An evaluation by the teachers and students about the course book english unlimited a1 starter at a public security school

This thesis was conducted accordingly with the aims to evaluate the suitability of the course book “English Unlimited A1- Starter” for the first year students at the Armed Police School

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THU TRANG

AN EVALUATION BY THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

ABOUT THE COURSE BOOK ENGLISH UNLIMITED A1-STARTER

AT A PUBLIC SECURITY SCHOOL

(Đánh giá của giáo viên và học viên về giáo trình English Unlimited A1-Starter

tại một trường trung cấp Công an nhân dân)

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 8140231.01

NGUYEN THI THU TRANG

AN EVALUATION BY THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

ABOUT THE COURSE BOOK ENGLISH UNLIMITED A1-STARTER

AT A PUBLIC SECURITY SCHOOL

(Đánh giá của giáo viên và học viên về giáo trình English Unlimited A1-Starter

tại một trường trung cấp Công an nhân dân)

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 8140231.01

SUPERVISOR: DR TRAN THANH NHAN

HANOI – 2018

has not been submitted to any other university or institution partially or wholly Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2018 Student

Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from

a number of people

First and foremost, I would like to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor,

Dr Tran Thanh Nhan for her enthusiastic guidance, insightful comments, and valuable support throughout my research

I would also like to thank all of the lecturers of the Department of Post Graduate Studies, Vietnam National University for their useful lectures and materials which are of great value to my thesis

A special word of thanks is dedicated to all of my colleagues and students at the Armed Police School for their useful information and support Last but not least,

I owe my gratitude to my family for their support and encouragement

ABSTRACT

It is obvious that materials play an important role in language teaching and learning, and material evaluation is one of the necessary components in the teaching and learning process of any language This thesis was conducted accordingly with the aims to evaluate the suitability of the course book “English Unlimited A1- Starter” for the first year students at the Armed Police School in terms of its aims, content and methodology from the teachers and students viewpoints The thesis employed the quantitative and qualitative approach with two research methods: survey questionnaire for the students as the major and informal interview for the teachers as the supplementary In this thesis, the material is analyzed based on the criteria proposed by Hutchinson & Waters (1987) in order to investigate the suitability of the course book with the students’ and teachers’ requirements The results indicated that the aims, content and the methodology of this material are relatively suitable Besides, the author also recommends some adaptation for a better application of the course book Hopefully, the results of the study can help both the teachers and students better understand the course book they are using in order to make reasonable adjustments of their own in future

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Scope and aims of the study 2

2.1 Scope of the study 2

2.2 Aims of the study 2

3 Significance of the study 3

4 Research questions 3

5 Methods of the study 3

5.1 Participants Error! Bookmark not defined 5.2 Instruments Error! Bookmark not defined 5.3 Data collection methods/ Data analysis proceduresError! Bookmark not defined 6 Design of the thesis 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Review of previous related studies 5

1.2 The roles of materials in language learning and teaching 7

1.2.1 Definitions of materials 7

1.2.2 Types of materials 7

1.2.3 Roles of materials in language learning and teaching 8

1.3 Materials evaluation 8

1.3.1 Definition of materials evaluation 8

1.3.2 Types of materials evaluation 9

1.3.3 Types of evaluators 10

1.3.4 Models of materials evaluation 11

1.4 Criteria for materials evaluation 14

1.5 Materials adaptation 15

1.5.1 The role of materials adaptation 15

1.5.2 Techniques for adaptation 16

1.6 Summary 16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 Description of the context 18

2.1.1 The setting 18

2.1.2 Objectives of the course 19

2.1.3 Course material 19

2.2 Research methodology 20

2.2.1 Participants 20

2.2.2 Instruments 20

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 25

3.1 The suitability of the course book with the mastery of the course’s outcomes 25 3.2 The suitability of the course book’s content 30

3.2.1 The suitability of language points 30

3.2.2 The suitability of other elements of the course book’s content 34

3.3 The appropriateness of methodology and learning conditions 41

3.4 Students’ evaluation and suggestions about the course book 48

3.5 Summary of major findings 52

3.5.2 The suitability of the course book’s content 52

3.5.3 The suitability of methodology and learning conditions 54

3.5.4 General comments about the course book 54

PART C: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 55

1 Recommendations 55

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 57

3 Conclusion 57

REFERENCES 59 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 VI APPENDIX 3 XVI

APPENDIX 4 XVII

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Student’s opinion about their mastery of the course outcomes in terms of grammar

26

Table 2: Student’s opinion about their mastery of the course outcomes in terms of vocabulary 27

Table 3: Student’s opinion about their mastery of the course outcomes in terms of four skills 28

Table 4: Students’ opinion about the necessity of the vocabulary related to the topics in the course book 30

Table 5: Students’ opinion about the suitability of grammar items for their communication need 32

Table 6: Students’ opinion about the suitability of the situations for their daily communication 33

Table 7: Students’ opinion about the topics in the course book 35

Table 8: Students’ opinion about the parts of each unit 36

Table 9: Students opinion about the overall course’s proportion 37

Table 10: Students’ opinion about the format of the course book 39

Table 11: Students’ opinion about the text types of the course book 40

Table 12: Students’ opinion about the teaching and learning fact in their class 42

Table 13: Students’ opinion about suitability of the kinds of tasks in the course book 43

Table 14: Students’ opinion about teacher’s technique usage frequency 45

Table 15: Students’ opinion about the suitability of the teaching aids of the course book 46 Table 16: Teachers’ and students’ opinion about teacher’s adaptation 47

Table 17: Students’ opinion about teacher’s adaptation frequency 48

Table 18: Students’ comments on the course book 49

Table 19: Student’s suggestions for a better course book usage 50

Table 20: Students’ opinion about their favorite topics 51

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

English, nowadays, has become an international language spoken all over the world Thanks for this language; connections between nations all over the world become possible It is the language used in all aspects of life such as economics, politics, science, technology, tourism, culture, and education For this reason, it can

be assumed that the role of English language cannot be just expressed in words In Vietnam, the importance of English was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamese government and as a result the English language programs were made compulsory beginning at secondary schools and subsequently high schools and finally universities

The need of using English in the crime prevention cooperation between Vietnam and other countries in the world is increasing Moreover, many daily situations related to foreign criminals and factors need to be faced by the police force Therefore, English is taught as a compulsory subject in most Public Security Schools in Vietnam aiming to develop four skills – listening, speaking, reading, and writing as well as the knowledge of specific purposes in English As a school of Public Security system, the curriculum of the Armed Police School also consists of English as a subject to equip the students with basic knowledge of the language to communicate with foreigners in their job

To master English, it is necessary to consider the factors affecting the teaching and learning process such as learning objectives, learning outcomes, teacher’s methods, and course books Among these factors, course books have played an important role in most language curricula The reason for this is that materials, especially course books play a vital role in exposing the students to the English language (Dudley-Evans & St John, 2000:171) The course book determines the classroom activities, influences teachers’ teaching methods, and the students’ roles Nunan (2003:226) predicates that course book is the main element of any

curriculum and “it is difficult to imagine a class without book” The course book chosen at the Armed Police School is English Unlimited A1- Starter which is written by Adrian Doff and published by Cambridge It is used for the first year students and has been used for two years, however, since then no research on the course book evaluation has been carried out by the school administrators prior to the introduction of the course book to recognize its strengths and shortcomings, and to judge to what extent the course book meets students and teacher’s needs For this

reason, I will choose the thesis “An evaluation by the teachers and students about the course book English Unlimited A1- Starter at a Public Security school” It is a good opportunity to reveal the suitability of the material for the

students’ level from the students’ and the teachers’ views so that adaptation can be made to gain better results of teaching and learning

2 Scope and aims of the study

2.1 Scope of the study

This study will focus on evaluating the course book “English Unlimited A1 –Starter” The researcher bases on the Hutchinson and Waters (1987)’s criteria for evaluation with focus on the three following criteria: aims of the materials, content of the materials (in terms of language use, skills, topics, parts of unit, overall course’s proportion, format of course book and text types), and methodology (in terms of teaching and learning facts, kinds of tasks, teaching techniques, and teaching aids) Research participants are primarily confined to the teachers of English who have been teaching the material and the first year students

at the Armed Police School

2.2 Aims of the study

From the concrete situation of the teaching and learning context, this study aims to evaluate the appropriateness of the course book “English Unlimited A1- Starter” for the first year students at the Armed Police School from both teachers and students’ viewpoints with the hope that the collected information for improvement of the course book will be adapted to make it more effective for future use

To be more detailed, this study aims to:

- evaluate the course book “English Unlimited A1- Starter” from the viewpoints

of the teachers and students at the Armed Police School to identify its strengths, deficiencies and weaknesses

- offer suggestions for adaptation of the materials based on the major findings

3 Significance of the study

The findings of the study will be useful not only to the researcher, and the course book designer but also to the teaching staff and the first year students at The Armed Police School Besides, the findings will suggest some adaptation in order to improve the quality of the materials which is used for the students at the Armed Police School More importantly, it is hoped that the research results will make some contributions to the field of material evaluation in specialized Vietnamese

contexts

4 Research questions

To achieve the aims of the thesis, the following research questions are proposed:

- How do the teachers at the Armed Police School evaluate the course book?

- How do the first year students at the Armed Police School evaluate the course book?

- To what extent do teachers and students at the Armed Police School want to alter in the course book?

5 Methods of the study

The study is carried out in form of a survey research, conducted by the writer herself Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in order to get a full view of the evaluation by the teachers and the students about the course book English Unlimited A1- Starter at the Armed Police School.

To collect desired data, two research instruments are made use of, namely survey questionnaire and interview As for the first instrument, there

is a questionnaire consisting of 5 sections which deliver for 100 first year students The second instrument used interview for 07 teachers with 12

questions These two instruments aim to answer three research questions of the study.

6 Design of the thesis

Part A: Introduction

This part introduces rationale, scope, aims, significance, research questions, methods, and design of the study

Part B: Development

This part consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature Review

Theoretical background relevant to the topic and critical survey of related articles, books and other resources are presented.

Chapter 2: Methodology

This chapter is devoted to the methodology used in the study

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion

This chapter deals with the findings drawn out from the analysis of the data

Part C: recommendations and conclusions

This chapter summarizes the main points discussed in the paper and some limitations of the study Besides, recommendations for adaptation of the course book and recommendations for further research are presented

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a brief review of the literature relevant to the study

It consists of the theory of materials, materials evaluation, and materials adaptation

1.1 Review of previous related studies

The course book evaluation is always the center of many researchers’ attention Up to now, there have been a large number of studies on course book evaluation The following are some studies of this topic All of them share the common purpose in investigating the suitability of the used course book and making some adaptation if necessary

An evaluation carried out by Osman Dulger about English Language Teaching Coursebooks used in Turkey The study was a descriptive survey study which was conducted in Turkey during the 2013-2014 This study aimed at finding out teacher views on the course books The participants were 118 English language teachers attended the survey to provide views on the language textbooks they use in their classes The instrument used in the study was a checklist consisting two main categories as “general attributes” and “teaching-learning content” where totally 14 sub-dimensions and 38 items were included Results of the study indicated findings in favor of the English language coursebooks used in Turkey in some categories while suggesting less favorable results in some categories as well

The study conducted by Ahmed Shameem (2016) provided an evaluation of Effective Communication Skills course book that had been introduced as a pilot project implemented in 2011 by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia The aims of the study was to find out the suitability of Effective Communication Skills course book from the students’ perspectives, then investigate the strengths and weaknesses of this course book The data in the study was collected on the basis of materials study and questionnaires The results of the study indicated that

although the course book had some shortcomings, there was a general satisfaction about this textbook as it was exclusively produced by the local experts for the tertiary level The writer also made some suggestions and recommendations for the improvement of the Effective Communication Skills

In Vietnam, Dao Thi Sang (2011) conducted a study to evaluate the text book “New English File Pre-intermediate” for the first year non-major students at University of Social Sciences and Humanities The study aimed to evaluate the textbook New English File pre-intermediate from both lecturers and students’ viewpoints and then investigated the ways teachers adapt the book to meet the students’ needs and interests The researcher conducted an action research using survey questionnaires, teachers’ informal interviews, and teacher’ weekly self-reports The findings of the study showed that the course book “New English File Pre-intermediate” was used more effectively by both teachers and students at University of Social Sciences and Humanities However, the study also addressed some strengths and weaknesses of the material and made some suggestions would

be given for better application of the material

In 2015, Nguyen Thi Nhat carried out a study to evaluate the course book

“English Unlimited A1” for English beginners at Thang Long Canon factory With the attempt to investigate the suitability of the course book the researcher based on the model of McDnough and Shaw (1993) and used teacher interview and student questionnaire to collect the data The results indicated that the course book was suitable for English beginners, but some adaptations were made in order to future use of the course book

In this thesis, the researcher also conducts an evaluation of the course book English Unlimited A1- Starter for the first year students at The Armed Police School to investigate the suitability of the course book in terms of aims, content and methodology However, there are some differences in some aspects The first difference is that the researcher bases on the criteria by Hutchison and Water (1987) The second difference is related to instruments used in the study In this

study, document analysis, a questionnaire consisting of 5 sections for the students, and interviews for teachers are employed with the aim to ensure the reliability As a

result, it is hoped that the study will yield valuable and reliable findings

1.2 The roles of materials in language learning and teaching

1.2.1 Definitions of materials

Brown (1995:139) defines materials as “any systematic description of the techniques and exercises to be used in classroom teaching” Meanwhile, Tomlinson (1998: 66) defines: “Materials include anything, which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language They can be linguistics; visual, auditory, kinaesthetic and they can be presented in print, through live performance or display, or on cassette, CD-ROM, DVD or the internet” Further, Nunan (1988:98) asserts “Materials are the tangible manifestation of the curriculum in action They are in fact omnipresent

in the language classroom and it is difficult to imagine a class without books” Richards (2001:251) states “in case of inexperienced teachers, materials may also serve as a form of teacher training-they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons” These materials need to be looked at within a given context and a syllabus derived from a specific approach (McDonough and Shaw, 2003: 4-14)

1.2.2 Types of materials

According to Richards (2001), materials in use can vary from a textbook, institutionally prepared materials or the teacher’s own materials More specifically, McGrath (2002) divides materials into four main types:

Published materials: This type of materials can be books and reference materials as

dictionaries, grammars, advice on language learning, test practice materials, tapes accompanying course books, or supplementary books

Authentic materials: Taken from real life, these consist of newspaper, magazines,

user manuals, leaflets and brochures, foreign mission information, letters faxes, email, emails, videos ( films or documentaries), and songs

Adapting and supplementing published materials: There are ones that have been

adapted or supplemented in some way These cut up materials can be self- standing

or deliberately designed to supplement the course books

Specially-prepared materials: For self-access activities, this type of materials

proves to be useful as there is always a need for material that is more precisely tailored to the needs of students working on their own

1.2.3 Roles of materials in language learning and teaching

It can be assumed that materials play an important part in any language program The roles of materials are mentioned by many authors in literature According to Sheldon (1988:237), a textbook “represent the visible heart of any ELT program.” Hutchinson and Tores (1994:315) claim “No teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has a relevant textbook.” Richard (2001) emphasizes that materials provide a basis for the content of the lesson, the appropriate proportion of skills taught, and the type of language practice students take part in Moreover, useful teaching materials are of great assistance to inexperienced teachers or poorly trained teachers They can serve as “a form of teacher training” (Richards, 2001: 251) and teachers can get ideas on how to plan and teach the lesson from the materials

Cunningsworth (1995) suggest course books have multiple roles in ELT and server as:

A resource for presentation material (spoken and written)

A source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction

A reference source for learner on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc

A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom language activities

A syllabus (where they reflect learning objectives which have already been determined)

A resource for self – directed learning or self- access work

A support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence

1.3 Materials evaluation

1.3.1 Definition of materials evaluation

Evaluation plays a crucial role in curriculum development as it allows

instructors, material designers and administrators to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of a particular language program or any of its components and make informed decisions about how to proceed

As an important factor of English teaching curriculum, materials need to be evaluated in order to alter if necessary as Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 96) states

“evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose” Similarly, Tomlinson (2003:15) points out materials evaluation is “a procedure that involves measuring the value, or potential value, of a set of materials [which] involves making judgments about the effects of materials on the people using them.” According to Brown (1995: 218), evaluation is “the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum, and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participants’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved.” It can be inferred from this definition that information be gathered and analyzed in a systematic manner and that only relevant information should be included, that is, information must necessarily filtered so that irrelevant information can be ignored

It can be assumed that the definition of materials evaluation depends on different author’s view In my view, these authors share the same view that materials evaluation is process to find out whether the course book meets learners’ needs or not As a result, it will increase the strengths and minimize the drawback of the course book

1.3.2 Types of materials evaluation

Materials evaluation is classified by different authors Robinson (1991:59) divided materials evaluation into three types: preliminary, formative, and summative According to Cunningsworth (1995), materials evaluation is classified

in to three kinds: Pre-use evaluation, in-use evaluation, and post-use evaluation Despite the fact that different authors have different concepts to classify material evaluation, these concepts are similar

Pre-use (preliminary) evaluation is conducted before starting a course This

kind of evaluation aims to examine the suitability of the materials for the learners who are taking part in the course in the future

In-use (formative)) evaluation takes place while the materials are in use The

results from the evaluation can use to suggest the replacement of the materials

Post-use (summative) evaluation is carried out after the course is ended This

kind of evaluation helps evaluators find out the strengths and weaknesses when using the materials Thank for the evaluation, the teachers can make a decision whether to continue using the materials in the future or not

Among many different kinds of materials evaluation, it is necessary to decide what kind of materials evaluation will be suitable for the context For The Armed Police School, English Unlimited A1-Starter has been used for two years, the researcher decides to use post-use evaluation to examine whether the materials are suitable for the learner’s or not and give some suggestions for future improvement

Insiders are those have already involved in the language program such as teachers, students, and course and material designers They are believed to understand the situation well To emphasize the insiders’ role as evaluators, Richards (2001:296) states that the involvement of the insiders plays an important part in the success of evaluation because “as a consequence, they will have greater

degree of commitment to acting on it results” Furthermore, insiders especially teachers can monitor and control the material being used Therefore, they are capable of determining to what extent the material works for their purposes However, in the words of Dulley- Evans and John (1998), insiders may suffer from several disadvantages when they can be “too closed and involved or lack expertise” Therefore, the evaluation may be influenced by their subjective viewpoints and their teaching experience

In this thesis, the course book English Unlimited A1-Starter which being taught the first year English students at the Armed Police School is evaluated by outsiders as well as insiders Among the evaluators, seven teachers and 100 students have the invitations to take part in the study are considered as insiders and the researcher who is currently doing this thesis is an outsiders

1.3.4 Models of materials evaluation

There are various models suggesting by different authors to evaluate materials

In the light of the approaches to the materials evaluation, the evaluation models can

be referred to as macro and micro evaluation models Macro evaluation models focus on the overall assessment of course books and/or materials in terms of the criteria they suggest whereas micro evaluation models focus on an in-depth analysis

of particular tasks for particular groups of learners The most popular models are presented by Hutchinson and Water (1987), Ellis (1997), and McDonough & Shaw (1993)

Model by Hutchison and Water (1987)

The model introduced by Hutchinson and Water (1987) is a macro evaluation aiming to assess the workability of an entire set of materials The first step is to define criteria which the evaluation is based on The second step is to find out the subjective analysis The third step is to determine the objective analysis The last step is carried out to compare the findings with the materials requirements to evaluate the match between the materials and the requirement It can be seen that Hutchinson and Water (1987) recommended an effective model This model also

has a description of stages and criteria which are introduced systematically It helps the evaluators know exactly what must be done in order to analyze the materials compared with the requirements of the course

Figure 1: Materials evaluation model of Hutchinson and Waters (1987;97)

Model by Ellis (1997)

This model is a micro evaluation In Ellis’s view (1997), by focusing on the particular tasks, micro- evaluation could give the supporting to a systematic evaluation of materials after using He proposed a model that identified some basic steps of task evaluation as follow:

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

What realizations of the

criteria do you want in

your course?

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS

What realizations of the criteria do you want in your course?

MATCHING

How far does the material match your needs?

5 Analyzing the information collected

6 Reaching the conclusions and making recommendations for future teaching

7 Writing the report

Model by McDonough and Shaw (1993)

McDonough and Shaw have combined the macro and micro evaluation In this model, they mentioned a three- stage evaluation including internal, external, and overall evaluation

Macro- evaluation→ inappropriate/ potential→

↓ EXIT Micro- evaluation→ inappropriate/ appropriate → adopt/ select

↓ EXIT

Figure 2: Materials evaluation model by Mc Donough and Shaw (1993:75)

It is clearly seen from the chart that McDonough and Shaw suggest a logical procedure for materials evaluation The external evaluation offers, a brief

“overview” of the materials from the outside It consists of an examination of the claims made on the cover of the students’ and teacher’s books, the introduction and the table of contents The evaluation, at this stage, aims to find out whether the material is potentially suitable for more detailed analysis The internal evaluation requires “an in depth investigation into the materials” (p 75) It is strongly claimed that in order to do an effective internal investigation of the materials, at least two units or more units of the book are required to be examined The internal evaluation

is normally conducted after the external evaluation The overall evaluation is the process in which “there is a need to make an overall assessment of the material as to the suitability of the materials by considering the parameters, namely the usability factor, generalizability factor, adaptability factor and flexibility factor” (p.75)

In this thesis, the researcher used the model by Hutchinson and Waters (1987)

which is the most suitable for the research context In this thesis, the researcher only focus on subjective analysis

1.4 Criteria for materials evaluation

Criteria for materials evaluation are suggested by many different scholars According to Sheldon (1998: 241) “not all the criteria described would be deployed simultaneously, nor is the list definitive.” Therefore, it is necessary to consider the factors related to a specific teaching and learning context He presents criteria that can be used to evaluate the materials According to him, the criteria consist of rationale, availability, user definition, layout/ graphic, accessibility, linkage, selection/ grading, physical characteristics, appropriateness, authenticity, sufficiency, cultural bias, educational validity, stimulus/ practice/ revision, flexibility, guidance, and overall value for money Because of the context of the study, the criteria of Hutchison and Waters (1987) seem to be the most suitable The criteria include four main criteria for materials evaluation which each evaluator should pay attention to: the aims, the content and the methodology

(i) The audience of the materials requires the evaluator should collect information from the learners in order to know if the materials meet the learner’s needs or not

(ii) The aims of the materials help the evaluator to check whether the materials match the objectives of the course or not

(iii) The content of the materials plays the most important role in materials evaluation process The evaluator has to find out whether the content of the materials is appropriate to the students in terms of language description, language points, macro skills and their proportion, and micro skills Moreover, it is essential for the evaluator to know whether the material’s text types meet the requirements of the course or not Besides, the way the content is organized and sequenced within a unit and throughout the course need to be evaluated

(iv) The methodology used in the materials is an important factor when evaluating the materials It is necessary to indicate if the theories of learning on

which the course is based are in line with those of the materials under evaluation In addition, evaluators should measure whether the learners’ needs are the ones the materials intended to Moreover, the appropriateness between the kinds of exercises/ tasks and the course requirements is also examined An important factor

in methodology needs to be evaluated are the teaching and learning techniques: whether the teaching and learning techniques that can be used with the materials are those required by the course and effective for the learners Besides, it is useful to discover that the current teaching aids are what required by the materials Another factor which an evaluator needs concern is that the materials provide teachers with guidance and support for the course Furthermore, it is essential to examine whether the materials are flexible in order to be used in different sequence to match the teaching context

Other criteria: In words of Hutchinson and Water, it is necessary for the evaluators to consider other criteria such as the price and availability of the materials

1.5 Materials adaptation

1.5.1 The role of materials adaptation

Materials are adapted in order to achieve the objectives that the people have identified, defined and set for learning contexts It is obvious that the materials need

to be adapted in order to facilitate the learning process through identifying the learning problems so that learners are able to internalize the learning content in a natural way Materials are adapted because of some following reasons:

- To make the materials more suitable for the circumstances in which it is being used, i.e to mound it to the needs and interests of learners, the teacher’s own capabilities and such constraints as time, or as McDonough

& Shaw (1993:85) put it: “to maximize the appropriateness of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internal characteristics of a course book to better suit our particular circumstances

- To compensate for any intrinsic deficiencies in the material, such as

linguistic inaccuracies, being out of dated, lack of authenticity (Madsen and Bowen, 1987)

- To help teachers to maximize the value of the book for the benefit of their learners Hence they can improve it so that it is suitable for the particular situation (Shannon, 1987)

- “To make the materials of more value to the students using them” by adjusting them towards different classroom realities (Tomlinson, 2012: 151)

1.5.2 Techniques for adaptation

McDonough (2013) mention five primary techniques for materials adaptation

Adding: Adding simply means that materials are supplemented by putting

more into them Adding does not have to be made onto the end of something Adding by extension is when teachers supply more of the same content, where adding by expansion is when teachers go further by bringing about the qualitative and quantitative change

Deleting: It is the opposite technique of addition It refers to reducing the

length of materials by subtracting from it Similarly, deletion could be qualitative or quantitative

Modifying: This technique can be categorized in to two small techniques: re–

writing and re-structuring Re-writing is about the modification of linguistic content while re-structuring refers to the classroom organization

Simplifying: The technique of simplification is one type of modification,

namely, a rewriting activity The main application of this technique has been to texts, most often to reading passages Teachers can simplify according to sentence structures or content

Re-ordering: This technique refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a

course book in a different order This may mean adjusting the sequence of presentation within a unit, or taking units in a different sequence from that originally intended

1.6 Summary

This chapter is a brief review of literature on materials, materials evaluation

and materials adaptation It consists of five sections The first section reviews some previous related studies The second section is about definition of materials, types

of materials and roles of materials in language learning and teaching The third section mentions main issues in material evaluation such as definitions, types of materials evaluation, models of materials evaluation, and criteria for materials evaluation The fourth section presents criteria for materials evaluation The last section provides some issues in materials adaptation For these reasons, this chapter can be seen as the theoretical foundation for the applications for the next chapter and the improvement that should be made to the course book English Unlimited A1 –Starter for the first year students at The Armed Police School

It focuses on subjects, research instruments, and procedures of data collection

2.1 Description of the context

2.1.1 The setting

The Armed Police School has been built and developed for 40 years The school is the training cradle of armed policemen for most provinces in the country The school also had enough conditions and modern equipment in order to serve the learning needs of students Up to now, there are five major departments with a total

of over one thousand students

The study was conducted at Armed Police School that trains a variety of student’s majors such as Task force, Mobile police, Protection police, Military trainers and Martial arts trainers English is a compulsory subject with seventy five periods In the first year, the students learn English Unlimited A1- Starter published

by Cambridge Press in 2010 which provides them the basic knowledge of English Most students at the Armed Police School have not learned English for a long time The reason for this is that they have to work before studying at the school They are not homogenous in level, ability and age That leads to many difficulties for teaching and learning English there During the course, the students have classes

on a weekly basis with the class size of over 30 members However, the classes are occasionally disturbed, so the students have to wait for a long time to continue studying English In class, some good students are motivated to take part in the activities At the end of the course, they have to take part in a four skill exam based

on the knowledge presented in the course book

2.1.2 Objectives of the course

By the end of the course, the students are supposed to gain general objectives as follows:

- They are able to acquire Basic English grammar

- They are able to remember vocabulary relating to common topics in their daily lives

- They are able to communicate in simple situations

2.1.3 Course material

As the focus of the study is placed on English Unlimited A1- Starter student’s book, it is necessary for the researcher to give more information about this book English Unlimited is designed by Adrian Doff in 2010 It consists of 10 units with

10 topics related to daily life such as introduction, people, places, buying things and

so on Each unit consists of five pages to help the students build their language skills and knowledge These pages include speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary activities They also include classroom language and sounds and spelling activities They are followed by a target activity which helps the students put together what they have learnt There is a keyword section, which looks at the most common and useful words in English This is followed by an Explore speaking or Explore writing task and an across cultures activity These sections give the students extra language and skills work, all aiming to help them become a better communicator in English and a more effective learner The e-portfolio DVD-ROM contains useful reference material for all units, as well as self- assessment to help the students test their own learning

The teacher’s book is designed with answer keys and a suggested lesson plan for each teaching section It is very useful for the teacher to design extra activities in the lesson plan to make the lessons become more interesting

2.2 Research methodology

2.2.1 Participants

The first group of participants involved in this study was 07 English teachers from Faculty of Foreign Languages-Informatics of the Armed Police School They are homogeneous in ages and teaching experiences Their ages are from 30 to 43 years old and they have been teaching English at least for 5 years All of them have B.A degree while four of them have M.A degree Some teachers are studying M.A courses or preparing to study an M.A course in the future

The second group of participants includes 100 first year students who are chosen randomly in five majors such as Task Force, Mobile Police, Protection Police, Military trainers and Martial Arts trainers They are both male and female but the male outnumbered the female, and their ages range from 19 to 30 Most of them do not often learn English They have different levels of English proficiency because they come from different places in Vietnam The students in the study have finished their first and second term of the first year at the Armed Police School

of “ the world” Education backgrounds/Interests

AIMS

2 What are the aims of your course?

CONTENT

3 What kind of language description do you require? Should it be structural,

notional, functional, and discourse- based, some other kind, a combination of one or

more of these?

4 What language points should be covered? ( i.e What particular structures,

functions, vocabulary areas etc)

5 What proportion of work on each macro- skill (e.g reading) is designed? Should

there be skills –integrated work?

6 What micro- skills do you need? (e.g deducing the meanings of unfamiliar

words)

7 What text- types should be included? e.g manuals? Letters? Dialogues?

Experimental reports? Visual texts (pictures, diagrams, charts, graphs, cartoons

etc)? listening texts, any other kind?

8 What subject- matter area (s) is /are required (e.g medicine, biology etc)? What level of knowledge should be assumed (e.g secondary school, first year college/

university, post graduate etc)? What types of topics are needed (e.g in medicine:

hospital organization, medical technology etc)? What treatment should the topics be

given( e.g “ straightforward” “ factual; human interest’s angle; humorous; unusual perspective; taking into account issues, controversy, etc)

9 How should the content be organized throughout the course?

- Around language points?

- By subject matter?

- By some other means (e.g study skills)

- By a combination of means

10 How should the content be organized within the course units?

- By a set of pattern of components?

- By a variety of patterns?

- By some other means?

- To allow a clear focus on ( e.g certain skill area, a communication task etc)?

11 How should the content be sequenced throughout the course?

e.g From easier to more difficult? To create variety? To provide recycling? By other criteria Should there be no obvious sequence?

12 How should the content be sequence within a unit?

e.g From guided to free? From comprehension to production? Accuracy to fluency? By other means? Should there be no obvious sequence?

METHODOLOGY

13 What theory/ies of learning should the course based on?

Should it be behaviorist, cognitive, affective, some other kind, and a combination of one or more of these?

14 What aspects of the learners’ attitudes to/ expectations about learning English

should the course take into account?

15 What kinds of exercises/ tasks are needed?

e.g Guided ↔ free? Comprehension ↔production? Language /skills practice ↔ language/ skills use? One right answer↔ many possible right answers? Whole class

↔ group individual? Language/ skills- based ↔ content – based? Mechanical ↔ problem – solving ? Role- play, simulation, drama, games, ones involving visuals? Self- study? Some other kinds?

16 What teaching-learning techniques are to be used?

e.g Lockstep? Pair work? Small- group work? Student presentations? Work involving technical subject matter? Other kinds?

17 What aids are available for use?

e.g Cassette recorders? Overhead projectors? Realia? Wallcharts? Video? Others?

18 What guidance/support for teaching the course will be needed?

e.g Statements of aims? Lists of vocabulary and language – skills points? Language guidance? Technical information? Methodological directive or hints? Suggestions for further work? Tests? other kinds?

19 How flexible do the materials need to be?

OTHER CRITERIA

20.What price range is necessary?

21 When and in what quantities should the materials be available? Etc

2.2.2.2 Questionnaires

In this study, the questionnaire is designed based on Hutchison checklist in terms of subjective analysis presented above which consists of five main sections Section 1 consists of five questions which are designed to collect the participants’ information Section 2 includes three questions that discover the suitability of the course book with the mastery of the course’s outcomes Section 3 consists of eight questions with the aim to investigate if the content of the course book can meet the learner’s needs or not Section 4 has six questions aiming to find out the suitability

of methodology and learning conditions The last section includes three questions The purpose of this part is to gather learners’ comments on the course book and their suggestions as well

2.2.2.3 Informal interviews

The researcher conducts the interview with the aim is to collect data from the teachers after the questionnaires They were carried out after the course

2.2.2.4 Data collection procedures

Data collection was via the questionnaires for the students The questionnaires were designed based on the criteria which are the most suitable for this study Then, the questionnaires were given to the 100 students in different majors such as Task Force, Mobile Police, Protection Police, Martial Arts Trainers and Military Trainers randomly The students were asked to complete the questionnaires after they finished the course

The interviews for teachers were delivered after they finished the course for one class However, the teachers were asked to return after a week to make sure that they would have enough time to give accurate information The interviews were conducted out of the classroom The answers were recorded by the researcher

2.2.2.5 Data analysis procedures

As what mentioned before, the questionnaire consisted of both close- ended and open- ended questions The data in the questionnaire were analyzed using mean scores and percentages The questionnaire data were shown in tables Because of the aims of the study, a five-point Likert scale was used An example is that the

researcher used a 1-2-3-4-5 Likert scale to investigate the learner’s evaluation for their mastery compared with the aims of the course book (1= very badly, 2= badly, 3= quite well, 4= well, and 5= very well)

With the aim to present the data in a coherent and time saving way, a suitable data interpretation scheme which made use of the mean score method of descriptive statistics was used to formulate by the researcher The calculated mean scores have to be rounded

up or rounded down towards the standard points of the scale as follow:

A mean score from 4.5 up to 5 means “very well”, “strongly agree”, “very satisfied”, “too much”, and “always”; a mean score from 3.5 to 4.4 means “well”,

“agree”, “satisfied”, “much” and “usually”; a mean score from 3.0 up to 3.4 means

“quite well”, “neutral”, “appropriate”, and “sometimes”

A mean score from 2.9 down to 1.5 means “badly”, “disagree”, “little”,

“dissatisfied”, and “rarely”; a mean score from 1.4 down to 1.0 means “very badly”,

“strongly disagree”, “very little”, “very dissatisfied”, and “never”

An example of these mean scores analysis is looking at item 1 in question 1 The total of asked students is 100 Among them, four students ticked “very badly, eight students ticked “badly”, fifty-six chose “quite well’, twenty-one ticked “well”, and eleven chose “very well” For this statistic, the mean score can be calculated as (4x1+ 8x 2+56x3+21x4+11x5):100= 3.27 This mean score is rounded up 3.3 which

is considered as “quite well” by the students

In summary, this chapter is an overview of the current teaching and learning situation at The Armed Police School The participants in this study were from the Faculty of Foreign Languages- Informatics who have good experiences in teaching English All the analyses were combined to answer the research questions respectively

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results of the study, which were conducted to answer the research questions The results of the study are to find out whether the course book English Unlimited A1 - Starter meets the need of the course in terms of aims, content and methodology

3.1 The suitability of the course book with the mastery of the course’s outcomes

The general objectives presented above by the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Informatics It is clear that the main goals of the course book English Unlimited A1- Starter were based on the aim of the curriculum and syllabus The objectives of ten units in the course book were analyzed and described in terms of language points and skills according to the content of the course book

In this part, the researcher investigated and analyzed teachers and students’ opinions about the mastery of the course’s outcomes Specifically, they are required

to judge the student’s mastery of grammar, vocabulary and skills in order to get the conclusion about the aims of the course book with that of the curriculum

4 Like/ don’t like

5 Singular and plural nouns, how much

He/ She doesn’t + verb

7 Past simple positive, was/ were

10 Past time expressions

Table 1: Student’s opinion about their mastery of the course outcomes

in terms of grammar

It can be seen from table 1 that, in general, students were satisfied with the grammar items of the course book The data from the questionnaire indicated that after studying the course book, students could use grammar items quite well This was shown by the positive feedback which ranked from 3.2 to 3.3 meaning “quite well” From the analysis above, it can be assumed that the grammar presented in the

course book can meet the requirements in terms of aims of the course

When being interviewed about their students’ grammar mastery after using the course book, the teachers also agreed with their students with the thought that their students’ mastery of grammar compared with the aim of the course was quite good However, according to teacher B, there still existed the difficult grammar items

affecting the mastery of grammar The teacher emphasized that “the students are good at simple grammar items, but they cannot learn the complex ones For example, in unit 8, the students study the past simple tense with regular and irregular verbs However, the students have problems distinguishing the verb tobe and ordinary verbs, and regular verbs and irregular ones Consequently, the results

of the tests related to these grammar items are not high.”

From what mentioned above, it can be assumed that both teachers and students have the same evaluation about the mastery of the course outcomes in terms of the grammar items presented in the course book

Besides the grammar, it is necessary to investigate the vocabulary related to topics introduced in the course book

No Vocabulary related to topics Ms

to topics in the course book quite well

The follow-up interview with the teachers also revealed the similar result with the students’opinion The teacher all confirmed that the students’ vocabulary remembering ability was quite good Surprisingly, some of the teachers indicated that their students could remember the vocabulary in each unit well Teacher E said

“The students can remember the vocabulary related to 10 units well because in each unit, the vocabulary is easy to remember For example, in Unit 1, they only have to remember some words expressing greetings in English This is too simple.” Teacher B added “the vocabulary in each part of each unit is not much, so the students can remember well, especially vocabulary of the first units”

The above results indicate that compared with the students’ opinion, the teachers shared the same evaluation about students’ vocabulary remembering However, the interviewed teachers evaluated that their students remembered the

vocabulary better than that of the students’ evaluation

Apart from grammar and vocabulary, mastering the four skills is also the aim

of the course Therefore, evaluating the four skills is very helpful for the researcher

Table 3: Student’s opinion about their mastery of the course outcomes

in terms of four skills

As shown in table 3, in general, the course book helped students improve their skills The mean scores implied that using the course book helped the students have good chances to practice four skills However, different skills have different mastery While speaking, reading and writing skills were improved and evaluated

“quite well”, listening skill was still considered as the most difficult skill for them

to master The mean score of listening skill was 2.9 showing that the students were

still bad in this skill

The interviewed teachers shared the same thought with the students that their students’ mastery of the course outcomes in term of skills was achieved Regarding listening skill, only some teachers indicated that the students could listen quite well

The reason for this was explained by teacher C: “The listening tasks in the course book begin from simple to complex one They are integrated in other skills’ activities Besides, there are many listening tasks in each unit As a result, the students have more time to practice this skill compared with the other skills Especially, the final listening test is suitable for A1 level Therefore, the course’s outcomes are achieved.”

In addition to good evaluation from the teachers, the others still had different viewpoints Teacher F thought that the students still listened badly The teacher

indicated that “the listening tasks presented in the course book sometimes are

difficult for the students who have not learnt English for a long time For instant, task2a part 10.2 in Unit 10 asks students to have to listen to two people talking about themselves to order the sentences Some students will have wrong order if they listen only one time Teacher G also pointed out that “some listening tasks having songs or talking on phones caused difficulty for the students.”

In terms of speaking skill, 4 out of 7 interviewed teachers assumed that their students could do speaking test quite well Surprisingly, 2 out of 5 teachers had

good evaluation about their students’ speaking skill One of them claimed that “the speaking tasks in the course book are the same as ones in the final test, so that the students are familiar with the situations” Only one teacher had negative opinion

about the speaking skill According to this teacher, at A1 level, the students did not focus on pronunciation and the ability to answer the examiner's questions What they said was what they learnt by heart Consequently, the mastery of speaking skill was still bad

With regard to reading skill, all the teachers were satisfied with course’s outcomes They all agreed that the reading texts in the course book helped the students improve reading skill In addition to reading skill, writing skill had 4 of the

interviewed teachers having “quite well” evaluation Teacher G explained “the writing topics in the final test are what the students have studied Moreover, they were only asked to write a short paragraph Therefore, it is not difficult for them to master Especially, two of the teachers claimed that their students could write well

By contrast, there was still a teacher confirmed that the students were still bad in

writing The reason for this was analyzed by teacher B “at starter level, this course book only introduces simple grammar usage More importantly, writing techniques are not taught in each unit and many students cannot develop their ideas when writing”

Generally, the teachers as well as the students had the same opinions about the students’ skills improvement by using the course book They had an agreement that after using the course book, reading, speaking, and writing were improved However, listening skill is still a problem for the students to master

To sum up, the course book meets the students’ and teacher’s need in terms of

the aims compared with the aims of the curriculum After using the course book, the students can use grammar items and remember vocabulary quite well In addition, the using the course book also achieves the course’s requirements in terms of speaking, reading, and writing skill However, both students and teachers are not satisfied with listening skill designed in the course book This leads to the low the students’ mastery in listening skill

3.2 The suitability of the course book’s content

3.2.1 The suitability of language points

It is a fact that vocabulary plays an important role in any course book Therefore, by assessing the vocabulary presented in this course book, it could be confirmed that the vocabulary belonging to themes were presented in words and related to self-introduction, places, food and drinks, shopping, daily activities, etc Especially, before presenting the vocabulary in each unit, the meaning of the words

is explained by pictures As a result, the students can remember the vocabulary quite well meeting the curriculum’s requirements However, to make sure that the course book’s vocabulary is necessary for the students or not the researcher asked participants to give their own opinion

Table 4: Students’ opinion about the necessity of the vocabulary related to the

topics in the course book

As shown in table 4, the vocabulary in the course book was useful for most students With the mean score from 3.6 to 3.8, the students had an agreement with

the necessity of the vocabulary related to the topics People, Places, Every day,

Where and when, Things to buy, and Last week The vocabulary in some units such

as Hello, About you which were highly related to their life had high mean score 3.9

However, the students were not completely satisfied with the vocabulary in unit 10 Consequently, they had “neutral” opinion shown by the mean score 3.4 On the other hand, the vocabulary in unit 9 was thought to be unnecessary for them With the mean score 2.8, the students had disagreement with the necessity of this unit’s vocabulary

From the results obtained above, it can be assumed that students wish to learn what really close to their daily life

It can be seen from the content of the course book; there are many grammar

items such as tenses including present simple, present progressive, and past simple Besides, other grammar items are presented such as There is/ there are, Like/ don’t like, Singular and plural nouns, How much, This/ These, can/can’t, Past time expressions, How long/ when It cannot be denied that all grammar items are

presented in a logical way in the course book Besides, the grammar items are not complex for the students at starter level to master However, to examine these grammar items are the students’ need for their communication or not the researcher asked them to express their thought

4 Like/ don’t like

Do you… ?

3.6

5 Singular and plural nouns, how much

He/ She doesn’t + verb This/ These

3.5

6 Present simple: -s/ es

7 Past simple positive, was/ were

Were you…

3.5

10 Past time expressions

Table 5: Students’ opinion about the suitability of grammar items

for their communication need

Table 5 presents the suitability of grammar items for students’ communication need Generally, the grammar items met the student’s communication need The mean score of most units from 3.5 to 3.9 referring “agree” opinion showed the positive feedback of the students about the application of these grammar items in

their daily situations Especially, unit 6 about present simple tense had the highest

mean score-3.9 This means that students were satisfied with this the usefulness of this grammar item in their daily life However, there were some grammar items in unit 3 having the total mean score 3.4 which indicated that the students had an uncertainty about the effectiveness of them for their daily communication Especially, grammar items in unit 10 had the lowest mean score- 2.9 which is

inferred that they disagreed with the thought that the grammar items about Past time expressions and How long/ when are useful for their communication

Apart from grammar items and vocabulary, the daily situations in the course book also need to be evaluated by the researcher