Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS an in use evaluation of the ESP coursebook for ha tinh medical college students according to the learning centred approach

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LƯU NHƯ QUỲNH AN IN-USE EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSEBOOK FOR HA TINH MEDICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS ACCORDING TO THE LEARNING-CENTRED APPROACH (ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGHÀNH ĐANG ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG CHO SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG Y TẾ HÀ TĨNH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY HOẠT ĐỘNG HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM) PROGRAM I M.A.MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LƯU NHƯ QUỲNH AN IN-USE EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSEBOOK FOR HA TINH MEDICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS ACCORDING TO THE LEARNING-CENTRED APPROACH (ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGHÀNH ĐANG ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG CHO SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG Y TẾ HÀ TĨNH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY HOẠT ĐỘNG HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM) PROGRAM I M.A.MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Trần Hiền Lan, M.A HANOI, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality of the thesis i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vii List of figures, tables and charts viii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 2.1 An overview of ESP 2.1.1 Definition of ESP 2.1.2 Characteristics of ESP course 2.1.3 English for Medical Purpose (EMP)…… …… 2.1.4 Learning-centred approach in ESP 2.2 Roles of using the coursebook in Language Teaching and Learning 2.3 Material evaluation 2.3.1 Definition of material 2.3.2 Definition of material evaluation 2.3.3 Types of material evaluation 2.3.4 Purposes of material evaluation 10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v 2.3.5 Models for material evaluation 11 2.3.6 Methods of material evaluation 13 2.3.7 Criteria for material evaluation 13 2.4 Material Adaptation 14 2.5 Summary 15 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 16 2.1 An overview of current ESP Teaching and Learning at HTMC 16 2.1.1 The context 16 2.1.2 The ESP course objectives 16 2.1.3 The material description 17 2.2 Research Methods 17 2.2.1 Research Questions 17 2.2.2 Participants 17 2.2.3 Instrument 18 2.2.4 Data collection procedures 18 2.2.5 Data analysis procedures 18 2.3 Summary 18 Chapter 3: Data Analysis And Dicussion 19 3.1 The teachers’ evaluation on the ESP coursebook 19 3.1.1 The aims 19 3.1.2 The content 19 3.1.3 The Methodology 22 3.1.4 General evaluation 23 3.2 The students’ evaluation on the ESP coursebook 24 3.2.1 The students’ need of learning ESP 25 3.2.2 The aims 26 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi 3.2.3 The Content 27 3.2.4 The Methodology 32 3.2.5 General evaluation 33 3.3 Findings 34 3.3.1 The suitability and unsuitability of the ESP coursebook to the aims 34 3.3.2 The suitability and unsuitability of the ESP coursebook related to the content requirement 34 3.3.3 The suitability and unsuitability of the coursebook related to the learning-centred methodology 35 3.4 Recommendations 35 3.4.1 Content improvements 35 3.4.2 Methodology improvements 37 PART III: CONCLUSION 38 Conclusion 38 Limitation and suggestions for further research 38 References 39 Appendixes I Appendix I Appendix IV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 Rationale English language teaching coursebooks in general and ESP ones in particular are considered as one of the most important elements in any educational system Appropriate materials are thought to stimulate effective teaching and learning Because of their role and contribution to second language acquisition, material evaluation has become a major concern of several researchers Cunningsworth (1995) and Ellis (1997) have suggested that coursebook evaluation helps teachers move beyond impressionistic assessments and help them to acquire useful, systematic and contextual insights into the overall nature of the material The ESP coursebook for the students at Ha Tinh Medical College (HTMC) is a self-edited collection extracted from various sources It has been used at HMC for five years During teaching and learning process, the ESP coursebook has had certain positive impacts on ESP development here However, there are still some complaints and dissatisfaction about it Until now, no evaluation or consultation has been conducted to determine its weaknesses and its strengths The aim of the ESP coursebook at HTMC is, by the end of the course, at enabling students to describe a number of diseases, their causes, indications and treatment, to acquire and improve their reading skills to read easy medical documents later The coursebook has not paid attention to developing learners‟ communication ability which is very necessary when learning a foreign language nowadays The above is the reason why I should carry out this research: to evaluate the current ESP coursebook at HTMC according to the learning-centred approach in order to design an effective ESP material later What distinguishes ESP from General English is not the existence of a need as such but rather awareness of the need It means that ESP is an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners Thus the purpose of this evaluation is to examine how well the ESP coursebook is used and if it can meet the course requirements in terms of aims, content and methodology Aims of the study - To evaluate the ESP coursebook in terms of its Aims, Content and Methodology from the point of view of both the teachers and students LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - Suggest some improvements to make the ESP coursebook more effective in responding to the course requiremens and learners‟ needs Significance of the study The study is hoped to be useful to both the teachers and the students at HTMC Firstly, it provides a foundation toward improving the quality of the currently used ESP coursebook for the students at HTMC in order to make the course more relevant to the learners‟ need Secondly, it helps the teachers get the learners‟ feedback to adapt the material or adjust their ways of teaching to meet the learners‟ expectations better Finally, the results of this research are hoped to make several contributions to material evaluation field Scope of the study Due to the limited scope of a minor thesis, although there is a great number of book evaluation criteria, this study only evaluate the ESP coursebook for the students at HTMC in relation to its aims, content and methodology Basing on the findings and the learners‟ need, it provides some suggestions to improve the ESP coursebook at HTMC Design of the study The study consists of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the research question, the significance, the scope and the design of the study The development includes three chapters: PART II: DEVELOPMENT LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 1: Literature Review 2.1 An overview of ESP 2.1.1 Definition of ESP ESP has been defined by different researchers as well as scholars‟ different views According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19), ESP must be seen as an approach not as a product what Dudley-Evans (1998) describes as an “attitude of mind” They states that “ ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner‟s reason for learning” They also emphasize that “ The foundation of all ESP is the simple question: Why does this learner need to learn a foreign language?” 2.1.2 Characteristics of ESP course According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), the traditional ESP course design has two major drawbacks: firstly, the development in the learner of a capacity to communicate is neglected, and secondly, there is a failure to analyze and take into account the realities of the ESP learning situation Tickoo (1988) states that there are three features of ESP courses including authentic material, purpose-related orientation and self-direction The use of learning authentic material is entirely feasible and can be modified or unmodified in form, which is indeed a feature of ESP Additionally, purpose-related orientation refers to the simulation of communicative tasks required of the target setting involving the preparation of papers, reading, note taking and writing Finally, self-direction is the characteristic of ESP courses in that the “…point of including self-direction…is that ESP is concerned with turning learners into users” 2.1.3 English for Medical Purpose (EMP) English for Medical Purpose is a subset of English for Specific Purposes education that most often focuses on teaching aspects of medical English, particularly terminology Hull (2004) Hull also points out the characteristics of Medical English Generally, English for Specific Purposes materials and courses are designed for adult learners who desire or need LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com to learn a second/foreign language for use in their specific fields, (i.e science, technology, health care/medicine, and academics) ESP assumes that the target group has a degree of language competency in their first language as well as in English English for Medical Purposes is even more specific It is fraught with technical, academic language and replete with slang, colloquialisms, abbreviations and acronyms It has its own rules and structure Health professionals must read, write, interpret, give directions, etcetera using a wide variety of abbreviations and acronyms that are extremely career-specific Medical English is also contextual Doctors and nurses use academic and technical language interspersed with common speech and workplace jargon It rarely focuses on complete or proper sentence structure 2.1.4 Learning-centred approach in ESP The approach to ESP developed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) is the learning-centred approach which is concerned with language learning In other words, the concern of ESP is not “what people learn”, but “how people learn” ESP is an approach to language learning with the aims to meet the needs of particular learners As a result, a learning-centred approach has a very important role in course design Therefore, in order to determine whether the course book is effective, it is necessary to evaluate it according to the learning-centred approach Hutchinson and Waters (1987) also states that “ a truly valid approach to ESP must be based on an understanding of the processes of language learning” The learningcentred approach is based on the assumption that describing and exemplifying what learners with language is important as this will help to define the course objectives It means that telling the learners what to with language alone will not enable them to learn it , it must be combined with language learning or telling the learner how to learn it, because the ultimate goal of language education is to develop learner autonomy Learners should be equipped with learning strategies for life-long learning The learning-centred approach is based on the principle that learning is totally determined by the learners Learning is seen as a process in which the learners use what knowledge or skills they have in order to make sense of the flow of new information 2.2 Roles of using the coursebook in Language Teaching and Learning LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Using the coursebook in Language Teaching and Learning has both advantages and disadvantages Grant (1987) mentions that the coursebooks help to solve the problem by creating opportunities for the learners to use the target language in the classroom before using it in their real life Because of this possible vitality, Ur (1996) states the advantages of the coursebook as follows: a They provide a clear framework which the teacher and the students know where they are going and what is coming next b Mostly, they serve as a syllabus which includes a carefully planned and balanced selection of language content if it is followed systematically c They provide ready-made texts and tasks with possible appropriate level for most of the class, which save time for the teacher d They are the cheapest way of providing learning material for each student e They are convenient packages whose components are bound in order f They are useful guides especially for inexperienced teachers who are occasionally unsure of their language knowledge g They provide autonomy that the students can use them to learn new material, review and monitor progress in order to be less teacher-dependent Besides, coursebooks as preplanned teaching materials have some possible disadvantages (Richards and Renandya, 2002): a They fail to present appropriate and realistic language models b They propose subordinate learner roles c They fail to contextualize language activities d They foster inadequate cultural understanding e They fail to address discourse competence f They fail to teach idiom g They have lack of equity in gender representation 2.3 Material evaluation LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2.3.1 Definition of material Tomlinson, B (1998) constructs a quite comprehensive definition of material: “Materials are anything which is used to help to teach language learners Materials can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspapers, a paragraph written on a whiteboard: anything which presents or informs about the language being learned” 2.3.2 Definition of material evaluation There are several ways of defining material evaluation According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), “Evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions” (p.97) Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose “Given a certain need, and in the light of the resources available, which out of number of possibilities can represent the best solution There is no absolute goog or bad-only degrees of fitness for the required purpose” Dudley (1998) states that, “Evaluation is a whole process which begins with determining what information to gather and ends with bringing about the change in current activities or influencing future ones” (p.128) 2.3.3 Types of material evaluation According to Cunningsworth (1995), there are three types of material evaluation including pre-use evaluation, in-use evaluation and post-use evaluation This classification is similar to Ellis (1997) with different names He divides material evaluation into three types: Preliminary, Formative and Summative evaluation Pre-use evaluation is often carried out before the course starts with the aim to select the most appropriate materials for the particular group of learners and for the aims of the course In-use evaluation often takes place during the learning process, involving “matching the course book against a specific requirement including the learners‟ objectives, the learners‟ background, the resources available, etc” (Cunningsworth, 1995,p.14) The results of this stage can be used to modify what is being done or in other words, such results may suggest the development of the material in the future LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Post-use evaluation is often undertaken after the course has been finished to judge its overall effectiveness The findings of this evaluation will lead to the decision whether to repeat or use the materials again or not 2.3.4 Purposes of material evaluation Evaluation have many different purposes Cunningsworth (1995) states that when conducting an evaluation we can assess whether the course is the most appropriate for the target learners at different levels and in different teaching settings According to Robinson (1991), through evaluation, we can know about the advantages and disadvantages as well as the effectiveness of the being used materials 2.3.5 Models for material evaluation Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divide the material process into four main steps which can be presented in the following model It is a macro-evaluation DEFINING CRITERIA On what bases will you judge material? Which criteria will be more important? SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS What realizations of the criteria you want in your course? OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS How does the material being evaluated realize the criteria? MATCHING How far does the material match your needs? Figure 2: Materials Evaluation Process ( Hutchinson and Water 1987, P.98) Ellis (1997) suggests a Micro-evaluation model which is probably clearer and more detailed: Choosing a task to follow; LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Describing the task with specification of input, procedures, language activities, and outcome; Planning the evaluation with reference to dimensions above Collecting information before, while and after the task was used, and what and how the task was performed; Analysis of the information collected; Findings of the evaluation and making recommendations for future teaching; Writing the report 2.3.6 Methods of material evaluation According to McGrath (2002), there are three methods of evaluation includings: the impressionistic method, the checklist method and the in-depth method The impressionistic method is used to gain a general impression of the material This method consists of glancing at the publsher‟s description on the back cover, the content page, book lay out and visual The checklist method is used to compare, identify or verify by a list of items The in-depth method considers the kind of language description, underlying assumptions about learning or values on which the material are based It focus on specific feature (Cunningworth, 1995), close analysis of one or more extracts (Hutchinson, 1987) 2.3.7 Criteria for material evaluation Hutchinson and Waters (1987) present four main criteria for material evaluation including: the audience, the aims, the content and the methodology - The audience of the materials: the evaluator should obtain information about and from learners to find out whether the materials are suitable to the students‟ age, knowledge of English, interest and so on - Aims of the materials: the evaluator has to check if the materials match the aims and objectives of the course - Content of the materials: the evaluator has to check if the materials‟ language points, macro-skills/micro-skills, and topics suit the learners‟ needs LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -Methodology of the materials: the evaluator has to find out if techniques, aids, guidance provided in the materials satisfy the learners and the teachers of the course 2.4 Material Adaptation There are various ways to adapt material Tomlinson, B (1998:281) suggests a number of available options:  Omission: the teacher leaves out things deemed inappropriate, offensive, and unproductive…for the particular group  Addition: where there seems to be inadequate coverage, the teachers may decide to add material, either in the form of texts or exercise material  Reduction: where the teacher shortens an activity to give it less weight or  Extension: where an activity is lengthened in order to give an additional emphasis dimension  Rewriting/modification: teachers may occasionally decide to rewrite material, especially exercise material, to make it more appropriate, more „communicative‟, more demanding, more accessible to their students  Replacement: texts or exercise material which is considered inadequate for whatever reason may be replaced by more suitable material  Re-ordering: teachers may decide that the order in which the materials are presented is not suitable for their students 2.5 Summary This chapter has provided a brief literature review on material evaluation It can be seen as the theoretical foundation for the applications for this study and the improvements that should be made to the ESP course book for the students at HTMC It includes three sections LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 10 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.1 An overview of current ESP Teaching and Learning at HTMC 2.1.1 The context At HTMC, the numbers of teachers are limited and none of them are in charge of ESP teaching separately There are only three teachers of English Therefore they have to face many difficulties when teaching ESP Besides that, the students at HTMC come from different parts of Ha Tinh province Many of them are from the rural or remote areas so they not have opportunities for studying English At Hatinh Medical College, English is a compulsory subject An English course is divided into two parts: General English (GE) and English for specific purposes (ESP) A course in English at HTMC lasts years In the first year, they learn General English from the coursebook entitled Lifeline Elementary published by Oxford University Press in 1993 In the second year, they learn English for medicine (60 periods) 2.1.2 The ESP course objectives The main objective of the course is set out by the Basic Science Department of HTMC as follows: By the end of the ESP course, the students will be able to:  Describe a number of diseases, their causes, indications and treatment in  Read easy English medical documents English 2.1.3 The material description Let‟s Examine is a 42-page-long coursebook collected and edited by the teachers of English from HTMC It has 15 units including 15 reading texts and exercises In each the reading text, there are pictures or charts to illustrate the target content But they are not really clear Besides, the book does not provide any supplementary materials such as cassettes or CDs, students‟ workbook or teachers‟ manual 2.2 Research Methods 2.2.1 Research Questions LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 11 Based on the aim of the study, the following questions are addressed in this study: 1) To what extent does the ESP coursebook at HTMC meet the requirements of the course and the learners‟ need in terms of aims, content and methodology? 2) What improvements should be made to the ESP coursebook to meet the requirements of the course and learners‟ need? 2.2.2 Participants The teachers‟ respondent in this study included three English teachers They had the bachelor degrees 100 students who took part in the study were the second-year students at HTMC They were 73 females and only 27 males 51 students were studying Nursery major and the rest was studying Diagnostic Imaging 2.2.3 Instrument In order to carry out the research, the survey questionnaire was used as an instrument to collect the data There were the questionnaire for the teachers and the questionnaire for the students 2.2.4 Data collection procedures Data collection was conducted via questionnaires for both the teachers and the students Firstly, the questionnaires were distributed among the English teachers individually They were given three days to complete and return the questionnaires to ensure that they had enough time to give their answers Differently, the students were asked to complete the questionnaires while they were in their classroom 2.2.5 Data analysis procedures After having collected data, the researchers analyzed, synthesized and categorized the answers in suitable tables The result in this research was reported with the descriptive statistic tool 2.3 Summary This chapter has provided an overview of current ESP teaching and learning at HTMC, mainly focusing on the material description LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 12 Chapter 3: Data Analysis And Dicussion 3.1 The teachers’ evaluation on the ESP coursebook 3.1.1 The aims According to the teacher survey results, all of them agreed that the aim of teaching ESP is that, by the end of the ESP course their students would be able to describe a number of diseases, their causes, indication and treatment 3.1.2 The content 100% the teachers accounting believed that the ESP coursebook provided students with useful topics, which were about the popular and basic issues in medicine All the teachers agreed that the topics which were relevant to their students‟ need but were not up-to-date The material was not edited every year As a result, these topics did not help improve students‟ background knowledge of current issues so they reduced students‟ interest and motivation in learning ESP The reading texts in the ESP coursebook were mainly descriptions The majority of the teachers stated that the length of the ESP reading texts was suitable for students‟ agree Within two periods (90 minutes), these students could read and translate the reading texts into Vietnamese On the contrast, one of these teachers said that the reading texts were short and did not meet the students‟ need When the number of the ESP vocabulary in every unit were taken into consideration, the teachers stated that the number of the ESP vocabulary in every unit was a lot It was not suitable for the students of different level In addition, ESP vocabulary was not reviewed for reinforcement In terms of grammar, the teachers thought that it was easy and only one of them said that it was adequate In fact, it was very difficult to evaluate the grammar in the ESP coursebook because it was not separated in a private section Generally, the grammar was not emphasized in this material The teachers only repeated the grammar issues including form and usage when they appeared in the ESP reading texts and there were not the grammar exercise for the students to practice When the methodology was taken into consideration 100% teachers stated that the methodology in the ESP coursebook is learning-centred It means that Learning was LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 13 totally determined by the learners They used what knowledge or skills they have acquired in order to understand the new information Concerning the issue of whether or not the ESP coursebook provided communicative activities that helped the students carry out them in their real life All the teachers disagreed with the statement The exercises and the activities in the material did not provide the students with the opportunity to communicate in real life and work with each other in pairwork or groupwork To improve the material, these teachers gave some opinions for adjustments of this coursebook For them, the current ESP coursebook should offer them more kinds of tasks to practice four language skills And it was necessary to have more pictures and examples They also mentioned that a workbook and a teacher‟s manual book with teaching hints as well as progress tests designed periodically for the students should be included 3.2 The students’ evaluation on the ESP coursebook When being asked about the need of learning ESP, 66% students said that they liked learning ESP because it would be useful for their job in the future The rest did not like learning this subject because it was too difficult compared with their current English level or the teaching method was still boring The length of the reading texts in the ESP coursebook was evaluated to be adequate (53%) 23% students thought that the reading texts were long and only 14% students found them too long Additionally, the rest of the students (10%) said that the length of the ESP reading texts was still short; they need the longer reading texts in order to be suitable with their degree From the result we can see that the length of the reading texts in ESP coursebook met the need of the students Answering the last question, 61% students said that they would choose to learn this ESP coursebook again 30% of them gave the opposite idea Surprisingly, there were students who did not have the answer for this question 3.3 Findings 3.3.1 The suitability and unsuitability of the ESP coursebook to the aims LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 14 According to the survey results and compared to the aims of the course, which was set out by the Basic Science Department of HTMC, we can see that the students had more aims than the aims of the ESP course 3.3.2 The suitability and unsuitability of the ESP coursebook related to the content requirement A good point of the content in this material is the learners‟ and teachers‟ satisfaction with the topics in the reading texts Most of the topics were useful and could encourage the students to express their own views Moreover, some topics such as “general condition of health”,” the eyes”,” tetanus”,”malnutrition” allowed critical thinking in them which motivated them to learn ESP more When the length of the reading text was taken into consideration, both the teachers and the students had the same idea that it was suitable for the students‟ level In addition, the tasks were useful and every task had clear instructions for it For these criterial, the content of the ESP coursebook met the requirements of the course and the learners‟ need in some aspects However, the result of the survey indicates that the content of the ESP coursebook still had some weaknesses The topics were not up dated, which caused demotivation in the students The number of the vocabulary available in every unit was not sufficient enough for them Moreover, the material did not focus on developing all the skills It only paid more attention to the reading skill As a result, this unsuitability could not be well met the learners‟ need and it should be improved 3.3.3 The suitability and unsuitability of the coursebook related to the learning-centred methodology As far as the methodology is concerned, both the teachers and the students had the same opinions The methodology in the ESP coursebook was learning-centred The material also provided the students with the opportunity to tasks with each other in pairwork and groupwork Moreover, the ESP language was presented in the contexts However, the coursebook did not allow various class activities And the ESP coursebook did not provide communicative activities that help the students carry out their communicative act in their real life LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 15 In view of methodology, the ESP coursebook met the course requirement and the learners‟ need There are some improvements in order to develop the students‟ communicative abilities 3.4 Recommendations 3.4.1 Content improvements From the data analysis, we can see that the development of all the four language skills is extremely essential for the students at HTMC Therefore, the ESP coursebook should provide a balance of them The material should add the listening skill tasks which are not available in the current ESP coursebook Moreover, the material should have the separated sections for vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and four skills More exercises should be added into the material so that the students would have chances to practice and improve their ability It is also necessary to add more communicate exercises and activities such as group and pair work and role play as these can help students carry out their communicative tasks The topics in the ESP coursebook could be various but should contain updated information In addition, topics that can provoke students‟ crictical thinking, encourage them to generate their ideas and make their own judgments on theirs‟ opinions should be added on the ESP coursebook If the reading texts in the material are arranged in the degrees of difficulties in terms of language, it will be easier for the students to learn ESP Besides, each text has a different topic, therefore, when learning a new text, the students must learn words which are completely different and new for them Moreover, they not have chance to practice what they have learnt Therefore, the reading texts should provide vocabulary gradually which is relevant to each other in terms of the topics The current ESP coursebook is being used for all the students at the college degree at HTMC As a result, the content is not specific Finally, the ESP coursebook should include a variety of attractive pictures and interesting activities which will stimulate students‟ motivation and creativity 3.4.2 Methodology improvements LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 16 Teachers should apply learning-centred approach more in the ESP class so that they can engage students in learning ESP affectively Learning-centred approach that can allow various activities are highly recommended The teachers should try to speak as much English as possible during ESP classes in order to create a language environment for their students to develop their speaking and listening skills The teachers should recommend their students what the materials they should read and how they can read them effectively LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 17 PART III: CONCLUSION Conclusion The use of ESP coursebook is more popular nowadays Therefore, material evaluation also becomes a very important process in ESP teaching and learning The results from material evaluation can help the teachers to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the material From that, the recommendations are suggested to improve the material The ESP coursebook for the students at Ha Tinh Medical College has been evaluated from the point of view of both the teachers and the students in terms of the aim, the content and the method Based on the survey results in the previous chapter, the following conclusions are drawn: - The ESP coursebook has met the requirements of the course and the learners‟ need in the sense that it provides the students with the reading skills, ESP vocabulary and the tasks However, the material has not fully responded to the course requirements and the students‟ aim in terms of writing, speaking and listening skills and failed to meet the students‟ aim at being able to communicate in English after finishing the ESP course Besides, translation should be developed because this is the most type of exercise evaluated by the students - Basing on the findings, the researcher has suggested some improvements with the hope that they may help improve the ESP coursebook for the students at HTMC in the coming years to meet more the requirements of the course and the learners‟ needs Limitation and suggestions for further research Like the other studies, this study has its own limitations due to the limited time and scope The greatest limitation is that the questionnaire has been used as the only instrument to collect data It means that the researcher has not been able to investigate the evaluation of the teachers and the students on current ESP coursebook in all aspects Various instruments will be used in the next study to explore more the target issue The number of English teachers involved in the survey was limited There were only three teachers Therefore, the result can not be quite reliable This is also the limitation of this study LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 18 REFERENCES Alderson, J.C & Beretta, A (1992), Evaluating Second Language Education Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brown, J.D and Rodgers, T.S (2002), Doing Second Language Research Oxford: Oxford University Press Brown, J.D (1988), Understanding Research in Second Language Learning: A teacher’s guide to statistics and research design, USA: Cambridge University Press Clarke, D F (1989), “Material Adaption: Why Leave It all to the Teacher?”, ELT Journal, 43 (2), pp 133-41 Cunningsworth, A (1995), Choosing your coursebook, London: Macmillan Dudley- Evans, T., & St John, M.J (1998), Development in English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ellis, R (1997), “ The Empirical Language Materials”, ELT Journal, 51(1), pp 36-42 Gillham, B (2000), Developing a Questionaire, Continuum Grant, N (1987), Making the most of your textbook, Oxford: Heinnemann Publishers Ltd 10 Hull, M (2004) Changing The Paradigm For Medical English Language Teaching International Symposium of English for Medical Purposes in Beijing, China 11 Hutchinson, T & Water, A (1981), Performance and Competence in ESP, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 12 Hutchinson, T & Water, A (1984), How communicative is ESP?.ELT Journal, 38(2), 108-113 13 Hutchinson, T & Water, A (1987), English for specific purposes: A learning-centred approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 14 McDonough, J., & Shaw, C (1993), Materials and Methods in ELT, Blackwell 15 McGrath, I (2002), Materials Evaluation and Design for Language teaching, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 19 16 Nunan, D (1988), The Learner-Centered Curriculum, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 17 Nunan, D (1992), Research Methods in Language Learning, Cambgidge: Cambridge University Press 18 Nunan, D (1988), Syllabus design, Adelaide: Oxford University Press 19 Tarone, E and Yule, G (1989), Focus on the Language Learner, Oxford University Press 20 Tickoo, M L (Ed.), (1988), ESP: Sate of the Art, Anthology Series 21, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre 21 Tomlinson, B (1998), Materials Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 22 Richards, J.C and Renandya, W.A (2002), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice language, USA: Cambridge University Press 23 Rea-Dickinson, P & Germaine, K (1989), Evaluation, Oxford: Oxford University Press 24 Robinson, P.C (1991), ESP Today: A practitioners’s Guide, London: Prentice Hall 25 Ur P (1996), A course in Language Teaching: practice and theory, Great Britain: Cambridge University Press 26 Williams, D (1983), “Developing Criteria for Textbook Evaluation”, ELT Journal, 37 (3), pp 251-55 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LƯU NHƯ QUỲNH AN IN- USE EVALUATION OF THE ESP COURSEBOOK FOR HA TINH MEDICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS ACCORDING. .. the learners use what knowledge or skills they have in order to make sense of the flow of new information 2.2 Roles of using the coursebook in Language Teaching and Learning LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG... that the methodology in the ESP coursebook is learning- centred It means that Learning was LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 13 totally determined by the learners They used