Teachers evaluation on lets go 1a second edition for grade 3 at primary schools in north vietnam

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: The materials evaluation model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters 1987:98 Figure 2: The materials evaluation model proposed by Littlejohn 1998:3 Fig

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT ÁNH

TEACHER’S EVALUATION ON “LET’S GO 1A SECOND EDITION” FOR

GRADE 3 AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH VIETNAM

(ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌNH “LET’S GO 1A SECOND EDITION” DÙNG CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 3 CÁC TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC

MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM) M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field : English Methodology Code : 60 14 10

Hanoi, 2010

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT ÁNH

TEACHER’S EVALUATION ON “LET’S GO 1A SECOND EDITION” FOR

GRADE 3 AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH VIETNAM

(ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌNH “LET’S GO 1A SECOND EDITION” DÙNG CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 3 CÁC TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC

MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM) M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Supervisor : Vũ Thu Thủy, M.A

Hanoi, 2010

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFP English for primary

ELT English Language Teaching

Let’s Go Second Edition LG 2nd

Oxford University Press OUP

MOET Ministry of Education

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

TPR Total Physical Response

MAT Model Action Talk

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: The materials evaluation model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987:98)

Figure 2: The materials evaluation model proposed by Littlejohn (1998:3)

Figure 3: Teacher’s Opinions on Objectives of the Book

Figure 4: Teacher’s Opinions on the Appropriateness of the Topics in the Material

Figure 5: Teacher survey results on the tasks and activities in the material in Rural Area

Figure 6: Teacher survey results on the tasks and activities in the material in Urban Area

Table 1: The grade 3 syllabus prescribed by the MOET

Table 2: Comparison of communicative functions as defined by the curriculum and covered in Let’s Go 1A

Table 3: Macro-skills and proportions comparison

Table 4: Teacher Survey Results on time allocation of the book

Table 5: Teacher Survey Results on balance of skills offered in the book

Table 6: Teacher Survey Results on reading and writing skills offered in the book

Table 7: Teacher Survey Results on speaking and listening skills offered in the book

Table 8: Teacher Survey Results on suitability of the Language Points offered in the book

Table 9: Teacher Opinions on Vocabulary offered in the book

Table 10: Teacher Survey Results on Pronunciation provided by the material

Table 11: Teachers’ opinions on the suitability of culture elements in the material

Table 12: Teachers’ opinions on the values hint by the material

Table 13: Teachers’ opinions on the supplementary materials of the book

Table 14: Teachers’ opinions on the general look of the material

Table 15: Teachers’ opinions on the accessibility of the book’s price

Table 16: Teachers’ opinions on the methodology applied in the material

1.1 Material in Language Teaching and Learning 4

2.3.2 Survey Questionnaire 18 2.4 Data Collection Procedures 18

2.4.2 Questionnaires for the Teachers 19

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 21

Although the materials are good, they will never be perfect for every teaching situation They will always need adapting, modifying or supplementing in order to improve the teaching and learning results The theoretical basis for materials evaluation and adaptation has been mentioned in a number of works by Cunningsworth (1995), by Hutchinson and Waters (1987), McDonough and Shaw (1993) and by Littlejohn (1998) Therefore, evaluation can be carried out with any materials by any evaluator

1.1.2 Practical background

1.1.2.1 The English program at Primary schools in Vietnam

The English course for pupils at primary is compulsory at the beginning of grade 3

continuing at grade 4 and grade 5 Schools can optionally choose to teach between Let’s

Learn English by Education Publishing House and Let’s Go by Oxford University Press with

either 2 periods per week or 4 periods per week depending on each province’s application

1.1.2.2 The English teaching material

Let’s Go (2nd Edition) series has been used since 2000 It contains 4 main units for each

level 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B After every two units there is one review unit Each unit is organized

by a set pattern of components including Let’s Talk, Let’s Sing, Learn, Let’s Move, Let’s Listen, Let’s Review and Let’s Learn Some More The first component, Let’s Talk, introduces functional dialogues In Let’s Sing, an interactive song based on the dialogue is offered Let’s Listen gives test and unit review In Let’s Move, there are classroom

1.2 Aims of the study

The study aims to evaluate Let’s Go Second Edition (Oxford University Press, 2000) to

determine whether the employment of this material is appropriate in the context of teaching

at primary schools in the North of Vietnam Hopefully, the findings of the study will provide the English teaching staff at primary schools with data about what changes to be made to improve the effectiveness of the material for future use

1.3 Research question

The study aims to answer to the following question:

To what extent does Let’s Go 1A Second Edition (Oxford University Press, 2000) satisfy the

course requirements in terms of the audience, aims, content and methodology for grade 3 at primary schools in the North of Vietnam?

1.4 Theoretical bases of the study

In the material evaluation, evaluators have to base on a great number of criteria such as audience, aims, content, methodology, physical appearance, cultural bias, authenticity and so

on And for each set of criteria, various aspects of the material need to be taken into account

In this study, the researcher focuses on the following criteria:

 Audience (in term of English level, the usefulness and the appeal of the material as perceived by the audience)

 Aims of the material and the course

 Content (in term of language points covered, skills, text types and topics)

 Methodology (in term of types of tasks and exercises, and teaching-learning techniques)

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Scope of Study

The study is intended to follow the above theoretical bases which seek the answer to the appropriateness of the book Let’s Go 1 A Second Edition in terms of objectives, content and teaching methodology with the course requirements The study is also hopefully expected to compare teaching of this book in two different area of North Vietnam: urban area and rural area with a districted data from the most distinguished sample of the participants By that, the research can draw her conclusion on the suitability of this book with the teachers and students of these areas

1.6 Overview of the study

The study is organized into 5 main chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 discusses the background to the study and statement of problem, the aims, the research question and the overview of the thesis Chapter 2 presents a review of literature, concentrating on the issues related to material evaluation It first discusses the roles and types

of materials in language teaching Then, it presents major issues in materials evaluation, including definition of materials evaluation, reasons for materials evaluation, types of materials evaluation, principles for materials evaluation, materials evaluation procedure as well as criteria for materials evaluation The next part is about materials adaptation The chapter also mentions some previous studies Chapter 3 describes the research methodology adopted in the study, the data collection instruments, the subjects, as well as the data collection procedures Chapter 4 discusses the findings of the study, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the material Chapter 5 suggests solutions to improve the material as well as directions for further research and concludes the study

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter two aims to establish a theoretical framework for the evaluation of Let’s Go 1A

Second Edition series (Oxford University Press, 2000) In the first part, the chapter deals

with teaching materials which focuses on the role of materials in language teaching and

types of materials The second part addresses issues in materials evaluation which involve

reasons for materials evaluation, definition of materials evaluation, teacher’s role in material evaluation, models for materials evaluation, and criteria for evaluation

2.1 Materials in Language Teaching and Learning

2.1.1 Role of materials:

There is no doubt about the role of materials in English Second Language class (ESL) There have been many authors spending times and efforts to seek the answer to the role of teaching materials There is a general view to see that materials play a positive part in teaching and learning second language According to Jack C Richard (2001) ―Teaching materials are a key component in most language programs Whether the teacher uses textbooks, institutionally prepared material, or his or her own materials, instructional materials generally serve as basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice in the classroom In the case of inexperienced teachers, materials may also serve as a form of teacher training – they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lesson as well as formats that teachers can use Much of the language which occurs throughout the world today could not take place without the extensive use of commercial materials‖

Hutchingson and Torres (1994: 315) believe: ―…No teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant textbook‖ Sheldon (1998:237) even puts a lot of emphasis

on definite essential role of materials when saying: ―textbooks represent the visible heart of any ELT program‖ Cunningsworth (1995, 7) summarizes the role of materials (particularly course books) in language teaching as follow:

Firstly, ―they are psychologically essential for students since their progress and achievement can be measured concretely when we use them‖ Secondly, ―published materials have more credibility than teacher than teacher-generated or ―in-house‖ materials‖ Thirdly, ―textbook are efficient in terms of time and money, and they can and should allow for adaptation and improvisation‖ Fourthly, ―textbooks yield a respectable return on investment, are relatively

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inexpensive and involve low lesson preparation time, whereas teacher-generated materials can be time, cost and quality defective‖ Fifthly, ―…the potential which that textbooks have for serving several additional roles in the ELT curriculum…they are an effective resource for self-directed learning, an effective resource for presentation material, a source of ideas and activities, a reference source for students, a syllabus where they reflect pre-determined learning objective, and support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence‖( http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/Litz_thesis.pdf) Dudley-Evans and St John (1998, 170-171) suggest that for teachers of ESP course, materials serve the following functions as a source of language, a learning support, motivation and stimulation or for reference

Obviously, positive side of teaching materials is widely supported by the theorist by showing extensive benefits that it offers both teachers and students in ELT However, some authors do not necessarily to accept this trend They try to prove against viewpoint by saying that in-house materials have more strong points than published materials Robinson (1991) suggests three advantages of in-house materials in terms of specification and appropriateness, validity, flexibility and suitability of methodology However, Robinson (1991) agrees that in-house materials making is costly and time-consuming There is also a worry that the authors of in-house materials sometimes try to take published materials for their ideas that have been rejected as Swales cited in (Robinson, 1991: 58)

To balance the benefits of using published materials as well as in-house materials, once either that kind of materials is used for teaching and learning, they should both be careful judged by either the insiders or outsides so that its appropriateness to the intended teachers and students is proved

2.1.2 Types of Materials

There are different types of materials designed in terms of forms and purposes "The teacher can use textbook, institutionally prepared materials or his/her own prepared materials." (Richards, 2001: 251) The former is referred to as published textbooks and the latter, in-house materials (Robinson, 1991) As a rule, there is an argument about the advantages and disadvantages of these two main types of materials Some believe that authentic materials are preferred over created materials because of authentic and real-world language input in comparison to the contrived content of much created materials Richard cited in Phillips and

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Shettlesworth 1978; Clarke 1989; Peacock 1997 as follows: ―They have a positive effect on

learner motivation; they provide authentic cultural information about the target culture; they provide exposure to real language; they relate more closely to learner’s needs; they support

a more creative approach to teaching”

On the other hand, there are arguments against authentic materials Swales (cited in Robinson, (1991: 57) indicated that textbooks are: ―less self-insufficient in practice materials and in coverage of skill areas‖ As a consequence of that, Swales believes that textbooks alone are not enough, and more supplementary materials are needed As for created materials, there are some disadvantages, too The most critics about it may fall into its financial expense and time-consumption as well as not trustful language resources

Within scope of this study, published textbook will be addressed more thoroughly than created materials (in-house materials) Published textbooks or commercial textbook together with other components such as workbook, cassette, CDs, teacher’s guide are the most popular form of teaching materials in ELT Richard (2001: 254) cited Haines (1996: 27) characterizing differences between past and current trends in English language textbook (see

Appendix 5)

Textbook are used in different ways in language program such as: grammar textbook, writing textbook, reading, speaking textbook, listening textbook in companion with CDs or audiocassette ―The use of commercial textbook in teaching offers both advantages and disadvantages which depend on how they are used and the context for their use‖ Richard (2001: 254)

The availability for use is one of most significant advantage of these materials "A textbook

is complete not just in the physical sense but in the sense that the whole term's or year's course is available to the students at once" (Robinson, 1991:58) Besides, Richard (2001: 254) points out that textbook provide structure and syllabus for a program They are efficient and help standardize instructions; maintain quality; provide a variety of learning resources, language models and input They can train teachers and are visually appealing

Despite the fact that textbooks offer a wide range of benefits, they also bear critics on negative effects as they may not contain inauthentic language; distort content; not reflect student’s needs or can deskill teachers In addition, textbooks are expensive, too that prevent both teachers and learners get close to them That is the reason why ―the impact of textbooks

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on the program, on teachers, and on learners has to be carefully assessed‖ (Richard, 2001: 254)

2.2 Materials Evaluation

2.2.1 Why is materials evaluation?

It is important to see that no commercial textbook will ever be a perfect fit for a language program There are two factors which are involved in the development of commercial textbook: those representing the interests of author, and those representing the interest of the publisher (Byrd 1995, et al.1995) Due to those factors, a textbook should be more carefully assessed by either its users or any outsiders who are not resulted from the subjective autonomy The second reason for materials evaluation is that there can be a need for materials evaluation to determine whether the materials which have been chosen works for that situation after it has been used for a period of time (Ellis, 1997) Robinson (1991) concludes that evaluation is used as a part of quality control The results obtained from the evaluation of the material will also lead to important decisions on the use of the material in the future time: should it be used again or not? Or what should be changed to the material to make it more effective and efficient for the students and the learning context?

2.2.2 Definitions of materials evaluation

There are many definitions of material evaluation by the authors Most of them agree that evaluation of materials plays a key role in ELT curriculum development ―Whether materials are found in publisher’s catalogs, ―Books Received‖ sections of journal, or teacher’s selves, firsthand examination will eventually be necessary to determine the suitability of materials for a particular program This process might safely be called materials evaluation.‖ Brown (1995: 159)

Tom Huthcinson & Alan Waters (1987: 97) defines that evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions If this matching is to be done objectively as possible, it is best to look at the needs and solutions separately In the final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective ground.‖ And materials evaluation is the process with

―attempts to measure the value of materials‖ Giving a short but significant definition of materials evaluation, Tomlimson (1983: 3) explains it as ―systematic appraisal of the value of materials in relation to their objectives and the objectives of the learners using them‖

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In general, materials evaluation helps to show how well the materials are actually fulfilling the need It is a process of judging the fitness of materials for particular objectives in a particular context Materials evaluation is beneficial for anyone who may directly and passively uses it for different purposes By evaluation of materials, teachers, learners or even sponsors can decide on whether the current materials meet their needs or are appropriate with the intended objectives and requirements of the course as Brown (1995: 159-160) concludes

―If teachers individually select the materials that are to be adopted and ordered for their courses, they should be given as much information as possible to draw on in making those decisions If the entire faculty teaching is given a course to make collective decisions, they will also need information which their solutions are based on.‖

to modify what is being done Or in other words, such results may suggest the development

of materials in the future

The second type of evaluation is preliminary one This is carried before a course begins in order to select the most appropriate materials for a particular group of learners Preliminary evaluation is aimed to show which of the published materials parts or aspects needed to match evaluators’ needs ― Determining a set of criteria which are used to reach a decision regarding which book to adopt and how it needs to be adapted‖ (Ellis, cited in Tomlinson (1983)

The final type of evaluation is Summative evaluation which is carried out at the end of or after the course This is made to conclude the values or drawbacks that the materials have after having been used

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2.2.4 Materials Evaluators

It is common to assume that two types of participants are typically involved in evaluation – insiders and outsiders (Richard, 2001) Insiders refer to teachers, students, and anyone else closely involved in the development and implementation of the program It is believed that formative evaluation is appropriate with teachers who are directly involved in teaching, monitoring the materials as it is in use and giving the right judgments to what difficulties or effectiveness that occur during their operation with it Students, on the other hand is one of the key participants in the summative evaluation of the program because of ― providing evidence of their gains in language proficiency and completing evaluations on the way the program was taught and the relevance of what they have learned to their needs‖( Richard 2001: 295)

The insiders are regarded as the key factors of evaluation process in ―designing and carrying out the evaluation, because as a consequence, they will have a greater degree of commitment

to acting on its results.‖ (Richard 2001: 295)

The other type of evaluator – outsiders is those who do not involve in teaching and learning They are said to be quite ―fresh‖ and ―objective‖ in evaluation However, there are still drawbacks while evaluation is made by the outsiders They do not dealt with real teaching-learning situation so they cannot be sure about teaching methodology, learner’s needs, teaching and learning context

Robinson (1991) states that they may be unsympathetic and it may take more time for them

to get to know the local situation such as learner’s needs, facilities as well as constrains Therefore, they may not have exact judgments’ and real recommendations; or maybe what they find has already been found Dudley – Evans (1998) Within scope of this research, the study will be addressed to insider participant who are the teachers at primary schools in the North of Vietnam

2.2.5 Principles of materials evaluation

a Approaches to Materials Evaluation

Historically, there have been approaches suggested in field of the materials evaluation These approaches can be differentiated from each other basing on research paradigms Ellis, R (1998) offers ―objective model‖ and the ―responsive evaluation‖ which are based on

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quantitative and qualitative point respectively Besides, Ansary, H., & Babaii, E., (2002) mention ―checklist approach to textbook evaluation‖

b Models of Materials Evaluation

Evaluation model proposed by Ellis (1997) (A Micro-Evaluation)

Ellis(1997) defined that micro-evaluation is the evaluation of one particular teaching task which the evaluator has a special interest in In this model Ellis suggests the practice of a detailed empirical evaluation and focuses on evaluation at the task level with reference to its actual teaching learning context Purpose of this model is to identify the match between task planned and task in use He also suggests that dimensions focused on macro-evaluation (e.g approach, purpose, focus, scope, evaluators, timing, types of information) can also be applicable to micro evaluation Steps involved in the evaluation model are introduced as below by Ellis, too:

Firstly, choosing a task to follow; secondly, describing the task which requires the specification of the content of a task in terms of input, procedures, language activities, and outcome; thirdly, planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above; fourthly, collecting information (before the task is used, while it is being used and/or on completion of the task) about how the task was performed, what learning took place as a result of performing the task, and teacher's and learners' opinions about the task; fifthly, quantitative and qualitative analysis of the information collected; then, reaching conclusions relating to what has been discovered as a result of the evaluation of the task, and making recommendations for future teaching; and finally, writing the report

A micro evaluation may be more manageable than a macro evaluation (Ellis,1997) However, application of this requires more time and efforts in order to provide basis for subsequent macro evaluation, there may be a need for a series of micro evaluation And this type of evaluation can only be conducted when the materials are being used in the classroom

Evaluation model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) ( A Macro- Evaluation)

According to Hutchinson and Waters, the evaluation process is divided into four major steps which are: defining criteria, subjective analysis, objective analysis and matching

A thorough look into these steps we can see in Figure 1 below:

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Define criteria

On what bases will you judge materials?

Which criteria will be more important?

What realizations of the criteria do How does the material being you want in your course? evaluated realize the criteria?

Matching

How far does the material match your needs?

Figure 1: The materials evaluation model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987:98)

Evaluation model proposed by Cunningsworth (1995)

Cunningsworth (1995) presents a checklist for textbook evaluation and selection organized under the following perspectives: language content; selection and grading of language items, presentation and practice of new language items, developing language skills and communication abilities; supporting materials; and motivation and the learners Dealing with evaluating the material's language content, parts of language system(form, function, etc ), language skills, language styles in the material will be considered whether they are taught in the materials as well as whether the language style matched to social context and are taught fully and systematically For selection and grading of language items, examining this means pointing out the kind of syllabus and approach the material follows as well as how the language content is graded and recycled throughout the material Evaluation of presentation and practice of new language items means finding out how the new grammatical and lexical items are presented and practiced in the material as well as the comments given on these presentation and practice The last perspective in Cunningsworth(1995) model is developing language skills and communicative abilities which evaluates the natural of reading texts with

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accompanying exercises or listening material with accompanying exercises or natural of writing exercises included in the material Furthermore, activities offered during the lesson such as activities for free production of spoken English or for integrating language skills are

also taken into account

Evaluation model proposed by McDonough and Shaw (1993) (A Combination of Macro- and Micro- Evaluation)

McDonough and Shaw (1993) propose a three stage evaluation model: external evaluation,

internal evaluation and overall evaluation (see Appendix 7) External evaluation is an

examination of the claims made for the whole materials by the author or publisher in aspects

of the cover of the book, the instructions and the table of contents Benefit of this stage evaluation is to help identify the potentially appropriateness of the materials The internal stage requires an in-depth look at the content of the course book to investigate aspects such

as skills, the grading exercises and tasks, the methodology, the teaching and learning techniques used in the book, etc Finally, the overall evaluation of the material aims at the suitability of the material through considering factors such as the usability factor, the generalizability, adaptability and flexibility

From model ( see Appendix 7), it can be seen that if the external evaluation shows that the

materials are potentially appropriate the internal stage will be carried out This model is saving In case of inappropriate result from the external stage, there is no need to conduct the next stage Nevertheless, when the claims made by the author are not detailed enough, an internal evaluation is also still

time-Evaluation model proposed by Littlejohn (1998)

Littlejohn suggests a preliminary framework for materials analysis and evaluation as (see

Appendix 6) According to the framework, there are four different stages for material evaluation The first stage is to analyze the target situation and materials The target situation

of use is analyzed in terms of the culture context, the institution, the course, the teachers and the learners The materials are analyzed to describe the aspects of design and aspects of publication The next stage is matching and evaluation which helps the evaluator to figure out how appropriate the aspects of design and aspects of publication to the target situation of use are In the action stage, what can be done to improve the materials such as materials adoption, reject, adaptation, supplementation, etc will be carried out

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2.2.5.3 Summary

In summary, although the above models suggested by authors vary in the procedure and the evaluators’ purposes, they will be useful to pursuit the appropriateness of the materials in particular context or group of learners Many other factors should also be taken into account when the evaluator decides the model employed in her/his study such as: time availability, facilities as well as matter of context Depending on the evaluators’ purpose and other requirements, a combination of models by Hutchinson and Waters and Cunningsworth will

be applied to this study

Criteria for Materials Evaluation

Criteria are what evaluators use to "reach a decision regarding what needs to be evaluated" Tomlinson (1998:220) They base on these criteria to make their comments and judgments Many scholars have set up methods of using checklist or guidelines in evaluation of coursebooks Among the theorists, Cunningsworth (1995) and Hutchinson and Waters (1987)

offer very the most popular sets of criteria

Criteria defined by Cunningsworth (1995)

The criteria proposed by Cunningsworth (1995:15-17) will be presented as following Firstly, they should correspond to learners' needs They should match the aims and objectives of the language learning program Secondly, they should reflect the uses (present or future) which learners will make of the language They should be selected in order to help equip students to use language effectively for their own purposes Thirdly, they should take into account students' needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes, without dogmatically imposing a rigid "method" Finally, they should have a clear role as a support for learning Like teachers, they mediate between the target language and the learner

For the above criteria proposed by Cunningsworth, it seems to require more time and efforts

to proceed all aspects perceptively Cunningsworth (1995) also suggests a checklist for textbook evaluation and selection organized under the following categories: aims and approaches, design and organization, language content, skills, topic, methodology, teacher’s books and practical considerations

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Criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters (1987)

Hutchinson and Waters (1987:99-104) suggest their checklist of criteria for subjective and objective analysis in their process of materials evaluation The checklist consists of some

main points such as: the audience, the aims, the content, the methodology and other criteria

It is the fact that those evaluation criteria are clearly and thoroughly presented and the research finds it easy to follow The study is indented to follow these criteria; each criterion will be discussed thoroughly by the research

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Chapter three starts with the description of real context of teaching and learning at primary schools in the Northern provinces in Vietnam and the methodology employed in this study

3.1 Primary school English education in North Vietnam: Policy and Practice

Despite the difficulties resulted from the history of wars, Vietnamese Government are soon aware of the important role of English teaching and learning in the national economic and social development Since 1996, English has been applied in the pilot program from grade 3

to grade 5 as an optional subject by the Ministry of Education and is taught in every two forty-five minute’s period per week at most of primary schools in Vietnam A 10 year English project from primary to secondary has recently been developed, in which, ―All primary students will learn 2 periods per day in 2020 Primary students will learn a new English program and 70% of them achieve level 1 according to Common European

Framework in 2020.‖ (Ministry of Education and Training, Strategy for Vietnam Education

Development in period from 2009 – 2020) However, the real situation of teaching and

learning English at primary reflects a lot of issues which involve quality of teacher; textbooks as well as curriculum which are still hot topics in Viet Nam, especially in the Northern provinces

In fact, most of the students (except those from big cities and urban area) enter grade 3 with innocent minds of English They have no clear purpose in learning English and they potentially learn English in a passive way under the instructions of their teacher There are popularly about 35 students in each class Depending on each local condition, classroom is equipped with or without facilities such as: blackboard, cassette, computer or projector In general, blackboard is the most popular equipment in classrooms in the North of Vietnam Therefore, applying modern teaching methodology for primary students becomes a great obstacle when most schools are not well-equipped

About the teachers, a lot of recent studies show that primary teachers in the Vietnam general,

in the North of Vietnam particular are not standard in both of quantity and quality In reality, not many provinces offer regular staff of English teachers As a consequence of that, income

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of English teachers at primary schools is low and they meet a lot of difficulties in giving their whole minds to teaching Primary English teachers are not standard in qualification (certification of diploma, college, bachelor, M.A are equally accepted); they come from different sources such as: colleges, universities and even foreign language centers Therefore, teachers differs each others in quality and methodology This situation puts English teaching and learning at primary schools on more challenges

On the other hand, English is an optional subject and the parents have to afford expense A problem occurs from this policy is that English is developing in an unsystematic and improper way English develops where the parents approve and vice versa

Another aspect of public dispute with regard to primary school English education is the choice of English textbooks the target learners Because it is an optional subject, the Ministry

of Education permits schools choose one of these materials for their teaching English: Let’s

Learn English , Let’s Go (2nd Ed), Go Go Love English and Phonics UK All these textbooks are written and published by international publishers, except for Let’s Learn

English which is written by the local author and published locally Understandably, Let’s Learn English is the most popular coursebook used within North Vietnam and Let’s Go is the

most popular imported material which has been used in the most economically advantaged regions of Vietnam, especially in the urban areas where parents find the book affordable So far, there is still not any empirical study to evaluate the merits and demerits of these materials In other words, the choice of the coursebook remains impressionistic rather than empirically Most of the school managers as well as teachers and parents have little knowledge about how to choose the right English textbook for their students In some cases, teachers and even students and their parents may prefer one particular textbook but they have

to use another one simply because they cannot afford the preferred one

3.2 Research Design

Due to purpose of the study, the material will be evaluated in terms of objectives, content and methodology Because the textbook has been in use for several years, teachers have different views about the textbook Yet, there has been any empirical research on the extent to which the textbook satisfies the course requirements and the learners Therefore, this study reports the results of an in-use evaluation by a group of 20 teachers who have been using the textbook

3.3.1 Document analysis

Documents for evaluation can be in the forms of original planning documents, statements of needs, aims and objectives coming from the syllabus and teaching materials themselves (Robinson, 1991) Analysis of these documents is an essential because it offers informative source for evaluation One of the biggest advantages of document analysis is that in some situations a document represents a reflection of reality, so it is useful for determining value,

interest or public attitudes (May, 2001)

In this research, document analysis or objective analysis plays an important role in collecting

data for this study because purpose of the study is to evaluate Let’s Go 1A 2 nd Edition which

is published in 2000, Oxford University Press by R Nakata, K Frazier, B Hoskins, S.Wilkinson it has been using in Vietnam since 2005 The evaluator is also teacher who has worked on the material and now conducts the evaluation study of the material which is based

on analysis of English textbook and MOET requirements of the course Data got from document analysis were the analysis of the appropriateness of the material in terms of the objectives, content and methodology to decide if the material matches MOET requirements

of the course and suits teaching and learning context at primary school in the Northern provinces in Vietnam

3.3.2 The Survey Questionnaire

The survey questionnaire is one of the popular instruments used to collect data in social science According to Gilham (2000), applying this method gives researchers a lot of advantages because pressure on correspondents, pressure of interview bias, and break in

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analysis of answers will be decrease once employing it On the other hand, some comments

against the use of questionnaires due to its failure to collect full questionnaires or some items

in the questionnaires which are left with

Questionnaires items can be relatively closed or open ended A closed item is one in which

the range of possible responses is determined by the researcher An open item is one in which

the subject can decide what to say and how to say it Questionnaires can consist entirely of closed questions, entirely of open questions or a mixture of closed and open questions Nunan (1992: 143) Normally, survey questionnaires are designed to collect both teachers and students comments and judgments about the textbook Given the purpose of this study which was to have teachers’ evaluative feedback on the textbook, a survey questionnaire is considered appropriate

A questionnaire(see Appendix 1) which was composed of thirty-six items was designed and

administered to a group of 20 primary school teachers who teach English to 3rd graders at different primary schools in the North of Vietnam It was divided into 4 areas: question 1 to 3 are served to seek the appropriateness of the material with the outcome standard of the course; question number 4 to 29 survey teacher’s ideas of the suitability of the material to the content prescribed by the MOET; 4 questions from 30 to 34 collect teacher’s feedback of the methodology in the book and the other two questions number 35, 36 to reflex other aspect of the material such as: the price and so on A Vietnamese translation and detailed instructions were offered to the teacher for their convenience as well

3.4 Data Collection Procedures

To collect data for the study, the coursebook was analysed The analysis is based on the criteria for materials evaluation established by Hutchinson and Walters (1987) against the aims, objectives, content and methodology In the first step of the analyzing stage, the aims, the objectives set in the course book as well as the content of the book (divided into grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing, listening and speaking sections) were analyzed The methodology underlying the coursebook was evaluated both indirectly through an analysis of the activities provided in the coursebook and directly through the teaching/learning techniques suggested by the authors of the book

3.4.1 Document Analysis

So as to collect data for the research, an analysis of the material was carried out according to the model suggested by Hutchinson and Water (1993) with 4 main steps which are:

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(1) To identify the criteria for evaluation basing on the purposes of the study: the objectives, content and methodology of the material

(2) Subjective analysis: analysis of the course requirement on the material

(3) Objective analysis: basing on purposes of the study, the following aspects were analyzed:

- The appropriateness of the material to the objectives of the course defined by MOET for the primary;

- The appropriateness of the material to the content requirements of the course prescribed by

MOET in terms of: topic, language points (structures and vocabulary points), language

competence (macro skills and their proportion), micro skills, text-types

- The appropriateness of the material to the methodology requirements of the course (techniques used)

- The appropriateness of the materials in terms of physical properties and cost

(4) Matching: matching the analysis results with course requirements according to the above

mentioned criteria

3.4.2 Questionnaire for the Teachers

A survey questionnaire(see Appendix 1) is designed to get feedback of the teachers on the

material in terms of the objectives, content and methodology

The questionnaire consists of 4 parts Part 1 offers 3 questions about the suitability of the material objectives There are 25 questions in part 2 dealing with the suitability of the material in terms of content to the course requirements Part 3 is designed with 4 questions to investigate teacher’s ideas on the appropriateness of methodology offered by the book The last part is 1 question about other aspect of the material such as the price and a blank left for teacher’s comments of the book and suggestions for better use The questions are in the form

of multiple choices which is really simple and time saving for the teachers to fill in

3.5 Participants

An important element in the evaluation procedure is the participant or evaluator that should

be considered Many authors in the literature keep the belief that the evaluation should not

―be restricted to outside evaluator‖ (Tomlinson, 1998: 224) In this case, inside evaluators may make use of their experience in the program context to carry out the evaluation

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3.5.1 The Teacher

Twenty Grade 3 teachers of English, who were selected as questionnaire respondents in this study, were teaching in the primary schools located in 6 different provinces in the North of Vietnam Five of them were teaching in Hanoi, and 5 others teaching in Quang Ninh city, Viet Tri city, Nam Dinh city, Thanh Hoa city, Hai Duong city (one teacher for each of these cities) and other 10 teachers come from rural areas in Quang Ninh province, Phu Tho province, Nam Dinh province, Thanh Hoa province and Hai Duong province (one teacher for each of these provinces) Five teachers obtained Bachelor Degree, 10 had College Degree and the rest 5 teachers possessed Associate Degree The teachers graduated from different local teacher training institutions However, they all were not trained to teach English to primary school students As the result, they seemed not to be confident enough with their

pronunciation So far, all of these 20 teachers had used Let’s Go (2nd Ed.) for at least a year

by the time the questionnaire was administered to them during an in-service training workshop by MOET

Regarding teaching conditions, these teachers may differ in applying facility (tapes, CD dics, cassette, CD player, and computer) to their lesson depending on their location either in urban area or rural area

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CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Chapter four presents the results of the study from document analysis, survey questionnaire and other research findings Three parts are included in this chapter: the first part reports the course requirements in terms of objectives, content and methodology, the second part shows the results from document analysis, teacher surveys and the last part composes the findings resulted from the analysis of the two collected data sources

4.1 Course Requirements

4.1.1 Objectives of the course

English has been considered to be an important subject for primary students in Vietnam MOET has designed a standard curriculum for this subject since early 2003 in which general objectives of the courses are meaningful prescribed

According to Decision No 50/2003/QĐ-BGD&ĐT issued 30th, Oct, 2003 (see Appendix 2),

English is decided as an optional subject in the primary school curriculum The primary school English education syllabus, as defined by the above Decision, is aimed at firstly forming basic and simple communication skills for students by everyday conversations at school and family: listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill and writing skill, in which, focus on listening and speaking skill, then providing students with basic and simple background of English that helps them at first have understanding of countries, human beings, cultures of English speaking countries and lastly forming students’ positive attitude towards English; through learning English, they have more understanding and affection for Vietnamese Teaching and learning English also contribute to build method of learning and develop personality and knowledge of the students

4.1.2 Teaching Method

Communicative language teaching – CLT will play the main role in teaching English for

primary, in which student is center of teaching process and teacher is the organizer, instructor

and adapter learning activities of the students

Learner-centered teaching activities are organized through varied communication

environment with interactive activities (games, songs, role-play, tell story, riddles, draw

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pictures…) in the form of individual work, pairwork and groupwork Communication activities need to be carried according to themes, topics and subjects; communication situations should be attractive in terms of both content and design

Students participate into communicative situation actively, creatively under instructions of the teacher; practice to combine 4 skills in which focus on listening and speaking skill Linguistic knowledge like vocabulary, phonics, grammar is a means of forming language skills During teaching process, teachers need use full materials and facilities such as: textbook, supplementary materials, audio equipment and other technical equipment to support learning English through themes and topics

3 The primary school English education syllabus

Below is an extract from the syllabus for grade 3:

Introducing oneself and others

Naming school objects Identifying school objects Describing school objects Expressing classroom commands and permissions

Identifying family members Talking about family members Counting

Asking for and telling the age of family members

Naming and describing rooms

Present Simple : be, have

This is/That is Let’s

There is/There are

Wh-question: what, how,

who, how old, where, how many

Yes/No question: Is it…? Is

there…? Are there…? Do you have …?

Talking about weather Naming and identifying pets and toys

Talking about possession Specifying location of pets and toys

Talking about quantity of pets and toys

family members, rooms, house things, pets, toys,

numbers (1-10)…

Adjectives: bis, small, new,

warm, hot, cold…

Quantifiers: a lot, many,

some…

Conjunction; and

Article: a, an, the

Prepositions of place: in, on,

under…

Table 2: The grade 3 syllabus prescribed by the MOET

4.2 Document Analysis

4.2.1 The Material Description

Book title: Let’s Go 1A Second Edition by R.Nakata, K.Frazier, B Hoskins, C.Graham,

OUP,

Objectives of Let’s Go 1A Second Edition

Students who have basic familiarity with English alphabet can use this level as an entry point

to the series Level 1 focuses on the development of basic oral language through functional dialogues, questions and answer patterns, and vocabulary work

Language structures covered include simple present tense of the verb ―to be‖, ―to have‖, ―to want’, and ―to like‖, as well as adjectives and prepositions

Let’s Go 1A Second Edition is used for pre-reader In the book, there are some texts included

on the page in order to help student get acquaintance with the graphic form of English Reading tasks at this level including learning the sounds of the alphabet in word-initial

position (or those who have used Starter level reviewing them), and beginning to recognize

sight-words

It is noted that words taught in this stage are popular in English, including nouns, prepositions, articles and verbs which are used with high frequency like ―be’ and ―have‖

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Methodology underlying Let’s Go 1A Second Edition

According to the authors of Let’s Go Second Edition, Let’s Go was originally conceived as a

4-Level Kids course, specifically for Asian students One of the main ideas of the course was

to provide a flexible balance of communicative teaching through functional dialogues and language in a tightly controlled, graduated grammar syllabus based around themes relevant

and interesting to kids experiences, incorporating games, songs and chants

The book Let’s Go 1A Second Edition is intended to follow the same methodology as the

higher levels which emphasize communication with a controlled-graduated grammar

syllabus Let’s Go incorporates elements of:

MAT (Model Action Talk) Method —emphasizing the use of actions and brief intensive

drills (Examples of suggested vocabulary presentation strategies)

Also, portions of TPR (Total Physical Response) linking physical action with language

(Example: classroom language emphasis of Let’s Move exercises)

Functional Approach which emphasizes the proper context in which to use certain

language (example: dialogues)

Communicative Approach, based on the idea that language used in the classroom should

be used to communicate thoughts and feelings that are meaningful for students (example: Meaningful Q&A)

Audio Lingual Approach, focusing on the sound and syntax of language (examples:

pronunciation models on audio components)

Grammatical Approach, examining grammar, focusing on patterns and structure in

language to aid comprehension and retention

Being a mixture of so many different strategies, Let’s Go 1A Second Edition targets at

flexibility, warmth, fun in order to keep students engaged and moving forward in English The materials have a clear focus that leaves what teacher’s/students need to do very self-evident

4.2.2 The Suitability of the Material to the Objectives of the Course

In the Ministry’s document, the objectives of teaching English to grade 3 students are defined

in terms of students’ ability to use English to carry out different communicative functions In addition to those communicative functions, students are expected to achieve very basic English including simple familiar vocabulary work, simple and basic grammar and

Functions offered by the book Functions in the requirements of the course

1.Greetings a Greetings/Saying Goodbye

2 Introducing yourself b Introducing yourself

3 Asking somebody’s name c Asking someone’s name

4 Asking about objects (singular) d Identify school objects

5 Identifying objects (singular) e Naming and describing rooms and house

9 Describing objects h Describing school objects

10 Introducing friends i Telling about your friends

11 Suggesting an activity

12 Asking about numbers k Talking about quantity of pets and toys

13 Asking about objects (plural)

14 Identify objects (plural) l Naming and identifying pets and toys

15 Counting 1-10 m Counting

16 Introducing family members n Talking about family members

17 Asking about people o Talking about location of house things

18 Meeting someone politely s Spelling

19 Identifying people P Identify family member

20 Describe people q Asking for and telling the age of family

member

21 Negative commands r Talking about weather

Table 3: Comparison of communicative functions as defined by the curriculum and covered in LG 1A

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It is necessary to note that while Let’s Go 1A Second Edition does present requirements in

terms of linguistic input such as vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation explicitly, these requirements are embedded in every unit to underpin communicative functions

In this section, the researcher would like to discuss the objectives shared by both the material and the course By looking at the first objective detailed by the MOET requirements (a) greetings/saying Goodbye, it is a half matched with (1) in the list of material objectives The second objective of the material (2) is quite fit for the requirements (b) and (g) because introducing yourself consists information of telling about yourself Next comes objective (3) asking somebody’s name, this objectives are constantly touched on (c) listed in the course For the objectives (9)-describing objects, there is close relation with objectives given in the course which are (h)-describing school objects and (o)-talking about location of house things Similarly, (10)-Introducing friend’s goes together with objective (r) and (i) Telling about your friends; (k) is someway included in objective (12) It is obvious that the course objectives are reflected in more detailed conception than in the book It is proved by the fact that objective of the course (l) is a part of (14); (p) and (q) are the sub-bodies of objective (17) However, there is a replacement for the level of detailed information in the objective (15) and (m) In general, of there are 21 objectives by the material and 14 by the MOET for the course, in which 11 objectives of the course are matched with the material and the left three ones are excluded such as: (r)-Talking about weather; (q)-Asking for and telling the age

of family member However, (s)-Spelling which is not pointed out in the objectives of the book but are offered in activities

4.2.3 Matches between curriculum requirements and textbook’s coverage in terms of input

The appropriateness of the book to the content requirements of the course was identified by comparing between the content requirements of the course and the content found in the material It is used as the criteria in this evaluation study

Theme coverage, themes designed in Let’s Go 1 A second edition are potentially mapped

according to the content requirement of the course It focuses on friends, school, family and the world around However, theme of weather and age of my family house is not mention clearly in the book Let’s Go 1A