INTRODUCTION 1 I.1 Rationale
Aims of the study
The study aims to evaluate the material “English Course for Nursing Students” in terms of appropriateness of its objectives, contents and methodology from both the teacher’s and the student’s perspective The findings will help the teachers to adjust the exploitation of the material so that they can make optimum use of strong points and adapt or substitute weak points from other medical materials.
Scope of the study
In material evaluation, there has been a great number of criteria that should be taken into consideration such as: the audience, the content, the methodology, the cultural bias, the layout, the authenticity, and so on In this study, the criteria for evaluation were based on Hutchinson and Water’s (1987) with focus on the three following criteria: objectives of the material, contents of the material, and methodology.
Methods of the study
This study employs survey research with two methods, including survey questionnaires and informal interviews These methods are described in detail in chapter two
The study consists of 3 parts:
Part I - Introduction - presents the rationale, aims, scope and methodology of the study Part II - Development - includes 3 chapters:
Chapter 1 – Literature review – provides a theoretical basis for the study First, it surveys the literature on the theories of the basic concepts such as English for Specific Purposes and English for Medical Purposes, regarding the definition, classification, and characteristics Second, it reviews material evaluation, need analysis in terms of definition, types, purposes and models The last part of the chapter presents the issues involving material adaptation which serve as a base for the improvements recommended at the end of the study
Chapter 2 – Methodology – includes an overview of the approach used in conducting the study It also provides a thorough description of the data collection procedure as well as the analytical procedure
Chapter 3 – Result and discussion – reports the findings of the survey and discusses the prominent aspects
Part III – Conclusion – makes conclusion of the study; recommends the improvements to the material; expresses the limitations and suggestions for further research.
DEVELOPMENT 4
Literature Review 4 1.1 An Overview of English for Specific Purpose
The concept of ESP has been basically agreed by numerous researchers to be a kind of language learning which has its focus on all aspects of language pertaining to a particular field of human activities while taking into account the time constraint imposed by learners Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19) states “ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and methods are based on the learners’ reasons for learning.” Widdowson (1983:5) makes it more specific when linking tasks with the direct purpose of an ESP course: “ESP is essentially a training operation which seeks to provide learners with restricted competence to enable them to cope with certain clearly defined tasks These tasks constitute the specific purposes, which the ESP course is designed to meet.”
ESP is also defined as “a particular case of general category of special purpose language teaching” of which, advantages are widely recognized as : being focused on the learner’s needs, relevant to the learner, successful in imparting learning, and last but not least, more cost-effective than “General English” (Adapted from Streven)
From the definitions, ESP can be seen that it is not necessarily concerned with a specific discipline, nor does it have to be aimed at a certain age group or ability range, ESP should be seen simple as an “approach” to teaching that meets learner’s needs
ESP is traditionally divided into two major areas: English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) and English for Academic Purpose (EAP) EOP involves work-related needs training while EAP, academic study needs EOP is taught in a situation in which learners need to use English as part of their work and or profession, whereas EAP is taught generally within educational institutions and is provided when the students specialize or intend to specialize in a specific field or subject Nevertheless, school-subject ESP has been divided into such situations where English is a separate subject on the curriculum but with a related content to other subjects (independent ESP), and where English is the means for other subject to be learnt (integrated ESP) These types of ESP are summarized as:
Figure 1: Types of ESP (From Strevens, 1977, Robinson 1991)
To make the ESP classification more clearly, Hutchinson and Water (1987) divide it into three branches with each branch subdivided into two smaller ones: EOP and EAP as follows:
Figure 2: Types of ESP (From Hutchinson and Water, 1987)
Pre-experience Simultaneous Post-experience
Pre-study In-study Post-study Independent integrated
ESP - English for Specific Purposes
English for Science English for Business English for & Technology & Economics Social Study
EAP EOP EAP EOP EAP EOP e.g English e.g English e.g English e.g English e.g English e.g English for medical for for for for for studies technicians Economics Accountancy Psychology Law
According to Carter (1983), there are three features of ESP courses: a) authentic material, b) purpose-related orientation, and c) self-direction The use of authentic content materials, modified or unmodified in form, is indeed a feature of ESP Purposed –related orientation refers to the simulation of communicative tasks required of the target setting
Finally, self-direction is the characteristic of ESP courses in that the “….point of including self-direction …is that ESP is concerned with turning learners into users”
Hutchinson and Waters (2007) also point out the traditional ESP course design has two major drawbacks: Firstly, the development in the learner of a capacity to communicate is neglected, and secondly, there is a failure to analyze and take into account the realities of the ESP learning situation
In giving ESP definition, Dudley-Evans and St John suggest the following absolute characteristics and variable characteristics
- ESP is designed to meet specific needs of learners
- ESP makes use of the underlining methodology and activities of the disciplines it serves
- ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities
- ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines
- ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English
- ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level or in a professional work situation It could, however, be used for learners at secondary school level
- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with for teaching the beginners of English as well
1.1.4 Characteristics of English for Medical Purpose
English for Medical Purpose is a subset of English for Specific Purposes Education that most often focuses on teaching aspects of medical English, particularly terminology (Hull, 2004) The language of medicine is quite unique It is fraught with technical, academic language and replete with slang, colloquialisms, abbreviations and acronyms It has its own rules and structures Health professionals must read, write, interpret, give directions, etc… Using a wide variety of abbreviations and acronyms are extremely career-specific Medical English is also contextual Doctors and nurses use academic and technical language interspersed with common speech and workplace jargon It rarely focuses on complete or proper sentence structure
With regard to the level of Medical English, Hull believes that Medical English can not be taught at the level of or in the same methods of basic English language teaching
Hull assumes that all EMP learners are health professionals or in the midst of health studies at the college or university level Therefore, career-specific, highly technical language must be contextually based The goal of learning English at this level is not to learn grammar and structure primarily, but to acquire and use the language of practice and social relations within the career
According to Dudley (1998), “Evaluation is a whole process which begins with determining what information to gather and ends with bringing about the change in current activities or influencing future ones” (p.128)
Material evaluation is “A process not a final product” (Nunan,1998) with
“Attempts to measure the value of materials” (Tomlinson,1998, p.3)
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) define: “Evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions” (p.97) They also note that evaluation is really a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose “Given a certain need, and in the light of the resources available, which out of number of possibilities can represent the best solution There is no absolute good or bad – only degrees of fitness for the required purpose”
Although each researcher has his/her own way of giving opinion on evaluation they still come to the agreement that evaluation is a process of collecting data giving judgments based on the collected data, and the most importantly, evaluation must include action
Regarding types of material evaluation, Tomlinson (1988) indicates that for each dimension of evaluation, there are certain types of evaluation These dimensions include: approach, purpose, focus, scope, the evaluators, the timing and types of information
Cunningsworth (1995) points out that there are three types of material evaluation, i.e pre-use evaluation, in-use evaluation and post-use evaluation This classification is similar to Ellis (1997) with different names, i.e Preliminary, Formative and Summative evaluation respectively The first type, pre-use evaluation is carried out before a course begins in order to select the most relevant and suitable materials for a particular group of learners This is probably the most difficult kind as there is no actual experience of using the course book In-use evaluation is a kind of evaluation for suitability, involving
“matching the course book against a specific requirement including the learner’s objectives, the learner’s background, the resources available, etc.” (Cunningsworth, 1995, p.14) The third type, post-evaluation refers to an assessment of a textbook’s fitness over a period of continual use Evaluation of this kind can be practical in helping to decide whether to use the same textbook on the future occasion
According to Cunningsworth (1995), through evaluation, it can be assessed whether the course book 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 part of quality control
Through evaluation, the advantages and disadvantages can be known as well as the effectiveness of the being used materials
Research Methodology 18
Eight years ago, Thanh Hoa Medical College (TMC) was reestablished Since then, English has always been regarded as an important subject there And now, at the TMC, the faculty of foreign language is responsible for all foreign language teaching taken place at the college The same English syllabus was set; the same material was chosen to apply to students of all faculties In the first two years, students are to study 150 periods of general English (with the course books: Headway Elementary by Liz and John Soars, published by Oxford University Press in 1993), they learn 75 periods of Medical English in the last semester By the time they have just finished some basic subjects such as maths, biology, epidemiology… they have not got so much background knowledge of the field They are therefore at a disadvantage or struggling to learn both the language and the content at the time
During this course of medical English, the students have one or two shifts per week (4-8 periods) in large classes (about 60 students a class) The material is English Course for Nursing Students which will be described in the following section At the end of the course, they have a 150 minutes written test
The main objectives of the course are set out by the English Department of TMC as follows:
At the end of the course, the students should be able to:
Name the organs in human body, rooms in hospital
Describe these organs in terms of structures, location, functions and properties
Describe a number of diseases, their causes, indications and treatment
Understand diagrams and common medical abbreviations
Define the medical terms and abbreviations presented by memory
Make simple conversation at work (hospital)
“English Course for Nursing Students” is an 85-page-long “in-house” material which was collected and edited by the teachers of the English Department It consists of 17 units of different topics which attached reading texts taken from different sources, mostly from two books “English for Nurses” and “English for Medical Students” In this course book, the exercises were designed in the form of answering questions Though the material was excerpted from these books, there is not any information of the authors or publisher’s credentials on the cover or at References
Besides, “English Course for Nursing Students” does not contain an accessories package or supplementary materials including items such as classroom tape cassettes or CD’s, a workbook or a teacher’s book Also, the original manual does not provide teachers with additional exercises, tests, and reviews There are merely two review units in the book This means that students have few opportunities to review by themselves and teachers must spend a lot of time preparing reviews and tests
The aims of this study are to answer the two following research questions:
1 To what extent does “English Course for Nursing Students” satisfy the requirements of the courses provided?
2 What adaptation should be made to the material to meet the courses‟ requirement?
The target population for this study comprises 200 second year students of different faculties at TMC, a mix of male and female and 7 teachers of English Department All students are registered in required Medical English course
The instrument in this study is a questionnaire and informal interview In the questionnaire there are two columns for each main part related to the Necessity and Present Conditions respectively The first column which is indicative of necessity condition ranges from 1 to 4 representing “not necessary” to “highly necessary” while the second column introduces the present condition ranging from 1 to 5 which shows “total lacking” to
“excellent” (see Appendix A), it should be added for the sake of easy and informative comparison and contrast of two conditions
Data collection was conducted via questionnaire for both the teachers and the students First, the questionnaires were developed basing on the criteria, which had been selected with regard to the three aspects under the study The student survey was administered in the last class meeting of the course The students were asked to complete the questionnaires during the class time (The last lesson of the course) so that they were more willing to do it and could clarify the ambiguous questions (if any)
Differently, the teachers were requested to complete and return the questionnaires in one week to ensure that they would have enough time to give detailed and accurate information
Besides that their further evaluative comments were investigated by the use of informal interviews with all the teachers and students during and after the course, both in and out of the classroom.
Findings and Discussion 21
This section presents the results of the analyses of participants’ responses to the survey They are summarized in three categories in accord with the three aspects under the study: Objectives, Contents and Methodology
The result shows the appropriateness of the material to the objectives via the statistics of teachers’ and students’ views as follow:
Table 1: Teachers‟ views on the appropriateness of the material to the course objectives
Table 2: Students‟ views on the appropriateness of the material to the course objectives
According to the statistics both teachers and students agreed that they needed a material which could match the course objectives (100% of teachers and 56% of students rated the appropriateness as “highly necessary”; 31.5% of students as “necessary”; 12.5% of students as “almost necessary”), while for the present condition the material objectives only meets some parts of course objectives (42.7% of teachers and 57.5 % of students selected “poor”; 57.5% of teachers and 42.5 % of students selected “adequate”)
Through informal interviews, all teachers thought that their students could only achieve two or three course objectives after finishing the ESP course (such as naming some organs in human body, rooms in hospital; describing some diseases, their causes, indications and treatment; reading some easy short medical documents) This derives from the difference of the course objectives and the material objectives The goal of the course is that students have the ability to use medical language in communication such as giving and following instructions, making simple conversation at work (hospital) The other goals are reading simple medical documents, understanding diagrams and common medical abbreviations, defining the medical terms and abbreviations presented by memory
Nevertheless the aim of each lesson in this material “English Course for Nursing Students” is the students’ medical knowledge (Through English lessons students know more about diseases, their causes, indications and treatment) such as:
“After studying this unit students will be able to:
1 know whether a person has fever
2 know how germs attack and enter the body
3 advise people how to protect themselves against germs
4 decide what to do with a patient who has fever: for less than 24 hours; for more than days; with other signs” (Unit 4: Fever, p.7)
The objectives of the 17 units could reflect the course’s objectives in terms of reading and writing skills However, regarding speaking and listening skills it did not really meet the requirements of the course, especially for listening skill, the material fails to meet the course’s requirements
In terms of subject matter areas, “English Course for Nursing Students” covers a wide range of fundamental and interesting topics such as “burns”, “diarrhea”,
“poisoning”… that the students seemed to enjoy However most teachers and students believed that the material didn’t meet their demand adequately (for teachers 28,6% as
“poor” present condition and 71,4% as “adequate” present condition; for students 25% as
“total lack” present condition, 50% as “poor” present condition, 12.5% as “adequate” present condition) This is caused by material application Originally the material “English
Course for Nursing Students” was designed only for students of nursing (focused on caring patients), but at present it is used for all second year students of different branches of study: nursery, midwifery, diagnostic imaging who needs different items of medical terminology
1 The contents of the material are relevant to student’s needs as an English language learner(s)
2 The contents of the material are generally realistic
3 The contents of the material are interesting, challenging and motivating
4 The language used in the textbook is authentic
5 The language is used at the right level for student current English ability
6 The progression of grammar points and vocabulary items are appropriate
7 The grammar points are presented with brief and easy examples and explanations
8 The language functions exemplify English that students will be likely to use
9 The material provides an appropriate 0 0 0 0 2 28.6 5 71.4 7 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 four language skills
10 The material pays attention to sub-skills (i.e scanning, skimming…)
11 The practice of individual skills is integrated into the practice of other skills
Table 3: Teachers‟ views on the appropriateness of the content of material
1 The contents of the material are relevant to student’s needs as an English language learner(s)
2 The contents of the material are generally realistic
3 The contents of the material are interesting, challenging and motivating
4 The language used in the textbook is authentic
5 The language is used at the right level for student’s current English ability
6 The progression of grammar points and vocabulary items are appropriate
7 The grammar points are presented with brief and easy examples and explanations
8 The language functions exemplify English that students will be likely to use
9 The material provides an appropriate balance of the four language skills
10 The material pays attention to sub-skills (i.e scanning, skimming…)
11 The practice of individual skills is integrated into the practice of other skills
Table 4: Students‟ views on the appropriateness of the content of material
71% of teachers, 100% of students have chosen “high necessary” to show that it is essential for the material to provide an appropriate balance of the four language skills The necessity of paying attention to sub skills (Scanning, skimming….) and the practices of single skills integrated into other skills are required However “total lack” is the present condition that both teachers and students have selected The difference between
“necessity” and “present condition” of the material is statistically significant This means that the difference between the ideal situation and the present condition is real Based on the statistics, both teachers and students believed that the contents of the material should:
(Item 1) be relevant to student’s needs; (Item 2) be generally realistic; (Item 3) be interesting, challenging and motivating; (Item 5) be used at the right level for student’s current English ability; (Item 9) provide an appropriate balance of the four language skills…… , while the present condition of the material is only “poor” and “total lack” as items: seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven The book lacked the relevance of the contents and the aims of the curriculum, participants and appropriate activities An adequate number of skill-building activities was not provided, each skill was not treated in every unit, no balance was observed among the various skill-building activities, a mismatch was found between the activities and the required skills, skill-building strategies were not included in the texts, no logical development of the skills throughout the material was noticed and the activities activating students’ background knowledge were not included
Concerning the text-types, there was a difference between the teachers and students’ opinions While the teachers regarded the authentic pieces of language a positive point of material thanks to the real characteristic of ESP, the students thought the reading was too difficult in terms of vocabulary, the amount of thirty new words a lesson was too many for them
Regarding the organization and sequence of contents, both the teachers and the students realized that linguistic elements of the material such as grammar and vocabulary items were disconnected and presented at random, not in a logical manner or in the order of difficulty Longer reading texts with complex discourse structures appeared before the shorter and simpler ones In addition, comprehension questions did not require students to undertake more difficult tasks as the textbook progresses This may result from the fact that the texts were taken from the different sources Furthermore, the new words were rarely recycled in the subsequent lessons For example, in unit “Anatomy” such words as oesophagus, duodenum, pancreas, gall-bladder… never encountered on any occasions in different contexts for the students to reinforce their meaning and use
Despite all of these drawbacks, the contents of the material seem to be the strongest point in their opinions with the statistic that 42.9% of teachers, 53.5% of students selected
“adequate present condition” and 57.1% of teachers, 30% of students chose “good present condition for the item “the contents of the material are generally realistic”, and also “the language in the book is authentic”, “the language is used at the right level for student’s current ability” are voted for “adequate present condition” and “good condition”
Unlike others materials which often show the pedagogic ideology on the back cover, “English Course for Nursing Students” did not claim to adhere any particular approach Firstly, the aims of the lesson and new words were introduced Secondly, vocabulary was accessed through direct translation; little or no attention was paid to pronunciation In fact, “English Course for Nursing Students” only provided the vocabulary without any activities to teach word stress, sentence stress, pronouncing…in an explicit context There were no activities for listening and speaking skills in the material
1 The material follows teaching methodology: CLT (Communicative Language Teaching)
2 The material provides a balance of activities
3 The activities encourage sufficient communicative and meaningful practice
4 The activities incorporate individual, pair and group work
5 The grammar points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic contexts
6 The activities promote creative, original and independent
7 The material’s activities can be modified or supplemented easily
8 The material includes and focuses on the skills that students need to practice
9 The material highlights and practices natural pronunciation
Table 5: Teachers‟ views on the methodology of the material
1 The material provides a balance of activities
2 The activities encourage sufficient communicative and meaningful practice
3 The activities incorporate individual, pair and group work
4 The grammar points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic contexts
5 The activities promote creative, original and independent responses
6 The material includes and focuses on the skills that students need to practice
7 The material highlights and practices natural pronunciation
Table 6: Students‟ views on the methodology of the material
It seems to be that methodology is the weakest point of the material as the difference between “necessity condition” and “present condition” of the book is so statistically significant Both teachers and students hoped at high need that “the material includes and focuses on the skills that students need to practice”, “The material highlights and practices natural pronunciation”, “The activities incorporate individual, pair and group work”, “The grammar points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic contexts”, “The material’s activities can be modified or supplemented easily”, however the present condition is 100% “total lack” opted by teachers, different levels of
“total lack” and “poor” selected by students
The students were not happy with the methodology Justification for this discrepancy could be linked to the influence of the so-called Communicative Approach the students have experienced for previous years of learning general English at high school, college or at evening classes which they preferred Other reason for the students’ unfavourableness was its low level of involvement of learners and few communicative activities There were no interactive or task-based activities to involve the students in active information sharing, freer cooperative group tasks or class activities This seems to be a serious problem as a majority of students preferred to work in pairs or groups
CONCLUSION 31
Conclusion
This study evaluated the ESP material “English Course for Nursing Students” in terms of its Objectives, Contents and Methodology As analysis, this material only meets somewhat needed course objectives, besides it has some shortcomings: there is not any practical approach used in teaching; speaking and listening skills are mostly ignored; its activities and tasks are both inadequate and undiversified; it lacks a manual with answer key and teaching instructions
Taking everything into account, “English for Nursing Students” should be replaced by other materials which are appropriate for students of different fields It would be the best for students of different faculties to have their own books However if it is unrealizable, adapting and reorganizing it might help to gain more experience, fresh ideas and what is the most important-an environment in which students would be happy to work.
Recommendations
First of all, the course objectives seem to have some minor problems with the degree and condition criteria, i.e how well the behavior must be done and under which conditions the learners could demonstrate their mastery of the objective For example, the objective “describe these organs in terms of structures, location, functions and properties” should be clarified by specifying by oral presentation or in writing Also, “name the organs in the human body” or “give and follow instructions” is too broad If the number of organs or kinds of instructions had been added, they would have become much more concrete to access
In addition, as pointed out in the previous section, though the material objectives partly match the course objectives, they do not coincide with students’ needs While most of students want to develop their speaking and listening skills along with reading and writing, both the material and course objectives ignore them These skills should be incorporated to a modest extent, the students would be more motivated
Thus, to help students achieve the objectives proposed by the course, it is advisable that the faculty should: i reduce the number of the objectives ii replace some objectives if they are too demanding to students iii skip some of the material objectives if they are not in the course objectives iv add supplementary materials to enable students to achieve the course objectives
Though the students seem to be generally in favour of the contents of the material, a number of improvements should be made to overcome the shortcomings
Firstly, the lessons on midwife, examination, images should be added for students of different faculties to enhance their interests in learning ESP
Secondly, the proportions of the four macro skills should be provided an integrated balance
Thirdly, the reading texts should be rearranged in the order of increasing level of difficulty so that the students could be able to cope with linguistic problems more easily
The short and simple texts should be presented before the longer ones Moreover, the texts with similar contents should be grouped so that vocabulary items can be recycled and stored in students’ long-term memory
For the linguistic difficulties of the authentic texts, it would be a good idea to deal with them by adding pre-reading tasks to provide students with the new words and phrases as well as background knowledge
Lastly, textbook should be added more types of exercises instead of only one type of exercise Also, students should be tested just what they have been taught during the terms Furthermore, the contents of the test should be practical which means it should have something to do with students’ majors To do this, it is suggested that there should be different tests for different students of different majors
It would be challenging and time-consuming to change the methodology of a book
However, it would be still acceptable if some appropriate adaptations were made to
“English Course for Nursing Students”
Apart from the suggestion mentioned in the content improvement section, another way to integrate both productive (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (listening and reading) is through simple task modifications Teachers, thereby, can give all of the directions orally in English, thus causing students to use their listening ability to understand the assignment Besides, the teachers would ask the students to discuss their readings in English, thus employing speaking and listening skills Students should be asked to summarize or analyze reading in written form, thus activating their writing skill In this way, the students have the benefit of practicing all the language skills in an integrated, natural, communicative way, even if reading still remains the main focus of the course
Then, it is advisable to add a wider range and larger quantity of activities including pair and group work to drill the skills as well as to promote social interaction
Nevertheless, creating these activities must be very careful, as Jacobs and Ball (1996) have pointed out
“In some ELT [text]books, group activities appear to have been created merely by putting the words „in groups‟ or „in pairs‟ in front of what were formerly individual activities, without making any changes to encourage learners to cooperate with one another Such instructions may suffice in some situations, but for effective interactions to take place students will generally need more guidance and encouragement.” (p.92)
In the case of “English Course for Nursing Students” and in such large classes, creating meaningful pair and group work would present the teachers with practical, logistical, and organizational difficulties due to the text types The possible solution would be adding or replacing some texts with dialogues on the same topic (taken from the “Focus on Medical English” (1997) or other sources) These dialogues can be used for role-play or discussion, for example, taking a history or making a diagnosis etc Through these activities, the students would also involve in the writing process (i.e note-taking)
Finally, more activities for reading should be added to make the reading skill the main focus of the course in conformity with the course objectives The activities could be of various types as follows:
Scanning to locate specifically required information (e.g what do the following numbers refer to?)
Surveying the text (e.g which of the following are included in the text: symptoms, indication, and treatment?)
Using the title (e.g Look at the title of the following text, ask 3 questions that you hope the text will answer Read the texts and try to answer your questions)
Word meanings from context (e.g what does “dehydration” mean?
Contributing to the main idea (e.g Underline the sentence that does not contribute to the main idea)
Limitations of the Study …
It should be acknowledged that there are some limitations of this research
Firstly, the result and recommendations are suitable for the material “English Course for Nursing Students” and teaching situations in merely Thanh Hoa Medical
College It could be unreasonable if they are applied for other documents and other settings
Secondly, in material evaluation there are a great number of criteria that should be taken into consideration such as the audience, the contents, the methodology, the cultural bias, the layout, the authenticity… However, due to the limited time, the study only focused on three items (the objectives, the contents, and the methodology) Hence the study does not have a comprehensive view of the material
Last but not least, the methodology improvement only concentrated on the teaching and learning techniques, there were no concerns on any approach or method, and as a result there would be no change in methodological framework of the material.
Suggestions for Further Research …
In spite of the above limitations, the research provides a basis for further study on the aspects which were not covered such as the audience, the cultural bias, the layout, approaches… and they would be useful starting points for future researches
1 Allwright, R.L (1981) “What Do We Want Teaching Material For?” ELT Journal,
2 Altschuld, J W and Witkin, B R (2000) From Needs Assessment to Action:
Transforming Needs into Solution Strategies, Sage Publictions: Thousand Oaks, CA
3 Cunningsworth, A (1984) Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Materials London:
4 Cunningsworth, A (1995) Choosing Your Course Book London: Macmillan
5 Dudley-Evans, T., (1998) Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach
6 Gillham, B (2000) Developing A Questionnaire London: Continuum
7 Hutchinson, T., & Water, A (1993) English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge:
8 Low, G (1987) The need for a Multi-perspective Approach to the Evaluation of
Foreign Language Teaching Materials Evaluation and Research in Education
9 Mc Grath, I (2002), Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching,
10 McKillip,J (1997) Need Analysis: Tools for the Human Service and Education
Applied Social Research Methods Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA
11 McKillip,J.(1998) Need Analysis In Bickman, L and Rog, D.J (Eds) Handbook of
Applied Social Research Methods Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA
12 Murphy, D.F (1985), Evaluation in Language Teaching: Assessment, Accountability and Awareness, Alderson
13 Nunan, D (1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Cambridge:
14 Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology London: Prentice Hall
15 Richards, J.C (2001), Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge:
16 Rea-Dickins, P., & Germain, K.(1998) Evaluation, Oxford: Oxford University Press
17 Reviere, R., Berkowitz,S.,Carter, C.C.,Gergusan, C.G (Eds) (1996) Needs
Assessment: A Creative and Practical Guide for Social Scientists Taylor and
18 Sheldon, L (1988) Evaluating ELT Textbooks and Materials ELT Journal
19 Swales, J (1980) ESP: The Textbook Problem ESP Journal
20 Tomlinson, B (1998), Materials Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge:
21 Trần Đức (1997) Chủ điểm tiếng Anh trong Ngành y Hanoi: Publish house of
22 Williams, D (1983) “Developing Criteria for Textbook Evaluation”, ELT journal
23 Witkin, B R and Altschould, J W (1995) Planning and Conducting Needs
Assessments: A practical Guide Sage Publictions: Thousand Oaks, CA
24 Yalden, J (1987), Principles of Course Design for Language Teaching, Cambridge:
This questionnaire is designed to collect ideas from the teachers of English of the English Department at Thanh Hoa Medical College on the currently-used material
“English Course for Nursing Students” Please answer the following questions carefully
Your opinions would be valuable to the evaluation research and the improvement of the material
Your cooperation is highly appreciated
To answer the survey questions below, please assign one of the numbers to the items given in the table
4: Highly Necessary 3: Necessary 2:Almost Necessary 1: Not Necessary
5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Adequate 2: Poor 1: Total Lacking
1 The material is appropriate for the curriculum and fits the objectives
1 The contents of the material are relevant to student’s needs as an English language learner(s)
2 The contents of the material are generally realistic
3 The contents of the material are interesting, challenging and motivating
4 The language used in the textbook is authentic
5 The language is used at the right level for student current English ability
6 The progression of grammar points and vocabulary items are appropriate
7 The grammar points presented with brief and easy examples and explanations
8 The language functions exemplify English that students will be likely to use
9 The material provides an appropriate balance of the four language skills
10 Sub-skills are paid attention (i.e scanning, skimming…)
11 The practice of individual skills is integrated into the practice of other skills
1 The material follows teaching methodology: CLT (Communicative Language Teaching)
2 The material provides a balance of activities
3 The activities encourage sufficient communicative and meaningful practice
4 The activities incorporate individual, pair and group work
5 The grammar points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic contexts
6 The activities promote creative, original and independent responses
7 The material’s activities can be modified or supplemented easily
8 The material includes and focuses on the skills that students need to practice
9 The material highlights and practices natural pronunciation
Thank you for your cooperation!
Bản câu hỏi này nhằm lấy ý kiến sinh viên tại trường Cao đẳng y tế Thanh Hóa về tài liệu tiếng Anh đang sử dụng: English course for nursing students Mong bạn trả lời đầy đủ các câu hỏi dưới đây dựa trên tình hình thực tế tại trường Những ý kiến đóng góp của bạn sẽ rất có giá trị trong quá trình nghiên cứu đánh giá giáo trình này cũng như việc sửa đổi giáo trình
Xin chân thành cảm ơn Để trả lời các câu hỏi dưới đây, bạn hãy đánh dấu vào các ô trống thích hợp và/hoặc điền vào chỗ trống
4: Cần thiết cao 3: Cần thiết 2: Tương đối cần thiết 1: Không cần thiết
5: Rất tốt 4: Tốt 3: Trung bình 2: Kém 1: Hoàn toàn thiếu
1 Giáo trình phù hợp với chương trình và mục tiêu đào tạo
1 Nội dung của giáo trình phù hợp với nhu cầu của người học
2 Chủ điểm của giáo trình tương đối thực tế và hữu ích cho công việc của bạn sau này
3 Chủ điểm của giáo trình thú vị, khó nhưng hấp dẫn
4 Từ vựng được sử dụng đúng theo ngữ cảnh
5 Từ vựng được sử dụng phù hợp với trình độ của người học
6 Các chủ điểm về ngữ pháp và từ vựng được sắp xếp theo trình tự hợp lý
7 Các chủ điểm về ngữ pháp được trình bày với những ví dụ và giải thích ngắn gọn, dễ hiểu người học muốn sử dụng
9 Giáo trình có đủ bốn kỹ năng nghe, nói, đọc, viết
10 Giáo trình này chú trọng đến các tiểu kỹ năng (sub- skills), chẳng hạn đọc nhanh tìm ý chính, đọc kỹ tim thông tin
11 Các kỹ năng được luyện tập xen kẽ
1 Giáo trình có đầy đủ các loại hoạt động
2 Các hoạt động khuyến khích luyện tập với mục đích giao tiếp
3 Các hoạt động bao gồm cách làm việc cả lớp, nhóm, cặp và cá nhân độc lập
4 Ngữ pháp và từ vựng được đưa vào ngữ cảnh thực tế
5 Các hoạt động khuyến khích sự sang tạo và độc lập
6 Giáo trình này tập trung vào các kỹ năng mà người học cần luyện tập
7 Giáo trình tạo cơ hội cho người học luyện tập phát âm một cách tự nhiên
Xin chân thành cảm ơn!
APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONAIRE FOR TEACHER INTERVIEW
1 Which of the following objectives does the material contain?
Name the organs in human body, rooms in hospital
Describe these organs in terms of structures, location, functions and properties
Describe a number of diseases, their causes, indications and treatment
Understand diagrams and common medical abbreviations
Define the medical terms and abbreviations presented by memory
Make simple conversation at work (hospital)
2 Which of the following objectives can your students achieve after learning this material?
Name the organs in human body, rooms in hospital
Describe these organs in terms of structures, location, functions and properties
Describe a number of diseases, their causes, indications and treatment
Understand diagrams and common medical abbreviations
Define the medical terms and abbreviations presented by memory
Make simple conversation at work (hospital)
3 Is the material suitable for large, homogeneous classes of college students?
4 Would you choose to teach this material again?
5 What adjustment should be done to the material?
Thank you for your cooperation!
APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONAIRE FOR STUDENT INTERVIEW
1 Bạn có thích học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành? Tại sao?
2 Bạn có cho rằng mình sẽ sử dụng tiếng Anh trong công việc sau này không?
3 Hãy đánh số thứ tự từ 1 ( quan trọng nhất) đến 4 (không quan trọng) cho các kỹ năng sau đây:
4 Theo bạn, bao nhiêu phần trăm thời lượng giờ học nên sử dụng cho mỗi kỹ năng? đọc % nghe % viết % nói %
5 Bạn mong muốn học được gì trong khóa học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành này?
6 Bạn thích học/làm bài độc lập hay theo cặp hoặc nhóm?
7 Bạn có thích dùng giáo trình trong khi học không? Tại sao?
8 Giáo trình này làm tăng hứng thú học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành của bạn
9 Nếu được lựa chọn, bạn có chọn học cuốn sách này không?
10 Bạn có kiến nghị gì về giáo trình này?
Xin chân thành cảm ơn!