Luận văn the empirical evaluation of the coursebook english file beginner student’s book third edition for non english major students at a preparatory school in viet tri

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Jenner ice UT TIM HONG LU TIE EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF TIE COURSEB

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Jenner ice

UT TIM HONG LU

TIE EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF TIE COURSEBOOK

“ENGLISH FILE BEGINNER STUDENT'S BOOK

— THIRD EDITION” FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT A PREPARATORY SCHOOL IN VIET TRI

(Đánh giá thực nghiệm giáo trình “English File Beginner Student’s Buok

- Third Edition” ding cho hoc sinh Tiếng Anh không chuyên

tại mật trường dự bị đại học ở Việt Tri)

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

: English Teaching Methudology

: 8140231.01

TIanoi, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

dete te taba

VU THI HONG LU

THE EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF TIE COURSEBOOK

“ENGLISII FILE BEGINNER STUDENT'S BOOK

— THIRD EDITLON” FOR NON: GLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT A PREPARATORY SCIIOOL IN VIET TRI

(Wanh gid thyuc nghiém gido trinh “English Vile Beginner Student’s Book

- Third Edition” ding chu hoc sinh Tiếng Anh không chuyên

tại một trường dự bị dại học ứ Việt Tri)

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung

IIanoi, 2018

DECLARATION

I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own

research, and this thesis has net been submitted for any degrees al any other

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, | would like to express my deepest gratitude to my

supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Ilo Ngoc Trung for his useful comments and

continuous support of my study, for his patience, encouragement, enthusiasm

and immense knowledge His guidance helped me tremendously in all the time

of research and writing of this thesis

I would also like to thank my school leaders and colleagues for their

support and sharing the workload so that I could wholchcartedly focus on the

study and get it completed

Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my parents, my

spouse, and to all of my friends for providing me with unfailing support and

continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the

process of rescarching and writing this thesis

This accomplishment would not have been possible without all of them

ABSTRACT

The present study evaluates the coursebook “English Fue Beginner

Student’s Book — Third Edition” by Christina Laltham-Kocnig, Clive Oxenden

(Oxford University Press, 2014) for non-English major students at a

preparatory school in Viet Tri in terms its suitability lo the objectives of the

course, students’ necds and current (caching and leaming method 150 non-

English major students and 8 teachers who were using this coursebook were

inviled Lo answer the questionnaires, and lwo groups of three or four students were chosen randomly together with 8 teachers to take part in the interviews

Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively Findings revealed

that the courschook fundamentally met the course’s objectives and students”

needs, and fit in with the current teaching and learning method, though there

were still minor unsuitable parts that need adaptation The result of this study

would benefit both teachers and learners who work with this material for better

use in the future

Key words: coursebook, texthook, material, coursebook evaluation,

empirical evaluation, Hnglish Kile Beginner Students’ Book, non-Hnglish

major.

LIST OF TABLES Table 43: Teacher's assessment of students’ English level at the

Table 4.2: Learners’ purposes of learning English

Yable 4.4: Students’ ability to communicate in Kinglish about the topics in

Table 4.7: Students’ suggestions on the proportion of the skills

Table 4.8: Teachers’ suggestions on the proportion of the skills

lable 4.9: Kffectiveness of the teaching and learning interactions used

with the coursebook

Table 4.10: The frequency of the teaching aids used with the coursebook

Table 4.11: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the methodology of the

LIST OF CITARTS Chart 4.1: Students’ age

Chart 4.2: Students’ background of learning English

Chart 4.3: Students’ self-assessment of their English level at the beginning

af the course

Chart 4.5: Students’ pragress after the course

Chart 4.6: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation of the topics of the

Chart 4.7: The appropriateness of the coursebook with studenis’ learning

purposes

Chart 4.8: Students’ and teachers’ overall rating of the coursebook

Chart 4.9: Students’ and teachers’ judgement on the time allocation for each

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION

1.2 Ains of the study

1.3 Scope of the study

1.4 Research questions

1.8 Significance of the smdy

1.6 Structure of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Text book, coursebook and material

2.1.1 Definitions

2.1.2 Roles of materials in ELT classrooms

2.2 Coursebook evaluation

2.2.1 Definitions of coursebook evaluation

2.2.2 Approaches to coursebook evaluation

2.2.3 Criteria for coursebook evaluation

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.2.3, Data collection procedure

3.2.4 Data analysis methods

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1.1 Learners’ Hnglish learning background

4.1.2 Learners’ English level

4.1.3 Learners’ purposes of learning Hnglish

4.1.4, Learners’ favorite learning styles

4.2 The suitability of the coursebook to the objectives of the course

4.2.1, Data collected from the questionnaire

4.2.2, Data collected from semi-structured interviews

4.2.3, Discussion and conclusion

4.3 The suitability of the coursebook to students’ needs

4.3.1 Data collected from questionnaires

4.3.2 Daia collected from semi-structured inlerviews

4.3.3, DAiscMssion and COncÌNSIG

41⁄4 Tho suitabilty of the coursebook tu the currcnl toaching: and loarmng mưtheds 46

4.4.1, Data collected from queshonnatres

3.1.1 The suitability to the objectives of the course

5.1.2 The suitability to students’ needs

5.13 The suitability to current teaching and learning methods

§.2 Limitations and suggestions for further studies

REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDEMTS

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS

APPENDIX 3: TRANSCRIPT OF TEACHER INTERVIEW

APPENDIX 4: TRANSCRIPT OF STUDENT INTER VIEW

CITAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents a general overview of the study with specific

references la the rationale, the uims of the study, research questions, scape of

the study, significance of the study, and structure of the study

1.1 Rationale

Courssbooks are generally considered as the core materials and “the visible heart of any EI-T program” (Sheldon, 1988) Thoy play a lot of essential

roles in ELT such as a source of learning and teaching activities, a resource of

lcarners’ sel{-study, a syllabus, and a supporl for incxpericnced teachers (Cumningsworth, 1984) However, coursebooks are usually designed and

written for the general market, thus they cannot fit in all teaching and learning

contexts with possibly inappropriate cultural and social contents or teaching

methods ‘hat is the reason why selecting a suitable coursebook for a particular

teaching course is a challenging Il also takes on special importance because

the chosen coursebook would determine the teaching and learning process and

reflect the value of the educational institution Therefore, the need of evaluating coursebuoks should alse lake on the same importance It helps identily the

strong points and weak points of the materials so that future decisions can be

made about whelher or not to keep using the materials, or adapting them to

Detter fit lamers’ needs and learning objectives However, very lew of such a

retrospective evaluation has been undertaken in comparison with the predictive

evaluation, which is carried out belore using the matorials to decide if they are

to be selected (Ellis, 1997) In terms of retrospective cvaluation, the evaluation

of the materials that have actually been used, there are two ways of evaluating:

impressionistic and cmpirical valuations While the former involves

evaluation based on observation of learners’ engagement and enthusiasm in

acliviiics and contents of the book, it is more commonly conducted than the

latter one, which relates to collecting data in a more systematic way

The importance and the inadequate quantity of empirical evaluations of

courschooks triggers a desire in the rescarcher to apply an cvaluation of this type to the coursebook “Hnglish File Beginner Student’s Book — ‘Third Hdition”

for non-English major students in a preparatory school in Viet Tri Since

English was incorporated into the school program as a compulsory subject,

there has not been an official coursebook approved by the Ministry of

Education for the school Il is the teaching staffs who select the book that they

consider hest fit the objectives of the course and corresponds to students” needs

based on predictive evaluation of the books The coursebook “English File

Beginner Student’s Bock — Third Edition” is currently used as the main

coursebook in the school after several choices of different materials After a

year of piloling the book, the researcher, also the teacher who has worked with this book, linds il quile inLeresting Lo students with a Jot of authentic videos and meaningful tasks; however, it also reveals several problems which renders it difficult ts meet students’ needs and achieve the ultimate goal of leaching and

learning program To present, there has not been any careful and systematic

evaluation of this material That is the reason why the researcher desires to

perform an empirical evaluation on this book to cxamine the validity of the

predictive evaluation of the teachers in English groups of the school and that of her personal impressionistic evaluation, as well as to evaluate the

appropriateness of the book for learners, learning and teaching context and purposes

1.2 Aims of the study

This study mainly aims al cvaluating the coursebook “English File

Beginner Student's Book —‘lhird Edition” by Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive

2

Oxenden (Oxford Universily Press, 2014), which is uscd for non-English major students at a preparatory school in Viet Tri to determine whether it meets the

requirements of the course in terms of the objectives, students’ needs and

methodology

1.3 Scope of the study

Jn terms of book evaluation, Cunningsworth (1984) listed a number of

important evaluating criteria in the quick-reference checklist for evaluation

such as: aims and approaches, design and organization, language content,

skills, topic, methodology, teachers’ book, practical considerations Besides,

evaluation can be conducted prodictively or retrospectively Lor different

purposes (Ellis, 1997) Due to the time constraint and the length limitation a

master’s thesis, the subject of the evaluation is narrowed down lo one lype of

retrospective evaluation, the empirical evaluation of the courscbaok “English

File Beginner Student’s Book Third Edition” for non-English major students

ata proparalory school in Viet Tri with mam focus its suitability lo he course’s

objectives, students’ needs and current methodology

1.4, Research questions

The study will be conducted to answer the following three questions:

- To what extent does the coursebook “Finglish File Beginner Student’s Book —

Vhird Edition” meet the objectives of the course?

- Ta what extent does the book meet students’ needs?

- to what extent is the book suited to the current teaching and learning

methods?

1.5 Significance of the study

The findings of the thesis would contribute to the school’s decision of

using the courschuok “English File Regier Student’s Book — Third Edition”

or parts of the book agam, or substituting and adapting inappropriate parts of

book with more suitable ones, or replacing the book with another one Thus, it would benefil both teachers and Iearners who work with the material Teachers

would have a chance to apply the most appropriate materials and teaching

methods Lor their students with dilTerent levels whercas students could find the

materials that best fit their needs and their learning purposes The result will

also be valuable for teachers and learners in other preparatory schools in the

country with similar teaching and learning context

1.6 Structure of the study

The study consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction - presents a general overview of the study with

specific references to the rationale, the aims of the study, research questions,

scope of the study, significance of the study, and structure of the study

Chapter 2: Lilerature Review - provides theoretical basis for the study with the detailed discussion about some relevant theories related to textbook,

coursebook, material, material evaluation and need analysis

Chapter 3: Research methodalogy — describes the methodology employed in

the study

Chapter 4: Findings and discussien — includes a delailed deseription of the

findings as well as full explanation and interpretation of thesc findings

Chapter 5: Conclusion — gives conclusion and limitations of the study and

then provides suggestions (or further study

1.7 Summary

Chapter 1 has introduced the rationale, aims and scope of the study

Research questions, significance and structure of the study were also included

The importance af courschook and coursebook cvaluation, together with the inadequate quantity of empirical evaluation of the coursebook “English File

Beginner Student's Book — Third Edition” used for non-English major students

at a preparatory school in Viet ‘Ii have triggered the researcher’ desire to

conduct the study The main focus of the study is on the suitability of the

coursebouk lo the course objectives, students’ needs and current teaching and

learning methods ‘Iherefore, this study aims at evaluating this coursebook to

find out if it meets the course objectives, students’ needs and current teaching

and learning methods The findings of the study will help the school to make

decision about keep using the book or replace it or part of it by more suitable

materials.

CIIAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides theoretical basis for the study with the detailed

discussion aboul some relevant theories related to textbook, coursebuok,

material, material evaluation and need analysis

2.1 Text buok, coursebook and material

2.1.1 Definitions

Teaching materials are an indispensable component of any language

leaching curricula There are a number of ways rescarchers defined this concept

but they shared the same viewpoint that materials can be anything used to

facilitate language teaching and leaming (Littlejohn 1998, Tomlinson 1998,

McGrath 2002) Littlejohn (1998) and Tomlinson (2011) viewed maicrials in

various forms which can be students’ books, workbooks, teacher's guides, videos, CDs, DVDs, lesson plans, websile aclivilics and more Similarly,

‘McGrath (2002) provided a broad scnse of materials in which he cxplamed that

they could be “realia” (real objects) or presentations (drawings or photographs)

He also added textbooks, workshcels, computer software and recordings as sources of materials Among these forms, textbook is considered the official

material and “the visible heart of any ELT programs” (Sheldom, 1988) It plays

an important role of teaching a particular subject in schools and colloges and

serves a basis of study for students and a primary teaching instrument for teachers (Oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com, 2008)

As a type of teaching materials, a coursebook is defined as “a texthoak

that students and teachers use as the basic of a course” (Collinsdictionary.com, 2018) In other words, 11 is used to reler to a book “used by students when they

do a particular course of study” (Dictionary.cambridge.org, 2018) In

accordance with the dictionary definition, Ur (1996) and Tomlinson (2011)

explain that courscbooks function as lhe core matcrials for a language-learning course that a teacher and each student has a copy It aims to provide as much

as possible in one book and serves as the only book which learners basically

use during a course A courscbook usually includes exercises not only on language elements like grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation but also on

functions and skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking

Krom the above view of “materials”, “textbook” and “coursebook”, it can

be pointed out that text book and coursebook are types of materials and these

three terms can be used interchangeably in ELT teaching and learning conlext

2.1.2 Roles of materials in ELT classrooms

According to Richards and Rogers (2001) as cited in Ulas Kayapinar

(2009), coursebuoks play an indispensable part in the curriculum because they

specily content and define coverage for syllabus items They play multi

essential roles in ELT such as a source of learning and teaching activities with

systematic and standard knowledge ol grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,

ctc., aresource of leamers’ sclf-study, a syllabus m accordance with determined

learning objectives, and a support for inexperienced teachers (Cunningsworth,

1995) Courscbooks also help standardive instruction, frame the language contents, and provide language models and practice activities for teachers and

students to follow in class (Lr, 1996) Ur adds more advantages of coursebooks

For example, they provide available and appropriate texts and exercises for

most learners and classes They are also the most economic and convenient

ways of providing leaching and learning materials for both teachers and

learners ‘hus, the use of coursebooks is more and more popular among

‘universities, private schools and some state schools It is the ready-made syllabi

in the ready-made coursebooks thal are preferred by both school

administrations and teachers of English Besides, coursebooks provide

7

opporlunilics for learners lo practice the largel language in the classroom before

they use it in real life situations

Ilowever, coursebooks as preplanned instruction materials have some

possible disadvantages According to Richards and Renandya (2002), as cited

in Ulag Kayapinar (2009), coursebooks fail to present real-life language models

and contextualize language activities They fail to address linguistic

competence as well as to teach idioms in everyday language |.ack of equity in

gender tepresentation and the inadequate cultural understanding

encouragement are also among the disadvantages of coursebooks Ur (1996) adds the following drawbacks of coursebooks Firstly, coursebooks are

inadequate in that every class and learner has their own learning needs and a

coursebook cannol supply these satisfactorily Scuondly, courscbouks arc

irrelevant because the topics dealt within the books may not necessarily be

interesting for the class Coursebooks may lead to boredom and lack of

motivation on the part of the learners Also, they do not eater [or varicly of

levels of ability and knowledge that exist in most classes Moreover, although

courscbooks are considered as the magical instruction tool for language teachers, highly structured coursebooks may even lead to the de-skilling of

teachers ([lutchinson & Torres 1994 as cited in Osman Diilger 2016)

Tn conclusion, on one hand, courscbeoks prove to be very advantageous

for both school administrations, language teachers and students with available syllabi and already designed texts and tasks which are suitable for a large

portion of language leamers On the other hand, coursebooks reveal some

limitations such as inadequacy, irrelevance, inauthenticity That is the reason

why any coursebooks should be evaluated to see whether or nol they match the

school curriculum and leamers’ needs and interests.

2.2 Coursebook evaluation

2.2.1, Definitions of coursebook evaluation

Coursebook evaluation is of great significance as it seeks to identify the

strengths and weaknesses’ of the books and helps to make decisions about

adapting the materials or adopting new ones In order to conduct the evaluation

of a coursebook, it is necessary to understand what the process of evaluation

involves There are a number of definitions of evaluation provided by

researchers According to ‘Tomlinson (2011), coursebook evaluation is an

attempt to measure the potential value of the coursebooks It involves making

judgements about the cflects of coursebooks on such agents as learners,

instructors, administrators who use them through such features of the books as

credibilily, validity, flexibility, elc Coursebook evaluation is also defined by

Rea-Dickins and Germanic (1994) as “the means by which we can gain a better

understanding of what is effective, what is less effective and what appears to

be no use al all” Effective cvalualion relics on asking appropriate questions and interpreting thc answers to them (Cunningsworth, 1995)

In summary, coursebook evaluation is the process of collecting data,

giving judgement on the effectiveness of books bascd on the collected data to make precise decisions of effectively using the materials or replacing them 2.2.2 Approaches to coursebook evaluation

Material evaluation is “a dynamic process which is fundamentally a

subjective, rule-of-thumb activity” where "no neat formula, grid, or system will

ever provide a definitive yardstick" (Sheldon, 1988) There are a variety of

approaches and crileria of coursebook evaluation which vary according Le the ELT contexts Administrators and instructors should choose the most suitable

crilaria Lo cvaluale courscbooks, considering the specilic caching and learning

contexts

The following sets out a range of approaches to coursebook evaluation

which all tend to cvaluate courscbooks on four main aspects, including the

internal content, the aims and approaches, the supporting sources and the

physical appearance of the coursebook

Ellis's approach (1997)

According to Ellis (1997), there are two main types of coursebook evaluation: predictive evaluation and retrospective evaluation A predictive

evaluation is designed to help teachers decide what coursebooks to use whereas

a retrospective evaluation may be conducted once the book is used to find out

if the material matuhes the Icarnors’ need and current teaching methodology

Predictive evaluation, according to Ellis, can be carried out m two principal

ways One involves leachers relying om evaluations carried out by experts

specializing in coursebook valuation Alternatively, teachers van carry out

their own predictive evaluations by making use of various checklists and

guidelines available in the literature Another kind of evaluation — retrospective

evaluation — is carried out while a coursebook is in use (whilst-use evaluation)

or after it has been used (post-use evaluation) There are two ways of

retrospective cvaluations: impressiơnistie and ompirical onc While the

impressionistic evaluation is based on observation of learners’ engagement and

enthusiasm in activities and contents of the book, empirical one relates to

“collecting data in a more systematic manner” (Hllis, 1997) ‘lo conduct

empirical evaluation, teachers use “end-of-course questionnaires to judge the

effectiveness of their leaching, including the material used”, therefore, il is often more objective and reliable than other kinds of evaluation as it is based

on users’ feedback Such an evaluation provides information that can be used

to determine whether the material is worth using again In addilion, Ellis (1997)

10

stalcs that retrospective evaluation is a good way of lesting the validily of a

predictive evaluation

Tomlinson’s approach (2003)

Another approach of cvaluating courschooks is proposed by Tomlinson (2003) with a three-stage process of evaluation: pre-use evaluation, whilst-use

evaluation and post-use evaluation The first stage, pre-use evaluation,

according to ‘Tomlinson (2003), is “impressionistic and consists of a teacher

flicking through a book to gain a quick impression of its potential value” It involves assessing the potential value of materials for their users, including a

quick scan of a book’s physical appearance and content pages to get an

impression of its potential value The second stage, whilst-use evaluation,

involves evaluating materials in usc This can be more reliable than pro-use

evaluation, as it involves deeper evaluation of the content of materials and makes use of classroom observation and feedback from the users although,

according lo Tomlinson (2003), this stage includes controversial issues about

what exactly can be measured The criteria seem to be general and some (e.g

crodibilily of tasks, achicvement of performance objectives, motwaling power

of the matenals, etc.) are not easy to measure However, he also suggests that

these criteria “can be estimated during an open-ended, impressionistic

observation of materials in use but greater reliability can be achicved by

focusing on one criterion al a time” They can be measured by different methods For example, to measure the motivating power of the materials he suggests ‘noting such features as student eye focus, proximity to the materials,

time on task and facial animation’ (Tomlinson, 2003) In the last stage of evaluation in this approach, post-use evaluation, most evaluators tend to seek

answers to such questions as: What is the impact of the coursebook on learners?

What is its impact on teachers? And what is its impact on administrators?

According to Tomlinson (2003), this stage is probably the most valuable stage

11

in the evaluation process as il involves measuring the clTects of the matcrials

on users after the coursebook has been used Also, as Cunningsworth (1995)

points out, post-use evaluation is useful in helpmg to decide whether to

continue using a coursebook or not in the future

Littlejohn’s approach (1998 & 2011)

The third major approach for coursebook evaluation is suggested by

Littlejohn (1998 & 2011) He suggested a three-level evaluation checklist

including: (1) What is there? (2) What is required of users? and (3) What is

implied? At the first level, there are questions about the physical properties of

the coursebook ‘These cover publication date, intended audience, physical

aspects (number of pages, paper quality, artwork, etc.), and are similar to the

ones in Tomlinson (2003) Level 2 focuses on the language learning activities

and tasks in the coursebook to see what teachers and learners using the

coursebouks need to do It moves slightly deeper into an analysis of what is assumed to be the most important aspect of courscbuoks Al the third level,

there are questions on the approach, philosophy and aims of the coursebook

Litlljohn points out that his levels of evaluation move from more objcclive criteria to less objective ones The first level is the most objective while the

third level is the least

McGrath’s approach (2002)

The fourth approach to coursebook evaluation is suggested by McGrath (2002) Ile points out the aspects which need evaluating in a two-stage process

of systematic materials evaluation ‘They are ‘first-glance’ evaluation and ‘in-

depth’ evaluation Lach stage consists of a series of criteria by which to

evaluate the coursebook The ‘first glance’ evaluation has four steps In step 1

— practical considerations, features evaluated in this step inchide: availability,

cost, and the levels of the book which are available If these are judged

satisfactory, the cvaluation proceeds to slep 2 — support [or teaching and

12

lcarming Features assessed at this step include the tcacher’s book and how well

it relates to the student book, supporting resources (e.g cassette recordings,

photocopiable worksheets, etc.) If all these are satisfied, the evaluator proceeds

to step 3 - context relevance At this stage the evaluator assesses the suitability

of the coursebook in terms of aims, syllabus, length and its suitability for

learners’ proficiency level, age and background If all of these meet the

requirements, the evaluator goes further to step 4 - leamer appeal ‘This step

involves considering the appeal of the book to leamers This is mainly related

to the appearance of the book The evaluation starts from the first sub-step Ifa

coursebook meets all of the key criteria for each step, the process continues

with the next one Ifit does not meet the key criteria in any sub-step, the process

slops and the coursebook is rgjceted If all of the above-mentioned key crilaria

are met, the in-depth evaluation step 1s carried out to assess the coursebook in

detail

According to McGrath (2002), the in-dopth cvaluation tends to address

the following points:

- The aims and content of the bouk

~ What they require learners to do

- What they require the teacher to do

- Their function as a classroom resource

- Learner needs and interests

- Learner approaches to language learning

~ The teaching-learning approach in the teacher’s own classroom

McDonough and Shaw’s approach (1993 & 2003)

Another important approach for coursebook evaluation is suggested by

Mel2onough and Shaw's (1993 & 2003) with three stages: external evaluation,

intemal evaluation and overall evaluation This implies that evaluation is

conlinuous and never static, as the crileria can be changed to suit dillerent

13

leaching and leaming contexts External evaluation is similar to McGrath's (2002) ‘first-glance evaluation’, Tomlinson’s (2003) ‘pre-use evaluation’ and

Littlejohn’s (1998 & 2011} ‘level 1 evaluation’ It focuses on the intended audience, the proficiency level the context, the organization and presentation

of units, the author’s views and methodology, the leaming process and the

learmer, and the physical appearance Issnes of layout and design and local

availability, supporting resources (teacher’s book, audio-visual materials, etc.)

are also included in this stage The internal evaluation is concerned with the

conlent, including grading and sequencing This slage seems to resemble

MeGrath's (2002) ‘in-depth evaluation’ and ‘lomlinson’s (2003) ‘whilst-use evaluation’

In general, cach approach to coursebook valuation, as mentioned above,

has its own strengths and weaknesses Evaluators should choose or even devise

an approach which is the most principled, systematic and suitable for their

context, Tn the researcher’s opinion, it is also imporlant for evaluators to

combine approaches, in order to offset the weaknesses of one approach with

the strengths of others The present study uses a mixcd approach, mainly based

on Ellis’s framework (1997), though moditied, with evaluation criteria from

other authors

2.2.3 Criteria for coursebook evaluation

From different approaches to the evaluation ot’ coursebooks, there are

also different sets of criteria for evaluating coursebooks

Criteria proposed by [lutchinson and Water (1987)

Hutchinson and Water (1987) proposed a checklist of material evaluation

including items related to subjective and objective analysis of the book such as:

audience, aim, content, methodology, price and ils availability

Audience: This part of the checklist consists of some questions related to information about the learners such as their age, sex, nationalities, study or

work specialism, language background and interests

Aim: Evaluators need to consider if the aims and objectives of the

coursebook match those of the course school program

Content: The questions covered in this part involve the language

description, language point, macro-skill and their proportion, micro-skill,

types, subject matter areas, topics, organization through the course,

organization within the course unit, content sequence

Methodology: In this part, the checklist investigates methodology

including questions about the theory of learning, the attitudes or the expectation

of the learners about learning, exercises and tasks, teaching and learnmg

techniques used, teaching aids, teaching guidance needed and the flexibility of

the material in different teaching situalions

Criteria suggested by Cunningsworth (1995)

Cunningsworth (1995) proposed a number of criteria to consider the

materials, which was prosontcd as a basic quick-reference checkhsL [or evaluation and selection, including: aims and approaches, design and

organization, language content, skills, topic, methodology, teacher’s books and

practical considerations

Aims and approaches: Evaluators should take into consideration the suitability of the aims of the coursebook with the aims of the teaching program

and the needs of the learners as well as the suitability of the book with the

learning’ teaching situation and styles

Design and organization: The components of the book package, the

organization of the content, the recycling and revision included in the

coursebook are concemed in this criterion.

Language conteni: The language components such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation is considered carefully through detailed questions in

Ellis’ checklist

Skills: The questions involved four skills are to be investigated in this sct

of criteria with regard to the adequacy, authenticity, integrity and suitability of

the skills in the coursebook with students’ level

Yopic: Kwaluators need to consider whether the coursebook provides

students with enough variety and range of topics of genuine interest to leamers,

whether the lopics equally address men and women as well as other groups of

various ethnic origin, occupation, disability, whether the social and cultural

values are conveyed in the range of topics in the book

Methodology: Approaches La language loaming presented in the

coursebook, the language presenting’ practicing techniques, the method to

teach different skills and the guideline to students’ self-study are taken into account in Uns sel of crileria

Teachers’ books: The guidance, supporting materials and the answer key

that the bock provides for teachers as well as the tcaching lechniques, language

items and cultural content that they cover are to be evaluated

Last but not least, the practical considerations which involves the price,

the duration, the appearance of the book and the cquipment it requires arc also

considered,

Criteria proposed by Wong Pak Wing Lawrence (2011)

Wong Pak Wing Lawrence (2011) proposed a self-constructed

evaluation framework for evaluating curriculum fitness with the following

criteria:

Use of task-based approach teaching and learning strategies: Hvaluators

‘base on this set of criteria to check if the materials are designed with learner- centered instruction, targel-oriented English learning, integrative and creative

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language usc, learning grammar in context, purposclil lasks and cxcreises as well as extended tasks and project learning

Integrated skills: In this part, the checklist examines if the four skills

listening, speaking, reading and writing — arc integrated in the book for authentic purposeful communication

The teaching of language arts: Evaluators take into consideration the

place of language arts (Le films, songs, lyrics, movies, dramas, novels, shart

stories, etc.) in the English Language Curriculum and considerations for

selecting language arts materials

Other criteria are ta check if the baok promotes independent language

learning or provide information technology for interactive learning and life-

wide learning

ln summary, the criteria were set by both established material evaluators

like Ilutchinson and Water (1987), Cunningsworth (1995) and novice research

scholars like Wong Pak Wing Lawrence (2011) for an in-depth and objective

analysis of teaching materials They share some core factors and the criteria

listed may not always be clleotive in a specific context Therefore, it is necessary to prepare “a new one or modify the existing ones in order to cover

all aspects of evaluation” (Cunningsworth, 1995) In this regard, in this study

the author uscd and modified ideas from these checklists to design a sct of

criteria for the empirical evaluation of the coursebook “English File Beginner Student's Book — Third Idition” for non-English major students in a

preparatory school in Viet ‘Ii

2.3 Needs analysis

Needs analysis (also known as needs assessment) play a vital role in the

process uf designing and carrying out any language courses, and its imporlance hhas been acknowledged by several scholars and authors

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The term “nceds analysis”, according lo Elaine Tarone and George Yule

(2000), refers to the collection and evaluation of information to answer the

question: “What aspects of the language does some particular group of leamers

need to know?” Mountford (1981) offers the definition that “needs” can be defined as what students should be able to do at the end of their language

course, or “what the user institution or society at large regards as necessary or

desirable to be learnt from a program of language instruction” Another

definition given by Brindley (1984) is that “needs” refers to wants, desires, demands, expectalions, motivations, lacks, constraints, and requirements It is

evident that course designers may take students’ needs into consideration when

designing a course or Johns (1991), needs analysis is the first step in course

design and it provides validily and relevancy [or all subsequent course design

activities Different approaches to needs analysis attempt to meet the needs of

the learners in the process of learning a second language Among which, 4

modem and comprehensive concept of needs analysis is proposed by Dudley-

Evans and St John (1998) with the concept of needs analysis as follows:

= Environmental situation — information about the situation in which

the course will be rm (means analysis)

= Personal information about leamers — lactors which may alleet the

way they lear (wants, means, subjective needs)

= Language information about leamers — what their current skills and language u

are (present situation analysis)

= Learner’s lacks (The gap between the present situation and

professional information aboul learners): leammer’s needs from the

course — what is wanted from the course (short-term needs},

language learning needs effective wavs of learning the skills and

language determined by the lacks

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= Professional information about learners — the tasks and activities

English learners are/will be using English for (Target Situation

Analysis and objective needs),

* How to communicate in the target situation — knowledge of how

language and skills are used in the target situation (register analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis)

Different types of need analysis are presented in the below figure: Needs analysis jigsaw

As can be seen from the figure, these types of needs analyses are not

exclusive but supplementary Each of them provide a piece to complete the

jigsaw of needs analysis

2.4 Previous studies on coursebook evaluation

Up to now, there have been a number of studies on coursebook

evaluation In 2009, Ula; KAYAPINAR conducted a study which revealed the

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lcachers’ views on the qualily of forcign coursebook packages (lrom beginner

to intermediate level) widely used in the teaching process of Fnglish

preparatory classes in twenty-five different high schools In the study, widely

used (best-selling) courscbooks with the same sub-domains were choscn to be evaluated by teachers ‘he data were gathered from the questionnaire results of

ninety-four teachers and standard open-ended interview results of forty

teachers who teach in English preparatory classes and use particular

coursebook packages in the classroom environment (n=134) The views

revealed thal teachers did not have posilive impressions about the coursebook

packages used in general Moreover, the general conceptions of the teachers

suggest that coursebooks should be developed and used to meet the needs of

tho leamers in the naional context In the same year, Azadch Nemali carried

out a study to evaluate English Pre-University textbook of Karnataka state in

India with respect to general crilenon as well as vocabulary leaching Firstly, a gucsionnairc was made wilh relcrence Lo some critical (calures extracted from

different material evaluation checklists The prepared questionnaire was

completed by 26 Pro-University teachers [rom 12 randomly selected governmental and non-governmental schools Then strong points and

weaknesses of the coursebook were discussed in detail In the second phase, to

analyze the vocabulary of the book systematically, some texts of the hook were

randomly selected, submitted to vocabulary profile to see if they are sequenced from the most frequently used words to the less used ones which according to

Nation (1990) is an important factor in vocabulary teaching

In Vietnam, Tran Minh Thanh (2014) conducted a study to evaluate the

book “English for Information Technology” for second-year students of a

university in ‘Thai Nguyen to see how the coursebook is relevant to the learners’

needs in terms of content, format and methodology Survey questionnaires and

semi-structured interviews were employed lo invesligatc both sludenis and

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teachers’ pereeplion of the book The result revealed thal the coursebook was relatively relevant to the needs of the learners and it should be further used by

second-year students in the university with some changes and adaptation

In 2015, Tran Thi Thuy carried out an cvaluation of the courschook

“New English File - Elementary” for the first year students at a university in

Tlanoi The aim of the study is to evaluate the material to determine whether it matches the course’s requirements in terms of the audience, content, aims and

methodology The criteria suggested by lutchinson and Warter (1987) together

with two data collection instruments: document analysis and survey

questionnaires were selected ‘Ihe findings of the study showed that the book

basically met the requirement of the Faculty of English Department of the

univorsily besides some demerits to be changed and adaplod

‘This study is also carried out to evaluate the coursebook “English File

Beginner Student's Book — third edition”, bul the evaluation is only focused on the

suitability of book to the aims and methodology of the course as well as the neods

of the students The researcher does not use a single model to conduct the evaluation

bul criteria {rom diflerent evaluators are chosen and adapted Lor the evaluation by

means of delivering questionnaire and interviewing both teachers and students Tt is

hoped that the study will reveal reliable and valuable results

2.5, Summary

Chapter 2 has provided theoretical framework for the thesis Knownedge of

text books, coursebooks and materials has been discussed and an agreement has been reached that these three terms can be used interchangeably Roles of coursebook, definition, approaches and criteria of coursebook evaluation were also provided together with related studies an coursebook evaluation In this thesis, the

researcher uses mixed approaches, mainly based on Ellis’ framework (1997)

together with a selection of different criteria by different evaluators to evaluate the

coursebook “English File Beginner Student’s Book —Third Edition”:

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CITAPTER 3: RESEARCII METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents a description of the research method employed in

the study with four aspects including: the selling, participants, data collection

instruments and data collection procedure

3.1 The selling

3.1.1 English teaching and learning context

The preparatory school in which this study is conducted was founded in

1975 im order lo propare the nucussary knowledge and skills for students who

have just graduated from high schools to enter university All of the students

between the age of eighteen and twenty are from elhnic groups, mainly im northem arcas of the country Most of them have studicd English for about

seven or ten years but the non-English major students are almost at beginning

level while those whose major is English are al clementary or pre-intormediate

level They only study at the school far one year with two scmesters, cach

lasting three months

The school year 2017-2018 is the second year the courscbock “English

File Beginner Student’s Book — ‘Third Hdition” officially used for non-Hnglish

major students at the school At first, the coursebook “English Know-how

Opener” was applied for non-Rnglish major students of blocks A, B, C, then it

was substituted by a new, state-of-the-art coursebook namely “New English Tile Beginner”, and finally replaced by a new more updated version called

“English File Beginner Student's Book — ‘Third Edition”, which is currently

used as the main coursebook in the school The teaching and learning of English

Tile Beginner series follow communicative language leaching approach

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3.1.2 Course material

English File Beginner was designed by Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive

Oxenden in 2014 It is the third edilion of the origmal book “New English File

Beginner Student’s Book” ‘the package of book “English File Beginner

Student’s Book — Third Edition” includes a Student’s Book, a Teacher's Book, one Workbook withoul keys for students and one with keys [or Leachers,

English File Beginner iTools and MultiPACK, Class Audio CDs and DVD and

the e-book version of the Student’s Book, Teacher’s Book and Workbook

The English File Beginner Student’s Book consists of twelve units! files

divided into two teaching sections Lach file presents and practises grammar,

vocabulary and pronunciation with a balance of reading and listening activities and lots of opportunities for speaking At the end of every two units, there is

one “Practical English” section, which teaches useful, high-frequency, social

English and everyday Knglish with real-world In-The-Street interviews ‘There

are also Practical English drama and documentary videos that motivate and

engage sludenls with English language and culture The Revise and Check

pages after every two units help students to consolidate and measure their

progress Besides, at the back of the book includes additional] resources such as

Grammar Bank, Vocabulary Bank and Sound Bank which offer additional

support for students

3.1.3 Course objectives

The English course provided by the preparatory school aims to review and reinforce basic English knowledge that students have learnt at high school as

well as prepare for students with essential knowledge and skills to enter

universilics’ colleges Alicr the course, the students are expocled Lo extend their

vocabulary of familiar topics such as our life, community, recreation and so on

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Also, they are expected to be able to exercise and improve four skills: lisicning, speaking, reading and writing for basic communication Moreover, after

finishing the course, students can develop skills of working individually and

collaboratively in pairs or groups

3.1.4 Course assessment

Because the coursebook “English File Beginner Student’s Book — ‘Third

edition” is applied for non-English major students, there is only one kind of summative assessment which includes two forty-five-minute end-of-term tests

3.2 Research methodology

3.2.1 Participants

‘The informants of the study were 150 non-English major students out of

356 students of the academic year 2017-2018 and 08 Viemamese teachers of

English who were using the coursebook “Knglish File Beginner Student’s Book

— Third edition” Of nine classes, four classes including 56 female students and

94 male students from cightcen to lwenty years old were randomly chosen by

the researcher ‘They all had just finished high school and most of them learned

English for seven years or more [lowever, they have different levels of English prolic cy because they come Jrom dillerent places in Vietnam with different

background knowledge, though most of them are only at beginning level

Rogarding English lcachers, most of them have more than lwo years in leaching

English File at the school Onc teacher is taking the M.A course and three of

them are MA degree holders in teaching methodology or linguistics

Moreover, all the teachers are willing and enthusiastic toward thei tcachmg

and they always pay attention to the improvement of the course ‘Therefore, they

show a lot of interest in this study

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3.2.2 Research instruments

To evaluate if the coursebook meets the requirement of the course in

terms of methodology, objectives and needs of the students, two instruments

for collecting data were used, which were questionnaires and semi-structured

interviews

Questionnaires

In this study, both questionnaires were used for both teachers and students

to collect their attitude and evaluation of the currently used coursebook

“English File Beginner Student’s Book — Third Edilion” m terms ol its

suitability to the objectives of the course, students’ needs and current teaching

and learning method Lach questionnaire is divided into five sections with

student version being written in Vietnamese and teacher version in English

Section ] consists of four questions in questionnaires for students and one

question in questionnaires for teachers While the students’ questionnaires ask

about students’ Knglish leaning background and their motivation, the teachers”

‘version aims at finding out learners’ level of Iinglish

Section 2 is lo identily the suitability of the coursebook to the aims of the

course ‘lhree questions in both questionnaires for teachers and students aim at

investigaling students’ progress aller the course as well as Lhe extent lo which the courscbook “English File Beginner Student’s Book — Third edition” meets

the aims of the course

Section 3 includes five questions in both questionnaires for students and

for teachers which arc to identify the suitability of the course to students’ needs

Questions about the topics of the book, the language elements and the skills

taught in the book are asked to collect data about ils fitness to students’ needs

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Section 41s designed with three questions m both students’ and teachers’

questionnaires to measure the suitability of the coursebook to the current

teaching and learning methods through questions about the teaching and

Icarning techniques used in the hook and the teaching aids required by the hock

Section 5 is teachers’ and students’ general evaluation of the coursebook

as well their suggestions and expectations for the book adjustment if necessary

Semi-structured interviews

In order to get supplementary ideas besides those collected from the

questionnaires, the semi-struclured interviews are designed for both leachers

and students For teachers, there are four questions to clarify the strengths and

weaknesses of the book, its suitability to the course aim, students’ needs and the currenl teaching and learning methods, the dilliculs tcachers and students

have when using the material and their suggestions for better use For students,

there are also four questions about what studens like or dislike about the

courschook, their progress aller the course, the suitability of the book to their

level, learning purposes and learning method, the difficulties they have using

this material and their suggestion for Lulure use

3.2.3, Data collection procedure

Data collection was carried out through questionnaires and semi-structured

interviews for both teachers and students

- First, the researcher designed the questionnaires based on the criteria that

she had carefully chosen and adapted [rom different evaluators

- Next, the questionnaires were distributed to the students and the teachers

who are participants of the study They were returned on the same day

- Then, the semi-structured interviews were conducled All of eight teachers

from English group of the schoo! were interviewed and coded as teacher

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1,2, 3,4, 5,6, 7 and 8 Two groups of students were selecicd randomly from two classes, with one group including four students coded as

student A, B, C, D and another group including three students coded as

student F, F, G These interviews were carried out after synthesizing the

data collected from the questionnaire ‘heir answers were collected and

analyzed to support the questionnaire results about the suitability of the

coursebook to the course’s objectives, students’ needs and current

teaching and learning method

- Finally, the data were processed manually and the results of the study

would be revealed and discussed in the next chapter

3.2.4 Data analysis methods

The dala were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively For analysis of

the questionnaires, the Likert scale was uscd and necessary calculations

were carried out For the analysis of the semi-structured interviews and the open-ended questions im the questionnaires, qualitative techniques were

used to categorize and analyze the data

3.3 Summary

Chapter 3 has presented the setting and methodology of the study

Fnglish teaching and lcaming context at the preparatory school where the study

was conducted, course objectives and course assessment applied in the school

were discribed There were 150 students and 8 teachers answered the

questionnaires 7 of those 150 students and all of 8 teachers were interviewed after the data collected from questionnaires were synthesized Finally, data

were processed and analyzed both quatilatively and qualitatively 1o reveal the

findings of the study

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the researcher presents and discusses the results from the questionnaires and interviews to find out whether the coursebook “English File

Beginner Student's Book — third edition” is suitable to the course in terms of

the course aim, students’ needs and current teaching and learning methods

4.1 About the learners

Background information about learners such as their age, years of learning English as well as their current English levels or their purposes of learning is

very important for educational institutions to build up the appropriate curriculum and decide on the suitable coursebook for students to study The

charts and tables below summarize some major information of the learners at

the preparatory school

4.1.1 Learners’ English learning background

The two pie charts below present students’ age and their background of learning English as the result collected from students’ questionnaires

m20years old 19 years old

Chart 4.1: Students’ age

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As can be seen from Chart 4.1, a large majority of the students (92%) were nine-teen years old at the time of survey, which means that they entered the preparatory school right after they graduated from high school The rest (8%) who were twenty years old joined the school one year after high school

Chart 4.2: Students’ background of learning English

It is obvious from chart 4.2 that all students have been learning English for a long period of time Almost half of them (57%) have spent 7 years studying English while the other half have studied the subject for 10 years

(28%) or more than ten years (15%) It means half of them started learning

English at primary school and the other half at secondary school

4.1.2 Learners’ English level

While chart 4.3 presents students’ self-assessment of their English level at the beginning of the course, table 4.1 below shows teachers’ assessment of their students’ level It can be seen that 74% of the students were at “poor” level, which is consistent with teachers’ assessment based on the result of the

placement test at the beginning of the school year All teachers assessed that

from 70% to 90% of the students had “poor” result in English Nearly a quarter

of the students (21%) supposed that they were at “average” level and very few (5%) admitted that they were “good” at English This result is similar to

29

teachers’ assessment that from 10% to 30% of the students were at average level and from only 1% to 10% of them were good Both teachers and students did not highly appreciate students’ ability in leaming English when none of

them assessed the students were “excellent”

Table 4.1: Teacher's assessment of students’ English level

at the beginning of the course

Chart 4.3: Students’ self-assessment of their English level

at the beginning of the course From the above analysis, it can be concluded that a vast majority of

students had poor level of English

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