple four- slage process: prewriting, composing, revising and edhting, which is outlined in the figure below

So in the process approach, the students do not write on a given topic in a restricted time and hand in the composition for the teacher to “correct” — which usually means to find the errors, Rather, they explore a topic through wriling, showing the leacher and each olher their drafts, and using what they write to read over, think about, and move them on to new ideas

Teachers who use the process approach give their studenls lwo crucial supports: tine for the students to try out ideas and feedback on the content of what they write in their dratts

‘They find that then the writing process becomes a process of discovery for the students; the discovery of new ideas and new language forms to express those ideas

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

2.1 Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English writing

component at Uong Bi High School

2.1.1 The schoo! context

2.1.1.1 The teachers al Uong Bi High school

‘There are 9 teachers of English (eight females and one male), aged from 30 to 54, currently working in Uong Bi High school Among them, one-third studied at Hanoi Forsign Language Teacher Training Collcge Another one-third was former teachers of Russian who graduated trom the same college The rests who were trained fiom in-sarvice training courses have experienced teaching for many years However, their communication and abilily as well as new teaching methods should he improved

Obviously, the age of the English teaching staff reveals the fact that all of them were trained in the traditional method- the Grammar ‘Translation Method ew of them have taken retraining courses fo improve thsir English and their teaching methods This constrains them from teaching spcaking cfivetively Neverthelcss, most of thom are enthusiastic in working, At the present time, each teacher has to teach fifteen periods

divided inte 5

es per week excluding the burden of marking exarminalion papers and time for a lot of different school work More than this, the teachers often have to cope with about 40 students in each class Apparently, the teachers in Uong Bi high school have to deal with a heavy workload in order to fal fil their task

2.1.1.2 The learners a1 Cong Bi High school

‘The majority of students in the study at Uong Bi high school are aged fiom 15 to 18, Most

of them come from urban areas and they have leamt Lnglish since they were at primary schoats, Therefirs, their English proficiency is somchow better than students fom turat

parts due to the availability of opportunities to attend part-time English courses and chances to contact with English speaking people Among them, there are a large number of students who are really interested in lzaming English and want to develop their ability in using English By contrast, the other part of students is lowly motivated ‘They tend to regard Frnghsh as less immporlanl than other subjects and they slndy Fnglish in order to pass the cxans

2.1.2, The new English textbook for grade 12 (Standard Textbook}

19

“Lnglish 12” is a 199-page-long textbook which was based on the new Linglish national curriculum for high school of the Ministry of Rdneation and Training This ø the following, of English 10 and English 11

English 12 is claimed to adopt a theme-based syllabus with 16 teaching units and 6 review units, Tach leaching imil is about a cerlain topic which is structured into five sections, Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus Each section is supposed to

be taught in a period of 45 minutes, Reading: Each unit has a 300-word text which provides students with kmguage inpul and ideas lo practice othar menage skills, It alse helps them develop their reading skills Speaking: This part consists of speaking activities which was designed for individual, pair work or group work Listening: For this section, a

or a diakogue relating to the unis topic is inchusled Lo do clop the students” Histoning skills, improve their pronunciation as well as their language structure

Writing: ‘The writing section may begin with a model, followed by tasks or activities that guide students through the writing process such as model analysis, language work and guided writing for the sake of developing their writing skills The tasks’ requirements arc often writing individual letters, writing application letter or describing events and charts

In olher words, the sludents have to wrile text on familiar topics based on given models or prompts The writing content of each unit which is clearly summarized in a book map is printed on the first page of the book in Appendix L Ths six review units called “Fest yourself” are AS minute tesls, They are sarnple tests for the teacher Fach test contains four main components: Reading, Listening, Writing and Language Focus There is no revision for speaking skills, To the writing component in each review, students are required to write another composition relating to the topic of each teaching unit

It can be concluded that English 12, in general and the writing section, in particular has a clear organizational structure, which can be helpful for teachers in conducting their lessons and students in managing self-study

2.1.3, The current teaching and Jearning of English 12 writing component at Uong Bì high school

2.1.3.1 The opportunities of the context

‘The context offers several opportunities for the Linglish teaching and learning in Uong Bi

high school Firsfly, most of the students come fom when arca and they have Tearnl

most of the teachers in Uong Bi Iligh school are active and enthusiastic and ready to change for the better Towsver, the limitations exist beading to the unfavorable learning and teaching results

2.1.3.2 The constraints of the context

Constrains come fio att people of concern in the program Firsily, although: the students are both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, their investment seems to be not enough for the subject ‘Their workload of their other subjects and their personal matters deprives them of time and cnorgy for English learning Thus, gand result cammol be expeoled with

low commitment to the target language study Secondly, since the students strive for the disorete-oriented entrance examination with reading and grammar competency only, their communicative competence are mainly at low level Although they can do MCQ grammar tests well, most of them cannot write correct and comprchonsible sentences, icc the ability

to negotiate meaning is not satisfactory ‘To make it worse, the opportunities for them to

conmmunicate with the native speakers are meager Besides, the cultural aspects counteracl the application of new teaching approaches, In primary and secondary school, the students used to be tanght in teacher-centered and teacher-ted approach ‘They did not raise their voice if they were not called upon by the leachers Teachers were the authorities and whatever teachers said were thought to be comect Interuptions or arguments are considered to be rude In brief, they are not active enough to negotiate participatory

interaction

Another problem which can be secn in the typical learning slyle of ong Bi High school students is the formal and teacher-dominated methods with emphasis on grammar and vocabulary Consequently most students remain passive in classroom, [lowever, in the writing lessons, most of the tasks and activitics require the students to work in pairs ot groups, students seem to prefer private work, sit quietly and work on their own They do

from the same college 'The rests who ware trained ftom in-service training courses 30 they

df of the traditional method - the Grammar Transtation Method This makes

are very aff

them feel difficult to change their way of teaching Especially, in the writing lessons, teachers usually pay attention on the product- approach not the process- approach They oflen ask sludents to finish afl the tasks in the book withon! carefal instruction This makes students sometimes confused and difficult to finish some of the difficult tasks in the book

In this way, students are engaged in imitating, copying and transforming models of

comzel Tangnags texts to the new writing task There scoms lo be no oxplicil

emphasis on the process of planning, drafting, revision, and editing

Although writing is an important skill, the assessment of it is not efficient Yeachers often ask sinderts to finish the writing tasks at home dne to the constraints of time, but thoy rarely spend much time correcting their writings Therefore, most students do not know that they have improvements in writing skill or not ‘To make the problem of teaching and learning the waiting skill worse, almost the tests do not pay much attention on the writing skills In the tests, students arc often required to rewrite the sentences with the same meaning, so the teachers often focus on vocabulary and grammar testing

21s the writing component of the “Linglish 12” textbook suitable to the students” needs

in lerms of content and inethodalogy?

2.2.2, Participants of the study

One important issue should be given consideration is the participants or evaluators of the study Many authors in the literature hold the view that cvaluation should not “be restricted

to outside evaluator” (lomlinson, 1998:224), especially the purpose of the evaluation is

development, In this situation, inside evaluators may have opporlunily to taks advantage of their close understanding of the program conloxt when carrying oul ths evaluation

and Imale) Most of these teachers were irained under the strong influence of the Granta Translation method, the emphasis of which is on the learning of the rulgs of the language, not on the acquisition of language skills This is obviously manifested in their teaching methods even the new material follows the communicative approach ‘They were asked lo answer quastions by the ond of the aadernic yoar when they ave finished the textbook

2.2.2.2 The students

Uong Bi high school consisted of 10 classes of grade 12 with approximately 400 students allocated into classes fom Al to A10, The distribution of the students in each class is that the percentage of students at levels of “ Excellent”, “Good”, “average”, “under average” in every class are nearly equal That is the students in each class are similar in their background The participants were randomly chosen by picking up studcnts from odd number classes which consisted of 200 students They were asked to answer questions by the end of the acadetnic year when they have just finished the textbook

2.2.3 Datu callection instrument

2.3.3.1 Document analysis

In evaluation, the analysis of existing: documenis can provide usefid information and (hey

“form an essential part of the data for an evaluation exercise” (Robinson, 1991:71) One of the biggest advantages of decument analysis is that in some situations, a document

represents a reflection of reality (May, 2001)

In this thesis, document analysis was a very elfselive method to coffeat the data for the study because the purpose of this study was to evaluate the writing component in the English 12 textbook at Uong Bi Iligh school And the evaluator was, therefore, in a position to conduct a comprchensive valuation of the material based on an analysis of the teaching material and the requirements of the course, The documents fo be analyzed in this studly is the book called “Tiéng Anh 12° and the curriculum and syllabus for teaching

English of the MOET

2.2.3.2 Survey Questionnaire

‘The survey questionnaire is one of the instruments which are offen used to collect data in social sciences Many significant, advantages of using questionnaires are indicated by Gillham (2000): less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of interview bias, analysis of answers is straightforward

However, # surysy questionnaire with lop many closed ended questions may be said fo be imposing to some extent and one with too many open ended questions may take respondents a lot of time to complete So, these are points worth thinking before designing

a survey qqestiommaire, Rosides, it should be noted that ual all of the boing sont questionnaires are retwmed and not all of thems are really reliable

Questionnaire was chosen as data collection instrument in this study because of the prpose of the thasis iisclf is to collect teachors and students? opinions and atliludes loward the textbook,

‘Teachers and students were requested to complete and return the questionnaire on the spot

questions 1 to 10 are to find out the appropriateness of the writing component in the

textbook with the content of the course Questions 11 ta T5 ask for their opinions towards the appropriateness of the writing, component to the methodology prescribed by MOET Set 2, another fifteen-question questionnaire (Appendix 3), was administered to 200 students ‘The questionnaire is divided into two sectiot section 1, consisting of 10

questions in order to seck students’ perception on the appropriatzness of the writing component to the content of the textbook, and another 5 questions are used to collect their opinions on the suitability of the writing component of the textbook to the methodology given by MOET The student survey questionnaire was translated info Vietnamese to make sure that the students could understand all the questions without any difficulty Clear instructions were given when the questionnaire was adr

2.2.4, Duta callection procedure

ered

In order to evaluate the writing component in the “English 12” textbook, the researcher decided to employ a combination of different data collection instruments: document

Uong Bi Iligh school They were asked to answer questions by the end of the academic year when they had finished the textbook With the assistance of the Board of management , the administration of survey questionnaire was curied out very successfully

‘The questionnaires were administered to the teachers and the students during the break in the class, They wore explained abaut the parposos of the study and how to complete the survey orally by the researcher Teachers and students were requested to complete the questionmaires on the spot ‘rhe researcher collected back 6 questionnaires ftom the

tsachers and 200 questionnaires from the students Alt the questionnaires wore answorsd carefully and no question was omitted

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Document analysis

3.1.1 Description of the writing component of the new textbook English 12

Aims of the writing camponent: write texts of 130-150 words on familiar topics based on models or prompts for personal or communicative purposes:

Content: The writing section m English 12 textbook consists of 16 different topics corresponding with 16 units ‘Ihe writing content of each unit which is clearly summarized ina book map is printed on the first page of the book in Appendix 1, In sach writing tepic, there has two tasks and the tasks are arranged ftom simple to complex and they have clear instructions Regarding language elements, the language elements introduced in the book was praclical but i was not practical at brigh frequency

Methodology: Most of the tasks and activities are required students to work in pairs or groups before working individually ‘The wniting section often begins with a model, followed by tasks or activities that guide students through the writing process such as model analysis, language work and guided writing for the sake of developing their writing skills The tasks’ requirements are often writing individual letters, writing application letter

ov describing events and charls Tn other words, the students have to write text on familiar topics based on given models or prompts The communicative approach to the writing skill requires the writing activities to address real readers with real prmposes ‘his

is necessary because in real life, anyone must know who they are going ta write for, whal relationship they have together and why they have to write so that they can decide on what text type and what language to use to achieve their purposes However, critically looking at the wnting sections in the new textbook linglish 12 shows that many of the writing tasks

do nol specify the dership and the purpose for writing

3.1.2, Requirements of the writing component in the course

Content: According to MOET, the writing component of the course needs to focus on the

Sollowing requirements

Students are acquired to be able to write a parargraph with about 130-150 words about the

lopies such as: lefler of invilation, requesl leller, job application letler, wrilirg report,

description

Topies: Firstly, the topics used in the textbook should be contextualized in real

commnnucation situations Secondly, these topics should be suitable with the students’

extending the students’ langnage knowledge and their language skills

Language elements: Firsly, the language elements should be contextualized through the suitable communication situations Secondly, the language elements should be practical

‘Thirdly, the basic vocabulary and grammatical structures should be apracticed at high frequency

Exercises and tasks: firstly, the four macro-skills should be intergrated through the exercises and tasks Secondly, the introduction of language elements and language skills

and tasks in the

should be arranged fom simple to complex Thirdly, the excrei

textbook should be suitable to the students’ level but a little challenging

Methodology: in the writing component, it is said that writing consists of many approaches, especially the combination of communicative approach and process approach In the

writing tasks, a varicty of writing techniqucs must be uscd: pair work, group work,

individual work

3.2 The Survey Results

The following will be the discussion on the results obtained through surveys with samples

of 200 grade 12 students (S) and 6 English teachers (1)

3.2.1 The appropriateness of the writing component to the content of the course

Describing the world you [90% |8S% | Writing a letter of 85% | 809

would like to live in the recommendation

From table 3.1 we can see that the teachers thought that 90 % of the students and 85 % of

the students themselves also found that the topics: writing aboul Gimily rules, Wriling about measures to protect endangered species and possible result, Describing the world

‘you would like to live in the future, Describing a sport event (a football match) were of the students” most interest The topics: Writing a letter of request, writing a formal letter of job application, Writing a short description of an organization, Writing a letter of recommendation ranked the second of the students’ interest with the support of 85 % of the teachers and 80 % of the students 80 % of the teachers and nearly 80 % of the students supposed that Describing school cducation system in Victnam; Describing main features of

a desert, desoritang a book were interesting enough for the students

‘The Tes! lopics were perceived not of the students” interest with a small percentage of

The writing types in the textbook are authentic | 100 % 100 %

The writing types in the textbook are varied in | 100 % 100 %