The empirical evaluation of the coursebook “English File Beginner Student’s Book – Third Edition” for non-English major students at a preparatory school in Viet Tri

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********** VŨ THỊ HỒNG LUYẾN THE EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FILE BEGINNER STUDENT’S BOOK – THIRD EDITION” FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A PREPARATORY SCHOOL IN VIET TRI (Đánh giá thực nghiệm giáo trình “English File Beginner Student’s Book - Third Edition” dùng cho học sinh Tiếng Anh không chuyên trường dự bị đại học Việt Trì) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Hanoi, 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********** VŨ THỊ HỒNG LUYẾN THE EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FILE BEGINNER STUDENT’S BOOK – THIRD EDITION” FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A PREPARATORY SCHOOL IN VIET TRI (Đánh giá thực nghiệm giáo trình “English File Beginner Student’s Book - Third Edition” dùng cho học sinh Tiếng Anh không chuyên trường dự bị đại học Việt Trì) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung Hanoi, 2018 DECLARATION I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research, and this thesis has not been submitted for any degrees at any other universities or institutions Hanoi, November 2018 Signature Vu Thi Hong Luyen Approved by Supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung Date: ………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung for his useful comments and continuous support of my study, for his patience, encouragement, enthusiasm and immense knowledge His guidance helped me tremendously in all the time of research and writing of this thesis I would also like to thank my school leaders and colleagues for their support and sharing the workload so that I could wholeheartedly focus on the study and get it completed Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my parents, my spouse, and to all of my friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without all of them Thank you! Hanoi, November 2018 Signature Vu Thi Hong Luyen ii ABSTRACT The present study evaluates the coursebook “English File Beginner Student’s Book – Third Edition” by Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive Oxenden (Oxford University Press, 2014) for non-English major students at a preparatory school in Viet Tri in terms its suitability to the objectives of the course, students’ needs and current teaching and learning method 150 nonEnglish major students and teachers who were using this coursebook were invited to answer the questionnaires, and two groups of three or four students were chosen randomly together with teachers to take part in the interviews Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively Findings revealed that the coursebook fundamentally met the course’s objectives and students’ needs, and fit in with the current teaching and learning method, though there were still minor unsuitable parts that need adaptation The result of this study would benefit both teachers and learners who work with this material for better use in the future Key words: coursebook, textbook, material, coursebook evaluation, empirical evaluation, English File Beginner Students’ Book, non-English major iii LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Teacher’s assessment of students’ English level at the beginning of the course 30 Table 4.2: Learners’ purposes of learning English 31 Table 4.4: Students’ ability to communicate in English about the topics in the coursebook 35 Table 4.5: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation of the language elements in the coursebook 40 Table 4.6: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation of the skills in the coursebook 41 Table 4.7: Students’ suggestions on the proportion of the skills 42 Table 4.8: Teachers’ suggestions on the proportion of the skills 42 Table 4.9: Effectiveness of the teaching and learning interactions used with the coursebook 46 Table 4.10: The frequency of the teaching aids used with the coursebook 47 Table 4.11: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation on the methodology of the coursebook 48 iv LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Students’ age 28 Chart 4.2: Students’ background of learning English 29 Chart 4.3: Students’ self-assessment of their English level at the beginning of the course 30 Chart 4.5: Students’ progress after the course 36 Chart 4.6: Students’ and teachers’ evaluation of the topics of the coursebook 39 Chart 4.7: The appropriateness of the coursebook with students’ learning purposes 43 Chart 4.8: Students’ and teachers’ overall rating of the coursebook 51 Chart 4.9: Students’ and teachers’ judgement on the time allocation for each unit 52 v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF CHARTS v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Text book, coursebook and material 2.1.1 Definitions 2.1.2 Roles of materials in ELT classrooms 2.2 Coursebook evaluation 2.2.1 Definitions of coursebook evaluation 2.2.2 Approaches to coursebook evaluation 2.2.3 Criteria for coursebook evaluation 14 2.3 Needs analysis 17 2.4 Previous studies on coursebook evaluation 19 vi CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22 3.1 The setting 22 3.1.1 English teaching and learning context 22 3.1.2 Course material 23 3.1.3 Course objectives 23 3.1.4 Course assessment 24 3.2 Research methodology 24 3.2.1 Participants 24 3.2.2 Research instruments 25 3.2.3 Data collection procedure 26 3.2.4 Data analysis methods 27 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28 4.1 About the learners 28 4.1.1 Learners’ English learning background 28 4.1.2 Learners’ English level 29 4.1.3 Learners’ purposes of learning English 31 4.1.4 Learners’ favorite learning styles 32 4.2 The suitability of the coursebook to the objectives of the course 33 4.2.1 Data collected from the questionnaire 33 4.2.2 Data collected from semi-structured interviews 37 4.2.3 Discussion and conclusion 38 4.3 The suitability of the coursebook to students’ needs 38 4.3.1 Data collected from questionnaires 38 vii 4.3.2 Data collected from semi-structured interviews 44 4.3.3 Discussion and conclusion 45 4.4 The suitability of the coursebook to the current teaching and learning methods 46 4.4.1 Data collected from questionnaires 46 4.4.2 Data collected from semi-structured interviews 49 4.4.3 Discussion and conclusion 50 4.5 General evaluation and suggestion for further use of the coursebook 50 4.5.1 General evaluation 51 4.5.2 Suggestions for further use 52 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 54 5.1 Conclusion 54 5.1.1 The suitability to the objectives of the course 54 5.1.2 The suitability to students’ needs 54 5.1.3 The suitability to current teaching and learning methods 55 5.2 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 56 REFERENCES 57 APPENDIXES I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS X APPENDIX 3: TRANSCRIPT OF TEACHER INTERVIEW XIX APPENDIX 4: TRANSCRIPT OF STUDENT INTERVIEW XXIII viii After the course, how well can your students communicate in English about the following topics in the material? Topics Unit 1A: Hello! You and me Unit 1B: Where are you from? Unit 2A: We aren’t English We’re American Unit 2B: What’s your phone number? Unit 3A: What’s in your bag? Unit 3B: Is that a hat? Our lives Unit 4A: Family and friends Unit 4B: Big cars or small cars? Unit 5A: Breakfast around the world Community Unit 5B: A very long flight Unit 6A: She works for Armani Unit 6B: A day in my life Unit 7A: What you in your free time? Recreation Unit 7B: Lights, camera, action! Unit 8A: Can you start the car, please? Unit 8B: What you like doing? Unit 9A: What are they doing? People and places Unit 9B: Working undercover Unit 10A: Is there really a monster? Unit 10B: Before they were famous… Unit 11A: It changed my life Our lives Unit 11B: Life in a day Unit 12A: Strangers on the train Unit 12B: A weekend in Venice Note: = Badly = Well = Not very well = Neutrally = Very well XII What is your students’ progress after the course? Considerable progress Not much progress Moderate progress No progress at all SECTION 3: The suitability of the coursebook to students’ needs What you think about the topics in this material? Very boring Boring Normal Exciting Very exciting What you think about the language elements in this material? Elements Comments The grammar is contextualized, Grammar appropriate to students’ level Examples are interesting The vocabulary load in each lesson is appropriate to students’ Vocabulary level Words are contextualized and efficiently repeated and recycled across the book Pronunciation It is contextualized and appropriate to learner’s level Note: = Strongly disagree = Disagree = Neither agree nor disagree = Agree = Strongly agree XIII What you think about the four skills in this materials? Skills Comments Listening The material offers a broad range of listening tasks set in meaningful contexts with authentic language used, good sound quality and appropriate level of difficulty Speaking A wide range of activities are welldesigned to motivate students to talk and to equip them for real-life interaction Reading There is a wide range of reading texts and associated tasks appropriate for students in terms of length and level of difficulty Writing Models are provided for different genres Tasks are appropriate for students’ level with achievable goal Note: = Strongly disagree = Disagree = Neither agree nor disagree = Agree = Strongly agree In your opinion, how should the four skills be reallocated? Skills Tasks Fewer Unchanged Time allocation More Listening Speaking Reading Writing XIV Less Unchanged More Which of your following learning purposes are met by this coursebook? To communicate in English with foreigners To prepare for future work To get high scores at school To serve personal preferences (listening to music, watching movies in English…) SECTION 4: The suitability of the coursebook to the current teaching and learning methods How effective are the following teaching and learning interactions used in this material? Very ineffective Ineffective Neither effective nor ineffective Effective Very effective Pair work Group work Individual work Student presentation Teacher presentation Whole class work How often are the following teaching aids used with this material? Never Rarely Sometimes Often Cassette recorders Projectors Charts Videos Realia Other (if any)…… XV Very often In your opinion, how does the coursebook meet the following requirements? Poorly Not very Neutrally Well well The material provides a good balance of four-skill practice, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar reinforcement The material provides tasks and activities to practice language and integrated skills in meaningful communication The material language includes guidance for students and suggestions for their further self-study The material is flexible in orders of different units and language points It can also be linked to other materials for references Other (if any)…… XVI Very well SECTION 5: General evaluation What is your overall rating of the coursebook? Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent In your opinion, 84 lessons for the whole course with 2-3 lessons/ unit is… Little Enough Much Too much What are your suggestions for the improvement of the current coursebook? - Vocabulary ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Grammar ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Four skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing) ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… XVII Topics ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Pronunciation ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Others (if any) ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your cooperation! XVIII APPENDIX 3: TRANSCRIPT OF TEACHER INTERVIEW Researcher: Good morning everyone! I am very glad to welcome and thank all of you for coming here today As you know, I am doing the thesis entitled “An empirical evaluation of the coursebook “English File Beginner Student’s Book - Third Edition” for non-English major students at a preparatory school for ethnic groups in Viet Tri” My research is going to find out the extent to which the coursebook “English File Beginner Students’ Book – Third Edition” meets the course’s objectives, the students’ needs and suits the current teaching and learning methods of the course All of you here have at least two years of teaching this material; therefore, I would like you all to share and give recommendations on the matters above You are ensured that all your names and identities will be kept confidentially, and please be aware that all of the interviews will be recorded and transcribed later on Now we will start with question Researcher: Question 1: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the coursebook “English File Beginner Students’ Book – Third Edition”? Teacher 1: Well, generally speaking the book is quite suitable for nonEnglish major students at our schools because although they have learned English for many years, their English knowledge is very poor, just at beginning level In terms of weaknesses, I think the knowledge covered in the book is quite simple, so students cannot review much of the knowledge they have learned at high school Teacher 2: Compared to the coursebook previously used “English Know-How Opener”, English File Beginner is much more interesting The topics are familiar to students and of students’ interest There are vocabulary banks illustrated with pictures, grammar banks with clear examples and explanation, and sound banks with picture illustration of 44 sounds in English XIX Teacher 3: I agree with the ideas of the two teachers above Besides, the book is very communicative in that there is “Communication” part with information gap activities in almost every unit in the book for students to interact with their partners Many tasks are also designed for pair work or group work activities Teacher 4: There is a good balance of nearly all language skills and elements in each unit, which helps student develop skills and knowledge equally Teacher 5: Although the grammar is very simple with such basic knowledge as subject pronouns, verb “be”, present simple and present continuous, etc., the vocabulary load is quite sufficient with words of familiar topics like countries and nationalities, phone numbers, small things, food and drink, etc However, some tasks failed to attract students’ attention and engagement because of the unfamiliar knowledge, for example to guess different brands of cars or tell names of some famous people in the world Teacher 6: After every two units, there is a “Practical English” part with authentic video interviews recorded in the street or short films which students enjoy much Teachers 7: I agree with those teachers’ ideas Teacher 8: Four skills and three elements in the book are usually linked and connected to each other, which help students to practice them regularly Another strength is that the listening, reading, grammar and vocabulary were always taught in contexts Question 2: How suitable is the material to the course, the students and the current teaching and learning methods in your school? Teacher 7: In my opinion, English File Beginner is quite suitable the course because it helps to develop students’ four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, which prepares them for university program It is also XX suitable for non-English major students at beginning levels of the school The coursebook requires a lot of pair work and group work for communication tasks, which is suitable for the communicative teaching approach applied to the course Teacher 8: Although the book provided very basic grammar knowledge, it is fundamentally appropriate with the course objective to extend the vocabulary and exercise four skills It is also very suitable with students’ level Other teachers: We agree with the ideas above Question 3: What difficulties did you have when you used this material? Teacher 2: The coursebook require projectors, but because of the school’s condition, there are not projectors for every class, so some students cannot watch the videos Teacher 5: In the material, besides the familiar topics, there are some tasks requiring students’ background knowledge while it is almost new to students; therefore, they are not engaged in those tasks Teacher 6: While the grammar and vocabulary knowledge is rather simple and not enough for some good students, the listening skill is quite difficult for most of the students They need more time to practice listening and speaking skills Other teachers: We have the same ideas Question 4: What are your suggestions for the improvement of this material? Teacher 8: I suggest more time for each unit so that teachers and students have more time to practice speaking and listening skill Teacher 3: From my point of view, the grammar points in the book are currently taught quite separately from each other, so teachers can use the book more flexibly by combining the grammar focus of two or more units into one XXI For example, teachers can teach subject pronouns and verb be in one unit, instead of in three units like Unit 1A (verb be (singular): I and you), unit 1B (verb be (singular): he, she, it) and (verb be (plural): we, you, they) Teacher 2: I agree that the book should be used flexibly depending on students’ level in each class Moreover, teachers’ can survey and classify students’ learning styles and purposes so that they can modify the material to fit in with students’ needs For example, if more students prefer visual learning style, teachers can make use of the pictures in the books to design suitable activities for them If most of students learn the subject to communicate in English, teachers can focus more speaking and listening skills and give them more time to interact with each other Other teachers: We agree with those ideas XXII APPENDIX 4: TRANSCRIPT OF STUDENT INTERVIEW Researcher: Good morning everyone! I am very glad to welcome and thank all of you for coming here today As you know, I am doing the thesis entitled “An empirical evaluation of the coursebook “English File Beginner Student’s Book - Third Edition” for non-English major students at a preparatory school for ethnic groups in Viet Tri” My research is going to find out the extent to which the coursebook “English File Beginner Students’ Book – Third Edition” meets the course’s objectives, the students’ needs and suits the current teaching and learning methods of the course All of you here have just learnt this material; therefore, I would like you all to share and give recommendations on the matters above You are ensured that all your names and identities will be kept confidentially, and please be aware that all of the interviews will be recorded and transcribed later on Now we will start with question Researcher: Question 1: What you like or dislike about the coursebook “English File Beginner Students’ Book – Third Edition”? Group 1: Student A: What I like about this book is that we can learn very interesting and familiar topics like countries and nationalities, small things, etc., so we can practice and communicate about them in real life Student B: The book is very easy to use with the vocabulary bank, grammar bank and sound bank After each grammar points, we can practice the exercises right in the class and we also have further exercises in the Workbook to practice at home Although my starting point in the course was very low level, I can understand and absorb all the knowledge I have learnt in the book under my teacher’s guidance Student C: I like the communication task in the book in which my friend and I can talk to find out the missing information We have a lot of fun in the activities XXIII Student D: I love to follow the episodes about Jenny and Rob in the Practical English It’s really enjoyable when I can study and watch the film in English at the same time The In-the-street interviews are also very interesting However, some tasks require general knowledge about the world like some famous people in other countries, but we have no idea about them, so it’s quite discouraging Also, their names are really challenging for us to pronounce Group 2: Student E: There are a lot of pictures in the book, so I find it easier and more interesting to learn Student F: We can practice a lot in listening and speaking skills, but we still need more time for these skills because we are very bad at communicating Student G: We have chance to watch a lot of videos for listening tasks, it’s more relaxing However, some contents of the book are not suitable to Vietnamese students, I think For example, a task asks about things we leave on the plane, but most of us haven’t flied, so we have no experience Question 2: How is your progress after the course? Is the book suitable to your level, learning styles, your purposes and methods of learning English? Group 1: Student A: After the course, I have learnt basic knowledge of English and I am able to communicate in simple English about most of the topics in the book, except for the two topics “Community” and “Recreation” because the content introduced in these two units was not very familiar and the language is of difficult level to me In my opinion, the book is quite suitable to my age, my learning style and method It focuses more on communicating about the topics XXIV Student B: I think the book can provide me with necessary skills to enter university We can practice much about listening and speaking, so I can say that I made considerable progress after the course Student C: I like to study with images and videos, and to practice in pairs and groups, and I think the book can meet my needs quite well However, I not spend much time reviewing and practicing at home, so after the course, my progress is not considerable Student D: Like my friends, I think the book is suitable to me and I did make progress after the course Group 2: Student E: I expect to practice more about the knowledge I have learnt at high school, but the knowledge in the book is very simple, except for the listening skill Student F: I think the book helps me a lot because I almost forget all about English, and now I know some basic knowledge I have learnt in this book Thus I was considerably progressive after the course Student G: I think the book is suitable to my level but I did not make much progress after the course Question 3: What difficulties did you have when you learned this book? Group 1: Student A: Some foreign names are really difficult for us to pronounce The listening sometimes is quite challenging Students B, C and D: Yes, I think so Group 2: Student E: Sometimes we cannot distinguish between a person’ name and a place’s name in English because we have no idea about them Student F and G: Yes, we agree with him Question 4: What are your suggestions for the improvement of the book? XXV Group 1: Student A: I suggest more time spend on listening and speaking skill Student B: I think teachers can redesign some tasks so that it is more suitable for Vietnamese students For example, they can replace some famous people in Europe or America by our Vietnamese or Korean idols Then we will be more attracted to the lesson Students C and D: We have no idea Group 2: Student E: We spend more time on vocabulary, grammar and reading than on listening and speaking skill, so I hope we can practice listening and speaking more Student F: I would like to learn more about pronunciation If the book included some videos teaching how to pronounce the sounds, we would learn better Student G: I think the communication shouldn’t be a separated part as currently in the book because in one unit we have to go to the grammar bank, then vocabulary bank, sometimes then sound bank and then go back to the unit, and then go to the communication part, which is very inconvenient Sometimes when I missed teachers’ instruction, I did not know which page I have to turn to Therefore, in my opinion, the communication task should be presented on the same page with the lesson so that it is easier for students to follow XXVI