VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ HẰNG AN EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE « ENGLISH 12 » TEXTBOOK IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND METHODOLOGY : A CASE AT UONG BI HIGH SCHOOL, QUANG NINH PROVINCE ĐÁNH GIÁ PHẦN VIẾT TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA LỚP 12 VỀ MẶT NỘI DUNG VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP : NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT UÔNG BÍ, TỈNH QUẢNG NINH M. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi – 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ HẰNG AN EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE « ENGLISH 12 » TEXTBOOK IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND METHODOLOGY : A CASE AT UONG BI HIGH SCHOOL, QUANG NINH PROVINCE ĐÁNH GIÁ PHẦN VIẾT TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA LỚP 12 VỀ MẶT NỘI DUNG VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP : NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT UÔNG BÍ, TỈNH QUẢNG NINH MA. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Hoàng Xuân Hoa, Ph.D Hanoi - 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS T: Teachers S: Students MOET: Ministry of Education and Training LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: The materials evaluation model of Hutchinson and Waters ( 1993: 98)………. 9 Figure 2 : The process of writing ( Tribble, 1996: 38).
Teacher’s rank of the students’ interest and students’ interest on MOET topics (Q1)……………………………………………………………………………………….2: Students and teachers’ opinions about text types, tasks and activities ( Q2,3,4,5)…………………………………………………………………………………27 Table 3.3: The teachers and students’opinions about using four intergrated macro-skills in the writing tasks ( Q6)…………………………………………………………………….4: Teachers and students’ opinions about the amount of knowledge given in writing component.5: The students and teachers’ judgement on each part of the writing component in the textbook.6: Teachers and students’ suggestions on each part of the writing component.7: The teachers and student’s suggestions of tasks in the writing component (Q8).8: Teachers’ opinion about the writing approaches used in the textbook ( Q11,12).9: Students’ opinions of the teaching methods used by the teachers during the writing lessons.10: Students’ expectations about the ways the English teachers’ teaching writing Q14).11: Teachers and Students’opinions about kinds of tasks, exercises and guidance in the writing component (Q 15,16)………………………………………………………. Teachers and Students’s opinions of the interaction patterns in the class ( Q17)………………………………………………………………………………….35 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF THE THESIS…………………….iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………….iv LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………….v TABLES OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………………vi PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………1 1. Rationale of the study………………………………………………………………. Aims of the study………………………………………………………………….
Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………. Significance of the study…………………………………………………………. Method of the study………………………………………………………………. Design of the study………………………………………………………….3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………….4 Chapter 1: Theoretical Background…………………………………….
Teaching Materials in Language Teaching and Learning. The roles of Teaching Materials. Types of Materials. The concepts of Materials Evaluation.
The reasons for Materials Evaluation. Types of Materials Evaluation.1 Materials Evaluation by Outsders.2 Materials Evaluation by Insiders.5 Models for Materials Evaluation. Evaluation model by Huchinson and Waters.2 Evaluation model by Ellis. Evaluation model by McDonough and Shaw.10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.6 Criteria for Materials Evaluation.11 Criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters.1 Reasons for adapting.2 Deleting or Omitting.
Theoretical backgrounds to writing and teaching writing.1 Reasons for teaching writing.2 Main approaches to teaching writing.1 The product approach.2 The process approach.16 Chapter 2: The study……………………………………………………………………. Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English writing component at Uong Bi High School. The school context …………………………………………………………. The teachers at Uong Bi high shool………………………………18 2.
The learners at Uong Bi high school……………………………. The new English textbook for grade 12 (Standard Textbook)……………. The current teaching and learning of English 12 writing component at Uong Bi High school.The opportunities of the context…………………………………. The constraints of the context.
Participants of the study ……………………………………………………21 2. Data collection instrument………………………………………………….22 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection procedure………………………………………………….23 Chapter 3: Results and discussions. Description of the writing component of in the “English 12”.
Requirements of the writing component of the course. The Survey Results.1 The appropriateness of the writing component to the content of the course.2 The appropriateness of the writing component in terms of methodology. The suitability of the writing component in the English 12 textbook to the requirements of the MOET. The suitability of the writing component to the students’needs in terms of content and methodology.Suggestions for the improvement.38 PART III: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….
Conclusion of the study……………………………………………………………. Limitations of the study…………………………………………………………. Suggestions for further study………………………………………………….43 APPENDIX 1: AN OVERVIEW OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE ENGLISH 12 TEXTBOOK……………………………………………………………………………………………….I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS…………………………….II APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS……………………………XIII APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS ( Vietnamese version)…….XIV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Nowadays English has become increasingly important as a means of global communication and a bridge to mankind‟s knowledge.
In the process of global integration, the teaching and learning English has become a great concern in Vietnam. Therefore, the government has changed the curriculum in order to train the citizens who can use English for communicative purposes. By doing this, in 2002 the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) announced a new textbook project for upper secondary school level. The new textbooks comprised two sets.
Set 1, unofficially called “sách chuẩn” (i.e “standard textbooks”, was intended for students pursuing Ban cơ bản (i. The non-specialization program) and Ban tự nhiên (i. specialization in sciences). Set 2, unofficially called “Sách nâng cao”(i.
advanced textbooks), was intended for Ban xã hội (i. specialization in social sciences and humanities). Each set comprised of three books, from English 10 to English 12. The new English textbooks for high school students are claimed to adopt the latest teaching and learning approaches: communicative approach and learner-centered approach and aim at developing both language skills and language knowledge for students.
Each unit in the new English textbooks consists of five parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus. English 10 and English 11 were approved and officially introduced into schools by MOET in the academic years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 respectively. However, English 12 textbook has only been used nationwide since the academic year 2008-2009. Therefore, English 12 textbook is rather new to the students and teachers and little research has been carried out to evaluate this textbook.
Uong Bi High school, one of the high schools in the country, adopted “standard textbooks”. As a teacher of English, the researcher has worked quite closely with the new textbooks. It is noticed that although the textbooks have shown a great deal of improvement compared to the old series of grammar-based textbooks, the implementation of this textbook causes a large number of difficulties, especially the writing component. Evaluation of teaching materials is obviously a very important process in language teaching and learning.
The results from materials evaluation help to determine whether the LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 set of materials is suitable for a particular situation. Most often materials evaluation is carried out to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the materials so that changes need to be made to improve the suitability and enhance the effectiveness of the materials. This is the reason why the researcher conducted an evaluation of the writing component in “English 12” textbook. Aims of the study The study is aimed to evaluate the Writing component in “English 12” textbook at Uong Bi secondary school in terms of content and methodology to determine whether it truly reflects the objectives prescribed by MOET for the course and suitable to the students‟ needs of English.
It is expected that the findings from the study would make contribution to the improvement of the textbook or propose changes to enhance the effectiveness of the material for the future use. Research questions The study is to find out the answers to the following research questions: 1. Does the writing component of the “English 12” textbook meet the requirements of the course in terms of content and methodology? 2. Is the writing component of the “English 12” textbook suitable to the students‟ needs in terms of content and methodology? 4.
Scope of the study Though the author is aware that in order to have a comprehensive evaluation of any material, a great number of criteria should be taken into consideration, such as the audience, the content, the methodology, the cultural bias, the authenticity, the layout etc, and each criterion needs taking into account various aspects. With the scope of this minor thesis, this study is only aimed at evaluating the suitability of the writing component in English 12 textbook in the standard in terms of content and methodology. This study is a in-depth survey at Uong Bi High School in Quang Ninh. Therefore, the findings of the study are not intended to be generalized to other school contexts.
Indeed the findings may not apply beyond the actual participants in this particular study. Significance of the study The findings of the thesis will serve as a back- up for the improvements of the writing component in the “English 12” textbook, teachers‟ method adjustment and materials adaptation as well. Practically, the findings are beneficial for both teachers and learners at LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 Uong Bi High school from the experience of reflection. Secondly, the findings of the study will contribute information to textbook writers and educators to determine curricula and program direction.
It is also hoped that the thesis will be of contributions towards the development of the writing component in general and the writing component in “English 12” textbook in particular. Method of the study In order to evaluate the writing component of the „English 12‟ textbook, document analysis and survey questionnaires were employed to address the two questions being investigated. Document analysis was one of the main instruments with a thorough objective analysis of the textbook under evaluation. Survey questionnaire was used to collect the data that related to the teachers‟ and students‟ perspectives and attitudes towards the textbook they have just finished.
The findings are expected to provide convincing evidence for the contribution to the improvement of the textbook for the future use. Design of the study The study consists of three parts: the introduction, the main content and the conclusion. The introduction provides the basic information such as the rationale of the study, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the significance of the study and the methods of the study. The main content is divided into 3 chapters.
Chapter one reviews the literature on materials evaluation. It first presents the roles and types of materials in language teaching. Then it presents major issues in materials evaluation, including reasons for materials evaluation, types of materials evaluation, who carries out and who provides data for materials evaluations, models for materials evaluation and criteria for materials evaluation. Next it provides the information about materials adaptation such as reasons for adapting and adapting techniques.
Finally, it focuses on theoretical backgrounds to writing and teaching writing, which consists of reasons for teaching writing and main approaches to teaching writing. This part plays an important role in the evaluation of the writing component in the study. Chapter two focuses on the methodology employed in the study, including the research questions, research method, data collection procedures and the participants. Chapter three reports discussions of the results, the findings and the recommendations for the improvement of the materials.
The conclusion presents a review of the study, the limitations and some suggestions for further research. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.