An evaluation of the material “basic english iii” for the second year non- english major students at bac giang teachers’ training college

An evaluation of the material “basic english iii” for the second year non- english major students at bac giang teachers’ training college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOICOLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

GIAP THI YEN

AN EVALUATION OF THE MATERIAL “BASIC ENGLISH III”

FOR THE SECOND YEAR NON- ENGLISHMAJOR STUDENTS AT BAC GIANG TEACHERS’

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOICOLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the minor thesis submitted today entitled

“An evaluation of the material Basic English III for the second year non-English majorstudents at Bac Giang Teachers’ Training College”

in terms of the statement of requirements for the thesdis and the field study reports inMasters’ programs is the result of my own work, except where otherwise acknowledgedand that this minor thesis or any part of the same had not been submitted for a higherdegree to any other universities or institution.

Date: August 29th, 2008

On the completion of the thesis, I would like to thank the following people:

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Dinh Hai Yen, for herpatient guidance, helpful suggestions, encouragement and constructive supervision in thecourse of writing this research Without her help, this work would have been impossible.I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to Mr Le Hung Tien, Head of the Department ofPost- Graduate Studies, and all the professors and lecturers at College of Foreign Language(CFL), Vietnam National University (VNU) for their insightful lectures, invaluableassistance and useful guidance I am also grateful for the valuable materials provided byMs Le Thu Ha- the librarian at the post- graduate studies library of CFL, VNU.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of my English staffat Bac Giang Teachers’ Training College for their great help and kind cooperation incompleting the questionnaires for the thesis.

I wish to extend my thanks to all of my friends who have been most helpful andsupportive to me during the completion of my research.

Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my parents whose love and encouragement havebeen equally important to my educational endeavors, especially my little son who hasgiven me so much inspiration, energy, and support in accomplishing this challenging work.

It is obvious that materials evaluation is one of the essential aspects of language teachingand learning Within this regard, the thesis was carried out to evaluate the material “BasicEnglish III” which is currently in use for the second year non- English major students atBac Giang Teachers’ Training College (BGTTC) since 2006 with the hope that practicalsuggestions would be given for further improvements of the material in the near future tomeet the target of ensuring the effectiveness of the teaching and the learning English atBGTTC.

The data collection instruments used in this study were questionnaires and documentanalysis In this sequence, the material in use is analyzed basing on the criteria suggestedby Hutchinson and Waters’ (1987) with an aim to determine how the material realizes thecourse requirements A survey on the teachers' opinions about the extent to which thematerial meets the requirements of the course in terms of the aims, content andmethodology is conducted

Research results have revealed some strengths and weaknesses of the material whichallows the author to conclude that the material is not very relevant to the course aims,content and methodology.

Based on the findings, the thesis suggests some recommendations on materials adaptationsuch as addition, deletion, and replacement that should be made to remedy the weaknessesof the material so that the students can benefit more from it in future courses.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Trang

PART I: INTRODUCTION .1

1 Rationale of the thesis 1

2 Aims of the thesis 1

3 Significance of the thesis 2

4 Scope of the thesis 2

5 Design of the thesis 2

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: Literature Review 4

1.1 Materials in Language Teaching and Learning 4

1.1.1 Roles of Teaching Materials in General English Courses 4

1.1 2 Types of Materials 5

1.2 Materials Evaluation 7

1.2.1 Definitions of Materials Evaluation 7

1.2.2 Purposes of Materials Evaluation 7

1.2.3 Types of Materials Evaluation 8

1.2.4 Materials Evaluators 9

1.2.5 Models for Materials Evaluation 10

1.2.6 Criteria for Materials Evaluation 13

1.3 Materials Adaptation 14

1.4 Summary 16

Chapter 2: Research Methodology 17

2.1 An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at BGTTC 17

3.1.2 The Suitability of the Material to the Content Requirements of the Course 25

3.1.3 The Suitability of the Material to the Methodology Requirements of the Course293.2 Survey Results 31

3.2.1 The Suitability of the Material to the Aims of the Course 31

3.2.2 The Suitability of the Material to the Content Requirements of the Course 32

3.2.3 The Suitability of the Material to Methodology Requirements of the Course 39

3.2.4 Teachers’ suggestions for the materials improvement 40

3.3 Summary of major findings 41

3.4 Recommendations for material improvements 43

Appendix 1 IIIAppendix 2 VIIAppendix 3 VIIIAppendix 4 XAppendix 5 XV

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BGTTC : Bac Giang Teachers’ Training College

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLESFigures

Figure 1: Materials Evaluation Model of McDonough and ShawFigure 2: The materials evaluation model of Hutchinson & Waters

Table 2.1: Types of information in the teacher questionnaireTable 3.1: The vocabulary list of unit 1 (Basic English III, p 87)Table 3.2: The content requirements for the third term

Table 3.3: The methodology requirements of the course

Table 3.4: Teachers’ opinions about the suitability of the material (Q 1- 6)

Table 3.5: Teachers’ opinions about language points and languages skills covered in this

material (Q7-8)

Table 3.6: Teachers’ opinions about effectiveness of sub-skills (Q 9)Table 3.7: Teachers’ opinions about the topics in the material (Q10- 11)Table 3.8: Teachers’ opinions about the text- types in the material (Q14)

Table 3.9: Teachers’ opinions about the organization and sequence of content (Q12- 13)Table 3.10: Teachers’ opinions about time allocation in the material (Q15)

Table 3.11a: Students’ learning strategies and preference (Q16)Table 3.11b: Students’ learning strategies and preference (Q17)Table 3.11c: Students’ learning strategies and preference (Q18)

Table 3.12: Teachers’ opinions about tasks and activities of language points and languageskills (Q19- 22)

Table 3.13: Teachers’ opinions about teaching/ learning techniques in the material 24)

(Q23-Table 3.14: Teachers’ opinions about the methodology guidance in the material (Q25)

PART I: INTRODUCTION1 Rationale of the thesis

Materials play an important role in the process of language teaching and learning asappropriate materials can stimulate effective teaching and learning Thus, to have asuccessful language- teaching program, it is necessary to have good materials, especially inVietnamese setting.

English has been taught in Bac Giang Teachers Training College (BGTTC) since 1980s,and English course books for non- English major students have been changed from time totime to suit the training objectives as well as the students’ needs Although many textbooksare available on the market, it is really difficult to choose the materials that meet the needsof non- English major students whose English proficiency is comparatively varied Due tothese reasons, the teachers of English at BGTTC decided to produce the materials suitablefor their own students.

Undeniably, since these in- house materials were put to use, they have had certain positiveimpacts on language teaching and learning at BGTTC But there remain some complaintsand dissatisfaction Until now, no research on the course book evaluation has been carriedout to examine how well the materials being in use match the course requirements in termsof aims, content and methodology.

Therefore, the author decided to choose one of those in- house materials named “BasicEnglish III” (BEIII) for evaluation with the intention that it will not only help improve thematerial’s quality but also enhance the learning efficiency as well as stimulate students’interest in language learning

2 Aims of the thesis

This study is intended to investigate:

- How well the material has satisfied the requirements of the course in relation toaims, content and methodology?

- What improvements should be made to the material to make it more effective inresponding to the course requirements and students’ needs?

Hopefully, the findings of the thesis will provide reliable basis for further suggestions,which helps the teachers - material designers at BGTTC improve this in- house material.

3 Significance of the thesis

The findings of the thesis will be useful not only to the researcher, and the course bookdesigners but also to the teaching staff and the second year non- English major students atBGTTC Besides, the given findings will help form a foundation toward improving thequality of the in-house material “Basic English III” which is currently used for the studentsat BGTTC Further more, it is hoped that those research results will make somecontributions to the field of materials evaluation

4 Scope of the thesis

In materials evaluation, there have been a great number of criteria that should be taken intoconsideration such as: the audience, the content, the methodology, the cultural bias, thelayout, the authenticity, and so on In this study, the researcher bases on Hutchinson andWaters’s (1987) criteria for evaluation with focus on the three following criteria: aims ofthe material, content of the material, and methodology Due to the limited scope of a minorthesis, research subjects are primarily confined to English teachers who have been teachingthe material for 2 years rather than to students who have learnt this material However, toensure the validity and reliability of the given information, students’ feedback, which iscollected in an informal way through teachers’ observation and experience inworking/talking with students, is also taken into account

5 Design of the thesis

There are three main parts in this thesis: introduction, development, and conclusion.

The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope, and design ofthe thesis

The development consists of three chapters:

Chapter one presents a review of literature concentrating on the issues related to materialsevaluation It discusses the roles and types of materials in language teaching and learning.and presents major issues in materials evaluation including definitions of materialsevaluation, purposes for materials evaluation, types of materials evaluation, materialsevaluators, models for materials evaluation, criteria for materials evaluation, as well asmaterial adaptation

Chapter two focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis including an overview ofcurrent English teaching and learning at BGTTC, research methods, and the data collectionprocedures

Chapter three discusses the findings of the study; points out the strengths, weaknesses, andsuggests the recommendations for the material improvement

The conclusion provides a brief summary of all the major parts being present in the study,the conclusions drawn out and suggests directions for further research.

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review1.1 Materials in Language Teaching and Learning

1.1.1 Roles of Teaching Materials in General English Courses

There are five important components involved in English language instruction namelystudents, teachers, materials, teaching methods, and evaluation among which the mostessential constituents are the textbooks and instruction materials because theseinstructional materials provide the foundation for the content of the lesson, the balance ofthe skills taught, as well as the kinds of language practice the students engage in duringclass activities.

Stressing the role of materials, Richard (2001: 251) states that

The teaching materials can serve as basis for much of language input that thelearners receive and as the source for much of the language practice that occurs inthe classroom

Richard further explains that materials provide “basis for the content of the lesson, balanceof skills taught, and the kind of language practice students take part in” (p 251) In othersituations, textbooks may be used to supplement the teacher's instructions For learners,textbooks may provide a major source of contact they have with the target language,excluding the input provided by the teacher In the case of novice teachers, textbooks mayalso be utilized as a form of teacher training; that is, they provide the teachers with ideason how to plan and teach lessons as well as with formats that teachers can use Much of thelanguage teaching that occurs throughout the world today could not take place without theextensive use of commercial textbooks Hence, learning how to use and adapt textbooks isan important part of a teacher's professional knowledge

Allwright (1990) supports Richard’s point of view by emphasizing that

Materials should teach students to learn, that they should be resource books forideas and activities for instruction, and that they should give teachers rationales forwhat they do

It is true that in many cases, teachers and students rely heavily on textbooks, andtextbooks determine the components and methods of learning, that is, they control thecontent, methods, and procedures of learning Students learn what is presented in thetextbook, and the way the textbook presents material is the way students learn it The

educational philosophy of the textbook will influence the class and the learning process.Therefore, in most situations, materials are the center of instruction and one of the mostimportant influences on what goes on in the classroom

According to Nunan (1991), good teaching materials help inexperienced and poorly trainedteachers a lot, but they also help experienced teachers Theoretically, experienced teacherscan teach English without a textbook However, it is not easy to do it all the time, thoughthey may do it sometimes Many teachers do not have enough time to designsupplementary materials, so they just follow the textbook Textbooks, therefore, take on avery important role in language classes That is also the reason why the writer chooses oneof the in- house materials in use in her college for evaluation to see if it is appropriate ornot to the current teaching circumstance.

1.1 2 Types of Materials

Teaching materials are a key and crucial component in any language teaching contexts.There are different types of teaching materials According to Robinson (1991), choosingpublished textbooks or in- house materials is what specialists in the field of Englishlanguage teaching weigh up for arguments.

There are some arguments for and against using a published textbook According to Ur(1996), published textbooks have many advantages as follows:

- Framework: a textbook provides a clear framework for teachers and learners to

know where they are going and what is coming next, and build up a sense ofstructure and progress.

- Syllabus: in many places, the course book serves as a syllabus If the syllabus is

followed systematically, a carefully planned and balanced selection of languagecontent will be made.

- Ready- made texts and tasks: the course book provides texts and learning tasks,

which are likely to be of an appropriate level for most of the class This of coursesaves time for the teacher who would otherwise have to prepare his or her own.

- Economy: a book is the cheapest way of providing learning material for each

learner; alternatives, such as kits, set of photocopied papers or computer software,are likely to be more expensive relative to the amount of material provided.

Convenience: A book is a convenient package It is bound, so its components stick

together and stay in order Moreover, it is light and small enough to carry around

easily It is also of a certain shape/ size that is easily packed and stacked In addition,it does not depend for its use on hardware or a supply of electricity.

Guidance: For teachers who are inexperienced or occasionally unsure of their

knowledge of the language, the course book can provide useful guidance andsupport.

Autonomy: The learners can use the course book to learn new material, review and

monitor progress with some degree of autonomy A learner without a course book ismore teacher- dependent.

However, not everything in the textbook is wonderful (Hammer, 1991) Though thetextbooks are well planned, they can be inappropriate for teachers and students Thecounter-arguments for using textbooks are also listed by Ur (1996) as follows:

- Inadequacy: In every class, every learner has his/ her own learning needs: no one

textbook can possibly supply these satisfactorily.

- Irrelevance, lack of interest: the topics dealt with in the textbook may not

necessarily be relevant or interesting for any individual class.

- Limitation: a textbook is confining that is, its set structure and sequence may

inhibit a teacher’s initiative and creativity, which leads to boredom and lack ofmotivation on the part of the learners.

- Homogeneity: Textbooks have their own rationale, chosen teaching, and learning

approach They do not usually cater for the variety of levels of ability andknowledge, or learning styles and strategies that exist in most classes.

- Over-easiness: Teachers find it too easy to follow the textbook uncritically

instead of using their initiatives; they may find themselves functioning merely asmediators of its content instead of as teachers in their own right.

In practice, the teacher should take into consideration the given advantages anddisadvantages when choosing a published textbook so as to enhance the strengths andminimize the weaknesses which might incur in the course of teaching and learning.

Unlike published textbooks, in-house materials are always designed for a particular groupof learners so they correspond to learners’ need and match with the aims and objectives ofthe language-learning program According to Robinson (1991:58),

- In-house materials are likely to be more specific and appropriate than publishedmaterials and have greater face validity in terms of the language dealt with and thecontexts it is presented in

- In-house materials may be more flexible than published textbooks

-The writers of in-house materials can make sure of the suitability of methodologyfor the intended learners However, it is noted that making in-house materials istime consuming and expensive.

As stated above, published textbooks and in-house materials offer both good points andbad points, so choosing which one as a teaching and learning material depends largely onthe purposes of the course as well as the available facilities and constraints of a particularsituation

1.2 Materials Evaluation

1.2.1 Definitions of Materials Evaluation

There are many ways of defining evaluation According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987,p 96) materials evaluation is defined as “a matter of judging the fitness of something for aparticular purpose.” Evaluation is, then, concerned with relative merit It is neitherabsolutely good nor bad - only the degree of fitness for the required purpose is taken intoaccount Trochim (?) at Cornel University supports Hutchinson and Waters by stating,“evaluation is the systematic acquisition and assessment of information to provide usefulfeedback about some object” This definition emphasizes “acquiring and assessinginformation” rather than assessing worth or merit because all evaluation work involvescollecting and sifting through data, making judgments about the validity of the informationand of inferences we derive from it, whether or not an assessment of worth or merit results.From the above definitions of evaluation, it can be inferred that material involves thedetermination of what needs to be evaluated, the objectives and requirements of thematerials, and the judgments of the value of the materials being evaluated in relation to theobjectives and the requirements determined.

1.2.2 Purposes of Materials Evaluation

An evaluation of teaching materials helps to identify particular strengths and weaknessesof the materials in use After being used in the classroom for a certain period of time,teaching materials need to be evaluated to see if they have worked well for the intendedsituation and students

According to Ellis (1997), there are two main reasons for carrying out materials evaluation.Firstly, there may be a need to choose among the materials available the most suitable onesto use for a particular situation Secondly, there can be a need for materials evaluation todetermine whether the material, which has been chosen, works for that situation after it hasbeen used for a period of time This may help in deciding whether to use the material againor replace it with a better one.

At BGTTC, ‘Basic English III’, which was compiled by two English teachers at EnglishDepartment in 2005, has revealed certain advantages as well as disadvantages All thesethings call for the need to evaluate the material, which ultimately becomes the author’spurpose in carrying out this research.

1.2.3 Types of Materials Evaluation

In materials evaluation literature different authors offer different ways of categorizing it.

Robinson (1991:59) classifies materials evaluation into three types: preliminary,summative and formative while McGrath (2002: p.14-15) divides materials evaluation intothree stages: pre-use, in -use and post-use evaluation Although different terms are used to

indicate types of materials evaluation, these terms are basically similar.

Preliminary or pre- use evaluation often takes place before the course starts with the aim

to select the appropriate materials most appropriate for the particular group of learners andfor the aims of the course

Formative or in- use evaluation occurs during the learning process, the result obtained can

be used to modify what is being done or in other words, such results may suggest thedevelopment of the material in the future.

Summative or post- use evaluation is normally carried out when the course is finished with

the aim to determine whether the program was successful and effective and the findings ofthis evaluation will lead to the decision whether to repeat or use the materials again or not.In short, there are different types of materials evaluation so when making an evaluation;the evaluators have to determine what type of materials evaluation will be suitable withtheir work As for BGTTC situation, since the material has been in use for two years, theresearcher decided to use summative/post-use evaluation with an aim to determine whetherthis material is effective or not and offer some recommendations for further improvementsof the material.

In contrast to the outsiders, the insiders are those who have been directly involved in thelanguage-teaching program such as teachers, students, course and materials designers.Therefore, they can provide the most valid information in the evaluation process Also,their understanding of cultural and political factors of the institution in which theevaluation takes place would enhance the reliability of judgments and recommendations.To stress the role of the insiders as evaluators, Richard (2001) states that the involvementof the insiders plays an important part in the success of evaluation because “as aconsequence, they will have greater degree of commitment to acting on its result” (p 296).He also adds that the teachers can watch out for when the materials are being used.Consequently, they can know exactly the extent that the materials work for their purposesand they can make modifications to improve the effectiveness of the materials However,there are also disadvantages to insiders when they are “too close and involved” (Dudley-Evan and St John, 1998, p.131) so the evaluation may be influenced by their subjectivepoints of view and their teaching experience

In short, who will carry out the evaluation, outsiders or insiders, should be determinedaccording to the purposes of the evaluation In this research, due to the limited scope of aminor thesis, the insiders, especially, the teachers have been chosen as material evaluatorsbecause the teachers are not only designers but also those who have been teaching thismaterial so they understand clearly about the material, the teaching context and thelearners Their opinion and their evaluation, therefore, are critical to the improvement ofthe material in particular and of teaching and learning in general Also, the data have beencollected from various sources to minimize the subjectivity of the study

1.2.5 Models for Materials Evaluation

There are many different models for materials evaluation However, the most commonlyadopted models are suggested by Ellis (1997), McDonough & Shaw (1993), andHutchinson & Waters (1987).

1.2.5.1 Evaluation by Ellis (1997)

This is a micro- evaluation In this model, Ellis suggests the practice of a detailed empiricalevaluation and focuses on evaluation at the task level with reference to its actual teachingand learning context Following are its steps:

1 Choosing a task to follow;

2 Describing the task with specification of input, procedures, language activities,and outcomes;

3 Planning the evaluation with reference to the dimensions above;

4 Collecting information before, while and after the task was used, and what andhow the task was performed;

5 Analyzing the information collected;

6 Reaching conclusions relating to what has been discovered, and makingrecommendations for the future teaching;

7 Writing the report.

The aim of this model is to identify the match between task planned and task in use It canbe conducted when the materials are being used in the classroom.

1.2.5.2 Evaluation by McDonough and Shaw (1993)

This is a combination of macro- and micro- evaluation In this model, the authors suggest athree-stage evaluation model called: external evaluation, internal evaluation, and overallevaluation (see figure 1).

The external stage (macro- evaluation) is used to identify whether the material ispotentially appropriate, then the internal stage starts and if the findings show that thematerial is inappropriate, the evaluation will be finished at the external stage.

The internal stage (micro- evaluation) requires an in-depth investigation into the materialsso we need to examine at least two or more units of the book to examine the extent towhich the factor in the external evaluation stage actually match the internal consistencyand organization of the materials staged by the author/ publisher

The final step is the overall evaluation It helps to determine the suitability of the materialsfor specified groups or individuals by considering a number of the factors such as theusability, the generalizability, the adaptability, and the flexibility This model is shown infigure 1:

Macro- evaluation inappropriate/ potentially appropriate (External)

Figure 1: Materials Evaluation Model of McDonough and Shaw (1993, p.75)

The model suggested by McDonough and Shaw (1993) presents a logical procedure formaterials evaluation To examine if the materials are suitable for a certain group of learnersor not, there must be certain criteria against which our judgments or evaluation are based.It is also necessary to determine the objectives or the requirements for the materialsbecause we cannot measure the success of a particular activity or a whole set of materials ifthere is not clear objective for it.

1.2.5.3 Evaluation by Hutchinson and Waters (1987)

Evaluation by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) is a perfect macro- evaluation According tothem, the materials evaluation process can be divided into four major steps (see figure 2)

Figure 2: Materials Evaluation Process (Hutchinson and Waters 1987, p 98)

As can be seen above, the first step is to define the criteria on which the evaluation isbased In this step, the evaluator has to define what bases the materials will be judged andwhich criteria the evaluator wants to include in the course The second step is to determinethe subjective analysis, that is, to identify the requirements for materials so the evaluatorshould describe in detail on what criteria the course is based The third step is to determinethe objective analysis, that is, to evaluate whether the existing materials realize the criteriaset in the subjective analysis The last one is the matching process, which finds out how farthe material matches the course requirements

OBJECTIVE ANALYSISHow does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?

MATCHINGHow far does the material

match your needs?DEFINE CRITERIAOn what bases will you

judge materials?Which criteria will be

more important?

SUBJECTIVE ANALYSISWhat realization of the criteria

do you want in your course?

In summary, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) suggest a logical model for materialsevaluation It can help the evaluators know exactly what must be done to analyze thematerials in comparison with the course requirements Therefore, in this study, the authorhas chosen the evaluation framework by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) to check whetherthe existing material is suitable for the students at BGTTC Also, it is very useful for theauthor to set out both subjective analysis (i.e analysis of BGTTC curriculum) andobjective analysis (i.e analysis of the materials being evaluated) Then the findings of thetwo analyses are compared to find out whether they match to each other and if not, to whatextents they do not match up Based on the research results, good aspects as well asproblematic parts of the material can be identified, which may serve as a reliable groundfor further suggestions on material improvements

1.2.6 Criteria for Materials Evaluation

According to Dudley- Evans and St John (1998), in the evaluation process, evaluatorsmust take evaluation criteria into account before any evaluation takes place Criteria formaterials evaluation depend on what is being evaluated and why they need to be evaluated.William (1983) suggests seven criteria, each of which has the following aspects:

- General criteria: give introductory guidance on the presentation of language

items and skills.

- Speech criteria: suggest aids for the teaching of pronunciation: e.g phonetic

- Grammar criteria: offer meaningful situations and a variety of techniques for

teaching structural units.

- Vocabulary criteria: distinguish the different purposes and skills involved in the

teaching of vocabulary.

- Reading criteria: provide guidance on the initial presentation of passages for

reading comprehension.

- Writing criteria: demonstrate the various devices for controlling and guiding

content and expression in composition exercises.

- Technical criteria: contain appropriate pictures, diagrams, tables, etc…

The criteria suggested by William (1983) seem to be very useful and appropriate forevaluating a course book However, such frameworks are more suitable for the selection ofcourse books available in the market than for the examination of an in- house material to

see whether they meet the intended objectives With its more comprehensive content, theevaluating criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters, therefore, seems to be a morehelpful tool to language materials evaluators.

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987) there are four main criteria for materialsevaluation any evaluator should concern: the audience, the aims, the content, and themethodology.

- The audience of the materials: the evaluator should obtain information about and

from learners to find out whether the materials are suitable to the students’ age,knowledge of English, interest and so on.

- Aims of the materials: the evaluator has to check if the materials match the aims

and objectives of the course.

- Content of the materials: the evaluator has to check whether the materials’

language points, macro-skills/ micro-skills, and topics suit the learners’ needs.

- Methodology of the materials: the evaluator has to find out if techniques, aids,

guidance provided in the materials satisfy the learners and the teachers of thecourse.

Comparing the two sets of criteria presented above by William (1983) and by Hutchinsonand Waters (1987), it is obvious that the work of developing and choosing evaluativecriteria is rather subjective and depends on what the evaluators consider to be important Inthis evaluation research, the four criteria including audience, aims, content andmethodology suggested by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) were adopted to see how much‘English Basic III’ match with the aims and the requirements of the course.

1.3 Materials Adaptation

Materials adaptation is a process of matching the teaching material with the needs, interestsof learners, and the teachers’ own capabilities Its purpose is to maximize theappropriateness of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internalcharacteristics of a course book to better suit the particular circumstances McDonough andShaw (1993: 86) state that reasons for adaptation rely on four main aspects namely“language use; skills; classroom organization; supplementary material.” and there are alsosix important ways of modifying materials.

- Adding: the materials are supplemented simply by putting more into them In the

quantitative way, we can add the technique of extending but the model remains

unchanged The qualitative way, which can be termed as expanding refers to thedevelopment of the methodology in new directions by putting in different languageskills or a new component This can be thought of as “a change in the overallsystems.” (McDonough and Shaw, 1993: 90) Therefore, addition can be madebefore, during or after the intended area.

- Deleting or omitting: deletion means cutting one or more stages within an activity

or omitting a whole activity or even a whole lesson Therefore, addition anddeletion often work together The tasks in the material may be deleted andcompensated by a more suitable one to meet the objectives of the whole unit.However, when the techniques for adaptation are applied, it is necessary to takeinto account the balance of the lesson as well as the time allocation.

- Modifying: Modification can be divided into two specific ways: writing and

re-structuring Re-writing refers to the modification of the linguistic contents whereasthe re-structuring applies to the classroom management, especially the structuringof the class In short, teachers may occasionally decide to rewrite material,especially exercise material, to make it more appropriate, more ‘communicative’,more demanding and more motivating to their students.

- Simplifying: simplification is a type of modification namely re-writing activity.

Many elements of the material can be simplified such as the instructions,explanations or even the visual layout of materials but the texts or most oftenreading passages are applied to this technique Teachers can simplify the texts withsentence structures, the grammar structures, and the lexical content

- Re-ordering: teachers may decide that the order in which the material is presented

is not suitable for their students They can use the technique of re-ordering to putparts of a course book in a different order, adjusting the sequence of presentationwithin a unit, or to arrange of different units in a course book.

- Re-placing: after being evaluated, text or exercise material which is considered

ineffective or inappropriate fro whatever reasons may be replaced by a moresuitable one.

In short, materials adaptation plays an important part in the process of language teachingand learning It makes the teaching materials more relevant to the needs of students and to

the objectives of the course, and therefore, would stimulate the effectiveness of teachingand learning

1.4 Summary

This chapter has provided a brief review of literature on materials evaluation It includesthree sections The first section addressed major issues reflecting the roles of the materialsin language learning - teaching; and types of materials The second sections presented

major issues in materials evaluation: definitions of materials evaluation, purposes of

materials evaluation, types of materials evaluation, materials evaluators, models for

materials evaluation and criteria for materials evaluation The last section also included

some theoretical discussions about materials adaptation Therefore, this chapter can beseen as the theoretical foundation for the applications for the study in chapter III and theimprovements that should be made to the course book “Basic English III” for non- Englishmajor students at BG Teachers’ Training College.

Chapter 2: Research Methodology

2.1 An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at BGTTC

Bac Giang Teachers Training College is the only college in Bac Giang provinceresponsible for training junior teachers of English and other subjects Recently, there hasbeen no more need for English teachers in the province Consequently, 16 teachers ofEnglish department have been assigned to teach English for non- English major students BGTTC is situated in a mountainous province Thus, the teaching conditions are quitepoor This college does not have special rooms for studying foreign language Theclassrooms are narrow with nearly 50 students in each, and the teaching facilities onlyinclude textbook, board, and chalk, there are neither visual aids, nor modern facilities Thereference books for students are very limited as well

Besides that, most of non- English major students at BG College come from rural areas inBG province By the time they enter the College, they have experienced 3 to 7 yearsstudying English at secondary school Some of them have learned other foreign languagessuch as Russian or French, so their level of English proficiency and their learning stylewere varied Until now, no official examination has ever been held to measure students’English proficiency at the beginning stage In addition, the class time is limited and theclass size is too large which is a real problem for effective classroom management Inclass, only some strong students are motivated to follow new methods of teaching andparticipate actively in group discussions, presentations, and so on Meanwhile, theweaker ones sit quietly noting down teachers’ explanations of grammar and vocabulary.They are separated from all group activities and prefer working on the materialsindividually Most of the students do not have obvious communicative needs All theyneed is adequate knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to pass the examinations and goodreading skills to read books and newspapers The differences in studying styles causing alot of difficulties for teachers to conduct their lesson effectively and arouse the learninginterest among students In such a teaching context, the teachers of the college tend toadopt both traditional and communicative approaches in their classroom practices to helpstudents achieve the most essential requirements of their English courses

2.2 Research Methods2.2.1 Research questions

As mentioned earlier, the aims of this study are to answer the two following researchquestions:

1 To what extent does “Basic English III” satisfy the requirements of the course provided

at BGTTC in terms of aims, content and methodology?

2 What improvements should be made to the material to meet the course requirements andstudents’ need?

2.2.2 Participants

The teacher respondents in this study included sixteen English teachers of whom therewere two material designers, thirteen English teachers and the researcher herself Theywere all from English department at BGTTC and by the time the research was conducted,they had been teaching English for more than 7 years and had experience in teaching thismaterial to non-English major students.

The material designers were well trained and considered experienced with at least 8 yearsteaching English one of whom had a M.A degree from College of foreign Languages,Vietnam National University while the other was an English staff that had a post- graduatecertificate for a methodology training course

The other thirteen teachers chosen as respondents of this study were nine females and fourmales whose age ranges from 32 to 50 They had used this material to teach the secondyear students of different classes Therefore, they were in a better position to evaluate thematerial than those who had little experience using the material.

The researcher of this study was also an English teacher at BGTTC having 7 yearsteaching experience and had also used this material to teach the second year non-Englishmajor students.

2.2.3 Data collection procedures2.2.3.1 Document analysis

Document analysis is an effective method to collect the data for the study As Robinson(1991: 71) said it can provide useful information and “form an essential part of the data foran evaluation exercise”

In this study, the evaluator is also a teacher who has worked with the material “BasicEnglish III” for two years and is now in a position to conduct an evaluation of the material,

which is based on an analysis of the teaching material, and the requirements of the course.Therefore document analysis of this study was the analysis of the course syllabus and thematerial “Basic English III” with three major criteria namely aims, content, andmethodology.

Both syllabus and material analysis were broken into sub- criteria as follows:· Aims of the course

· Content

- Language points: Vocabulary and Grammar structures and pronunciation- Proportion of macro- skills

- Micro-skills covered- Text types

- Topics

- Organization of content - Sequence of content

- The teachers’ opinions about the students’ learning strategies and preference- Time allocation for each unit

· Methodology

- Kinds of exercises/ tasks- Teaching- learning techniques- Methodological guidance

The results of syllabus analysis (subjective analysis) were then matched with those fromthe “Basic English III” analysis, as a kind of objective one to see whether they are wellmatched to each other.

2.2.3.2 Questionnaires

There are many ways of collecting data such as: mail survey, telephone survey, interview, questionnaire, and so on but questionnaire is one of the instruments which is often used to collect data by most of researchers in social sciences Gillham (2000: 6) points out that questionnaire has a number of significant advantages such as:

- Low cost in time and money.

- Easy to get information from a lot of people very quickly.- Respondents can complete the questionnaire when it suits them.- Analysis of answers to closed questions is straightforward.- Less pressure for an immediate response.

- Respondents’ anonymity.- Lack of interviewer bias.

- Standardization of questions (but true of structured interview).- Can provide suggestive data for testing a hypothesis.

The overall purpose of choosing the questionnaire for this study was to collect theinformation from the teachers about the material Most importantly, completing thequestionnaire, the respondents of this study had less pressure in completing thequestionnaire, than in taking part in other forms such as interviews or direct discussionswith the researcher Besides, the collected data from questionnaire is relatively easy to besummarized and reported as all the informants answer the same questions.

The questionnaires were designed based on the results of syllabus analysis and materialanalysis They were distributed to the material designers and the teachers who haddesigned and taught this material, one week after the first term of the school year 2006-2007 was over.

The questionnaires were given to the material designers and the teachers at the same time.First, they read through the questionnaires to make sure that any unambiguity could beavoided The questionnaires then were asked to return in a week.

The questionnaire is divided into four parts:

Part A investigates the material designers and teachers’ opinions about the aims of thematerial.

Part B seeks their opinions about the content of the materialPart C asks for their opinions about the methodology

Part D requires them to offer suggestions for the material’s further improvementThe questionnaire is summarized in detail as follows:

A The aims of the material in relation to the aims of the

Students’ learning strategies and preference Q 16,17,18C

D Suggestions for the contents and methodology Q 25- 32

Table 2.1: Types of information in the teacher questionnaire

2.3 Summary

This chapter has provided an overview of the current English teaching and learning contextat BGTTC The participants involved in this research were Bac Giang English teachers who had been teaching the material “BEIII” for two years Besides, questionnaire, institutional document analysis, and material analysis being primarily based on three criteria: aims, content, and methodology were employed as major research instruments to seek answers to the two research questions given in 2.2.1

Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Discussion 3.1 Document Analysis

3.1.1 The Suitability of the Material to the Aims of the Course

To determine the appropriateness of the material to the aims of the course, the author hasbased upon the analysis of the syllabus objectives and that of the material.

3.1.1 1 Syllabus objectives analysis

The course “Basic English III” is aimed at providing students with:- basic grammatical structures,

- basic vocabulary for daily communication,

- the opportunity to improve pronunciation with focus on reduced vowels, word linking,stress and intonation,

- the opportunity to practice reading skills through reading passages about differentthemes,

- the opportunity to practice writing skill with focus on writing complex sentences,paragraphs, and essay, and

- the opportunity to practice everyday spoken language in common situations.

As can be seen above, the primary focus of the course is improving students’ basicgrammatical knowledge and vocabulary which, in fact, are of great significance tostudents’ success in learning English for communicative purposes at low intermediatelevel To guarantee that the given purposes of the course can be achieved, stress is also onthe development of all the four language skills namely reading, speaking, writing andlistening Also, pronunciation improvement is included as an important objective to befulfilled.

3.1.1.2 Material analysis

The aims of the material “Basic English III”, which were built on the aims of the syllabusobjectives for second- year non-English major students were described in 14 units of thematerial in terms of language points and language skills ( see Appendix 3).

The language points in terms of grammar, vocabulary and the language skills (reading,writing, and speaking) seem to match with the requirements of the course However, thepronunciation part did not exist in the material So it could be concluded that therequirements for pronunciation improvement was not fulfilled

* Language points

The grammar section aims to orientate students to the language work that is to come Itpresents and gives students the chance to practice basic grammar structures The grammarsection has three stages: presentation, rules and practice (see Sample Unit 4 in Appendix5) In the presentation stage, students are given a task that highlights the new grammarpoints In the second stage, students are asked to work out the rules and usage for thosegrammatical items In the third stage, students are provided with some exercises to practice

the newly introduced structures in order to help students reinforce their grammarknowledge.

As shown above, the material proves to be successful in providing students with the basicgrammatical structures as the course requires.

The vocabulary section deals with vocabulary for daily communication on common topics

such as: sleep (unit 1), student’s life (unit 3), work (unit 4), food and drink (unit 5),English- speaking countries (unit 6), healthy food (unit 7), daily activities (unit 8)

However, there is not a separate vocabulary section for students to learn The list of newvocabulary is just found at the end of the book (for a sample, see table 3.1 below).

siesta (n): giấc ngủ trưa ở sứ nóng nap (v) chợp mắt một lát

Table 3.1: The vocabulary list of unit 1 (Basic English III, p 87)

In addition, there are no examples for further explanation or illustration of the use of eachnew word Vocabulary exercises for are also missing in this section Since new vocabularyis just presented to students without giving them the chance to practice, it is reasonable toconclude that the material has failed to meet the requirement of improving students’vocabulary.

Pronunciation

The material could not help students to learn the essential pronunciation elementsincluding stress, intonation, reduced vowels, and word linking, because it does not provideany pronunciation practice in each unit Moreover, there is no pronunciation section in themap of contents (see Appendix 3) It is only present in the outline of the syllabus (seeAppendix 2) Therefore, the objective of pronunciation improvement has not been fulfilled.

* Language skills

The reading skill, as stated in the aims of the course, is the element teachers much focuson In this material, the topics of the texts are mostly relevant to everyday life As can beseen in Appendix 5 (a sample of unit 4), the reading section in the material is very clearlydeveloped following the model of three stages: pre- reading, while reading and postreading that help both students and teachers use the section effectively In pre- reading,

students are given some questions concerning the content of the lesson and they have topredict the answers In while- reading, they spend time reading the text and giving the rightanswers to the questions raised in the pre- reading stage After that, various types of post-reading tasks are given to check readers’ comprehension such as: short answers, multiplechoice, true/ false statements, and so on These task types help develop students’ readingskills.

Writing and speaking

Throughout the book, writing and speaking skills are normally found as follow- upactivities, which are used to reinforce introduced grammatical structures and for postreading practice, not as separate sections In addition, the presentation and practice of thegiven skills as compared to the syllabus objectives are insufficient For example, withwriting skill, unit 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, and 14 give students the chances to practice writingcomplex sentences while unit 8 is aimed at developing students’ paragraph writing skillsbut none of these units is devoted to essay writing With speaking skill, in unit 11, afterdoing language focus about gerunds, students are asked to tell their partners what they likeor dislike doing in their free time Because of the lack of specific instructions, studentshave many difficulties in performing these tasks From the facts above, it could be said thatthe material has partly met the course requirements in terms of writing skill and speakingskill.

* Conclusion of the material evaluation

From the above mentioned analysis, it can be concluded that the material has fullyachieved the aims of the course in terms of grammar and reading skill, partly fulfilled theaims of the course in terms of writing skills and speaking skills, and failed to meet therequirement for pronunciation and vocabulary development.

3.1.2 The Suitability of the Material to the Content Requirements of the Course 3.1.2.1 Syllabus analysis

To determine whether the material has well responded to the content requirements of thecourse, the author made a comparison between the content requirements of the course andthe content of the material

1 Language points

- Grammatical structures Basic English grammatical structures such as modal verb,

2 Macro-skills and theirproportion

3 Micro-skills

4 Text types

5 Topics

6 Organization of content7 Sequence of content8 Time allocation

modals + perfect infinitive, expression of quantity, verb agreement with coordinators, linking verbs, used to, too+ adj/ adv + to infinitive, adj/ adv + enough + to infinitive,enough + noun + to infinitive, gerund, infinitive, adj + prep,nouns formation

subject-Words related to common topics

Reduced vowels, word linking, stress and intonation.

Reading, writing, speaking (with more focus on reading andwriting skills)

Guessing, scanning, skimming

Writing complex sentences, paragraphs, and essays

Asking for information, making an interview, making adescription, asking for clarification

Reading texts, dialogues, newspapers, invention, story, anddescriptions

Common, interesting topics with updated informationAround the language points

Recycle availableThree periods per unit

Table 3.2: The content requirements for Semester 3

Table 3.2 above presents the description of the course content requirements in terms oflanguage points, macro-skills and their proportion, micro-skills, text types, topics,organization of content, sequence of content, and time allocation.

3.1.2.2 Material analysis

Fourteen units in the material were analyzed with respect to language points, languageskills, topics, text types, organization of content, sequence of content and time allocation tofind out the suitability of the material in terms of content.

* The language points

- Grammar: this material provides basic English grammar structures such as modal verb,modals + perfect infinitive, expression of quantity, subject- verb agreement with

coordinators, linking verbs, used to, too + adj/ adv + to infinitive, adj/ adv + enough + toinfinitive, enough + noun + to infinitive, gerund, infinitive, adj + prep, nouns formationAs can be seen from table 3.2 above, it is obvious that the grammar components in thematerial could meet the objectives as stated in the syllabus.

- Vocabulary: the requirements of the course for vocabulary are words related to common,interesting topics Analysis of the material showed that the material supplied students with

much of vocabulary of various common topics such as sleep (unit 1), student’s life (unit 3),work (unit 4), food and drink (unit 5), English- speaking countries (unit 6), healthy food(unit 7), daily activities (unit 8), and so on Therefore, the material could match well with

the course requirement in terms of vocabulary.

- Pronunciation: the material analysis showed that there was not any section forpronunciation practice, so students did not have the chance to improve pronunciationrelated elements such as stress, intonation, reduced vowels, and word linking while theywere learning this material, so it can be concluded that the requirement for pronunciationimprovement was not satisfied

* The macro-skills and their proportion

The aims of the course are to develop students’ reading, writing and speaking skills.Among these skills, more emphasis is put on reading skills As it was shown in table 3.2,the material mainly focuses on reading skills, which is part of course requirements.However, after analyzing fourteen units of the material, the researcher found that in mostunits, there were no separate sections for speaking and writing skills The speaking andwriting practices were mostly found integrated with reading activities, and grammarsections For example, after reading the text and doing the post- reading tasks aboutchildhood memories in unit 8, students are required to write a paragraph about childhood.Another example is the presentation part in unit 8, after reading the conversation betweenTom and Mary about expressing changes, students are asked to ask and answer questionsabout Tom In unit 11, they are required to tell their partners about what they like anddislike doing in free time Examples as such have revealed that this material was primarilydesigned to develop students’ reading skills, not writing and speaking skills Therefore, itcould be said that the material did not fully respond to the course requirements in terms ofmacro-skills.

* The micro- skills

All of the skills work for reading, writing and speaking skills are presented in table 3.2 Inorder to achieve the syllabus objectives as mentioned in 3.1.1, students are trained toacquire the following micro-skills (or sub-skills):

- Reading skill: guessing, scanning, and skimming.

- Writing skill: writing complex sentences, paragraphs and complete essays.

- Speaking skill: asking for information, making an interview, making a description, andasking for clarification.

Regarding the sub-skills of guessing, scanning, and skimming in reading, students wereexposed to those skills in all the reading texts and they were well developed in such a waythat taught students to read through the text for extracting general information or scanningfor specific information by doing a number of tasks such as answering short questions, trueor false exercises, matching and so on

The skills of writing and speaking were not consistent with the course requirements Therequirements of the course for writing were writing complex sentences, paragraphs andcomplete essays The material analysis showed that students only had opportunities towrite a paragraph in unit 8; completing the sentences in unit 4, 6, 7, and 11; and buildingsentences in unit 6, 10, 11, 13, and 14, all of which indicate that throughout the coursestudents had no opportunities to practice writing essays.

For speaking, the course requirements were asking for information, making an interview,and so on In this material, students were required to ask for information in unit 8 and unit11 which means students had little opportunity to practice speaking skill.

From the given analysis, it is apparent that only reading skill has satisfied the courserequirements while writing and speaking skills were far from satisfactory as compared tothe course requirements.

* The text types

According to the requirements of the course, the content of the material should beintroduced in various forms such as reading texts, dialogues, newspapers, invention, story,and descriptions Dialogues, and reading texts often appeared in grammar section and theothers were in the reading section From the material analysis, the researcher found that thetext types used in the material were relevant to the course requirements

* The topics

The treatment of topics as presented in table 3.2 deals with common and interesting topicswith updated information for social communication purposes All the topics found in thematerial provided students with useful background knowledge and suit students’ interest

some of which are sleep (unit 1), food (unit 5), work and retirement (unit 4), expressingchanges (unit 8), a healthy diet for everyone (unit 7), greenhouse effect (unit 11),expressing feelings (unit 13) In short, the topics in the material were the “fit- all” topics

and they satisfied the requirements of the course.

* Organization of content

The content of the material was divided into three parts: Part 1 was grammar presentedthrough texts or dialogues, language focuses and exercises Part 2 was the reading texts,which went together with tasks Part 3 was exercises concerning language focuses Sincethe content of this material was organized around the specified language points, it isreasonable to state that the content organization has achieved the course requirements.

* Sequence of content

The content of the material did not go from easier to more difficult level As can be seenfrom the organization of content, the material was divided into three parts: grammar,reading and exercises These parts were repeated throughout the book Therefore, recyclingthe learned knowledge was available Accordingly, it is reasonable to state that thesequence of content completely fits the course specification.

* Time allocation

There were three periods allotted for each unit The first period was for grammar and someexercises The two remaining periods were for reading and exercises for further practice.Thus, time allocation for each unit as such seemed appropriate.

* Conclusion of the material evaluation

The data analysis from the institutional document and the material indicated that thecontents reflected in the material matched the contents of the course requirements in termsof the grammar structures, vocabulary, reading skills, the text types, the topics,organization of content, sequence of content, and time allocation However, writing andspeaking skills, as well as pronunciation failed to meet the requirements of the course