INTRODUCTION
Rationale of the study
It is argued that language learning is regarded as the cornerstone of human existence Knowing the language can help people to express their opinions, hopes, and even their dreams (Tavil, 2009) In recent years, English has become a compulsory subject for the students in all school levels, which urges the educators and the researchers to find out ways of teaching and learning effectively There are some factors affecting teaching and learning foreign language such as personal characteristics, disposition, the background of the teachers and students, the difficulty of the language, the lack of the instruction media and facilities to teach the English language the appropriate classroom environments, the content of the English course, and the teachers' satisfaction with their job as EFL teachers, etc In foreign language learning context, there are various factors that influence the teaching and learning process such as motivation, attitudes, anxiety, learning achievements, aptitudes, intelligence, age, personalities, etc (Gardner, 1960;
Lehmann, 2006, cited in Shams, 2008) The attitudes of teachers and students have a strong impact on the success or failure of teaching and learning language
Attitudes had a strong impact on teaching and learning language, which affects the success or failure of teachers and learners Also, the textbook also played an important role in teaching and learning, it provides the framework for teachers and learners in achieving the aim of the course In fact, there are no studies about the piloted textbook English 10 Hence, the study looks into the concept of attitude as one of the major affective factors for success in teaching and learning a foreign language Therefore, this research focused on the attitudes of teachers and learners towards the piloted textbook English 10
Being a teacher of English in Upper Secondary School, I realize that the attitudes of the teachers and students towards the piloted textbook could affect the results of teaching and learning the language Hence, I would like to do an
2 investigation with a hope to elucidate the roles of attitudes in teaching and learning L2 so that I have carried out the study entitled:
Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the piloted textbook English 10:
The case of Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School, Nam Dinh City.
Aims of the study
The present study aims to investigate the attitudes of the teachers and students in the piloted textbook English 10
The following were the objectives of this study:
- To find out the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards the piloted textbook English 10
- To find out the feelings of teachers and students in the classroom toward the piloted textbook English 10.
Research questions
To order to achieve the above purposes in the research, there are 2 questions in the research:
(i).What are the attitudes of the teachers towards the teaching of the piloted English 10?
(ii).What are the attitudes of the students towards the learning of the piloted English 10?
Scope of the study
The new piloted English 10 textbook is not common because it is the piloted program in the small extent of the quantity of the schools and the subjects in the piloted program, so the study will focus on the attitudes of teachers and students towards the piloted textbook However, this study only focuses on the attitudes of teachers and learners towards employing the piloted textbook English 10, particularly with 80 students and 5 teachers chosen for this program at Nghia Hung
Upper Secondary School Therefore, it cannot be said that the result of the study are generalized to all students and teachers who piloted this new textbook.
Significance of the study
One of the major theoretical issues that have been paid attention to is the attitudes of teachers and students because they affect to the behaviors and responses of the teachers and students According to Ajzen and Fishbein (1980), attitudes exert a direct influence on behavior An individual‟s attitudes towards something will influence his or her overall patterns of responses to it The study was conducted with the expectation that its results would be useful for the teachers and students
Firstly, a deeper understanding of teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards teaching and learning the piloted English 10 textbook will be gained Secondly, the results from this study can help teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes toward teaching and learning language Thirdly, the information from the study can benefit teachers and students conceive the need to develop positive attitudes toward teaching and learning second language and control the attitudes to achieve the effectiveness of language teaching and learning.
Methodology
In the research of language attitude, two theoretical approaches are used and they are „behaviorist view‟ and „mentalist view‟ (Fasold, 1984) According to behaviorist view, the attitudes are dependent variables which must be studied by observing users‟ responses to certain languages, i.e their use in actual interactions whereas according to mentalist view, attitudes are internal mental state which cannot be observed directly but have to be inferred from users‟ behavior or their self -reported data The cognitivists (metalists) maintain that learning cannot be equated with behavior because observed behavior is only the outward manifestation of internal changes, which the organism may have undergone as a result of learning,
4 and these internal changes are not in themselves observable The behaviorist theory emphasizes the importance of verbal behavior and operates the principle: behaviorist theory is the habit formation theory of language teaching and learning
This research will use 3 methods to collect the data: observation, and questionnaires, interviews Classroom observation is useful to researchers in a variety of ways, which provides researchers to check for nonverbal expression of feelings, determine who interacts with whom, grasp how participants communicate with each other, and check for how much time is spent on various activities.
Interviews may be useful ad follow-up to certain respondents to questionnaires The questionnaire is one of the most common methods of gathering data It is also time-saving and conductive to reliable results Data were collected by means of survey questionnaires for 80 students at Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School The questionnaires included closed- ended questions, open- ended questions Other sources for data collection came from classroom observation, an interview two teachers and 10 students
To order to fulfill the task mentioned above, this study will employ two approaches of data analysis: quantitative and qualitative methods The quantitative method is used to collect data through survey questionnaire; the qualitative method is used to gather information through informal interviews and observation from teachers and students in the classroom.
Design of the study
The thesis consists of three parts:
Part one is the INTRODUCTION which presents the rationales, the objectives, the method and the design of the study It expresses the reason why the author decided to choose this study and the methods for the fulfillment of the study
Part two, DEVELOPMENT, includes three chapters
Chapter One deals with a historical overview of literature It starts with the theoretical issues on attitudes of teachers and students towards the piloted textbook, which consist the definition, components of attitudes, the relationship among perception, belief and attitude, the relationship between attitude and motivation, the roles of attitudes in language learning, language attitude in teaching and learning in the piloted curriculum The next part discusses about the definition of textbook, the roles of the textbook in teaching and learning L2
Chapter Two emphasizes the study methodology Also, in this chapter the author would like to provide some information about the findings of the study
Chapter three suggests some recommendations to improve the teaching and learning the piloted English 10
Part three, CONCLUSION, summarizes the thesis with key issues in the study, makes some suggestions for further study
DEVELOPMENT
1 Attitudes in teaching and learning foreign language
Attitude has recently received considerable attention from both first and second language researchers It is defined within the framework of social psychology as a subjective or mental preparation for action It defines outward and visible postures and human beliefs It determines what each one will see, hear, think, and do Attitude in Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics written by Richards (2002) is defined as, expressions of positive or negative feelings towards a language These expressions may reflect impressions of linguistic difficulty or simplicity, ease the difficulty of learning, degree of importance, elegance, social status, etc
Attitude is an important concept which is defined as a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings Attitude has also been defined as a mental and neutral state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual‟s response to all objects and situations with which it is related Furthermore, attitude means the individual‟s prevailing tendency to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object (Morries and Maisto,2005)
According to Hallorah( 1967), attitudes represents an individual‟s like and dislike of an item Attitudes are positive, negative and neutral views of an “attitude object” i.e a teaching style, person, situation or event People mean that they simultaneously possess a positive and a negative bias towards the attitude in question In Gibb‟s opinion (1988) attitude is generally defined as a state of mind, which is influenced by feelings, experiences of the world and belief And the attitudes and behavior of teachers toward their profession can be portrayed in a positive or negative way which can have an effect on the achievement of the students Both negative and positive attitudes have a strong impact on the success of language learning and teaching This means when teachers with positive attitudes experience success in
LITERATURE REVIEW
Attitudes in teaching and learning foreign language
Attitude has recently received considerable attention from both first and second language researchers It is defined within the framework of social psychology as a subjective or mental preparation for action It defines outward and visible postures and human beliefs It determines what each one will see, hear, think, and do Attitude in Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics written by Richards (2002) is defined as, expressions of positive or negative feelings towards a language These expressions may reflect impressions of linguistic difficulty or simplicity, ease the difficulty of learning, degree of importance, elegance, social status, etc
Attitude is an important concept which is defined as a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings Attitude has also been defined as a mental and neutral state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual‟s response to all objects and situations with which it is related Furthermore, attitude means the individual‟s prevailing tendency to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object (Morries and Maisto,2005)
According to Hallorah( 1967), attitudes represents an individual‟s like and dislike of an item Attitudes are positive, negative and neutral views of an “attitude object” i.e a teaching style, person, situation or event People mean that they simultaneously possess a positive and a negative bias towards the attitude in question In Gibb‟s opinion (1988) attitude is generally defined as a state of mind, which is influenced by feelings, experiences of the world and belief And the attitudes and behavior of teachers toward their profession can be portrayed in a positive or negative way which can have an effect on the achievement of the students Both negative and positive attitudes have a strong impact on the success of language learning and teaching This means when teachers with positive attitudes experience success in
7 the language teaching behavior, the attitudes are reinforced, whereas teachers with negative attitudes may fail to progress language teaching In short, attitudes have a strong impact in teaching and learning language, which affects the success or failure of teachers and students
There is close ties among belief, perception and attitude According to Richard R Bootzin, Gordon H Bower, Elizabeth Hall (1991), belief and perception are just inside the brain, they are not in action Belief is the root or foundation of a person‟s way of thinking In normal life, people do not question or filter their belief
They take their beliefs as it is Perception is the method or way of thinking or point of view Attitude is what people act or react How people perform their thinking is their attitude Their action is depending on their attitude They usually do not see their own action Their action is just a show-off of their perception and their belief
In summary, three components has a close relationship, they can influence others through their own change in attitude, their action or the reaction They are valuable that help the researchers develop the aims of the study
Attitudes and motivation play a primary role on language learning situations and in second language acquisition contexts Therefore, attitudes and motivation are the most important determinant factors in the learning or acquisition of second language Gardner (1985:9-12) makes clear distinctions between two terms:
Attitudes are considered to show an evaluative reaction to some referent (e.g the teacher, the EFL classroom, the textbook,…) inferred on the basis of the learner‟s beliefs X the referent ( e.g opinions, feelings, emotional reactions, etc.) Attitudes contain three basic factors:
- cognitive: the learner‟s belief structure
- conative: tendency to behave in a certain way Motivation contains favorable attitudes As used by Gardner, it is a combination of effort, desire and positive attitudes towards the learning of the
8 second/ foreign language It includes: effort, want, affect on the one hand and it is also goal directed (cognitive component)
In learning a second language, it is important that students have high motivation and positive attitude towards the target language This is because many linguists have proven that motivation and attitude are closely related in determining the success of second language learning (Gardner & Lambert, 1972) Higher levels of motivation and positive attitude will produce more successful language learners and vice versa Brown (2000) states that a language learner benefits from positive attitude and that negative attitude may lead to decrease in motivation; and consequently it leads to unsuccessful attainment of proficiency
Most researchers stated that attitudes of teachers and students are an integral part of teaching and learning language, therefore, it becomes an essential component of second language learning pedagogy There are three components of attitudes: cognitive (i.e., the idea or assumptions upon which the attitude is based), affective (i.e., feelings about the issue), and behavioral (i.e., predisposition toward an action that corresponds with the assumptions or belief) (Wood, 2000) As the researchers mentioned, attitudes can be positive or negative Both have a strong impact on the success of language teaching and learning process
Gardner‟s argument presented a comprehensive definition of the attitude concept He classified the term “attitude” into three interrelated components namely, cognitive, affective and behavioral The cognitive component involves the beliefs, thoughts or viewpoints about the object of the attitude The affective component refers to the individual‟s feelings and emotions towards an object, whether he/she likes or dislikes The behavioral component involves the tendency to adopt particular learning behaviors Gardner (1985) also points out that attitude is an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred on the basis of the individual‟s beliefs or opinions about the referent “Attitude is thus linked to a
9 person‟s values and beliefs and promotes or discourages the choices made in all realms of activity, whether academic or informal.”
Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) propose a conceptual framework of attitude construct which consists of four categories: cognition, affect, conation, and behavior Brown (1994), in his book „Principles of Language Learning and
Attitudes, like all aspects of the development of cognition and affect in human beings, develop early in childhood and are the result of parents’ and peers’ attitudes, contact with people who are different in any number of ways, and interacting affective factors in the human experience(p.168)
“Attitude is determined by the individual‟s beliefs about outcomes or attributes of performing the behavior (behavioral beliefs), weighted by evaluations of those outcomes or attributes Thus, a person who holds strong beliefs that positively valued outcomes will result from performing the behavior will have a positive attitude toward the behavior Conversely, a person who holds strong beliefs that negatively valued outcomes will result from the behavior will have a negative attitude.” Attitude concept can be viewed from these three dimensions Each one of these dimensions has different features to bring out language attitude results Fazio
(1986) states that attitude comprises of three components: “an affective component involving feelings about and evaluation of the object, a cognitive component involving belief about the object and a behavioral intentions component.”
Accordingly, the attitude concept has three components i.e., behavioral, cognitive and affective The behavioral aspect of attitude deals with the way one behaves and reacts in particular situations In fact, the successful language learning enhances the learners to identify themselves with the native speakers of that language and acquire or adopt various aspects of behaviors which characterize the members of the target language community Briefly, attitudes have three main components: affective, behavioral and cognitive The affective components are easily assessed by monitoring physical signs such as heart rate whereas the behavioral aspects may be
The textbook in teaching and learning language
The choice of language teaching materials can determine the quality of learning-teaching procedure As a part of the materials used in the language classroom, the textbook can often play a crucial role in students‟ success or failure
Textbook is one of the important components in most language programs ( Skowronski, 2000 and Hinchman, 2002) Textbooks in the teaching and learning process might function as the main language input that is received by the students or as the media for the students to have language practice ( Tomlinson, 1998) It is the fact that textbook is regarded as “any visible heart of any ELT program” (Sheldon,
1988) and that “the textbook is an almost universal element of ELT teaching.”
(Hutchinson 1994) Jan Amos Comenius defined the communicative values of a coursebook in order that it can be a good teaching- learning material In the 20 th century, Zujev (1986: 56) considered a coursebook to be “a final project in the application of the content of learning…” Textbooks are considered the key component of most language programs ( Richards, 2001) and provide the necessary input into classroom lessons through different activities, readings and explanations ( Tomlinson, 2002) According to Cunningsworth (1995) the textbooks serve the language course as a source for material presentation, activities for learner practice and communicative interaction, stimulation and ideas for classroom activities, and a reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation On the other hand, Prucha pointed that a coursebook is inseparable from the teaching- learning process because it is a means of classroom management for the teacher and self- direction of learner‟s own learning ( Prucha 1984:18) And, in his recent publication, he considers a coursebook to be “a curricular object, the source of knowledge for students and teaching material for teacher” In a survey conducted by Richards, it was reported that textbooks were one of the primary sources of teaching materials The wide use of textbooks in the local ELT classroom is understandable
13 as given that fact that, “materials [textbooks] are not simply that every day tools of the language teacher, they are an embodiment of the aims, values, and methods of the particular teaching/ learning situation” (Hutchinson, 1987) According to Riazi
(2003, p.52), “textbook play a very crucial role in the realm of language teaching and learning and are considered the next important factor in the second/ foreign language classroom after the teacher” O‟Neill (1982) presents four reasons for the use of coursebooks Firstly, most parts of coursebook materials are appropriate for students‟ needs, even they are not specially designed for them Secondly, they make it possible for students to plan for future learning and also review the previous materials or lessons Thirdly, coursebooks provide students with high quality materials at a reasonable price Finally, suitable coursebooks allow teachers to adapt and modify them to meet the learners‟ needs and also allow for natural interaction to happen In short, a textbook is a crucial material which helps teachers and learners define the objectives in teaching and learning process L2 Coursebook is useful because it is regarded as a starting point as well as a finishing point, students know exactly what they learn during the lesson and what they need to revise for the next lesson The teachers who are utilizing the coursebook are able to achieve the aims, the methods and values of the teaching program
Textbooks are considered the key component of most language programs ( Richards, 2001) and provide the necessary input into classroom lessons through different activities, readings and explanations ( Tomlinson, 2002) Regarding the multiple roles of the textbooks in ELT, Cunningsworth (1995) identifies a textbook as a resource in presenting the material, a source for learners to practice and do the activities and providing the learners with a reference source on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation What is more, textbook serve as a syllabus and a self- study source for learners and support for the beginning teachers who have yet to gain in confidence Thus, it can be said that the fundamental role of textbooks is
14 to be at the service of teachers and learners but not their boss Clandfield (2010) asserts that textbooks are useful tools for ELT in which they provide a structure for teachers and students to follow, provide attractive, motivational, colorful and diverse content and provide a source of ideas and methodology for them
In conclusion, textbook has a great influence on teaching and learning L2, which motivates and supports the teachers and learners in using it easily or govern the teaching and learning styles and strategies
2.3 The roles of a textbook in language learning
In practice, there is no single textbook which can suit the learning needs of all students ( Hutchinson & Torres, 1994) Tomlinson (1998) explains in choosing a textbook, teachers need to take into account the abilities, needs and interests of their students , as well as the quality of the book Based on him, teachers should note the extent to which textbook need to be adapted and combined with the additional material Richards ( 2001) stated that “Textbook is considered the key component of most language programs.” And, it provides the necessary input into classroom through different activities, readings and explanation According to Cunningswoth (1995), textbook served the language course as a source for material presentation, activities for learners practice and communicative interaction, stimulation and ideas for classroom activities and a reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation Clandfield (2010) asserts that textbooks are the useful tools ELT in that they provide a structure for teachers and students to follow, provide attractive, motivational, colorful and diverse content, serve as a great timesaver for teachers, and provide a source of ideas and methodology for them
In spite of these strengths, there are potential negative effects of using textbooks Textbooks may provide learners with inauthentic language including distorted content or ignoring student‟s needs or deskilled teachers (Richards, 2001)
Due to the limitations, many language experts believe that the perfect book does not
15 exist, however “the best book available for teachers and students does exist” (Grant,
1987, p.8) This is the book that suits the needs, interests and abilities of both the learners and the teacher To be able to find the best book available, materials is still innovated to revolutionize the developments of teaching materials so that the textbook should meet the needs of the students by attending to their interests and abilities and it should be in agreement with the teaching style of a teacher (Grant,
Textbooks play a crucial role in shaping social attitudes and molding the behavior of the learners Textbooks are the mostly used teaching and learning materials for both teachers and students, they provide a framework for teachers in achieving the aims of the course and serve as a guide to the teachers Also, the textbook affects the students‟ attitudes and performance to the lesson through the course It is true that when the learners like their textbooks, they like the course as well and become active participants to the lesson Textbooks can affect the attitude of a learner including the structure, the organization, the presentation format and etc which contribute to like or dislike, interest or disinterest, attraction or repulsion and increase positive or negative attitudes of learners and users Kochhhar (1985) made a comprehensive list of attributes a textbook consisting of: the contents of the textbook, the physical appearance, the suitability for the capability of the users
According to Aggarwal(2001), the psychological attributes of textbook tend to affect the attitude of the learners Maxwell (2008) stated that the teacher‟s understandings in using textbook influence their behavior and their teaching performance Hence, the attitudes to the textbook play an important role in language teaching and learning, which can stimulate or cause a barrier toward teaching and learning second language.
Related Studies
Many studies have been conducted to explore the nature of students‟ attitudes towards learning foreign language in general and EFL in particular,
16 compared with the studies concerning the attitudes of ESL learners during the past three decades (Al-Zahrani, 2008) For instance, Shams (2008) conducted a study attempting to investigate students‟ attitudes, motivation and anxiety towards the learning of English The findings underlined that the students had affirmative attitudes and high enthusiasm towards English This also highlighted that most of them showed positive attitudes towards English language and its learning which, in turn, emphasized the value of English language efficiency in the daily life The findings show that students had positive attitudes and extreme eagerness towards teaching and learning English and they also valued the importance of English language efficiency in the daily life Momani (2009) also investigated the secondary stage students‟ attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language and their achievements in reading comprehension The findings showed that the respondents had neutral positive attitudes toward learning English Also, there was a strong correlation between the students‟ attitudes toward learning English and their performance in reading comprehension The findings of study by AlTamimi and Shuib (2009) on Petroleum Engineering students‟ motivation and attitudes towards learning English revealed that they had positive attitudes towards the use of English in the Yemeni social and educational contexts They also showed affirmative attitude towards the culture of the English speaking world In terms of the year of study variable, AlZahrani (2008) conducted a study to determine the attitudes of Saudi students towards English The statistical analysis revealed that there was not any clear difference among the three years in their attitudes towards Learning English as the descriptive statistics showed that the respondents in the three years had the same level of attitude Regarding the gender variable, Fakeye (2010) investigated the correlation between attitude and achievement in English among 400 senior secondary students selected randomly from five secondary schools The findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between attitude and achievement Additionally, it was explored that students‟ attitude is not gender- related Thus, there was not a statistically significant difference in the attitudes of
17 male and female students At Vietnam National University, Hanoi College of Foreign Languages, there are also many M.A these on students‟ and teachers‟ attitudes towards various aspects in English learning and teaching such as learning and teaching English language skills or teachers‟ techniques used in teaching English skills as well as the contents of textbooks For example, N.T.T Hang
(2006), T.T Phuong (2007), N.H Tuyet (2009), N.T Chung (2010) investigated students‟ and teachers‟ attitudes towards teaching and learning grammar H.T.B Thuy (2008), T.T Van (2010), etc investigated teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards teaching and learning different language skills Or, N.T.B Hang (2009) conducted the study about the implementation of the new English textbook for grade 10 innovation; however, that study focused on using the new textbook when the textbook was complemented in all schools Among these studies, there is not any a study on attitudes of teachers and students towards teaching and learning the piloted textbook English 10 So, this study will focus on the attitudes of teachers and students with the piloted new textbook English 10 which is being modeled in some high schools in Vietnam
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1 Practical situation of teaching and learning the piloted English 10 in Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School
In the previous chapter, the theoretical matters related to the topic have been covered However, in order to see how they work in real teaching and learning, a practical research was carried out The research underwent the following steps:
1 Designing survey questionnaires, observation and interview
2 Delivering questionnaires to the pilot informants
5 Proposing some remarks and comments from the results of the questionnaires and giving suggestions
In this chapter, only the first four steps will be mentioned The last step will be presented in the next chapter
1.1 Description of the English course and its objectives at Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School
Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School has been known as one of the top- ranked schools in Nam Dinh Province Any students who passed the entrance examination to Nghia Hung School must study English as a compulsory subject
Students learn this subject during two terms at school and take all the exams
However, in the schoolyear, there were two classes which studied the piloted English 10, before students were asked to study this new textbook, they could be chosen through the marks in the entrance exam and their expectations There are two classes who study this piloted book: 10T1 and 10T2 Each term lasts 54 periods (45 minutes per period) equivalent to one semester based on administers‟
English 10 is the first of a three- level English language set of textbooks for the Vietnamese upper secondary school It follows the systematic, cyclical and theme-based curriculum approved by the Ministry of Education and Training on
23 rd November 2012 The aim of this set of textbooks is to develop students‟ communicative competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing so that when finishing upper secondary school, students will achieve level three of the Vietnamese Foreign Language Competence Framework (equivalent to B1 in the Common European Framework for Languages)
The objectives of Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School:
After the 10 th school year, students will be able to:
- Develop the proficiency of language so that they can adopt the demand of this subject
- Develop the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking
- Achieve B1 level after graduating the school and use L2 in practice fluently
- Achieve the high results in the exam
1.2 Description of the students at Upper Secondary School
All students in Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School have to pass the entrance exam with the high marks in total All students studied English from the Junior Secondary School Most of the students in two classes (class 10T1 & 10T2) are chosen according to the total marks and their aspirations Two classes chosen to complement the piloted textbook English 10 contains 40 students each class Mostly students study English as a second language when they were in the secondary school However, almost learners concentrate on part of grammar and are chosen into two classes based on the evaluation of written test
1.3 Description of the teachers at Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School
If students are the most important factor in the learning process, teachers are the most important factor in the teaching process At Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School, there are 9 teachers teaching English, almost they achieve the C1 level in Common European Framework of Reference Especially, two teachers chosen to participate in complementing the piloted textbook English 10 have the teaching experiences and proficiencies in the second language Two teachers also have an opportunity in participating in the course of training the teachers utilizing the new textbook as well as the new method in the summer break
The piloted English 10 are required to teach in a few high schools, they were developed based on the new national curriculum The textbook is compiled following the program of the primary school and junior school The methodologies that the books follow are “learner-centered approach and the communicative approach with theme-based curriculum”
Each book includes 10 teaching units and four review units Each teaching unit covers a topic and is sub-divided into five sections: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus in eight 45-minute lessons These theme- based units are designed to provide students with memorable lessons and enjoyable learning experience Each review lesson provides revision and further practice of the preceding units, taught in two 45-minute lessons Glossary provides phonetic transcription of the new words in the units and their Vietnamese equivalents The new textbook satisfies the requirements of Vietnam‟s MOETs _ appropriate to the students‟ educational psychologies as well as the students‟ cultural background and the cultural features of Vietnam and all over the world, especially the speaking countries in the world
In order to achieve the purpose of the study and to facilitate data collection and analysis, the author chooses 8 teachers (ranging from 30 to 40 years old) and all students in 2 classes ( 10T1 and 10T2) who are taking part in teaching and learning the piloted textbook to participate in completing the survey questionnaires, observations and interviews
The eight teachers had been teaching both the old textbook and the piloted textbook They have at least seven years of English teaching experience at different high schools Most of the teachers attended a short in-service training workshop organized by the MOET on using the new textbook They were willing to co- operate with this research, they agree with my plan in the collecting data They were ready to participate in the interviews and gave me warm welcome in the classroom observation
Like teachers, the learners in two classes were eager with my plan They filled into the survey questionnaire completely and took part in the interview without refusal They were ready to express their attitudes about this textbook Especially most of the students have intention of pursuing this language to register into the university or college
The data was obtained with three instruments: observation, interview and questionnaire
In this study, there was a questionnaire for students about attitudes towards the piloted textbook English 10 The questionnaire for students consists of 15 questions and is divided into three parts Part I includes short questions on personal information of the participants Part II contains the questions about the beliefs or
22 thoughts of students toward the piloted textbook It comprises the categories: the topic and content, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, language contents, physical appearance and social and cultural contexts Part III consists of the questions to investigate the teachers‟ and students‟ feelings for the piloted textbook Both part II and part III were designed for students to give the response with the four degree scale ( strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) All the three parts of the questionnaire employed a Likert-type scale format Questionnaire for students was transcribed into Vietnamese and distributed 80 students The transcription of the questionnaire was done to make sure that all the students understood all the questions
The aim of the study was to investigate the attitudes of teachers and students towards the piloted textbook, it is of naturalistic inquiry by nature The aim of the interviews was to understand the rationale of the teachers‟ and students‟ behavior and feelings in the classroom I conducted the interview with the two teachers and
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
1 Data analysis 1.1 Data analysis of questionnaire
The questionnaire was administered to 80 students in two classes using the piloted textbook English 10 Administering the questionnaire took approximately twenty minutes The data from the questionnaire investigated into the beliefs and feelings of the students
Table 1: The attitudes of students towards the topic and the content of the piloted textbook English 10
1 The topic and content of the piloted textbook English
10 are appealing for the students 15% 65% 7% 8%
2 The topic and content allow students to think critically 15% 80 5% 0%
3 The subject matters has logical, organized manner 10% 87% 3% 0%
4 The topic and content meet the students' needs 50% 50% 0% 0%
Topic and the contents of any textbook can create convenient atmosphere for students and teachers The topics and contents of textbook need to be appealing, logical, organized according to the context and they should allow students and teachers thinks creatively and critically 65% of the participants were agreed and 15% were strongly agreed at the same time as 20% respondents did not agree The topics and contents of the piloted textbook encourage the students to express the own views - almost all the students expressed agreement on this point 95% The topics and contents meet the students‟ needs, 50% students agreed and 50% students strongly agreed whereas the disagreement and the strong disagreement were 0% in this respect
In terms of the content and topic, the students had the high percentage of the subject matters, this means the structure and layout of the textbook was designed logically and concisely for students to follow In addition, the textbook met the students‟ needs and encouraged the students to think critically
Table 2: The attitudes of students towards the vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation of the textbook
1 The vocabulary and structures are understandable and appropriate for students 20% 28% 27% 25%
2 The materials for teaching grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation are graded in an appropriate manner
3 The exercises and activities for practicing the grammatical points are sufficient 25% 63% 5% 7%
4 The vocabulary of the book is applicable for students 20% 57% 15% 8%
5 The book includes adequate materials for pronunciation 10% 50% 30% 10%
In terms of the vocabulary and structures, more half of students thought that they were not understandable and appropriate for the students‟ level On the other hand, the materials for teaching grammar, vocabulary and grammar have all students agreed that they were designed in appropriate manner On the point of the exercises and activities for grammatical points, the results revealed that the exercises and activities are sufficient for students to practice As for the vocabulary, nearly 80% students showed that the vocabulary is applicable whereas 23% students indicated the vocabulary was not suitable for them; probably in each unit, the textbook provided a lot of new words not understandable Both the grammar and
27 pronunciation were provided sufficiently and detailed with the large exercises, it is possible to say that the teachers focus on grammar and pronunciation through practicing That is the reason that the students liked the grammar and pronunciation, it helps the students to develop and consolidate the main grammar
Table 3: The attitudes of students toward language contents of the textbook
1 Language contents are helpful in achieving four skills 15% 54% 18% 13%
2 The texts in reading skill are authentic 15% 68% 10% 7%
3 Three steps: pre- reading, while-reading, post- reading are useful to train effective reader 35% 50% 10% 5%
4 Speaking activities are sufficient to practice and encourage students sufficient communicative and meaningful practice
5 The language functions are presented in meaningful contexts 7% 45% 22% 26%
6 The listening passages help students develop their listening comprehension skills 5% 40% 35% 20%
7 The textbook has appropriate listening tasks with well-defined goals 20% 45% 30% 5%
8 Tasks have achievable goals and takes into consideration learner's capabilities 16% 60% 10% 24%
9 The textbook leads students from single controlled writing activities to guided writing activities 24% 58% 9% 9%
10 Activities encourage the use of a process approach to writing 5% 49% 40% 6%
As shown in table 3, the students‟ attitudes towards the language contents, especially 4 skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing were different With the question of language contents, 69% students agreed that language contents are
28 helpful in achieving 4 skills Most students agreed that the text in reading skill is authentic In reading skill, there were 3 steps concisely including pre- reading, while reading, post- reading In relation to the speaking skill, 52% students agreed with the sufficiency of the speaking activities and 48% students expressed the disagreement About 52% students have agreement with the language functions in meaningful contexts and 48% students have disagreement about this point In terms of the listening skill, 45%students agreed with the listening passages help students develop the comprehension skill but 55% participants expressed the disagreement
The goals of the listening tasks, 35% students disagreed and 65% students the opposite ideas In the goals of tasks, 66% students agreed and 34% students disagreed When being given the question of the writing activities, 82% students agreed with the activities from the single controlled to guide writing whereas 18% students have the opposite idea 46% students expressed that activities do not encourage the use of a process approach to writing and 53% students agreed that activities encourage the use of writing approach
Table 4: The attitudes of students towards the physical appearance of the textbook
1 The artwork (pictures, illustrations, graphs, tables etc) in the textbook is helpful to students to understand the lesson
2 The physical appearance is interesting, informative and attractive 32% 58% 8% 2%
The table rated the attitudes of students towards the physical appearance of the textbook As can be seen from the table, the majority of the students agreed that the physical appearance is interesting, informative and attractive, only 10% students had the opposite ideas Similarly, for the art work, many of them (79%) claimed that the artwork is helpful for the students; meanwhile, 20%students thought that the art work is not helpful for them It means that the physical appearance of the textbook
29 is fairly well Most of the students expressed their satisfaction on this statement
The necessity of an orientation is considered to be a vital issue for being a successful textbook for students
Table 5: The attitudes of students towards social and cultural contexts of the textbook
1 The content suits the learners' current knowledge and culture 31% 45% 20% 4%
2 The text offers opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of similarities and differences between their own culture and the culture of speakers of their foreign language
3 The students can learn about the inner lives of the characters used in the book 14% 49% 30% 7%
The attitudes of students toward the social and cultural context, 76% students agreed that the content suits the learner‟s current knowledge and culture but 24% students disagreed Most students agreed that the text offers the opportunities for students in understanding similarity and difference between the own culture and foreign culture with the high rate, only 20% students disagreed With the item “The students can learn about the inner lives of the characters in the book, 59% students agreed and 37% students disagreed
Table 6: The attitudes of students’ towards teaching methods
1 The methods used are student- centered 15% 65% 10% 10%
2 The methods used allow students to talk more than teachers 15% 35% 29% 21%
3 The methods in the textbook is helpful for doing group work, pair work and etc and helpful in achieving language competency
Teaching methods is am useful tool for teachers to teach the students, in the textbook the methods are helpful for doing group work, pair work and helpful in achieving language competency 80% students state that the methods used are student- centered Otherwise, there is a balance with the item that the methods used allow students to talk more than teachers Almost students state that the methods in the textbook are helpful for group work, pair work and achieving language competency
Chart 1: The students’ preferences toward the piloted textbook English 10
Chart 1 revealed that the students‟ preferences toward the textbook As can be shown, the majority of the students preferred the piloted textbook 10% students do not like the piloted textbook; only 2% students do not like very much toward the textbook
Chart 2: The beliefs of the students about the students’ proficiency toward the textbook
As can be shown in chart 2, the chart indicated the beliefs of the students toward the piloted textbook, most students believed that the textbook helps them improve the proficiency 80% students were reliable to the piloted textbook; meanwhile, 20 % students were not reliable
1.2 Data analysis of the interview 1.2.1 Teachers’ response
Firstly, two teachers were asked about their feelings when teaching the piloted textbook Both teachers agreed that the piloted textbook is useful, interesting and systematic for the students but they spent a lot of time on making teaching plans Two teachers stated that “this textbook helps most of our students be active and spend a lot of time on self-study.” However, one teacher said that “I spent much time on researching about the topics related to the lessons, even I have to ask another teacher about the information of the aspects I don’t know.” In term of the themes in the textbook, they told that most of the topics in the textbook are familiar with the life and have a comparison between Vietnam and foreign countries, so this requires them update the culture, practical knowledge to bring them into each period Also, the teachers approved that the textbook provides students the life skills and social knowledge Two teachers had the same idea was the contents of the textbook was various with the integration of many skills and knowledge in each lesson
When being asked about the teaching method, both stated that they have changed the teaching method “the communicative method”, learners are center- studied, teachers are organizers in the classroom Their students are always active in finding out the information and give many interesting and funny things into the class In order to have a effective period, the teachers always have a plan in advance and request their students to prepare the knowledge before the lesson One teacher shared: “I always make a plan to ask students work in group to discuss and research the things related to the lesson, if the students do not prepare the things
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Implications
This section will provide some pedagogical implications from the findings of the study Based on the findings about the positive attitudes of teachers and students towards the piloted textbook English 10, the researcher implies promoting teachers‟ and students‟ positive attitudes in exploiting the new textbook and limiting the drawbacks of the piloted textbook through adapting the lesson simply and clearly which is suitable for the students‟ abilities In addition to using the piloted textbook effectively, the students should be self-studied and should not put into the passive recipient to explore the knowledge Moreover, the teacher should hold many activities after school so that the students have opportunities in communicating in second language Or, teachers should ask students to work in group and practice the integrated skills as much as possible
Although the study is carefully and clearly designed and based on the reliable data, it has the following limitations:
First, because of the time limit and that the textbook was being piloted, this research was conducted only on a small size of population who were attending the piloted textbook English 10 Therefore, to generalize the results for larger groups, the study should have involved more participants
Second, in terms of methodology, the study is limited to a general reflection of the attitudes of teachers and students towards the piloted textbook English 10
The classroom observation provides empirical information of what attitudes of teachers and students toward teaching and learning the piloted textbook are in the classroom However, the observations were not frequent and the lesson which the
44 researcher observed in the classroom could be different from the lesson which the teacher teaches as a rule
Third, the case of the study is a state high school, but the small population used the piloted textbook, therefore it may not representative of the general group
On the basis of the findings and limitations of the study, the following suggestions are made for the further researches
Firstly, further research should have a deeper insight into the investigation of the implementation of teachers and students towards the piloted textbook English
10 Moreover, studies on teachers‟ and students‟ difficulties in teaching and learning the piloted textbook English 10 would be worth considering Besides, further study could be exploited about the ways the teacher adapt the lesson in the piloted textbook English 10
The findings of the study indicate that both of the teachers and most of the students agree that textbook gives many benefits for both the students and teachers
However, the respondents do not see the textbooks functioned as a syllabus in teaching and learning process The findings of the study also reveal that the two teachers and most of the students feel satisfied with the physical appearance, the topic and content, the social and cultural context and the language contents; however, they do not approve the listening and speaking skills in the piloted textbook The findings of the study also show that both of teachers use different approach in doing adaptation to the textbooks It can be determined that their background, knowledge and attitude define the teacher‟s reliance on the textbook
The results of the study are expected to give significant contribution in giving useful information especially for the teachers and students to use the piloted textbook English 10 In addition to that, it is hoped that more in depth studies will follow which may contribute to a better understanding of this concept
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APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS
This survey is designed to collect information for the study on “ Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the piloted textbook English 10: The case of Nghia Hung Upper Secondary School, Nam Dinh City.” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated You can be certain that this is for research purpose only and that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data
Before answering the questions, please fill in some information:
* Your gender: Male/ Female Your age:
* Do you like learning English?
The following questionnaire is intended for a research on students‟ attitudes towards the piloted textbook English 10 Please read the questions carefully and tick the statements that best fit your opinions according to the 4- degree scale
.1 The topic and content of the piloted textbook English 10 are appealing for the students
2 The topic and content allow students to think critically
3 The subject matters has logical, organized manner
4 The Topic and content meet the students' needs
II VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION
1 The vocabulary and structures are understandable and appropriate for students
2 The materials for teaching grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation are graded in an appropriate manner
3 The exercises and activities for practicing the grammatical points are sufficient
4 The vocabulary of the book is applicable for students
5 The book includes adequate materials for pronunciation
1 Language contents are helpful in achieving four skills
2 The texts in reading skill are authentic
3 Three stages: pre- reading, while-reading, post- reading are useful to train effective reader
4 Speaking activities are sufficient to practice and encourage students to be
CATEGORIES Statements SA A D SD sufficient communicative and meaningful practice
5 The language functions are presented in meaningful contexts
6 The listening passages help students develop their listening comprehension skills
7 The textbook has appropriate listening tasks with well-defined goals
8 Tasks have achievable goals and takes into consideration learner's capabilities
9 The textbook leads students from single controlled writing activities to guided writing activities
10 Activities encourage the use of a process approach to writing
1 The artwork (pictures, illustrations, graphs, tables etc) in the textbook is helpful to students to understand the lesson
2 The physical appearance is interesting, informative and attractive
1 The content suits the learners' current knowledge and culture
2 The text offer opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of similarities and differences between their own culture and the culture of speakers of their foreign language
3 The students can learn about the inner lives of the characters used in the book
1 The methods used are student- centered
2 The methods used allow students to talk more than teachers
3 The methods in the textbook is helpful for doing group work, pair work and etc and helpful in achieving language competency
Part II: Please read the questions carefully and tick the statements that best fit your opinions
1 Do you agree that the textbook is a valuable and reliable source?
A agree B Strongly agree C disagree D strongly disagree
2 How do you feel with the piloted textbook?
A like B like very much C dislike D dislike very much
3 Do you believe that textbook help you develop your ability?
A reliable B strongly reliable C unreliable D strongly unreliable
Thank you for your co-operation
1 How long have you been teaching English?
2 How do you feel with teaching the piloted textbook English 10?
3 What do you think the topics and contents of the piloted textbook English 10?
4 Do you change the teaching method towards the piloted textbook English 10?
5 What part of each unit in the piloted textbook English 10 do you feel satisfy?
6 Do you think that the social and cultural contexts are relevant to the students‟ abilities?
7 Do you think the piloted textbook English 10 is suitable for the students‟ abilities?
8 Do you think the content of the piloted textbook will create the motivation for self-studied students? Are the subject matters of the piloted textbook presented in a logical, organized manner? Is it relevant to students‟ culture, students‟ interests and target culture?
9 Do the integrated skills (reading, speaking, writing and listening) encourage the motivation for students?
10 What do you think about the vocabulary and structures included in the piloted textbook?
11 What do you think about the exercises and activities include the piloted textbook? Are they relevant to students‟ level?
12 Does the piloted textbook English 10 have supplementary materials to help teachers?
13 What do your students have difficulty in using the piloted textbook English 10?
Do they encounter problems in English classes?
14 How do you feel the physical appearance of the piloted textbook English 10?