Investigation of demotivators in English speaking lessons of the 10th grade students at Nam Sach High School = Nghiên cứu các yếu tố gây nên sự mất hứng thú tro

LIST OF TABLES 4.2 Students‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization 20 4.3 Students‟ Attitudes toward the Textbook Topics 21 4.4: Students‟ Opinions on the Textbook Language

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

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

ĐOÀN PHƯƠNG NGÂN

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ EVALUATION OF

ENGLISH 1.1 TEXTBOOK IN USE AT VIETNAM

UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE

ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH 1.1 ĐANG SỬ DỤNG TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

THƯƠNG MẠI

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi - 2010

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

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

ĐOÀN PHƯƠNG NGÂN

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ EVALUATION OF

ENGLISH 1.1 TEXTBOOK IN USE AT VIETNAM

UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE

ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH 1.1 ĐANG SỬ DỤNG TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

THƯƠNG MẠI

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: Nguyễn Minh Huệ, M.A

Hanoi - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements……… ……… i

Declaration……… ……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents……… iv

List of Abbreviations……… vi

List of Tables ……… vii

List of Figures and Charts……… viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.1 Rationale of the study……… 1

1.2 Aims of the study……… 2

1.3 Research questions……… 2

1.4 Scope of the study……… 2

1.5 Significance of the study……… 2

1.6 Overview of the paper ……… 3

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 4

2.1 Materials……… 4

2.1.1 Definition ……… 4

2.1.2 Categories of materials ……… 4

2.2 Material evaluation ……… 5

2.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation ……… 5

2.2.2 Types of material evaluation ……… 6

2.2.3 Purposes of material evaluation ……… 6

2.2.4 Approaches to material evaluation ……… 7

2.2.5 Principles for material evaluation ……… 7

2.2.6 Models for material evaluation ……… 9

2.2.7 Criteria for material evaluation ……… 11

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY……… 14

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

3.1.1 English 1.1 course ……… 14

3.1.2 English 1.1 textbook ……… 14

3.2 Participants……… 15

3.3 Data collection instruments ……… 16

3.3.1 Questionnaires ……… 16

3.3.1.1 Student questionnaire……… 16

3.3.1.2 Teacher questionnaire ……… 17

3.3.2 Interviews……… 17

3.4 Procedures ……… 17

3.5 Data analysis ……… 18

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ……… 19

4.1 Results and discussion……… 19

4.1.1 Questionnaire results ……… 19

4.1.1.1 Student questionnaire results ……… 19

4.1.1.2 Teacher questionnaire results ……… 23

4.1.2 Follow-up interview results ……… 28

4.1.2.1 Student follow-up interview results ……… 29

4.1.2.2 Teacher follow-up interview results ……… 31

4.2 Major findings ……… 32

4.2.1 Summary of main findings……… 32

4.2.2 Strengths and weaknesses of the textbook ……… 33

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION……… 37

5.1 Summary……… 37

5.2 Limitations of the study……… 37

5.3 Implications …… ……… ……… 38

5.4 Recommendations for further studies.……… 39

Reference……… 40

Appendix 2……… VI Appendix 3……… IX Appendix 4……… XIII

LIST OF TABLES

4.2 Students‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization 20 4.3 Students‟ Attitudes toward the Textbook Topics 21 4.4: Students‟ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content 22 4.5: Students‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Language Skills 22 4.6 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Aims and Approach 24 4.7 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Design and Organization 25

4.9 Teachers‟ Opinions on the Textbook Language Content 26 4.10 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbook Language Skills 27

LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS

Figure 2.1: The Materials Evaluation Model of Hutchinson and

Chart 4.1: Students‟ main studying purposes for the course 20

Chart 4.2: Teachers‟ Opinions on Purposes of the Course 24

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

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

Nguyen (2007) reviews all the advantages and disadvantages of using the textbook in her research On the one hand, the textbook offers certain advantages like instruction and assessment standardization (Richard 2005), providing syllabus for a program (Cunningsworth 1995), receiving students‟ credibility (Sheldon 1988) and making an effective resource for learning in the classroom and self-directed learning (Cunningsworth 1995) On the other hand, it also shows several reservations like being able to control the methods, processes, and procedures of classroom practice and „deskill‟ teachers (Allwright 1982); and not suiting all classrooms as it is written for global market (Richard 2005) Being aware of all the above advantages and disadvantages, the teachers at English Department, University of Commerce carefully selected content for English 1.1 textbook, which is used for English 1.1 course, the first English course for the students at this university The content selection for the textbook is based on the course objectives, students‟ levels and their needs and the course length Sources of the textbook are Business Basics (2000) written by David Grand and Robert Mc Larty, published by Oxford Press, and Market Leader (2004) written by David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, published by Longman

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

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

of the textbook as well as the course

1.2 Aims of the study

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

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

1.3 Research questions

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

1 What are the strengths of English 1.1 textbook from the perspective of teachers and

students at Vietnam University of Commerce?

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

1.4 Scope of the study

As its name “ Teachers’ and Students’ Evaluation of English 1.1 Textbook in Use at

University of Commerce” suggests, the thesis will focus on the communicative nature of

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

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

language skills

1.5 Significance of the study

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

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

1.6 Overview of the paper

The study consists of five chapters as follows:

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

methods of the thesis

Chapter 2 is a review of literature on material evaluation

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

describes the methodologies employed in the study

Chapter 4 analyses data and discusses the findings of the study

Chapter 5 concludes the study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

The present chapter reviews previous research related to evaluating EFL materials It first

sheds light on materials with their definitions and classifications (section 2.1) Then, the

chapter reviews material evaluation with its associated issues (section 2.2) In this section, definitions, types, purposes, approaches, and principles of materials evaluations are explored The section also outlines criteria and models for evaluating materials with different viewpoints of different researchers

2.1 Materials

2.1.1 Definition

Language learning materials are often associated with coursebooks as they have been the main source of people‟s experience of using materials However, according to Tomlinson

(1998), materials are a “term used to refer to anything which is used by teachers or learners

to facilitate the learning of a language” He affirmed teachers can adapt materials

according to ages and proficiency level of the students

2.1.2 Categories of materials

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

Adapting and supplementing published materials

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

an EFL material is appropriate calls for material evaluation

2.2 Material evaluation

2.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation

In the words of Williams (1983), “any textbook should be used judiciously, since it cannot

cater equally to the requirements of every classroom setting” Thus material evaluation has

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

information”

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

evaluation is basically a straightforward, analytical “matching process: matching needs to

available solutions”

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

in current activities or influencing future ones.”

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

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

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

2.2.2 Types of material evaluation

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

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

evaluation and retrospective evaluation They are respectively designed to make a

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

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

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

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

2.2.3 Purposes of material evaluation

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

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

As discussed earlier, materials, especially authentic materials, play a significant role in foreign language teaching They are not simply the everyday tools of the language teachers; they are a representation of the aims and methods of the particular teaching/learning context In the words of Cunningsworth (1995, p 7), coursebook is “a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learner needs” Evaluation helps assess whether the coursebook is the most appropriate for the target learners at various levels and in various teaching context Moreover, the evaluation process will involve elements of comparison, especially where existing materials are being challenged by newly produced materials

2.2.4 Approaches to material evaluation

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

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

“a general impression of a course book fairly quickly, just by looking through it and

getting an overview of its possibilities and its strengths and weaknesses, noting significant features which stand out.” The latter is identified by “seeing what is prominent and

obvious in a course book” together with “examining how specific items are dealt with,

particularly those which relate to students” learning needs, syllabus requirements, how

different aspects of language are dealt with, etc.”

2.2.5 Principles for material evaluation

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

Relate the teaching materials to your aims and objectives

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

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

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

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

Keep your students’ learning needs in mind

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

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

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

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

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

Looking from different viewpoint, material evaluation should be based firstly on theory of learning and teaching This is the foundation for second language teaching and learning A

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

It is critical for evaluators to apply their principles of evaluation to the contextual circumstances of their own evaluation in order to determine the most reliable and effective procedures

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

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

2.2.6 Models for material evaluation

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

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

What realizations of criteria do

you want in your course?

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

MATCHING How far does the material match your needs?

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

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

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

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

(1998)

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

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

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

ANALYSIS OF TARGET SITUATION

OF USE

- The cultural context

- The institution

- The course (proposed aims, content,

methodology, measures of evaluation)

- The teachers

- The learners

MATERIAL ANALYSIS From analysis

1 What is their explicit nature?

2 What is required by users?

3 What is implied by their use?

To description:

- aspects of design

- aspects of publication

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

2.2.7 Criteria for material evaluation

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

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

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

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

the material?

2 Good vocabulary explanation and practice

3 Approaches educationally and socially acceptable to target community

4 Periodic review and test sections

5 Appropriate visual materials available

6 Interesting topics and tasks

7 Clear instructions

8 Clear attractive layout, print easy to read

9 Content clearly organized and graded

10 Plenty of authentic language

11 Good grammar presentation and practice

12 Fluency practice in all four skills

13 Encourage learners to develop own learning strategies and to become

independent in their learning

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

a textbook These indicators look at textbooks at a quite different point They organized the instructional characteristics of effective materials (textbooks) into broad categories that include:

Taking account of student ideas

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

Engaging students with relevant contexts, experiences, and phenomena

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

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

Promoting student thinking about phenomena, experiences, and knowledge

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

Developing and using scientific and mathematical ideas

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

Project by Nguyen (2007) on evaluation of Vietnam upper secondary English textbooks adopted checklists provided by Cunningsworth (1995) with some modification These

checklists, which include two parts, cover the most important evaluation criteria

Quick-reference checklist

- Aims, approaches and principles

- Design and organization

- The teaching of listening skills

- The teaching of speaking skills

- The teaching of reading skills

- The teaching of writing skills

- The teaching of grammar

- The teaching of vocabulary

- The teaching of phonology

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

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

of the thesis and in the context of VUC

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

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

3.1 An introduction to English 1.1 course and English 1.1 textbook

3.1.1 English 1.1 course

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

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

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

3.1.2 English 1.1 textbook

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

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

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

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

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

3.2 Participants

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

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

Table 3.1 Description of Student Participants (N=100)

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

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

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

Table 3.2 Description of Teacher Participants (N=8)

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

3.3 Data collection instruments

A descriptive research design incorporating both qualitative and quantitative instruments was used to accomplish the objectives of the study The use of both types of instruments provides a more comprehensive picture of the participants‟ attitudes than could be possible with one data collection method alone (Creswell, 2008) The instrument employed were (1) two questionnaires (quantitative treatment): a learners‟ evaluation questionnaire and a teachers‟ evaluation questionnaire; and (2) interviews with both learners and teachers from

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

3.3.1 Questionnaires

3.3.1.1 Student questionnaire

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

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

to which the participants responded using a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1(Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree) The students were asked to express their degree of willingness by selecting one of the following alternatives: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree In this questionnaire, item 2 asked the students to respond to statements about aims of the textbook, items 3-6 are about the

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

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

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

3.3.2 Interviews

In order to provide a deeper understanding of students‟ and teachers‟ evaluation of English 1.1 textbook, it was deemed useful to conduct interviews Interviews were conducted with all 8 teachers and a subgroup of 22 students randomly selected from those who had agreed

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

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

3.4 Procedures

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

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

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

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

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

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

3.5 Data analysis

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

by the researcher Relevant quotations were then grouped together

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

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

4.1 Results and discussion

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

4.1.1 Questionnaire results

4.1.1.1 Student questionnaire results

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

A Evaluation of the textbook aims

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

2 The textbook meets the course aims 0 16 22 42 20 3.66 0.97

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

B Evaluation of the textbook design and organization

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

3 The design of the material is attractive 16 34 35 13 2 2.51 0.96 4

4 The book has a clear organizational structure … 1 2 12 50 35 4.16 0.78 1

5 The content is logically presented on the basis

6 There are an adequate number of review units 10 36 26 23 5 2.77 1.07 3

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

C Attitudes toward the textbook topics

As shown in Table 4.3, the sub grand mean was 3.76, suggesting that the students had positive attitudes toward the textbook topics

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

Item SD D N A SA M Sd Ord

8 The textbook includes enough variety and

9 The difficulty level of the topics is

10 The topics help expand your knowledge

11 You can relate to the social and cultural

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

to the social and cultural contexts presented in the book

D Opinions on the textbook language content

Table 4.4 shows students‟ evaluation of the textbook language content which includes grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation The highest mean was 4.32, suggesting that the difficulty level of the textbook grammar is suitable to majority of students Indeed, more than half of the students (54%) strongly agreed with that The lowest mean which was just 1.32, illustrated a contrastive picture of students‟ satisfaction of the pronunciation work in the textbook Actually, the textbook does not contain material for pronunciation The difficulty level of the vocabulary exercises received positive attitudes with a mean of 3.87, second highest in the table However, the amount of vocabulary was not enough with 63 % non-agree students Finally, around half of the respondents thought that the textbook provides updated information and deals with structuring and convention of language use above sentence level (52% and 50% respectively)

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

Item SD D N A SA M Sd Ord

12 The textbook provides you with updated

13 The difficulty level of the grammar in the

14 The difficulty level of the vocabulary exercises

15 There are enough vocabulary exercises 7 41 17 24 11 2.91 1.17 5

16 The textbook includes enough material for

17 The textbook deals with the structuring and

conventions of language use above sentence level… 6 19 25 36 14 3.33 1.11 4

E Evaluation of the textbook language skills

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

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

Item SD D N A SA M Sd Ord

18 Four skills are adequately covered in the textbook 58 33 2 7 0 1.58 0.84 14

19 There is enough material for integrated skills work 3 19 12 38 28 3.69 1.15 11

20 There are enough writing tasks 70 26 2 2 0 1.36 0.62 15

21 The reading texts are used for introducing new

language items (grammar and vocabulary),

consolidating language work

5 13 5 69 8 3.62 0.98 13

22 There is a focus on the development of reading

24 The material helps comprehension by, for

example, setting the scene, providing background

information, giving pre-reading questions

27 The recordings are well-recorded 0 14 7 14 65 4.3 1.09 2

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

29 The difficulty level of listening tasks is suitable

30 The speaking tasks are various 0 15 5 49 31 3.96 0.98 8

31 There are elements of genuine communication 1 13 9 45 32 3.94 1.01 9

32 The difficulty level of speaking tasks is suitable to

you 1 5 9 46 39 4.17 0.86 3

The reading skill gained good judgment with means ranging from 3.62 to 4.4, which was the highest mean of the table 69% and 8 % of the informants respectively agreed and strongly agreed that the reading texts were used for introducing new language items (grammar and vocabulary), consolidating language work Majority of students (a mean of 4.08, 82%) supported the statement that the book focused on the development of reading skills and strategies A similar mean and percentage (4.16 and 79%) indicated that the students gave optimistic evaluation on the pre- reading assistance of the material The highest mean 4.4 with 61% strongly agree showed a large approval of the text length The difficulty level of the texts and their tasks got a little lower mean of 3.87, but that still proved around two thirds of the students (73%) found the difficulty level suitable to them The same picture was painted for the listening skill with an average mean of 4.03 (item 29 – 32) Most of the students (85%) approved that the listening was set in a meaningful context A high percentage of 65% strongly agreed that the recordings had a good quality Three fourths of the respondents could find enough support before they listened Most of them (75%) considered difficulty level of the listening tasks to be suitable for them, but as listening is a challenging skill for Vietnamese students in general, 23% (2 strongly disagree and 21 disagree) still found hard to complete these tasks

The speaking skill enjoyed quite high means, with an average of 4.02, indicating a supportive evaluation Most of the students thought the speaking tasks were various with 49% agree and 31% strongly agree The presence of genuine communication elements were recognized by more than three fourths of the students (77%) Majority of the informants (85%) agreed that the speaking tasks were at the right difficulty level for them The lowest mean of the table (1.36) belonged to item 20, which mentioned writing tasks, indicating a very low satisfaction of this skill As a mater of fact, this caused no surprise because the textbook hardly contains writing tasks This explained why skills balance of the textbook received a negative evaluation with a mean of only 1.58 Meanwhile, according to 66% of the students, with three language skills taught (reading, listening and speaking), there were enough material for integrated skills work

4.1.1.2 Teacher questionnaire results