An evaluation of the appropriateness of material elementary market leader for hanoi university of business and technology

Vietnam National University College of Foreign Languages POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT NGUYEN THI THU HIEN AN EVALUATION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF MATERIAL ELEMENTARY MARKET-LEADER FOR HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (NH GI PH HP CA GIO TRèNH ELEMENTARY MARKET-LEADER I VI TRNG I HC KINH DOANH V CễNG NGH H NI) M.A Minor Program Thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410 HANOI JULY, 2009 Vietnam National University College of Foreign Languages POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT NGUYEN THI THU HIEN AN EVALUATION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS OF MATERIAL ELEMENTARY MARKET-LEADER FOR HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (NH GI PH HP CA GIO TRèNH ELEMENTARY MARKET-LEADER I VI TRNG I HC KINH DOANH V CễNG NGH H NI) M.A Minor Program Thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr DUONG THI NU HANOI JULY, 2009 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATES STATEMENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES iii iv vi vii INTRODUCTION 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AIMS OF THE THESIS SIGNIFICANCE OF THE THESIS THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS 2 3 DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 MATERIALS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING 1.1.1 The Roles of Teaching Materials 1.1.2 Types of Materials 1.1.2.1 Textbooks 1.1.2.2 In-house Materials 1.2 MATERIALS EVALUATION 1.2.1 Reasons for Materials Evaluation 1.2.2 Definitions of Materials Evaluation 1.2.3 Types of Materials Evaluation 1.2.4 Models for Materials Evaluation 1.2.5 Criteria for Materials Evaluation 1.3 MATERIALS ADAPTATION 1.3.1 The Context of Adaptation 1.3.2 Reasons for Adaptation 1.3.3 Techniques for Adaptation CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 2.1 THE SETTING OF THE STUDY 2.2 THE MATERIAL ELEMENTARY MARKET-LEADER USED FOR FRESHMEN AT HUBT 2.3 DATA COLLECTION METHODS 2.4 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE 2.4.1 Document Analysis 2.4.2 Student Questionnaire 2.4.3 The Teacher Interviews 2.5 SUBJECTS OF THE RESEARCH 2.5.1 The students 5 7 8 10 10 12 14 14 15 15 18 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 21 21 v 2.5.2 The teachers 21 CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 23 3.1 THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE MATERIAL TO THE STUDENTS LEVEL OF ENGLISH 23 3.1.1 Document Analysis 23 3.1.2 Results from the Survey 23 3.1.2.1 Teacher Interviews 23 3.1.2.2 Student Questionnaire 26 3.1.3 Discussion 28 3.2 THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE MATERIAL TO THE METHODOLOGY REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE 30 3.2.1 Teaching and Learning Techniques 31 3.2.1.1 Document Analysis 31 3.2.1.2 Student Questionnaire 31 3.2.2 The Guidance and Support from the Material for Teachers 32 3.2.2.1 Document Analysis 32 3.2.2.2 Teacher Interviews 33 3.3 MAJOR FINDINGS 35 3.3.1 The Appropriateness of the Material to the Students Level of English 36 3.3.2 The Appropriateness of the Material to the Methodology Requirements of the Course 36 CONCLUSION ADAPTATIONS 1.1 The Difficulty of the Material 1.2 The Guidance and Support from the Material for Teachers CONCLUSION THE LIMITATIONS OF THE THESIS REFERENCES APPENDIX APPENDIX 38 38 38 39 40 40 I V vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language ESP English for Specific Purposes ELT English Language Teaching HUBT Hanoi University of Business and Technology vii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure Stages in the ESP Process (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 121) Figure Materials Evaluation Process (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) Table 4.1 Teachers Opinions of the Appropriateness of the Material to the 11 Students Level of English 23 Table 4.2 Teachers Opinions on the Difficulty of Different Parts of the Material 23 Table 4.3 Students Assessment of the Difficult Sections in the Material 25 Table 4.4 Students Opinions on the Reasons Why Some Sections are Difficult 26 Table 4.5 Teaching and Learning Techniques Used and Suited to the Students 30 Table 4.6 Teachers Evaluation of the Guidance and Support from the Material 33 DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is aimed at providing a theoretical base to develop an operational framework for the evaluation of the material Elementary Market-Leader currently used for first-year students of business majors at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) The first part in this chapter relates to teaching materials with regards to their roles in language teaching and types of materials The second part presents the review of literature concerning major issues in materials evaluation, model for evaluation and criteria for evaluation The third part discusses some important issues about materials adaptation 1.1 MATERIALS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING 1.1.1 The Roles of Teaching Materials Teaching materials are a key component in most language programs According to Dudley Evans & St John (1998), materials are used in all teaching and their role in the process of language teaching and learning is of great importance Nunan (1988) also mentions the vital role of teaching materials as follows: Materials are in fact an essential element within the curriculum, and more than simply lubricate the wheels of learning At their best they provide concrete models of desirable classroom practice, they act as curriculum models for teachers to follow in developing their own materials. (p.98) The roles of teaching materials in language teaching in general and in ESP in particular will be discussed in more details in the next part of this section The Role of Teaching Materials in General English Course The important roles that teaching materials play in language teaching are mentioned by different authors in the literature Richards and Rodgers (cited in Nunan, 1991) view instructional materials as detailed specifications of content, and guide to teachers on both the intensity of coverage and the amount of attention demanded by particular content or pedagogical tasks Richard and Rodgerss perspective is supported and clarified by Richards (2001), who pointed out that teaching materials can serve as the basis for much of the language input that the learners received and as the source for much of the language practice that occurs in the classroom Richard further explains that materials provide a basic for the content of the lesson, the balance of skills taught, and the kind of language practice students take part in The Role of Teaching Materials in ESP Course Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) have summed up four functions of teaching materials in ESP course: as a source of language, as a learning support, as a source of motivation and stimulation and as a source for reference As a source of language: In some situations where English is a foreign language, not a second language, the ESP classroom may be almost the only source of English Materials the play a crucial role in exposing learners to the language, which implies that the materials need to present real language, as it is used, and the full range that learners require Therefore, materials need to maximize exposure to the language, for instance, by providing additional materials As a learning support: As a learning support, materials need to be reliable, that is, to work, to be consistent and have some recognizable pattern To enhance learning, materials must involve learners in thinking about and using the language The activities need to stimulate cognitive, not mechanical processes The learners also need a sense of progression As a source for stimulation and motivation: In order to stimulate and motivate students, materials need to be challenging yet achievable; to offer new ideas and information whilst being grounded in the learners experience and knowledge (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998: 172) They further explain that the input must contain concepts and/ or knowledge that are familiar to the learners, but it must also offer something new, a reason for the learners to communicate and to get involved As a source for reference: Materials help learners to make efficient use of the resources in order to facilitate self-discovery (Tomlinson, 1998: 11) For this function, according to Dudley-Evans & St John (1998), the materials need to be complete, well laid out and self-explanatory (p172) In other words, the materials need to provide explanations, examples and practice activities that have answer and discussion key so that the students can use them for selfstudy What needs to be taken into account at this point is the difference in learning styles among the learners This means that activities should be variable and should cater for all learning styles (Tomlinson, 1998: 17) Obviously, teaching materials are a key and crucial component in any language teaching contexts The teacher needs to take account of the roles as well as the requirements of teaching materials when designing and selecting materials for his or her own teaching situation to facilitate the most learning form students 1.1.2 Types of Materials 1.1.2.1 Textbooks Textbooks refer to the commercially published materials The most obvious advantage of these materials is its availability for use ONeil (cited in Robinson, 1991) believes that no other medium is as easy to use as textbook More importantly, a textbook is complete not just in the physical sense but in the sense that the whole terms or years course is available to the students at once (p58) In some situations, textbooks serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom They provide structures and syllabus for a program that has been systematically developed and planned However, textbooks also have some limitations Ewer and Boys (cited in Robinson, 1991) present a strong attack on published textbooks that some really fundamental factors of textbooks such as the validity of the linguistic content, the accuracy of the explanations and examples given, the number and coverage of the exercises provided have been ignored because the writers just focus on approach and methodology Moreover, as Swales (cited in Robinson, 1991) indicates published textbooks are less-sufficient in practice materials and in coverage of skill areas (p57) so the textbooks need to be supplemented by other materials 1.1.2.2 In-house Materials There are also arguments for and against the use of in-house materials According to Robinson (1991), there are three advantages of in-house materials Firstly, in-house materials are likely to be more specific and appropriate than public textbooks and to have greater face validity in terms of the language dealt with and the context it is presented in Secondly, in-house materials may be more flexible than published textbooks Finally, the writer of in-house materials can make sure that methodology is suitable for the intended learners Despite advantages of in-house materials, there are some disadvantages Robinson (1991) indicates that making in-house materials is time-consuming and expensive, what is worst is that many locally produced materials show a striking resemblance to the published materials that have been rejected (Swales, cited in Robinson, 1991: 58) 1.2 MATERIALS EVALUATION 1.2.1 Reasons for Materials Evaluation Materials evaluation cannot be apart from a language training program There are many reasons that language course organizers and teachers worldwide are connected with when they conduct materials evaluation On discussing the problem, Ellis (1997) points out that the need for materials evaluation retrospectively takes on special importance Such an evaluation provides teachers with information which can be used to determined whether it is worthwhile using the materials again, which activities work and which not, and how to modify the materials to make them more effective for future use In ESP, according to Dudley-Evans and St John (1998), materials evaluation is an indispensable part of the key stages in ESP process (See Figure 1) Need analysis Evaluation Assessment Course design Teaching-learning 34 - The Business briefings are good Teachers Resource Book 30 70 - The Text Bank is useful and interesting - The lesson notes are not detailed - No language or culture notes - The Resource Bank is not very necessary Practice File 100 - Interesting and useful - The Talk Business is good Test File 60 40 - Useful - Grammar and Skill sections are too easy Audio Materials 100 100 Websites 50 50 - Good - The website is useful - Not much of use Table 4.6: Teachers Evaluation of the Guidance and Support from the Material As can be seen from the table, not all the material components bring sufficient support for teachers There is some dissatisfaction about some of the components Although Course Book was agreed by 90% of the teachers to be really helpful, some of them stated that there was not enough writing coverage and guidance This also reflects the students opinions on the writing section which was previously mentioned as one of the reasons for the difficulty of the material According to the teachers, the writing samples are good, but there should be more guidance and instructions for this skill Besides, the teachers found the Vocabulary File not very useful because of its design Some of them pointed out that the Vocabulary File did not supply definitions or pronunciations of the words and expressions, which made it inconvenient even for students to self-study Moreover, the word lists are presented in their fields of meaning which does not entirely match the topics of the 12 units, so it is sometimes rather unsuitable to use this part in line with the vocabulary practice of the 12 units As a result, some of the teachers confessed they hardly had their students open this section in class Teachers Resource Book was evaluated as a component with inadequate guidance and support for teachers Seven teachers out of ten believed this book was not really useful 35 for the following reasons Firstly, they found the teaching notes a little too sketchy The instructions for teachers in the teaching notes just gave them the general steps to go through the lessons and most of them thought these instructions were nothing new while they really wanted to see more examples and detailed suggestions as well as some recommendations for the teaching strategies to carry out in class Secondly, the teachers reported that they could not find any language or culture notes in the Teachers Resource Book As most of them were not majored in business and just came to teaching Business English by accident, it would be of great help to them of they could find some explanations on the difficult words and expressions or on the cultural issues mentioned in the lesson content Test File was agreed by teachers to be a really useful support, but some others said the Grammar and Skills sections in the tests are a bit too easy for the students On the contrary, the other sections like listening, reading, vocabulary, and writing are quite effective The website of Market-Leader was found interesting and helpful by half of the teachers They especially liked the links to the articles written on the topics that were related to the twelve course book units These articles could provide them with more background information on the issues they dealt with Also, they said they found some other unexpected benefits from the website In contrast, the other teachers in the interview said they did not pay much attention to it These teachers seemed to follow a traditional way of teaching and they hardly made use of the Internet as a source of support for their teaching Practice File and Audio Materials are the two components that get 100% agreement from teachers to be really useful and of good guidance and support for the course In general, the material was evaluated as offering quite good guidance and support for teachers in terms of quantity In contrast, it was revealed to have a number of limitations with some of its components in terms of quality 3.3 MAJOR FINDINGS The thesis aims at answering the questions whether the material Elementary Market-Leader is appropriate for the level of English of first-year students at HUBT and 36 for the methodology requirements of the course This section is a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the material in terms of its suitability to the audience and methodology of the course 3.3.1 The Appropriateness of the Material to the Students Level of English It has been concluded that those parts of the material that are difficult for the students are listening, writing, and case study - For listening, the reason is believed to be the inappropriateness in students level to the material requirements The lack of familiarization and exposure to this skill is mainly to blame - For writing, the problem seems to be different The inadequacy of writing coverage and guidance in the material is the main cause of the negligence in teaching and learning the section This results in the imbalance in the proportion of different skills to focus in the course - For case study, there are several reasons why it is a hard part both to teach and to learn For students, the lack of not only speaking practice but also business knowledge, plus the insufficiency of guidance and support from both their teachers and the material, prevents them from participating actively in the activities For teachers, the fact that they not get enough assistance from the material, plus their inexperience in teaching case studies, presents them a lot of obstacles in getting the students to reach the goals of the material 3.3.2 The Appropriateness of the Material to the Methodology Requirements of the Course The appropriateness of the material to the methodology requirements was determined by investigating two aspects: the suitability of the materials teaching and learning techniques to the students; and the assessment of the guidance and support from the material to the teachers To begin with, the teaching and learning techniques that the material offers were found quite suited to the students learning styles They showed their most interest in such techniques as pair work and group work, which are also the main techniques employed by the material 37 The other aspect of the evaluation takes into account the guidance and support supplied by the material The information collected from the teacher interview has revealed quite a number of limitations in some of the material components, especially the Teachers Resource Book, which was believed to be too sketchy and far from informative to teachers In conclusion, the chapter has portrayed the material from the perspectives of both the teachers and students involved From that, some of the relevant and irrelevant aspects are revealed These provide the basis for the next chapter, which discusses suggestions for some adaptations to make in an effort to improve the materials effectiveness 38 CONCLUSION This chapter comes up with some recommendations for the adaptations of the material and ends with an overall conclusion of the study It also gives a suggestion for further research on the material ADAPTATIONS From the techniques suggested by Mc Donough and Shaw (1993) and based on the findings of the study, the researcher would like to give some suggestions of how to adapt the material so that it will become more suitable and effective to the teaching and learning at HUBT The techniques of adaptations that are used here are adding, modifying, and simplifying 1.1 The Difficulty of the Material As previously concluded, the main areas of high difficulty in the material are listening, case study, and writing In order to bring the students more assistance so that they can cope with these challenging sections more confidently, some adaptations are recommended as follows: Listening: The study shows that the students level fails to meet the requirements of the material in this section Therefore, it is advisable that teachers - redesign listening exercises in easier forms (gap-filling, numbering,) and use them as the last exercises in the section - use supplementary listening exercises of the same level and topics to enhance students exposure to this skill Case Study: As shown by the study, the students need more assistance from both their teachers and the material while the teachers also find this section very difficult to teach Thus, it is essential that - the Faculty of English prepare detailed handouts providing teachers with thorough guidance and suggestions in teaching case studies - teachers prepare key words and expressions for each case study to give students 39 in the form of handouts or teacher presentations in class - teachers simplify the requirements of this section to make it more relevant to the students level Writing: According to the results of the survey, there is not enough writing coverage in the material The teachers and students can only find some writing samples at the end of the Course Book and a little practice in the Practice File Consequently, it is highly advisable that the English Faculty or teachers - work out a guide-book on writing which can provide necessary phrases and notations as well as international conventions in business writing - or use supplementary writing materials to support the material A suggested source of this is the Intelligence Business Style Guide a component of the material Intelligence Business 1.2 The Guidance and Support from the Material for Teachers As reported by the teachers, there are quite a number of problems with some of the material components In this section, several suggestions are made to improve the effectiveness of such components Course Book: - More coverage for writing should be added as previously mentioned - The Vocabulary File should be added with the definitions and pronunciation boxes of words and expressions Teachers Resource Book: A majority of teachers thought the Teachers Resource Book is not really useful because the teaching notes are too sketchy and not contain any language or culture notes Therefore, it is crucial that the English Faculty call for the contribution of ideas among teachers to work out a better teachers book for internal use The self-compiled teachers book should: - contain detailed suggestions and guidance for teachers - provide language and culture notes for the course book Test File: According to the interviewed teachers, the Grammar and Skills sections in the tests are too easy and not challenging enough for the students Thus, it is suggested that teachers modify the tests to create more difficult exercises for these sections 40 Website: Several teachers said they hardly ever used the website as a tool for guidance and support in their teaching In contrast to what they thought, the website offers a wide variety of benefits to both teachers and students Thus, it is highly advisable that teachers make use of the website as a source of support for their teaching CONCLUSION The ability to evaluate teaching materials effectively is a crucial and beneficial professional activity for all EFL teachers Thanks to the evaluation process, a new insight into the material is had, which reveals its strengths and weaknesses This serves as a basis for any adjustment or improvement in the material to take place What has been achieved in this study is the answers to questions whether the material Elementary Market-Leader is appropriate for the English level of HUBT firstyear students and whether it is suitable to the teachers and students there in terms of its methodology It can be concluded that the material under evaluation is rather difficult for the target audience at HUBT In terms of methodology, although the material is revealed to bring insufficient guidance and support for teachers, it employs the techniques quite matching the students learning styles The results of the study also show that the material should be further used for firstyear students at HUBT However, many changes ought to be made to it so that it will become more relevant to the students level of English and more supportive to teachers Within the scope of the study, the appropriateness of the material is evaluated only with regard to its audience and methodology Further studies could be carried out to investigate its suitability in terms of aims and contents of the course THE LIMITATIONS OF THE THESIS Some factors may have affected the outcomes of this evaluation research The material under evaluation is the core material for all students of HUBT However, the respondents of this thesis were limited to the students of the course 2007-2008 only, therefore, their opinions about the material might not be representative of all students of HUBT Another factor is that the researcher of the thesis is an insider who has taken part in teaching the material Therefore, her close involvement may result in subjective judgments 41 of the evaluation In addition, the suggested adaptations to the material under study are just what the researcher assumes should be To some extent, they may be subjective and inappropriate REFERENCES Breen, M & Candlin, C N (1978) ELT Textbook and Materials London: Modern English Publications Brown, J (1989) Language Program Evaluation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cunningsworth, A (1984) Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Materials London: Heinemann Educational Books Daly, P (2002) Methodology for using case studies in the Business English language classroom The Internet TESL Journal, Vol VIII, No 11, November 2002 http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Daly-CaseStudies/ Dudley-Evans, T (1998) Development in English for Specific Purposes: A Multidisciplinary approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Dung, T T T (2004) An Evaluation of Material Business Objectives for Students at Hanoi university of Business and Management, M.A Thesis Hanoi: Vietnam National University Ellis, R (1994) The study of second language acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press Ellis, R (1997) The empirical language teaching materials ELT Journal, 51(1), 36-42 Hutchinson, T & Waters (1987) English for Specific Purposes Cambridge: Cambridge university Press 10 Ian McGrath (2002) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching Edinburgh University Press 11 Jahangard, A (2007) Evaluation of EFL materials taught at Iranian public high schools The Asian EFL Journal, Volume 9, Number http://www.asian-efljournal.com/June_2007_EBook_editions.pdf 12 Madsen, K S, Bowen, J.D (1978) Adaptation in Language Teaching Rowley, MW: Newbury house 13 Mc Donough, J & Shaw, C (1993) Materials and Methods in ELT Oxford: Blackwell Publishers 14 Nunan, D (1992) The Learner-centered Curriculum A Study in Second Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 15 Sheldon, L E (1998) Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials, ELT Journal, 42(4), 237-246 16 Tomlinson, B (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 17 Weir, C J & Roberts, J (1994) Evaluation in ELT Oxford: Blackwell Publishers I APPENDIX STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE In an attempt to evaluate the material Elementary Market-Leader, which is currently used for first-year students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT), we design this questionnaire in order to get your opinion on the material you have learnt Your answers are useful to the evaluation and modification of the material SECTION I THE DIFFICULTY OF THE MATERIAL A Which sections of the material are difficult? Please indicate the extent to which or agree or disagree with the following items by circling one of the responses ranging from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree The grammatical structures are difficult The vocabulary tasks are difficult The listening tasks are difficult The reading texts are difficult 5 The Skills tasks are difficult The Case Study tasks are difficult The writing tasks are difficult B Why are these sections difficult? Please tick () in the appropriate slot in the following table to indicate the reasons why some certain sections in the material are difficult Please remember that you just tick in the reasons for the sections that you think are difficult You can tick in more than one slot for each section Items Too little practice Too little guidance in the book Too many new words & expressions Too many requirements Too long The tape is too fast Ineffective teaching methods Grammar Vocabulary Listening Reading Skills Case Study Writing II Section ii the methodology Which of the following techniques does your teacher use? Pair work Group work Role play Individual presentation Group presentation Translating the reading texts into Vietnamese Business-oriented games Interesting supplementary materials To which extent you like or dislike the following techniques? Please tick in the appropriate slots Techniques Used Liked very much Liked Its OK Disliked Pair work Group work Role play Individual presentation Group presentation Translating the reading texts Business oriented games Interesting supplementary materials Any other techniques (please specify) THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! III PHIếU THăM Dò ý Kiến sinh viên Với nỗ lực nhằm đánh giá cải thiện giáo trình Elementary Market-Leader đ-ợc sử dụng cho sinh viên năm thứ tr-ờng ĐH Kinh Doanh va Công Nghệ Hà Nội (HUBT), thiết kế phiếu thăm dò nhằm thu hút ý kiến sinh viên giáo trình bạn học ý kiến bạn đóng vai trò quan trọng việc đánh giá cải thiện giáo trình Phần I Độ khó giáo trình A Phần khó? Xin cho biết bạn đồng ý hay không đồng ý mức độ với ý kiến sau cách khoanh tròn ph-ơng án đến thể mức độ từ Rất không đồng ý đến Rất đồng ý Rất không đồng ý Không đồng ý Bình th-ờng Đồng ý Rất đồng ý Phần ngữ pháp giáo trình khó Phần từ vựng giáo trình khó Phần luyện nghe giáo trình khó Phần đọc hiểu giáo trình khó 5 Phần luyện tình (Skills) giáo trình khó Phần nghiên cứu giải vấn đề (phần Case Study) khó Phần kỹ viết giáo trình khó B Tại khó? Xin đánh dấu tick () vào ô phù hợp bảng d-ới để thể lý phần bạn chọn khó với bạn Xin l-u ý, bạn đánh dấu vào lý phần bạn cho khó mục A Bạn đánh dấu nhiều ô cho phần Các phần giáo trình Ngữ pháp Quá luyện Trình bày sơ sài Quá nhiều từ cấu trúc Quá nhiều yêu cầu Quá dài Tốc độ nói băng nghe nhanh Ph-ơng pháp không hiệu dạy Từ vựng Nghe hiểu Đọc hiểu Tình Giải vđ Luyện viết IV Phần II Ph-ơng pháp dạy học Giáo viên bạn sử dụng hình thức hoạt động d-ới đây? Làm việc theo cặp Làm việc theo nhóm Đóng vai (luyện nói) Thuyết trình cá nhân Thuyết trình theo nhóm Dịch đọc sang tiếng Việt Chơi trò chơi chủ đề kinh doanh Tài liệu bổ trợ thú vị Bạn thích hay không thích hình thức hoạt động d-ới mức độ nào? Xin tick () vào ô phù hợp Các hình thức hoạt động Tôi thích Tôi thích Bình th-ờng Tôi không thích Làm việc theo cặp Làm việc theo nhóm Đóng vai (luyện nói) Thuyết trình cá nhân Thuyết trình theo nhóm Dịch đọc sang tiếng Việt Chơi trò chơi chủ đề kinh doanh Tài liệu bổ trợ thú vị Bạn thích giáo viên sử dụng hình thức hoạt động khác (xin ghi rõ) - CHN THNH CM N BN - V APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR TEACHER INTERVIEW We are carrying out a study to investigate the extent to which the material Elementary MarketLeader is appropriate to the students level of English and the requirements of methodology of the course Please specify your own opinions on the material that you have used for teaching the firstyear students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology Your opinions are very useful to the research and to the improvement of the material for future use Please read and answer the following questions carefully based on your experience with the material These questions will be used in the coming interview Section I The Appropriateness of the Material to the Students Level of English What level of English you think the material intended for? (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate,) Do you think the material in use is suitable to your students level of English? Do you think the material is difficult for your students? Please indicate which parts of the material you find difficult for your students (Grammar, Vocabulary, Listening, Reading, Skills, Case Study, or Writing) Do you know why these areas are difficult for your students? (Too long, too many new words, too many requirements ) Section II Guidance and Support from the Material for Teachers Does the material provide you with necessary guidance and support for your teaching? What is the guidance and support that you get from the material? In which areas or sections? What you think of the support that you get from the following components? Teachers Resource Book Test File Workbook Practice File Audio Materials Websites Which kind of support from the material you find useful or useless? Please explain 10 What kind of guidance you still need? Glossary business terms and expressions Suggestions for further work Others (please specify) Thank you for your co-operation! [...]... APPROPRIATENESS OF THE MATERIAL TO THE METHODOLOGY REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE The appropriateness of the material to the methodology requirements of the course is determined by looking into two perspectives of the issue: the suitability of the teaching and learning techniques to the students; and the evaluation of the guidance and support from the material for the teachers in teaching the course Firstly, the teaching... in the material to the students’ learning styles The second aspect of the material that needs considering is whether the material provides the teachers with necessary guidance and support for teaching the course This kind of evaluation is carried out on the basis of an analysis made on the material and the information collected from the teacher interviews in terms of the quantity and quality of the. .. for the thesis Although there are many documents that can be used for evaluation such as textbooks, tests, audio and video materials, and recording of classroom activities, within the framework of this thesis, the writer pays much attention to the analysis of the course book Elementary Market- Leader in terms of its relevance to the students’ level of English and the suitability of the material to the. .. presentation and discussion of the results from the survey with the students and the interviews with the teachers The data is analyzed to find out the appropriateness of the material to the students’ level of English and to the methodology requirements 3.1 THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE MATERIAL TO THE STUDENTS’ LEVEL OF ENGLISH 3.1.1 Document Analysis In order to determine whether the material is suitable to the. .. and to the requirements of methodology of the course In other words, the researcher examines the suitability of the material Elementary Market- Leader with first-years students of HUBT on the following points: o Appropriateness of the material to the students’ level of English: - The difficulty of the material o Appropriateness of the material to the methodology requirements of the course: - The suitability... the material to the student’s level of English and on the difficulty level of the material Section II, which has another five questions, focuses on investigating the teachers’ evaluation of the guidance and support that the material provides them for teaching the course 2.5 SUBJECTS OF THE RESEARCH 2.5.1 The students The informants of the study are first-year students majored in business They come from... on the Difficulty of Different Parts of the Material Table 4.2 is the synthesis of the data collected from the teachers’ answers to question 4 in the interview It is noticeable that Case Study and Writing are agreed to be the most difficult parts of the material by most of the teachers, and some of them find the parts of listening, skills, and grammar hard for the students The following part is the. .. terms of teaching-learning techniques, and guidance and support from the material for teachers 2.4.2 Student Questionnaire Beside the data collected by analyzing the material under study, the researcher made use of a questionnaire to investigate the students’ opinions and attitudes towards the material concerning their opinions on the level of difficulty and the relevance of the methodology of the course... description of the setting of the study, the subjects participating in the study, the instruments for collecting data including questionnaires and interviews, and the procedure of data collection 2.1 THE SETTING OF THE STUDY The study was conducted at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) One questionnaire was distributed to 120 first-year students and collected at the University during the survey... level of the material and the reasons why they think some certain sections of the material are difficult Section II has 2 questions which aim at the students’ opinions on the methodology of the material The students are asked to inform about the teaching and learning techniques that their teachers use in class and how they like them Their answers are expected to provide information of how the material ... framework for the evaluation of the material Elementary Market- Leader currently used for first-year students of business majors at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) The first... perspectives of the issue: the suitability of the teaching and learning techniques to the students; and the evaluation of the guidance and support from the material for the teachers in teaching the course... requirements of the course: - The suitability of the teaching and learning techniques of the material to the students - The guidance and support from the material for teachers 1.3 MATERIALS ADAPTATION