Teachers and students evaluation of english 1 1 textbook in use at vietnam university of commerce

LIST OF TABLES4.2 Students‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization 20 4.4: Students‟ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content 224.5: Students‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Lan

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY

OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES *****************

ĐOÀN PHƯƠNG NGÂN

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’

EVALUATION OF ENGLISH 1.1 TEXTBOOK IN USE AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE

ĐÁNH GIÁCỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH 1.1 ĐANG SỬDUNG̣ TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

THƯƠNG MẠI

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi - 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY

OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES *****************

ĐOÀN PHƯƠNG NGÂN

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’

EVALUATION OF ENGLISH 1.1 TEXTBOOK IN USE AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE

ĐÁNH GIÁCỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH 1.1 ĐANG SỬDUNG̣ TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

THƯƠNG MẠI

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: Nguyễn Minh Huệ, M.A.

Hanoi - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements……… ……… i

Declaration……… ……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents……… iv

List of Abbreviations……… vi

List of Tables ……… vii

List of Figures and Charts……… viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.1 Rationale of the study……… 1

1.2 Aims of the study……… 2

1.3 Research questions……… 2

1.4 Scope of the study……… 2

1.5 Significance of the study……… 2

1.6 Overview of the paper ……… 3

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 4

2.1 Materials……… 4

2.1.1 Definition ……… 4

2.1.2 Categories of materials ……… 4

2.2 Material evaluation ……… 5

2.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation ……… 5

2.2.2 Types of material evaluation ……… 6

2.2.3 Purposes of material evaluation ……… 6

2.2.4 Approaches to material evaluation ……… 7

2.2.5 Principles for material evaluation ……… 7

2.2.6 Models for material evaluation ……… 9

2.2.7 Criteria for material evaluation ……… 11

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY……… 14

3.1 An introduction to English 1.1 course and English 1.1 textbook……… 14

3.1.1 English 1.1 course ……… 14

3.1.2 English 1.1 textbook ……… 14

3.2 Participants……… 15

3.3 Data collection instruments ……… 16

3.3.1 Questionnaires ……… 16

3.3.1.1 Student questionnaire……… 16

3.3.1.2 Teacher questionnaire ……… 17

3.3.2 Interviews……… 17

3.4 Procedures ……… 17

3.5 Data analysis ……… 18

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ……… 19

4.1 Results and discussion……… 19

4.1.1 Questionnaire results ……… 19

4.1.1.1 Student questionnaire results ……… 19

4.1.1.2 Teacher questionnaire results ……… 23

4.1.2 Follow-up interview results ……… 28

4.1.2.1 Student follow-up interview results ……… 29

4.1.2.2 Teacher follow-up interview results ……… 31

4.2 Major findings ……… 32

4.2.1 Summary of main findings……… 32

4.2.2 Strengths and weaknesses of the textbook ……… 33

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION……… 37

5.1 Summary……… 37

5.2 Limitations of the study……… 37

5.3 Implications …… ……… ……… 38

5.4 Recommendations for further studies.……… 39

Reference……… 40

LIST OF TABLES

4.2 Students‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization 20

4.4: Students‟ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content 224.5: Students‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Language Skills 224.6 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Aims and Approach 244.7 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization 25

4.9 Teachers‟ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content 264.10 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Language Skills 27

LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS

Figure 2.1: The Materials Evaluation Model of Hutchinson and 9Waters (1987: 98)

Figure 2.2: A preliminary framework for materials analysis and 10action by Littlejohn (1998)

Chart 4.1: Students‟ main studying purposes for the course 20Chart 4.2: Teachers‟ Opinions on Purposes of the Course 24

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

The textbook, a key component in most language programs, is one of the major teachingand learning resources used both inside and outside the classroom (Richard 2005) It has anenormous influence on what is taught in class and how it is taught In Tyson‟s research(1997), he found “those new and in-experienced teachers, or those who lack adequate timefor lesson planning, may actually teach from the first page of the textbook to the last,skipping little or nothing” (p 89) Due to its very important role, selecting a right textbookfor an English course is not an easy task for each EFL teacher

Nguyen (2007) reviews all the advantages and disadvantages of using the textbook in herresearch On the one hand, the textbook offers certain advantages like instruction andassessment standardization (Richard 2005), providing syllabus for a program(Cunningsworth 1995), receiving students‟ credibility (Sheldon 1988) and making aneffective resource for learning in the classroom and self-directed learning (Cunningsworth1995) On the other hand, it also shows several reservations like being able to control themethods, processes, and procedures of classroom practice and „deskill‟ teachers (Allwright1982); and not suiting all classrooms as it is written for global market (Richard 2005).Being aware of all the above advantages and disadvantages, the teachers at EnglishDepartment, University of Commerce carefully selected content for English 1.1 textbook,which is used for English 1.1 course, the first English course for the students at thisuniversity The content selection for the textbook is based on the course objectives,students‟ levels and their needs and the course length Sources of the textbook areBusiness Basics (2000) written by David Grand and Robert Mc Larty, published by OxfordPress, and Market Leader (2004) written by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent,published by Longman

This textbook has been in use at Vietnam University of Commerce since 2008 It has,undeniably, contributed greatly to the English language teaching and learning there, but forsome unanticipated problems, it remains unsatisfactory As a matter of fact, no research onevaluation of this textbook had been carried out to see how far it suited the course Thus,

this study was conducted to evaluate the textbook and suggest ways to improve the quality

of the textbook as well as the course

1.2 Aims of the study

This study is aimed at evaluating English 1.1 textbook used at Vietnam University ofCommerce from perspectives of teachers and students It is designed to find the strengthsand weaknesses of the textbook, and also suggest some solutions for further improvement

of the textbook which undoubtedly will enhance the learning efficiency as well asstimulate students‟ interest in the language learning process

1.3 Research questions

In order to meet the aims of the study, the following research questions are generated:

1 What are the strengths of English 1.1 textbook from the perspective of teachers and students at Vietnam University of Commerce?

2 What are the weaknesses of English 1.1 textbook from the perspective of teachers and students at Vietnam University of Commerce?

1.4 Scope of the study

As its name “ Teachers’ and Students’ Evaluation of English 1.1 Textbook in Use at University of Commerce” suggests, the thesis will focus on the communicative nature of

the English 1.1 textbook and the ease of its use from the perspectives of teachers andstudents in the studied context The textbook will be evaluated under certain categories

namely aims and approach, design and organization, topic, language content and language skills.

1.5 Significance of the study

The findings of the thesis give teachers and students at Vietnam University of Commerce acomprehensive look at their textbook They have a systematic evaluation of the bookwhich “may even constitute the main source of language input that learners receive and thebasis for language practice that occurs both inside and outside the classroom” (Nguyen

2007) Practically, those findings are beneficial to both teachers and course designers in improving the quality of the course

1.6 Overview of the paper

The study consists of five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 introduces the background to the thesis, the aims, significance, scope and

methods of the thesis

Chapter 2 is a review of literature on material evaluation.

Chapter 3 presents an overview of English 1.1 course and English 1.1 textbook, and

describes the methodologies employed in the study

Chapter 4 analyses data and discusses the findings of the study.

Chapter 5 concludes the study.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

The present chapter reviews previous research related to evaluating EFL materials It firstsheds light on materials with their definitions and classifications (section 2.1) Then, thechapter reviews material evaluation with its associated issues (section 2.2) In this section,definitions, types, purposes, approaches, and principles of materials evaluations areexplored The section also outlines criteria and models for evaluating materials withdifferent viewpoints of different researchers

2.1 Materials

2.1.1 Definition

Language learning materials are often associated with coursebooks as they have been themain source of people‟s experience of using materials However, according to Tomlinson(1998), materials are a “term used to refer to anything which is used by teachers or learners

to facilitate the learning of a language” He affirmed teachers can adapt materialsaccording to ages and proficiency level of the students

2.1.2 Categories of materials

Materials can vary from textbooks, audio, and video tapes to electronic documents likepower point files or e-books According to McGrath (2002), these materials can becategorized into four main types

Adapting and supplementing published materials

Materials in this category are those refer to published ones that have been adapted orsupplemented in some way These cut-up materials can be self-standing or deliberatelydesigned to supplement the coursebooks.

an EFL material is appropriate calls for material evaluation

2.2 Material evaluation

2.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation

In the words of Williams (1983), “any textbook should be used judiciously, since it cannot cater equally to the requirements of every classroom setting” Thus material evaluation has

been given a great deal of attention Murphy (2000) strengthens this point when heconsiders evaluation one of the key concepts in ELT to “determine the extent to which aprogramme is worthwhile, and to aid decision-making through the purposeful gatheringinformation”

Sheldon (1988, p.237) agrees with Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.97) that textbook

evaluation is basically a straightforward, analytical “matching process: matching needs to available solutions”.

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) regard material evaluation “as a whole process whichbegins with determining what information to gather and ends with bringing about change

in current activities or influencing future ones.”

In order to evaluate a textbook, Cunningsworth (1984, p.2) raises a number of questions

and emphasizes the one: “Good for what and bad for whom?” He believes that textbook evaluation does not mean making “absolute judgments in the abstract” and that it is

“making relative judgments, taking the learning situation in consideration.”

2.2.2 Types of material evaluation

In classifying material evaluation, different authors suggest different terms Johnson (1989)and Robinson (1991) both agree on three types of material evaluation: preliminary,formative and summative Cunningsworth (1995) and McGrath (2002) introduce similardistinction but in different terms: pre-use, in-use and post-use evaluation Preliminary orpre-use evaluation establishes potential suitability of the materials Formative or in-useevaluation examines how materials really work in the classroom by gathering data onplanning decisions, implementation and response Summative or post-use evaluationprovides reflective assessment of a coursebook‟s performance and can be useful foridentifying strengths and weaknesses which emerge over a period of continuous use

Ellis (1997) classifies materials evaluation into two types which includes predictive

evaluation and retrospective evaluation They are respectively designed to make a

decision regarding what materials to use, to determine which best suited to their purposesand to examine materials that have actually been used, to determine whether the materialshave “worked” for them

According to Ellis, retrospective evaluation can be impressionistic or empirical.Impressionistic evaluation is characterized by teachers‟ assessing whether particularactivities “work” during the course and at the end of the course their summative judgments

of the materials are made Empirical evaluation is time-consuming as teachers have tocollect information in a more systematic manner; they report using students‟ journals andend-of-course questionnaires to judge the effectiveness of their teaching, including thematerials they used

This particular paper can be classified as the „retrospective‟ type of evaluation in which anattempt is made to check the characteristics of the textbook under study against a list ofcriteria proposed by Cunningsworth (1995), which will be presented in the subsequentpart

2.2.3 Purposes of material evaluation

According to Swales (1985, cited in Low, 1987, p 21), there are very few published worksabout the effectiveness of coursebooks in use Teachers, material designers and education

researchers tend to be less reflective about what is happening when one textbook is used.Many reasons can be account for this Firstly, it attributes to a centrally prescribedcurriculum and coursebooks Secondly, it is the workload and time constraints so teachershave little time or motivation to judge the fitness of the textbooks.

As discussed earlier, materials, especially authentic materials, play a significant role inforeign language teaching They are not simply the everyday tools of the languageteachers; they are a representation of the aims and methods of the particularteaching/learning context In the words of Cunningsworth (1995, p 7), coursebook is “aresource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learnerneeds” Evaluation helps assess whether the coursebook is the most appropriate for thetarget learners at various levels and in various teaching context Moreover, the evaluationprocess will involve elements of comparison, especially where existing materials are beingchallenged by newly produced materials

2.2.4 Approaches to material evaluation

Cunningsworth (1995) distinguishes between two approaches to textbook evaluation which

are impressionistic overview and in-depth evaluation The former is defined as forming

“a general impression of a course book fairly quickly, just by looking through it and getting an overview of its possibilities and its strengths and weaknesses, noting significant features which stand out.” The latter is identified by “seeing what is prominent and obvious in a course book” together with “examining how specific items are dealt with, particularly those which relate to students” learning needs, syllabus requirements, how

different aspects of language are dealt with, etc.”

2.2.5 Principles for material evaluation

Cunningsworth (1984, pp.5-7) proposes four principles for materials evaluation:

Relate the teaching materials to your aims and objectives.

When designing a course, its aims and objectives are set first Based on these, teachingmaterials should be sought In other words, the aims of a teaching programme shoulddetermine the course materials to be used and not vice-versa

If one does a retrospective evaluation of a selected material, this principle reminds him orher to consider whether the material matches the aims and objectives of a languageprogramme first This is a very important consideration.

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

The materials selected must consider what the learners will do with English on completingtheir course The activities students participate in class should be a preparation for theirreal-life interactions in the outside world The real aim of language teaching is to bring thelearners to a point where they can use the language for their own purposes, and this goesfar beyond manipulating structure drills

Keep your students’ learning needs in mind.

If materials meet students‟ learning needs, they will surely motivate the students Learningneeds are not limited solely to considerations of the language Learners have intellectualand emotional needs too Course materials can help by using subject matter that isintellectually stimulating and to which the students can relate personally It is alsoimportant that materials should include different types of activities like whole class, groupwork, pair work and individual This is because students need to be catered for both asindividuals and as members of a group Within the space of one lesson, a student may actalternately as an individual and a group member, depending on several factors includingthe sort of exercise he is doing, the skills that are being practiced and his own learningstrategies

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

These are vital aspects of language teaching It is now a common belief that there is no one

„best‟ way of learning and that learners adopt different learning strategies, often switchingstrategies from time to time

These principles are realized in the criteria checklists that Cunningsworth released in 1995.These checklists will be revisted in the subsequent part

Looking from different viewpoint, material evaluation should be based firstly on theory of

learning and teaching This is the foundation for second language teaching and learning A

teacher/ an evaluator must acquire this theory before conducting any research on materialevaluation Second language acquisition (SLA) research findings are another guidingprinciple for material evaluation Research findings on SLA are mortar that build languageteaching and learning qualities They help teachers find way to improve their teachingeffectively When one has to evaluate a material, these research findings assist him/herwith criteria checklists and models for the evaluation He/she can adopt or adapt onechecklist and one model which best suit his/her teaching and learning circumstance

It is critical for evaluators to apply their principles of evaluation to the contextualcircumstances of their own evaluation in order to determine the most reliable and effectiveprocedures

Evaluators must be cautious in making generalizations of their evaluation A material can

be judged to be suited to this circumstance but not to others and vice versa

2.2.6 Models for material evaluation

Evaluation, according to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 97), is basically a process ofmatching needs to available solutions Accordingly, the evaluation process is divided intofour steps which are presented in the following diagram:

What realizations of criteria do

you want in your course?

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS How does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?

MATCHING

How far does the material match your needs?

Figure 2.1: The Materials Evaluation Model of Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 98)

In Hutchinson and Waters' point of view, teaching - learning materials must meet thedemands of teachers, learners and sponsors; so in the early stage of analysis the subjectivefactors should not be allowed to obscure objectivity.

To ensure an objective matching, it is advisable to look at the needs and solutionsseparately But in the final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective grounds.Hutchinson and Waters also point out that the subjective analysis should not be seen as "afixed set of requirements" (1987: 97)

On this issue, Littlejohn (1998) suggests a preliminary framework for material analysis andevaluation as following:

MATCH AND EVALUATION How appropriate are the aspects of design and the aspects of publication to the target situation of use?

ACTION Adopt the materials Reject the materials Adapt the materials Supplement the materials Make the materials a critical object

Figure 2.2: A preliminary framework for materials analysis and action by Littlejohn (1998)

The diagram shows that the two steps of describing target situation and analyzing materialsare conducted spontaneously and independently After that, match and evaluation are takenwhich reveals the level of appropriateness to the target situation From these analyses,decision on materials is reached in the last stage

These two models vary in the processes but both are invaluable in setting out a way toevaluate materials.

2.2.7 Criteria for material evaluation

Criteria are crucial since they serve as the basis for evaluators‟ judgments Various writershave suggested ways of helping teachers to be more sophisticated in their evaluativeapproach, by presenting evaluation 'checklists' based on supposedly generalizable criteriathat can be used by both teachers and students in many different situations

According to Sheldon (1988), no general list of criteria can ever really be applied to allteaching and learning contexts without considerable modification However, most of thesestandardized evaluation checklists contain similar components that can be used as helpfulstarting points for ELT practitioners in a wide variety of situations Criteria should helpevaluate both physical and logistical characteristics of textbooks (Williams, 1983),(Sheldon, 1988), (Brown, 1995), (Cunningsworth, 1995) and (Harmer, 1996) Otherimportant criteria that should be incorporated are those that assess a textbook'smethodology, aims, and approaches and the degree to which a set of materials is not onlyteachable but also fits the needs of the individual teacher's approach as well as theorganization's overall curriculum Moreover, criteria should analyze the specific language,functions, grammar, and skills content that are covered by a particular textbook as well asthe relevance of linguistic items to the prevailing socio-cultural environment Finally,textbook evaluations should include criteria that pertain to representation of cultural andgender components in addition to the extent to which the linguistic items, subjects, content,and topics match up to students' personalities, backgrounds, needs, and interests as well asthose of the teacher and/or institution

Recent researches on material evaluation have used variable checklists Ali Jahangard(2007) proposed a cross-checklist to evaluate EFL textbook taught at Iranian Public HighSchools In his research, he “browsed about 10 checklists proposed by different authorsand selected 13 features which were common to most of these checklists to do theevaluation” Followings are his checklist:

1 Are objectives explicitly laid out in an introduction, and implemented in

the material?

2 Good vocabulary explanation and practice

3 Approaches educationally and socially acceptable to target community

4 Periodic review and test sections

5 Appropriate visual materials available

6 Interesting topics and tasks

7 Clear instructions

8 Clear attractive layout, print easy to read

9 Content clearly organized and graded

10 Plenty of authentic language

11 Good grammar presentation and practice

12 Fluency practice in all four skills

13 Encourage learners to develop own learning strategies and to become

independent in their learning

(Checklist used by Ali Jahangard 2007)Research by Roseman, Kulm, and Shuttleworth (2008) proposed quality indicators to judge

a textbook These indicators look at textbooks at a quite different point They organized theinstructional characteristics of effective materials (textbooks) into broad categories thatinclude:

Taking account of student ideas

Textbooks should help teachers in attending the ideas that students already have and tohelp students gain a better understanding of key concepts and skills This will help inconcept building Concepts are key building blocks for the structure of knowledge ofvarious academic disciplines All concepts possess at least four components i.e attributes,examples, definitions and hierarchical relation (Tennyson & Park, 1980)

Engaging students with relevant contexts, experiences, and phenomena

Textbook should use a variety of contexts-from visual models to symbolic representations

of hands-on activities and first-hand experiences-to build formal ideas and skills

Promoting student thinking about phenomena, experiences, and knowledge

Textbooks should help students make sense of their experiences and ideas Textbooks thatprovide carefully chosen and sequenced questions and tasks can help students reflect on,clarify, and explain their reasoning and ideas

Developing and using scientific and mathematical ideas

Textbooks should provide a wide range of problem-solving and practice tasks to helpstudents see the link between concepts and skills

Project by Nguyen (2007) on evaluation of Vietnam upper secondary English textbooksadopted checklists provided by Cunningsworth (1995) with some modification Thesechecklists, which include two parts, cover the most important evaluation criteria

Quick-reference checklist

- Aims, approaches and principles

- Design and organization

- The teaching of listening skills

- The teaching of speaking skills

- The teaching of reading skills

- The teaching of writing skills

- The teaching of grammar

- The teaching of vocabulary

- The teaching of phonology

These checklists appear to be more suitable to the evaluation of English 1.1 textbook.

They are adapted and modified to be questions with options to gain objective evaluationfrom teachers and students at VUC Together with the materials evaluation model byHutchinson and Waters which was deliberately chosen as basis for conducting the research,these criteria appear to be more practical and manageable in the time constraint of thethesis and in the context of VUC

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

The present chapter introduces English 1.1 course and English 1.1 textbook, and describesthe research design and methodological steps and procedures used to carry out this study Itdescribes, in detail, the participants, data collection instruments, procedures, methods ofdata analysis, etc that were involved in the investigation

3.1 An introduction to English 1.1 course and English 1.1 textbook

3.1.1 English 1.1 course

To prepare VUC students for the needs of English for their job, a business Englishprogram which consists of six courses from English 1.1 to English 1.6 is offered Theobjective of these courses is to provide the students with a command of English so thatthey can fruitfully use it in their future job The whole English program lasts 12 credits,equivalent to 450 hours, 330 hours of which are spent in classroom

English 1.1 is the first English course which students have to take at VUC Its level iselementary It aims at providing students with basic knowledge of grammar, vocabularyand necessary skills to get used to communicating in international business environment.The course lasts two credits with the structure 24.9.12, which means 24 periods are spent

on teaching, 9 periods on discussion and 12 periods on self-study (each period is 50minutes long)

3.1.2 English 1.1 textbook

English 1.1 textbook is the main teaching and learning material in the course The topics inthe textbook are collected from two sources which are Business Basics (2000) written byDavid Grand and Robert Mc Larty, published by Oxford Press, and Market Leader (2004)written by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, published by Longman Thetextbook mainly develops three linguistic skills (reading, listening and speaking) andlinguistic knowledge (grammar and vocabulary) It covers some common situations inbusiness such as self introducing, talking about work and leisure, telephoning solvingproblems, making bookings and checking arrangements, entertaining, presenting a product,dealing with problems, participating in discussions

The textbook consists of 8 units, Supplementary grammar, and key to supplementary

grammar Each unit is divided into four or five sections which are Starting up,

Vocabulary, Reading, Listening and Skills Starting up includes activities such as

listening, speaking or vocabulary exercises to warm students up Vocabulary activitiesextend learners‟ vocabulary in a given lexical area and give them the opportunity topractice the new terms in both controlled and free contexts Reading texts always presentnew language and vocabulary, and help students practice information-finding or generalcomprehension Listening activities give practice in understanding new language in itsspoken form, in listening for specific information, in understanding the gist of the dialogue.Skill activities are used for discussion around a theme, to access students' knowledge of alanguage point, and to provide controlled and free practice of target language After eachunit, teachers revise English basic grammar using the Supplementary grammar part.Teachers usually have 150 minute class time to cover content of each unit plus grammar

3.2 Participants

The participants in the study were 100 first - year economic majored students fromVietnam University of Commerce These students have taken English 1.1 course Theycome from five faculties of VCU: Business Administration (23 informants), Economics(18 informants), E-commerce (21 informants), Finance and Banking (16 informants.), andHotel and Hospitalism (22 informants) The participants had learnt EFL for at least 7 years

in lower and upper secondary schools before enrolling in university programs A generaldescription of students‟ variables is reported in Table 3.1 in number and percentages

Table 3.1 Description of Student Participants (N=100)

18-20 yrs ≥20 yrs Male Female 7-9 yrs 10-12 yrs ≥13 yrs

In addition, 8 teachers were given questionnaire forms to fill in, and then interviewed.These Vietnamese teachers come from English faculty of VUC The reason for choosingthese teachers is that they have taught English 1.1 classes They have different teaching

experience and academic degrees These variants are reported in Table 3.2 in number and percentages

Table 3.2 Description of Teacher Participants (N=8) Variable Academic Degree Sex Teaching experience

Bachelor Master In-program Service Male Female 1-5 yrs ≥6 yrs

Percentage 37.5% 50% 12.5% 12.5% 87.5% 37.5% 62.5%

3.3 Data collection instruments

A descriptive research design incorporating both qualitative and quantitative instrumentswas used to accomplish the objectives of the study The use of both types of instrumentsprovides a more comprehensive picture of the participants‟ attitudes than could be possiblewith one data collection method alone (Creswell, 2008) The instrument employed were

(1) two questionnaires (quantitative treatment): a learners‟ evaluation questionnaire and ateachers‟ evaluation questionnaire; and (2) interviews with both learners and teachers from

a representative sample of the participants (qualitative treatment) The analysis of the datacollected was used to draw conclusions related to the research questions already identified

3.3.1 Questionnaires

3.3.1.1 Student questionnaire

To determine the participating students‟ evaluation of English 1.1 textbook, aquestionnaire was used (see Appendix A) Most of the items were developed fromprevious studies (Cunningsworth, 1995; Nguyen, 2007)

The questionnaire consisted of two parts The first part was designed to collect studentsdemographic and background information The second part included 31 items (items 2-32)

to which the participants responded using a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from1(Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree) The students were asked to express theirdegree of willingness by selecting one of the following alternatives: Strongly Disagree,Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree In this questionnaire, item 2 asked thestudents to respond to statements about aims of the textbook, items 3-6 are about the

design and organization, items 7-11 are about the topics, items 12- 17 are related to thelanguage content, and items 18 through 32 concern the language skills.

To avoid any misunderstanding on the part of the students, the questionnaire was translatedinto Vietnamese, the learners‟ mother tongue (see Appendix B)

The second part included 33 statements (items 2-34) to which the teachers respondedaccording to a five-point Likert-type scale Items 2-3 asked the teachers to respond tostatements about aims and approach of the textbook, items 4-7 about the design andorganization, items 8-12 related to the topics, items 13- 18 concerning the languagecontent, and items 19-34 about the language skills

3.3.2 Interviews

In order to provide a deeper understanding of students‟ and teachers‟ evaluation of English1.1 textbook, it was deemed useful to conduct interviews Interviews were conducted withall 8 teachers and a subgroup of 22 students randomly selected from those who had agreed

in advance to participate in follow-up interviews for the purpose of the study Theinterviews were audio-taped and then transcribed to be analyzed

The questions in both learner and teacher interviews were the same (See Appendix E).However, the interviews with the students were conducted in Vietnamese, their L1, toovercome likely deficiencies in their ability to speak and understand the target language.These interviews were transcribed and translated into English

3.4 Procedures

The required data was collected at the end of English 1.1 course in May, 2010 Asmentioned earlier, the plan was to use questionnaires and follow-up interviews in order tocollect the required data for the purpose of the study

The questionnaire was administered by the researcher in person to ensure effectiveimplementation After the introductions were made, the research topic was explained to thestudents in Vietnamese, their native language, in order to increase the students‟ comfortand understanding The students were given 25 minutes to complete the questionnaire.None were allowed to leave before the scheduled time so as to avoid them trying to rush tofill out the questionnaire in order to leave the class early

Upon completion, the students were informed that interviews would be conducted in order

to gain more insights about their evaluation They were also informed that the interviewswould take no more than 15 minutes each, would be conducted in Vietnamese, and would

be confidential Moreover, the students learned that the interviews would be recorded and that the tapes would be destroyed upon completion of the study.Appointments were set with those who agreed to be interviewed

audio-Unlike the students, the participating teachers were given one week to complete thequestionnaire The 8 teachers were introduced the research topic, the purpose of thequestionnaire and also the subsequent interview to set a date for the interview after theyreturned their completed questionnaire forms The interviews were held as agreed

3.5 Data analysis

The results of this study were based on questionnaires and follow-up interviews used asinstruments for data collection Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 forWindows Means, frequency counts or number, percentages and standard deviation wereused to analyze collected data in order to describe the teachers‟ and learners‟ evaluation ofEnglish 1.1 textbook Questionnaire items were given equal balance in a 5-point Likertscale (Strongly Disagree= 1, Disagree= 2, Neutral = 3, Agree= 4, and Strongly Agree = 5).For the qualitative analysis, the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed Similarteacher responses were grouped together Student answers (in Vietnamese) were translated

by the researcher Relevant quotations were then grouped together

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

The purpose of the current study was to investigate teachers‟ and students‟ evaluation ofEnglish 1.1 textbook in use at VUC This chapter attempts to answer the questions of thestudy It presents the results and discussions of both qualitative and quantitative dataanalysis (section 4.1) and provides a summary of the findings (section 4.2)

4.1 Results and discussion

This section is divided into two subsections: the first presents the quantitative data derivedfrom the questionnaires while the second presents the qualitative data derived from theinterviews

4.1.1 Questionnaire results

4.1.1.1 Student questionnaire results

A descriptive statistical analysis of students‟ responses to the survey items is provided inthe following sections, which address their evaluation of the textbook‟s aims, design andorganization, topics, language content, and language skills As the number of studentrespondents is 100 which is equivalent to 100%, each table only shows a number per pointper item but its unit can be frequency (number) or percent

A Evaluation of the textbook aims

Table 4.1 Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Aims (N=100)

As seen in the table 4.1, a mean of3.66 indicated that more than half of the respondents

agreed that the textbook meets the course aims In comparison with others, level 3 neutral and level 4 agree were chosen by majority of students (up to 64%), suggesting a not really

high level of satisfaction None of students judged the textbook aims strongly negative(0%) and 16% informants disagreed with the statement

Students often look at the textbook aims from the perspective of their own learning needsrather than the course aims Thus, in order to provide a deeper inside into their evaluation,

a multiple choice question was designed to collect students‟ main studying purposes forthis course For this question only, students are allowed to choose more than one answer

Chart 4.1: Students’ main studying purposes for the course (N=100)

As it can be seen from the chart, option C which is to improve students‟ communicativeskills was chosen with the highest percentage, 54% Improving English basic grammar wasmarked by 30% of the students, ranking second lowest percentage A slightly highernumber of students (35%) chose option B – to broaden, which is to broaden theirvocabulary Option D, improving all four language skills received a quite high frequency,50% For those people, they would possibly be disappointed as writing skill is excludedfrom the book This will be further discussed in the subsequent part

B Evaluation of the textbook design and organization.

Table 4.2 Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization (N=100)

5 The content is logically presented on the basis

of complexity.

The sub grand mean of items related to the textbook design and organization was 3.25,suggesting that the less than half of the students had positive attitudes toward the textbookdesign and organization (see Table 4.2) The lowest mean was 2.51, indicating that half ofthe students were not satisfied with the design of the textbook Indeed, 50% were notattracted by the design of the textbook The highest mean was 4.16, indicating that most ofthe respondents were content with the organization of the textbook 55% developedpositive judgment of the presentation of content on the basis of complexity Finally, amean of 2.77 suggested that more than half of the students did not think the amount ofreview units was adequate

C Attitudes toward the textbook topics

As shown in Table 4.3, the sub grand mean was 3.76, suggesting that the students had

positive attitudes toward the textbook topics

Table 4.3 Students’ Attitudes toward the Textbook Topics (N=100)

8 The textbook includes enough variety and

and enrich your experience.

11 You can relate to the social and cultural

contexts presented in the book.

The highest mean (4.01) indicated the majority of the students considered the topics to beinteresting In addition, around two thirds of the respondents (66%, mean =3.76) thoughtthat the topics are varied Moreover, 74% (43 agree and 31 strongly agree) agreed that thetopics help them expand their knowledge and enrich their experience A mean of 3.58suggested that less than a half of the students (39%) found the difficulty level of the topicssuitable to them A similar number of informants (40%) did not think that they could relate

to the social and cultural contexts presented in the book

D Opinions on the textbook language content

Table 4.4 shows students‟ evaluation of the textbook language content which includesgrammar, vocabulary and pronunciation The highest mean was 4.32, suggesting that thedifficulty level of the textbook grammar is suitable to majority of students Indeed, morethan half of the students (54%) strongly agreed with that The lowest mean which was just1.32, illustrated a contrastive picture of students‟ satisfaction of the pronunciation work inthe textbook Actually, the textbook does not contain material for pronunciation Thedifficulty level of the vocabulary exercises received positive attitudes with a mean of 3.87,second highest in the table However, the amount of vocabulary was not enough with 63 %non-agree students Finally, around half of the respondents thought that the textbook

Table 4.4: Students’ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content (N=100)

textbook is suitable to you.

14 The difficulty level of the vocabulary exercises

is suitable to you.

pronunciation work.

conventions of language use above sentence level…

E Evaluation of the textbook language skills

A sub grand mean of the textbook language skills was 3.66, indicating that around threefourths of the informants had positive evaluation of the language skills Indeed, most of theitems received means higher than the sub grand mean

Table 4.5: Students’ Evaluation of the Textbook Language Skills (N=100)

21 The reading texts are used for introducing new

consolidating language work.

22 There is a focus on the development of reading

skills and strategies.

information, giving pre-reading questions.

25 The difficulty level of the texts and their tasks

28.There are enough pre-listening tasks, questions, etc 0 14 11 32 43 4.04 1.05 7

29 The difficulty level of listening tasks is suitable

32 The difficulty level of speaking tasks is suitable to

you.

The reading skill gained good judgment with means ranging from 3.62 to 4.4, which wasthe highest mean of the table 69% and 8 % of the informants respectively agreed andstrongly agreed that the reading texts were used for introducing new language items(grammar and vocabulary), consolidating language work Majority of students (a mean of4.08, 82%) supported the statement that the book focused on the development of readingskills and strategies A similar mean and percentage (4.16 and 79%) indicated that thestudents gave optimistic evaluation on the pre- reading assistance of the material Thehighest mean 4.4 with 61% strongly agree showed a large approval of the text length Thedifficulty level of the texts and their tasks got a little lower mean of 3.87, but that stillproved around two thirds of the students (73%) found the difficulty level suitable to them.The same picture was painted for the listening skill with an average mean of 4.03 (item 29– 32) Most of the students (85%) approved that the listening was set in a meaningfulcontext A high percentage of 65% strongly agreed that the recordings had a good quality.Three fourths of the respondents could find enough support before they listened Most ofthem (75%) considered difficulty level of the listening tasks to be suitable for them, but aslistening is a challenging skill for Vietnamese students in general, 23% (2 strongly disagreeand 21 disagree) still found hard to complete these tasks.

The speaking skill enjoyed quite high means, with an average of 4.02, indicating asupportive evaluation Most of the students thought the speaking tasks were various with49% agree and 31% strongly agree The presence of genuine communication elementswere recognized by more than three fourths of the students (77%) Majority of theinformants (85%) agreed that the speaking tasks were at the right difficulty level for them.The lowest mean of the table (1.36) belonged to item 20, which mentioned writing tasks,indicating a very low satisfaction of this skill As a mater of fact, this caused no surprisebecause the textbook hardly contains writing tasks This explained why skills balance ofthe textbook received a negative evaluation with a mean of only 1.58 Meanwhile,according to 66% of the students, with three language skills taught (reading, listening andspeaking), there were enough material for integrated skills work

4.1.1.2 Teacher questionnaire results

This section provides a descriptive statistical analysis of eight teachers‟ responses to thequestionnaire items, addressing the teachers‟ opinions on the textbook‟s aims andapproach, design and organization, topics, language content, and language skills.

A Evaluation of the textbook aims and approach

In order to investigate teachers‟ opinion on purposes of the course, a multiple choice questionwas designed For this question only, respondents are allowed to choose more than one answer

Chart 4.2: Teachers’ Opinions on Purposes of the Course (N=8)

E Other: to develop presentation

3

skills

D To improve all four language skills 3

C To improve your students’

6

communicative skills (listening and

B To broaden your students’

To investigate how much the textbook meet the course aims, item 2 was included in thequestionnaire (see table 4.6) As the figures showed, 6 out of 8 teachers agreed that thetextbook meets the course aims, account for 75% However, majority of teachers chose

level 4 agree so mean of this item was just 3.75, indicating a not really high level of

satisfaction This mean is similar to the result of students‟ answer to this item (3.66) Noteacher disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement

Table 4.6 Teachers’ Evaluation of the Textbook Aims and Approach (N=8)

Item

M Sd.

3 CLT approach, which is taken by the textbook, is

with this item and 3 teachers even strongly agreed with it.

B Evaluation of the textbook design and organization.

A sub grand mean of items related to the textbook design and organization was 3.0,

indicating that VUC teachers were not satisfied with that design and organization

Table 4.7 Teachers’ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization (N=8)

Item

6 The content is logically presented on the basis

of complexity.

The lowest mean was 1.75, indicating that many teachers strongly disagreed (62.5%) that

there are enough review units The design of the textbook also received negative evaluation

with a low mean of 2.5 Indeed, 5 out of 8 teachers disagreed that the design of the

textbook was attractive The organizational structure of the textbook, in contrast, got a high

mean of 4.13, indicating a high level of satisfaction Although the presentation of the

content on the basis of complexity got no strongly agree, it still gained support from most

of the teachers with a mean of 3.63

C Evaluation of the textbook topics

As shown in Table 4.8, the sub grand mean was 3.93, indicating that the respondents were

satisfied with the topics Indeed, 100% of the teachers agreed that the topics are interesting,

among which 50% strongly agreed 87.5% (50% agree and 37.5% strongly agree) shared

the idea that the topics help expand students‟ knowledge and enrich their experience Three

fourths of the teachers, with a mean of 3.75 considered the difficulty level of the topics to

be suitable to their students The possibility that students can relate to social and cultural

contexts presented in the textbook was not assured by 50% of the respondents However,

another 50% agreed with the statement, which contributed to make up a mean of 3.5 (item

12) Among all the items of the table, item 9 which is about the inclusion of enough variety

and range of the topics received varied ideas with a standard deviation of 0.86 As

explained in the gap below the item (in the questionnaire), the teachers looked at this issue

from different views Those non-agree judged the textbook‟ topics without referring to the

duration of the course They thought the textbook should include more topics with a wider

range Those agree believed the current range of topics fitted the course well.

Table 4.8 Teachers’ Evaluation of the Textbook Topics (N=8)

Item

9 The textbook includes enough variety

and range of topics.

10 The difficulty level of the topics is

suitable to your students.

11 The topics help expand your students'

knowledge and enrich their experience.

12 Your students can relate to the social

and cultural contexts presented in the book.

D Opinions on the textbook language content

Table 4.9 Teachers’ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content (N=8)

textbook is suitable to your students.

15 The difficulty level of the vocabulary

exercises is suitable to your students.

17 The textbook includes enough material

for pronunciation work.

18 The textbook deals with the structuring

sentence level…

The difficulty level of the grammar got the highest mean, 4.13, indicating a high level of

satisfaction (see table 4.9) The lowest mean, 1.38, went to pronunciation work, which cannot