(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) An evaluation of the material Lifeline for the first non-English major students at Hai Phong University. M.A Thesis Linguistics 60 14 10

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ CHUNG OANH AN EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL “LIFELINES”FOR THE FIRST NONENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTSAT HAI PHONG UNIVERSITY ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH “LIFELINES” DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HẢI PHÒNG MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 HANOI – 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ CHUNG OANH AN EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL “LIFELINES”FOR THE FIRST NONENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HAI PHONG UNIVERSITY ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH “LIFELINES” DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HẢI PHÒNG MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: DR HOANG THI XUAN HOA HANOI – 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS T: Teachers S: Students HPU: Hai Phong University TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The teachers and students‟ opinion about using text types in the 23 material 24 Table 2: The teachers and students‟ opinion about proportion of macro skills 24 Table 3: The teachers and students‟ opinion about allocation time for each unit Table 4: The teachers and students‟ opinion about content sequenced of this 25 material Table 5: The teachers and students‟ opinion about language points in this 25 material Table 6: The teachers and students‟ opinion about kinds of exercises need to be 26 included in this material Table 7: The teachers and students‟ opinion about using techniques in this 26 material Table 8: The teachers and students‟ opinion about using aids in this material 27 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality of project report i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of Abbreviations iv List of tables v Table of Contents vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research Questions Significance of the study Methodology Scope of the study Organization of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER : LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Material 1.1.1 Definition of material 1.1.2.Types of material 1.1.3 Roles of teaching materials in a general English course 1.2 Material evaluation 1.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation 1.2.2 Types of material evaluation 1.2.3 Purposes of material evaluation 1.2.4 Materials evaluators 1.2.5 Models for material evaluation 1.2.6 Methods of evaluation 12 1.2.7 Criteria for material evaluation 13 1.3 Material adaptation 16 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1.3.1 Reasons for adaptation 16 1.3.2 Areas for adaptation 17 1.3.3 Techniques for adaptation 17 1.4 Summary 19 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 20 2.1 The current teaching and learning situation at HPU 20 2.1.1 The context of the study 20 2.1.2 The material description 20 2.2 Research methodology 21 2.2.1 Participants 21 2.2.2 Instruments 22 2.2.2.1 Questionnaires 22 2.2.2.2 Informal Interviews 22 2.2.3 Data collection procedure 22 2.2.4 Data analysis procedure 23 CHAPTER : RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 24 3.1 Material analysis 24 3.1.1 The contents of the material 24 3.1.2 The methodology of the material 25 3.2 Survey results 26 3.1.1 The suitability of the content of the textbook with the students‟ requirements from the teachers and students‟ opinions 26 3.1.2 The suitability of the methodology of the textbook with the students‟ requirements from the teachers and students‟ opinions 3.3 Major findings 30 32 3.2.1 The suitability of the content of the textbook with the students‟ requirements from the teachers and students‟ opinions 33 3.2.2 The suitability of the methodology of the textbook with the students‟ requirements from the teachers and students‟ opinions 34 3.4.Recommendations for material improvements 35 3.5.Summary 35 PART III : CONCLUSION 36 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 10 Summary of previous parts 36 Conclusion 36 Limitations and suggestions for further research 37 References 38 APPENDICES: Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students Appendix 3: Hutchinson and Water‟s criteria checklist TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 11 PART I: INTRODUCTION This part includes seven sections The first section focuses on the rationale of the thesis; the second section presents the aims of the thesis; the third section touches on the research questions; the fourth section is the significance of the thesis; the fifth section points out the methodology, the next section is the scope and the last is the organization of the study Rationale of the study Textbooks are a key component in most language programs They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of language practice the students take part in (Richards, 2001:35) Allwright (1981:5-18) also emphasizes that textbooks are too inflexible to be used directly as instructional material, they should give teachers rationales for what they From O‟Neill‟s points, in many cases, teachers and students rely heavily on textbooks and they determine the components and methods of learning Students learn what is presented in the textbook and the way the textbook presents material is the way students learn it Thus, according to Minh (2007) “textbook should be carefully evaluated and selected before being used for a language program Textbook evaluation helps the managerial and teaching staff select the most appropriate materials available for a particular course It also helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a particular textbook that is already in use” Cunningsworth (1995:45) and Ellis (1997) also suggest that textbook evaluation helps teachers move beyond impressionistic assessments and it helps them to acquire useful, accurate, systematic and contextual insights into overall nature of textbook material At Hai Phong University, “Lifelines” has been used as major material for several years but no evaluation or consultation has been conducted to determine its strengths and weaknesses and to see how well it suited the desired and attainable goals of the course From above reasons, it necessary to conduct an evaluation for the “Lifelines” textbook, it is also a good opportunity to discover the suitability of the material with the students‟ level from the students‟ and the teachers‟ perceptions and so that adaptation can be made to gain better results of teaching and learning TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 12 Aims of the study: This study aims to evaluate the “Lifelines” textbook in terms of its content and methodology from the teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions to determine whether the material is suitable with the students‟ requirements Research questions The study is to discuss the following questions: Does the content of the textbook suit the students‟ requirements in the teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions? Does the methodology of the textbook suit the students‟ requirements in the teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions? Significance of the study: The findings of this study will find out the suitability of the textbook with the students‟ requirement in terms of its content and methodology, which helps the teachers adjust their ways of teaching and adapt the material to provide their students effective lessons More importantly, it is hoped that the study will make some contributions to the field of material evaluation Methodology In this thesis, survey questionnaire and informal interview used to collect data: Survey questionnaires here play an important role in collection ideas of teachers and students on the material which are very useful for the completion of the thesis Informal interview is used to seek for detailed and objective opinions of participants on the material and students „requirement Scope of the study In Hai Phong University, “Lifeline” material uses for both major and non-major students with different levels in the first year and second year But due to the limitation of minor thesis, this study only focuses on evaluating the “Lifelines” material using for the first non-English major students in terms of its content and methodology to determine whether the material is suitable with the students‟ requirements TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 13 Organization of the thesis The thesis consists of three parts: Part I: introduce the rationale, aims, significance, scope and methodology of the study Part II: includes three chapters: Chapter1: Literature review: provides a theoretical basis for issues relating to Material and Material evaluation such as definition of material, types of material, and criteria for material evaluation and so on Chapter 2: Methodology: Includes an overview of the approach used on conducting the study It also provides a thorough description of the data collection procedure as well as the analytical procedure Chapter 3: Results and Discussion: reports the findings of the survey and discusses the prominent aspects Part III: Conclusion: summarizes the study, recommends o the material and acknowledges the limitations of the study TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 47 Shannon, P (1987), Commercial reading materials, a technological ideology, and the deskilling of teachers, The Elementary school Journal, 87(3), pp 307-29 Sheldon, L.E (1998), Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials, ELTJ, 42(4), pp 237-46 Tomlinson, B (1998), Materials development in language teaching, Cambridge CUP Tomlinson, B (2001), Connecting the mind: a multi-dimensional approach to teaching language through literature, The English teacher, 4(2), pp 115-105 Williams, D.(1983), Developing Criteria for Textbook Evaluation, In ELT journal,37(3) QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Evaluating the suitability of “Lifeline” textbook with the students’ requirement in terms of content and methodology TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 48 This questionnaire is designed to collect ideas of the first non-English major students at Hai Phong University on the currently used material Lifelines- Elementary Please answer the following questions carefully Your opinion would be valuable to the evaluation research Thank you for your cooperation! To answer the question below, please tick (√) the appropriate box (es) 1/ Content Which text types are suitable with this material?  Manuals  Dialogues  Diagrams  Letters  Pictures  Listening texts  Reading texts  Tables  Others………………… What you think of the proportion of the macro-skills in this material? Proportion Skills Appropriate Too much Much Normal Little Very Little Listening Speaking Reading Writing Do you think periods for each unit are…………………………………………? Too much Enough Much little What you think about the language points of this material? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 49 Language points Very suitable Rather suitable Suitable Not suitable Grammar structures Vocabulary Pronunciation How is the content sequenced throughout the material?  From easy to difficult  Recycling available  Various Others……………………………………… 2/ Methodology Which kinds of exercises should be included in this material?  Gap filling  Change the verb forms  Matching  Correct mistakes  Make sentences  Others…………………………………… In your opinion, which of the following techniques should be used in this material?  Pair-work  Group- work  Individual work  Others……………………………………………… What kinds of aids you think is necessary for this material? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 50  Cassette recorders  Overhead projectors  Wall charts  Video  Others………………………………………………… PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT SINH VIÊN TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 51 Đánh giá phù hợp giáo trình “Lifelines” với nhu cầu sinh viên phương diện nội dung phương pháp Bản câu hỏi nhằm lấy ý kiến sinh viên năm thứ hệ không chuyên trường Đại Học Hải Phịng giáo trình “Lifelines”-Elementary Mong bạn vui lòng trả lời đầy đủ câu hỏi dựa tình hình thực tế bạn trường.Những ý kiến đóng góp bạn có giá trị cho trình nghiên cứu đánh giá giáo trình Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! 1/ Nội dung Những dạng phù hợp với giáo trình này?  Hướng dẫn  Hội thoại  Sơ đồ  Thư từ  Tranh ảnh  Bài nghe  Bài đọc  Bảng biểu  Các dạng khác……… Bạn nghĩ việc phân bổ kỹ giáo trình này? Sự phân bổ Các kỹ Phù hợp Q nhiều Nhiều Ít Rất Nghe Nói Đọc Viết Bạn nghĩ tiết cho là………………………………  Quá nhiều  Vừa đủ  Nhiều  Ít Bạn nghĩ trọng điểm ngôn ngữ giáo trình này? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 52 Các trọng điểm ngôn ngữ Rất phù hợp Khá phù hợp Phù hợp Không phù hợp Các cấu trúc ngữ pháp Từ vựng Phát âm Nội dung bố trí giáo trình này?  Từ dễ đến khó  Lặp lại  Đa dạng Các dạng khác……………………… 2/Phương pháp Dạng tập sau nên có giáo trình này?  Điền vào ô trống  Biến đổi động từ  Nối  Sửa lỗi  Đặt câu  Các dạng khác………… Theo bạn, hoạt động số hoạt động nên sử dụng giáo trình này?  Làm việc theo cặp  Làm việc theo nhóm  Làm việc độc lập  Các dạng khác……………………………………………… Những dụng cụ hỗ trợ giảng dạy bạn cho cần thiết với giáo trình này? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 53  Cattset  Máy chiếu  Biểu đồ  Video  Các dạng khác…………………………………………… QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 54 Evaluating the suitability of “Lifeline” textbook with the students’ requirement in terms of content and methodology This questionnaire is designed to collect ideas of the first non-English major students at Hai Phong University on the currently used material Lifelines- Elementary Please answer the following questions carefully Your opinion would be valuable to the evaluation research Thank you for your cooperation! To answer the question below, please tick (√) the appropriate box (es) 1/ Content Which text types are suitable with this material?  Manuals  Dialogues  Diagrams  Letters  Pictures  Listening texts  Reading texts  Tables  Others………………… What you think of the proportion of the macro-skills in this material? Proportion Skills Appropriate Too much Much Normal Little Very Little Listening Speaking Reading Writing Do you think periods for each unit are…………………………………………? Too much Enough Much little TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 55 What you think about the language points of this material? Language points Very suitable Rather suitable Suitable Not suitable Grammar structures Vocabulary Pronunciation How is the content sequenced throughout the material?  From easy to difficult  Recycling available  Various Others……………………………………… 2/ Methodology Which kinds of exercises should be included in this material?  Gap filling  Change the verb forms  Matching  Correct mistakes  Make sentences  Others…………………………………… In your opinion, which of the following techniques should be used in this material?  Pair-work  Group- work  Individual work  Others……………………………………………… TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 56 What kinds of aids you think is necessary for this material?  Cassette recorders  Overhead projectors  Wall charts  Video  Others………………………………………………… TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 57 TABLE OF HUTCHINSON AND WATERS’ CHECKLIST CRITERIA Subjective analysis Objective analysis (i.e analysis of your course, in terms of material (i.e analysis of materials being evaluated) requirements) Audience 1A Who are your learners? 1B Who is the material intended for? e.g - ages - sex - nationality/ies - study or work specialism(s) (e.g banking,medicine etc.) - status/ role with respect to specialism (e.g.trainee cashier, qualified anaesthetist etc.) - knowledge of (i) English (ii) specialism (iii) other (e.g knowledge of „the world‟ etc) - educational backgrounds - interests (etc) AIMS 2A What are the aims of your course? 2B What are the aims of the materials? (Note: check that the aims are actually what they are said to be, by looking carefully at the material itself.) CONTENT 3A What kind of language description you 3B What type(s) of linguistic description require? Should it be structural, notional, functional, is/are used in the material? discourse-based, some other kind, a combination of one or more of these? 4A What language points should be covered? (i.e What particular structures, functions, vocabulary 4B What language points the materials TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 58 areas etc.) cover? 5A What proportion of work on each macro-skill (e.g.reading) is desired? Should there be skillsintergrated work?) 5B What is the propotion of work on each 6A What micro-skills you need? skill? Is there skills-integrated work? (e.g deducing the meanings of unfamiliar words) 7A What text-types should be included? 6B What micro-skills are coverd in the e.g material? - manuals? - letters? 7B What kinds of texts are there in the - dialogues? materials? - experimental reports? -visual texts( pictures, diagrams, charts,graphs, cartoons etc.)? - listening texts? - any other kind? 8A What subject-matter area(s) is/are required (e.g medicine, biology etc.)? What level of knowledge should be assumed (e.g secondary school, first year college/ university, post-graduate etc.)? What types of topics are needed? (e.g in medicine: hospital organisation, medical 8B What is/are the subject-matter area(s), assumed level of knowledge, and types of topics in the materials? technology etc.)? What treatment should the topics be given (e.g „straightforward‟, factual; „human interest‟ angle; humorous; unusual perspective; taking into account issues, controversy, etc.) 9A How should the content be organised throughout the course? What treatment are the topics given? - around language points? - by subject-matter? - by some other means (e.g study skills)? - by a combination of means? 9B How is the content organised throughout TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 59 10A How should the content be organised within the the materials? course units? - by a set pattern of components? - by a variety of patterns? - by some other means? - to allow a clear focus on e.g certain skill areas, a communication task etc.? 11A How should the content be sequenced 10B How is the content organised within the units? throughout the course? e.g - from easier to more difficult? - to create variety? - by other criteria? Should there be no obvious sequence? 12A How should the content be sequenced within a unit? 11B How is the content sequenced throughout e.g - from guided to free? the book? - from comprehension to production? - accuracy to fluency? - by some other means? Should there be no obvious sequence? 12B How is the content sequened within a unit? Methodology 13A What theory/ies of learning should the course be 13B What theory/ies of learning are the based on? materials based on? Should it be behaviourist, cognitive, affective, some other kind, a combinmation of one or more of these? 14A What aspects of the learners’attitudes to/ expectations about learning English should the 14B What attitudes to/expectations about course take into account? learning English are the materials based on? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 60 15A What kinds of exercises/tasks are needed? 15B What kinds of excercises/ tasks are e.g included in the materials? -guided free - comprehension production? -language/skillspracticelanguage/skills use? - one right answer many possible right answers? - whole class group individual? -language-/skill-based content-based? - mechanical problem-solving? - role-play,simulation,drama,games? - ones involving visuals? - self-study? - some other kinds? 16A What teaching-learning techniques are to be used? e.g - „lockstep‟? - pair-work? - small-group work? - student presentations? -work involving technical subject-matter? - other kinds? 17A What aids are available for use? e.g - cassette recorders? - overhead projectors? 17B What aids the materials require? - realia? - wallcharts? - video? - other? 18A What guidance/support for teaching the course will be needed? e.g 18B What guidance the materials provide? - statements of aims? - lists of vocabulary and language-skills points? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 61 - language guidance? - technical information? - methodological directive or hints? - suggestions for further work? - tests? - other kinds? 19A How flexible the materials need to be? 19B In what ways are the materials flexible? e.g - can they be begun at different points? - can the units be used in different orders? - can they be linked to other materials? - can they be used without some of their components (e.g.cassetters)? Other criteria 20A What price range is necessary? 20B What is the price? 21A When and in what quantities should the 21B When and how readily can the materials materials be available? be obtained? etc Etc TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ... 1.2 Material evaluation 1.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation 1.2.2 Types of material evaluation 1.2.3 Purposes of material evaluation 1.2.4 Materials evaluators 1.2.5 Models for material evaluation. .. course The second section presented major issues in material evaluation: definitions, types of material evaluation, purposes of material evaluation, materials evaluators, models for material evaluation, ... review of literature of major issues in material evaluation 1.2.1 Definitions of material evaluation A number of researchers express their point of view regarding the definition of material evaluation