VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES wlles AN EVALUATION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE COURSE BOOK “FAMILY AND FRIENDS 4” FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS IN SUNSHINE ENGLISH SCHOOL Nghiên cứu đánh giá mức độ phù hợp của giáo trình “Family and Friends 4” với đối tượng là học sinh tiểu học tại Trường Anh ngữ Sunshine M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi — 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ÍHIœ4 AN EVALUATION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE COURSE BOOK “FAMILY AND FRIENDS 4” FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS IN SUNSHINE ENGLISH SCHOOL Nghiên cứu danh giá mức độ phù hợp của giáo trình “Family and Friends 4” với đối tượng là học sinh tiểu học tại Trường Anh ngữ Sunshine M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. Lé Van Canh Hanoi - 2015 DECLARATION I, Le Thi Quynh, hereby claim the thesis entitled AN EVALUATION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE COURSE BOOK “FAMILY AND FRIENDS 4” FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS IN SUNSHINE ENGLISH SCHOOL is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts in English Teaching Methodology at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Unless otherwise indicated, this is my own piece of academic accomplishment. Signature Hanoi, 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am sincerely grateful to Assoc. Le Van Canh, my supervisor, for his precious comments and advice for me during the process of doing research. Without his guidance and encouragement, I would have never been able to complete this study I owe a debt of gratitude to all my lecturers at the University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their enthusiastic teaching and tremendous knowledge that have directly or indirectly enlightened my research paper.
Finally, my warmest thanks go to my parents and my husband for their love and support. Without their help, this thesis could not have gained the current status. Hanoi, 2015 il ABSTRACT This study is an evaluation of the appropriateness of the course book “Family and Friends 4” for primary school learners in Sunshine English School in terms of the students’ attitudes towards the activities in the course book and how the course book helps the students to develop their ability to use English effectively as demonstrated in their speaking and writing. The data were collected in the study through questionnaire administered to 25 students, audio-recording files in their speaking activities and their written exercises.
The findings suggest that the course book is possibly appropriate to the target students; however some adaptations are recommended for better balance between students’ preference and essential practice. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration SGdiiađa:®. 1V List Of tables 1 4. Ăn SH HH HH HH nh tư 1 1.
Rationale of the Study 7. Aims of the Stud n8. Scope of the Study 11. Structure of the th€S1S.- LH HH TH Hàng HH nh nh nh nh Tiệp 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT.-SẶ TS 2n HH HH HH ket 4 00190588 isriìis0i241 11.
Definition of materials evaÏuafIOT.- -- c tk HH ng ng nh re 4 1. The roles of course 2. Advantages of course DOOKS nh. Limitations of course DOOKS.
c1 S2 1v 1S vn TH HH ru 7 1. Models and criteria of materials evaluafion. Models of materials evalÏuafion. Criteria for materials evaÏuafIOT.
Definitions of materials adapfatIOI. Materials adaptation: how and wh\. - --- c t1 vn HH yên lãi 1. Needs of understanding students’ attitudes towards the course books.
The course book “Family and friends 4””. Umit Structure graiiiiidda33. Appearance and materials. Participants of the Study 1.
Techniques and data collection procedUr€. Data analysis procedure 1. 22 Chapter 3: Data analysis and result đISCUSSIOPS. What are the students’ attitudes towards the learning activities presented in use English effectively as demonstrated in their speaking and writing?.
Adapt the activities more appropriately to students’ preferences. Develop the students’ confidence through speaking activities. Develop students’ writing ability oo. cc eccccecseescceseeseeeseeeeceseeseeeeeeseesees 37 PART III: CONCLUSION 0115.
Recapitulation ạẠäịiỘỘ. Limitations of the Study. Suggestions for further researches. I VI LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ opinions on lesson 1 Table 2-a: Students’ opinions on lesson 2 Table 2-b: List of activities in lesson Table 3: Students’ opinions on lesson 3 Table 4-a: Students’ opinions on lesson 4 Table 4-b: List of activities in lesson 4 Table 5: Students’ opinions on lesson 5 Table 6: Students’ opinions on lesson 6 Table 7a: Structure analysis of students’ sentence writing Table 7b: Structure analysis of students’ sentence writing Table 8: Structure analysis of students’ narrative text Table 9: Structure analysis of students’ story vil PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study English recently has been recognized as one of the major subjects in schools of Vietnam as its necessity in the development and communication of the country with the world. It can be said that the increasing number of learners strictly goes with their expectations of high quality practical languages presented in learning materials such as textbooks, course books and supplementary documents. To many teachers, course books are basic elements in English language teaching activities. Many of them often come to class with a course book which provides content and teaching learning activities recommended for their lessons.
According to Tomlinson (1998) a course book will supply the essential materials serves as the only book used by the learners during a course. It usually covers work on grammar vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and the four skills. Hutchinson and Torres (1994) also agree that course book is an important means of satisfying the range of needs from inside classroom to its wider context. Therefore, many books, particular in Vietnam, are regularly published and edited to meet the learning focuses of learners’ needs and how to decide a particular course book in a certain case seems to be a difficult task for all educators.
In this situation, the evaluation by the insiders like teachers and students can make the task easier and more effectively because they works with the materials very often, show their interests and attitudes in each lesson. Course books are normally written by the specialists in their fields, but they are not the people dealing with them inside classes. According to Cunningsworth (1984), “no course book will totally be suited to a particular teaching situation. The teacher will have to find his own way of using it and adapting it if necessary.
So we should not be looking for the perfect course book which meets all our requirements, but rather for the best possible fit what the book offers and what we as teachers and students need”(p. Therefore, in any case, a course book may be chosen, but after some months using it as a course material, it may reveal limitations and need adapting in several ways to suit the students’ needs and expectations or the teaching practicality. The course book ‘Family and Friends 4” has been used at Sunshine English School since its first presence in Vietnam, in 2010. The students using this course book are classified in class named Orange.
They are expected to go with the book for students within the age range from 10 to 11 (equivalent to learners of grade 4" to 5" in primary schools) to ensure the line of knowledge together with the development of language skills. Obviously, the books play a very important part in the English language teaching and learning of the school, but they still can be exploited with greater efficiency. In fact, there has been no research on evaluation of this course book carried out to see how far it suits students’ needs and how it can help students to develop their communicative confidence and competence. Thus, this study will be conducted to evaluate the course book regarding its appropriateness to students’ preferences and recommendations for possible adaptation.
Aims of the study This study was aimed at gaining a better insight into the learners’ opinion on the course book “Family and Friends 4” using at Sunshine English School and their performance during the course. The aims of the study are to answer the following questions: 1. What are the students’ attitudes towards the learning activities presented in the course book? 2. To what extent does the course book help to develop the students’ ability to use English effectively as demonstrated in their speaking and writing? 3.
Scope of the study The study focuses on the evaluation of the course book by the students regarding their attitudes towards the learning activities in the course book. Method The study is evaluative in nature, and its purpose is to gather opinions of the users of a particular course book. Therefore, it is a survey study. For this purpose, a survey questionnaire was designed and administered to 25 students to explore their evaluation of the course book.
In addition, the teacher conducted an observation in natural communication inside class which actually was recorded in speaking activities 2 between students. Finally, several pieces of students’ writing were also important resource of data for this research. Structure of the thesis The thesis is comprised of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. Part I presents the rationale, aims, scope, research questions, method and design of the thesis.
Part II consists of three chapters: Chapter 1, literature review, provides the relevant theories related to approaches to course book evaluation. Chapter 2, methodology, introduces the context of the study and describes the methodology employed in the study. Chapter 3, data analysis and discussion, presents and discusses the findings that arise from the data collected. Part III presents the conclusions drawn from what have been found out from the study, and then it offers the recommendations for further improvement of the course book, the limitations and suggestions for further study.
PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review 1. Definition of materials evaluation There are many definitions about what materials evaluation is from different researchers. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1993), materials evaluation is generally defined as the judgement on the fitness of something for a particular objective. More specifically, Brown (1995) considers materials evaluation work includes collecting and analyzing all relevant information necessary systematically that helps improve a curriculum, and then evaluating its effectiveness within the context of the particular institution involved.
Similarly to Brown’s, Lynch (1996) states evaluation is “the systematic attempt to gather information in order to make judgments or decisions’ (p. Obviously, these authors use the different terms but they still share the same view of materials evaluation as the judgments in a particular context. Tomlinson (2003), on the other hand, defines material evaluation as “a procedure that involves measuring the value of a set of learning materials”(p. He states that this process has to include the judgments about the effects of the materials on their users such as its appeal, credibility, validity, reliability, flexibility, supplementary and the perceptions of teachers and learners to its value.
It can be seen that this definition reveals the nature of materials evaluation: each material evaluation is unique as the needs, objectives, backgrounds or preferred styles of the participants will differ from context to context. Therefore, this definition was adopted for this study. The roles of course books According to Cunningsworth (1995), course books play very important roles in English language classrooms all over the world though when the time passes by, the roles may have changes. In the past, course books were seen as the curriculum instead of a reference and they were an end product.
Nothing except course books could be the source of materials, or in another word, it should be a route map for a course. In 4 recent time, course books have been a resource for presentation materials.