How teachers exploit the textbook: a survey at Vinh Tuong high school, Vinh Phuc = Cách giáo viên khai thác sách giáo khoa: khảo sát tại trường THPT Vĩnh Tường, Vĩnh Phúc. M.A Thesis Linguistics: 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ****** PHẠM THỊ MINH TÂM HOW TEACHERS EXPLOIT THE TEXTBOOK: A SURVEY AT VINH TUONG HIGH SCHOOL, VINH PHUC (CÁCH GIÁO VIÊN KHAI THÁC SÁCH GIÁO KHOA: KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT VĨNH TƯỜNG, VĨNH PHÚC) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 HANOI, 2012 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: A thematic classification of teacher images for Englishlanguage Figure 2: Description of participants Figure 3: The observation schedule Figure 4: The interview schedule Figure 5: Teachers‟ opinions about advantages of textbooks Figure 6: Teachers‟ opinions about the disadvantages of textbooks Figure 7: Adaptation techniques used by teachers iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abstract List of figures PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………… 1 Rationale of the study………………………………………………… Aims of the study………………………………… Research questions…………………………………………………… Significance of the study……………………………………………… Scope of the study……………………………………………………… Design of the study…………………………………………………… PART II: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………… CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………… Textbook……………………………………………………………… 1.1 Definition……………………………………………………… 1.2 The role of textbooks in the EFL/ESL classroom……………… 1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of textbooks…………………… Textbook exploitation and adaptation in EFL classroom…………… 2.1 Teachers‟ attitudes toward textbook exploitation……………… 2.2 Different ways in textbook exploitation……………………… 10 Review of related studies……………………………………………… 13 The influence of context on teachers‟ use of textbook…………… 16 CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY Setting and background………………………………………………… 18 v 1.1 The school……………………………………………………… 18 1.2 The teachers and the students…………………………………… 18 1.3 The textbooks…………………………………………………… 18 1.4 Assesment procedure…………………………………………… 19 Participants…………………………………………………………… 19 Instruments…………………………………………………………… 20 3.1 Classroom observation………………………………………… 21 3.2 Interviews……………………………………………………… 22 CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………………… 24 Research question 1…………………………………………………… 24 Research question 2…………………………………………………… 28 PART III: CONCLUSION………………………………………………… 32 Conclusions…………………………………………………………… 32 Pedagogical suggestions for a more effective exploitation of textbooks 32 Limitations of the study………………………………………………… 34 Suggestions for further research……………………………………… 35 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………… 36 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………… I Apendix A-1 A format of observation notes……………………………… I Appendix A-2 An extract from the observation data of one of the participants………………………………………………… II Appendix B-1 A format of interview notes……………………………… III Apendix B-2 A sample of an interview note with one of the participants V vi PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study According to Richards (2005), textbooks are the core element of most language programs They are expected to provide teachers and learners with all the essentials of a subject or the general outline of a course In many cases, textbooks are the main source of the language input the students receive and the language practice which occurs in classroom For the inexperienced teachers, the textbook can guide them how to plan and teach the lessons There are assumptions saying that textbooks have their own negative effects on language teaching and learning (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994) but they are still an important component of almost every language program In Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject at upper-secondary schools since late 1980s Like other subjects at schools, English is taught following the textbook designed by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) There are a considerable number of studies about the difficulties that teachers and learners meet when using the textbook or about the textbook evaluation and adaption These include the studies by Phung (2008), Vu (2010), Alamri (2008), Litz (2001) Whereas, the teachers‟ attitudes towards textbook and the way they exploit it have not been paid much attention For such reasons, this research is carried out to investigate what the English teachers at Vinh Tuong upper-secondary school think about textbooks in general and how they exploit them The researcher also hopes to give some suggestions and recommendations basing on the results of the study to contribute to English teaching and learning at the school Aims of the study The study is aimed to probe the way that the English teachers at Vinh Tuong high school, in Vinh Phuc province, exploit textbooks Within this purpose, the three central objectives are: (i) To investigate the teachers‟ opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of textbooks (ii) To investigate the way the teachers exploit textbooks (iii) To give some suggestions and recommendations to contribute to the teaching and learning English at Vinh Tuong high school Research questions In order to achieve the aims of the study, two research questions are raised: What are the teachers‟ attitudes towards textbooks? a What are the teachers‟ opinions about the advantages of textbooks? b What are the teachers‟ opinions about the disadvantages of textbooks? c What the teachers use textbook for? What kind of adaptations the teachers make when using textbooks? Why? Significance of the study Although the study is carried out as a small scale one, the researcher hopes that its results can (1) help the English teachers at Vinh Tuong high school have an overview about the advantages and disadvantages of the textbook in order to find the most effective way to exploit it; 2) keep teacher trainers aware of the way that some high school teachers exploit the textbook Scope of the study The paper focuses on the exploitation of the textbook to teach English at a particular high school The participants of the study are restricted to a group of English teachers at Vinh Thuong high school, in Vinh Phuc province Design of the study The study consists of five chapters Part I: (Introduction), presents the rationale, aims, research questions, significance, scope and the design of the study Part II: Development Chapter 1: (Literature Review) presents an overview of the theoretical background of the research Chapter 2: (Methodology) provides the setting of the study, participants, and instruments Chapter 3: (Results and discussion) presents the findings for the two research questions and further discussion on these findings in the relationship with the literature Part III: (Conclusion) summarizes the study, the limitations of the study, some recommendations as well as suggestions for further studies Following this chapter are the Reference list and Appendices PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical background of the research Textbook 1.1 Definition In the Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (8th edition), textbook is generally defined as “a book that teaches a particular subject and that is used especially in schools and colleges” This definition just provides a simple understanding about textbook For a more comprehensive view about who use textbooks, and how they are employed, the definition of Tomlinson (1998) is more suitable He states that a course book or a textbook “provides the core materials for a course It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it could serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use during a course Such a book usually includes work on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking” (Tomlinson, 1998, p.vii) 1.2 The role of textbooks in the EFL/ESL classroom According to Sheldon (1987) as cited in Lawrence (2011, p.5), textbook is especially designed and published to help learner to improve their language skills Textbook is not only a learning instruments, it also supports teachers in their teaching (O‟neil, 1982; Ur, 1996) Textbook has been used widespread in different ELT contexts and it plays a vital role in ELT classrooms all over the world (Laurence, 2011) It is almost a universal element of ELT teaching (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994) and essensial in any ELT program (Sheldon, 1988) It is extremely common to see ELT teachers use textbooks in their daily teaching; very few of them would not (Laurence, 2011) The important role of textbooks in ELT teaching is obvious However, the question of whether textbooks can actually help or hinder the teaching and learning process has been discussing From this point, the researcher would like to review on both the advantages and disadvantages in using textbooks in ELT teaching 1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of textbooks Throughout the history of language teaching and learning research, there are many studies about using textbooks These studies express arguments for as well as against the use of textbooks O‟Neill (1982, p.105) approves of using textbooks in teaching because 1) he can find many things suitable for his students in the materials; 2) they allow his students to see the lessons beforehand and revise what they have learned; 3) they save his money and time in preparing the lessons; 4) they guide his adaption and improvisation in the process of teaching Sheldon (1988, p.237) identifies three main reasons for which textbooks are widely used Firstly, developing their own classroom materials is extremely difficult for teachers Secondly, textbooks are “labor-saving tools”, they save the teachers‟ time and effort in preparing teaching materials Last but not least, textbooks help teachers cope with external pressures, such as the heavy timetables Hutchinson and Torres (1994) argue that textbooks play a positive role in everyday use and in the process of change They provide a structure for lesson management and a basis for negotiation in education They are a “flexible frame-work” that learners and teachers need to make informed choices In term of negotiation, textbooks are visible, which makes it possible for all the relevant parties take part in the process Moreover, textbooks help to “re-skill” the teachers; when textbooks are developed, teachers will need more skills to use it Ur (1996, p.193) states that the course book provides a set framework and a “jumping-off point” for his new ideas in teaching His students also feel that their learning is taken more seriously when using a textbook Additionally, Richards (2005) claims that textbooks help to standardize the instruction Students in different classes get exposed to the same content so they can be tested in the same way Wen-Cheng,W (2011) also shares Richards in the idea that textbooks may provide multiple learning and teaching resources, for example, workbooks, CDs and Videos In general, the most prominent positive effect of textbooks is they meet the teachers‟ and learners‟ needs Learners need a textbook for it shows them what is to be learned and what will be tested; it makes their learning outside classroom possible Teachers need a textbook because it is a map, a structure for their teaching; it saves their time and effort in designing materials; it helps to standardize the instruction and testing; a highly developed textbook can even improve the teachers‟ teaching skill Besides, administrators can use textbooks to ensure that there is some degree of standardization and parents can use them to measure their children‟s progress It is obvious that “Textbook not only survives, it thrives” (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994, p.316) for many of its advantages However, we should be aware of its potential negative effects in order to make full use of the textbook One of the advantages of the textbooks mentioned earlier is that they provide a basic framework on how a lesson can be delivered In fact, many teachers, therefore, would rely heavily on the textbook and become uncreative in expressed diferently The teachers did not risk replacing any content in textbooks with examination-form exercises The examinations are in written form and mostly focus on vocabulary, language form and reading skill As a result, the teachers were afraid that the vocabulary or the structures in the deleted parts would be tested 2.4 Replacing When the researcher asked the teachers why they di not use the technique of replacing in the observed lessons, four of them said that they did not have time to design replacing materials Teachers T3 and T4 added that they were not confident to be able to design better materials than textbooks This situation is warned by McGrath (2002), the teachers thought that the activities and tasks in the textbook are better than their own ideas Accordingly, the time pressure and personal confidence are another two factors that affected the teachers‟ exploitation of the textbooks 2.5 Reordering When observed, no teacher employed the technique of reordering in their teaching They explained that they thought the order in the textbooks was reasonable and there was no need to change (T1, T4); moreover, they were not allowed to that, they must follow the schedule strictly (T2, T3, T5) So, the set teaching schedule was another factor that affected the way teachers exploited textbooks To sum up, the teachers at Vinh Tuong high school acknowledged the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the textbooks They did not heavily depend on the textbooks and exploited them in their own ways However, there were some constraints that affected the teachers‟ use of textbooks They were examinations, the students‟ level of proficiency, teachers‟ personal confidence, the teaching schedule and time pressure 31 PART III: CONCLUSION This chapter firstly presents the summary of the study and some pedagogical suggestions for a more effective exploitation of textbooks at Vinh Tuong high school and in other similar contexts The next part will be the limitations of the study and the final one will be suggestions for further research Conclusions The study is aimed to investigate teachers‟ attitudes toward textbooks and the way they exploit them The findings show that textbooks are a key component in teaching and learning English at Vinh Tuong high school Most of the teachers believed that textbooks provided a framework for their teaching as well as saved their time in designing teaching materials They were also aware of the disadvantages of textbooks, especially the “slavish” use of them A majority of the teachers thought that texbooks were guidance in their teaching While teaching, the teachers are expected to follow the prescribed textbook in the teaching process As a result, in covering everything in the textbook, the teachers often made adaptations and used supplementary materials to enhance the students‟ learning Such way of textbook exploitation was affected by examinations, the students‟ level of proficiency, teachers‟ personal confidence, the teaching schedule and time pressure Pedagogical suggestions for a more effective exploitation of textbooks For a more effective exploitation of textbooks three factors affecting the way teachers use textbook should be considered Firstly, the observations and interviews revealed that the participants had to follow the same teaching schedule, according to which every unit and its 32 sections must be taught in turn This way of teaching has its own advantages; it makes the teaching management easier; the teaching and testing are systematic; students know exactly what they will study and what they should prepare before class However, this sometimes brings about the feelings of boredom for students as mentioned in Ur (1996, p 185) In order to motivate students in learning, teachers should add new things and some suprises for students in every section For example, sometimes, the content of the reading or listening sections can be replaced while the topic is preserved Examinations also affected the way teachers used textbooks According to Chandran (2003), Lee and Bathmaker (2006) and Menkabu (2010), teachers often help students to cope with examinations by deleting some parts in the textbook that are not examined or adding test form materials to textbooks It takes time to change the examination system for high schools but teachers can start with the regular tests In order to motivate students in learning the language skills, teachers may check and grade their speaking, listening and writing skills The next factor is the students‟ level of proficiency In the study of Lee and Bathmaker (2006) and Menkabu (2010), the teachers often change the textbooks according to their students‟ needs and ability It is obvious that the students‟ level of language proficiency decide the way teachers exploit textbooks At Vinh Tuong high school, the teachers usually edited the tasks or exercises that were difficult for the students It is recommended that more teacher-designed materials should be used to supplement the textbook For teachers, to design effective materials, three factors should be noted The first one is contextualization which was mentioned in Block (1991) and Howard and Major (2005) The materials designed by tachers should be contextualized to the students‟ experiences, their first language and cultures 33 For example, in unit of English 10 titled A day in the life of… teachers may add a reading passage about a day in the life of a offical worker; or in the writing section, the topic might be enlarged to any frightening experiences of students Secondly, language teaching materials should stimiulate interaction according to Howard and Major (2005, p.105) In classroom, students will be encouraged to speak if the teaching materials relate to real life situations Take the speaking section of unit English 11 for instance, students are asked to work in pairs to describe some people in pictures The task would be more interesting if teachers asked students to describe one of their friends, relatives or their favourite singers, actors or actresses Thirdly, authentic materials are a good sourse for supplementary materials Do, T.L.H (2008, p.12) introduced some advantages of authentic materials; 1) they bring students to real communication; 2) they update students with what is happening in the world; 3) they help students to enlarge their vocabulary language rules; 4) authentic materials provide students with a variety of linguistic and conceptual content; 5) they can be reused with different tasks or for various levels; 6) they are helpful in motivating students to learn In the case of Vinh Tuong high school, authentic materials should especially be utilized to enhance the students‟ learning motivation In addition, the supplementary materials should be attractive in several aspects (Howard & Majors, 2005: 106) They should be good to look at, easy to follow and possible to reproduced Limitations of the study This study has certain limitations It is a small scale study and it could be impossible to make any broad generalizations basing on the findings Additionally, the researcher can not choose participants for the study because 34 there are onfly five teachers of English at Vinh Tuong high school The time for observation is short, just more than weeks at the end of the second semester An observation carried out in a whole semester will help to get better understandings of the teachers‟ practices Suggestions for further research For further study, a larger scale study of some high school English teachers should provide a broader view of the situation Students‟ perspective on teachers‟ use of supplementary materials should be investigated Moreover, students‟ attitudes towards the textbook and the way they use them should also be explored because the students are the ones who benefit the most from textbooks 35 REFERENCES Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Retrieved April 13, 2012, from http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/textbook Alamri, A A M (2008) An Evaluation of the Sixth Grade English Language Textbook for Saudi Boys' Schools Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/amri/Documents/MA%20thesis.pdf Allwright, R L (1981) What we want teaching materials for? ELT journal, 36(1), 5-18 Basterkmen, H., Loewen, S., & Ellis, R (2004) Teachers' stated beliefs about incidental focus on form and their classroom practises Oxford journal, 25(2), 243-272 Block, D (1991) Some thoughts on DIY materials design ELT journal, 445(3), 211-217 Botha, E (2009) Why metaphor matters in education South African journal of eduacion, 29(431) Dornyei, Z (2007) Research methods in applied linguistics: Oxford University Press Do, T L.H (2008) Using authentic materials to supplement the sourse-book to the second year students at Hanoi Medical University Retrieved 20 July, 2012, from http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/381 E.sheldon, L (1988) Evaluating ELT textboook and materials ELT journal, 42(4), 239-246 Gray, J (2000) The ELT coursebook as cultural artefact: how teachers censor and adapt ELT journal, 54(3), 274-283 H.McMillan, J., & schumacher, S (1993) Research in education: A conceptual introduction: Happer Collins College Publishers 36 Howard, J., & Major, J (2005) Guidelines for designing effective English language teaching materials Retrieved June 10, 2012, from http://www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/PAAL9/pdf/Howard.p df Hutchinson, T., & Torres, E (1994) The textbook as agent of change ELT journal, 48(4), 315-328 Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M (2003) Metaphors we live by London: The university of Chicago press Lawrence, W P W (2011) Textbook evaluation: a framework for evaluating the fitness of the Hong Kong new secondary schoo (NSS) curriculum Unpublished Master, City university of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Nguyen, T H.C (2010) Adapting English 10 textbook towards promoting learner's autonomy and communicative competence in learning grammar Unpublished MA, ULIS, Hanoi Litz, D R A (2001) Textbook evaluation and ELT management : a South Korean case study UAE university McDonough, J., & Shaw, C (2003) Materials and methods in ELT: a teacher's guide London: Blackwell Publishing McGrath, I (2002) Materials evaluation and design for language teaching: Edinburg University Press McGrath, I (2006) Teachers‟ and learners‟ images for coursebooks ELT journal, 60(2), 171-179 Menkabu, A (2010) An investigation into teachers' use of the textbook and the teachers' guide for the 1st year medical students at a university in Saudi Abria Unpublished MA, university of ESSEX O'Neil, R (1982) Why use textbook? ELT journal, 36(2), 104-111 Pham, T.T (2007) Development of supplementary materials to improve 37 reading skills for the first year English majors at military science academy Unpublished MA, ULIS, Hanoi Phung, T.H.T (2008) Listening difficulties perceived by teachers and students in using the new English textbook for grade 10 at Que Vo II upper secondary school in Bac Ninh Unpublished MA thesis, ULIS, Hanoi Rechards, J C (2005) The role of textbooks in a language program Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/role-of-textbooks.pdf Richards, J C., & Mahoney, D (1996) Teachers and texbooks: a survey of beliefs and practices Perspectives: working papers, City university of Hongkong (Department of English), 8(1), 40-61 Tanner, R., & Green, C (1998) Tasks for teacher education: a reflective approach: Harlor: Pearson Tomlinson, B (1998) Materials development in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge university press Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching: Cambridge University Press Vu, T T.H (2010) Difficulties in teaching reading comprehension with the new English textbook "Tieng Anh 10" (the set of standard textbooks) to the 10th form students at Ke Sat High School Unpublished MA, ULIS, Hanoi Vu, T T.D (2011) Improving 11th form students' listening comprehension through modified listening tasks of the new textbook English 11 at Kinh Mon high school, Hai Duong Unpublished MA, ULIS, Hanoi Wen-Cheng, W (2011) Thinking of the Textbook in the ESL/EFL Classroom CCSE journal, 4(2), 91-96 Williams, D (1983) Developing criteria for textbook evaluation ELT journal, 37(3), 251-255 38 APPENDICES Apendix A-1 A format of observation notes OBSERVATION NOTE Teacher: Class: Unit: Date: Part: Period: Techniques Section Purposes Deleting Editing Adding Replacing Reodering Others I Appendix A-2 An extract from the observation data of one of the participants OBSERVATION NOTE Teacher: T1 Class: 12C Unit: 15.Women in society Date:23/04/2012 Part:A Reading Period: 4( §89) Techniques Section Purposes Deleting Editing -Before you read - Interesting lead in - While reading task2 -Make exercise easier -After reading -Save time Adding Replacing Reodering Others II Appendix B-1 A format of interview notes INTERVIEW NOTES Teacher Time Date Question 1: What, in your opinion, are the advantages of the textbook in general? ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … …………………………………………………………………………… ……… ……………………………………………………………………… …………….…………………………………………………………………… ……………… Question 2: What, in your opinion, are the disadvantages of the textbook in general? ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … …………………………………………………………………………… ……… ……………………………………………………………………… III …………….…………………………………………………………………… ……………… Question 3: What you use the textbook for ? (For example: to guide or to support your teaching) ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … …………………………………………………………………………… ……… ……………………………………………………………………… …………….…………………………………………………………………… ……………… Question 4: Why you use the techniques …………………………………………………………………… …… in……………………………………………………………………………… … ? ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … …………………………………………………………………………… ……… Question 5: Why don‟t you use the techniques of ……………………………………………………………………………… … IV in the observed lessons? ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………………… ….……………………………………………………………………………… …… Thank you very much! V Apendix B-2 A sample of an interview note with one of the participants INTERVIEW NOTES Teacher T1 Time 10 am Date 26/04/2012 Question 1: What, in your opinion, are the advantages of the textbook in general? - Framework for teaching and learning - Save time in designing materials - Help students to learn outside classroom They know what they will betaught and what they shuls prepare Question 2: What, in your opinion, are the disadvantages of the textbook in general? - Make teachers depend too much on it - Sometimes students feel bored: Same structure every unit - Sometimes information is out of date Eg Popular TV programme Question 3: What you use the textbook for ? (For example: to guide or to support your teaching) - It guides my teaching, tells me what topic and language knowdge I should teach: what I should teach first, what next Question 4: Why you use the techniques adding in four out of five preteaching section? And edditing two times? - Pictures/questions or games in pre-teaching sections to provide students with interesting warm-up activities, motivate them to learn - I often edit difficult tasks to make it suitable for my students‟ ability; make it easier for them VI Question 5: Why don‟t you use the techniques of deleting, replacing or reordering in the observed lessons? - No deleting or replacing: Don‟t want to risk neglecting anything that may be examined in exams - No ordering: the order in textbooks is reasonable, have never think of reordering Thank you very much! VII