An evaluation of interactions access reading used as a textbook for efl college students at ca mau community college

i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY ĐỖ SONG NGUYỆN AN EVALUATION OF “INTERACTIONS ACCESS READING” USED AS A TEXTBOOK FOR EFL COLLEGE STUDENTS AT CA MAU COMMUNITY COLLEGE Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60140111 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof., Ph.D Ngô Đình Phương Nghệ An, 2016 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis, entitled “An evaluation of Interactions Access Reading used as a textbook for EFL college students at Ca Mau Community College”, is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis Vinh City, November 2016 iii ABSTRACT The study evaluates the quality of the textbook Interactions Access Reading – Silver Edition for Ca Mau Community College The research was conducted in two stages: a theoretical evaluation and an empirical evaluation The theoretical evaluation was based on the researcher’s experience, expertise, and the literature on textbook evaluation The empirical evaluation was based on data collected from 11 teachers and 83 students at CMCC in the form of questionnaire and documents The questionnaire consisted of 22 grouped under main categories: the general appearance, design and illustration, accompanying materials, objectives, topic appropriateness, learning components, socio-cultural contexts, skills development, and teaching methods The evaluation sought to find out the users’ views on the textbook, its impact on users and the users’ recommendations for improvement The findings were generally in favor of the textbook except for the cover sheet, difficulty of the activities and tasks is appropriate at learners’ level, the material for listening, speaking and natural pronunciation The category that had the highest percentage was the one on teaching methods, while the category that had the lowest mean was the one on learning components The findings also revealed that there were no significant differences between the results of the two populations of the study - teachers and students And the study concluded with recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of the textbook iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my appreciation and deeply-felt words to all those concerned in my thesis Secondly, my sincere gratitude goes to my supervisor, Assoc Prof., Ph.D Ngo Dinh Phuong, who read my manuscript with great care and devotion, gave thoughtful and insightful comments, and provided me with invaluable support and relevant materials in the preparation and completion this thesis, thus asserting his indispensable role as a wholehearted supervisor I would not have finished my study without his enthusiastic guidance and constructive critical questions to help me think over the problems Then my special thanks are reserved for my LA classmates, who shared the happiness and difficulties with me during the course I will never forget the time I studied with them, as siblings in a nice family I am also grateful to the managing board, the English teaching staff, and the students in the academic year of 2015-2016 at Ca Mau Community College, whose willingness, enthusiasm, and encouragement supported me so much Last but not least, words cannot reveal my appreciation to my family Without their endless love, I could never overcome all the difficulties facing my life v TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENT v LIST OF TABLES ix ABBREVIATIONS x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .4 2.1 Textbook 2.1.1 Definitions of the textbook 2.1.2 The roles of textbook in language teaching and learning 2.2 Textbook evaluation 2.2.1 Definition 2.2.2 The reasons to evaluate the textbook 2.2.3 Some textbook evaluation criteria .7 vi 2.3 Research Studies on Textbook Evaluation 2.3.1 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Cunningsworth (1995) 2.3.2 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Rod Ellis (1997) 2.3.3 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Littlejohn (1998 & 2011) .9 2.3.4 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Litz’s study (2002) .10 2.3.5 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Tomlinson (2003) .11 2.3.6 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Thein (2006) .12 2.3.7 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Jahangard’s study (2007) 13 2.3.8 Textbook Evaluation Criteria by Nguyen’s study (2011) .14 2.4 Description of the Textbook 15 2.5 Conclusion 15 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 Introduction 17 3.2 Population of the Study 18 3.2.1 Population of students 18 3.2.2 Population of the English teachers 18 3.3 Data collection instruments 18 3.3.1 Document analysis 19 3.3.2 Survey questionnaires .19 3.4 Data Collection Procedures 20 3.5 Research methods 20 3.5.1 Theoretical evaluation .20 3.5.2 Empirical evaluation 21 vii CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .23 4.1 Theoretical evaluation 23 4.1.1 Appropriateness of Interactions Access Reading – Silver edition to curriculum aims and objectives 23 4.1.2 Appropriateness of the textbook to the context .24 4.1.3 Content of the textbook 26 4.2 Summary of the theoretical evaluation of the textbook Interactions Access Reading 29 4.3 Empirical evaluation 30 4.3.1 Questionnaire for teachers .30 4.3.1.1 Practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages 30_Toc491677069 4.3.1.2 Organization and structure 31 4.3.1.3 Activities 33 4.3.1.4 Methodology 35 4.3.1.5 Level of language 37 4.3.1.6 Skills .39 4.3.1.7 Summary overview of teacher responses .41 4.3.2 Questionnaire for students .42 4.3.2.1 Practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages .42 4.3.2.2 Organization and structure 44 4.3.2.3 Activities 45 4.3.2.4 Methodology 47 4.3.2.5 Language level .48 viii CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 53 5.1 Summary of the study 54 5.2 Conclusion 55 5.3 Recommendations 56 5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 56 APPENDICES 58 APPENDIX 58 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 58 APPENDIX 62 QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS 62 REFERENCES 65 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Summary of teachers’ evaluation on practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages 31 Table 4.2: Summary of teachers’ evaluation of organization and structure .32 Table 4.3: Summary of teachers’ evaluation on activities and tasks 33 Table 4.4: Teachers’ opinions about methodology in the textbook 36 Table 4.5: Teachers’ opinions about language types in the textbook .38 Table 4.6: Teachers’ opinions about skills in the textbook .40 Table 4.7: Teachers’ opinions about the textbook 41 Table 4.8: Summary of students’ evaluation on practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages 43 Table 4.9: Summary of students’ evaluation on structure and organization 44 Table 4.10: Summary of students’ evaluation of activities and tasks .46 Table 4.11: Students’ opinions about methodology in the textbook 48 Table 4.12: Summary of students’ evaluation on language level .49 Table 4.13: Students’ opinions about skills in the textbook .51 Table 4.14: Students’ opinions about the textbook 53 x ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching CMCC: Ca Mau Community college ELT: English language teaching IELTS: International English Language Testing System LA: Long An L1: First Language L2: Second Language MoET: Ministry of Education and Training PPP: Presentation – Practice – Production TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language 54 the textbook at hand and finally, it ends with limitations and suggestions for future research 5.1 Summary of the study The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of the textbook Interactions Access Reading – Silver Edition taught at CMCC It was conducted in the light of case study research using different research instruments, namely document analysis, and survey questionnaires A survey questionnaire was used in this study to elicit the perspectives of 11 English language teachers and 83 students in CMCC about the textbook in question The questionnaires consisted of 22 items grouped under main categories: Practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages, organization and structure, activities, methodology, level of language, and skills Information and data from documents, and survey questionnaires were collected and analyzed to find out the answers to research questions The findings of this research study revealed important points related to the characteristics of a good textbook The findings were generally in favor of the textbook except for the teaching methods and some other sub-items such as the cover sheet and the attractiveness of textbook, the amount of listening, distribution of speaking, reading and writing in tasks and activities, the level of language, and natural pronunciation The findings also revealed that there were no significant differences between the means of the two populations of the study (teachers and students) 55 5.2 Conclusion Based on the results acquired from the analysis, the following conclusions are drawn: - The textbooks take into consideration the needs of its learners through developing their receptive and productive skills within a selection of context - The textbook provide learners with knowledge about different cultures as they are being exposed to native and non-native English speakers in the textbook itself - The textbook satisfies teachers and students’ expectations regarding its design and illustrations Still, it lacks illustrations that are varied and attractive and that can stimulate students' creativity - The textbook satisfies teachers and students’ expectations regarding its accompanying materials - The textbook satisfies teachers and students’ expectations regarding its topic appropriateness - The textbook satisfies teachers and students’ expectations regarding skills development However, the distribution of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing skills in tasks and activities not satisfy the participants' expectations particularly pronunciation activities - The textbook satisfies teachers and students’ expectations regarding its teaching methods According to the majority of the participants, the teaching methods are upto-date, student-centered, and does allow various classroom activities Many kinds of tasks and activities are presented in the book in order to encourage pair/ group work - Learners’ autonomy is stressed throughout the textbook and the use of communicative activities is very obvious since students have to attempt these exercise first - While the textbook satisfies teachers and students’ expectations regarding language components, the level of language in the textbook is not appropriate to the students 56 5.3 Recommendations This section presents the recommendations derived from the interpretation and discussions of the results The recommendations are expected to be beneficial for any parties involving in the use of textbooks The detailed recommendations are as follow - Including a variety of attractive illustrations that can stimulate creativity - Including information about the inner lives of the characters used in the book as this can allow students to discuss the characters' personalities, behaviors, problems, attitudes and ways of thinking In addition, these characters can be examples for the students in their real lives - Adding pronunciation exercises and activities such as group and pair work, games, puzzles and so on as these can help students carry out their communicative tasks in real life - It was clear from the research results that the textbook fails to satisfy the teachers and students’ expectations regarding its distribution of skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) in tasks and activities So, it is necessary to update these tasks, activities and make use of freer, student-centered approaches that can engage students affectively through excitement, fun and emotion - The level of language in the textbook is above the level of students This could be done by updating the language with academic and non-academic styles, for example - Curricula should be revised every three or four years There are two forms of change: Long-term change and short-term change Long-term change is the change which is done to the curriculum every three or four years, as mentioned above Short term change is the change which is done to the curriculum at any time when such assessment necessitates or dictates the incorporation of new elements into the curriculum in the unit, or into a section, a minor change 5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 57 Though the study is done to the best understanding of the researcher, it is unavoidable for the study to have some limitations The survey questionnaires were only done by 83 English majored students of CMCC, so the researcher could not touch deeper insights to the teaching and learning this textbook Also, if the researcher had a chance to a research on the pack of textbooks (Interactions Access Reading, Interactions Reading and Interactions Reading) taught for students in this school, the result would be clearer and more accurate That is why it is hoped that this study will encourage an extension of textbook research to larger and further scale It is proposed that more research will be conducted to evaluate a set of textbook Interactions Access Reading, Interactions Reading and Interactions Reading and conducted in all classes in CMCC Besides, further research could also make use of video recordings Video recording enables researchers to see what happens in the classrooms in detail, thereby making classroom observation data more reliable Last but not least, the future research should make a consideration of ideas or remarks of the academics, counselors or experts who have various experiences in this area That make the evaluation of the textbook more reliable and valuable 58 APPENDICES APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS In an attempt to evaluate the textbook Interactions Access Reading – Silver edition currently used at Ca Mau Community College, we would greatly appreciate it if you could respond to the questions below Your opinions would be very useful to this evaluation research and to the improvement of the textbook for future use Thank you very much for your valuable contributions Name: Age: Sex: Teaching experience: INSTRUCTION To respond to this questionnaire, please check (√) in the appropriate choice as follows: 1: strongly disagree 2: disagree 4: agree 5: strongly agree 3: not sure A Practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages No Statement The book is easy to obtain The cover sheet is eye-catching with attractive and colorful pictures The paper quality is good The textbook looks attractive The aims and audience are clearly stated 59 There is a clear overview of content page (topics, functions, grammar, and skills) for each lesson The topics are interesting and suitable for my students What needs improving for the general appearance, practical consideration and content page? B Organization and structure The textbook is well-organized The lessons in the textbook are linked well to each other What needs improving in the organization and structure? C Activities The difficulty of the activities and tasks is relevant to my students’ level The amount of listening, speaking, reading and writing in tasks and activities is distributed appropriately What needs improving regarding the activities and tasks? D Methodology By teaching tasks in Pre-reading, you interest your students in the topics they are going to learn By teaching tasks in while-reading, you help your students acquire knowledge to understand the reading texts You taught tasks in post-reading easily because you only help your students consolidate what they have learnt 60 You used the methods which allow students to talk more than teachers You used the methods which allow various class activities 61 E Level of language The language used in the textbook is at the right level for my students Students can read and understand the stories in the textbook comfortably What needs improving regarding the language level? F Skills The textbook includes and focuses on the skills that your students need to practice The textbook provides an appropriate balance of the four language skills The practice of individual skills is integrated into the practice of other skills The textbook highlights and practices natural pronunciation (stress and intonation) Thank you for your cooperation! 62 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS In an attempt to evaluate the textbook currently used for English majored students at Ca Mau Community College, 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 INSTRUCTION To respond to this questionnaire, please check (√) in the appropriate choice as follows: 1: strongly disagree 2: disagree 4: agree 5: strongly agree 3: not sure A Practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages No Statement The book is easy to obtain The cover sheet is eye-catching with attractive and colorful pictures The paper quality is good The textbook looks attractive The aims and audience are clearly stated There is a clear overview of content page (topics, functions, grammar, and skills) for each lesson The topics are interesting and suitable for my students What needs improving for the general appearance, practical consideration and content page? 63 B Organization and structure The textbook is well-organized The lessons in the textbook are linked well to each other What needs improving in the organization and structure? C Activities The difficulty of the activities and tasks is relevant to my students’ level The amount of listening, speaking, reading and writing in tasks and activities is distributed appropriately What needs improving regarding the activities and tasks? D Methodology By teaching tasks in Pre-reading, you interest your students in the topics they are going to learn By teaching tasks in while-reading, you help your students acquire knowledge to understand the reading texts You taught tasks in post-reading easily because you only help your students consolidate what they have learnt You used the methods which allow students to talk more than teachers You used the methods which allow various class activities E Level of language The language used in the textbook is at the right level 64 for my students Students can read and understand the stories in the textbook comfortably What needs improving regarding the language level? F Skills The textbook includes and focuses on the skills that your students need to practice The textbook provides an appropriate balance of the four language skills The practice of individual skills is integrated into the practice of other skills The textbook highlights and practices natural pronunciation (stress and intonation) Thank you very much for your cooperation! 65 REFERENCES Acklam, R (1994) The role of the coursebook Practical English Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brown, H.D (2000) Principles of language learning and teaching (4thed) New York: Addison Wesley Longman Bruder, M (1978) Evaluation of Foreign Language Textbooks In H Madsen & J Brown (Eds.), Adaptation in language teaching, 209-218 Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, Inc Byrd, P., (2001) Textbooks: Evaluation for selection and analysis for implementation, in M Celce-Murcia (ed.) 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Interactions Access Reading – Silver Edition for Ca Mau Community College The research was conducted in two stages: a theoretical evaluation and an empirical evaluation The theoretical evaluation was based... LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Summary of teachers’ evaluation on practical considerations, physical appearance and content pages 31 Table 4.2: Summary of teachers’ evaluation of organization... materials evaluation: a predictive evaluation and a retrospective evaluation A predictive evaluation is designed to make a decision regarding what materials to use, whereas a retrospective evaluation