An evaluation of course book “English unlimited- elementary” for first-year students of University of Information and Communication Technology under Thai Nguyen university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 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 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 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 i 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 firstyear 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 thesis Hanoi, April 2017 Signature Bùi Thu Trang ii 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 iii 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 firstyear students participated in the survey The findings show that the coursebook is rather relevant to the needs of learners iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Method of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Materials in language teaching and learning 1.1.1 Definition 1.1.2 The role of materials 1.1.3 Types of materials 1.2 Materials evaluation 1.2.1 Definition of materials evaluation 1.2.2 Purposes of materials evaluation 1.2.3 Types of materials evaluation 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 v 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 vi PART C: CONCLUSION Summary of the study 37 Some conclusions 37 Limitations of the study 38 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 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” Aims of the study The study is carried out to evaluate the course book ―English UnlimitedElementary ‖ 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 Research question: How is the course book English Unlimited- Elementary relevant to the course outcomes requirements in terms of knowledge, skills and methodology? What should be done so that this coursebook is used better? 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 III Present Simple Tense Can/can‘t There be Some/any How much/how many Countable/Uncountable Noun Past Simple Tense Comparatives/Superlatives Present Continuous tense Future Intension Present Perfect Tense Phần 3: CÁC KỸ NĂNG TRONG GIÁO TRÌNH Câu 8: Bạn đánh giá phân bổ kỹ giáo trình này? Tỷ lệ phân /bố Chiếm tỷ lệ thấp Chiếm tỷ lệ hợp lý Chiếm tỷ lệ cao Kỹ Đọc Nói Nghe Viết Câu 9: Hãy cho biết mức tiến bạn sau học kết thúc khóa học này?  Rất tiến  Tiến  Có tiến khơng đáng kể  Không tiến Phần 3: PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC Câu 10: Bạn có nhận xét tiêu chí học thuật cung cấp sách này? IV Ýkiến bạn Tiêu chí Tán Khơng tán Khơng có ý thành thành kiến Giáo trình giúp phát triển đầy đủ kỹ Giáo trình có đầy đủ hoạt động theo nhân, cặp, nhóm Các hoạt động giáo trình góp phần tạo khơng khí sơi học, kích thích tính sáng tạo bạn Giáo trình cải thiện khả giao tiếp thân Ngữ pháp từ vựng giáo trình đưa vào ngữ cảnh thực tế Câu 11: Những dụng cụ dạy học sau giáo viên bạn sử dụng?  Băng đĩa  Máy chiếu  Tranh ảnh  Trò chơi hát  Các dụng cụ dạy học khác Phần 4: ĐÁNH GIÁ CHUNG Câu 12: Cuối cùng, bạn vui lịng cho chúng tơi biết vài đề xuất giáo trình dựa tiêu chí sau đây? - Từ vựng: …………………………………………………………………………………………… - Ngữ pháp: ………………………………………………………………………………………… - kỹ năng: ………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… - Ý kiến khác (nếu có): ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Appendix II: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS V This questionnaire is designed to collect opinions of teachers toward the current English teaching at ICTU on the course book ―English Unlimited –Elementary‖ The researcher highly appreciates your support by completing this questionnaire Your contributions would be valuable and useful to the evaluation research and improvement of the course book Please answer the following questions carefully and honestly! Thank you very much for your cooperation! To answer the question please tick ( ) in the box/es where necessary SECTION 1: STUDENTS’ DEMAND TO STUDY ENGLISH How you think about the English level of most your students at the beginning of the course?  Excellent  Good  Average  Under average What your students set their purposes when studying English? Please rank in ascending order 1-4 (from the most important to the least one) Most important Very important Important Least important Mức đánh giá Mục đích học To buid up the basic lexis To communicate with the foreingers To pass the final exam and achieve A2 level outcomes To prepare for the future job Others VI Which of the following needs does the course book meet?  To buid up the basic lexis  To communicate with the foreingers  To pass the final exam and achieve A2 level outcomes  To prepare for the future job Others: SECTION 2: COURSE OBJECTIVES Are the topics appropriate your students‟ age, ability and hobbies?  Yes  No  Others How you think of the vocabulary provided in this book to your students?  Very useful  Useful  Not useful at all How you think of students‘level of proficiency in language points? Language Points To be Demonstrative Adj/Pronoun Present Simple Tense Can/can‘t There be Some/any How much/how many Very good Good Not very Not good at good all VII Countable/Uncountable Noun Past Simple Tense Comparatives/Superlatives Present Continuous tense Future Intension Present Perfect Tense How you evaluate the proportion of the four skills in this book? Tỷ lệ phân bố Appropriate Inappropriate Much focus on Kỹ Reading Speaking Listening Writing SECTION 3: METHODOLOGY What are your opinions toward methodological criteria of the book? Opinion Criteria The book helps to develop all skills The book helps to improve your ability for communication Language Points and vocabulary items are introduced in motivating and realistic context The book provides the activities for individual, pair –work and group – work Agree Disagree No idea Little time on VIII The activities in the book helps to create a learning environment that attracts students creativity and curiosity How you think about the effect of following teaching aids?  CDs and Cassettes  Projectors  Pictures  Games and Songs  Other SECTION 4: CONCLUSION 10 After the course, how did your students make progress?  Much progress  Progress  Not much progress  No progress at all 11 At last, would you mind giving some suggestions for the adjustment of this material? Please give your suggestions regarding the following aspects: - Vocabulary: - Language focus: - Four skills: (listening, speaking, reading, writing) - Pronunciation: - Topics: - Guidance on the methodology: IX - Others (if any): -The endThank you for your cooperation! X Appendix III: A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING LEARNING NEEDS Why are the learners taking the course? - compulsory or optional; - apparent need or not; - Are status, money, promotion involved? - What learners think they will achieve? - What is their attitude towards the ESP course? Do they want to improve their English or they resent the time they have to spend on it? How the learners learn? - What is their learning background? - What is their concept of teaching and learning? - What methodology will appeal to them? - What sorts of techniques are likely to bore/alienate them? What resources are available? - number and professional competence of teachers; - attitude of teachers to GE; - teachers’ knowledge of and attitude to the subject content; - materials; - aids; - opportunities for out-of-class activities Who are the learners? XI - age/sex/nationality; - What they know already about English? - What subject knowledge they have? - What are their interests? - What is their socio-cultural background? - What teaching styles are they used to? - What is their attitude to English or to the cultures of the English- speaking world? Where will the GE course take place? - are the surroundings pleasant, dull, noisy, cold etc? When will the GE course take place? - time of day; - every day/once a week; - full-time/part-time; - concurrent with need or pre-need XII Appendix IV: HUTCHINSON AND WATERS’ EVALUATION CHECKLIST XIII XIV XV XVI XVII