Luận văn an evaluation of the material new headway elementary for the first year non english major students at thai nguyen college of economics and technology

ABSTRACT Malerial evaluation is an inuportan task in the process of language leaching Within these regards, the thesis was carried out to evaluate the material "New 1leaduap Elementary"

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOGE UNIVERSIVY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

fof sab ok dob deste foto:

BUT THT HUONG

AN EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL “NEW HEADWAY — ELEMENTARY” FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENTS AT THAINGUYEN COLLEGE OF

ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY

Banh gid giao trimh “New Headway_Elementary” dành chú sinh viên

không chuyên ngữ năm thử nhất trường Cao ding

Kinh té - Kỹ thuật Thái Nguyên

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGIISH TEACHING METHOROLOGY

CODE: 60140111

Tani, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOGE UNIVERSIVY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

fof sab ok dob deste foto:

BUT THT HUONG

AN EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL “NEW HEADWAY — ELEMENTARY” FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENTS AT THAINGUYEN COLLEGE OF

ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY

Dinh gid giao trinh “New Headway_Elementary” danh cha sinh vién

không chuyên ngữ năm thử nhất trường Cao ding

Kinh té - Kỹ thuật Thái Nguyên

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGIISH TEACHING METHOROLOGY

CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: 10 THI THU HUONG, DR

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION

T certify the minor thesis is submited entilled “An Evaluation of the material New Headway_ Elementary for the first year non-English major students at Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Technology” in partial fulfillment, of the requirements for the degree of Master of Aris T conlirm thai thịs

is the result of my own work, and that it has not been submitted for any other degrees

Signature

Bài Thị Hương

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘My thesis has been completed with the supports of any people T would like

to thank them for their thoughtful help

Virst and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr To Thi Tha Huong or ber valuable guidance, thoughtful comments, sympathy and encouragement Without her help, [ can not complete this thesis

I am also prateful to all the professors and lecturers at College of Toreign

Language (CFL), Vietram National Universily, Hanoi (VNUM) for their insight ful

lectures and useful guidance during the course

I would also like ta express my thankfulness to all my English colleagues

and all the firsl year studeris itt the class K9QLLMT, K9KT, KOCNTT, K9QLB at

Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Technology (TNCET) for the great

cooperation in the collection of data for my study

Finally, T am deeply indebted to my husband and my litile daughter (or their

love, encowagement and support, who helps me to accomplish this research.

ABSTRACT

Malerial evaluation is an inuportan task in the process of language leaching

Within these regards, the thesis was carried out to evaluate the material "New

1leaduap Elementary" which is being used at Thai Nguyen College of Economics

and Technology im order to deternmne how ihe material is suitable [or the needs of

students within the framework of the English program Thanks to this, there are some suggestions for material adaptation to make a more appropriate material with

the hope of improving the quality of teaching and learning Fuglish at Thai Nguyen

College of Liconomics and ‘Technology

The material is evaluated based on the criteria of Hutchinson and Waters

(1987) in terms of objective, conten, and mothadelogy by using two instruments Lo collect the data from teachers” and students’ opinions such as questionnaires and

interviews

Research results show the strenglhs and weaknesses of the matenal, it also

reveals some inappropriate things to the needs of students Based on these findings,

they help the researcher come up with some suggestions for material adaptations as

omission, addition and replacement to have a more appropriate material for the

following courses.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Vietnam National University, lanci

College of Foreign Language

‘Thainguyen College of Eeonomies and ‘Technology Lnglish Language Teaching

Teachers

Students

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

‘The materials evaluation process (Llutchinson and Waters 1987, p 98)

Students’ desire and achievement alter finishing English course

‘The match of the material to the needs of students Students’ interest on the material

Teachers’ opinions about students’ achievernent afler learning this

material

Students and teachers’ opinion about language point in this material

Students and leachers’ opinions about the proportion of four macro-

skills in this material

‘Teachers and students’ opinions about the integration of four macro-

skills in (his material

Teachers and students’ opinions about the kinds of texts in this

material

Teachers and students’ opinions about the organization and sequence

of content in this material

Teachers and students’ options about topics of the material

Teachers and students’ opinions about cach part of units in this

material

Teachers and studerts’ opitions about the number of new words in

each unit in this material

Teachers and students’ opinions about the variety of kinds of tasks/

exercises in this material

‘feachers and students’ opinions about teaching and learning interactions/techniques in this material

Teachers and students’ opimons about teaching aids

vi

TABLE OF CO PART A: INTRODUCTION

ENTS

1 Rational for the study

3 Ains of the study

3 Research questions

4 Methods of the siudy

5, Scope of the study

6 Design of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAAPTER TH: LITERATURE RIEVLUNW., c.ceeeirrer

1.1 Materials in language teaching, and learning

1.1.1 Maicrial and types of materials

1.1.2 What are roles of material in language teaching and leaming’

1.2 Material evaluation

1.2.1 What is material evaluation?

1.2.2 Different types of material evaluaiơn .-se2

1.2.3 What are purposes of material evaluation?

1.2.4 Who are material cvaluators?

1.2.5, Models for material evaluation .cccssusuctusnseneiesstaeset

1.2.6, Different methods of evaluation

1.2.7, What are criteria for material evaluationŸ «se

2.1 The current teaching ard learning silualion at TNCET

2.1.1 Teaching and Ieaming context

2.1.2 General description of the material

vil

2.2.2 InISETUHTETIES 5Ì 2 2122 tt HH mg gen ló

2.2.4, Data analysis pToeedte

3.1.3 ‘The methodology of the material "¬ veeeuevaticeteeseacisetieesasieeenieee2O

3.2.1 The sunlability of the objeclives of the matenal lo the needs of shaders within

the framework of the Inglish program at TNCET

3.2.2 The suitability of the content of the material with the students’ needs within

3.2.3 ‘The suitability of the methodology of the material to the needs of students

3.3.1 The suitability of the objectives of the material to the needs of students within

3.3.2 ‘The suitability of the contents of the material to the needs of students

withinthe framework of the English program .cccsscsssessssesenensieevesenesieneeeB2

3.3.3 The suitability of the methodology of the material to the needs of students

within the #amework of the English program ¬

APPENDICES - - - - 1

Appendix 1: HUTCHINSON AND WATERS'S CRITERIA CHECKLIST FOR

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1, Rational for the study

English is an intemational language and as a mean of communication between nations, cultures and international organizations In the trend of globalization today, English has become a prerequisite for success and ualional integration into the world family, With the strong development of the English language in modem society in Vietnam, National Foreign Language 7020 has been made and implemented with goals “

‘by 2020 most Vietnamese siudenls graduating from sccondary, vovational schools, colleges and universities will be able to use a foreign language confidently in their daily communication, their study and work in an integrated, multi-cultural and multi-lingual civironment, making forcign languages a comparative advanlage of development for

‘Vietnamese people in the cause of industrialization and modernization for the country”

ds And it is necessary for students to be educated in the appropriate skills with the appropriate Therefore, the teaching and learning of English has become one of the very pressing ne

tools This is the first reason for me to carry out an cvaluation of the material New Headway_ Elementary

Materials play an important role in most language programs It is one of the most

important factors in English class, functioning as the teaching and learning tool, the tutor

and guidebook It is, therefore, necessary to choose the one that suits the desired and

allainable goals of the course as well as students Furthermore, Cunningsworth (1995) and Ellis (1997) suggest thái lextbook cvalustion helps teachers mave beyond

impressionistic assessments and it helps them to acquire useful, accwate, systematic,

and contextual insights into the overall nature of textbook material ‘his is another reason far mc i execute the rescarch

At TNCET, New Headway Elementary has been used for 10 years but no

evaluation has been conducted to assess how the material is Moreover, under the

requirement for language skills of National Foreign Language 2020 Project, the

researcher's college requires students to achieve A2 level as a condition of graduation Hence, it is very important to have a suitable textbook that helps students achieve goals And, iLis really necessary lo carry oul the mulcrial evaluation to sce how it matches the

needs of students within the tamework of the English program at this college

irom above reasons, the researcher decided to evaluate the material New

Headway_ Flementary \o discover the suitability of the malerial to the necds of students within the ttamework of English program at TNCET in terms of objective, content, and methodology and then having suggestions for material adaptation to improve the quality of English teaching and tearing,

2, Aims of the study

‘This study is carried out to evaluate the material New Headway _Hlementary is

4 Methods of the study

Tn this thesis, survey research was employed wilh survey questiomaires and

informal interviews for data colleetion,

Survey questionnaires were designed for the English teachers and the first-year students at TNCET, who have experienced using the book

Informal interviews were applied to get more information fiom selected participants

5 Scope of the study

Although the rescareher tnentioned the Commou Furopoan Framework of Reference, she did not analyze it; she just relied on it to assist in the evaluation of the material Thus, the most important task of this research is focusing on evaluating the material New Headway_ Elementary from the opinions of the English teachers and the first-year students at college in terms of Objective, Content and Methodology basing on material evalnation model and criteria proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987)

6 Design of the atudy

This study consists of three parts:

- Part A: Introduction presents the rational, aims, research questions, methods,

seope, and design of the study

- Part B: Development includes three chapters

+ Chapter 1: Literature review provides a theoretical basic for issues relating to Material, Malerial evaluation and Malsrial adaplaiion Material part concludes definition of material, types of material, and roles of material in language teaching and leaming Material evaluation part consists of definition, types, purposes, material evaluators, anodels, mothods, and eritoria of malarial cvaluation Material adaptation part mentions about reasons for material adaptation and adapting techniques

+ Chapter 2: Methodology focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis imehulng an overv

PART B; DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LIFERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning

1.1.1 Material and types of materials

‘There are several concepts of material fram different authors

Tomlinson (1998, p.66) defines: “Materials a anything which is used to help

to teach language leamers, Materials canbe in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a casscttc, » CD-Rom, a video, a photocopicd handout, a newspaper, a paragraph waitten on a whiteboard: anything which presents ot informs about the language being jearned™

According {o Richards (2001, p.251), “Materials can be instructional, cxpericntial, elicitative, and exploratory, in that they can inform leamers about Fanguage, they can provide experience of the language in use, they can stimulate language use or they can help Jeamers to make discoveries about the language for themselves”

Material is a crucial component in language ‘caching and teaming It is vory necessary to choose the material which should be used in particular circumstance

As mentioned in the definition, materials exist in many different forms Towever, McGrath (2002) studied and classified into four main types:

- Published materials: This type of material can be books and reference material as dictionaries, grammars, advice on language learning, test practice materials, (apes accompanying course books, or supplamontary books

- Authentic materials: Taken from real life, these consist of newspapers, magazines, user manuals, leaflets and brochures, foreign mission information, jetters, faxes, emails, videos, and songs:

- Adapting and supplementing published materials: These are ones that have been adapted or supplemented in some ways These cut-up materials can be self-standing or deliberately designed to supplement the course books

- Specially-prepared materials: Kor self-access activities, this type of material proves to be useful as there is always a need for material that is more precisely tailored to the noods of stutlenis working on their own,

Basing on features of types of the material, it is easy to realize the material New Headway_ Elementary is published material in addition, these features provide teachers

understanding of each types of material ‘Thus, they can be successful in choosing the

watcrial that suits (he specific circurnstances and needs of J2arucrs

1.1.2 What are roles of material in language teaching and learning?

In the process of English language teaching and learning, there are many important components which can affect the qualily of teaching and learning bul the most essential one is the material, It is very difficult for teachers to teach systematically without a material, Indeed, the material plays a crucial role in providing the foundation of knowledge

for both teachers and learners And the rolc of materials is a subjcel which is disi

sod by many authors The following reasons prove how materials are very important in language teaching and leaning process

According to Richard (2001), maicrials provide # basic for the comlent of the Jesson, the appropriate proportion of skills taught, and the type of language practice students take part in Furthermore, usefull teaching materials provide great assistance to inexperisneed teachers or poorly trained teachers, In this case, matetials may also serve as

a form of teacher training It moans that they provide idcas on how to plan and teach lesson form materials,

Cunrringsworth (1984, 11.6) slates that no tmalsrial is lolally suited wilh a particular teaching situation, However, the role of the material is to be the service of teachers and Jearners but not to be their master So the relationship between teacher and the material is a partnership which shares common goals to which each side brings ils special contribution

Besides, the aitus of the material should seck to rneot the 1

ods of the Ioarner Io the highest degree, To get these aims, it is necessary to conduct materials evaluation so that teachers can choose suitable materials in a particular situation

1.2 Materi:

1.2.1 What is material evaluation?

There are some ways of defining material evaluation ftom different researchers

According to Hutchinson and Watcrs (1987, p.96), “evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose”

With regards to this issue, Tomlinson defines material evaluation as a procedure

evaluation

that involves msasuring the value (or polential value) of a sot of learning materials Th involves making judgments about the effect of the materials on the people using them CYomlinson, 2003, p.15)

in the other words, Dudley (1998 p.128) claims “evaluation is a whole process which begins with determining what information to gather and ends with bringing about

‘the change in current activities or influencing future ones”

In conclusion, the researchers give a general identification that material evaluation

is a process of deciding whether the malerials is suilable to the teaching and learning objectives based on collected data and suggesting actions to make changes in the process

of language teaching and learning

1.2.2 Different types af material evaluation

Educators have classified evaluation according to its purpose, And different researchers have different divisions in classifying material evaluation Robinson (1991, 7.59) divides malorials ovaluation into throe types: pretirninary, summative and formative while McGrath (2002, p.181-203) classifies materials evaluation into three stages: pre-use,

in -use and post-use evaluation In all classifications fiom different authors, Mc Grath’s classification seams to be most widely accepted

~ Pre- usc evaluation is often carricd out before the course starts to sclcct the most appropriate materials for the particular group of leamers and for the aims of the course, Resides, this evaluation is to identify which aspects of the published malerial needed adapting to suit the purposes of the evaluators,

- in-use evaluation offen takes place during the leaming process This process evaluates suitability, involving, malching the materiat against a specific requirement inchuding the leamer’s objective, the leamor’s background, and tha resources available

- Post- use evaluation is carried out when the course is finished to identify strengths and weaknesses and the findings of this evaluation is very helpitl to decide whether to

repeal or nse the materials again or nol

In short, each type of material evaluation has the advantages as well as disadvantage Therefore, in order to evaluate material effectively, the researchers shovld detcrmine which type of matcrial evaluation will be suitable for rescarch puposes and their real context, Among three types of material evaluation mentioned above, anly Post- use evaluation is camied out after finishing the course At that time students have approached all the lessơns or parts in the material, iL is mors objective to give ovaluators personal opinions about material, Therefore, evaluator can get the most useful results in material evaluation process and these results will support English program in the next

school year to adjust some program contents to meet the quality of teachmg and learning

La ase po

1.2.3, What are purposes of material evaluation?

Material evaluation is a very important activity of teachers in language teaching

asc evaluation in this study

process His becoming more and more important in sorting out the most appropriate

anaterial among the masses of books available in the market

According to Cunningsworth (1995

through evaluation, we can assess whether the course book is Ihe Tost appropriate for the target learners al various Tevels and im

‘various teaching settings

Robinson (1991) states that evaluation can be used as part of quality control Through evaluation, wo ean know about the advantagus and disadvantages as well

as the effectiveness of the being used materials

Alderson (1992) set out a list of purposes of material evaluation as follows:

- To decide whether materials have had the intended effect

~ To identity what cffect materials have had

~ Yo vindicate a decision

- To justify future courses of action

- To compare approaches/inethodologies

- To identify areas for improvement in future use

- To show the positive achievements of teachers and students

- To tolivals leachars

- To allay suspicions among, parents or sponsors

At TNCEI New Headway_ Elementary bas been used for 10 years ‘The material

itsol has revealed many strengths as well as weaknesses in the teaching and learning environment However, no evaluation has been condueted to determine that Therefore, the author decided to carry out this research in order to have a more appropriate set of material 1.2.4, Wha are material evaluators?

A number of researchers including Robinson (1991), Tomlinson (1998), Dudley- Evan & St John (1998) and Richards (2001) indicate that materials evaluators can be both outsiders and insiders Depending on the tole of evalualors in the lmguage teaching program, their name can be changed either outsider ar insider

Outsiders are those who have not been mvolved in the program such as consultants, inspcetors and administralors Accordingly, they may not fully understand the teaching and Jearning situation in which the evaluation is being carried out, In addition, it may take them more time to be aware of the Jocal situation such as leamers’ needs, facilities and time constraints so il may be difficult for them to wake truly judgments and recommendations

of the program

in contrast to the outsiders, the insiders are those who have been directly involved

in the language-leaching program such as teachers, slufenls, couse and talarials designers Therefore, they can provide the most valid infomation in the evaluation process Also, their understanding of cultural and political factors of the institution in which tho cvalution takes place would cnhance the reliability of judgments and secommendations, To stress the role of the insiders as evaluators, Richard (2001, p.296) states that the involvement of the insiders plays an important part in the success of evaluation because “as a consequence, they will have greater degree of commitment to acting on its result”, He also adds that the teachers can wateh out for when the matcrials are being used Consequently, they can know exactly the extent that the materials work for their purposes and they can nake modifications lo improve the effectiveness of the materials, However, there are also disadvantages to insiders when they are “too close and involved” (Dudley- Evan and St John, 1998, p.131) so the evaluation may be influenced

by their subjective points of view and their teaching experience

The author of this +

while conducting the study,

1.2.5 Motels for material evaluation

arch is a lcacher, so sho plays the role of insider evatualor

fa the material evaluation process, evaluation model plays an important role for evaluators to follow Many authors have studied about it and have given different models for material evaluation Llowever, the most popular models are the ones suggested by Hutchinson & Watcrs (1993), Ellis (1997), and McDonough & Shaw (1993)

‘The first model of evaluation by Hutchinson & Waters is called Marco Evaluation

In ths model, they divided the material evaluation process into four main steps presented

in the following diagram:

On what base:

DEFINE CRITERIA

s will you judge materials?

Which criteria will be more important?

SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS

Whal realization of the cnieria

do you want in your course?

Figure 1: The matevials evaluation process (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, p 93)

The second model is Micro Evaluation which is developed by Ellis (1997) According to him, this is the evalvati ion of one particular teaching task which the evaluator

‘has @ special interest in, The model consists of the following steps

- Choosing a task to follow

- Describing the task with specification of input, procedures, language activities,

and outcomes

- Planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above

- Collecting information before, while and after the task was used, and what and

how the lask was porformed

- Analyzing the information collected

- Reaching conclusions relating to what has been discovered, and making recommendations for the filure keaching

- Writing the report

‘fhe third model is a combination of macro- and micro- evaluation which is

developed by McDonough & Shaw (1993) In this model, the authors suggest a three-stage

evaluation model called: external evaluation, internal evaluation, and overall evaluation

‘The extemal stage (macro- evaluation) is used to identify whether the material is polentially appropriate, then the internal slage slarls and if the Gndings show that the

auaferial is inappropriate, the evaluation will be finished at the external stage

‘The internal stage (micro- evaluation) requires an in-depth investigation inte the

qwatcrials so we mieed (0 cxarnine al leas! two or more units of the book fo examine the

extent to which the factor in the extemal evaluation stage actually match the intemal consistency and organization of the materials staged by the author/ publisher

The final step is the overall evaluation It helps to determine the suitability of the

aatcrials for specified groups or individuals by considering a number of the factors such as

the usability, the generalizability, the adaptability, and the flexibility

In short, Hutchinson and Walers (1987) suggest a logicat model for materials

evaluation It seems to be the most appropriate model to fotlow because it can help the

evaluators know exactly what must be done to analyze the material Hirstly, the author set out both subjective analysis and abjective analysis Then the findings of the lwo analyses

arc compared to fined ont whathor Ihoy malch t

fh othor and if not, to what oxtonts thuy

do not match up Based on the research results, good aspects as well as problematic parts

of the material can be identified, which may serve as a reliable ground for further suggestions on matcrial impravements These are ths reasons why the author has chosen the evaluation framework by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) to check whether the existing material is suitable for the needs of students

1.2.6 Different methods of evaluation

In general, there are three basic methods of material evaluation, McGrath (2002) TeFars them to the impressionistic method, the checklist method, and the in-depth method

The impressionistic method is concord ta obtain a general impression of the material This is wide-ranging but relative superticial (Cunningworth, 1995, p.1) The

method involves glancing at the publisher’s description on the back cover, the content page, book layout and visuits

The checklist method is the use of a list of items which is referred to for

comparison, identification or verification It is considered systematic, cost effective,

convenient and explicil

The indepth method looks at the kind of language description, underlying assumptions about leaning or values on which the materials are based (McGrath, 2002) it focuses on spoctfic feature (Curmingworth, 1995), clase analysis of ons or more extracts (Hutchinson, 1987)

in short, each of these methods has its limitations as well as its specific uses

Among the three mafhods of tnatcrial evaluation above, the checklisl methad scerms ta suit

Dest over the rest because the checklist method helps evaluators easily to carry out the research with a list of items, In addition, it is systematic, cost efléctive, convenient and explicit Therefore, the researcher decided to adopt it as the major method to evaluate the material New Headway_ Elementary

1.2.7 What are criteria for material evaluation?

‘There arg many different criteria for taterial evaluation, so iL is nol easy to identify which ctiteria we take to evaluate material, And in order to evaluate material effectively, teachers should be sure what is being evaluated and why they need to be evaluated before choosing crileria for tateriat evaluation

‘The first set of critzria is stated by William (1983) Tl concludss seven ariteria, cach

of which has the folowing aspects

- General criteria: give introductory guidance on the presentation of language items and skills

- Speech criteria: suggest aids for the teaching of pronunciation

- Grammar criteria: offer meaningful situations and a variety of techniques for teaching structural units

- Vocabulary criteria: distinguish the different purposes and skills invalved in the teaching of vocabulary,

- Roading criteria: provide guidance on the initia presentation of passages [or reading comprehension

- Writing criteria: demonstrate the various devices for controlling and guiding

content and expression in compasition excreis:

- Technical criteria: contain appropriate pictures, diagrams, tables, ete

‘This criterion seems to be very usefid and appropriate for evaluating a material However, such frameworks are more suitable for the selection of course books available in

the market than for the examination of the material,

According to Ur (1996), there are two types of ctiteria including general (the essential features of any good teaching — leaming material) and specific (context-related) criteria

Criteria of Ur (1996) are too general, so it is nol appropriale for evaluating a amaterial

For more specific ctiteria, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) suggest that there are five taain criteria for materials evaluation concluding the audience, the aims the content, and the methodology and other criteria

- The audience of the materials: the evaluator should obtain information about and from learners to find out whether the materials are suitable to the students’ age, knowledge

of English, interest and so on

~ Aims of the materials: refer to the purpose of leamers’ course and materials

- Content of the materials: refers to language points, macro-skills/ micro-skills, and

topics suit the Icarners’ needs

- Methodology of the materials: is concemzd with learners’ expectations from the course, kinds of tasks, teaching techniques and the aids available for use

on material being in use ‘The authors gave very specific criteria which are based ơn thai evaluators can look at the material thoroughly in almost all aspects In their criteria, objective and content as woll as methodology have a dircet impact to the quality of teaching and learning English Therefore, in order to fit the setting and constraints of the

crurent research which is for a minor thesis, the researcher decides to evaluate material based on the three criteria namcly objcetive, conten! and methodology to sce how much New Headway Elementary matches with the needs of the students in the context of the English program they are working in

1.3 Material adaptation

1.3.1 Why should adapt materials?

in tact, most commercial textbooks are not written for any particular class, so teachers should be judiciously to choose suitable materials that meet the needs of the Jeamers within the framework of the English program And to have those materials, adaptation socms to be a very necessary activity in teaching process, Therefore, in most ELT cases, teachers always use adapting technique with aims to help their teaching to be

‘more effective and more interesting

According to McDonough and Shaw (1993, p85), material adaptation is “to maximize the appropriacy of teaching matenal in context, by changing some of the internal characteristics of a course book lo beller suit our particular circumstances.” So, afler the process of material evaluation teachers should conduct material adaptation,

Besides, adaptation helps teachars to maximize the value of the book for the benefit

of their learners So, they can improve it so that it is suitable for the particular situation

(Apple and Jungek, 1990; Sharmon, 1987)

From several opinions of different authors above, we can see the important role of material adaptation to teaching and learning process and it is easy to understand why icachors carry oul the adaptation, And in order to adapt offvetively, teachers should realize what are necessary to be adapted before they decide to adapt material such as aims, topies, texts, visuals, guidelines and explanations, exercises, activities, tasks, games, quizzes,

questionmaires, etc (Grabrielatos, 2001)

1.3.2 Adapting techniques

‘There ate many ways to adapt material that are discussed by many authors such as MeDough and Shaw (1993), Maley (1998), Tomlinson (1998).clc Bul due to the limited framework of the study for a minor thesis, the researcher only presents the following, options for materials adaptation suggested by Maley (1998, p.281):

- Omission: the teacher leaves out things deemed inappropriate, offensive, unpro- ductive, 2lc., for the particular group

through the textbooks from the one the writer has laid down

- Branching: teachers may decide to add options to the existing activity or to

suggest aliernative pathways through the activities,

i short, although thors are many adapling techniques, Igachers shoul choose suitable techniques with materials to get the best effectiveness in teaching and learning process

fn summary, this chapter has provided a brief review of Hiicmlure om materials evaluation, It includes three sections The first section mentions some issues in the material The second sections presented major issues in materials evaluation The last section also included some issucs in material adaptation Therefore, this chapter can be seen as the theoretical foundation for the applications for the study in chapter IIL

CHAPTER I: METHODOLOGY

2.1, The current teaching and learning situation at TINCET

2.1.1 Teaching and learning context

'TNCET is a college in a mountainous area in the North of Vietnam Although this

college was buill and developed for 40 years, facilities for teaching and learning are also poor and lacked What the teachers and students often use in an English class are the course book, the board, chalk, cassettes and projectors Besides, English classes in my college are always vory largo ones, from 75 1a 80 siuđonls in cach They ars nol homogeneous in level, ability and age English subject is taught in two semesters in the whole course with totally 108 school periods In the first semester, the students have to

complete 7 units and in the sceond scrnestor, they complete the rest units During the lern,

the students have two mid-teum tests and at the end of each tam, they have to take an oral

test

All students are at different levels of English proficiency and their saming style is vaticd, They have cxpericnced 3 to 7 years studying English at sccondary school They hardly have high motivation to learn English because they know that after graduating from college, they will work in where no English is used The status and role of English in the students’ living, environment are not highly considered, Therefore, many students don’t want to learn English

2.1.2 General description of the material

New Headway_ Hlementary is weiltsn by Liz, & John Soars and published by Oxtiord University Press in 2002

‘The objectives of the material are to provide the students with basic English granmnar and vacablary relating to fariliar topics in their daily lives to holp there communicate in English in common situations, After leaming this material, students are

-Demansirate some control of essential grammatical structures with occasional

2.2, Research methodology

2.2.1, Participants

‘The study was carried out on 265 students, 5 Finglish teachers, 265 students were from 4 classes such as K9QLMT, K9KT, K9CNTT, and K9QLD Teachers were all from English department at INCET and by the time the research was conducted, they had experience in leaching the malerial New Headway_ Elementary lo non-English inajor students They used this matetial to teach the fizst year students of different classes, therefore, they were in a better position to evaluate the material

fnformal interviews were applied to gel more infomation from selected

participants

2.2.3 Data collection procedure

Dala collection was conductzd via questionnaire for both the Isachers and the students The questionnaires were given to the teachers and students at the same time First, they read through the questionnaires to make sure that any unambiguity could be

avoided The questionnaires then were asked to return in a week.

2.2.4, Data analysis precedure

data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics method Afler collecting data, the results were analyzed and presented in forms of tables After that, writing an explanation of the descriptive statistics to report the results for the study

2.3 Summary

This chapter has provided an overview of the current English teaching and learning

context af ‘i NCET ‘he participants involved in this research were English teachers wha

had boon teaching the material New Headway_ Elementary for at lcast four years and the first-year students at TNCET

CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Material analysis

3.1.1 The objective of the material

‘The material is designed with the purpose of developing language skills of learners

as they can read, speak, write and listen simple texts/conversations or familiar topics To

achieve this, it provides a foundation in the structure of language gradually building

student’s understanding of the basic grammar, vocabulary, and functions of English

‘The material provides students a large amount of various vocabularies on the fields

of life through simple texts, conversations or daily situations Besides, the material helps students to get the basic grammars and functions of English Tasks/exercises are organized logically, so that students can have the opportunity to practice using the vocabulary and grammar points in a combination of skills These activities aim to practice the skills to

develop language competence of learners,

‘The material also gives leamers the opportunity to learn about cultural interference between countries through social topics Through tasks around those topics, students can understand more about the world This is a good opportunity for them to develop language

In short, with the contribution of the material, it early helps learners achieve the

development of language skills

3.1.2 The content of the material

Regarding the content of the material, the researcher analyzes the following

aspects: language points (grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation), language skills, topics, organization of content, and sequence of content These are important aspects which

directly affect the English language ability of students

+ Language points:

Grammar section provides students basic English structures such as: the verb to be, there is/are, present simple, past simple, present continuous, to be going to, present

perfect, comparatives, superlatives, how many, can/could, ete and they are practiced them

by students in the next sections Grammar section has three stages including starter,

presenting grammar point, practice The starter stage is designed to be a warmer to the

lesson and it is a short activity and always has direct relevance to the language to be

introduced in the unit In the presentation of grammar point, students are asked to perform

tasks which are related to the new grammar in order to infer the rules and usages of this In

the practice stage, students practice some exercises by applying the new structures in order

to help students reinforce their grammar knowledge

Vocabulary and pronunciation sections are integrated together Although each

lesson has its own vocabulary section (except unit 5, 9, 14), in all sections of the each unit,

there is also the number of vocabulary and they are displayed at the end of the page with the transcription and meaning Vocabulary is related to various common topics such as:

countries, everyday objects, family, food and drink, jobs, places, relationships, city and

country, weather and so on In order to help students leam vocabulary better, this section

gives the illustrations and exercises for them to practice

To combine the use of vocabulary in context, the promunciation section helps students lear the pronunciation of words by giving the transcription of difficult words and

some important sounds This section also provides some exercises to practice

4 Language skills:

Language skills are also mentioned in the analysis including reading, speaking,

listening and writing

Material provides opportunities for students to always practice the four skills

However, each skill is not divided into separate sections; they are integrated cleverly into one another It could be a combination of reading and writing, listening and speaking or

reading and speaking, reading and listening

In Reading and Wniting, two reading and wniting skills are incorporated together

Afier reading the text, students are asked to write a paragraph related to the topics studied

Thus students have the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge and promote their creative abilities

In Listening and Speaking or Reading and Speaking, after each listening or reading,

students are often required to resolve certain situations or themes related to listening or

reading but more realistic and closer to life aim to improve their speaking skills

In Reading and Listening, these skills enhance the ability of reception of language

to conduct next activities more smoothly and more easily These requirements are carried

out in groups or in pairs, so students can bring into play their creativity effectively.

The tasks of each section in the material are done by the integration of four macro

skills These techniques make students have the interest in learning; they are not trained

only one skill for too long time With this advantage, the material can meet students”

needs,

+ Topics:

The material provides students the common and interesting topics such as jobs,

food and drink, leisure activities, relationships, shopping, people, clothes, the weather ete

with the content closer to their daily lives Therefore, they give students the useful background knowledge to make them easily communicate in familiar situations of life

They really suit the needs of students

+ = Organization of content:

Each unit has 5 sections namely Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation, Skills

work, Everyday English and Writing Grammar section is presented through the texts or

dialogues, grammar spot and exercises Vocabulary and Pronunciation section appears

along with illustrations and practical exercises Skills work section is the reading texts and

exercises to do relating to the content of the texts Everyday English section is also

presented through the dialogues or illustrations and exercises Four sections above are in

the students’ book, only writing section is designed in the workbook with writing samples,

grammar points, and practice exercises

+ Sequence of content:

The content of each unit is divided into five parts including grammar, vocabulary

and pronunciation, skills work, everyday English and writing The repetition of parts of

each unit aims to provide the opportunity for students to improve skills effectively

3.1.3 The methodology of the material

+ Types of tasks/ exercises:

In grammar section, there are a variety of tasks/exercises such as: fill in the blanks,

tick the correct sentence, read the text and answer questions, ask and answer questions,

read and complete the questions, write questions/sentences basing on given words, match

the question and answer, make the sentence opposite, describe something/people, match the sentences/verbs and pictures, correct the false sentences, writing the correct sentences

basing on available pictures and verbs, put the words in the correct order to make

questions, read and listen and practice, listen and repeat, write and read, read and speak,

etc They are always used to help students remember exactly all new grammar structures

In vocabulary and pronunciation section, there are many types of tasks to help

students leam new words effectively such as: listen and say, match the words and

pictures/theirs opposites/symbols, ask and answer questions, write sentences using the

adjectives, use dictionary and match pictures with jobs, find the words that have the same

pronunciation, correct the mistakes, listen and answer questions/complete the answers,

listen and practice, fill in the blanks, match the words that rhyme ete

Skills work section (including reading and wniting, listening and speaking, reading

and listening, reading, speaking, speaking and listening, reading and speaking) has various types of tasks such as listen and read, complete the texts/conversations, write and read,

match the photograph with part of the letter/sentence/places, correct the false sentences, write questions and letter, read and answer the questions, choose true or false, listen and

complete the chart/conversation/question, role play, write the paragraph, interview

In everyday English, the following types of task are used concluding read and listen

and complete suggestions, put sentences in the correct order to complete the conversations,

practice the conversation and make more conversation, fill in the blanks, write correct word next to the numbers, ask and answer questions, listen and check and practice,

4k The teaching/ learning techniqwes:

‘The material has the effective teaching and learning techniques, There are clear instructions in all units such as working individually, working in pair, and working in group, role play, and interview These techniques give students many opportunities to practice or develop their skills They also motivate students more interested in learning English This is a great success of the material in improving the quality of the teaching and learning English