VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES *************** NGUYỄN THỊ NHẤT AN EVALUATION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF “ENGLISH UNLIMITED A1” COURSEBOOK TO ENGLISH BEGINNERS AT THANG LONG CANON FACTORY (Đánh giá sự phù hợp của giáo trình “English Unlimited A1” với đối tượng là người mới học tiếng Anh ở nhà máy Canon Thăng Long) M.A 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 THỊ NHẤT AN EVALUATION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF “ENGLISH UNLIMITED A1” COURSEBOOK TO ENGLISH BEGINNERS AT THANG LONG CANON FACTORY (Đánh giá sự phù hợp của giáo trình “English Unlimited A1” với đối tượng là người mới học tiếng Anh ở nhà máy Canon Thăng Long) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE : 60140111 Supervisor: Prof. NGUYỄN QUANG, Ph. HANOI – 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis “An evaluation of the appropriateness of “English Unlimited A1” course book to English Beginners at Thang Long Canon factory” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The study has not been submitted for any other degrees.
Signature: Nguyễn Thị Nhất Date: May 28th, 2015 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The study could not have been fulfilled without the help, encouragement and support of a number of people. First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor and promoter, Prof. Nguyen Quang, Ph. He helped me with a lot of advice, comments, enthusiasm and experience of doing a research.
My special thanks also go to Mr. Quang for his friendliness, hospitality, kindness and enthusiasm. Besides, I would like to show my gratitude to all the teachers of the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi whose lectures and guide helped me much while carrying out this study. I also acknowledge Dr.
Ngo Huu Hoang who suggested me this topic. Also, I am thankful to my colleagues teaching English at Thang Long Canon factory helped me complete data collection. I would like to say thanks to all the students – the workers and staff at Canon factory participating in the study with their enthusiasm and responsibility in the lessons in class as well as the questionnaire completion. Last but not least, my deepest gratitude goes to my family, especially my husband and friends who have always been supportive and encouraging to me.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the appropriateness of the textbook “English Unlimited A1” to beginners at Thang Long Canon factory. Participants consisted of 100 students at elementary level and 10 teachers directly teaching English at Thang Long Cannon factory. The data collection instruments used in this study were student questionnaire, teacher interview and document analysis. In this sequence, the material analyzed based on the criteria suggested by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) with the objectives to find out the match of the textbook with students’ level and the appropriateness of the material in terms of aims, content and methodology to beginners at TL Canon factory.
The research results have revealed some strengths of the material which allows the author to conclude that the material is relatively suitable with the students’ level of English. Also, the aims, content and methodology requirements of the course are quite relevant to the learners, but some weaknesses are unavoidable. Based on the findings, the thesis suggests some recommendations on materials adaptation such as addition, deletion, and combination that should be made to remedy the weaknesses of the material so that the students and teachers can benefit more from it in future courses. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES. Aims of the study. Significance of the study. The research questions.
The scope of the study. Overview of the study. 4 CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW. Textbooks, course books, and materials.
Types of textbook evaluation. Methods of textbook evaluation. Models of material evaluation. Criteria for textbook evaluation.
Areas of adaptation. Methods to adapt a textbook. 18 CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at TL factory .1 Context of the thesis.
19 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection procedure. 24 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The appropriateness of the material to the students’ level of English.
Results from the survey. Matching and discussion. The appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course. The appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course in terms of language aspects.
The appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course in terms of language skills. The appropriateness of the material to content requirements of the course. The appropriateness of the content in terms of language aspects. The appropriateness of the content of the course book in terms of language skills.
Matching and discussion. The appropriateness of the material to methodology requirements of the course. Material analysis and survey results. Matching and discussion.
Recommendations for the course book’s adaptation. 40 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Conclusion of the study. Limitations and suggestions for future research.
III HUTCHINSON AND WATERS’S CRITERIA CHECKLIST FOR MATERIALS EVALUATION. VIII STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE. XII TEACHER INTERVIEW. XIII NOTE-TAKING OF THE TEACHER INTERVIEW.
XIII vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language GE: General English TL: Thang Long vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures Figure 1: Material evaluation model by McDonough and Shaw. Figure 2: Material evaluation model by Hutchinson & Waters.1: Types of information in the student questionnaire Table 4.1: Teachers’ opinions of the appropriateness of the material to the students’ level of English.2: Teachers’ opinions of the difficulty of different parts in the material.3: Students’ assessments of the difficult sections in the material.4: Students’ opinions of the reasons why some sections are difficult.5: Students’ opinions of the appropriateness of the material for the aims of the course in terms of language aspects.6: Students’ opinions of the appropriateness of the material for the aims of the course in terms of language skills.7: Students’ opinions of the appropriateness of the material to the content requirements of the course.8: Students’ opinions of the appropriateness of the material to the methodology requirements of the course. viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Rationale With the rapid development of technology and means of mass communication, people are exposed to a lot of choices for learning resources.
As the result, some people become lazier because it is totally convenient and cheap even free to have an useful learning document from the Internet. However, we cannot deny that books always play a vital role. Many theorists have emphasized on the importance of textbooks in the classroom to both teachers and students. According to Sheldon (1998:237), textbooks “represent the visible heart of any ELT program.” Textbook is like a teacher, a friend, and a source of helpful information for people to get knowledge from.
However, there is a wide variety of textbooks, materials for teachers and students to select. The question of what, how and why a material is chosen for a course and a level of students is difficult for teachers to answer. Therefore, it is necessary for material evaluators to evaluate the appropriateness of each textbook for each class and students’ level. Being a teacher of Communicative English Programs for learners at TL Canon factory, the researcher would like to find out the most effective teaching methodology to help learners communicate successfully in daily situations at work.
In addition, the course book “English Unlimited A1” which has just been used to teach staff and workers here in two courses, is a new material published in 2011. Hence, it is necessary to have a critical view of this material to help teachers adapt and use the book the most effectively. Aims of the study The purpose of the thesis is to evaluate the appropriateness of the material “English Unlimited A1” in terms of audience, aims, content and methodology to the English beginners at TL Canon factory. In other words, it investigates the suitability of the material to the students’ level of English and looks into the appropriateness of 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com the material to beginners at TL Canon factory in terms of aims, content, and methodology.
Significance of the study The thesis will be useful not only for the researcher but also for the teachers and learners at TL Canon factory. It will contribute to the improvement of English learning and teaching quality at TL Canon factory. In addition, the results of the thesis will provide a basis for the adaptation and improvement of the material. Additionally, the thesis will theoretically contribute to the field of GE material evaluation in general.
The research questions The study is carried out to achieve the following objectives: To find out the appropriateness of the material to students’ level of English at TL Canon factory. To identify the appropriateness of the material to beginners at TL Canon factory in terms of aims, content, and methodology. Therefore, the following research question designed as follows: 1. How appropriate is the material “English Unlimited A1” to beginners at TL Canon factory in terms of audience, aims, content and methodology? 5.
The scope of the study It is not doubtful that, to have an overall critical evaluation on a material, an evaluator ought to look at every specific aspect of the material. According to Brown (1995), the process of material evaluation is to find out the effectiveness, efficiency, and attitudes of the interested party of the course. Indeed, to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of materials, quantitative methods (an experiment with diagnostic and achievement test) are required while investigation of attitudes of the material can be carried out with qualitative methods (interviews, questionnaire, 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com observation, and document analysis, etc. Although it is necessary to investigate the material from all the three aspects mentioned above, the limitation of time and scope of a minor thesis does not allow the researcher to do as many jobs as expected.
Therefore, the evaluator of this research only investigates the attitudes of the learners and teachers at TL Canon factory towards the following aspects of the material: Audience (in terms of the students’ level of English), aims, content, and methodology. Overview of the study The INTRODUCTION comprises the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope, and the design of the study. The DEVELOPMENT includes three chapters: Chapter one – Literature Review – presents an overview of theoretical issues of material evaluation discussed and analyzed by ELT experts and researchers. The focus is on material evaluation and adaptation.
Chapter two – Methodology – is divided into five sections. The first one describes the setting of the study. The second one provides information of the material under evaluation. Data collection methods is the third section of the chapter.
Next, the writer focuses on the procedure of data collection. Finally, the subjects of the research will be discussed.