VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Jenner ice UT TIM HONG LU TIE EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF TIE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FILE BEGINNER STUDENT'S BOOK — THIRD EDITION” FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A PREPARATORY SCHOOL IN VIET TRI (Đánh giá thực nghiệm giáo trình “English File Beginner Student’s Buok - Third Edition” ding cho hoc sinh Tiếng Anh không chuyên tại mật trường dự bị đại học ở Việt Tri) M. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS : English Teaching Methudology : 8140231.01 TIanoi, 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES dete te taba VU THI HONG LU THE EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF TIE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISII FILE BEGINNER STUDENT'S BOOK — THIRD EDITLON” FOR NON: GLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A PREPARATORY SCIIOOL IN VIET TRI (Wanh gid thyuc nghiém gido trinh “English Vile Beginner Student’s Book - Third Edition” ding chu hoc sinh Tiếng Anh không chuyên tại một trường dự bị dại học ứ Việt Tri) M. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231. Ho Ngoc Trung IIanoi, 2018 DECLARATION I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research, and this thesis has net been submitted for any degrees al any other universities or institutions.
Hanoi, November 2018 Signature Vu Thi Hong Luyen Approved by Supervisor Assoc. Ho Ngoc Trung Date:. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, | would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Ilo Ngoc Trung for his useful comments and continuous support of my study, for his patience, encouragement, enthusiasm and immense knowledge.
His guidance helped me tremendously in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank my school leaders and colleagues for their support and sharing the workload so that I could wholchcartedly focus on the study and get it completed. Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my parents, my spouse, and to all of my friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of rescarching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without all of them.
‘Thank you! Hanoi, November 2018 Signature Vu Thi Hong Luyen ABSTRACT The present study evaluates the coursebook “English Fue Beginner Student’s Book — Third Edition” by Christina Laltham-Kocnig, Clive Oxenden (Oxford University Press, 2014) for non-English major students at a preparatory school in Viet Tri in terms its suitability lo the objectives of the course, students’ necds and current (caching and leaming method. 150 non- English major students and 8 teachers who were using this coursebook were inviled Lo answer the questionnaires, and lwo groups of three or four students were chosen randomly together with 8 teachers to take part in the interviews Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings revealed that the courschook fundamentally met the course’s objectives and students” needs, and fit in with the current teaching and learning method, though there were still minor unsuitable parts that need adaptation. The result of this study would benefit both teachers and learners who work with this material for better use in the future.
Key words: coursebook, texthook, material, coursebook evaluation, empirical evaluation, Hnglish Kile Beginner Students’ Book, non-Hnglish major. LIST OF TABLES Table 43: Teacher's assessment of students’ English level at the beginning of the course.2: Learners’ purposes of learning English 31 Yable 4.4: Students’ ability to communicate in Kinglish about the topics in the coursebook. ‘tudents’ and teachers’ evaluation of the language elements in the coursebook.6: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation of the skills in the coursebook .7: Students’ suggestions on the proportion of the skills.8: Teachers’ suggestions on the proportion of the skills 42 lable 4.9: Kffectiveness of the teaching and learning interactions used with the coursebook 46 Table 4.10: The frequency of the teaching aids used with the coursebook 47 Table 4.11: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the methodology of the coursebook. 48 LIST OF CITARTS Chart 4.1: Students’ age 28 Chart 4.2: Students’ background of learning English.3: Students’ self-assessment of their English level at the beginning af the course 30 Chart 4.5: Students’ pragress after the course 36 Chart 4.6: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation of the topics of the coursebook.7: The appropriateness of the coursebook with studenis’ learning purposes 43 Chart 4.8: Students’ and teachers’ overall rating of the coursebook .9: Students’ and teachers’ judgement on the time allocation for each unit.
TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. LIST OF TABLES LIST OF CIIARTS. Ains of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the smdy 1. Structure of the study. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Text book, coursebook and material.
Roles of materials in ELT classrooms. Definitions of coursebook evaluation 2. Approaches to coursebook evaluation. Criteria for coursebook evaluation 2.
Previous studies on courscbuok evaluation vi CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3. English teaching and learning context 3.3, Data collection procedure 26 3. Data analysis methods. 27 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28 1, About the learners.
Learners’ Hnglish learning background 28 4. Learners’ English level 4. Learners’ purposes of learning Hnglish 4.4, Learners’ favorite learning styles. The suitability of the coursebook to the objectives of the course.1, Data collected from the questionnaire 4.2, Data collected from semi-structured interviews.3, Discussion and conclusion 38 4.
The suitability of the coursebook to students’ needs. Data collected from questionnaires 38 vil 4. Daia collected from semi-structured inlerviews 4.3, DAiscMssion and COncÌNSIG. Tho suitabilty of the coursebook tu the currcnl toaching: and loarmng mưtheds 46 4.1, Data collected from queshonnatres.
Data collected from semi-structured interviews 49 4. DISCHSSIGH qHÃ CONCÏHSIGH. General evaluation and suggestion for further use of the coursebook.2, Suggestions for further USC ecco 52 CILAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 54 3. The suitability to the objectives of the course 54 5.
The suitability to students’ needs. The suitability to current teaching and learning methods 55 §. Limitations and suggestions for further studies 56 REFERENCES 57 APPENDIXES. APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDEMTS.
APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS APPENDIX 3: TRANSCRIPT OF TEACHER INTERVIEW APPENDIX 4: TRANSCRIPT OF STUDENT INTER VIEW. XXID vill CITAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents a general overview of the study with specific references la the rationale, the uims of the study, research questions, scape of the study, significance of the study, and structure of the study. Rationale Courssbooks are generally considered as the core materials and “the visible heart of any EI-T program” (Sheldon, 1988). Thoy play a lot of essential roles in ELT such as a source of learning and teaching activities, a resource of lcarners’ sel{-study, a syllabus, and a supporl for incxpericnced teachers (Cumningsworth, 1984).
However, coursebooks are usually designed and written for the general market, thus they cannot fit in all teaching and learning contexts with possibly inappropriate cultural and social contents or teaching methods. ‘hat is the reason why selecting a suitable coursebook for a particular teaching course is a challenging. Il also takes on special importance because the chosen coursebook would determine the teaching and learning process and reflect the value of the educational institution. Therefore, the need of evaluating coursebuoks should alse lake on the same importance.
It helps identily the strong points and weak points of the materials so that future decisions can be made about whelher or not to keep using the materials, or adapting them to Detter fit lamers’ needs and learning objectives. However, very lew of such a retrospective evaluation has been undertaken in comparison with the predictive evaluation, which is carried out belore using the matorials to decide if they are to be selected (Ellis, 1997). In terms of retrospective cvaluation, the evaluation of the materials that have actually been used, there are two ways of evaluating: impressionistic and cmpirical valuations. While the former involves evaluation based on observation of learners’ engagement and enthusiasm in acliviiics and contents of the book, it is more commonly conducted than the latter one, which relates to collecting data in a more systematic way The importance and the inadequate quantity of empirical evaluations of courschooks triggers a desire in the rescarcher to apply an cvaluation of this type to the coursebook “Hnglish File Beginner Student’s Book — ‘Third Hdition” for non-English major students in a preparatory school in Viet Tri.
Since English was incorporated into the school program as a compulsory subject, there has not been an official coursebook approved by the Ministry of Education for the school. Il is the teaching staffs who select the book that they consider hest fit the objectives of the course and corresponds to students” needs based on predictive evaluation of the books. The coursebook “English File Beginner Student’s Bock — Third Edition” is currently used as the main coursebook in the school after several choices of different materials. After a year of piloling the book, the researcher, also the teacher who has worked with this book, linds il quile inLeresting Lo students with a Jot of authentic videos and.
meaningful tasks; however, it also reveals several problems which renders it difficult ts meet students’ needs and achieve the ultimate goal of leaching and learning program. To present, there has not been any careful and systematic evaluation of this material. That is the reason why the researcher desires to perform an empirical evaluation on this book to cxamine the validity of the predictive evaluation of the teachers in English groups of the school and that of her personal impressionistic evaluation, as well as to evaluate the appropriateness of the book for learners, learning and teaching context and purposes. Aims of the study This study mainly aims al cvaluating the coursebook “English File Beginner Student's Book —‘lhird Edition” by Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive 2 Oxenden (Oxford Universily Press, 2014), which is uscd for non-English major students at a preparatory school in Viet Tri to determine whether it meets the requirements of the course in terms of the objectives, students’ needs and methodology.
Scope of the study Jn terms of book evaluation, Cunningsworth (1984) listed a number of important evaluating criteria in the quick-reference checklist for evaluation such as: aims and approaches, design and organization, language content, skills, topic, methodology, teachers’ book, practical considerations. Besides, evaluation can be conducted prodictively or retrospectively Lor different purposes (Ellis, 1997). Due to the time constraint and the length limitation a master’s thesis, the subject of the evaluation is narrowed down lo one lype of retrospective evaluation, the empirical evaluation of the courscbaok “English File Beginner Student’s Book Third Edition” for non-English major students ata proparalory school in Viet Tri with mam focus its suitability lo he course’s objectives, students’ needs and current methodology.4, Research questions The study will be conducted to answer the following three questions: - To what extent does the coursebook “Finglish File Beginner Student’s Book— Vhird Edition” meet the objectives of the course? - Ta what extent does the book meet students’ needs? - to what extent is the book suited to the current teaching and learning methods? 1. Significance of the study The findings of the thesis would contribute to the school’s decision of using the courschuok “English File Regier Student’s Book — Third Edition” or parts of the book agam, or substituting and adapting inappropriate parts of book with more suitable ones, or replacing the book with another one.
Thus, it would benefil both teachers and Iearners who work with the material. Teachers would have a chance to apply the most appropriate materials and teaching methods Lor their students with dilTerent levels whercas students could find the materials that best fit their needs and their learning purposes. The result will also be valuable for teachers and learners in other preparatory schools in the country with similar teaching and learning context 1.