Tài liệu An evaluation of the textbook tiếng anh 6 (10 year program a case study at quynh mai secondary school

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Nguyễn Thị Viên AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK TIẾNG ANH 6 (10-YEAR PROGRAM): COVER PAGE 2 A CASE STUDY AT QUYNH MAI SECONDARY SCHOOL MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE HANOI, 2018 VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Nguyễn Thị Viên AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK TIẾNG ANH 6 (10-YEAR PROGRAM): A CASE STUDY AT QUYNH MAI SECONDARY SCHOOL Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Phạm Lan Anh, Ph.D. HANOI, 2018 DECLARATION BY AUTHOR I declare that this thesis entitled “An Evaluation of the Textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)”: A Case Study at Quynh Mai Secondary School” is created by my own findings and I am the sole author of this thesis. To the best of my knowledge, with the exception of the indication of reference, this thesis is carried out without using any other author’s work and is submitted after a carefully checking progress in order to fulfill the requirements of the M.A degree. Author’s signature Nguyễn Thị Viên Approved by SUPERVISOR Phạm Lan Anh, Ph.D. Date: __________________ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is completed with lots of working hours and is contributed by a large amount of enthusiasm, effort and assistance from many people. First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Phạm Lan Anh for her support. Without her guidance, advice and comments, I would not complete this research paper. Moreover, I would like to send my special thanks to all of the teachers at Quynh Mai Secondary School for their help and suggestions which are very necessary and useful to me during the progress of this thesis. Additionally, I am so grateful for the assistance from the students at Quynh Mai Secondary School with their answers for the interview and questionnaires. Last but not least, I would like to send my special thanks to my beloved family, who are always supportive and enthusiastic to me during the progress of making this thesis. iv ABSTRACT This thesis is created and completed on the purpose of evaluating the textbook of “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)”, especially in the context of teaching English at Quynh Mai Secondary School. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the English textbook officially used by the teachers and the students at Quynh Mai Secondary School. Based on the theoretical framework of textbooks evaluation, figures, data and information was collected and analyzed mainly through surveys, questionnaires and interviews. The benefits, positive effects, as well as challenges of using the textbooks are analyzed in this thesis. Furthermore, some suggestions for overcoming these difficulties are also mentioned. v Table of Contents DECLARATION BY AUTHOR ......................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................ 1 1.1. Rationale.................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Aims of the study. ..................................................................................................... 2 1.3. Research questions ................................................................................................... 3 1.4. Scope of the study ..................................................................................................... 3 1.5. Significance of the study ........................................................................................... 4 1.6. Research methods .................................................................................................... 4 1.7. Structure of the study: .............................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 6 2.1. ELT Materials in Learning and Teaching Language .................................................. 6 2.1.1. Position and Purpose of Materials in Teaching Language .................................... 6 2.1.2. Types of materials .............................................................................................. 8 2.2. Models used for Materials Evaluation ..................................................................... 10 2.2.1. Cunningsworth’s model (1984) ......................................................................... 11 2.2.2. Model of Hutchinson and Water ....................................................................... 11 2.2.3. Ellis’s model..................................................................................................... 14 2.2.4. Summary ......................................................................................................... 15 2.3. Criteria for Materials Evaluation ............................................................................ 16 2.3.1. Criteria proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1993) .................................... 17 2.3.2. Criteria suggested by Brown (1995) ............................................................. 18 2.3.3. Criteria suggested by Tomlinson (1998) ....................................................... 18 2.4. Previous Studies on Textbook Evaluation ........................................................... 19 2.4.1. Previous studies carried out in foreign countries .......................................... 19 2.4.2. Previous studies carried out in Vietnam ....................................................... 22 2.5. Chapter Summary ............................................................................................. 25 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY..................................................................................... 26 3.1. Research Design ..................................................................................................... 26 vi 3.1.1. Rationale ......................................................................................................... 26 3.1.2. Research Instruments ................................................................................. 27 3.1.2.1. Document analysis .................................................................................... 28 3.1.2.2. Questionnaires .......................................................................................... 28 3.1.2.3. Interviews ................................................................................................ 29 3.1.2.4. Classroom Observation .............................................................................. 29 3.2. Research Procedure................................................................................................ 30 3.3. Data Collection Instrument ..................................................................................... 31 3.4. Summary ............................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................................ 38 4.1. Evaluation of Aims ................................................................................................. 38 4.1.1. Aims stated in the Curriculum .......................................................................... 38 4.1.2. Aims stated in the textbook ............................................................................... 39 4.2. Evaluation on Methodology .................................................................................... 45 4.2.1. Methodology stated in the curriculum ............................................................... 45 4.2.2. Methodology perceived by teachers and students ............................................... 49 4.2.3. Methodology enacted by teachers...................................................................... 50 4.2.4. Comparison and contrast ................................................................................. 57 4.3. Evaluation on Audience .......................................................................................... 58 4.3.1. Audience stated in the curriculum..................................................................... 58 4.3.2. Audience stated in the textbook ........................................................................ 59 4.4. Evaluation on Contents........................................................................................... 66 4.4.1. Contents perceived in the curriculum ................................................................ 66 4.4.2. Contents perceived in the Textbook .................................................................. 68 4.4.3. Contents perceived by teachers and students ..................................................... 69 4.5. Findings of the Study .............................................................................................. 77 4.5.1. Findings related to Research Questions 1 and 2 ................................................. 78 4.6. Discussions ............................................................................................................. 79 4.7. Summary ............................................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 83 5.1 Recapitulation ......................................................................................................... 83 5.2. Concluding Remarks .............................................................................................. 84 5.3. Implications ........................................................................................................... 86 vii 5.4. Limitations and suggestions for the further study .................................................... 88 5.4.1 Limitations ........................................................................................................... 88 5.4.2. Suggestions ...................................................................................................... 89 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 90 APPENDIX 1: LESSON PLAN ........................................................................................ 93 APPENDIX 2: CITATION OF AIMS OF THE TEXTBOOK TIẾNG ANH 6 ........................... 98 APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................... 101 APPENDIX 4: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION ............................................................. 105 APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS .................................................................... 107 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Judgment on Objectives .................................................................... 41 Table 2: Evaluation on Skills Development ................................................... 44 Table 3: Evaluation on Methodology.............................................................. 50 Table 4: Evaluation on General Appearance ................................................. 60 Table 5: Judgment on Design and Illustration ................................................ 63 Table 6: Judgment on topic appropriateness ................................................... 65 Table 7: Number of tasks in the book ............................................................. 68 Table 9: Judgment on Content Appropriateness ............................................. 70 Table 10: Evaluation on Social and Cultural Context .................................... 72 Table 11: Evaluation on Methodology............................................................ 74 Table 12. A Summary of Appropriate and Inappropriate Features of the Targeted Textbook Under Evaluation ............................................................. 80 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The materials evaluation model by Hutchinson and Water ............ 12 Figure 2: Judgment on Objectives .................................................................. 41 Figure 3: Evaluation on Skills Development .................................................. 43 Figure 4: Evaluation on Methodology ............................................................ 49 Figure 5: Evaluation on General Appearance ................................................. 60 Figure 6: Details of evaluation on Design and Illustration ............................. 62 Figure 7: Judgment on topic appropriateness ................................................. 64 Figure 8: Judgment on Content Appropriateness............................................ 70 Figure 9: Evaluation on Social and Cultural Context ..................................... 72 Figure 10: Evaluation on Methodology .......................................................... 73 ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale Textbooks are basic materials, compulsory to use in the school, so it is very important to use suitable textbooks in teaching and learning. Students are the primary target audience for textbooks. From textbooks, students can get access to basic, modern and systematic knowledge. Students can acquire knowledge through various sources of information, but knowledge in textbooks is considered as the most standard knowledge. In addition to new knowledge, textbooks are also materials that help students consolidate, synthesize, and systematize knowledge through review and study guides. Given the importance mentioned above, the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10year program) was written for innovative purposes to replace the textbook that has been in used since 2001. English 6 for grade-6-students in Vietnam was developed by the Vietnamese Education Publishing House in accordance with the English Secondary Education Program issued by the Ministry of Education and Training under Decision No. 01/QĐ-BGDĐT dated 03 January 2012, followed by English 3, English 4 and English 5. The book is designed in a way that enables students to use language (phonetics, vocabulary, grammar) to develop communication skills in English through four skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing, with a focus on developing two listening and speaking skills. In light of learning-centered approach, pupils are the subject of the teaching process, in which the psychological age of junior high school students, the cultural characteristics of Vietnam as well as of other countries in the world, especially of the English speaking countries, are given special importance. 1 Indeed, the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 for grade-6-students in Vietnam has been taught experimentally in some classes in secondary schools nationwide for several years. However, this material has never been evaluated by teachers who directly teach students in secondary schools to examine if it really meets the defined aims of the compulsory English program for grade-6-students and if it is suitable to the students’ level of English and their background knowledge. Since it was taught experimentally, it has been a subject of much controversy among teaching staff. It is said to be well-written but not quite suitable for students who are not equipped with basic knowledge from the elementary level. Some teachers argue that each lesson in each unit of the textbook contains a large amount of vocabulary. This makes it difficult for students to remember the vocabulary of the lesson. In contrast, there are teachers who are enthusiastic about it and say that it is thoughtfully planned and relevant to current ELT trends in Vietnam. For those reasons, “An evaluation of the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year program): A case study at Quynh Mai Secondary School”” is chosen as the title of my thesis. Hence, I hope that the findings of the study can help the researcher and other teachers find out the appropriate points as well as the inappropriate points in order to improve or modify the material for future use. Especially, I believe that this study can enhance English teaching and learning in schools in Vietnam. 1.2. Aims of the study. The study aims at evaluating the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year program) to explore if it really meets the defined aims of the course and if it is appropriate to the students’ level of English and their background knowledge. I also hope that the findings of the thesis will partly help to decide whether to 2 modify any contents or the structure of the book to improve the quality and the effectiveness of the material. 1.3. Research questions The study will be conducted to answer the following research questions: 1. To what extent does the textbook meet the aims of the course? 2. To what extent is the textbook appropriate to the students’ level of English in terms of language and their background knowledge? 1.4. Scope of the study According to Tom Hutchinson (1993), in textbook evaluation, a number of criteria such as audience, aims, content, methodology, and other criteria should be taken into account. However, in this study, due to time constraints and scope of the minor thesis, the main focus of the evaluation is on the following criteria as audience, aims of the material, content of the material and teaching methodology The subjects of the study are 80 students chosen randomly from 8 classes: class 6D, 6E, 7D, 7E, 8D, 8E, 9D, 9E (10 students per each class) who studied experimentally the textbook in the school years 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 6 teachers of English at Quynh Mai Secondary School, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, Vietnam. The study was implemented from early September 2017 to late May 2018 at Quynh Mai Secondary School as soon as students stabilize their learning at the beginning of the new school year. 3 1.5. Significance of the study The findings of the thesis are hoped to be useful for the teachers who are teaching English at Secondary Schools. The findings of the thesis may provide some suggestions for the authorities and the group of authors of the textbook at the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training with scientific evidence to improve the quality of the current material being used for grade6-students in Vietnam. The results also reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the textbook in use, so that teachers themselves can find appropriate teaching methods for students with different levels, and authorities and authors might also modify the textbook if possible. 1.6. Research methods In order to achieve the purpose of the study and due to the practical situation that the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 has just been taught experimentally in schools nationwide for some years, the study was only conducted at Quynh Mai Secondary School in Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, Vietnam. In order to answer the two research questions above, the qualitative case study was employed. The data were collected through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations with students and teachers at Quynh Mai School. 1.7. Structure of the study: The study is organized into five chapters as follows: Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter introduces the background to the study and statement of the problem, the aims of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study, and the significance of the study. 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter presents an overview of theoretical issues of textbook evaluation, concentrating on the issues related to ELT textbook evaluation. Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter describes the data collection instruments and data collection process to conduct the case study. Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions The results of the data are reported, described, analyzed and discussed. Therefore, answers of the two questions are clarified in the chapter. Chapter 5: Conclusion This chapter provides implications for further studies, and makes conclusion for the thesis. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides an overview of the background features in the theoretical knowledge for the assessment of a particular Tiếng Anh 6 course’s material. Particularly, a general view of the method of using and adapting Tiếng Anh 6 materials allocated to the students at Quynh Mai Secondary School is given and taken as a typical example. Overall, there are three sections in this chapter. The first section mentions the roles of ELT materials in teaching and learning the language of English while the second section is a brief review of different approaches to materials evaluation, and the third section consists of some previous researches from predecessors done previously on the evaluation of the text book in different contexts. 2.1. ELT Materials in Learning and Teaching Language 2.1.1. Position and Purpose of Materials in Teaching Language It is widely known that teaching materials are of great importance in teaching and learning any kind of language because it is the most effective communicative teaching method in class; without materials, the teaching procedure in class cannot be conducted. According to Cunningsworth (1995), teaching materials are sources of stimulation and ideas which are helpful for activities done in class to provide students sharp practices in communicative interaction. Additionally, teaching materials are being functioned as a source of reference for students on the aspects of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation as well. Furthermore, according to the viewpoint of Dudley Evan and St. John (1998), teaching materials can also motivate and encourage students to study by themselves in a more effective way. Besides the significant roles to learners, teaching materials are considered a teachers’ support for both inexperienced and experienced teachers; because, generally, 6 teachers need materials to conduct their lesson. Giving an appropriate explanation for this fact, Richards (2001) claimed that teaching materials are considered good ones are able to serve “a form of teacher training” and teachers can use the ideas provided in the materials to plan their own lessons. Particularly, according to Dudley Evan and St. John (1998), there are four main functions of materials, including language source provision, learning support, motivation source provision and reference source provision. First, regarding to language source provision, especially in the situation of applying a new kind of textbook like Tiếng Anh 6, it can be affirmed that materials are the only method available to get access to the language content that students and teachers have. Because of this reason, materials are required to introduce and explain a real language used in real contexts to be appropriate to a great deal of number of learners and fulfill their needs and request in learning. Second, in terms of learning support, Dudley Evan and St. John (1998) once again presented that materials had better involve learners in using their intellectual ideas to apply the language. That is the reason why the in-class activities should be “stimulate cognitive not mechanical process” (p.171). Third, with regard to the motivation source provision, it is continued to be affirmed by Dudley Evan and St. John (1998) that materials need to be “challenging yet achievable to offer new ideas and information whilst being grounded in the learners’ experience and knowledge” (page 172). Finally, for the aspects that materials are reference source provision; Tomlinson (1998) indicated an opinion that materials are useful when they can help students in class to make “efficient use of the resources in order to 7 facilitate self-discovery”. In other word, the language uses go along with examples, explanation, practice exercises and in-and-out class activities should be provided in the materials. It is also necessary to include the detailed explanation and answers for the exercises so that students can use the materials for their self-study at home and teachers can base on these keys and answers to gain some more useful knowledge. In the situation of ELT material like Tiếng Anh 6, models of precise and suitable use of language are included and it enables the active teaching process for particular purposes in class. 2.1.2. Types of materials Due to the fact that materials are of great importance to the progress of learning, teachers and scholars, in general, use numerous types of materials; however, there are two most popular types of materials with a large number of smaller types included in, including printed materials such as class textbooks, workbooks, pictures, photos, handout and worksheets and non-printed materials like recorded files and computer-based files (PowerPoint materials for instance). No matter what type of materials they are designed, each kind of teaching and learning materials has its own function and they are being used differently for numerous learning purposes, which will be discussed further below. 2.1.2.1. Textbooks Textbooks are considered the most important teaching components due to the fact that they are inevitable learning aids in almost all language teaching programs, and they are often defined basing on the fact that they are materials released and published mainly to be reliable, attractive and userfriendly so that the use of them can bring effectiveness. In order to reach this 8 effectiveness in teaching language, a useful textbook in general, and a course book in particular, has to contain certain factors such as forming a strong course teaching and learning framework which in essence, to build and develop a learning syllabus which is systematically planned and used. When allocating textbooks to use, learners study the content presented in it and by following the book map as well as the table of content, students can generalize the main features that they have to study in the book. Nevertheless, according to Harmer (1998), the content of the textbook is not perfect for all of its parts. Particularly, despite of the fact that textbooks are well-designed and well-arranged in the content, they still can be difficult and inappropriate to some certain aspects of the action of learning of learners. Because the students’ competence may not be suitable to the target language presented in the book. Additionally, Swales (2000) also claimed that textbooks which are published with purposes are “less self-sufficient if practice materials and in coverage of skill area” (p.57). Based on this opinion, it is necessary to supplement the textbook with other appropriate materials to support them and make the learning progress more effectively. 2.1.2.2. In-house materials According to Robinson (1991), in comparison with published materials, in-house materials are more probably to be suitable and specific regarding to the target language and the validity presented in the materials. Furthermore, the flexibility of in-house materials, compare to published materials, is also another factor to be considered. It is claimed that in-house materials have greater flexibility than published materials owing to their typical characteristics. Finally, having improved the drawbacks of the imbalance between textbooks and students’ competence, the author of the in-house 9 materials is able to make certain that the quality of the teaching method used in this type of materials is controlled and the knowledge aspects will be appropriate to students. Nonetheless, there are some drawbacks of the inhouse materials that make them less outweighed than others, and timeconsuming can be considered one of those. It was observed by Swales (1991) that “the locally produced materials show a striking resemblance to the published materials that have been rejected” (Swales (453, p.6)). In addition to time-consuming, there is the high expense also be considered, because the progress of in-house materials production requires a large amount of money. Furthermore, because of the lack of systematic features, the form of in-house materials is commonly “showers of singe-page handouts” (Swales (453, p.18)); as a result, teaching order can be lost. In spite of the weaknesses they bring, the in-house materials are indicated by Robinson (1991) to have no polar division, in comparison with published materials, which can be very regular to turn into the in-house materials themselves. Nonetheless, as mentioned above, creating in-house materials could be high in expense and time-consuming, so it is a tendency in choosing and using existing published materials by teachers to use in class. 2.2. Models used for Materials Evaluation To a great extent, there are some models which can be used for materials evaluation which are proposed by several scholars in the literature. However, the popular models which are useful until now are suggested by Cunningsworth (1984), Hutchinson and Waters (1993) and Ellis (1997). 10 2.2.1. Cunningsworth’s model (1984) According to Cunningsworth (1984), there are aspects for materials evaluation, including linguistic elements of the materials regarding topics, content of language, methodology, skills and so forth. It is noted by Cunningsworth (1984) that language content used for the assessment is better if it is concentrated on the suitability of the vocabulary, grammars, functions and structures illustrated in the materials. Another viewpoint is also presented by the author is that it is necessary to be interesting in terms of the materials’ topics, and sophisticated and various content are significant as well. Additionally, the students should be taken advantages by expanding the knowledge of the language level of these topics. In terms of the skills which are introduced in the materials, the issues about whether the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are covered enough as well as the question about whether the skills are appropriate to the target of the course and the syllabus requirements should be solved. Furthermore, the methodology of the materials is also being concerned; in particular, the suitability of the materials to the situation of teaching and learning and the name of the techniques used to introduce novel language items. 2.2.2. Model of Hutchinson and Water It is noted by Hutchinson and Water (1993) that evaluation process of materials is a matter in which the fitness of a particular issue for a specific purpose is judged. In essence, materials evaluation is a matching process: matching should come with solutions. From this perspective, an evaluation could be divided into four main steps, including defining criteria, subjective analysis, and objective analysis and matching. 11