efl teachers’ perceptions of advantages and challenges in applying new english grade 10 at an phuoc high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES IN APPLYING NEW ENGLISH GRADE 10 AT AN PHUOC HIGH SCHOOL A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Submitted by NGUYEN DINH AI KHANH Supervisor: LE THI THANH THU, PhD Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN DINH AI KHANH EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES IN APPLYING NEW ENGLISH GRADE 10 AT AN PHUOC HIGH SCHOOL Major: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES Major code: 60140111 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: LE THI THANH THU, PhD Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Advantages and Challenges in Applying New English Grade 10 at An Phuoc High School” is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 NGUYEN DINH AI KHANH ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Master of Arts in TESOL thesis is the result of a fruitful collaboration of all the people who have kindly contributed with enormous commitment and enthusiasm in my research Without the help of those who supported me at all times and in all possible ways, it would not have been feasible for me to complete my M.A thesis First of all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Le Thi Thanh Thu, Ed.D., whose compassion; encouragement and guidance throughout the research have helped in the completion of this thesis I have truly learned from the excellence of her skills and from her wide experience in research; no words are adequate to describe the extent of my gratitude I am also sincerely grateful to all lecturers of the Open University in Ho Chi Minh City for providing me with invaluable sources of intellectual knowledge during my study there This knowledge was very useful when I conducted this research I owe a great debt of gratitude to the anonymous participants who contributed data to this thesis Without them the data collection for this study could not properly been carried out Last but not least, I would like to express my particular gratitude to my beloved family for their understanding, encouragement, and spiritual support over time and distance iii ABSTRACT The study was conducted to identify the advantages and challenges in applying the New English Grade 10 after two years of pilot implementation at An Phuoc high school in Ninh Thuan province Six EFL teachers at An Phuoc high school reflected their perceptions on the advantages and challenges of the New English Grade 10 via the semi-structured interview with total 40 questions covering different criteria such as aims, attractiveness, language and topics, language skills and language areas, and methodology To the advantages, the book had clear objectives which were relevant to the pre-determined goals of the national ELT curriculum and to the students’ needs It consisted of clear, helpful layout and beautiful visual illustrations Besides, varied, realistic, relevant, interesting and updated topics and texts were also viewed as one good point of the book Furthermore, there was a balanced coverage of language skills and language areas Therewith, the book was learner-centered, providing clear instructions and different strategies and techniques to facilitate students’ learning process To the challenges, the language of the current textbook was insufficiently natural and real and communicative Alongside, pronunciation section lacked phonemic alphabet In addition, the grammar section had low-level contextualization of grammar items, lacked interesting examples, and scarced form and use balance Regarding to speaking section, many speaking tasks failed to reflect students’ interests due to their linguistic accuracy focus; moreover, the model dialogues lacked naturalness Regarding to reading section, some reading texts were not interesting and updated, and free writing opportunities were not encouraged iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………… ii ABTRACT …………………………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………… iv LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………………… vii LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………… viii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………… 1.1 Rationale for the study ……………………………………………… 1.2 Objective of the study ………………………………………………… 1.3 Research questions …………………………………………………… 1.4 Significance of the study …………………………………………… 1.5 Thesis organization …………………………………………………… Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………… 2.1 The concept of textbook ……………………………………………… 2.1.1 Definitions ……………………………………………………… 2.1.2 Functions of textbooks in ELT program………………………… 2.1.3 Possible challenges from textbook……………………………… 2.2 Textbook evaluation………………………………………………… 2.2.1 Definition of textbook evaluation………………………………… 2.2.2 Purposes of textbook evaluation………………………………… 10 2.2.3 Types of textbook evaluation………………………………… … 11 2.2.4 Models of textbook evaluation…………………………………… 12 2.2.4.1 McDonough and Shaw’s model ………………………… 12 2.2.4.2 Ellis’ model …………………………………………… 13 2.2.5 Criteria for textbook evaluation………………………………… 13 v 2.2.5.1 Criteria suggested by Cunningsworth …………………… 13 2.2.5.2 Criteria suggested by Hutchinson and Waters…………… 14 2.2.5.3 Criteria suggested by Nahrkhalaji ………………………… 14 2.2.5.4 Criteria used in the current study ………………………… 15 2.2.6 Adaption after textbook evaluation……………………………… 17 2.3 Previous studies ……………………………………………………… 18 2.3.1 Out of the Vietnamese context ………………………………… 18 2.3.2 In the Vietnamese context ……………………………………… 21 2.3.3 Research gaps …………………………………………………… 23 2.4 Conceptual framework……………………………………………… 24 2.5 Overview of the national curriculum and syllabus for ELT ……… 25 2.6 Chapter summary …………………………………………………… 27 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ………………………………………… 28 3.1 Research setting ……………………………………………………… 28 3.2 Research participants ……………………………………………… 28 3.3 Research design ……………………………………………………… 29 3.4 Research instrument: Interview …………………………………… 31 3.4.1 Description ……………………………………………………… 31 3.4.2 Data collection procedures……………………………………… 34 3.4.3 Data analytical framework ……………………………………… 35 3.5 Chapter summary ………………………………………………….… 35 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS ………………… 36 4.1 Research question …………………………………………… …… 36 4.1.1 Aims ……………………………………………………… …… 37 4.1.2 Attractiveness ……………………………………….…………… 39 4.1.3 Content ………………………………………………… ……… 42 4.1.4 Methodology………………………………………………… … 54 4.2 Research question 2…………………………………………… …… 59 vi 4.3 Chapter summary…………………………………………………… 68 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ………… 69 5.1 Summary of the results ……………………………………………… 69 5.2 Recommendations for teachers……………………………………… 71 5.3 Limitations of the study……………………………………………… 73 5.4 Recommendations for further study ……………………………… 73 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………… 75 APPENDIX 3.1: TEACHER INTERVIEW (ENGLISH VERSION) …… 81 APPENDIX 3.2: TEACHER INTERVIEW (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 84 APPENDIX 3.3: TRANSCRIPTS (ENGLISH VERSION)………………… 87 APPENDIX 3.4: THE TEXTBOOK SAMPLE ……………………………… 106 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework………………………………………………… 25 Figure 3.1: Research procedure ……………………………………………… 29 viii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 2.1: Criteria synthesized from some authors …………………………… 15 Table 3.1: Profiles of the participants ………………………………………… … 29 Table 3.2: Description of the interview content (See Appendices 4.1 and 4.2) 32 Table 3.3: The sequence of the interview sessions ……………………………… 34 Table 4.1: Advantages related to aims of the book …………………………… … 37 Table 4.2: Advantages related to attractiveness of the book ………………… 39 Table 4.3: Advantages related to topics and cultures of the textbook ………… 42 Table 4.4: Advantages related to language areas of the book ……………… 44 Table 4.5: Advantages related to language skills of the book ………………… 48 Table 4.6: Advantages related to methodology of the book …………………… 55 Table 4.7: Challenges related to the language type of the book ……………… 60 Table 4.8: Challenges related to language areas of the book ………………… 61 Table 4.9: Challenges related to language skills of the book …………………… 64 100 M33: Only a few models, but most are not natural Q29 Do the reading tasks have well-determined goals? F26: Yes, they are The reading tasks are set up to develop reading skills F31: Of course The reading tasks help students practice different reading skills F33: Sure They are well-determined as ways to build up reading skills for students F37: Yes, they are I totally agree F40: Yes, they are M33: Yes, they are In fact, the reading tasks are designed to strengthen students’ various reading skills and sub-skills Q30 Do the reading tasks help students develop their reading comprehension skills? F26: Yes, they F31: Yes, they Each task develops specific reading skills for students For example, T/F tasks focus on skimming and scanning skills F33: Yes, they Reading tasks are designed in different types And, these task types help students develop different skills and sub-skills such as summarizing, reading for gist, reading for specific information, etc F37: Yes, they Reading tasks develops several reading comprehension skills such as skimming, scanning, deducing, inferring, note-taking, etc F40: Yes, they For example, reading for details, reading for main ideas, summarizing, and so on M33: Yes, they Some skills are reading for general meaning, reading for specific information, etc 101 Q31 Are the reading texts are up-to-date, interesting and meaningful? F26: No, I not think so F31: No, they are not F33: Yes, they are They are extremely interesting with illustration of visuals F37: Yes, they are They provide a lot of new information, meaningful messages to students F40: No they are not M33: No These texts consist of very old information They are not still updated Q32 Are the length and language of the reading texts suitable to the students’ ability? F26: Yes, they are The language is comprehensible, and the length is moderate, only about 300 words maximum F31: Yes, they are The language is simple and understandable; the text length is modest and suitable to students’ ability F33: Yes, these aspects of the reading texts are suitable to the students’ language ability The texts not include many difficult words, and the length is moderate F37: Yes, they are F40: Yes, they are The language is simple and intelligible, and the length is neither short nor long In general, the reading texts are not too difficult to understand and work out M33: Yes, they are Q33 Do the writing tasks have achievable goals? F26: Yes, they Normally, these writing tasks provide language, and model and then students are encouraged to copy 102 F31: Yes, they Typically, the writing tasks help students to be familiar with writing genres and basic language items F33: Yes, they F37: Yes, they F40: Yes, they Writing tasks have clear goals On the whole, they facilitate students to produce the similar products M33: Yes, they The writing tasks have well-determined and easy goals Indeed, students usually complete controlled tasks of which the instructions and prompts are enough Q34 Do the writing tasks enhance the students’ free writing opportunities? F26: No, they don’t I think that writing tasks only focus on linguistic accuracy instead of idea development F31: No, they don’t Writing tasks primarily help students practice writing in tightly controlled ways F33: No, they don’t, only a few units F37: No, they don’t In reality, the Writing section only provides models which students lean on to produce a similar work F40: No, they don’t Actually, these writing tasks not encourage students to develop ideas In lieu of that, they only spend time doing controlled tasks M33: No, they don’t Q35 Are the writing topics interesting? F26: Yes, they are F31: Yes, they are Topics for writing are varied and relevant to students’ interests 103 F33: Yes, they are F37: Yes, they are Students are exposed to different topics and different writing genres F40: Yes, they are The writing topics are exciting and comprehensible M33: Yes, they are There is a variety of writing topics covered in the textbook Q36 Are the writing tasks suitable in terms of length and amount of guidance? F26: Yes, they are The length is sensible, only around 100 words Each task includes enough prompts F31: Yes, they are Students are exposed to a model with the total number of 100 words maximum F33: Yes, they are The length of writing paragraph is 100 words It is very feasible to students The tasks consist of many suggested prompts and samples F37: Yes, they are F40: Yes, they are Writing tasks contain many prompts and clear instructions, and students are responsible for imitating the models M33: Yes, they are Q37 What approach/ approaches to language learning are taken by the book? F26: The book is taught by Present-Practice-Production F31: I think that Present-Practice-Production approach F33: The approach of the book is Present-Practice-Production, which provides not only knowledge of language but also opportunities to use language F37: Present-Practice-Production approach, which is suitable to high school students’ cognitive and linguistic levels 104 F40: The core approach of this textbook named Present-Practice-Production M33: Present-Practice-Production is the main approach of this book Q38 Is the book learner-centered? F26: Yes, it is F31: Yes, it is The book provides different activities for students such as pair work, group work F33: Yes, it is F37: Yes, it is Several activities are designed for student-student interactions F40: Yes, it is The tasks are designed suitable to different levels of students In other words, both the weaker and the better students are encouraged to contribute to the lessons M33: Yes, it is Q39 How does the book equip techniques or strategies to facilitate the students’ learning? F26: The book equips collaborative learning activities for students F31: Pair work, group work, etc are involved in this book, which can facilitate students’ learning F33: The activities and tasks of the book are ordered from recognition to production levels F37: The book includes a lot of group activities which support students learn English better and easier F40: The book consists of collaborative activities and self-study activities which help students achieve learning outcomes effectively 105 M33: The tasks and exercises are arranged from easy to more difficult, from controlled to freer levels Q40 Are instructions of tasks, activities and exercises enough clear for the students to follow? F26: Yes The instructions are colored and bolded, helping students understand what to be followed F31: Of course The instructions are concise and informative F33: Yes, they are F37: I absolutely agree with this opinion They are really comprehensive and simple F40: Actually, the instructions of task or activities are easy to understand since they are short and full of meaning M33: Yes, they really are 106 APPENDIX 3.4: THE TEXTBOOK SAMPLE 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN DINH AI KHANH EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES IN APPLYING NEW ENGLISH GRADE 10 AT AN PHUOC HIGH. .. implementation at An Phuoc high school in Ninh Thuan province Six EFL teachers at An Phuoc high school reflected their perceptions on the advantages and challenges of the New English Grade 10 via... advantages and challenges in applying the New English Grade 10 after two years of pilot implementation at An Phuoc high school in Ninh Thuan province In specific, based on the An Phuoc high school teachers’