Evaluating the textbook english for engineering for students at hanoi industrial vocational college (HNIVC)

In fact, textbook work approach fits comfortablywithin teaching English for Specific Purpose TESP since it responds to the learners specificpurposes, the students operate in the target l

AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

HỨA THỊ MAI HOA

EVALUATING THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH FOR ENGINEERING” FOR STUDENTS AT HANOI INDUSTRIAL VOCATIONAL COLLEGE (HNIVC)

(ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH “TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CƠ KHÍ” DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN TRONG TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG NGHỀ

CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI- 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… ……

Retention and use of the thesis……… …

Acknowledgements………

Abstract……… …………

Table of content………

List of abbreviations……… …………

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study………

1.2 Aims of the study……… …

1.3 Research questions……… …… …

1.4 Scope of the study……… ………

1.5 Methods of the study………

1.6 Design of the study……… ………

1.7 Conclusion………

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction………

2.2 Materials in language teaching and learning………

2.2.1 Roles of textbooks in EFL/ESL class………

2.2.2 Types of textbooks………

2.3 English for specific purpose ( ESP) 2.3.1 What is ESP?

2.3.2 Characteristics of ESP………

2.3.3 Conditions of applying ESP……… ………

2.4 Textbooks evaluation 2.4.1 What is textbooks evaluation?

2.4.2 Why textbooks evaluation?

2.4.3 Types of textbooks evaluation………

2.4.4 Models for materials evaluation………

2.5 Materials adaptation………

2.6 Conclusion………

Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction………

3.2.Research methodology………

3.3 Description of teaching ESP and its objectives at HNIVC 3.3.1 Description of the students at HNIVC………

3.3.2 Description of the teachers at HNIVC………

3.33 The teaching and learning ESP at HNIVC……… ………

3.4 Data collection procedures 3.4.1 Document analysis………

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3.4.2 Questionnaires………

3.4.2.1 Questionnaires for teachers (Q1)………

3.4.2.2 Questionnaires for students (Q2)………

3.5 Conclusion………

Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS 4.1 Introduction………

4.2 Objectives of the course……… ……

4.3 Significance of each criterion………

4.3.1 Audience………

4.3.2 The aims of the materials……… ………

4.3.3 The contents of the textbook………

4.3.4 The methodology………

4.4 The realization of each criterion in the textbook “English for Engineering” (EFE)

4 4 1 A u d i e n c e

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4.4.3 The content of EFE………4.4.4 The

methodology………

4.5 Data analysis and discussion

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4.5.1 Result………

4.5.2 The appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course 4.5.2.1 The appropriateness of the aims of the coursebook in terms of language aspects

4.5.2.2 The appropriateness of the aims of the coursebook in term of language skills…

4.5.3 The appropriateness of the material to the content requirements of the course 4.5.3.1 Language points

4.5.3.2 Language skills………

4.5.3.3 Text types………

4.5.3.4 Topics………

4.5.3.5 The appropriateness of the content of the coursebook in terms of language aspects………

4.5.3.6 The appropriateness of the content of the courrsebook in terms of language skills………

4.5.3.7 Matching and discussion………

4.5.4 The appropriateness of the material to the methodology requirements of the course 4.5.4.1 Material analysis result………

4.5.4.2 Matching and discussion………

4.6 The teachers' teaching experience and suggestions………

4.7 Conclusion………

Chapter 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Result obtained………

5.2 Areas for adaptation………

5.3 Suggestions for further study………

5.4 Conclusions………

REFERENCES………

Appendix 1 Evaluation checklist for the teachers' questionnaire………

Appendix 2 Evaluation checklist for the students‟ questionnaire………

Appendix 3 Syllabus design………

Appendix 4 Sample lesson………

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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, we discuss about the rationale that we choose this topic, why thistopic is necessary for our career Then, we say the aims of the study and the researchquestions, these are like the way we go through the research Next, we explore the scope andthe methods of the study, and at last, we design the form that we will do during conducting towork on this thesis

1.1 Rationale of the study

In this thesis, we will look at the textbook which aims to suggest, to the teacher, ways

of going about the task of materials evaluation Generally, the textbook evaluation is sonecessary for us as the teachers, because it can give us the chance to know whether thetextbook we used is good enough for teaching and learning or whether it can be adaptedsomething Let us now begin by discussing some of the different emphases that can be found

in texts about materials analysis; especially, here we will focus on the textbook of English forSpecific Purpose (ESP) While producing our own materials, we should check that ESPmaterials meet target needs and that the language taught matches the language that thestudents will use Besides we should put emphasis on the development of specific skills andstrategies for operating in the ESP context In fact, textbook work approach fits comfortablywithin teaching English for Specific Purpose (TESP) since it responds to the learners specificpurposes, the students operate in the target language, it is activity and research based, multi-skilled (develops linguistic & research skills), involves learners in both individual and groupwork, uses authentic material, is set up in collaboration with subject teachers It provides anopportunity for real world and classroom experience to overlap, gives learners a feeling ofachievement Besides, this textbook can also encourage positive classroom behaviors such asco-operation, enjoyment, motivation and interest It can be an elegant culmination of the ESPcourse

Being aware of the importance of the English learning for their students, the HanoiIndustrial Vocational College (HNIVC) and the Faculty of Basic Sciences are alwayssearching for the most suitable materials used as core material And since 2007, the text book

English for Engineering (EFE) edited by Tran Lan Phuong used in teaching ESP at the third

semester for technical students Though the material has been in use at HNIVC for 5 yearsand applied to technical students since 2007, it has never been formally evaluated So, it is

essential, therefore, that we should establish and apply a wide variety of relevant andcontextually appropriate criteria for the evaluation of the textbook to assess itsappropriateness against the learning purpose.

1.2 Aims of the study

An evaluation of teaching materials helps to identify particular strengths and weaknesses

of the materials The finding of the thesis will be very useful for both the researcher and the

teachers, who are teaching the coursebook “English for Engineering” It will provide the

authorities and the teachers with scientific evidence to improve the quality of the currentbook used for the second-year students of HNIVC

1.3 Research questions

The thesis will be conducted to answer the following research question :

How does the textbook, used for the second-year students at HNIVC, meet the course requirements in terms of the aims, the contents and the methodology?

In order to answer the question above, the researcher intents to carry out thefollowing procedures:

- Reviewing the literature relating to material evaluation and setting up the criteria forevaluating the material Based on the theoretical framework the researcher analyses thematerial;

- Conducting a questionnaire for the students to find out their opinions about the materials they have learned;

- Conducting a questionnaire for the teacher to find out the opinion about the material they have used;

- Finally, the researcher makes suggestion and recommendations on the development of the material

1.4 Scope of the study

Evaluating teaching is complicated work and it needs to take into consideration lots

of different aspects such as materials effectiveness, efficiency, attitudes, specialty, validity,reliability, etc In this study, the researcher just focuses on three criteria which are stated inthe requirements of the students at Hanoi Industrial Vocational College: in terms of the aims,

the content and the methodology in the textbook „ English for Engineering‟.

1.5 Methods of the study

To collect the data, the methods used in this thesis are document analysis, surveyquestionnaires, and informal interviews

Document analysis here refers to the analysis of the materials itself and therequirements of the course.

Survey questionnaires specifically designed for both the teachers and the second-yearstudents who have experienced using the book

Informal interview is used to seek for detailed and objective opinions of examples ofteachers and students on the material and students‟ needs This method we used whenresearching some opinions on the aims, the content and the methodology of the teachers andstudents in our college Therefore, it is not written in the appendix

1.6 Design of the study

The study is organized into five main chapters as follows :

- Chapter 1 Discusses the background to the study and statement of problem, the aims, the researcher question, the limitations and overview of the thesis;

- Chapter 2 Presents a review of literature, concentrating on the issues related to ESP material evaluation;

- Chapter 3 Describes the research methodology; description of teaching ESP and itsobjectives at HIVC; the data collection instruments, the subjects as well as the datacollection procedures;

-Chapter 4 Discusses findings of the data analysis, objectives of the course; significance of each criterion;

- Chapter 5 Suggests solutions to improve the material and concludes the study

1.7 Conclusion

In this chapter, we showed the procedure that we will do in the thesis; the reason that

we chose this topic; the aims of the study that needs to evaluate this textbook; to conduct thework, we need to give the research questions, whether this question need to analysis duringworking on the thesis; then we introduced the scope of the study, we focus more on the aims,the content and the methodology in the textbook when we analysis the data that we collectedfor the study; next we discussed about the methods of the study; and finally, the design of thethesis is introduced in order to join all the parts of the thesis closely and consequently

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

This chapter gives an overview of the literature of the evaluation materials Itintroduces the theorical apparatus of the theory of materials in language teaching andlearning; roles of textbooks in EFL/ESL class; types of textbooks It includes the definition

of English for specific purpose (ESP), its characteristics and the conditions of applying ESP,also in this chapter we will describe the textbooks evaluation, why here we need textbookevaluation, the types of textbook evaluation and there obtains the different models formaterials evaluation in the literature; a collection of criteria proposed by various researchers;and finally, we say some types of the materials adaptation: addition, deletion/ omission, andmodification/ changing

2.2 Materials in language teaching and learning

ESL (English as a Second Language), ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages),and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) all refer to the use or study of English by speakerswith a different native language The precise usage, including the different use of the termsESL and ESOL in different countries, is described below These terms are most commonlyused in relation to teaching and learning English, but they may also be used in relation todemographic information ELT (English Language Teaching) is a widely-used teacher-centred term, as in the English language teaching divisions of large publishing houses, ELTtraining, etc The abbreviations TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), TESOL(Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and TEFL (Teaching English as aForeign Language) are also used The literature on the subject of textbook evaluation is notvery extensive Various writers have suggested ways of helping teachers in particular to bemore sophisticated in their evaluative approach, by positing „checklists‟ based onsupposedly generalizable criteria These sometimes elaborate systems use a variety of

„scoring‟ methods to assess how well specific textbooks measure up under scrutiny (seeTucker 1975, van Lier 1979, Allwright 1981, and Williams 1983) Tucker, for example,proposes an ingenious method whereby textbooks are assigned numerical scores, which arethen plotted on a „Value Merit Product Graph‟, the object of which is to compare theresulting score curve against an ideal target profile drawn up in advance by the teacher

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), textbook evaluation is basically astraightforward, analytical „matching process: matching needs to available solutions‟ Ourown view is that this issue is rather more emotive and controversial for teachers; many wouldagree with Swales (1980) that textbooks, especially course books, represent a „problem‟, and

in extreme cases are examples of educational failure We would like to explore the reasonsfor such strong reactions, and to put forward possible evaluative solutions We wish toconcentrate on course books because, whether we like it or not, these represent for bothstudents and teachers the visible heart of any ELT program The selection of a particular corevolume signals an executive educational decision in which there is considerable professional,financial and even political investment This high profile means that the definition andapplication of systematic criteria for assessing course books are vital Supplementarytextbooks and materials on the other hand may not carry the same burden The evaluativecriteria for these can to some extent remain implicit, or be allowed to define themselves moreinformally in the local situation

2.2.1 Roles of textbooks in EFL/ESL class

Back in 1934, McElroy stated that “the textbook is decidedly not the sole condition

of an effective class; quality of teaching is more important” 75 years later, an enormousbody of research on the role of the textbook in EFL classrooms has accumulated around theglobe, indicating that „successful‟ learning and teaching in primary and secondary EFLschool environments is dependent on a wider spectrum of factors, not only on the quality (orquantity) of English language learning materials The importance of the teacher is, of course,undisputed (see, for instance, Butzkamm 2005)

Over the past decades, it has become increasingly clear that context-sensitive EFLinstruction requires teachers to take into account many anthropological and socioculturalfactors which influence the conditions under which English is taught Currently, globaltextbooks produced for teaching and learning English as a foreign language in many differentcountries are criticized for paying too little attention to this, especially for largely failing toassist EFL teachers in bridging the cultural background(s) of „their‟ individual learners andthe diversity of English-speaking target language cultures

2.2.2 Types of textbooks

College textbooks come in a variety of shapes and sizes, paperback, spiral bound, orhardcover, but what is most important is finding used copies While all college textbooks areavailable brand new, hot off the printing press, the brand new versions can cost you doublethe price of a used textbook For a new college student, money spent on textbooks can easilyeat up a month's worth of wages However, there has been a sharp decline in textbookpurchasing in the past few years Students are bypassing the typical types of schooltextbooks and embracing ways to save money on books Many students are now taking tosharing textbooks The more students taking the same class, the easier it is to share thetextbook A new type of textbook is becoming readily available Instead of purchasingexpensive, heavy textbooks, some colleges and publishers are including free, downloadedtextbooks Students simply download the textbook to their computer and print out necessarypages or read the textbook online This is helping students focus on the expense of tuition,room, and board without having to worry about finding inexpensive versions of thetextbooks they need.

2.3 English for Specific Purpose (ESP)

2.3.1 What is ESP?

ESP has had a relatively long time to mature and so we would expect the ESPcommunity to have a clear idea about what ESP means Strangely, however, this does notseem to be the case Some people described ESP as simply being the teaching of English forany purpose that could be specified Others, however, were more precise, describing it as theteaching of English used in academic studies or the teaching of English for vocational orprofessional purposes Swales (1985) presents an article by C.L Barber on the nature ofScientific English which was published as early as 1962 But it was the late 1960s and theearly 1970s which saw the greatest expansion of research into the nature of particularvarieties of English – for example, descriptions of written scientific and technical English byEwer and Latorre (1969), Swales (1971), Selinker and Trimble (1976) and others Most ofthe work at this time was in the area of English for Science and Technology (EST) and for atime ESP and EST were regarded as almost synonymous But there were studies in otherfields too, such as the analysis of doctors – patient communication by Candlin, Bruton andLearther (1976) In short, the view gained ground that the English needed by a particulargroup of learners could be identified by analyzing the linguistic characteristics of their

specialist area of work or study … became the guiding principle of ESP (Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters (1987)

2.3.2 Characteristics of ESP

According to Dudley-Evan (1997), the characteristics of ESP can be described asfollow:

Absolute characteristics

1 ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners;

2 ESP makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves;

3.ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis,register, study skills, discourse and genre

1 ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;

2.ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of GeneralEnglish;

3.ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in aprofessional work situation It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level;

4 ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;

5 Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language systems

2.3.3 Conditions of applying ESP

HNIVC offers students with all ages when they have certified that they finished HighSchool in Vietnam All students will be expected to have the subjects in a college preparatorycurriculum, or in an appropriate college course of study, that they can perform well in theirfuture working environment So at HNIVC students need to be trained about their futurecareer as well as English as a means to find a job after graduating After learning 120 lessonsfor General English, our students will continue learning 60 ESP lessons This can help themfor more opportunities to find a better job This is why ESP is taught in this college

2.4 Textbooks evaluation

2.4.1 What is textbooks evaluation?

In today's classrooms, textbooks serve as tool and tutor, guidebook and gauge.Teachers throughout the world use texts to guide their instruction, so textbooks greatlyinfluence how content is delivered Schmidt, McKnight, and Raizen (1997) identified

textbooks as playing an important role in making the leap from intentions and plans toclassroom activities, by making content available, organizing it, and setting out learningtasks in a form designed to be appealing to students To make the most effective use of atextbook, however, teachers must decide which textbooks are appropriate for their needs Ateacher needs to determine the extent to which a textbook focuses on and is aligned with acoherent set of significant, age-appropriate student learning goals that the teacher, school, ordistrict has identified as integral to the understanding of and progress in a particularacademic subject They must also assess how well a textbook's instructional designeffectively supports the attainment of those specified learning goals The only way to gainthis information is through careful evaluations of textbooks and other curriculum materials.

To evaluate a textbook, reviewers examine each content-matched activity in light of theinstructional criteria and rate the set of activities according to a prescribed set of indicatorsand scoring scheme for each one Their findings are presented as profiles of judgments foreach learning goal across the set of criteria with evidence provided to support each judgment

2.4.2 Why textbooks evaluation?

Sheldon (1988) has offered several reasons for textbook evaluation He suggests thatthe selection of an ELT textbook often signals an important administrative and educationaldecision in which there is considerable professional, financial, or even political investment

A thorough evaluation, therefore, would enable the managerial and teaching staff of aspecific institution or organization to discriminate between all of the available textbooks onthe market Moreover, it would provide for a sense of familiarity with a book‟s content, thusassisting educators in identifying the particular strengths and weaknesses of textbooksalready in use

This would go a long way in ultimately assisting teachers with making optimum use

of a book's strong points, and recognizing the shortcomings of certain exercises, tasks, andentire texts To make the most effective use of a textbook, however, teachers must decidewhich textbooks are appropriate for their needs A teacher needs to determine the extent towhich a textbook focuses on and is aligned with a coherent set of significant, age-appropriatestudent learning goals that the teacher, school, or district has identified as integral to theunderstanding of and progress in a particular academic subject They must also assess howwell a textbook's instructional design effectively supports the attainment of those specifiedlearning goals The only way to gain this information is through careful evaluations of

textbooks and other curriculum materials This thesis reveals how well a textbook cansupport teachers in their efforts to help students learn specific ideas and skills, specificallythose in nationally accepted standards and benchmarks This textbook evaluation gives busyeducators the solid information they need to make informed choices about which textbookscan help their students improve their knowledge and skills in teaching and learning English.

2.4.3 Types of textbooks evaluation

Evaluating materials can be divided into three types : preliminary, formative andsummative evaluation

Preliminary evaluation

This kind of evaluation will be normally carried out before a course begins Its aiminvolves selecting the most appropriate materials from the publications that are availablefor a particular group of learners At the same time, from the kind of evaluation theevaluators can also identify specific aspects of the materials that require adaptation Is isnecessary to have a set of criteria which is ranked in order of priority for making decision

of textbook selection and adaptation (Robinson, 1991)

Summative evaluation

According to Brown (1995) summative evaluation is usually characterized asoccurring at the end of the program The purpose for gathering information not capable ofimproving that particular determine the degree to which the program was successfulevaluation is to decisions that result from summative evaluation tend to cause sweepingchanges and are fairly large in scale Examples of such decisions might include thecancellation or continued funding of a program to a much more suitable site This leads tothe fact that these decisions or judgments often produce so much anxiety anddefensiveness in student, teacher, and curriculum makers

Before handling an evaluation project, evaluators have to determine the purpose ofthe work, i.e determine whether their evaluation would be formative or summative Sowhat type of evaluation should be done to a university language program? It might benoted that most university language program are continuing institutions that do notconveniently come to an end so that summative can not be performed Therefore, aformative evaluation is always a choice when an evaluation to a university languageprogram is needed

Formative evaluation

Scriven (1967) cited in Lynch (1996) first used the term formative evaluation inconnection with curriculum development Is was defined as the use of systematicevaluation in the process of curriculum construction, teaching, and learning for thepurpose of improving any of these three processes One of key characteristics of formativeevaluations is that it takes place during the course of program delivery, and it thereforeprovides a mechanism for improving the program during the course of the programdelivery Brown (1995) adds that the types of decisions that result from formativeevaluation are numerous and relatively small in scale because such decisions are mean toresult in modifications and fine tuning of existing curriculum Formative evaluation can

be built into the curriculum during its development and implementation When plannersmake such evaluation a regular part of the curriculum, they are in the enviable position ofconstantly being able to gather and analyze information to be used in changing ,developing, and upgrading their program

The role of formative and summative evaluation is proved to be essential to anylanguage training program, however, both two types of evaluation seem to be veryunfamiliar to nearly all of the language program in particular and educational programs inVietnam At HNIVC, this evaluation project is the first program evaluation that has everbeen done though a lot of adjustments to the program have occurred The purpose of thisevaluation project is to improve the current course book for students of HNIVC, so thetype of evaluation chosen for the project is formative evaluation

2.4.4 Models for materials evaluation.

Many authors have introduced different models for materials evaluation in theliterature However, depending on purpose and kinds of materials evaluation, one shouldchoose an appropriate model For example, in order to select the most suitable materialsusing both macro and micro evaluation, Donough and Shaw' model (1993) can be utilized

In order to carry out a materials evaluation at micro laver, the model suggested by Ellis(1993) can be employed The models defined by Hutchinson and Waters (1993) and byCunningsworth (1995) aim to carry out a macro- evaluation, and to investigate thesuitability of the materials to the learners' needs and the syllabus requirements A shortdescription of each model will be presented in the following sections:

Evaluation model by Mc Donough and Shaw (a combination of macro and micro – evaluation)

In 1993, Donough and Shaw suggest their materials evaluation It is a three- stagemodel that is called external evaluation, internal evaluation, and overall evaluation (seeFigure 1) This model is based on the view that it is useful for teachers to perform andexternal evaluation of materials so that they can gain an overview of organizationalprinciples involved, then move to a detailed internal evaluation of the materials to see howfar the materials match up to what the author claims as well as to the aim and objective of

a given teaching program Accordingly, external evaluation is considered as a preliminaryevaluation or a macro- evaluation It is an examination of the claims made for the wholematerials by the author or publisher These claims can be made somewhere on the cover

of the book, in the instructions, or even in the table of contents The evaluation at thisstage helps to identify whether the material is potentially appropriate

The internal evaluation stage (micro – evaluation) requires an in-depth look oat two

or more units to examine what will actually be presented ” inside” the materialsthemselves and whether the claims made by the author are the one found in internalevaluation

The next step is overall evaluation of the materials It examines the suitability of thematerials on such numbers of factors as the usability, the generalizability, adaptability,and flexibility factors This model is shown as figure 1 From figure 1 it is clear that theinternal stage will be carried out when the materials have been evaluated to be potentiallyappropriate in the external evaluation If the findings at this stage show that the materialsare inappropriate, the evaluation will be finished quite early

Macro - evaluation inappropriate/ potentially appropriate

(External)

ExitMicro - evaluation inappropriate/ appropriate adopt/select

(Internal)

ExitFigure 1 Materials evaluation model of Mc Donough and Shaw (1993)

Evaluation model by Ellis (a micro- evaluation)

Ellis (1997) believes that the evaluation of language teaching materials has beenprimarily predictive and have focused on whole sets of materials There is a need for morethought to be given to how teachers can evaluate the materials they use retrospectively on

a day- by- day basis Therefore he suggests a model that can be best carried out a series ofmicro-evaluations In this model, a detailed empirical evaluation and evaluating tasks inlanguage teaching are focused on The aim of the model is to identify the match betweentask planned and task in use According to Ellis, some dimensions used for macroevaluation such as approach, purpose, focus, scope, evaluator, types of information can beapplied in micro evaluation process Ellis introduces the following steps when this model

is applied:

1 choosing a task to follow;

2 describing the task with requires the specification of the content of a task in term of input, procedures, language activities, and out come;

3 planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above;

4 collecting information (before the task is used, while it is being used and/ or

on completion of the task) about how the task was performed, what learning tookplace as a result of performing the task, and teacher's and learner's opinions aboutthe task;

5 analyzing information collected qualitatively and quantitatively;

6 reaching conclusions relating to what has been discovered as a result of the evaluation of the task, and making recommendations for future teaching;

7 writing report

Evaluation model by Cunningsworth

Cunningsworth (1984) gives a checklist of criteria in which he suggests examiningmany aspects for the course such as linguistic factors of the materials in term of languagecontent, topics, skills, methodology, and so on According to Cunningworths (1984),examination of language content should focus on the appropriateness of the grammars,structures, functions, and vocabulary presented in the materials to the requirements Healso thinks that the topics should be interesting, various, and sophisticated in content.Also, these topics should help students to expand the awareness within their language

level Regarding the skills introduced in the materials, the questions about whether thefour skills are adequately covered and whether they are suitable to the course aims andsyllabus requirements and so on should be answered Additionally, the question aboutmethodology of the materials should find out whether they are appropriate to the learning-teaching situation, and what techniques are used for presenting new language items, howdifferent skills are taught.

Evaluation model by Hutchinson and Water (a macro – evaluation)

Hutchinson and Waters (1993) define materials evaluation as “a matter of judging thefitness of something for a particular purpose” According to them an evaluation should beserved a certain need, and lighted by resources available Therefore, evaluation isbasically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions In this view, anevaluation can be split into four major steps They are described in the model below (seefigure 2)

Define criteria

On what bases will you judge materials?

Which criteria will be more important?

Subjective analysis

What realization of the criteria do

you want in your course?

Matching

How far does the material matchyour needs?

Figure 2 Materials evaluation model of Huchinson and Waters (1993)

In this process, firstly, the evaluator will set out the criteria on which the evaluation isbased Additionally, among defined criteria, he can mention on his own preferred ones.The second step is to determine the subjective analysis It is the time to analyze therequirements of the course in aspects related to the criteria According to Hutchinson and

Waters (1993), the subjective analysis should not be considered as a fixed set ofrequirements The evaluator should use the materials evaluation process as a means ofquestioning and developing his own ideas as to what is required After a subjectiveanalysis, an objective analysis needs to be carried out This is the stage to analysis thematerials in term of the selected criteria Finally, the finding of which are used to comparewith the materials requirements in the fourth step in order to evaluate and determine thematching the materials and the requirement In this model, it can be seen that three optionsmay happen after the evaluation process: the materials may not meet ant requirements.When the materials partially mismatch the requirements in some criteria Hutchinson andWaters think that the evaluator should consider the more important criteria to the variouspeople concerned (teachers, students, sponsors), and choose the easier criteria to adapt.

Hutchinson and Waters (1993) also propose their own checklist of criteria for objectiveand subjective analyses The purpose of the checklist is for evaluating English teachingmaterials by focusing on such big issues as the audience, the aims, the content, themethodology, and other criteria including price, and availability

Aims

In any language course, the aims of the course must be defined clearly At thesame time, matching the aims of the materials and the objectives of the course isnecessary to be carried out in materials evaluation process.

Content

Content is one of the most important elements of the materials With the purpose ofevaluating materials, Hutchinson and Waters (1993) state that it is necessary to examine ifthe content of the materials is suitable to the content prescribed in terms of languagepoints, macro- skills and their proportion, micro skills, as well as the kind of texts Inmany cases, the aspects of subject matter areas, learners' level of knowledge, type of topicand how those topics are presented are also considered Last but not least, the evaluationneeds to learn about whether the way the content is organized and sequenced within thecourse units, throughout the course is appropriate or not

Methodology

Hutchinson and Waters (1993) suggest many aspects dealing with materialmethodology that need to be evaluated Firstly, the evaluation must indicate whether thetheories of learning on which the course based on are in line with the ones of thematerials Secondly, the aspects of the learners' attitude to expectations about learningEnglish should be considered Thirdly, it is necessary to determine whether the kinds ofexercises / tasks included in the materials are suited to the course requirements Teaching-learning techniques are another aspect that needs to be evaluated At this time, evaluatorsmust decide whether the teaching – learning techniques that can be used with thematerials are those required by the course and suitable to the learners Moreover, thematerials evaluation should take the aspects such as teaching aids, and guidance supportfor teaching Finally, it is necessary to determine if the materials are flexible so that theycan be used in different order to suit the teaching contexts

Other Criteria

Apart from the criteria mentioned above, Hutchinson and Waters also suggest somethose criteria such as the price and availability of the materials These issues areconsidered as practical concerns and they must be acknowledged They may be one of thedeciding factors in textbook selection In fact, not all textbooks can be purchased bystudents because of their high price and scarcity in the local market Sometimes it is the

purchase that becomes economic burden faced by students Therefore, materials may be evaluated by these criteria.

2.4.5 Criteria for textbooks evaluation

Preeminent theorists in the field of ELT textbook design and analysis, such asWilliams (1983), Sheldon (1988), Brown (1995), Cunningsworth (1995) and Harmer (1996)all agree, for instance, that evaluation checklists should have some criteria pertaining to thephysical characteristics of textbooks such as layout, organizational, and logisticalcharacteristics Other important criteria that should be incorporated are those that assess atextbook's methodology, aims, and approaches and the degree to which a set of materials isnot only teachable 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 the 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 Cunningsworth (1995) and Ellis (1997) havesuggested that there are three different types of material evaluation They argue that the mostcommon form is probably the „predictive‟ or „pre-use‟ evaluation that is designed toexamine the future or potential performance of a textbook The other types of textbookevaluation are the „in-use‟ evaluation designed to examine material that is currently beingused, and the „retrospective‟ or „post-use‟ (reflective) evaluation of a textbook that has beenused in any respected institution This particular study can be classified as the „retrospective‟type of evaluation in which an attempt is made to check the characteristics of the textbooksunder study against a collection of criteria proposed by various researchers

We know that evaluate the textbook materials is very important for the educators whowill make plans to develop the teaching and learning matter, and the teachers who directlyintroduce the knowledge to the learners As mentioned above, there are a lot of types toevaluate the materials, but here we will choose the Hutchinson and Waters (1993) model,because it is suitable to our scope and the objectives of study

2.5 Materials adaptation

Materials adaptation means matching materials with the learner‟s needs, the

teacher‟s demands and administration‟s purpose To adapt materials we have to consider five major factors

(1)Addition: Addition is an adaptation procedure which involves supplementation of extra

linguistic items and activities to make up for the inadequacy/ insufficiency of materials Addition of extra materials is necessary/ applicable/ appropriate when the following

situations are faced:

 Areas are not covered sufficiently

 Texts/pictures/tasks are not provided

 Texts/pictures/tasks are fewer than needed

 Tasks are limited in scope

 Tasks are of limited range

(2) Deletion/ Omission: Deletion is an adaptation procedure which involves removal of

some of the linguistic items and activities which are found to be extra and unnecessary So,deletion is a process in which materials are taken out rather than added Materials should bereduced through omission when the following situations are faced:

 Learners are clear about a language point

 Learners are competent in a skill

 There are too many tasks on a particular area/point

 The item/ area concerned is not a priority

 The item/ task is not well designed

 The item/ task is not well-suited to its aim(s)

 The topic is not appropriate for learners

(3)Modification/ Changing: Modification means changes in different aspects of materials,

such as linguistic level, exercises, assessment system and so on Modification of materials

is applicable/ appropriate in the following situations:

 Texts are of inappropriate length

 Materials are inappropriate to the aim

 Materials are inappropriate to the learners‟ age/ experience

 Materials are unclear, confusing or misleading

 Tasks are badly designed.

(4)Simplification: This procedure is employed to make materials less complicated or easier

to understand If the language teaching material is found to be difficult or mechanical forthe target learner, it (material) can be made suitable for the learner through the process ofsimplification

(5)Rearrangement/ Re- ordering: Rearrangement is a procedure of materials adaptation

through which different parts of a course book are arranged in a different order or sequence.Rearrangement of materials helps to make them comparatively more interesting and

appropriate for the learner as well as the teacher Learners may reorder materials by:

 Matching their aims

 Using a practice task for lead-in and elicitation

 Revising an area earlier than the course book does

 Comparing and contrast areas

 Providing thematic unity

 Providing an appropriate follow-up

2.6 Conclusion

In chapter 2, we tried to review the literature of the material evaluation Why we needtextbook evaluation We remind the types of textbook that the students use everyday; wewould expect the ESP community to have a clear idea about what ESP means; thecharacteristics of ESP; the conditions of applying ESP in HNIVC, why our students need tolearn ESP To evaluate a textbook, reviewers examine each content-matched activity of eachspecial book To make the most effective use of a textbook, however, teachers must decidewhich textbooks are appropriate for their needs Here we say about three types of textbooksevaluation: preliminary, formative and summative evaluation and why we choose formativeevaluation for this project Depending on purpose and kinds of materials evaluation, we usethe Hutchinson and Waters (1993) model to evaluate our English teaching material

Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

In this chapter, some research methodologies are introduced for our project:document analysis and questionnaire Then we describe the teaching and learning ESP andits objectives at Hanoi Industrial Vocational College (HNIVC) After that, this chapter saysabout data collection procedures: how to do the document analysis; and finally, we discussabout questionnaires for the teachers and for the students to discover whether this textbookcan be taught and learned

3.2 Research methodology

In this study, the researcher employed two of the instruments: document analysisand questionnaire We realized that they are suitable with our evaluative purpose and timefor our research They will be detailed in the next chapter According to Robinson‟smodel, we can describe these methods as follow:

Document analysis: Document analysis is use of “content analysis and other techniques

to analysis and summarize printed materials and existing information” (Taylor & Steel,1996) The purpose of using this instrument is to utilize any preexisting information thatmay be available The documents that need to be analysis “can include data sources within

a program such as the materials under the evaluation, the course syllabus, the curriculum,

or external data source” (Brown, 1995)

Questionnaire: Questionnaire aims to seek evidence of the teachers‟ and the students‟

opinions about the aim, content and methodology of the material Questionnaires arechosen because they allow wider sampling, they ask everybody the same questions andthey are time-saving technique to collect information from a large respondents at the sametime (Wallace, 1998) The respondents would feel more comfortable and willing to fill thequestionnaires than they were asked to answer the questions directly during a face to faceinterview Also questionnaire with closed question can help analysis the datastraightforwardly and conveniently

3.3 Description of teaching ESP and its objectives at HNIVC

3.3.1 Description of the Students at HNIVC

Students at Hanoi Industrial Vocational College graduated from High School in Vietnam.They come to HNIVC:

- To learn and train their future job;

- To learn about English and ESP;

- to encourage an awareness of English for Technical knowledge;

- to collect printed and visual materials from the media in various languages in addition

to English;

- to conduct interviews and organize the close relation between ESP and their own knowledge through ESP texts; to exercise note-taking;

- to design questionnaires; to make oral presentation and reporting

3.3.2 Description of the teachers at HNIVC

At HNIVC, there are 6 English teachers; age from 28 to 48 Because ESP teachers did nothave sufficient technical background and teacher training, qualified teachers to teach ESP arelacking All teachers indicated that there are no in-service ESP training courses available,especially for technical purposes Three of the six teachers had attended General Englishtraining courses, which provided TEFL/ TESL training, or sometimes, multi-media orTeaching English for Children In other words, teachers are inadequately trained to teachESP Generally, ESP teachers are primarily the teachers of General English Whentransferring from General English to ESP teaching, they might have encountered severaldifficulties One is a difference of attitude difficulty, between literature and science inparticular Therefore, ESP teachers need to orient themselves to a new environment for whichthey are not well-prepared

3.3.3 The teaching and learning ESP at HNIVC

As far as English is concerned, HNIVC considered General English to be the main focus,rather than technical English This is due mainly to the subjects they teach, mostly GeneralEnglish One of the HNIVC emphasised that General English should be the basis, thentechnical English will be easier to focus on A similar view was expressed by teachers Five

of the six teachers argued that General English should be concentrated on and supplemented

with technical knowledge From the surveys, the majority of English teachers in colleges oftechnology supported this view This was also confirmed by informal interviews whoselearners‟ needs analysis and survey indicated that the learners concern language proficiencylevel more than technical knowledge.

3.4 Data collection procedures

3.4.1 Document analysis

Document analysis is a technique used to gather requirements during therequirements elicitation phase of a project It describes the act of reviewing the existingdocumentation of comparable business processes or systems in order to extract pieces ofinformation that are relevant to the current project, and therefore should be consider projectsrequirements It means that, for this thesis, we need to collect materials from the library; theexperience teachers that use this book or know about the career mentioned in the book; andthe students who learns this book regularly

3.4.2 Questionnaires

According to the aim, the content and the methodology of the course, we conductsome questions for the teachers and for the students Most of them are the same because wewant to explore their opinions about one question; only some questions are distinguished todiscover whether this textbook can be taught or it can be learned After using this book, wegive these questionnaires to the teachers and the students in our college We also translate thequestions for students into Vietnamese in order to show them the exact meaning we want toask them and they can answer what they think about these questions

3.4.2.1 Questionnaires for teachers

The questionnaire for the teachers (see appendix 1) was also carried outsimultaneously with the questionnaire for the students It was divided into three sections andconsisted of 27 questions

In the first section, the teachers‟ questionnaire contained ten questions aimed toask the teachers about the aim of using EFE, whether the material is suitable to the aims

of the course The teachers can agree or do not with the aims of the questions; in fact, wewant to find out that this textbook can be taught in our college Of course, in this material,four skills all were not presented together, because we emphasis only reading and writingskill, and sometimes students can practice saying the conversation but the listening doesnot pay more attention because the students only listen to the teacher when he/ she readsthe text

The second section consists of ten questions to find out the content of EFE In thissection, we want to know whether the teachers agree or not about the content of thetextbook corresponding the requirement of the course; the grammar presented in thecoursebook was enough for the students to learn or the structures introduced in thecoursebook were adequate to the students' need.

The last section contains seven questions about methodology that teachers usewhen they utilize this textbook These questions are so important because we need toknow how the teachers use this book and whether they think it can be acceptable to teach

It depends much on the teachers‟ methods to transmit the textbook‟s knowledge to thestudents and how the students react at the lessons

In this questionnaire, the questions were designed to find out the teachers' analysestowards the textbook relating to the suitability of the textbook to requirements of thecourse in terms of the aims, the content, and the methodology The scales used in theteachers‟ questionnaire were as same as those used in the students‟ questionnaire Thiswould make it easier for the researcher to compare students‟ and teachers' views later.They were also asked if they faced any difficulty in teaching the textbook, and to makesuggestions for the improvement of the materials The purpose of these sections was tosuggest procedures to help the teachers exploit the textbook more effectively

3.4.2.2 Questionnaires for students (Q2)

The questionnaire for students (see appendix 2) consisted of 3 parts with 27 questions.The first part consisted of 10 questions They were designed to find out the students'evaluation in terms of suitability of the ESP textbook to the aims and objectives of thecourse; whether students perceive the aims of the materials; the students were required toanswer if they are provided or deleted any tasks and exercises, what parts they thoughtwere most suitable to their level and what were least suitable

The second part included 10 questions in order to collect the students' informationrelating to suitability of the textbook to the content requirements of the textbook in terms

of grammar, structures, vocabulary; the structures introduced in the coursebook wereadequate to the students' need In fact we need to know, whether the students can perceiveall the knowledge and can apply them in their real working condition

In the third part, seven questions were used to send to the students to analyze suitability

of the textbook to the methodology requirements of the course: how they understand the

materials in the textbook through the lessons; whether the techniques the teachers used are appropriate to them.

3.5 Conclusion

The view of the research methodologies that we have outlined in this chapter relatesthe way that we do for this thesis The model we chose here is Robinson‟s, it means:document analysis and questionnaire Then we showed the description of teaching ESP andits objectives; description of the students and the teachers at Hanoi Industrial VocationalCollege Next the teaching and learning ESP at HNIVC; the data collection procedures; wediscussed about document analysis, it is a technique used to gather requirements of a projectand the questionnaires According to the aim, the content and the methodology of the course,

we conduct some questions for the teachers and for students to discover that this textbookcan be taught or it can be learned

Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS 4.1 Introduction

The data analysis is the analysis about the data that we gather for this thesis Asmentioned above, we collect the data by analyzing the documents and through thequestionnaire; so first, we say about the objectives of the course; second, the significance

of each criterion from Hutchinson and Water‟s model, we rearrange our project for thefollowing criteria: the audience, the aim of materials, the contents of the textbook and themethodology that we use while teaching; next, according to this model, we compare therealization of each criterion in the textbook “EFE”; then we make the data analysis anddiscussion: the appropriateness of the material to the aims, the content and themethodology requirements of the course; and finally, we discuss about the teachers'teaching experience and suggestions

4.1 Objectives of the course

Its objectives include:

 To develop an understanding about the factors that led to the emergence of ESPand the forces, both theoretical and applied, that have shaped its subsequentdevelopment;

 To assist students develop needs assessments and genre analyses for specific groups of learners;

 To provide guidelines to adapt or create authentic ESP materials in a chosenprofessional or occupational area and to critically evaluate currently availablematerials, including technology-based ones;

 To become knowledgeable about assessment procedures appropriate for ESP andapply this knowledge in developing course and lesson evaluation plans in theirprofessional or occupational area

4.2 Significance of each criterion

From all the models for materials evaluations above we realize that the evaluation model by Hutchinson and Water (a macro – evaluation) is the most suitable for our

assessment of this textbook It means that we will rearrange our work for the following criteria:

 The audience;

 The aim of materials;

 The contents of the textbook;

 The methodology that we use while teaching

4.2.1 Audience

According to Hutchinson and Waters, one of the most important factors is learner.The overall aim of course or a program is to meet the needs of a particular group oflearners English teaching materials in general must be selected or designed based onthose needs

In order to evaluate materials on what criterion, there is so much different informationdealing with students should be regarded such as ages , sex, study, knowledge of English,education background , interests, and so on

4.2.2 The aims of the materials

According to the ESP curriculum specifications, students need to be familiar with themain scientific concepts and ideas of science in English as well as the register and relatedvocabulary This means that students are expected to have a comprehensive knowledge onthe topics and themes in ESP Mackay & Mountford (1978) added that it is evident wherescience is taught in English or science reference materials are in English, students need toacquire a considerably higher standard of language proficiency to enable them tocomprehend and manipulate difficult intellectual material The main aim of the Englishfor Specific Purposes textbooks is to prepare students for study in a particular discipline

It may also be used in technical colleges, on in-sessional courses, or by postgraduatestudents Finally, information on getting qualified and finding an ESL teaching job willhelp those wishing to enter the profession

4.2.3 The contents of the textbook

The main concern is effective learning and how this can best be achieved in ESPcourses In the content, the author can describe the procedure of the learning course, theaim of each unit and the demand for each stage of the textbook The ESP syllabus gives