000034961 AN EVALUATION OF THE ENGLISH MATERIAL FOR PRE-DEPARTURE TRAINING OF VIETNAMESE WORKERS ON LIMITED CONTRACTS IN MALAYSIA (ĐÁNH GIÁ TÀI LIỆU TIẾNG ANH DÀNH CHO VIỆC ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỚC KHI ĐI LÀM VIỆC CHO LAO ĐỘNG VIỆT NAM THEO HỢP ĐỒNG CÓ GIỚI HẠN TẠI

000034961 AN EVALUATION OF THE ENGLISH MATERIAL FOR PRE-DEPARTURE TRAINING OF VIETNAMESE WORKERS ON LIMITED CONTRACTS IN MALAYSIA (ĐÁNH GIÁ TÀI LIỆU TIẾNG ANH DÀNH CHO VIỆC ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỚC KHI ĐI LÀM VIỆC CHO LAO ĐỘNG VIỆT NAM THEO HỢP ĐỒNG CÓ GIỚI HẠN TẠI MALAYSIA)

Dei hoc Ha Noi IMAL A

200034961

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOL UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES

MASTER THESIS IN TESOL

(iN EVALUATION OF THE ENGLISH MA@TERIAGL FOR

ON LIMITED CONTRACTS IN MALAYSIA

Supervisor: HOANG XUAN HOA, M.A

Student: LE THI TUY PHUONG

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

J have received great assistance from many people in the preparation

of this dissertation Without their assistance and support, this dissertation might not have been finished,

J am most grateful to Hoang Xuan Hoa M.A, my supervisor, for her criticism, comments and for guiding me through this difficult task [Without her support and invaluable suggestions and guidance, this

dissertation would never have been written

My special thanks also go to Dr Pham Kim Ninh and Nguyen Thai

Ha M.A — the leaders of the Post-Graduate Departure of the University of Foreign Studies — for their considerateness and Jenthusiasm in helping me to pursue the course

I would also like to thank the Directorate and the teachers of my

company, who did their best in helping me to determine the language

materials J have greatly benefited from their generous co-operation |

throughout my studies

The research reported in this dissertation would not have been carried out without the enthusiasm, awareness, and interest of the learners and

ex-learmners of the Pre-departure English Training Courses who

encouraged me to develop the particular material to ESP

Finally, J owe my deepest gratitude and thanks to my family, my

husband — Tran Le Tra and my son — Tran Le Bao Minh, for their

endless love, great encouragement and support to me

ABSTRACT

Textbooks are the key component in most language programs in Vietnam In some situations they serve primarily to supplement the teachers’ instruction and may provide the learners with the major source of contact they have with the language However, the use of textbooks in teaching and learning language has both advantages and disadvantages, depending on how they are used and on the contexts where they are used Both the benefits and limitations of the use of textbooks need to be considered

During the last few years there has been a movement of Vietnamese young people going abroad seeking for employment They normally do it through an intermediary company which provide them with not only vocational training but also primary training in foreign languages

This thesis is conducted on the hypothesis that the existing English training material

used for manual workers, who are preparing to work on limitted contracts in Malaysia,

is not efficient There is a demand to evaluate the material and adapt it in accordance to

the learners’ needs and to the practical situation in Malaysia

This thesis has employed the material evaluation model proposed by Hutchinson and

Waters (1993) to evaluate the said material Beside, in order to illustrate the above-

mentioned hypothesis, the author of this thesis has conducted a case study at the Pre-

departure Training Center of COALIMEX company, where she currently works as a

teacher

The results of the thesis has revealed some strengths and weaknesses of the material

They are the references, based on which some recommendations on the adaptation of

the material are made Limitations of the thesis as well as suggestions for further studies are presented at the end of the thesis

DAFEL Agency in charge of supervising Vietnamese workers working oversea which

belongs to the Ministry of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ELT English Language Teaching

ESL English as a Second Language

ESP English for Special Purposes

LNA Learning Need Analysis

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND PICTURES

One of the very few examples where new vocabularies are presented well

A dialogue used for developing speaking and listening skills

Example of an inappropriate situation

Some of the sentences that the learners have to translate into English,

Income of Vietnamese workers in Malaysia

Jobs are available, but there is a shortage in human resource

Information needed for evaluating a textbook

A checklist for materials evaluation

Matching Need Analysis Frameworks and Subjective Analysis of the

Checklist of Material Evaluation

Training contents and time allocation

Learners’ aims

Learners’ prediction of communicative situations

Learners’ wants

The Wants on Functions

The wants on notions

The Ex-Learners’ Perception of Language Aspects

Functions perceived by different groups of respondents

The topics that need to be added in the material

Indicators of Methodology

Learners’ Attitude of Learning English at Coalimex

The importance of listening exercises types

The Importance of Speaking Exercise Types

The importance of vocabulary exercise (perceived by learners)

The importance of vocabulary exercise (perceived by ex-learners)

Ways of learning

Main grammar rules in the material

Selected examples of misused vocabularies

Exercise types in the material

Content matching

Methodology matching

Average scores of the main indicators

Suitability Index of the Material

Suggested size of the new material

General organisation of the new material

Organisation of a unit in the new material

AIMS OF THE STUDY

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

OUTLINE OF THE THESIS

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

OVERVIEW OF LANGUAGE MATERIAL

2.1.1 Universal Characteristics of EFL/ ESL Textbooks

2.1.2 The Role of Textbooks in a Language Program

2.1.3 Advantages and Limitations of Textbooks

EVALUATING TEXTBOOKS

2.2.1 Reasons of evaluating material

2.2.2 Evaluating a Textbook

2.2.3 Criteria for Textbook Evaluation

2.2.4 Methods of Materials Evaluation

3.1.2 Description of the Data Collecting Methods

3.1.3 Data Analysis Methods

PAGE

ii iii iii

D THE SAMPLE SIZE

3.2.1 Learners at COALIMEX and their Background

3.2.2 Ex-learners in Malaysia

3.2.3 The teachers of English at Coalimex

EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL IN USE

3.3.1, General Description of the Material

3.3.2 Defining Evaluation Criteria

3.5.1 Overall Evaluation of the Learners and Ex-Learners

4.1.2 Overall Evaluation of the Teachers

SUMMARY

CHAPTER 4: OVERALL EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE STUDY SETTING

RECOMMENDATIONS

4.2.1 Recommendations on the Low-marked Indicators

4.2.2 Recommendations on Other issues

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND AND STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

English has been considered as a dominant language in the world of exchange, trade and communication Not only the number of English learners has been increasing sharply, but the purposes of learning the language also varied widely English teaching materials designed for different specific purposes, therefore, have been developed accordingly They are called “English for special purposes” and “English as a Foreign Language”

During the last few years, the number of Vietnamese workers who work on limited contracts in other countries has been increasing sharply Besides "traditional" markets

such as Taiwan and some Middle East states, where Chinese and Arabic are spoken

widely, Vietnamese labor-export entrepreneurs are now trying to open a new labour markets in the Asian region Malaysia, Japan and Singapore, where English can be used

as a mean of communication, are considered as attractive destinations for Vietnamese

young manual laborers

Due to budget limitation, most of the labour exporting companies are not able to assign

professional interpreters for every group of workers they send abroad Learning English

is therefore of great importance for the young workers In accordance to current

regulations on labour exporting activities, English training is compulsory and the teaching material used in this kind of training program is regulated to be the English Teaching Material published by the Bureau of Labor Exporting Control of the Ministry

of Labor, War Invalid and Social Affairs The intensive English training program

usually takes place from one to two months before the workers’ departure with the aim

of enabling them to understand simple everyday conversations and understand working

instructions in order to respond accordingly

However, after 2 years in use, the material appears to be not efficient and is not able to answer the requirements of practical situations abroad What the trainees are taught

before they left the country is found to be not useful in their new situation There is

therefore an urgent need to review, evaluate and improve the content as well as_ the structure of the currently-in-use training material

Vietnamese workers have good reputation of cleverness, fast-learning and hard-working ability This has been considered as the biggest advantage of Vietnamese human resource and it has helped us to obtain many labour exporting contracts in different markets However, ability of speaking foreign languages, and particularly speaking English, is always a weakness of Vietnamese workers in their new working environment There have been cases that our workers were expelled or fired by foreign employers since the workers did not understand working instructions

This phenomenon certainly bring negative consequences Firstly, the workers’ families, who have spent a large amount of money preparing for the trip abroad, would suffer

economically Secondly, the Vietnamese companies whose workers were fired would also bare potential financial burden due to contract breaking This, in turn, results in

reducing the competitive power of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in labour exporting markets Lastly, but very importantly, the state policy of employment opportunity

would be more difficult to fulfill

However, although the mentioned issue is recognised widely among the concerned governmental agencies as well as labour exporting companies, little has been done Teaching material has been remained unchanged despite negative feedbacks from ex-

trainees Launching a serious study on the said problem is very important

1.2, AIMS OF THE STUDY:

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the material used for training Vietnamese workers who work on limited contracts in Malaysia

The specific aims of thesis are:

1 To review the literature relating to material evaluation and then setting up the

criteria for evaluating the material

nN To conduct a need analysis, to find out the learners’ needs and the practical requirements

3 To analyse the currently-in-use material

4 To make suggestions and recommendations on the development of the material

on the basis of the research findings

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

There are several reasons that have been believed to be the main reasons of the weak ability of Vietnamese workers in speaking and understanding English One may list:

- Ability of obtaining new knowledge of the trainees

- Trainers’ pedagogical methodology and teaching ability

- Short training period

- The suitability of teaching material

This study will focus mainly on the last reason: the efficiency of teaching material which have been used for pre-departure English training courses during the last two years

1.4, OUTLINE OF THE THESIS:

This study consists of five chapters The Introduction Chapter provides the background,

the aims, the scope and the outline of the study

Chapter Two - Literature Review - addresses some theoretical principles for evaluating the material, including the role of textbook/ material, the reasons why we have to evaluate a material and the methods of material evaluation The forms of training

material adaptation will also be mentioned in this Chapter

Chapter Three - The Study - gives the descriptions of the methodology that this study employs for evaluating the training material, of the data collection instruments, and of the subjects involved in this study The Chapter will also analyse all the data collected

and use them as the practical bases for the evaluation Basically, Chapter Three tries to

explore what are the learners’ needs, what are the requirement of the situations and compare them with the main features realised in the material

Three types of respondents were involved in the data collecting process They are

learners, ex-learners and teachers of the Import-Export and International Cooperation

Company (COALIMEX) A brief introduction of the company can be found in Appendix 1

The overall evaluation of the material will be stated at the end of this Chapter At this stage, the strengths and weaknesses of the material are indicated In Chapter Four, these

strength-weakness analyses are used as the background, on which recommendations are made

The thesis ends with the Conclusion Chapter where beside the conclusion statement, the author will point out some limitations of the thesis and give some suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will provide the theoretical background relating to an overview of language material as well as the role of textbooks, their universal characteristics and the way of evaluating them The main aim of the chapter is to provide a “standard” system or a checklist, based on which a language teaching material can be assessed or evaluated

2.1 OVERVIEW OF LANGUAGE MATERIAL:

Nowadays, there is a plethora of ELT textbooks on the market There are books aimed

at all sorts of learners, from school pupils to engineers, However, the cry can still be

heard from staff rooms about the unsuitability of some textbooks, and teachers bemoan

the fact that they spend a lot of their time adapting materials

But there is nothing wrong in adapting textbooks As part of the teacher-development

process, material adaptation should be encouraged The point is in order to adapt and to improve a textbook, or even to write a new textbook, one should understand the

characteristics, the role and the reasons of using textbooks in ESP language classrooms Moreover, the teacher should understand clearly his students’ aims of studying the

language and foresee the situations in which the language he teaches would be used Above all, those who want to improve or adapt an existing textbook should develop or apply a model of evaluation and upgrading teaching material In most cases, students appreciate the materials produced specifically for them

In this chapter, the issues mentioned above will be discussed It starts by giving an overview of language material General idea about why we have to evaluate textbooks and the criteria that need to be taken into account when evaluating textbooks will be reviewed The core of the chapter lies in the method of material evaluation and the creation of a checklist, which includes requirements that need to be fulfill when

launching evaluation

2.1.1 Universal Characteristics of EFL/ ESL Textbooks:

It is ironical that those teachers who rely most heavily on a textbook are the ones least qualified to interpret its intentions or evaluate its content and method (Williams, 1983:251), How necessary is a textbook? The answer to this question depends on the teachers’ own teaching style, the resources available to them, the accepted standards of teaching in every language school, etc However, there seems to exist three options open

to teachers as regards to the use or non-use of a particular textbook in a language classroom: (1) Teachers need textbooks, (2) They do not need them, and (3) They select them and supplement some other materials to perfect them

It is accepted by a number of authors (Ur,1996; Hutchinson and Water, 1987 and

Sheldon, 1988) that “no textbook is perfect” Therefore, teachers should have the option

of assigning supplementary materials based on their own specific needs and their own specific teaching situation Those who support the use of textbooks argue that a

textbook is a framework which regulates and times the programs It provides ready- made teaching texts and learning tasks and in many situations, a textbook can serve as a

syllabus To some extents, for novice teachers a textbook means security, guidance, and support

From the point of view of the learners, no textbook means no purpose Learners may find it difficult to focus on their studying without a textbook They become highly teacher-dependent and they may think that their learning is not taken seriously

On the other hand, those who are against the dependency on textbooks think that every

group of students has different needs, therefore, no single textbook can be a response to

all differing needs Ur (1996:183-195) summarised their arguments saying that textbooks have their own rationale, and as such they cannot by their nature cater for a

variety of levels, every type of learning style, and every category of learning strategies

that often exist in the class A textbook of necessity sets pre-arranged sequence and structure that may not be realistic and situation-friendly Moreover, there is an argument that can be the most important one of this kind It says that a textbook is confirming,

i.e., it inhibits teachers’ creativity and “teachers may find themselves as mediators with

no free hand and slave, in fact to others’ judgments about what is good and what is not” (Ur 1996:183-195)

In general, EFL/ESL textbooks have brought with them a range of reactions Responses often fluctuate between these two extremes One option is that they are valid, useful, and labor-saving tools The other position holds that they are "masses of rubbish skillfully marketed" (Brumfit 1980:30)

2.1.2 The Role of Textbooks in a Language Program:

Harmer (1991) stated that textbooks are a key component in most language programs

In some situations they serve as the basis for much of the language input learners

receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom They may provide the

basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of

language practice the students take part in In other situations, the textbook may serve

primarily to supplement the teacher's instruction For learners, the textbook may provide the major source of contact they have with the language apart from the input provided

by the teacher

In the case of inexperienced teachers textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training: they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as formats that teachers can use Much of the language teaching that occurs throughout the world today could not take place without the extensive use of commercial textbooks Learning how

to use and adapt textbooks is hence an important part of a teacher's professional knowledge

2.1.3 Advantages and Limitations of Textbooks:

The use of commercial textbooks in teaching has both advantages and disadvantages,

depending on how they are used and the contexts for their use

Advantages: Richards (2001) listed eight principal advantages of textbooks including:

- They provide structure and a syllabus for a program: Without textbooks a program may have no central core and learners may not receive a syllabus that has been systematically planned and developed

- They help standardize instruction: The use of a textbook in a program can ensure that the students in different classes receive similar content and therefore can be tested in the same way

- They maintain quality: If a well developed textbook is used students are exposed

to materials that have been tried and tested, that are based on sound learning principles, and that are paced appropriately

- They provide a variety of learning resources: Textbooks are often accompanied

by workbooks, CDs and cassettes, videos, CD ROMs, and comprehensive teaching guides, providing a rich and varied resource for teachers and learners

- They are efficient: They save teachers' time, enabling teachers to devote time to teaching rather than material's production

- They can provide effective language models and input: Textbooks can provide support for teachers whose first language is not English and who may not be able to generate accurate language input on their own

- They can train teachers: If teachers have limited teaching experience, a textbook

together with the teacher's manual can serve as a medium of initial teacher training

- They are visually appealing: Commercial textbooks usually have high standards

of design and production and hence are appealing to learners and teachers

Limitations:

However, according to Richards (2001), there are also potential negative effects caused

by the use of textbooks Firstly textbooks may sometimes contain inauthentic language

since texts, dialogues and other aspects of content tend to be specially written to incorporate teaching points and are often not representative of real language use Secondly, they may distort content Textbooks often present an idealized view of the world or fail to represent real issues In order to make textbooks acceptable in many different contexts controversial topics are avoided and instead an idealized white middle-class view of the world is portrayed as the norm

Next, they may not reflect students' needs Since textbooks are often written for global markets they often do not reflect the interests and needs of students and hence may

require adaptation

Lastly, they can deskill teachers If teachers use textbooks as the primary source of their

teaching leaving the textbook and teacher's manual to make the major instructional

decisions for them the teacher's role can become reduced to that of a technician whose primarily function is to present materials prepared by others

Both the benefits and limitations of the use of textbooks need to be considered, and if the textbooks that are being used in a program are judged to have some negative

consequences, remedial action should be taken, e.g by adapting or supplementing books or by providing appropriate guidance and support for teachers in how to use them

appropriately

2.2 EVALUATING TEXTBOOKS:

2.2.1 Reasons of evaluating material:

Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something to a particular purpose Given

a certain need, and in the light of the resources available, which out of the number of possibilities can represent the best solution Evaluation is, then, concerned with relative merit There is no absolute good or bad - only degrees for the required purpose (Hutchinson and Water 1988:96)

There may be various reasons for looking closely at materials to see if they are

appropriated for a group of learners Often the desire to look for the new materials

stems from dissatisfaction with what is being currently used, and the teacher or course planner may want to compare a number of different alternatives

For some teachers the selection of a good textbook can be valuable, particularly in contexts where the assimilation of stimulating authentic, materials can be difficult to organize Other teachers working with the materials given to them by a ministry or similar body will clearly have some different issues to content with They maybe, for example, have to work with materials, which they find very limiting, and will probably

need to resort to adapting these materials as best they can suit the needs of their

particular context, Even though such teachers will not have to evaluate to adopt materials, they may well be interested in evaluation as a useful process in its own right, giving insight into the organizational principles of the materials and helping them to keep up with developments in the field

Stern (1992:325) identifies an important issue: “The teacher's main problem is one of

selection from an embarras de richesses” This is undoubtedly true, as a visit to any large bookstore will reveal a wide and confusing array of seemingly similar books

2.2.2 Evaluating a Textbook:

With such an array of commercial textbooks and other kinds of instructional materials, teachers and others responsible for choosing materials need to be able to make

judgments about textbooks and teaching materials Evaluation however can only be

done by considering something in relation to its purpose A book may be ideal in one situation because it matches the needs of that situation perfectly It has just the right amount of material for the program, it is easy to teach, it can be used with little preparation by inexperienced teachers, and it has an equal coverage of grammar and the

four skills However the same book in a different situation may turn out to be quite

unsuitable It contains too little material, it is not sufficiently challenging for teacher and students, and has elements in it (such as a grammar syllabus) that are not needed in the program

Therefore, Richards (2001) claims that before one can evaluate a textbook information

on the issues listed in Table 2.1 below is needed

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Explainations

The role of the textbook in the

program

Progray Detailed explaination of the issues

can be found in Appendix 2

‘The teachers in the program The learners in the program

Source: Self compilation from Richards (2001)

It is also necessary to realize that no commercial textbook will ever be a perfect fit for a

language program Two factors are involved in the development of commercial textbooks: those representing the interests of the author, and those representing the

interests of the publisher The author is generally concerned to produce a text that teachers will find innovative, creative, relevant to their learners’ needs, and that they

will enjoy teaching from The author is generally hopeful that the book will be successful and make a financial profit since a large investment of the author's personal

time and effort is involved The publisher is primarily motivated by financial success

However, in order to achieve a profit, publishers generally recognize that a book must

have qualities of excellence that will distinguish it from its competitors

At the same time, the publisher will try to satisfy teachers' expectations as to what a textbook at a certain level should contain For example, if an introductory ESL textbook does not include the present continuous in the first level of the book, teachers may feel that it is defective and not wish to use it In an attempt to make an author's manuscript usable in as large a market as possible, the publisher often has to change it substantially Some of these changes are necessitated by the fact that teachers with very different levels of experience, training, and teaching skill might be using the book

Exercises should have explicit goals, procedures for using activities should be obvious and uncomplicated, and teachers should not have to spend much time working out how

to use the material In addition, content that would not be welcome in particular markets may have to be removed As a consequence, much of the "flavour" and creativity of the author's original manuscript may disappear In using textbooks, therefore teachers invariably have to put back some of the creativity that may have been lost in the process

of textbook publication

2.2.3 Criteria for Textbook Evaluation:

Cunningsworth (1995) proposes four criteria for evaluating textbooks particularly course books Firstly, they should correspond to learner's needs It means that they should match the aims and objectives of the language-learning program Secondly they should reflect the uses (present or future) which learners will make of the language Textbooks should be chosen that will help students to use language effectively for their own purposes Thirdly, they should take account of students’ needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes without dogmatically imposing a rigid

"method" Lastly, they should have a clear role as a support for learning Like teachers, they mediate between the target language and the learner

The type of evaluation a textbook receives, however, will also reflect the concerns of

the evaluator One teacher may look at a book in terms of its usability, The teacher is primarily interested in whether the book works easily in her class, can be used flexibly, and could easily be adapted Another teacher may look at a book much more critically

in terms of its theoretical orientation and approach If it is a book that teaches conversation skills what theory of conversation is it based on? What kind of syllabus is

it based on and what is the validity of the activities it makes use of? Two teachers

evaluating a writing text may likewise look at it from very different perspectives One may subscribe to a process-oriented view of writing and look for activities that practice such processes as generating ideas, drafting, reviewing, revising, and editing Another

may be more concerned to see that adequate treatment is given to different conventions

for organizing different kinds of texts, such as narrative writing, expository writing, and descriptive writing

In any language program therefore it is unlikely that a published checklist can be used without adaptation as a basis for evaluating and choosing textbooks Based on the

factors in each situation questions specific to that situation need to be generated around

the main issues involved in textbook evaluation and selection:

- Program factors - questions relating to concerns of the program

- Teacher factors - questions relating to teacher concerns

- Leamer factors - questions relating to learner concerns

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- Content factors - questions relating to the content and organization of the material in the book

- Pedagogical factors - questions relating to the principles underlying the materials and the pedagogical design of the materials, including choice of activities and

exercise types

2.2.4 Methods of Materials Evaluation:

A decision about whether a particular course book should be used in a specific teaching

situation can be taken on the basis of a number of evaluative methods According to

Sheldon (1988:240), the literature on the subject of textbook evaluation is not very

extensive” There does appear to be enough literature though, to select an appropriate

method or framework by which to assess a course book

Sheldon (1988:237) suggests that “ELT books are frequently seen as poor comprises

between what is educationally desirable on the one hand and financially viable on the other” There are numerous factors to consider when choosing materials for a class and

a compromise must be reached as it is almost impossible to find a product that satisfies

all of these criteria in one neatly bound package The same may be said of evaluative

models Sheldons states: “It is clear that course book assessment is fundamentally a subjective, rule of thumb activity, and that no neat formula, grid, or system will ever

provide a definitive yardstick” (1988:245) There are a number of models and

frameworks for assessing course books, The reason, however, that there is not really one definitive model is that every teacher has different requirements to consider

Although many teachers may feel the most effective manner by which to evaluate course books is to examine the language objectives contained in them, experts have provided a range of approaches that can be used Most often, an evaluation of the

content of the text is advocated, but under this broad topic, what should be included? Hartley (1994:163) sees three contents areas that must be addressed and advises assessors to ask the following questions Firstly, does the book meet their teaching

objectives Secondly, is there sufficient depth and breadth of material? And lastly, will

it need to be supplemented? This final question raises concerns because many experts discourage teachers from utilizing texts to a great degree in the classroom For them,

Hartley's question would not even be a consideration However, when faced with a curriculum and a required text, teachers need to be aware of how to judge the distance that exists between the two and how to bridge it Therefore, Hartley's question has significant practical concerns because if teachers are spending substantial amounts of time preparing supplementary material, what purpose is the text serving of them? As well, it is irresponsible to force financially constrained students to purchase textbooks that will not be used for their maximum benefit

Many experts advocate a very detailed examination of a course book’s language content, which has led to the production of extensive evaluation checklists that will be further examined in the next section These include Cunningsworth (1984) who touches

upon the importance of relating materials to course objectives and the learners’ needs and processes Sheldon’s (1988) checklist is very expensive and attempts to assess all aspects of content including such diverse factors as graphics and physical characteristics

to authenticity and flexibility Though these approaches are the most common and likely straightforward, other writers promote evaluating language teaching material beyond simply their contents and instead focusing on cognitive and affective factors

Both Skierso (1991) and Chall and Conard (1991), when assessing the processes and

skills textbooks require learners to perform, have created a “Question Complexity

Rating Scale”, which directly reflects the level of skill the textbooks demand They use this to evaluate individual questions in order to analyze the difficulty of questions and to display the range of cognitive skills needed by the students to complete textbook activities These concerns highlight the increasing significance that professionals place

on the process of learning and the recognition that focusing solely on outcomes often does not address all the second language learner’s needs

This approach is further extended by Littlejohn and Windeatt (1989:174) who seek to

“look beyond the goals of language learning itself” and therefore include issues such as

“learners” perceptions of knowledge”, “language learning and roles” and learners’ world

view and general knowledge, as well as their affective and cognitive development

These authors stress the necessity of placing language learning within the broader

context of all learning and emphasize how knowledge and cognitive ability should be addressed in the creation and evaluation of materials As revealed by this review,

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experts demand a great deal from textbooks although their beliefs may not always reflect the view or the situation of the classroom However, an awareness of these issues

is significant for enhancing one’ ability to evaluate and choose the best textbooks

The majority of the evaluative models appear best suited to preliminary comparison of different books in order to select a suitable course book However, “the checklists provided by Sheldon, Littlejohn and Windeatt only enable us to evaluate materials in

a preliminary way” (Nunan 1991:211) This is also commented on by Block (1991:211-

212): “Authors who have deal with materials (e.g Williams 1983; Cunningsworth 1984;

Sheldon 1987, 1988) have tended to focus on their selection and evaluation” They do not exploit the teachers’ knowledge of an existing course book

Breen and Candlin’s (1987) model, described by Nunan (1991:209) as an “accessible list of evaluative questions”, seems to have some merits and “invites the teacher to

adopt a critical stance toward the materials’ aims, appropriateness and utility” Breen

and Cadlin’s (1987) list, totaling more than 40 evaluative questions, does appear to be

very complex The main concern about the list is the highly subjective nature of the questions would vary considerably from teacher to teacher

William (1983:220) provides one of the earliest for materials evaluation His sample checklist has 28 separate items to evaluate He suggests weighting each items for the purpose of “adapting evaluation items to suit the particular demands of the teaching situation” Nonetheless, he does not provide much guidance on how to calculate this weighting system Sheldon (1988:240) questions the ease of scoring when trying to quantify some of William's categories, e.g “Whether or not a book is “based on contrastive analysis of English and L1 sound systems” (William 1983:255) According

to Sheldon (1988:240) this “might present problems of clarification and scoring”

Collectively, these evaluation lists may or may not include the issues or elements that reflect the concerns of teachers choosing textbooks Therefore selecting particular items

to create a personal evaluation index is the best method for ensuring that realities of

each individual learning situation are addressed

15

Hutchinson and Waters’ (1993) four-stage model for materials evaluation is an apparently logical framework for conducting a detailed analysis of a set of materials It provides guidance on how to perform the analysis but remains flexible The evaluation process is divided into four major steps, namely (1) Defining criteria, (2) Subjective analysis/ needs analysis (3) Objective analysis/ material analysis, and (4) Matching (see

objectively as possible, it is best to look at the needs and solutions separately In the

final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective ground According to them, “the

first two stages have been done in the course design” Therefore, in order to analyze the

existing materials, it is necessary to base on the results of the first two stages However, Hutchinson and Waters themselves also added:

It will be useful, however, to set our your criteria and your own preferred realizations of the

criteria in a form which will make it easy to compare different sets of materials Don’t,

Matching L_—_y How far does the

material match your | k¢ —————

Hutchinson and Waters also propose their own checklist of criteria for objective and subjective analyses (Table 2.2) Though they are very modest to say that it is “not an exhaustive list”, the author of this study have found out that it is very valuable, systematic and thorough checklist It also appears to be methodical and easy to use Therefore, the author of this paper wishes to use the checklist to evaluate the existing materials for Vietnamese workers on committed contract in Malaysia

(Analysis of your course, in terms of (Analysis of materials being evaluated)

* Contents of the criteria listed in Table 2.2 can be found in Appendix 3

There may be a various reasons for looking closely at materials to see if they are

appropriate for a group of learners, Often the desire to look for new materials or to

adjust the old ones stems from dissatisfaction with what is currently used

Before attempting to improve a material, the teachers or course designers have to evaluate it And in order to do so, they must come to some conclusions about the lewners and what the needs are There are two steps, then, in evaluation of materials Tte first one is to have the profile of the learners and their needs which leads us to the conclusions about the type of material which would be appropriate for them The se:ond, a subsequent step, is to apply this knowledge to the completion of the materials

evaluation forms, which aims to measure how far the materials under consideration mutch up to learners’ needs and the general methodological principles which the teacher

helds

17

How can we define and analyse the needs? Hutchinson and Waters have the answer to

this question in their book “English for Specific Purposes” published by Cambridge University Press in 1993, According to the two authors, needs analysis consists of analysing the target needs and the learning needs of the learners (Hutchinson and Waters 1993:54) Figure 2.2 describes the frameworks of target need analysis (TNA) and learning need analysis (LNA)

It is generally accepted that while the target needs determine the starting point of the learners and their expected destination, the learning needs describe the route to travel from the starting point to the destination (Hutchinson and Waters 1993:60)

Interestingly, when matching Table 2.2 and Appendix 3 with the two small tables in

Figure 2.2, one may see that the contents of the tables match each other very well More

precisely, the criteria of need analysis framework (Figure 2.2) can be found in

subjective analysis of the checklist for material evaluation (Table 2.2 and Appendix 3)

This type of matching is explained in Table 3.1

1 Why is the language needed? >> 1 Why are the leamer taking

the course?

used? ` 2 How do the leamers learn?

4 Who are the leamers?

|4 Who will the leamer use

5 Where the I ts be used? 6 When will the ESP course |

Figure 2.2: Need Analysis Frameworks

Source: Self-combination from Hutchinson and Waters (1993:59-63)

18

2.3 ADAPTING TEXTBOOKS:

Despite the impact of new technologies, textbooks will doubtlessly continue to play an important role in language teaching and provide a useful resource for both teachers and learners Good textbooks serve to turn the guidelines in the official government syllabus into a rich source of content, texts, and activities that would be beyond the capacities of most teachers to develop on their own The use of textbooks should not be seen as reflecting a deficiency on the part of the teacher, any more than the use of computer- based materials would be so regarded Textbooks should be regarded as one of the many resources teachers can draw upon in creating effective lessons, but teachers need

training and experience in adapting and modifying textbooks as well as in using

authentic materials and in creating their own teaching materials

Commercial textbooks can seldom be used without some form of adaptation to make

them more suitable for the particular context in which they will be used This adaptation

may take a variety of forms According to Richards (2001), they are:

- Modifying content: Content may need to be changed because it does not suit the target learners, perhaps because of factors related to the learners' age, gender,

social class, occupation, religion or cultural background

- Adding or deleting content: The book may contain too much or too little for the program Whole units may have to be dropped, or perhaps sections of units

throughout the book omitted For example a course may focus primarily on

listening and speaking skills and hence writing activities in the book will be

omitted

- Reorganizing content: A teacher may decide to reorganize the syllabus of the book, and arrange the units in what she considers a more suitable order Or within a unit the teacher may decide not to follow the sequence of activities in the unit but to reorder them for a particular reason

- Addressing omissions; The text may omit items that the teacher feels are important For example a teacher may add vocabulary activities or grammar activities to a unit

- Modifying tasks: Exercises and activities may need to be changed to give them

an additional focus For example a listening activity that focuses only on listening for information is adapted so that students listen a second or third time for a different purpose Or an activity may be extended to provide opportunities for more personalized practice

- Extending tasks: Exercises may contain insufficient practice and additional

practice tasks may need to be added

The ability to be able to adapt commercial textbooks in these ways is an essential skill for teachers to develop Through the process of adaptation the teacher personalizes the text making it a better teaching resource as well as individualizes it for a particular group of learners Normally this process takes place gradually as the teacher becomes

more familiar with the book since the dimensions of the text which need adaptation may not be apparent until the book is tried out in the classroom When a number of teachers

in a program are teaching from the same textbook it is useful to build in opportunities for teachers to share information about the forms of adaptation they are making

2.4 SUMMARY:

This chapter has addressed some theoretical points, which will be used as a fundamental

background for evaluating material for workers on limited contracts in Malaysia There are three mains sections: characteristics of material, evaluation and adaptations The

study has shown the necessity of each section and their coherence in evaluating

material

In this section, the evaluation of textbook is related to the reasons, criteria and methods

of evaluation Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something to a particular

purpose Cunningsworth (1995) proposes four following criteria for evaluating

textbooks:

20

1 Corresponding to learners’ needs

2 Reflecting the uses (present or future) which learners will make of the language

3 Taking account of students’ needs as learners and facilitating their learning processes, without dogmatically imposing a rigid “method”

4 Having a clear role as a support for learning

Many opinions of material evaluation, given by Sheldon, Hartley, Nunan, Hutchinson

and Water have been discussed in this chapter The combination given by Hutchinson and Waters and Harmer is chosen for this study Besides method of

evaluating, the learners’ target needs and learning needs will be analysed based on data collection: questionnaire and interview

Finally, adapting material is to improve the material, making it more suitable to the

students’ purposes of learning a language This adaptation may take a variety of forms modifying content, adding or deleting content, reorganizing content, addressing omissions, modifying tasks and extending tasks

Based on this theoretical background of evaluating materials, together with the results

of needs analysis gained in Chapter Three and some weaknesses and strengths of the textbook described in Chapter Four, an adaptation of material for workers on limited contracts in Malaysia will be presented

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

This chapter aims at exploring the learners’ and ex-learners’ needs when taking the pre- departure language training course before going to Malaysia The material in question will then be examined and matched with the learners’ needs in order to see to what extent it meets the objectives of the program and expectation of the learners

This chapter includes two sections: methodology and preliminary results The former gives the description of data collection instruments (questionnaires, interviews) and

procedures It also describes the subjects involved in this study, i.e the learners and

teachers at COALIMEX - one of the companies that are allowed to export labour to

Malaysia The latter will show the initial statistical results of the surveying questionnaires and interviews, based on which the author of this study gives recommendations on adapting the currently in use material Criteria of evaluation and adaptation are those described in the theoretical background given in the previous chapter More precisely, most of the evaluating criteria will be taken from the checklist

of Hutchinson and Waters (1993)

3.1 METHODOLOGY:

3.1.1, Evaluation Process:

Basically, the research uses a modification of the material evaluation process proposed

by Hutchinson and Water (1993) The process includes four majors steps: Defining Criteria, Subjective Analysis, Objective Analysis and Matching

The Subjective Analysis will be conducted through Need Analysis, where the wants, the

needs of the learners and the necessities of the course are determined (Table 3.1) Data for this Need Analysis will be collected from the current leamers, ex-learners and the

teachers of COALIMEX by a combination of data collection methods described in the

next part of this thesis Objective Analysis, on the other hand, will be conducted mainly

by analysing the teaching material in-use COALIMEX teachers’ opinion will be consulted at this stage

22

—

(Subjective Analysis)

TNA _ | Why is the language needed?

Who will the learner use language | What text types do you want?

with?

Leamers’ attitude What guidance/support for teaching

LNA _ | How do the learners lean? the course will be needed?

What learning techniques do you want?

Table 3.1: Matching Need Analysis Frameworks and Subjective Analysis of the Checklist of Material Evaluation

Source: Self-compilation from Hutchinson and Waters (1993)

At the stage of Matching, the want, the need and the necessity will be compare with what covered by the material in order to find out to what extents the material answer the requrements of the practical working situation in Malaysia Strengths and weaknesses will be discovered and recommendations can be made accordingly Figure 2.1,

therefore, can be modified as one can see in Figure 3.1

Figure 3.1: Evaluation Process

3.1.2 Description of the Data Collecting Methods:

The major data collecting method used in this study is survey method In order to evaluate, and then, to adapt the English material for workers who are going to work in Malaysia, it is a must to collect the learners’ and ex-learners’ needs and compare them

with the existing materials There are many techniques to explore the learners’ needs

such as: questionnaires, detailed interviews, observation, case study, test, authentic data

collection and participatory needs analysis In this research, the author would like to refer to three major methods, namely: (1) Questionnaires, (2) Structured interviews and (3) Observation

3.1.2.1 Questionnaires: There are several reasons for choosing the questionnaires Firstly, they are usually objective Secondly, the method is relatively time-saving as it

allows the researcher to gather data from different respondents at the same time Finally,

it is convenient because the researcher (or her collegues) can give the questionnaires to those who are present and be sure that there would be high response rate In this study,

24

questionnaires were used for learners and ex-learners Opinions of teachers who are teaching English at the pre-departure courses were also consulted through questionnaires, however, with lesser extents

Questionnaire for learners (Appendix 4): The first type is designed for 50 learners at COALIMEX It consists of 11 multiple-choice questions and aims at exploring the learning need, target needs of the learners as well as their perceptions about different factors realised in the material The questionaires for this group of respondents were

designed in a bilingual format The fifty learners answered the questionaires under the observation of the author This way of collecting data allowed the researcher to explain

any uncertainty occurred when the learners answering the questions given in the questionnaires, Using the bilingual format offers the learners an opportunity to get

familiar with answering a questionaire written in English, which they might face in the future,

Questionnaire for ex-learners (Appendix 5) and teachers (Appendix 6): 55 sets of questionnaire were given to 5 teachers and 50 Vietnamese workers who are ex-learners

of the training course and are currently working in 5 factories in Malaysia Due to the

time constrain and the limitation of budget, the author of this study were not able to

deliver the questionnaire directly to those who are working in Malaysia Fifty questionnaires were delivered by the representatives of COALIMEX in Malaysia

The questionnaires for teachers and ex-learners are actually very similar to the one used

for learners However, since the aim of this type of questionnaire is to explore the neccesities of learning English, some questions are changed For example, instead of asking “which topics do you want to learn?” as in the questionnaires for learners, ex- learners were asked “Which topics are necessary for living and working in Malaysia?”

Structured interviews: are used to collect information from the teachers of

COALIMEX One of the big advantages of this method is that it allows the interviewer

to get additional data, which are sometimes even more valuable then what he or she

expected The disadvantage, on the other hand is that the method is highly time- consuming Each interview may take the researcher several hours However, due to the

small number of respondents (five teachers) involved in this research, this method can

be applied Structured interviews are also used to cross-check the level of confidence of

the data collected from questionaires Using this method, unclear answers can be re- examined and misunderstood questions can be explained Thus correct and believable data can be expected

Four of the teachers has worked as the representatives of COALIMEX in Malaysia for

at least 3 months and the other is currently in Malaysia The interviewees have not only the experience of teaching English for the workers in Vietnam but also opportunities to discuss with the Vietnamese workers in Malaysia about the situational reqirements of

using English there Their understanding of learners’ needs and the content of the training material is therefore, to some extent, more comprehensive than that of

individual learners

In December 2003, this data collection method was conducted through informal

individual interviews in Vietnam at COALIMEX during the end of the Traditional New

Year when the representative returned to home for holiday These people suggested the topics, which they think are appropriate and then gave the explanation for their choices Sometimes there were debates among the the respondents as each of them have

contradictory experience on a certain topics The interviews with these people took

place many days because we worked together at the same department at COALIMEX

Observation: Observation is also used in this research It is actually the personal

experience of the author after two years teaching at the language center of COALIMEX

3.1.3 Data Analysis Methods:

Basically, the data are analysed by comparing the percentage of choices made by

different group of respondents, The method help to indicate which aspects are wanted, needed and which are not

In order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the material, another method is

employed: Suitability Analysis Mapping method This is actually a modification of Sustainability Analysis Mapping method (Appendix 7), which has been used widely in

the areas of sustainable development and social studies during the last few years This

26

method allows researchers to quantify the advantages and disadvantages of the studying subject and visualise them in the form of graphs and diagrams The description of this method is presented in General Evaluation at the end of Chapter 3

3.2 DESCRIPTION OF SUBJECTS AND THE SAMPLE SIZE:

This section will give a full description of the subjects who are involved in my survey, including 50 learners at COALIMEX, 50 ex-learners in factories in Malaysia and 5 representatives/ teachers of COALIMEX

3.2.1 Learners at COALIMEX and their Background:

It can be said the target group has a low educational background An estimated 100%

of the learners are farmers, workers, bricklayers (males) and industrial tailors (famales)

Most of the learners aged from 21 to 35 and all have left school a long time ago Very few of them graduated high school before started working The others quitted secondary

school when they were at 8" or 9" grade Moreover, since most of them went to schools

in rural areas, they did not have opportunities to study English before This explains the

reason why all of the learners have no knowledge of English before entering the training

program

The course at COALIMEX takes place from one to two months with at least 210

classroom periods (a period = an hour) After finishing the course, learners are expected

to have an elementary level in speaking and understanding English However, one of the biggest obstacles in achieving the target is that the learners are not familiar to the

subject they are studying and they have lost the habit of studying long ago While being comperatively active in vocational training classes, the learners are very shy and unconfident in English class

Additionally, many of the learners are lisped since they come from the rural areas of the Northern provinces This results in incorrect pronunciation For example, some learners confuse the sound [n] with [I] Instead of pronunciating [nou] for the word “no”, they pronunciate it as [lou] Addmittedly, those who have graduated high school study better

However, this group is small and they are not good enough to help their collegues when practising the language in pair work or group work

Generally speaking the learners achieve little result after finishing the training course

After one or two months their ability of speaking and understanding English is still

extremely limitted, far below the elementary level as expected by the syllabus designers

The fifty learners involved in this investigation (October, 2003) have already attended two thirds of the English training program using the material designed by the Ministry

of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs

were chosen randomly

from a bigger group of

352 learners This

COALIMEX Bea

sample size (equal to 14.2% of the statistical population)

Figure 3.2: Sample size of the survey in Vietnam acceptable,

3.2.2 Ex-learners in Malaysia:

The fifty ex-learners, who responded to the survey are living and working in Malaysia

at five factories, namely Agsanafood, Keu Control, Kim Hin, Johan Ceramics and

Berhad Most of the workers in these factories come from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Vietnam English is used daily for giving working instructions, making conversations during lunch breaks and for announcing all other kinds to announcements In these factories, Malaysia bosses usually appreciate those workers who have good English

COALIMEX from more than 1200 workers sent by the company The sample size in this case is equal to only 4.16% of the population

As the result of poor achievements obtained in pre-departure English training program, these ex-learners have been facing many difficulties in understanding their managers” instructions and in conducting everyday communication with their foreign colleagues

Therefore, they know exaclty what kind of language (including vocabularies,

grammatical structures and the contexts where English is mostly used) they need in

order to survive and to work in Malaysian factories Thus, although the sample size is

obviously not statistically ideal (only 4.1%), the samples’ response are reliable and essential for the author to identify the necessary content that shoulmd be included in the English material used for Vietnamese workers on limited contracts in Malaysia

3.2.3 The teachers of English at Coalimex:

COALIMEX has nearly 150 staff of 5 import - export departments but it has only 6 staffs working as English language teachers (including the author of this research) These teaching staffs are usually assigned to be the company’s representative in Malaysia They are responsible for supervising and assisting the workers of the company there Most of the teachers graduated from Hanoi Pedagogical University and Hanoi University of Foreign Studies They are from 25 to 45 years of age and have experience, though at different level, in English language teaching Their understanding

of the training material and of the Vietnamese workers’ practical situations in Malaysia

is valuable Their suggestions on the improvement of the English material for limited-

contract workers, therefore, would be reliable

3.3 EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL IN USE:

3.3.1 General Description of the Material:

The English material used in the pre-departure English training program for workers who work on limitted contracts in Malaysia was designed by the teachers of the International Cooperation and Workers’ Training Center No | (TRACOEL) of the

Agency in charge of supervising Vietnamese workers working oversea (DAFEL) which

belongs to the Ministry of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs

The material is published by

stage, the author of this thesis wishes to present only a very

brief description of the

English training program for workers who work on limitted

contracts in Malaysia Pictured by the Author

material, Other details will be analysed later in Objective

Analysis

The material is monolingual (English) with little explaination in Vietnamese It contains ninety-nine 14.5 x 20.5 cm pages The material consists of three parts: 12 units which presents main grammatical points, language functions and situations; 50 short

situational conversations which were expected to cover most regularly communication

situations in the environment of working and living abroad: a consolidation part at the end of the book Main contents and topics covered by the book can be found in Table

32

The length of each unit in the book ranges from 4 to 9 pages The grammatical structures introduced in the book are simple and are compepatively However, the range

of new vocabularies contained in each unit is too large to cover within nine to fifteen

hours, especially for such beginners as the learners of COALIMEX

Generally speaking, the material is an effort of TRACOEL in helping Vietnamese workers to integrate into a new and strange working environment The material answers partly the requirement of new situation, in which a large number of young Vietnamese

is seeking employment opportunities However, since the material is new (first

30

published in 2002), it is not able to predict all types of communication situations that the workers may face when working outside the border of Vietnam Improvement and adaptation are therefore needed

Unit 2 | Greeting, Thank you, Excuse me 12

all the course

Table 3,2; Training contents and time allocation

Source: TRACOEL 2002

3.3.2 Defining Evaluation Criteria:

Defining criteria is first stage, based on which a material is judged According to

Hutchinson and Waters, the whole evaluating process contains five major criteria: Audience, Aims, Content, Methodology and Other Criteria However, the fifth criteria is not really important in this case since it concerns mainly the matter of price and

availability of materials The material used for COALIMEX workers is always available

with an affordable price of 12.000 VND/ a book Therefore, the author of this study

would like to focus on the four major criteria: Audience, Aims, Content and Methodology in the evaluating process

Different indicators of the four criteria will be examined through the processes of Subjective Analysis and Objective Analysis before being matched together in order to identify the extent, to which the material answers the requirements of the learners as well as of the practical situations It should be noted here that the two criteria Content and Methodology in Subjective Analysis, as explained above, will be analysed using Need Analysis

3.3.3 Subjective Analysis:

This step aims at exploring the learners wants and needs when taking the pre-departure English training course In other words, it tries to find out how the learners predict the communication situations they may face when working in Malaysia, what they want to

study and how they want to study them More importantly, it collects the opinions of the

ex-learners (who are working in Malaysia) and of the teachers (who have worked as COALIMEX representatives) about the types of language needed for surviving and for working in Malaysian factories

As it was discussed above, subjective analysis will be conducted through the learners”

needs analysis, which in turns is divided into target needs and learning needs

Target needs consists of “necessities, wants and lacks” of the target group (Hutchinson and Water 1987) In this research, the information on necessities is collected from fifty ex-learners working at five factories in Malaysia while data on wants is collected from the learners at COALIMEX Five teachers/representatives in Malaysia, since they have

good experience on the practical situations of the Vietnamese workers in Malaysia, will

be consulted for the information on necessities

There is no statistical data about the /earners ' lacks since the company did not organise any entering test However as the author of this research has observed and described

before, most of the learners have no prior knowledge in English There is a small

number of students who can remember some “pieces” of English learned at high school

Nevertheless, their knowledge of English is no higher than saying “hello”, “goodbye”

and using the verb “to be” in its simplest forms such as “I am a worker” or “He is a driver”