VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -------------------------- LƯƠNG THỊ LAN HƯƠNG A STUDY ON THE USE OF NEW ENGLISH FILE ELEMENTARY TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT THE MILITARY TECHNICAL ACADEMY Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng giáo trình New English File sơ cấp để dạy kỹ năng nói cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất tại Học viện kỹ thuật quân sự M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -------------------------- LƯƠNG THỊ LAN HƯƠNG A STUDY ON THE USE OF NEW ENGLISH FILE ELEMENTARY TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT THE MILITARY TECHNICAL ACADEMY Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng giáo trình New English File sơ cấp để dạy kỹ năng nói cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất tại Học viện kỹ thuật quân sự M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Đỗ Tuấn Minh, Ph.D HANOI – 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF THE THESIS I certify my authorship of the thesis entitled: A STUDY ON THE USE OF NEW ENGLISH FILE ELEMENTARY TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT THE MILITARY TECHNICAL ACADEMY in terms of Statement of Requirements for Theses and Field Study Reports in Masters’ Programs, and this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions. HANOI, 2015 LƯƠNG THỊ LAN HƯƠNG i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr.
Đỗ Tuấn Minh, who has given me a lot of valuable advice, timely encouragement and constructive comments during the completion of my thesis. If not for his support, this thesis would have never come into existence. I would also like to give my special thanks to all teachers at Faculty of Post- Graduate Studies, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University for their interesting lectures, which inspired me to do this research. My gratitude also extends to all my colleagues and students at the Military Technical Academy for their enthusiastic participation and constructive suggestions.
Finally, my sincere thanks go to my family members, who have given me a great deal of energy and support to accomplish this study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT It has been widely accepted that coursebooks play an important role in the EFL context. Coursebook evaluation, therefore, is of great importance so that its pedagogical contribution to the teaching and learning process can be assured. In the context of the Military Technical Academy (MTA), the coursebook New English File Elementary (NEFE) first published in 2004 by Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham-Koenig and Paul Seligson has been in use for 3 years without any real evaluation.
This study investigated the suitability of this coursebook in teaching and developing speaking skills for first-year students, thereby improving English language teaching and learning in this educational environment. The study was conducted with a combination of document analysis, survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed a number of such strengths as course objectives obtained, integrated speaking skills, communication-orientedness, adequate supply of speaking activities and support for speaking, attractive layout, motivating speaking tasks, etc. which far outweighed its weaknesses.
Once problems have been identified, suggestions for better use involving coursebook adaptation and the implementation of the book in the classroom would be made. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality of the thesis……………………………………………….i Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….iii Table of contents………………………………………………………………….iv List of abbreviations……………………………………………………………….vi List of tables, charts and figures………………………………………………….vii PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………. Rationale for the study…………………………………………………………. Aims of the study…………………………………………………………………1 3.
Scope of the study………………………………………………………. Methods of the study……………………………………………………………. Design of the study……………………………………………………………….2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………………3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………3 1. Materials in Language Teaching and Learning…………………………….
The role of teaching materials……………………………………………. Types of teaching materials………………………………………………. Description of New English File Elementary ……………………………5 1. Types of materials evaluation…………………………………………….
Models for materials evaluation…………………………………………. Criteria for materials evaluation…………………………………. Definition and importance of speaking skills………………………. Approaches to teaching speaking skills………………………………….
Types of classroom speaking activities…………………………………. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity…………………….17 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………………………. Description of the context……………………………………………………. Course objectives…………………………………………………………19 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Data collection instruments……………………………………………. Data analysis procedure………………………………………………….22 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION………………………. Strengths of the coursebook…………………………………………. Weaknesses of the coursebook…………………………………………36 3.
Suggestions for better use of the book………………………………. Conclusion of the study………………………………………………………. Limitations of the study………………………………………………………. Suggestions for further research……………………………………………….42 APPENDIX 1………………………………………………………………………I APPENDIX 2………………………………………………………………………III APPENDIX 3………………………………………………………………………IV APPENDIX 4…………………………………………………………………….VII APPENDIX 5………………………………………………………………………X v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS GE General English ESP English for Specific Purpose ESL English as a second language EFL English as a foreign language MTA Military Technical Academy NEFE New English File Elementary CEFR Common European Framework of Reference vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURES Figure 1: The materials evaluation model by Hutchinson and Waters (2001) 9 Table 1: Comparison of the objectives of speaking activities in NEFE and the course objectives 26 Table 2: Characteristics of speaking tasks 27 Table 3: Teachers’ evaluation on the course objectives 28 Table 4: Teachers’ evaluation on the speaking content of the book 29 Table 5: Students’ evaluation on the course objectives 31 Table 6: Students’ evaluation on the speaking content of the book 32 Table 7: Students’ evaluation on classroom speaking practice 34 Chart 1: Sections of skills throughout the book 27 Chart 2: Teachers’ evaluation on speaking topics 30 Chart 3: Teachers’ and students’ evaluation on speaking topics 33 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study Nowadays, it is undeniable that English has become an international language and English teaching and learning is hectically taking place everywhere. At the Military Technical Academy (MTA) in particular and Vietnamese universities in general, teaching English tends to focus on teaching four skills, among which, speaking seems to receive the most attention as Vietnamese students are often said to be bad at speaking English or communicating in English even though they have spent many years at school learning it. Moreover, it is obvious that successful English language teaching depends on many factors, among which, the coursebook plays a significant role. At MTA, the coursebook ‘New English File Elementary’ (NEFE) first published in 2004 by Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham-Koenig and Paul Seligson has been employed to teach General English for first-year students for 3 years.
However, so far there have been no evaluations conducted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this coursebook as well as to measure its suitability in this educational environment. From that real situation, I chose “A study on the use of New English File Elementary to teach speaking skills to first-year students at the Military Technical Academy” as the subject of my M.A thesis in the hope that the findings will partially contribute to improving the quality of English language teaching and learning. Aims of the study The ultimate aim of the study is to improve English language teaching and learning at MTA by means of evaluating the suitability of the coursebook: NEFE in teaching and developing speaking skills for first-year students in this educational setting. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: - To identify the strengths and weaknesses of the coursebook in terms of teaching and developing speaking skills for first-year students at MTA.
- To make some recommendations for better use of the book. Research questions 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Question 1: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the coursebook: New English File Elementary in teaching and developing speaking skills for first-year students at the Military Technical Academy? Question 2: What suggestions should be made for better use of the book? 4. Scope of the study Coursebook evaluation involves a variety of aspects and different types (pre-use, in- use and post-use evaluation); however, due to the limit of a minor thesis, this paper only focuses on a post-use evaluation of NEFE in teaching speaking skills to first- year students at MTA. Methods of the study To best answer the above-mentioned two research questions, the researcher combined both qualitative and quantitative methods.
More specifically, the following data collection instruments have been employed: - Document analysis: The researcher as the evaluator analyzes the speaking sections of the coursebook: NEFE. - Survey - questionnaires: Two sets of questionnaires are designed for students who have finished the coursebook NEFE and English teachers who have been used the book. - Semi-structured interviews: Informal interviews are conducted with students and English teachers to clarify issues in the survey. Design of the study Apart from Introduction, Conclusion, References and Appendices, the paper consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1 is Literature Review, which aims at providing some basic terminologies and concepts related to the studied matter. Chapter 2 entitled Research Methodology deals with the setting and the subjects of the study, as well as the method of data collection and analysis. Chapter 3 named Data Analysis and Discussion will present data analysis results, major findings and recommendations for better use of the book in the future. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides the related theoretical bases for the study.
There are three main issues which will be addressed: material in language teaching and learning, material evaluation and speaking skills. Materials in Language Teaching and Learning According to Tomlinson (1998), materials are anything which is used to help to teach language learners. Materials can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a paragraph written on a whiteboard: anything which presents or informs about the language being learned. Dudley-Evan and St.
John (1998) also say that materials are used in all language teaching and their role is of great importance in the process of language teaching and learning. In the following parts, the role of teaching materials, types of teaching materials and the description of one type of teaching materials: New English File Elementary will be, in turn, presented. The role of teaching materials The role of teaching materials has been discussed by many different authors. Richards and Rogers (cited in Nunan, 1991) view instructional materials as detailed specifications of content, and guidance to teachers on both the intensity of coverage and the amount of attention demanded by particular content or pedagogical tasks.
Richards and Rogers’ perspective is supported and clarified by Richards (2001, 251) “…. instructional materials generally serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom” He further explains that materials provide the basis for the content of the lesson, the kind of language practice students can take part in and the balance of skills taught. In addition, good teaching materials are of great help to inexperienced teachers or 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com poorly-trained teachers. They can serve as “a form of teacher training” (Richards (2001, 251)).
It means that teachers can get ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as formats from those materials. Cunningsworth (1995) also summarizes the roles of teaching materials (particularly coursebooks) in language teaching as: a resource for presentation materials (spoken and written); a source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction; a reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and so on; a source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities; a syllabus and a support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence.