An evaluation of the writing component in the english 12 textbook in terms of content and methodology

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ HẰNG AN EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE « ENGLISH 12 » TEXTBOOK IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND METHODOLOGY : A CASE AT UONG BI HIGH SCHOOL, QUANG NINH PROVINCE ĐÁNH GIÁ PHẦN VIẾT TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA LỚP 12 VỀ MẶT NỘI DUNG VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP : NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT NG BÍ, TỈNH QUẢNG NINH M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi – 2010 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TRẦN THỊ HẰNG AN EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE « ENGLISH 12 » TEXTBOOK IN TERMS OF CONTENT AND METHODOLOGY : A CASE AT UONG BI HIGH SCHOOL, QUANG NINH PROVINCE ĐÁNH GIÁ PHẦN VIẾT TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA LỚP 12 VỀ MẶT NỘI DUNG VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP : NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT NG BÍ, TỈNH QUẢNG NINH MA Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Hoàng Xuân Hoa, Ph.D Hanoi - 2010 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS T: Teachers S: Students MOET: Ministry of Education and Training v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: The materials evaluation model of Hutchinson and Waters ( 1993: 98)……… Figure : The process of writing ( Tribble, 1996: 38) 17 Table 3.1 Teacher’s rank of the students’ interest and students’ interest on MOET topics (Q1)……………………………………………………………………………………… 26 Table 3.2: Students and teachers’ opinions about text types, tasks and activities ( Q2,3,4,5)…………………………………………………………………………………27 Table 3.3: The teachers and students’opinions about using four intergrated macro-skills in the writing tasks ( Q6)…………………………………………………………………… 28 Table 3.4: Teachers and students’ opinions about the amount of knowledge given in writing component ( Q7)………………………………………………………………….28 Table 3.5: The students and teachers’ judgement on each part of the writing component in the textbook ( Q8)…………………………………………………………………………29 Table 3.6: Teachers and students’ suggestions on each part of the writing component ( Q9) 31 Table 3.7: The teachers and student’s suggestions of tasks in the writing component (Q8) 33 Table 3.8: Teachers’ opinion about the writing approaches used in the textbook ( Q11,12) 33 Table 3.9: Students’ opinions of the teaching methods used by the teachers during the writing lessons.( Q13) 34 Table 3.10: Students’ expectations about the ways the English teachers’ teaching writing Q14) 34 Table 3.11: Teachers and Students’opinions about kinds of tasks, exercises and guidance in the writing component (Q 15,16)……………………………………………………….35 Table 3.12 Teachers and Students’s opinions of the interaction patterns in the class ( Q17)………………………………………………………………………………….… 35 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF THE THESIS…………………… ……… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………… … ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… .iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………….iv LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………… v TABLES OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………………vi PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………1 Rationale of the study……………………………………………………………….1 Aims of the study………………………………………………………………… Research questions………………………………………………………………… Scope of the study………………………………………………………………… Significance of the study………………………………………………………… Method of the study……………………………………………………………… Design of the study………………………………………………………… PART II: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………… Chapter 1: Theoretical Background…………………………………… ……………….4 1.1 Teaching Materials in Language Teaching and Learning .4 1.1.1 The roles of Teaching Materials .4 1.1.2 Types of Materials 1.2 Materials Evaluation 1.2.1 The concepts of Materials Evaluation 1.2.2 The reasons for Materials Evaluation .6 1.2.3 Types of Materials Evaluation .6 1.2.4 Materials Evaluators .7 1.2.4.1 Materials Evaluation by Outsders 1.2.4.2 Materials Evaluation by Insiders .8 1.2.5 Models for Materials Evaluation .8 1.2.5.1 Evaluation model by Huchinson and Waters 1.2.5.2 Evaluation model by Ellis .9 1.2.5.3 Evaluation model by McDonough and Shaw 10 vii 1.2.6 Criteria for Materials Evaluation 11 Criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters 11 1.3 Materials Adaptation 13 1.3.1 Reasons for adapting .13 1.3.2 Adapting techniques 13 1.3.2.1 Adding 13 1.3.2.2 Deleting or Omitting 14 1.3.2.3 Modifying 14 1.3.2.4 Simplifying 14 1.3.2.5 Re-ordering 14 1.4 Theoretical backgrounds to writing and teaching writing 14 1.4.1 Reasons for teaching writing 14 1.4.2 Main approaches to teaching writing 15 1.4.2.1 The product approach 15 1.4.2.2 The process approach 16 Chapter 2: The study…………………………………………………………………….18 2.1 Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English writing component at Uong Bi High School ………………………………………………… 18 2.1.1 The school context ………………………………………………………….18 2.1.1.1 The teachers at Uong Bi high shool………………………………18 2.1.1.2 The learners at Uong Bi high school…………………………… 18 2.1.2 The new English textbook for grade 12 (Standard Textbook)…………… 18 2.1.3 The current teaching and learning of English 12 writing component at Uong Bi High school 19 2.1.3.1.The opportunities of the context………………………………… 19 2.1.3.2 The constraints of the context .20 2.2 The study………………………………………………………………………… 21 2.2.1 Research questions………………………………………………………….21 2.2.2 Participants of the study ……………………………………………………21 2.2.2.1 The teachers………………………………………………………22 2.2.2.2 The students……………………………………………………….22 2.2.3 Data collection instrument………………………………………………… 22 viii 2.2.3.1 Document analysis……………………………………………… 22 2.2.3.2 Survey questionnaire……………………….…………………… 22 2.2.4 Data collection procedure………………………………………………… 23 Chapter 3: Results and discussions 25 3.1 Document Analysis .25 3.1.1 Description of the writing component of in the “English 12” .25 3.1.2 Requirements of the writing component of the course 25 3.2 The Survey Results .26 3.2.1 The appropriateness of the writing component to the content of the course 26 3.2.2 The appropriateness of the writing component in terms of methodology 33 3.3 Major Findings .36 3.3.1 The suitability of the writing component in the English 12 textbook to the requirements of the MOET 37 3.3.2 The suitability of the writing component to the students’needs in terms of content and methodology .38 3.4.Suggestions for the improvement 38 PART III: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………… 41 Conclusion of the study…………………………………………………………… 41 Limitations of the study………………………………………………………… 41 Suggestions for further study………………………………………………….……42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX 1: AN OVERVIEW OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN THE ENGLISH 12 TEXTBOOK……………………………………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS…………………………… II APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS……………………………XIII APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS ( Vietnamese version)…….XIV PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Nowadays English has become increasingly important as a means of global communication and a bridge to mankind‟s knowledge In the process of global integration, the teaching and learning English has become a great concern in Vietnam Therefore, the government has changed the curriculum in order to train the citizens who can use English for communicative purposes By doing this, in 2002 the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) announced a new textbook project for upper secondary school level The new textbooks comprised two sets Set 1, unofficially called “sách chuẩn” (i.e “standard textbooks”, was intended for students pursuing Ban (i.e The non-specialization program) and Ban tự nhiên (i.e specialization in sciences) Set 2, unofficially called “Sách nâng cao”(i.e advanced textbooks), was intended for Ban xã hội (i.e specialization in social sciences and humanities) Each set comprised of three books, from English 10 to English 12 The new English textbooks for high school students are claimed to adopt the latest teaching and learning approaches: communicative approach and learner-centered approach and aim at developing both language skills and language knowledge for students Each unit in the new English textbooks consists of five parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus English 10 and English 11 were approved and officially introduced into schools by MOET in the academic years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 respectively However, English 12 textbook has only been used nationwide since the academic year 2008-2009 Therefore, English 12 textbook is rather new to the students and teachers and little research has been carried out to evaluate this textbook Uong Bi High school, one of the high schools in the country, adopted “standard textbooks” As a teacher of English, the researcher has worked quite closely with the new textbooks It is noticed that although the textbooks have shown a great deal of improvement compared to the old series of grammar-based textbooks, the implementation of this textbook causes a large number of difficulties, especially the writing component Evaluation of teaching materials is obviously a very important process in language teaching and learning The results from materials evaluation help to determine whether the set of materials is suitable for a particular situation Most often materials evaluation is carried out to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the materials so that changes need to be made to improve the suitability and enhance the effectiveness of the materials This is the reason why the researcher conducted an evaluation of the writing component in “English 12” textbook Aims of the study The study is aimed to evaluate the Writing component in “English 12” textbook at Uong Bi secondary school in terms of content and methodology to determine whether it truly reflects the objectives prescribed by MOET for the course and suitable to the students‟ needs of English It is expected that the findings from the study would make contribution to the improvement of the textbook or propose changes to enhance the effectiveness of the material for the future use Research questions The study is to find out the answers to the following research questions: Does the writing component of the “English 12” textbook meet the requirements of the course in terms of content and methodology? Is the writing component of the “English 12” textbook suitable to the students‟ needs in terms of content and methodology? Scope of the study Though the author is aware that in order to have a comprehensive evaluation of any material, a great number of criteria should be taken into consideration, such as the audience, the content, the methodology, the cultural bias, the authenticity, the layout etc, and each criterion needs taking into account various aspects With the scope of this minor thesis, this study is only aimed at evaluating the suitability of the writing component in English 12 textbook in the standard in terms of content and methodology This study is a in-depth survey at Uong Bi High School in Quang Ninh Therefore, the findings of the study are not intended to be generalized to other school contexts Indeed the findings may not apply beyond the actual participants in this particular study Significance of the study The findings of the thesis will serve as a back- up for the improvements of the writing component in the “English 12” textbook, teachers‟ method adjustment and materials adaptation as well Practically, the findings are beneficial for both teachers and learners at Uong Bi High school from the experience of reflection Secondly, the findings of the study will contribute information to textbook writers and educators to determine curricula and program direction It is also hoped that the thesis will be of contributions towards the development of the writing component in general and the writing component in “English 12” textbook in particular Method of the study In order to evaluate the writing component of the „English 12‟ textbook, document analysis and survey questionnaires were employed to address the two questions being investigated Document analysis was one of the main instruments with a thorough objective analysis of the textbook under evaluation Survey questionnaire was used to collect the data that related to the teachers‟ and students‟ perspectives and attitudes towards the textbook they have just finished The findings are expected to provide convincing evidence for the contribution to the improvement of the textbook for the future use Design of the study The study consists of three parts: the introduction, the main content and the conclusion The introduction provides the basic information such as the rationale of the study, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the significance of the study and the methods of the study The main content is divided into chapters Chapter one reviews the literature on materials evaluation It first presents the roles and types of materials in language teaching Then it presents major issues in materials evaluation, including reasons for materials evaluation, types of materials evaluation, who carries out and who provides data for materials evaluations, models for materials evaluation and criteria for materials evaluation Next it provides the information about materials adaptation such as reasons for adapting and adapting techniques Finally, it focuses on theoretical backgrounds to writing and teaching writing, which consists of reasons for teaching writing and main approaches to teaching writing This part plays an important role in the evaluation of the writing component in the study Chapter two focuses on the methodology employed in the study, including the research questions, research method, data collection procedures and the participants Chapter three reports discussions of the results, the findings and the recommendations for the improvement of the materials The conclusion presents a review of the study, the limitations and some suggestions for further research IV sentences to make a complete paragraph Describing school education system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request Writing a formal letter of job application Writing a report based on given information Describing the world you would like to live in in the future Describing main features of a desert Writing about measures to protect species endangered and possible result Describing a book Giving instruction Describing a sport event (a football match) Writing a description short of an organization Describing a chart Writing a letter recommendation of V 9.Can you give suggestions on each part of the writing component Topics appropriate Delete Supplement Simplify Suggestions Writing about family rules Describing typical feature of Vietnamese conical leaf hat Building sentences using the given words Re-ordering sentences given to make a complete paragraph Describing education school system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request Writing a formal letter of job application Writing a report based on given information Describing the world you would like to live in in the future Describing main features of a desert Writing about measures to protect endangered species VI and possible result Describing a book Giving instruction Describing a sport event (a football match) Writing a short description of an organization Describing a chart Writing a letter of recommendation 10 How can you give your suggestions on the proportion of the writing component? Macro skill Writing Tasks for practice More Less Unchanged SECTION II THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN TERMS OF METHODOLOGY 11 Do you think that the writing approaches used in the textbook appropriate to the learning/ teaching situation? Yes No 12 Do these approaches meet the learners’ expectations in learning the writing skill? Yes No 13 Are the kinds of exercises and tasks in the writing component suitable to the students’ level? Yes No 14 Does the guidance/ instruction of the writing component clear? Yes No VII 15.As far as interaction in the class in concerned, which of the interaction patterns in the table below have you applied? Interaction patterns T (%) Teacher talk Choral responses Student initiates, teacher answers Individual work Pair work Group work Thank you very much for your cooperation! VIII APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS In attempt to evaluate the writing component in English 12 textbook at Uong Bi high 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 tick (√) as many boxes as appropriate SECTION I THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE WRITING COMPONENT WITH THE CONTENT OF THE COURSE Which of the following topics are of you’ interests? Topics Topics Writing about family rules Describing main features of a desert Describing typical feature of Vietnamese conical leaf hat Writing about measures to protect endangered species and possible result Building sentences using the given Describing a book words Re-ordering given sentences to make a complete paragraph Describing school education Giving instruction system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request Describing a sport event (a football match) Writing a formal letter of job Writing a short description of an application organization Writing a report based on given Describing a chart Information Describing the world you would like to live in in the future Writing a letter of recommendation IX Are the writing types in the textbook authentic? Yes No Are the writing types in the textbook varied in style? Yes No Does the writing component contain a variety of tasks and activities? Yes No Do you think tasks are introduced in the writing component from simple to complicated? Yes No Do you think four macro-skills are intergrated through the tasks in the writing component? Yes No What you think about the volume of knowledge given in writing component in a academic school year? suitable too much too little How can you give your judgements on each part of the writing component in th text book? Topic Writing Difficult Easy Suitable unsuitable Boring about family rules Describing typical feature of Vietnamese conical leaf hat Building sentences using the given words Re-ordering given Interesting X sentences to make a complete paragraph Describing school education system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request Writing a formal letter of job application Writing a report based on given information Describing the world you would like to live in in the future Describing main features of a desert Writing about measures to protect species endangered and possible result Describing a book Giving instruction Describing a sport event (a football match) Writing a description short of an organization Describing a chart Writing a letter recommendation of XI 9.Can you give suggestions on each part of the writing component Topic appropriate Delete supplement simplify Suggestions Writing about family rules Describing typical feature of Vietnamese conical leaf hat Building sentences using the given words Re-ordering given sentences to make a complete paragraph Describing school education system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request Writing a formal letter of job application Writing a report based on given information Describing the world you would like to live in in the future Describing main features of a desert Writing about measures to protect endangered species and possible result Describing a book Giving instruction Describing a sport event (a XII football match) Writing a short description of an organization Describing a chart Writing a letter of recommendation 10 How can you give your suggestions on the proportion of the tasks in the writing component? Macro skill Tasks for practice Writing More Less Unchanged SECTION II THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE WRITING COMPONENT IN TERMS OF METHODOLOGY 11 What you think of the teaching methods used by the teachers during the writing lessons? I like the way they teach because I learn a lot in the classroom I like their teaching at first, but after some time I get bored because the way they give instructions doesn’t change Sometimes I like the way they teach, sometimes I don’t, depending on what type of activities the lesson is about I don’t like the way they teach because it doesn’t suit my learning strategies (other opinions, please specify) 12 Do the ways which the teachers teach meet the learners’ expectations in learning the writing skill? Yes No XIII 13 Are the kinds of exercises and tasks in the writing component suitable to the students’ level? Yes No 14.Does the guidance/ instruction of the writing component clear? Yes No 15 As far as interaction in the class in concerned, which of the interaction patterns in the table below have your teachers applied? Interaction patterns Percentage of the students Teacher talk Choral responses Student initiates, teacher answers Individual work Pair work Group work Thank you very much for your cooperation! XIV APPENDIX BẢN CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN CỦA HỌC SINH Nhằm mục đích đánh giá chất lượng phần viết sách giáo khoa lớp 12 trường THPT ng Bí, đề nghị em vui lòng trả lời câu hỏi sau Ý kiến em giúp ích việc đánh giá chỉnh biên phần viết sách nhằm nâng cao hiệu sách cho khóa sau: Để trả lời câu hỏi vấn, xin vui lòng đánh dấu ( √) vào thích hợp PHẦN 1: SỰ PHÙ HỢP CỦA PHẦN VIẾT ĐỐI VỚI NỘI DUNG CỦA KHÓA HỌC Những chủ điểm sau mà em thích? Chủ điểm Chủ điểm Writing about family rules Describing main features of a desert Describing typical feature of Writing about measures to protect Vietnamese conical leaf hat endangered species and possible result Building sentences using the given Describing a book words Re-ordering given sentences to make a complete paragraph Describing school education Giving instruction system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request Describing a sport event (a football match) Writing a formal letter of job Writing a short description of an application organization Writing a report based on given Describing a chart Information Describing the world you would Writing a letter of recommendation like to live in in the future Các dạng viết sách có xác thực khơng? Có Khơng XV Các viết sách có đa dạng thể loại khơng? Có Khơng Các tập hoạt động phần viết sách có đa dạng khơng? Có Khơng Em có cho tập hoạt động phần viết sách giới thiệu từ đơn giản đến phức tạp khơng? Có Khơng Em có nghĩ bốn kỹ tổng hợp nhiệm vụ viết? Có Khơng Bạn nghĩ khối lượng kiến thức đưa phần viết năm học? Phù hợp nhiều Em đánh giá phần viết sách này? Chủ đề Khó Dễ Phù hợp Khơng phù Tẻ hợp Writing about family rules Describing typical feature of Vietnamese conical leaf hat Building sentences using the given words Re-ordering given sentences to make a complete paragraph Describing school education system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request nhạt Thú vị XVI Writing a formal letter of job application Writing a report based on given information Describing the world you would like to live in in the future Describing main features of a desert Writing about measures to protect endangered species and possible result Describing a book Giving instruction Describing a sport event (a football match) Writing a short description of an organization Describing a chart Writing a letter of recommendation Em đưa gợi ý thân nội dung phần viết Chủ đề Writing about family rules Describing typical feature of Vietnamese conical leaf hat Building sentences using the given words Phù Xóa Bổ Đơn hợp bỏ sung hóa giản Đề xuất XVII Re-ordering given sentences to make a complete paragraph Describing school education system in Vietnam Writing a letter of request Writing a formal letter of job application Writing a report based on given information Describing the world you would like to live in in the future Describing main features of a desert Writing about measures to protect endangered species and possible result Describing a book Giving instruction Describing a sport event (a football match) Writing a short description of an organization Describing a chart Writing a letter of recommendation 10 Em cho ý kiến số lượng tập phần viết? Kỹ Viết Số lượng luyện tập Nhiều Ít Khơng thay đổi XVIII PHẦN II: SỰ PHÙ HỢP CỦA NỘI DUNG PHẦN VIẾT VỀ MẶT PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC 11 Em nghĩ phương pháp dạy học mà giáo viên sử dụng dạy kỹ viết? Em thích cách mà thầy dạy em học nhiều lớp học Lúc đầu em thích cách dạy thầy cơ, sau em cảm thấy chán cách họ đưa dẫn khơng có thay đổi Đơi lúc em thích cách dạy họ, đơi lúc khơng điều phụ thuộc vào học có hoạt động Em khơng thích cách dạy họ khơng phù hợp với chiến lược học em ( ý kiến khác) 12 Những cách dạy mà giáo viên đưa có đáp ứng mong đợi em việc học kỹ viết? Có Khơng 13 Các dạng tập hoạt động phần viết có phù hợp với trình độ em hay khơng? Có Khơng 14.Các dẫn phần viết có rõ ràng khơng? Có Khơng 15 Trên lớp, hình thức giao tiếp thường vận dụng? Các hình thức giao tiếp S (%) Chỉ có giáo viên nói suốt tiết học Cả lớp làm việc với giáo viên Học sinh khởi xướng vấn đề, giáo viên trả lời Mỗi cá nhân làm việc độc lập Làm việc theo cặp Làm việc theo nhóm Rất cảm ơn cộng tác em! ... 12? ?? textbook meet the requirements of the course in terms of content and methodology? Is the writing component of the ? ?English 12? ?? textbook suitable to the students‟ needs in terms of content and. .. evaluating the suitability of the writing component in English 12 textbook in the standard in terms of content and methodology This study is a in- depth survey at Uong Bi High School in Quang Ninh Therefore,... level in terms of content and methodology This section will summarize the suitability of the writing component to the requirements of the couse and the students‟level in terms of content and methodology