AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSE BOOK USED AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF PHARMACY

ABSTRACT The present study evaluates the coursebook “A text-based ESP course for Pharmacy students” for non-English major students at Hanoi University of Pharmacy in terms its suitabil

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Lê Tố Hương

AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSE BOOK

USED AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF PHARMACY

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HANOI, 2019

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Lê Tố Hương

AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSE BOOK

USED AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF PHARMACY

Field: English Language

Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Hồ Ngọc Trung

HANOI, 2019

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR

I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research, and this thesis has not been submitted for any degrees at any other universities or institutions

Author’s Signature

Lê Tố Hương

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr Hồ Ngọc Trung

Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis is completed after many working hours, as well as the contribution from numerous people with their effort, enthusiasm and assistance; and this dissertation is whole heartedly dedicated to them

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Hồ Ngọc Trung for his useful comments and continuous support of my study, for his patience, encouragement, enthusiasm and immense knowledge His guidance helped me tremendously in all the time

of research and writing of this thesis

Next, I would like to convey my sincere appreciation and thanks to Mr Đặng Nguyên Giang and the staff of the Department of Foreign Languages, Graduate Academy of Social Sciences for granting me the honor of writing this thesis as well as their assistance and most valuable comments

Additionally, I would be most grateful for all of the help from teachers

at Hanoi University of Pharmacy for their support and sharing the workload

so that I could wholeheartedly focus on the study and get it completed

Furthermore, I would like to send my special thanks to all of the students

at Hanoi University of Pharmacy for their enthusiasm; their answers and responses helped me a lot with the analysis of the thesis

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my beloved family, who always support me during the progress of conducting and finishing this thesis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE THESIS vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim(s) of the study 1

1.3 Research questions 1

1.4 Scope of the Study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 2

1.6 Research methods 2

1.7 Structure of the study 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Text book, coursebook and material 4

2.1.1 Definitions 4

2.1.2 Roles of materials in ELT classrooms 5

2.2 Coursebook evaluation 7

2.2.1 Definitions of coursebook evaluation 7

2.2.2 Models of coursebook evaluation 7

2.2.3 Criteria for coursebook evaluation 13

2.3 Needs analysis 16

2.4 Previous studies on coursebook evaluation 18

2.5 English for Specific Purposes 20

2.6 Summary 21

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 The setting 22

3.1.1 Overview of ESP teaching and learning at Hanoi University of Pharmacy 22

3.1.2 Course material 22

3.1.3 Course objectives 23

3.1.4 Course assessment 23

3.2 Research methodology 24

3.2.1 Participants 24

3.2.2 Research instruments 26

3.2.3 Data collection procedure 28

3.2.4 Data analysis methods 29

3.3 Summary 29

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

4.1 About the learners 30

4.2 The suitability of the coursebook to the objectives of the course 33

4.2.1 Data collected from the questionnaire 33

4.2.2 Data collected from semi-structured interviews 39

4.2.3 Discussion and conclusion 39

4.3 The suitability of the coursebook to students’ needs 40

4.3.1 Data collected from questionnaires 40

4.3.2 Data collected from semi-structured interviews 42

4.3.3 Discussion and conclusion 43

4.4 The suitability of the coursebook to the current teaching and learning methods 43

4.4.1 Data collected from questionnaires 43

4.4.2 Data collected from semi-structured interviews 50

4.4.3 Discussion and conclusion 51

4.5 General evaluation and suggestion for further use of the coursebook 51

4.5.1 General evaluation 51

4.5.2 Suggestions for further use 52

4.5.3 Summary 53

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 54

5.1 Recapitulation 54

5.2 Concluding Remarks 55

5.2.1 The suitability to the objectives of the course 55

5.2.2 The suitability to students’ needs 55

5.2.3 The suitability to current teaching and learning methods 55

5.3 Implications 56

5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies 56

REFERENCES 58 APPENDIX 1: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN SINH VIÊN I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS VIII APPENDIX 3: TRANSCRIPT OF TEACHER INTERVIEW XV

ABSTRACT

The present study evaluates the coursebook “A text-based ESP course

for Pharmacy students” for non-English major students at Hanoi University of

Pharmacy in terms its suitability to the objectives of the course, students’ needs and current teaching and learning method Eighty-six non-English major students and four teachers who were using this coursebook were invited to answer the questionnaires, and four teachers to take part in the interviews Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively Overall, the results of the research have shown that teachers’ evaluations of the textbooks are very positive Findings revealed the coursebook fundamentally met the course’s objectives and students’ needs, and fit in with the current teaching and learning method, though there were still minor unsuitable parts that need adaptation The result of this study would benefit both teachers and learners who work with this material for better use in the future

Key words: coursebook, textbook, material, coursebook evaluation,

empirical evaluation, A text-based ESP course for Pharmacy students, English major

non-LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 4.2: Students’ period of learning English 31 Chart 4.3: Students’ background of learning English 32 Table 4.1: Teachers’ evaluation of the objectives of the coursebook 33 Table 4.2: Students’ evaluation of the objectives of the coursebook 35 Table 4.3: Teachers’ evaluation of the suitability of the coursebook

to the students’ needs

40

Table 4.4: Students’ evaluation of the suitability of the coursebook

to their needs

41

Table 4.5: Teachers’ views on the effectiveness of the teaching and

learning interactions used with the coursebook

44

Table 4.6: Students’ views on the effectiveness of the teaching and

learning interactions used with the coursebook

44

Table 4.7: Teachers’ views on the frequency of the teaching aids

used with the coursebook

46

Table 4.8: Students’ views on the frequency of the teaching aids

used with the coursebook

Table 4.12: Students’ and teachers’ judgment on the time

allocation for each unit

52

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE THESIS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

ESP: English for Special Purpose

ETL: English Teaching and Learning

FLF: Foreign Language Faculty

HUP: Hanoi University of Pharmacy

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been taught to undergraduates

of Hanoi University of Pharmacy (HUP) for many years The aim of ESP course is to enable the learners to use English for their professional purposes, especially to digest professional documents of their field for further study There are several factors affecting the ESP teaching and learning process such as: materials, teaching and learning method, students’ awareness of learning and so on One of the factors which is of utmost importance in learning ESP is

to see whether the coursebook is useful for the purpose of the course or not

At the HUP, the book of “A text-based ESP course for Pharmacy

students”, which was collected and edited from various sources, and put into

use in 2016, is designated to those in the fourth year, who hold certain knowledge of pharmacy To some extent, its objectives meet teaching and learning’s goals such as the vocabulary, grammar points as well as help the learners how to gain effective reading techniques and ability of choosing the relevant documents for their job However, with a view to having a more objective look at the course material, a textbook evaluation from teachers and students of HUP is done

1.2 Aim(s) of the study

The main purpose of the thesis is to evaluate the current ESP coursebook used at HUP to find out whether the coursebook meets the aims of the course and the students’ needs and methodology

1.3 Research questions

In order to fulfill the above aims, the study is expected to answer the following research questions:

1 To what extent does the course book “A Text-based ESP Course for Pharmacy Students” satisfy the aims of the course?

2 To what extent does the book meet students’ needs?

3 Is the book suitable to the current teaching and learning methods?

1.4 Scope of the Study

In material evaluation, there has been a great number of criteria that should be taken into consideration such as: the audience, the content, the methodology, the cultural bias, the layout, the authenticity, and so on In this study, the criteria for evaluation were based on Hutchinson and Water’s (1995) with focus on the three following criteria: objectives of the material, contents

of the material, and methodology

1.5 Significance of the study

This study is to provide information on HUP teachers and students’ evaluation of the current ESP coursebook This information is intended to be used as additional evidence for improving the current ESP coursebook at the HUP, making it more relevant to the learners’ needs

Also, the finding of this study will help ESP teachers at the university to meet the learners’ expectations better by narrowing the gap between teaching and learning

1.6 Research methods

The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative designs to evaluate the ESP coursebook designed for the students of HUP In addition to a questionnaire is used to elicit the students’ perceptions regarding their ESP coursebook, there is an interview being run with the aim of achieving more reliable and valid findings

1.7 Structure of the study

The study consists of 5 chapters:

Chapter 1 - Introduction - presents a general overview of the study with specific references to the rationale, the aims of the study, research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, overview of the thesis

Chapter 2 - Literature review - provides theoretical basis for the study with the detailed discussion about some relevant theories related to textbook, course book, material, material evaluation and need analysis

Chapter 3 - Research Methodology - includes an overview of the approach used in conducting the study It also provides a thorough description

of the data collection procedure as well as the analytical procedure

Chapter 4 - Findings and Discussions - includes a detailed description of the findings as well as full explanation and interpretation of these findings

Chapter 5 - Conclusion - makes conclusion of the study; recommends the improvements to the material; expresses the limitations and suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides theoretical basis for the study with the detailed discussion about some relevant theories related to textbook, course book, material, material evaluation and need analysis

2.1 Text book, coursebook and material

2.1.1 Definitions

Teaching materials are an indispensable component of any language teaching curricula There are a number of ways researchers defined this concept but they share the same viewpoint that materials can be anything used to facilitate language teaching and learning (Littlejohn 1998, Tomlinson 1998, McGrath 2002) Littlejohn (1998) and Tomlinson (2011) viewed materials in various forms which can be students’ books, workbooks, teacher’s guides, videos, CDs, DVDs, lesson plans, website activities and more Similarly, McGrath (2002) provided a broad sense of materials in which he explained that they could be “realia” (real objects) or presentations (drawings or photographs)

He also added textbooks, worksheets, computer software and recordings as sources of materials Among these forms, textbook is considered the official material and “the visible heart of any ELT programs” (Sheldom, 1988) It plays

an important role of teaching a particular subject in schools and colleges and serves a basis of study for students and a primary teaching instrument for teachers (Oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com, 2008)

As a type of teaching materials, a course book is defined as “a textbook that students and teachers use as the basis of a course” (Collinsdictionary.com, 2018) In other words, it is used to refer to a book “used by students when they

do a particular course of study” (Dictionary.cambridge.org, 2018) In accordance with the dictionary definition, Ur (1996) and Tomlinson (2011)

explains that course books function as the core materials for a learning course that a teacher and each student has a copy It aims to provide

language-as much language-as possible in one book and serves language-as the only book which the learners basically use during a course A coursebook usually includes exercises on not only language elements like grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation but also functions and skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking

From the above view of “textbook”, “course book” and “materials”, it can be pointed out that text book and course book are types of materials and these three terms can be used interchangeably in ELT teaching and learning context

2.1.2 Roles of materials in ELT classrooms

According to Richards and Rogers (2001) as cited in Ulaş Kayapinar (2009), course books play an indispensable part in the curriculum because they specify content and define coverage for syllabus items They play multi essential roles in ELT such as a source of learning and teaching activities with systematic and standard knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc., a resource of learners’ self-study, a syllabus in accordance with determined learning objectives, and a support for inexperienced teachers (Cunningsworth, 1995) Course books also help standardize instruction, frame the language contents, and provide language models and practice activities for teachers and students to follow in class (Ur, 1996) Ur adds more advantages of course books For example, they provide available and appropriate texts and exercises for most learners and classes They are also the most economic and convenient ways of providing teaching and learning materials for both teachers and learners Thus, the use of course books is more and more popular among universities, private schools and some state schools It is the ready-made syllabi

in the ready-made course books that are preferred by both school

administrations and teachers of English Besides, course books provide opportunities for learners to practice the target language in the classroom before they use it in real life situations

However, course books as preplanned instruction materials have some possible disadvantages According to Richards and Renandya (2002), as cited

in Ulaş Kayapinar (2009), course books fail to present real-life language models and contextualize language activities They fails to address linguistic competence as well as to teach idioms in everyday language Lack of equity in gender representation and the inadequate cultural understanding encouragement are also among the disadvantages of course books Ur (1996) adds the following drawbacks of course books Firstly, course books are inadequate in that every class and learner has their own learning needs and a course book cannot supply these satisfactorily Secondly, course books are irrelevant because the topics dealt within the books may not necessarily be interesting for the class Course books may lead to boredom and lack of motivation on the part of the learners Also, they do not cater for variety of levels of ability and knowledge that exist in most classes Moreover, although coursebooks are considered as the magical instruction tool for language teachers, highly structured coursebooks may even lead to the de-skilling of

teachers (Hutchinson & Torres 1994 as cited in Osman Dülger 2016)

In conclusion, on one hand, coursebooks prove to be very advantageous for both school administrations, language teachers and students with available syllabi and already designed texts and tasks which are suitable for a large portion of language learners On the other hand, coursebooks reveal some limitations such as inadequacy, irrelevance, inauthenticity That is the reason why any coursebooks should be evaluated to see whether or not they match the school curriculum and learners’ needs and interests

2.2 Coursebook evaluation

2.2.1 Definitions of coursebook evaluation

Coursebook evaluation is of great significance as it seeks to identify the strengths and weeknesses of the books and helps to make decisions about adapting the materials or adopting new ones In order to conduct the evaluation

of a coursebook, it is necessary to understand what the process of evaluation involves There are a number of definitions of evaluation provided by researchers According to Tomlinson (2011), coursebook evaluation is an attempt to measure the potential value of the coursebooks It involves making judgements about the effects of coursebooks on such agents as learners, instructors, administrators who use them through such features of the books as credibility, validity, flexibility, etc Coursebook evaluation is also defined by Rea-Dickins and Germanie (1994) as “the means by which we can gain a better understanding of what is effective, what is less effective and what appears to

be no use at all” Effective evaluation relies on asking appropriate questions

and interpreting the answers to them (Cunningsworth, 1995)

In summary, coursebook evaluation is the process of collecting data, giving judgement on the effectiveness of books based on the collected data to make precise decisions of effectively using the materials or replacing them

2.2.2 Models of coursebook evaluation

Material evaluation is “a dynamic process which is fundamentally a subjective, rule-of-thumb activity" where "no neat formula, grid, or system will ever provide a definitive yardstick" (Sheldon, 1988) There are a variety of models and criteria of coursebook evaluation which vary according to the ELT contexts Administrators and instructors should choose the most suitable

criteria to evaluate coursebooks, considering the specific teaching and learning contexts

The following sets out a range of models to coursebook evaluation which all tend to evaluate coursebooks on four main aspects, including the internal content, the aims and approaches, the supporting sources and the physical appearance of the coursebook

Ellis’s approach (1997)

According to Ellis (1997), there are two main types of coursebook evaluation: predictive evaluation and retrospective evaluation A predictive evaluation is designed to help teachers decide what coursebooks to use whereas

a retrospective evaluation may be conducted once the book is used to find out

if the material matches the learners’ need and current teaching methodology Predictive evaluation, according to Ellis, can be carried out in two principal ways One involves teachers relying on evaluations carried out by experts specializing in coursebook evaluation Alternatively, teachers can carry out their own predictive evaluations by making use of various checklists and guidelines available in the literature Another kind of evaluation – retrospective evaluation – is carried out while a coursebook is in use (whilst-use evaluation)

or after it has been used (post-use evaluation) There are two ways of retrospective evaluations: impressionistic and empirical one While the impressionistic evaluation is based on observation of learners’ engagement and enthusiasm in activities and contents of the book, empirical one relates to

“collecting data in a more systematic manner” (Ellis, 1997) To conduct empirical evaluation, teachers use “end-of-course questionnaires to judge the effectiveness of their teaching, including the material used”; therefore, it is often more objective and reliable than other kinds of evaluation as it is based

on users’ feedback Such an evaluation provides information that can be used

to determine whether the material is worth using again In addition, Ellis (1997)

states that retrospective evaluation is a good way of testing the validity of a

predictive evaluation

Tomlinson’s approach (2003)

Another approach of evaluating coursebooks is proposed by Tomlinson

(2003) with a three-stage process of evaluation: pre-use evaluation, whilst-use

evaluation and post-use evaluation The first stage, pre-use evaluation is,

according to Tomlinson (2003), “impressionistic and consists of a teacher

flicking through a book to gain a quick impression of its potential value’ It

involves assessing the potential value of materials for their users, including a

quick scan of a book’s physical appearance and content pages to get an

impression of its potential value The second stage, whilst-use evaluation,

involves evaluating materials in use This can be more reliable than pre-use

evaluation, as it involves deeper evaluation of the content of materials and

makes use of classroom observation and feedback from the users although,

according to Tomlinson (2003), this stage includes controversial issues about

what exactly can be measured The criteria seem to be general and some (e.g

credibility of tasks, achievement of performance objectives, motivating power

of the materials, etc.) are not easy to measure However, he also suggests that

these criteria “can be estimated during an open-ended, impressionistic

observation of materials in use but greater reliability can be achieved by

focusing on one criterion at a time” They can be measured by different

methods For example, to measure the motivating power of the materials he

suggests ‘noting such features as student eye focus, proximity to the materials,

time on task and facial animation’ (Tomlinson, 2003) In the last stage of

evaluation in this approach, post-use evaluation, most evaluators tend to seek

answers to such questions as: What is the impact of the coursebook on learners?

What is its impact on teachers? And what is its impact on administrators? According to Tomlinson (2003), this stage is probably the most valuable stage

in the evaluation process as it involves measuring the effects of the materials

on users after the coursebook has been used Also, as Cunningsworth (1995) points out, post-use evaluation is useful in helping to decide whether to continue using a coursebook or not in the future

Littlejohn’s approach (1998 & 2011)

The third major approach for coursebook evaluation is suggested by Littlejohn (1998 & 2011) He suggested a three-level evaluation checklist including: (1) What is there? (2) What is required of users? and (3) What is implied? At the first level, there are questions about the physical properties of the coursebook These cover publication date, intended audience, physical aspects (number of pages, paper quality, artwork, etc.), and are similar to the ones in Tomlinson (2003) Level 2 focuses on the language learning activities and tasks in the coursebook to see what teachers and learners using the coursebooks need to do It moves slightly deeper into an analysis of what is assumed to be the most important aspect of coursebooks At the third level, there are questions on the approach, philosophy and aims of the coursebook Littlejohn points out that his levels of evaluation move from more objective criteria to less objective ones The first level is the most objective while the third level is the least

‘in-– practical considerations, features evaluated in this step include: availability, cost, and the levels of the book which are available If these are judged satisfactory, the evaluation proceeds to step 2 – support for teaching and learning Features assessed at this step include the teacher’s book and how well

it relates to the student book, supporting resources (e.g cassette recordings, photocopiable worksheets, etc.) If all these are satisfied, the evaluator proceeds

to step 3 - context relevance At this stage the evaluator assesses the suitability

of the coursebook in terms of aims, syllabus, length and its suitability for learners’ proficiency level, age and background If all of these meet the requirements, the evaluator goes further to step 4 - learner appeal This step involves considering the appeal of the book to learners This is mainly related

to the appearance of the book The evaluation starts from the first sub-step If a coursebook meets all of the key criteria for each step, the process continues with the next one If it does not meet the key criteria in any sub-step, the process stops and the coursebook is rejected If all of the above-mentioned key criteria are met, the in-depth evaluation step is carried out to assess the coursebook in detail

According to McGrath (2002), the in-depth evaluation tends to address the following points:

- The aims and content of the book

- What they require learners to do

- What they require the teacher to do

- Their function as a classroom resource

- Learner needs and interests

- Learner approaches to language learning

- The teaching-learning approach in the teacher’s own classroom

McDonough and Shaw’s approach (1993 & 2003)

Another important approach for coursebook evaluation is suggested by McDonough and Shaw’s (1993 & 2003) with three stages: external evaluation, internal evaluation and overall evaluation This implies that evaluation is continuous and never static, as the criteria can be changed to suit different teaching and learning contexts External evaluation is similar to McGrath’s (2002) ‘first-glance evaluation’, Tomlinson’s (2003) ‘pre-use evaluation’ and Littlejohn’s (1998 & 2011) ‘level 1 evaluation’ It focuses on the intended audience, the proficiency level, the context, the organization and presentation

of units, the author’s views and methodology, the learning process and the learner, and the physical appearance Issues of layout and design and local availability, supporting resources (teacher’s book, audio-visual materials, etc.) are also included in this stage The internal evaluation is concerned with the content, including grading and sequencing This stage seems to resemble McGrath’s (2002) ‘in-depth evaluation’ and Tomlinson’s (2003) ‘whilst-use evaluation’

In general each approach to coursebook evaluation, as mentioned above, has its own strengths and weaknesses, evaluators should choose or even devise

an approach which is the most principled, systematic and suitable for their context In the researcher’s opinion, it is also important for evaluators to combine approaches, in order to offset the weaknesses of one approach with the strengths of others The present study uses a mixed approach, mainly based

on Ellis’s framework (1997), though modified, with evaluation criteria from other authors

2.2.3 Criteria for coursebook evaluation

From different approaches to the evaluation of coursebooks, there are also different sets of criteria for evaluating coursebooks

Criteria proposed by Hutchinson and Water (1987)

Hutchinson and Water (1987) proposed a checklist of material evaluation including items related to subjective and objective analysis of the book such as: audience, aim, content, methodology, price and its availability

Audience: This part of the checklist consists of some questions related to

information about the learners such as their age, sex, nationalities, study or work specialism, language background and interests

Aim: Evaluators need to consider if the aims and objectives of the

coursebook match those of the course/ school program

Content: The questions involving the language description, language

point, macro-skill and their proportion, micro-skill, types, subject matter areas, topics, organization through the course, organization within the course unit, content sequence are covered in this part

Methodology: In this part, the checklist investigates methodology

including questions about the theory of learning, the attitudes or the expectation

of the learners about learning, exercises and tasks, teaching and learning techniques used, teaching aids, teaching guidance needed and the flexibility of the material in different teaching situations

Criteria suggested by Cunningsworth (1995)

Cunningsworth (1995) proposed a number of criteria to consider the materials, which was presented as a basic quick-reference checklist for evaluation and selection, including: aims and approaches, design and organization, language content, skills, topic, methodology, teacher’s books and practical considerations

Aims and approaches: Evaluators should take into consideration the

suitability of the aims of the coursebook with the aims of the teaching program and the needs of the learners as well as the suitability of the book with the learning/ teaching situation and styles

Design and organization: The components of the book package, the

organization of the content, the recycling and revision included in the coursebook are concerned in this criterion

Language content: The language components such as grammar,

vocabulary, pronunciation are considered carefully through detailed questions

in Ellis’ checklist

Skills: The questions involved four skills are to be investigated in this set

of criteria with regard to the adequacy, authenticity, integrity and suitability of the skills in the coursebook with students’ level

Topic: Evaluators need to consider whether the coursebook provides

students with enough variety and range of topics of genuine interest to learners; whether the topics equally address men and women as well as other groups of various ethnic origin, occupation, disability; whether the social and cultural values are conveyed in the range of topics in the book

Methodology: Approaches to language learning presented in the

coursebook, the language presenting/ practicing techniques, the method to teach different skills and the guideline to students’ self-study are taken into account in this set of criteria

Teachers’ books: The guidance, supporting materials and the answer key

that the book provides for teachers as well as the teaching techniques, language items and cultural content that they cover are to be evaluated

Last but not least, the practical considerations which involves the price,

the duration, the appearance of the book and the equipment it requires are also considered

Criteria proposed by Wong Pak Wing Lawrence (2011)

Wong Pak Wing Lawrence (2011) proposed a self-constructed evaluation framework for evaluating curriculum fitness with the following criteria:

Use of task-based approach teaching and learning strategies: Evaluators

base on this set of criteria to check if the materials are designed with centered instruction, target-oriented English learning, integrative and creative language use, learning grammar in context, purposeful tasks and exercises as well as extended tasks and project learning

learner-Integrated skills: In this part, the checklist examines if the four skills –

listening, speaking, reading and writing – are integrated in the book for authentic purposeful communication

The teaching of language arts: Evaluators take into consideration the

place of language arts (i.e films, songs, lyrics, movies, dramas, novels, short stories, etc.) in the English Language Curriculum and considerations for selecting language arts materials

Other criteria are to check if the book promotes independent language learning or provide information technology for interactive learning and life-wide learning

In summary, the criteria set by both established material evaluators like Hutchinson and Water (1987), Cunningsworth (1995) and novice research scholars like Wong Pak Wing Lawrence (2011) for an in-depth and objective analysis of teaching materials They share some core factors and the criteria listed in them may not always be effective in a specific context Therefore, it is

necessary to prepare “a new one or modify the existing ones in order to cover all aspects of evaluation” (Cunningsworth, 1995) In this regard, in this study the author used and modified ideas from these checklists to design a set of

criteria for the empirical evaluation of the course book “A Text-based ESP

Course for Pharmacy Students” for non-English major students at Hanoi

University of Pharmacy

2.3 Needs analysis

Needs analysis (also known as needs assessment) play a vital role in the process of designing and carrying out any language courses, and its importance has been acknowledged by several scholars and authors

The term “needs analysis”, according to Elaine Tarone and George Yule (2000), refers to the collection and evaluation of information to answer the question: “What aspects of the language does some particular group of learners need to know?” Mountford (1981) offers the definition that “needs” can be defined as what students should be able to do at the end of their language course, or “what the user institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program of language instruction” Another definition given by Brindley (1984) is that “needs” refers to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations, lacks, constraints, and requirements It is evident that course designers may take students’ needs into consideration when designing a course For Johns (1991), needs analysis is the first step in course design and it provides validity and relevancy for all subsequent course design activities Different approaches to needs analysis attempt to meet the needs of the learners in the process of learning a second language Among which, a modern and comprehensive concept of needs analysis is proposed by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) with the concept of needs analysis as follows:

 Environmental situation – information about the situation in which the

course will be run (means analysis)

 Personal information about learners – factors which may affect the way they learn (wants, means, subjective needs)

 Language information about learners – what their current skills and language use are (present situation analysis)

 Learner’s lacks (The gap between the present situation and professional information about learners): learner’s needs form course – what is wanted from the course (short-term needs); language learning needs – effective ways of learning the skills and language determined by the lacks

 Professional information about learners – the tasks and activities English learners are/will be using English for (Target Situation Analysis and objective needs)

 How to communicate in the target situation – knowledge of how language and skills are used in the target situation (register analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis)

Different types of need analysis are presented in the below figure:

Needs analysis jigsaw

As can be seen from the figure, these types of needs analyses are not exclusive but supplementary Each of them provide a piece to complete the jigsaw of needs analysis

2.4 Previous studies on coursebook evaluation

Up to now, there have been a number of studies on coursebook

evaluation In 2009, Ulaş KAYAPINAR conducted a study which revealed the

teachers’ views on the quality of foreign coursebook packages (from beginner

to intermediate level) widely used in the teaching process of English preparatory classes in twenty-five different high schools In the study, widely used (best selling) coursebooks with the same sub-domains are chosen to be evaluated by teachers The data were gathered from the questionnaire results of ninety-four teachers and standard open-ended interview results of forty teachers who teach in English preparatory classes and use particular coursebook packages in the classroom environment (n=134) The views reveal that teachers do not have positive impressions about the coursebook packages used in general Moreover, the general conceptions of the teachers suggest that coursebooks should be developed and used to meet the needs of the learners in the national context In the same year, Azadeh Nemati carried out a study to evaluate English Pre-University textbook of Karnataka state in India with respect to general criterion as well as vocabulary teaching Firstly, a questionnaire was made with reference to some critical features extracted from different material evaluation checklists The prepared questionnaire was completed by 26 Pre-University teachers from 12 randomly selected governmental and non-governmental schools Then strong points and weaknesses of the course book were discussed in detail In the second phase,

to analyze the vocabulary of the book systematically, some texts of the book were randomly selected, submitted to vocabulary profile to see if they are

sequenced from the most frequently used words to the less used ones which according to Nation (1990) is an important factor in vocabulary teaching

In Vietnam, Tran Minh Thanh (2014) conducted a study to evaluate the book “English for Information Technology” for second-year students of a university in Thai Nguyen to see how the coursebook is relevant to the learners’ needs in terms of content, format and methodology Survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed to investigate both students and teachers’ perception of the book The result reveals that the coursebook is relatively relevant to the needs of the learners and it should be further used by second-year students in the university with some changes and adaptation

In 2015, Tran Thi Thuy carried out an evaluation of the coursebook

“New English File - Elementary” for the first year students at a university in Hanoi The aim of the study is to evaluate the material to determine whether it matches the course’s requirements in terms of the audience, content, aims and methodology The criteria suggested by Hutchinson and Warter (1987) together with two data collection instruments: document analysis and survey questionnaires are selected The finding of the study showed that the book basically meets the requirement of the Faculty of English Department of the university besides some demerits to be changed and adapted

In 2018, Vu Thi Hong Luyen made a study of evaluating the course book

“English File Beginner Student’s Book – Third edition” by Christina Koenig, Clive Oxenden (Oxford University Press, 2014) for non-English major students at a preparatory school in Viet Tri in terms its suitability to the objectives of the course, students’ needs and current teaching and learning method The findings revealed the course book fundamentally met the course’s objectives and students’ needs, and fit in with the current teaching and learning method, though there were still minor unsuitable parts that need adaptation

Latham-The result of this study would benefit both teachers and learners who work with this material for better use in the future

This study is also carried out to evaluate the course book “A Text-based

ESP Course for Pharmacy Students”, but the evaluation is only focused on the

suitability of book to the aims and methodology of the course as well as the needs of the students The researcher does not use a single model to conduct the evaluation but criteria from different valuators are chosen and adapted for the evaluation by means of delivering questionnaire and interviewing both teachers and students It is hoped that the study will reveal reliable and valuable results

2.5 English for Specific Purposes

Since its emergence, much effort has been made to give an exact definition of ESP There are almost as many definitions of ESP as the number

of scholars who have attempted to define it Many researchers have tried to define ESP in terms of what it is not rather than in terms of what it really is However, the concept of ESP has been basically agreed by numerous researchers to be a kind of language learning which has its focus on all aspects

of language pertaining to a particular field of human activities while taking into account the time constraint imposed by learners According to Hutchinson and Waters (1997), ESP is one important branch of EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign/Second Language) system that functions as the main branch of English language teaching (ELT) Therefore, ESP is not a particular kind of language

or methodology, but rather an approach to language learning whereby the content and methods are based on the learners’ particular needs to learn the language

Robinson (1980) defines that ESP courses as the ones in which participants have specific goals and purposes (again, academic, occupational,

and scientific) She cited Strevens (1977) to emphasize that the purposes language learners have for using language are of paramount importance She states that those purposes must be understood as the driving force of the curriculum in a way that would help teachers and learners to not let irrelevant materials be introduced into the course She also places the learners in the role

of curriculum designers in order to make the curriculum more learner-centered Strevens also argues that ESP courses are those that are almost strictly based

on the analysis of the participants’ needs - a key and crucial element - in order

to tailor the curriculum to meet its true purposes

From the above definitions, it can be seen that ESP can but is not necessarily concerned with a specific discipline (subject), nor does it have to

be aimed at a certain age group or ability range or in other words ESP can be applied to any subject and any learner ESP should be seen simple as an approach “to teaching, or what Dudley-Evans describes as an attitude of mind” Hutchinson et al (1987, p.19) share the same idea that ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to contents and method are based

on the learners’ reason for learning

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methodology employed in the study It starts with a description of the research context The next part presents the research design with a description of the subjects, instruments, and data collection procedures

3.1 The setting

3.1.1 Overview of ESP teaching and learning at Hanoi University of Pharmacy

ESP courses are used for the fourth year students and last for 2 credits

It aims to equip students with necessary specific English knowledge which is practically related to the future career or further education Students attend the class 4 periods per week for 8 weeks By the end of the course, beside the points for attendance and a 40-minute mid-term test, students are required to do a written examination

The course is designed to:

 Provide students with vocabulary related to different specialties in the field of pharmaceutical sciences

 Introduce students to some general knowledge in several aspects of pharmaceutical sciences

 Provide students with opportunities to practice and develop their language skills in general as well as pharmacy context

 Develop students’ language skills in the context of pharmacy with emphasis on reading

3.1.2 Course material

The English coursebook for pharmacy students “A Text-based ESP

Course for Pharmacy Students” was introduced with the purpose to provide the

students with a basic technical vocabulary in English on pharmaceutical

sciences such as chemistry, basic pharmacology, drug interaction, traditional medicine, etc This material to some extent was a big head-start for both the teachers and students: for the first time, priority was given to the most common subject areas, language forms, functions and vocabulary relevant to the students

at the University

“A Text-based ESP Course for Pharmacy Students”, which consists of

ten units, presents the general content knowledge related to basic pharmaceutical sciences and practices grammar and vocabulary with a focus

on reading skills It also provides the practices of writing activities and several opportunities for speaking

3.1.3 Course objectives

The ESP course provided by the Faculty of Foreign language aims to provide them with basic content knowledge related to the pharmacy students’ subject area Thus, by the end of the course, the students are expected to achieve the followings Firstly, they can distinguish the terms and words used in pharmaceutical sciences from those of other specialties and in daily communication Secondly, they can infer and guess the meaning of words and phrases related to the topics and specialties based on the context of the lesson Thirdly, they should have a thorough grasp of the grammatical points of ESP texts Moreover, after the course, based on the seven oriented specialties, students’ vocabulary was developed, which help them read and translate many kinds of reference books in English on their own specialization

3.1.4 Course assessment

Because the time allotted for ESP teaching and learning is limited, there

is only one kind of summative assessment which includes a forty-five-minute midterm test and a sixty-minute end-of-term test

3.2 Research methodology

3.2.1 Participants

According to Dudley-Even (1988, p.132), the main sources to provide data should be the learners, the people with whom the learners work or study, documents being used, evaluator and colleagues

The application of the mixed research instruments in the research required the data from more than one source of informants The first source to supply the data is the ESP teachers who are currently using the coursebook and also making adaptation for better performance in teaching Secondly, the data

is collected from the fourth-year students who were studying the materials at the time when the study was carried out Lastly, the researcher who has used

the materials took part in the data analyzing and supplying In order to have

data for her materials evaluation, the researcher analyzes the ESP course syllabus and the ESP materials under study and conducted a survey to collect information

The research participants would be described as follows:

3.2.1.1 The first group of participants

86 students in their fourth year at the University were invited to participate in the study The students are from three groups and they had just completed their ESP course with their subject matter area relating to pharmacy

At the time when the researcher did the data collection, these students were in the eighth semester All of them finished three semesters of General English course in which they had to go through New Cutting Edge Pre Intermediate and Intermediate

Most of the fourth-year students are from 20 to 22 years of age Although having finished general English credits, they do not share the same level of language proficiency Before entering the academy, some of them lived in big cities and towns and started learning English at early ages so they could use four skills rather well But most of them, especially the students from remote

areas (some of them are even cadres of minority stock) are very weak at

3.3.1.2 The second group of participants

The second group of participants for interviews are 4 ESP teachers working in Faculty of Foreign Language at HUP, who have been using the

coursebook “A Text-based ESP Course for Pharmacy Students” They are

qualified and experienced in teaching ESP to the students of pharmacy The age of respondents varied from 36 to 47 These four teachers had graduated either from National University or from the University of Foreign Studies in Hanoi Furthermore, all of them obtained MA in English and have been teaching English for a long time Therefore, they understand deeply what aspects of English language should be required by the students as well as how

to help students acquire the kind of English needed

The interview was done in June 2019 when the participants have just finished the teaching of their ESP course

3.2.2 Research instruments

To evaluate if the coursebook meets the requirement of the course in terms of methodology, aims and needs of the students, two instruments for collecting data were used, which were questionnaires and semi-structured interviews

Questionnaires

In this study, questionnaire was used for both teachers and students to explore the three aspects of materials evaluation that are chosen for this study: suitability to the objectives of the course, students’ needs and current teaching and learning method Each questionnaire is divided into five parts with student version being written in Vietnamese while teacher version in English

Part 1 consists of three questions They are designed to investigate the

students’ English learning background

Part 2 consists of nine items Among these items, items one to eight are

used to look into the attitudes of the students towards the suitability of the aims

of the ESP material to the aims of the course Item nine is an open-ended question which aims to ask the respondents to add the other areas relating to the aims of the coursebook that the researcher could take into account

Part 3 includes four items in order to collect the students’ information

relating to suitability of the coursebook to the content requirements of the course Item four is designed in an open way to let the students express the opinions on the the suitability of the coursebook to learners’ needs

Part 4 comprises three questions (questions six to eight) to investigate

the appropriateness of the methodology used in the coursebook to the course requirements through questions about the teaching and learning techniques used in the book and the teaching aids required by the book

Part 5 is teachers’ and students’ general evaluation of the course book

as well their suggestions and expectations for the book adjustment if necessary

Interviews

It is noted that a lot of information could be gathered from questionnaires However, the researcher might not have all necessary information through this method of data collection Therefore, collecting information through interviews was also chosen in this study Using interviews, according to Nunan (1998), could help to get in-depth information, more response and flexibility despite the fact that it could be costly, time-consuming and difficult for the researcher The researcher found, however, that with a small number of informants, using interviews was relatively suitable and effective for the research

The language of the questions used in the interview is in Vietnamese to make sure that all the questions were equally understood As regards the design

of the questions for the interview, the questions are adopted and then adapted from the theses of Nguyen (2003), Nguyen (2004) and Le (2018) Some more questions are designed by the researcher herself The questions are designed on the three criteria selected for the evaluation: the suitability of the ESP material

to the students’ language level, the aims of the course, and the methodology The interviews of the study are conducted with the participation of the ESP teachers in order to get information from the teachers about the material they were working with and suggestions for the better quality of the material

The ESP teachers were asked about their evaluation on the coursebook under study in terms of the aims, the learners’ need, and the methodology These questions and items, which are similar to those in the fourth-year students’ questionnaire are designed with regards to the teachers’ comments on

the coursebook and their suggestions for the material improvement The scales used in the teacher interviews are also the same as those in the fourth-year students’ questionnaire This would make it easier for the researcher to compare the students and the teachers’ views later

3.2.3 Data collection procedure

Data collection was carried out through questionnaires for students and interviews for teachers

First, the researcher designed the questionnaires based on the criteria that she had carefully chosen and adapted from different evaluators Next, the questionnaires were distributed to 90 fourth-year students after the last lesson

of the ESP course All the students had over half an hour to fill in the questionnaires in their classes The questionnaire collection was done right after the survey completion and all the questionnaires had been returned However, some of the students were absent because of their illnesses at the time

of the survey so 86 copies of questionnaires were returned from the forth-year students

Finally, the formal interviews with the four ESP teachers are conducted after the students’ questionnaires collection The researcher designed the checklist of questions for interviews and it was given to the teachers to get them well prepared for the interviews While the participants are interviewed, the researcher write down their answers briefly on the interviewee format The interviews are conducted with the help of the recorder, which could make the result of interviews reliable

All the raw data collected from the questionnaires was kept in a file, and the interviews were kept in the other one Then the data was analyzed by the

researcher with the help of Microsoft Excel, which helped the researcher to save a lot of time and have correct data for the study

Although the survey was conducted to students, who had finished the courses and the ESP teachers, the questionnaires and the structure of interviews

are used in Vietnamese in order to avoid problems of misunderstanding 3.2.4 Data analysis methods

The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively For analysis of the questionnaires, the Likert scale was used and necessary calculations were carried out For the analysis of the semi-structured interviews and the open-ended questions in the questionnaires, qualitative techniques were used to categorize the data

3.3 Summary

Evaluating materials is considered as one of the necessary stages in teaching and learning language to improve the effectiveness of materials in use However, failure or success the study could bring to each evaluator depends on the research method In this chapter, the researcher has presented the data collection instruments and the procedure for data analysis used in the thesis The participants of the study are also mentioned The researcher hopes that applying the data instruments mentioned above and choosing the right evaluators participating in this study would help her have a critical look at the coursebook under study The findings of the study would be clearly presented

in the next chapter

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this chapter, the researcher presents and discusses the results from the

questionnaires and interviews to find out whether the coursebook “A

Text-based ESP Course for Pharmacy Students” is suitable to the course in terms of

the course aim, students’ needs and current teaching and learning methods

4.1 About the learners

Background information about learners such as their age, years of learning English as well as their current English levels or the English courses they have attended is very important for educational institutions to build up the appropriate curriculum and decide on the suitable coursebook for students to study The charts below summarize some major information of the learners at HUP

Learners’ English learning background

The three pie charts below presents students’ age and their background of learning English as the result collected from students’ questionnaires

Chart 4.1: Students’ age

As can be seen from Chart 4.1, a large majority of the students (92%) were twenty-two years old at the time of survey, which means that they entered the university right after they graduated from high school The rest (8%) who were twenty-three years old joined the university one year after they left high school

Chart 4.2: Students’ period of learning English

It is obvious from chart 4.2 that all students have been learning English for a long period of time Almost half of them (57%) have spent seven years studying English while the other half have studied the subject for 10 years (28%) or more than ten years (15%) It means they all started learning English when they were at primary school