ANGLO-SAXON BASED OR GLOBAL BASED CONTENT: AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE FOR FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES --- PHẠM THỊ HẢI YẾN ANGLO-SAXON BASED OR GLOBAL BASED CONTENT:

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-

PHẠM THỊ HẢI YẾN

ANGLO-SAXON BASED OR GLOBAL BASED CONTENT:

AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE FOR FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENTS AT ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY

(ĐIỂM VỀ NỘI DUNG CUỐN GIÁO TRÌNH NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐIỆN LỰC THEO NỘI DUNG ĐỊNH HƯỚNG ANH MỸ HOẶC ĐỊNH HƯỚNG TOÀN CẦU)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-

PHẠM THỊ HẢI YẾN

ANGLO-SAXON BASED OR GLOBAL BASED CONTENT:

AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE FOR FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENTS AT ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY

(ĐIỂM VỀ NỘI DUNG CUỐN GIÁO TRÌNH NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐIỆN LỰC THEO NỘI DUNG ĐỊNH HƯỚNG ANH MỸ HOẶC ĐỊNH HƯỚNG TOÀN CẦU)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Ngô Hữu Hoàng

Hanoi, 2014

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DECLARATION

I certify my authorship of the minor thesis entitled “Anglo-Saxon based or

global based content: an evaluation of the course book New English File Intermediate for first year non-English major students at Electric Power University”

Pre-in terms of the statement of requirements for the thesis and the field study reports Pre-in Masters’ programs is the result of my own work, except where otherwise acknowledged and that this minor thesis or any parts of the same had not been submitted for a higher degree to any other universities or institution I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study

and research

Phạm Thị Hải Yến

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my great gratitude and indebtedness

to my supervisor Dr Ngo Huu Hoang for his careful instructions, valuable advice and inspiration during the process of this research

My sincere thanks also go to all the English lecturers at the Faculty of Graduate Studies for providing me useful lectures and suggestions that have helped me much in my study

Post-I would like to take this opportunity to extend my deep appreciation to my colleagues and students at Electric Power University for their cooperation and support

so that I could complete my necessary data collection for the research

Finally, I wish to thank my family and friends, who have always been by my side to encourage and support me throughout my study Without their help and encouragement, I could not have completed this thesis

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ABSTRACT

This study aims at examining whether Anglo-Saxon culture or global culture is disseminated in the course book New English File Pre-Intermediate The data are collected by using survey questionnaire, interview and document analysis 150 first year non-English major students and 5 lecturers at Electric Power University are employed as participants The content of the afore-mentioned course book is analyzed

to extract all the possible kinds of culture included in each module The study finds that both Anglo Saxon culture and global culture are embedded in the course book; however, the former is more predominant than the latter Based on those findings, the study provides some suggestions for teachers as well as students to improve the quality

of teaching and learning English as an international language

FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1.2.1: Four Senses of Culture

Figure 3.1.2: Students’ opinions about teachers’ frequencies teaching English integrated into culture in English classroom

Figure 3.1.3: Students’ opinions about the culture representation in the course book Figure 3.1.5: Students’ opinions about the order of the appearance of kinds of culture

in the course book

Figure 3.1.6: Students’ opinions about preferred kinds of culture to learn

Table 3.1.1: Students’ opinions about learning English integrated into culture

Table 3.1.4: Students’ opinions about the kinds of culture presented in the course book Table 3.1.7: Students’ opinions about some difficulties of learning English integrated into culture

Table 3.3.1: Frequency and percentage of the cultural activities in the textbook

Table 3.3.2: Frequency and percentage of Anglo-Saxon culture and global culture in the textbook

Table 3.3.3: The presence of Anglo-Saxon culture in the textbook

Table 3.3.4: The presence of global culture in the textbook

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT……… iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, FIGURES AND TABLES………iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… v

PART A: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1 Rationale……… 1

2 Research Aims and Research Questions……… 2

3.Significance……… 2

4.Scope……… 3

5.Design……… 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……… 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 4

1.1 Course books in Language Teaching and Learnin………4

1.1.1Definitions of course book, text book and material……… 4

1.1.2 Characteristics of a course book……… 5

1.2 Culture in course books……… 7

1.2.1 What is culture? …7

1.2.2 Culture in course books……… 9

1.3 The role of culture in language learning and teaching ………10

1.4 Course book Evaluation……… 12

1.4.1 Definitions of course book evaluation……….13

1.4.2 Purposes and the importance of course book evaluation……….13

1.4.3 Types of course book evaluation……….14

1.5 Summary………15

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY……….16

2.1 Research settings, participants, participant selection methods………….16

2.1.1 Reseach settings……… 16

2.2.2 Participants and participant selection methods……… 16

2.2 Descriptions on the course book……… 17

2.3 Data collection methods……… 19

2.4 Data collection instruments………21

2.5 Data analysis procedures………22

2.6 Summary……… 23

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY……… 24

3.1 Questionaire for students………24

3.2 Interview for teachers……….31

3.3 Document Analysis for the course books……… 33

3.3.1 Culturally oriented activities in the course book……….33

3.3.2 The representation of kinds of culture in the course book……… 33

3.4 Discussion……… 36

3.5 Summary……… 37

PART C: CONCLUSION……… 38

1 Conclusions………38

2 Pedagogical implications……… 39

3 Limitations of the study………40

4 Suggestions for further research……….41

REFERENCES……… 42 APPENDIX 1……… I APPENDIX 2……… V APPENDIX 3……… VI

In addition, whenever it comes to language, culture is always mentioned with it because language and culture are so closely linked that any change within culture is reflected in the language and vice versa As a result, the aspects of language are expressed through the cultural content in course books An assumption is given that if

a textbook is composed by native speakers, its orientation of content is Anglo-Saxon based content McKay (2002) points out that “Currently, many ELT materials use cultural topics related to native English-speaking countries on the grounds that learning English should entail knowledge of native English speaking cultures” In the

article English as culture action, Prodromou (1988) also shows that one of the reasons

why students are not motivated by culture learning is that the way of presenting culture

in many ELT textbooks He maintained that “globally designed textbooks have continued to be stubbornly Anglo-centric They have not gone far in recognizing English as an international language either”

At Electric Power University, the course book New English File Intermediate written by Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham Koeing and Paul Seligson and published by Oxford is used for first year non-English major students While

Pre-2

teaching English, the researcher realizes that the course book seems to be more inclined to Anglo-Saxon based content than global based content The elements of Anglo-Saxon cultures are more probably dominated in the course book than the ones

of global cultures; whereas, nowadays English is regarded as a global language

Some aforementioned reasons inspire the researcher to conduct the study titled

“Anglo-Saxon based or global based content: an evaluation of the course book New

English File Pre-Intermediate for first year non-English major students at Electric Power University”

2 Research Aims and research questions

The study is conducted with the aim of highlighting the role of Anglo- Saxon and

global culture in ELT and reviewing whether the textbook New English File Intermediate is Anglo-Saxon based content or global-based content It also examines the appropriateness of culture in the textbook with the English teaching and learning context at EPU Finally, this study hopes to investigate the ways to help students gain English more effectively and give some useful suggestions for changing textbooks in the future To achieve these aims, two following research questions will be answered

Pre-in the end of this thesis:

- Is the content of the course book inclined to Anglo-Saxon based content or global based content?

- What is a cultural course book content perceived by the first year non-English major students and teachers at Electric Power University?

3 Significance

The findings of the thesis will be useful not only to the researcher, but also to the teaching staff and the first year non-English major students at Electric Power University In addition, the results of the study may be considered as a foundation towards improving the quality of teaching and learning English as an international

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language at EPU The researcher hopes that teachers of English at EPU can use this course book flexibly and choose a better course book in the future

4 Scope

Due to the limited scope of time and content of a minor thesis, the research attempts

to review the kind of cultural content in the course book basing on Anglo-Saxon based and global based content The researcher will employ 150 first year non-English major students to fulfill the survey questionnaire and 5 teachers of English for interviewing (See clearly in the chapter 2 – Methodology)

5 Design

There are three main parts in this thesis including introduction, development, and conclusion

Part A: The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope,

and design of the thesis

Part B: The development consists of three chapters:

Chapter one: Literature Review- presents a review of literature concentrating on the

issues related to culture, the role of culture in learning English, cultural content, course book, textbook and material

Chapter two: Methodology- focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis

including an overview of current English teaching and learning at Electric Power University, research methods, and the data collection procedures

Chapter three: The study- discusses the data, the findings of the study; points out the

strengths, weaknesses, and students’ and teachers’ perception about a cultural course book content

Part C: Conclusion and Suggestions- The conclusion provides a brief summary of

all the major parts being presented in the study, makes the conclusions drawn out and

suggests directions for further research

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Course books in Language Teaching and Learning

1.1.1 Definitions

The term “course book” is defined by Ur (1996:183) as “a textbook of which

the teacher and each student has a copy and which is in principle to be followed

systematically as the basis for a language course” It means that a course book is the

one teachers and students use systematically with the purposes of learning and

teaching in a specific course

The term “course book” is used to refer to a textbook on which a course is

based In ELT, it is defined more specifically by Tomlinson (1998) as

A textbook which provides the core materials for a course It aims to provide

as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it could serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use during a course Such a book usually includes work on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking

Encyclopedia of Education gives the explanation about textbooks as follows:

Textbooks are not like other books Today, textbooks are assembled more than they are written They are not usually written by a single author, nor are they a

creative and imaginative endeavor They are, in fact, usually specially made by

a corporation to follow a set standard curriculum for a school system or larger organization, such as a province

In the broad sense of the concept, “textbook” and “course book” are regarded as

“materials” by Tomlinson (1998) He states that “material is anything which is used to

help to teach language learners.” It can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a

cassette, a CD-room, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph

written on a white board about anything that presents or informs about the language

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being learned Materials of these kinds can be obviously exploited effectively for language learning However, in the local setting, textbooks seem to be the most widely used materials in language teaching

Therefore, within this master thesis the terms “textbook”, “course book”, and

“material” are used interchangeably

1.1.2 Characteristics of a course book

Textbooks play an important role in language learning and teaching and are

paid much attention to by many authors and researchers In the field of education, characteristics of an ELT textbook are on debate

According to Deuri (2012), a good textbook should have the following characteristics:

Adequate Subject Matter: The subject matter should be based on the

psychological needs and interests of students It should be related to the student’s environment and have a variety of topics such as prose, poetry, story, biography, narration, description, etc In addition, it should be practical utility as well as informative

Suitable Vocabulary and Structures: The vocabulary should be controlled, properly

selected and graded The introduction of vocabulary should be progressive within the series of readers The words and structures should be introduced in a systematic order The simple meaning should be used a word or structure if they have more than one meaning At the end of the text book, a glossary of difficult words and structures should be given

Style: The style should be based on the principle of simple to complex The subject

matter should be presented in a logical manner The style should be appealing to the students

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Exercises: There should be a sufficient number of exercises at the end of every

lesson The interactions about the exercises should be brief and clear The exercises should be well selected and graded Different types of exercises should be included

Illustrations: The illustrations should make the subject matter clear They should be

sufficient in number They should be attractive with natural color combination Too many ideas should not be conveyed in one illustration

Proportion and Order: A lesson should not be very long There should be plausible

proportion between prose, poetry, story, biography, lesson, etc Two topics should not

be in continuation Proportion of content and structure should be maintained

Ansary and Babaii (2002) have different opinions about the standards of a textbook According them, four universal features of a good ESL (English as Second Language) or EFL (English as Foreign Language) are approach, content presentation, physical make-up and administrative concerns

Approach is the dissemination of a vision (theory or approach) about the nature of

language, the nature of learning and the application of the theory

Content presentation includes:

 Stating purposes and objectives for the total course and for individual units

 Selection and its rationale for coverage, grading, organization and sequencing

 Satisfaction of the syllabus to the teachers and to students For teachers, textbook provides them with a guide book, gives advice on the methodology, theoretical orientations, keys to the exercises, and supplementary materials As for the student, it gives them piece-meal, unit-by-unit instructions, graphics (relevant, free from unnecessary details, colorful, etc.), periodic revisions, workbook, exercise and activities in the classroom, homework, periodic test sections and accompanying audio-visual aids

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Physical make-up needs appropriate size and weight, attractive layout, durability, high

quality of editing and publishing and appropriate title

situations such as culture, religion, gender, and appropriate price

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) also agree that a good material is the one that gives student a stimulus for learning, offers teachers to organize the process of teaching and learning Moreover, it must have a view of the nature of language and learning, the nature of the learning tasks, and a very useful function in broadening the basis of teacher training Finally, a good textbook needs to use the models of correct and appropriate language use

All in all, each author has different views about a good textbook Not all the ELT materials have all above characteristics; however, teachers should take consideration carefully to select an appropriate textbook for students and the context of learning and teaching

1.2 Culture in course books

1.2.1 What is culture?

When discussing the term culture, we often refer to music, art, food, geography, literature, customs, regions, etc Actually, culture is viewed under many

dimensions and has many different meanings for different authors

According to Kramsch (1998: 127), culture is “a membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and action”

Eli Hinkel (1999) also shares the idea that a number of definitions of culture

are the same as “there are the field of inquiry into human societies, groups, systems,

behaviors and activities”

Rogers and Steinfatt (1999) regard culture as “the total way of life of people composed of their learned and shared behavior patterns, value, norms, and material

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objects” It means that culture has influence on the way people lives, thinks, behaves

and speaks in their lives

However, Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990) view culture under some dimensions They classify culture into four senses: the aesthetic, the sociological, the semantic and the pragmatic sense They can be seen in the Figure 1.2.1

Figure 1.2.1: Four Senses of Culture (Adaskou, Britten, and Fahsi, 1990)

They refer the aesthetic sense or Culture with a capital C to “the media, the cinema, music (whether serious or popular) and, above all, literature”

The sociological or Culture with a small c is viewed as “the organization and nature of family, of home life, sense of interpersonal relations, material conditions, work and leisure, customs and institutions”

The semantic sense is “the conceptual system embodied in the language and, according to the Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis, conditioning all our perceptions and our thought processes Many semantic areas (e.g., food, clothes, institutions) are culturally distinctive because they relate to a particular way of life - that is,

to our sociological sense of culture”

Culture

The Aesthetic

Sense

The Sociological Sense

The Semantic

Sense

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Finally, the pragmatic sense refers to “the background knowledge, social skills, and paralinguistic skills that, in addition to mastery of the language code, make possible successful sense communication”

The pragmatic sense includes some following things:

 the ability to use appropriate exponents of the various communicative functions

 the ability to use appropriate intonation patterns

 the ability to conform to norms of politeness, which is different from the learners’ culture, including taboo avoidance

 the awareness of conventions governing interpersonal relations-questions of status, obligation, license, where different from the learners’ culture

 the familiarity with the main rhetorical conventions in different written genres such as different types of letters and messages, form-filling, advertisements

All in all, the different definitions of culture provide with different values However, in general, culture involves in the way people from a particular region or cultural background lives, thinks, behaves and it can distinguish them from the others and from animals

1.2.2 Culture in course books

Many authors and researchers reflect the relationship between language and culture in the field of ELT pedagogy Carkil (2010) gives the idea that “the lack of teaching culture or involving culture specific elements in teaching materials leads to failure to understand and communicate the target language and societies” Moreover, Abdullah also adds that cultural understanding should not be disregarded but should be

in the heart of second language learning So it is very important to disseminate cultural elements in textbooks

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Cortazzi and Jin (1999) divide the cultural information used in language

textbooks and materials into three categories: source culture materials, target culture materials and international target culture material

According to Cortazzi and Jin (1999), Source Culture materials refer to the learners’ own culture as content Target Culture material address to the culture of a country where English is spoken as a first language or mother tongue Finally, International Target Culture attach to a great variety of cultures in English and non-English-speaking countries around the world They also claim that “there are EFL textbooks, produced at a national level for particular countries, which mirror the source culture, rather than target cultures, so that the source and target cultures are identical and there are a large number of EFL textbooks that focus on target cultures” Basing on the classification of Cortazzi and Jin (1999), Anglo-Saxon based content is a kind of Target Culture content, in which the British, American, Canadian, Australian cultures or other cultures adopting English as first language are reflected Source Culture here refers to Vietnamese cultures while global based content is a kind

of International Target Culture in the thesis

Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990) do not also deny the presence of cultural elements in the textbook They claim that ELT material can include the cultural contents Its content many focus on “some neutral aspect of real life, some exotic culture, or about specific culture features present in the world of the learner or that of the speech communities in which the target language is the mother tongue”

From these above view, it can be suggested that learning and teaching materials should carry cultural elements and cultural contents

1.3 The role of culture in language learning and teaching

When it comes to the role of culture in learning and teaching language, Peck (1998) admits that foreign language instruction is not accurate and complete without

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the study of language It is clear that language is a part of culture and it also reflects culture Kramsch (1994) discusses the interaction between language and culture She points out that teaching language is teaching culture because culture plays a prominent role in language teaching Culture and language are interwoven so foreign language teachers are “involved in handling the meaning of language rooted in socio- cultural context” Thus, cultural awareness should become an educational aim in itself and the core of language teaching

Bennett (1993) contends that the person who learns a language without its culture will become a “fluent fool” It means that he or she can speak a language well and fluently but does not understand the social or philosophical content of that language As a result, when learning a foreign language, it is vital for learners to gather cultural information for a better communication In addition, according to McKay (2003), culture has an effect on language teaching in two dimensions: linguistic and pedagogical ones As for linguistics, culture influences the semantic, pragmatic, and discourse levels of the language Pedagogically, it affects the choice of the language materials because cultural content of the language materials and the cultural basis of the teaching methodology are taken into consideration while deciding upon the language materials

Kitao (2000) gives some benefits of teaching culture in language classroom He said that learning culture provides students with a reason to study the target language as if they understand culture clearly, their studying language and literature will become more meaningful Learning culture can motivate and increase learners’ curiosity about, interests in target countries Besides, it can “give learners a liking for the native speaker of target language”, “help avoid the stereotype” and play a vital part

in general education

Mentioning the importance of culture in language teaching, Kramsch (2001) claims that students can realize similarities and differences among a variety of cultural

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groups by learning culture Even, studying culture makes them understand and tolerate the other people In addition, the ultimate goal to learn culture is to narrow the gap between the two cultures and ultimately overcome ethnocentric views Hence, it is necessary for language learners to learn culture in language classroom It will help them communicate well and adjust themselves to real situations

From the aforementioned ideas, it is inevitable that culture should be included into language classroom The idea for incorporating culture into language teaching and learning has been concerned by many authors and educators Many teachers have paid attention to incorporating culture in their lectures Politzer, (as cited in Brooks, 1960) points that

As language teachers we must be interested in the study of culture not because we necessarily want to teach the culture of the other country, but because we have to teach it If we teach language without teaching at the same time the culture in which

it operates, we are teaching meaningless symbols or symbols to which the student attaches the wrong meaning; for unless he is warned, unless he receives cultural instruction, he will associate American concepts or objects with the foreign symbols (p 85-86)

Moreover, the importance of inclusion of cultural elements in teaching language has been addressed by many international and national foreign language associations such as TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in 1996), ACTFL (American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages)

In conclusion, it is that language and culture are inseparable elements so teaching language should be attached to teaching culture

1.4 Course book evaluation

As mentioned above, the term “course book”, “textbook” and “material” will be used interchangeably in this part

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1.4.1 Definitions of course book evaluation

Course book evaluation has been concerned by many authors all over the world There are many definitions of evaluation perceived by authors as well as teachers According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p 96) materials evaluation refers to “a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose.” Evaluation is, then, concerned with relative merit It is neither absolutely good nor bad - only the degree of fitness for the required purpose is taken into account Rossi and Freeman (1993) also define evaluation as “the systematic application of social research procedures for assessing the conceptualization, design, implementation, and utility of… programs”

However, in language programs, evaluation from the viewpoint of Kiely and Rea-Dickins may have more meanings than others It is regarded as “the judgment about students by teachers and by external assessors; the performance of teachers by their students, program managers and institutions; and programs, departments and institutions by internal assessors, external monitors and inspectors” (Kiely and Rea-Dickins, 2005, p 5)

From the aforesaid definitions, it can be concluded that “material evaluation is a procedure that involves measuring the value (or potential value) of a set of learning materials It involves making judgments about the effect of the materials on the people using them” (Tomlinson, 2003:15)

1.4.2 Purposes of course book evaluation and the importance of course book

evaluation

Course book evaluation serves many purposes It helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the materials in use As a result, both teachers and learners need to evaluate materials to meet their needs, demands and interests Ellis (1997) gives two reasons why materials should be evaluated Firstly, it supplies information to decide whether materials in use are worthwhile or not Secondly, it gives teachers the way to

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modify materials more effectively for future use Moreover, Sheldon (1988) also provides some other reasons for material evaluation He states that the selection of an ELT often signals an important administrative and educational decision where there is considerable professional, financial or even political investment In addition, evaluation helps the managerial and teaching staff of a specific institution or organization to discriminate between all of the available materials on the market Finally, it supports the educators to identify the particular strengths and weaknesses in materials in use It will also assist teachers with realizing the strong points of the materials in use and adapting the unsuitable exercises, tasks, or activities to meet their students’ needs and demands

To conclude, course book evaluation helps us make decision in choosing textbooks, form professional judgments as well as the awareness of teaching and learning experiences

1.4.3 Types of course book evaluation

In materials evaluation field, each author has different classification of materials evaluation Tomlinson (2003) divide course book evaluation into three types:

pre-use evaluation, whilst- use evaluation, and post-use evaluation By contrast,

Robinson (1991:59) classifies materials evaluation into three types: preliminary,

summative and formative Despite the categories are different, the meanings of these

term are basically similar

Pre-use evaluation or preliminary relates to the process of making predictions

about the potential value of material for their users

Whilst- use evaluation or formative refers to the measuring the value of materials

whist using them or whilst observing them being used It can be more objective and reliable than pre-use evaluation because it makes uses of measurement rather than prediction However, it is limited to measuring what is observable and cannot measure what is happening in the learners’ brains

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Post- use evaluation or summative is normally carried out when the course is

finished with the aim to determine whether the program was successful and effective and the findings of this evaluation will lead to the decision whether to repeat or use the materials again or not

In short, there are different types of materials evaluation so when making an evaluation; the evaluators have to determine what type of materials evaluation will be suitable with their work In the context of English teaching and learning at Electric

Power University, the researcher decided to choose post- use evaluation or summative

to examine whether the course book NEF Pre is effective and suitable for first year students or not and then could give some recommendations for further improvements

issues in course book evaluation such as definitions of course book evaluation,

purposes of course book evaluation, types of course book evaluation are presented clearly in this chapter

of the periods, there will be two or three mid-term tests including listening, and writing test, and at the end of term, they will have to sit for a written test

2.1.2 Participants and participant selection methods

The participants for the research were 150 first year non-English major students from three classes at EPU in questioning survey questionnaire and five lecturers teaching English for the first year students responding to the interview The research was carried out randomly only on the first year students of the school year 2013-2014 They included both males and females but the males outnumbered the females, ranging from the age 18 to 23 Most of them had learned English for seven years;

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however, they had different levels of English proficiency because they were from different places in Vietnam with different background knowledge Five teachers at English Division were selected to participate in the research Both of them were females and had more than three years in teaching English at English Department, EPU All of them have M.A degree in Education or Linguistics Five teachers agreed

to answer the interview questions enthusiastically

The researcher decided to choose first year students because first year students were the direct ones using the course book NEF Pre so they took a balanced view of the cultural contents in this course book Besides, the lecturers teaching English for the first year students were the ones who had full realization of the kinds of culture presented in the course book NEF Pre They were supposed to give the most useful suggestions to help students learn better when using this course book

For this purpose, this research employed the simple random sampling technique

to select the data from students and lecturers First year students from three classes and five lecturers were chosen randomly as for the authenticity and reliability of the study

2.2 Descriptions on the course book

The course book “New English File Pre-Intermediate” is written by Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham Koeing and Paul Seligson and published by Oxford University Press It consists of 9 modules, each modules includes 4 sub-modules A, B,

C, D with different topics, Practical English, Writing, and Revise and Check NEF Pre provides students with an all-round practical knowledge of grammar, skills, vocabulary, pronunciation and real-life functional language

In the course book NEF Pre, a typical sub-module is presented with following sections:

- Grammar: New grammar structures are presented by using pictures, discussion questions or asking students to read or listen to a conversation After the forms and the rules, students have chances to practice with a variety of exercises

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- Vocabulary: Students are asked to predict new words and their meanings based on the words given in the border together with several available pictures or small games After that, students listen to the CD player to check and pronounce them

- Pronunciation: Students are asked to hear the CD player, repeat the sound words, and then do some practices

- Tasks (4 skills): For each module, different skills are paid attention to improve the sections of grammar and vocabulary

In the reading and listening sections: students can understand very short simple texts in a single phrase at time, picking up familiar names, words and basic phrases and re-reading as required Then they can follow slow and carefully articulated speech with long pauses for him/her to assimilate meaning Finally, they must listen to the CD player to check their ideas and listen more carefully to do some related exercises

In speaking sections, pictures and discussion are used to help the students activate their knowledge about the topics Then students practice speaking skills using conversation pieces in the listening parts

After four sub-modules, there are three parts in each big module: Practical English, Writing, and Revise and Check

Practical English sections offer students to practice a large number of real- life situations such as situations at the airport, calling reception, ordering a meal, asking for directions, buying clothes, etc

Writing sections help students to get familiar with many different types of writing such as describing someone, writing an informal letter, describing a place you live, writing a formal email, or giving opinion

Revise and Check sections give students opportunities to revise theories and practice more exercises

At the end of the course book, exercises about Grammar Bank, Vocabulary Bank and Sound Bank are designed to offer students to practice more grammar rules,

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vocabulary and pronunciation Transcriptions of difficult words and their meanings are also presented at the end of the course book Besides, coming with this material are 3 CDs and the students’ workbook

2.3 Data collection methods

Three instruments were employed in this study: survey questionnaire, interview, and document analysis As Johnson (1992, cited in Mackey and Gass, 2005, p.181) notes “The value of triangulation is that it reduces observer or interviewer bias and enhances the validity and reliability (accuracy) of the information”, one method alone cannot provide adequate support Through these instruments, accurate and reliable data were expected to be obtained The major source of data was derived from the questionnaires for freshmen at EPU Along with this, interviews for lectures of English

I and document analysis were conducted to gather extra information

Concerning the survey questionnaire, this instrument was adopted in the research for a number of reasons Firstly, it was the survey questionnaire that helped the researcher save time According to Jo and Steve (1997), it is the quickest way to get answer from scattered participants with much precision and clarity The major participants of this research were the first year students from three classes at EPU; therefore, a set of questionnaire was regarded more convenient than other instruments Secondly, it is argued that financial benefits of questionnaire should be taken into consideration Questionnaires have been considered “a vital tool in the collection of data …it can provide data economically and in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purposes of the study” (Verma & Mallick, 1999) It could fulfill the purpose of the author to collect data from a large number of freshmen Last but not least, the combination of closed-ended and open-ended questions was believed to provide sufficient data for the researcher

This study aimed to identify and then quantify the cultural content of the course book NEF Pre Along with questionnaire, document analysis was be used to collect

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data Document analysis is both qualitative and quantitative technique The researcher employed content analysis method, which is one of the types of document analysis in this study According to Holsti (1968, p.608), content analysis is viewed as “any technique for making inferences by systematically and objectively identifying special characteristics” Holsti also admits that any items such as photographs, videotapes that can be made into texts are dealt with content analysis In this sense, content analysis is

viewed as a qualitative approach By contrast, in the book Content Analysis: An

introduction to its methodology, Berelson (1952) cited in Krippendorff (2004) regards

content analysis as “a research technique for the objective, systematic, quantitative description of the manifest content of communication” Similarly, Silverman (1993) also dismisses content analysis from the view of qualitative data analysis as it is “a quantitative method” However, because of the subjective and in-depth discussion of the researcher in the process of analysis and evaluation of the cultural content of the textbook, quantitative content analysis that “cater for statistical methods and numerical results” (Sándorová, 2014) was applied as an instrument

With the purpose of avoiding some misleading information from answers to questionnaires and acquiring as well as enriching accurate data for the research, a structured interview was used In fact, “it is not the only qualitative research technique that will produce rich information about social relationships but it does give you to social relationships in a quite profound way” (Dowsett, 1986 cited in Nunan, 1992) Owing to this kind of interview, the interviewer could be able to control the general flow of the interview with a list of set questions in a predetermined order The present study was carried out with some interviews for lecturers of English I at EPU Five English teachers of English I were invited to respond to the interview Through the interview, the researcher could cover and understand the informants’ viewpoints and perceptions, their attitudes towards the cultural contents of the course book and some suggestions to improve the cultural contents

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In short, the validity and reliability of the research could be strengthened thanks to

a combination of questionnaire, document analysis and structured interview

2.4 Data collection instruments

data collection instruments to conduct the research (They were presented clearly in the Appendix)

First of all, the survey questionnaire with seven questions was constructed with behavioral questions to seek the students’ opinions about the kinds of cultural content presented in the course book In addition, an open-ended question was used to receive the suggestions to improve the cultural content from the students All the questions were short and clear for students to understand The questionnaire for students was written by Vietnamese so that they would not misunderstand the questions The instructions were clearly shown in the questionnaire paper and the commitment not to show their identification in the data analysis Moreover, before delivering questionnaire for students, the researcher gave some explanation about the kinds of culture and helped them to distinguish the Anglo-Saxon culture and global culture The questionnaire was divided into two parts: the attitudes of the students towards learning English and the attitudes of the informants towards the cultural content of the course book NEF Pre The students were asked to complete the questionnaires seriously in fifteen minutes in their classrooms

Secondly, the researcher decided to interview five lecturers with four structured questions This instrument could offer the researcher to receive the teachers’ opinions about the kinds of cultural content designed in the course book From that, they would provide the useful suggestions to improve the cultural content in the course book Finally, document analysis was used to analyze the cultural content of the course book It was chosen to evaluate whether the content of the course book belonged to

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Anglo-Saxon culture or global culture Only nine modules with 4 sub unit A, B, C, D and Practical English sections in the course book were examined

2.5 Data collection procedures

The procedure to collect data included two main stages: preparation and implementation

2.5.1 Preparation

In this stage, a research design was carried out The participants were selected randomly and the survey questionnaire and questions for interviews were designed The last step was to contact the participants and invite them to take part in the research

2.5.2 Implementation

First of all, students from three classes (D8 H5, D8 DCN3 and D8 H1) were employed to do the survey questionnaire Secondly, five executive interviews were conducted The teachers answered the questions in the interviews by recording or sending the answers via email to the researcher Finally, the cultural content of the course book was analyzed to see whether it was global- based content or Anglo-Saxon based content

2.5.3 Data analysis procedure

The data from the survey questionnaire were analyzed, synthesized and transcribed into charts and tables A detailed explanation was provided after each chart and table In addition, the data were also drawn out from the analysis of the course book content In this kind of analysis, quantitative method was employed On the other hand, qualitative method was used for answers in the open-ended question in the

questionnaire, the interviewee’s answers

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2.6 Summary

This chapter has presented an overview of the context of teaching and learning English at EPU The participants employed in the study were 150 first year non-English major students and five teachers of English who had more than three years in teaching English at EPU In addition, the content of the textbook NEF Pre was analyzed to examine whether it belonged to the Anglo-Saxon culture or global culture Finally, survey questionnaire, interview and document analysis were chosen as the main data collection instruments in this research