A preliminary evaluation of the english course for academic purposes at the international department, thai nguyen university

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSIDTNU: International Department, Thai Nguyen UniversityMMU: Manchester Metropolitan University DMU: Demonfort Metropolitan University IB: International Business IBA:

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST –

THUẬT TẠI KHOA QUỐC TẾ, ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

PART A: INTRODUCTION………… ……… 1

1 Rationale of the study………… ……… 1

2 Objectives and significance of the study………… ……… 1

3 Research questions………… ……… 2

4 Scope of the study………… ……… 2

5 Methods of the study………… ……… 3

6 Organization of the study………… ……… 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT………… ……… 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………… ……… 4

1.1 English for Academic Purposes………… ……… 4

1.1.1 Definition of EAP………… ……… 4

1.1.2 The relationship between EGAP and ESAP………… ……… 5

1.1.3 English for GBP and English for SBP………… ……… 6

1.2 Course evaluation………… ……… 6

1.2.1 Definition of course evaluation………… ……… 6

1.2.2 The importance of course evaluation………… ……… 7

1.2.3 Common features of course evaluation………… ……… 8

1.2.4 Coursebook evaluation………… ……… 9

1.2.4.1 Definition of coursebook………… ……… 9

1.2.4.2 The significance of coursebook evaluation ………… ……… 10

1.2.4.3 Criteria of coursebook evaluation………… ……… 10

1.2.5 Previous studies………… ……… 12

CHAPTER 2: METHODS OF THE STUDY………… ……… 13

2.1 Background of the study………… ……… 13

2.1.1 The International Department and its teaching and learning conditions… 13 2.1.2 An overview of the course applied for the 1st year students of IDTNU… 14 2.2 Methods of the study………… ……… 15

2.2.1 Restating the research questions………… ……… 15

2.2.2 The subjects………… ……… 15

2.2.3 Data collecting instruments………… ……… 16

2.2.3.1 Questionnaires………… ……… 16

2.2.3.2 Interviews………… ……… 17

2.2.4 Procedures………… ……… 17

2.2.4.1 Questionnaire for students………… ……… 17

2.2.4.2 The interviews………… ……… 18

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION……… 19

3.1 Findings of the study………… ……… 19

3.1.1 The results of the questionnaire………… ……… 19

3.1.1.1 Students‟ background of learning English………… ……… 20

3.1.1.2 Students‟ assessment on time spent for each skill……… 22

3.1.1.3 Students‟ assessment on the teaching materials for each skill……… 23

3.1.1.4 Students‟ assessment on the sub-skills that they were taught……… 25

3.1.1.5 Students‟ self-assessment on the skills they have gained……… 26

3.1.1.6 The evaluation on teaching performance……… 27

3.1.2 The results of the interviews………… ……… 32

3.1.2.1 Answer to textbooks………… ……… … 32

3.1.2.2 Workload………… ……… 33

3.1.2.3 Students‟ English proficiency………… ……… 33

3.2 Discussions about the study results………… ……… 34

3.3 Summary………… ……… 36

PART C: CONCLUSION………… ……… 37

1 Summary of the main findings and conclusion……… 37

2 Pedagogical implications………… ……… 38

3 Limitations and suggestions for further research……… 39

REFERENCES………… ……… 41

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire…………

………

IAPPENDIX 2: Interviews…………

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

IDTNU: International Department, Thai Nguyen UniversityMMU: Manchester Metropolitan University

DMU: Demonfort Metropolitan University

IB: International Business

IBA: International Business and Administration

U.K: United Kingdom

EAP: English for academic purposes

EGAP: English for general academic purposes

ESAP: English for specific purposes

ELT: English language teaching

LIST OF TABLES AND FINGURES

PageFigure 1: The variety of years that students have learnt English before 20going to university

Figure 2: The subjects that students had to study for the entrance exam 21Figure 3: Students‟ assessment on time spent for each skill 22Figure 4: Students‟ assessment on the applicability of the textbook into 23business major

Figure 5: Students‟ assessment on the textbooks‟ suitability with 24students‟ level

Table 1: Students‟ opinion about the sub-skills they were taught 25Table 2: Students‟ self-assessment on the skills they have gained 26Table 4: students‟ evaluation on teacher A‟s teaching performance 28Table 5: Students evaluation on Mr B‟s teaching performance 29Table 6: Students' evaluation on Ms C‟s teaching performance 30Table 7: Students' evaluation on Mr D‟s teaching performance 31Figure 6: Comparison of the students‟ satisfying about the English 31teachers

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part is comprised of six sections including the rationale for the study,the objectives and significance of the study, the research questions, the scope of thestudy, the methods used in the study and the organization of the study

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, in many countries whose mother tongue is not English, English isnot a general subject but a language used to instruct other subjects In recent years

in Viet Nam, the development of education has required many universities to importcurricula from other countries, whose official language used to teach those subjects

is English This raises another challenge for learning and teaching English: how toteach English for Academic Purposes The International Department, a newdepartment under Thai Nguyen University, with the aim of applying importedadvanced programs into the school, has implemented an advanced programcollaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University In this program, students aregoing to use English as a medium of listening to lectures in their major Therefore,for the first year of studying, students are taught English in such a way that they canuse it for their academic purposes in the later years In fact, the school year of 2011-

2012 is the first year the International Department has implemented the Englishcourse for academic purposes so the preliminary evaluation of the course isimportant for the course designers to get the feedback from students about theprogram

2 Objectives and significance of the study

Firstly, the thesis is carried out to investigate the effectiveness and weakness

of the English course for the purpose of preparing study skills in English for the firstyear students, International Department – Thai Nguyen University Secondly, theaim of the study is to find out what aspects of language skills that students still need

to learn so that they can use English as a medium of instruction in their major Last

but not least important, some suggestions are given to improve the course of Englishfor academic purposes at the International Department, Thai Nguyen University.

This study is done in a hope that it will help better the quality of teaching andlearning English for academic purposes at IDTNU Thus, it will help enhancestudents‟ English competence

3 Research questions

In order to draw the conclusion, the following research questions are raised:

1 To what extent does the course satisfy students?

2 What do the students still need to learn?

3 How can the course be improved?

Hopefully, based on its findings, the International Department would bringabout the improvements in the course It would also help teachers have a clear view

of what aspects of the program that cause difficulties to students and which skills/activities they should add in their lessons Finally, with regard to researchers, theinformation in the study would be a reference for other related researches

4 Scope of the study

The research limits its scope to the English course for general academicpurposes for the first year students at IDTNU The choice of participants is simply amatter of convenience as the researcher is working as a training managing staff forIDTNU

5 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims, the qualitative and quantitative approach includingsurvey questionnaires and interview is used to collect the data The method used inthis research is formative evaluation In common, the data for the study wereobtained through the following instruments:

The questionnaires which were delivered to the first year students at IDTNU

to discover the students‟ background of learning English, their self-assessment onthe course books used during the course, what they were taught and what theygained from the course

The interviews were used to get the feedback from the lecturers of the course

on the students‟ English proficiency, the course books used as well as the suitability

of the workload on each English skill

6 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts:

Part A is the introduction, which presents an overview of the study with therationale for the research, the aims and the research questions of the study It alsonarrows the scope, presents the research method and outlines the content of thestudy

Part B is the development, which includes three chapters as follows:

* Chapter 1 is the literature review This chapter presents all therelated theoretical background that precedes and necessitates the information of theresearch

* Chapter 2 describes the research methods used in the study with some necessary components

* Chapter 3 is devoted to a detailed description of data analysis andthorough discussion of the findings of the study In this chapter some explanation andinterpretations of the findings are explored

Part C is the conclusion which presents the study conclusions and teachingimplications Besides, it also offers the limitations and suggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, all the related theoretical background that precedes andnecessitates the information of the research is presented There are three main parts:English for Academic Purposes and Course Evaluation The first part deals withdefinition of English for academic purposes, the relationship between English forgeneral academic purposes and English for specific academic purposes and therelationship between English for general business purposes and English for specificbusiness purposes The second one refers to the definition of course evaluation, itsimportance, teaching evaluation and course book evaluation

1 1 English for Academic Purposes

the past, nowadays, literacy is understood differently It involves mechanics such asdecoding as well as higher-order thinking – conceptualizing, inferring, inventing,and testing Then, literacy includes not only the ability to read and write but alsocommunication skills (August & Hakuta, 1997).

English for Academic Purposes, often identified as a sub-category of Englishfor Specific Purposes, is defined as a student‟s need for „quick and economical use

of the English language to pursue a course of academic study‟ (Bernard Coffey,

1984, p.4) Therefore, Jordan agrees to divide EAP into two additional groups:

„common core‟ or „English for General Academic Purposes‟ (EGAP) and specific‟ or „English for Specific Academic Purposes‟ (ESAP) We can easily findout from his opinion that studying English for General Academic Purposes focuses

„subject-on reading, writing, speaking and listening skills while English for SpecificAcademic Purposes concentrates on vocabulary and skills specific to a subject ofstudy In common, study skills are „key component‟ of EAP

1.1.2 The relationship between EGAP and ESAP

English for academic purposes can be divided into 2 sub types: English forGeneral Academic Purposes (EGAP) and English for Specific Academic (ESAP) asmentioned above Dudley – Evans and St John distinguished EGAP and ESAP asfollows: „EGAP refers to the teaching of the skills and language that are common toall disciplines; ESAP refers to the teaching of the features that distinguish onediscipline from others‟ (Dudley – Evans & St John, 1998, p 41) According toBlue, 1993, English for General Academic Purposes integrates the skills in studyactivities, for example, reading a text consists of understanding the main ideas andguessing the author‟s point of view or scanning for specific information Whereas,English for Specific Academic Purposes integrates EGAP skills in order to helpstudents in their actual subject tasks In other words, ESAP is the instrument forstudents to study their actual lectures Tonny Dudley – Evans and Maggie Jo StJohn (p.42, 1998) conclude the difference between EGAP and ESAP is that ESAP

pays attention to the actual skills for students to carry out while EGAP covers more general context

1.1.3 English for General Business Purposes (EGBP) and English for Specific Business Purposes (ESBP)

English for General Business Purposes (EGBP) courses are often for experience learners or those at the very early stages of their career (Dudley – Evansand Maggie Jo St John, 1998, p 55) EGBP includes traditional four skills plusspecific grammar and vocabulary development Presentation through listening orreading, followed by exercises to practice grammar and vocabulary is much focused(Dudley.et.al, 1998, p.56) In contrast, English for Specific Business Purposes(ESBP) courses are for job-experienced learners who bring business knowledge andskills to the language learning situation‟ (Dudley.et.al, 1998, p.56) Unlike EGBPcourses, ESBP concentrates on fluency practice including listening, speaking,reading and writing skills In these courses, „settings and carrier content are mainlytaken from the learners‟ own business contexts‟ (Dudley – Evans and Maggie Jo StJohn, 1998, p 56) Dudley – Evans and Maggie Jo St John point out 6 key variables

pre-in Buspre-iness English courses: course duration, participants, group size, location,mode of learning and trainers (p.57) Therefore, in the situation of the InternationalSchool, English course is for the general business purposes where four Englishskills plus grammar and vocabulary are focused

1.2 Course evaluation

1.2.1 Definition

Course evaluation involves the evaluation on course content, teachingperformance, the suitability of the course to students‟ level, workload and students‟self assessment on their achievement (Cashin, 1995)

Therefore, course evaluation refers to course content, teaching performance,the course difficulty, workload and students‟ self assessment on their achievement,using questionnaire to collect the data

1.2.2 The importance of course evaluation

Course evaluation which has been used in many universities in the world is

of great importance for both teachers and students Marsh (1987) points out fivepurposes of course evaluation First, it is a diagnostic feedback to faculty about theeffectiveness of their teaching that will be useful for the improvement of teaching.Second, it is a measurement of teaching effectiveness to be used in administrativedecision-making Also, the evaluation gives students information to use in theselection of courses and instructors Fourth, it is a measure of the quality of thecourse which is used in course improvement and curriculum development Finally,the evaluation‟s findings are an outcome or process description for research onteaching

Hutchinson and Water (1987:96) gives the reason for evaluation „Evaluation

is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose.‟Cunningsworth (1984:64) puts toward the idea „…that the process of evaluationcould not be a purely mechanical one and that professional judgment was involved

at every stage.‟ In Pamela Gravestock and Emily Gregor-Greenleaf‟s point of view(2008: 10), „the quantifiability and comparability of most course evaluations makesthe imprecise art of evaluating teaching seem more objective and manageable‟

Among many kinds of teaching and learning assessment, course evaluationsare considered one of the most common tools used to assess classroom teaching andbelieved the most heavily weighted for personnel decisions (Franklin , 2001)

Regarding to course evaluation, many linguists have conceded that there isnot any better options than course evaluation for providing the same sort ofquantifiable and comparable data (Abrami, 2001)

In general, most of researchers have appreciated the students‟ evaluation inbeing a useful measure of the instructional behavior that contributes to teachingeffectiveness (Beran, Violato & Kline, 2007; Abrami, 2001; Schmelkin, Spencer &Gellman, 1997; Marsh, 1987) The results getting from formative feedback are used

to facilitate improved teaching and course development (Pamela Gravestock andEmily Gregor-Greenleaf, 2008:10).

1.2.3 Common features of course evaluation

To many linguists, course evaluations generally assess different andseparable aspects of an instructor‟s teaching behaviours and particular aspects of acourse (Beran, Violato & Kline, 2007) According to Pamela Pamela Gravestockand Emily Gregor-Greenleaf, 2008: 13, course evaluation forms are almost alwaysanonymous and most frequently incorporate both qualitative and quantitativeresponses They also state that „evaluations generally request specific feedback onmeasures of teaching effectiveness and on particular aspects of a course‟ (p13)

Regarding to course design and delivery and instructor behaviour, Cashinlists six aspects needed in evaluations: 1) questions about course content; 2)questions about the instructor‟s communication skills; 3) questions about student-teacher interaction; 4) questions about course difficulty and workload; 5) questionabout assessment practices in the course; and, 6) students self-assessment questions

Marsh (1987) developed the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality(SEEQ) questionnaire with a list of 9 elements: 1) learning/academic value, 2)instructor enthusiasm, 3) individual rapport, 4) examinations/grading, 5)organization/ clarity, 6) breadth of coverage, 7) group interaction, 8)assignments/reading and 9) workload/difficulty

Harry Murray (1987) referred to the evaluation with the evaluation on 60instructor behaviours and teaching activities These behaviours and activities aregrouped into 9 categories: 1) clarity, 2) expression; 3) interaction, 4) organization,5) pacing, 6) disclosure, 7) speech; 8) rapport, and 9) teaching aids

1.2.4 Course book evaluation

1.2.4.1 Definition of course book

Course book is one of the factors playing an important role in the success ofthe whole course Many researchers have done a lot of studies on course book

evaluation with a new wave of interest in the development of the English course.Therefore, there are many definitions of course book given:

Ur (1986: 183) put a simple and easy –to – understand definition According

to him, course book is „a text book of which the teacher and each student has a copyand which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a languagecourse‟ Thus, the course book must be the one used by both teacher and studentssystematically during the course

Course book is defined by Sheldon (1988:237) as „the visible heart of anyELT programme‟ or it is considered as „an almost universal element of ELTteaching‟ by Hutchinson (1994:315) Especially, Low (1989) considers teachingmaterials as „one of the major determinants of what gets taught in languageteaching programmes‟ (p.136)

Many linguists claim that course books are a magical tool giving learners asense of system, cohesion and progress, and help to achieve consistency andcontinuation (Allwright, 1981; O‟Neil, 1982; Littlejohn, 1998) According toHutchinson & Torres (1994), course books are inevitably superficial andreductionist in their coverage of language items and they impose uniformity ofsyllabus and remove initiative from teachers

Therefore, course book can be broadly defined as the textbook that bothteacher and students use as a „road map‟ of the course A suitable course book plays

a very important role in the success of the course As the result, the courseevaluation should include the evaluation of the teaching materials

1.2.4.2 The significance of course book evaluation

The importance of course book leads to the importance of course bookevaluation As that Harmer (1991) explains the importance of course book forgiving teachers ideas about what to teach and how to teach, doing course bookevaluation is not a concern of educational researchers but also teachers using it.The evaluation helps the selection of course book, which serves as an importantstep of making - decision process Sheldon mentions that:

„The selection of a particular score volume signals an executive educationaldecision in which there is considerable professional, financial and even politicalinvestment This high profile means that the definition and application ofsystematic criteria for assessing course books are vital.‟ (1988:237)

In terms of book evaluation, Cunningsworth (1995: 14) claims that thoroughevaluation pave the way for teaching staff of each organization and policy makers

to have the ability to discriminate amongst all the available books in the marketand considering weak, as well as strong points of each book educators can choosethe most appropriate book

Hutchinson (1997) gives an interactive idea of materials evaluation asfollows:

„…materials evaluation plays such an important role in language teachingthat its potential for influencing the way teachers operate is considerable Materialsevaluation can and should be a two-way process which enables teachers not just toselect a textbook, but also to develop their awareness of their ownteaching/learning situation.‟ (37-38)

Evaluation of course book is viewed as a kind of educational judgment Toconclude, it helps to make decisions in selecting course books, to form professionaljudgments as well as to raise awareness of the teaching and learning experience

1.2.4.3 Criteria of course book evaluation

It is beneficial to draw some guidelines for evaluation and consideringcriteria of book evaluation Referring to the criteria for book evaluation, Sheldon(1988) claims that no list of criteria satisfies all different situations, and then theresearchers can only commit themselves to checklists or scoring systems.However, still, there are a lot of linguists who have published their ideas of criteriafor course book evaluation

Cunningsworth (1995: 7-15) presents that course book should correspond tolearners‟ needs, help to equip learners to use language effectively for their ownpurposes, facilitate students‟ learning process, have a clear role in mediating the

target language and the learner In terms of course book evaluation, a list ofsuccessful listening, speaking, reading, and writing can be also applied (Nunan,1989).

To inhibit subjective factors from influencing judgment in the early stage ofanalysis, Hutchinson and Waters (1987:97) emphasize the importance ofobjectivity in evaluation: „Evaluation is basically a matching process: matchingneeds to available solutions If this matching is to be done as objectively aspossible, it is the best to look at the needs and solutions separately‟ They dividethe evaluation process into four major steps: defining criteria, subjective analysis,objective analysis and matching

To Breen and Candlin (1987), a set of questions divided into two phases canplay a role of a guide for evaluation The first one poses some initial questionsabout the usefulness of the teaching materials in question, and the second oneoffers specific questions leading to a more searching analysis of materials withparticular learners and the actual classroom in mind

In terms of when to evaluate a course book, Cunningsworth (1995) classifiesevaluation into three kinds: „pre-use‟, „in-use‟ and „post-use‟ evaluation.According to him, pre-use evaluation may be the most difficult because there is noactual experience of using the course book From another perspective, in-useevaluation is a kind of evaluation for suitability, involving, matching the coursebook against a specific requirement including the learner‟s objective, the learner‟sbackground, and the resources available On the other hand, post-use evaluationrefers to an assessment of a text book‟s fitness over a period of continual use,which helps to decide whether to use the same text book in the future or not Healso distinguishes the two approaches of evaluation: impressionistic overview and

in –depth evaluation

1.2.5 Previous studies

Numbers of experts have done a lot of researches in course evaluation.According to Richard Kiely and Pauline Rea – Dickins (2005:5), evaluation in

language programs is „part of the novice teacher‟s checklist to guide thedevelopment of initial lesson plans and teaching practice, a process of determininglearning achievements or student satisfaction, and a dimension of the analysis ofdata in a formal evaluation or research study‟ Many other researchers share theseideas Kiely (1998) expressed the purposes for the evaluation activity were that itwas a demonstration of quality assurance at program implementation level or ameans of getting feedback from students on the appropriateness of activities fortheir learning needs Marsh (1987:259) showed the aim of students‟ evaluation onteaching effectiveness: “Diagnostic feedback to faculty about the effectiveness oftheir teaching that will be useful for the improvement of teaching” According toWright (2006), course evaluations or student ratings are one of the most commontools used to assess classroom teaching and may be the most heavily weighted forpersonnel decisions.

From the points of the previous researchers and educators about the purposes

of course evaluation, it is very useful to have a course evaluation in theInternational Department in order to put some improvements in the course

CHAPTER 2: METHODS OF THE STUDY

In this chapter, the researcher will provide some information about thebackground in which the study took place, which includes IDTNU and its teachingand learning conditions, and the English course design The second part of thischapter will deal with the methods of the study including the qualitative approach,data collecting instruments and the procedures of the research

2.1 Background of the study

In this section, the discussion of the International Department, where thestudy is conducted, is given In details, the researcher will refer to the factors thatplay a great part in her research, for example teaching and learning conditions, andthe English course which have been used for the first year students in IDTNU

2.1.1 The International Department and its teaching and learning conditions

The International Department, a new faculty under Thai Nguyen University,

is located in Thai Nguyen city The faculty was established in August 2011 with theaims of contributing to the improvement of the quality of training, and building thecapacity of human resources to develop international integration and the socio-economic community Therefore, the department has implemented two mainprograms: imported advanced program and joint programs In these programs, thelanguage used to deliver the lessons is English or Chinese For imported advancedprogram, English is the language for instruction In addition, the InternationalDepartment is currently cooperating with Manchester Metropolitan University(MMU) and De Monfort University (DMU), the United Kingdom, to recruitstudents for business majors In the school year of 2011-2012, the school has 40students learning bachelor program of international business, which is a jointprogram with MMU, and 20 students of international business and administration inthe cooperation with Honghe University Therefore, the department has 2 classes:class of International Business (IB) with 40 students and class of international

business and administration in the cooperation (IBA) with 20 students Thelanguage for instruction of IB class is English and Chinese is used for IBA class.

Currently, there are 5 English language teachers and 4 Chinese languageteachers In this study, the researcher will only focus on the English course, studentsand teachers of IB class where English is a mediums of instruction

With the aim of equipping students with language skills serving their study inEnglish, the department has decided to spend the first school year for students tostudy an intensive English course For that purpose, the department has investedmany types of equipment for teaching and learning, for example, wifi network,projector, speakers and air conditioner Especially, thanks to the cooperation withthe universities in the United Kingdom, many delegations from the UK have visitedthe department, which has created many chances for students to practice speakingand listening to English

2.1.2 An overview of the course applied for the first year students of IDTNU

In this course, the intensive English course, the English program has beendesigned to equip students with listening, speaking, reading and writing skills sothat they are able to study their major in English in the following years Therefore,the course covers 6 subjects: phonics, listening and speaking, reading, writing,grammar and Business English The purpose of the course is to provide studentswith study skills in English Below is the program of the course

Firstly, for the grammar subject, the instructor is Vietnamese with 180

teaching hours (50 minutes per each) The subject aims to provide students with a

basic knowledge of English grammar During the course, students have been using

the book Essential Grammar in Use by Murphy, which is designed for elementary

learners Therefore, the vocabulary used in this book is restricted

Secondly, the course has spent 45 teaching hours for phonics The subject has been delivered by Malaysian teacher using the text book Phonics, A handbook

for Grades 3-6 The objective of the subject is to introduce the students to the sound

system of the English language (vowels, consonants…) and provide them chances

to compare English and Vietnamese sounds and practice them

For the speaking and listening subject, New English File _ Beginning

Student’s Book and New English File _ Elementary Student’s Book have been used

to help students improve their English skills for conversation Students have spent

240 hours learning this subject with a Philippino teacher

Fourthly, the reading subject with 240 teaching hours has been introduced by

a Malaysian teacher The teacher has been using the books Read all about it and

Reading 2_ Advantage The purpose of this subject is to widen students‟ vocabulary

and improve their reading skills, as well

Write Traits is the book used for writing skill The workload for this subject

is 100 hours The teacher has taught students how to write a paragraph and organize

the ideas logically The teacher of this subject is the one who teaches Phonics andReading

Finally, Business English is the subject introduced by an Australian teacherwith 150 teaching hours Market Leader _Elementary Student‟s Book is the maintext book for the subject In this subject, students have learnt vocabulary in the areas

of business

2.2 Methods of the study

2.2.1 Restating the research questions

As mentioned in part 1, in order to test the hypothesis the research focuses

on three following questions:

1 To what extent does the course satisfy students?

2 What do the students still need to learn?

3 How can the course be improved?

2.2.2 The subjects

The subjects are 40 freshmen and 2 teachers at IDTNU They are bothmale and female students coming from different hometowns in Viet Nam.Especially, these students at high schools have prepared for different subjects forthe national entrance university examination Some students sat for the exam inwhich they did the exams on Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (group A) Otherstudents had the exams on Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology (group B) Otherstook the exams on Mathematics, Literature and English (group D) The rest did theexams on Literature, History and Geography (group C) Therefore, their English isnot at the same level The two teachers who were chosen to be the subjects of theresearch are English speaking teachers who have taught English to those students

For students, questionnaires were given while teachers wereinterviewed to get the feedback from the English course

2.2.3 Data collecting instruments

The study employed two instruments to obtain the data They are thequestionnaire and interview The combination of these instruments will increase thepreciseness and reliability of the data collected because the data obtained from onemethod will help to inform and refine the other

2.2.3.1 Questionnaires

The questionnaire was used to get the students‟ attitudes andevaluation toward the intensive English course According to Nunan, „thequestionnaire is a relatively popular means of collecting data‟ (Nunan 2002: 143).The questionnaire was designed with 5 main parts which focused on the followingaspects that the researcher would like to investigate: (Appendix 1)

+ Part 1 including 2 questions worked out the students‟ background of learning English

+ Part 2 providing students with 6 questions was aimed at students self –assessment on the suitability of workload and the textbooks used for the first year

+ Part 3 gave students the opportunity to give their self-identification in whatsub- language skills they have been equipped when studying English (5 questions).

+ Part 4 with 8 questions was designed to help students self-evaluate their gained skills after taking the intensive English course

+ Part 5 designed for students‟ evaluation on teaching performance This partincludes 10 questions

Questionnaire for students was in Vietnamese so that there was nomisunderstanding of the questions, which helped ensure the reliability and validity

of the data collected

2.2.3.2 Interviews

The interviews were designed for the English teachers to evaluatestudents‟ ability, the textbooks as well as workload For each language skill, theresearcher designed the interview questions focusing on the sub-language skills thatthe students need to obtain for their future study Thus, the interviews were dividedinto 3 parts: part 1 for speaking and listening skills, part 2 for writing and readingskills and the last one used for business English (Appendix 2)

All the interview questions were in English because the two teachers areEnglish speaking teachers The interviews were recorded to get the full informationfor the research

2.2.4 Procedures

The study was conducted in four months, beginning from 20th April, 2012and finishing by 20th August, 2012 at the International Department, Thai NguyenUniversity The procedures are as follows:

2.2.4.1 Questionnaire for students

After students finished the intensive course, they were given thequestionnaire The researcher then collected the information from this questionnaire

to find out the students‟ self-assessment on the program, workload, the teaching

materials, language skills they gained after the English course and teachingperformance done by the lecturers.

2.2.4.2 The interviews

To ensure the reliability and validity of data collected from students, theresearch designed some questions for the interview with the English teachers of theprogram The interviews were conducted in an informal way after the researchercollected the questionnaire from students Those interviews gave the researcher thebroad and deep view about the course as well as the students‟ language abilitybefore and after taking the course

The methods of the study were mentioned in detail above The next chapteranalyses these various types of data collected and interpretations are made with anattempt to answer the research questions

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents and discusses the findings that arise from two types of

data collected instruments: questionnaire and interviews

3.1 Findings of the study

3.1.1 The results of the questionnaire

The aims of the questionnaire were to explore students‟ self-assessment to

the English course in terms of workload for each language skill, teaching materials,

and the objectives of the course as well as the teaching performance

3.1.1.1 Students’ background of learning English

Figure 1: The variety of years that students have learnt English before

going to university

number of students

12

11 10

4 years 6 years 7 years 8 years 9 years 10 years 11 years 13 years

As can be seen from figure 1, the students have learnt English for a different

number of years before starting the university The students have studied for at least

4 years of English before university The maximum number of years that students

spent learning English is 13 years 11/40 of them have studied English for 7 years

Figure 2: The subjects that students had to study for the entrance exam

According to the figure 2, the first year students of the IS took the entranceexamination on different groups of subjects: Group A stands for Math, Chemistryand Physics, Group B is for Math, Chemistry and Biology, Group C is a social onewith Literature, History and Geography and Group D consists of Math, Literatureand English 37,5% of students are from group D which includes English as one ofthe subjects 55% are from the nature science group while only 7,5 % are fromsocial science

3.1.1.2 Students’ assessment on time spent for each skill

Figure 3: Students’ assessment on time spent for each skill

1 A noticeable finding in Figure 3 is that most of students reached an

agreement on the suitability of the workload spent for each language skill

For speaking skill, 22 students (55%) were satisfied with the time while 16

ones (40%) did not really agree with the division of teaching time and 2 students

(5%) strongly disagreed with that

For listening skill, many students (65%) claimed that the time log for thisskill was suitable whereas 13 students (32,5%) said it was not very suitable and 1

(2,5%) was totally unsatisfied with the time spent for listening skill

As for reading skill, 33 students (84,6%) agreed on the suitability of thelength of time for this skill while only 6 (15,4%) did not really approve of it

Finally, for writing skill, 28 students (73,7%) concurred with the length oftime used for the skill Only 10 of them (26,3%) had different ideas with the others

on that

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3.1.1.3 Students’ assessment on the teaching materials for each skill

Figure 4: Students’ assessment on the applicability of the textbook into business major

Figure 4 expresses students‟ self-assessment on the application of thetextbooks on their major subject

For New English File, the textbook used to teach listening and speaking, only22% of students said that it was applicable on the business area while 64% did notthink it helped them much for their business major 14% considered that thetextbook‟s applicability on business was very little

For Market Leader, the textbook for Business English subject, most ofstudents (91%) agreed on its applicability on their major while only 9% of themthought that it was not very applicable

It is quite interesting that many students (46%) appreciated that the textbookPhonics helped them very much with their major 38% said it helped them verymuch and in terms of their major while 15% of them said that it was not veryapplicable or not applicable at all

For writing skill, 34% of students considered that the textbook was muchapplicable However, 53% thought that it was not very applicable and 13% did notthink it was applicable at all.

„Read all about it‟ and „Reading 2_Advantage‟ are the two textbooks usedfor reading skill Most students agreed on their applicability As can be seen fromthe chart, 67% thought „Reading all about it‟ was much or very much applicable.For „Reading 2_Advantage‟, 83% had the same idea Only 33% disagreed and 3%strongly disagreed on the applicability of the textbook „Reading all about it‟ ForReading 2_Avantage, 15% disagreed and 2% strongly disagreed on its applicability

Finally, for grammar subject, 63% considered that the textbook was muchapplicable on their major while 26 disagreed and 11% strongly disagreed with that

Figure 5: Students’ assessment on the textbooks’ suitability with students’ level

Figure 5 describes students‟ assessment on the difficult level of thetextbooks According to the data obtained from questionnaire, most students(average of 70%) considered that the textbooks used during the course were suitablewith their level Only a few of them said that they were difficult (22%) or easy (6%)

to their level