An evaluation of course book “english unlimited elementary” for first year students of university of information and communication technology under thai nguyen university

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI THU TRANG AN EVALUATION OF COURSE BOOK “ENGLISH UNLIMITED- ELEMENTARY” FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECH

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

BÙI THU TRANG

AN EVALUATION OF COURSE BOOK

“ENGLISH UNLIMITED- ELEMENTARY” FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY UNDER THAI NGUYEN

UNIVERSITY

(ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH “ ENGLISH UNLIMITED

”TRÌNH ĐỘ A2 DÙNG CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN

VÀ TRUYỀN THÔNG THUỘC ĐẠI HỌC THÁI

NGUYÊN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111

Hanoi- 2017

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

BÙI THU TRANG

AN EVALUATION OF COURSE BOOK

“ENGLISH UNLIMITED- ELEMENTARY” FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY UNDER THAI NGUYEN

UNIVERSITY

(ĐÁNH GIÁ GIÁO TRÌNH “ ENGLISH UNLIMITED ”TRÌNH ĐỘ A2 DÙNG CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN VÀ TRUYỀN THÔNG THUỘC ĐẠI

HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111

Supervisor: Dr.Do Tuan Minh

Hanoi, 2017

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF THE THESIS

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report

entitled An evaluation of course book “English unlimited- elementary” for

first-year students of university of information and communication technology under Thai Nguyen University submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My deepest gratitude goes to Dr.Do Tuan Minh, my supervisor, for his valuable instructions, comments and criticisms as well as his stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growing this thesis

I am deeply indebted to the teachers and students at ICTU for their generous cooperation and enthusiasm from which I have benefited a lot during my study

Finally, I wish to express my sincerely thanks to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

ABSTRACT

The coursebook ―English Unlimited- Elementary‖ is written by Alex Tilbury,

Theresa Clementson, Leslie Anne Hendra & David Rea in 2010 and used for the first-year students at University of Information and Communication Technology under Thai Nguyen University since 2014 However, up to now, there has been no official research conducted to evaluate the relevance of the coursebook to the learners‘ purposes as well as its outcome requirements The purpose of this study is

to reveal the findings and information about the coursebook evaluation from the perspectives of students and teachers of ICTU With this regard, the study tries to assess the relevance of the coursebook to the students‘ needs in terms of knowledge, skills and methodology The study is divided into three parts including: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Ten teachers of English and 120 first-year students participated in the survey The findings show that the coursebook is rather relevant to the needs of learners

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Method of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning 4

1.1.1 Definition 5

1.1.2 The role of materials 6

1.1.3 Types of materials 1.2 Materials evaluation 7

1.2.1 Definition of materials evaluation 7

1.2.2 Purposes of materials evaluation 8

1.2.3 Types of materials evaluation 9

1.2.4 Methods of materials evaluation 10

1.2.5 Criteria for materials evaluation 11

1.2.6 Materials evaluation models 12

1.3 Needs analysis 14

1.4 Material adaptation……… 16

CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 An overview of current GE teaching and learning at ICTU 19

2.1.1 Context 17

2.1.2 Course objectives 20

2.1.3 The coursebook description 21

2.2 Research methods 22

2.2.1 Research question 22

2.2.2 Participants 22

2.2.3 Data collection instruments 23

2.2.4 Data collection procedure 24

CHAPTER III: RESEASRCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 About learners 25

3.1.1 Learners‘ level of English 25

3.1.2 Learners‘ purposes and expectations of learning the GE course ―English

Unlimited Elementary‖ 26

3.1.3 Evaluation on the needs satisfied by the course book 27

3.2 Learners‘ and teachers‘ evaluation of the coursebook ―English Unlimited Elementary‖ 27

3.2.1 The evaluation on the knowledge 27

3.2.2 General evaluation on the students‘ process 33

3.2.3 The evaluation on skills 33

3.2.4 Evaluation on the methodology……… 34

3.3 Teachers‘ suggestions fr the materials improvement………35

PART C: CONCLUSION

1 Summary of the study 37

3 Some conclusions 37

3 Limitations of the study 38

4 Suggested for further study 39

REFERENCE……… 40

Appendices……… I

Appendix 1: ………I Appendix 2:……….…… V Appendix 3:……… ……… X Appendix 4: ……… …………XII Appendix 5:… ……… XVIII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL/EFL English as a Second Language/ English as a Foreign Language

ESP English for Specific Purposes

GE General English

ICTU University of Information and Communication Technology

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Since Vietnam began its open-door policy, English teaching and learning has strongly developed and English is considered an important subject taught at both schools and universities University of Information and Communication Technology (ICTU) under Thai Nguyen University is not an exception Appropriate materials are thought to stimulate effective teaching and learning Because of materials‘ role

to second language acquisition, material evaluation has become a major concern of several researchers Cunnings worth (1995) and Ellis (1997) have suggested that course book evaluation helps teachers move beyond impressionistic assessments and help them to acquire useful and contextual insights into the overall nature of the material

In the curriculum for ICTU students, English courses account for 10 credits, which are distributed into two phases: General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) General English consisting of two courses (a total of six credits) aim to train students in four general skills of English ESP including two courses with four credits in total is designed to teach students English language for specific purposes, such as English for Electronics and Telecommunications, English for Automation Technology and English for Information Technology

In ICTU, course books are mostly used in teaching and learning materials for both teachers and the learners They not only provide a framework for teachers in achieving the aims and objectives of the course but also play an important role as a guide to the teacher in conducting the lesson Therefore, using a course book is probably the most common way of teaching English today However, now with a variety of textbook available on the market each with a different methodology and syllabus, it can be much more difficult to choose the best suitable book for a particular teaching situation Thus, it is necessary for language teachers to carefully examine all aspects of the materials and to take advantage of the materials

The course book ―English Unlimited- Elementary‖ is used for teaching GE for the first year students at ICTU since 2014 and also both positive and negative

response from both students and teachers However, up to now, no research on the course book evaluation has been conducted to recognize its strength and weakness

as well as how suitably the course book matched the goal of the course In response

to the problem, it is an urgent demand to carry out an evaluation of the course book

to determine its appropriateness for students at our university then provide the adaptation for the better use

For these above-mentioned reasons, the researcher decided to choose materials evaluation as the theme of this minor thesis titled as:

“AN EVALUATION OF COURSE BOOK “ENGLISH UNLIMITED- ELEMENTARY” FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY UNDER THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY”

2 Aims of the study

The study is carried out to evaluate the course book ―English Unlimited- Elementary ‖ which is used as teaching materials for first- year students at ICTU to see how is the appropriate degree of the course book to meet the requirement of the course learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes The specific aims are:

 To evaluate the appropriateness of the material to the course requirements in term of knowledge, skills and attitudes

 To offer suggestions for its better use

3 Research question:

1 How is the course book English Unlimited- Elementary relevant to the course outcomes requirements in terms of knowledge, skills and methodology?

2 What should be done so that this coursebook is used better?

4 Scope of the study

The course book English Unlimited- Elementary is only for the first year students at ICTU, thus the study focuses on the evaluation of the first year students

at ICTU on course book currently used In material evaluation, there have been a number of criteria that should be taken into consideration, such as the content, the

methodology, the layout, the culture bias, the authenticity, and so on It will be highly precious to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the course book However, within the scope of a minor thesis, the criteria for evaluation were based

on Hutchinson and Waters‘ (1987) with focus on three criteria: Knowlegde, Skills and Methodology to see how the course book is relevant to learners‘ needs

5 Methods of the study

To conduct this study, two main instruments were used to collect data:

- Survey questionnaires - were designed for both first-year students of Faculty of

Information Technology and ten involved teachers of English at ICTU

- Semi-structured interviews - were conducted to look for both teachers and

students‘ further opinions on the course book based on their experience in using it

or to clarify any misunderstanding

6 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part A: Introduction – presents the rationale, aims, the research questions, scope,

methodology and design of the thesis

Part B: Development – includes three chapters:

Chapter I: Literature review – provides theoretical basis for the study with literature

review on the aspects relating to material evaluation such as: materials in language teaching and learning, materials evaluation Readers are provided with concise understandings of the definition of materials evaluation, purposes, types, methods of materials evaluation, criteria and materials evaluation models Besides, in this chapter, materials adaptation for the better use has been presented

Chapter II: Research methodology – describes the methods employed in this thesis Chapter III: Analysis of data and suggestion for materials adaptation - is devoted to

the analysis of the survey questionnaire and interview of the course book evaluation carried out at ICTU in which description, data collection, and analysis are demonstrated in detail This chapter also reports main findings of the thesis to address the research questions

Part C: Conclusion – summarizes the content of the thesis with regard to the relevance of the course book in terms of three evaluated aspects, and points out some limitations of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is concerned with the review of a theoretical base to develop an

operational framework for the evaluation of the course book “English Unlimited-

Elementary” used for first-year students at ICTU The first section in this chapter

presents materials in language teaching and learning with regard Next, the study presents an overview of materials evaluation Then, need analysis will be presented

At last, the chapter will end up with theoretical discussion about materials adaptation

1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning

of reading, writing, listening and speaking

Ur (1996: 183) has given a simple one; it is very useful and easy to understand It reads as follows:

The term „course book‟ means, a text book of which the teacher and each student has a copy and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language course Therefore, from the above definition one can get that a course book must have at least being available in the hand of students and teachers, and used systematically in a course of study, and a course of study in this article refers to an English course of study

In Richards (2001:251) definition: ―Materials can be instructional, experiential, elucidative and exploratory, in that they can inform learners about the language, they can provide experience of the language in use, they can stimulate

language use or they can help learners to make discoveries about the language for themselves‖

1.1.2 The role of material in general English course

In language teaching and learning, materials play important roles which are mentioned by different authors in the literature There are five important components involved in English language instruction namely students, teachers, materials, teaching methods, and evaluations among which essential constituents are the textbooks and instruction materials because these instruction materials provide the foundation for the content of the lesson, the balance of the skill taught, as well

as the kinds of language practice the students engage in during class activities

Nunan (1988) mentions the vital role of teaching materials:

―Materials are in fact an essential element within the curriculum, and do 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)

Stressing on the role of materials, Richard (2001) states that materials provide a basic for the content of the lesson, the appropriate proportion of skills taught, and the type of language practice students take part in Furthermore, useful teaching materials provide great assistance to inexperienced teachers or poorly trained teachers They can serve as ―a form of teacher training‖ (Richard, 2001:251) and teachers can get ideas on how to plan and teach the lesson from the materials

1.1.3 Types of materials

Published materials

Published materials refer to any kind of materials which is commercially offered in the market There are several advantages for basing the curriculum on a series of ESL textbooks First, the textbooks have a clearly identified set of achievement objectives which include what the learners are expected to be able to

do and what to expect next Second, there is a consistency in the topics and genres

in the four skills area (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) This allows for greater autonomy in the learning process Finally, ESL course books are the

cheapest and most convenient ways of providing learning materials to each student All of these reasons make using these textbooks a very popular choice in the English learning curriculum The most obvious advantage of these materials is its availability for use

However, these published materials do have some limitations First, most textbooks contain a lot of activities where students do ―questions and answers‖ After a few lessons, many students may find the learning process boring and uninteresting The second issue that teachers should consider is student motivation Most college students expect their English courses to be something different from their high school English classes So when we give them textbooks that are similarly designed as their past learning materials, the students may quickly lose their interest and motivation to study Finally, although most ESL textbooks are well organized with many different kinds of activities, however, they do not provide enough details in other aspects of language study

Home-made materials

Home-made materials refer to those materials developed by teachers or practitioners for their own students in their teaching context There are also arguments for and against the use of home-made materials Firstly, Block (1991) argued that an important advantage of home-made materials is contextualization Home-made materials are likely to be more specific and appropriate than published ones and to have greater face validity in terms of the language deal with and the context it is presented in Secondly, home-made materials may be more flexible In designing their own materials teachers can also make decisions about the most appropriate organizing principle or focus for the materials and activities And this can be changed over the course of the programmed if necessary A further advantage of home-made materials is timeliness (Block, 1991) Teachers designing their own materials can respond to local and international events with up-to-date, relevant and high interest topics and tasks In conclusion, the advantages of home-made materials can be summed up in the idea that they avoid the ‗one-size-fits-all‘ approach of most commercial materials

Despite the above mentioned advantages, home-made materials have some limitations Firstly, there are potential pitfalls for teachers who would be materials designers like organization Home-made materials may lack overall coherence and a clear progression Without some overall organizing principle, materials may be piecemeal and can result in poorly focused activities lacking clear direction Secondly, the most common criticism against home-made materials is to do with their quality At the surface level, home-made materials may ―seem ragged and unprofessional next to those produced by professionals‖

Finally, the key factor inhibiting many teachers from producing their own teaching materials is time It must be take a lot of time for the teachers to design suitable materials for their learners in their particular teaching and learning context because all the involved elements of the textbooks, such as linguistic content, culture values, and authenticity should be taken into consideration

1.2 Material evaluation

1.2.1 Definition of materials evaluation

Up to now, there have been a number of researchers express their own point

of view regarding the definition of material evaluation

According to Tomlinson (2001), ―Marterial evaluation is a procedure that involves measuring the value (for potential value) of a set of learning material‖

Hutchinson and Waters (1993:p96) also give definition of materials evaluation, as ―Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purposes Give a certain need, and in light of the resources available, which is out of a number of possibilities can represent the best solution?‖ In other words, ―Evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions‖

From Dudley (1998:128) defines ―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‖

Material evaluation is ―a process not a final product‖ with ―attempts to measure the value of materials‖ (Tomlinson, 1998) or ―the systematic appraisal of

the value of materials in relation to their objectives and to the objectives of the learners using them‖

With regards to this issue, Murphy (1985:210) considers evaluation one of the key concepts in ELT to ―determine the extent to which a programmed is worthwhile, and to aid decision-making through the purposeful gathering information‖ In the programmed evaluation, material evaluation is given a great deal of attention

In conclusion, from above authors‘ general definition of evaluation, it can be inferred that evaluation is a process of giving judgments, determining requirements, collecting data, evaluation must include actions

1.2.2 Purposes of material evaluation

An evaluation of teaching materials helps to identify articular strengths and weaknesses of material in use After being used in the classroom for a certain period

of time, teaching materials need to be evaluated to see if they have worked well for the intended situation and students

According to Cunningsworth (1995), through evaluation, we can assess whether the course book is the most appropriate for the target learners at various levels and in various teaching settings

Ellis (1997) mentions that, there are two main reasons for carrying out materials evaluation Firstly, there may be need to choose among the materials available the most suitable ones to use for a particular situation Secondly, there can

be a need for materials evaluation to determine whether the material, which has been chosen, works for that situation after it has been used for a period of time This may help in deciding whether to use the material again or replace it with a better one

Anderson (1992) sets out a list of purposes of materials evaluation as follow:

 To decide whether the materials have had the intended effect

 To identify what affect materials have had

 To vindicate a decision

 To justify the future course of action

 To compare approaches/methodologies

 To identify the areas for improvement in the future use

 To show the positive achievements of teachers and students

 To motivate teachers

 To allay suspicions among parents and sponsors

1.2.3 Types of materials evaluation

There are different researchers having different ways of dividing book evaluation according to different researchers

course-According to Cunningsworth (1995, p 76) and McGrath (2002, pp 14-15), there are three types of material evaluation: pre-use, in use and post use evaluation This classification is similar to Ellis (1997) with different names: Preliminary, Formative, and Summative Evaluation respectively In spite of different terms used

to refer types of materials evaluation, these terms are basically similar and discussed

as containing three types

Pre-use evaluation: according to Tomlinson (2003:23) often takes place

before the materials are used to predict the potential value of materials for their users to select a course book for use with a particular class It seems that pre-use evaluation tends to be the most difficult type as there is no actual experience of using the materials

In-use evaluation is a kind of evaluation of suitability, involving ―matching

the course book against a specific requirement including the learner‘s objectives, the learners‘ background, the resources available, etc.‖ (Cunningsworth, 1995, p14)

Post-use evaluation refers to an assessment of a textbook‘s fitness over a

period of continual use According to Tomlinson (2003:25), evaluation of this kind can be ―the most valuable as it can measure the actual effect of the material on the users‖ Basing on the data measured, evaluators can make reliable decisions about the use, adaptation or replacement of the materials However, this type of material is normally time – consuming

In summary, there is no difference in distinguishing evaluation process Preliminary or pre-use evaluation established potential suitability of the materials

Formative or in-use evaluation examines how materials really work in by gathering data on planning decisions, implementation and response Summative or post-use evaluation is used at the end of the course in order to provide retrospective assessment and identify which strengths and weaknesses of the materials Basing on the current context of ICTU, the writer decided to choose the post – use evaluation

to measure the appropriateness of the course book and offer some method of adaptation for its better use

1.2.4 Methods of materials evaluation

1.2.4.1 The impressionistic method

According to Cunningsworth (1995:2), the impressionistic method is designed to be able to gain an impression of a book by looking rather more carefully

at representative features, such as the organization, topics, layout, visuals and the design of a unit or lesson or more specific features, such as the treatment of particular language elements Therefore, this method is wide ranging but relatively superficial due to the fact that ―techniques of impressionistic evaluation cover the

wide spectrum‖

1.2.4.2 The checklist method

McGrath (2002) states that ―a checklist is likely to need tailoring to suit a particular context, and this can involve a good deal more than simply deleting checklist items which are in applicable Moreover, William (1993, cited in McGrath, 2002:27) points out that ―checklist cannot a static phenomenon‖ This means that the items in all materials evaluation checklist reflect the time at which they are conceived

1.2.4.3 The in-depth method

In-depth method consists of a focus on specific features (Cunningsworth, 1995), close analysis of one or more extracts (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987), or throughout examination of two units using predetermined questions (McGrath, 2002) McGrath also argued that besides its advantages, this evaluation method has certain disadvantages Firstly, samples selected for analysis may not be representative of the book as a whole Secondly, only a particular section of the

material is focused Moreover, this method takes time and requires expert knowledge (McGrath, 2002:28)

1.2.5 Criteria for materials evaluation

Criteria is what evaluators use to ―reach a decision regarding what needs to

be evaluated‖ (Tomlinson, 1998: 220) In other words, they are the bases upon which the evaluators depend when making judgments Many scholars have suggested different ways to help evaluators do their evaluation more systematically

by suing a checklist

William (1983) suggests seven criteria, each of which has the following aspects:

 General criteria: give introductory guidance on the presentation of the

language items and skills

 Speech criteria: suggest aids for the teaching of pronunciation: e.g phonetic

system

 Grammar criteria: offer meaningful situations and variety of techniques for

teaching structural units

 Vocabulary criteria: distinguish the different purposes and skills involved in

the teaching of vocabulary

 Reading criteria: provide the guidance on the initial presentation of passages

for reading comprehension

 Writing criteria: demonstrate the various devices for controlling and guiding

content and expression in compositions exercises

 Technique criteria: contain appropriate pictures, diagrams, table, etc…

Hutchinson and Waters (1993, p.99-104) suggest five evaluation criteria for objective and subjective analysis as follow:

 Audience: the learners and the materials intended for

 Aims: the aims of the course and the aims of the materials

 Content: language description, language points, proportion of work, skill, text-types, macro-skills, proportion, level of knowledge, types of

micro- Methodology: theory of learning, learners‘ attitudes, kinds of exercises, teaching-learning techniques, aids, guidance/ support for teaching, the flexibility of materials

 Other criteria: price, quantities, availability

With regard to my context, the criteria set out by Hutchinson and Waters (1993) is the most suitable one

1.2.6 Materials evaluation model

There are several different models for materials evaluation, the most commonly models are suggested by Ellis (1997), McDonough & Shaw (1993), and Hutchinson and Water ( 1987)

1.2.6.1 Evaluation by Ellis (1997)

In his model, Ellis suggests the practice of a detailed empirical evaluation and focuses on evaluation at the task level with reference to its actual teaching and learning context The steps are as follows:

1 Choosing the task to follow;

2 Describing the task with specification of input, procedures, language activities and outcomes;

3 Planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above;

4 Collecting information before, while and after the task was used, and what how the task performed;

5 Analyzing the information collected;

6 Reaching conclusions relating to what has been discovered, and making recommendations for the future teaching

7 Writing the report

Ellis‘s model is a micro-evaluation The aim of this model is to identify the match between task planned and task in use However, it can only be conducted when the materials are being used in the classroom

1.2.6.2 Evaluation by Hutchinson and Waters (1987)

There is a difference between Ellis‘s model and this model If Ellis‘s model

is a micro-evaluation, this one is actually a macro-evaluation as to be shown in this

diagram:

Figure 1: Materials evaluation model of Hutchinson and Waters (1987:97)

There are objective and subjective analyses in a checklist and the evaluators should supplement other important criteria in the process of evaluating Then identifying the evaluator‘s requirements; analyzing the material and comparing findings those two aspects by awarding points However, the authors also note that highest number of points does not necessarily indicate the most suitable material as the points may be concentrated in one area

1.2.6.3 Evaluation by McDonough and Shaw (1993)

McDonough and Shaw show a combination between macro and micro evaluation This model includes three stages: external evaluation, internal evaluation, and overall evaluation The internal stage requires an in-depth look at two or more units to examine whether claims made by the author are the one found

in the internal evaluation The internal stage will be carried out if the external

What realizations of the

criteria do you want in your

course?

Objective analysis

How does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?

Matching

How far does the material match your needs?

evaluation shows that the materials are potentially appropriate If the findings show that the materials are inappropriate, the evaluation will be finished at the external stage

The model proposed by Mc Donough and Shaw (1993) illustrates a logical procedure for materials evaluation However, the figure does not discuss the objectives and criteria of the materials which are important to ensure the learners‘ learning success as well as teachers‘ effective teaching

In summary, analyzing learners‘ needs is useful in teaching foreign languages And the author thinks that Hutchinson and Water (1987) recommend an effective model It clearly shows the evaluator the whole picture to analyze the materials in accordance with the first year students at ICTU Hence, in this study, the author adopts the this model to examine whether the currently –used materials is suitable for the students at ICTU

1.3 Needs analysis

Need analysis (also known as needs assessment) has a vital role in the process of designing and carrying out any language course, whether it be English for Specific Purposes (ESP) or general English course, and its centrality has been acknowledged by several scholars and authors

This term ― need analysis‖ according to Elaine Tarone and George Yule ( 1999), when it has been used in the context of language instruction, has usually

referred to the collection and evaluation of information to answer the question: “

What aspects of the language does some particular group of learners need to know?‖ Mountford (1981) offers the definition that needs can be defined as what

students should be able to do at the end of their language course or ―what the user –institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program of language of language instruction Another definition given by Brindley (1981:27) is that needs refer to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations, lacks, constraints, and requirements It is evident that course designers may take students‘ needs into consideration when designing a course Clearly, the role of

needs analysis in any ESP course is indisputable For Johns (1991), needs analysis

is the first step in course design and it provides validity and relevancy for all subsequent course design activities Different approaches to needs analysis attempt

to meet the needs of the learners in the process of learning a second language Among which, a modern and comprehensive concept of needs analysis is proposed

by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 125) which reflects other approaches Their concept of need analysis is as follows:

 Environmental situation - information about the situation in which the course will be run (means analysis);

 Personal information about learners - factors which may affect the way they learn (wants, means, subjective needs);

 Language information about learners - what their current skills and language use are (present situation analysis);

 Learner's lacks (the gap between the present situation and professional information about learners);Learner's needs from course - what is wanted from the course (short-term needs);

 Language learning needs - effective ways of learning the skills and language determined by lacks;

 Professional information about learners - the tasks and activities English learners are/will be using English for (Target Situation Analysis and objective needs);

 How to communicate in the target situation – knowledge of how language and skills are used in the target situation (register analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis)

Today, teachers are aware of that different types of needs analyses are in close association to complete the jigsaw of needs analysis (Figure 2)

Figure 2 Needs Analysis Jigsaw

As can be seen from the figure, need analyses should be the common concern of not only ESP but also the general English because the needs of the learners play paramount importance in any language process Therefore, what the designers should do is to analyze students‘ needs in order to design appropriate courses so that students feel motivated and learn English faster and more effectively It is clearly that need analysis is of great importance to the effectiveness

of teaching and learning process

1.4 Materials adaptation

Materials adaptation is a process of language teaching and learning It matches materials with the learner‘s needs, the teacher‘s demands, and administration‘s purpose The aim of materials adaptation is to make the teaching materials the most appropriate in a particular teaching context by making some changes

There are many forms of adaptation According to Gabrielatos (2000) (cited

in Isakovos Tsiplakides (2011:761))when adapting the coursebook, teachers may add the materials and tasks, omit the materials and tasks included in the book, replace materials and tasks included in the book and re- order or combine materials and tasks included in the materials

(1) Addition: Addition is an adaptation procedure which involves

supplementation of extra linguistic items and activities to make up for the insufficiency of materials Addition of extra materials is appropriate when the following situations are faced:

 Areas are not covered sufficiently

 Texts/pictures/tasks are not provided

 Texts/pictures/tasks are fewer than needed

 Tasks are limited in scope

Tasks are of limited range

(2) Deletion: Deletion is an adaptation procedure which involves removal of

some of the linguistic items and activities which are found to be extra and unnecessary So, deletion is a process in which materials are taken out rather than added Materials should be reduced through omission when the following situations are faced:

 Learners are clear about a language point

 Learners are competent in a skill

 There are too many tasks on a particular area/point

 The item/area concerned is not a priority

 The item/task is not well designed

 The item/task is not well-suited to its aim(s)

 The topic is not appropriate for learners

(3) Modification: Modification means changes in different aspects of materials,

such as linguistic level, exercises, assessment system and so on Modification of materials is appropriate in the following situations:

 Texts are of inappropriate length

 Materials are inappropriate to the aim

 Materials are inappropriate to the learners‘ age/ experience

 Materials are unclear, confusing or misleading

 Tasks are badly designed

(4) Simplification: This procedure is employed to make materials less

complicated or easier to understand If the language teaching material is found to be difficult or mechanical for the target learner, the material can be made suitable for the learner through the process of simplification

(5) Rearrangement/re-ordering: Rearrangement is a procedure of materials

adaptation through which different parts of a course book are arranged in a different order or sequence Rearrangement of materials helps to make them comparatively more interesting and appropriate for the learner as well as the teacher Learners may reorder materials by:

 Matching their aims

 Using a practice task for lead-in and elicitation

 Revising an area earlier than the course book does

 Comparing and contrast areas

 Providing thematic unity

 Providing an appropriate follow-up

(6) Replacement: teacher may decide to replace any text or exercise which is

evaluated to be ineffective or irrelevant by a more suitable one

Textbook adaptation can be done at three levels The first level is macro adaptation, which is ideally done before the language program begins After comparing what is covered in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus or examination, the teacher may find that certain areas or even whole units of the book can be omitted, and certain contents need to be supplemented Macro adaptation is very important because it helps the teacher to avoid waste time It also helps the teacher to see in advance what he or she needs to supplement so that he or she can keep an eye on materials that could be used

The second level of adaptation is adapting a unit This could be reordering the activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting or supplementing exercise material, etc Unit adaptation helps to make the classroom teaching more smooth and cohesive It also helps the teacher to better fulfill the aims of a unit

The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit Occasionally an activity is regarded as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible in particular classes If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he or she needs to adapt it

Very often, adaptation involves supplementation, that is, teachers add materials from other resources to the textbook they are using It is believed that authentic materials are better than non-authentic materials for supplementation So teachers who make a point of collecting authentic materials find it much easier to adapt textbooks This is especially true in ELT contents where authentic English materials are not always readily to hand

It is believed that a good teacher has full awareness of materials adaptation‘s importance He profound knows how to use the textbook to make the best of the value of the book for his specific learners Hence, it is adapting materials that is an indispensable part in the teaching process in order to make the teaching more and more effective and interesting

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 An overview of current GE teaching and learning at ICTU

2.1.1 Context

University of Information and Communication Technology (ICTU), which formerly was Faculty of Information Technology founded in 2001, is one of the member institutions under Thai Nguyen University (TNU) Its specialized training domain is Information and Communication Technology There are five main faculties: Faculty of Information Technology, Faculty of Economic Information System, Faculty of Autonomic Technology, Faculty of Electronics and Communication Technology, Faculty of Basic Science, Faculty of Multimedia Communication and two other departments

At ICTU, English is a compulsory subject with 12 credits It is taught continuously in four semesters from the first semester of the first year Two first semesters are the Basic English program with the course book English Unlimited Elementay, a work of Alex Tilbury, Theresa Clementson, Leslie Anne Hendra & David Rea, first published in 2010 The Basic English program is divided into two periods The first one is counted three credits dealing with the seven first units of the course book Students attend two classes per week The other is counted three credits solving the rest seven units with two classes every week The teaching and learning English Unlimited Elementary follows the learner- centered approach, aiming at developing students‘ English communicative competence as the course book is in accordance with A1 to A2 level of the Common European Framework During each period, students have one mini-test, and a final exam

i Remember and use major grammatical points and vocabulary provided during the course

Skills,

i Can take part in a routine conversation on simple predictable topics

ii Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment)

iii Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters

iv Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need

It can be said that these objectives are too general and immeasurable while teachers and students needs them be clearer and more detailed Therefore, teachers can write lesson plans or organize activities as well as tasks to help their students gain the course objectives

2.1.3 Coursebook description

The course book ―English Unlimited- Elementary‖ is written by Alex Tilbury, Theresa Clementson, Leslie Anne Hendra & David Rea in 2010 It consist of 14 modules with 14 different topics relating to our life such as greetings, introducing themselves, talking about family, hobbies, jobs, favorite things, etc English Unlimited- Elementary gives students an all-round practical knowledge of grammar, skills, vocabulary and real-life functional language

A typical module consists of the following sections:

- Language focus: New grammar structures are presented by using discussion

questions or asking students to read or listen to a conversation After the form, and the rule, students have chances to practice with a variety of exercises

- Vocabulary: the students are asked to predict new words and their meaning based

on the words given in the table with several available pictures, conversations or small games After that, the students listen to the CD player/typescript to practice

pronunciation pronoun Good dictionaries, such as the Longman Basic English Dictionary or Oxford Dictionary will also help students to raise their vocabulary

- Tasks (4 skills): For each module, different skills are paid attention to practice the

section of language focus and vocabulary

In the reading and listening sections: students can understand very short simple

texts in a single phrase at time Completing the note, answering the questions base

on the text and picking up familiar names, words and basic phrases are required

In speaking and writing sections, pictures and discussion are used to help the

students activate their knowledge about the topic The students practice speaking skills in pairs or groups

- Pronunciation: the students pronounce the sound under teachers‘s direction, then

they listen to the CD player to check Finally, they practice to remember and pronoun smoothly

After every module, there are portfolio part which helps students to revise theories and practice more exercises Grammar reference, vocabulary reference and transcription of difficult words and their meanings are presented at the end of the course book Besides, coming with this material is 1 CD

2.2 Research Method

2.2.1 Research question

This study aims to find out the answer to the following research question:

1 How is the course book English Unlimited- Elementary relevant to the course objective in terms of knowledge, skills, and methodology?

2 What should be done so that this coursebook is used better?

responsible for teaching the course “Enlgish Unlimited- Elementary”, and 120

first-year students who are both male and female students from three classes: K13A, K13B and K13C of the academic year 2014 – 2015

2.2.2.3 Description

The teachers

All of ten English teachers of Faculty of Basic Science chosen to participate

in this survey hold Master degree in English Their ages range from 34 to 45, all of them have approximately ten-year experienced in teaching English And all of them have been teaching this course-book at least two years since it was introduced in

2014

The students

120 students took part in this study All of them have been studying English for six or seven years at schools and can use English to communicate at basic level They come from three classes: K13A, K13B and K13C They were required to review thoroughly and evaluate the coursebook according to the criteria basing on their own experience in using the coursebook

2.2.3 Data collection instruments

To evaluate the coursebook pursuant to learners‘ needs in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, two instruments for collecting data used in this study were questionnaires and semi-structured interviews

Questionnaires

Survey questionnaire is a popular instrument in the social sciences as it is helpful collecting opinions and would be extremely beneficial in specifying aims and analyzing the teaching and learning situation (Litz, 2005) They have a lot of advantages among which the most obvious may be the fact that the respondents can complete them without any pressure; as a result, they can express their thought freely Besides, closely ended questions are straight forward to answer (Gillham, 2000) In this study, questionnaires were used for both teachers and students to collect their attitude and information on evaluation of currently used coursebook

“English Unlimited- Elementary” Each questionnaire is divided into four sections,

and written in Vietnamese:

Section 1: Consists of five questions (questionnaires for students) or four questions

(questionnaires for teachers) aiming at discovering the students‘ English background, their expectations as well as their evaluation on the necessity of language aspects of the coursebook Through these analyses of data collected, it helps to identify the learners‘ purposes

Section 2: Two questions aim at finding out students‘ and teachers‘ attitude or

evaluation of the content of the coursebook including evaluation of topics, vocabulary, language points and skills

Section 3: is designed to get students‘ and teachers‘ opinions about the

methodology of the evaluated coursebook

Section 4: is designed to get students‘ and teachers‘ opinions about the

methodology of the evaluated coursebook

Semi-structured interviews

The purpose of the interview is to collect supplementary ideas for teachers and students after responding to the above questionnaires Johnson (D.M 1992:115) states that response rates from interview can be quite high and respondents are more likely to answer the questions presented because of their personal involvement with the interviewer Therefore, the interviewer can obtain more meaningful information because he/she can rephrase questions that are not clear to the respondent

For these reasons, the second method used in this study is structured interview This type of interview was conducted with ten English teachers at ICTU The interview questions are quite similar to the questions in the questionnaires, and the interviews were also conducted in Vietnamese

2.2.4 Data collection proceduce

The researcher carried out the data collection through questionnaires for both teachers and students

- First, the researcher designed the questionnaires basing on the criteria she had identified and chosen with regard to three main aspects under the study

- Then, the students were request to complete the questionnaire during the class time so that they were more confident to do it and could clarify the ambiguous questions (if any)

- Next, the survey questionnaires for teachers were launched to all ten teachers of English

- Finally, to clarify some collected data, the semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten teachers of English and some group of students These interviews were conducted after synthesizing the data collected from the questionnaire

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Chapter 3 reports and discusses the document analysis and survey results

3.1 About the learners

3.1.1 Students’ English level at the beginning of the course

Chart 1: Students‟ English level at the beginning of the course

Chart 1 finds out both teachers and students have the same assessments on the students‘ level of English when students started learning the ESP course

―English Unlimited- Elementary” The level of average and under average are

mostly selected 65% of students suppose that they are at average level while teachers‘ judgment about this number is 67% Neither teachers nor students assessed that students are excellent at English There are a significant number of students (23%) who admitted that their level of English is underaverage Also, teachers seem not to highly appreciate their students‘ English level when they claimed that few students (15%) has good background of English and 18% of students are bad at English In summary, there is an obvious fact that a vast majority

of students in our university have an average level of English

3.1.2 Learners’ purposes and expectations of learning the GE course “English Unlimited- Elementary”