Evaluating the Quality of the Two Textbooks Tiếng Anh 3 – Tập 1 and Family and Friends – Grade 3: A Comparative Study

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MAI EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF THE TWO TEXTBOOKS TIẾNG ANH - TẬP AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS - GRADE 3: A COMPARATIVE STUDY (Đánh giá chất lƣợng sách Tiếng Anh - Tập Family and Friends - Grade : Một nghiên cứu so sánh) (MA MINOR PROGRAM THESIS) Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HÀ NỘI - 2016 HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MAI EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF THE TWO TEXTBOOKS TIẾNG ANH - TẬP AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS - GRADE 3: A COMPARATIVE STUDY (Đánh giá chất lƣợng sách Tiếng Anh - Tập Family and Friends - Grade : Một nghiên cứu so sánh) (MA MINOR PROGRAM THESIS) Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoang Van Van HÀ NỘI - 2016 DECLARATION I, Nguyễn Thị Mai, hereby certify that the thesis “Evaluating the quality of the two textbooks Tiếng Anh - Tập and Family and Friends - Grade 3: A comparative study is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Graduate Studies - University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi I also declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and efforts and that it has not been submitted for any other purposes Hanoi, 2016 Signature Nguyễn Thị Mai i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my indebtedness and sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof Dr Hoang Van Van for his invaluable guidance and great support without which this thesis would not have been completed Besides, I am heartily thankful to all the lecturers and teachers of the Faculty of Graduate Studies - University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable and interesting lectures and assistance during my study at the university Many thanks go to all the teachers of English from many primary schools whose active participation and cooperation helped me to fulfill this study Last but not least, I send my special thanks to my husband, my family and my friends who have provided abundant assistance and encouragement while this work was in progress ii ABSTRACT The basic goal of material evaluation is selecting teaching materials which are appropriately relevant for a particular teaching context The current study aimed at evaluating the quality of the two textbooks Tiếng Anh - Tập and Family and Friends - Grade to reveal their similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses, and their appropriateness to Vietnamese teachers and students The researcher designed a questionnaire consisting of 35 items to evaluate the textbooks The study results showed that Tiếng Anh - Tập meets almost all criteria given and seemed to be highly suitable for Vietnamese teachers and students while Family and Friends - Grade also got positive feedbacks from teachers However, this set of textbook offered a large amount of knowledge, big size of paper, unfamiliar contents and so on…, that affect teachers‟ low ratings on the quality of the textbook compared to Tiếng Anh - Tập However, it can be concluded that Tiếng Anh - Tập and Family and Friends - Grade are suitable to Vietnamese teachers and pupils Although there exist some minor weaknesses, these two sets of the textbooks are seen to be a good choice of textbook and can be widely used iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF APPENDIXES viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the Study .1 Aim and Objectives of Study 2.1 Aim of Study .3 2.2 Objectives 3 Research Questions Scope of Study Significance of the Study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1.1 LITERATURE REVIEW Teaching and Learning English in Vietnam under the National Foreign Language Project Entitled: “Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008-2020” 17 1.1.1 Teaching and Learning English at Primary Schools in Vietnam .17 1.1.2 The National Foreign Language 2020 Project 17 1.1.3 The Pilot English Curriculum for Vietnamese Primary Schools .18 1.1.4 Tiếng Anh - Tập 19 1.1.5 Family and Friends - Grade 20 1.2 Textbook Evaluation 1.2.1 Textbooks .5 iv 1.2.2 Roles of Textbook 1.2.3 The Needs for Textbook Evaluation 1.2.4 Quality Standards for Textbook 1.2.5 Textbook Evaluation Methods 10 1.2.6 Previous Studies on Comparative Evaluation of the Textbook 13 CHAPTER 2.1 METHODOLOGY 17 Research Method 17 2.1.1 Sites and Subjects of the Research 21 2.1.2 Research Instrument 21 2.1.3 The Questionnaire 22 2.1.4 Survey Procedure .24 2.1.5 Methods of Data Analysis 24 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 3.1 Overall Rating 26 3.2 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in each of the Nine Categories 26 3.2.1 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Objectives” Category 26 3.2.2 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Layout and Design” Category .27 3.2.3 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Topics” Category 28 3.2.4 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Language Skills” Category 29 3.2.5 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Methodology” Category 30 3.2.6 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Types of Activities” Section 30 3.2.7 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Teaching Aids” Section 31 3.2.8 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Linkage” Category 32 3.2.9 Teachers‟ Evaluation of the Textbooks in the “Cultural Values” Category 33 3.3 Findings for Research Question One 34 3.4 Findings for Research Question Two .35 v 3.5 Findings for Research Question Three .36 3.6 Summary of Main Findings 37 PART C: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 39 Conclusion 39 Limitations of the Study 39 Suggestions for Further Studies 40 REFERENCES .41 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TA3 Tiếng Anh - Tập FF3 Family and Friends - Grade MOET Ministry of Education and Training vii LIST OF APPENDIXES Page Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS OF TIẾNG I ANH - TẬP (ENGLISH VERSION) Appendix 1: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO GIÁO VIÊN II DẠY TIẾNG ANH - TẬP (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Appendix 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS OF III FAMILY AND FRIENDS - GRADE (ENGLISH VERSION) Appendix 2: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO GIÁO VIÊN IV DẠY FAMILY AND FRIENDS - GRADE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Appendix 3: TRANSCRIPT OF EMAIL INTERVIEW OF V TIẾNG ANH - TẬP Appendix 4: TRANSCRIPT OF EMAIL INTERVIEW OF VI FAMILY AND FRIENDS - GRADE Appendix 5: THE PRIME MINISTER‟S DECISION No 1400/QĐ-TTg viii VII TÍNH TIẾP NỐI H 31 2% Sách gắn kết chặt chẽ nội 1=4% 10% 80% 8% 0% 4=16% 20=80% 0=0% 0=0% 1=4% 20=80% 4=16% 0=0% 26.6% 34.7% 32% 0% 0=0% 4=16% 21=84% 0=0% dung bên hình thức bên với sách khác sách 32 Các chủ đề nội dung sách có 0=0% liên hệ với sống hàng ngày, trải nghiệm với kiến thức học học sinh YẾU TỐ VĂN HÓA I 33 6.7% Sách có nội dung văn hóa Việt 0=0% Nam 34 35 Sách có nội dung văn hóa 5=20% Anh, Mỹ nước khu vực Nội dung sách phù hợp với kiến 0=0% thức môi trường văn hóa xã hội học sinh 18=72% 2=8% 0=0% 0=0% 2=8% 3=12% 0=0% 20=80% Trân trọng cảm ơn hợp tác Thầy (Cô) giáo! 63 APPENDIX Transcript of Interviews: Tiếng Anh – Tập1 Question 1: What you think about teaching aids accompanying the textbook (flashcard, pictures, and website)? Participant A: I not know whether other teachers of English are provided teaching aids or not? I myself and my colleagues just use the textbook as a main material to teach We not have any teaching aids like flashcards pictures or website Participants B: I find that Teacher‟s Book and Workbook are useful Pupils can practice by doing more exercises from Workbook and I also take advantage of exercises in the Workbook to design tests for pupils However, there is no website and I am not provided any flashcards or posters Question 2: What you think about fun elements in the textbook? Participant A: I used to teach other textbooks like Family and Friends and Kid‟s Box I find that fun elements are rare in the textbook Tiếng Anh - Tập One typical example is the cover page of the book Instead of giving picture of children who are smiling, playing, or dancing, the cover page of the textbook is quite traditional with one teacher and five pupils studying Participant B: The textbook needs to provide more funny pictures to illustrate objects or situations I find that my pupils often like stories or cute pictures that attract them more Participant C: There are not many funny factors in the textbook Pictures, stories and situations are just normal instruments to introduce knowledge and information When teaching this textbook, I myself often think of funny activities to make pupils feel exciting The section of “Project” in the textbook is quite ideal for teachers to create funny activities Question 3: what you think about cultural factors in the textbook? Participant A: I find that the contents of the textbook are quite familiar to Vietnamese students I highly appreciate when the author gave some vocabularies related to games such as Skipping, hide-and-seek, blind man‟s 64 bluff and skating My pupils are quite exciting about these I also think that it is strong points of Vietnamese textbook because it is easy for pupils to learn However, if considering foreign cultural elements, I find that there is not much British or American culture mentioned in the textbook Participant B: The textbook did not cover much British or American culture There is one project in the textbook that is to make name cards for yourself and your friends I found it interesting It relates to foreign culture However, there were not many such activities Participant C: I rated this criterion as not very good because I did not find much British, American or other countries culture in the textbook I have no idea for Vietnamese culture because it is quite good I think that, with such topics as “How old are you?”, “What you at Break time?” we can easily teach foreign culture by introducing other activities like seesaw or slide Besides, teachers can also explain about the differences in asking about other‟s age between Vietnamese culture and foreigners‟ culture 65 APPENDIX Transcript of Interviews: Family and Friends - Grade Question 1: What you think about the amount of time allocated for each lesson? Participant A: Actually, the textbook is designed with periods per week However, my school just spends periods per week with around 35minutes for each period so it‟s difficult to get all knowledge provided by the textbook Besides, the textbook provides two lessons in a unit with new amount of knowledge without repeating prior knowledge For example: there are lessons in unit “What‟s this?” Lesson and lesson provides pupils with vocabularies related to school things such as pen, ruler, pencil, rubber and book Pupils will learn vocabularies and grammar through these two lessons Lesson and lesson4 provides pupils with song and phonics and pupils will have to learn different vocabularies such as window, door, bag… Participant B: The textbook provides a great amount of knowledge We just have around 35minutes or 40 minutes to finish one period of English My pupils have never learnt English before and they have a short concentration span so we cannot use all knowledge of the textbook Question 2: what you think about the size of the textbook? Participant A: The size of the textbook is quite big for my pupils Participant B: If the textbook has the same size with other Textbooks, it will be better and convenient for pupils Participant C: Many teachers like the textbook with big size However, my pupils are familiar with the normal size of other textbooks, Family and Friends Grade is quite large, I think Participant D: I think that the large size of the textbook takes much space and causes pupils many difficulties in using Participant E: the Textbook is quite big It is totally different from other textbooks of pupils A textbook with a smaller size is more suitable, I think Question 3: what you think about topics and contents of the textbook? 66 Participant A: I think the topics of the textbook are various and familiar to my pupils However, some contents of the textbook are difficult for pupils to learn the topic “Lunch time” unit and “Where is the ball” unit 5, some vocabularies such as lunch box, sandwich, Frisbee, ride horse, slide or seesaw are not really familiar with all Vietnamese students Participant B: The topics chosen in the textbook are suitable for pupils The contents are quite varied However, just a small amount of knowledge needs to be changed to be easy for pupils to understand I find that songs are quite long Participant C: I find that topics are not difficult for pupils to understand and learn Such topics as colors, school things, parts of a face, jobs, family and lunch time are familiar However, contents related to these topics should be changed a little to be suitable for pupils For example, with the topics “Jobs”, I will choose some typical vocabularies about jobs that are popular for pupils to teach Participant D: The topics are quite interesting and various The contents should be cut down and changed a little bit to be suitable for rural pupils because there are many things mentioned in the textbooks are quite strange such as Frisbee, ride horse If having activities that are familiar to pupils, the textbook will be more useful Question 4: What you think about cultural elements exploited in the textbook? Participant A: There is not much Vietnamese culture mentioned in the textbook Participant B: In general, this set of textbook helps pupils understand more about British and American culture Activities and contents mentioned in the textbooks are more suitable for foreign pupils than Vietnamese pupils Teachers need to adapt or explain to help Vietnamese pupils fully understand Participant C: Vietnamese culture is not presented much in the textbook My pupils are familiar with topics provided by the textbook However, Names, activities, objects, and many other things are not sometimes close to pupils so they will take more time to comprehend and master them 67