VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------- NGUYỄN HOÀNG ĐÔ AN EVALUATION OF SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” FOR THE 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT GIA LỘC HIGH SCHOOL IN LIGHT OF CLT Đánh giá các hoạt động nói trong sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 10 cho học sinh trường THPT Gia Lộc theo đường hướng giao tiếp M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HANOI, 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------- NGUYỄN HOÀNG ĐÔ AN EVALUATION OF SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE TEXTBOOK “TIẾNG ANH 10” FOR THE 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT GIA LỘC HIGH SCHOOL IN LIGHT OF CLT Đánh giá các hoạt động nói trong sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 10 cho học sinh trường THPT Gia Lộc theo đường hướng giao tiếp M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : EnglishTeaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervisor : Assoc. Lâm Quang Đông HANOI, 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled an Evaluation of Speaking Activities in the Textbook “ Tiếng Anh 10” for the 10th Grade Students at Gia Lộc High School in the Light of CLT submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in English Teaching Methodology.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2015 Nguyễn Hoàng Đô i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc. Lâm Quang Đông , my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher.
A special word of thanks goes to my friends, Luong Thi Minh Phuong and Ta Thi Mai Phuong for their support and encouragement. I wish to express my acknowledgment to other individuals who have indirectly contributed to the completion of this thesis. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my wife, Ho Thi Hang, for her patience and support throughout the study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to evaluate the speaking activities in the speaking lessons of the English Language textbook Tiếng Anh 10 currently used at Gia Loc high school, Hai Duong.
It attempts to find out if the speaking activities in this book have fulfilled the principles of Communicative Language Teaching. The study also seeks to evaluate the suitability of these activities for grade 10 students in this school and to make some suggestions for adaptation. For this purpose, a content analysis is employed to analyze the speaking lessons with criteria developed on the basis of CLT principles. In addition, a 10- item questionnaire was prepared by the writer to examine the suitability of the speaking lessons for students at Gia Loc high school.
227 grade 10 students were asked to reflect on the questions by checking one of the five options included and three teachers of English were interviewed for in depth information. The results of the research revealed that the speaking lessons are relatively communicative in the light of CLT principles and that they are suitable for students at Gia Loc high school to some extent. However, they have some drawbacks in some areas. On the basis of the findings, the researcher made some suggestions and recommendations for improvement of the textbook that has been being used in this particular learning environment.
iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv PART A: INTRODUCTION. Background and Rationale of the Study.
Objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the Study. Structure of the Thesis.
5 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. The Current English Teaching and English Textbooks in Vietnam. An overview of Communicative Language Teaching. Definitions of Communicative Language Teaching.
Major Principles of CLT. Designing speaking activities based on CLT. Textbook evaluation and adaptation. 13 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
The context of the study. The textbook Tiếng Anh 10. Data Collection Procedures. 20 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
20 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. Analysis based on the criteria in light of CLT. The results and discussions of the survey. Suggestions for adaptation.
42 APPENDICES v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LISTS OF TABLES, CHARTS TABLES Table 2.1: General objectives of skills for Tiếng Anh 10 ( standard) (MOET, 2006a, adapted from Minh, 2007, p.2: Objectives of speaking lessons in the textbook Tiếng Anh 10 (adapted from the book map of the textbook). Results gained from students’ responses on assessment of the suitability of speaking lessons. Percentage of class organization. Results gained from students’ responses on assessment of the suitability of speaking lessons.
Relation of the speaking activities to the students' previous knowledge. Speaking lessons according to the interest of the students. Students’ opinion about the suitability of the speaking lessons to their level ability. Students’ speaking skills developed by the speaking lessons.
Students' enjoyment in participating speaking activities. Appropriateness of the vocabulary items to the students. Students' opinions about the statement that the topics are interesting enough for them to enjoy talking about. Students' opinions about the understandable instructions and examples.
Activities’ addressing learning target. 35 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Background and Rationale of the Study Nowadays everyone knows the importance of English language in today's world. English is the most widely spoken language in the world and used in various areas such as technology, science, and business.
In Vietnam, English language has been taught and learnt widely for a long time in Vietnam. However, most of the students cannot use English naturally and frequently and they have not achieved the highly communicative effect in English.- Many students only wanted to be good at grammar and gain as much vocabulary as possible so that they could read, understand and even write in English. This hindered students’ development of communicative competence. In the field of English teaching, Vietnam has experienced a gradual shift from the old tradition way of teaching to more up-to-date ones.
Therefore, Communicative Language Teaching is in the list of new ways of teaching (Khoa Anh Việt, 2008, p. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has been trying to implement CLT approach in Vietnam over the last years through teacher training and textbook writing projects. In addition, there have been many projects to train teachers in the communicative approaches and methods. This pervasive teaching approach uses syllabus and textbooks designed with a focus on communication as opposed to linguistic form.
In brief, “A textbook is an important means of satisfying the range of needs that emerge from the classroom,” and textbooks are a universal element in English language teaching (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994, p. In terms of textbooks, according to Hoang Van Van, from 1982 to 2002, the textbooks used in VN were mainly grammar-based, taking the view that grammar can be taught systematically as a set of rules to be mastered and transferred by the learner into proficient language use. In 2002, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) organized the design of the new curriculum and the writing of new textbooks for all school subjects. This national project finished in early 2008 when the 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com new textbooks of all school subjects were put into use across the whole general educational system of Vietnam.
Now one set of English textbooks for lower secondary school and two sets for upper secondary school are be in use across Vietnam. The two sets of English textbooks in upper secondary schools are called the standard set and the advanced set. Each unit of the textbooks consists of five parts: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus. These textbooks are taught in both private and public schools and all the teachers follow the same syllabus.
The new English textbooks claim that students will be able to communicate in English after seven years of study in secondary school. These claims assume that communication-oriented speaking activities can help students acquire English- speaking competence. The goal of the textbooks is to engage students in communication-based activities of real-life situations in which students can immerse themselves in integrative language use. Their language ability can be developed through activities.
Within this communicative ability, speaking occupies a very important role. In fact, speaking sections are emphasized in the textbooks. From this background, the question “Are speaking activities designed in the new textbooks communicative in the light of CLT?” has come to my mind. If the textbooks claiming to be in line with CLT principles are actually not, the development of students’ ability to communicate will be greatly influenced.
To the researchers’ best knowledge, no study has been done to evaluate these textbooks or some part of them in line with CLT in the Vietnamese contexts. In light of the literature available in the field , my interest lies solely in evaluating speaking activities designed in the textbooks in the light of communicative language teaching (CLT). This has given me the desire to conduct “An Evaluation of Speaking Activities in the Textbook “ Tiếng Anh 10” for the 10th Grade Students at Gia Lộc High School in the light of CLT” 2. Objectives of the study This study aimed to 1.
Examine the extent to which the speaking activities in the textbook Tiếng Anh 10 are communicative in the light of CLT principles. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Examine the suitability of these activities in Gia Loc High School context. Make some suggestions for adaptation to enhance the effectiveness of these activities within a case of Gia Lộc High School 3.
Research questions The above aims can be realized through the following research questions: 1. To which extent are speaking activities included in the textbook Tiếng Anh 10 communicative in the light of CLT? 2. How far are the speaking activities suitable for the teachers and students at Gia Loc High School? 3. How can some speaking activities in the textbooks be adapted to suit Gia Loc High School context? 4.
Scope of the study There are many different features related to evaluating textbooks. The researcher has chosen to focus on evaluating speaking activities in speaking lessons of textbook Tieng Anh 10 in the light of CLT principles. The study also examines the suitability to grade 10 students at Gia Lộc High School during the school year 2012-2013. In addition, some recommendations for the teachers of English to adapt the part of the textbook are also proposed.
Regarding participants of the study, five 10th classes with 227 students and three teachers of English from Gia Loc High School took part in the study. Significance of the Study It is hoped that the current study will benefit teachers of English because the study is aimed to evaluate how communicative the activities are and to what degree it helps the students. We can identify the weaknesses and strengths of the speaking lessons designed in textbook and thus we will be in a position to suggest changes to make the book more effective.