an evaluation of top notch as the textbook for efl classes – the case of fpt polytechnic college

The findings of the study would be of significant value to students and teachers, curriculum designers as well as English program managers as it provides an official evaluation on Top No

AN EVALUATION OF TOP NOTCH AS THE TEXTBOOK FOR EFL CLASSES – THE CASE OF FPT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

TESOL: 60 14 01 11

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by DANG VU MINH THU Supervisor: LE THI THUY NHUNG, Ph.D

Ho Chi Minh, 2019

AN EVALUATION OF TOP NOTCH AS THE TEXTBOOK FOR EFL CLASSES – THE CASE OF FPT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

TESOL: 60 14 01 11

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by DANG VU MINH THU Supervisor: LE THI THUY NHUNG, Ph.D

Ho Chi Minh, 2019

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this submitted thesis entitled “An evaluation of Top Notch as the

textbook for EFL classes – The case of FPT Polytechnic College” is my own work

This thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in a whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma, except reference is made in the text of this thesis

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgements in the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh, November 2019

DANG VU MINH THU

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Master of Arts in TESOL thesis is a successful collaboration of all people who have enthusiastically contributed to my research Without the help of those, I would not

be able to fulfill my M.A thesis

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr

Le Thi Thuy Nhung, from Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, who continuously supported and encouraged me through the journey of my research Without her

patience, guidance and insights, my work would be far from completed

In addition, I would like to present my grateful appreciation towards all lectures of the Open University in Ho Chi Minh City for providing me precious intellectual

knowledge during my study that was extremely useful in accomplishing my thesis Last but not least, my special gratefulness goes to all students and instructors at FPT Polytechnic College for their cooperation and willingness to complete the

questionnaires and interviews, which provides valuable information for my research

ABSTRACT

Textbooks are considered an indispensable resource in any English training programs

In Vietnam, English textbooks are often published and imported from overseas This may result in a lack of suitability and appropriateness of imported book in the English training curriculum Imported textbooks may not meet the learners' needs, interests, and abilities as well as the teachers' needs Therefore, textbook evaluation is highly important because it not only provides useful information for teachers but also plans learning settings for students This study was conducted to examine the appropriateness

of the textbook Top Notch 2 which is used as the main coursebook for non-English majors at a college in Ho Chi Minh City It also investigated the perceptions of both students and instructors in the college about the use of this textbook for their English classes

The study employed mixed methods to gather data for analysis including document analysis, questionnaire survey and interviews Participants included 156 students who completed the survey and five English teachers who agreed to attend the interview with the researcher The findings show that most teachers recommend the use of Top Notch

2 as the main coursebook for non-English majors because of its suitability in terms of topics, organization, content and language type However, several students did not seem to favor the textbook in terms of its practicality and appropriateness

The findings of the study would be of significant value to students and teachers,

curriculum designers as well as English program managers as it provides an official evaluation on Top Notch 2 with a view to examining the suitability of this textbook for English language training programs not only at FPT Polytechnic College but also at other higher educational institutions in Vietnam and in other non-dominant English-speaking countries

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 The importance of textbook in general and EFL textbook in particular 2

1.2 The current situation of EFL textbooks use in Vietnam 2

1.3 The current situation of the use of Top Notch at FPT 3

1.4 Reasons for evaluating Top Notch 2 4

1.5 Research problem 4

1.6 Aims of the study 5

1.7 Research questions 5

1.8 Scope of the study 5

1.9 Significance of the study 6

1.10 Structure of the thesis 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Concepts and definitions of materials 8

2.2 The importance of textbooks in EFL classes 10

2.3 Benefits and drawbacks of textbooks in language classes 11

2.3.1 The benefits of textbooks to teachers 11

2.3.2 The benefits of textbooks to students 12

2.3.3 The drawbacks of textbooks 12

2.4 The rationale for textbook evaluation 13

2.5 Conceptual frameworks for textbook evaluation 16

2.6 Methods and stages of textbook evaluation 17

2.7 The adoption of checklist as a tool for textbook evaluation 19

2.8 Criteria of the checklist 19

2.9 Textbook evaluation in Vietnamese context 21

2.10 Description of the textbook “Top Notch 2” 23

2.11 Research on textbook evaluation 24

2.11.1 Previous studies on textbook evaluation in international contexts 24

2.11.2 Previous studies on textbook evaluation in Vietnamese EFL context 26

2.12 Chapter summary 28

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 29

3.1 Research design 29

3.1.1 The analysis of Top Notch 2 student’s book 29

3.1.2 Survey 30

3.1.3 Interviews with teachers 31

3.2 Research site 32

3.3 Research instruments 33

3.3.1 The questionnaire 33

3.3.2 Piloting the questionnaire 35

3.3.3 Interview 35

3.4 Data collection procedures 36

3.5 Data analysis 37

3.6 Reliability and validity of the research 38

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 40

4.1 Findings 40

4.1.1 Practical considerations 40

4.1.1.1 Document analysis 40

4.1.1.2 Results from the interview 41

4.1.1.3 Results from the survey 42

4.1.2 Layout and design 43

4.1.2.1 Document analysis 43

4.1.2.2 Results from the interview 43

4.1.2.3 Results from the survey 44

4.1.3 Activities 44

4.1.3.1 Document analysis 44

4.1.3.2 Results from the interview 45

4.1.3.3 Results from the survey 47

4.1.4 Skills 48

4.1.4.1 Document analysis 48

4.1.4.2 Results from the interview 49

4.1.4.3 Results from the survey 50

4.1.5 Language type 51

4.1.5.1 Document analysis 51

4.1.5.2 Results from the interview 51

4.1.5.3 Results from the survey 53

4.1.6 Subject and content 54

4.1.6.1 Document analysis 54

4.1.6.2 Results from the interview 55

4.1.6.3 Results of the survey 56

4.1.7 Overall consensus 57

4.1.7.1 Document analysis 57

4.1.7.2 Results of the interview 57

4.1.7.3 Results of the survey 58

4.2 Discussion 59

4.2.1 Findings of the current study in relation to research in international context 59

4.2.2 Findings of the current study in relation to research in Vietnamese context 61

4.3 Chapter summary 63

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 64

5.1 Summary of major findings 64

5.2 Implications 65

5.2.1 For teachers 65

5.2.2 For students 66

5.2.3 For EFL program managers 66

5.3 Limitations of the research 67

5.4 Recommendations for further research 67

REFERENCES 69

APENDIX A – THE TEXTBOOK EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) 75

APENDIX B – TEXTBOOK EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 78

APENDIX C – INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 82

APENDIX D – INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 83

APENDIX E – INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT OF T4 84

APENDIX F – SUMMARY OF INTERVEW TRANSCRIPTS 91

APENDIX G – SPSS STATISTICS 96

APENDIX H – THE TEACHERS’ PROFILE 111

APENDIX I – COVER AND TABLE OF CONTENT OF TOP NOTCH 2 112

APENDIX J – SAMPLES OF TOP NOTCH 2 114

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Results of students’ responses to Practical Considerations Table 4.2: Results of students’ responses to Layout and Design Table 4.3: Results of students’ responses to Activities

Table 4.4: Results of students’ responses to Skills

Table 4.5: Results of students’ responses to Language Type

Table 4.6: Results of students’ responses to Subject and Content Table 4.7: Results of students’ responses to Overall Consensus

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ELT: English Language Teaching

ESL: English as a Second Language

ESP: English for Special Purposes

MOET: The Ministry Of Education and Training

SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides a general vision of the problem that the researcher would like to introduce, which includes 11 sections In the first two sections, the significance of EFL textbook and current situation of EFL textbook in Vietnam are discussed respectively The next two sections introduce the current situation of the use of Top Notch at FPT and reasons for the evaluation of this textbook The other sections relate to the research gap, the aims of the study, research questions, the scope, the significance and the structure of the study There is also a section of definitions of the key terms in textbook evaluation

It is widely accepted that English is an international language due to its massive

application in a great variety of areas all over the world English serves as a native language of the majority of people in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States of America In recent decades, English has rapidly and globally spread over the continents with the dominant influence in several domains including language

education, business, information technology, trade, science and medicine, and

entertainment Owing to the dominance of English as a global language, several dominant English-speaking countries around the world currently invest in English education and Vietnam is not an exception

non-The importance of English is studied in non-The Impact of English as A Global Language

on Educational Policies and Practices in the Asia-Pacific Region carried out by David

Nunan (2003) One of his interviewers mentioned that “It can be said that English has become a must for success in both studying and working” (Nunan, 2003, p 605) In order to accomplish the process of industrialization and modernization, English

language teaching and training has become one of the most significant aspects that the Vietnam government concentrates on The government’s recognition of the importance

of English education has been noticed in several policies Since 2018, English has been

a compulsory subject in the curriculum for students from grade 3 to grade 12 and an optional subject for primary education between grade 1 and grade 2 (Vietnam Ministry

of Education and Training, 2018)

Despite the fact that English extremely flourishes in Vietnam educational system, the quality of language education in Vietnam remains unsatisfactory due to a lack of

resources, teacher training, vision and guidelines In terms of resources, materials development is considered as an essential aspect of English language teaching Many English language teaching programs across levels in Vietnam tend to use materials imported from overseas This may result in the lack of suitability and appropriateness

of imported book in the English training curriculum Imported textbooks may not meet the learners' needs, interests, and abilities as well as the teachers' needs The adoption

of foreign published materials without modification and simplification could greatly affect the quality of a language program However, this issue seems to be under-

researched in Vietnamese context as there is a relatively limited literature on this area

1.1 The importance of textbook in general and EFL textbook in particular

“Coursebooks are perceived by many to be the route map of any ELT programme” (Sheldon, 1988, p 238) Textbooks play an important role in language teaching classes

in general and in English teaching classes in particular In fact, there are hardly any subjects that are taught without textbooks and English teaching is not an exception It is due to the fact that textbooks are not only significant for the language development of the learners but also useful for the teachers to deliver the lessons effectively They can

be considered as a useful facilitator for teachers to construct their lesson plans, a

helpful monitor to successfully deliver the knowledge and a meaningful instrument for students to revise their learnt knowledge

1.2 The current situation of EFL textbooks use in Vietnam

English is recognized as an international lingua franca (Nunan, 2003), which is

considered as a mediator allowing people from all over the globe who share different mother tongues to communicate with one another English language education in

Vietnam is rapidly flourishing from official educational institutions to private training centers Although the English language education market in Vietnam is quite large and has a lot of potentials to promote, the area of material development and assessment seems to be under-researched

In terms of language teaching materials, in Vietnam, EFL textbooks for grade 6 to grade 12 are published by the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam (MOET) However, a large majority of English textbooks used at tertiary institutions and

vocational schools in Vietnam are imported from overseas In recent years, the market

of English textbooks has witnessed a dramatic rise regardless of both quantity and quality It is generally believed that imported textbooks are more qualified than

domestic textbooks in terms of meaningful practice, language use, vocabulary items, grammatical structures and so forth However, there are concerns about whether

foreign textbooks are suitable learning sources to support Vietnamese students in spite

of the differences of cultures, lifestyles, and attitudes

1.3 The current situation of the use of Top Notch at FPT

Top Notch is an English textbook series compiled by Longman Pearson Publisher based on practical research and analysis, to meet the increasing English learning needs

of English teachers and learners This textbook series is currently used by more than 3 million students worldwide Currently, the Top Notch series are being used in FPT's English language programs at various institutions including FPT University, FPT Polytechnic, FPT Aptech and FPT Arena

The students at FPT Polytechnic College are required to participate in four continuous courses of General English Top Notch series has been selected as official teaching

materials at FPT University since 2011 The Top Notch series consists of 4 different textbooks namely Top Notch Fundamentals, Top Notch 1, Top Notch 2 and Top Notch

3 Each textbook in the Top Notch series includes 10 units of various topics and covers all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) For General English course level 1A and 1B, the students use Top Notch 1 and the students of other two levels, 2A and 2B, use Top Notch 2 In addition to the two textbooks, students are equipped with CDs for recording dialogues and video clips of specific situations

1.4 Reasons for evaluating Top Notch 2

Top Notch series have been in use by language learners around the world and have been published by a reputable publisher, which may indicate the reliability and quality

of this textbook However, within Vietnamese context in general and in the English language training programs at FPT in particular, there has been no research evidence nor formal evaluation of the current use of Top Notch at FPT to formally assess its suitability for the curriculum as well as students and teachers in the college

1.5 Research problem

The researcher is currently teaching English at FPT Polytechnic College (here after, FPT), which provides a variety of English courses to more than 20,000 undergraduates majored in information technology including graphic design, website design, software application and computer programming The students whose major is not English have

to complete General English courses spanning four-semesters to satisfy the graduation requirement The textbook is Top Notch 1 and 2 (third edition) published by Longman Pearson in 2015 The students learn English for communication purposes and for their future job, therefore, communicative skills are emphasized However, the students still experience some of the problems in terms of skills and content when learning and practicing Top Notch 2 To be specific, they encounter some difficulties in listening and writing skills as well as the motivation in learning unfamiliar topics In Vietnamese

context, there has been no official study conducted to evaluate Top Notch 2 as the textbook for non-English majored college students, therefore, it is important to carry out the research to examine the positive features and possible inappropriateness of this textbook to improve the English teaching and learning process at FPT

With a view that textbooks play an important role in influencing students’ motivation and success of learning English, the researcher conducts this study to evaluate the appropriateness of the use of Top Notch 2 as the textbook which is currently used at FPT Polytechnic College The purpose of this study is to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the current English textbook being used at FPT The study also seeks to

understand the students and teachers’ perspectives on the use of Top Notch as the main

teaching material at FPT college

1.6 Aims of the study

The aim of the study is to evaluate Top Notch 2 currently being used as the main textbook at FPT It is significant to conduct the evaluation since Top Notch 2 has not been formally evaluated in Vietnam context in general and at FPT in particular

Furthermore, the study seeks to understand the perspectives of non-English majors as well as English teachers on the use of this textbook

1.7 Research questions

The study seeks answers for the following research questions:

1 To what extent does Top Notch 2 meet the evaluation criteria for a standard EFL

textbook?

2 What are the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of Top Notch 2 as English

textbook for their English classes?

1.8 Scope of the study

The objective of the study is to examine the suitability of the Top Notch 2 at FPT Polytechnic College Therefore, the participants of the study include teachers and students who were enrolled in the English courses at FPT at the time of the study To

be more specific, the study was conducted on one of the main campuses of FPT in Ho Chi Minh City In addition, the duration of the study lasted in six months from March

2019 to September 2019 Furthermore, this study concentrates on the area of textbook evaluation in the field of materials development so that some frameworks of textbook evaluation are discussed

1.9 Significance of the study

This study taps into the area of textbook evaluation in Vietnamese context in general and at FPT Polytechnic College in particular which remains under-researched

First and foremost, the findings of the study would provide practical values to both students and teachers at FPT Through Top Notch 2 evaluation, the students would have an overview of the textbook in terms of objectives, skills, activities and content, therefore, it will be easier for them to follow the textbook in the learning process For teachers, the findings would provide a reference to look back at their lesson design and make adjustments in order to maximize the sufficient use of Top Notch 2 In addition, the evaluation of Top Notch 2 would provide significant reference for other higher education institutions in Vietnam to review the practice of textbook selection and adaptation so as to meet both teachers and students’ expectations with regard to their needs, language capacity and preferences

Regarding to the theoretical values, the findings of the study would contribute to the limited literature review of textbook evaluation especially in Vietnamese context Furthermore, the study would serve a point of reference for program designers and curriculum developers to assess the quality of textbooks used for English training programs in Vietnamese higher education institutions

1.10 Structure of the thesis

This thesis is divided into five chapters Chapter one, introduction, concentrates on

determining the purposes of the study based on the current problem at research site to

establish the research questions Chapter two, literature review, focuses on the

generalizing the area of material development and assessment especially textbook evaluation as well as the previous studies in the mentioned aspect The methodology of how the researcher carry out the research is described in relation to research method,

instruments, participation, data collection and analysis procedure in chapter three, research design and methodology Chapter four, findings and discussion, put the

highlight on illustrating the collected data to present inferred results and discussing the

impact of the current thesis in the general context Chapter five, conclusions and

implications, present a brief summary of the whole study and suggests implications in pedagogical area as well as supports further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In the literature review, issues in relation to material development and assessment in general and textbook evaluation in particular are analyzed with a focus on English for Specific Purposes, the importance of textbooks as well as the merits and demerits of textbooks Furthermore, a revision in the process and the necessity of textbook

evaluation is also presented In the current situation of Vietnam, the utilization of textbook has a positive influence on teaching and learning but textbook evaluation remains an uncommon empirical topic for research The literature review also

discusses the usefulness of checklist approach and the basic criteria covering in the checklist for textbook evaluation A brief summary of previous studies in both foreign and Vietnamese contexts is presented with the emphasis on the researches using

checklist as the instrument of evaluating textbooks

2.1 Concepts and definitions of materials

Textbook

As can be seen, textbook that usually covers a wide range of different topics and

themes is not a new type of instructional materials, especially in the area of EFL

teaching Each textbook consists of a variety of chapters with different texts and

various tasks to help students achieve the final objective that is English acquisition A textbook is often accompanied with a series of addition materials such as workbook, teacher’s book, CDs, answer key and so forth When choosing a textbook for any ELT program, all of those elements mentioned above are taken into account to guarantee the appropriateness of textbook in that course

Analysis and Evaluation

The definitions of analysis and evaluation seems to be similar but in fact they are quite distinctive McGrath (2002, p.22) suggested that textbook analysis referred to the detailed investigation of its components to discover what is already in it, and textbook analysis needs to be carried out before starting the textbook evaluation

According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2009), evaluation is defined as “the act of considering something to decide how useful or valuable it is” McGrath (2002) also expressed concerns on whether the elements expected are

included in the textbook Evaluation means making objective judgements, but

sometimes subjective judgements are included

Materials evaluation

Whenever an English course is planned, new materials selection is considered one of the most important decisions It is mainly because they have to ensure that the

materials are suitable to the curriculum and specific context of that educational

institution A variety of aspects are taken into account through this examination such as the school curriculum, the course syllabus, students’ needs, individual learners’

differences including English proficiency and background, etc There are three types of textbook evaluation recommended in the book Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching (McGrath, 2002) The first method is the checklist in which all the investigated criteria are listed and checked, while in-depth is the second method which means some highlighted parts of the textbook are examined The last method also suggested as the best method is the practical experiment on the learners who are

currently in-use or familiar to the textbook Pre-use, in-use and post-use evaluations are recommended for this method In details, pre-use evaluation needs to be conducted in the preparation process before launching a brand new English teaching course in which the teachers and language educators consider the suitability of the textbook to various element such as curriculum, objectives of the course, the level of the students, etc.,

while in-use evaluation is carried out to examine the arise problems in the teaching and learning progress as well as the students’ perceptions towards the textbook Finally, post- use evaluation is considered as a step to collect the reflection of both teachers and learners and to consider the future use of the textbook

2.2 The importance of textbooks in EFL classes

It is noticeably undeniable that textbooks play a crucial role in each and every class for both teachers and learners According to Sheldon (1987) , textbooks can be defined as

a designed book published to assist language learners in terms of improving linguistic input and communicative skills Furthermore, textbooks are also used as a type of supporting instruments in the teaching and learning process (Ur, 1996) As a result, selecting a suitable textbook is globally regarded as one of the indispensable stages before the launch of a new English teaching and training course A designate textbook package usually comes with other supplementary materials such as student’s

workbook, teacher’s book, CDs (audio files), additional transcripts or texts for

reference and so forth (Masuhara & Tomlinson, 2008) They encourage the

effectiveness and efficiency of learning a language (Cunningsworth, 1995) and are

“designed to give cohesion to the language teaching and learning process by providing direction, support and specific language-based activities aimed at offering classroom practice for students” (Mares, 2003)

In the specific aspect of English teaching contexts, textbooks continue to prove their vital position by the dramatic spread of textbooks’ usage all over the world Although, with the only use of textbooks, the students’ language needs will not be satisfied, both teachers and learners need a framework to make progress in teaching and learning, which can be provided by textbooks (Garinger, 2002) The use of textbook is so

massive that it appears to be one of the universal factors which is indispensable in numerous ELT circumstances and programs (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994; Litz, 2005)

A number of researchers and language experts have illustrated that it is extremely popular when ELT teachers or educators integrate and incorporate the use of textbooks

in their daily teaching professionals to help them reach the final goals, and very few of them deny the facilitating of textbooks in English classes at any stages of their career (Byrd, 2001; Cunningsworth & Tomlinson, 1984; Harmer, 2007; Litz, 2005)

The significance of textbooks’ usage has been demonstrated by tremendous studies and research, however, the idea on whether textbooks can actually reinforce or interfere the teaching and learning process seems to remain a global controversy In the next

section, a literature review would be introduced to provide a general vision on both advantages and disadvantages of using textbooks in ELT contexts

2.3 Benefits and drawbacks of textbooks in language classes

2.3.1 The benefits of textbooks to teachers

First and foremost, textbooks can be served as a reliable source of language materials (Richards & Renandya, 2002) and instructions for teachers to concentrate on the real teaching process without having to make efforts for the preparation of teaching

materials (Edge & Wharton, 1998) Teachers usually conduct the lessons based on the organization of the designate tasks and activities of the textbooks, therefore, the lesson plans shall be structured in accordance to the teaching textbooks (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994; Richards & Renandya, 2002) Secondly, teachers can utilize textbooks as a

source of reference to manage their teaching process and focus on the teaching content (Tomlinson, 2008) A great number of studies present that textbooks have similar functions as a map in terms of instructing the teaching process (McGrath, 2002; Ur, 1996), therefore, tremendous teachers use textbooks as a monitor to measure

developments of students and as an “idea bank” for new directions in how they can deliver a lesson (Tomlinson, 2008) According to Ur (1996), a syllabus of an ELT program can be carefully and systematically planned with the reference of textbooks

Similarly, one of the merits of using textbooks mentioned by Richards and Renandya (2002) is the structure for syllabus designs Finally, for new and inexperienced teachers who are not highly confident about delivering lessons in communicative ways,

textbooks play an important role as a support and security provider (Mares, 2003; Tomlinson, 2008; Ur, 1996) It is due to the fact that textbooks provide a reliable and available source of language material for new teachers instead of integrating and

compiling authentic materials

2.3.2 The benefits of textbooks to students

For students, using textbooks is beneficial in various ways First of all, using textbooks

as a tool for keeping tracks of the learning process and measuring the developments seems to be the first advantage A lot of students apply textbook as an effective

instrument to revise the knowledge they learned from the in-class lessons as well as familiarize with new linguistic items In addition, textbooks are considered as one of the most economic and convenient sources for students to access to language input They can use textbooks, a collection of adequate materials, for self-assessed and

critical evaluations as well as knowledge reinforcement (Cunningsworth, 1995) Last but not least, textbooks can be a reflection to save students from the incompetency and deficiencies of the teachers (Litz, 2005)

2.3.3 The drawbacks of textbooks

On the other end of the spectrum, various language experts and researchers have

highlighted the shortcomings regardless of using textbooks in EFL classes (Allwright, 1981; Harwood, 2005) Firstly, textbooks provide a model framework on how the lesson can be taught, therefore, many teachers increase the dependence on the textbook and become less creative in designing lessons (Tomlinson, 2008; Ur, 1996) Although textbooks can be used as a tool to monitor the teaching and learning process for both

teachers and students, it is noticed that no textbook can address all the differences regardless of learners, learning styles and classroom circumstances (Tomlinson, 2003) One of the consequences is that the teachers may completely depend on the textbooks without making attempts to prepare and study the lesson plans before real teaching process Secondly, it is argued that in some particular settings, textbooks usage can affect the involvement of students in the language acquisition process (Allwright, 1981) The framework provided by textbooks may limit the creativity and imagination

of both teachers and students, which leads to a fact that teachers usually prefer the textbooks’ activities instead of their own designed tasks Furthermore, there are many education institutions using textbooks as an effective tool for exam practice instead of a facilitator for successful language acquisition Finally, the topics in the textbooks may not be appropriate and interesting enough to encourage the students’ learning

motivation

A lot of schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam use commercial textbooks

published by foreign authors, therefore, it is indispensable that some of the main

themes may not be suitable for Asian students who grow up in different cultures This reason may result in the boredom of English classes (Ur, 1996) Language learning should include real interactions and creative activities instead of being limited to the proposed structure of textbooks

In summary, the topic of using textbooks in language teaching appears to remain one of the most popular controversies Some people think that textbooks play a significant role in the development of language learning process, while others argue that using textbooks can be too biased or inappropriate to be an instructional material Whether the controversy is, it is noticeably undeniable that textbook usage increases as an

enormous popular aspect in the field of language teaching and learning

2.4 The rationale for textbook evaluation

According to Sheldon (1988), there have been several reasons to conduct textbook evaluation First of all, textbook selection is often considered as a significant decision

in terms of administration and education, which relates to the investment in profession, finance and politics Through evaluation process, educational institutions and

organizations can compare and distinguish a variety of textbooks available on the market What is more, language educators and teachers may get familiar with the

textbook to identify the strengths and weaknesses existed in the texts, tasks and

exercises

With the rapid development in language teaching and learning all over the world, the number of textbooks in the market increases bigger than ever and continues to grow, which contributes to the difficulty in making a correct choice for textbook selection As mentioned in the previous part, teachers would use textbooks as a reference

(Cunningsworth, 1995; McGrath, 2002) and a framework for designing EFL syllabus

or lesson plans (Garinger, 2002), therefore, textbook selection has a massive influence

on teachers in particular and on the teaching and learning process in general In other words, the success or failure of an English course may be decided by the quality of the chosen textbook (Mukundan, 2010) However, there are a lot of careless analysis when

it comes to purchasing a textbook (McGrath, 2002) In reality, textbooks are not often purchased based on their intrinsic pedagogical values but mainly on the reputation of the authors and the extensive marketing strategies of the publishers (McGrath, 2002) Moreover, the textbooks with attractive covers or affirmed with best-selling title would

be given the preference by the consumers (McGrath, 2002; Tomlinson, 2010)

In recent years, it has been recognized that most of ELT textbooks are not developed for pedagogical purposes which are based on theories of language acquisition but currently published for commercial goals (Tomlinson, 2003, 2008 and 2010)

According to Dendrinos (1992, p.35) , “Textbooks, like any other book that publisher

print, are pieces of merchandise; the ultimate objective of their production is [for] commercial success” In a different sense, financial success becomes the significant aim of publishing textbooks (Litz, 2005; Tomlinson, 2003) It is common that there are many textbooks contributing to the failure of English acquisition of the learners instead

of positively supporting their language development On top of that, a lot of

pedagogical mistakes and practical disadvantages are found in textbooks, which

appears to be the worst situation (Litz, 2005; Tomlinson, 2008)

Based on Tomlinson’s assumption (2008), there are two possible causes for the failure

of learning language The first reason is possibly related to the public demand for textbooks and commercial success for publishers The publishers would take the focus

on the actual demand of the intended customers to produce a textbook so that instead of creating positive real-life opportunities for the learners to practice English, the

textbook is heavily concentrated on linguistic and grammatical knowledge In addition, textbooks are often designed to support the teachers to minimize the preparation before teaching classes (Dendrinos, 1992; Tomlinson, 2008) The second cause for the failure

is that the writers tend to rely on their perspectives to produce the textbooks that they think would be suitable for their users, therefore, there will be biased attitudes implied

in the textbooks (Tomlinson, 2003, 2008) A number of scholars in the field of ELT materials development recently show concerns for the content of textbooks related to cultural values, which are usually referred to “inherently social and culturally biased” and encourage to form “genders” in English (Banegas, 2010; Litz, 2005)

In brief, EFL textbooks evaluation is extremely essential to carry out in order to

guarantee the appropriate facilitation of textbooks regardless of achieving teaching purposes At the same time, textbook choice needs to ensure the financial and

economical goals for both teachers and learners Incorrect textbook selection may

result in the waste of finance and the negative impact on teaching and learning process (Mukundan, 2010)

2.5 Conceptual frameworks for textbook evaluation

Textbook evaluation is a sophisticated procedure as there are a lot of possible

components that may influence the success or failure of a textbook evaluation process Therefore, evaluators might need to take some important decisions One of the

variables is the selection of framework for evaluation because there is no optimal framework for every textbook evaluation process The criteria or elements of the

framework may vary depending on the particular context of teaching and learning Evaluators can select one from the available frameworks or they can develop their own criteria for the framework to reflect the priorities of the specific circumstance

There have been a variety of influential frameworks and approaches developed

throughout the history of material testing and assessment Elli’s (1997) textbook

evaluation framework was separated into two primary stages, predictive evaluation and retrospective evaluation Predictive evaluation is carried out for teachers to choose the textbook for their English classes in which they can use the findings of previous studies

or conduct their own evaluation by using available checklists in the literature

Retrospective evaluation is designed to explore what effect the textbooks have on both teachers and learners This stage of evaluation is usually conducted while the textbook

is in use or after it has been used for the class

Tomlinson (2003) suggested that there were a variety of variables in textbook

evaluation including the physical appearance, the reliability and validity of the

textbook, the fulfillment to the students’ needs and wants, the ability to attract and inspire the students, the matching towards the curriculum, testing and assessment and

so forth In addition, the textbook evaluation framework of Tomlinson (2003) was divided into three stages including pre-use, in-use and post-use

Litz (2005) introduced a textbook evaluation framework in which a standard EFL textbook is evaluated based on six criteria including textbook package – value, content and methodology, layout and design, activities and tasks, skills, language type and content, subject and content This has been one of the earliest frameworks developed to conduct a textbook evaluation in South Korea The researcher decided to adopt Litz’ evaluation framework for this study based on two reasons Firstly, South Korea and Vietnam share some similarities in terms of cultural background and language

teaching To be specific, both countries are parts of Asia and English is considered the second language Secondly, the participants of Litz’ study are university students (tertiary level) which are relatively similar to college students in this study

2.6 Methods and stages of textbook evaluation

As suggested by (Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2004), materials evaluation in general and ELT textbook evaluation in particular “involves measuring the value or (potential value) of a set of learning materials [textbooks] by making judgement about the effect

of the materials [textbooks] on the people using them The area of textbook evaluation

is provided with a limited number of empirical studies, which may contribute to the fact that this area seems to be under-researched in comparison to other outstanding topics

Cunningsworth (1995) and Ur (1996) set a primary foundation for other scholars to continue to study this area An extensive summary of the process in which a textbook was evaluated is provided in the work of Cunningsworth Cunningsworth (1995)

suggested that through impression method, the textbook is literally examined from cover to cover so that the researcher can identify the strengths and shortcomings A lot

of quick-accessed data such as the organization of the textbook, additional materials come with the textbook, the connection between chapters and so forth are provided through the overall investigation After this phase, a number of inappropriate textbooks

are eliminated An in-depth evaluation is conducted to evaluate some particular

language patterns in detail, for instance, to see whether the tasks and activities in the textbooks are well-matched with the syllabus and students’ needs One or two chapters are randomly chosen to explore the equality of language skills and the activities

included in each unit (Cunningsworth, 1995)

The stages in which the textbook should be taken place are also investigated by various scholars (Ellis, 1997; McGrath, 2002; Mukundan, 2010) According to McGrath

(2002), in general there are three different stages in textbook evaluation which are use, in-use and post-use, and each of them bears its own importance Potential values in pedagogy are identified in pre-use evaluation by a quick scan of physical appearance and content pages (Tomlinson, 2003) and it is very useful and convenient for

pre-experienced teachers (Cunningsworth, 1995) By actually using them or observing them being utilized (possibly by students), the teachers can explore the appropriateness

of the textbooks in in-use evaluations in terms of some deeper criteria (e.g clarity of layout and instructions, achievement of objectives, motivating power, etc.) (Mukundan, 2010; Tomlinson, 2003) Last but not least, post-use evaluations are applied to explore the possible long-term and short-term implications if we continue to use that textbook (McGrath, 2002; Tomlinson, 2003) It is recommended that the process of textbook evaluation should be performed continuously in all three stages above (McGrath, 2002; Mukundan, 2010)

Textbook selection and evaluation tend to be a subjective practice despite the fact that there have been many frameworks developed to evaluate a textbook (Angell,

DuBravac, & Gonglewski, 2008) In order to choose the most suitable textbook for learners, textbook evaluation remains an indispensable phase so that the teachers can consider the advantages and disadvantages of the textbook (Mukundan, 2010) As

mentioned above, textbooks play a vital role in EFL classes, thereby, textbook

evaluation conduction appears to be impossible to skip

2.7 The adoption of checklist as a tool for textbook evaluation

It is highlighted that the area of textbook evaluation appears to be under-researched There have been a great number of studies using checklist as the main instrument for the evaluation framework such as Byrd (2001), Cunningsworth (1995), Ellis (1997), Tomlinson (2003, 2008), Ur (1996) and so forth The popularity of using checklist may

be because of the economical and systematical structure that checklist approach

provides to cover all the relevant items for evaluation (Cunningsworth, 1995; McGrath, 2002) All the criteria needed for consideration should be clear and precise in the

designate checklist and the items can be customized in accordance to the needs of the users to demonstrate the flexibility in the evaluation (Mukundan & Ahour, 2010) Cunningsworth (1995) suggested that checklist approach can be applied after the

process of impressionistic evaluation to provide in-depth analysis in terms of the

suitability of the textbook for the learners’ needs and the syllabus Checklist is one of the useful tools for explicitly collecting information from a large number of

participants, which can contribute to make it easy for the researchers to compare

different textbooks and give the final decision (McGrath, 2002, p.27)

The use of checklist is commonly applied in various studies as it is an economical and systematic way to evaluate all considered patterns in the textbook evaluation

(Cunningsworth, 1995; McGrath, 2002) Furthermore, it is flexible and convenient to add or eliminate some evaluation items to serve the specific circumstance

2.8 Criteria of the checklist

There have been a lot of scholars making attempts to define primary criteria in the scheme for writing the items of the checklist Williams (1983, p 253) suggested that the ESL textbook should:

1 Give introductory guidance on the presentation of language items and skills (GENERAL)

2 Suggest aids for the teaching of pronunciation: e.g phonetic system (SPEECH)

3 Offer meaningful situations and a variety of techniques for teaching structural units (GRAMMAR)

4 Distinguish the different purposes and skills involved in the teaching of

vocabulary (VOCABULARY)

5 Provide guidance on the initial presentation of passages for reading

comprehension (READING)

6 Demonstrate the various devices for controlling and guiding content and

expression in composition exercises (WRITING)

7 Contain appropriate pictures, diagrams, tables, etc (TECHNICAL)”

Cunningsworth (1995) also demonstrated some main criteria for a textbook evaluation:

1 The textbook should be suitable for the needs of the learners The purposes and objective of the language program need to be corresponded by the textbook

2 The future or present usage of the textbook’s language which the learners apply should be reflective

3 The needs of the learners should be taken into account and the textbook can support the learning process

4 The textbook plays a role as a facilitator and a mediator between the target language and the leaners

5 The evaluators can customize these criteria to match the current context

In order to fulfill the research questions, the researcher used the Students Textbook Evaluation Form (STEF) checklist developed by Litz (2005) which is used to examine the extent that the textbook Top Notch 2 meet the criteria for a standardized EFL

textbook used for college students in terms of overall design and academic content The researcher used Litz’s checklist as the primary instrument because its criteria covered many related aspects of a standard textbook that needs to be evaluated

Moreover, the checklist was adopted by a number of studies in recent years (Alshehri, 2016; Hashemi & Borhani, 2015; Mohammadi & Abdi, 2014)

The checklist is divided into seven criteria including practical considerations, layout and design, activities, skills, language type, subject and content and overall consensus

The price and accessibility are examined in practical considerations, while layout and

design concentrates on the general organization and design of the textbook In

activities, the appropriateness and sufficiency of the activities in terms of promoting

communicative practice individually, in-pairs or in groups are considered, whilst the equality of four language skills and the supply of other sub-skills are taken into account

in skills The meaning usage of language type especially in grammar, vocabulary, examples, etc and the primary subject and content are investigated in language type and subject and content respectively Overall consensus illustrates the agreement of the

interest the textbook brings and indicates further usage

2.9 Textbook evaluation in Vietnamese context

With dramatic development and wide spread of language teaching and learning in order to participate in the industrialization and globalization, English has become one

of the most popular languages in education in official schools of the education system (kindergartens, primary, secondary, high schools and higher education) as well as language teaching institutions in Vietnam On December 28th, 2018, The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) launched a detailed announcement on the new

curriculum for the school education with specific subjects (Vietnam Ministry of

Education and Training, 2018) According to the announcement, the first foreign language, in which English is the most common second language chosen by students along with other languages such as Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean and so forth, is

an official and compulsory subject for grade 3 to grade 12 students In reality, there is

an official series of English textbooks published by the Vietnam Education Publishing House Limited Company under the management of the MOET for students from grade

6 to grade 12, while primary students currently use the series of Family and Friends special edition published by Oxford University Press in corporation with the MOET However, besides the mandatory English textbooks mentioned above, many schools have other English teaching courses especially for the English gifted classes and the textbooks selected for those classes are determined by language experts, educators and teachers within the educational organization

At tertiary level, college and university students who are majored in English linguistics

or pedagogy have to study various English modules to support their major and

reinforce the knowledge On the other hand, the students who are non-English-majored students have to study English as a sub-course to support their skills and future career One of the similarities of those courses is the chosen textbook is usually written by foreign authors and published by an oversea publishing house to guarantee the quality

of language use In other words, most of the textbooks used are internationally

imported, however, this trend often comes along with some unavoidable disadvantages such as cultural bias, individual differences, inappropriate topics for Vietnamese

students and so forth As a result, the process of textbook evaluation is essential for each language program to choose a textbook that ensures the curriculum and syllabus matching and meaningful language practice as well as minimizes the cultural

differences, however, it seems that textbook evaluation is under-researched in the context of Vietnam with very few empirical studies

2.10 Description of the textbook “Top Notch 2”

The Top Notch series is a collection of four versions (Top Notch Fundamentals, 1, 2 and 3) published by Pearson Longman for teaching four English skills (listening,

reading, writing and speaking) The full package of Top Notch series includes student’s book, student’s workbook, teacher’s edition and lesson planer, CDs and audio files for listening tasks, and 137 videos related to the topic of each unit The content of the videos relates to the lives of many employees who worked for a travel agency named Top Notch and their customers The useful and meaningful language use is beautifully implied in various practical communication situations, thereby, the learners could apply flexibly in real-life conversations The themes of the short clips vary from basic greetings, introduction, giving directions to intermediate level topics such as sports, dating, ethnics and values and so forth

The third edition of the series was edited and republished in 2015 Top Notch series is the recipient of the Association of Educational Publishers’ Distinguished Achievement Award for its instructional design in terms of daily confirmation of progress, explicit grammar and vocabulary, high-frequency social language, linguistic and cultural

fluency and active listening syllabus

Top Notch 2 is written by Joan Saslow and Allen Ascher with the support of Daria Ruzicka Top Notch 2 consists of ten units including getting acquainted, going to the movies, staying in hotels, cars and driving, personal care and appearance, eating well, about personality, the arts, living in cyberspace, and ethics and values Each unit is separated into five main sections namely vocabulary, grammar, listening/

pronunciation, reading and writing The book also introduces the main communicative goals and conversation strategies of each unit so that the students can easily follow and understand the objectives of the book In addition, the textbook provides an additional section for grammar and writing booster which contains extra activities for the students

to practice grammatical structures they have learnt and improve writing skill With the third edition, Top Notch provides some new features including extra grammar

exercises, conversation activator videos and pronunciation coach videos

2.11 Research on textbook evaluation

2.11.1 Previous studies on textbook evaluation in international contexts

As mentioned before, textbook evaluation seems to be an under-researched area in the topic of materials testing and development, with a limited number of scholars as well

as empirical studies However, over the past few decades, this aspect has received an increasing attention globally One of the most significant similarities among many of textbook evaluation studies is the application of checklist or questionnaire to evaluate the textbook from a variety of subjects and participants (Aghazadeh, 2015; Al-Yousef, 2007; Alshehri, 2016; Fukkink, 2010; Ghorbani, 2011; Hashemi & Borhani, 2015; Latif, 2015; Lawrence, 2011; Mahmood, 2011; Mohammadi & Abdi, 2014;

Nimehchisalem & Mukundan, 2013; Rahimpour & Hashemi, 2011; Sarem, Hamidi, & Mahmoudie, 2013; Soori, Kafipour, & Soury, 2011; Wen-Cheng, Chien-Hung, & Chung-Chieh, 2011)

In the study of Litz (2005), the textbook evaluation questionnaires (checklists) were introduced and completed by 8 instructors of intermediate English courses and 500 students who participated in the 2000-2001 program The research site was at Sung Kyun Kwan University in Suwon, South Korea and the textbook was English Fristhand

2 (EF2) The researcher developed 2 checklists: the questionnaire for students

consisted of 25 items covering 7 criteria, while the number of items for the teachers’ checklist was 40 The findings showed that despite some of the shortcomings found in the evaluation process, it was agreeable that English Firsthand 2 was relatively suitable for the objectives of the learning language program of the university especially for mixed classes of Korean students The teachers admitted that EF2 encouraged students’

interests in further language learning and would choose to use the textbook for their teaching again On the other hand, the students demonstrated that the textbook was supporting and useful for their language learning’s goals

With the employment of the checklist developed by Litz (2005), in 2014, Mohammadi and Abdi conducted a research in 105 students and 32 teachers who were learning and teaching the textbook “Top Notch” in Iranian secondary schools and English language institutions The results presented some similarities towards the findings of Litz’s study (2005) In 2015, Hashemi and Borhani with the usage of Litz’s checklist carried out a research on the textbook - American English File series in the context of Iran

Similarly, Alshehri’s study in 2016 was conducted to evaluate the textbook – Cutting Edge with the use of Litz’s questionnaire for teachers including 40 items in the

circumstance of Saudi Arabi The twelve EFL instructors were currently teaching the textbook in a general English course at the Najran University

There have been some of the scholars developed their own checklist for the textbook evaluation process in their specific contexts For example, Mahmood (2011) began a study on 51 experts in the field of material development and evaluation by using his developed Textbook Evaluation Form to explore whether the textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education in Pakistan have the characteristics for a qualified textbook

In accordance to the use of customized checklist, Rahimpour (2011) also established a 46-item questionnaire covering five sections in a textbook (vocabulary, reading,

pronunciation, grammar and language use), physical appearance and practical

considerations to discover teachers’ perspectives on different textbooks used in Iranian high schools A 26 close-ended item checklist in the form of five-Likert scale was developed by Aghazadech in his research in 2015

The approach of adapting a new checklist from a variety of recommended

questionnaires is also commonly used by many scholars such as Soori et al (2011) and

Lathif (2015) In addition, some of other checklists created by many famous language experts in the past have been employed in recent studies For instance, Al-Yousef (2007) used the checklist developed by Cunningswroth (1995), while Daoud and

Celce-Murcia’s questionnaire was employed in the research of Sarem et al (2013) A modified version of Nimehchisalem’s checklist developed in 2010 was applied in the

2013 research of himself and Mukundan What is more, the method of document and material analysis is also one of the most popular methods in many textbook evaluation studies including Ansary & Babaii (2002) , Fukkink (2010) and Jahangard (2007)

2.11.2 Previous studies on textbook evaluation in Vietnamese EFL context

In Vietnam, textbook evaluation is regarded as an under-researched aspect in the field

of material development and assessment In fact, there are very few scholars who explore and investigate this topic, thereby, this study is conducted to reinforce the limited literature review

In 2004, Thi Lan Huong Nguyen carried out a study to investigate the suitability of

“English 10, textbook 2” at Nguyen Tat Thanh high school The framework used in this study was developed by Hutchinson and Water (1994), which included a

questionnaire of twenty items for teachers and a questionnaire of twenty-two items for students The results illustrated that the textbook partly meet the course requirements and appropriate for students’ level of English regardless of topics and subjects,

listening and reading sections, integrated tasks and activities

In 2009, Thi Hue Le conducted a research to fulfill the requirements of master thesis entitle “A case study: An Evaluation of the Textbook English 11 taught at Phan Dinh Phung High School” In her minor program thesis, she analyzed many types and stages

of textbooks evaluation including pre-use, in-use and post evaluation In addition, the study also explored a variety of methods of textbooks evaluation and the important role

of textbook evaluators

Nguyen, Thi Nguyet Anh (2010) conducted a study with the title ‘Teacher’s evaluation

on “Let’s Go 1A Second Edition” for Grade 3 at Primary Schools in North Vietnam’ The researcher combined the textbook evaluation framework by Hutchison and Waters (1987) and Cunningsworth (1995) The criteria were divided into six aspects:

objectives, content, language, additional supplementary materials, physical appearance and methodology The results of the survey indicated that "Let's go 1A second edition" basically met the objectives of the course and the curriculum

In 2015, Van Tuyen Le conducted a study entitled “An Investigation into the Use of the Course Book for Non-English Major Students at the Tertiary Level” The research mainly concentrated on the process of how a textbook was decided for the specific curriculum and how satisfied of teachers and students towards the textbook used The findings presented that the textbook was inadequately used in class It was due to the fact that the textbook was not selected based on the students’ needs analysis but on the

match for the curriculum

In 2015, Canh Trung Nguyen carried out a doctoral dissertation to fulfill the

requirement of University of Sheffield with the title ‘An Evaluation of The Textbook English 6: A case study from secondary schools in the Mekong Delta Provinces of Vietnam’ The participants of the study consisted of 22 teachers and 313 students who were teaching and learning the textbook English 6 in the academic school year of 2011-2012 The subjects were from 8 different secondary schools in 4 different

provinces including Kien Giang, Hau Giang, An Giang and Ca Mau in the Mekong

Delta, Vietnam The findings showed that despite some limitations, the use of English

6 in the teaching and learning context in Mekong Delta was appropriate because the

teachers were limited in English proficiency and teaching methodology, the Confucian teaching beliefs were quite prevalent, the pressure of the academic year-end test

preparation was important and last but not least, the teaching resources were developed Secondly, both teachers and students demonstrated some positive feedback

under-on the quality of the textbook The equal distributiunder-on of four language skills and

reviews were two of the most outstanding merits, however, there were some negative comments on the distribution of vocabulary and grammar as well as physical

appearance Finally, some practical recommendations were discussed, and necessary modifications are needed to improve the quality of the textbook

It is noticeable that textbook evaluation seems to be an under-researched aspect in the field of material assessment and development Most of the studies are conducted to evaluate national English textbooks and commercial textbooks for primary education

In addition, the literature of textbook evaluation in Vietnam context is inadequate especially in higher education and practitioners are not fully informed about the quality and suitability of most of the EFL textbooks, therefore, it is significant to conduct this thesis as a formal evidence to support the literature of textbook evaluation in Vietnam

2.12 Chapter summary

This chapter provides a review of the current situation of EFL textbook evaluation worldwide as well as a number of international studies which adopted the evaluation method of using checklist as the primary method However, the limited literature review of textbook evaluation in Vietnamese context and the differences in the results contributes to the determination of the researcher to conduct this study