VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ DUNG AN EVALUATION OF “FAMILY AND FRIENDS 3”, AN ENGLISH (NGHIÊN CỨU ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁ[.]
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ DUNG AN EVALUATION OF “FAMILY AND FRIENDS 3”, AN ENGLISH (NGHIÊN CỨU ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH “FAMILY AND FRIEND 3” DÙNG CHO HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC TẠI VIỆT NAM) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ DUNG AN EVALUATION OF “FAMILY AND FRIENDS 3”, AN ENGLISH (NGHIÊN CỨU ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH “FAMILY AND FRIEND 3” DÙNG CHO HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC TẠI VIỆT NAM) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: : 60140111 Supervisor : Dr ĐỗTuấn Minh HANOI - 2016 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authority of the thesis submitted entitled: An evaluation of “Family and Friends 3”, an English textbook used for primary school students in Viet Nam In fulfillment of the requirements for thesis and field study report in Master program issued by the Post Graduate Committee Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the text of the thesis Hanoi - 2016 Lê Thị Dung i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply thankful to many people without whose help the present thesis could not have been completed First and foremost, I would like to express my deep indebtedness to my supervisor Dr Do Tuan Minh – the vice president of University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University Hanoi for his invaluable guidance and endless support His useful advices, comments and corrections help me complete my thesis My sincere gratitude are due to Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Canh and Dr Huynh Anh Tuan for their kindness and generosity in providing suggestions, and helpful advice My thanks are also extended to all my lecturers at Department of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, VNU who gave me meaningful lessons and valuable knowledge; from which I know how to conduct my study I sincerely thank the whole group of primary school teachers in Hanoi by whom meaningful data for my thesis was collected Last but not least, I owe the completion of this dissertation to my family, my colleagues and friends who have always given me motivation and encouragement to carry on my thesis i ABSTRACT There is no doubt that materials play an important role in language teaching and learning However, no textbook is perfect in a particular teaching situation since there is an mixture of components affecting it such as the aims of the course, students‟ interest or students‟ ability Therefore, materials evaluation is essential in deciding which textbook should be chosen before applying it to any course This thesis was carried on to evaluate a material which has been in use for primary school students in Vietnam Although it has been in use for a long time as a popular textbook, there is no research checking whether teachers satisfy with it as well as its appropriateness to the teaching situation in Vietnam in term of both appearance and content In order to fulfill the objectives of the study, the researcher found prior studies at the same field to find out different opinions of researchers about textbook evaluation and adaption Then she analyzed the material using the “English textbook evaluation criteria for the school system in Viet Nam” accompanying circular 31/2015/TT-BGDĐT, complied by a group of authors Finally, the researcher conducted a survey on primary school teachers in Hanoi to find how much they satisfy with the material in term of its appearance, methodology, content and skills as well as its user support The result of this survey was compared with the document analysis to answer the research question Some suggestions for adaptations were also given to make the material become more suitable with the teaching situation of Vietnam The findings exhibited that Family and Friends is not against Vietnamese culture and tradition It is not against Vietnamese rules or contain any prejudices The layout and design of this textbook are highly appreciated In addition, textbook user support is also one of strong points of FF3 since it provides very helpful supplementary materials for both teachers and students Besides, in general, its content and skills get quite good comments from teachers However, due to ii teachers‟ opinions, FF3 remains some drawbacks Firstly, as a commercial textbook, FF can not directly promote patriotism, nationalism or political security of Vietnam In addition, sometimes students are not given sufficient tasks to practice skills It needs updating more new and interesting topics for students too To deal with those drawbacks, some adaptation techniques such as adding, re-ordering, simplifying or deleting are suggested for better use of this material in the future iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VNU: Vietnam National University FF 3: Family and Friends ELT: English Language Teaching PSSs: Primary School Students iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Teachers‟ opinions on the appropriateness of the textbook to the prerequisite criteria in the checklist 32 Table 2: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of design 33 Table 3: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of organization .34 Table 4: The suitability of the material to the requirement of the checklist in term of objectives and Teaching Principles 35 Table 5: The suitability of the material to the requirement of the checklist in term of methodology 36 Table 6.1: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of general content 37 Table 6.2: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of general content 38 Table 7: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of listening skill .39 Table 8: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of speaking skill .40 Table 9: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of reading skill .41 Table 10: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of writing skill .41 Table 11: Teacher survey result on the match of textbook to the requirement of the checklist in term of textbook user support 43 Figure1: Teachers' opinion on vocabulary in FF 42 Figure 2: Teachers' opinions on grammar practice in FF3 .42 Figure 3: Teachers' opinions on pronunciation practice in FF3 42 v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Background to the study and the statement of problem 1.1 Theoretical background 1.2 Practical background 1.2.1 The English program for primary students in Vietnam 1.2.2 The English textbook “Family and Friends 3” 1.3 Statement of problem Aims of the study 3 Research questions .3 Scope of the study Significance of the study .4 Overview of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT .6 CHAPTER I LITERATURE REVIEW .6 1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning 1.1.1 What are materials? .6 1.1.2 Role of materials 1.2 Materials evaluation 1.2.1 Definition of materials evaluation 1.2.2 Reasons for evaluating materials 1.2.3 Types of material evaluation 1.2.4 The procedure of material evaluation .11 vi 1.2.5 Criteria for materials evaluation 11 1.3 Materials adaptation 14 1.3.1 Definition of materials adaptation .14 1.3.2 Reasons for adapting materials 14 1.3.3 Kinds of materials adaptation 15 1.3.3.1 General adaptation 15 1.3.3.2 Specific adaptation 16 1.3.3.3 Techniques for adaptation .16 1.3.3.4 Addition 16 1.3.3.5 Deletion 16 1.3.3.6 Simplification 17 1.3.3.7 Reordering .17 1.3.3.8 Replacement 17 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY .18 2.1 Research questions 18 2.2 Research design 18 2.3 Research method .18 2.3.1 Document analysis .19 2.3.2 Questionnaires for teachers 19 2.4 Data collection procedure .20 2.5 Participants 20 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .22 3.1 Document analysis 22 3.1.1 Materials description 22 3.1.2 Cultural and social factors 23 3.1.3 Design and organization .24 3.1.4 Objectives and methodology .26 3.1.5 Content and skills 27 3.1.6 Textbook user supports 30 vii ... CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authority of the thesis submitted entitled: An evaluation of “Family and Friends 3”, an English textbook used for primary school students in Viet Nam In fulfillment... Skills time (listening, speaking, and writing) 1.3 Statement of problem Currently, among English textbooks being used in primary schools in Vietnam, the series of Family and Friends is highly... context of teaching and learning English in Vietnam Specifically, there is no study to discover how FF3 satisfies teachers and matches the requirement of Ministry of Education and Training in choosing