Teachers’ evaluation of the textbook the case of english for law enforcement textbook at a police school in vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐINH THI ̣PHƢƠNG THANH TEACHERS’ EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK: THE CASE OF “ENGLISH FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT” TEXTBOOK AT A POLICE SCHOOL IN VIETNAM Đánh giá của giáo viên về giáo trin ̀ h “English for Law Enforcement” ta ̣i mô ̣t trƣờng cảnh sát ở Việt Nam M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐINH THI ̣PHƢƠNG THANH TEACHERS’ EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK: THE CASE OF “ENGLISH FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT” TEXTBOOK AT A POLICE SCHOOL IN VIETNAM Đánh giá của giáo viên về giáo trin ̀ h “English for Law Enforcement” ta ̣i mô ̣t trƣờng cảnh sát ở Việt Nam M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh HANOI – 2017 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I, hereby, the study reported here was conducted by myself and it has never been published before Any idea by other scholars and researchers has been carefully cited Hanoi, 2017 Signature Đinh Thị Phƣơng Thanh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Canh, my supervisor, for his considerate guidance and enthusiastic assistance in the process of working on the thesis Particularly, what I am really impressed by is his ceaseless dedication, kindness, patience and great knowledge during a period of our joint cooperation Indeed, but for his kind help, I would not complete my thesis successfully The next people who I am quite grateful to refer to the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi Thanks to their sincere willingness and available support, I am really able to make the fulfillment of my thesis at its best My special thanks are given to all the teaching staffs in general and the English Group in particular from the Department of Foreign Languages, the People‟s Police Academy Without their kind help, I would not be able to place the focus on doing research in my thesis or more particularly, to have enough necessary questionnaire and interview data This is regarded as a wonderful opportunity to convey my best regards to my faithful friends for their unconditional love and encouragement in need of overcoming unexpected hardships or troublesome difficulties unfortunately incurred on the road to the completion of the thesis from beginning to end Last but not least, I would love to dedicate my profound gratitude to my family for their endless love and advocacy in my work towards my master degree Their pride and passion is that their children can enjoy the possibly best university education system with high achievements, regardless of any unexpectedly difficult circumstances ii ABSTRACT It is widely accepted that a textbook is considered an essential component of the ESL/EFL classroom Even, in advanced society, regardless of further access to computer-assisted language approaches in different forms, its role in ESL/EFL classrooms remains unchangeable Textbook evaluation, therefore, is of utmost importance in order that its pedagogical contribution to the teaching and learning process can be assured In a sense, textbook evaluation can partly contribute to grasping characteristics of such textbook, like strengths and weaknesses or limitations From those discoveries, all relevant entities (especially teachers who are directly involved in teaching textbooks to be evaluated) will have a good opportunity to review such coursebooks and then possibly think twice about making potential revisions or modifications, if necessary, in the approaching time “The process of materials evaluation can be seen as a way of developing our understanding of the ways in which it works and, in doing so, of contributing to both acquisition theory and pedagogic practices It can also be seen as one way of carrying out an action research”, said Hutchinson (1998) This study is considered a partial contribution to the domain of textbook evaluation Its core aim is to give teachers‟ view on the ESP textbook, English for Law Enforcement, by means of addressing two research questions: (1) To what extent teachers differ in their evaluation of the textbook?, and (2) What are the opinions of teachers about their evaluation of the textbook? Such research instruments as a questionnaire and an e-mail interview were conducted 20 teachers got involved in making responses to the research questions The acquired findings from teachers‟ views seemed to be relatively somewhat variable It is appeared that there existed more difference in the responses given by teachers to the questionnaire and interview questions when evaluating this ESP coursebook This may make readers feel a bit aware of an implicit thing that materials evaluation and materials development should be one of the core components of teacher education programs due to the fact that classroom teachers rarely read the professional literature iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vi LIST OF TABLES vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aim of the study Significance of the study .2 Method of the study .3 Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 English for Specific Purposes 1.1.1 Definitions of ESP 1.1.2 Characteristics of ESP .5 1.2 Coursebooks .6 1.2.1 Definitions of Coursebooks .6 1.2.2 Roles of Coursebooks 1.3 Coursebook Evaluation .8 1.3.2 Importance of Coursebook Evaluation 1.3.3 Approaches of Coursebook Evaluation 1.3.4 Methods of Coursebook Evaluation 10 1.3.5 Criteria of Coursebook Evaluation .12 1.3.6 Factors affecting teachers’ coursebook evaluation 13 iv 1.3.7 Empirical Studies on Coursebook Evaluation .14 1.4 Teachers‟ evaluation of coursebooks .15 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17 2.1 Backgrounds 17 2.2 Goals and Objectives of the ESP coursebook 18 2.3 Descriptions of the ESP coursebook 20 2.4 Research questions 22 2.5 Research approaches .22 2.6 Participants .22 2.7 Instruments .24 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 27 3.1 Analysis of Questionnaire Data 27 3.2 Analysis of Interview Data .31 3.3 Comparison of Questionnaire and Interview Data 45 PART C: CONCLUSION 46 Summary of the findings 46 Suggestions for further study .49 REFERENCES 51 APPENDIX A: Evaluation Questionnaire I APPENDIX B: Interview Questions IV v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English : as a Foreign Language ELE English : for Law Enforcement ELT English : Language Teaching ESL English : as a Second Language ESP English : for Specific Purposes PPA People‟s : Police Academy ULIS University : of Languages and International Studies VNUH Vietnam : National University, Hanoi vi LIST OF TABLES Table : Information on the subject group Table : Findings on teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP coursebook Table : Advantages of the ESP coursebook mentioned by the participants vii PART A: INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces the study with a focus on (1) The Rationale, (2) The Aims of the study, (3) The Significance of the study, (4) Methods of the study, (5) The Scope of the study, and (6)The Design of the study Rationale In theory or practice, ELT materials in general and coursebooks in particular seem to be identified as, on the one hand tool and tutor, on the other hand guidebook and gauge It is a fact that coursebooks regarded as the most useful teaching and learning materials offer considerable advantages for both students and teachers when they are being used in ESL/EFL classrooms Not only coursebooks provide a framework for teachers achieving the aims and objectives of the course, but they are also served as a guide to teachers when conducting lessons As for learners, a textbook truly affects their attitudes and performance to the lesson throughout the course It is evident that once when learners are fond of their textbooks, will they enjoy the course as well and turn into active participants to the lesson Therefore, they may be considered “the visible heart of any ELT program”, Sheldon (1988:237) Needless to say, it is obvious that Vietnam is rated as not an exception which means coursebooks are seen as a staple in almost every EFL class in the Vietnamese context In current hi-technology society, regardless of the exponential increase in computer-assisted language approaches in various forms, like search engines, the role of coursebooks in ESL/EFL classrooms remains unchangeable; however, it is rather difficult to possibly guess their position in the upcoming time This is to say, if both learners and teachers showed a total disregard for coursebooks, there could exist a high possibility that they would disappear Accordingly, it is really essential for teachers to be well-equipped with the many assessment tools to evaluate materials as accurately as possible The core purpose for such evaluation is to, in a way, assert that those materials are recognized as legally-licensed or commonlycirculated evaluable sources with the highest quality possible which are really quite reading texts or articles in connection with a plenty of illustrative images or pictures for their students‟ performance Teacher 1, 7, 10 &15 Teacher 2&9 Teacher : : : Teacher : Teacher 12 : Teacher 14 : Teacher 17 : Teacher 19 : I can improve my vocabulary (related to police & public security) I can broaden my knowledge about different types of police job (criminal investigation, drugs, civil disorder, etc.) Increase specialized English vocabularies concerning police of some nations Compare with the laws of Vietnam Teachers can have more knowledge relating to law as well as students' major On the basis of what have learnt from the book, teachers can provide or design a better lesson plan to help learners to be easier to grasp the ideas Moreover, through this book, teachers can utilize the current news, situation to apply on the lesson, making lesson more interesting and practical The coursebook creates favorable conditions for my teaching of specialized knowledge related to laws and police Develop specialized terminologies Some knowledge from the coursebook has been applied to designing certain lessons I can improve my knowledge of new vocabulary about police and their jobs Strengthen teachers' terminologies in policing field Adapt a wide range of vocabulary in police training and law enforcement Learn many ways to design a various targeted activities on one topic Practical use of law enforcement contexts It provides lectures an opportunity to master the English law enforcement Improve the understanding about law enforcement in some real situations Enrich the vocabulary about law enforcement Practical use of a range of standard law enforcement contexts Given the other aspect, the coursebook is also considered an evaluable resource for most teachers to improve skills, comprising language (listening, speaking, reading and writing), adaptation and presentation that can deal with the many unexpected problems such as domestic abuses, drug abuse (overdose), crime scene investigation and so on Particularly, when it comes to the development of language skills, it is not difficult to assert that some teachers have good conditions to a lot of practice, resulting in their familiar attitudes or reactions with various accents from many countries or regions in the listening process (listening skills), or their accumulation of the many useful vocabulary and knowledge for particular 43 purposes through a mass of reading texts (reading skills), or their improvement in writing a crime report or a brief description of any criminal cases (writing skills) or their know how to ask for in some interrogations Also, their presentation skills can be promoted via discussions of pros and cons of every specific theme in each unit, whereas their adaptation skills can upgraded by means of exposing to more plentiful activities in different situations or contexts Apart from that, on the basis of what have learnt from the book (for instance, specialized vocabulary or knowledge of law enforcement in several real situations), teachers can provide or design a better lesson plan to help learners to be easier to grasp the ideas Moreover, through this book, teachers can utilize the current news, situation to apply on the lesson, integrate (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in lessons, making lesson more interesting and practical Teacher : - Upgrade listening skills: Good for practice with various accents from many countries, regions - Upgrade reading comprehension: Reading texts are all given of useful vocabularies and great knowledge - Upgrade group presentation skill: Discussion of pros and cons in each unit Teacher : It helps me to integrate (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in lessons and make lessons more interesting Teacher 13 : For skills: can deal with some popular problems happen daily such as domestic abuses, drug abuse (overdose), crime scene investigation, ect… Teacher 14 : - Improve teachers' adaptation skills (as they have to create more activities) Teacher 15 : Upgrade teaching skills for specialized subjects Considering the analysis of interview data, it is also recognized that there existed variations in the ideas given by teachers on certain aspects of the evaluation of this ESP coursebook This is to say, the lack of consistence in their answers to those interview questions was recorded in such a relatively clear way In short, the said findings partly contributes to giving reasonable answers to two research questions as stated in this paper 44 3.3 Comparison of Questionnaire and Interview Data Given the things acquired from the questionnaire and interview data as stated above, it may be partly recognized that readers experienced relatively numerous differences in the involved teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP coursebook In this paper, on the one hand, there recorded only a few similarities in the conceptions of the involved participants that the ESP coursebook is likely to achieve the course objectives (e.g its possession of a great number of specialized English vocabularies and knowledge of law and police with a variety of themes and contents), to satisfy learners‟ learning needs and to be appropriate to teaching context On the other hand, readers witnessed many responses given by the teachers to almost all of their answers that seemed really quite differential Apparently, the questionnaire referred to relatively comprehensive aspects, whereas their replies to the interview questions were more specific and more detailed Nonetheless, given the overall outlook from teachers‟ evaluation, this ESP coursebook really considered a good learning material with its receipt of more positive feedback has surpassed the raised negative evaluations 45 PART C: CONCLUSION It is widely held that evaluation in general and materials evaluation in particular is of very important in language teaching In order to know if any materials are really seen as reasonable or evaluable sources, materials evaluation is quite necessary and indispensable Given the pressing importance of materials evaluation, this study contributed as a referential source was carried out with an intent to identify what teachers thought of the applied ESP coursebook “English for Law Enforcement” To be more specific, it is essential to give clear answers to two research questions: (1) To what extent teachers differ in their evaluation of the textbook? and (2) What are the opinions of teachers about their evaluation of the textbook? Obviously, the previous chapter provides a detailed picture of actual responses to the above-mentioned research questions Summary of the findings When it comes to the obtained findings by way of questionnaire, it may be concluded that the ESP coursebook has been evaluated as a source of “Good” or even “Very good” learning materials The most striking feature which makes a strong impression on teachers is that the ESP coursebook is likely to achieve the course objectives (e.g supplying a great number of professional vocabularies and structures that are really essential for their upcoming job) The following characteristics highly appreciated by the involved teachers consist of (i) providing good opportunities for creative use of English and for discoveries about how English is used, (ii) providing achievable challenges to learners and exposure to English in authentic use, (iii) satisfying learners‟ learning needs and (iv) being appropriate to teaching context Beside those good evaluations, it can be still recognized that the ESP coursebook has been actually unable to help learners take advantage of the opportunities for their out-of-class autonomous learning as well as increase their exposure to English meaningfully Through the questionnaire data, the possible answer for the first research question is that readers witnessed the 46 involved teachers‟ different selections to every self-evaluation criterion on the basis of the 5-point Likert scale According to the attained findings via e-mail interviews, it can be recognized that almost all of the participants have highlighted their good evaluation when discussing the applied ESP coursebook The core reason for this is that it refers to main contents concerning laws and police (specifically its possession of a great number of specialized English vocabularies and knowledge of law and police with a variety of themes and contents) that is in accordance with students‟ major In a sense, it may be also rated as an evaluable source which is home to specialized information and knowledge in connection with many practical contexts and students‟ qualifications and needs Apart from their strong perspectives, some minor limitations/weaknesses or inappropriate characteristics were recorded Simultaneously, a number of recommended measures were taken to overcome those shortcomings and deal with inappropriate characteristics Typically, the principal downside is that most contents (e.g terminologies or knowledge regarding laws and police) are centered upon the rules and regulations of foreign laws (primarily American laws), which are not often applied in Vietnam The best way to solve this matter is that more additional tasks or activities happening in Vietnam-based real situations or contexts associated with the laws of Vietnam should be prepared or designed by teachers Nonetheless, given the overall outlook from teachers‟ evaluation, the ESP coursebook really considered a good learning material with its receipt of more positive feedback Accordingly, the analysis of the acquired interview data made a partial contribution to support readers of finding out the possible answer to the second research question On the one hand, in brief, with two these research instruments, clear answers to the said questions are given that partially contributes to readers‟ further understanding of evaluation criteria and methods of evaluation to be applied to this study On the other hand, the very noticeable thing as recognized through this study refers to factual assumptions of strengths and weaknesses recorded from the work 47 of teachers‟ coursebook evaluation The acknowledged strengths are that all the participants are acted as English teachers who have undergone at least one-year teaching experience with this ESP coursebook at the PPA and have had fundamental knowledge or understanding of the specialized domains regarding laws and police To a certain extent, it is such strengths that made participants give a little bit positively similar reaction to questionnaire and interview questions The remarkable example for this is that the majority of the participants agreed on the idea that the ESP coursebook seems quite suitable for their students‟ major with the main reason that it refers to the contents (e.g vocabulary or knowledge) regarding laws and police By contrast, it appears that the findings revealed an evident fact that every teacher offered their different views on many aspects in the process of the evaluation This leads to the clear result that the data collected from most of the participants sounded somewhat or even very variable and a little bit coincident The prominent evidence for this assumption is that the many various answers were provided sometimes with or even without equivalence when being asked for the same criteria or interview question It is regarded as one of the major reasons why the researcher had trouble in synthesizing and comparing acquired data for an eventual purpose of the assistance of probably successful analysis Consequently, the researcher found it hard to come to specific or exact conclusions to the honest thinking of such participants about this ESP coursebook Accordingly, maybe it is because of this reason that makes you realize that the acquired findings from teachers‟ views seemed to be relatively somewhat variable It is appeared that there existed differences in the responses given by teachers to questionnaires and interview questions when evaluating this ESP coursebook The potential cause for this unexpected status may be due to the fact that the participants have been lacking in practical experience, knowledge or competence in coursebook evaluation Furthermore, in order to succeed in getting teachers‟ real perceptions, it can be recommended that teachers ought to actively have much access to extensive readings concerning coursebook evaluation from a wide range of evaluable and 48 reliable sources (like articles or studies officially released on TESOL or Asian EFL Journals) with an intent to enhance knowledge of coursebook evaluation Also, it is necessary to request teachers to participate in full-time or short-time workshops or conferences nationwide and worldwide with a view to perceiving the practical sharing or experience from the whole stakeholders The other good thing is that it will be a wonderful opportunity for teachers to upgrade their competence in coursebook evaluation by means of their involvement in short-time or even longtime course in coursebook evaluation Implications for teacher education There seems little doubt that much of what has been written about the role of textbooks and materials, the selection and evaluation of the materials has not been read by classroom teachers Crookes and Arakaki (1999) conclude their small-scale study of teachers in the United States that “those privileged to be impositions in which they can investigate the extent to which they have grounds for optimism concerning the uptake of their work among the population it is presumably intended to benefit” might find it enlightening to undertake such research” (p 8) If it is the case that classroom teachers rarely read the professional literature, the findings of this study strengthens the argument that materials evaluation and materials development should be one of the core components of teacher education programs Apart from the forgoing things, a number of suggestions as stated below that will need to be further studied in the upcoming time Suggestions for further study In modern society, materials evaluation is generally an interesting research domain that contains a wide range of various aspects in different backgrounds to be discovered or further studied It is evident that the aspect to be studied herein is regarded as a typical example of such domain The things stated in this thesis may be used as a referential source to make better modifications or even gauge other relevant coursebooks in different contexts in the approaching phases Nevertheless, there have existed a number of limitations in this study to be tackled later The 49 typical examples consist of limited numbers of participants, participants‟ limited practical teaching experience with this ESP coursebook and participants‟ lack of knowledge or experience in coursebook evaluation Therefore, further studies on teachers‟ evaluation of coursebooks (e.g teachers‟ evaluation of this ESP coursebook in a further stage by way of better techniques of in-depth analysis or even expansion of evaluation subjects or scopes) will hopefully be made to have an in-depth analysis or acquire better evaluation of materials and especially have teacher development regarding coursebook evaluation Based on the acquired findings of the future studies, teachers will be able to exploit the textbooks and learning materials effectively for their students‟ learning The understandings of teachers‟ evaluation of textbooks will contribute to both pre-service and in-service teacher education 50 REFERENCES Allwright, R.L (1981), What we want teaching materials for?, ELT Journal, 36 (1), 5-18 Ansary, H & Babaii, E (2002), Universal characteristics of EFL/ESL textbooks: A step towards systematic textbook evaluation, The Internet TESL Journal, 8(2), http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ansary-Textbooks/ Carter, D.1983 Some propositions about ESP [J] The ESP Journal 2:131-137 Crookes, G & Arakaki,L (1999), Teaching idea sources and work conditions in an ESL program, TESOL Journal, 9(1), 15-19 Cunningsworth, A (1995), Choosing Your Coursebook, Oxford: MacMillan Heinemann Dudley – Evans, T & St John, M.J (1998), Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multidisciplinary approach, Cambridge University Press Harmer, J (1996), The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman Hutchinson, T & Waters, A (1987), The Textbook as Agent of Change, ELT Journal, 48(4), 315-328 Hutchinson, T & Torres, E (1994), English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge University Press 10 Litaz, D (2001) Textbook evaluation and ELT management: A South Korean case study Asian EFL Journal http://www.asian-efl- journal.com/Litz_thesis.pdf 11 McDonough, J., & Shaw, C (1997), Materials and methods in ELT, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers 12 McGrath, I (20 05), Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching, Edinburgh University Press 13 Nunan, D (1991), Language Teaching Methodology, London: Prentice Hall International 14 Sheldon, L (1988), Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials, ELT Journal, 42(4), 237-246 51 15 Tomlinson, B (Ed.) (1996), Materials development in language teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 16 Tucker, C A (1975), Evaluating beginning textbooks, English Teaching Forum, 13, 355-361 17 Ur, P (1996), A course in language teaching: Practice & Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 18 Hoàng Văn Vân, Teachers‟ evaluation of primary English textbooks for Vietnamese schools developed under the National Foreign Language 2020 Project: A preliminary internal survey, VNU Journal of Science: Education Research, Vol 31, No (2015) 1-15 19 Williams, D (1983) Developing criteria for textbook evaluation, ELT journal, 37(3), 251-255 52 APPENDIX A: Evaluation Questionnaire The People’s Police Academy Department of Foreign Languages TEACHERS’ EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK: THE CASE OF “ENGLISH FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT” TEXTBOOK AT A POLICE SCHOOL IN VIETNAM QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Colleagues, First of all, I would like to convey my best regards to you and your esteemed Department By this writing, I would be kindly grateful if I could ask for your assistance on the following matter As far as you are concerned, I am now in the process of collecting data served for my on-going dissertation, named “Teachers’ evaluation of the textbook: The case of “English for Law Enforcement” textbook at a Police School in Vietnam” One of the most important research instruments I opted for is the utilization of an evaluation checklist in the form of a Questionnaire designed for only teachers This questionnaire, which is constructed to acknowledge teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP course book (called “English for Law Enforcement”), consists of a number of queries as listed below to be responded from your side Your assistance is, therefore, of very significance in the fulfillment of my dissertation as scheduled This is to say, I would be very pleased if you could express your willingness to spend some of your evaluable time making responses to such queries based on my specific instructions herein To begin with, you will have to make your reply to some personal particulars: Gender: male □ female □ Teaching experience: years Next, you will be required to have a careful look at the queries and then make your decisive choice for each item by placing “X or √” onto one of the ordinal numbers within 1-5 It is noted that each ordinal number shows different evaluation rates, as specifically follows: (Excellent = 1, Very good = 2, Good = 3, Not very good = 4, Not good = 5) And another notable thing is that you are suggested to give your comments of or support particular examples for such response Failure for this, there is a highly likelihood that I will be able to get trouble in analyzing data, consequently leading to achieving inaccurate or untrue results Accordingly, your honest reaction towards the queries will be highly appreciated To sum up, I would kindly express my profound thanks for your kind assistance and cooperation on this matter I QUESTIONNAIRE Gender: male □ female □ Teaching experience: years (Excellent = 1, Very good = 2, Good = 3, Not very good = 4, Not good = 5) Criteria To what extent does the textbook provide exposure to English in authentic use? Sách giáo khoa hiện thầy, cô sử dụng cung cấp đủ ngữ liệu cho học sinh sử dụng tiếng Anh tự nhiên To what extent is the exposure to English in use likely to be meaningful to your learners? Ngôn ngữ sách giáo khoa giúp học sinh sử dụng để giao tiếp tự nhiên sống To what extent are the texts and activities likely to interest your learners? Các đọc hoạt động sách giáo khoa gây hứng thú cho ngƣời học To what extent are the activities likely to provide achievable challenges to your learners? Các hoạt động sách giáo khoa khó với ngƣời học nhƣng cố gắng chút họ làm đƣợc To what extent the activities provide opportunities for your learners to make discoveries about how English is used? Các hoạt động sách giáo khoa giúp ngƣời học tự tìm cách sử dụng tiếng Anh giao tiếp □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ II Comments & Examples To what extent the activities provide opportunities for creative use of English? Các hoạt động sách giáo khoa giúp học sinh sử dụng tiếng Anh cách sáng tạo To what extent does the textbook help your learners to make use of the opportunities to learn outside the classroom? Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô sử dụng giúp học sinh tự học thêm ở nhà To what extent is the textbook likely to help your learners achieve the course objectives? Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô sử dụng giúp học sinh đạt đƣợc mục tiêu khóa học To what extent is the textbook likely to meet your learners‟ learning needs? Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô sử dụng đáp ứng đƣợc nhu cầu học tiếng Anh ngƣời học 10 To what extent is the textbook appropriate to your teaching context? Sách giáo khoa thầy, cô sử dụng phù hợp với điều kiện giảng dạy nhà trƣờng □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ That is the End of the Questionnaire THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND ASSISTANCE! III APPENDIX B: Interview Questions The People’s Police Academy Department of Foreign Languages TEACHERS’ EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK: THE CASE OF “ENGLISH FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT” TEXTBOOK AT A POLICE SCHOOL IN VIETNAM INTERVIEW Dear Colleagues, First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you and your esteemed Department Based on this document, I would hereby like to refer to the following matter As stated in the Appendix I, it can be realized that “Questionnaire” regarded as one of the most fundamental research instruments makes a partial contribution to my current thesis, titled “Teachers’ evaluation of the textbook: The case of “English for Law Enforcement” textbook at a Police School in Vietnam” Nevertheless, in order to avoid any subjective or objective assessments (e.g participants‟ bias or subjective perceptions in reply to such questionnaire), I have made up my mind to gather additional data by means of another effective research instrument (specifically so-called “E-mail Interview”) Like the questionnaire, the e-mail interview is also designed for only teachers that comprise some major questions as listed below In support of this work, your enthusiastic involvement plays a vital role in completing such interview questions successfully Below is a number of suggested interview questions concerning teachers‟ evaluation of the ESP course book “English for Law Enforcement” for your consideration and response Gender: male □ female □ (Giới tính: Nam/Nữ) How many teaching experience years have you had in this course book? (Thầy, có năm kinh nghiệm giảng dạy sách này?) Can you please tell me a bit about its advantages? What about limitations/weaknesses and inappropriate characteristics? (Cuốn sách thầy sử dụng có ưu điểm gì? Những hạn chế gì? Những không phù hợp?) Could you give me a number of recommendations of necessary modifications or amendments to enhance those limitations or inappropriate characteristics if you would not mind? (Cuốn sách thầy, sử dụng có cần sửa đổi bổ sung thêm nhằm cải thiện hạn chế khơng phù hợp đó? Please, let me know to what extent it can help teachers upgrade teaching skills or competences? Could you please give me some supporting examples? (Cuốn sách giúp thầy cô nâng cao kỹ giảng dạy mức độ nào? Xin cho ví dụ cụ thể?) In brief, by this writing, I would kindly express my deep thanks for your kind assistance and cooperation on the above-mentioned matter IV INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Gender: male □ female □ (Giới tính: Nam/Nữ) How many teaching experience years have you had in this course book? (Thầy, có năm kinh nghiệm giảng dạy sách này?) ……………………………………………………………………………………… Can you please tell me a bit about its advantages? What about limitations/weaknesses and inappropriate characteristics? (Cuốn sách thầy cô sử dụng có ưu điểm gì? hạn chế gì? khơng phù hợp?) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Could you give me a number of recommendations of necessary modifications or amendments to enhance those limitations or inappropriate characteristics if you would not mind? (Cuốn sách thầy, cô sử dụng có cần sửa đổi bổ sung thêm nhằm cải thiện hạn chế khơng phù hợp đó? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Please, let me know to what extent it can help teachers upgrade teaching skills or competences? Could you please give me some supporting examples? (Cuốn sách giúp thầy cô nâng cao kỹ giảng dạy mức độ nào? Xin cho ví dụ cụ thể?) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… That is the End of the Interview THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND COOPERATION! V ... effect of the materials on the people using them, for example the appeal of the materials to the learners (i.e are the materials attractive?), the validity of the materials (i.e is what the materials... McDonough and Shaw (1993) opt for his own approach by means of a three-stage model, including external evaluation (as macro -evaluation) , internal evaluation (as micro -evaluation) and overall evaluation. .. evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solutions As for the term “Materials Evaluation? ??, Nunan (1998) states that materials evaluation is a process not a final product,