VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ QUỲNH CHÂM AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK “NEW CUTTING EDGE – ELEMENTARY” FOR THE FIRST - YEAR ACCOUNTING STUDENTS OF HAIPHONG POLYTECHNICS COLLEGE (Đánh giá giáo trình “New Cutting Edge – Elementary” dành cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngành kế toán trường Cao đẳng nghề Bách Nghệ Hải Phòng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ QUỲNH CHÂM AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK “NEW CUTTING EDGE – ELEMENTARY” FOR THE FIRST - YEAR ACCOUNTING STUDENTS OF HAIPHONG POLYTECHNICS COLLEGE (Đánh giá giáo trình “New Cutting Edge – Elementary” dành cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngành kế toán trường Cao đẳng nghề Bách Nghệ Hải Phòng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Phạm Minh Hiền, MA HANOI, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality of the thesis. iii Table of contents. iv Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………vii List of tables, figures and charts……………………………………………………….viii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rational of the study.
Aim of the study. Method of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Design of the study. 4 Chapter 1: Literature Review. Materials in language teaching and learning. Role of materials in General English Course.
Definitions of material evaluation. Purposes of material evaluation. Types of materials evaluation. Methods of materials evaluation.
Criteria for materials evaluation. Materials evaluation procedure. 11 Chapter 2: Research Methodology. 12 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at HPPC. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure. 18 Chapter 3: Analysis of data and suggestions for materials adaptation.
Evaluation of students‟ needs. Students‟ English level and Ranking of assumed purposes in learning GE. Evaluation on the needs the course book meets. Evaluation on the Objectives of the Course.
Students‟ speaking tasks completion. General evaluation of students‟ progress. Evaluation on the format of the course book. Evaluation on the content of the course book.
Proportion of the four macro-skills. Topics in the course book. Vocabulary in the course book. Practice in the course book.
Evaluation on the methodology of the course book. Effect of the teaching aids. 32 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Evaluation on the learners‟ needs.
Evaluation on the course objectives. Evaluation on the format of the course book. Evaluation on the content of the course book. Evaluation on the methodology of the course book.
Recommendation for the course book‟s adaptation. Localizing or modifying cultural/situational content. Summary of the study. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for further studies. VII Appendix 3:…………………………………………………………………………… VIII Appendix 4: ……………………………………………………………………………XIV Appendix 5:….………………………………………………………………………XVIII vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ELT: English Language Teaching GE: General English HPPC: Haiphong Polytechnics College NCEE: New Cutting Edge Elementary Ss: Students Ts: Teachers ULIS, VNUH: University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND CHARTS TABLES Table 1: Teachers and students‟ ranking of the purposes of GE Course Table 2: Evaluation on the needs satisfied by the course book Table 3: Students‟ speaking tasks completion Table 4: Evaluation on the format of the course book Table 5: Proportion of the macro-skills Table 6: Student‟s level of proficiency in language points Table 7: Teachers and students‟ opinion on the Practice of the course book Table 8: Evaluation on the methodology of the course book FIGURES Figure 1: The material process by Tomlinson and Alan Waters (1987, p.97) CHARTS Chart 1: Students‟ English level at the beginning of the course Chart 2: Students‟ vocabulary improvement Chart 3: Evaluation on the students‟ progress Chart 4: Evaluation on the vocabulary of the course book viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Course books are the mostly used in teaching and learning materials for both teachers and the learners. They not only provide a framework for teachers in achieving the aims and objectives of the course but also play an important role as a guide to the teacher in conducting the lesson.
On behalf of the learners, a course book truly affects their attitudes and performance to the lesson throughout the course. It is a fact that when learners like their course books, they like the course as well and become active participants to the lesson. Thus, using a course book is probably the most common way of teaching English today. Having a course book in the trend of teaching and learning is a vital element and is looked upon as an indispensable mean; consequently, selecting a proper book or providing a course book is of great importance, too.
However, now with a variety of textbook available on the market each with a different methodology and syllabus, it can be much more difficult to choose the best suitable book for a particular teaching situation. In fact, there is no course book can be absolutely ideal for a particular group of learners (Cunningsworth,1995); evaluation and selection of suitable material would be essential and important issues for language teachers. A thorough evaluation will pave the way for teaching staff of each organization and policy makers to have this ability to discriminate among all the available books in the market and considering weak as well as strong points of each book educators can choose the most appropriate book. Therefore, in order to take the advantage of the materials, it is necessary for individuals, especially language teachers, to carefully examine all aspects of the materials.
The course book “New Cutting Edge- Elementary” is used for teaching Pre- ESP for the first year accounting students at the Economics Faculty since 2008 and also had both positive and negative response from both students and teachers. However, up to now, no research on the course book evaluation has been conducted to recognize its strength and weakness as well as how suitably the course book matched the goal of the course. In response to the problem, it is an urgent demand to carry out an evaluation of the course book to determine its appropriateness for students at our 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com college then provide the adaptation for the better use. This is also the reason for the writer to choose the material evaluation for the thesis: “An evaluation of the course book “New Cutting Edge – Elementary” for the first - year accounting students of Haiphong Polytechnics College” 2.
Aims of the study The study is carried out to improve the effectiveness of teaching the course book – NCEE for the first-year accounting students of HP Polytechnics College. So the specific purposes of the study are as follow: - To investigate the English teaching and learning context at HPPC. - To evaluate the currently adopted course book New Cutting Edge Elementary from the viewpoints of both teachers at Foreign Language Faculty and the first year accounting students of Haiphong Polytechnics College. - To offer the suggestion for the course book‟s adaptations.
Methods of the study For this study, two main instruments are applied to collect data: - Survey questionnaires are designed for both teachers and the first - year accounting students at Haiphong Polytechnics College. - Formal interviews are conducted to look for students‟ and teachers‟ opinions to the course book basing on their experience in using it. Scope of the study The course book New Cutting Edge –Elementary has been used for teaching Pre-ESP for the first year students of Economics Faculty as well as Navigation Faculty at Haiphong Polytechnics College. However, due to the limitation of a minor thesis, this study just mainly focuses on generally evaluating the course book New Cutting Edge – Elementary for only accounting students at Economics Faculty in term of Learner‟s Demand, Format, Objective, Content and Methodology to evaluate the suitability of the material to the real Pre-ESP teaching and learning at HPPC.
Significance of the study Firstly, the finding of this study will help the teachers to identify the strength and weakness of the course book to adjust their teaching method and adapt the material so as to provide students with the most effective lessons. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Furthermore, it is expected that the result of research, to some extent, could become the reference material for those interested in the field of material evaluation. Design of the study The thesis consists of three parts: Part I: Introduction states the rational, aim, scope, methods and design of the study. Part II: Development is divided into three main chapters: Chapter 1 provides the readers with literature review on the aspects relating to material evaluation such as: materials in language teaching and learning, materials evaluation, and evaluation types, as well as methods and criteria, purpose of materials.
Besides, in this chapter, materials adaptation for the better use has been presented. Chapter 2 deals with an overview of current English teaching and learning situation at Economics Faculty of HPPC, research method as well as description of data collection procedure and data analysis procedure which involve in the research process. Chapter 3 presents and reports the analysis of the study and encloses suggestions for the course book adaptation. Part III: Conclusion summarizes the major findings, limitation of the study and suggestions for further research.
3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter has addressed the key notions about material and material evaluation. These issues, where possible, have been supported by academic literature. The first issue in this chapter concerns with materials in language teaching and learning. The second one presents an overview of materials evaluation.
At last, the chapter will end up with theoretical discussion about materials adaptation. Materials in language teaching and learning 1. Definitions To do book evaluation in a correct way, first defining characteristics and giving a good definition about textbook, course book and material are necessary. From his point of view, Tomlinson (1998) defines that a textbook provides the core materials for a course.
It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it could serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use during a course. Such a book usually includes work on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Richards (2001) stated that “Textbooks are a key component in most language programs. In some situations, they serve as the basic for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom.
In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement the teachers‟ instruction”. It is assumed that a textbook is a teaching tool (material) which presents the subject matter defined by the curriculum. A textbook has always been the most preferred instructional material in ELT. They are best seen as a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set concerning learner needs.
According to Tomlinson (1998), course book is a textbook which provides the core materials for a course. It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it could be serve as the only book which the learner necessarily use during a course. Such a book usually includes work on grammar, vocabulary, function and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.