Scope of the study
The course book New Cutting Edge –Elementary has been used for teaching Pre-ESP for the first year students of Economics Faculty as well as Navigation Faculty at Haiphong Polytechnics College However, due to the limitation of a minor thesis, this study just mainly focuses on generally evaluating the course book New Cutting Edge –Elementary for only accounting students at Economics Faculty in term of Learner‟s Demand, Format, Objective, Content and Methodology to evaluate the suitability of the material to the real Pre-ESP teaching and learning at HPPC.
Significance of the study
Firstly, the finding of this study will help the teachers to identify the strength and weakness of the course book to adjust their teaching method and adapt the material so as to provide students with the most effective lessons
Furthermore, it is expected that the result of research, to some extent, could become the reference material for those interested in the field of material evaluation.
Design of the study
The thesis consists of three parts:
Part I: Introduction states the rational, aim, scope, methods and design of the study
Part II: Development is divided into three main chapters:
Chapter 1 provides the readers with literature review on the aspects relating to material evaluation such as: materials in language teaching and learning, materials evaluation, and evaluation types, as well as methods and criteria, purpose of materials
Besides, in this chapter, materials adaptation for the better use has been presented
Chapter 2 deals with an overview of current English teaching and learning situation at Economics Faculty of HPPC, research method as well as description of data collection procedure and data analysis procedure which involve in the research process
Chapter 3 presents and reports the analysis of the study and encloses suggestions for the course book adaptation
Part III: Conclusion summarizes the major findings, limitation of the study and suggestions for further research
Literature Review
Definitions
To do book evaluation in a correct way, first defining characteristics and giving a good definition about textbook, course book and material are necessary
From his point of view, Tomlinson (1998) defines that a textbook provides the core materials for a course It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it could serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use during a course Such a book usually includes work on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking
Richards (2001) stated that “Textbooks are a key component in most language programs In some situations, they serve as the basic for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement the teachers‟ instruction”
It is assumed that a textbook is a teaching tool (material) which presents the subject matter defined by the curriculum A textbook has always been the most preferred instructional material in ELT They are best seen as a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set concerning learner needs
According to Tomlinson (1998), course book is a textbook which provides the core materials for a course It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it could be serve as the only book which the learner necessarily use during a course Such a book usually includes work on grammar, vocabulary, function and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking
Although the definition which Ur (1996: 183) has given is a simple one, it is very useful and easy to understand It reads as follows:
The term „course book‟ means, a text book of which the teacher and each student has a copy and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language course Therefore, from the above definition one can get that a course book must have at least being available in the hand of students and teachers, and used systematically in a course of study, and a course of study in this article refers to an English course of study
The term “course book” is sometimes associated with text materials as it has been specifically selected and exploited for teaching purposes by the classroom teacher particularly in the local setting Frequently, a course book is considered core materials of a certain course It may be accompanied with a variety of supplementary materials
Tomlinson (1998) identified materials as 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 newspaper, a paragraph written on a white board: anything which presents or informs about the language He also supposed
“the term is used to refer to anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language” In other word, they can be anything which is deliberately used to increase the learners‟ knowledge and/or experience of the language
Therefore, it is agreed that materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language They can be instructional, experiential, exploratory, in that they can inform learners about the language, they can provide experience of the language use, they can stimulate language use or they can help learners to make discoveries about the language for themselves.
Role of materials in General English Course
There are five important components involved in English language instruction namely students, teachers, materials, teaching methods, and evaluations among which essential constituents are the textbooks and instruction materials because these instruction materials provide the foundation for the content of the lesson, the balance of the skill taught, as well as the kinds of language practice the students engage in during class activities
The role of materials in language teaching has also been discussed by different authors with various points of view A textbook can serve different purposes for teachers: as a core resource, a resource of supplementary materials, an inspiration for classroom activities and even the curriculum itself (Garinger, 2002)
Confirming the importance roles of teaching materials, Hutchinson and Torres (1994, p315) state:
“…No teaching – learning situations, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant textbook, adding that textbooks can support teachers through potentially disturbing and threatening change processes, demonstrate new and/or untried methodologies, introduced change gradually and create scaffolding upon which teachers can build a more creative methodology of their own”
Hence, learning how to use and adapt textbook is an important part of a teacher‟s professional knowledge Throughout this thesis, the three basic terms mentioned above will be used interchangeably in order to serve the purpose of the study.
Material evaluation
A numbers of researchers have expressed their own points of view towards the definitions of material evaluation
According to Dudley 1998, “Evaluation is a whole process which begins with determining what information to gather and end with bringing about the change in the current activities or influencing future ones”
In his overview, Tomlinson (1998, p3) claims that “this term refers to attempts to measure the value of materials” In many cases, this is done impressionistically and consists of attempts to predict whether or not the material will work, in the sense that the learners will be able to use them without too much difficulty and will enjoy the experience of doing so
Hutchinson and Waters (1987, 96) point out that evaluation is matching process designed to establish the degree of match between the needs and available solutions It refers to the attempts to measure the value of materials and is aimed at assessing the fitness Though each researcher has his own opinion on material evaluation, they still come to the conclusion that evaluation is the process of collecting data giving judgments based on the collected data, and the most importantly, evaluation must include action
Material evaluation plays an important part in the improvement of a language course as it helps to identify particular strength and weakness of the material in use After being used for the language course in a certain time, teaching materials need evaluating to see if they have worked well to meet the expectation of students
Regarding the purposes of material evaluation, Sheldon (1998) has offered several other reasons for textbook evaluation He suggested that a thorough evaluation would provide for a sense of familiarity with a book‟s content that assisting educators in identifying the particular strength and weakness in textbook already in use This would help teachers make the optimum use of a book‟s strong points and recognizing the shortcoming of certain exercises, tasks, and entire text
According to Cunningsworth (1995), through evaluation, we can assess whether the course book is the most appropriate for the target learners at various levels and in various teaching settings
Anderson (1992) sets out a list of purposes of materials evaluation as follow:
- To decide whether the materials have had the intended effect
- To identify what affect materials have had
- To justify the future course of action
- To identify the areas for improvement in the future use
- To show the positive achievements of teachers and students
- To allay suspicions among parents and sponsors
There are many different types of materials evaluation offered by a number of researchers According to Cunningsworth (1995, p76) and McGrath (2002:14-15), there are three types of material evaluation: pre-use, in use and post use evaluation
This classification is similar to Ellis (1997) with different names, ie Preliminary, Formative and Summative Evaluation respectively In spite of different terms used to refer types of materials evaluation, these terms are basically similar and discussed as containing three types
- The first type, pre-use evaluation: according to Tomlinson (2003:23) often takes place before the materials are used to predict the potential value of materials for their users to select a course book for use with a particular class It seems that pre-use evaluation tends to be the most difficult type as there is no actual experience of using the materials
- The second type, in-use evaluation is a kind of evaluation of suitability, involving
“matching the course book against a specific requirement including the learner‟s objectives, the learners‟ background, the resources available, etc” (Cunningsworth,
- The third type, post-use evaluation refers to an assessment of a textbook‟s fitness over a period of continual use According to Tomlinson (2003:25), evaluation of this kind can be “the most valuable as it can measure the actual effect of the material on the users” Basing on the data measured, evaluators can make reliable decisions about the use, adaptation or replacement of the materials However, this type of material is normally time – consuming
Generally, each type of materials has its certain strength and weakness, so it is necessary for the evaluators to determine what type of materials evaluation will be the most suitable for specific context Basing on the current context of Haiphong Polytechnics College, the writer decided to choose the in – use evaluation to measure the appropriateness of the course book and offer some method of adaptation for its better use
1.2.4 Methods of materials evaluation 1.2.4.1.The impressionistic method
According to Cunningsworth (1995:2), the impressionistic method is designed to be able to gain an impression of a book by looking rather more carefully at representative features, such as the organization, topics, layout, visuals and the design of a unit or lesson or more specific features, such as the treatment of particular language elements
Therefore, this method is wide ranging but relatively superficial due to the fact that
“techniques of impressionistic evaluation cover the wide spectrum”
McGrath (2002) states that “a checklist is likely to need tailoring to suit a particular context, and this can involve a good deal more than simply deleting checklist items which are in applicable Moreover, William (1993, cited in McGrath, 2002:27) points out that “checklist cannot a static phenomenon” This means that the items in all materials evaluation checklist reflect the time at which they are conceived
In-depth method consists of a focus on specific features (Cunningsworth, 1995), close analysis of one or more extracts (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987), or throughout examination of two units using predetermined questions (McGrath, 2002) McGrath also argued that besides its advantages, this evaluation method has certain disadvantages Firstly, samples selected for analysis may not be representative of the book as a whole Secondly, only a particular section of the material is focused
Moreover, this method takes time and requires expert knowledge (McGrath, 2002:28)
Criteria for materials evaluation is one of the most difficult problems for materials evaluator during the process of materials evaluation
William (1983) suggests seven criteria, each of which has the following aspects:
- General criteria: give introductory guidance on the presentation of the language items and skills
- Speech criteria: suggest aids for the teaching of pronunciation: e.g phonetic system
- Grammar criteria: offer meaningful situations and variety of techniques for teaching structural units
- Vocabulary criteria: distinguish the different purposes and skills involved in the teaching of vocabulary
- Reading criteria: provide the guidance on the initial presentation of passages for reading comprehension
- Writing criteria: demonstrate the various devices for controlling and guiding content and expression in compositions exercises
- Technique criteria: contain appropriate pictures, diagrams, table, etc…
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:99) present their own checklist of criteria for objective and subjective analysis, which is not an exhaustive list, and is based on the following four aspects: audience, aim, content, and methodology
Meanwhile, Sheldon (1998) suggests that there is no general list of criteria which can really be applicable to all teaching and learning context without considerable modification In the same opinion, Cunningsworth (1995) assures that any selection procedure should be modified to suit personal circumstances Therefore, selecting and modifying particular items to produce an individualized checklist is the best method to make sure that it is suitable to the particular teaching and learning contexts
Hutchinson and Water (1987) provided the four steps of materials evaluation
Figure 1: The material process by ( Tom Hutchinson & Alan Waters (1987, p.97) )
Materials adaptation
Materials adaptation plays an important part in the process of language teaching and learning It makes the teaching materials more relevant to the needs of students and to objectives of the course, and therefore, would stimulate the effectiveness of teaching and learning There is a fact that no textbook is perfect Any textbook should be used judiciously, since it cannot be cater equally to the requirements of every classroom
On what bases will you judge materials?
Which criteria will be more important?
How far does the material match your needs?
How far does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?
What realization of the criteria do you want in your course? setting (William, 1983, p251) That is why the textbook should be adapted Teachers, with direct personal knowledge of their classroom teaching, should see textbook as their servants instead of master; as a resource or an “ideas bank” which can stimulate teachers‟ own creative potential (Cunningsworth, 1984, p65)
According to Madsen and Bowen (1978), “every teacher is in a very real sense an adapter of the material he uses”, and adaptation is the process of employing “one or more number of techniques: “supplementing, editing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifying cultural/situational content” At the same time, Ellis (1986:47) mentions the process of “retaining, rejecting, reordering, and modification”
Whatever the definitions give, adaptations can be understood as a process of matching so as to maximize the strength of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internal characteristics of a textbook or a set of materials to suit a specific situation.
Research Methodology
An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at HPPC
Haiphong Polytechnics College has become one of the leading vocational colleges in the Marine section since it was founded in 2001 As a newly – established vocational college, it consists of six main faculties: Navigation, Marine Engine, and Ship building Technology, Economics, Information Technology, Electricity and Electronics Among them, Economics Faculty can be seen to be the most important one with a large amount of students joining the course The students at HPPC generally learn English for two years For the first year, they will be provided with general English by using the course book “New Cutting Edge - Elementary” In comparison with the English level of the students in other Faculties, the accounting students are considered to be much better at language skills as most of them are female and they are often hard working and have positive attitude toward their future jobs
However, it can also be assumed that as a vocational college, most students lack the knowledge of English and learning methods Therefore, the result showed that there is a small number of students with acceptable English skill
In the general English course for the first - year accounting students, English subject is taught in the first semester with totally 120 periods During the course, the students have to complete ten modules in the course book “New Cutting Edge Elementary” by Peter moor and Sarah Cunningham in 2005 which provides the students with general knowledge of English with the integration of four skills equivalent to elementary level
During the term, depending on the number of periods, the students have three or four mid-term tests and at the end of each term, they will have to take the final oral test
On the basis of the requirements set by Ministry of Labor – Invalids and Social Affairs and the factual situation of teaching and learning English in Haiphong Polytechnics College (HPPC), the following material requirements for a GE course for first year accounting students in the two terms have been officially approved in the Foreign Language Faculty‟s Curriculum and Syllabus, which are presented hereafter
- Use the simple grammar structures provided in the course book
- Be able to communicate in daily conversations in English
- Express their feelings, thoughts and emotions
- Read and comprehend the short paragraphs fluently
- Write a short description of the required topic
In terms of content, the course book is set to achieve the following points At first, it is necessary to equip students with a variety of communicative situation Hence, the students need to get involved in different topics that they have chances to use their English in daily activities such as greetings, introducing themselves, talking about family, hobbies, jobs, favorite things, etc Besides, in each module, the book supplies the students with topic –based vocabulary which serves as the key factor to help them communicate successfully in English Afterwards, as regards the language points, the course book includes all the commonly – used grammatical items and structures in the manner that they are not too complicated and these grammatical patterns can be revised in the following lessons Ideally, the basic English grammar in the book could encourage the students to take part in real situations Also, the tasks and exercises are not too difficult because most of the students who are learning the book are at average English level and especially they are sufficient enough for the students‟ learning demand, that is to say they encourage students‟ language skills and enhance their self- study Similarly, four skills should be equally paid attention to Finally, the content of the material should be reasonably organized throughout the book as well as within each unit so as to avoid students‟ boredom and confusedness
The course book “New Cutting Edge – Elementary” is written by Peter Moor and Sarah Cunningham with Frances Eales in 2005 It consist of 15 modules with 15 different topics relating to our life such as greetings, introducing themselves, talking about family, hobbies, jobs, favorite things, etc New Cutting Edge Elementary gives students an all-round practical knowledge of grammar, skills, vocabulary and real-life functional language The new editions retain the ingredients that have made this course so popular and also introduce useful new features
A typical module consists of the following sections:
- Language focus: New grammar structures are presented by using pictures, discussion questions or asking students to read or listen to a conversation After the form, and the rule, students have chances to practice with a variety of exercises
- Vocabulary: the students are asked to predict new words and their meaning based on the words given in the border together with several available pictures or small games
After that, the students listen to the CD player/typescript for the way to pronoun Good dictionaries, such as the Longman Basic English Dictionary or Oxford Dictionary will also help students to raise their vocabulary
- Tasks (4 skills): For each module, different skills are paid attention to improve the section of language focus and vocabulary
In the reading and listening sections: students can understand very short simple texts in a single phrase at time, picking up familiar names, words and basic phrases and rereading as required Then they can follow speech which is very slow and carefully articulated, with long pauses for him/her to assimilate meaning Finally, they must listen to the CD player to check their ideas and listen more carefully to do some related exercises
In speaking and writing sections, pictures and discussion are used to help the students activate their knowledge about the topic The students practice speaking skills using conversation pieces in listening part Finally, students must summarize the text‟s content to write a paragraph on the requirements of each one
- Pronunciation: the students practice sound under the direction of teachers; and then listening to the CD player to check Finally, they repeat to remember and pronoun smoothly
There are three consolidation modules after every five modules (module 5, module
10, and module 15) which help the students to revise theories and practice more exercises
Transcription of difficult words and their meanings are presented at the end of the course book Besides, coming with this material are 3 CD‟s and the students‟ workbook.
Research method
As mentioned earlier, the aim of this study is to answer the two following research questions:
- How do English language teachers and the first - year accounting students evaluate the course book - NCEE provided at HPPC in terms of Learners‟ Need, Objective, Format, Content and Methodology?
- What adaptations are needed for its better use?
The target population for this study comprises 200 first year students at Economics Faculty, and teachers of Foreign Language Faculty 1 of HPPC
The researchers used the convenience sampling as it is time-saving and cost effective, therefore, the sample only included all of the 10 teachers in Foreign Language Faculty
1, and 120 out of 200 first - year accounting students were chosen to take part in this study They were both male and female students from 3 classes: KTD05-CD1, KTD05-CD2, and KTD05-CD3
Among 10 teachers in English Faculty participating in the survey, 3 of them hold M.A degrees; one is pursuing the master course in ULIS, VNUH Their ages are from 26 to
36, and all of them have experienced teaching this book for at least 2 years since it was introduced in 2008
120 students of accounting major took part in the study Most of them have been learning English for 3 years with low English level They were accounting students from 3 classes: KTD05-CD1, KTD05-CD2, and KTD05-CD3 They were required to review thoroughly and rate the course book according to the criteria basing on their own experience
In order to evaluate the course book in terms of learners‟ need, objective, format, content and methodology, among the most usual methods or means of evaluation, found in a number of authors such as questionnaires, interviews, observation, discussion, records and assessment, two main techniques for data collection used in this study are questionnaires and formal interview
Survey questionnaire is a popular instrument in the social sciences as it is helpful collecting opinions and would be extremely beneficial in specifying aims and analyzing the teaching and learning situation (Litz, 2005) They have a lot of advantages among which the most obvious may be the fact that the respondents can complete them without any pressure; as a result, they can express their thought freely
Besides, closely ended questions are straight forward to answer (Gillham, 2000)
In this study, two questionnaires were used for teachers and students to collect their attitude and information on evaluation of the currently used material “New Cutting Edge - Elementary” Each questionnaire is divided into 6 sections:
Section 1 with three questions aims at discovering the students‟ English background, their expectation as well as evaluation on the needs satisfied by the book from the English course at the college
Section 2 with four questions tries to find out whether students make any progress to get the objectives after the course
Section 3 is designed to gather students‟ judgment about the current course book in term of format
Section 4 consists of four questions aiming at getting opinions about the content of the materials including the topics, skills allocation in each lesson and practice exercise
Section 5 puts its focus on finding out the appropriateness of the methodology of the assessed book
Section 6 with only one question is supposed to collect the general evaluation on the course book in use and the suggestions for adaptation from the both teachers and students
The purpose of the interview is to collect supplementary ideas for teachers and students after responding to the above questionnaires Johnson (D.M 1992:115) states that response rates from interview can be quite high and respondents are more likely to answer the questions presented because of their personal involvement with the interviewer Therefore, the interviewer can obtain more meaningful information because he/she can rephrase questions that are not clear to the respondent
For these reasons, the second method used in this study is structured interview This type of interview was conducted with 10 English teachers at HPPC The interview which consists of 15 questions thought carefully and selected in advance help to find out the appropriateness and inappropriateness of the course book in terms of learners‟ demand, objectives, formats, contents and methodology.
Data collection procedure
The research carried out the data collection through questionnaire for both the teachers and the students First, research developed the questionnaire basing on the criteria she had selected with regard to five main aspects under study Then the student survey was administrated in the end of class meeting of the course The students were requested to complete the questionnaire during the class time so that they were more willing to do it and could clarify the ambiguous questions (if any) and last, but not least, could return all the questionnaires immediately
Also, the English teachers are invited to complete and return the questionnaires within two days to make sure that they are well-prepared to provide the detailed and accurate information
After collecting the data from teachers and students, it was summarized by hand and categorized in form of tables and charts where appropriate.
Data analysis procedure
In this thesis, the data from questionnaire was processed by using descriptive statistics which are often reported in percentage
The data from the English teacher and student interviews were processed by doing transcript first, being quoted to compare support and challenge the findings during the course of analyzing data
In summary, this chapter has presented the overview of current English teaching and learning at Economic Faculty, HPPC The reasons for choosing the research methodology were discussed together with setting out the research questions
Furthermore, the chapter also described the data collection as well as the analytical procedures which lead to the result of the survey as introduced in the next chapter
CHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS OF RESULTS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR
This chapter will discuss the results of the survey conducted through questionnaires and interview They are summarized in four categories followed by the five aspects concerned with the study: objectives, format, content, methodology and the other ordered aspects, accompanied with the comparison between the teachers‟ and students‟ answers towards each item in the questionnaires
3.1 Evaluation on the students’ need 3.1.1 Students’ English level at the beginning of the course and their ranking of assumed purposes in learning English
Before any courses, the identification of learner‟s level is often paid out much attention as it helps book writers to provide the most suitable content of knowledge, and then improve the learners‟ language skills
Chart 1: Students‟ English level at the beginning of the course
Chart 1 finds out both teachers and students have the same assessments on the students‟ level of learning English at the college, the level of average and under average are mostly chosen A little difference comes from the belief of students at themselves Even no students confirm that they are excellent at English but some suppose that before the course they are good at English (15%), and about 60% judge their English level is average and 25% admit that they are still too bad at the subject
Teachers seem not to highly appreciate their students‟ English level when they claimed that none of their students had excellent or good background knowledge of English
The levels of average (80%) and under average (20%) are also their choices So there is an obvious fact that the students‟ English background in our school is average, it was also the warning fact of many vocational colleges in our country
It is really important for the book writer to get to know the students‟ relevant purpose so as to choose the most appropriate textbooks and teaching methods Some of the reasons for motivating students in learning English combining with their own choice are also suggested The answer to this question by teacher and student can be summarized in the following table:
Pass the final examinations with the high scores 50% 30% 25% 5% 20% 50% 26% 7%
Prepare for the future job 30% 40% 25% 15% 60% 25% 10% 5%
Follow the hobbies (listening to music, watching TV…) 10% 10% 10% 70% 2% 10% 21% 70%
Table 1: Teachers and students‟ ranking of the purposes of GE Course
Table 1 shows the differences between students and the teacher‟s purposes of learning English As it can be seen from this table, to prepare for their future work is the most important objectives of most students, with the highest percentage (60%) While many teachers insists that to pass the final examination with the high score is the main goal of most of their students (50%) The teachers seem to be more pessimistic to claim that students study English for the reason that they desire to have good points after finishing the course The fact is that, however, students need English to build up their confidence at work Besides, table 1 summarizes both teachers and students share the same opinion on the least important target to study English - to follow the hobbies
Hobbies are always changeable, especially for the youth, but if one day students do not remain their passion like listening to music or watching films, it leads to the result they immediately give up studying Luckily, most of students study English purposefully
That is only a pity that teachers and students did not give any other opinions on the purposes of studying English to supplement the writer
3.1.2 Evaluation on the needs satisfied by the course book
It can be said that the identification of students‟ expectation can be seen the most important tasks before the course The question given here is whether teachers and students share the same opinion on their assessment of the needs the course book meets Let‟s see the following table:
Pass the final examination with the higher scores 70% 88%
Prepare for the future job 60% 62%
Follow the hobbies (listening to music, watching TV…) 20% 14%
Table 2: Evaluation on the needs satisfied by the course book
Table 2 presents the figure regarding teachers and students‟ opinions about the needs that the course book satisfies As it can be seen from the table 3, students strongly believe that the course book NCEE could help them to prepare for their future jobs (62%) Most of them (88%) assure that the book may show them the way to overcome the examination The percentage of the students chooses “communicate with the foreigners” and “follow the hobbies (listening to music, watching TV…)” are comparatively low At the same time, there is a high agreement between the teachers and students‟ evaluation Some students also mention the other needs the book meets like: “understanding teachers‟ lectures, using the internet, reading English books or papers, ”
For teachers, they also share the opinion that NCEE is a very effective instrument for their students to make well preparation for the future jobs And 70 % of them confirm that for being sufficiently trained by the book students have no difficulties in passing the examination Similar to their students, teachers definitely affirm that the needs of
“communicate with the foreigners” and “follow the hobbies (listening to music, watching TV…)” will not be achieved by students after the course
3.2 Evaluation on the Objectives of the Course
Results from teachers and students about the students‟ vocabulary enrichment can be summarized in the following chart:
Looking at chart 2, it can be seen that teachers and students do not completely make an agreement among the issue Even most of the teachers and students suppose that the course book helps students improve their vocabulary However, 26% of students have the positive response of the course when they confirm their vocabulary is much improved after the course, and only 10 % of teachers share the same idea with them
The great amounts of teachers identify that students do not get much significant progress in vocabulary Luckily, only 10% of teachers and 12 % of students complain the course does not bring them any improvement of vocabulary Therefore, the collected data showed that students‟ vocabulary improvement matches the expected requirement
Introduce yourself and your family 100% 100%
Tell about an unforgettable memory in your childhood 30% 35%
Tell about the favorite tourist area in your hometown 30% 32%
Table 3: Students‟ speaking tasks completion
Speaking skill may be considered to be the most important one in CLT Table 3 has pointed out the six typical speaking tasks appeared in the final oral test of the subject, among them 4 of 6 mentioned tasks are able to complete by the majority of students, between 50%-100%, they are Introduce yourself and your family, Tell about your hobbies Order food and drink, Ask in shops whereas the rest appeared not so complicated Telling about an unforgettable memory in your childhood and the favorite tourist area in your hometown seem to be the hardest topics with 30-32% of students could do them As for the challenges in these tasks, they blame for the lack of vocabulary as well as their poor grammatical structures relating to past tense
Therefore, it is understandable which they face a lot of difficulties in these tasks
Analysis of data and suggestions for materials adaptation
Evaluation on the Objectives of the Course
Results from teachers and students about the students‟ vocabulary enrichment can be summarized in the following chart:
Looking at chart 2, it can be seen that teachers and students do not completely make an agreement among the issue Even most of the teachers and students suppose that the course book helps students improve their vocabulary However, 26% of students have the positive response of the course when they confirm their vocabulary is much improved after the course, and only 10 % of teachers share the same idea with them
The great amounts of teachers identify that students do not get much significant progress in vocabulary Luckily, only 10% of teachers and 12 % of students complain the course does not bring them any improvement of vocabulary Therefore, the collected data showed that students‟ vocabulary improvement matches the expected requirement
Introduce yourself and your family 100% 100%
Tell about an unforgettable memory in your childhood 30% 35%
Tell about the favorite tourist area in your hometown 30% 32%
Table 3: Students‟ speaking tasks completion
Speaking skill may be considered to be the most important one in CLT Table 3 has pointed out the six typical speaking tasks appeared in the final oral test of the subject, among them 4 of 6 mentioned tasks are able to complete by the majority of students, between 50%-100%, they are Introduce yourself and your family, Tell about your hobbies Order food and drink, Ask in shops whereas the rest appeared not so complicated Telling about an unforgettable memory in your childhood and the favorite tourist area in your hometown seem to be the hardest topics with 30-32% of students could do them As for the challenges in these tasks, they blame for the lack of vocabulary as well as their poor grammatical structures relating to past tense
Therefore, it is understandable which they face a lot of difficulties in these tasks
In regard of teachers‟ feedback, they confirm definitely their students could overcome successfully with the tasks of Introduce yourself and your family, Tell about your hobbies; Order food and drink, Ask in shops Similar to the tasks of Telling about an unforgettable memory in your childhood and the favorite tourist area in your hometown were hardly completed by their students Furthermore, another reason teachers provide in their class observation is that the students seem not to be interested in talking about those topics because they are all beyond their needs and knowledge
Very good Good Not very good
Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss
Table 4: Student‟s level of proficiency in language points
The data shown in the table prove that there is a close similarity between two groups of respondents The result indicates that the Language Points that students can use well include: To be, Demonstrative Adj/Pronoun, can/ can‟t, there be, some/any, how much/how many, Countable/Uncountable Noun, simple present tense, Comparatives/Superlatives The other structures as past simple tense, present continuous tense, present perfect tense, comparatives/superlatives appeared to difficult to them., some students has been interviewed so as to find the explanation for this, they said that they could effectively use the structures as they are not too difficult to remember and put them in practice, and students honestly explained that at their high schools these language points were also taught, so these cannot be their matter, while the complication of verb and adjective form in Comparatives/Superlatives, Present Perfect tense or other structures are too difficult for them to use successfully For most teachers, they also believe that their students could manage skillfully with the language points as mentioned above with the large proportion for the choices “very good, good”; teachers also express their sympathy for students at vocational college
They share with the author the background knowledge of students, most of them are at average level, so the grammar structure like tenses, or Comparatives/Superlatives could be their challenges From the result of the study, we may find out the measure for deduction, that is, teachers should pay more attention to grammatical revision in the class so that students will have more time and effort to deal with those, and then applying them into daily conversation This also involves in the changing of timetable in each module
3.2.4 General evaluation on the students’ progress
Chart 3: Evaluation on the students‟ progress
As shown in the charts, most teachers believe that their students get progress after the course Among them, 80% are sure that students could be at least better than their language before Only 10 % of them, equivalent to one teacher in the survey are disappointed at the positive changes of his own students The figure outlines that even teachers are not really satisfactory with the book at some points, but they are proud of their students‟ progress
According to students, it is happy that they found themselves much progress after the course, when the evidence from the chart shows that 75% said they have achievement in studying GE Beside their own effort and teachers‟ support, owning an appropriate book is also one of the most important elements in order to get the achievement
However, there is the fact that 25% of students do not accept the fact that they get nothing at all after the course finished For those students, they have to struggle with the final oral test with the great fear The reasons mainly come from their lack of knowledge at the high school Other factor is the loss of attention in class, or their refusal of taking part in group discussion or pair work because they only keep silent and work individually.
Evaluation on the format of the course book
Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss
The format is clear and appropriate 80% 85% 10% 16% 10% 4%
The book is organized logically and effectively 30% 32% 50% 44% 20% 24%
The course book provides images and pictures for illustration 100% 95% 0% 4% 0% 1%
The table of content includes content, structures, and vocabulary in each module 90% 72% 10% 24% 0% 6%
The book includes an adequate vocabulary list or glossary 40% 34% 50% 46% 10% 20%
The book contains an adequate set of assessment and testing suggestions 20% 10% 50% 72% 30% 18%
Table 5: Evaluation on the format of the course book
From the data collected in table 5, the findings from the teachers and students indicate that they highly evaluate the course book in some aspects such as the appropriate format, effect organization, table content and illustration in each module Firstly, the course book is assumed to be clear and appropriate in format with the score of teachers (80%), and students (85%) This high positive feedback is understandable as at the first glance of the course book, any readers can easily realize that the layout is quite suitable and attractive Secondly, NCEE is also presented with a variety of pictures and images that really attracts lots of learners‟ attention and then promotes their visualization Visualizing strengthens reading comprehension skills as students gain a more thorough understanding of the text they are reading by consciously using the words to create mental images That is why in the aspect of the images and pictures for illustration, nearly all of the teachers (100%) and students (95%) are satisfactory A full table of content which clearly clarifies different parts of each module is organized at the first beginning pages of the NCEE Looking at this, one could create good imagination of the book, as it was presented so clearly and effectively By this way, the useful table becomes one criteria of format that get the high positive response at 90% of teachers and about 72% of students
However, the survey research from the teachers and students shows that both of the respondents are unsatisfied with some aspects of the course book due to the existence of certain weakness At first, the modules are organized in various ways that motivate students‟ creativity, but the sequence of the content in each unit seems not to be systematic and easy to follow Besides, the vocabulary list received different opinions from both respondents About half of the teachers and one-third students have positive assessment of vocabulary glossary Others suppose that the arrangement of new words at the end of the book does not really bring about the advantages of observation for the viewers According to students‟ evaluation, more words should be added to support students while they do the tasks, and also they claim that the vocabulary list should be introduced together with teaching new words One more weakness arises from the shortage of assessment and testing suggestions With 120 periods of studying, there should be at least one assessment after 4 modules But in fact, the teachers always keep periodic tests, make copies and distribute them to their students; even there are reviews and consolidations after 5 modules, but it seems not to make notable effect as the restricted amount of consolidations, then results in 50% of teachers and 78% of students are disappointed at this aspect of format Deleting the weaknesses, as teachers suggested, the course book will be able to catch the students‟ attention and interest in term of format.
Evaluation on the content of the course book
Table 6: Proportion of the macro-skills
Looking at the figure above, we realize that 70% of teachers and 78% of students share the same opinion that listening skill is distributed in a good way, and they also think the proportion of reading skill is acceptable in the course book In contrast, skill of reading is only received the approval of 30% of teachers and 24% of students, and writing skill is considered not to be logical with percentage of teachers and students in turn about 40% and 37%
Therefore, as can be seen from table 6, the proportion of the four skills is distributed into two groups: reasonable and unreasonable While the proportion of listening and reading skills is considered to be acceptable with the high agreement of teachers and students, two skills left remain the negative response from the users
When being interviewed to explain for this result, two types of respondents supposed that the course book - NCEE seems to focus much on listening and reading skills, and then other skills are not paid attention adequately; as a result, the proportions of these ones are not much enough
3.4.2 Topics in the course book
As the findings of research, there is a great satisfactory of response to the question relating to the suitability of the topics in the course book 92% of students admitted that the topics are suitable whereas the number of students that had negative assessment is minimal, only taking 5%
For students of the first group, they said that many topics are suitable for their ability then help them have more skills in daily communication such as the topics: loves and hates (module 4), eating and drinking (module 6), buying and selling (module 9), etc, and other topics: people and places (module 3), extraordinary life (module 7) have good effect in learning as at their teenager they often admire someone famous, and these lessons come to them as the special gifts In regard of teachers‟ opinion, 7 of 10 teachers, making up 70% to share the same point of view that the topics in the textbook are appropriate your students‟ age, ability and hobbies and bring the latest information in many field To make the opinion of 30% supposing these topics are not appropriate, they honestly complain that as a country has their own cultural value and people of the country also have their typical hobbies or living manner in general, so it is understandable that they can‟t sympathize with the overall topics mentioned in the course book by the authors
3.4.3 Vocabulary in the course book
With the aim of improving communicative skills in daily conversation, the vocabulary is one of the most important elements to the success in the content of the course book
According to the survey results, the majority of students and teachers said the vocabulary is familiar to their daily life and general communication
Chart 4: Teachers and students‟ evaluation on the vocabulary of the course book
They confirmed that there were not too many new words challenging them, then only few words rarely in use such as guava, tortilla That is why 53% of students and 70% of teachers agreed that vocabulary provided in this book satisfied them However, about 35% of students have their own ideas about the words introduced in NCEE To give the explanation for this, some students were interviewed, when being asked they said that the book seemed to be very useful for the language learners; students also would like the language terms that have closer relation with Vietnamese characteristics and specialties, which may help students a lot at work when they want to introduce and talk about their country
3.4.4 Practice in the course book
Sufficient enough to the students‟ learning demand 30% 12%
Insufficient to the students‟ learning demand 70% 88%
Table 7: Teachers and students‟ opinion on the Practice of the course book
It is probable that students pay much attention on the Practice of the book It should seem, therefore, further studies are needed to learn how difficult the Practice is for the students‟ ability As can be shown in the table 7, more than a half of students (66%) stated that the practice in the book was easy; however, 67% added that they were not useful, only 35% said they were useful, and 34% of them claimed that Practice was too hard to fulfill Moreover, 88% affirmed that the practice exercises in the book were insufficient for their further study In detail, they also emphasized the amount of sentences in each Practice should be added more to help them use fluently the new words or structure they have just learnt Also, the students wish that the formats of Practice should be varied to attract their attention and improve their skills
Most of the teachers expressed their disappointment to the Practice in the book when 8 of 10 survey teachers chose that they are difficult, useless and insufficient to the students‟ learning demand They suggested that in some modules, the language focus needs providing much practice, however, the amount of sentences in each exercise is considered not adequately As a result, students lack their opportunities to practice their language skills when they learnt in class.
Evaluation on the methodology of the course book
In criteria of methodology, NCEE seems to make the same opinions from the teachers and students For the first criteria, that is, the book helps to develop all skills are not accepted by 70% of teachers and 61% of students This finding showed that the material writer should design a more comprehensive book focusing on the language skills that students wish to improve such as writing and speaking Regarding the aspect of improving the ability for communication, 8 of 10 teachers, making up 80% approve it, while 65% of students share the same idea One of the criteria that received the high positive comment from the informant is the activities for individual, pair –work and group –work provided in the book These teaching/learning techniques are mainly presented in speaking activities in Task or Further skill They are known as the important activities to promote communication skill when applying CLT approach
Table 9: Evaluation on the methodology of the course book
In term of the criteria - Language Points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic context, some teachers said that they almost based on the context given in the book to teach their students; that is the reason they highly appreciate the background of the book According to the students, only 45% of them satisfied with the item, as they strongly believe that more realistic and motivating context would be performed to attract their attention With respect of learning environment that welcomes the students‟ creativity and curiosity of the course book,
12% of students agreed with that while 60% of them insist on its negative effect in order to encourage their motivation in class The similarity came from the group of teachers which are clearly stated in the table From the survey result, both groups of respondents are not really happy with the methodological criteria in the material
3.5.2 Effect of the teaching aids applied in the course book
Of all the teaching aids mentioned in the Questionnaire, Pictures and Projector are hardly used in class as they cost much time and effort for preparation, as the informants said, they bring much effectiveness to support teachers as well as attract students‟ attention In contrast, only a small number of teachers (20%) and students
(16%) considered CDs and Cassettes are useful because big classes prevented students from listening to the cassettes The high percentage is also put on the teaching aid
“songs and games” with the agreement of most teachers and students Games and songs, as their nature, motivate students in learning However, if one teacher takes
Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss
The book helps to develop all skills 20% 12% 70% 61% 10% 27%
The book helps to improve your ability for communication 80% 65% 10% 21% 10% 14%
Language Points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic context
The book provides the activities for individual, pair –work and group – work
90% 62% 0% 24% 10% 14% them too much time in class, students may feel bored with the games used again and again such as Bingo, Crossword, etc Hence, there should be more teaching aids applied in the actual class to bring the interesting and effective lessons and help students to achieve the course objectives.
Evaluation findings
This chapter has analyzed and evaluated the data from the questionnaires sending to both teachers and students In comparison with the course requirement and the real teaching and learning environment in HPC while applying the material in teaching GE for the accounting students of HPC, the findings from the collected data in the survey have revealed both appropriateness and inappropriateness of the course book – New Cutting Edge Elementary And the evaluation findings are to be presented as hereafter
3.6.1 Evaluation on the learners’ needs
In regard of course objectives, the book is considered to successfully fulfill its function when most students in the survey found the book a very effective tool to help them prepare for their future jobs and pass the examination with the high score The fact is, most of the students study the textbook with a view to communicate with others in English, which is a favorite to the young nowadays Therefore, it can be said that teaching and learning English at HPPC is communication oriented It is stated in the preface to the book New Cutting Edge –Elementary that the book provides opportunities for practicing the four skills of English language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing usually in an active mode, and the course book is to provide great opportunity for the students to use English for a variety of purposed in interesting situation
3.6.2 Evaluation on the course objectives
By learning the book, students could improve their communicative skills though the great variety of familiar topics such as family; food and drink, clothes, hobbies …, which could be seen as one of the appropriate points that meet the requirement of a general English course In addition, in this material a certain amount of vocabulary is introduced which are useful, effective and often used in particular daily situations As being mentioned as above, obviously, the course requirement and material content seem to comparatively match However, there are still some mismatches between the materials its self and the students‟ expectation that required much for improvements
For example, the vocabulary in each module does not definitely satisfy students‟ demand or the four macro-language skills do not also bring them much progress as predicted It is obviously that the students‟ use language ability in real life communication may be limited because of those above mismatches
3.6.3 Evaluation on the format of the course book
Concerning the formats of the course book, the survey research from the teachers and students shows that both of the respondents are content with almost aspects of the book due to the existence of its great strengths as the comprehensive syllabus and reliable teaching resources that have made the course so popular, with brand-new features, making it even fresher and easier to use However, the book‟s organization should be then revised to be more logical and effective that improves students‟ visualization Also, the arrangement of new words at the end of the book is not necessary It does not really bring about the advantages of observation for the viewers
Therefore, more words should be added to support students while they do the tasks, the vocabulary list should be introduced together with teaching new words
3.6.4 Evaluation on the content of the course book
Regarding the content, it can be generally assumed that the book does not really meet the contents of the GE course at most of the field The strength and weakness of the book lay in the proportions of the four macro-skills, the speaking capacity of students in the fixed situations, the grammar, vocabulary, topics, tasks and exercises From the research survey, there should have some points that teachers need to supplement while teaching At first, vocabulary should be introduced with both transcription and Vietnamese meaning after each module The respondents also added that the book should provide more words relating to their daily life and major (Accounting) that may bring students more confidence in communication at work Regarding the language points, the amount of sentences in each exercise are considered inadequately and students consequently had the ambition of practicing more with various forms of exercises as well as the raise in the numbers of sentences in each exercise Besides, students also proposed that the summary of Language Points and Vocabulary should be provided right after each module This may support students more effectively during learning process For the four macro skills, the book should be separated equally between the skills proportion, more simple text and listening parts should be supplemented to meet learners‟ demand At last, pronunciation with the rule of stress and intonation should be added to take it easier for learners
3.6.5 Evaluation on the methodology of the course book
As far as the survey shows, methodological criteria of the course book meet the requirement of the users on the several aspects, but the weaknesses are also not unavoidable Nearly all the tasks and exercises are instructed to create the activities of individually, pair –work and group –work, which make the students bored when doing things in the same way Another problem is the shortage of assessment and testing suggestions which caused a lot of troubles for teachers in order to prepare for the final oral test and then evaluate the students‟ capacity precisely In the NCEE, teachers claimed that they could not find out the learning strategies which give their students advices or help in the learning process Therefore, those strategies are expected to appear in the next edition of the course book Moreover, there should be more guidance for the four skills, especially for writing skill so that students can improve their required target, and more speaking tasks in the book should be designed in relation to the reading text to develop the students‟ discussion Also, they commented that more suitable and useful games and songs should be added in the modules to motivate their curiosity and creativity
In addition to the opinions above, time allocation for each module should be revised to meet learners‟ demand Especially, when being interviewed for this problem, teachers assumed that the book is aimed to follow the CLT approach; however, it is not really appropriate to apply in our real situation when the class size is too large and students‟ level is low and varied As they advised, before the course of GE, an official test should be hold to measure and separate students‟ levels This helps teachers to know more about their student levels and find more effective ways in class.
Recommendation for the course book‟s adaptation
Generally, taking everything into account, NCEE, like any course book, is not definitely perfect, but if using creatively, it will bring the amazing effects for the learners Adapting and reorganizing it might help to gain more experiences, fresh ideas, and what is the most important- an environment in which students would be happy to work
Moreover assuming that compiling a teaching course book is a hard job which requires much time and effort, so basing on the experience and the survey findings the researcher herself would suggest some adaptations for teachers to deal with the challenges in NCEE, and create good learning conditions for students to achieve the targets set by the course requirement The recommendation for the course book‟s adaptation will be introduced here by using supplementing, expanding, editing, simplifying, personalizing and localizing
The main purpose of the activity is to provide learners more time and exercises to practice when studying grammar or vocabulary At the researcher‟s HPPC College, teachers often apply these methods to help students revise the grammatical structures
Let‟s see the samples for revision of “some/any” in module 6 as below:
Sample 1: Module 6 - Eating and Drinking Use “some or any” to complete the sentences 3.7.2 Editing
The activity of editing should also be used for the part of pronunciation in the course book NCCE Beside listening skill, pronunciation should also be taken into consideration as the amount of this part supplied in the book is quite limited
Particularly, in each module, the book writers only give the examples of word stress, or sentence stress but do not generalize them into form This caused many troubles for students to pronounce words correctly Hence, the pronunciation should be referred by adding techniques of the simple issues such as international phonetic and how to use the dictionary to check pronunciation; pronunciation of individual sounds - vowels and
1 Are there _ eggs in that basket?
2 There aren‟t _ peppers in the fridge
3 There is _ bread on the table
5 Why don‟t you eat _ oranges?
7 There isn‟t _ tea in the tea pot
8 We don‟t need _ bananas but we need _ pineapples
10 Don‟t buy _ tomatoes; buy _ cucumbers because there aren‟t _ left
Are there _ carrots in the fridge? consonants; pronunciation of sounds from the tail of the chain and connector words; word stress and sentence accent; rhythm and intonation The sample of this activity for pronunciation should be conducted at the beginning of the course in module 0 – (Appendix2)
So as to help students revise and enrich their vocabulary, technique of extension should be also suggested Here is the samples:
- The purpose of this part is to provide students with the common verbs which are frequently used in daily activities After the students finish writing the verbs in the circles, and show the pictures using the verbs, teachers should give some more common verbs to enlarge their vocabulary, and then ask them to discuss in groups to find the phrases going with these verbs such as:
+ Play: kinds of sport (football, badminton, basketball, tennis….) musical instruments (the guitar, the piano, the violin…)
+ Listen: to me, to him, to her, to music, to the tape script, to the radio, reason,
This is a chance for students to not only recall their vocabulary and but also an opportunity for teachers to check their students‟ vocabulary under a certain topic of common verbs
- Vocabulary (clothes): this part is aimed at helping students get used to and practice talking about clothes Actually, this is not a difficult task for students, however due to the limited time and exercises in the book, they don‟t have opportunities to practice these words quite often Therefore, the game “Clothing Bingo” is expected to improve their vocabulary right in their class and also the chance for the teacher to check their students‟ vocabulary under a certain topic
- Here are the main steps for teachers‟ instruction:
+ Step 1: PREPARE: Print out different BINGO cards for each child plus a call sheet Cut out the call sheet and put the squares into a hat or bowl
+ Step 2: DISTRIBUTE: Hand out one Bingo card to each student (each card should be different)
+ Step 3: CALL: The teachers should pull out one image, describe it and show it to the students
+ Step 4: WINNING: Once a predetermined pattern is made on a card, the student with that card calls out BINGO
There are many ways to motivate students in learning English Among them, personalizing/localizing should be considered to apply in this book Students like to talk about themselves and whatever relates to their lives, or their country As the writer‟s suggestion, teachers should let their students talk about the topics relating to their real life or culturally familiar to their country
At first, for personalizing activity, in each module, teachers should often create the opportunities for students to share the personal information with their classmates by giving the simple topics such as fv introduce yourself, talk about your hobby, your favorite things,… To help students express their own personality more fluently, in module 4 – Loves and hates, in task of reading “Find an e-mail friend”, after reading a short text about the like and dislike of Teresa, ask students to write about their own hobbies and let them say it to their classmates It is really useful because through the activity, students may have more time practicing speaking and grammar and then they know more about each other
3.7.4 Localizing or modifying cultural/situational content
Localizing is somewhat similar to the way of personalization Obviously, there are few topics or tasks in the book which do not become popular in our lives Therefore, the teacher should modify them in the way that is easier for them to say In module 9 – Buying and Selling, in part of reading, page 80-81 (The World‟s most famous market); it is more useful and interesting if students have chances to find out more about the different famous markets in Vietnam through flash cards
The activity of simplifying is designed to deal with the situations in which students have troubles with the tasks or exercises beyond their abilities Listening always becomes the most difficult skill for students of all levels, and this part in the course book also received lots of complaints from the learners Since the difficult listening tasks and exercises beyond students‟ abilities, some teachers in HPPC do not focus on this skill in class This led to the result that most students in our college are bad at listening and then they were scared of the final test which focuses much on listening and speaking So the writer suggested here the activities of simplifying with the sample of module 6: Listening - Breakfast around the world/ Page53
Sample 1: Listen to the tape and fill in the gap with only one word
Kermal: Well, I usually have breakfast at home before I go to (1) I always have tea, black tea, maybe two or three glasses And I have (2) cheese and eggs and tomatoes, and in Turkey we have fantastic (3) so I usually have bread with (4) and (5) , and sometimes I have (6) , too
Mi-Kyung: I always have breakfast with my family We usually have white (7) , and we have Kim-chi We cannot live without Kim-chi! Kimchi is a traditional (8) of mixed Korean (9) It‟s very hot and (10)
Dimitry: Well, for breakfast, I have tea, usually black tea, with (11) and lots of
(12) never with milk Then I have (13) and cold meat and some cucumbers as well And then I have a small (14) , or some biscuits to finish
This chapter has presented the results of survey research mainly by questionnaires given to teachers and students at HPPC and the recommendation for the course book‟s adaptation The writer herself recognized that the above samples of adapting the course book - NCCE are just simple ones done by common techniques They may not be the best ones but at least, hopefully, they are suitable to elementary students and learning context in our college
Summary of the study
To sum up, materials in general play an undeniable important role in language teaching However, it can be seen that there is no material to suit all the types of learners and then material evaluation after the course seemed to be very urgent to assess how suitable the textbook is as well as identify their strengths and weaknesses and give suggestion for its better use
Basing on the requirement prescribed by the Ministry of Labor – Invalids and Social Affair and the reality of teaching and learning environment in Haiphong Polytechnics College (HPPC), an evaluation of the course book with English language teachers and students at HPPC was carried out in order to compare the material with the course requirement in terms of objective, layout, content and methodology In part 1, rationale, the aim, method, scope, significance, design of the study were clearly mentioned Part 2 is the development with three chapters introducing the review of literature focusing on the issues related to the material evaluation (chapter 1) Chapter
2 comes next with detailed description of current learning and teaching English at the Economics Faculty of HPPC, research method and the data collection procedures
Chapter 3 has analyzed and evaluated the data from the questionnaires done by both teachers and students In comparison with the course requirement and the real teaching and learning English in HPPC situation, the findings from the collected data in the survey have revealed both appropriateness and inappropriateness of the course book – New Cutting Edge Elementary And the evaluation results are presented as follow:
At first, teachers and students at HPPC expressed their satisfaction of using the course book – New Cutting Edge Elementary For teachers, they considered the book as a useful and valuable material to help their students approach the course objectives easily This course book, used at elementary level is a stepping stone in the process of meeting learners‟ settlement and integration The strength and weakness of the book can be clearly seen as the following aspects:
As a Pre-ESP material, NCEE has some worthwhile characteristics in terms of objectives, format, content and methodology The most important thing is that the book closely meets the objectives of the course For one, the material helps students improve their communicative skills by supplying a great variety of familiar topics
Besides, a certain amount of vocabulary which are useful and effective and often used in particular daily situations can also be found in this book Regarding the format, it is consumed that NCEE shows the consensus to the criteria of appropriate format, table content and attractive images for illustration in each module Therefore, it can be said that the course book not only introduces effective communicative language teaching techniques, provide students with the basic knowledge of English and training them to be capable of the four skills, but also introduce grammatical structures together with language skills to make grammar functional and communicative At last, NCEE is considered to create more chances for interaction between teachers and students and among students themselves
Besides the above advantages, some disadvantages can also be found in the book that need adapting to meet the requirement of the course:
• L ack of activities and tasks helping students improve their language items in each module
• S hortage of assessment and testing suggestions for teachers evaluate the students‟ capacity precisely
• T he unreasonable proportions of the four macro-skills demotivating students' expectation to study English
• P ronunciation is not focused much adequately and clearly
Part C - Conclusion comes last with a brief summary of the study as well as giving suggestions for further study
Limitations of the study
This study is conducted with the aim at providing the useful recommendations for the material adaptation to help students achieve the course objectives However, like any study, weaknesses are unavoidable Among the various criteria of evaluation, the study has focused on generally assessing the course book in term of five aspects: students‟ needs, objectives, format, content, and methodology and providing some adaptations for teachers to deal with the challenges in teaching NCEE This may not completely satisfy all reader‟s expectation The limitations also arise from different elements such as limited time, lack of resource and the researcher‟s ability Besides, the limited amount of participants has prevented the writer from generalizing the result, drawing conclusion and finding out solutions for all the students at HPPC
Furthermore, only two types of instruments (questionnaires and formal interview) applied to collect data in this study make it less comprehensive and insightful
Hopefully, further study could use more instruments to explore the issue.
Suggestions for further studies
On the basic of the major finding and the limitation of the study, it is suggested that the further research should be extended to:
Evaluate the course book NCEE for first year navigational students of HPPC
Investigate the motivation of the first year accounting students in English language learning at HPPC
Other techniques for adaptation (deleting, reordering, etc.)
Evaluate the effectiveness of the technique for adaptation of the course book –NCEE
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4 Dudley – Evans, T., & St John, MJ (1998), Development in English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge University Press
5 Ellis, R (1997), The Empirical evaluation of language teaching material, ELT
6 Garinger, D (2002), Textbook selection for the ESL classroom, Center for Applied Linguistics Digest Accessed August 23, 2007
8 Hutchinson, T and Torres, E (1994), The Textbook as Agent of Change, ELT
9 Hutchinson, T.,&Water, A.(1987), English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge
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11 Litz, A (2005), A Textbook Evaluation and ELT Management: A South Korean Case Study, ELT Journal, pp 11 -12
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14 Sarah Cunning Ham, Peter Moors., Frances Eales (2005), New Cutting Edge Elementary, Pearson Longman www.longman.com/cuttingedge
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Appendix 1: Questionnaires for teachers and students
PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN SINH VIÊN Đối tượng: Sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngành kế toán trường Cao đẳng nghề Bách nghệ Hải
Phòng sau khi đã học xong giáo trình Tiếng Anh “New Cutting Edge- Elementary”
Mục đích: Để đánh giá giáo trình Tiếng Anh “New Cutting Edge- Elementary” dành cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất hệ cao đẳng chuyên ngành kế toán, chúng tôi cần tìm hiểu và thu thập những ý kiến đóng góp nhận xét, cũng như nhu cầu và nguyện vọng của các bạn khi học giáo trình này
Những ý kiến đóng góp của các bạn sẽ rất có giá trị cho quá trình nghiên cứu đánh giá giáo trình này để qua đó giúp chúng tôi tìm ra những điểm chưa thật phù hợp của giáo trình, và có những điều chỉnh hợp lý, nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả giảng dạy và chất lượng học tập tại trường Để trả lời những câu hỏi dưới đây, mời bạn vui lòng đánh dấu ( ) vào ô mình chọn
Xin chân thành cảm ơn sự hợp tác của bạn!
PHẦN 1: NHU CẦU HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA BẠN
1 Hãy đánh giá khách quan về trình tiếng Anh của mình trước khi bắt đầu khóa học tiếng Anh cơ sở tại trường?
2 Mục đích của bạn khi học tiếng Anh là gì? Hãy sắp xếp theo thứ tự tăng dần từ 1-4 (từ mục đích quan trọng nhất đến những mục đích khác ít quan trọng hơn)
Giao tiếp với người nước ngoài
Chuẩn bị cho cho công việc sau này
Đạt kết quả cao trong các kỳ thi tại trường
Phục vụ sở thích cá nhân (nghe nhạc, xem phim…) Ý kiến khác (nếu có):
3 Giáo trình NCEE đã đáp ứng những nhu cầu nào sau đây của bạn?
Giao tiếp với người nước ngoài
Chuẩn bị cho cho công việc sau này
Đạt kết quả cao trong các kỳ thi tại trường
Phục vụ sở thích cá nhân (nghe nhạc, xem phim…) Ý kiến khác (nếu có):
Quan trọng nhất Rất quan trọng Quan trọng Ít quan trọng hơn
PHẦN 2: MỤC TIÊU KHÓA HỌC Sau khi học xong giáo trình New Cutting Edge –Elementary:
4 Nhận xét về vốn từ vựng Tiếng Anh sử dụng trong giao tiếp hàng ngày của bạn?
Được cải thiện nhưng không đáng kể
5 Khả năng sử dụng cấu trúc ngữ pháp sau đây của bạn như thế nào?
Cấu trúc ngữ pháp Tốt Khá Trung bình Kém
To be Demonstrative Adj/Pronoun Present Simple Tense Can/can‟t
There be Some/any How much/how many Countable/Uncountable Noun Past Simple Tense
Comparatives/Superlatives Present Continuous tense Future Intension
6 Bạn có khả năng thực hiện các kỹ năng nào dưới đây của bạn sau khi kết thúc chương trình học Anh văn cơ sở
Giới thiệu bản thân và gia đình mình
Nói về sở thích của bản thân
Kể về một kỷ niệm đẹp nhất về tuổi thơ của bạn
Gọi món ăn hoặc đồ uống
Hỏi mua đồ khi ở trong cửa hàng
Giới thiệu về một địa điểm du lịch được yêu thích ở quê hương của bạn
Gọi và nghe điện thoại
7 Hãy cho biết mức tiến bộ của bạn sau khi học kết thúc khóa học này?
Có tiến bộ nhưng không đáng kể
PHẦN 3: HÌNH THỨC TRÌNH BÀY
8 Theo bạn đánh giá, giáo trình đáp ứng được tiêu chí nào về mặt hình thức trình bày:
Yêu cầu về trình bày Tán thành Không tán thành
Giáo trình được in đẹp, rõ ràng
Giáo trình có hình ảnh minh họa
Giáo trình có phần mục lục nêu nội dung, cấu trúc ngữ pháp và từ vựng của từng bài
Mỗi bài đều có tiêu đề, và hướng dẫn cụ thể
Giáo trình có đầy đủ bài tập, ôn tập và kiểm tra
Giáo trình có phần từ vựng đầy đủ phiên âm, dịch nghĩa, từ loại
9 Bạn đánh giá thế nào về sự phân bổ các kỹ năng trong giáo trình này?
Kỹ năng Hợp lý Không hợp lý
10 Theo bạn, chủ đề trong cuốn sách này có được cập nhật và phù hợp với sở thích, lứa tuối của bạn không?
11 Từ vựng cung cấp trong giáo trình có thực sự bổ ích cho bạn khi giao tiếp Tiếng Anh?
Không bổ ích vì không thực tế
12 Bạn nhận xét thế nào về các phần luyện tập được đưa ra trong sách?
Khó và không bổ ích
Dễ nhưng không bổ ích
Phù hợp với khả năng của bạn
Không phù hợp với khả năng của bạn
PHẦN 5: PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC
13 Bạn có nhận xét thế nào về các tiêu chí học thuật được cung cấp trong cuốn sách này? Ýkiến của bạn Tiêu chí
Giáo trình giúp phát triển đầy đủ các kỹ năng
Giáo trình có đầy đủ các hoạt động theo các nhân, cặp, nhóm
Các hoạt động trong giáo trình góp phần tạo không khí sôi nổi trong giờ học, kích thích tính sáng tạo của bạn
Giáo trình đã cải thiện khả năng giao tiếp của bản thân
Ngữ pháp và từ vựng trong giáo trình được đưa vào ngữ cảnh thực tế
14 Những dụng cụ dạy học nào sau đây được giáo viên của bạn sử dụng?
Trò chơi và bài hát
Các dụng cụ dạy học khác
15 Cuối cùng, bạn hãy vui lòng cho chúng tôi biết một vài đề xuất của mình đối với cuốn giáo trình này dựa trên những tiêu chí sau đây?
- 4 kỹ năng(nghe, nói, đọc, viết):
-The end- Thank you for your cooperation!
This questionnaire is designed to collect opinions of teachers toward the current English teaching at Haiphong Polytechnics College on the course book “New Cutting Edge –Elementary”
The researcher highly appreciates your support by completing this questionnaire Your contributions would be valuable and useful to the evaluation research and improvement of the course book
Please answer the following questions carefully and honestly!
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
To answer the question please tick ( ) in the box/es where necessary
SECTION 1: STUDENTS’ DEMAND TO STUDY ENGLISH
1 How do you think about the English level of most your students at the beginning of the course?
2 What do your students set their purposes when studying English? Please rank in ascending order 1-4 (from the most important to the least one)
Pass the final examinations with the high scores
Prepare for their future work
Follow their hobbies (listening to music, watching TV…) Others:
3 Which of the following needs does the course book meet?
Pass the final examinations with the high scores
Prepare for their future work
Follow their hobbies (listening to music, watching TV…)
Language Points Very good Good Not very good
To be Demonstrative Adj/Pronoun Present Simple Tense Can/can‟t
There be Some/any How much/how many Countable/Uncountable Noun
Past Simple Tense Comparatives/Superlatives
Most important Very important Important Least important
SECTION 2: COURSE OBJECTIVES After the course of New Cutting Edge –Elementary,
4 How is your students‟ vocabulary using in daily activities?
5 How well did your students use the following Language Focus?
6 Which of the following are your students able to fulfill?
Introduce yourself and your family
Tell about an unforgettable memory in your childhood
Tell about the favorite tourist area in your hometown
7 What is your evaluation on the format criteria of the course book?
Format Agree Disagree No idea
The format is clear and appropriate
The book is organized effectively
Present Continuous tense Future Intension
The course book provides images and pictures for illustration
The table of content includes content, structures, and vocabulary in each unit
The book includes an adequate vocabulary list or glossary
The book contains an adequate set of assessment and testing suggestions
8 How do you evaluate the proportion of the four skills in this book?
9 Are the topics appropriate your students‟ age, ability and hobbies?
10 How do you think of the vocabulary provided in this book to your students?
11 How do you evaluate on the Practice in the book?
Sufficient enough to the students‟ learning demand
Insufficient to the students‟ learning demand
12 What are your opinions toward methodological criteria of the book?
The book helps to develop all skills
The book helps to improve your ability for communication
Language Points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic context
The book provides the activities for individual, pair –work and group – work
The activities in the book helps to create a learning environment that attracts students creativity and curiosity
13 How do you think about the effect of following teaching aids?
14 After the course, how did your students make progress?
15 At last, would you mind giving some suggestions for the adjustment of this material? Please give your suggestions regarding the following aspects:
- Four skills: (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
-The end- Thank you for your cooperation!
Appendix 2: Sample of supplementing activities
6 [ə] teacher ['ti:tʃə r ] giáo viên
2 [ ɜ: ] shirt [ʃɜ:t] áo sơ mi
1 [aI] sky [skaI] bầu trời
2 [e I ] table ['teI bl] cái bàn
3 [ɔI] toy [tɔI] đồ chơi
4 [eə] chair [tʃeə] cái ghế
7 [aʊ] house [haʊs] ngôi nhà
8 [əʊ] notebook ['nəʊtbʊk] quyển vở
1 [k] desk [desk] bàn học sinh
2 [h] horse [hɔ:rs] con ngựa
3 [tʃ] watch [wɔtʃ] đồng hồ đeo tay
4 [p] port [pɔ:rt] cảng biển
6 [t] pet [pet] vật nuôi trong nhà
8 [ʃ] fish [f I ʃ] con cá b Voiced consonants
5 [l] lunch [lʌn tʃ] bữa trưa
12 [dʒ] orange [ɔ:rIndʒ] quả cam
1 one [wʌn] 21 twenty-one ['twentɪ'wʌn]
2 two [tu:] 22 twenty-two ['twentɪ' tu:]
3 three [θri:] 23 twenty-three ['twentɪ'θri:]
4 four [fɔ:] 24 twenty-four ['twentɪ'fɔ : ]
5 five [faiv] 25 twenty-five ['twentɪ'faiv]
6 six [sɪks] 26 twenty-six ['twentɪ'sɪks]
7 seven [„sevn] 27 twenty-seven ['twentɪ'sev(ə)n]
8 eight [eit] 28 twenty-eight ['twentɪ'eɪt]
9 nine [nain] 29 twenty-nine ['twent'naɪn]
11 eleven [i‟levn] 31 thirty-one [,θ ɜ: tɪ 'wʌn]
12 twelve [twelv] 32 thirty-two [,θ ɜ: tɪ' tu:]
13 thirteen [,θ ɜ :'ti:n] 40 forty ['fɔ : tɪ]
14 fourteen [fɔ:'ti:n] 50 fifty ['fiftɪ]
15 fifteen [fif'ti:n] 60 sixty ['sikstɪ]
16 sixteen [siks'ti:n] 70 seventy ['sevntɪ]
17 seventeen [,sevn'ti:n] 80 eighty ['eitɪ]
18 eighteen [ei'ti:n] 90 ninety ['naintɪ]
19 nineteen [nain'ti:n] 100 one hundred [w n] ['hʌndrəd]
Appendix 3: Sample for expanding activities boots dress jumper scarf sweater dress socks slippers jacket
Appendix 3: Sample for localizing activities
Appendix 4: Table of the book’s Contents
What English do you know? page 6
Common words Numbers 0–21 Plurals The alphabet Pronouns and possessive adjectives
Numbers 1–100 Days of the week Saying hello and goodbye Classroom instructions
Module 1 People and places page 8
2 be: personal information Pronunciation: short forms
4 be: personal questions Pronunciation: Sentence stress in questions and short answers
Names and countries Pronunciation: Word stress
1 this, that, these, those Pronunciation: this /DIs/, that /Dœt/, these /Di…z/ and those /D´Uz/
Everyday objects Pronunciation: Word stress Family vocabulary
Reading and listening: My favourite thing
1 Present simple questions Pronunciation: Sentence stress in questions
2 Present simple (positive and negative)
Life in Britain Listening: Life in Australia
1 Present simple: he and she, like …ing, questions
Pronunciation: Third person verb forms
2 Present simple questions: he and she
3 Activity verbs and adverbs of frequency
Activities Listening: Celebrity loves and hates
Reading: An American star in London and a British star in Hollywood
1 can and can‟t Pronunciation: can and can‟t
2 Articles (2): a/an, the and zero
Module 6 Eating and drinking page 52
A Listening and speaking: Personal information
C Listening: Information about times and prices
1 There is and There are Pronunciation: Linking
2 some and any Pronunciation: Sentence stress
3 How much and How many
Food (countable and uncountable nouns)
Listening: Breakfasts around the world
1 Past simple: was and were Pronunciation: Past forms of be
2 Past simple: regular and irregular verbs Pronunciation: Regular past simple forms
Years, decades and centuries Pronunciation: Sentence stress
Reading: An ordinary life … an amazing idea Listening: A true story
Task Further skills Study Practise Remember
Task: Find information from documents
Real life: Answering questions Pronunciation: Stress and intonation in questions
Study tip: Capital letters Pronunciation spot: The sound /´/ (schwa)
Task: Talk about your family tree
Real life: Classroom language Pronunciation: Sounding polite
Study tip: Learning grammar words Pronunciation spot: The sounds /D/ and /T/
Task: Find things in common
Real life: Days and times Pronunciation: Sentence stress
Commas, full stops, and and but
Study tip: Remembering spelling Pronunciation spot: Silent syllables
Task: Find an e-mail friend
Real life: Asking politely Pronunciation: Sounding polite
Study tip: Finding spelling in a dictionary (1)
Pronunciation spot: Words ending in s
Task: Complete a survey about transport
Task: Describe the differences between two pictures
Real life: Ordering food and drink Pronunciation: international words;
Real life: Dates and other past time phrases
Time linkers: before, after, then
Study tip: Finding grammar in a dictionary (1)
Task: Tell your life story
Study tip: Finding grammar in a dictionary (2)
Pronunciation spot: The sounds /O…/ and /‰…/
1 Past simple negative forms Pronunciation: Sentence stress
Describing films Pronunciation: Word stress
Listening: The author behind the legend
Module 9 Buying and selling page 78
1 Comparative adjectives Pronunciation: Stressed and weak syllables
Shops and shopping Reading: The world‟s most famous markets
1 Present continuous Pronunciation: The sound /IN/
2 Present simple or Present continuous?
Listening: People who wear uniforms
Module 11 The world around us page 96
A Grammar: Present simple, Present continuous, Past simple
B Reading and speaking: Snacks around the world
1 can and can‟t for ability Pronunciation: Sentence stress and weak forms
3 Use of articles (3) Pronunciation: Different pronunciations of the
1 Future intentions: going to, would like to and want to
Pronunciation: Weak form of to
2 Suggestions and offers Pronunciation: Sounding polite
2 might and will Pronunciation: Present and future forms
D Listening: Song: Return to Sender
E Reading and speaking: Comparatives and superlatives
Reading: Amazing facts about the natural world
Going out and staying in
Learning for the future page 112
Education and careers Pronunciation: Silent vowel sounds
Module 14 Keeping in touch page 120
1 Present perfect Pronunciation: Sentence stress
2 Time phrases with the Present perfect and Past simple
Ways of communicating Reading: Getting in touch through the ages
1 Prepositions of movement Pronunciation: Sentence stress
2 have to, don‟t have to, can and can‟t Pronunciation: have to
Things in a town Pronunciation: Word stress
D Listening: Song: Trains and Boats and Planes
Task: Interview other students about arts and entertainment
Task: Choose souvenirs from your country
Real life: Arranging a night out
Study tip: Checking and revising Pronunciation spot: Stressed syllables
Real life: Asking in shops Pronunciation: Sentence stress in questions
Study tip: Finding spelling in a dictionary (2)
Task: Complete and describe a picture
Real life: Street talk Pronunciation: Sounding polite
Task: Devise a general knowledge quiz
Real life: Saying quantities and big numbers
Study tip: Recording new vocabulary Pronunciation spot: The sounds /w/ and /h/
Real life: Talk about the weather
Study tip: Remembering collocations Pronunciation spot: Short forms
Task: Find the right course
Real life: Applying for a course
Study tip: English outside the classroom
Pronunciation spot: The sounds /Å/, /´U/ and /O…/
Real life: Telephoning Pronunciation: Sounding polite
Study tip: Revising Pronunciation spot: The sounds /œ/ and /ứ/
Task: Plan a website about your town
Listening: People who wear uniforms
Vocabulary and writing: Describing people
Task: Complete and describe a picture
1 Look at the three people who are talking on their mobiles Do they look happy or not?
2 Listen to their conversations and answer the questions.
Who are they talking to?
What do they say they are doing?
Are they telling the truth or not?
Listen and complete the sentences. for a bus. an important report for home. c
1 We use the Present continuous for actions happening now or around now.
2 Complete the gaps in the Present continuous forms.
You/We/They‟ working late.
Pronunciation tell the truth 1 Listen to ten sentences Which picture(s) above do they describe?
Listen and practise the \IN\ sound at the end of the -ing forms.
– I‟m not He/She You/We/They
? What am I he/she/it doing? you/we/they
2 laughing chatting raining• \IN\ • \IN\ • \IN\
Read Language summary A on page 156 3 Look at the tapescript for recording 3 on page 171.
Listen again and practise the sentences.
Practice 3 Make true sentences for you.Then compare with a partner. a I (sit) near the door.
MD Use your mini-dictionary to check the spelling of these -ing forms. eat buy c d read play e f sit drink g h drive get i j ride clean
I‟m not sitting near the door.
Our teacher (write) on the board.
2 Work in pairs Ask and answer about the photos below.
What‟s he doing? What are they doing?
He‟s cleaning windows They‟re playing football. a b c d e f g h i
2 Work in pairs Take turns to describe one of the people in the pictures Do not say who it is Your partner guesses. his person is wearing a suit, a blue shirt …
1 a Look at the people in the pictures Where are they going? b MD Tick the things you can see in the pictures? Which things are the people wearing? Which are they carrying? trousers jeans sandals tights a hat a tie a coat a belt a briefcase a skirt shorts a scarf boots trainers a jumper socks a handbag gloves a dress earrings shoes a shirt a suit a jacket a T-shirt a backpack a sports bag
3 Describe a student in your class for your partner to guess.
1 Look at the pairs of words Are the vowel sounds underlined the same (S) or different (D)? Listen and check a tie / tights S f shirt / shorts b coat / scarf D g skirt / suit c shoes / boots h sandals / handbag d belt / dress I jumper/jacket e socks / gloves j jeans/earrings T10.5
2 Practise saying the words Pay attention to the vowel sounds.
We went out onto the streets to see what people are really wearing this summer … a Pedro, 26, City banker Going to: a business appointment. b Dimitri, 22, tourist.
Going to: The National Gallery. c Helen, 32, accountant.
Going to: the gym. d Camilla, 28.
Going to: her best friend‟s wedding. e Mel, 20, art student.
It‟s Friday night and Michelle is getting ready to go out At work, Michelle wears dark colours and very little make-up, so when she goes out she wears bright colours This evening she‟s wearing a new pink top and a blue skirt, and quite a lot of make-up.
MD Look back at the photo of Michelle in uniform
1 a Andy and Michelle wear a uniform in their job.
What are their jobs? b MD What clothes do they wear in their job? Are their uniforms smart / ugly / heavy / uncomfortable? c T10.6 Who do you think wears the following?
Listen and check. a black and white hat a hat that is 300 years old a white shirt leather trousers black trousers very big shoes tights and the photo of her above In what ways does she look different? Read and answer the questions. a b c d e f
What‟s Michelle doing at the moment?
What kind of colours does she usually wear at work?
What colours does she wear to go out?
Does she wear a lot of make-up at work?
Is she wearing make-up tonight?
She wears dark colours at work.
This is usually true / happening now.
She‟s wearing a pink top tonight.
This is usually true / happening now.
2 a Words we use with the Present simple: usually always often normally every day b Words we use with the Present continuous:
Listen again and answer the questions.
Why is Andy‟s uniform uncomfortable?
Why does he wear women‟s tights?
Do you think he likes his uniform?
Does Michelle like her uniform generally? Why?
Which part of her uniform doesn‟t she like? Why?
Do you wear a uniform at school or work? Do you like it? If not, would you like to wear a uniform?
Who wears a uniform in your country? Which now today at the moment
1 a Choose the correct tense for the questions.
MD Look at the pictures Who: has got a moustache? Mike has got long hair? has got blue eyes? is in his/her thirties? is wearing casual clothes? is black? is slim? has got a beard? has got a shaved head? has got short hair? has got blond(e) hair? is well-built? is wearing smart clothes? has got medium-length hair? has got a pony-tail? is in his/her twenties? is very good-looking?
2 Which other words can replace the blue words? b Work in pairs Ask and answer the questions.
2 a Which questions are the people below discussing? Put the verbs in the correct tense, Present simple or Present continuous 1 a b c d e
I usually (a) (wear) make-up when I (b) (go) to work, and when I (c) (go) out in the evening of course, but I
(d) (not wear) any at the moment because I (e) (work) at home today.
I‟m quite lucky – in my office everyone‟s quite casual People normally (f) (wear) jeans and maybe a shirt or jumper Even the boss (g) (not wear) a suit Today it‟s really hot so I
(h) (wear) shorts and sandals, and I (i) (not wear) socks.
I (j) (wear) shorts today because I (k) (go) to the gym and it‟s very hot, but I (l) (not normally wear) them because I (m) (hate) my legs!
3 Work in pairs Use the sentences in exercises 1 and 2to describe the six people
4 Write a description of yourself or of a famous person you all know
Describe your (or their) appearance and how you (or they) dress.
❜ b Listen and check your answers.
I‟ve got (short blond hair and green eyes).
I usually wear (jeans and jumpers).
Today I‟m wearing (a suit and tie).
3 Work in groups at work/school, Tell other what students about when you
Task: Complete and describe a picture
1 Look at picture A and answer the questions on the right.
2 Listen to someone describing picture A and find four mistakes
Is it morning or evening?
What is the dog doing? What colour is it?
What‟s the girl doing? What‟s she wearing?
What has she got in her right hand?
What‟s the young man wearing?
Describe the two people in the café.
