Aims of the study
This study aims to evaluate Kid’s Box 5 to find out the appropriateness of this textbook for the students and the context of teaching and learning of the teachers and grade 5 students at DTDS in terms of aim, design and organization, content and methodology Hopefully, the findings of this study will provide the teachers a useful data both strengths and weaknesses of this textbook as well as some recommendations for these weaknesses so as to enhance the learning efficiency of the students.
Research question
To what extent is the textbook Kid’s Box 5 appropriate for the course requirements in terms of aims, design and organization, content and methodology for grade 5 students at Doan Thi Diem Private Primary School?
Scope of the study
Materials can be evaluated under different categories such as effectiveness, suitability and teaching ability of the material This study only focuses on evaluating the suitability of the material Base on some main criteria in evaluating materials by Cunningsworth (1984), Ur (1996), McDonough and Shaw (1998), this study focuses mainly on the aims, design and organization, content and methodology of the material Therefore, the textbook will be evaluated under certain categories above In addition, the research subjects are mainly confined to English teachers who have experience in working with this textbook Kid’s Box 5 and only grade 5 students’ feedback when they have finished learning the book Kid’s Box 5 Finally, there are some instruments for collecting data, but only two of them: document analysis and questionnaires are used in this study.
Significance of the study
The findings of this thesis give the teachers and students at DTDS useful information about their textbook which helps to identify the problems and suggests some recommendations to improve them Furthermore, it is hoped that those research results about this textbook will make some contributions related to materials to the teachers and teacher trainers or administrators in some other primary schools whose students and teaching context are the same to DTDS In addition, this particular study focuses on young learners and their textbooks This requires different considerations in designing and implementing the study This study contributes to the literature in this respect both by providing data about young learners and their textbooks, and with valuable information about how to do research with young learners.
Method of the study
To investigate the question, the survey research was applied The instruments employed in this study included document analysis, teacher and student survey questionnaires The evaluation was conducted by using the model of Hutchinson &
Waters (1987) The teacher and student questionnaires with closed questions helped to collect both teachers and students’ opinions about the suitability of this textbook.
Overview of the study
The study mainly consists of three parts as follows:
Part A is the general introduction with the reasons for choosing the topic, the aims, research question, scope, significant, methods and overview of the thesis
Part B is the development with three chapters: chapter one presents a review of literature, concentrating on the issues related to materials and material evaluation; chapter two deals with the research methodology applied in the study with the data collection instruments, the subjects of the research and the data collection procedure; chapter three presents data analysis and discussion Part C states the finding of the study based on the analysis of the data and some recommendations to improve the material and conclusion which encloses practical suggestion for the future use of this textbook.
LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Materials in teaching and learning
Definition of materials and types of materials
Tomlinson (2001:66) defines materials as “anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language.” Materials can be in forms of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, and a newspaper All the things that the teachers use in class to teach languages for their students can be considered as materials Shared with this opinion, Zohrabi, Sabouri & Behroozian
(2012) state materials can be in different forms of printed materials such as books, guidebooks and non-printed materials like CDs, cassettes or audio materials In addition, McGrath (2002: 7) contends that “materials could include realia: real objects such as a pencil, a chair or a bag and representations such as a drawing, a photograph of a person, house or scene” Materials of these types can be used effectively for language teaching and learning However, in the local setting, textbook seems to be the most widely used material in language program
Therefore, it can be understood that textbook is a part of material or a textbook is a material In this study, the term “textbook” and “material” are used interchangeably
According to McGrath (2002), the materials can be classified into four main types:
Published materials: This type of materials includes books and reference materials such as dictionaries, grammars, test practice materials, advice on language learning, tapes accompanying course books or supplementary books
Authentic materials: Authentic materials consists of newspaper, magazines, user manuals, leaflets and brochures, foreign mission information, letters faxes, emails, videos ( films or documentaries), and songs They are those taken from real life
Adapting and supplementing published materials: Materials in this type are those that have been adapted or supplemented in some ways These cut-up materials can be self-standing or deliberately designed to supplement the course books
Specially-prepared materials: Specially-prepared materials are considered to be useful as there is always a need for material that is more precisely tailored to the needs of students working on their own
The materials should be suitable to the objectives of the course and meet the need of learners Therefore, when choosing materials, the teachers should consider factors such as learners’ needs, level, and the objectives of the course.
Roles of materials in language teaching and learning
The important role of materials in language teaching program has been stated by many authors There is a general view to see that materials play a positive part in teaching and learning second language According to Richards (2001), teaching materials can be considered as a key component in most language programs In spite of any kinds of materials, teaching materials can serve as the basic for much of the language input that the learners receive and as the source for much of the language practice that occurs in the classroom Richards clarifies that materials can also be used as a source of different classroom activities, content of the lessons, and maintenance of the skill balance In some classrooms, they may apply mainly to add and make the teacher’s instruction complete For some learners, it can be the main source of having contact with the language, separate from information prepared through the teacher
Furthermore, materials are useful for language teachers when they can serve as “a form of teacher training” (Richards, 2001:215) Nunan (1991) shares the same idea: good teaching materials are of great help to experienced teachers or poorly trained teachers Regarding beginner teachers, it can also be used as a source of teacher instruction Tomlinson (2003: 39) believes that “A textbook helps provide a route map for both teachers and learners, making it possible for them to look ahead to what will be done in a lesson as well as to look back on what has been done”
Despite the impact of new technologies, textbooks will doubtlessly continue to play an important role in language teaching and provide a useful source for both teachers and learners They are seen as sources of achieving learners’ needs and matching the aims and objectives of their needs They will help to equip students to use language effectively for their own purposes Textbooks and other materials used in language learning, generally, present a certain way of looking at the world They fulfill an extremely important role in the process of education and English language teaching Nunan (1999: 98) states that “a textbook is the main component of any instructional program and it is difficult to imagine a class without it ”
Cunningsworth (1995: 7) believes that textbooks have multiple roles in English language classes: they can help to present the written and spoken materials, provide activities, promote interaction, serve as a reference of vocabulary and grammar, act as a source for classroom activities, serve as a syllabus, and offer self-access work or self-directed learning
To sum up, teaching materials or textbooks are important factors in language class
They provide the source of activities, skills and practice for both teachers and learners However, O’Neill claimed “a textbook can best provide only a base or a core of materials It is a jumping – off point for teachers and class.” (cited from Crawford, 2002: 87) Therefore, to meet the objectives of the course and the needs of the learners, material selection is necessary and sometimes they need to be evaluated to suit the language program and the learners’ needs.
Materials evaluation
There are many definitions of materials evaluation by the authors The term evaluation has been used to define a variety of processes in the field of applied linguistics Lynch (1996: 2) defines evaluation as “the systematic attempt to gather information in order to make judgments or decisions” However, evaluation is different from assessment as Harmer (2001: 301) states that “the assessment of a course book is an out-of-class judgment as to how well a new book will perform in class Course book evaluation, on the other hand, is a judgment on how well a book has performed in fact” In addition, most of the definitions agree that material evaluation has given a great deal of attention because of their important role in ELT
Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 97) defines that evaluation is basically a “matching process: matching the needs to available solutions” Murphy (2000) in his words agrees that evaluation is a key concept to “determine the extent to which a programme is worthwhile, and to aid decision-making through the purposeful gathering information”
In general, material evaluation is the assessment of how well the materials are actually fulfilling the prescribed objectives Material evaluation includes the things to be evaluated, the objectives of the materials and the relation of materials to the objectives and requirements of a particular context
1.2.2 The importance of materials evaluation
Cunningsworth (1984) states that most teachers use published teaching materials at some stages in their teaching career No matter where, what and to whom they teach, they use some published materials for it is time and money saving
Therefore, they have to evaluate the materials to reach sound decisions about them
McDonough and Shaw (1998: 65) state that teachers may be “interested in evaluation as a useful process in its own right, giving insight into the organizational principles of the materials and helping them to keep up with the developments in the field.” As a result, all teachers evaluate the materials they use in the classroom at one point or another
Hutchinson and Waters (1987), after stating that evaluation is “a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose” (1987: 96), continues with a clarifying statement that evaluation of materials is, then, concern with finding the better solution among the available resources by making use of a systematic checklist of criteria which highlights the important variables Then, there is no one absolute solution to fit the required purpose, but different degrees of fitness in materials evaluation This is confirmed by Cunningsworth (1984): “No course book will be totally suited to a particular teaching situation The teacher will have to find his own way of using it and adapting it if necessary.”
(1984: 9) Therefore, it is important to find the best choice among the others for the required purpose and a careful evaluation is the most effective way to ensure the effectiveness of the choice made because it “can save a lot of expense and frustration” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987)
Ellis (1997) focuses on two reasons why language teachers should evaluate materials The first one is to choose the most suitable material for a particular situation among the variety of ones This evaluation is often evaluated before the course takes place The second reason is to assess whether the chosen material fit the purposes of the course for a period of time
In view of the above, it is, therefore, very important to conduct ELT textbook evaluation so as to ensure ELT textbooks can effectively facilitate the attainment of our teaching objectives
In categorizing materials evaluation, different terms have been suggested by the authors to divide the types of materials evaluation The classification stated by Johnson (1989) with three sub types: preliminary, formative, and summative This classification is similar to Cunningsworth (1995) and McGrath (2002) with different names: pre-use evaluation, in-use evaluation, and post-use evaluation respectively
Preliminary or pre-use evaluation tends to be the most difficult kind since there is no actual experience of using the course book This evaluation is carried out before a course book and it is probably the most common
Formative or in-use evaluation is a kind of evaluation for suitability, involving
“matching the course book against a specific requirement including the learners’ objectives, the learners’ background, the resources available, etc.” (Cunningsworth, 1995:14) This type of evaluation refers to course book evaluation while the material is in use to see whether it should be considered for replacement
Summative or post- use evaluation refers to an assessment of a textbook’s fitness over a period of continual use Evaluation of this kind can be practical in helping to decide whether to use the same textbook on future occasions
In this paper, formative evaluation is used with the aim to seek out the suitability of Kid’s Box 5 when it is in use for grade 5 students in DTDS
There are certain kinds of models suggested for the evaluation of the language teaching materials in the literature This paper presents several popular models suggested by Ellis (1997), McDough& Shaw (1993) and Hutchinson and Waters (1987)
Evaluation model proposed by Ellis (1997)
Ellis (1997) suggests a model in which he suggests the practice of a detailed empirical evaluation and focuses on evaluation at the task level with reference to its actual teaching and learning context This model aims to identify the match between the task planned and the task in use Seven steps below are in the process of this model: choosing a task to follow; describing the task with specification of input, procedures, language activities, and outcomes; planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above; collecting information before, while and after the task was used, and what and how the task was performed; analyzing the information collected; reaching conclusions relating to what has been discovered, making recommendations for the future teaching; writing the report
Evaluation model proposed by McDonough and Shaw (1993)
McDonough and Shaw (1993) suggest an evaluation model with three stages:
External evaluation, internal evaluation and overall evaluation
Learning styles of and teaching styles for primary students
Children learn language in a different way from adults because of their young minds Therefore, characteristics of young learners and their learning styles affect second language acquisition
Basic principles of teaching young learners
There are some basic principles of teaching young learners by different authors
Piaget (1970) says that “Children are active learners and thinkers.” That means children construct knowledge from actively interacting with the physical environment in developmental stages They learn through their own individual actions and exploration Vygotsky (1962) states different opinion “children learn through social interaction” Children construct knowledge through other people, through interaction with adults Adults/teachers work actively with children in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) or the difference between the child's capacity to solve problems on his own and his capacity to solve them with assistance The adult’s role is very important in a child’s learning process Bruner
(1983) shares Vygotky’s opinion when he focuses on the importance of language in a child’s cognitive development in which “children learn effectively through scaffolding by adults.” He shows how the adult uses “scaffolding” to guide a child’s language learning
Characteristics of young learners from 7-12 years old
According to Slatterly and Willis (2001), young learners at this age are learning to read and write in first language; are developing as thinkers; understand the difference between the real and the imaginary; can plan and organize how best to carry out an activity; can work with others and learn from others; can be reliable and take responsibility for class activities and routines Therefore, the textbook used for young children should take advantage of these characteristics to arouse their ability and encourage their interest
Ideas for teaching English to young learners
EFL teachers of young learners can take advantage of the flexibility of young minds and the malleability of young tongues to grow better speakers of English Shin
(2006) states ten ideas for teaching to young learners:
Supplement activities with visuals, realia, and movement
Involve students in making visuals and realia
Move from activity to activity
Use stories and contexts familiar to students
Establish classroom routines in English
Use first language as a resource when necessary
Bring in helpers from the community Collaborate with other teachers in your school
Communicate with other teaching English to young learners professionals
In general, young learners have different needs and characteristics when learning languages so teaching English to young learners requires different approaches, methodology and materials Therefore, choosing a material which suits to them and promotes their ability is necessary
This chapter describes the context of teaching and learning English in DTDS Then the methodology and procedures carried out in this study will be explored.
An overview of current English teaching and learning at DTDS
English has been applied for primary students in the pilot program from grade 3 to grade 5 as an optional subject by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) at most of the public primary schools in Vietnam with two periods per week English in DTDS is much focused and students have a chance to learn English from grade 1 by both Vietnamese and foreign teachers from six to eight periods per week The teaching and learning condition is quite good The classrooms are equipped with different facilities to support teachers and students in teaching and learning: boards, computers, projectors, computer lab rooms and CD players However, the class size is rather big for an English class, from 29 to 32 students in each class
In terms of teachers, the foreign teachers are from different English speaking countries such as England, America, Canada and Australia They are employed via a center that is in charge of management and responsible for assessment of their teaching ability as well as teaching certificates In spite of different methodologies of teaching or even quality, the Vietnamese teachers in this school were all graduated from universities and most of them achieved level B2 which is equivalent to the Common European Framework decided by MOET The levels of students are quite different when there are some students are much better than others because they are afforded to learn more English outside school time
Because DTDS is a private school, the Ministry of Education permits the school to choose the materials for teaching English Kid’s Box is chosen because it is considered a perfect book for general use and also fully covers the syllabus of the Cambridge Young Learners English (YLE) tests which are applied every year for the students in DTDS However, the differences in learning styles and different levels of learning cause some difficulties for teachers to conduct their lessons effectively and arouse the learning interest among students.
Research methods
A survey research was done to gather the information needed To collect the data, document analysis and survey questionnaires were employed Document analysis plays an important role which provided an in-depth analysis of the material under evaluation In this paper, Kid’s Box 5 and syllabus of course requirements analysis were carried out Then, the survey questionnaires were used to collect the data from the students’ and teachers’ opinion The analysis of the data collected was used to draw conclusions related to the research questions already identified
In this study, the evaluation was conducted basing on an analysis of the teaching material and the requirements of the course Thus, the evaluation model was adopted by Hutchinson and Waters’ model (1987) which indicates two types of analysis: objective and subjective analysis and the match of them to find out the results For subjective analysis, course requirements in four criteria: aim, design and organization, contents and methodology were analyzed to seek the requirements and the needs of students For objective analysis, the author analyzed the textbook Kid’s Box 5 in the same criteria Then, the collected data was analyzed to find out whether the material matches these requirements for students
Survey questionnaires were used to evaluate textbook Kid’s Box 5 used for grade 5 students basing on Hutchinson and Waters’ model in which the course requirements were analyzed as subjective analysis, information was collected from questionnaire as objective analysis Then the matching of two analyses was carried out All the items required the participants respond using a four- point Likert Scale Rating scale was numerically coded: 1 was strongly disagree, 2 was disagree, 3 was agree and 4 was strongly agree
The teacher questionnaire was divided into four main sections with 27 items
Section I with 1 question was designed to seek the appropriateness of the textbook to the aims of the course Section II had 8 questions from number 2 to 9 to seek the teacher’s evaluation of the suitability of the material to the design and organization of the course requirements Section III including 14 items from number 10 to number 23 surveyed teachers’ ideas of suitability of the materials to the content prescribed by the course Items from 10 to 14 were about the topics, items from 15 to 18 were about language content, and items from 19 to 23 were about the language skills Section IV included 4 items from 24 to 27 collect teachers’ ideas of the methodology in the textbook
The student questionnaire consisted of the same categories as the teacher questionnaire To avoid misunderstanding when answering in English, the student questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese, the learners’ mother tongue, and the language was simple to help them understand easily
In this questionnaire, item number 1 is about the aims of the material, items 2-9 were about the design and organization of the book, items 10-14 dealt with the topics in the book, items 15-18 investigated the students’ ideas on the appropriateness of language content offered by the book, items 19-23 were about language skills mentioned in the book, items 24-27 were about the methodology used in the book.
Participants
The participants in this study include14 English teachers who have been teaching Kid’s Box in DTDS Some teachers are in charge of teaching Kid’s Box 5, some teachers used to teach this book one or two years ago with different experience and years in teaching At the time doing this research, there were 6 teachers who were in charge of teaching 18 grade 5 classes Therefore, the researcher randomly chose 6 classes which were taught by these 6 teachers to give questionnaire to investigate their ideas They had finished learning Kid’s Box 5 at the time when they did the survey.
Procedures
The data was collected at the end of the English course in May 2014 The researcher used document analysis and questionnaires to collect dada for the purpose of the study
In order to obtain data for the research, the textbook was analyzed in terms of aims, design and organization, content and methodology These criteria were based on the materials evaluation by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) Therefore, the model suggested by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) was used with subjective analysis and objective analysis After conducting subjective analysis with the course requirements and objective analysis with Kid’s Box 5 according to four criteria aim, design and organization, content and methodology simultaneously, the matching of two analyses was analyzed to seek out the results
2.4.2 Questionnaires for students and teachers
To collect the data, 192 grade 5 students and 14 English teachers at DTDS were selected
The researcher went to 6 out of 18 classes of six English teachers who are in charge of teaching grade 5 at the school year 2013-2014 and gave the questionnaire to the students After the introduction was made, the research topic was explained to the students in Vietnamese to have clear explanation and easy understanding for the students Moreover, difficult terms were explained The students were given 20 minutes to complete the questionnaires
Nearly the same to the students, the researcher used a break time with all the English teachers in the room, however the questionnaires were delivered to English teachers who used to be or are grade 5 teachers After the topic and purposes of the study were explained, the participating teachers took the questionnaires and they could finish at any time in the day and gave back to the researcher at the end of the school day.
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Document analysis
The appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course
By analyzing the course objectives and syllabus of material, the appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course was found out
After the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is applied as the standard evaluation for both teachers and students, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued the Decision No 3321/QĐ-BGDĐT on a pilot program in English for primary school students on August 12 th 2010 DTDS also bases on the MOET programme According to the objectives of this programme, grade 5 students have ability to communicate simply in four language skills They can form basic and simple communication by every conversation at school and family This also provides students with basis and simple background of English such as understanding of countries, human being, and cultures of English speaking countries According to language focus, the students can get common words for familiar topics; acquire basic knowledge of grammar such as tenses, kinds of sentences
In addition, as the characteristics of a private school with special elements, for example, the school focuses much in English subject for students from grade 1 and it is following high quality programme Beside the knowledge and language objectives for students as the MOET, the objectives of the programme in DTDS also base on the programme for the Young Learner English (YLE) tests as the particular objectives
Each of two levels in CEFR corresponds to one of the YLE tests These objectives according to CEFR coincide with those of the Cambridge ESOL YLE Tests After finishing grade 5 or primary school, the students can achieve level A2 or they can be confident in taking part in Flyer test The objectives of A2 (Flyer) level are the ability to handle social functions (greeting people, ask how they are and react to news; handle very short social exchanges; ask and answer questions about what they do at school and in free time; make and respond to invitations; discuss what to do, where to go and make arrangements to meet; make and accept offers.) and ability to perform simple classroom tasks in English.
The appropriateness of the material to the content requirements of the
Kid’s Box 5 covers all the relevant language structures, presents and practises the vocabulary list which is too comprehensive to include all of lexical items in the Pupil’s book Language is recycled throughout the units and pupils can practise the language in different contexts Kid’s Box has followed the syllabus for the YLE tests so that each cycle of two levels corresponds to one of the tests: Starter, Mover and Flyer Kid’s Box 5 is equivalent to Flyer (level A2) which aims at communicating in simple expressions or the students can express what they understand, their problem at home or school; understanding texts about everyday topics, even if they do not know all the words; writing a short message on a postcard or in an email or writing about how they feel The aims of the material which were made on the aims of the syllabus objectives for A2 (Flyer) level and they were detailed in twelve units of the material (See appendix 4)
In short, according to the above analysis, the material has basically met the aims of the course in covering all the skills and language points with their purposes as the requirement
3.1.2 The appropriateness of the material to the content requirements of the course
In this part, the content of the material and the content requirements of the course are compared and analyzed to find out the correspondence of the material to the content requirement of the course
3.1.2.1 Syllabus analysis The content syllabus of the course is presented in Table 3
1 Theme Friends, school, family and world around
2 Text - types Reading texts, dialogues, story, and song
3 Topics Familiar topics helping handle social function
- Verb tense: present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous, future with “ be going to”, present perfect
- Complex sentences: clauses of time, place, reason, … ; wh-questions: what, when, how; yes/no questions
- Modal verbs; Nouns; Adjectives; Adverbs
- Prepositions: by, on, in, at…
- Be made of/ in/ for/ by
Words are correspondent to themes word stress , rhythm, intonation, syllable, homophones, some difficult phonemes, /ed/
5 Macro skills Basically, develop 4 language skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening
Table 3: Content requirements of the course 3.1.2.2 Material analysis
Theme: The themes covered in the book Kid’s Box are the same the content requirements of the course They are friends, school, family and the world around
However, the numbers of topics in each theme are not equal when there are a lot of topics for theme “world around”, most of topics related to school and there is only one subtopic for theme “family”
Text-type: It can be seen that reading texts, stories appear in reading section; dialogues, survey are in speaking section, songs are in the listening section and writing models are in writing section Compared to the requirements of the course, the text types used in the material are relevant to the course requirements
Topic: The topics according to course requirements relate to familiar ones which help students to handle social functions or communication All the topics presented in the materials are common and they support for students a lot in communicative purposes For example, the first unit help students learn how to greet people and introduce themselves, time for television, city life, disaster provide students information to react to news around
Language points: Grammar: In Kid’s Box 5, structures mainly focus on basic grammar such as present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous, future - be going to, present perfect; noun; clauses of time, places, reason, wh- questions, yes-no questions; model verbs like should, could, preposition, connectives because, when, so; be made of To compare with the content from table
3, it is obvious that the grammar components in the material nearly can meet the objectives as stated in the syllabus except for adjectives, adverbs of manner and adverbs of frequency However, these grammar points are clearly shown in Kid’s Box 4 Grammar section provides knowledge about the combination of noun, adjectives and verbs but it is difficult for young learners when they have to distinguish an adjective and a noun from one original word In addition, present perfect tense which appears in only unit 8 may cause difficult for students with limited time Thus, it is necessary to locate more time for students to practice
Vocabulary: The vocabulary is given according to the certain topics in each theme
The vocabulary is words about common topics and they are interesting to students
For example, Introductory unit: Welcome to our ezine, Unit 1: Time for television, Unit 7: natural world, Unit 8: world of sport From this analysis, it can be seen that the material could meet well with the course requirement in terms of vocabulary
Pronunciation: The material provides students with the knowledge about word stress, syllable, homophones and some difficult phonemes in English like /ŋ/, /ʌ/, /z/
& /s/, /ə/ and past ending of “ed” in past verb As can be seen from the table above, the material meets the course requirement most parts of pronunciation However, the material does not mention to intonation and rhyme Each unit presents a different kind of matter which is not repeated in another unit Thus, it is quite difficult for young learners to remember deeply In addition, learning some difficult morphemes like sounds /z/ & /s/, /ʌ/ does not make sense when almost young students learn pronunciation of a word by imitating the teachers It’s difficult for them to apply in different words In addition, there are few tasks or materials for students practice Therefore, pronunciation partly meets the methodology requirements
Language macro-skills: The aims of the course are to help students have basic knowledge to communicate in English through listening, speaking, reading and writing As can be seen from table in appendix 4, four language skills are covered in each unit and they are integrated to support each other That meets the requirement of the course as mentioned above
Time allocation: The textbook includes 8 units and 4 review units which are taught in 35 weeks with five periods a week Thus, there are 175 periods in the whole of the course which meets the requirement of the course.
The appropriateness of the material to the methodology requirements of
of the Course 3.1.3.1 Syllabus analysis Table 4 shows the methodology requirements of the course
Contents Methodology requirement of the course
A Kinds of tasks and exercises
Role- play ( a dialogue, a story); do survey; do questionnaire; make a description; talking about opinion Listen and complete ; listen and write the name; listen and say "yes" or "no"; listen and say the letter; listen and choose the answer; listen and order, listen and match
Read and answer questions; read and choose the correct answer; read and match; read and label the diagram; read and complete; read and correct the sentences; read and answer
"true" or " false"; read and order the events; read and choose the best title
Building sentences with given words; write a paragraph; write a description; write a letter, a postcard; write a report Contents Methodology requirement of the course
Integrated in four skills Multiple choices; choose the correct word/ phrase to grammatical structures; correct the grammatical error; give the right tense of the verbs; reorder to make sentences; look pictures and write sentences with grammar structures Match words with definitions; match words with pictures; read and complete( use vocabulary in context); Look pictures and write words; listen and write words
Listen, find the sound/ phoneme and say "yes" or" no"
Odd one out; put words with certain sounds in the right columns; find the words with the same sounds
Encourage the creativities of students and communicative purposes
Work in individually, in pairs, in groups, whole-class Table 4: The methodology requirements of the course 3.1.3.2 Material analysis
The course requirements for methodology reveal the different types of tasks and exercises and learning-teaching techniques in the classroom Regarding language skills, the tasks and exercises are various with different types which are shown in table 5 Various types of exercises appear in different units and they are integrated in all units of the book
Types of tasks and exercises for speaking skill
Types of tasks and exercises for writing skill
Role play All units Write a paragraph Units 1-4, 6, 8
Questionnaire Units 1, 7, 8 Write a report Unit 8
Do survey Unit 4 Write a description Units 1, 3
Make a description Units 3, 7 Write a plan Units 2, 6
Talking about opinion Units 5, 7 Write a letter, a postcard No units
Types of tasks and exercises for listening skill
Types of tasks and exercises for reading skill
Read and answer questions All units
Listen and write the name
Read and choose the correct answer
"No" Units 1, 4, 5, 7 Read and match Units 1, 2, 4, 5, 7,
Listen and say the letter Units 1, 8 Read and label the diagram Units 1, 2, 4, 5, 7
Listen and choose the answer
Units 1, 2, 3, 4, reviews 3+4, 5+6 Read and complete Units 1, 2, 3, 4
Listen and order Units 1, 2, 5 Read and correct the sentences Units 3, 5, 6
Listen and match Units 2, 6, review
Listen and label the diagram Unit 5 Read and order the events Unit 2, 3
Listen and write words or numbers
Read and choose the best title
Table 5: Types of tasks and exercises for language skills
By comparing table 5 with the table 4, it can be seen that the material has met to the requirement for the different types of the tasks and exercises of speaking, reading and listening
For writing, from table 4, it can be stated that the course requires some kinds of tasks and exercises such as building sentences with given words; write a paragraph; write a description; write a letter, write a letter and a postcard However, from analysis of the material there are not any tasks or exercises of building sentences with purposes for writing any kinds of paragraph and writing a postcard, letter is not mentioned in any units of the materials Therefore, the material has not offered enough types of tasks for practicing writing as the course requirements
Regarding language points, it is found that the material could meet some of the requirements of the course in term of tasks and exercises
Tasks and exercises for grammar Tasks and exercises for vocabulary
Choose the correct words/ phrase to grammatical structures
Match words with different definitions
Correct the grammatical errors Unit 4 Match words with pictures
Use the vocabulary in texts
Look pictures and write sentences
5, 8 Listen and write words Unit 6
Write sentences with grammatical structures
5, 6, 7, 8 Find words in texts Unit 2, 3, 7 Table 6: Tasks and exercises for language points
As can be seen from the analysis of the material in table 6, there are some types of tasks which are the same in course requirements, however, a number of tasks or exercises of separated grammar for each unit or grammatical structures are a few or poor Most of grammatical structures are combined in language skills but they are not designed in separate section It’s suitable to young learners when grammar is integrated in language skills Therefore, it could be concluded that grammar nearly meet the course requirements when it is necessary to add more kinds of tasks and exercises
The tasks and exercises for vocabulary are various with different types As the above table, these tasks are various and even various in each unit Thus, the vocabulary successfully meets the methodology requirements in term of tasks and exercises
The tasks for pronunciation included in the material are listen to a track of listening about the model or new item, listen and repeat, then listen and find the new item in the listening section in all units of the material The tasks and exercises are not various enough and they are repeated in different units Therefore, the tasks and exercises for pronunciation partly meet the methodology requirements
In general, the material could successfully meet the course requirements in term of vocabulary; nearly meet in term of grammar and partly in term of pronunciation
As above analysis, the tasks for speaking skill are focused a lot in the material with different types of tasks and exercises Moreover, the amount of time for learning listening and speaking in one unit is more than for other skills with the purpose of focusing on spoken communication In addition, the common and familiar topics provide students the vocabulary, language and structures which help them communicate well in daily life Therefore, the material meets the methodology course requirements in terms of communicative purposes
In terms of encouraging the creativities of students, the material can satisfy the course requirement After providing the tasks for practicing the new language or structures, there are some games or discussions in pairs or in groups in which the students have to think the sentences or situations by themselves basing on what they have learned These activities can encourage students to think and relate to situations, events or things around them In each unit, there is an interesting part
“Did you know that…?” which is a kind of content-based lessons These are designed to teach aspects of subject topics which the students would be learning in their other school classes as a medium of instruction These motivate students when they can learn new things related to other subjects they study at school through English After this lesson, there is a project related to the topic they learn and this project provides them the chances to express their creativities
Regarding teaching and learning techniques, the researcher find that not all instructions for tasks in the material are directly stated Some of them are directly given such as “in group talk about…”, “design… with your group”, “play the game in pairs”, “talk in pairs” Some instructions are indirectly given such as “guess it in ten” (group work), “ask your friend the questions” ( pair work) and some of them are given in hidden form without any instructions for the techniques required by the course but it can be understandable, for example “ listen and repeat” ( whole class),
“ read and choose the right answer” (individual activity) Moreover, the instruction or techniques to organize the tasks are clearly stated in the teacher’s book so the teacher can understand and give instructions to students Therefore, this material succeeds in improving the teaching and learning techniques with different kinds of techniques such as working individually, working in pairs, working in groups, working with the whole class.
Survey results
The analysis of students’ and teachers’ responses to the survey items is provided in this part which indicates their evaluation of the textbook’s aims, design and organization, content and methodology In total of 192 survey questionnaires for students, the researcher collected 181 valid responses, 11 invalid responses in which the students did not answer all questions or gave more than one answer for questions from number 2 to 27 All 14 survey questionnaires to teachers were valid
3.2.1 The appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course
In this section, the information collected through one question with some choices in which the students and teachers were asked to show their opinion to the appropriateness of the textbook with the aims of the course
1 The material provides students with opportunity to: Students Teachers a Communicate simply in English according to the given topics in spoken channel 90.6% 100% b Write short descriptive paragraph, letters or postcards to friends and relatives 52.5% 57.1% c Understand reading texts about common topics and then do some following tasks 90.1% 92.9% d Acquire some basic English grammar 80.1% 64.3% e Widen general vocabulary of the common topics in the book 97.2% 92.9% f Acquire basic knowledge about pronunciation 51.4% 50%
Table 7: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the aims of the book
Table 7 shows that the material could help students communicate in simple and common topics well with high proportion of students and teachers chose this item:
90.6% students and 100% teachers In addition, the students were satisfied with what they achieved from the book in terms of reading text comprehension and the number of vocabulary of familiar topics with 90.1% and 97.2% students chose, respectively The teachers shared these positive opinions when more than 90% of teachers found that the material could provide students the opportunity to understand the texts and they could get the number of vocabulary in common topics Regarding grammar structures, there was a difference between students’ and teachers’ opinions 80.1% students chose that the material helped them acquire basic grammar structures Meanwhile, this proportion of teachers was only 64.3%
There was this gap, it may be the students had chance to practice a lot of extra worksheets So they were difficult to recognize what they gained because of the textbook only or both textbook and worksheets However, in this point, the teacher may have more exact view In term of writing skill, approximately half of students and teachers found that writing skill and pronunciation sections in the material satisfied students 52.5% of students found that they could write short descriptive paragraph, letters or postcards to the others and 51.4% of students chose that they could acquire basic knowledge about pronunciation The teachers seemed to agree with students when 50% of them thought that the textbook provided enough material and methods to help students gain the expected pronunciation Although the teachers seemed more optimistic than students in writing, 57.1% agreed with the effective writing skill that the material provided
In conclusion, the analysis above shows that the material could perfectly fit with the aims of the course in term of speaking, listening and reading skills, vocabulary, topics and grammar Although not all of the students voted for these points, it is easy to understand when there are different levels in a class However, the material just meets more than half of students with the aims of the course in term of writing skill and pronunciation
3.2.2 The appropriateness of the material to the design and organization required by the course
The design and organization of the textbook are claimed to be the first impression which attracts and motivates young learners a lot to learn This table indicates the opinion of students and teachers about the design and organization
The font size and type used in the book are appropriate for young learners
4 Every lesson is given an appropriate title 1.1 8.8 42 48.1 0 7.1 71.4 21.5
The page layout and design of Kid's Box 5 are clear and organized
The headings, icons, labels, italics, etc in each unit are consistent and easy to understand
The content is presented logically in each unit
The pictures and artwork are varied, colorful and attractive
The pictures and artwork help students understand the subjects, exercises
Table 8: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the design and organization
Table 8 shows that all of the items got positive opinions of teachers and students
The result of the cover design of the book showed that 29.9% students and 14.2% were not satisfied and 70.1% and 85.8% indicated that most of the students and teachers found the book successful in terms of visual design of the cover
The font sizes and types used in the book were highly evaluated with 85.1% students and 85.8% teachers felt satisfied In item 4, a small number of students (9.9%) criticized against the titles of each unit and only 7.1% of teachers complained about this item That means the students and teachers felt interested in the titles Similarly, students and teachers shared the same positive judgments on the layout and organization of each page as well as the consistency in the use of headings, icons, etc which are used in the book although there were small rates of students and teachers who were not satisfied with these two criteria In addition, the organization of the book was logical when 87.3% students and 78.6% teachers found that they could follow the content in each unit because it was organized logically from easy to difficult, and the previous part can support for the next one
To evaluate the visuals or illustration including pictures and artwork, teachers and students gave their opinions on two criteria The item 8 was about the visuals or pictures in the book With 76.2% of students and 78.6% of teachers agreed, the result showed that most of them found the pictures of the book colourful and attractive This was a very important point when the young learners’ sensitivity to pictures, artwork and colours was taken into account The pictures and colours used in the book were among the most important components of a book and they make the book attractive for young learners Criterion 9 complements the previous criterion The percentage of teachers agreed was 85.7% and of students was 72.3%, which indicated that the pictures were useful and helpful in helping them understand the subjects or the exercises
To sum up, a comparison of the students’ and teachers’ evaluation revealed that all of the criteria on the design and organization of this material were appropriate to the students or they could meet the students’ need
3.2.3 The appropriateness of the material to the content requirements
The topics are interesting and the students like them
11 The topics in the book are various 8.8 17.1 42.5 31.6 0 7.1 50 42.9
The difficulty level of the topics is suitable to grade 5 students
The topics help expand your students' knowledge and enrich their experience
The topics help students relate to the social and cultural contexts
Table 9.1: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the topics of the book
Table 9.1 reveals that the students and teachers gave small different opinions on topics No teachers strongly disagreed with five items and only one or two of them disagreed while the percentage of students disagreed with all items were bigger than the teachers’ percentage However, more than half of students and teachers gave their positive judgment with the topics in this textbook 83.4% students and 92.9% teachers thought the topics were interesting and the students liked them Moreover, more than two thirds of students (74.1%) and almost teachers (92.9%) found that the topics were various enough That means the topics presented in the book are suitable and can cover all the themes defined for grade 5 students In addition, one fifth of the students responded that some of the topics are difficult for them to learn whereas this opinion was shared by only 14.2% teachers Therefore, the difficult level of the topics is suitable to students’ level As the result, most of teachers (92.9%) and students (81.7%) thought they could expand the knowledge and enrich their experience throughout all the topics Finally, 72.4% students and 85.8% teachers thought the topics helped them relate to the social and cultural contexts presented in the books From these figures, it can be concluded that the book has topics which are suitable to the students’ level and needs
Table 9.2 with four questions to students and teachers indicated the language content in the book with grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation Both teachers and students showed their optimistic agreement rate to the language contents First, high rate of students and teachers agreed that the textbook updated information with 80.7% students and 85.8% teachers agreed Regarding the number of vocabulary in one lesson, the majority of students thought that the list of vocabulary in one lesson was enough for them to learn Shared with this opinion, more than two thirds of teachers thought the number of vocabulary was suitable to students’ level The rate of item 16 revealed that the difficult level of textbook grammar was appropriate to students’ level when 79.6% students agreed with the suitability of difficult level, approximately one fifth (20.4%) of students complained that the textbook grammar was difficult to them Teachers had more positive assessments when 57.2% and 28.6% informants agreed and strongly agreed, respectively Regarding the pronunciation part in the textbook, more than half of students (53.6%) found that there were not enough materials for them to further practice and remember clearly each pronunciation item in each unit By comparing the rates of students and teachers with 57.1% and 42.9% teachers disagreed and agreed respectively, it suggested that pronunciation only satisfies the needs of nearly half of the students
The book provides your students with updated information
The difficulty level of grammar items is suitable to grade 5 students
The number of vocabulary in a lesson is suitable to grade 5 level
Pronunciation part includes enough material for pronunciation work
Table 9.2: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the language content of the book Evaluation of textbook language skills
To evaluate the appropriateness of textbook language skills, five questions pertaining to the requirements of four skills were given to students and teachers to get their opinions The informants’ responses are tabulated in table 9.3
Four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) are well integrated in each unit of the book
Listening lessons are set in a meaningful context
New language items (grammar and vocabulary) are introduced and consolidated in reading texts
There is sufficient material for spoken English (e.g dialogues, role-plays, pictures, etc.)
There is sufficient material for writing activities
Table 9.3: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the language skills of the book
As can be seen in item 19, all of the teachers and 88.9% students felt satisfied with the combination of four skills in the book That means all four skills focused on the same topic and language content in each unit Regarding the listening lessons of the book in the item 20, the results showed that the majority of the students, 86.7% students agreed that the listening lessons were set in meaningful context Only 13.3% students disagreed and strongly disagreed on the statement Teachers’ opinions on listening lessons were a little different 93.8% supposed that the listening lessons satisfied their students’ needs because theirs meaningful context while no one strongly disagreed and only 7.1% disagreed
Recommendations
To make the textbook become more suitable and effective in teaching in DTDS or may be in primary schools, some recommendations would be suggested basing on the results of the research In order to make it more perfect, some essential adaptation should be applied by using adapting techniques such as adding, deleting, and modifying as stated by Tomlinson (1998:281)
Adding: In order to match the course requirements and the students’ needs, the topics in theme “family and me”; adjectives and adverbs should be added More topics about family can be added or widened as discussion topics in class or projects at home Knowledge about adjectives and adverbs are introduced in Kid’s Box 4, thus these can be reviewed and practiced with extra worksheets In addition, more time should be set for teaching present perfect tense in order to make sure that students can understand and use this tense proficiently Tasks and exercises of various types should be enhanced In this material, the tasks and exercises for writing, pronunciation and grammar sections need supplying with abundant types and suitable exercises Therefore, more worksheets may be designed to provide students materials for practicing
Deleting: Deletion also helps to make the textbook more relevant to the course requirements and the students’ needs When any activities or even lessons are not suitable to the aims of the units or they are not attractive enough to students, the deletion To this material, it can make sense to delete some items In grammar section of unit 7, while learning nouns, the matter of distinguish a noun and an adjective from one origin word is difficult for grade 5 students should be deleted In pronunciation section, teaching students to recognize sounds /ʌ/, /ɳ/ does not make sense when it only helps students remember some words presented in the lesson
Modifying: The technique of modification or replacement can be used when some parts or exercises are not appropriate In this material, the technique is used to modify some parts: redesign exercises about writing skill and pronunciation to make it more useful and attractive; narrow topic “people at work” with “my family members’ jobs” or replace with other topic like “holidays and vacations” because they learn “people at work” in grade 3 and 4 and the material is lacking the subtopics for “family”.
Limitations of the study
This study has some limitations on the data collection of the study Firstly, although the study investigated the students’ and teachers’ evaluation, the students at grade 5 are not mature enough to express all their feedbacks Thus, sometimes they chose the answers just because they liked them This could affect the accuracy of the findings Secondly, questionnaire was the main instrument to collect data in this study, and then the data was compared to the document analysis There were no triangulate instruments If more instruments were used like interviewing or observation, the findings would have been more insightful and exact In addition, a number of the teachers as participants are limited with only 14 teachers and this may have affected the results of the study The participants as students only include grade 5 students without covering grade 4 students who are going to study this textbook to find out the needs of them Finally, the study just investigated the students’ and teachers’ evaluation of the textbook, it did not mention to the effect of the use of this textbook on improving the students’ language proficiency.
Suggestions for further study
to solve these limitations Firstly, within the scope of the minor thesis, the study did not carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the textbook As the result, other study can be conducted by widening the scope in which the whole materials are evaluated including supplementary materials like teacher book, CDs, DVDs Secondly, this study only investigated how much the textbook meets the requirement of the course and satisfies the needs of the students, the effect of the textbook usage in terms of improving students’ language proficiency remained to be explored It is suggested for other researchers to conduct a study to evaluate the effect of the use of this material regard to improving the students’ language proficiency Last but not least, further research can be conducted by evaluating the textbook which is used in most of primary schools by MOET then comparing the results of the two studies to seek out the strengths and weaknesses of the two textbooks to improve for further use.
Conclusion
Kid’s Box 5 is a foreign published material which has been used in DTDS but it has not been evaluated Therefore, it is evaluated to check its appropriateness basing on the set of criteria and model suggested by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) This research has achieved in answering the question about the suitability of the textbook in terms of its aims, design and organization, content and methodology In general, the material Kid’s Box 5 under evaluation has basically met the course requirements when it has succeeded in developing the students speaking, listening and reading skills, vocabulary, providing various topics, good design and organization and various types of exercises However, it will be more perfect when some improvement about exercises for writing skill, grammar and pronunciation are carried out
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Weaknesses of Iranian First Year High School English Coursebook
Using Evaluation Checklist English Language and Literature Studies 2(2):89-99
Dear teachers, This questionnaire is designed to collect information about teachers’ evaluation of the textbook Kid’s box 5 The information collected from this survey will be of great value to my evaluation research and to the improvement of the textbook for future use
1 The textbook Kid’s Box 5 provides students opportunity to:
Please put a tick (√) in the box or boxes that reflect your opinion.(You can choose more than one answer) a Communicate simply in English according to the given topics b Write short descriptive paragraphs, letters or postcards to friends and relatives c Acquire some basic English grammar d Have the number of vocabulary relating to common topics in the book e Acquire some basic understanding of the people and cultures of some English- speaking countries f Acquire basic knowledge about pronunciation
For items from 2 to 28, please put a tick (√) in the box that reflects your opinion using this scale:
3 The font size and type used in the book are appropriate for young learners
4 Every lesson is given an appropriate title
5 The page layout and design of Kid's Box 5 are clear and organized
6 The headings, icons, labels, italics, etc in each unit are consistent and easy to understand
7 The content is presented logically in each unit
8 The pictures and artwork are varied, colorful and attractive
9 The pictures and artwork help students understand the subjects, exercises
10 The topics are interesting and the students like them
11 The topics in the book are various
12 The difficulty level of the topics is suitable to grade 5 students
13 The topics help expand your students' knowledge and enrich their experience
14 The topics help students relate to the social and cultural contexts
15 The book provides your students with updated information
16 The difficulty level of grammar items is suitable to grade
17 The number of vocabulary in a lesson is suitable to grade
18 Pronunciation part includes enough material for pronunciation work
19 Four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) are
20 Listening lessons are set in a meaningful context
21 New language items (grammar and vocabulary) are introduced and consolidated in reading texts
22 There is sufficient material for spoken English (e.g dialogues, role-plays, pictures, etc.)
23 There is sufficient material for writing activities
The textbook includes a variety of tasks and exercises of:
25 There are activities encouraging the creativities of students
26 The textbook includes the activities encouraging practice to communicative purposes
The textbook provides activities which are suitable to individual work, pair work, group work and whole class work
APPENDIX 2 QUESTIONAIRE FOR STUDENTS Các con học sinh thân mến,
Phiếu điều tra này được thiết kế để thu thập thông tin về sự đánh giá của các con học sinh đối với cuốn sách Kid’s Box 5 Thông tin thu thập được từ phiếu điều tra này sẽ có giá trị lớn trong nghiên cứu đánh giá và điều chỉnh giáo trình này trong những lần sử dụng sau
Xin chân thành cảm ơn các con!
1 Cuốn sách Kid’s Box 5 giúp con có thể…
Hãy đánh dấu ( √ ) vào ô tương ứng với đáp án con lựa chọn Con có thể lựa chọn nhiều hơn một đáp án a Giao tiếp nói đơn giản bằng tiếng Anh theo một số chủ đề được học b Viết được đoạn văn miêu tả ngắn, viết thư hay bưu thiếp đơn giản cho bạn bè, người thân c Nắm được một số kiến thức ngữ pháp cơ bản d Mở rộng vốn từ vựng liên quan đến chủ đề quen thuộc được học e Biết được một số kiến thức về con người, văn hóa của một số nước nói tiếng Anh thông qua bài học f Biết một số kiến thức về phần ngữ âm Đối với các câu từ 2 đến câu số 28, con hãy đánh dấu ( √ ) vào ô thể hiện đúng nhất ý kiến của con theo các mức độ tương ứng:
1 = Hoàn toàn không đồng ý 3 = Đồng ý
2 = Không đồng ý 4 = Hoàn toàn đồng ý
STT TIÊU CHÍ ĐÁNH GIÁ 1 2 4 5
II – THIẾT KẾ VÀ BỐ CỤC CỦA SÁCH
2 Bìa sách đẹp, hấp dẫn
3 Cỡ chữ và loại chữ dùng trong sách phù hợp với lứa tuổi của con
4 Mỗi bài học có một chủ đề thú vị
5 Cách bố trí và thiết kế của từng trang rõ ràng
Các đề mục, biểu tượng minh họa, cách đặt tên cho các nhân vật, sự việc và cách in nghiêng các chữ trong mỗi bài được trình bày thống nhất và dễ hiểu
7 Nội dung mỗi bài được đưa ra hợp lý, dễ theo dõi
8 Tranh ảnh và hình minh họa đa dạng, nhiều màu sắc và hấp dẫn các con
9 Tranh ảnh và hình minh họa giúp con hiểu được nội dung dễ dàng và hiểu được yêu cầu của bài tập
III – NỘI DUNG CHỦ ĐỀ TRONG SÁCH
10 Các chủ đề thú vị và con thích những chủ đề đó
11 Các chủ đề trong sách thuộc nhiều chủ điểm khác nhau và phù hợp với các con
12 Các chủ đề trong sách không quá khó với con
Các chủ đề giúp các con có thể mở rộng kiến thức và làm giàu thêm vốn hiểu biết hay kinh nghiệm thực tế
14 Con có thể liên hệ các sự việc trong cuộc sống hàng ngày với các nội dung được đề cập đến trong sách
15 Thông tin trong sách được cập nhật
16 Các chủ điểm ngữ pháp trong sách khó vừa phải và phù hợp với trình độ của con
17 Số lượng từ vựng trong một bài phù hợp với trình độ của con
18 Phần học cách phát âm có đủ tài liệu giúp con thực hành
19 Có sự kết hợp hài hòa của bốn kỹ năng trong mỗi bài
20 Các bài nghe có nội dung phù hợp với tuổi của con
21 Từ vựng và ngữ pháp của mỗi bài được xuất hiện trong các bài đọc
22 Sách có các hoạt động hội thoại, đóng vai
23 Sách cung cấp đủ tài liệu cho các hoạt động luyện viết
IV PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY
Sách bao gồm đa dạng các hoạt động và bài tập về: kỹ năng nói kỹ năng nghe kỹ năng đọc kỹ năng viết ngữ pháp từ vựng phát âm
25 Các hoạt động trong sách khuyến khích các con sáng tạo
26 Các hoạt động trong sách giúp con giao tiếp tiếng
Anh tốt trong cuộc sống hàng ngày
27 Các hoạt động trong sách giúp cho dễ dàng và phù hợp với hoạt động cá nhân, đôi, nhóm hoặc cả lớp
Chân thành cảm ơn con!
APPENDIX 3 HUTCHINSON AND WATERS’ EVALUATION CHECKLIST
(i.e analysis of your course, in terms of materials requirements)
(i.e analysis of materials being evaluated)
Study or work specialism (mechanics, banking …)
Status/ role with respect to specialism (e.g trainee cashier, qualified anesthetist …)
Knowledge of English/ specialism/ other (e.g knowledge of “the world”)
1B Who is the material intended for?
2A What are the aims of your course? 2B What are the aims of the materials?
(Note: Check that the aims are actually what they are said to be, by looking at the material itself)
3A What kind of language description do you require? Should it be structural, notional, functional, and discourse-based, some other kind, a combination of one or more of these?
4A What language points should be covered?
(i.e What particular structures, functions, vocabulary areas etc?)
5A What proportion of work on each macro-skill (e.g reading) is desired? Should there be skills- integrated work?
6A What micro-skills do you need? (e.g deducing the meanings of unfamiliar words)
3B What type(s) of linguistic description is/ are used in the materials?
4B What language points do the materials cover?
5B What is the proportion of work on each skill? Is there skills-integrated work?
6B What micro-skills are covered in the
7A What text-types should be included? e.g manuals? letters? dialogues? experimental reports? visual texts (pictures, diagrams, charts, graphs, cartoons etc.)? listening texts? any other kind?
8A What subject-matter area(s) is/ are required (e.g medicine, biology etc.)?
What level of knowledge should be assumed (e.g secondary school, first year college/ university, post-graduate etc.)?
What types of topics are needed (e.g in medicine: hospital organisation, medical technology etc.)?
What treatment should the topics be given (e.g
'straightforward', factual; 'human interest' angle; humorous; unusual perspective; taking into account issues, controversy, etc.)?
9A How should the content be organised throughout the course? around language points? by subject matter? by some other means (e.g study skills)? by a combination of means?
10A How should the content be organised within the course units? by a set pattern of components? by a variety of patterns? by some other means? to allow a clear focus on (e.g certain skill areas, a communication task etc.)?
11A How should the content be sequenced throughout the course? e.g from easier to more difficult? materials?
7B What kinds of texts are there in the materials?
8B What is/are the subject-matter area (s) assumed level of knowledge, and types of topics in the materials?
What treatment are the topics given?
9B How is the content organised throughout the materials?
10B How is the content organised within the units?
11B How is the content sequenced throughout the book? to provide recycling ? by other criteria?
Should there be no obvious sequence?
12A How should the content be sequenced within a unit? e.g from guided to free? from comprehension to production? accuracy to fluency? by some other means?
Should there be no obvious sequence?
12B How is the content sequenced within a unit?
13A What theory/ies of learning should the course be based on?
Should it be behaviorist, cognitive, affective, some other kind, and a combination of one or more of these?
14A What aspects of the learners' attitudes to/ expectations about learning English should the course take into account?
15A What kinds of exercises/ tasks are needed? e.g guided free? comprehension production? language/ skills practice language/ skills use? one right answer many possible right answers? whole class group individual? language/ skills-based content- based?
'mechanical' problem solving? role-play, simulation, drama, games? ones involving visuals? self-study? some other kinds?
16A What teaching-learning techniques are to be used? e.g lockstep? pair work?
13B What theory/ies of learning are the materials based on?
14B What attitudes to/ expectations about learning English are the materials based on?
15B What kinds of exercises/ tasks are included in the materials?
16B What teaching-learning techniques can be used with the materials? student presentations? work involving technical subject matter? other kinds?
17A What aids are available for use? e.g cassette recorders? overhead projectors? realia? wallcharts? video? other?
18A What guidance/support for teaching the course will be needed? e.g statements of aims? lists of vocabulary and language-skills points? language guidance? technical information? methodological directive or hints? suggestions for further work? tests? other kinds?
19A How flexible do the materials need to be?
17B What aids do the materials require?
18B What guidance do the materials provide?
19B In what ways are the materials flexible? e.g
- can they be begun at different points?
- can the units be used in different orders?
- can they be linked to other materials?
- can they be used without some of their components (e.g cassettes)?
20A What price range is necessary?
21A When and in what quantities should the materials be available? etc
21B When and how readily can the materials be obtained?
APPENDIX 4 TABLE CONTENT OF KID’S BOX 5 Time: 5 periods /week x 35 weeks = 175 periods
- Daily school routines, days of a week, time table
- Present simple -Hello, nice to meet you
Introducing about oneself; taking about ezine competition; daily routines; talking about school subjects, school timetable
- Reading: about different subjects; understanding the story
- Writing: Learning about capital letters and full stop and practicing using them in texts
- Pronunciation: recognizing the number of syllable in words
- Fun time is on TV 1 at twenty past four
- A documentary is a programme which tells
- Speaking and listening: Telling the time; talking about TV programmes and favourite programmes
-Reading: recognizing about TV programmes; understanding and retelling the story; reading and understanding about making cartoons
- Film and cartoon us about our world - Writing: a review about books or films
- Pronunciation: Recognizing the phoneme /η / in words
Me and the world around
- Be going to +V Dan thinks he’s going to be a nurse
- John Travolta is a famous actor
To have healthy teeth and gum, you must brush your teeth everyday after meals and before bed
- Speaking and listening: talking about people’s jobs; intensions and plans for future jobs; making future plans; talking about famous people and the jobs they do; discussing about the way to have healthy teeth and gum
- Reading: different people with different jobs; recognizing different kinds of teeth and their jobs teeth development
- Pronunciation: Recognizing the stress words and the syllable stress; finding stressed syllables in words
- Writing: Understanding how, where and why apostrophes are used in English
Me and the world around
- Direction Turn left Take the first street on the right Go straight on Stop before you get to the river
What’s on the /your left?
+ The theatre is between the cinema and the library
- Speaking and listening: Giving simple directions; following the directions and find the right places; famous places in Vietnam
- Reading: Reading and understanding maps; famous places in London; the history of cities around the world
- Writing: Reviewing about spelling rules in English
- Pronunciation: Identifying, saying /ʌ/ sounds in words; finding more words with the phoneme //ʌ/
Me and the world around
- Past continuous and past simple
I was having a picnic when it started to rain
The tsunami was on 28 th December 1908
- Speaking and Listening: Talking about weather and disasters; talking about interrupted past actions, activities in specific time in the past; talking about events with dates and months
- Reading: reading and understanding about some famous disasters around the world; about earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes
- Writing: Learning how to use connecting and sequencing words in writing stories Writing a diary
- Pronunciation: Recognizing the stressed and unstressed words
Me and the world around
Words about material and plastic
- Be made of/ from/ in/ by/ for
- Come from The mice are made of chocolate
- Speaking and listening: Talking about materials and what things are made of
- Reading : Reading and understanding about different manmade and natural materials from around the world; reading and understanding about different kinds of plastic, how they are made and why they are recycled
- Writing: Describing objects; writing about one’s dream house
- What does it look / sound/ taste …like?
- How does it look/ sound/ taste….?
- Speaking and listening: talking about five senses and what things feel, look, taste, sound, smell like
- Reading : Reading about how to make pizza following a recipe; reading and understanding about optical illusions
- Pronunciation: Recognizing the phoneme /s/ and /z/ and practicing them.
