Luận văn teacher's and students' evaluation of english 1 1 textbook in use at vietnam university of commerce

LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Description of Student Participants 3.2 Description of Teacher Participants 4,1 Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Aims 4.2 Students’ Evaluation of the ‘Textbo

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST —- GRADUATE STEDIES:

DOAN PHUONG NGAN

‘TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS? EVALUATION OF

ENGLISI 1.14 TEXTBOOK IN USE AT VIETNAM

UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌNH TIENG ANH 1.1 DANG SU’ DUNG TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

THUONG MAT

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 1410

Hanoi - 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IEA NOT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST —- GRADUATE STUDIES:

ARERR ARRAN EERE

DOAN PHUONG NGAN

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ EVALUATION OF

ENGLISH 1.1 TEXTBOOK IN USE AT VIETNAM

UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE ANH GIA CUA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌN¡ TIENG ANH 1.1 DANG SỬ DỤNG TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

THUONG MAI

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 1410

Supervisor: Nguyen Minh Hué, M.A

Hanoi - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1 Rationale of the study

1.2 Aims of the study

1.3 Research questions

1.4 Scope of the study

LS Significance of the study

L.6 Qverview of the paper

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.2.4 Approaches to material evaluation

2.2.5 Principles for material cvaluation

2.2.6 Models for material evaluation

2.2.7 Criteria for material evaluation

CHAPTER THREF: METHODOLOGY

3.1 An introduction to English 1.1 course and English 1.1 textbook

3.1.1 English 1.1 course

3.1.2 English 1.1 textbook

CHAPIER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Results and discussion

4.1.1 Questionnaire results

4.1.1.1 Student questionnaire results

4.1.1.2 Teacher questionnaire results

4.1.2 Follow-up interview results

4.1.2.4 Student follow-up interview results

4.1.2.2 Teacher follow-up interview resulis

4.2 Major findings

4.2.1 Summary of main findings

4.2.2 Strengths and weaknesses of the textbook

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Description of Student Participants

3.2 Description of Teacher Participants

4,1 Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Aims

4.2 Students’ Evaluation of the ‘Textbook Design and Organization

4.3 Students’ Altitudes toward the Textbouk Topics

4.4; Students’ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content

4.5: Students’ Evaluation of the ‘Textbook Language Skills

4.6 Toachors' Rvaluation of the Texthook Airs and Approach

4,7 Teachers’ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization 4.8 ‘Teachers’ Livaluation of the ‘Textbook ‘opie

4.9 Teachers” Opinions on the Textbook Language Content

4.10 Teachers’ Evaluation of the Textbook Language Skills

LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS

Figures and Charts Figure 2.1: The Matenals Evaluation Model of Hutchinson and

Waters (1987: 08)

Figure 2.2: A greliminay framework far materials amalysis and

action by Littlejohn (1998)

Chart 4.1: Students’ main studying purposes for the course

Charl 4.2: Teachers’ Opinions on Purposes of the Course

Page

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION,

1.1 Rationale of the study

The textbook, a key component in most language programs, is ong of the major teaching and leaming resources used both inside and outside the classroom (Richard 2005) It has an enormous influence on what is taught in class and how it is taught In ‘T'yson’s research (1997), he found “those new and in-expericneed teachers, or those who lack adequate time for lesson planning, may actually teach from the first page off the textbook to the last, skipping little or nothing” (p 89) Due to its very important role, selecting a sight texibook

for an English course is not an casy task for cach EFL teacher

Nguyen (2007) reviews all the advantages and disadvantages of using the textbook in her research On (he one hand, the texthook offers corlam advantages like instruction and assessment standardization (Richard 2005), providing syllabus for a program (Cunningsworth 1995), receiving students’ credibility (Sheldon 1988) and making an effective resource for learning in the classroom and self-dirscled learning (Cunmingsworth, 1995), On the other hand, it also shows several reservations like being able to control the methods, processes, and procedures of classroom practice and ‘deskill” teachers (Allwright 1982), and not suiting all classrooms as it is wrillen for global markel (Richard 2005)

Being aware of all the above advantages and disadvantages, the teachers at English Departnenl, University of Commerce carefully setected content for Fnglish 1.1 textbook, which is uscd for English 1.1 course, tho first Fngtish course for tho slutonts at this university The content selection for the textbook is based on the course objectives, students’ levels and their needs and the course length Sources of the textbook are Business Basics (2000) written by David Grand and Robert Me Larty, published by Oxford Press, and Market Leader (2004) written by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, published by Longman

This textbook has been in use at Vietnam University of Commerce since 2008, It has, undeniably, contributed greatly to the Linglish language teaching and leamiing there, but for some unanticipated problems, il remains unsatisfactory As a matter of fael, ne research ơn

evaluation of this textbook had been carricd out to sce how fax it suited the course Thus,

this study was conducted to evaluate the textbook and suggest ways to improve the quality

of the textbook as well as the course

1.2 Aims of the study

‘This study is aimed at evaluating English 1.1 textbook used at Vietnam University of Commoree from perspectives of teachars and students TL is designed lo find the strengths and weaknesses of the textbook, and also suggest some solutions for futher improvement

of the textbook which undoubtedly will enhance the leaming efficiency as well as stimulate students’ interest in the language learning process

1.3 Research questions

In order to meet the aims of the study, the following rescarch questions are goncrated:

1, What are the strengths of English 1.1 textbook from the perspective of teachers and

students at Vietnam University of Commerce’?

2 What are the weaknesses of English 1.1 textbook from the perspective of teachers and

students at Vietnam University of Commerce’?

1.4 Scope of the study

As its name “ Yeachers’ and Students’ Evaluation of English 1.1 Textbook in Use at

University of Commerce” suggcsis, the thesis will focus on the communicative nature of

the English 1.1 textbook and the ease of its use from the perspectives of teachers and

students in the studied context The textbook will be evaluated under certain categories

namely aims and approach, design and organization, topic, language content and

language skills

1.5 Significance of the study

‘The findings of the thesis give teachers and students at Vietnam University of Commerce a comprehensive look at their textbook They have a systematic evaluation of the book which “may even constitute the main source of language input that eames receive and the basis for language practice that occurs both inside and outside the classroom” (Nguyen

2007), Practically, those findings are beneticial to both teachers and couse designers in improving the quality of the course

1.6 Overview af (he paper

‘The study consists of five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 introduces the background to the thesis, the aims, significance, seopc and

methods of the thesis

Chapter 2 is a review of litcrature on material evaluation

Chapter 3 presents an overview of English 11 course and Lnglish 1.1 textbook, and describes the mothodologios employed in the sturly

Chapter 4 analyses data and discusses the Endings of the study

Chapter Š concludes the study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

‘The present chapler reviews previous research related lo evaluating EFT, wvaterials, Tt first sheds light on materials with their definitions and classifications (section 2.1) Then, the chapter reviews material evaluation with its associated issues (section 2.2), In this section, definitions, types, purposes, approaches, and principles of materials evaluations are

explored The scetion also outlines criteria and models for evaluating materials with

different viewpoints of different researchers

This category includes books and reference materials such as dictionaries, grammars, test

practice materials, tapes accompanying coursebooks or supplementary skills books

Authentic materials

Authentic materials are those taken trom real life, They consist of newspaper, magazines, user manuals, leaflets and brochures, foreign mission information, lellers Gexes, emails,

videos (films or documentaries) and songs

Adapting and supplementing published materials

Materials in this category are those refer to published ones that have been adapted or supplemented in some way ‘These cut-up materials can be self-standing or deliberately designed to supplement the eourscbaoks

body of learners In other words, w

needs, culture, course’s length, and objectives should be taken into consideration Whether

an LL material is appropriate calls for material evaluation

choosing EFL material, factors like learners’ tevet,

2.2 Material evaluation

2.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation

In the words of Williams (1983), “any textbook should be used judiciously, since it cannot

cater equally to the requirements of every classroom setting” Thus matcrial evaluation has

een given a great deal of attention Murphy (2000) strengthens this point when he considers evaluation one of the key concepts in ELT to “determine the extent to which a

programme is worthwhile, and to aid decision-making through the purposeful gathcring

in current activities or influencing fulnre ones.”

In order to evaluate a textbook, Cunningsworth (1984, p.2) raises a number of questions and emphasizes the one: “Good for what and bad for whom?” Ie believes that textbook cvaluation docs not mean making “absolute judgments in the abstract” and that it is

“making relative judgments, taking the learning situation in consideration.”

2.2.2 Types of material evaluation

In classifying material cvaluation, difforcnt authors suggest different tenms Johnson

(1989) and Robinson (1991) both agree on three types of material evaluation: preliminary, formative and summative Cunningsworth (1995) and McCirath (2002) introduce similar distinction but in different tenns: pre-use, in-use and post-use evaluation, Prelimmary or pre-use evaluation establishes potential suitability of the materials Formative or in-use

Elis (1997) classifies materials evaluation into two types which includes predictive evaluation and retrospective evaluation They are respectively designed to make a

decision rogarding what materials to usz, lo determine which best suiled lo their purposes and to examune materials that have actually been used, to determine whether the materials

have “worked” for them

According ta Fils, telrospeutive evaluation can be impr

ionistic or cmpirical Impressionistic evaluation 1 characterized by teachers’ assessing whether particular activities “work” during the course and at the end of the course their summative judgments

of the materials arc madc Empizicel evaluation is time-consuming as tcachers have to collect information in a more systematic manner; they report using students’ journals and end-of-comrse questionnaires to judgs the effectiveness of their teaching, including the

materials they used

This particular paper ean be classified as the ‘retrospeulive’ type of evaluation in which an attempt is made to check the characteristics of the textbook under study against a list of criteria proposed by Cunningsworth (1995), which will be presented in the subsequent

part

2.2.3 Purposes of matcrial evaluation

According lo Swalcs (1985, cited in Low, 1987, p 21), there arc very few published works

about the effectivencss of courscbooks in usc Toachers, material designers and education

17

researchers tend to be less reflective about what is happening when one textbook is used Many reasons can be account for this Virstly, it attributes to a centrally presctibed curriculum and courssbaoks Secondly, itis the workload and time constraints so teachers

haye little time or motivation to judge the fitness of the textbooks

‘As discussed earlisr, materials, especially authentic materials, play a significant role in forcign language teaching They arc not simply the everyday tools of the language teachers; they are a representation of the aims and methods of the particular teaching/learning context In the words of Cunmingsworth (1995, p 7), coursebook is “a resouree in achicving aims and objectives that have already been se in terms of leamer needs”, Evaluation helps assess whether the coursebook is the most appropriate for the target learners al various levels and in various (eaching canlexl, Moreover, the evaluation

ents of comparison, especially whe

sxisting materia

challenged by newly produced materials

2.2.4 Approaches to material evaluation

Cunningsworth (1995) distinguishes between two approachies to textbook evaluation which are Impressionistic overview and in-depth evaluation ‘Ihe former is defined as forming

“a general impression of a course hook fairly quickly, just hy looking through it and gelling an overview of its possibilities and ite strengths and weaknesses, noting significant features which stand out.” The latter is identified by “seeing what is prominent and obvious in a course book” together with “examining how specific items are dealt with, pavticularly thase which relate to students” Isarning weeds, syllabus requirements, how

different aspacts of language are dealt with, et

2.2.5 Principles for material evaluation

Cunningsworth (1984, pp.5-7) proposes four principles for materials evaluation:

Relate the teaching materlais fo your aims and objectives

When designing a course, its aims and objectives are set first Based on these, teaching materials shoud be sought In other words, the aims of a tcaching programme should

determine the course materials to be used and not vice-versa.

If onz does a retrospective evaluation of a selected material, this principle reminds him or her to consider whether the material matches the aims and objectives of a language programe firs!, This is a very important consideration

Be aware of what language is for and sclect teaching materials which will help cquip your students to use language effectively for thelr own purposes

‘The materials selected must consider what the learners will do with Tinglish on completing their couse The activities students participate in class should be a proparation for their real-liff interactions in the outside world The real aim of language teaching is to bring the leamers to a point where they can use the language for their own purposes, and this goes far beyond manipulating structure dills,

Keep your students’ learning needs in mind

It materials meet students’ learmng needs, they will surely motivate the students, Leaming needs are not limited solely to considerations of the language Leamers have intellectual and cmotional needs lov, Course malerials can help by using subject maticr hat is intellectually stimulating and to which the students can relate personally It is also important that materials should include different types of activities like whole class, group work, pair work and individual, This is because students need to be catered for both as individuals and as members of a group Within the space of one lesson, a student may act allernately as an individual and a group member, depending on several factors including the sorl of excreise he is doing, the skills that aro being practiced and his own learning strategies

Consider the re:

‘best’ way of learning and that leamers adopt different leaming strategies, often switching

strategies from time to time

‘These principles are realized in the criteria checklists that Cunningsworth released in 1995

‘These checklisis will be revisied in the subsequent, jar!

Looking from different viewpoint, material evaluation should be based firstly on theory of

learning and teaching This is the foundation for second language teaching and learning A

teacher/ an evaluator must acquire this theory before conducting any research on material evaluation Second language acquisition (SLA) research findings are another guiding

principle for material evaluation Research findings on SLA are mortar that build language

teaching and learning qualities They help teachers find way to improve their teaching

effectively When one has to evaluate a material, these research findings assist him/her

with criteria checklists and models for the evaluation He/she can adopt or adapt one

checklist and one model which best suit his/her teaching and learning circumstance

It is critical for evaluators to apply their principles of evaluation to the contextual

circumstances of their own evaluation in order to determine the most reliable and effective

procedures

Evaluators must be cautious in making generalizations of their evaluation A material can

be judged to be suited to this circumstance but not to others and vice versa

2.2.6 Models for material evaluation

Evaluation, according to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 97), is basically a process of

matching needs to available solutions Accordingly, the evaluation process is divided into four steps which are presented in the following diagram

DEFINE CRITERIA

materials? Which criteria will be

_ More important? -

‘What realizations of critena do How does the material being

you want in your course? evaluated realize the criteria?

a al

MATCHING:

How far does the material match your needs?

Figure 2.1; The Materials Evaluation Model of Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 98)

20

In Hutchinson and Waters’ point of view, teaching - learning materials must meet the demands of teachers, learners and sponsors, so in the early stage of analysis the subjective factors should not be allowed to obscure objectivity

To ensure an objective matching, it is advisable to look at the needs and solutions separately But in the final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective grounds Hutchinson and Waters also point out that the subjective analysis should not be seen as "a

fixed set of requirements" (1987: 97)

On this issue, Littlejohn (1998) suggests a preliminary framework for material analysis and

evaluation as following:

Figure 2.2: A preliminary framework for materials analysis and action by Littlejohn

(1998)

The diagram shows that the two steps of describing target situation and analyzing materials

are conducted spontaneously and independently After that, match and evaluation are taken which reveals the level of appropriateness to the target situation From these analyses, decision on materials is reached in the last stage.

These two models vary in the processes but both are invaluable in setting out a way to

evaluate materials

2.2.7 Criteria for material evaluation

Criteria are ornoial since they serve as the basis for evaluators” judgments Various writers have suggested ways of helping teachers to bo more sophisticated in thoir evaluative approach, by presenting evaluation ‘checklists’ based on supposedly generalizable ctiteria that can be used by both teachers and students in many different situations

According to Sheldon (1988), no general list of criteria can ever really be applied to all teaching and learning contexts without considerable modification, However, most of these standardized evaluation chccktisis contain similar commponemts that can be used as hetpfid starting points for ELT practitioners in a wide variety of situations, Criteria should help evaluate both physical and logistical characteristics of textbooks (Williams, 1983),

(Sheldon, 1988), (Brown, 1995), (Cunningsworth, 1995) and (Harmer, 1996) Other

imporlant criteria that should be incorporated are those thal assess a lexlbook's methodology, aims, and approaches and the degree to which a set of materials is not only teachable but also fits the needs of the individual teacher's approach as well as the organization's ovcrall ewriculum Morcover, criteria should analyze the spceific language, functions, granunar, and slalls content that are covered by a particular textbook as well as the relevance of linguistic ilems to the prevailing socio-cultural environment Finally, texthook cvahuations should includ: criteria that pertain lo representation of cuHural and

gender components in addition to the extent to which the linguistic items, subjects, content,

and topics match up to students’ personalities, backgrounds, needs, and interests as well as

those of the Lzacher and/or institution

Recent researches on material evaluation have used variable checklists ALi Jahangard (2007) proposed a cros

checklist to ovatuals FFL toxthook taught al Iranian Public High Schools In his research, he “browsed about 10 checklists proposed by different authors and selected 13 features which were common to most of these checklists to do the cvaluation”, Followings arc his checktist

1 Arc objectives explicitly laid out in an introduction, and implemented in

tà 8

the material?

2 Good vocabulary explanation and practice

3 Approaches cducationally aud socially acceptable to targel community

4, Periodic review and test sections

5 Appropriate visual materials available

6 Interesting topics and tasks

7 Clear instructions

8 Clear attractive layout, ptint easy to read

9 Content dearly organived and graded

10 Plenty of authentic language

11 Good grammar presentation and practice

12 Fluency practice in all four skills

13 Fricourage Tearners lo develap own learning slrategics and Lo beearne

independent in their learning

(Checklist used by Ali Jahangard 2007)

Rescarch by Roscman, Kulm, and Shuttleworth (2008) proposed quality indicators to judge

a textbook These indicators look at textbooks at a quite different point They organized the instructional characteristics of effective materials (texthooks) into broad categories that

include:

Taking account of student ideas

‘Textbooks should help teachers in attending the ideas that students already have and to help students gain a better understanding of key concepls and skills, This will help in concept building Concepts are key building blocks for the structure of knowledge of various academic disciplines All concepts possess at least four components i.e attributes, examples, definitions and hicrarchical relation (Termyson & Park, 1980)

Engaging students with relevant contexts, experiences, and phenomena

Textbook should use a variety of contexts-from visual models to symbolic representations

of hands-on activitics and first-hand cxpcricnces-to build formal idcas and skills

Promoting student thinking about phenomena, experiences, and knowledge

‘Texthooks should help students make sense of their experiences and ideas ‘Textbooks that provide carefully chosen and sequenced questions and lasks can help sludsnts reflect on, clarify, and explain their reasoning, and ideas,

Developing and using scientific and mathematical ideas

‘Textbooks should provide a wide range of problem-solving and practice tasks to help

students sce the link between concepts and skil

Project by Nguyen (2007) on evaluation of Vietnam upper secondary English textbooks adopted checklists provided by Cunningsworth (1995) with some modification ‘These checklists, which ineluds two parts, cover the most important cvaluation criteria

Quick-reference checklist

- Aims, approaches and principtes

- Design and organization

- The teaching of listening skills

- The teaching of speaking skills

- The teaching of reading skills

- The teaching of writing skills

= The teaching of grammar

~The teaching of vocabulary

- The teaching of phonology

These checklisis appear lo be more suilable lo the evaluation of English 1.1 textbook They are adapted and modified to be questions with options to gain objective evaluation from teachers and students at VUC ‘Together with the materials evaluation model by Hutchinson and Wators which was detibcratcly chosen as basis for conducting the research, these criteria appear to be more practical and manageable in the time constraint

of the thesis and in the context of VUC

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

The present chapler introduces English 1.1 course and Fnglish 1.1 textbook, and describes the research design and methodological steps and procedures used to carry out this study It describes, in detail, the participants, data collection instruments, procedures, methods of data analysis, ste that were involved in the investigation

3.1 An introduction to English 1.1 course and English 1.1 textbook

3.1.1 English 1.1 course

To prepare VUC studenis for the needs of English for their job, a business English program which consists of six courses from English 1.1 to English 1.6 is offered The objective of these courses is to provide the students with a command of Lnglish so that they can fruitfully use il in their fulare job The whote English program lasts 12 arcdils,

equivalent to 450 hours, 330 hours of which arc spent in classroom

Lnglish 1.1 is the first nglish course which students have to take at VUC Its level is elementary IL aims al providing sludents with basic knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and necessary skills to get used to communicating in intematicnal business environment The course lasts two credits with the structure 2.9.12, which means 24 periods are spent

on teaching, 9 periods on discussion and 12 periods on sclf-study (cach period is 50 minutes long)

3.1.2 English 1.1 textbook

English 1.1 textbook is the main teaching and learning material in the course The topies in the textbook are collected from two sources which are Business Basics (2000) written by David Grand and Raberl Mc Larty, published by Oxford Press, and Market Leader (2004) written by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, published by Longman The textbook mainly develops three linguistic skills (reading, listening and speaking) and linguistic knowlsdge (grammar and voeabulary) It covers some conmon situations in business such as self introducing, talking about work and leiswe, telephoning solving problems, making bookings and checking arrangements entertaining, presenting a product,

dealing with problems, participating in discussions

The textbook consists of 8 units, Supplementary grammar, and key to supplementary

grammar Each unit is divided into four or five sections which are Starting up,

Vocabulary, Reading, Listening and Skills Starting up includes activities such as

listening, speaking or vocabulary exercises to warm students up Vocabulary activities

extend learners’ vocabulary in a given lexical area and give them the opportunity to

practice the new terms in both controlled and free contexts Reading texts always present

new language and vocabulary, and help students practice information-finding or general

comprehension Listening activities give practice in understanding new language in its

spoken form, in listening for specific information, in understanding the gist of the

dialogue Skill activities are used for discussion around a theme, to access students’

knowledge of a language point, and to provide controlled and free practice of target language After each unit, teachers revise English basic grammar using the Supplementary

grammar part Teachers usually have 150 minute class time to cover content of each unit

plus grammar

3.2 Participants

The participants in the study were 100 first - year economic majored students from

Vietnam University of Commerce These students have taken English 1.1 course They

come from five faculties of VCU: Business Administration (23 informants), Economics

(18 informants), E-commerce (21 informants), Finance and Banking (16 informants.), and

Hotel and Hospitalism (22 informants) The participants had learnt EFL for at least 7 years

in lower and upper secondary schools before enrolling in university programs A general

description of students’ variables is reported in Table 3.1 in number and percentages

Table 3.1 Description of Student Participants (N=100)

18-20 yay =20 yrs | Male | Female | 7-9 xs | 10-12 yrs | S13 is

experience and academic degrees These variants are reported in Table 3.2 in number and

percentages

Table 3.2 Description of Teacher Participants (N=8)

Variable Academic Degree Sex Teaching experience

Bachelor Master |In-program Service Male | Female | 1-5 yrs | 26 yrs

Percentage | 375% | 50% 12.5% 12.5% | 87.5% | 37.5% 62.5%

3.3 Data collection instruments

A descriptive research design incorporating both qualitative and quantitative instruments was used to accomplish the objectives of the study The use of both types of instruments

provides a more comprehensive picture of the participants’ attitudes than could be possible

with one data collection method alone (Creswell, 2008) The instrament employed were

(1) two questionnaires (quantitative treatment): a leamers’ evaluation questionnaire and a

teachers’ evaluation questionnaire, and (2) interviews with both learners and teachers from

a representative sample of the participants (qualitative treatment) The analysis of the data

collected was used to draw conclusions related to the research questions already identified

3.3.1 Questionnaires

3.3.1.1 Student questionnaire

To determine the participating students’ evaluation of English 1.1 textbook, a

questionnaire was used (see Appendix A), Most of the items were developed from

previous studies (Cunningsworth, 1995; Nguyen, 2007)

The questionnaire consisted of two parts The first part was designed to collect students

demographic and background information The second part included 31 items (items 2-32)

to which the participants responded using a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from

1(Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree) The students were asked to express their

degree of willingness by selecting one of the following altematives: Strongly Disagree,

Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree In this questionnaire, item 2 asked the students to respond to statements about aims of the textbook, items 3-6 are about the

design and organization, items 7-11 are about the topics, items 12- 17 are related to the language content, and items 18 through 32 concem the language skills

To avoid any misunderstanding on the part of the students, the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese, the learners’ mother tongue (see Appendix B)

3.3.1.2 Teacher questionnaire

This questionnaire was created to determine the teachers’ evaluation of English 1.1 textbook (see Appendix C) ‘I'he content and format of the teacher questionnaire is similar

to student onc Like the student stavey, the teacher questionnaire consisted of two parts,

with the first part designed to collect demographic information related to purpose of the study,

The second part included 33 statements (items 2-34) to which the teachers responded according to a five-point Likert-type scale Items 2-3 asked the teachers to respond to statements about aims and approach of the textbook, items 4-7 about the design and organization, items 8-12 related to the wpics, ilems 13- 18 conceming the language content, and items 19-34 about the language skills,

3.3.2 Interviews

In order to provide a deeper understanding of students’ and teachers’ evaluation of English

1.1 textbook, it was deemed useful to conduct interviews Interviews were conducted with

all 8 teachers and a subgroup of 22 students randomly selected fiorn those who had agr:

in advance to participate in follow-up intcrvicws for the purpose of the study The

interviews were audio-taped and then transeribed to be analyzed

The questions in both learner and teacher interviews were the same (Sec Appendix E) However, the interviews with the students were conducted in Vietnamese, their Li, to overcome likely deficiencies in their ability to speak and understand the target tauguage

These interviews were transozibed and translated into English,

3.4 Procedures

The required data was collected at the end of English 1.1 course in May, 2010, As mentioned eather, the plan was to use questionnaires and follow-up interviews in order to colloel the requried data for the purpose af the study

The questionnaire was administered by the researcher in person to ensure effective implementation After the introductions were made, the ressarch topic was explained to the students in Vietnumese, their tative Tanguay, in order to increase the students’ comfort and understanding The students were given 25 minutes to complete the questionnaire,

‘None were allowed to leave befare the scheduled time so as to avoid them trying to mush to

fill out the questionnaire in order to leave the class carly

Upon completion, the students were informed that interviews would be conducted in order

to gain more insights about their evaluation They were also informed thal the inlerviews would take no more than 15 mimutzs cach, would be conducted in Victnamese, and would

be confidential Moreover, the students leamed that the interviews would be audio- recorded and thal the lapes would be deshoyed upon completion of the sindy Appointments were set with those who agreed to be interviewed

Unlike the students, the participating teachers were given one week to complste the questionnaire, The 8 teachers wore introduced the research topic, the purpose of the questionnaire and also the subsequent interview to set a date for the interview after they retuned their completed questionnaire forms The interviews were held as agreed

3.5 Data analysis

‘The results of this study were based on questionnaires and follow-up interviews used as instruments for dala colfection Quanlitative dala were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 for Windows Means, frequency counts or number, percentages and standard deviation were used to analyze collected data in order to describe the teachers” and leamers” evaluation of English 1.1 toxthook Questionnaire items were given equal balance in a S-point Likert soale (Strongly Disagree 1, Disagree 2,Nentral 3, Agree 4, and Strongly Agree 5),

For the quililative analysis, lhe interviews were audio-recorded and tranacribed Similar teacher responses were grouped together, Student answars (in Vietnamese) were translated

by the researcher Relevant quotations were then grouped together

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

The purpose of the current study was to investigate teachers’ and students’ evaluation of

English 1.1 textbook in use at VUC This chapter attempts to answer the questions of the

study It presents the results and discussions of both qualitative and quantitative data

analysis (section 4.1) and provides a summary of the findings (section 4.2)

4.1 Results and discussion

This section is divided into two subsections: the first presents the quantitative data derived

from the questionnaires while the second presents the qualitative data derived from the

interviews

4.1.1 Questionnaire results

4.1.1.1 Student questionnaire results

A descriptive statistical analysis of students’ responses to the survey items is provided in the following sections, which address their evaluation of the textbook’s aims, design and

organization, topics, language content, and language skills As the number of student

respondents is 100 which is equivalent to 100%, each table only shows a number per point

per item but its unit can be frequency (number) or percent

A Evaluation of the textbook aims

Table 4.1 Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Aims (N=100)

As seen in the table 4.1, a mean of3.66 indicated that more than half of the respondents

agreed that the textbook meets the course aims In comparison with others, level 3 neutral

and level 4 agree were chosen by majority of students (up to 64%), suggesting a not really

high level of satisfaction None of students judged the textbook aims strongly negative

(0%) and 16% informants disagreed with the statement

Students often look at the textbook aims from the perspective of their own leaming needs rather than the course aims Thus, in order to provide a deeper inside into their evaluation,

a multiple choice question was designed to collect students’ main studying purposes for

this course, For this question only, students are allowed to choose more than one answer

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Chart 4.1: Students’ main studying purposes for the course (N=100)

Other purporse

D To Improve all four language ekille

© Te Improve your communicative skills

distening and speaking skills)

8 To broaden your vocabulary

number of students (35%) chose option B — to broaden, which is to broaden their

vocabulary Option D, improving all four language skills received a quite high frequency,

50% For those people, they would possibly be disappointed as writing skill is excluded

from the book This will be further discussed in the subsequent part

B Evaluation of the textbook design and organization

Table 4.2 Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization (N=100)

3 The design of the material is attractive 16 34 |35 |13 |2 B51 0.96 | 4

4 The book has a clear organizational structure 1 2 12 |50 [35 4.16 0.78] 1

The sub grand mean of items related to the textbook design and organization was 3.25,

suggesting that the less than half of the students had positive attitudes toward the textbook design and organization (see Table 4.2) The lowest mean was 2.51, indicating that half of

the students were not satisfied with the design of the textbook Indeed, 50% were not

attracted by the design of the textbook The highest mean was 4.16, indicating that most of

the respondents were content with the organization of the textbook 55% developed

positive judgment of the presentation of content on the basis of complexity Finally, a

mean of 2.77 suggested that more than half of the students did not think the amount of

review units was adequate

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C Attitudes toward the textbook topics

As shown in Table 4.3, the sub grand mean was 3.76, suggesting that the students had

positive attitudes toward the textbook topics

Table 4.3 Students’ Attitudes toward the Textbook Topics (N=100)

11 You can relate to the social and cultural z| 27) al 41! 19) aasliaa] 5

The highest mean (4.01) indicated the majority of the students considered the topics to be

interesting In addition, around two thirds of the respondents (66%, mean =3.76) thought

that the topics are varied Moreover, 74% (43 agree and 31 strongly agree) agreed that the

topics help them expand their knowledge and enrich their experience A mean of 3.58

suggested that less than a half of the students (39%) found the difficulty level of the topics

suitable to them A similar number of informants (40%) did not think that they could relate

to the social and cultural contexts presented in the book

D Opinions on the textbook language content

Table 4.4 shows students” evaluation of the textbook language content which includes

grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation The highest mean was 4.32, suggesting that the

difficulty level of the textbook grammar is suitable to majority of students Indeed, more

than half of the students (54%) strongly agreed with that The lowest mean which was just

1.32, illustrated a contrastive picture of students” satisfaction of the pronunciation work in

the textbook Actually, the textbook does not contain material for pronunciation The

difficulty level of the vocabulary exercises received positive attitudes with a mean of 3.87,

second highest in the table However, the amount of vocabulary was not enough with 63 %

non-agree students Finally, around half of the respondents thought that the textbook provides updated information and deals with structuring and convention of language use

above sentence level (52% and 50% respectively)

13 The difficulty level of the grammar in the 2 2 | 0.92

textbook is suitable to you Bye) 7 | Be keo One|

14 The difficulty level of the vocabulary exercises 2

15, There are enough vocabulary exercises 7|41[17| 2| 11|291|117] 5

16 The textbook includes enough matenal | 2ị | s;| Ị| Ị| 0|i32|055] 6

| pronunciation work

|7 The textbook deals with the Sructwing and

onventions of language use above sentence level

E Evaluation of the textbook language skills

A sub grand mean of the textbook language skills was 3.66, indicating that around three

fourths of the informants had positive evaluation of the language skills Indeed, most of the

items received means higher than the sub grand mean

Table 4.5: Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Language Skills (N=100)

8 Four skills are adequately covered in the textbook | 58 | 33 7| 0|158 | 0.84 | 14

19 There is enough matenal for integrated skills work, 3 | 19 38 | 28 | 3.69 | 1.15 [11

20 There are enough writing tasks 70 | 26 2 0 | 1.36 | 0.62 | 15

21 The reading texts are used for introducing new

language items (grammar and vocabulary), | 5 | l3

consolidating language work

22, There is a focus on the development of reading

skills and strategies,

23 The texts are long enough 0| 9| 3|27|61| 44|0923|1

24 The material helps comprehension by, for

example, setting the scene, providing background | 0| 7| 14| 35 | 44 |4.16 |091|4 infonniation giving pe-reading questions

25 The difficulty level of the texts and their tasks

27 The recordings are well-recorded 0| 14| 7| 14| 65| 43] 1.09] 2

28 There are enough pre-listening tasks, questions, ctc| 0 | 14 | 11 | 32 | 43 | 4.04 | 105 | 7

pana difficulty level of listening tasks is suitable 2| 21] 2] 36) 19] 369] 106] i

30 The speaking tasks are various, Ø0| 15J 5| 49] 31|396|098| 8

1 There are elements of genuine communication 1| 13| 9| 45| 32|394|101| 9

32 The difficulty level oŸ speaking tasks is suitable to 1| s| 9|46|39|417|ose| 3

you a

Sub grand Mean 3.66

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The reading skill gained good judgment with means ranging from 3.62 to 4.4, which was the highest mean of the table 69% and 8 % of the informants respectively agreed and strongly agreed thal the reading texts were used for mtroducing ew language items (grammar and vocabulary), consolidating language work Majority of students (a mean of 4.08, 82%) supported the statement that the book focused on the development of reading skills and strategies A similar mean and percentage (1.16 and 79%) indicated that the students gave optimistic evaluation on the pre- reading assistance of the material The highest mean 4.4 with 61% strongly agree showed a large approval of the text length The difficulty level of the texls and their tasks gol a Hittle lower mean of 3.87, but thal still proved around two thirds of the students (73%) found the difficulty level suitable to them

The same piclure was painted for the listening skill with an average mean of 4.03 item 29

— 32) Most of the studonls (85%) approved thal the listoning was scl in a moaningful context A high percentage of 65% strongly agreed that the recordings had a good quality

‘Three fourths of the respondents could find enough support before they listened Most of them (75%) considered dk fficully level of the listening tasks to be suitable for thom, but as listening is a challenging skill for Vietnamese students in general, 23% (2 strongly disagree and 21 disagree) still found hard to complete these tasks

The speaking skill enjoyed quite high means, with an average of 4.02, indicating a supportive evaluation Most of the students thought the speaking tasks were various with 49% agree and 31% strongly agree ‘The presence of genuine communication elements were recognized by more than three fourths of the students (77%) Majorily of the informants (85%) agreed that the speaking tasks were at the right difficulty level for them

The lowest micun of the table (1.36) belonged tơ item 20, which mentioned writing tasks, indicating a very low satisthction of this skill As a mater of fact, this caused no surprise because the textbook hardly contains writing tasks ‘This explained why skills balance of the lextbook received a negative evaluation with a mean of only 1.58, Meanwhile, according to 66% of the students, with three language skills taught (reading, listening and speaking), there were enough material for integrated skills work

4ALL2 Teacher questionnaire results