Appropriateness of the textbook American Headway 1 for the first year students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province.PDF

Appropriateness of the textbook "American Headway 1" for the first year students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province Lê Thị Ca Sơn Trường Đại học Ng

Appropriateness of the textbook "American Headway 1" for the first year students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in

Thanh Hoa province

Lê Thị Ca Sơn

Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15

Người hướng dẫn: Assoc M.Ed Đỗ Bá Quý

Năm bảo vệ: 2010

Abstract: “Textbook plays a pivotal role in language classroom in all types of educational

institution – public school, college and language school – all over the world” (Garinger, 2001) However, textbooks are not always professionally designed and do not always fit the aims of the teaching program and the needs of the students Thus, textbooks should be careful evaluated and selected before being used It is in this view this thesis was carried out to evaluate the textbook “American Headway 1” which currently in use for first year students at

Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province (HUI) With the hope

to improve the effectiveness of the teaching and learning English at HUI in the future, the researcher would like to present some practical suggestions for the adaptation of the textbook The subjects involved in the study are 90 first year students and 10 English teachers at HUI The data collection instruments used in this study was survey questionnaire and informal interview A survey on the teachers and students’ opinion found out the appropriateness of the textbook in terms of teaching and learning language skills and language elements Interview results have revealed some strengths and weaknesses of the textbook

Based on the findings of research results, the thesis suggests some additions and modifications in the textbook in order to overcome the textbook’s weaknesses so that it will become more effective in the future

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp dạy học; Giáo trình

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Content:

Table of contents

Page Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of ABBREVIATIONs vii

List of Tables and charts viii

Part A: Introduction 1

1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims of the study……… 1

3 Research questions……… 2

4 Significance of the study……… 2

5 Methods of the study……… 2

6 Scope of the study……… 2

7 Design of the study……… 3

Part B: Development 4

Chapter 1: Literature review 4

1 1 Textbook……… 4

1.1 1 Definitions of textbook……… 4

1 1.2 The roles of textbook……… 4

1 1.3 Textbook evaluation……… 5

1 1.4 Textbook adaptation……… 8

1.2 Language skills……… 10

iv

1.2 1 Receptive skills……… 10

1.2 1.1 Listening……… 10

1.2.1.2 Reading……… 10

1.2.2 Productive skills……… 11

1.2.2.1 Speaking……… 11

1.2.2.2 Writing……… 11

1.3 Language elements……… 12

1.3.1 Grammar……… 12

1.3.2 Vocabulary……… 12

1.3.3 Pronunciation……… 13

1.4 Summary……… 13

Chapter 2: An overview of the textbook and current Situation of using textbook at HUI 14

2.1 Current situation of using textbook……… 14

2.1.1 Brief introduction of HUI……… 14

2.1.2.Teachers and teaching methods……… 15

2.1.3 Students and their background……… 16

2.2 An overview of the textbook……… 17

Chapter 3: Methodology……… 19

3.1 Setting……… 19

3.2 Research design……… 20

3.3 Participants……… 20

3.4 Data collection instruments……… 21

3.4.1 Survey questionnaires……… 21

3.4.2 Interview……… 22

3.5 Data collection procedures……… 22

3.6 Summary……… 23

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion……… 24

4.1 Data and data analysis ……… 24

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4.1.1 Survey questionnaires……… 24

4.1.2 Interview……… 34

4.2 Feasible solutions……… 36

4.2.1 Extension……… 36

4.2.2 Re-ordering……… 37

4.2.3 Modification……… 37

4.2.4 Braching……… 38

4.2.5 Addition……… 39

Part C: Conclusion……… 40

1 Conclusion……… 40

2 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further studies……… 40

Reference……… 42 Appendices

vi

List of ABBREVIATIONS

HUI Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry

ELT English language teaching

ESP English for Specific Purposes

PPP Presentation - Practice - Production

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List of Tables and charts

TABLES

Table 1: Content of the textbook “American Headway 1”

Table 2: The teachers’ experience of teaching

Table 3: The role of the textbook in teaching and learning English

Table 4: Teachers’ opinions about the presentation of four skills in the textbook

Table 5: Students’ opinions about the presentation of four skills in the textbook

Table 6: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about the difficult degree of four

skills in the textbook

Table 7: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about skill development

Table 8: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about the level emphasis on the four

macro skills of each unit in the textbook

Table 9: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about the location of time for four

macro skills

CHARTS

Chart 1: Students’ history of learning English

Chart 2: Students’ time of learning English

Chart 3: Teachers’ satisfaction of the textbook

Chart 4: Students’ satisfaction of the textbook

Chart 5: Teachers and students’ attitudes towards grammar points in the textbook

Chart 6: The approach to grammar in the textbook

Chart 7: The stage of PPP approach paid most attention

Chart 8: The number of techniques of PPP approach is used in each unit

Chart 9: The quantity of new words in every unit

Chart 10: Students’ vocabulary after learning the textbook

Chart 11: The textbook includes materials for pronunciation works

Chart 12: Students’ pronunciation after completing the textbook

1

Part A: Introduction

1 Rationale for the study

The textbook is “the visible heart of any ELT (English Language Teaching) program” (Sheldon 1988:237) Textbooks help to standardize instruction and assessment That is,

by giving students in different classes the same textbook, teachers can teach and test them

in the same ways (Richards 2005) The textbooks also provide syllabus for a program, thus supporting novice teachers, training them in methodology and saving their time and effort for more worthwhile pursuits than material production (Cunningsworth 1995) What are more, students also often expect to use the textbook in their learning program (Sheldon 1988) Without textbooks, they may think their learning is not taken seriously, thus, textbooks are psychological essential for students Textbooks may constitute an effective resource for learning in the classroom and self-directed learning (Cunningsworth 1995) A learner without a textbook might be out of focus and teacher-dependent

However, textbooks are not always professionally designed and do not always fit the curriculum and closely correspond to the aim of a teaching program and the needs of the students Thus, textbooks should be carefully evaluated and selected before being used for

a certain language program

As a teacher of HUI (Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry), I have worked quite closely with the textbook “American Headway 1” I have noticed that although the book has shown a great deal of improvements, it also bears several limitations These limitations may cause considerable difficulty for both students and teachers, especially, for teachers who wish to teach in a communicative way

For all those reasons, I think that textbook evaluation helps the managerial and teaching staff select the most appropriate material available for a particular course It also helps to identify the strengths and weakness of a particular textbook This is to inform teachers in the process of textbook adaptation and decision-making for the next course

To this end, I have decided to carry out a study entitled “Appropriateness of the textbook

“American Headway 1” for the first year students at HUI based in Thanh Hoa Province

2 Aims of the study

The study aimed at:

- Evaluating "American Headway 1" in the terms of its methodology and

practicality Specifically, it seeks to answer such a question as how the four language skills and language elements are taught and practiced

- Finding out the strengths and the weaknesses of the textbook

- Suggesting changes to enhance the textbook's appropriateness for the first year

students' needs at HUI based in Thanh Hoa Province

2

3 Research questions

The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answer to the following research questions:

- Is the textbook “American Headway 1” suitable for the students’ level and the

teachers at HUI based in TH Province in terms of language skills and language elements?

- What suggestions should be offered to help teachers and students to overcome

the weaknesses of the textbook?

4 Significance of the study

In order to serve the purpose of teaching and learning effectively, the textbook needs to

be professionally designed, fits the curriculum and closely corresponds with the aim of the teaching program and the needs of the students Thus, teachers and learners working with the textbook might experience considerable difficulty in achieving the ultimate goal of their teaching and learning program, which is developing students’ communicative competence The current study helps to identify the problem and suggests ways of improving them This contribution would be of practical value to textbook authors, teachers and students

5 Methods of the study

In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study was designed to use two methods: survey questionnaire and informal interview The data can be recorded formally and informally The interview is used to record information from teachers and students The survey questionnaire to both students and teachers is to get more information to support the study

6 Scope of the study

The author of the study is always aware that a great number of criteria should be taken into consideration for a textbook and each criteria on need taking into account various aspects However, within the limits of a minor thesis, this study only seeks the appropriateness of the textbook “American Headway 1” in terms of their methodology and practically Specially, it seeks to examine the communicative nature of the textbook

and the ease of their use That is, to seeks to answer such question as how the four

language skills and language elements are taught and practiced

3

7 Design of the study

The minor thesis is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part A (Introduction) presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods and the

design of the study

Part B (Development) consists of four chapters

Chapter 1 reviews the theoretical background, which is relevant to the

purpose of the study

Chapter 2 gives a brief introduction of the textbook and current situations

of teaching and learning at HUI

Chapter 3 describes the research methodology, which focuses on the

context of the study, participants and the instruments and data collection procedures

Chapter 4 deals with data analysis and some suggestions

Part C (Conclusion) summaries the study and offers some suggestions for further

research

42

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