In 2012, the Ministry of Education and Training passed an Official Dispatch for a new set of English textbooks to be piloted in several schools in Vietnam, including Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school. These textbooks focus on developing students’ communicative competence and thus requiring teachers to adapt to the communicative language teaching method. The aims of this study are to find out the evaluation of the new textbooks from teachers at Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school and to see the challenges that they face when following the new English program and the new textbooks. Subsequent to this, suggestions for improvements of the pilot textbooks are to be proposed. Questionnaires in the form of an evaluation checklist were given to the 8 teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school, and were followed by semistructured interviews. In this study, the participants praised the new textbooks for the focus on communication, the diversity in topics, the new tasks, and the spiral structure. On the other hand, they criticized the books for the difficulty of language knowledge, the unsatisfactory design of some exercises, particularly the Looking back section, and the lack of representation of the target language’s culture. The teachers encounter challenges with the unfamiliar topics, students’ level gap, and lack of class time. The result of this study provides insight into the direct experience of the teachers who work with the new textbooks.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER CHALLENGES IN TEACHING THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS: A CASE STUDY AT NGUYEN TAT THANH SECONDARY SCHOOL Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Kim Phượng Student: Ngụy Việt Hưng Course: QH2014.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2018 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP THÁCH THỨC TRONG VIỆC DẠY BỘ SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH MỚI: NGHIÊN CỨU TRƯỜNG HỢP TẠI TRƯỜNG THCS NGUYỄN TẤT THÀNH Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Thị Kim Phượng Sinh viên: Ngụy Việt Hưng Khóa: QH2014.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2018 I hereby state that I: Ngụy Việt Hưng, QH2014.F1.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date: May 4th 2018 Signature of Approval: _ Date: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Ms Nguyễn Thị Kim Phượng for the continuous support of my Bachelor thesis research, for her patience and her experience Without her guidance, I would not have been able to finish my research Secondly, I would like to thank Ms Lương Quỳnh Trang, for her insightful comments to help me find the direction for my research The information she provided me was crucial in verifying my research results Finally, my sincere thanks go to the teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school They not only offered me immense help with my research but also shared their precious life experience during the time I was there to collect data i ABSTRACT In 2012, the Ministry of Education and Training passed an Official Dispatch for a new set of English textbooks to be piloted in several schools in Vietnam, including Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school These textbooks focus on developing students’ communicative competence and thus requiring teachers to adapt to the communicative language teaching method The aims of this study are to find out the evaluation of the new textbooks from teachers at Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school and to see the challenges that they face when following the new English program and the new textbooks Subsequent to this, suggestions for improvements of the pilot textbooks are to be proposed Questionnaires in the form of an evaluation checklist were given to the teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school, and were followed by semi-structured interviews In this study, the participants praised the new textbooks for the focus on communication, the diversity in topics, the new tasks, and the spiral structure On the other hand, they criticized the books for the difficulty of language knowledge, the unsatisfactory design of some exercises, particularly the Looking back section, and the lack of representation of the target language’s culture The teachers encounter challenges with the unfamiliar topics, students’ level gap, and lack of class time The result of this study provides insight into the direct experience of the teachers who work with the new textbooks ii LIST OF ABBREVIATION CEFR: Common European Framework of Reference CLT: Communicative Language Teaching EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language MOET: Ministry of Education and Training TEFL: Teacher of English as a Foreign Lang VNIES: Vietnam Institute of Education and Sciences iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Acknowledgements i Abstract ii List of abbreviations iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE RESEARCH 1.1 Rationale of the research 1.2 Research aims and research questions 1.3 Research goals and objectives 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of textbook 2.2 Textbook in teaching English as a Foreign Language 2.2.1 The roles of textbook in teaching English as a Foreign Language 2.2.2 The need for textbooks in ESL/EFL classrooms 2.2.3 Criticisms of textbook 2.2.4 The need for textbook evaluation 2.3 Curriculum innovation in Vietnam and the new English textbooks 10 2.3.1 Introduction of the new English textbooks 10 2.3.2 Vietnam Institute of Education and Sciences’ evaluation of 12 the new English program 2.4 Previous studies 14 2.5 Research gap 14 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Participants and the selection of participants 16 3.2 Research design: Case study 16 3.3 Data collection instruments 17 3.3.1 Questionnaire 18 3.3.2 Semi-structured interview 18 3.4 Data collection procedure 3.4.1 Questionnaire 19 19 3.4.2 Interview 3.5 Data analysis methods 19 20 3.5.1 Quantitative analysis – Questionnaire 20 3.5.2 Qualitative analysis – Interview 20 3.6 Data analysis procedure 21 3.6.1 Questionnaire 21 3.6.2 Interview 21 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Data analysis – Teachers’ evaluation of the new English textbooks 22 4.1.1 Content 22 4.1.2 Vocabulary & Grammar 24 4.1.3 Exercises and Activities 27 4.1.4 Attractiveness of the Text and Physical Make-up 28 4.1.5 Teacher’s Manual 29 4.1.6 Context 32 4.2 Findings and discussion 4.2.1 The strength and weaknesses of the new English textbooks 34 34 as perceived by English teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school 4.2.2 The challenges that English teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh 36 secondary school may face when using the new English textbooks 4.3 Suggestions for improving the pilot English textbooks 39 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of major findings and conclusion 41 5.2 Contribution of the study 43 5.3 Limitations of the study 43 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 44 References 45 Appendix 51 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE RESEARCH This chapter provides an introduction to the study including the research questions, the goal, the scope, and the significance of the study 1.1 Rationale of the research English today has evolved to be a common lingua franca around the world Along with the outspread of this language is the growing demand for teaching and learning English as a communication tool, especially in developing countries as English is the language for international business, technology, media, research and publication (Flowerdew & Peacock, 2001) As a result, many countries are shifting from the traditional teaching methods to a communication-focused approach Richards (2006) points out that in the 1970s, the widespread of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) marked the change in language teaching and established its place in many countries’ national curriculum and syllabus Le and Barnard (2009) stated that South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand have all tried to adopt CLT into their school systems, yet the results have not always been satisfying Although it took some time, Vietnam finally joined its neighbors and introduced CLT into classrooms, with reservations shown by researchers about the country’s readiness for this teaching method In 2012, after roughly a decade of using the old textbooks, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) passed an Official Dispatch for a new set of piloted textbooks for secondary schools The new textbooks are designed to be used with the CLT approach to English teaching, requiring teachers to step out of their comfort zone of the traditional methods This change received mixed reactions from educators and regulators, and its effectiveness doubted This top-down change not only alters students’ learning style, but also directly affects teachers In applying CLT, teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) may encounter difficulties related to the education system, learning environments, students, and the teachers themselves (Bock, 2000; Pham, 2007) The new textbooks contain more language knowledge than the old ones as Secondly, some exercises in the new English textbooks might need adjustments, mostly in the Looking back section They are expected to more than making students complete some simple exercises More speaking or communicating tasks for students to practice, along with expanding on the background knowledge may be welcomed Nevertheless, the efficiency of the new textbooks is partially dependent on the regulation, and the testing and assessment system of the school in particular and of the city or country in general It would be hard to make improvements if the system refuses to change for the better The first change that needs to happen is the testing and assessment process It has been debated on for many years how the testing system in Vietnam stresses students out and promotes the study-by-memorizing way It is up to the regulators to find a solution for this problem The second change that needs to happen is dedicating more school periods for the teaching and studying of English As the world comes closer to each other, the English language competence has become a requirement for almost anyone entering the workforce It would be beneficial to set aside more time to teach and study English to prepare students for their future 40 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION This chapter provides the summary of major findings and conclusion, the contribution of the research and limitations of the research Suggestions for further studies are drawn at the end 5.1 Summary of major findings and conclusion In this study, the researcher aims to answer the following questions: 1) What are the advantages of the new textbooks as perceived by teachers at Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary School? 2) What are the disadvantages of the new textbooks as perceived by teachers at Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary School? 3) What challenges they face when teaching the new textbook? 4) How they solve these problems? In general, the answers to these questions have been covered based on the data collected through the questionnaire and interview To review, the pilot English textbooks have been in used in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school for almost three years During that period, they have shown their strengths and weaknesses As the MOET is looking to bring the new textbooks into nation-wide usage, careful evaluation of the textbooks in particular and the whole pilot English program in general is essential to make appropriate adjustments to benefit students and teachers everywhere in the country From the analyzed data, the researcher was able to establish major findings regarding two areas: the attitude of Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school English teachers about the new textbooks, and the challenges that they face when using the textbooks to teach Firstly, the participants praise new textbooks for focusing on developing communicative competence Students are not only given the chance to practice communicating about different themes and topics but also introduced to new kinds of tasks to practice their English The textbooks show continuity in grammar and 41 vocabulary by having a system of language knowledge that increases in level and constantly revising past knowledge for students For teachers, the manual provides detailed guidelines for each lesson However, the new textbooks provide so much grammatical and vocabulary knowledge that efficiency in teaching and learning is negatively affected The teachers often find themselves resorting to teaching only the language knowledge to serve examination purposes rather than helping students communicate in English Additionally, the design of certain exercises, especially the Looking back section, is unsatisfactory There needs to be more expansion in the end of each Unit and more connection in each exercises so that students can memorize the knowledge more lastingly Another concern from the teachers is the representation of English speaking countries’ culture in the new textbooks For a series of textbooks that teach English as a foreign language, they not present students enough of the target language’s culture Besides, minor problems such as errors in answer keys, mismatches in phonetics transcription, inappropriate choice of a certain image also call for revision and adjustment All things considered, the new English textbooks are really good as a standalone series For them to be applied in Vietnam’s school systems, major changes are needed, especially in level of difficulty in language knowledge, to suit the ability of students across the nation Secondly, through the interviewees’ sharing, the researcher could synthesize the difficulties they face when using the new English textbooks New themes and topics, variations in student level, and time constraints are the major problems for them The unfamiliar background knowledge of some Units requires teachers to accumulate information for themselves in order to deliver the lesson In the classroom, they need to meet the needs and demands of students of different levels Due to the intensity of the new textbooks, the level gap among students is widened, thus requiring teachers to put in more effort to help weaker students follow the lessons Nonetheless, the amount of class time available is not enough to finish all the workload in the textbooks Even though teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school are given more class time than suggested by the MOET 42 (2012), they still have to compromise by cutting some tasks to focus on helping students study for examinations 5.2 Contribution of the study The research provides insight on how the teachers at Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school evaluate the pilot English textbooks It also discusses the challenges that they face when using those textbooks to teach From the results of the study, the design of the new textbooks should be revised to assess what needs changing It can be seen from the data findings that the amount of language knowledge needs to be reduced Looking at the bigger picture, adjustments to the examination and testing systems are to follow the application of the new textbooks for holistic renovation of the teaching and studying of English 5.3 Limitations of the study In this study, the researcher carried out a case study in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school to find out the teachers’ attitude towards the new textbooks and the challenges that they face The textbooks have been in used there for almost three school years with eight teachers in the school’s English Division work with the books across grade to grade currently The study employed two data collection tools: questionnaire and semi-structured interview Generally, the research has managed to answer the proposed questions However, review the whole study, there are limitations that need to be considered The first improvement can be made is adding another data collection instrument: classroom observation This instrument can help verifying questionnaire and interview results by observing events that participants may be unable or unwilling to share (Marshall & Rossman, 1995) Due to administration problems as well as time limitation, the researcher could not carry out classroom 43 observation as proposed in the Research Proposal As a result, the data only came from what the participants shared Secondly, the time period of the research is not ideal Since the new textbooks have only been used for nearly three school years in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school, the teachers have not had the chance to go through the grade textbooks The students’ result at the end of secondary school also have not been measured yet The data gathered could only apply to grade 6, 7, and 5.4 Suggestions for further studies It is expected that after the new English textbooks have been in used for a full four-year cycle of secondary school, further studies would be carried out to fully measure their effects Moreover, 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(2005) Webster's II New College Dictionary Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Williams, D (1983) Developing Criteria for Textbook Evaluation ELT Journal, 37(3), 251-255 Yin, R K (1984) Case Study Research: Design and Methods Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Yule, G., Matthis, T., & Hopkins, M (1992) On Reporting What Was Said ELT Journal 46(3) 50 APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire - Evaluation Checklist Demographic information Name: Years of teaching experience: Years of experience teaching the new textbook: Training courses: Evaluation of the new textbook I Textbook i Is the subject matter presented either topically or functionally in a logical, organized manner? ii Does the content serve as a window into learning about the target language culture (American, British, ect.)? iii Are the reading selections authentic pieces of language? iv Compared to texts for native speakers, does the content contain real-life issues that challenge the reader to think critically about his/her worldview? v Are the text selections representative of the variety of literary genres, and they contain multiple sentence structures? i Are the grammar rules presented in a logical manner and in increasing order of difficulty? ii Are the new vocabulary words presented in a variety of ways (e.g glosses, multi-glosses, appositives)? iii Are the new vocabulary words presented at an appropriate rate so that the text is understandable and so that students are able to retain new vocabulary? iv Are the new vocabulary words repeated in subsequent lessons to reinforce their meaning and use? v Are students taught top-down techniques for learning new vocabulary words? Excellent Good Adequate Poor Totally Lacking Textbook Evaluation Checklist 4 4 4 4 4 51 i Are there interactive and task-based activities that require students to use new vocabulary to communicate? ii Do instructions in the textbook tell students to read for comprehension? iii Are top-down and bottom-up reading strategies used? iv Are students given sufficient examples to learn top-down techniques for reading comprehension? v Do the activities facilitate students’ use of grammar rules by creating situations in which these rules are needed? vi Does the text make comprehension easier by addressing one new concept at a time instead of multiple new concepts? vii Do the exercises promote critical thinking of the text? i Is the cover of the book appealing? ii Is the visual imagery of high aesthetic quality? iii Are the illustrations simple enough and close enough to the text that they add to its meaning rather than detracting from it? iv Is the text interesting enough that students will enjoy reading it? i Does the manual help teachers understand the objectives and methodology of the text? ii Are correct or suggested answers given for the exercises in the textbook? i Are teachers shown how to teach students to use cues from morphology, cognates, rhetorical relationships, and context to assist them in lexical inferencing? ii Is there a list of true and false cognates for vocabulary words? i Are teachers given techniques for activating students’ background knowledge before reading the text? ii Are teachers given adequate examples for teaching students to preview, skim, scan, summarize, and to find the main idea? iii Does the manual suggest a clear, concise method for teaching each lesson? 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 52 i Does the manual give instructions on how to incorporate audio- visual material produced for the textbook? ii Does the manual provide teachers with exercises to practice, test, and review vocabulary words? iii Does the manual provide additional exercises for reinforcing grammar points in the text? A Is the textbook appropriate for the curriculum? i Does the text coincide with the course goals? B Is the textbook appropriate for the students who will be using it? i Is the text free of material that might be offensive? ii Are the examples and explanations understandable? iii Will students enjoy reading the text selections? iv Will the content meet students’ felt needs for learning English or can it be adapted for this purpose? C Are the textbook and teacher’s manual appropriate for the teacher who will be teaching from them? i Is the teacher proficient enough in English to use the teacher’s manual? 4 4 4 4 4 4 53 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS What is your opinion on the role of textbooks in learning – teaching? What you think of the new textbooks? (regarding overall structure of the books, the design of each lesson, the activities included,…) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the new textbooks? What difficulties you face when following the new textbooks? What measures have you taken to overcome those difficulties? Compared to the old textbooks, what are the advantages and disadvantages you think of the new textbooks? How suitable is the books to the English level of the local students? Can they keep up with the pace and level of the lessons? How you use the textbooks? Do you follow them strictly or you adapt? Do you prepare additional teaching materials? If yes, you make them yourself or adapt from a published source? Are the tests and exams designed based on what has been taught in the textbooks? 10 Are you aware that the syllabi require English teachers to teach communicative English skills? Why? 11 What you think is the greatest and most important challenge for our English teaching syllabus and policy makers to notice? 12 Do you think that there is a match or mismatch between the curriculum (syllabus) objectives and final exam purposes? If yes, to what extent? 13 How important you think it is to teach communicative English to your students? 14 Could you describe some successful experiences of motivating your students to communicate English? 15 Is there anything you think has hindered you from teaching your students to communicate in English? 16 To what extent you think it is necessary to run class by using the target language only? Why? 54 ... NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP THÁCH THỨC TRONG VIỆC DẠY BỘ SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH MỚI: NGHIÊN CỨU TRƯỜNG HỢP TẠI TRƯỜNG THCS NGUYỄN TẤT THÀNH Giáo. .. 34 34 as perceived by English teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh secondary school 4.2.2 The challenges that English teachers in Nguyen Tat Thanh 36 secondary school may face when using the new English... perceived by teachers at Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary School? 2) What are the disadvantages of the new textbooks as perceived by teachers at Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary School? 3) What challenges