An evaluation of the course book new english file elementary for the first year students at university of final and business administration (UFBA)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ THỦY AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK “NEW ENGLISH FILE - ELEMENTARY” FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (UFBA) (Đánh giá giáo trình “New English File - Elementary” dùng cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ Trƣờng Đại Học Tài Chính Quản Trị Kinh Doanh) M.A MINOR THESIS MAJOR: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 HANOI – 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ THỦY AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK “NEW ENGLISH FILE - ELEMENTARY” FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (UFBA) (Đánh giá giáo trình “New English File - Elementary” dùng cho sinh viên khơng chun năm thứ Trƣờng Đại Học Tài Chính Quản Trị Kinh Doanh) M.A MINOR THESIS MAJOR: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN ĐỨC HOẠT, Ph.D HANOI – 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I, first and foremost, would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Nguyễn Đức Hoạt, Ph.D for his continuous support, valuable advice, comments, criticisms and corrections throughout the study Without his guidance and help, this work would not have been accomplished I would like to express my gratitude to the whole group of teachers and students at UFBA by whom meaningful data for the thesis was collected and handed in on time The last but not least, thanks to valued encouragements and great support from my parents, my husband and my son in so many ways that gave me significant motivations, determination and passion to carry on my thesis ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to evaluate the course book “New English file-Elementary” which has been currently used for the first year students at UFBA The following research question should be answered: To what extent does “New English file - Elementary” satisfy the course requirements in terms of the audience, content, aims and methodology for the first year students at the University of Finance and Business Administration? The evaluation was conducted at macro level on the basis on four criteria On the purpose of achieving the professional goal above, the author had to review the literature in relevance to materials evaluation, employ document analysis, survey questionnaire and determine the answer to the research question The results revealed that the course book were generally suitable to the intended learners and course‟s requirements However, there should be made some changes for more effective exploitation of the material in the future Based on the findings, some recommendations on adapting, adding, modifying several items in the course book have come out in order to make the best use of the material in coming years TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 RATIONALE AIMS OF THE STUDY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY RESEARCH QUESTION SCOPE OF THE STUDY OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 TEXTBOOK, COUSE BOOK, AND MATERIALS 2.1.1 Definitions 2.1.2 Role of materials in English Language Teaching 2.2 MATERIAL EVALUATION 2.2.1 Definition of Materials Evaluation .5 2.2.2 Reasons of Materials Evaluation 2.2.3 Types of Materials Evaluation 2.2.4 Types of Evaluators 2.2.5 Models of Materials Evaluation 2.2.6 Criteria for Materials Evaluation 11 2.3 PREVIOUS STUDIES 13 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .15 3.1 THE SETTING 15 PARTICIPANTS 16 3.3 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 17 3.3.1 Document analysis 17 3.3.2 Survey questionnaires 17 3.4 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 21 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 22 4.1 THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE COURSE BOOK TO THE AUDIENCE IN TERMS OF THEIR ENGLISH LEVEL 22 4.1.1 Material analysis results 22 4.2 THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE COURSE BOOK TO THE AIM OF THE COURSE 25 4.2.1 Material analysis results 25 4.3 THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE MATERIAL TO THE CONTENT REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE BOOK 27 4.3.1 The material analysis results 27 4.4 THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE MATERIAL TO THE METHODOLOGY REQUIREMENT OF THE COURSE 32 4.4.1 Material analysis results 32 4.5 SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS 37 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION .41 5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS 41 5.2 LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 42 5.3 CONCLUSION .42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIXES .45 APPENDIX 1: THE SYLLABUS OF THE ENGLISH COURSE FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT UFBA .45 APPENDIX 2: THE CONTENTS OF THE COURSE BOOK “NEW ENGLISH FILE – ELEMENTARY” 52 APPENDIX 3: CHECKLIST FOR EVALUATION BY HUTCHINSON AND WATERS (1987) 53 APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 59 APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 65 APPENDIX 6: KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN HỌC VIÊN 71 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 4.1: The students and teachers‟ opinions of the overall difficulty level of the material Table 4.2: Teachers and students‟ opinions of aim of the course book “New English FileElementary” Table 4.3: The teachers and students‟ opinions about the language points covered in the material Table 4.4: The teachers and students‟ opinions about language skills in the material Table 4.5: The students‟ onions about the effectiveness of the sub-skills and the familiarity of the topics to the students‟ knowledge level Table 4.6: The teachers‟ opinions about the tasks/ exercises of language points and language skills Figure 2.1: The material evaluation model by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) Figure 4.1: The students and teachers‟ opinions of the overall difficulty level of the material Figure 4.2: Teachers and students‟ opinions of aim of the course book “New English FileElementary” Figure 4.3: The teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about the tasks/ exercises of language points and language skills Figure 4.4: The students and teachers‟ opinions about guidance for doing the types of tasks CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE It has generally agreed that material plays an essential role in the process of language teaching and learning Materials must be important because they could significantly increase students‟ achievement by supporting students‟ learning and be considered as a guide to assist teachers According to McDonough and Shaw (1993), however, no set of materials is likely to be perfect; it cannot serve equally for the requirements of every classroom setting Teachers should not merely know to use but how useful it can be They must evaluate its strengths and weaknesses Therefore, William (1983) suggests that English language teachers need to know the principles of materials evaluation The ability of materials evaluation is regarded as an extremely important professional activity for all English foreign language teachers Ideally, the teaching materials, after having been selected or designed, need to be carefully evaluated to check whether the material accomplishes its job of enabling teaching and learning In fact, this is the third year that the course book “New English file - Elementary” has been used at the University of Finance and Business Administration The material is approved and accepted as an official course book for teaching all first year students at the University of Finance and Business Administration Up to now, there have been different opinions from the teachers and the students about this material However, there has not had any attempt to evaluate the book to see whether it meets the requirements of the course in terms of audience, content, aims and methodology These are the reasons why the author of the study made a decision to conduct this evaluation research As a result, this study is conducted with the hope that the thesis will find out the merits and demerits of the textbook in order to improve or modify the material for future use and therefore make contribution to the teaching and learning foreign language at the intended university Page | AIMS OF THE STUDY The research aims at evaluating the material of current use at UFBA to determine whether it matches the course‟s requirements in terms of the audience, content, aims and methodology Hopefully, the findings of the thesis will partly help the English teaching staff to decide whether the material will be used in the coming year or what changes can be made to improve the effectiveness of the material SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The paper will be carried out with the hope that the findings of the study will help teachers improve their language teaching method of exploiting the course book to fulfill satisfactorily students‟ need and interests RESEARCH QUESTION The study aims at answering the following question: To what extent does “New English file - Elementary” satisfy the course requirements in terms of the audience, content, aims and methodology for the first year students at the University of Finance and Business Administration? SCOPE OF THE STUDY Within the scope of an M.A thesis, this research paper focuses on evaluating the course book “New English file - Elementary” used in the basis communication course for the first year students at the University of Finance and Business Administration This book is used in their first term at UFBA In the scope of this study the suitability of this course to the course requirements and participants‟ attitudes toward it will be worked out OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY The study consists of three parts and three chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction provide a general overview of the study with specific references to the rationale, the aim and objectives of the study, research questions, scope of study, significance of study, overview of the thesis Page | practice individually then work in pairs and/or in groups When practicing writing tasks, the students practice individually then work in pairs and/or in groups Students self-study four skills 3.3 Teaching and learning techniques Question 13: The following teaching-learning techniques are used in the course book Please tick the appropriate boxes: 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neutral 2=disagree Teaching and learning techniques 1=strongly disagree Number of your choice  Individual work  Pair work  Team/group work  Role-play 3.4 Teaching and learning aids Question 14: The following teaching/learning aids are used in the course book Please tick the appropriate boxes: 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neutral Teaching and learning aids 2=disagree 1=strongly disagree Number of your choice Visual aids Posters Projector Page | 70 Section 4: Suggestions for improvement in the teaching and learning with the course book Question 15: what are your suggestions for the improvement of the course book? Please focus on the following aspects: Language level …………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Time allocation within units …………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Content …………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Teaching methodology …………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Support/ guidance for learning …………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your co-operation! Page | 71 APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear students, My name is Tran Thi Thuy I am currently doing my MA thesis on “An Evaluation of the Course-book New English File – Elementary for the First Year Students at University of Finance and Business Administration” This questionnaire is designed to investigate your opinions concerning the course book “New English File-Elementary” in order to improve the quality of future teaching and learning Your co-operation would be much appropriated Please be assured that your names as well as the information given will be kept in confidential I look forward to receiving your replies Thank you for your participation The content is divided into four sections involving in four main areas of concern Section 1: Aims of the course book Section 2: Content of the course book Section 3: Methodology of the course book Section 4: Suggestions for improvement in the teaching and learning with the course book The learners’ information: Gender: Male / Female Years of your learning English  Less than one year  1-5 years  more than years Section 1: Aims of the course book “New English File-Elementary” Question 1: For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent of your agreement or disagreement by ticking the most suitable choice on the following scales: = strongly agree 4=agree = neutrual 2=disagree 1=strongly disagree Statement Number of choice 1 The course book improves your English grammar in a range of everyday social contexts The course book developsyour speaking, listening skills The course book developsyour reading and writing skills The course book provides you with the opportunities to practice spoken language in everyday situation Page | 72 The course book provides you with general perspective of communicative culture and soft skills in communicating with foreigners, team/group work skills as well The course book develops your pronunciation Section 2: Content of the course book 2.1 Level of difficulty Question Please determine the extent of overall difficulty level items by ticking the most suitable choice on the following scales: 5=very difficult 4=difficult Items 3=neutral 2=not very difficult 1=easy Number of choice Grammar structures Vocabulary Speaking practice Listening practice Reading practice Writing practice 2.2 Language points and skills Queation 3: Please give your opinions about the amount of language points covered in the course book? Language points A lot Adequate Not much Not at all Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation 2.3 Skills Page | 73 Question 4: Please give your opinions about the propotion of work on each skill designed in the course book? Please tick the appropiate boxes: Macro-skills A lot Adequate Not much Not at all Speaking Listening Reading Writing Question 5: The course book helps the learners improve different speaking skills  5=strongly  4=agree  3=neutral 2=disagree  1=strongly agree disagree Question 6: The course book helps the learners improve different listening skills  5=strongly  4=agree  3=neutral 2=disagree  1=strongly agree disagree Question 7: The course book helps the learners develop different reading skills  5=strongly  4=agree  3=neutral 2=disagree  1=strongly agree disagree Question 8: The course book helps the learners develop writing skills  5=strongly  4=agree  3=neutral 2=disagree  1=strongly agree disagree Question 9: The topics introduced in the material were familiar to your knowledge level  5=strongly  4=agree  3=neutral 2=disagree  1=strongly agree disagree Section 3: Methodology of the course book 3.1 Exercises/ tasks Question 10: Does the material provide youwith the tasks/ activities of language points below? Please tick the appropriate boxes: 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neutral 2=disagree Kinds of tasks/ exercises of the language points 1=strongly disagree Number of choice Giving the right tense of verbs Page | 74 Rearranging the words orders Gap-filling Changing the word form Using grammar points to practice speaking Read sounds and words aloud Reading sentences with suitable innotation Queation 11: Does the course book provide you with the tasks/activities of skills below? Please tick the appropriate boxes 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neutral Skills Kinds of tasks/ exercises of the language skills 2=disagree 1=strongly disagree Number of choice Speaking Role-play the dialogue making an interview making a description Listening Multiple choice gap-filling sentence completion completing the chart True/Fale Reading Multiple choice gap-filling sentence completion completing the chart True/Fale Writing Answering the questions Writing simple sentences and then making complex and compond sentences Practising types of task writing Page | 75 3.2 Guidance for doing the types of tasks Question 12: For each of the statement below, please indicate your opinion by ticking the number of your choice 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neutral 2=disagree 1=strongly disagree Statements Number of your choice When practicing language points, the students practice individually then work in pairs and in groups When practicing speaking tasks, the students practice individually then work in pairs and/or in groups When practicing listening tasks, the students practice individually then work in pairs and/or in groups When practicing reading tasks, the students practice individually then work in pairs and/or in groups When practicing writing tasks, the students practice individually then work in pairs and/or in groups Students self-study four skills 3.5 Teaching and learning techniques Question 13: The following teaching-learning techniques are used in the course book Please tick the appropriate boxes: 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neutral 2=disagree 1=strongly disagree Teaching and learning techniques Number of your choice Individual work Pair work Team/group work Page | 76 Role-play 3.6 Teaching and learning aids Question 14: The following teaching/learning aids are used in the course book Please tick the appropriate boxes: 5=strongly agree 4=agree 3=neutral 2=disagree 1=strongly disagree Teaching and learning aids Number of your choice Visual aids Posters Projector Section 4: Suggestions for improvement in the teaching and learning with the course book Question 15: what are your suggestions for improvement the course book? Please focus on the following aspects: Language level ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Time allocation within units ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Content ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Teaching methodology ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Support/ guidance for learning ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your co-operation! Page | 77 APPENDIX 6: KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN HỌC VIÊN Các bạn học viên thân mến! Tên Trần Thị Thủy, làm luận văn với đề tài “Đánh giá giáo trình “New English File – Elementary” dùng cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ Trường Đại Học Tài Chính Quản Trị Kinh Doanh” Nhằm cải thiện chất lượng dạy học, muốn lắng nghe ý kiến bạn giáo trình New English File-Elementary Chúng tơi đánh giá cao đóng góp bạn Chúng tơi khẳng định thông tin mà bạn cung cấp giữ kín nhằm mục đích phục vụ cho nghiên cứu Chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! Phiếu khảo sát chia làm phần chính: Phần 1: Mục tiêu tài liệu Phần 2: Vể nội dung tài liệu Phần 3: Phương pháp dạy học Phần 4: Gợi ý cho việc cải thiện chất lượng dạy học giáo trình Hãy điền thơng tin cá nhân bạn vào bảng đây: Giới tính: Nam/ Nữ Số năm học tiếng anh trước học giáo trình  Dưới năm  Từ đến năm  Trên năm Phần 1: Mục tiêu tài liệu Câu hỏi 1: Hãy nêu ý kiến bạn mức độ đồng ý hay không đồng ý đánh giá sau tài liệu cách đánh dấu vào số điểm thích hợp 5= hồn tồn đồng ý 4=đồng ý 3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý 1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Page | 78 Đánh giá Số điểm Giáo trình cung cấp cho học viên cấu trúc ngữ pháp từ vựng thơng dụng giúp học viên giao tiếp tiếng Anh tình xã hội hàng ngày Giáo trình giúp học viên phát triển kỹ nói nghe Giáo trình giúp học viên phát triển kỹ đọc viết 10 Giáo trình giúp cung cấp nhiều hội thực hành nói 11 Giáo trình giúp học viên mở rộng kiến thức văn hóa giao tiếp, kỹ giao tiếp kỹ làm việc theo nhóm 12 Giáo trình giúp học viên cải thiện khả phát âm Phần 2: Nội dung tài liệu 2.1 Độ khó Câu hỏi 2: Hãy nêu ý kiến bạn độ khó thành phần nội dung tài liệu cách đánh dấu vào số điểm thích hợp dƣới 5=rất khó 4=khó 3=trung bình Các mục 2=khơng khó 1=dễ Số điểm Cấu trúc ngữ pháp Từ vựng Các tập thực hành nói Các tập thực hành nghe Các tập thực hành đọc Các tập thực hành viết 2.2 Đặc điểm ngôn ngữ kỹ Câu hỏi 3: Bạn nghĩ nhƣ khối lƣợng đặc điểm ngơn ngữ có giáo trình Page | 79 Đặc điểm ngôn ngữ Nhiều Vừa đủ Khơng nhiều Khơng có Ngữ pháp Từ vựng Phát âm 2.3 Kỹ Câu hỏi 4: Bạn nghĩ nhƣ tỉ lệ kỹ giáo trình Kỹ Nhiều Vừa đủ Khơng Khơng có nhiều Nói Nghe Đọc Viết Câu hỏi 5: Giáo trình giúp học viên pháp triển kỹ nói  5=hồn tồn  4=đồng ý  3=trung lập 2=không đồng ý đồng ý Câu hỏi 6: Giáo trình giúp học viên pháp triển kỹ nghe  1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý  5=hoàn toàn  4=đồng ý  3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý đồng ý Câu hỏi 7: Giáo trình giúp học viên pháp triển kỹ đọc  1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý  5=hồn tồn  4=đồng ý  3=trung lập 2=không đồng ý đồng ý Câu hỏi 8: Giáo trình giúp học viên pháp triển kỹ viết  1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý  5=hồn tồn  4=đồng ý  3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý  1=hồn tồn đồng ý khơng đồng ý Câu hỏi 9: Các chủ đề giáo trình quen thuộc với mức độ kiến thức bạn  5=hoàn toàn đồng ý  4=đồng ý  3=trung lập 2=không đồng ý  1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Phần 3: Phƣơng pháp dạy học Page | 80 3.1 Các dạng tập Câu hỏi 10: Giáo trình cung cấp dạng tập đặc điểm ngôn ngữ dƣới đây? 5= hoàn toàn đồng ý 4=đồng ý 3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý 1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Các dạng tập đặc điểm ngôn ngữ Số điểm Chia dạng động từ Sắp xếp từ thành câu có nghĩa Điền từ Cho dạng từ Sử dụng điểm ngữ pháp vừa học để thực hành nói Đọc to âm từ Đọc câu với ngữ điệu phù hợp Câu hỏi 11: Giáo trình cung cấp dạng tập kỹ 5= hoàn toàn đồng ý 4=đồng ý 3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý 1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Kỹ Dạng tập thực hành Số điểm Kỹ Đóng vai đoạn hội thoại nói Phỏng vấn Miêu tả Kỹ Chọn đáp án nghe Điền từ Hoàn thành câu Hoàn thành bảng biểu Chọn / sai Page | 81 Kỹ Chọn đáp án đọc Điền từ Hoàn thành câu Hoàn thành bảng biểu Chọn / sai Writing Trả lời câu hỏi Thực hành viết câu đơn, sau đến viết câu ghép câu phức Thực hành dạng viết 3.2 Chỉ dẫn tập thực hành Câu hỏi 12: Hãy nêu ý kiến bạn nhận xét sau cách lựa chọn điểm thích hợp 5= hồn tồn đồng ý 4=đồng ý 3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý 1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Nhận xét Số điểm Khi thực hành điểm ngôn ngữ, học viên tự luyện mình, tiếp luyện theo cặp, theo nhóm Khi thực hành nói, học viên tự luyện mình, tiếp luyện theo cặp, theo nhóm Khi thực hành nghe, học viên tự luyện mình, tiếp luyện theo cặp, theo nhóm Khi thực hành đọc, học viên tự luyện mình, tiếp luyện theo cặp, theo nhóm Khi thực hành viết, học viên tự luyện mình, tiếp luyện theo cặp, theo nhóm Học viên tự luyện tập kỹ Page | 82 3.3 Phƣơng pháp giảng dạy học tập Câu hỏi 13: Hãy nêu ý kiến bạn phƣơng pháp giảng dạy học tập dƣới cách lựa chọn số điểm thích hợp 5= hồn tồn đồng ý 4=đồng ý 3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý 1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Phƣơng pháp giảng dạy học tập Số điểm Hoạt động cá nhân Hoạt động theo cặp Hoạt động theo nhóm Hoạt động đóng vai 3.4 Công cụ hỗ trợ giảng dạy học tập Câu hỏi 14: Hãy nêu ý kiến bạn công cụ hỗ trợ giảng dạy học tập dƣới cách lựa chọn số điểm thích hợp 5= hoàn toàn đồng ý 4=đồng ý 3=trung lập 2=khơng đồng ý 1=hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Cơng cụ hỗ trợ giảng dạy học tập Số điểm Cơng cụ trực quan Áp phích Máy chiếu Phần 4: Những gợi ý cho việc cải thiện chất lƣợng dạy học với giáo trình Câu hỏi 15: Hãy nêu gợi ý bạn nhằm cải thiện chất lƣợng dạy học với giáo trình theo nội dung dƣới Trình độ ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Page | 83 Sự phân bố thời gian ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Nội dung ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Phương pháp dạy ………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Hỗ trợ/ hướng dẫn học ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Page | 84 ... third year that the course book ? ?New English file - Elementary? ?? has been used at the University of Finance and Business Administration The material is approved and accepted as an official course book. .. course book ? ?New English file - Elementary? ?? used in the basis communication course for the first year students at the University of Finance and Business Administration This book is used in their first. .. methodology for the first year students at the University of Finance and Business Administration? SCOPE OF THE STUDY Within the scope of an M.A thesis, this research paper focuses on evaluating the course