An evaluation of the course book “New Cutting Edge-Pre Intermediate” for first year non-major students of English, Thái Nguyên University of Technology- some suggestions for adapting

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* PHẠM NGỌC DUY AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE B

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

PHẠM NGỌC DUY

AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK “NEW CUTTING EDGE PRE -INTERMEDIATE” FOR FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH, THÁI NGUYÊN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY- SOME

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADAPTING”

Đánh giá giáo trình “New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate” dành cho sinh viên không chuyên ngữ năm thứ nhất trường Đại học Kỹ thuật Công nghiệp

Thái Nguyên và đề xuất thiết chỉnh giáo trình

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

PHẠM NGỌC DUY

AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK “NEW CUTTING EDGE PRE -INTERMEDIATE” FOR FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH, THÁI NGUYÊN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY- SOME

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADAPTING”

Đánh giá giáo trình “New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate” dành cho sinh viên không chuyên ngữ năm thứ nhất trường Đại học Kỹ thuật Công nghiệp

Thái Nguyên và đề xuất thiết chỉnh giáo trình

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: NGÔ HỮU HOÀNG, PhD

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATIONS

I, Phạm Ngọc Duy, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An evaluation of the

course book “New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate for first year non-major

students of English, Thái Nguyên University of Technology- some suggestions for

adapting” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at

University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University

This thesis contains no material written by other person or published previously,

except where due reference is made The thesis also contains no material which has

been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution

Hanoi, 2014

Student’s signature

Phạm Ngọc Duy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thank to my advisor, Dr Ngô Hữu Hoàng for the continuous support of my M.A study and research, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge His guidance helped

me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my M.A study

I also would like to thank the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi National University for o f f e r i n g the opportunity to pursue my studies and my research

My sincere thanks also go to my colleagues and my friends, who are always willing to share with me any kinds of work, documents or experience in doing a thesis

Last but not least, I owe my genuine, deepest gratitude to my family for their everlasting belief in me, for always encouraging me Without their support and encouragement, I would not have finished my thesis

In order to obtain the goal above, the researcher reviewed the literature related to materials evaluation, employ document analysis, survey questionnaire and identify the answers to the research questions

The subjects of the study were 15 teachers of English and 200 first year major students of English at Thái Nguyên University of Technology, who had

non-already experienced the course book New Cutting Edge Elementary The findings of

the study reveal that the course book could be suitable to the students’ level, partly meet the requirements of the course, the students’ needs, and suit to the particular teaching context The results also showed that some changes must be made in order

to fit the course book to the local English learning and teaching context Based on the findings, some recommendations on supplementing, expanding, editing, personalizing and localizing a number of items in the course book were made

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TNUT Thái Nguyên University of Technology

ULIS University of Languages and International Studies

VNU Vietnam National University

NCEP New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Figure 3.1.1: Teachers’ and students’ assessment of the book NCEP

Figure 3.1.2: Teachers’ and students’ NCEP preference

Figure 3.1.3: Teachers’ and students’ NCEP dissatisfaction

Figure 3.1.4: Teachers’ and students’ decision to continue using NEC series

Figure 3.1.5: NCEP’s provision of necessary items

Figure 3.1.6: Teachers and students’ opinions of the language point available in NCEP

Figure 3.1.7: Teachers and students’ opinions of the language skills in NCEP

Figure 3.1.8: Teachers’ and students’ opinions about the topics in NCEP

Figure 3.1.9: Participants’ opinions about the update of the topics in NCEP

Figure 3.1.10: Participants’ opinions about class time

Table 1: Teachers and students’ thought of class time each week

Table 2: Teachers and students’ preferences for the topics in NCEP

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of abbreviations iv

List of charts and tables v

Table of contents vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: Literature review 4

1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning 4

1.1.1 Definitions 4

1.1.2 Role of materials in General English Course 6

1.2 Material evaluation 7

1.2.1 Definition of material evaluation 7

1.2.2 Why materials evaluation? 8

1.2.3 Types of material evaluation 8

1.2.4 Methods of material evaluation 8

1.2.5 Models for material evaluation 9

1.2.6 Criteria for materials evaluation 11

1.3 Materials adaptation 13

1.4 Previous studies 14

Chapter 2: Research methods 15

2.1 Description of the context 15

2.1.1 The setting 15

2.1.2 The material 16

2.1.3 Course assessment 17

2.2 Research methods 17

2.2.1 Participants 17

2.2.2 Instruments 18

2.3 Data collection procedure 19

2.4 Data analysis procedure 20

Chapter 3: The study 21

3.1 Data analysis 21

3.1.1 Overall evaluation of the course book 21

3.1.2 Teachers’ and students’ preference of the course book NCEP 21

3.1.3 Teachers and student’s dissatisfaction with the course book 22

3.1.4 The decision to choose the book for future use 22

3.1.5 Communicative competence development 24

3.1.6 The language point availability 25

3.1.7 Language skills distribution 27

3.1.8 Topics 28

3.1.9 The updated information 29

3.1.10 Class time 29

3.1.11 Teachers and students’ preferences for the topics 30

3.1.12 Teachers’ suggestions for the materials improvement 31

3.2 Recommendation for the course book’s adaptation 33

PART C: CONCLUSION 36 1 Conclusion 36

2 Limitation and suggestions for future research 37

REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1 I

APPENDIX 2 V APPENDIX 3 X APPENDIX 4 XI APPENDIX 5 XV APPENDIX 6 XVI

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Course books are the basically utilized as a part of materials for both instructors and the learners They do not just give a structure to instructors in attaining the goals of the course, but additionally assume a vital part as a manual for the teacher

in giving the lesson For the learners, a course book genuinely influences their mentality and execution to the lesson through the course It is a reality that when learners like their course books, they like the course too and become interested in the lesson Subsequently, utilizing a course book is likely the most well-known method for teaching English today Having a course book is a key component and is looked upon as an irreplaceable mean; thus selecting an appropriate book or giving

a course book is of great significance as well However, now with a variety of text book available on the market each with its own methodology and syllabus, it might

be substantially more troublesome to pick the best suitable book for a specific course

Indeed, there is no course book which might be completely perfect for a specific group of learners; assessment and choice of suitable material would be fundamental for language teachers An intensive evaluation will make ready for the teachers to have the capability to choose among all the accessible books in the market and considering frail and also solid purposes of each one book instructors can pick the most proper book Consequently, keeping in mind the end goal to exploit the materials, it is important for language teachers to painstakingly examine all parts of the materials

The course book “New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate” (NCEP) has been used

as the course book for the general English courses at Thái Nguyên University of Technology (TNUT) since 2010 It received both positive and negative reaction from teachers and students Nonetheless, up to now, no research on the course book evaluation has been done on its quality and shortcoming and also on how suitably the course book matched the objective of the course The researcher has been

teaching general English at TNUT using this coursebook He has observed the appropriateness of the course book In light of the issue, it is reasonable to complete

an assessment of the course book to focus its fitness for the students at TNUT then propose adjustment for better utilization This is the rationale behind the thesis:

“An evaluation of the course book “New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate (NCEP) for first year non-major students of English, Thái Nguyên University of Technology- some suggestions for adapting”

2 Aims of the study

The study is carried out to improve the effectiveness of teaching the course book NCEP for the first-year students at TNUT Specific purposes of the study are as follow:

- To investigate the English teaching and learning context at TNUT

- To evaluate the currently adopted course book NCEP from the viewpoints of both teachers at Department of Foreign Languages and the first year students of TNUT

- To propose suggestions for the course book’s adaptations

(a) To what extent does NCEP satisfy students’ needs and interests?

(b) What improvements should be made to meet the students’ needs and interests?

4 Scope of the study

As a minor thesis, this study just mainly focuses on generally evaluating the course book NCEP for non major students of English at TNUT to find out if the course book suits students’ interests and needs in the actual teaching and learning

situation at TNUT

5 Design of the study

This study mainly consists of three main parts:

Part A begins with a general introduction covering the reasons for choosing the

theme, aims, research questions, research methods, and design of the study

Part B contains three chapters:

Chapter 1 deals with the literature review in which the most important notions

related to materials evaluation are discussed Readers are provided with concise understandings of the approaches, types, and methods of evaluation

Chapter 2 is the analysis of the survey questionnaire of the course book

evaluation carried out at TNUT, in which objectives, description, data collation, and analysis are demonstrated in details

Chapter 3 presents and reports the analysis of the study and encloses

suggestions for the course book adaptation

Part C shows some recommendations and conclusion which encloses practical

suggestions for the future use of this course book

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims to provide a theoretical background for the study This chapter consists of four parts The first part in this chapter concerns with materials in language teaching and learning The second part, which presents an overview of materials evaluation, is followed by the third issue related to material adaptation Finally, the chapter will end up with previous studies which the author finds related

to his research The researcher bases on the review result to design appropriate questionnaires and interviews for more through evaluation of the course book

1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning

In Richard’s view (2001), “Textbooks are a key component in most language programs In some situations, they serve as the basic for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement the teachers’ instruction”

It is assumed that a textbook is a teaching tool (material) which presents the subject matter defined by the curriculum A textbook has always been the most preferred instructional material in ELT They are best seen as a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set concerning learner needs According to Tomlinson (1998), course book is a textbook which provides the core materials for a course It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and

is designed so that it could be serve as the only book which the learner necessarily use during a course Such a book usually includes work on grammar, vocabulary, function and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking

According to Ur (1996: 183),

“The term „course book‟ means, a text book of which the teacher and each student has a copy and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language course Therefore, from the above definition one can get that a course book must have at least being available in the hand of students and teachers, and used systematically in a course of study, and a course of study in this article refers to an English course of study”

The term “course book” is sometimes associated with text materials as it has been specifically selected and exploited for teaching purposes by the classroom teacher particularly in the local setting Frequently, a course book is considered core materials of a certain course It may be accompanied with a variety of supplementary materials

Tomlinson (1998) identified materials as anything which is used to help to teach language learners Materials can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD –Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph written on a white board: anything which presents or informs about the language

He also supposed “the term is used to refer to anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language” In other word, they can be anything which is deliberately used to increase the learners’ knowledge and/or experience of the language

Therefore, it is agreed that materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language They can be instructional, experiential, exploratory, in that they can inform learners about the language, they can provide experience of the language use, they can stimulate language use or they can help learners to make discoveries about the language for themselves

1.1.2 Role of materials in General English Course

Since English is a foreign not a second language in Vietnam, classroom serves

as the main source of exposure to English for students Therefore, materials, especially course books play a vital role in exposing the students to the English language (Dudley-Evans & St John, 2000, p 171) This implies that it is the course book which determines the classroom activities, influences teachers’ teaching methods, and the students’ roles It should be mentioned that the main material which is used in undergraduate courses in Vietnamese universities is the course book As Richards (2007, p.251) maintains, materials provide the main input for the students and the type of the “language practice that occurs in the classroom.” Nunan (1999, p 98) believes that course book is the main element of any curriculum and

“it is difficult to imagine a class without books …” It is the course book which enhances the learning process by mediating between the teachers and students and

“offers a coherent syllabus, satisfactory language control …” (Harmer, 2002, p 304)

Although materials do not usually represent the actual process of teaching, they

“represent plans for teaching” (Richards, 2007, p 270) In this regard, Robinson (1991, p 57) argues that course books provide “a framework for a course, forming

in essence a syllabus.” Meanwhile, she maintains that using a course book has positive psychological effects on the students because course books provide the whole semester’s course to them At this juncture, Hedge (2002, p 358) states that when we choose a course book, we, in fact, choose a “planned sequence of items to

be taught.”

In this regards, Dudley-Evans and St John (2000, p 170) offer four main reasons for using materials in the classroom: “as a source of language, as a learning support, for motivation and stimulation, and for reference.” Cunningsworth (1995, p 7) believes that course books have multiple roles in English language classes and can help to present the written and spoken material, provide activities, promote interaction, serve as a reference on vocabulary and grammar, act as a source for

classroom activities, serve as a syllabus, and offer self-access work or self-directed learning Richards and Rodgers (2002, p 30) suggest that the main aim of materials

is to present and practice content, ease interaction between students, and promote learner autonomy

In his overview, Tomlinson (1998, p3) argues that “this term refers to attempts

to measure the value of materials” In many cases, this is done impressionistically

and consists of attempts to predict whether or not the material will work, in the sense that the learners will be able to use them without too much difficulty and will enjoy the experience of doing so

The major material commonly used in ELT classrooms is the course book Therefore, material evaluation should be the top priority of any curriculum Hutchinson and Waters (1989, p 96) argue that material evaluation should be carried out in order to judge the fitness of our materials to our “particular purpose.” They insist that all the variables need to be evaluated systematically in order to

“save a lot of expense and frustration” (ibid, p 96) Meanwhile, Alderson and Beretta (1996, p 248-9) caution against a “deterministic” approach to evaluation and suggest taking a flexible procedure The reason that course books need to be evaluated is that they might be suitable and ideal in a particular situation and with some particular students but they might turn out to be not useful in a different situation (Richards, 2007, p 256)

1.2.2 Why materials evaluation?

From the point of Ellis (1997), textbook evaluation happens with various reasons However, to sum up, textbook is evaluated for the following purposes:

selecting textbook or materials suitable with the goals of teaching and learning; identifying the particular strengths and weaknesses of textbooks already in use; choosing among the available resources the most appropriate materials used for a particular group of learners in a particular context; and determining if the chosen materials work well in fulfilling the intended purposes after it has been used for a period of time

1.2.3 Types of material evaluation

Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p 97-8) state that evaluation is a process of

“matching needs to available solutions” and divide it into four steps: “defining criteria, subjective analysis, objective analysis, and matching.” However, Robinson (1991, p 59) proposes three types of material evaluation: “preliminary, summative, and formative.” According to Robinson’s point of view, preliminary evaluation takes place before the course begins and a checklist can be used to evaluate or select

a course book Summative evaluation is performed at the end of the course and investigates whether the course book is effective or has any deficiencies Formative evaluation is carried out during the lifetime of the course and the weaknesses are identified and possible modifications are made Generally, each type of materials has its certain strength and weakness, so it is necessary for the evaluators to determine what type of materials evaluation will be the most suitable for specific context

In this study, the author decided to choose the summative evaluation

1.2.4 Methods of material evaluation

McDonough and Shaw suggest two types of evaluation: external evaluation (investigating cover, table of contents, and introduction) and internal evaluation (investigating every aspect in detail) Similarly, Cunningsworth lists two types of evaluation: global appraisal (an impressionistic approach) and detailed evaluation (close examination of each unit of a book)

1.2.5 Models for material evaluation

Ellis (1997), McDonough & Shaw (1993), and Hutchinson and Water (1987)

1.2.5.1 Evaluation by Ellis (1997)

This is a micro – evaluation 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 and learning context The steps are as follows:

1 Choosing the task to follow;

2 Describing the task with specification of input, procedures, language activities and outcomes;

3 Planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above;

4 Collecting information before, while and after the task was used, and what how the task performed;

5 Analyzing the information collected;

6 Reaching conclusions relating to what has been discovered, and making recommendations for the future teaching

7 Writing the report

This model aims to identify the match between task planned and task in use It can be conducted when the materials are being used in the classroom

1.2.5.2 Evaluation by McDonough and Shaw (1993)

The authors suggest a three stage evaluation model called: external evaluation, internal evaluation, and overall evaluation as presented in the following figure Macro- evaluation → inappropriate/potential →

Figure 1: Materials Evaluation Model of McDonough and Shaw ( 1993, p.75)

It is clear that the model proposed by Mc Donough and Shaw (1993) illustrates a logical procedure for materials evaluation However, the figure does not discuss the

objectives and criteria of the materials which are important to ensure the learners’ learning success as well as teachers’ effective teaching

1.2.5.3 Evaluation by Hutchinson and Water (1987)

Hutchinson and Water (1987) proposed a perfect evaluation model According

to them, the materials evaluation process can be classified into four main following phases

Figure 2: Materials Evaluation Process (Hutchinson and Waters 1987, p98)

As can be seen from the chart that in the first stage, the criteria are defined to create basis for material evaluation It means that in this step, evaluator must examine what bases the materials will be assessed and which criteria the evaluator wants to adopt for his teaching course The second phase is to make the subjective analysis, which means to identify the requirements for the materials so the evaluator should describe what criteria the course is based in details At the third stage, evaluator is supposed to determine the objective analysis by gauging if the existing materials reveal the criteria set in the subjective analysis According to Nunan (1991) objective analysis is in relation with the identifying the teaching content whereas subjective needs are associated with teaching methods However, in reality, there is relation between objective needs with methodology (for example teachers

Objective Analysis

How far does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?

Subjective Analysis

What realization of

the criteria do you

want in your course?

will consider which the best method to teach) and subjective needs with teaching contents (for instance, learners define what they want to learn)

The final step is the matching process, which investigates how the materials meet the course requirements

In summary, analyzing learners’ needs is useful in teaching foreign languages And the author thinks that Hutchinson and Water (1987) recommend an effective model It clearly shows the evaluator the whole picture to analyze the materials in accordance with the first year non- English majored students

In this research, the author would like to apply this model to find out if the currently –used material is appropriate for TNUT first year students

1.2.6 Criteria for materials evaluation

Prominent theorists in the field of ELT textbook design and analysis such

as Williams (1983),Sheldon (1988), Brown (1995), Cunningsworth (1995) and Harmer (1996) all share a point of view according to which evaluation checklists should have some criteria pertaining to the physical characteristics of textbooks such as layout, organizational, and logistical characteristics

Sheldon (1988) argues that there is no set of criteria applicable to all different situations and we just can commit ourselves to checklists or scoring systems He suggests the use of textbook evaluation sheet which consists of a list of factors such

as rationale, availability, lay-out etc and rating and comments will be given by the evaluator Subsequently, the whole evaluating process is subjective

According to Dudley- Evan and St John (1998), in the evaluation process, evaluators must take evaluation criteria into account before any evaluation takes place Criteria for materials evaluation depend on what is being evaluated and why they need to be evaluated Williams (1993) suggests seven criteria, each of which has following aspects:

- General criteria: give introductory guidance on the presentation of language items and skills

- Speech criteria: suggest aids for the teaching of pronunciation: e.g phonetic system

- Grammar criteria: offer meaningful situations and a variety of techniques teaching structural units

- Vocabulary criteria: distinguish the different purposes and skills involved in the teaching structural units

- Reading criteria: provide guidance on the initial presentation of passages for reading comprehension

- Writing criteria: demonstrate the various devices for controlling and guiding content and expression in composition exercises

- Technical criteria: contain appropriate pictures, diagrams, tables

The criteria suggested by Williams (1993) seem to be very useful and appropriate for evaluating a course book However, such frameworks are more suitable for the selection of course books available in the market rather than for the examination of an – in house material to see whether they meet the intended objectives With its more comprehensive content, the evaluating criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters, therefore, seem to be a more helpful tool to language materials evaluators

The audience of the materials: the evaluator should obtain information about and from learners to find out whether the materials are suitable to the student’s 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 materials: the evaluator has to check whether the materials language points, macro – skills or micro - skills, and topics suit the learners’ needs

Methodology of the materials: the evaluator has to find out if techniques, aids, guidance provided in the materials satisfy the learners and the teachers of the course

As in the researcher’s context, the criteria set out by Cunningsworth (1984: 5-6)

is the most suitable one Here are his four criteria which are applied by many teachers and students in a great variety of teaching and learning contexts

 Relate the teaching materials to your aims and objectives

 Be aware of what language is for and select teaching materials, which help equip your students to use language effectively for their own purposes

 Keep your students’ learning needs in mind

 Consider the relationship between language, the learning process and the learner

1.3 Materials adaptation

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

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978), “every teacher is in a very real sense

an adapter of the material he uses”, and adaptation is the process of employing

“one or more number of techniques: “supplementing, editing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing or modifying cultural/situational content” At the same time, Ellis (1986:47) mentions the process of “retaining, rejecting, reordering, and modification”

Adaptations can be understood as a process of matching so as to maximize the strength of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internal characteristics of a textbook or a set of materials to suit a specific situation

1.4 Previous studies

Recently, there have been many studies in textbook evaluation in Vietnam and overseas

Akin and Guceri (2001) at Bilkent University- Ankara- Turkey carried out the material evaluation to identify the appropriateness of the materials to the learners, course objectives and the task-based syllabus The subjects of the study, 50 students and 50 teachers, were asked to give feedback on the materials in terms timing, suitability of the teachers’ notes, layout of materials motivation/interest/usefulness, variety of tasks and activities, and materials in relation to the course objectives The methods employed in this study included questionnaires, interviews and observation

Litz(2005) carried out a study on textbook evaluation and ELT management as a South Korean case study The study discussed a sophisticated evaluation process for

a textbook used in that particular learning environment

In Vietnam, Nguyễn Thị Bích Liên(2004) carried a study to evaluate the fitness between the course book named Lifeline Pre-Intermediate and the learning program and the students’ needs concerning aims, content and methodology 100 third year students and 7 teachers in Hanoi Junior Teachers’ Training College involved in the study The author could determine the appropriate models in her study’s context- a combination of Hutchinson and Waters’ and Little John’s for a complete evaluation process

Đậu Thị Bích Loan (2008) utilized the evaluation model of Hutchinson and

Waters in her study which aimed to find out if the material English for Garment

satisfied the requirements of the ESP course provided at Hanoi University of Industry in terms of aims, audience, content and methodology For data collection, she employed 3 instruments including questionnaire, interview and document analysis The researcher drew a conclusion according to which the material was acceptable and there would have a possibility to overcome the existing weakness

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS

Since the research was done at Thái Nguyên University of Technology, it is essential for the author firstly to describe briefly the teaching and learning setting including the course book utilized the teachers and the learners After that the research method - the heart of the part will be portrayed It comprises of subjects, research instruments, and procedures of data collection

2.1 Description of the context

2.1.1 The setting

Thái Nguyên University of Technology has become one of the leading engineering universities in the regional University of Thái Nguyên since it was founded in 1965 The university consists of six main faculties: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technical Teachers Training and International Training Among them, Mechanical Engineering Faculty can be considered to be the most important one with a large amount of students joining the course The students at TNUT generally learn English for two years For the first term, they will

be provided with general English by using the course book “New Cutting Edge - Elementary” For the second term, the “New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate” is used However, it can also be assumed that as an engineering college, most students lack the knowledge of English and learning methods Therefore, the result showed that there is a small number of students with acceptable English skill

In the general English course for the first - year mechanical engineering students, English subject is taught in the second semester with totally 120 periods During the course, the students have to complete ten modules in the course book

“New Cutting Edge Elementary” by Peter Moor and Sarah Cunningham in 2005 which provides the students with general knowledge of English with the integration

of four skills equivalent to pre-intermediate level During the term, depending on the number of periods, the students have three or four mid-term tests and at the end

of each term, they will have to take the final oral test

2.1.2 The material

The course book “New Cutting Edge – Pre-Intermediate” is written by Peter Moor and Sarah Cunningham with Jane Comyns Carr in 2005 There are 15 modules with various topics regarding our life such as greetings, introducing themselves, talking about family, hobbies, jobs, favorite things, etc NCEP gives students an all-round practical knowledge of grammar, skills, and vocabulary and real-life functional language The new editions retain the ingredients that have made this course so popular and also introduce useful new features

A typical module consists of the following sections:

- Language focus: New grammar structures are presented by using pictures,

discussion questions or asking students to read or listen to a conversation After the form, and the rule, students have chances to practice with a variety of exercises

- Vocabulary: the students are asked to predict new words and their meaning

based on the words given in the border together with several available pictures or small games After that, the students listen to the CD player/typescript for the way

to pronoun Good dictionaries, such as the Longman Basic English Dictionary or Oxford Dictionary will also help students to raise their vocabulary

- Tasks (4 skills): For each module, different skills are paid attention to improve

the section of language focus and vocabulary

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

In speaking and writing sections, pictures and discussion are used to help the

students activate their knowledge about the topic The students practice speaking skills using conversation pieces in listening part Finally, students must summarize the text’s content to write a paragraph on the requirements of each one

- Pronunciation: the students practice sound under the direction of teachers; and

then listening to the CD player to check Finally, they repeat to remember and pronoun smoothly

There are three consolidation modules after every five modules (module 5, module 10, and module 15) which help the students to revise theories and practice more exercises Transcription of difficult words and their meanings are presented at the end of the course book Besides, coming with this material are 3 CD’s and the students’ workbook

2.1.3 Course assessment

There are four kinds of assessment in the course including attendance accounting for 10 %, progress test 1(listening, reading and grammar in 50 minutes making up 20 %), the progress two (speaking test with 10 % – students choose a card and discuss with their partner and answers questions raised by teachers) and the final assessment occupying 60 % (the 100 minute test consisting of listening, writing, reading and grammar)

2.2.1.3 Description

The teachers

Among 15 teachers in English Faculty participating in the survey, 14 of them hold M.A degrees; one is pursuing the master course in ULIS Their ages are from

26 to 42, and all of them have experienced teaching this book for at least 2 years since it was introduced in 2008

The students

200 students of accounting major took part in the study Most of them have been learning English for 3 years with low English level They were accounting students from 4 classes: 48A, 48B, 48G, 48H They were required to review thoroughly and

rate the course book according to the criteria basing on their own experience

2.2.2 Instruments

In order to evaluate the course book in terms of learners’ need, objective, format, content and methodology, among the most usual methods or means of evaluation, found in a number of authors such as questionnaires, interviews, observation, discussion, records and assessment, two main techniques for data collection used in this study are questionnaires and formal interview

2.2.2.1 Questionnaires

Survey questionnaire is a popular instrument in the social sciences as it is helpful collecting opinions and would be extremely beneficial in specifying aims and analyzing the teaching and learning situation They have a lot of advantages among which the most obvious may be the fact that the respondents can complete them without any pressure; as a result, they can express their thought freely

Besides, closely ended questions are straight forward to answer (Gillham, 2000)

In this study, two questionnaires written in Vietnamese were used for teachers and students to collect their attitude and information on evaluation of the currently used material “New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate” The researcher intended to use Vietnamese as the language for the questionnaires since it is the contact language which can completely and exactly reveal informants’ attitudes and viewpoints Each questionnaire is divided into 5 sections:

Section 1 with four questions aims at discovering general assessment of the

course book

Section 2 is intended to discover the objectives of the course

Section 3 is designed to gather students’ judgment about the content of the

course book in

Section 4 aims at collecting opinions about the course book in terms of format Section 5 attempts to get the teachers’ suggestions for adapting the course book 2.2.2.2 Formal Interview

The purpose of the interview is to collect supplementary ideas for teachers and students after responding to the above questionnaires Johnson (D.M 1992:115) states that response rates from interview can be quite high and respondents are more likely to answer the questions presented because of their personal involvement with the interviewer Therefore, the interviewer can obtain more meaningful information because he/she can rephrase questions that are not clear to the respondent

For these reasons, the second method used in this study is structured interview This type of interview was conducted with 10 English teachers at TNUT The interview which consists of 15 questions thought carefully and selected in advance help to find out the appropriateness and inappropriateness of the course book in terms of learners’ demand, objectives, formats, contents and methodology

2.3 Data collection procedure

The research carried out the data collection through the questionnaires for both the teachers and the students First, the researcher developed the questionnaire basing on the criteria he had selected with regard to five main aspects under study Then the student survey was administrated in the end of class meeting of the course The students were requested to complete the questionnaire during the class time so that they were more willing to do it and could clarify the ambiguous questions (if any) and last, but not least, could return all the questionnaires immediately

Also, the English teachers are invited to complete and return the questionnaires within two days to make sure that they are well-prepared to provide the detailed and accurate information

After being collected from teachers and students, the date were summarized and categorized in form of tables and charts where appropriate

2.4 Data analysis procedure

In this thesis, the data from questionnaire was processed by using descriptive statistics which is often reported in percentage The data from the English teacher and student interviews were processed by doing transcript first, being quoted to compare support and challenge the findings during the course of analyzing data

In summary, this chapter has presented the overview of current English teaching and learning TNUT The reasons for choosing the research methodology were discussed together with setting out the research questions Furthermore, the chapter also described the data collection as well as the analytical procedures which lead to the result of the survey as introduced in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

This section presents firstly how the respondents assessed the book NCEP with the help of survey questionnaire, teachers’ interview After that, the results will be discussed

3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Overall evaluation of the course book

Figure 3.1.1 Teachers’ and students’ assessment of the book NCEP

Teachers and students showed different views about the course book NCEP While a minority of teachers assessed the book “poor, fair and excellent” with 6.7

%, 6.7% and 15.8 % respectively, nearly 50 % of students assess the book “fair” Although teachers and students have various rate of book assessment, they share some viewpoints Most of the participants commended the book “good” with high percentage (73.6 % for the teachers and 50 % for the students) From the figure, it

is evident that the course book NCEP has satisfied both teachers’ and students’ needs It means that the material was proved by both the teachers and students to be suitable to the course and learners’ expectations

3.1.2 Teachers’ and students’ preference of the course book NCEP

Generally, there are many critical differences between teachers’ and students’ likes about the book In the teachers’ viewpoint, they are really most interested in practical and useful lessons (61.1 %), then in the clear tables of content (50 %) and

finally in the attractive and scientific layout (44.4 %) This question also got a lot of other constructive opinions from the teachers Some teachers argue that the book contains wide range of knowledge about grammar, vocabulary and integrated skills Other teachers feel attracted by informative reading texts as well as appropriate listening recordings What attracts most students (41.66 %) most is up-to - date and useful lessons Students secondly also fancy the book by its variety of activities to develop vocabulary and skills, and clear tables of contents, followed by scientific and attractive layout

Figure 3.1 2 Teachers’ and students’ NCEP preference

3.1.3 Teachers and student’s dissatisfaction with the course book

There are a number of similarities and differences in teachers and students’ views about the drawbacks of the book Both the teachers and students share the common view that language skills are not separated, too many sections of grammar, some boring or difficult activities and not well – linked parts, which may reduce students’ motivation In terms of different ideas, most students think that the book has modern topics whereas 38.5 % of teachers claim that the book’s topics are out

of date Based on the contrastive ideas, it is inferred that what teachers think

“modern” is not the same as the students think

61.1

41.6

50 35

Activities Layout

Ts' NCEP preference

Ss' NCEP preference

Figure 3.1.3 Teachers’ and students’ NCEP dissatisfaction

It is clear that students for the time being have their own identities They show critically what they satisfy straight forwards, which is quite different from the author’s generation In my time, students were supposed to learn what the teachers gave us It is said that time has changed and brought some positive effects for language learners Students are currently getting used to being trained actively and independently

3.1.4 The decision to choose the book for future use

This question receives the highest agreement of both teachers and students Most teachers and students will select the next book of New Cutting Edge Series to work with in the future with 89.8 % and 96.7 % respectively This percentage implies that

at information age, students are well equipped with critical skills to evaluate and choose the book for them

Figure 3.1.4 Teachers’ and students’ decision to continue using NEC series

30 41.6

Teachers

Students

3.1.5 Communicative competence development

Figure 3.1.5: NCEP’s provision of necessary items

Firstly, most teachers and students shared the same point that NCEP gave the students a great opportunity to develop basic grammar, widen their general vocabulary of most common topics, and improve listening and reading Secondly, a small number of the respondents think that the book gave students chances to improve their writing skills Moreover, 80 % of the teachers and 78 % of the students argue that the book offers learners chances to develop students’ communicative competence In addition, in spite of different percentage, more than half of the participants agree that the course book provides them a variety of activities for pair work, group work, and individual work Last but not least, only 40

% of the teachers and 15 the students think that the book leaves little room for pronunciation This is an important reminder for the author to suggest necessary adaptations

Although the book has numerous tests to assess students’ learned knowledge such as what do you remember, quick tests and practical English sections, there are few parts for learning techniques This may be the obvious drawbacks of NCEP It

is vital that teachers suggest some strategy recommendations for students during learning process either through direct ways or indirect ways

3.1.6 The language point availability

The table shows teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about the language points in the course book

Figure 3.1.6: Teachers and students’ opinions of the language points available

Teachers' opinions of the language points

Gram m ar

Students' opinions of the language points