Vietnam National University, Hanoi university of language and international studies department of Postgraduate studies Lê Thị Huệ An evaluation of the Textbook English 11 Taught at Phan Dinh Phung Secondary school in hanoi A case study đánh giá sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 11 dạy Tr-ờng THPT Phan Đình Phùng Hà Nội: Điển cứu Minor program thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xu©n Hoa, Ph.D Hanoi, August 2009 Vietnam National University, Hanoi university of language and international studies department of Postgraduate studies Lê Thị Huệ An evaluation of the Textbook English 11 Taught at Phan Dinh Phung Secondary school in hanoi A case study đánh giá sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 11 dạy Tr-ờng THPT Phan Đình Phùng Hà Nội: §iÓn cøu Minor program thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, August 2009 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of tables & charts v Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Design of the study Chapter Literature review 2.1 Textbook 2.1.1 Definitions of textbook 2.1.2 The roles of textbook in language teaching and learning 2.2 Textbook Evaluation 2.2.1 Definition 2.2.2 The reasons to evaluate textbook 2.2.3 Types of textbook evaluation 2.2.3.1 Pre-use evaluation 2.2.3.2 In-use evaluation 2.2.3.3 Post-use evaluation 2.2.4 Textbook evaluators 2.2.5 Methods of textbook evaluation 11 2.2.5.1 The impressionistic method 11 v 2.2.5.2 The check-list method 11 2.2.5.3 The in-depth method 12 2.2.6 Criteria for textbook evaluation 12 2.3 Previous Research on textbook evaluation 14 2.4 Textbook Adaptation 15 2.4.1 Definition 15 2.4.2 The purpose of adapting textbook 16 2.4.3 Methods to adapt textbook 16 2.5 Summary 17 Chapter Research Methodology 18 3.1 Research Design 18 3.2 Setting 18 3.3 Participants 18 3.4 Data Collection Instruments 19 3.4.1 Document analysis 19 3.4.2 Survey questionnaires 20 3.4.3 Classroom observation 21 3.5 Data Collection Procedures 21 3.6 Summary 21 Chapter Data Analysis and discussion 22 4.1 Document Analysis 22 4.2 Survey questionnaire 23 4.2.1 Questionnaire for teachers 23 4.2.1.1 Methodology 23 4.2.1.2 Language types 27 4.2.1.3 Activities 28 4.2.1.4 Skills 30 4.2.1.5 Subjects and contents 31 vi 4.2.2 Questionnaire for students 32 4.3 Classroom observation 41 Chapter Conclusions and recommendations 44 5.1 Summary of the study 44 5.2 Some suggested solutions 45 5.2.1 Addition 45 5.2.2 Reduction 46 5.2.3 Modification 46 5.2.4 Branching 46 5.3 Some recommendations for further study 47 References 48 Appendix 1: Curriculum by MOET I Appendix 2: Bookmap of English 11 .VII Appendix 3: Questionnaires for teachers X Appendix 4: Questionnaires for students XV vii List of tables & charts Table Teachers’ opinions about methodology in the textbook Table Teachers’ opinions about language text types in the textbook Table Teachers’ opinions about activities in the textbook Table Teachers’ opinions about skills in the textbook Table Teachers’ opinions about subjects and contents included in the textbook Chart Students' attitudes toward familiarity of subjects and contents with their daily lives Chart Students' opinions toward suitable length of texts Chart Students' attitudes toward whether the textbook increases cultural and social knowledge Chart Students’ ideas about high frequency of practising language skills Chart Students' opinions on balance and links among skills Chart Students' attitudes toward capability of communication Chart Suitability between students' level of English and language used in the textbook Chart Relevance between subject and content with students' needs as English learners Chart Subject and content are interesting, challenging and motivating Chart 10 Tasks and activities are introduced from simple to complex Chart 11 Activities encourage students to work individually, in pair or group Chart 12 The textbook motivates students to learn English Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationale English is now taught not only at all universities and colleges, but also as a compulsory subject at almost every senior high school and English will become a compulsory subject in grade at primary schools in 2010 This proves that teaching and learning English well has become one of the most concerns of educators and society Teaching and learning English well means that learners are able to communicate verbally with the outside world In order to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning English, many innovations have been made The first innovation but not least important is the introduction of the new set of textbooks Actually, textbooks play a significant role in foreign language teaching They are not simply the everyday tools of the language teachers; they are an embodiment of the aims and methods of the particular teaching/learning situation Good textbooks help to build up students‟ confidence by providing tasks or activities that students can cope with Textbooks provide the students with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes Tasks and activities in the textbooks are variable and cater for a range of learning styles so all students can benefit Especially in Vietnam, the textbook is seen as central to teachinglearning by the majority of teachers in most schools Whether the new set of textbooks is as effective as Vietnamese teachers expect it to be; whether the textbooks meet the general aims of the course: e.g improving the students‟ level of English in the areas of four language skills and teaching them the basic features of the language; whether the textbooks are appropriate to the context they are used in: level of students and teachers, classroom environment, etc are questions for textbook evaluators However, due to the limited time and its scope, this thesis focuses on evaluating one set of textbook only – English 11 at Phan Dinh Phung secondary school, Hanoi Hopefully, the findings of the thesis will provide contribution to the improvement of the teaching and learning at secondary schools in Vietnam 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study The study aims to evaluate the textbook objectives, content and methodology in order to determine whether it truly follows the objectives prescribed by MOET for the course and whether it is suitable to students‟ level at Phan Dinh Phung secondary school and to see whether it brings about the interests in learning to the students At the same time, the study also aims to find out whether the textbook suits teachers and helps teachers the teaching successfully Moreover, the study gives some suggestions to the improvement of the textbook so that the textbook will be better used in the coming years 1.3 Research questions The thesis is to find out the answers to the following research questions: Does the textbook English 11 truly follow the objectives prescribed by MOET for the course? Is it suitable to the students‟ level at Phan Dinh Phung secondary school? Does it bring about the interests in learning to the students at Phan Dinh Phung secondary school? Is it suitable for the teachers at Phan Dinh Phung secondary school, Hanoi in terms of methodology, language competence, tasks, skills and subject and contents? 1.4 Methods of the study To collect the data, the methods used in the thesis are document analysis, survey questionnaires and classroom observation Documents analysis here refers to the analysis of the textbook itself and the objectives for the course prescribed by MOET in the curriculum document Survey questionnaires here play a vital role in getting feedback from teachers and students about the textbook they have used Classroom observation are also used to help the researcher interpret the questionnaire data more accurately 1.5 Scope of the study Although the researcher is aware that in order to have a comprehensive evaluation of a textbook, it is much better to make an evaluation of the textbook taught at a large number of secondary schools in the whole country However, due to time constraints and the limitation of the minor thesis, the researcher only focuses on evaluating the textbook taught at one secondary school, Phan Dinh Phung secondary school in Hanoi Because the study is carried out at a specific school and its participants are teachers and students at this school, the result of the study which is only right at this school cannot be generalized for all secondary schools in Vietnam This result can be kept for reference when conducting an evaluation of the textbook taught at other schools 1.6 Design of the study The study consists of five chapters: Chapter I Introduction, presents the general introduction of the study, consisting of rationale, aims and objectives, research questions, methods, scope and design of the study Chapter II, Literature review, presents the most important notions related to textbook evaluation They are: definitions and the roles of textbook in language teaching and learning; definition, reasons, types and methods and criteria of textbook evaluation; definition, purpose and methods of textbook adaptation Also in this chapter some previous studies on the same topic are presented Chapter III, Methodology, provides information about Research Design, Setting, Participants, Data Collection Instruments, Data Collection Procedures Chapter Data Analysis and Discussion, analyses and discusses the data collected from document analysis, survey questionnaires and classroom observation Chapter Conclusions and recommendations, presents the major findings of the study and recommends some suggestions for further study Chapter Literature review 2.1 Textbook 2.1.1 Definitions of textbook The traditional textbook, as we can see it, usually consists of a number of chapters with texts of different lengths that deal with various topics There may be a different theme for every chapter and sometimes there are a few pre-reading activities, or post-reading exercises The texts can generally be listened to on CD or tape In some cases the textbook and the workbook are joined together in the same book, but sometimes they are represented by two separate books This study is aimed at evaluating textbook English 11 by Hoang Van Van et al (2008) therefore it would be sensible to clarify the related terminology “textbook” There are various definitions of textbooks, as for www.nde.state.ne.us/READ/FRAMEWORK/glossary/general_p-t.html, example, in textbook is defined “a book used for instructional purposes, especially in schools and colleges" Books used by students for particular branches of study can be characterized by another important feature: their intrinsically challenging nature „Textbook‟ is defined by Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as „a book used in the study of a subject: as a: one containing a presentation of the principles of a subject b: a literary work relevant to the study of a subject’ Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners 4th Edition (2003) also defines textbook as “a book containing facts about a particular subject that is used by people studying that subject” In the broad sense of the concept, the term „textbook‟ refers to a manual of instruction or a standard book in any branch of study They are produced according to the demand of educational institutions What the textbook is different from other types of books is that textbook is written based on standard curriculum and its principal users are teachers and learners in schools There is some degree of standardization in the textbook rather than others because there is usually an inspectorial system and public examinations to ensure the suitability of the textbook Textbook has still been approved and upgraded when having been in use within 45 Students have difficulty in completing activities in listening so some types of listening tasks such as: note down the ideas based on listening, answer the questions, summarize the contents of listening, etc should be modified and simplified so it may be more suitable to students‟ level of English For example: In unit 1, listening task which required students to note down the ideas in the table should be simplified In unit and unit 7, listening task which required students to answer the questions should be modified In unit 16, after-listening task which required students to memorise and retell the information should be modified 5.2.4 Branching In order to reduce the level of difficulty of the textbook in terms of language structures and lexical items, some options of existing exercises should be added for further practice The purpose of adding is to familiarize the students with learnt structures As a result, the students and teachers will exploit the textbook more easily and effectively For example: Language focus in unit 4, 9, 12, 13, 15 should be given more exercises for students to practise because grammar points in these units were difficult for students to master In writing, some language structures, sample sentences, annd key words should be added as input so that students write the composition more easily and more correctly For example: Writing in unit should be added a model of describing a chart Writing in unit 15 should be given a model of writing a biography In conclusion, as we have seen from the analysis and discussion, the textbook had problems of various kinds It is clearly known that there is no “one size fits all material” to use for all types of learners so much therefore needs to be done on the part of the teacher to exert their creativity and imagination in bringing out the most effective results of teaching and learning As Cunningsworth‟s remark: “No coursebook will be totally suited to a 46 particular teaching situation The teacher will have to find his own way of using it and adapting it if necessary…” 5.3 Limitations and recommendations for further study Although the study is done to the best understanding of the researcher, it is unavoidable for the study to have some limitations For the first one, if the survey questionnaires were done by all students grade 11 of Phan Dinh Phung secondary school (both natural science classes and English classes), the researcher could touch deeper insights to the teaching and learning this textbook For the second one, if the researcher had a chance to a research on the pack of textbooks (English 10, 11 and 12) taught for students in this school, the result would be clearer and more accurate That is why it is hoped that this study will encourage an extension of textbook research to larger and further scale It is proposed that more research will be conducted to evaluate a set of textbook English 10, English 11 and English 12 and conducted in all classes in Phan Dinh Phung secondary school, Hanoi X Appendix questionnaire for teachers In an attempt to evaluate the textbook currently used for grade 11th students at Phan Dinh Phung School, we would greatly appreciate it if you could respond to the questions below Your opinions would be very useful to this evaluation research and to the improvement of the textbook for future use Thank you very much for your valuable contributions To answer the survey questions below, please circle the appropriate number Your name: Your age: Sex: Your teaching experience: Please note: 1= Highly disagree = Highly agree A Methodology By teaching tasks in Pre-reading, you interest your students in the topics they are going to learn By teaching tasks in while-reading, you help your students acquire knowledge to understand the reading texts You taught tasks in post-reading easily because you only help your students consolidate what they have learnt By teaching tasks in Pre-listening you provide your students some key words to the tasks in while-listening stages 5 By teaching tasks in while-listening, you help your students acquire knowledge to understand listening texts XI You taught tasks in post-listening easily because your students only show their understanding in the form of writing or speaking By tasks in Speaking section, you always ask your students to work in pairs and groups to discuss topics and they can speak about topics they have learnt By tasks in Writing section, you provide your students the models of the writing and ideas necessary for the writing By tasks in Language Focus section, you help your students understand grammar points and practise them in communicative situation B language types The language in the textbook is authentic so that the students can see that the book is relevant to real life The text types in the textbook are varied in style The language used is at the right level for your students’ current English ability The grammar points are presented with brief and easy examples and explanations 5 The language functions exemplify English that your students will be likely to use C Tasks XII The textbook contains a variety of tasks Tasks are introduced in the textbook from simple to complex The tasks encourage sufficient communicative and meaningful practice The tasks incorporate individual, pair and group work 5 The tasks promote creative, original and independent responses D skills The textbook includes and focuses on the skills that your students need to practice The textbook provides an appropriate balance of the four language skills The practice of individual skills is integrated into the practice of other skills The textbook highlights and practices natural pronunciation (stress and intonation) E subjects and contents The subject and content of the textbook are relevant to your students’ needs as English language learners XIII The subject and content of the textbook is generally realistic The subject and content of the textbook is interesting, challenging and motivating There is sufficient variety in the subject and content of the textbook F Suggestions for adaptation To answer the survey questions below, please tick as many boxes/cells as appropriate and write down your suggestions if it is needed How can you give your suggestions on the proportion of the macro skills in each unit? Macro skills Tasks for practice More Less Allocation of time Unchanged More Less Unchanged Listening Speaking Reading Writing How can you give your judgment of each part of units in the textbook, and give suggestions for the improvement? Difficult Listening Easy Suitable Suggestions XIV Speaking Reading Writing Language Focus Can you give suggestions on each part of a unit? Appropriate Delete Supplement Simplify Suggestions Listening Speaking Reading Writing Language Focus Thank you very much for your cooperation! XV Appendix Questionnaires for students (English Version) In an attempt to evaluate the textbook currently used for grade 11th students at Phan Dinh Phung School, we would greatly appreciate if you could respond to the questions below Your opinions would be very useful to this evaluation research and to the improvement of the textbook for future use Thank you very much for your valuable contributions To answer the survey questions below, please circle the appropriate number Please note: 1= Highly disagree = Highly agree The texts in the textbook are relevant to your real life The texts are about the right level of difficulty The texts are about the right length The textbook achieves an acceptable balance between knowledge about the language, and practice in using the language 5 The textbook achieves an acceptable balance between the relevant language skills, and they are integrated with each other so that work in one skill area helps the others The textbook contains enough communicative activities to enable you to use the language independently XVI The language used is at the right level for your current English ablity The subject and content of the textbook are relevant to your needs as an English language learners The subject and content of the textbook are interesting, challenging and motivating 10 Tasks are introduced in the textbook from simple to complex 11 The tasks help you work individually or in pairs and groups 12 The textbook raises your interest in further English language study Thank you very much for your cooperation! XVII Appendix questionnaire for students (vietnamese version) Phiếu khảo sát ý kiến học sinh Nhằm mục đích đánh giá chất l-ợng s¸ch gi¸o khoa TiÕng Anh 11 cho HS tr-êng THPT Phan Đình Phùng- Hà Nội, đề nghị em vui lòng trả lời câu hỏi d-ới Các câu trả lời mà em cung cấp quan trọng công trình nghiên cứu Các liệu điều tra sử dụng cho việc nghiên cứu không mục đích khác Để trả lời cho câu hỏi khảo sát, xin vui lòng khoanh tròn vào số thích hợp 1= Hoàn toàn không đồng ý = Hoàn toàn đồng ý Các khoá sách có gần gũi với đời sống hàng ngày em Đối với em khóa sách phù hợp mức độ khó 5 Các khóa có độ dài vừa phải Trong sách có cân kiến thức, ngôn ngữ thực hành 5 Các kĩ sách có cân kĩ hỗ trợ cho học Theo em, sách có hoạt động giao tiếp giúp cho em giao tiếp đ-ợc Ngôn ngữ sử dụng sách có phù hợp với trình độ Tiếng Anh hiƯn cđa em XVIII Chủ đề nội dung sách có phù hợp với nhu cầu học Tiếng Anh em Chủ đề nội dung sách có thú vị, hút kích thích em học Tiếng Anh 10 Các tập hoạt động sách đ-ợc giới thiệu từ đơn giản đến phức tạp 11 Các hoạt động có giúp em làm việc theo cá nhân, theo cặp nhóm không? 12 Cuốn sách làm tăng hứng thú học Tiếng Anh em Rất cám ơn hợp tác em! 48 References Ali Jahangard (2007), Evaluation of EFL Materials Taught at Iranian Public High Schools, Asian EFL Journal Allwright, R (1982), What we want tecahing materials for? 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