000034961 an evaluation of the english material for perdeparture training of vietnamese workers on limited contracts in malaysia

000034961 an evaluation of the english material for perdeparture training of vietnamese workers on limited contracts in malaysia

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ON LIMITED CONTRACTS IN MALAYSIA

S u p erv iso r: H O A N G X U A N H O A , M A

S tu d en t: L E T H I T U Y P H U O N G

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Hanoi, Septem ber 2004

T ex tb o o k s a re th e k ey co m p o n e n t in m ost language program s in V ietnam In som e situations th ey se rv e prim arily to su p p le m e n t the te a c h e rs' instruction and m ay provide the learners w ith th e m ajo r so u rc e o f c o n ta c t they have w ith the language H ow ever, the use o f te x tb o o k s in te a c h in g and learn in g language has both ad v a n ta g e s and

d isad v an tag es, d ep e n d in g on how they are used and on the c o n te x ts w here they are used B oth th e b e n e fits and lim itations o f the use o f tex tb o o k s need to be considered

D uring the last few y e a rs th ere has been a m o v em en t o f V ietn am ese young people going abroad se e k in g for em p lo y m en t T h e y n o rm ally d o it through an interm ediary com pany

w hich p ro v id e th em w ith not only v ocational training bu t a ls o prim ary train in g in foreign languages

This th esis is c o n d u c te d on the h y p o th esis that the ex istin g E nglish tra in in g m aterial used for m an u a l w o rkers, w h o a re p rep arin g to w ork on lim itted c o n tra cts in M alaysia,

is not e ffic ie n t T h e re is a d e m a n d to e v a lu a te the m aterial and ad ap t it in acco rdance to the le a rn e rs' n e e d s a n d to th e practical situ atio n in M alaysia

T his th e sis h a s em p lo y ed th e m aterial e v a lu a tio n m odel pro p o sed by H utchinson and

W aters (1 9 9 3 ) to e v a lu a te th e said m aterial B eside, in o rd e r to illustrate the above-

m entioned h y p o th esis, th e a u th o r o f th is th esis has co n ducted a c a se study at the P re­departure T ra in in g C e n te r o f C O A L IM E X com pany, w here she c u rren tly w orks as a teacher

The resu lts o f th e th esis h a s revealed so m e strengths and w e a k n e sse s o f th e m aterial

T hey a re th e refe re n c e s, b a sed on w hich som e reco m m en d atio n s on th e a d ap tatio n o f the m aterial a re m ad e L im itatio n s o f th e th esis as w ell as su g g estio n s for further studies are p rese n ted at th e e n d o f the thesis

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

C O A LIM EX Im port-Export and International C ooperation Com pany

D A FEL A gency in charge o f supervising V ietnam ese w orkers w orking oversea which

belongs to the Ministry o f Labour W ar Invalid and Social A ffairs.

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ELT English Language Teaching

ESL English a s a Second Language

ESP English for Special Purposes

LNA Learning N eed Analysis

SAM Suitability A nalysis M apping

SIM Suitability Index o f the M aterial

TNA Target N eed Analysis

TR A C O EL International C ooperation and W orkers' Training C en ter No 1

LIST O F TABLES, FIGURES AND PICTURES

P ic tu re 3.3 O ne o f the very few exam ples w here new vocabularies are presented well 55

P ic tu re 3.4 A d ialogue used for developing speaking and listening skills 56

P ic tu re 3.5 E x am p le o f an inappropriate situation 57

P ic tu re 3.6 S om e o f th e sentences that the learners have to translate into English 59

P ic tu re 4.1 Incom e o f V ietnam ese w orkers in M alaysia 83

P ic tu re 4.2 Jobs a re available, but there is a shortage in hum an resource 8 ’

C heck list o f M aterial Evaluation

2.2.1 R easo n s o f evaluating m aterial

2.2.2 E valu atin g a Textbook

2.2.3 C rite ria for T extbook Evaluation

2.2.4 M ethods o f M aterials Evaluation

3.1.2 D escription o f the D ata C ollecting M ethods

3.1.3 D ata A nalysis M ethods

27 27 28 29 39 29 31 32 51 61 61 61 62 64 64 65 69 71

71 73 73

83 85

85 86 87 vii ix

3.3.1 G eneral D escription o f the Material

3.3.2 D efining E valuation Criteria

3.5.1 O verall Evaluation o f the Learners and Ex-Learners

4 1.2 O verall Evaluation o f the Teachers

S U M M A R Y

CHAPTER 4: OVERALL EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

SO M E S P E C IA L FE A T U R E S O F TH E S T U D Y SE T T IN G

R E C O M M E N D A T IO N S

4.2.1 R ecom m endations on the Low -m arked Indicators

4.2.2 R ecom m endations on O ther issues

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 B A C K G R O U N D A N D S T A T E M E N T O F PR O B L E M :

E nglish has been c o n sid e re d as a d om inant language in the w orld o f ex c h an g e , trade and

co m m unication N ot o n ly the n u m b e r o f English learners has been increasing sharply, but the p u rposes o f lea rn in g th e language also varied w idely E nglish teaching m aterials designed for d iffe re n t sp ecific purposes, therefore, have been d ev e lo p e d accordingly They a re called " E n g lish for sp ecial purposes" and "E nglish as a Foreign Language"

D uring the last few y e a rs, the n u m b er o f V ietnam ese w orkers w ho w ork on lim ited contracts in o ther c o u n trie s has b een increasing sharply B esid es "traditional" m arkets such a s T aiw an a n d s o m e M id d le East states, w here C hinese an d A rabic are spoken

w idely, V ie tn a m ese labo r-ex p o rt en trepreneurs are now try in g to o p e n a new labour

m arkets in th e A sian region M alay sia, Japan and Singapore, w here E nglish can be used

as a m ean o f c o m m u n ic a tio n , a re co n sidered as attractive d e stin a tio n s for V ietnam ese young m anual laborers

Due to budget lim ita tio n , m ost o f th e labour ex p o rtin g co m p an ies a re not ab le to assign professional in te rp re te rs fo r e v e ry group o f w orkers they send ab ro ad L earning English

is th erefo re o f g re a t im p o rtan ce for the young w orkers In a c co rd a n ce to current regulations on la b o u r e x p o rtin g activities, E nglish train in g is co m p u lso ry and the teaching m aterial used in this kind o f training program is reg u lated to be th e English

T each in g M aterial p u b lish e d by th e B ureau o f L ab o r E xporting C o n tro l o f the M inistry

o f L abor W ar Invalid a n d S o cial A ffairs T he intensive E nglish tra in in g program usually takes p lac e from o n e to tw o m onths before th e w o rk e rs' d e p artu re w ith the aim

o f e n ab lin g th em to u n d e rsta n d sim ple everyday co n v ersatio n s a n d understand w orking instructions in o rd e r to respond accordingly

H ow ever, a fte r 2 y e a rs in use, th e m aterial appears to be not e fficie n t a n d is not able to answ er th e re q u ire m e n ts o f p ractical situ atio n s abroad W hat th e tra in ee s are taught before they left th e country is found to be not useful in th e ir new situation T here is

therefore an urgent need to review, e valuate and improve the content a s well as the structure o f the currently-in-use training m aterial.

V ietnam ese w orkers h a v e good reputation o f c leverness, fast-learning and hard-w orking ability This has been considered a s the biggest advantage o f V ietnam ese human resource a n d it has help e d us to obtain m a n y labour exporting contracts in different markets H ow ever, ability o f speaking foreign languages, and particularly speaking English, is a lw a y s a w eakness o f V ie tn a m e s e workers in their new working environm ent There h a v e been cases that o u r w o rk e rs were expelled o r tired by foreign

em ployers since the w o rk e rs did not understand w orking instructions

T his p h e n o m e n o n ce rtain ly bring negative conseq u e n c e s Firstly, the w o rk e rs' families,

w ho have spent a large a m ount o f m o n e y prep a rin g for the trip abroad, would suffer econom ically Sec o n d ly , the V ie tn a m ese c o m p a n ie s whose w orkers w ere fired would also bare potential financial burden d u e to co n tra ct breaking This, in turn, results in reducing the c o m p e titiv e pow er o f V ie tn a m e s e entrepreneurs in labour exporting markets Lastly, but ve ry importantly, the state policy o f e m p lo y m e n t opportunity would be m ore difficult to fulfill

H ow ever, although the m entioned issue is recognised w idely a m o n g the concerned governm ental a g e n c ie s a s well as labour e xporting com panies, little has been done Teaching m aterial has been rem ained u n c h a n g ed despite negative feedbacks from e x ­trainees L a u n c h in g a serious study on the said problem is very important

1.2 A I M S O F T H E S T U D Y :

T he m ain purpose o f this study is to e v a l u a t e the material used for training V ietnam ese

w orkers w h o w o rk on limited contracts in M alaysia

T he specific a im s o f th esis are:

1 T o review the literature relating to m aterial evaluation and then setting up the criteria for e v a lu a tin g the m aterial

2 T o c o n d u c t a need analysis, to find out the learners' n e e d s and the practical requirem ents.

3 T o a nalyse the currently-in-use material

4 T o m ake suggestions and recom m endations on the d evelopm ent o f the material

on the basis o f the research findings

1.3 S C O P E O F T H E S T U D Y :

There are several reasons that have been believed to be the m ain reasons o f the weak ability o f V ie tn a m ese w orkers in speaking and understanding English O n e m ay list:

- A bility o f obtaining new know ledge o f the trainees

- T ra in e rs ' pedagogical m ethodology and teaching ability

- Short training period

- T h e suitability o f teaching material

This study will focus m ainly on the last reason: the efficiency o f tea c h in g material which have been used for pre-departure English training courses during the last two years

C hapter T h r e e - T h e Study - gives the descriptions o f the m eth o d o lo g y that this study

em ploys for evaluating the training material, o f the d a ta collection instruments, and o f the subjects involved in this study T he C h a p te r will also a nalyse all the data collected and use them a s the practical bases for the evaluation Basically, C h a p te r T h re e tries to

explore w h a t are the lea rn ers’ needs, what are the requirem ent o f the situations and com pare th e m with the m ain features realised in the material.

Three ty p e s o f r e sp o n d e n ts w ere involved in the data collecting process T h e y are learners, e x -le a rn e rs a n d te a c h e rs o f the Import-Export and International Cooperation

C o m p a n y ( C O A L I M t X ) A b r ie f introduction o f the c o m p a n y can be found in Appendix 1

The overall evaluation o f the m aterial will be stated at the e n d o f this C hapter At this stage, the strengths a n d w e a k n e s se s o f the material are indicated In C h a p te r Four, these strength-w eakness a n a ly se s are u sed as the background, on which rec om m e nda tions are made

The thesis e n d s with the C o n c lu sio n C hapter w here beside the conclusion statement, the author will point o u t som e lim itations o f the thesis and give som e suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will prov ide the theoretical background relating to an overview o f language material as well as the role o f textbooks, their universal characteristics and the was o f

ev aluating them T h e main aim o f the chapter is to provide a "sta n d a rd ” system o r a checklist, based on which a language teaching material can be assessed o r evaluated

2.1 O V E R V IE W O F L A N G U A G E M A T E R IA L :

N ow adays, there is a plethora o f E L T textbooks on the market T h e re are b ooks aimed

at all sorts o f learners, from school pupils to engineers However, the cry can still be heard from staff ro o m s a bout the unsuitability o f som e textbooks, and teachers bem oan the fact that they spend a lot o f their tim e adapting materials

Bui there is nothing w rong in a dapting textbooks As part o f the teacher-dev elopm ent process, material adaptation should be encouraged T h e point is in order to adapt and to

im prove a textbook, o r even to write a new textbook, one should understand the characteristics, the role and the reasons o f using textbooks in E S P language classrooms

M oreover, the teacher should understand clearly his students' aims o f studying the language and foresee the situations in which the language he teaches w ould be used Above all those w ho want to im p ro v e or adapt an existing tex tb o o k should develop or apply a m o d e l o f evaluation and upgrading teaching material In m o st cases, students appreciate the materials p ro d u ce d specifically for them

In this chapter, the issues m entioned above will be discussed It starts by giving an overview o f language material G eneral idea a b o u t why we have to evaluate textbooks and the criteria that need to be taken into account when evaluating textbooks will be reviewed T h e core o f the cha p te r lies in the method o f material evaluation and the creation o f a checklist, which includes requirem ents that need to be fulfill when launching ev aluation

2 1 1 U n iversal C h a ra cteristics o f E FL / F.SL T ex tb o o k s:

It is ironical that those teachers w ho rely m ost heavily on a tex tb o o k a re the on es least

q u a lifie d to in terp ret its intentions o r ev alu ate its content and m ethod (W illiam s,

198 3 :2 5 1 ) How necessary is a textbook? T h e answ er to this q u estio n d ep en d s on the teachers' o w n teaching style, the resources available to them , the accepted stan d ard s o f teaching in every language school, etc H ow ever, there seem s to exist three o p tio n s open

to teachers as reg ard s to the use or n o n -use o f a particu lar tex tb o o k in a language classro o m : (1) T e a ch e rs need textbooks (2 ) T hey do not need them , and (3 ) T hey select them a n d su p p le m e n t so m e o th er m aterials to perfect them

It is accep ted by a n u m b e r o f auth o rs (U r 1996; H utchinson and W ater, 1987 and Sheldon 1988) that " n o textbook is p erfect” T h erefo re, teachers should have the option

o f assigning su p p le m e n ta ry m aterials based on their ow n specific n e e d s and their ow n specific teaching situation T hose w ho su p p o rt the use o f tex tb o o k s a rg u e that a

te x tb o o k is a fra m ew o rk w hich regulates and tim es the program s It p ro v id es ready­

m ad e teaching texts and learning tasks and in m any situations, a tex tb o o k can serve as a syllabus T o so m e ex tents, for novice teachers a te x tb o o k m eans security, g u idance, and

su p port

From th e point o f v iew o f the learners, no tex tb o o k m eans no p u rp o se L earners m ay find it difficult to fo cu s on their studying w ith o u t a textbook T hey b eco m e highly tea c h e r-d e p en d e n t and they m ay think that their learning is not taken seriously

O n th e o th er hand, th o se who are against the dependency on tex tb o o k s think that every

g ro u p o f stu d e n ts has different needs, th erefore, no single tex tb o o k can be a resp o n se to all differin g n eeds U r (1 9 9 6 :1 8 3 -1 9 5 ) su m m arised their a rg u m en ts saying that tex tb o o k s have th e ir o w n rationale, and as su ch they cannot by their n atu re ca te r fo r a variety o f levels, ev ery type o f learning style, and every category o f learning strategies that o fte n exist in th e class A te x tb o o k o f necessity sets p re-arranged seq u en ce and stru c tu re that m ay n o t b e realistic and situation-friendly M oreover, there is an argum ent that can be th e m o st im portant o n e o f this kind, it says that a tex tb o o k is confirm ing,i.e., it inhibits te a c h e rs' creativity and "teachers m ay find them selves as m ed iato rs with

no free h a n d and slave, in fact, to others' ju d g m e n ts ab out w hat is g o o d and w hat is not" (U r 1 9 9 6 :1 8 3 -1 9 5 ).

In general E F L /E S L tex tb o o k s h ave bro u g h t w ith them a range o f reactions R esponses often flu c tu ate betw een these tw o extrem es O ne option is that they are valid, useful, and lab o r-sa v in g tools T he o th er position h o ld s that they are "m asses o f rubbish skillfully m ark eted " (B ru m fit 1980:30)

2 1 2 T h e R o le o f T e x tb o o k s in a L a n g u a g e P rogram :

H arm er ( 1 9 9 1 ) stated that tex tb o o k s are a key com ponent in m ost language p rogram s

In so m e situ a tio n s they serve as the basis for m uch o f the language input learners receive a n d the language p ractice that o c c u rs in th e classroom T hey m ay p ro v id e the basis fo r th e co n ten t o f the lessons, the b a lan ce o f skills taught and the kinds o f language p rac tic e the stu d en ts tak e part in In o th er situations, the tex tb o o k m ay serve prim arily to su p p le m e n t the teacher's instruction F o r learners, the tex tb o o k m ay provide the m ajo r so u rc e o f contact they have w ith th e language apart from th e input provided

by the teacher

In the case o f inexperienced teachers te x tb o o k s m ay also serve as a form o f teacher training: they p ro v id e ideas o n h o w to plan and teach lessons as well as fo rm ats that teachers c a n use M u ch o f the language teaching that occurs th ro u g h o u t the w orld today could no t tak e p lac e w ithout the extensive use o f com m ercial tex tb o o k s L earning how­

to use and a d a p t textbooks is h e n ce an im p o rta n t part o f a teacher's professional know ledge

T hey p ro v id e stru c tu re and a sy llab u s for a program W ithout tex tb o o k s a

p ro g ra m m ay have 110 central c o re and learners may not receive a syllabus that has been system atically planned and developed

- T hey help sta n d a rd iz e instruction T h e use o f a textbook in a p rogram can e n su re that the stu d e n ts in different classes receive sim ilar co n ten t and th erefo re can be tested in the sam e way

- T hey m aintain quality: If a well dev eloped textbook is used stu d e n ts are e x p o sed

to m aterials that h ave been tried and tested, that are based on so u n d learning

p rinciples, and that a re paced appropriately

- T hey prov id e a v ariety o f learning resources: T ex tb o o k s a re o ften acco m p an ied

by w o rk b o o k s CD s and cassettes, videos, C D R O M s, and co m p re h en siv e teaching g u id es, prov iding a rich a n d v aried resource for teachers and learners

- T hey a re efficient T hey save teach ers' tim e, enabling teachers to d e v o te tim e to teaching rather than m aterial's p ro d u ctio n

- T hey can p ro v id e effective language m odels and input: T e x tb o o k s can p ro v id e

s u p p o rt for teachers w hose first language is no t English and w ho m ay n o t b e

a b le to g e n e ra te accu rate language input on their own

- T hey can train teachers: I f teachers have lim ited teaching experience, a te x tb o o k

to g eth e r w ith the teacher's m anual can serve as a m ed iu m o f initial teach er training

- T hey are visually appealing: C om m ercial textbooks usually have high stan d ard s

o f d e sig n and p ro d u ctio n and hence a re appealing to learners and teachers

L im itations:

H ow ever, a c c o rd in g to Richards (2 0 0 1 ) there are also potential negative effects c au sed

by the use o f tex tb o o k s Firstly, te x tb o o k s m ay so m etim es contain inauthentic language

since texts, d ialo g u e s and o th er aspects o f content tend to be specially w ritten to

in co rp o rate teaching p oints and are often not representative o f real language use Secondly, they m ay disto rt content T e x tb o o k s often present an id e a h /e d view o f the

w orld o r fail to represent real issues In o rd er to m ake textbooks a c ce p tab le in many- different con tex ts controversial topics are avoided and instead an idealized w hite

m iddle-class view o f the w orld is portrayed as the norm

Next, they m ay not reflect students' needs Since textbooks are o ften w ritten for global

m arkets they o ften d o not reflect the interests and needs o f stu d en ts and hence may require a d a p ta tio n

Lastly, they- can deskill teachers If teachers use textbooks as the primary' so u rc e o f their teaching leaving the tex tb o o k and teacher's m anual to m ake the m ajo r instructional decisions fo r th em the teacher's role can b eco m e reduced to that o f a technician w hose prim arily fu n ctio n is to present m aterials prep ared by others

Both the b en efits and lim itations o f the use o f tex tb o o k s need to be co n sidered, and if the tex tb o o k s that a re being used in a p rogram a re ju d g ed to have so m e negative

co nsequences, rem ed ial action should be taken, e.g by adapting o r supplem enting books o r by p ro v id in g a p p ro p ria te guidance and su p p o rt for teachers in how to use them appropriately

2 2 E V A L U A T IN G T E X T B O O K S:

2.2.1 R ea so n s o f e v a lu a tin g m aterial:

Evaluation is a m atter o f ju d g in g the fitness o f som ething to a p a rticu la r purpose Given

a certain n e e d , and in the light o f the resources available, w hich ou t o f th e n u m b er o f possibilities can rep resen t the best solution E valuation is, then, co n cerned w ith relative merit T h ere is n o a b so lu te g o o d o r bad - only degrees fo r the required p u rpose (H utchinson a n d W a te r 1988:96)

T here m ay b e vario u s reasons for looking closely at m aterials to see i f they are

a p p ro p riate d for a g ro u p o f learners O ften the desire to look for the new m aterials

stem s fro m dissatisfaction with what is being currently used, and the teacher o r c o u rse planner m ay w ant to c o m p a re a num ber o f different alternatives.

For so m e teach ers th e selection o f a good textbook can be valuable, particularly in con tex ts w here the assim ilation o f stim ulating, authentic, m aterials can be difficult to organize O ther teachers w orking with the m aterials given to them by a m inistry or sim ilar b o d y will clearly have som e different issues to content w ith T hey m aybe, for

ex am p le, have to w ork w ith m aterials, which they find very lim iting, and will p ro b ab ly need to resort to a d a p tin g these m aterials as best they can suit the needs o f their particu lar co n tex t Even though such teachers will not have to evaluate to adopt

m aterials, they m ay well b e interested in evaluation as a useful p rocess in its o w n right, giving insight into th e organizational principles o f the m aterials and helping them to keep u p w ith d e v e lo p m e n ts in the field

S tem (1 9 9 2 :3 2 5 ) identifies an im portant issue: "The tea c h e r's m ain p ro b le m is o n e o f selection from an em barras d e rich esses" T his is undoubtedly true, as a visit to any

large b o o k sto re w ill reveal a w ide and confusing array o f seem ingly sim ilar books

am ount o f m aterial for the program , it is easy to teach, it can be used w ith little prep aratio n by in ex p erienced teachers, and it has an eq u al cov erage o f g ram m ar and the four skills H o w e v e r th e sa m e book in a different situation m ay tu rn ou t to b e quite unsuitable It c o n ta in s to o little m aterial, it is no t sufficiently challenging for te a c h e r and students, and has elem ents in it (such as a g ram m ar syllabus) that a re not n e e d ed in the program

T h erefo re R ichards (2 0 0 1 ) claim s that befo re one can evaluate a te x tb o o k inform ation

on the issues listed in T a b le 2.1 below is needed

: No Issues E x p la n a tio n s

i Hie role o f the tcxlbook in the

program D etailed e x p la n a tio n o f the issues

can b e fo u n d in A p p en d ix 2

2 T h e teachers in the program

3 The learners in the program

T a b le 2.1: Issues needed fo r e v a lu a tin g a textbook.

S ource: S e lf com pilation fro m R ic h a rd s (2001)

It is also necessary to realize that no com m ercial tex tb o o k will ever be a perfect fit fo r a language program T w o factors are involved in the developm ent o f com m ercial textbooks: those representing the interests o f the author, and those representing the interests o f th e publisher T h e author is generally concerned to p ro d u c e a text that teachers will find innovative, creative, relevant to their learners' needs, and that they will enjoy teaching from T he author is generally hopeful that the b o o k w ill be successful and m ake a financial profit since a large investm ent o f the a u th o r's personal tim e and effort is involved T he p u b lish er is prim arily m otivated by financial success

H ow ever, in o rd e r to achieve a profit, publishers generally recognize that a b o o k m ust have q ualities o f excellence that w ill distinguish it from its com petitors

A t the sam e tim e, the publisher will try to satisfy teachers' expectations as to w hat a

te x tb o o k at a certain level should contain F o r exam ple, i f an in tro d u cto ry E S L textbook

do es no t inclu d e the present continuous in the first level o f the b o o k , teach ers m ay feel that it is defective and not w ish to use it In an attem pt to m ake an a u th o r's m anuscript usable in as large a m arket as possible, the publisher o ften has to change it substantially

S om e o f th ese changes are necessitated by the fact that teachers w ith very different levels o f experience, training, and teaching skill m ight be using the book

E xercises should have explicit goals, p ro ce d u re s for using activities should be o b v ious and u n c o m p lic a ted , and teachers should not have to spend m uch tim e w o rk in g ou t how­

to use the m aterial In addition, content that w ould not be w elcom e in p a rticu la r m arkets

m ay have to b e rem oved A s a co nsequence, m uch o f the "flavour" and creativity o f the

au thor's original m anuscript may d isappear In using textbooks, therefore, teachers invariably have to p u t back so m e o f the creativity that may have been lost in th e p rocess

o f tex tb o o k publication

2 2 3 C r ite r ia fo r T extbook E valuation :

C u n m n g sw o rth (1 9 9 5 ) p ro p o se s four criteria for evaluating textbooks, particularly

c o u rse boo k s Firstly, they should correspond to learner's needs It m eans that they

sh o u ld m atch th e aim s an d o b jec tiv e s o f the language-learning p rogram Secondly, they

sh o u ld reflect the uses (p resen t o r future) w hich learners will m ake o f the language

T e x tb o o k s sh o u ld be ch o sen that will help students to use language effectively for their

ow n purp o ses Thirdly, they should take account o f students' needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes w ithout dogm atically im posing a rigid

"m ethod" Lastly, they sh o u ld h ave a clear role as a su p p o rt for learning Like teachers, they m e d ia te betw een the target language and the learner

T h e type o f e v a lu a tio n a te x tb o o k receives, how ever, will also reflect the concerns o f the evaluator O n e teacher m ay look at a b o o k in term s o f its usability T he teacher is prim arily interested in w hether the book w orks easily in her class, can b e used flexibly, and co u ld easily be ad ap ted A n o th er teacher m ay look at a book m u ch m ore critically

in term s o f its theo retical o rientation and ap p ro ach If it is a b o o k that teaches

co n v ersatio n skills w hat th eo ry o f conv ersation is it based on? W hat kind o f syllabus is

it based o n and w hat is the validity o f the activities it m akes use of? T w o teachers evaluating a w ritin g text m ay likew ise look at it from very different perspectives O ne

m ay su b sc rib e to a p ro ce ss-o rien te d view o f w riting and look fo r activ ities that practice such pro cesses as generating ideas, drafting, review ing, revising, and editing A nother

m ay be m o re co n cerned to s e e that ad equate treatm ent is given to different conventions for organizing different kinds o f texts, such as narrativ e w riting, expository w riting, and descriptiv e w riting

In any language p ro g ram th ere fo re it is unlikely that a published checklist can be used

w ithout a d a p ta tio n as a basis for evaluating and choosing textbooks B ased on the factors in each situ atio n q u e stio n s specific to that situation need to b e generated around the m ain issues involved in te x tb o o k evaluation and selection:

- P ro g ram facto rs - q u e stio n s relating to concerns o f the program

T e a ch e r facto rs - q u estio n s relating to teacher concerns

- L earn er facto rs - q u e stio n s relating to learner concerns

- C o ntení factors - questions relating to the content and organization o f the

m aterial in the book

- P edagogical facto rs - questions relating to the principles underlying the m aterials and the pedagogical design o f the m aterials, including ch oice o f activ ities and exercise ty pes

2 2 4 M eth o d s o f M a te r ia ls ¿'valuation:

A decision a b o u t w hether a particular c o u rse b o o k should be used in a specific teaching situation c a n b e taken on the basis o f a n u m b er o f evaluative m ethods A cco rd in g to Sheldon (1 9 8 8 :2 4 0 ), the literature on the subject o f textbook evaluation is no t very extensive” T h e re d o e s a p p e a r to be enough literatu re though, to select an a p p ro p ria te

m ethod o r fra m ew o rk by w hich to assess a co u rse book

Sheldon (1 9 8 8 :2 3 7 ) suggests that "E L T bo o k s are frequently seen as p o o r c o m p rise s betw een w hat is educationally desirable on the o n e hand and financially v iable o n the other" T h e re a re n u m ero u s factors to consider w hen choosing m aterials for a c la ss and

a c o m p ro m ise m u st be reached as it is alm ost im possible to find a p ro d u c t that satisfies all o f these c rite ria in o n e neatly bound package T h e sam e m ay be said o f ev aluative

m odels S held o n s states: “ It is clear that c o u rse b o o k assessm ent is fundam entally a subjective, ru le o f th u m b activity, and that no neat form ula, grid, o r system w ill ever provide a defin itiv e y ardstick" (19 8 8 :2 4 5 ) T h ere a re a n u m b er o f m o d e ls and fram ew orks fo r assessin g c o u rse books T he reason, how ever, that th e re is no t really

o n e definitive m o d el is that every teacher has different requirem ents to consider

A lthough many teachers may feel the m ost effective m anner by w hich to e v a lu a te

co u rse b o o k s is to exam ine the language objectives contained in them , ex p erts have provided a range o f a p p ro ach es that can be used M ost often, an evaluation o f the content o f the text is ad v o cated , but u n d e r this b road topic, w hat should be in clu d ed ? Hartley (1 9 9 4 :1 6 3 ) sees th ree contents areas that m ust be ad dressed and advises assessors to ask the follow ing questions Firstly, d o e s the b o o k m eet their teaching objectives S eco n d ly , is there sufficient depth and b readth o f m aterial? A nd lastly, w ill

it need to be su p p le m e n te d ? This final q uestion raises concerns b ecause m any ex p erts

d iscourage tea c h e rs from utilizing texts to a great d e g re e in the classroom F o r them

Hartley's q u estio n w ould not even b e a co n sid e ratio n H ow ever, w hen faced w ith a

c u rricu lu m a n d a required text, teachers need to b e a w a re o f how to ju d g e the distance that exists betw een the tw o and how to b rid g e it T h erefo re H a rtle y 's q u e stio n has significant practical concerns b ecause i f teach ers a re spending su b sta n tia l a m o u n ts o f tim e p rep a rin g supplem entary m aterial, w hat p u rp o se is the text serving o f them ? A s well, it is irresponsible to force financially con strain ed stu d en ts to p u rc h a se tex tb o o k s that will no t b e used for their m axim um benefit

M any ex p erts ad v ocate a very d etailed ex am in atio n o f a c o u rse b o o k 's language content, w hich has led to the p ro d u ctio n o f extensive evaluation ch ecklists that will be further exam ined in the next section T h ese in clu d e C u n n ingsw orth ( 1 9 8 4 ) w ho touches

u p o n the im p o rtan ce o f relating m aterials to c o u rse objectives and th e le a rn e rs' needs and p rocesses S h e ld o n 's (1 9 8 8 ) checklist is very expensive and a tte m p ts to assess all aspects o f content including such diverse facto rs as graphics and physical characteristics

to authenticity and flexibility T h o u g h th ese a p p ro a c h e s a re th e m o st c o m m o n a n d likely straig h tfo rw ard , o ther w riters p ro m o te evaluating language tea c h in g m aterial beyond sim ply th e ir con ten ts and instead focusing on cog n itiv e a n d affective factors

B oth Skierso (1 9 9 1 ) and Chali and C o n a rd (1 9 9 1 ), w hen assessin g th e p ro c e sse s and skills tex tb o o k s req u ire learners to p e rfo rm , have created a ^’Q u e stio n C o m p lex ity

R ating S cale” , w hich directly reflects the level o f skill th e te x tb o o k s dem an d T hey use this to e v a lu a te individual questions in o rd e r to analyze th e d ifficu lty o f q u e stio n s and to display the range o f cognitive skills n e e d ed by th e stu d en ts to c o m p le te te x tb o o k activities T h e se concerns highlight th e increasing significance that p ro fe ssio n a ls place

o n the p ro ce ss o f learning and the reco g n itio n that focusing so lely o n o u tc o m e s often

do es not ad d re ss all th e second language le a rn e r's needs

T h is a p p ro a c h is further extended by L ittlejohn and W in d eatt ( 1 9 8 9 :1 7 4 ) w h o seek to

"lo o k beyond the goals o f language learning i ts e lf ' a n d th erefo re inclu d e issu es su ch as

"le a rn e rs' percep tio n s o f know ledge” , "la n g u a g e learning and ro le s " an d le a rn e rs ' w orld view a n d general know ledge, as w ell as their affectiv e and co g n itiv e developm ent

T h ese au th o rs stress the necessity o f placing lan g u ag e learning w ith in th e b ro a d e r context o f all learning and em p h asize h o w kn o w led g e and co g n itiv e ab ility sh o u ld be

ad dressed in the creation and e v alu atio n o f m aterials As rev e a le d by this review

experts d e m a n d a great deal from textbooks, although their beliefs m ay not always reflect the view o r the situation o f the classroom H ow ever, an aw areness o f these issues

is significant for enhancing o n e ' ability to ev alu ate and choose the best textbooks

The m ajority o f the evaluative m odels ap p e ar best suited to prelim inary co m parison o f different b o o k s in o rd e r to select a suitable c o u rse book H ow ever, "the checklists provided by S h eld o n Littlejohn and W indeatt only enable us to ev alu ate m aterials in

a prelim inary w a y " (N unan 1 9 9 1 :2 1 1) T his is also com m ented on by B lock (1 9 9 1 :2 1 1 - 212): " A u th o rs w ho have deal w ith m aterials (e.g W illiam s 1983; C unningsw orth 1984; Sheldon 1987 1988) have tended to focus on their selection and evaluation" T hey do not exploit th e tea c h e rs' know ledge o f an existing c o u rse book

Breen and C a n d lin s (1 9 8 7 ) m odel, described by N unan (1 9 9 1 :2 0 9 ) as an "accessible list o f ev alu a tiv e q u estio n s", seem s to have som e m erits and "invites the teacher to

ad opt a critical stan ce tow ard the m aterials' aim s, appropriateness and utility” B reen and C a d lin 's ( 1 9 8 7 ) list, totaling m ore than 4 0 evaluative questions, d o e s a p p e a r to be very com plex T h e m ain concern ab o u t the list is the highly subjective n atu re o f the questions w o u ld vary considerably from teacher to teacher

W illiam (1 9 8 3 :2 2 0 ) provides o n e o f the earliest for m aterials evaluation His sam ple checklist has 2 8 sep arate item s to evaluate He suggests w eighting each item s for the

p u rp o se o f " a d a p tin g evaluation item s to su it the particular d em ands o f the teaching situation” N o n eth eless, he do es not provide m u ch guidance on h o w to calculate this

w eighting sy stem Sheldon (1 9 8 8 :2 4 0 ) questions the ease o f scoring w hen trying to quantify so m e o f W illia m 's categories, e.g "W hether or not a b o o k is "b ased on contrastive analysis o f English and LI so u n d system s" (W illiam 1983:255) A ccording

to Sheldon (1 9 8 8 :2 4 0 ) this "m ight present p roblem s o f clarification and scoring"

C ollectively, these evaluation lists m ay o r m ay not include the issues o r elem ents that reflect the c o n c ern s o f teachers choosing textbooks T herefore selecting p a rticu la r item s

to create a p erso n al evaluation index is the best m ethod for ensuring that realities o f each individual learning situation are addressed

H utchinson and W aters' (1 9 9 3 ) lour-stage m odel for m aterials evaluation is an apparently logical fram ew ork for con d u ctin g a detailed analysis o f a set o f m aterials It provides g u id an ce on how to perform the analysis but rem ains flexible T h e evaluation process is divided into four m ajor steps, nam ely (1) Defining criteria (2 ) S ubjective analysis/ needs analysis (3 ) O bjective analysis/ m aterial analysis, and (4) M atching (see Figure 2 1).

This is a very clear-cut fram ew ork T he first step is to define on w hat bases the

m aterials a re ju d g e d T h e second is to describe in detailed on w hat c riteria y o u r co u rse

is based T h e third is to ev alu ate if the existing m aterials realize the criteria set in the subjective analysis Finally, the m atching p rocess is carried out to d ecide if the m aterials

m eet th e needs H utchinson and W aters argue that if this m atching is d o n e as objectively as possible, it is best to look at the needs and so lu tio n s separately In the final analysis, any choice will be m ade on subjective ground A ccording to them , "the first tw o stages hav e been done in the co u rse design" T herefore, in o rd e r to analyze the existing m aterials, it is necessary to base on the results o f the first tw o stages Howev er,

H utchinson a n d W aters them selves also added:

It w ill be useful, how ever, to set our your criteria and your ow n preferred realizations o f the criteria in a form w hich w ill m ake it easy lo com pare different sets o f m aterials D on’t, how ever, see your ow n subjective analysis as a fixed set o f requirem ents (1987: 97).

Figure 2 1 : T h e m aterials evaluation process

( S o u r c e S e lf c o m p ila tio n fr o m H u tc h in so n a n d Waters, 1993)

H utchinson and W aters also p ro p o se their ow n checklist o f criteria for ob jectiv e and subjective analyses (T a b le 2.2) T h o u g h they are very m odest to say that it is "n o t an exhaustive list” , th e a u th o r o f this study have found out that it is very valuable- system atic and th o ro u g h checklist It also appears to be m ethodical and easy to use Therefore, th e a u th o r o f this p a p e r w ishes to use the checklist to ev alu ate the existing

m aterials for V ietn am ese w orkers on co m m itted contract in M alaysia

* C ontents o f the criteria listed in Table 2.2 can be fo u n d in A p p en d ix 3.

There m ay b e a various reasons for looking closely at m aterials to see i f they are appropriate fo r a g ro u p o f learners O ften the desire to look for new m aterials o r to adjust the o ld on es ste m s from dissatisfaction w ith w hat is currently used

Before a tte m p tin g to im p ro v e a m aterial, th e teachers or c o u rse designers have to evaluate it A nd in o rd e r to do so they m ust c o m e to som e conclusions a b o u t the learners and w h a t the needs are T h ere are tw o steps, then, in evaluation o f m aterials

T ie first o n e is to h ave the profile o f the learners and their needs w hich leads us to the conclusions a b o u t the type o f m aterial w hich w o u ld be a p p ro p riate for them T he se;ond a su b seq u e n t step, is to ap p ly this know ledge to the co m pletion o f the m aterials exaluation fo rm s, w hich aim s to m easu re how far th e m aterials u n d e r consideration

m itch up to le a rn e rs ' needs and the general m ethodological principles w hich the teacher hdds

H ow can w e d efin e and analyse the needs"'! H utchinson and W aters have the answ er lo

this q u e stio n in their b o o k "E nglish for Specific P u rp o ses'' published by C am bridge

U niversity Press in 1993 A cco rd in g to the tw o authors, needs analysis consists o f analysing the target needs and the learning needs o f the learners (H utchinson and

W aters 1 993:54) F ig u re 2 2 d escrib es the fram ew orks o f target need analysis (T N A ) and learning need analysis (L N A )

It is generally accep ted that w hile the target needs determ ine the starting point o f the learners and their ex pected destination, th e learning needs describ e the ro u te to travel from the sta rtin g point to th e destin atio n (H utchinson and W aters 1993:60)

Interestingly, w h en m atch in g T a b le 2.2 and A ppendix 3 w ith the tw o sm all tables in

F igure 2 2 o n e m ay see that the con ten ts o f the tables m atch each o ther very well M ore precisely, the c riteria o f need analysis fram ew ork (F igure 2 2 ) can be found in

su b jectiv e analysis o f the ch ecklist for m aterial evaluation (T a b le 2.2 and A p pendix 3)

T his type o f m atch in g is explained in T a b le 3.1

Target needs analysis

framework

1 Why is the language needed?

2 How will the language be

5 Where the language be used?

6 When will the language be

used?

1 Why arc the learner taking lhe course?

2 How do the learners learn?

3 What resources are available?

4 Who arc the learners?

5 Where will the ESP course take place?

When will the ESP course

F ig u re 2.2: N eed A nalysis F ram ew orks

S o u rce: S elf-c o m b in a tio n fro m H u tch in so n a n d W a te rs (1993:59-63).

2 3 A D A P T IN G T E X T B O O K S :

D espile the im p act o f new technologies, te x tb o o k s will do u b tlessly c o n tin u e to play an

im p o rtan t ro le in language teaching and p ro v id e a u seful reso u rce fo r b o th tea c h e rs and learners G o o d tex tb o o k s serve to turn th e g u id elin e s in the official g o v e rn m e n t syllabus into a rich s o u rc e o f content, texts, and activ ities that w ould b e bey o n d the c ap acities o f

m ost teachers to d e v e lo p o n their ow n T h e u se o f tex tb o o k s sh o u ld no t b e seen as reflecting a deficiency on the part o f the teacher, any m ore than the u se o f c o m p u te r- based m aterials w o u ld b e so regarded T e x tb o o k s sh o u ld be reg a rd e d as o n e o f th e m any resources teach ers can draw upon in c re a tin g effective lessons, bu t tea c h e rs need training and e x p e rien c e in adapting a n d m o d ify in g tex tb o o k s as w ell as in using authentic m aterials a n d in creating their ow n teaching m aterials

C o m m ercial te x tb o o k s can seldom b e used w ith o u t so m e form o f a d a p ta tio n to m ake them m o re su ita b le for th e particu lar co n tex t in w hich they will b e used T h is a d a p ta tio n

m ay take a variety o f form s A cco rd in g to R ichards (2 0 0 1 ), they are:

- M o d ify in g conten t: C ontent m ay n eed to b e changed b e c au se it d o e s n o t suit

th e target learners, perh ap s b e c au se o f facto rs related to th e learners' age, gender, social class, o c c u p atio n , religion o r c u ltu ral background

A d d in g o r d eletin g content: T h e b o o k m ay contain to o m u c h o r to o little for

th e p ro g ra m W hole units m ay have to b e d ro p p e d , o r p e rh a p s sectio n s o f units

th ro u g h o u t th e b o o k o m itted F o r e x a m p le a c o u rse m ay fo cu s p rim arily on listening and sp eaking skills and h en ce w ritin g activities in th e b o o k will b e

om itted

- R e o r g a n iz in g conten t: A tea c h e r m ay d e c id e to reo rg an ize th e sy llab u s o f the

b o o k , a n d arrange the units in w h a t she considers a m o re s u ita b le order Or

w ithin a unit the te a c h e r m ay d e c id e n o t to fo llow th e se q u e n c e o f activities in the unit b u t to reo rd e r them fo r a p a rtic u la r reason

A d d ressin g om issions: T h e lext m ay om it items that the teacher feels are

im portant F or exam ple a teacher m ay add vocabulary activities o r g ram m ar activities to a unit

M o d ify in g tasks: Exercises and activ ities may need to b e changed to g iv e them

an additional focus F or exam ple a listening activity that focuses only on listening for inform ation is adapted so that students listen a second o r third tim e for a different p u rp o se O r an activity may be extended to p ro v id e o p p o rtu n itie s for m o re personalized practice

E x te n d in g tasks: Exercises m ay contain insufficient p ractice and additional

p ra c tic e tasks may need to be added

T h e ability to b e ab le to adapt com m ercial tex tb o o k s in these w ays is an essential skill for teachers to dev elop T hrough the p rocess o f adaptation the teacher perso n alizes the text m aking it a better leaching resource as well as individualizes it for a p a rticu la r

g ro u p o f learners N orm ally this p rocess takes place gradually as the teach er b e c o m e s

m ore fam iliar w ith the book since the dim ensions o f the text w hich need a d a p ta tio n m ay not be a p p a re n t until the book is tried ou t in the classroom W hen a n u m b e r o f teach ers

in a p ro g ram are teaching from the sam e textbook it is useful to build in o p p o rtu n itie s for teachers to share inform ation a b o u t the form s o f adaptation they are m aking

2 4 S U M M A R Y :

T his c h a p te r has ad dressed so m e theoretical points, w hich will be used as a fundam ental

b ackground for evaluating m aterial fo r w orkers on lim ited contracts in M alaysia T h ere

a re th ree m ains sections: characteristics o f m aterial, evaluation and a d a p ta tio n s T h e study has sh o w n th e necessity o f each section and their coh eren ce in evaluating material

In this section, the ev aluation o f tex tb o o k is related to the reasons, c riteria and m ethods

o f ev aluation Ev aluation is a m atter o f ju d g in g the fitness o f som ething to a p a rticu la r purpose C unningsw orth (1 9 9 5 ) p ro p o se s fo u r follow ing c riteria for evaluating textbooks:

1 C o rresp o n d in g to learners' needs.

2 R eflecting the uses (present o r fu tu re ) w hich learners will m ak e o f the language

3 T a k in g account o f stu d e n ts' needs as learners and facilitating their learning

p ro cesses, w ithout dogm atically im p o sin g a rigid "m ethod"

-1 H aving a clear role as a su p p o rt for learning

M any o p in io n s o f m aterial evaluation, giv en by S heldon H artley N u n a n H utch in so n and W a te r have been discussed in this chapter T h e co m b in a tio n given by

H utchinson and W a te rs and H arm er is ch o sen for this study B esid es m eth o d o f evaluating, th e learners' target needs and learning n e e d s will b e analysed b ased o n d a ta collection: q u e stio n n a ire and interview

Finally, ad a p tin g m aterial is to im p ro v e the m aterial, m aking it m o re s u ita b le to the stu d e n ts ' p u rp o se s o f learning a language T h is a d a p ta tio n m ay ta k e a variety o f form s:

m odifying content, a d d in g o r d eleting co n ten t, reo rganizing co n ten t, ad d re ssin g

om issions, m odifying tasks and ex tending tasks

Based o n this theoretical b ackground o f e v alu atin g m aterials, to g e th e r w ith th e results

o f needs analysis gained in C h a p te r T h re e and s o m e w eaknesses and strengths o f the

te x tb o o k d e scrib ed in C h apter F o ur, an a d a p ta tio n o f m aterial fo r w o rk e rs on lim ited

co n tracts in M alaysia w ill be presented

CHAPTER 3: TH E STUDY

T h is ch ap ter aim s at exploring the learners’ and e x -le a m e rs ’ needs w hen taking the p re­

d e p a rtu re lan g u ag e training c o u rse before going to M alay sia T h e m aterial in question will then be exam ined a n d m atched with th e lea rn ers' needs in o rd e r to see to what extent it m eets the objectiv es o f th e program and expectatio n o f the learners

T h is ch ap ter in clu d es tw o sections, m ethodology and prelim inary results T h e form er gives the d e scrip tio n o f d a ta collection in strum ents (questionnaires, interview s) and procedures It also describ es the subjects involved in this study, i.e the learners and teachers at C O A L IM E X - o n e o f the com p an ies that are allow ed to ex p o rt la b o u r to

M alaysia T h e latter will sh o w the initial statistical results o f the surveying

q u estio n n aires a n d interview s, based on w hich th e au th o r o f this stu d y gives reco m m en d atio n s o n ad ap tin g the currently in use m aterial C riteria o f evaluation and

a d ap tatio n a re th o se d e scrib ed in the theoretical background given in the previous chapter M o re precisely, m o st o f the evaluating c riteria will be taken from the checklist

o f H utchinson and W a te rs (1 9 9 3 )

3 1 M E T H O D O L O G Y :

3 1 1 E v a lu a tio n P rocess:

Basically, the research uses a m odification o f th e m aterial evaluation p ro ce ss pro p o sed

by H utchinson a n d W a te r (1 9 9 3 ) T he p ro ce ss includes four m ajors steps: D efining

C riteria, S u b je ctiv e A nalysis, O bjective A nalysis and M atching

T h e S ubjective A nalysis will be co n ducted th ro u g h N e e d Analysis, w here the w ants, the needs o f th e learn ers and th e necessities o f th e c o u rse a re determ ined (T a b le 3.1 ) D ata

fo r this N eed A nalysis will b e collected fro m th e c u rre n t learners, ex -leam ers and the teachers o f C O A L IM E X by a com b in atio n o f d ata co llection m ethods d escrib ed in the next part o f this thesis O b je c tiv e A nalysis, o n the o th er hand, will be co n d u c te d m ainly

by analysing th e teaching m aterial in-use C O A L IM E X teach ers' o p in io n will be consulted at this stage

N eed A n aly sis F ra m e w o rk C h e ck list o f M a te ria l E v alu atio n

(S ubjective A nalysis)

LN A W ho are th e learners0 W ho are the learners? A udience

W hy a re the learner taking the

course? W hat are the aim s o f your course? Aim s

TN A W hy is the language needed?

W hat w ill th e content areas be?

W hat language points should be covered?

W hat subject m atter is required?

W ho w ill the learner use language

w'ith?

W hat text types d o you w ant?

| LNA H ow d o the learners learn?

L earners' attitude

M ethod

W hat guidance/support for teaching the course will be needed?

W hat kind o f tasks do you w ant?

W hat learning techniques d o you want?

! LN A W h at reso u rces are available? W hat aid s are available for use ?

T abic 3.1: M atching Need A nalysis Frameworks and

S u b jective Analysis o f the C hecklist o f M aterial Evaluation Source: Self-com pilation from Hutchinson and W aters (1993).

At the sta g e o f M atching, the w ant, the need and the necessity will be c o m p a re with

w hat co v ered by the m aterial in o rd e r to find o u t to w hat extents the m aterial answ er the req u rem en ts o f th e practical w orking situation in M alaysia S trengths and w eaknesses will be d isc o v e red and recom m endations can b e m ad e a c c o rd in g ly F ig u re 2.1, therefore, can b e m odified as one can see in F igure 3.1

F ig u re 3.1: E v a lu a tio n P rocess

3 1 2 D escrip tio n o f th e D a ta C o llec tin g M eth o d s:

T he m ajor d a ta collecting m ethod used in th is stu d y is survey m eth o d In o rd e r to evaluate, and then, to a d a p t th e E nglish m aterial for w o rk e rs w ho a re g o in g to w o rk in

M alaysia, it is a m u st to collect the le a rn e rs' and e x -le arn e rs' needs and c o m p a re them

w ith the existing m aterials T h e re are m any tec h n iq u es to e x p lo re the le a rn e rs' needs

su ch as: questio n n aires, detailed interview s, o b serv atio n , case stu d y , test, a u th e n tic d a ta collection and participatory n e e d s analysis In this research, the a u th o r w o u ld like to refer to three m ajo r m ethods, namely: (1 ) Q u estio n n aires (2) S tru c tu re d interview s and (3 ) O bservation

3.1.2.1 Q uestionnaires T h e re are several reasons for choosing th e questionnaires

Firstly, they a re usually objective Secondly, the m eth o d is relatively tim e-sav in g as it

a llo w s the researcher to g ath er d a ta fro m d ifferen t resp o n d e n ts at th e sa m e tim e Finally,

it is convenient becau se the researcher (o r h e r co llègues) can give the q u e stio n n a ires to

th o se who a re present and be su re that th ere w o u ld be high resp o n se rate In this study

q u estio n n aires w ere used lo r learners and ex-learners O pinions o f teachers w ho are teaching E nglish at the p re-d ep artu re co u rse s w ere also consulted through questionnaires, how ever, with lesser extents

Q u e stio n n a ire fo r learn ers (A p p en d ix 4): T h e first type is designed for 50 learners at

C O A L IM E X It consists o f 1 1 m ultiple-choice q uestions and aim s at ex p lo rin g the learning n eed, target needs o f the learners as w ell as their perceptions a b o u t different factors realised in the m aterial T he q u estionaires for this group o f resp o n d en ts w ere designed in a bilingual form at T h e fifty learners answ ered the q u estionaires u n d e r the

o b serv atio n o f the author T h is w ay o f collecting d a ta allow ed the researcher to explain any uncertainty o c c u rre d w h en the learners answ ering the q uestions given in the questionnaires Using the bilingual form at offers the learners an o p p o rtu n ity to get fam iliar w ith answ ering a q u e stio n a ire w ritten in English, w hich they m ight face in the future

Q u e stio n n a ir e fo r e x -le a r n e r s (A p p en d ix 5 ) and tea ch ers (A p p en d ix 6 ): 55 sets o f

q u e stio n n a ire w ere given to 5 teachers and 5 0 V ietnam ese w orkers w ho a re ex-learners

o f the training c o u rse and a re currently w orking in 5 factories in Malay sia D u e to the tim e constrain and the lim itation o f budget, the a u th o r o f this stu d y w e re not ab le to

d e liv e r th e questio n n aire directly to those w ho are w orking in M alaysia Fifty

q u estio n n aires w ere deliv ered by the representatives o f C O A L IM E X in M alaysia

T h e questionnaires fo r teach ers and ex-leam ers a re actually very sim ilar to the o n e used for learners H ow ever, since th e aim o f this type o f questionnaire is to e x p lo re the neccesities o f learning E nglish, som e questions a re changed F o r exam ple, instead o f

asking "w h ich to p ics d o y ou w a n t to learn?” as in the questionnaires for learners, ex- leam ers w e re asked "W h ich to p ic s are n ecessary for living and w orking in M alaysia?”

S tru ctu red interview s: a re u sed to collect inform ation fro m the teachers o f

C O A L IM E X O n e o f th e big adv antages o f this m ethod is that it allow s the interview er

to get ad d itio n al d ata, w hich a re so m etim es even m o re valuable then w hat h e o r she expected T he disad v an tag e, on the o th er hand is that the m ethod is highly tim e- consum ing Each interview m ay take th e researcher several hours H ow ever, d u e to the

sm all n u m b e r o f resp o n d en ts (fiv e teachers) involved in this research, this m ethod can

be ap p lied S tru c tu re d interv iew s are also used to cross-check the level o f confidence o f the d ata c o llected fro m qu estio n aires Using this m ethod, unclear answ ers can be re­exam ined and m isu n d e rsto o d questions can be explained T h u s co rrect and believable

d a ta can be ex pected

F o u r o f the teach ers has w o rked as the representatives o f C O A L IM E X in M alaysia for

at least 3 m onths and the o th er is currently in M alaysia T he interview ees have not only the e x p erien ce o f teaching English for the w orkers in V ietnam but also o p p o rtu n itie s to

d iscu ss w ith the V ietnam ese w orkers in M alaysia ab o u t the situational reqirem ents o f using English there T h e ir understanding o f learners' needs and th e content o f the training m aterial is therefore, to som e extent, m ore com prehensive than that o f individual learners

In D e cem b er 2 0 0 3 , this d ata collection m ethod w as conducted through inform al individual interv iew s in V ietnam at C O A L IM E X during the end o f the T raditional New

Y e a r w hen th e rep re sen ta tiv e returned to h o m e fo r holiday T hese p e o p le suggested the

to p ics, w hich they think a re a p p ro p riate and then gave the explanation for their choices

S o m e tim e s there w e re d e b a te s a m o n g the the respondents as each o f them have

co n tra d ic to ry e x p e rien c e on a certain topics T he interview s w ith th ese p e o p le took place m any days b e c a u se w e w orked together at the sam e d e p artm en t at C O A L IM E X

O b servation : O b se rv a tio n is also used in this research It is actually the personal

ex perience o f th e a u th o r after tw o years teaching at the language center o f C O A L IM E X

3 1 3 D a ta A n a ly sis M ethod s:

Basically, the d a ta a re analysed by com p arin g the percentage o f choices m ade by different g ro u p o f respondents T he m ethod help to indicate w hich asp ects a re w anted,

n eeded a n d w hich a re not

In o rd e r to identify th e strengths and w eaknesses o f the m aterial, a n o th e r m ethod is

em ployed: S u ita b ility A n a ly sis M a p p in g m ethod T his is actually a m odification o f

S ustainability A nalysis M apping m ethod (A p p en d ix 7), which has been used w idely in

the areas o f su sta in ab le dev elopm ent and social stu d ies during the last few years This

m ethod allow s research ers to quantify the adv antages and d isadvantages o f the studying subject and visualise them in the form o f graphs and diagram s T h e d e sc rip tio n o f this

m ethod is presen ted in G eneral Evaluation at th e end o f C hapter 3

3 2 D E S C R IP T IO N O F S U B J E C T S A N D T H E S A M P L E S IZ E :

T h is se ctio n will give a full descrip tio n o f th e subjects w ho a re involved in my survey, including 5 0 learners at C O A L IM E X 50 ex-learn ers in factories in M alaysia a n d 5 rep resen tativ es/ teachers o f C O A L IM E X

3 2 1 L e a r n e r s a t C O A L I M E X a n d t h e i r B a c k g r o u n d :

It can b e said th e target g ro u p has a low educatio n al b ack g ro u n d An estim ated 100%

o f the learn ers a re farm ers, w o rkers, bricklayers (m a les) a n d industrial tailors (fam ales)

M ost o f th e learners aged fro m 21 to 35 and all have left school a long tim e ago Very few o f th em g rad u a ted high school befo re sta rte d w orking T h e o th e rs q u itte d seco n d ary school w h en they w e re at 8 ,h o r 9 th grade M oreov er, since m ost o f th em w ent to schools

in rural areas, they did no t h ave o p p o rtu n itie s to stu d y English before T h is explains the reason w hy all o f th e learners h ave no know ledge o f E nglish b e fo re e n te rin g the training program

T h e c o u rse at C O A L IM E X takes place fro m o n e to tw o m o n th s w ith at least 2 1 0

c la ssro o m p erio d s (a perio d = an hour) A fter finishing the c o u rse , learners a re ex p e cte d

to have an e le m e n ta n level in speaking an d u n d e rsta n d in g English How ev er, o n e o f the biggest o b sta c les in achieving the target is that the learners a re no t fam iliar to the subject they a re stu d y in g and they have lost th e h ab it o f studying long ago W hile being com peratively a c tiv e in vocational training classes, th e learners a re very shy and

u nco n fid en t in E nglish class

A dditionally, m any o f the learn ers are lisped since they c o m e from the rural areas o f the

N orthern pro v in ces T h is results in in correct p ro n u n cia tio n F or ex a m p le, so m e learners

co n fu se th e so u n d [ n | w ith | l | Instead o f pro n u n ciatin g |n o u | fo r th e w o rd "n o ” , they

p ro n u n cíate it as |l o u | A d d m itted ly , th o se w h o have g ra d u a te d high sc h o o l stu d y b e tte r

H o \\e \e r this g ro u p is sm all and they are not g o o d enough to help their collegues w hen practising th e language in pair w ork o r group w ork

G enerally speaking, the learners achieve little result after finishing the training course

A fter o n e o r tw o m onths their ability o f speaking and understanding E nglish is still extrem ely lim itted far below the elem entary level as expected by the syllabus designers

T he fifty learners involved in this investigation (O ctober 2 0 0 3 ) have already attended

tw o thirds o f the English training p rogram using the m aterial designed by the Ministry

o f L abour, W a r Invalid and Social Affairs

T hese respondents

w ere chosen random ly from a b ig g er g ro u p o f

3 5 2 learners This sam ple s i/ e (equal to

statistical population) can b e statistically acceptable

3 2 2 E x -lea rn ers in M alaysia:

T h e fifty ex-learners, w ho resp onded to the survey are living and w o rk in g in M alaysia

a t five factories, nam ely A gsanafood K eu C ontrol, K im Hin, Jo h an C eram ics and

B erhad M ost o f the w orkers in these factories c o m e from India B angladesh N epal and

V ietnam E nglish is used daily fo r giving w orking instructions, m aking conversationsduring lunch b reak s and for announcing all o th er kinds to announcem ents In these factories M alaysia bosses usually ap p re c ia te th o se w orkers w ho have g o o d English ability

All these resp o n d en ts have c o m p leted the English training c o u rse at C O A L IM E X

b efo re going to M alaysia and their b ack g ro u n d s a re very m uch sim ilar to that o f the learners describ ed in 3.2.1 T hey w ere also chosen random ly by the rep resentative o f

C O A L IM E X fro m m ore than 1200 w orkers sent by the com pany T he sa m p le s i/e in

this case is equal to only 4 1 6 % o f the population

A s the result o f p o o r achiev em ents obtained in p re-d e p a rtu re English training program ,

th ese e \-le a rn e rs have been facing m any difficulties in understanding their m anagers' instructions and in con d u ctin g everyday co m m unication with their foreign colleagues

T h erefo re, they know exaclty w hat kind o f language (including vocabularies, gram m atical s tru c tu re s a n d the contexts w here English is m ostly u sed ) they need in

o rd er to survive and to w ork in M alaysian factories T h u s, although th e sa m p le s i/ e is obviously not statistically ideal (only 4.1% ), the sa m p le s' response a re reliable and essentia] for th e a u th o r to identify the necessary content that shoulm d be included in the English m aterial used for V ietnam ese w orkers on lim ited contracts in M alaysia

3 2 3 T h e tea c h e r s o f E n glish at C oalim ex:

C O A L IM E X has nearly 150 s ta ff o f 5 im port - export departm ents bu t it has only 6 staffs w orking a s E nglish language teachers (including the au th o r o f this research)

T h ese teaching staffs a re usually assigned to be the co m p a n y 's rep resentative in

M alaysia T hey a re responsible for supervising and assisting the w orkers o f the com pany there M ost o f the teachers g raduated from Hanoi Pedagogical U niversity and

H anoi U niversity o f F oreign Studies They are from 25 to 4 5 years o f a g e and have experience, th o u g h at different lev el, in English language teaching T h eir understanding

o f the training m aterial and o f the V ietnam ese w o rk e rs' practical situations in M alaysia

is valuable T h e ir su g gestions on the im provem ent o f the English m aterial fo r lim ited- contract w o rkers, th erefo re, w ould be reliable

3 3 E V A L U A T IO N O F T H E M A T E R IA L IN USE:

3 3 1 G en era l D e sc r ip tio n o f the M aterial:

T he English m aterial used in the p re-d ep artu re English training p ro g ram for w orkers

w ho w ork on lim itted contracts in M alaysia w as designed by the teach ers o f the International C o o p e ra tio n and W o rk e rs' T raining C enter N o 1 (T R A C O E L ) o f the

A gency in charge o f sup erv isin g V ietnam ese w orkers w orking oversea (D A F E L ) which

b elongs to th e M inistry o f Labour W ar Inv alid and Social Affairs

T he m aterial is published by

D A FEL in M ay 2 0 0 2 in accordance to the M in istry 's

R egulation on O rientation Training for V ietnam ese

W orkers W o rking on L im itted

C ontracts O versea A t this stage, the a u th o r o f this thesis wishes to present only a very-

b rie f descrip tio n o f the

m aterial O th e r details will be analysed later in O bjective

T h e m aterial is m onolingual (English) w ith little explaination in V ietnam ese It contains ninety-nine 14.5 x 2 0 5 c m pages T he m aterial consists o f three parts: 12 units w hich presents m ain gram m atical points, language functions and situations; 5 0 short situational co n v ersatio n s w hich w ere ex pected to co ver m ost regularly co m m unication situ atio n s in the en v ironm ent o f w orking and living abroad; a con so lid atio n part at the

e n d o f th e b o o k M ain contents and to p ic s cov ered by the book can be found in T able3.2

T h e length o f each unit in the b o o k ranges fro m 4 to 9 pages T h e gram m atical stru c tu re s in tro d u c ed in the book a re sim p le and a re com pepatively H ow ever, the range

o f new v o cabularies contained in each unit is to o large to cover w ithin nine to fifteen

h o u rs, especially for su ch beginners as th e learners o f C O A LIM EX

G enerally speaking, th e m aterial is an effort o f T R A C O E L in helping V ietnam ese

w o rk ers to integrate into a new and stran g e w orking env ironm ent T he m aterial answ ers

p a r tly th e req u irem en t o f new situation, in w hich a large n u m ber o f young V ietnam ese

is seeking em p lo y m en t o p p o rtunities H ow ever, since the m aterial is new (first

Picture 3.1: T he E nglish m aterial used in the pre-departure

E n g lish training program for w orkers w ho w ork on lim itted

contracts in M alaysia

P ictured b y the Author

Analysis.

p u b lish ed in 2 0 0 2 ), il is nol ab le lo predict all types o f co m m unication situations that the w o rk e rs m ay face w hen w orking outside the b o rd er o f V ietnam Im provem ent and

a d a p ta tio n a re th ere fo re n eeded

(M inim um )

U n it 2 G reeting, T hank you Excuse me 12

3 3 2 D e fin in g E v a lu a tio n C riteria:

D efining c riteria is first stage, based on w hich a m aterial is ju d g e d A cco rd in g to

H utch in so n and W a te rs, the w hole evaluating p ro ce ss contains five m ajor criteria:

A u d ien ce, Aim s C ontent M ethodology' and O ther Criteria H ow ever, the fifth c riteria is

n o t really im p o rta n t in this case since it concerns m ainly the m atte r o f price and availability o f m ate ria ls T h e m aterial used for C O A L1M EX w orkers is alw ays available with an a ffo rd a b le p ric e o f 12.000 V N D / a book T herefore, the au th o r o f this study

w o u ld like to fo cu s on th e four m ajo r criteria: Audience Aims C ontent and

M eth o d o lo g y in th e ev alu atin g process.

D ifferent indicators o f the four criteria w ill be exam ined through the processes o f

S ubjective A nalysis and O b jectiv e A nalysis b e fo re being m atched to g eth er in o rd er to identify the extent, to w hich the m aterial a n sw e rs the requirem ents o f the learners as

w ell as o f the practical situations It should be no ted here that the tw o criteria C ontent and M ethodology in S u b je ctiv e Analysis, as explained above, will be analysed using

C O A L IM E X rep resentatives) ab o u t the types o f language needed for surviving and for

w orking in M alaysian factories

A s it w as discussed ab o v e, su b jectiv e analysis w ill be conducted th ro u g h the learners' needs analysis, w hich in tu rn s is divided into target needs and learning needs

T arget needs consists o f "necessities, w ants and lack s" o f the target g ro u p (H utchinson and W ater 1987) In this research, the in fo rm atio n o n necessities is collected from fifty

ex-learners w o rk in g at five factories in M alaysia w hile d ata on wants is collected from

the learners at C O A L IM E X Five teachers/rep resen tativ es in M a la y sia since they have

g o o d experience on the practical situ atio n s o f the V ietnam ese w orkers in M a la y sia will

be consulted for the in form ation on necessities

T h ere is no statistical d a ta a b o u t the le a r n e r s ' lacks since the com pany did not organise

any entering test How ever, as the a u th o r o f this research lias o b serv ed and described before, m o st o f the learners have no p rio r kn o w led g e in English T h ere is a small num ber o f stu d e n ts w ho can rem em b er so m e " p ie c e s" o f English learned at high school

N evertheless, their know ledge o f English is no hig h er than saying "hello", "g o o d b y e" and using the verb “to b e '? in its sim p lest form s su ch as "1 am a w o rk e r" o r "H e is a

d r iv e r ’