VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ------------------- PHẠM THỊ HẢI YẾN ANGLO-SAXON BASED OR GLOBAL BASED CONTENT: AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE FOR FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY (ĐIỂM VỀ NỘI DUNG CUỐN GIÁO TRÌNH NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐIỆN LỰC THEO NỘI DUNG ĐỊNH HƯỚNG ANH MỸ HOẶC ĐỊNH HƯỚNG TOÀN CẦU) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ------------------- PHẠM THỊ HẢI YẾN ANGLO-SAXON BASED OR GLOBAL BASED CONTENT: AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE FOR FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY (ĐIỂM VỀ NỘI DUNG CUỐN GIÁO TRÌNH NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐIỆN LỰC THEO NỘI DUNG ĐỊNH HƯỚNG ANH MỸ HOẶC ĐỊNH HƯỚNG TOÀN CẦU) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify my authorship of the minor thesis entitled “Anglo-Saxon based or global based content: an evaluation of the course book New English File Pre- Intermediate for first year non-English major students at Electric Power University” in terms of the statement of requirements for the thesis and the field study reports in Masters’ programs is the result of my own work, except where otherwise acknowledged and that this minor thesis or any parts of the same had not been submitted for a higher degree to any other universities or institution.
I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study and research. Hanoi, 2014 Phạm Thị Hải Yến i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my great gratitude and indebtedness to my supervisor Dr. Ngo Huu Hoang for his careful instructions, valuable advice and inspiration during the process of this research. My sincere thanks also go to all the English lecturers at the Faculty of Post- Graduate Studies for providing me useful lectures and suggestions that have helped me much in my study.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my deep appreciation to my colleagues and students at Electric Power University for their cooperation and support so that I could complete my necessary data collection for the research. Finally, I wish to thank my family and friends, who have always been by my side to encourage and support me throughout my study. Without their help and encouragement, I could not have completed this thesis. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study aims at examining whether Anglo-Saxon culture or global culture is disseminated in the course book New English File Pre-Intermediate.
The data are collected by using survey questionnaire, interview and document analysis. 150 first year non-English major students and 5 lecturers at Electric Power University are employed as participants. The content of the afore-mentioned course book is analyzed to extract all the possible kinds of culture included in each module. The study finds that both Anglo Saxon culture and global culture are embedded in the course book; however, the former is more predominant than the latter.
Based on those findings, the study provides some suggestions for teachers as well as students to improve the quality of teaching and learning English as an international language. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, FIGURES AND TABLES ABBREVIATIONS EIL English as an International Language ELT English Learning and Teaching EPU Electric Power University NEF Pre New English File Pre-Intermediate % Percentage FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1.1: Four Senses of Culture Figure 3.2: Students’ opinions about teachers’ frequencies teaching English integrated into culture in English classroom Figure 3.3: Students’ opinions about the culture representation in the course book Figure 3.5: Students’ opinions about the order of the appearance of kinds of culture in the course book Figure 3.6: Students’ opinions about preferred kinds of culture to learn Table 3.1: Students’ opinions about learning English integrated into culture Table 3.4: Students’ opinions about the kinds of culture presented in the course book Table 3.7: Students’ opinions about some difficulties of learning English integrated into culture Table 3.1: Frequency and percentage of the cultural activities in the textbook Table 3.2: Frequency and percentage of Anglo-Saxon culture and global culture in the textbook Table 3.3: The presence of Anglo-Saxon culture in the textbook Table 3.4: The presence of global culture in the textbook iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, FIGURES AND TABLES…………………………iv TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………… v PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….
Research Aims and Research Questions…………………………………….Design……………………………………………………………………… 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………………… 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………… 4 1.1 Course books in Language Teaching and Learnin………………………4 1.1Definitions of course book, text book and material…………………………… 4 1.2 Characteristics of a course book…………………………………………….2 Culture in course books………………………………………………….1 What is culture?.2 Culture in course books……………………………………………………… 9 1.3 The role of culture in language learning and teaching …………………10 1.4 Course book Evaluation………………………………………………….1 Definitions of course book evaluation……………………………………….2 Purposes and the importance of course book evaluation…………………….3 Types of course book evaluation…………………………………………….5 Summary……………………………………………………………………15 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………….1 Research settings, participants, participant selection methods………….2 Participants and participant selection methods…………………………….2 Descriptions on the course book………………………………………….3 Data collection methods…………………………………………………….4 Data collection instruments…………………………………………………21 2.5 Data analysis procedures……………………………………………………22 2.23 CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY……………………………………………………….1 Questionaire for students……………………………………………………24 3.2 Interview for teachers……………………………………………………….3 Document Analysis for the course books………………………………….1 Culturally oriented activities in the course book…………………………….2 The representation of kinds of culture in the course book…………………. Limitations of the study………………………………………………………40 4. Suggestions for further research……………………………………………. V APPENDIX 3……………………………………………………………………… VI vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale Today, English is considered as an international language, and more and more people use it for a variety of specific purposes. As a result, choosing methodologies, cultures, and models to teach English as a global language, not a normal language, is not an easy issue. McKay (2002) states that “it is imperative we examine what goals and approaches in English language teaching are appropriate for the various kinds of EIL users.” This leads to that it is complicated and difficult for designing suitable course books. In Vietnam, a British or American textbook tends to be chosen in ELT, but its contents mostly relate to native English speaking cultures, which is not appropriate for teaching EIL.
In addition, whenever it comes to language, culture is always mentioned with it because language and culture are so closely linked that any change within culture is reflected in the language and vice versa. As a result, the aspects of language are expressed through the cultural content in course books. An assumption is given that if a textbook is composed by native speakers, its orientation of content is Anglo-Saxon based content. McKay (2002) points out that “Currently, many ELT materials use cultural topics related to native English-speaking countries on the grounds that learning English should entail knowledge of native English speaking cultures”.
In the article English as culture action, Prodromou (1988) also shows that one of the reasons why students are not motivated by culture learning is that the way of presenting culture in many ELT textbooks. He maintained that “globally designed textbooks have continued to be stubbornly Anglo-centric. They have not gone far in recognizing English as an international language either”. At Electric Power University, the course book New English File Pre- Intermediate written by Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham Koeing and Paul Seligson and published by Oxford is used for first year non-English major students.
While 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com teaching English, the researcher realizes that the course book seems to be more inclined to Anglo-Saxon based content than global based content. The elements of Anglo-Saxon cultures are more probably dominated in the course book than the ones of global cultures; whereas, nowadays English is regarded as a global language. Some aforementioned reasons inspire the researcher to conduct the study titled “Anglo-Saxon based or global based content: an evaluation of the course book New English File Pre-Intermediate for first year non-English major students at Electric Power University”. Research Aims and research questions The study is conducted with the aim of highlighting the role of Anglo- Saxon and global culture in ELT and reviewing whether the textbook New English File Pre- Intermediate is Anglo-Saxon based content or global-based content.
It also examines the appropriateness of culture in the textbook with the English teaching and learning context at EPU. Finally, this study hopes to investigate the ways to help students gain English more effectively and give some useful suggestions for changing textbooks in the future. To achieve these aims, two following research questions will be answered in the end of this thesis: - Is the content of the course book inclined to Anglo-Saxon based content or global based content? - What is a cultural course book content perceived by the first year non-English major students and teachers at Electric Power University? 3. Significance The findings of the thesis will be useful not only to the researcher, but also to the teaching staff and the first year non-English major students at Electric Power University.
In addition, the results of the study may be considered as a foundation towards improving the quality of teaching and learning English as an international 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com language at EPU. The researcher hopes that teachers of English at EPU can use this course book flexibly and choose a better course book in the future. Scope Due to the limited scope of time and content of a minor thesis, the research attempts to review the kind of cultural content in the course book basing on Anglo-Saxon based and global based content. The researcher will employ 150 first year non-English major students to fulfill the survey questionnaire and 5 teachers of English for interviewing.
Design There are three main parts in this thesis including introduction, development, and conclusion. Part A: The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope, and design of the thesis. Part B: The development consists of three chapters: Chapter one: Literature Review- presents a review of literature concentrating on the issues related to culture, the role of culture in learning English, cultural content, course book, textbook and material. Chapter two: Methodology- focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis including an overview of current English teaching and learning at Electric Power University, research methods, and the data collection procedures.
Chapter three: The study- discusses the data, the findings of the study; points out the strengths, weaknesses, and students’ and teachers’ perception about a cultural course book content. Part C: Conclusion and Suggestions- The conclusion provides a brief summary of all the major parts being presented in the study, makes the conclusions drawn out and suggests directions for further research. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Course books in Language Teaching and Learning 1.
Definitions The term “course book” is defined by Ur (1996:183) as “a textbook of which the teacher and each student has a copy and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language course”. It means that a course book is the one teachers and students use systematically with the purposes of learning and teaching in a specific course. The term “course book” is used to refer to a textbook on which a course is based.