Aim of the study
The study was conducted for the purpose of understanding how teachers, who have used the ESP textbook under investigation, evaluated the ESP textbook with its name of “English for Law Enforcement” The understanding is intended to inform teacher development on certain aspects related to teachers‟ evaluation of the textbooks or other learning materials possibly withdrawn from teachers‟ practical evaluation of the specific ESP textbook as mentioned herein.
Significance of the study
Teachers are users of textbooks and other learning materials Therefore, teachers play an important role in exploiting the textbooks and learning materials effectively for their students‟ learning The understanding of teachers‟ evaluation of textbooks will greatly contribute to both pre-service and in-service teacher education To some extent, theoretically, there is a high likelihood that those pre- service and in-service teachers will enhance their awareness of textbook evaluation, or get to know how to evaluate the textbooks or learning materials Meanwhile, given the practical or post-research aspects, one of the striking things worth mentioning is that some teachers were willing to participate in a number of workshops or conferences domestically or even internationally regarding textbook evaluation What‟s more, some were encouraged to spend more time on extensive readings concerning textbook evaluation This study is conducted towards that goal.
Method of the study
This study put forward two major research questions: (1) To what extent do teachers differ in their evaluation of the textbook?, and (2) What are the opinions of teachers about their evaluation of the textbook? A quantitative research was administered In support of collecting data for the quantitative research, the known instruments to be applied were questionnaire (specifically designed with certain self-evaluation criteria) and interview (regarding their own practical teaching experience with this coursebook).
Scope of the study
The textbook, “English for Law Enforcement”, that had to be evaluated in the paper, is deemed as a form of ESP materials The reason for this is that its contents refer to the specialized domains of law and police that are rather suitable for law enforcers According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19), ESP is regarded as an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner‟s reason for learning In support of the said view, the self- evaluation criteria and interview questions designed by the researcher were centered upon the content and method of the ESP textbook In terms of the participants, this study placed the focus on English teachers, who come from the English Group - the Department of Foreign Languages under the direct supervision of the PPA.
Design of the study
This thesis is structured in three parts:
This part is considered a general introduction covering several key points, including rationale (reasons for choosing the theme), aim, scope, method and design of the study
PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 (Literature Review) depicts a fundamental framework of literature reviews or theories of materials evaluation Readers will have access to several key terminologies concerning materials evaluation In addition to this, this chapter will also enable readers to have their concise understanding of which particular method or criteria to be accurately applied to this study
Chapter 2 (Research Methodology) is covered with specific particulars relating to research methodology Importantly, two major instruments as questionnaire and interview will be discussed a lot
Chapter 3 (Results and Discussions) deals with two research questions via the analysis of questionnaire and interview data Apart from that, a number of recommendations will be also raised herein
This part provides a brief summary of all the obtained results will be reported and potential suggestions for further study may be made
Followed by the last chapter is References (referring to a specific source of referential or supporting documents) and Appendixes (regarding checklists and questions in various forms used for getting data from participants).
LITERATURE REVIEW
English for Specific Purposes
As a recognized area of ELT, ESP is not an approach, a method or a technique However, given the perspective of Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19), ESP is regarded as an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner‟s reason for learning Currently, ESP has played an important role in the society with the reason that ESP covers an enormous range of specialized or contemporary academic or professional content areas, for example business, medicine, law, engineering or history As defined by Brian Tomlinson (2007:306), ESP is an umbrella term that refers to the teaching of English to students who are learning the language for a particular work or study- related reason
According to Dudley-Evans (1998), the characteristics of ESP can be described as specifically follows:
- ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners
- ESP makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves
- ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre
- ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines.
Coursebooks
- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students
- Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language systems
According to Carter (1983), three characteristics of ESP consists of (i) authentic material, (ii) purpose-related orientation, and (iii) self-indirection
On the whole, the aforementioned things make a partial contribution to readers‟ general understanding about ESP (inclusive of its definitions and main characteristics) Below are the other theories regarding coursebooks and coursebook evaluation
According to Tomlinson (2001:66), materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language They can be linguistic, visual, auditory or kinaesthetic and they can be presented in print, through live performance or display, or on cassette, CD-ROM, DVD or the internet In this study, the term
„textbook‟ or „coursebook‟ is used without any intended semantic difference between the two terms, „textbook‟ and „coursebook‟ In fact, they are used interchangeably When the term „materials‟ is used, it is used as an umbrella term covering coursebooks
As defined, coursebooks represent for both students and teachers the visible heart of any ELT programme Nunan (1999:98) states that a textbook is the main component of any instructional program and it is difficult to imagine a class without it, while Ahour and Ahmadi (2012) defines that textbooks easily provide the knowledge to the learners In brief, with some of the above-mentioned definitions, the said terms can be partly and clearly understood
As regards the roles of coursebooks in ELT, it can be recognized that a coursebook is of very significant in ELT teaching and learning Specifically, Tomlinson (2003:39) believes that a coursebook helps provide a route map for both teachers and learners, making it possible for them to look ahead to what will be done in a lesson as well as to look back on what has been done Also, as said by Cunningsworth (1995), ELT coursebooks have multiple roles such as helping to present the written and spoken materials, promoting interaction, serving as a reference of vocabulary and grammar, acting as a source for classroom activities and offering self-access work or self-directed learning As a media of knowledge and information, stated by Ahour and Ahmadi (2012:176), textbooks are the main sources that convey the knowledge and information to the learners in an easy and organized way That is to say, from teachers‟ side, a coursebook as a helpful framework helps teachers to achieve the goals and objectives of the course and also as a guide for teachers‟ lessons supports teachers of coming up with creative ideas for each topic to be revised, offering some ideas and directing them to maps which show the routes to go Meanwhile, from learners‟ side, a coursebook can help learners to follow the scheduled orientations for a purpose of satisfying their needs
In other words, a coursebook partly contributes to assisting both teachers and learners in enhancing general or specific knowledge as well as the culture of the target language With the many advantages as listed, certain disadvantages related to the use of textbooks are still recognized through a mass of opinions made by various researchers It is claimed that heavy dependence on a single textbook is detrimental to learners‟ needs (Nunan 1980, Allwright 1981, Stern 1992) Also, Cunningsworth (1995:10) claims that heavy dependence on textbooks is far from ideal as it reduces the importance of the individual contributions that good teachers make at all levels in the learning process According to Swales (1980), the wide use of textbooks can be seen as an educational failure Given the other assumptions from Tomlinson (2003), Ur (1996) and Williams (1983), no textbook can effectively address individual learning styles, differences of learners, and the requirements of every classroom setting At its worst, the teachers may become totally reliant on the textbook (Ur, 1996), and not spend time preparing their lessons (Tomlinson, 2008) This may lead to learners‟ boredom or even active engagement in English lessons
By and large, in a certain extent or in any ideal situations, both the benefits and limitations should be considered Nevertheless, given the contexts in Vietnamese schools or universities or colleges, textbooks can be widely considered a key component in almost all language programs.
Coursebook Evaluation
With the said importance, it is very necessary to proceed with materials evaluation Before giving more details of this study, further particulars such as the definitions of “Evaluation” and “Coursebook Evaluation” and other concerned features are written as specifically follows
Like the above-mentioned terms, a number of researchers or scholars expressed their standpoints regarding the definitions of “Evaluation” and “Materials Evaluation” According to Dudley (1998:128), 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 As defined by Hutchinson and Waters (1987:97), evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions As for the term “Materials Evaluation”, Nunan (1998) states that materials evaluation is a process not a final product, while Brian Tomlinson and Hitomi Masuhara (2004:1) shows that materials evaluation involves measuring the value (or potential value) of a set of learning materials by making judgments about the effect of the materials on the people using them, for example the appeal of the materials to the learners (i.e are the materials attractive?), the validity of the materials (i.e is what the materials teach worth teaching?), the ability of the materials to interest the learners and the teachers, the ability of the materials to motivate the learners (i.e to stimulate the learners to want to give time and energy to the materials), the potential learning value of the materials, the assistance given to the teachers in terms of preparation, delivery and assessment, the flexibility of the materials (e.g the extent to which it is easy for a teacher to adapt the materials to suit a particular context)
Regarding the importance of coursebook evaluation, Sheldon (1988) mentions two basic reasons to evaluate coursebooks First, the evaluation will help the teacher or program developer make decisions on selecting the appropriate coursebook Also, evaluation of the merits and demerits of a coursebook will familiarize the teacher with its probable weaknesses and strengths
What‟s more, Tomlinson (1996) regards material evaluation as another way of action research that develops our understanding of the ways in which the material works Needless to say, materials evaluation is also likely to contributing to teachers‟ professional development by providing them with a critical point of view and enabling them to scrutinize the course material with an academic perspective
According to Cunningsworth (1995), through evaluation, we can assess whether the coursebook is the most appropriate for the target learners at various levels and in various teaching settings Robinson (1991) states that evaluation can be used as a part of quality control Through evaluation, we can know about the advantages and disadvantages as well as the effectiveness of the being used materials Torres
(1993), evaluation can afford general insights into how teachers use materials and therefore suggest directions both for materials development and professional development activities
In light of the approaches to materials evaluation, it appears that there have existed inconsistent uses of the term “approach” in materials evaluation Typically, McGrath (2002) synchronizes “a systematic approach” with “a cyclical approach” with three stages: pre-use evaluation (establishing potential suit), in-use evaluation
(using data on in-course use and effects to assess suitability of selection) and post- use evaluation (gathering data on planning decisions, implementation and response and even possibly stimulating preliminary reconsiderations) Also, in this aspect, McDonough and Shaw (1993) opt for his own approach by means of a three-stage model, including external evaluation (as macro-evaluation), internal evaluation (as micro-evaluation) and overall evaluation (a combination of macro and micro- evaluation) Meanwhile, Ansary, H., &Babaii, E., (2002) in their published article, officially named “Universal Characteristics of EFL/ESL Textbooks: A Step towards Systematic Textbook Evaluation” offers a systematic and objective approach, generally called “Checklist Approach to Textbook Evaluation” Besides, another approach recommended by Hutchinson and Water (1987) is to follow a four-step macro-evaluation process, comprising defining criteria (on what bases will you judge materials? which criteria will be more important?), subjective analysis (what realizations of the criteria do you want in your course?), objective analysis (how does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?) and matching (how far does the material match your needs?) With some of these given points, I hope readers can partly visualize a number of fundamental approaches to materials evaluation that are often mentioned
With regard to the methods of materials evaluation, McGrath (2002:25) provides three basic methods to evaluate coursebooks, as specifically follows:
- the impressionistic method (analyzing a coursebook on the basis of a general impression): impressionistic analysis is concerned to obtain a general impression of material As Cunningsworth‟s (1995:1) term
“impressionistic overview” suggests, such an overview typically involves glancing at the publisher‟s burb (i.e the brief description of the book on the back cover), and then skimming through the book looking at organization, layout, topics, and visuals
- the checklist method (covering the main idea of the paper): impressionistic evaluation involving dipping into a book, and in-depth evaluation based on close analysis of features or sections, the use of checklists for specific evaluation purposes The systematicity of the checklist method is also emphasized by Skierso (1991:440, citing Tucker
A textbook evaluation checklist should consist of a comprehensive set of criteria based on the basic linguistic, psychological, and pedagogical principles underlying modern methods of language learning These criteria should be exhaustive enough to insure assessment of all characteristics of the textbook
And they should be discrete enough to focus attention on one characteristic at a time or on a single group of related characteristics
It can be summarized that the systematicity referred to above is only a strength if the criteria or categories of which a checklist is composed (1) are based on a sound pedagogical ground, (2) encompass all features of the textbook, (3) differentiate between features and (4) are relevant to the specific context in which it is to be used
Williams (1983) has noted a checklist cannot be a static phenomenon, evidenced by a wide range of checklists over the years The categories in all materials evaluation instrument or observation schedule are a much reflection of the time at which they were conceived and of the belief of their designers as are published materials themselves Thus, an “off-the- shelf” checklist is likely to need tailoring to suit a particular context
- the in-depth method (requiring a profound scrutiny of representative features): In a broader sense, this method seeks to find out whether the materials are likely to live up to the claims being made for them
Specific procedures recommended include a focus on specific features (Cunningsworth, 1995), a close analysis of one or more extracts
(Hutchinson, 1978), or a thorough examination of several units using predetermined questions (Johnson, 1986)
Referring to the Criteria for materials evaluation, various researchers or scholars have suggested different criteria to help teachers become more systematic and objective in their method of evaluation by using a checklist
Sheldon (1998) presents a set of criteria including rationale, availability, user definition, layout, accessibility, linkage, selection, physical characteristics, appropriateness, authenticity, sufficiency, cultural bias, educational validity, stimulus, revision, flexibility, guidance, and overall value for money
Teachers‟ evaluation of coursebooks
The literature review supported Tomlinson‟s (1998) view, which was cited in Part A that studied on teachers‟ evaluation of textbooks were quite few in number
Although I tried as hard as I could I managed to find, only three prominent studies have been reported These studies used questionnaires or checklists to explore teachers‟ views of commercial textbooks Kayapinar (2009), for example, reported a survey on English language teachers in 25 high schools in Turkey Fourteen of the schools were using one international textbook package (Opportunities), and the other eleven another packages (New English File) Ninety-four teachers completed a 76-item questionnaire and another 40 took part in interviews The results showed teachers‟ negative evaluation For instance, the teachers felt that the textbooks provided insufficient support for independent learning; that pronunciation was not treated as systematically as it might be; and that more reinforcement of vocabulary would be desirable Unsurprisingly, given the two textbook packages are intended for the global market, the teachers pointed out that though the target language culture is always or usually presented, that of (Turkish) students is rarely or never illustrated
Another study conducted by Litz (2005) on Turkish teachers‟ evaluation of another commercial textbook “English Firsthand 2” Litz concluded that the teachers were clearly not pleased by the university‟s decision to sue the textbook for the reasons that the textbook did not provide adequate review sections and exercises Al-Yousef‟s (2007) research employed only four questions for teachers, but the findings supported the results of Litz (2005) study that the teachers felt that more review was desired
In summary, the literature review reveals that more research on teachers‟ evaluation of the coursebooks is needed According to McGrath (2013), “When materials evaluation is carried out by researchers may result in changes being made to the materials The kind of evaluation carried out by teachers, on the other hand, really can inform action.” (p 126) This is the reason why the study reported in this thesis was conducted
The next chapter presents the research methodology and the research procedures.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Backgrounds
Among Vietnam-based police or security universities or colleges, the People‟s Police Academy (hereinafter referred as to the “PPA”) has been currently rated as the most high-ranking one for education and training in police major In particular, as a well-known academy nationwide, English is regarded as a prerequisite for all of the students who have studied at the PPA According to the general guidelines or ultimate principles given by the Board of Directors, almost all the students (especially credit students) will need to have much access to English for police with an intent to strengthen a plenty of specialized police vocabularies and have a good command of police knowledge in English for the sake of their future police job To do this, a mass of police coursebooks were suggested and selected carefully prior to putting into practice In reality, the ESP coursebook as officially chosen was so-called “English for Law Enforcement” So far, this ESP coursebook has been taught for three years, but primarily applied to the credit students who have the same English proficiency at the pre-intermediate level
As generally scheduled, the majority of the credit students (often so-called the “students”) at the PPA studied general English for one year Having fulfilled their one-year involvement in studying general English (with the coursebook:
English Unlimited – Pre-intermediate, Cambridge University Press 2010, 2011), the students will be immediately taught by the ESP coursebook-English for Law Enforcement, Charles Boyle & Ileana Chersan – in the first semester of the second year By that time, they have not mastered a lot of police vocabularies and even have not had much fundamental knowledge about laws or police For this reason, the students will have to meet difficulties in learning both language and content from the beginning of such semester Nevertheless, as of the date of its application, they have gradually enhanced their vocabularies and developed their knowledge in relation to police and laws In fact, the main reason for this is that the major contents of this ESP refer to the very many aspects with regard to laws and police that are really in accordance with their major Seemingly, this may be regarded as a driving force or an aspiration to encourage them to further
What‟s more, as per the compulsory requirements of the course, the students have to regularly take part in English lessons with three pairs of periods per week (equivalent to six periods/week) to be applied to every class (about 40 students) In the middle of the course, they are required to do a mid-term test for 90 minutes without their participation in the mid-term speaking test At the end of the course, it is mandatory to do a 90-minute written test and a 12-minute speaking test
Look back to the acquired results or achievements comprehensively from both sides (i.e teachers and students) upon putting it into practice, this study was carried out for a purpose of meeting teachers‟ evaluation of the said ESP coursebook.
Goals and Objectives of the ESP coursebook
Given the pressing demands for police forces in the universal society and based on police students‟ learning needs, the PPA‟s Board of Directors has always realized the importance of making use of foreign languages (especially English) in police works and then has issued a mass of official letters or guidelines with the intention of developing human resources with their very good foreign language qualifications or competences on almost all aspects, typically in the field of police major The typical example for this is that, after many times of workshops or discussions and even pilot training sessions, its Board of Directors made up their minds to officially put the ESP coursebook “English for Law Enforcement” into practice at the PPA based on specifically outlined goals and objectives of the course
Goals After the course, the students will be able to accumulate a large amount of police vocabularies and professional structures Thanks to this, they can have better access to foreign police documents or extensive readings from a variety of evaluable sources To put it simply, they can take advantage of such acquired knowledge to serve for studying a mass of professional subjects (e.g Investigation, Prison, Administrative Management, or Criminal Techniques) in the upcoming semester for their further understanding of police skills or competences and relevant laws
Objectives Upon the course, a number of main objectives as scheduled will need be particularly obtained from the students First, they may get to know how to define a great deal of complicated police terminologies (e.g crime, offender, witness, criminal prosecution, organized crime, prostitution, wildlife trafficking, or bribery) and structures(e.g make testimony, make a commit, carry out an crime scene investigation, put somebody in prison, or to be in jail) Another important objective worth mentioning is that the students will be likely to master how to place structures or make sentences related to police or law into practical police or law contexts or situations (e.g how to make interrogative questions in a foreign-based criminal case, or how to make statements or testimonies from a suspect as a foreign offender, how to conduct DNA analysis, how to identify the acts of child abuse, or how to investigate crime scene) Third, it is necessary that they will need to acquire English language skills or tactics with a view to improving their English proficiency at A2-B1 levels or further developing their abilities of extensive readings about a wide range of English-subtitled police or law documents (e.g crime books, online articles, Penal Code, or world crime reports) as well as of good communication with international colleagues in foreign-based or Vietnam-based meetings or workshops or even conferences for cross-border operations Last but not least, they will be able to master and distinguish various properties/characteristics of types of crime or criminal acts given from other different cases or situations, resulting in their huge increase in professional knowledge nationwide or even worldwide To sum up, the said-above things are seen as the fundamental objectives that the students will have to make great efforts every time or place the spiritual and physical focus on their in- class studies and even out-of-class autonomy learning to possibly reach such objectives.
Descriptions of the ESP coursebook
The ESP coursebook herein has its title of “English for Law Enforcement” by Charles Boyle & Ileana Chersan As a specialized English language course, it sounds really quite suitable for law enforcers (possibly referring to Vietnamese police enforce) from a range of different backgrounds, comprising the police, gendarmes, military police, border guards, customs officials and security personnel
As extracted from the introduction of the initial page of such coursebook, it is recognized that the writers are, indeed, skilful at covering the whole spectrum of law enforcement activity from basic, every day encountering with members of the public, victims and offenders to communication with international colleagues for cross-border operations As per such writers‟ sharing, this coursebook is designed to equip learners with the language they need to communicate and get the job done To be more specific, it provides an accurate and up-to-date examination of current issues facing law enforcers and the language needed to deal with those issues
Additionally, it offers learners lively and stimulating language practice of the core vocabulary and functional language for the main branches of law enforcement activity
To the best of my knowledge, “English for Law Enforcement” is developed for students studying at an A2 (pre-intermediate) to B1 (intermediate) level of English As affirmed by its writers, the material is particularly appropriate for in- class use with a teacher In case of their out-of-class autonomous studies, they are capable of working on their own by simultaneously making use of both evaluation sources: the Student‟s Book and its attached CD-ROM (containing an interactive workbook that is helpful in the improvement of learners‟ language skills) In addition to this, learners are also advised to have good access to the official website
“www.macmillanenglish.com/englishforlawenforcement”to download and enjoy other self-study resources available for the student‟s book
Having a quick look at its contents, readers do realize that each designed unit covers a major topic and is divided into four modules with a number of appropriate tasks or activities Below are some general points for your ease of consideration
Regarding its topics, the entire material is constituted of 12 units in appropriate with each different topic, as specifically follows:
Unit 1: The world of law enforcement Unit 7: Civil disorder Unit 2: Traffic and vehicles Unit 8: At the police station Unit 3: Out in the community Unit 9: Crime scene investigation Unit 4: Emergency call Unit 10: Criminal justice
Unit 5: Crimes against property Unit 11: Organized crime Unit 6: Drugs and alcohol Unit 12: International co-operation Referring to the format commonly designed for each unit, the writers distribute each unit into four following modules:
Alpha : These modules contain information and language for the topic area of each unit
: In these modules, the focus is on grammar and structures More practice is provided on the CD-ROM
Charlie : The focus here is on functional language
In the final module of each unit there is a problem-solving situation for you to work through or a project in which you will need to produce something This is an opportunity to use the information, grammar and vocabulary from the other modules in the unit.
Research questions
With the said objectives, the study was carried out to find out the answers to the below-mentioned research questions:
(1) - To what extent do teachers differ in their evaluation of the textbook?
(2) – What are the opinions of teachers about their evaluation of the textbook?
Research approaches
In this case, as provided by McGrath (2002:25) above, the methods that can be appropriate to materials evaluation are the mixture or combination of both the checklist method and the in-depth method To be more specific, taking into consideration, it may be affirmed that the quantitative research was used via the specific application of such research instruments as the self-evaluation questionnaire and e-mail interviews And it is appeared that such application may be viewed as the most appropriate and feasible research approaches to make responses to the above-mentioned research questions.
Participants
The population I would like to mention herein is a total of 25 members, who are working as English teachers, come from the English Group - the Department of Foreign Languages under the direct supervision of the PPA Nevertheless, the target population applied to this study consists of only 20 teachers who have experienced teaching this ESP coursebook For the 5 remaining members, they have been just recruited for a short time and also have had no practical knowledge of or experience in teaching this coursebook This is the reason why such 5 teachers did not belong to the subject group in this study For more details of the target population or subject group that can be used interchangeably, you are suggested to take my presentation with Table 1 below into consideration
Table 1: Information on the subject group
Teaching experience with this ESP coursebook
As said above, the subject group of 20 teachers including 4 males and 16 females were willing to get involved in the study, of which one is over 50 years old and the others are within the 30-45 ages And these teachers, who had Bachelor‟s Degree (4 members), Master‟s Degree (15 members) and Doctorate (only one member) in English teaching method and completed a short-time training course in law and police competence, had at least one-year experience in teaching this ESP coursebook To be more specific, it can be seen from Table 1 that teachers have all had much experience in teaching, particularly within 1-5 years (11 members), 6-15 years (8 members), 16-25 (1 member) and 26 – over (none) Referring to their teaching experience with this ESP coursebook, you can witness such different figures as 1 year (3 members), 2 years (12 members) and 3 years (5 members)
With the above things, it can be affirmed that readers may further understand the subject group engaged in this study.
Instruments
On the basis of the quantitative research methodology, two selected fundamental research instruments applied to the implementation of this study are the questionnaire and e-mail interview Promisingly, both can be viewed as the best research tools to assist the researcher in collecting data for a purpose of finding out satisfactory answers to the said research questions
As defined by Brown (2001:6), questionnaires are any written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing answers
According to Litz (2005), survey questionnaire is a popular instrument in social sciences as it is helpful in collecting opinions and would be extremely beneficial in specifying aims and analyzing the teaching and learning situation They have a lot of advantages among which the most obvious may be the fact that the respondents can complete them without any pressure, so that they can speak their mind freely
Besides, closed ended questions are straightforward to answer (Grillham, 2000)
In this study, the evaluation of the ESP coursebook is conducted quantitatively through a self-evaluation questionnaire The questionnaire is designed following a 5-point Likert scale (Excellent = 1, Very good = 2, Good = 3, Not very good = 4, Not good = 5) that contains content criteria in the form of 10 questions mainly related to contents, tasks and activities in the textbook (please see
“Appendix A”) The procedure for analysis of acquired findings from this questionnaire was performed under the following steps:
The questionnaire was designed with reference to the literature on second language learning and the role of the textbooks in supporting learners‟ learning
After the questionnaire was designed, it was tested with one teacher in another school to make sure that all the questionnaire items were unambiguous
The questionnaire was sent to the teachers who had agreed to answer it The deadline for return of the questionnaire for the teachers was a week as from the date of teachers‟ receipt of such questionnaire with This was to ensure that they had enough time to finish the questionnaire in such a detailed and accurate way
Step 3: Analysis of Questionnaire Data
Having finished data collection, the findings obtained from such questionnaire were synthesized from all of the writings provided by the whole participants and then compiled by tables or figures Next, those figures were computerized and processed by the use of Microsoft Excel as a popular software program The synthesized data were converted into specific percentages by means of the formula of percentage conversion Based on those given percentages, every criterion (equivalent to each question) was compared or collated with one another
The purpose for such collation is to identify to what extent the target subjects differed in the coursebook evaluation or to clarify whether the involved thought of the ESP coursebook
Step 4: Interview - Analysis of Interview Data
Interviews are extremely useful in evaluation as they can provide in-depth and valuable information (Dudley & Evans, 1998) According to Patton (1996), an evaluator can make use of three types of qualitative interview format: the informal conversational interview, the standardized open-ended interview and the interview guide Interview was used to avoid many open-ended questions in the questionnaires which would take respondents more time to complete Furthermore, it is a good way of collecting additional ideas and acquires a variety of opinions and concerns that may have otherwise been overlooked (Litz, 2005)
In this case, interview as a good way of gathering additional data aims at help the researcher avoid any subjective or objective assessments or perceptions (e.g participants‟ bias or subjective perceptions in reply to such questionnaire) On the basis of the initial results of the analysis of the questionnaire data, the interview questions were constructed to gain better insights into the teachers‟ evaluation of the textbook (please see “Appendix B”) As the teachers did not have time for face- to-face interview, an e-mail interview was alternatively conducted Teachers were sent the questions via e-mail Then they returned their answers again via e-mails
Teachers‟ responses to the e-mail interviews were analyzed qualitatively by means of key words so that themes were developed
Step 5: Compare the questionnaire data and interview data
The acquired questionnaire and interview data were compared and contrasted The main purpose of this comparison is to assist the researcher in putting forth possibly proper answers to the research questions By and large, it can be realized that the particulars of the research methodologies outlined in this chapter provide somewhat specific details of the most important features relating to the way by which the study was carried out, for example background, research questions, participants or instruments In conclusion, this chapter really plays quite a key role in help readers possibly master the procedures of data collection and analysis better in the next chapter.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Analysis of Questionnaire Data
In order to find out appropriate answers to the first research question “To what extent do teachers differ in their evaluation of the textbook?”, the initial thing that comes to my mind is the self-design of necessary evaluation criteria which constitute the questionnaire served for the study There is my belief that those criteria will be of very significant in exploration of teachers‟ true perception or assessment of this ESP coursebook As clearly stated in Chapter 3, this questionnaire is designed under a 5-point Likert scale (Excellent = 1, Very good =
2, Good = 3, Not very good = 4, Not good = 5) that contains content criteria in the form of 10 questions mainly related to contents, tasks and activities In practice, 20 printed questionnaires were directly distributed to the 20 teachers and it came as no surprise that all valid responses were fully gathered as scheduled This means, thanks to the sincere cooperation of all the involved teachers, the response rate of this subject group attained 100% Immediately, those figures were collected and synthesized with the acquired results as clearly illustrated in Table 2 below
Table 2: Findings on teachers’ evaluation of the ESP coursebook
1 To what extent does the textbook provide exposure to
2 To what extent is the exposure to English in use likely to be meaningful to your learners?
3 To what extent are the texts and activities likely to interest your learners?
4 To what extent are the activities likely to provide achievable challenges to your learners?
5 To what extent do the activities provide opportunities for your learners to make discoveries about how English is used?
6 To what extent do the activities provide opportunities for creative use of English?
7 To what extent does the textbook help your learners to make use of the opportunities to learn outside the classroom?
8 To what extent is the textbook likely to help your learners achieve the course objectives?
9 To what extent is the textbook likely to meet your learners‟ learning needs?
10 To what extent is the textbook appropriate to your teaching context? 5 25 4 20 8 40 1 5 2 10
Table 2 unveils a mass of specific findings acquired from teachers‟ evaluation on every criterion By and large, readers can witness variable figures by each criterion in different percentages Nonetheless, one striking feature worth mentioning is that the majority of respondents agreed to choose level 3 “Good” when being asked to evaluate this ESP coursebook The evidence for this is that the number of respondents in favor of level 3 “Good” for almost all of the criteria made up the highest percentages within a range of 40-60%, except for Criteria 2, 3 & 7 (ranked second with 30 %, 35% and 30% respectively) Especially, with such exceptions, remarkable breakthroughs in the ranking were recorded, level 2 “Very good” for Criteria 2 (35%) & 3 (40%) and level 4 “Not very good” for Criteria 7 (40%) achieved the top- ranking status By contrast, level 5 “Not good” reached the lowest ranking on almost every criteria, which are markedly illustrated with the lowest percentages (ranging from 5-10%) or even without receipt of any assessment from teachers (0%) Have a quick look at the said Table, it is really difficult to accurately identify the rating of level 2 “Very good” and level 4 “Not very good”
Nevertheless, given the overall support from the respondents by every criteria, the second rating seemed appropriate to level 2, then followed by level 4 (except for Criteria 7 as explained above) The reason for this assumption is that the ratios of all responses were identified at relatively below-average rates (particularly within 15- 20%), whereas level 4 existed two remaining criteria without any choices from the participants (as specifically proved at Criteria 1&8 with the zero-percent proportion) In terms of level 1 “Excellent”, compared to a group of high-ranking levels (inclusive of (3), (2), (4)), this level got quite a few responses (accounting for 5-25%) made by the participants Compared to only level 5 “Not good”, it seems that level 1 obtained more positive replies (within 5-25%) than that for level 5 (within 5-10%)
Considering the comprehensive analysis of recorded data, it can be generally concluded that the ESP coursebook is rated as a source of “Good” learning materials because of the said criteria The most popular characteristic which attracts much attention from teachers‟ side (making up 60% “Good” and even “20%
“Excellent”) is that the ESP coursebook is likely to achieve the course objectives (e.g supplying a great number of professional vocabularies and structures that are really essential for their future job) The second-ranked things highly appreciated by the participants are such characteristics as providing good opportunities for creative use of English (55%) and for discoveries about how English is used (50%), providing achievable challenges to learners (50%) and exposure to English in authentic use (50%) The remaining criteria also obtained somewhat high evaluation from teachers‟ standpoints, for example satisfying learners‟ learning needs (accounting for 45% “Good”, 25% “Very good” and even 10% “Excellent”), being appropriate to teaching context (reaching 40% “Good”, 20% “Very good” and even 25% “Excellent”) In addition, another conclusion possibly withdrawn from the data analysis is to hint at Criteria 2 & 7 To be more specific, there has existed an available tendency to express their dissatisfaction with the ideas that the ESP coursebook was able to help learners take advantage of the opportunities for their out-of-class autonomous learning (with the leading percentage of 40% “Not very good”, exceeding 30% “Good”) as well as increase their exposure to English meaningfully (constituting the percentage of 30% “Not very good” as same as that figure “Good”) Taking the other aspect into account, hardly did any teachers opt for level 5 “Not good” when they were required to evaluate the ESP coursebook by means of the outlined criteria Even, it is a bit unusual that “Excellent” was still recorded on a few criteria, like assisting learners in achieving the course objectives (20%) and being corresponding to teaching context (25%) To sum up, by means of the analysis of acquired data, the foregoing provide an overall picture of all assumptions or conclusions that show the specific differences in teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP coursebook It is appeared that there was differentiation in the selection of the given criteria This means those participants raised their own options for each criterion without any common standards or formula in support of their evaluation
Given the whole things above, it can be clearly reaffirmed that “Good” was often appeared or repeated on almost all every criteria, whereas “Not good” seemed being disregarded or neglected on every criteria From that, to some extents, the researcher may find out the proper answers to the first research question “To what extent do teachers differ in their evaluation of the textbook?”
Analysis of Interview Data
For a purpose of identifying responses to the second research question “What are the opinions of teachers about their evaluation of the textbook?”, the researcher decided to continue performing the study by the way of the e-mail Interviews As clearly written in the previous chapter, the interviews were made via emails with 20 teachers who engaged in the questionnaire The fact is that all of these interviewees expressed their heartfelt willingness to get involved in replying to the questions as put forth enthusiastically In practice, 5 interview questions were transferred to each personal email of every teacher And it also came as no surprise that all valid responses were fully gathered as scheduled Upon receipt of such interviews, almost all those data were interpreted and synthesized in writing prior to be analyzed in details Accessing to such analyzed data, a general picture of some main aspects was quite clearly displayed by the interviewees To be more specific, the key aspects only referred to its advantages and limitations or even inappropriate characteristics (if any), possible recommendations of necessary modifications or amendments to enhance those such limitations or inappropriate characteristics as well as what extent it can assist teachers upgrade teaching skills For further understanding, you are now required to take the below-mentioned findings (inclusive of Advantages, Limitations or Inappropriate characteristics, Recommendations and Upgrading of teachers’ skills and competences) into consideration
The initial findings that onlookers can clearly see in Table 3 indicate a number of advantages of the ESP coursebook really recognized by the participants
There is no denying the fact that the synthesized advantages below were originated from the involved teachers‟ in-class and out-of-class practical teaching experiences with this coursebook
Table 3: Advantages of the coursebook mentioned by the participants
Number of participants mentioning (person)
1 Textbook provides a great deal of specialized English knowledge of law and police with a variety of themes and contents
2 Textbook provides knowledge of basic grammar logically associated with a wide range of practical and useful grammar structures
3 Textbook provides plenty of specialized information and knowledge that is really quite appropriate to practical contexts as well as students‟ qualifications and needs
4 Textbook contains a systematic source of plentiful and helpful reading & listening texts, partly contributing to enhancement of students‟ reading comprehension and listening competence
5 Textbook is accompanied with the CD-ROM as an evaluable source of supplementary materials that can support students‟ out-of-class autonomous learning
6 Textbook comprises a great number of plentiful and diversified vocabularies used practically for specific purposes (referring to law and police), complying with themes and designed activities
7 Textbook is designed with a range of plentiful and diversified activities corresponding to students‟ qualifications and needs, developing language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing)
8 Textbook provides various situations based on different backgrounds that are suitable for lesson topics and practical contexts, attracting students‟ interests
9 The syllabus of reading texts of each unit is properly distributed in a logic order (from easy-difficult, from simple- complicated), strengthening students‟ learning interest
10 Textbook is designed clearly and coherently with enough language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing (of which parts are obviously allocated)
11 Textbook is designed meticulously and cautiously with a few unimportant mistakes and a mass of lively pictures 5 25
12 Textbook is illustrated with lively pictures, compatible to lesson contents, students‟ major and needs 1 5
13 Language is authentic, logical and practical, complying with students‟ qualifications and interests 5 25
From Table 3, it is clear that, upon synthesizing acquired findings, a total of
13 advantages were particularly mentioned Among such positive points, it can be generally recognized that the most remarkable advantage popularly recorded by the majority of the interviewees with 16 of the total of 20 persons (making up 80%) was its possession of a great number of specialized English knowledge of law and police with a variety of themes and contents
Teacher 2 : It provides students with professional words and knowledge of different topics related to laws and police
Teacher 3 : It renders good lessons of ESP for law enforcement, including police
Teacher 4 : It provides a lot of knowledge relating to law
It broadens teachers' knowledge about law, police Then help them to compare the international law and Vietnam law
Teacher 6 : The contents are plentiful with a wide range of interesting topics concerning laws and police
Teacher 7 : It provides specialized knowledge about police in various topics
Teacher 16 : The contents are suitable for the domain concerning laws
Teacher 19 : The coursebook mentioned all fields of law enforcement such as traffic and vehicles, out in the community, emergency call, crimes against the police station, crime scene investigation, criminal justice, organized crime and international cooperation
Next comes the other good points of the ESP coursebook similarly exposed by the participants, including containing a wide range of law and police vocabulary under designed themes and activities (40%) and its clear format with enough language skills in a coherent order (35%)
Teacher 1 : It provides students with professional words and various activities Teacher 4 : It helps students to know and realize as well as apply the knowledge from the book into real situation
Teacher 5 : It provides a wide range of vocabulary of various topics
Teacher 6 : The coursebook was designed clearly and coherently with enough language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing (those parts were distributed clearly) It provides plentiful vocabularies with their high real-time applications
Teacher 8 : It provides words and contents related to police students
Teacher 13 : It provides a large range of vocabulary related to police's activities and a lot of topics in which police officers solve in reality Teacher 14 : It is logical, well-organized, relates to future police officers Teacher 15 : The format is designed logically
Teacher 16 : The format is proper
In addition to this, it is also rated as a source which is home to specialized information and knowledge (especially a system of basic theories of grammar as well as concerned practices by means of practical and useful grammar structures) in connection with many practical contexts and students‟ qualifications and needs (30%) Also, its remaining strengths (e.g a mass of designed activities or situations, authentic and logical with lively images, a network of helpful reading or listening texts) were rather positively appreciated by some engaged teachers
Teacher 3 : It is well-organized with useful content, authentic & reliable language presented by a variety of voices and accents, attractive images
Teacher 5 : Reading passages and listening parts are informative and useful They have useful grammatical structures
Teacher 9 : The applicable subjects are the students of the PPA in which such majors as police and investigation are taught So, knowledge is suitable for learners
Teacher 12 : It has diversified structures and logical grammars
Teacher 13 : It includes interactive tasks and activities which can help to improve skills (listening, reading) + grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation
Teacher 11 : It meets students’ needs in the PPA It closely concerns students' major It is useful for students’ working environment
Teacher 20 : It is authentic and reliable It has attractive images and a variety of voices and accents It is well-organized with useful contents and interesting topics related to real work
In short, the things described in Table 3 are an overview of good points withdrawn from the interviewees
Limitations or inappropriate characteristics and Recommendations
Besides the said strong perspectives, the e-mail interviews also gave the exposure to certain typical limitations or inappropriate characteristics to be possibly reviewed and modified in the upcoming time, if necessary Simultaneously, to overcome such negative sides, a few recommendations of potential or possible modifications or amendments were outspokenly raised in their responses to the interview questions Below are the details of synthesized data
First, it can be affirmed from the interviews that most of the particulars introduced in the ESP coursebook primarily place the focus on the rules and regulations of foreign laws (typically American laws), which are not often applied in Vietnam To put it simply, the ESP coursebook was written by foreign authors, so the undeniable fact is that almost all of the information (e.g reading texts, contexts or situations listed in tasks) was extracted or made from the many international sources As a result, it is evident that the lack of knowledge of Vietnamese laws was shown in the contents of the ESP coursebook Additionally, the designed situations or contexts seemed unfamiliar to those occurred in Vietnam due to major differences in legal assistance The example for this is that students sometimes find it hard to define professional words or phrases abided by the laws of Vietnam, whereas the authenticity of designed tasks or activities is not applicable to practical cases or contexts of Vietnam
Teacher 1 : Some of the laws introduced are not applied in Vietnam (American laws for instance) Teacher 2 : Knowledge only refers to foreign laws, not Vietnamese laws or any comparisons with the laws of Vietnam
Teacher 5 : The context is not in Vietnam, so there are a lot of differences when students apply their learnt knowledge to talk about Vietnam
Teacher 10 : some differences from issues of Vietnamese police Teacher 11 : All the information is from international sources, there is no single knowledge related to Vietnam context
Teacher 16 : Several situations were not suitable for the real situations of Vietnam
Teacher 17 : This book is originated from other country's law, so maybe, students find hard to define the words or phrases and it is incompatible with law in Vietnam
Teacher 18 : Specialized knowledge is not really plentiful and adequate in accordance with Vietnam
Teacher 19 : The context in each unit is not familiar to that in Vietnam because the differences between two legal assistance
In the face of the challenging issue, it is quite important that teachers will have to carefully consider how to improve their students‟ theoretical and practical knowledge of Vietnam‟s law and police Also, it will be much better if teachers are able to reflect the given knowledge in textbook to Vietnam context As recommended, there is no other way or better option but to come up with or take up more additional tasks or activities in connection with Vietnam-based up-to-dated authentic situations or contexts in compliance with the laws of Vietnam For instance, more translating exercises to be put into the context of Vietnam can be designed as one of the helpful teaching forms with the intention that students will be able to increase more vocabularies about Vietnam‟s law and police (e.g terminologies or phrases or even structures) In addition to this, another good idea to be taken into account is that teachers will be likely to organize regular workshops or seminars which can create favorable conditions for students to gather together and discuss about similarities and differences of Vietnam laws compared with other foreign countries
2 & 9 : Knowledge about Vietnamese laws and police need be added
Teacher 5 : Teachers can hold seminars in which students discuss about similarities and differences between English laws and Vietnam laws
Teacher 7 : Knowledge about the laws of Vietnam has to be added
Teacher 11 : It is much better if teachers reflect the given knowledge in textbook to
Teacher 14 : Information about law enforcers in Vietnam and their jobs need be added
Teacher 18 : Activities should be improved more, but possibly be applicable to the factual situations of Vietnam
Teacher 19 : The context should be designed based on Vietnam legal systems
Second, to a certain extent, it can be undeniable that the syllabus seems a bit difficult or unsuitable for students at elementary level or even at pre-intermediate level The reason for this is that the ESP coursebook refers to a range of professional terminologies and sophisticated structures related to law and police In fact, it sounds quite challenging for students to have an immediate grasp of their theoretical definitions and specific meanings or implications in practical contexts or situations abided by the laws of every nation during or after the class
Teacher 1 : Sometimes there are too many new words
Teacher 4 : It is quite difficult for beginners or even intermediate because of the terms relating to law as well as complex structures used in this book
Teacher 17 : Sometimes there are too much new words in a lesson This book is originated from other country's law, so maybe, students find hard to define the words or phrases and it is incompatible with law in Vietnam
Comparison of Questionnaire and Interview Data
Given the things acquired from the questionnaire and interview data as stated above, it may be partly recognized that readers experienced relatively numerous differences in the involved teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP coursebook
In this paper, on the one hand, there recorded only a few similarities in the conceptions of the involved participants that the ESP coursebook is likely to achieve the course objectives (e.g its possession of a great number of specialized English vocabularies and knowledge of law and police with a variety of themes and contents), to satisfy learners‟ learning needs and to be appropriate to teaching context On the other hand, readers witnessed many responses given by the teachers to almost all of their answers that seemed really quite differential Apparently, the questionnaire referred to relatively comprehensive aspects, whereas their replies to the interview questions were more specific and more detailed Nonetheless, given the overall outlook from teachers‟ evaluation, this ESP coursebook really considered a good learning material with its receipt of more positive feedback has surpassed the raised negative evaluations
It is widely held that evaluation in general and materials evaluation in particular is of very important in language teaching In order to know if any materials are really seen as reasonable or evaluable sources, materials evaluation is quite necessary and indispensable Given the pressing importance of materials evaluation, this study contributed as a referential source was carried out with an intent to identify what teachers thought of the applied ESP coursebook “English for Law Enforcement” To be more specific, it is essential to give clear answers to two research questions: (1) To what extent do teachers differ in their evaluation of the textbook? and (2) What are the opinions of teachers about their evaluation of the textbook? Obviously, the previous chapter provides a detailed picture of actual responses to the above-mentioned research questions.
Summary of the findings
When it comes to the obtained findings by way of questionnaire, it may be concluded that the ESP coursebook has been evaluated as a source of “Good” or even “Very good” learning materials The most striking feature which makes a strong impression on teachers is that the ESP coursebook is likely to achieve the course objectives (e.g supplying a great number of professional vocabularies and structures that are really essential for their upcoming job) The following characteristics highly appreciated by the involved teachers consist of (i) providing good opportunities for creative use of English and for discoveries about how English is used, (ii) providing achievable challenges to learners and exposure to English in authentic use, (iii) satisfying learners‟ learning needs and (iv) being appropriate to teaching context Beside those good evaluations, it can be still recognized that the ESP coursebook has been actually unable to help learners take advantage of the opportunities for their out-of-class autonomous learning as well as increase their exposure to English meaningfully Through the questionnaire data, the possible answer for the first research question is that readers witnessed the involved teachers‟ different selections to every self-evaluation criterion on the basis of the 5-point Likert scale
According to the attained findings via e-mail interviews, it can be recognized that almost all of the participants have highlighted their good evaluation when discussing the applied ESP coursebook The core reason for this is that it refers to main contents concerning laws and police (specifically its possession of a great number of specialized English vocabularies and knowledge of law and police with a variety of themes and contents) that is in accordance with students‟ major In a sense, it may be also rated as an evaluable source which is home to specialized information and knowledge in connection with many practical contexts and students‟ qualifications and needs Apart from their strong perspectives, some minor limitations/weaknesses or inappropriate characteristics were recorded
Simultaneously, a number of recommended measures were taken to overcome those shortcomings and deal with inappropriate characteristics Typically, the principal downside is that most contents (e.g terminologies or knowledge regarding laws and police) are centered upon the rules and regulations of foreign laws (primarily American laws), which are not often applied in Vietnam The best way to solve this matter is that more additional tasks or activities happening in Vietnam-based real situations or contexts associated with the laws of Vietnam should be prepared or designed by teachers Nonetheless, given the overall outlook from teachers‟ evaluation, the ESP coursebook really considered a good learning material with its receipt of more positive feedback Accordingly, the analysis of the acquired interview data made a partial contribution to support readers of finding out the possible answer to the second research question
On the one hand, in brief, with two these research instruments, clear answers to the said questions are given that partially contributes to readers‟ further understanding of evaluation criteria and methods of evaluation to be applied to this study On the other hand, the very noticeable thing as recognized through this study refers to factual assumptions of strengths and weaknesses recorded from the work of teachers‟ coursebook evaluation The acknowledged strengths are that all the participants are acted as English teachers who have undergone at least one-year teaching experience with this ESP coursebook at the PPA and have had fundamental knowledge or understanding of the specialized domains regarding laws and police To a certain extent, it is such strengths that made participants give a little bit positively similar reaction to questionnaire and interview questions The remarkable example for this is that the majority of the participants agreed on the idea that the ESP coursebook seems quite suitable for their students‟ major with the main reason that it refers to the contents (e.g vocabulary or knowledge) regarding laws and police By contrast, it appears that the findings revealed an evident fact that every teacher offered their different views on many aspects in the process of the evaluation This leads to the clear result that the data collected from most of the participants sounded somewhat or even very variable and a little bit coincident The prominent evidence for this assumption is that the many various answers were provided sometimes with or even without equivalence when being asked for the same criteria or interview question It is regarded as one of the major reasons why the researcher had trouble in synthesizing and comparing acquired data for an eventual purpose of the assistance of probably successful analysis Consequently, the researcher found it hard to come to specific or exact conclusions to the honest thinking of such participants about this ESP coursebook Accordingly, maybe it is because of this reason that makes you realize that the acquired findings from teachers‟ views seemed to be relatively somewhat variable It is appeared that there existed differences in the responses given by teachers to questionnaires and interview questions when evaluating this ESP coursebook The potential cause for this unexpected status may be due to the fact that the participants have been lacking in practical experience, knowledge or competence in coursebook evaluation
Furthermore, in order to succeed in getting teachers‟ real perceptions, it can be recommended that teachers ought to actively have much access to extensive readings concerning coursebook evaluation from a wide range of evaluable and reliable sources (like articles or studies officially released on TESOL or Asian EFL Journals) with an intent to enhance knowledge of coursebook evaluation Also, it is necessary to request teachers to participate in full-time or short-time workshops or conferences nationwide and worldwide with a view to perceiving the practical sharing or experience from the whole stakeholders The other good thing is that it will be a wonderful opportunity for teachers to upgrade their competence in coursebook evaluation by means of their involvement in short-time or even long- time course in coursebook evaluation
There seems little doubt that much of what has been written about the role of textbooks and materials, the selection and evaluation of the materials has not been read by classroom teachers Crookes and Arakaki (1999) conclude their small-scale study of teachers in the United States that “those privileged to be impositions in which they can investigate the extent to which they have grounds for optimism concerning the uptake of their work among the population it is presumably intended to benefit” might find it enlightening to undertake such research” (p 8) If it is the case that classroom teachers rarely read the professional literature, the findings of this study strengthens the argument that materials evaluation and materials development should be one of the core components of teacher education programs
Apart from the forgoing things, a number of suggestions as stated below that will need to be further studied in the upcoming time.
Suggestions for further study
In modern society, materials evaluation is generally an interesting research domain that contains a wide range of various aspects in different backgrounds to be discovered or further studied It is evident that the aspect to be studied herein is regarded as a typical example of such domain The things stated in this thesis may be used as a referential source to make better modifications or even gauge other relevant coursebooks in different contexts in the approaching phases Nevertheless, there have existed a number of limitations in this study to be tackled later The typical examples consist of limited numbers of participants, participants‟ limited practical teaching experience with this ESP coursebook and participants‟ lack of knowledge or experience in coursebook evaluation Therefore, further studies on teachers‟ evaluation of coursebooks (e.g teachers‟ evaluation of this ESP coursebook in a further stage by way of better techniques of in-depth analysis or even expansion of evaluation subjects or scopes) will hopefully be made to have an in-depth analysis or acquire better evaluation of materials and especially have teacher development regarding coursebook evaluation Based on the acquired findings of the future studies, teachers will be able to exploit the textbooks and learning materials effectively for their students‟ learning The understandings of teachers‟ evaluation of textbooks will contribute to both pre-service and in-service teacher education
1 Allwright, R.L (1981), What do we want teaching materials for?, ELT Journal, 36 (1), 5-18
2 Ansary, H & Babaii, E (2002), Universal characteristics of EFL/ESL textbooks: A step towards systematic textbook evaluation, The Internet TESL Journal, 8(2), http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ansary-Textbooks/
3 Carter, D.1983 Some propositions about ESP [J] The ESP Journal 2:131-137.
4 Crookes, G & Arakaki,L (1999), Teaching idea sources and work conditions in an ESL program, TESOL Journal, 9(1), 15-19
5 Cunningsworth, A (1995), Choosing Your Coursebook, Oxford: MacMillan
6 Dudley – Evans, T & St John, M.J (1998), Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multidisciplinary approach, Cambridge University Press
7 Harmer, J (1996), The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman
8 Hutchinson, T & Waters, A (1987), The Textbook as Agent of Change, ELT Journal, 48(4), 315-328
9 Hutchinson, T & Torres, E (1994), English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge University Press
10 Litaz, D (2001) Textbook evaluation and ELT management: A South Korean case study Asian EFL Journal http://www.asian-efl- journal.com/Litz_thesis.pdf
11 McDonough, J., & Shaw, C (1997), Materials and methods in ELT, Oxford:
12 McGrath, I (20 05), Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching, Edinburgh University Press
13 Nunan, D (1991), Language Teaching Methodology, London: Prentice Hall
14 Sheldon, L (1988), Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials, ELT Journal, 42(4), 237-246
15 Tomlinson, B (Ed.) (1996), Materials development in language teaching,
16 Tucker, C A (1975), Evaluating beginning textbooks, English Teaching Forum, 13, 355-361
17 Ur, P (1996), A course in language teaching: Practice & Theory, Cambridge:
18 Hoàng Văn Vân, Teachers‟ evaluation of primary English textbooks for Vietnamese schools developed under the National Foreign Language 2020 Project: A preliminary internal survey, VNU Journal of Science: Education Research, Vol 31, No 4 (2015) 1-15
19 Williams, D (1983) Developing criteria for textbook evaluation, ELT journal, 37(3), 251-255
The People’s Police Academy Department of Foreign Languages
TEACHERS’ EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK: THE CASE OF “ENGLISH FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT” TEXTBOOK AT A POLICE SCHOOL IN VIETNAM
Dear Colleagues, First of all, I would like to convey my best regards to you and your esteemed Department By this writing, I would be kindly grateful if I could ask for your assistance on the following matter
As far as you are concerned, I am now in the process of collecting data served for my on-going dissertation, named “Teachers’ evaluation of the textbook: The case of
“English for Law Enforcement” textbook at a Police School in Vietnam” One of the most important research instruments I opted for is the utilization of an evaluation checklist in the form of a Questionnaire designed for only teachers This questionnaire, which is constructed to acknowledge teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP course book (called “English for Law Enforcement”), consists of a number of queries as listed below to be responded from your side Your assistance is, therefore, of very significance in the fulfillment of my dissertation as scheduled This is to say, I would be very pleased if you could express your willingness to spend some of your evaluable time making responses to such queries based on my specific instructions herein
To begin with, you will have to make your reply to some personal particulars:
2 Teaching experience: years Next, you will be required to have a careful look at the queries and then make your decisive choice for each item by placing “X or √” onto one of the ordinal numbers within 1-5 It is noted that each ordinal number shows different evaluation rates, as specifically follows:
(Excellent = 1, Very good = 2, Good = 3, Not very good = 4, Not good = 5)
And another notable thing is that you are suggested to give your comments of or support particular examples for such response Failure for this, there is a highly likelihood that I will be able to get trouble in analyzing data, consequently leading to achieving inaccurate or untrue results Accordingly, your honest reaction towards the queries will be highly appreciated
To sum up, I would kindly express my profound thanks for your kind assistance and cooperation on this matter
(Excellent = 1, Very good = 2, Good = 3, Not very good = 4, Not good = 5)
1 To what extent does the textbook provide exposure to English in authentic use?
Sách giáo khoa hiện thầy, cô đang sử dụng cung cấp đủ ngữ liệu cho học sinh sử dụng tiếng Anh tự nhiên
2 To what extent is the exposure to English in use likely to be meaningful to your learners?
Ngôn ngữ trong sách giáo khoa giúp học sinh sử dụng để giao tiếp tự nhiên trong cuộc sống
3 To what extent are the texts and activities likely to interest your learners?
Các bài đọc và các hoạt động trong sách giáo khoa gây hứng thú cho người học
4 To what extent are the activities likely to provide achievable challenges to your learners?
Các hoạt động trong sách giáo khoa hơi khó với người học nhưng nếu cố gắng một chút họ đều làm đƣợc
5 To what extent do the activities provide opportunities for your learners to make discoveries about how English is used?
Các hoạt động trong sách giáo khoa giúp người học tự tìm ra cách sử dụng tiếng Anh trong giao tiếp
6 To what extent do the activities provide opportunities for creative use of English?
Các hoạt động trong sách giáo khoa giúp học sinh sử dụng tiếng Anh một cách sáng tạo
7 To what extent does the textbook help your learners to make use of the opportunities to learn outside the classroom?
Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô đang sử dụng giúp học sinh tự học thêm ở nhà
8 To what extent is the textbook likely to help your learners achieve the course objectives?
Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô đang sử dụng giúp học sinh đạt đƣợc mục tiêu của khóa học
9 To what extent is the textbook likely to meet your learners‟ learning needs?
Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô đang sử dụng đáp ứng đƣợc nhu cầu học tiếng Anh của người học
10 To what extent is the textbook appropriate to your teaching context?
Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô đang sử dụng phù hợp với điều kiện giảng dạy của nhà trường
That is the End of the Questionnaire
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND ASSISTANCE!
The People’s Police Academy Department of Foreign Languages
TEACHERS’ EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK: THE CASE OF “ENGLISH FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT” TEXTBOOK AT A POLICE SCHOOL IN VIETNAM
Dear Colleagues, First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you and your esteemed Department Based on this document, I would hereby like to refer to the following matter
As stated in the Appendix I, it can be realized that “Questionnaire” regarded as one of the most fundamental research instruments makes a partial contribution to my current thesis, titled “Teachers’ evaluation of the textbook: The case of “English for Law Enforcement” textbook at a Police School in Vietnam” Nevertheless, in order to avoid any subjective or objective assessments (e.g participants‟ bias or subjective perceptions in reply to such questionnaire), I have made up my mind to gather additional data by means of another effective research instrument (specifically so-called “E-mail Interview”) Like the questionnaire, the e-mail interview is also designed for only teachers that comprise some major questions as listed below In support of this work, your enthusiastic involvement plays a vital role in completing such interview questions successfully
Below is a number of suggested interview questions concerning teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP course book “English for Law Enforcement” for your consideration and response
2 How many teaching experience years have you had in this course book?
(Thầy, cô có bao nhiêu năm kinh nghiệm trong giảng dạy cuốn sách này?)
3 Can you please tell me a bit about its advantages? What about limitations/weaknesses and inappropriate characteristics?
(Cuốn sách thầy cô đang sử dụng có những ưu điểm gì? Những hạn chế gì? Những gì không phù hợp?)
4 Could you give me a number of recommendations of necessary modifications or amendments to enhance those limitations or inappropriate characteristics if you would not mind?
(Cuốn sách thầy, cô đang sử dụng có những gì cần sửa đổi hoặc bổ sung thêm gì nhằm cải thiện các hạn chế và những gì không phù hợp đó?
5 Please, let me know to what extent it can help teachers upgrade teaching skills or competences?
Could you please give me some supporting examples?
(Cuốn sách này giúp thầy cô nâng cao kỹ năng giảng dạy ở mức độ nào? Xin cho ví dụ cụ thể?)
In brief, by this writing, I would kindly express my deep thanks for your kind assistance and cooperation on the above-mentioned matter.