An evaluation of interactions access reading used as a textbook for efl college students at ca mau community college

The current study is an attempt to evaluate Interactions Access Reading textbook, which is the first in the series, for beginners of English; a related objective is to establish a basic

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

ĐỖ SONG NGUYỆN

AN EVALUATION OF “INTERACTIONS ACCESS READING” USED AS A TEXTBOOK FOR EFL COLLEGE STUDENTS

AT CA MAU COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60140111

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR:

Assoc Prof., Ph.D Ngô Đình Phương

Nghệ An, 2016

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis, entitled “An evaluation of Interactions Access Reading

used as a textbook for EFL college students at Ca Mau Community College”, is

my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis

by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

Vinh City, November 2016

ABSTRACT

The study evaluates the quality of the textbook Interactions Access Reading –

Silver Edition for Ca Mau Community College The research was conducted in two

stages: a theoretical evaluation and an empirical evaluation The theoretical evaluation was based on the researcher’s experience, expertise, and the literature on textbook evaluation The empirical evaluation was based on data collected from 11 teachers and 83 students at CMCC in the form of questionnaire and documents The questionnaire consisted of 22 grouped under 6 main categories: the general appearance, design and illustration, accompanying materials, objectives, topic appropriateness, learning components, socio-cultural contexts, skills development, and teaching methods The evaluation sought to find out the users’ views on the textbook, its impact on users and the users’ recommendations for improvement The findings were generally in favor of the textbook except for the cover sheet, difficulty of the activities and tasks is appropriate at learners’ level, the material for listening, speaking and natural pronunciation The category that had the highest percentage was the one on teaching methods, while the category that had the lowest mean was the one on learning components The findings also revealed that there were no significant differences between the results of the two populations of the study - teachers and students And the study concluded with recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of the textbook

Then my special thanks are reserved for my LA classmates, who shared the happiness and difficulties with me during the course I will never forget the time I studied with them, as siblings in a nice family

I am also grateful to the managing board, the English teaching staff, and the students in the academic year of 2015-2016 at Ca Mau Community College, whose willingness, enthusiasm, and encouragement supported me so much

Last but not least, words cannot reveal my appreciation to my family Without their endless love, I could never overcome all the difficulties facing my life

TABLE OF CONTENT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

LIST OF TABLES ix

ABBREVIATIONS x

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.Rationale 1

1.2.Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3.Research questions 2

1.4.Methods of the study 3

1.5.Scope of the study 3

1.6.Design of the study 3

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

2.1 Textbook 4

2.1.1 Definitions of the textbook 4

2.1.2 The roles of textbook in language teaching and learning 5

2.2 Textbook evaluation 6

2.2.1 Definition 6

2.2.2 The reasons to evaluate the textbook 7

2.3 Research Studies on Textbook Evaluation 8

2.3.1 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Cunningsworth (1995) 8

2.3.2 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Rod Ellis (1997) 9

2.3.3 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Littlejohn (1998 & 2011) 9

2.3.4 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Litz’s study (2002) 10

2.3.5 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Tomlinson (2003) 11

2.3.6 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Thein (2006) 12

2.3.7 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Jahangard’s study (2007) 13

2.3.8 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Nguyen’s study (2011) 14

2.4 Description of the Textbook 15

2.5 Conclusion 15

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Introduction 17

3.2 Population of the Study 18

3.2.1 Population of students 18

3.2.2 Population of the English teachers 18

3.3 Data collection instruments 18

3.3.1 Document analysis 19

3.3.2 Survey questionnaires 19

3.4 Data Collection Procedures 20

3.5 Research methods 20

3.5.1 Theoretical evaluation 20

3.5.2 Empirical evaluation 21

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 23

4.1 Theoretical evaluation 23

4.1.1 Appropriateness of Interactions Access Reading – Silver edition to curriculum aims and objectives 23

4.1.2 Appropriateness of the textbook to the context 24

4.1.3 Content of the textbook 26

4.2 Summary of the theoretical evaluation of the textbook Interactions Access Reading 29

4.3 Empirical evaluation 30

4.3.1 Questionnaire for teachers 30

4.3.1.1 Practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages 30_Toc491677069 4.3.1.2 Organization and structure 31

4.3.1.3 Activities 33

4.3.1.4 Methodology 35

4.3.1.5 Level of language 37

4.3.1.6 Skills 39

4.3.1.7 Summary overview of teacher responses 41

4.3.2 Questionnaire for students 42

4.3.2.1 Practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages 42

4.3.2.2 Organization and structure 44

4.3.2.3 Activities 45

4.3.2.4 Methodology 47

4.3.2.5 Language level 48

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 53

5.1 Summary of the study 54

5.2 Conclusion 55

5.3 Recommendations 56

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 56

APPENDICES 58

APPENDIX 3 58

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 58

APPENDIX 4 62

QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS 62

REFERENCES 65

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Summary of teachers’ evaluation on practical considerations, physical

appearance and content pages 31

Table 4.2: Summary of teachers’ evaluation of organization and structure 32

Table 4.3: Summary of teachers’ evaluation on activities and tasks 33

Table 4.4: Teachers’ opinions about methodology in the textbook 36

Table 4.5: Teachers’ opinions about language types in the textbook 38

Table 4.6: Teachers’ opinions about skills in the textbook 40

Table 4.7: Teachers’ opinions about the textbook 41

Table 4.8: Summary of students’ evaluation on practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages 43

Table 4.9: Summary of students’ evaluation on structure and organization 44

Table 4.10: Summary of students’ evaluation of activities and tasks 46

Table 4.11: Students’ opinions about methodology in the textbook 48

Table 4.12: Summary of students’ evaluation on language level 49

Table 4.13: Students’ opinions about skills in the textbook 51

Table 4.14: Students’ opinions about the textbook 53

ABBREVIATIONS

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

MoET: Ministry of Education and Training

PPP: Presentation – Practice – Production

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language

Many English textbooks have been used in Viet Nam in general and in Ca Mau Community college in particular However, the question “How to make English teaching and learning effective?” remains a concern for the government, educational officials, administrators and teachers Most curriculum and textbooks reform over the years have required to make a critical re-examination of aims, goals, objectives, method and materials In fact, one school of thought in curriculum development states that the achieved curriculum is the effective one To determine whether or not the curriculum is achieved, evaluation is the measure Evaluation, therefore, is a key factor in curriculum development and implementation

Besides, materials evaluation is an educational necessity because it shows how a textbook can be improved or justified Teaching materials have a direct influence on the process of learning and teaching Nunan (1988) states that: materials are, in fact,

an essential element within the curriculum, and do more than simply lubricate the wheels of learning At their best, they provide concrete models for desirable classroom practice They act as curriculum models and at their very best they fulfill

a teacher development role (Nunan, 1988, p 98)

The reasons above motivated the researcher to evaluate the English language textbook studied at CMCC The significance of this choice is that this textbook has been used at CMCC for a long time and evaluating it will be an urgent need and of a great value The evaluation can provide a reference for the subsequent revisions and improvement of certain aspects of this fundamental textbook and related material as well

Another reason is that this book constitutes the curriculum for English language education in CMCC Although it is true that many studies have dealt with evaluating English textbooks, these are still inadequate, and there have so far been

no studies evaluating this Interactions Access Reading textbook in CMCC

The current study is an attempt to evaluate Interactions Access Reading textbook, which is the first in the series, for beginners of English; a related objective is to establish a basic foundation for the evaluation of the other textbooks in the series

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

Given the background together with its gap as identified and presented above, this study aims to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of reading materials in the Interactions Access Reading textbook to help improve the quality of English teaching and learning in CMCC

2 How do teachers and students assess the quality of the textbook?

3 What recommendations do the teachers and students make for improving the textbook?

1.4 Methods of the study

The study is carried out by using both qualitative and quantitative methods including questionnaires and interviews

- Collecting information associated with reading skills and activities from the textbook

- Investigating and analyzing the situation of teaching and learning reading skills and using activities in reading class at CMCC

- Synthesizing and analyzing the results gained in investigating duration to suggest suitable activities and materials for reading class

1.5 Scope of the study

Due to a limitation of a graduation thesis, the study only concerns the texts on Interactions Access Reading and the subjects of the research are the teachers and students at Ca Mau Community College

1.6 Design of the study

The thesis is structured as follows:

Chapter 1 problematizes the object of the study To do this, it deals with the six parts of rationale, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, and methods

of the study, scope of the study focus and design of the study

Chapter 2 contains the literature review, with a discussion of textbooks, textbook design, textbook evaluation and the evaluation criteria used in this research This chapter also reviews some previous research studies on textbook evaluation

Chapter 3 deals with research design and methodology employed to carry out the research It describes four main issues regarding the research site, participants, data types and methods of data collection, and analytical framework

Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the findings grounded in the data analyzed in the previous chapter

Chapter 5 will be summarized the main points and contents of the study based on the results of the study The implication of the study and the recommendation for further research will be presented

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL

2.1 Textbook

2.1.1 Definitions of the textbook

In the world of English language teaching, the term textbooks and course books is interchangeably used These common definitions are mentioned below:

According to ELT practitioners textbooks have been defined as a learning tool (Graves in Nunan, 2003: 226), a principle (Ur, 1996: 183), and a staple (Garinger, 2001: 1) which are used in many ESL/ EFL classes As a learning tool, textbooks facilitate learning to take place

In addition, they also benefit for both teachers and students in teaching learning process In terms of their use as a principle, textbooks serve as a guide to be used in

a systematic way in the classroom as a basis of language course (Ur, 1996:183) Besides Awasthi (2006) believed that a textbook is a teaching and learning material for both the teacher and the learner to rely on in the process of teaching and learning Tomlinson defines the textbook as one of the materials used to help teachers teach learners (Tomlinson, 2011) Hutchinson and Torres (1994) say that a textbook is a guide for teachers in teaching, and a tool for learners to review knowledge It is also considered a record for measuring what has been taught by the teachers Cunningsworth’s (1995) definition is as follows:

A textbook is defined as an effective resource for self-directed learning, an effective source

of presentation of materials, a source of ideas and activities, a reference source for students,

a syllabus where they reflect predetermined language objectives, and support for less

experienced teachers who have yet to gain confidence

(Cunningsworth, 1995 as cited in Awasthi, 2006: 2)

To sum up, textbooks are learning materials which are specifically designed for specific educational settings in a country Textbooks are seen useful in the teaching and learning process for several reasons First, they provide an instruction or a map

to be followed during the lesson Second, textbooks offer a statement of belief including theories, principles, or approaches as a framework for developing a course Next, they also provide both input and output of language for the students which will benefit language acquisition process

2.1.2 The roles of textbook in language teaching and learning

Throughout the history of second language acquisition research, many studies have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using a textbook Cunningsworth (1995) summarizes that course books have important multiple roles in ELT such as:

a resource for presentation materials (spoken and written); a resource of activities for learner practice and communicative interactions; a reference source for learners

on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation; a resource of simulation and ideas for classroom activities; a syllabus where they reflect learning objectives which have already been determined; a resource for self-directed learning or self-access work; a support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence

On one hand, Graves (2000) lists the following as some of the advantages of using a textbook: It provides a syllabus for the course; it provides security for the students because they have a kind of road map of the course; it provides a set of visual, activities, readings, etc., and so saves the teacher time in finding or developing such materials; it provides teachers with a basis for assessing students' learning; it may include supporting materials (e.g., teachers guide, cassettes, worksheets, video); it provides consistency within a program across a given level, if all teachers use the same textbook If textbooks follow a sequence, it provides consistency between levels (Graves, 2000, p 174)

On the other hand, according to Graves (2000) there are a varieties of the disadvantages of a textbook For example, the material may go out of date or the content of the textbooks may not be at the right level

In addition there may be too much focus on one or more aspects of language and not enough focus on others, or it may not include everything you want to include or there may not be the right mix of activities (too much of x, too little of y) Moreover, the sequence of the textbooks is lockstep

2.2 Textbook evaluation

2.2.1 Definition

Textbook evaluation is an attempt to measure the potential value of textbooks (Tomlinson, 2011) It involves making judgments about the effects of textbooks on people (learners, instructors and administrators) who use them These effects may

be measured through such features as the: credibility, validity, flexibility, etc of the textbook Rea-Dickins and Germanie (1994) define evaluation “as the means by which we can gain a better understanding of what’s effective, what’s less effective and what appears to be no use at all” (Rea-Dickins and Germanie, 1994: 28)

Weir and Roberts (1994) are more specific, as they consider textbook evaluation to involve a systematic analysis of all relevant information necessary to improve the textbook Nevo (1977) supports Weir and Robert’s view, adding that:

Evaluation refers to the process of delineating, obtaining and providing information on the

merit of goals, designs, implementation and outcomes of educational activities, and should

help to improve educational activities, and should help to improve an educational product

during the process of its development, and/or demonstrate the merit of the final product

when its development is completed

Nevo (1977: 127)

In this study, textbook evaluation can be defined as the process of collecting information about a textbook and analyzing this data to find out what works well, (its merits), and what needs complementing, balancing or eliminating (its deficiencies) for a particular course of instruction

2.2.2 The reasons to evaluate the textbook

In term of textbook evaluation, it plays an important role in the process of teaching and learning as it can uncover the strengths and weaknesses of textbooks in general, and their relevance to a specific context in particular Textbook evaluation helps teachers understand the textbook so that they can modify their teaching to meet the course aims, and learners’ needs

The reason for the importance of evaluation is mentioned by Sheldon (1988), who states that textbook evaluation enables administrators and teachers to discriminate between all of the available textbooks in the market It helps them not only establish

a clear distinction between numerous textbooks but also obtain an overview of the textbook market

The other reason for textbook evaluation is that it may be useful for teacher development and professional growth because it provides teachers with information

to analyze their own presuppositions about the nature of language and the textbook

It means that teachers have a thorough understanding the nature of the language they are working on and the strong points and weak points of the textbook So teachers will be able to adapt and adopt the book in the process of teaching effectively Additionally, Litz (2002) proposes it can also make students and teachers aware of important features to look for in textbooks It provides them with information about evaluation criteria to help them to become more critical of a wide range of published textbooks

Last but not least the textbook Interactions Access Reading Silver Edition has been used for a period of more than five years in Ca Mau Community College for students

2.2.3 Some textbook evaluation criteria

Textbook evaluation is a complex matter, as there are many variables which may affect the success or failure of a textbook in a particular course of instruction, and in carrying out an evaluation, evaluators need to take many decisions One is the selection of criteria for evaluation because no general list of criteria is perfect The

evaluation criteria may be different from the others, depending on the specific circumstances of teaching and learning contexts such as Ellis (1997), McDonough and Shaw (1998) McGrath (2002), Tomlinson (2003), etc

Evaluators can choose from the available checklists for their evaluation, or they can select their own criteria to reflect the priorities of their own specific teaching and learning contexts The following sets out a range of approaches to textbook evaluation and their accompanying criteria (see Ellis, Tomlinson, McGrath, Littlejohn, etc.) They all tend to evaluate textbooks on four key aspects, including:

1 The internal content of the textbook;

2 The aims and approaches;

3 The supporting sources;

4 The physical appearance

2.3 Research Studies on Textbook Evaluation

2.3.1 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Cunningsworth (1995)

According to Cunningsworth (1995: 15-17) there are four internal criteria of textbook evaluation including corresponding to the learners’ needs, reflecting the present and future of language, helping learning in various ways, and being as a support for learning The criteria function as a guideline for developing checklist for textbook evaluation

The first criteria, corresponding to the learners’ needs, focuses on the aims and objectives of the textbooks which are recognized through the content of materials They can reveal the learners’ content and communicative needs Consequently, the materials should match with the learners’ needs for instance language items, skills, and communicative strategies

The second one is that textbooks should reflect the current and future uses of language This principle is providing the language content and items which meet students’ need in their learning process both inside and outside the classroom

In the third criteria, textbooks should facilitate the learners’ learning process Because textbook promotes certain learning styles both explicit and implicit, this

criterion answers the question of what they are and how they are put forward In addition, facilitating the learners’ learning can be done through nurturing learners’ motivation by a variety of tasks and topics

The last criteria, being a support for learning, means the support in two ways teachers and learners For teachers, textbooks provide ready-made materials, texts, ideas for teaching, exercises, and tasks Besides, textbooks support the learners with language models and exercises and tasks

2.3.2 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Rod Ellis (1997)

Rod Ellis proposed there are two types of materials evaluation: a predictive evaluation and a retrospective evaluation

A predictive evaluation is designed to make a decision regarding what materials to use, whereas a retrospective evaluation designed to examine materials that have actually been used Teachers use retrospective evaluation to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the used syllabus It also serves “as a means of testing the validity of a predictive evaluation, and may point to ways in which the predictive instruments can be improved for future use” (Eliss, 1997, p 37)

In short, in term of evaluation of textbook, Ellis (1997) based on the time frame in which it is carried out and people who carry out it In the approach there are not any specific criteria to be used classroom observation is not used as a technique for evaluation

2.3.3 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Littlejohn (1998 & 2011)

Littlejohn’s (1998 & 2011) used criteria such as appearance (quality of paper, binding, etc.) practical issues (pricing), organization, etc to evaluate a book In the approach, he did not discuss in detail the process of evaluation His focus was rather

on the content of the book and requirements for its users He suggested evaluation checklist with three levels including: practical features (level 1), and content (levels

2 and 3)

Level 1 is related about the physical properties of the textbook such as publication date, intended audience, physical aspects (number of pages, paper quality, artwork, etc.)

Level 2 focuses on the language learning activities and tasks in the textbook to see what teachers and learners using the textbooks need to do Littlejohn (2011) proposed a list of questions for analyzing activities and tasks relating to the role of learners in the classroom, the focus of the activities and tasks (form, meaning or both) and the mental process; types of learner participation in the classroom (individual, pair or group work); the nature of content of the input and of the learner’s expected output (Littlejohn, 2011: 190)

Level 3 consists of questions on the approach, philosophy and aims of the textbook

2.3.4 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Litz’s study (2002)

Litz got data from 8 instructors and 500 students who used the textbook “English Firsthand 2” at the Sung Kyun Kwan University Science & Technology in Suwon, South Korea in the academic year 2000-01 through questionnaires The questionnaires were designed to evaluate the practical considerations (price, accessories, methodology, etc.), layout and design, range and balance of activities, skills appropriateness and integration, social and cultural considerations, subject content, and language types represented in the textbook (Litz, 2002: 11)

In addition to the questionnaire, he also conducted a student needs analysis by a questionnaire, alongside the textbook evaluation The result showed that the textbook had an attractive physical appearance with a clear and logical organization

It was a multi-skills focus textbook, which integrates all four language skills without neglecting the development of other language elements such as vocabulary and grammar

Activities and tasks in the textbook were found to be communicative, including both controlled practice with language skills as well as creative, personal, and freer responses on the part of the students (Litz, 2002: 33)

Besides the strengths of the textbook mentioned above, the shortcomings were recorded: repetition of activities, lack of encouragement of meaningful practice, and lack of realistic discourse, etc

Although the use of questionnaires to collect data in the study provides detailed information about the textbook, from its physical appearance to the detailed structure of the textbook and activities within lessons, it is not persuasive enough,

as questionnaires have their own limitations

2.3.5 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Tomlinson (2003)

Tomlinson (2003) suggested a three-stage process of evaluation: pre-use evaluation,

whilst-use evaluation and post-use evaluation

Pre-use evaluation: According to Tomlinson (2003) it gets involved assessing the

physical appearance and content pages In this stage of evaluation, it seems that he gives a very general purpose of evaluation without any specific criteria to look for

So he suggests that there should be more than two evaluators to evaluate a textbook independently and then average their conclusions for a more principled, rigorous,

systematic and reliable evaluation

Whilst-use evaluation: This stage involves evaluating materials in use including a

profounder evaluation of the content of materials and makes use of classroom observation and feedback from the users although As far as we can know, 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 ended, impressionistic observation of materials in use but greater reliability can be achieved by focusing on one criterion at a time” (Tomlinson, 2003: 24) Tomlinson used such features as student eye focus, proximity to the materials, time on task and facial animation to measure the motivating power of the materials, or noted the times the teacher or a student refers to the location of learning while using the materials to evaluate the potential for localization

open-In short, in the whilst-use stage Tomlinson’s (2003) approach only provides us general principles without mentioning what to look for in a textbook to measure the criteria (e.g what to look for in a textbook to measure the credibility of tasks or the appeal of the material, etc.)

Post-use evaluation: Most evaluators tend to answer such questions as: What is the

influence of the textbook 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 important stage in the evaluation process because it can measure the effects of the materials on users after the textbook has been used Learners are the most important users, so the language knowledge and skills the learners gain from a textbook-based teaching and learning course should be assessed through examinations, interviews or questionnaires

• What they know which they did not know before the course It is also important

to recognize what they want and are expected to know but still not know after the

course

• What the textbook has prepared them for their examination and their post-course

use of the target language

• To what extent the textbook has helped them to build up their confidence,

independent study ability and motivation

(Tomlinson, 2003: 25)

Finally Tomlinson’s (2003) approach provides evaluators with general criteria for evaluating a textbook, but does not specify the details of each criterion or what to look for in order to measure each criterion (e.g clarity of instructions, clarity of layout, etc.)

2.3.6 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Thein (2006)

Thein (2006) conducted a study to evaluate the suitability and effectiveness of the textbooks used for teaching English to religious studies students at Myanmar Institute of Technology Questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations were used to collect data from both teachers and learners

The study aimed at investigating the extent to which teachers and learners expectations match the objectives of the program in developing the students' communicative skills and critical thinking

The findings revealed that the textbooks used in the program were not suitable for the following reasons:

1 The textbooks did not meet the needs and wants of both teachers and learners

2 Students' critical thinking was not activated

3 Communicative skills of students were not improved

In the research, Thein (2006) recommended that the textbooks must be localized to meet the teachers' and learners' needs He also suggested adapting activities that encourage collaborative learning, natural and experiential interactions to help learners think critically

2.3.7 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Jahangard’s study (2007)

Jahangard carried out to evaluate the four ELT textbooks (English Book 1, English Book 2, English Book 3 and Learning to Read English for Pre-University Students) used in Iranian High Schools

These are 13 evaluation criteria used in the study:

- Are objectives clearly laid out in the introduction and applied in the material?

- Does it give good vocabulary explanation and practice?

- Are the approaches taken educationally and socially acceptable to the target community?

- What type of periodic review and test sections do they have?

- Are appropriate visual materials available?

- Do they have interesting topics and tasks?

- Do they give clear instructions?

- Is the layout and print clear, attractive and easy to read?

- Is the content clearly organized and graded?

- Do they contain plenty of authentic language?

- Do they include good grammar presentation and practice?

- Do they allow fluency practice in all four skills?

- Do they encourage learners to develop their own learning strategies and to become independent in learning process?

Many reading activities, and grammar practice involving repetition, substitution and transformation objectives were found in the textbooks But the series of textbooks failed to meet most of the above-mentioned criteria because of being out-of-date topics, or being incompatible between the meanings of words in the “Reading Comprehension Section” and “New Word Section”, etc So he suggested that a deeper analysis should be carried out by a group of experienced teachers

Though the study used evaluation criteria needed for an overall evaluation and analyzed each criterion carefully with reference to the literature and illustrations taken from the textbooks, it was a theoretical and subjective evaluation, involving only the author’s opinions without feedback from users, so bias is unavoidable

2.3.8 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Nguyen’s study (2011)

In Nguyen’s (2011) study English 10, 11 and 12 used in senior secondary schools in Viet Nam were evaluated She focused on how speech acts are linguistically presented in the textbooks and whether they provided adequate contextual and meta-pragmatic information to facilitate the learning of those speech acts

Based on her own expert opinion and reference to the literature, she listed all speech acts presented in the three books of the series and then analyzed their range, distribution, presentations and linguistic realization

From the result, she concluded that the distribution of speech acts in the series seemed to be neither patterned nor justified The order of appearance of the speech acts was not reasonable such as complaining, declining an invitation, etc., were introduced earlier than the less complex ones, such as responding to thanks Contextual and meta-pragmatic elements were also ignored, as the majority of the speech acts in the series were introduced and practiced out of context, with no description of the contextual variables

Also she added both in Australian English and Vietnamese got out of hand with some of the expressions in the textbooks Although Nguyen points out the inappropriateness of the speech acts presented in the textbook and gives specific suggestions for improvement, she based the evaluation on her own expertise An evaluation of only one aspect in textbooks does not reflect the whole picture of the textbook The focus of the study was on speech acts, so it was a very specific and focused kind of evaluation

2.4 Description of the Textbook

Interactions Access Reading – Silver Edition is a series of English textbook for beginning level published by Mc Graw-Hill It has three series: Interactions Access Reading – Silver Edition, Interactions 1 Reading – Silver Edition and Interactions 2 Reading – Silver Edition

For university students, this book was written by Pamela Hartmann and James Mentel and was published in 2007 This book was also supervised by Lawrence J Zwier, a contributor, focus on testing and Pamela Hartmann, a reading strand leader

Interactions Access Reading – Silver Edition has 192 pages and ten chapters covering descriptive, recount, and narrative text Each chapter has a title i.e

“Neighborhoods, Cities, and Towns”, “Shopping and e-Commerce”, “Friends and Family”, “Health Care”, “Men and Women”, “Sleep and Dreams”, “Work and Lifestyles”, “Food and Nutrition”, “Great Destinations” and “Our planet”

2.5 Conclusion

Despite the great importance of material evaluation, there appears to be very little empirical research compared with the theoretical one Furthermore, the number of textbook evaluation studies in Ca Mau is still relatively very small

And there are many approaches and checklists for evaluating textbooks in the literature Each approach and checklist has its own pros and cons, so neither a single approach nor a checklist is perfect for a specific context This textbook evaluation

study employs a kind of a mixed approach, as a means of balancing the weaknesses

of an approach with the strengths of others

In doing that, the outline of the approach suggested by Tomlinson (2003), with stage evaluation (pre-use, whilst-in use and post-use evaluation), was adopted This outline was then modified with evaluation criteria (e.g evaluation of activities, evaluation of vocabulary and grammar, etc.) from other approaches and checklists proposed by other authors, such as Crook and Gass (1993), Cunningsworth (1984 & 1995), Jolly and Bolitho (1998 & 2011), Littlejohn (1998 & 2011), Long (1990), McDonough and Shaw (1993), and so on

3-CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This part presents the detailed procedure of the study: the methodology, population selection, data collection instruments and data collection procedure and analysis

3.1 Introduction

This study aimed at evaluating Interactions Access Reading textbook for CMCC Materials evaluation is an applied linguistic activity through which teachers, supervisor, administrators and materials developers can “make judgments about the effect of the materials on the people using them” (Tomlinson, B et al 2001, p 15)

It is also of an important value for the development and administration of learning programs" (McGrath, 2001, p 1)

language-On the other hand, the purpose of this study is to address the following research questions:

1 What is the quality of the textbook? Is it appropriate to language teaching and the learning context in CMCC?

2 How do teachers and students assess the quality of the textbook?

3 What recommendations do the teachers and students make for improving the textbook?

In this research, the textbook was evaluated by these following aspects:

1 Aims and objectives of the book

2 Level of the book

3 Skills addressed

4 Topics covered

For the reasons above, a survey was conducted in this study to stimulate the views

of a representative number of English language teachers in CMCC about the Interactions Access Reading textbook

3.2 Population of the Study

The population of this study included English teachers and students who major in English and working at CMCC during the academic year 2016-2017

3.2.1 Population of students

It consisted of 83 students studying English in CMCC including 40 students are girls, and 43 are boys who are in the second year of the academic year 2016-2017

3.2.2 Population of the English teachers

It consisted of 11 English teachers including 7 males and 4 females All of them are

working as English teachers for more than five years

3.3 Data collection instruments

In this part, the researcher described the instruments for collecting data that were used in the research and presented the strength of the research methods chosen in order to explain the reason for choosing these research methods for the study of evaluating the textbook The instruments consist of document analysis, and survey questionnaires

3.3.1 Document analysis

This research method is said to bring an important source of data for evaluation and

it forms “an essential part of the data for an evaluation exercise” (Robinson, 1991:71)

In this thesis, document analysis is a very suitable method to collect the data because the purposes of the thesis are evaluating the textbook at CMCC to find out whether the textbook is suitable to MOET requirements for the course

The evaluator conducted an analysis of the textbook and compared it to the curriculum of the course prescribed by MOET in order to find out the answer (Appendices 1 and 2)

The researcher made use of two sets of survey questionnaires, one for the teachers and the other for the students A twenty-two item questionnaire was designed to collect ideas of teachers It was categorized into six key parts

The first part consisted of 7 questions to find out whether the textbook suits the teachers in general appearance, practical consideration and content page These seven questions were aimed to find out whether these factors helped teachers carry out the teaching easily and successfully

The second part included two questions to collect teachers’ opinions on the suitability of the textbook for them in term of organization and structures; two

questions in part 3 were to find out the appropriateness of the textbook for the teachers in term of activities;

The next five questions in part 4 were to investigate the suitability of the textbook for the teachers in term of methodology; the appropriateness of the textbook for the teachers in term of level of language were identified by two questions in next part and finally questions were to find out the appropriateness of skills in the textbook Another twenty-two item questionnaire was given to students whose major are English to collect their opinions The questions were to find out whether the subjects and contents; skills; activities, language, and social knowledge included in the textbook suited their level and interested them (Appendix 4)

The teachers and students are requested to complete the questionnaires and return them to the researcher Then the researcher generated and analyzed the data and displayed in forms of tables or charts

3.4 Data Collection Procedures

As being mentioned in the previous part, the instruments were employed to collect data for this thesis: document analysis, and survey questionnaire

First, the researcher analyzed the textbook against the requirements set by MOET Then the researcher gave out the questionnaires to both students and teachers After collecting the questionnaires, the researcher analyzed the data whether it meets the needs of teaching and learning English at CMCC

3.5 Research methods

The present research study is divided into two stages, theoretical and empirical

evaluation The two stages are presented as follows:

3.5.1 Theoretical evaluation

The theoretical evaluation (see Chapter IV) is conducted by the researcher, drawing on the literature on textbook evaluation and on his teaching experience and expertise It begins with a discussion of the characteristics of the learners, teachers, classrooms, teaching and learning culture A general description of the textbook is followed by a theoretical evaluation, based on the evaluation criteria

proposed by Tomlinson (2003), but modified by evaluation criteria from other authors

The basis for the theoretical evaluation is as follows:

Firstly, I used my own experience as a teacher and a counselor in many practicums when I discussed the textbook with many teachers and my trainee teachers In addition, I have observed many lessons taught by trainee teachers This experience has acquainted me with the learning and teaching conditions at schools, the teachers’ language proficiency and the teachers’ expectations of the textbook Secondly, the theoretical evaluation is informed by reading the literature on textbook evaluation (e.g Cunningsworth (1995), Ellis (1997), McGrath (2002), Tomlinson (2003), Littlejohn (1998 & 2011), etc.) I then combined my experience with the literature to make my theoretical evaluation

Thirdly, the evaluation approach and criteria are based on a selection from those in the literature The theoretical evaluation is conducted by describing the context of teaching and learning (teacher and learner characteristics, resources and classrooms and teaching and learning culture) and describing the textbook (physical appearance, aims and objectives, organization and structure, and content)

The textbook is evaluated based on its appropriateness to the context (teacher and learner characteristics and teaching and learning culture); its content (activities and exercises, vocabulary and grammar, and topics); and other qualities (physical appearance, skills, etc.)

3.5.2 Empirical evaluation

In the second stage of the evaluation, I analyze the data collected from users’ evaluations of the textbook (see Chapter IV) to see how they perceive the textbook This analysis is backed by data collected from classroom observation to see how the textbook is actually used in the classroom The impact of the textbook

on teachers and students is also discussed at this stage, through the analysis of the questionnaires

The analysis of the teacher and student evaluations of the textbook proceeds from the more important features to the less important ones

This study employs a mixed methods approach, which combines quantitative and qualitative methods (Creswell & Clark, 2011; O’Cathain et al., 2007; Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009) Tashakkori and Creswell (2008) define mixed methods as follows:

‘Research in which the investigator collects and analyses the data, integrates the

findings, and draws inferences using both qualitative and quantitative approaches

or methods in a single study or program of inquiry.’

(Tashakkori and Creswell, 2008: 4)

They use both “quantitative and qualitative methods to offset the weaknesses inherent within one method with strengths of the other” (Creswell, 2003: 217) According to Dörnyei (2007), by using mixed methods, words can be used to add meaning to numbers and numbers can be used to add precision to words (Dörnyei, 2007: 45)

Among research methods, quantitative research is helpful for summarizing large amounts of data and reaching generalizations, based on statistics (Babbie, 2008)

In addition, a qualitative method approach is used to gather in-depth information for a broad understanding of the evaluation and suggestions for improvement Moreover, in qualitative research, the researcher builds a detailed understanding of the issues; provides a general picture of trends; analyzes data through words; reports detailed views of respondents; and conducts the study in a natural setting (Creswell, 2007) As Denzin and Lincoln (2000) state, “This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000: 3)

Thus, a qualitative research approach provides descriptive detail that sets quantitative results in their human context (Creswell, 2007, Denzin & Lincoln,

2000, Rubin & Babbie, 2008) In general, with mixed methods qualitative and quantitative methods should be used in a complementary combination ‘The

qualitative should direct the quantitative and the quantitative feedback into the qualitative in a circular’ (Dörnyei, 2007: 43)

Using quantitative methods alone does not ensure the depth of the data collected, therefore qualitative methods are also needed to provide a further evaluation of the book and suggestions for improving it from the participants

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter presents and discusses the findings that are resulted from the theoretical evaluation and empirical evaluation

4.1 Theoretical evaluation

The evaluation of Interactions Access Reading – Silver edition presented below mainly focuses on the evaluation of the appropriateness of the textbook to the context and curriculum aims and objectives, the content and the qualities of the textbook

4.1.1 Appropriateness of Interactions Access Reading – Silver edition to curriculum aims and objectives

According to Cunningsworth (1984) the appropriateness of a textbook to the curriculum aims and objectives is one of the guidelines forming the basis of formulating a personalized criteria checklist aiming at local relevance So it is important for a textbook to be related to the curriculum aims and objectives (Aftab, 2011)

The curriculum aims and objectives for English at university level says students should be able to undertake the following:

- Skim, scan and identify the details, main ideas of the passages in the textbook

- Read and understand some summary of the passages and summarize texts in the textbook

- Understand the outline of the passage and get the details of the readings about family, environment, lifestyle…

- Improve reading skill and critical thinking through reading and listening The curriculum aims seem to be specific enough to help teachers achieve the objectives of the level and the grammar and vocabulary in the textbook conform to these objectives Also, the textbook provides many opportunities for speaking and listening, but are mainly restricted to repetition or substitution drills with few free practice activities Reading activities and tasks in the textbook seem to be more helpful, as they conform to the objectives There is usually a reading text followed

by some tasks to check the students’ comprehension

To summarize, the textbook covers the knowledge required by the MOET’s curriculum specification However, it should be modified by adding more activities

to develop listening and speaking particularly

4.1.2 Appropriateness of the textbook to the context

The appropriateness of the textbook to the context of English language teaching and learning in CMCC is discussed under the headings below

Teacher and learner characteristics

For the teachers who have somehow limited language proficiency and are not well trained the textbook offers them the following advantages:

- The variety of worldwide situations including England, Egypt, Thailand, and Japan… are introduced in the textbook through illustrative pictures, make it easier to introduce and explain the language material to students

- The textbook and the teacher’s manual facilitate step-by-step teaching

- The textbook goes with the new best practices approach in Teacher’s Edition which promotes excellence in language teaching

For learners who are beginners in foreign language learning, the textbook is useful

in the following ways:

- Familiar topics, situations and pictures in the textbook enable students to practice the target language together more easily (Tomlinson, 1998 & 2011)

- There are quite numerous games which encourage learning through fun activities Playing games, according to Çakir (2004), can help learners learn vocabulary, spelling, structure, etc without their being aware of the learning process In this way, some language knowledge may be learnt unconsciously

- The Self-Assessment Log may be suitable in the context; as Vietnamese students can check what they have learnt from every chapter

- The materials and tasks of the textbook based on academic content and experiences give learning real purpose Students explore real world issue, discuss academic topics, and study content-based and thematic materials

- Students learn to organize thoughts and notes through a variety of graphic organizers that accommodate diverse learning and thinking styles

- Students can better understand new spoken or written material when they connect

to the content Activating prior knowledge allows students to tap into what they already know, building on this knowledge, and stirring a curiosity for more knowledge

Teaching and learning culture

The approach in the textbook is learner-centered so it suits the teaching and learning culture in CMCC in which the teacher is believed to be a helper The practice activities and the group work are relevant to a teaching and learning culture in which people assume that students learn knowledge from teachers and textbooks This makes the textbook more acceptable to teachers and students Moreover, the textbook has got a scaffold structure that facilitates construction of a building Similarly, scaffolding instruction is a tool used to facilitate language learning in the form of predictable and flexible tasks

Besides activities in the textbook promote human interaction in pair work, small group work, and whole class activities present opportunities for real world contact and real world use of language

4.1.3 Content of the textbook

The content of the textbook analyzed below contains topics, activities and tasks, and vocabulary and grammar

Topics

The 10 topics introduced in the textbook partly cover up updated topics The sequencing of the topics seems to go from simple to more complex (from Cities, neighborhood, families… to food and nutrition and environment), and strongly connect with the students’ real-life situations The textbook generally covers meets the demand of topic appropriateness Importantly, the textbook was further perceived to include many topics which are varied and engaging to appeal to students with different interests and personality types

Moreover, and this is quite an important finding supervisors and teachers largely tended towards the view that the textbook does encourage critical thinking This is very fortunate as such topics can be very helpful for most students Thein (2006) found that most students enjoy discussing the topics that stimulate them to generate their critical thinking and leave room for making judgments on others' opinions (p.58)

Activities and exercises

The textbook activities mainly involve individual, pair work, and group work There are many form focused activities (i.e., controlled practice focusing on the use of a structure or a grammar point, such as Thinking about the topic, Comparing answers, Previewing vocabulary in Before You Read Chapter 4 Health Care, or Understanding the main ideas, Identifying vocabulary, Finding important details in After You Read in Chapter 5 Men and Women…), but there are no transcriptions for new words (i.e., in this activity learners can check their pronunciation or practice speaking with other students, such as Part 4 “Vocabulary Practice” Chapter

4 Health Care, pp 72-73) The textbook also gives games focusing on vocabulary to help learners play and study at the same time (Part 4 Building Vocabulary in Chapter 7 Work and Lifestyles, pp127-128)

With regard to the encouragement of learner interaction and promotion of learners’ communicative abilities, the textbook gives a varieties types of activities which focus on fluency, and open-ended questions, so the classroom interaction is somewhat improved

In general, although Interactions Access Reading helps students practice the target language through numerous listening, speaking, reading and even writing activities,

it does help develop communicative abilities

Vocabulary and grammar

Interactions Access Reading introduces an average number of new words for each part of the chapter, and these vocabularies are introduced in a variety of activities such as Building Vocabulary, Previewing Vocabulary, and Identifying Vocabulary and so on… These words are, above all, among the 1,000 most-frequently used words in English

This number of new words could be considered suitable in relation to the amount of vocabulary needed for effective communication Hill (2005) and Read (2004) claim that there is a general consensus that around 2,000 word families provide enough lexical resources for learners to communicate verbally

Vocabulary is presented through a listening, speaking or reading activity, in controlled practice It is usually introduced with various contexts, and is recycled, as the textbook follows a topic syllabus The textbook does provide strategies for independent vocabulary learning

Grammar is considered to be a key component that enables learners to create their own utterances The grammar structures in the textbook are recycled in some units and in Vocabulary Practice throughout the textbook Grammar is distributed appropriately in terms of the number of grammar points There are one or two

grammar points for each section of a chapter This can help make sure that learners will not feel that there is too much or too little grammar in each section The textbook tends to introduce grammar deductively in a form-focused manner and this

is practiced in controlled practice activities with repetition and substitution drills

In summary, the textbook Interactions Access Reading covers the vocabulary and grammar in the aims and objectives set up in the curriculum However, it would be better if it provided learners with independent learning strategies, such as guessing, inferring, etc and using word morphology

Other qualities of the textbook

The artwork inside also helps learners feel comfortable, as it is closely related to their culture The organization and structure of the textbook give students confidence with mostly “Connecting to the topic”’ activities at the beginning followed by varied drills in each section

Although it does not have many information gap and negotiation of meaning activities or tasks, it encourages student interaction through role play and pair work activities and tasks

Moreover, the topics of the textbook are suitable for students as they are similar to those in students’ daily lives The pictures illustrating the topics reflect students’ real life activities, and with the supplement of the vocabulary and grammar in each topic, students may be able to describe their surroundings The amount of vocabulary and grammar, as analyzed above is suitable and attainable for the learners’ age

Although the textbook does cater to the teacher and student characteristics, and to the teaching and learning context, it does not give students many opportunities to contribute to the lesson or to choose what they want to study The insufficiency of group work and free practice activities in the textbook means that students cannot feel confident when they are asked to work in teams or to use language in situations outside the classroom

The textbook would be better if more free practice activities were added to cater for

a variety of types of learners A pronunciation checking activity in each section is supposed to help students fulfil gaps of their pronunciation, which may help students adjust their listening and speaking skills Moreover, students would also be more motivated if the textbook had a test every 4 or 5 units or chapters to help them check their progress during their studying

4.2 Summary of the theoretical evaluation of the textbook Interactions Access Reading

The textbook Interactions Access Reading has a number of positive characteristics that suit the situation and culture of teaching and learning fairly well However, it also has some weaknesses which need to be overcome The strengths and weaknesses derived from the analysis of the textbook are given below:

1 The textbook provides contexts for the introduction of new structures and vocabulary, which are generally appropriate for learners’ level at CMCC

2 It provides a good quantity of practice, following the target structure and vocabulary The activities include pair work, group work activities, which would be appropriate in a class of students of identical L1 background and with fixed chairs, tables and poor furnishing

3 The variety of contexts are somewhat limited it means that there are numerous foreign contexts and few Asian contexts In particular, there are very few Vietnamese contexts which students can get familiar with, though this is understandable, as the textbook aims at beginner level

4 The pictures and artwork are likely to be attractive to young learners and provide

a helpful context for modelling and practicing structures It also provides learners with games to help them study and play at the same time in a relaxed environment Thus, it has sufficient supporting resources to assist the teaching and learning process

5 There are no activities or drills for checking pronunciation or transcription in the textbook as it is one of the weaknesses of most students at CMCC