An evaluation of the material english for chefs for the first year students in the cooking class at hai phong technological and vocational training school

Discussion on the methodology requirements of the course in comparison with the material and the opinions from teachers and students.. The material “English for Chefs” which was issued b

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC CHÂU

AN EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL

“ENGLISH FOR CHEFS”

FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THE COOKING CLASS

AT HAI PHONG TECHNOLOGICAL AND VOCATIONAL

TRAINING SCHOOL

( Đánh giá giáo trình “ Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành chế biến món ăn” cho học sinh năm thứ

nhất ngành Chế biến món ăn tại trường Trung cấp Nghiệp vụ và Công nghệ Hải Phòng)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Table of content Part 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the thesis 1

2 Aims of the thesis 1

3 Significance of the thesis 1

4 Scope of the thesis 2

5 Design of the thesis 2

Part 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Materials in Language Teaching and Learning 3

1.1.1 Roles of Materials in Language Teaching and Learning 3

1.1.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of published textbook for Chefs 3

1.1.3 The Characteristics of Materials of English for Specific Purpose 5

1.2 Material evaluation 6

1.2.1 Purposes of Materials Evaluation 6

1.2.2 Types of Materials Evaluation 7

1.2.3 Models of Materials Evaluation 8

1.2.4.Criteria for Materials Evaluation 10

1.3 Materials Adaptation 11

1.3.1 Why do we adapt the material? 11

1.3.2 Levels of material adaptation 12

1.4 Summary 14

Chapter 2: Research methodology

2.1 An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at HPTVTS 15

2.2 Research methods 16

2.2.1 Research questions 16

2.2.2 Participants 16

2.2.3 Data collection procedure 16

2.3 Summary 17

Chapter 3: Data analysis 3.1 Material versus Course: Aims 18

3.1.1 Analysis: course versus the material 18

3.1.2 Survey: Teachers and students’ opinions about the appropriateness of the material in term of the aims 19

3.2 The Material versus the Course: Content Requirement 20

3.2.1 Analysis: Course versus the material 21

3.2.2 Survey: Teachers and students’ opinions about the appropriateness of the material in term of the content 25

3.3 The Material versus the Course: Methodology Requirement 32

3.3.1 Analysis: the course versus the material 32

3.3.2 Survey: Teachers and students’ opinions about the methodology of the material 36

Chapter 4: Discussion and adaptation

4.1 Discussion on the aim and content requirements of the course in comparison with the

material and the opinions from teachers and students……… 38

4.2 Discussion on the methodology requirements of the course in comparison with the material and the opinions from teachers and students 40

4.3 Teacher’s suggestions for the material improvement 40

4.4 Recommendations for material improvements 41

PART 3: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of previous parts 44

2 Conclusion 44

3 Limitation and suggestion for further research 45

References 46

Appendixes I

Appendix 1 I

Appendix 2 VI

Appendix 3 VII

Appendix 4 XI

Appendix 5 XVII

Appendix 6 XXII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

VNU: VietNam National University

ULIS: University of Language and International Studies

HPTVTS: Hai Phong Technological and Vocational Training School

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the thesis

As a key area in English Language Teaching (ELT), the significance of material design and evaluation has grown steadily Evaluation is basically a matching process, which concerns matching learners’ needs to available solutions (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987 p 97) Low (1987, p 21) reminds us that “teachers generally need to screen materials, in order to predict their suitability for particular classes” Thus, material evaluation is a decisive way to question and develop our own ideas as to what is required Another benefit is through identifying strengths and weaknesses in coursebooks, optimum use can be made of strong points, and

weaker points can be adapted or substituted from other books (Cunningsworth, 1995, p 14)

At present, there are not many coursebooks on cooking for students of cooking classes at vocational schools in Vietnam in general and at my school in particular At HPTVTS, the books used to some extent are not really effective for their studies Moreover, these books can lack practical information with too much theory and some contents are not suitable with the objective of the course as well as the demand of students The material “English for Chefs” which was issued by Hanoi Publisher has been used as an official coursebook for students of cooking classes at HPTVTS for 2 years but there hasn’t any evaluation of the effectiveness of the book in completing the content requirement of the course as well as the aims given

2 Aims of the thesis

The study is conducted in order to identify:

(1) How appropriate the material is in terms of content, objectives and methodology

(2) What remedies for changing or adapting should be used to make the material more suitable with requirement of the course and students’ need

3 Significance of the thesis

English for Chefs is a compulsory subject of students of cooking classes at HPTVTS as it may

be necessary for their future jobs At present, “English for Chefs” is being used as the official coursebook for this subject However, there has not been any valuation of this book there so that the author decides to find out how good it is of the current English material used for

students of cooking class with the hope of having a good English material for students of cooking class which helps provide students with certain knowledge of English specializing in cooking and boost students’ belief in the training quality of school

4 Scope of the thesis

There are many criteria to evaluate a material such as the audience, the content, the methodology, the cultural bias, the layout, the authenticity, and so on In this thesis, the author aims at the appropriateness of the material to the content requirement, the objective and the methodology of the course which are based on Hutchinson and Water’s model (1987) The study is conducted by getting the results from the material analysis and utilizing the survey method applying on both teachers who have been teaching the material for 2 years and students who have used this material

5 Design of the thesis

The thesis consists of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion

Part one gives an overview of the thesis with the introduction, rationale, aims, scope and significance of the thesis

Part two includes four chapters in which chapter one is the literature review of the thesis with the different views about material evaluation, the role of material as well as the material evaluation It also points out some ways of evaluating a material with different criteria of different linguists Chapter two presents the current teaching and learning English at HPTVTS, the research method, and data collection procedure of the study Chapter three presents the results from the survey and the analysis of the material Chapter four discusses the findings of the research and suggestions on material adaptations

Part three provides the conclusion of the whole study and limitations of the thesis, and recommends further research

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Materials in Language Teaching and Learning

1.1.1 Roles of materials in Language Teaching and Learning

Allwright (1990) argues that materials should teach students to learn, that they should be resource books for ideas and activities for instruction/learning, and that they should give teachers rationales for what they do From Allwright's point of view, textbooks are too inflexible to be used directly as instructional material O'Neill (1982), in contrast, argues that materials may be suitable for students' needs, even if they are not designed specifically for them, that textbooks make it possible for students to review and prepare their lessons that textbooks are efficient in terms of time and money, and that textbooks can and should allow for adaptation and improvisation

Materials include textbooks, video and audio tapes, computer software, and visual aids They influence the content and the procedures of learning The choice of deductive vs inductive learning, the role of memorization, the use of creativity and problem solving, production vs reception, and the order in which materials are presented are all influenced by the materials

In fact, much of the language teaching that occur today throughout the world could not take place without the extensive use of commercial textbooks Hence, how to use and adapt textbooks is an important part of teacher’s professional knowledge

1.1.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of published coursebooks

According to Penny Ur (1996), published coursebooks have their own advantages and disadvantages (The term ‘coursebook’ here means the textbook of which the teacher and usually each student has a copy, and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language course)

Advantages

- Framework: A coursebook provides a clear framework that teacher and learner know where

they are going and what is coming next, so that there is a sense of structure and progress

- Syllabus: In many places the coursebook serves as syllabus; if it is followed systematically, a

carefully planned and balanced selection of language content will be covered

- Ready –made texts and tasks: The coursebook provides tasks which are likely to be an

appropriate level for most of the class This, of course, saves time for the teacher who would otherwise have to prepare his or her own

- Economy: A book is the cheapest way of providing learning material for each learner;

alternatives, such as kits, set of photocopied papers or computer software, are likely to be more expensive relative to the amount of material provided

- Convenience: A book is a convenient package; it is bound, so that its components stick

together and stay in order; it is light and small enough to carry around easily; it is of a shape that is easily packed and stacked; it does not depend for its use on hardware or a supply of electricity

- Guidance: For teachers who are inexperienced or occasionally unsure of their knowledge of

the language, the coursebook can provide useful guidance and support

- Autonomy: The learner can use the coursebook to learn new material, review and monitor

progress with some degree of autonomy A learner without a coursebook is more dependent

teacher-However, though how much the textbooks are well planned, they have their own disadvantages So that Penny Ur also gives some drawbacks of textbooks that he means

‘coursebook’

Disadvantages

- Inadequacy: Every class - in fact, every learner - has their own learning needs: no one

coursebook can possibly supply these satisfactorily

- Irrelevance, lack of interest: The topic dealt with in the coursebook may not necessarily be

relevant or interesting for your class

- Limitation: a coursebook is confining – Its set structure and sequence may inhibit a teacher’s

initiative and creativity, and lead to boredom and lack of motivation on the part of the learners

- Homogeneity: Coursebooks have their own rationale and chosen teaching/learning approach

They do not usually cater for the variety of levels of ability and knowledge, or of learning styles and strategies that exist in most classes

- Over-easiness: Teachers find it too easy to follow the coursebook uncritically instead of

using their initiative; they may find themselves functioning merely as mediators of its content instead of as teachers in their own right

1.1.3 The characteristic of English for Specific Purpose (ESP)

The most important difference between English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English as

a Second Language (ESL) (also known as general English) lies in the learners and their

purposes for learning English ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions An ESP program is, therefore, built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required

ESP concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structures It covers subjects varying from accounting or computer science to tourism and business management, and the like The ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject separated from the students' real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners

However, ESL and ESP diverge not only in the nature of the learner, but also in the aim of instruction In fact, as a general rule, while in ESL all four language skills, namely listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in ESP it is a needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the syllabus is designed accordingly An ESP program might, for example, emphasize the development of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work in business administration; or it might

promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying English in order to become tourist guides

As a matter of fact, ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it be accounting, business management, economics, computer science or tourism Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation The students' abilities in their subject-matter fields, in turn, improve their ability to acquire English Subject-matter knowledge gives them the context they need to understand the English

of the classroom In the ESP class, students are shown how the subject-matter content is expressed in English The teacher can make the most of the students' knowledge of the subject matter, thus helping them learn English faster

The term "specific" in ESP refers to the specific purpose for learning English Students approach the study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them This means that they are able to use what they learn in the ESP classroom right away in their work and studies The ESP approach enhances the relevance of what the students are learning and enables them to use the English they know to learn even more English, since their interest in their field will motivate them to interact with speakers and texts

1.2 Materials evaluation

1.2.1 Purposes of Materials Evaluation

Some of the main purposes of evaluation, the first of which is that students become more fully involved in the decision making process They come to understand the goals of the teachers, and it also gives them the opportunity to reflect upon their own learning and whether their objectives are being achieved This helps to break down barriers between students and those in authority and helps to foster a more student-centered environment The second aspect of evaluation is that it should lead to better communication between all those involved in an educational project It can involve the recording and exchange of information that can be

passed on to other bodies in the form of reports Third is the improvement in accountability to both the public and the learners when evaluation information is made available

Actually, materials, especially authentic materials, play a significant role in foreign language teaching They are not simply the everyday tools of the language teachers; they are an embodiment of the aims and methods of the particular teaching/learning situation In the words of Cunningsworth (1995, p 7), coursebook is “a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learner needs” Through evaluation, we can assess whether the coursebook is the most appropriate for the target learners at various levels and in various teaching settings What is more, the evaluation process will involve elements of comparison, especially where existing materials are being challenged by newly produced materials

At HPTVTS, the material “English for Chefs” has been used for two years and it has shown certain advantages and disadvantages, so the author carries out this research with the same purpose as Cunningsworth’s This means the study is conducted in order to find out if the material reaches the aim, objective and method requirements of the course as well students’ needs or not

1.2.2 Types of Materials Evaluation

Different linguists have their own ways of categorizing the material evaluation In terms of

when to evaluate a coursebook, Cunningsworth (1995, p 14) points out that pre-use evaluation, in-use evaluation and post-use evaluation are engendered, while Robinson (1991:59) classified materials evaluation into three types: preliminary, formative, and summative

- Pre-use evaluation or preliminary tends to be the most difficult kind since there is no actual

experience of using the coursebook

- In-use evaluation or formative, from another perspective, is a kind of evaluation for

suitability, involving “matching the coursebook against a specific requirement including the learners’ objectives, the learners’ background, the resources available, etc” (Cunningsworth,

1995, p 14) It allows immediate feedback to be given to both students and teachers, and revisions and improvements to be made

- Post-use evaluation or summative refers to an assessment of a textbook’s fitness over a

period of continual use The outcomes of the course are assessed against the aims and objectives to show how well the instructional material has been learned Summative evaluation is also used to evaluate the overall effectiveness of a learning program Evaluation

of this kind can be practical in helping to decide whether to use the same textbook on future occasions As said above, the material “English for Chefs” has been used at HPTVTS for two years so that the researcher decides to use post-use evaluation/summative with an aim to find out whether this material is effective or not and offer further improvement of the material

1.2.3 Models of Materials Evaluation

There are many different models of material evaluation Some of commonly adopted models are suggested by Breen and Candlin’s and Hutchinson & Water (1987)

1.2.3.1 Breen and Candlin’s framework (1987): (in Sheldon 1987, ELT Document 126)

PHASE ONE: Initial questions

I What do the materials aim to do and what do they contain?

II What do the materials make your learners do while they are learning?

III How do the materials expect you to teach the learners in the classroom?

IV Are the materials the only resource in classroom language learning?

PHASE TWO: Your learners and the materials

I Are the materials appropriate to your learners’ needs and interests?

II Are the materials appropriate to your learners’ own approaches to language learning? III Are the materials appropriate to the classroom teaching/learning process?

IV Seven design features of materials for classroom work

V Discovering learners’ criteria for good materials

1.2.3.2 McDonough and Shaw’s model (1993)

McDonough and Shaw (1993) provide a flexible two-stage model for the comprehensive evaluation of course books

- External evaluation includes criteria which gives an overview of the organizational

foundation of the course book, ‘as stated explicitly by the author/publisher’ through the cover, introduction and table of contents statements

- In-depth internal investigates the course book, ‘to see how far the materials in question

match up to what the author claims as well as to the aims and objectives of a given teaching program.”

(McDonough and Shaw 1993: 64)

The final step is overall evaluation This helps to identify strengths and weaknesses in course books already used in classes in terms of usability, the generalizability, the adaptability, and the flexibility

Apparently, this model is a combination of macro and micro – evaluation method

1.2.3.3 Hutchinson and Waters’ model ( 1987)

Evaluation by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) is a macro-evaluation According to them, the materials evaluation can be divided into four major steps

(1) Defining criteria — On what bases will you judge materials?

(2) Subjective analysis — What realizations of the criteria do you want in your course (e.g

who are your learners; what language points should be covered)?

(3) Objective analysis—How does the material being evaluated realize the criteria (e.g who is

the material intended for; how is the content organized within the units)?

(4) Matching—How far does the material match your needs ? (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p

97)

For the purposes of this evaluation, I will follow the model provided by Hutchinson and Waters (1987), applying pertinent criteria to the coursebook used in my working context The model’s procedural format and flexibility will allow me to fully assess the strengths and weaknesses of my materials Basing on the research results, good aspect as well as

problematic parts of the material can be identified, which may be a reliable ground for further suggestions on material improvements

1.2.4 Criteria for Materials Evaluation

Penny Ur provides the following criteria to evaluate a material, as following:

- Objectives explicitly laid out in an introduction, and implemented in the material

- Approach educationally and socially acceptable to target community

- Clear attractive layout; print easy to read

- Appropriate visual materials available

- Interesting topics and tasks

- Varied topics and tasks, so as to provide for different learner levels, learning styles, interest, so on

- Clear instructions

- Systematic coverage of syllabus

- Content clearly organized and graded ( sequenced by difficulty)

- Periodic review and test sections

- Plenty of authentic language

- Good pronunciation explanation and practice

- Good vocabulary explanation and practice

- Good grammar presentation and practice

- Fluency practice in four skill

- Encourages learners to develop own learning strategies and to become independent in their learning

- Adequate guidance for the teacher; not too heavy presentation load

- Audio cassettes

- Readily available locally

The criteria suggested by Ur seem to be too much detailed but the framework for evaluating a coursebook is not given so that it may make difficult for the evaluator to begin his/her evaluation With the more comprehensive and more brief content, the evaluating criteria

defined by Hutchinson and Waters seem to be more helpful tools to language material evaluators

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), there are four main criteria for materials evaluation, they are: the audience, the aims, the content, and the methodology

- The audience of the materials: the evaluator should obtain information about and from

learners to find out whether the materials are suitable to the students’ age, knowledge

of English, interest and so on

- Aims of the materials: the evaluator has to check if the materials match the aims and

objectives of the course

- Content of the materials: the evaluator has to check if the materials language points,

maro-skills/micro-skills, and topics suit the learners’ need

- Methodology of the materials: the evaluator has to find out if techniques, guidance,

aids provide in the materials satisfy the learners and the teachers of the course

Comparing the two sets of criteria provided by Ur (1996) and Hutchinson and Waters (1987),

it seems that the Hutchinson and Waters (1987)’s criteria are more practical and helpful for the evaluators as they provide the clear way how to conduct a study on material evaluation As a result, the author decides to choose the criteria of Hutchinson and Waters (1987) as the guide

to see how much “English for Chefs” matches with the aims and the requirement of the course

1.3 Materials Adaptation

1.3.1 Why do we adapt the material?

Despite the great effort that textbook writers make to meet the needs of the intended users, textbooks are subject to adaptation when they are actually used in the classroom After all, most commercial textbooks are not written for any particular class What makes the matter worse is that sometimes the teachers are compelled to use certain materials, that is, materials imposed by authorities In a word, in most ELT cases, teachers have to adapt the materials they are using if they want their teaching to be more effective and more interesting

Materials adaptation should be based on the results of materials evaluation Of course different materials have different potential areas for adaptation The following are some common deficiencies of existing ELT materials

- Fail (unable) to fulfill the goals and objectives specified by national or local syllabuses

or curricula

- Fail to fulfill the goals and objectives of schools where the materials are used

- Cannot be finished in the time available

- Require facilities or equipment or other supporting materials that are not available

- Not engaging the learners’ personality

- Detrimental to the learners’ culture

- Not cater for the learners’ interests

-

McDonough and Shaw (1993:86) have listed more reasons for materials adaptation The most important reason is that there is mismatch between what is needed and what is provided by materials

1.3.2 Levels of material adaptation

Macro adaptation

This is ideally done before the language programme begins After comparing what is covered

in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus or examination, the teacher may find that certain areas or even whole units of the book can be omitted, and certain contents need to be supplemented Macro adaptation is very important because it helps to avoid waste of time and energy of the teacher and the students as well It also helps the teacher to see in advance what

he or she needs to supplement so that he or she can keep an eye on materials that could be used

Adapting a unit

This could be reordering the activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting or supplementing exercise material, etc Unit adaptation helps to make the classroom teaching more smooth and cohesive It also helps the teacher to better fulfill the aims of a unit

Adaptation of specific activities

Occasionally an activity is regarded as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible

in a particular class If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he or she needs to adapt it

Specific adaptation

McDonough Shaw (1993: 86) presented some criteria for adaptation as the following:

- Deleting or omitting: deletion means cutting one or more stages within an activity or

omitting a whole work together The tasks in the material may be deleted and compensated by

a more suitable one to meet the objectives of the whole

- Modifying: Modification can be divided into two specific ways: re-writing and re-structuring

Re-writing refers to the modification of the linguistic contents while re-structuring applies to the classroom management

- Simplifying: simplification is a type of modification namely re-writing activity Many

element of the material can be simplified such as the instruction explanations or even the visual layout of materials but the text or most reading passages are applied to this technique Teachers can simplify the texts with sentence structures, the grammar structures and the lexical content

- Reordering: teachers may decide that the order in which the material is presented is not

suitable for their students They can use the technique of re-ordering to put parts of the course

in different order, adjusting the sequence of presentation within unit, or arrange of different units in a course book

- Re-placing: after being evaluated, text or exercise material which is considered ineffective or

inappropriate for whatever reasons may be replaced by a suitable one

The adaptation technique of McDonough Shaw appears to be detailed As a result, in this thesis, the writer will use Shaw’s adaptation technique as guide for adapting any unsuitable issues in the material “English for Chefs”

1.4 Summary

To sum up, material evaluation can provide teachers a good source of techniques, tell us what

to do as well as what to avoid and consequently help us make optimum use of the existing materials For this reason, language teachers should judge the fitness of the coursebook timely Based on the evaluation results, we can either replace the coursebook in use to adopt the most suitable one or to adapt the existing materials By further adapting coursebooks in use, we can save a lot of expense and efforts It is also worth noting that the evaluation process is particularly helpful for teachers to gain good and useful insights into the nature of the material Only in this way, can we respond to learners’ needs at the utmost and maximize the learning/teaching objectives Therefore, this chapter can be seen as the theoretical foundation for the application of the study in chapter three and the improvements in chapter four that should be made to the coursebook “English for Chefs” for students of the cooking class at Haiphong Technological and Vocational Training School

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at HPTVTS

Hai Phong Technological and Vocational Training School is responsible for training various vocations such as cooking, accounting, biological technology, and so on It is a newly built school so the teaching condition and the teaching equipments are pretty good The school has

a special room for studying foreign languages Twenty students in each class is small enough for learning English efficiently with such modern teaching facilities as computer, projector and system of speakers in the room However, the number of reference books for students is very limited because the school library has not come into use

Most of non-English major students come from the rural areas of Haiphong By the time they enter the HPTVTS, they are all supposed to experience seven years of learning English at secondary school and high school However, their English proficiency and language competence are different; some of them have poor English whereas some others are pretty good Moreover, many students at HPTVTS get used to being taught in an inactive way when they are at secondary and high school where they are not encouraged to raise their voice or give their own ideas confidently In an English class, with limited time, only some proficient students are motivated to follow new methods of teaching and participate actively in group-work activities and discussions, and so on Meanwhile, weaker students keep quiet, just sit, listen and take notes of what the teacher says or writes on the board They are too shy to speak

in front of the class They just learn for marks and the examinations, not for the practical use for their future jobs This difference in learning styles presents a lot of difficulties for teachers

to plan their lessons and boost students’ interest in learning English In such a teaching context, teachers have to use both traditional and communicative approaches in their teaching so as to fulfill the requirements of the course

2.2 Research methods

2.2.1 Research questions

The study aims at answering the two following questions:

1 Does the material “English for Chefs” meet the requirements of the course provided

at HPTVTS in terms of aims, content and methodology?

2 What remedies for changing or adapting should be used to make the material more suitable with requirement of the course and students’ need?

2.2.2 Participants

As HPTVTS has two cookery classes with twenty students each at elementary level so that all

of them and four English teachers who have been teaching the material “English for Chefs” for two years are selected as the respondents of the survey research

2.2.3 Data collection procedure

2.2.3.1 Document analysis

* The document analysis is divided into two stages in each criterion as follow:

* The analysis of the aim requirements of the course and material

* The analysis of the content requirement of the course and the material in such criteria as:

- Language points: Vocabulary and Grammar structures and Pronunciation

- Kinds of exercises and activities

- Teaching – learning techniques

- Methodological guidance

The results of the analysis in terms of aims, content and methodology requirements of the course (subjective analysis) and those from the “English for Chefs” analysis (objective analysis) will show how well they are matched with each other, from which, suitable adaptation is suggested for the material

2.2.3.2 Questionnaires

The questionnaires were designed based on criteria of Hutchinson and Water’s model (1987)

in order to gather ideas from teachers and students about the material They were distributed to teachers and students at the end of the course “English for Chefs” in the second term of the school year 2009 – 2010

First of all, sample questionnaires were distributed to a teacher and 5 students to pilot if there were any misunderstanding questions or not Then some editions were made to make sure that

no confusing question was used Lastly, questionnaires were sent to all participants of the research

The questionnaires were divided into four parts:

Part I: Focuses on the opinions of teachers and students about the aim of the material in relation to the aim of the course (Questions 1- 7)

Part II: Investigates their opinions about the content of the material (Question 8 – 15)

Part III: Finds out their opinions about the methodology (Question 16 – 22)

Part IV: Seeks for teachers and students’ suggestions for the improvement of the material (Questions 23 – 30)

2.3 Summary

This chapter has provided an overview of the current English teaching and learning context at HPTVTS The participants who joined the research are English teachers and forty students of two cooking classes who are teaching and learning the material “English for Chefs” Questionnaires and material analysis in terms of aim, content and methodology are instruments to carry out the research to find out the answers of the two given research questions

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

First of all, the study is begun by comparing the course objectives with the material, then, the results from teachers and students about the same subjects are presented

3.1 Material versus Course: Aims

3.1.1 Analysis: course versus the material

1 Basic grammar structure: simple

present tense and past simple tense;

comparatives and superlatives; the

passive voice; model verbs; some

structures: infinitive clause and

phrases of purpose, imperative forms,

making suggestions, adverbs, and

expression of like and dislike

This section is divided into three stages: presentation, language study and practice

- In the presentation stage: dialogues and questions with the topic relating to cooking, food or restaurant

in which the new grammar structures are given

- The second stage: rules and usages of the given grammatical items

- The third stage: exercises for practicing

2 Special vocabulary in cooking,

3 The opportunity to improve

pronunciation focusing on linked

sounds, reduced form, stress, word

linking

- Stress patterns, the word – linking, reduced sound appear

- No explanation and lack of exercises for practicing

4 The opportunity to practice

speaking skill through the different

- Different kinds of activities such as individual, pair – work, group-work in describing and giving

tasks in various situations in cooking,

restaurant

instructions how to cook, introducing food and cooking recipes, conversation in the kitchen and at the restaurant

5 The opportunity to improve reading

skill through the reading passages

about cooking, food, and restaurant

- Reading passages about cooking, food, traditional dishes in Europe, Asia and Vietnam with tasks for practicing

- Some passages do not have tasks for practicing

6 The opportunity to practice

listening skill through different

listening tasks about cooking, food,

restaurant

- Various kinds of exercises relating to the topic of cooking or restaurant

- Not enough exercises for practicing

7 The opportunity to practice and

improve writing skill with focus on

sentences, note taking, instruction in

cooking and paragraphs

- Write simple sentences, passages, letters, cooking recipes

- Lack of detail instruction of writing a letter or sample of a letter

Table 3.1: The appropriateness of the Material to the Aims of the Course

3.1.2 Survey: Teachers and students’ opinions about the appropriateness of the material

in term of the aims

Teacher Students Does the material provide students with

opportunity to …?

Yes Partly Not Yes Partly Not

1 develop basic grammatical points? 100% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0%

2 widen vocabulary of cooking, kinds of food,

kitchens and restaurants, ect…?

100% 0% 0% 95% 5% 0%

3 improve their pronunciation, linked sounds,

stress, reduced forms and intonation? 0% 25% 75% 10% 23% 67%

4 improve speaking skill? 75% 25% 0% 87% 13% 0%

5 improve reading skill ? 50% 50% 0% 67,5% 24,5% 8%

6 improve listening skill? 50% 50% 0% 62% 20% 18%

7 improve writing skill? 75% 25% 0% 78% 10% 12%

Table 3.2: Teachers and students’ opinions about the appropriateness of the material in term

of the aims (Q 1 – 7)

The results presented in table 3.2 revealed that all teachers and nearly most of students (95%) agreed that the material provided adequate amount of basic grammar and widened the vocabulary of cooking, e.g some common kinds of food and words used in kitchens and restaurants In contrast, 75% teachers and 67% students reckoned that the material had poor help in improving students’ pronunciation, linked sounds, stress, reduced forms and intonation This result fitted with the document analysis of the pronunciation part because there was a lack of practice exercises for each pronunciation pattern in the material However, 75% and 87% of teachers and students thought the material helped improve speaking skill and

a large number of teachers and students agreed that the material also provided good chances to improve writing skill Having the similar result with speaking and writing, 75% of the teachers and 62% of the students affirmed that students could acquire and improve listening skill through practice exercises while 25% of teachers and 20% of students just agreed that the material was partly suitable for improving this skill Besides, reading skill seemed not really to fulfill the aim of the course as half of teachers and about one third of students agreed with this idea

3.2 The Material versus the Course: Content Requirement

The comparison between the content requirements and the content of the material is conducted, next, teachers and students’ ideas about that are presented These ways will help find out how appropriate the material is with the course content requirements

3.2.1 Analysis: Course versus the material

- Basic English grammar

as simple present tense and past simple tense;

comparatives and superlatives; the passive voice; model verbs; some structures: infinitive clause and phrases of purpose, imperative

suggestions, adverbs, and expression of like and dislike

- The material “ English for Chefs” provide basic English grammar structures as the present simple tense; past simple tense; comparatives and superlatives; the imperative form; the passive voice; model verbs; expression of quantity, the structure:

It + adj + to infinitive; infinitive clause and phrases of purpose; sequence adverbs; making suggestions; expression of like and dislike Each grammar item in the material has the rule, form and the exercises for students to practice and understand

- Vocabulary: - Words specialize in

cooking, food and restaurant

- Words specializing in cooking; food and restaurant are overwhelming the whole material

- Pronunciation: - Some special features of

English pronunciation as:

S- ending, question intonation, stressed, reduced forms, and linked sounds

- S- ending, blending with does, question intonation, stressed and unstressed words, syllable stress, stress in response, contrastive stress linked sounds, reduced form of ought to, have to, “did you, have you”, small words as “ a, an, to, and, for”; They are not too hard for student to understand and use it in speaking English

- Some pronunciation patterns are just

given out without explanation and practice exercises, for example, unit 2 – question intonation, unit 4 & 7 – linked sound, unit

6, 9 & 12 – reduced form of ought to and have to, did you, small words

- Some others are introduced but not many exercises are provided for further practices

2 Macro – Skills - Speaking, reading,

- Writing skill: not enough detail writing instruction

3 Micro – skills - Speaking: ask and

answer questions, talk about your favourite food

or dishes, make comparison, make orders and give suggestions at the restaurant and in the kitchen, give the instructions of the cooking recipes

- Speaking tasks in the material require

students to ask and answer questions, talk about favourite food or dishes, make comparison, make orders and give suggestions at the restaurant and in the kitchen, give the instructions of the cooking recipes

- Reading: Scanning, skimming and guessing

- Listening: listen for gist,

listen and choose the correct answers, listen and answer the questions, and fill in the blanks

- Listening: Listen for gist, listen and

check, listen and answer the questions, choose the correct answers, and fill in the blanks are presented in every unit but too short

For example: unit 2, 3, 8 have only one exercise which asks students to fill in the blanks; unit 9 has one listening task which asks to choose correct answers with only

five sentences

- Writing: sentences completion, letters, menu, cooking recipes

- Writing: different kinds of tasks such as

sentence completion in unit 1, write the instruction of cooking, cooking recipes (unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ), plan a menu in English (unit 11, 12), and write letter to friend to describe your favourite food,

dishes

4 Text – type: - Reading text, dialogues,

cooking recipes, menu

- The words used in the material should be like

- Dialogues appear in the grammar study part of all units which are provided to introduce the new grammar phenomena

- The cooking recipes and the menu

real – like English and the level of difficulty should

be suitable with students

at the elementary level

appear in the reading parts

- The words used are like real – like English and easy enough for understanding

5 Subject matter: - Food, kitchen,

restaurant, French dishes, European dishes, Vietnamese dishes

- Jobs and workplaces (unit 1), Food selection (unit 2), In the kitchen (unit 3), French dishes (unit 6), European dishes (unit 7), Vietnamese dishes (unit 8)…

- Objectives are apparent in every unit

- No detail overview of each unit

- Each unit in the material is divided into eight parts

Part 1: Presentation: dialogue

Part 2: Language study – grammar structure with rules, forms and practice exercises Part 3: Vocabulary

Part 4: Pronunciation Part 5: Listening

Part 6: Speaking Part 7: Reading Part 8: Writing

- Vocabulary list and glossary

- Revision units

- Vocabulary list and glossary

- Revision units: Unit 5, 10, 15

7 Sequence of

content

- From easy to difficult and recycling

- From easy to difficult and recycling

8 Time allocation - Six periods per unit - Six periods per unit

Table 3.3: The appropriateness of the Material to the content of the Course

 Conclusion

From the analysis above, it can be concluded that the material has met the aim of the course in terms of grammar, vocabulary, speaking skill, and reading skill; partly accomplished the aims

of the course in terms of writing skill and listening skill and pronunciation

3.2.2 Survey: Teachers and students’ opinions about the appropriateness of the material

in term of the content

 Language points

Questions Teacher Students

What do you think about

the amount of language

points in the material?

Too much Enough

Not enough

Not at all

Too much Enough

Not enough

Not at all

Grammar structures 0% 75% 25% 0% 0% 85% 12,5% 2,5%

Vocabulary

75% 25% 0% 0% 77,5% 22,5% 0% 0%

Pronunciation 0% 75% 25% 0% 0% 92,5% 7,5% 0%

Table 3.4: Teachers and students’ opinions about language points (Q8)

From the table above, it is clear that the material provided an adequate amount of grammar structure for students in their study as 75% of teachers and 85% of students agreed about that The material also had good pronunciation practice exercises that met the demands of students with 92,5% of them and 75% of the teachers being of the same mind However, 75% of teachers and 77,5% of students concurred that there was a large number of new words about cookery presented in the material

 Macro – skills

Table 3.5: Teachers’ and students’ opinions about macro – skills.(Q9)

As shown in the table, the amount of speaking and listening distributed in the material were enough for students in improving speaking and listening skills These were shown by 75% and 100% of the teachers, and 85% and 92% of the students, respectively The reasons were that there were various activities in the material for students to practice speaking and exercises for listening In addition, 100% teachers and 92% of the students totally agreed that the material meet the content requirement of the course in terms of writing skill Nevertheless, a vast majority of both teachers and students (75% and 80%) conceded that the content of the reading part in the material was far too much

 Micro – skills

Do the following sub-skills provided in the material help students improve their skills?

Teacher Students

Speaking Yes Partly No Yes Partly No

Asking and answering questions 75% 25% 0% 95% 5% 0%

Talking about your favourite food or dishes, 100% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0%

Making comparison 25% 25% 50% 20% 25% 65%

Making orders and giving suggestions at the

restaurant or in the kitchen 100% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0%

Giving the instructions of the cooking

Listening and choose the correct answers 0% 75% 25% 20% 40% 20%

Listening and answering the questions 50% 50% 0% 67,5% 32,5% 0%

Listening and filling in the blanks 50% 50% 0% 67,5% 32,5% 0%

Writing

Completing sentences 0% 75% 25% 10% 80% 10%

Writing letters 75% 25% 0% 90% 10% 0%

Planning menus and cooking recipes 75% 25% 0% 95% 5% 0%

Table 3.6: Teachers and students’ opinions about micro – skill (Q10)

As can be seen from the table, all of the teachers and students thought that the material helped students develop speaking skill in terms of talking about your favourite food or dishes; making orders and giving suggestions at the restaurant or in the kitchen and giving the instructions of the cooking recipes However, making comparison skill seemed not to meet the demand of students as half of the teachers and 65% of the students disagreed about that For reading skill, half of the teachers and 67,5% of the students shared the idea that the material provided strong chances for students to improve their reading skill in such criteria as skimming, scanning and guessing

The table represents that half of the teachers and 67, 5% of the students were of the same mind with the criterion that the material were suitable for boosting listening for gist while 75% of the teachers and only 40% of the students affirmed that the material partly helped upgrade students’ listening skill in terms of listening and choose the correct answers This result is similar the analysis of the content of the material in the listening part Concerning such sub-skills as writing letters and planning menus and cooking recipes, most teachers and student shared the same idea that students had chance to practice writing when using this material However, 75% of the teachers and 80% of the students thought that the material just partly upgraded the completing sentence sub-skill

 Text types

What do you think about the text – types in the material?

Level of difficulty Level of authenticity

Easy Normal Difficult Like real-life

English

Unrealistic Theoretical

Teachers 0% 75% 25% 100% 0% 0%

Students 0% 77,5% 22,5% 95% 5% 0%

Table 3.7: Teachers’ and student’s opinions about the text – types in the material (Q13)

The table above revealed that the text – types in the material were suitable with students’ level It was shown by 75% of the teachers and 77,5% of the students being asked agreed that the text – types in the material are neither easy nor difficult Moreover, 100% teachers and 95% students shared the same idea that the texts were also authentic

 The subject matter

Table 3.8: Teachers’ and students’ opinions about subject matter (Q11)

It is clear from the table that all teachers and a hefty 92,5% of the students shared the same idea that the subjects provided in the material were relevant to students’ needs in their jobs In addition, a majority of teachers and students were of the same mind that these subjects were generally realistic, various enough to meet the content requirement of the course

 Layout and design

What do you think about the layout and the design of this material?

Teachers Students Layout and design Yes Partly No Yes Partly No The coursebook includes a detailed overview of

the functions, structures and vocabulary that will

be taught in each unit

0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 100%

The layout and design are appropriate and clear 75% 25% 0% 80% 15% 5%

An adequate vocabulary list or glossary is

included 100% 0% 0% 87,5% 12,5% 0% Adequate review sections and exercises are

included 50% 50% 0% 65% 25% 10% The materials objectives are apparent to both the

teacher and student 100% 0% 0% 90% 10% 0%

Table 3.9: Teachers and students’ opinion about the layout and design (Q12)

The table 3.9 reveals that neither teachers nor students being asked approved that the coursebook included a detailed overview of the functions, structures and vocabulary that would be taught in each unit while the layout – design and the objectives were thought to be appropriate and clear In contrast, some ideas from teachers and students indicated that they partly agreed with the criterion that the material provided adequate review sections and exercises When asked about this, the teachers and students who partly agreed assumed that brief grammar points which were presented in the previous units should be added into the review units as they would help students in their revision

Table 3.10: Teachers’ and students’ opinions about the sequence of content.(Q14)

As illustrated in the table, three fourths of the teachers and over half students (60%) agreed that the material went from easy to difficult while one fourth of teachers and students assumed that the sequence of content was recycling

Table 3.11: Teachers’ and students’ opinions about time allocation (Q15)

As shown in the table 3.11, half of the teachers and over a half the students asked affirmed that six periods for each unit are enough while the same number disagreed about that Some interviews were carried out on teachers and students who confirmed that six periods allocated for each unit was few The answers were that some units had long reading passages with a large amount of new words so that both teachers and students could not fulfill the

requirements of the course

3.3 The Material versus the Course: Methodology Requirement

3.3.1 Analysis: the course versus the material

English teacher board has come to an agreement on the methodology requirements of the course “English for Chefs” Then, the methodology requirements of the course will be

compared with the methodology provided in the material After that, results from teachers and students are presented