A survey on tra vinh university english department teachers and english majored students attitudes and views on the textbook interactions 2 listening

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

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A SURVEY ON TRA VINH UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT TEACHERS’ AND

ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND VIEWS ON THE TEXTBOOK - INTERACTIONS 2

LISTENING/ SPEAKING — SILVER EDITION

TRUONG DAI HOC MG TP.HEM THU VIEN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by: BUI THI MY CHI

Supervisor: NGUYEN THU HUONG (Ph D)

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis, entitled “A Survey on Tra Vinh University English Department Teachers’ and English-Majored Students’ Attitudes and Views on the Textbook - Interactions 2 Listening / Speaking - Silver E dition”, 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 Ihave 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

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, 2011

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis is a result of enthusiastic support of many persons I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of them

Firstly, I would like to deeply acknowledge my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thu Huong, who guided me to have insightful thoughts and provided me many relevant materials, as well as supported me with valuable comments in preparation and completion of this thesis

My special thanks go to all professors who have been teaching me at Ho Chi Minh

City Open University for their interesting lectures and useful instructions during the

course to help me carry on this study

I am extremely thankful to the Director Board of Tra Vinh University who created a good condition for me to pursuit and complete the course

I would like to say thank you to all of the teachers in the English Department and students in 2008 English- majored university classes at Tra Vinh University for their help and support

Finally, I am also very grateful to my family, my husband, and my son for their love

and mental support throughout the long time I take part in the course and

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ABSTRACT

Teaching and learning English plays a very important role in Vietnam education these days Along with selecting teaching methods, selecting appropriate textbooks

is really necessary because textbooks have contributed enormously to success of

English studying

The present study aims to survey Tra Vinh University English Department teachers’ and English-majored students’ attitudes and views on task content and task presentation of the textbook - Interactions 2 Listening/ Speaking — Silver Edition

by Tanka and Baker (2007a), published by McGraw-Hill

In the survey a questionnaire for eight teachers and a questionnaire for eighty-two students in the second year of their bachelor English program were used to measure their attitudes and views on the textbook’s task content and task presentation and teachers’ exploitation of content and task in the textbook

The findings show that both teachers and students had positive attitudes and views on task content and task presentation in each chapter and teachers’ exploitation of content and task in the textbook However, problems on some strange themes and some difficult parts along with the same task presentation were found and reported in the study The enlightenment of the problems embedded in the textbook has a significant meaning for foreign language teaching pedagogy in terms of textbook

revision and adaptations

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement Of authorship .c.ceccccsesssesesesesscscsescsveseuescscseavavavavavavsvesesssescesevees i Acknowledgement 0 c.ccccssssssssscsesssscsescsvssrsacacaraeusssssasssssasscsssvsvevevevavenees il 0x 0 ili Table of contents 0.0 cececeecsesessssesescsessesessssescssssesesusavseacanaavaseasataveesavscsveveees iv

List of figures and tables .c.ccccccccscsescssssssscscscscscscscscscacsesssesevsvevevevecerececes Vii

List of abbreviation .cececessssesssssessssesesscsessescsusscassusaesversaessueseaveseasavsvevesees %

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 0 0.c.ccccccccccscscececscscscececcacecscevscavecscecseeees 1

1.1 Background of the problem .cccccccccsssssssssecscsceeescscscscsesecseeccacsesesees 1

1.2 Statement ofthe problem - 6s +s St ESESEEEEESEEEEsEES2EEEce2 3

1.3 Purpose ofthe problem - ¿2 2 2 5s St St SEt SE SE cEcg 3x 232 czce2 4 1.4 Research questions and hypothesis .ccccccccsssssssscssseescsescscecscsvseseeeees 5 1.5 Significance of the Study .c.cccccccccscscscssscscscsesescscstscecssecsseceesevevacacseeees 6 1.6 Overview of the thesis structure .c.ccccccscsscsssssssesesesesssesesscscsvavecseseees 6

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 0 0.c.cccccccsccssscscescecscscscssecesesesecsees 8

2.1 Curriculum versus syllabus .cccccccccssssssscscsssseseeeecseceeacsesesssacsesacseeeeaes 8

2.2 Approaches to syllabus design .ccccscscscsscsssssssesscssscsesescscacavescseveserees 10 2.2.1 Types of syllabuses .ccscscssssssssssssssscsessssscseseecsrscecscecesseeees 10 2.2.2 Selecting and grading content and learning tasks 12 ZDL-l SCLC COMME scccrcasviciarcesasesseesessndevseersoonsenvensneneneeensns đã

Dud dod (TACINE GOD[CTIE se n ni TL ng H1 012111696616 s66 1

2.2.2.3 Selecting learning tasks + ke xxx ce2 14 2.2.2.4 Grading learning tasks - + x+ +xs2£s£zzcsz 15

2.3 Principles of coursebooks design or materials development 16

2.4 Existing instruments for choosing and evaluating coursebooks or

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2.7.2 Some speaking problems and solutions tt

2.8 Listening and speaking coursebook design or material development

2.8.1 Listening coursebook design or material developmert

2.8.2 Speaking coursebook design or material developmert

2.9 Studies concerning textbook selection and appraisal «+

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3.2.2 Samples of teachers .cc.cccccccsssssssssssessessssessessssecsesvesseseeseseseecece

3.3 Research Instrument .c ccccsssssessssteseesesssesessessesssssesserseseeveeseeececceccece

3.3.2 Questions for Teacher .c.cccsssesssscssssssesseseeesesvesescesececececesceen 3.4 Maferials neo

4.2 Students’ and teachers’ attitudes and views on the textbook content

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4.3 Students’ and teachers’ attitudes and views on the parts in each chapter

Of the textbook oo eceeccsscsesessssessssescacsusnsassusacassusavasssesssseseaveavevereecececeecesececeec

4.3.1 Students’ and teachers’ attitudes and views on the liked

4.4 The ways of the teachers’ exploitation of the content and tasks in the textbook in terms Of instructions 0 cccccscsssssessssssessestssssseavscsssseesessesseveveevevees 4.5 The relationship between students’ and teachers’ attitudes and views ON the textbOOK .ccecseseceesessesessescsesscsessssecsessessaesusarsusatsatasstsssasssascavesaveeveves

4.5.1 Attitudes and views on the content and layout - 4.5.2 Attitudes and views on the parts .c.ccccccssccsesssesesessssestseseseseeees 4.5.3 Views on the teachers” textbook exploitation - Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS Ằ.Ư Ung 5.1 COPCÏUSIOT1 3 2321212121 11111 1511111111111 1111111511 EEecenenrsrec

5.2 Implications for textbook designers, Tra Vinh University, and teachers 5.2.1 Textbook designers .cccccccccsssssssscscscscssesvscscssseecescsaecsessvevees

5.2.2 Tra Vinh university ccccccccccscsescsssscecesssssesssscscsceccscscscscevees De TOROS ss cisnicssivacareseseeoenseesneerssnrevssnonovsavacsxaspaveasncwsseesdaceaes carvers

5.3 Limitations of the Study 0 ccccccscsssssssssssesesesssesesssscsesasssscesscseseseavecevees

5.4 Recommendations for further research .c.ceccsesssssssssssesesseecsesesseseveseeves REFERENCES ooo occcccccccccessssessesesessssescsscssvsssavsreasavavasessasaeresesesseseseseaveve, APPENDICES G2 t1 vn HH 1111 1111 reo

Appendix A: Questionnaire for Students (Vietnamese VerSion)

Appendix B: Questionnaire for Students (English version) . Appendix C: Questionnaire for Teachers .- 2s St +s+sSs2E2E2E2E2EtEtE2EzE2

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LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS

Figures

Figure 2.1 Types of syllabuses

Figure 2.2 Information sources in comprehension

Charts

Chart 4.1 Liked and disliked themes Chart 4.2 Easy and challenging themes

Chart 4.3 Liked and disliked parts

Chart 4.4 Parts from which students learning much

Chart 4.5 Parts which students internalized L/S skill easily Chart 4.6 Difficult parts

Chart 4.7 Part which students could not listen well Chart 4.8 Teachers’ textbook exploitation

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Summary of instruments of textbooks selection and appraisal Table 2.2 Summary of listening problems and solutions

Table 2.3 Summary of studies concerning textbooks selection and appraisal Table 3.1 Summary of samples of students

Table 3.2 Summary of samples of teachers

Table 3.3 Summary of Questionnaire for Students Table 3.4 Summary of Questionnaire for Teachers

Table 4.1 Summary of Students’ characteristics

Table 4.2 Summary of Teachers’ characteristic Table 4.3 General preferences of content Table 4.4 Liked themes

Table 4.5 Disliked themes

Table 4.6 “Easy” themes

Table 4.7 “Challenging” themes

Table 4.8 Reasons which students cannot easily discuss about the themes Table 4.9 Authenticity of language

Table 4.10 Level of relevance of language

Table 4.11 Quality of CDs and CD players Table 4.12 General preferences on layout Table 4.13 Reasons of liking the layout

Table 4.14 Reasons of liking the organization

Table 4.15 Feelings about the chapter structure

Table 4.16 General preferences on the parts

Table 4.17 Liked parts

Table 4.18 Parts having interesting exercises

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Table 4.21 Parts from which students learning much

Table 4.22 Parts which students internalized listening and speaking skills Table 4.23 Difficult parts

Table 4.24 Students’ difficulties

Table 4.25 Parts which students could not listen well Table 4.26 Reasons of not listening well

Table 4.27 Views on good textbook exploitation Table 4.28 Teachers’ textbook adaptation

Table 4.29 Teachers’ skipping some parts in the book Table 4.30 Teachers’ addition materials use

Table 4.31 Chi-Square Test on the content

Table 4.32 Chi-Square Test on the layout

Table 4.33 Chi-Square Test on the parts

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CLT CUP ESL EFL ELT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

: Communication Language Teaching : Cambridge University Press

: English as a Second Language : English as a Foreign Language : English Language Teaching : Listening

: Oxford University Press

: Question

: Speaking

: Second Language Acquisition : Tra Vinh University

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the problem

Nowadays English is a compulsory subject at schools and universities in Vietnam

because Vietnamese are aware that English is the most important means of communication to access the world How to improve English listening and speaking

skills for Vietnamese learners is a great concern of teaching practitioners and students

Looking back a brief overview of the situation of teaching and learning oral skill of

English in Vietnam in recent years, the results of teaching and learning listening/ speaking is not very good Through reflections, most of Vietnamese pupils cannot produce an English sentence orally although spending from six to seven years to learn English as a compulsory subject at lower and higher secondary school really caused an

alarm

According to the findings from recent research at the university, over three

quarters of graduate students cannot communicate verbally in English because of shyness, inadequate vocabulary, or simply lacking the necessary knowledge

Most of them wish that they had been taught speaking skills more properly at

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The poor quality of teaching and learning English oral skill is a bad result of not only the method of teaching and learning but also the way of assessment Although the textbooks used in high schools or universities cover four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, pupils and students are usually assessed based on a written test of reading and writing only, in the mid-term test or final exam at the end of each semester Therefore, most pupils or students and even teachers only pay attention to developing reading and writing skills but ignore listening and speaking skills Their purpose of English studying is coping with the examinations

In general, beside the recognition of the importance of the oral skill development, teachers and learners have to appreciate the value of developing of the learners’

listening and speaking skills “not merely so that they can pass examinations but also

for more general use when they wish to use their English in the outside world.” (Underwood, 1989, p ix)

However, choosing and evaluating an appropriate textbook for each group of learners is also a challenge, especially, in colleges or universities There are many considerable controversies about this problem Most specifically, at Tra Vinh University (TVU) many heated discussions about choosing the appropriate textbooks for university students of English-Major took place four years ago Because TVU was newly established in 2006, Tra Vinh University English Department teachers do not have a wealth experience in choosing the textbook as well as the way to evaluate the pre —use of textbooks At last, Jnteractions/Mosaic-Silver Edition series, published by McGraw- Hill, was selected for teaching language skills for English-majored university students

This series includes Interactions Access, Interactions 1, Interactions 2, Mosaic 1 and

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for the students in the second year Mosaic I] was for English-majored-university students in the third year and Mosaic 2 was for the students in the fourth year

At present, the series were used for English-majored students is Interactions/ Mosaic because of its advantages They are widely used in English learning environments, published by a well-known publishing house and designed by native speakers with standard language However, it is very meaningful for teaching practice with an

empirical evaluation of the textbook’s appropriateness and relevance in a Vietnamese

context

1.2 Statement of the problem

The problems with the textbook that English Department teachers and English-majored university students encountered are as follows:

Because the Interactions textbooks were used to teach English-majored university students at Tra Vinh University since 2007, it has been reported that the students studying listening and speaking skills have not achieved what had been expected

Through students’ reflections, the students said that the Interactions textbooks were

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some speaking classes the students felt hard or did not have many ideas to discuss or talk about some certain topics

In fact, through the feedback from teachers of TVU English Department, they are

recognizable for teaching that the students are not good at listening and speaking personal communication Therefore, an Jnteractions/Mosaic Listening/Speaking Placement Test was implemented to check their abilities after they finished studying Interactions I and Interactions 2 at the end of their second year at Tra Vinh University The result showed that more than two-thirds the number of students got the score of the placement in Interactions Access and less than one-third of students obtained the score of placement in /nteractions 1 No student achieved the score for the placement in studying Jnteractions 2 though they completely finished learning the whole textbooks Interactions I and Interactions 2 Obviously, this is a great sufficiency

In general, the problem that was posed to the English Department of Tra Vinh University is finding out the reasons of students’ difficulties in the studying Interactions 2 to have right decision in changing or maintaining the textbooks

Consequently, it requires a survey to find out the attitudes and views of the teachers and students on the Student’s Book - J/nteractions 2- Listening/Speaking- Silver Edition by Tanka and Baker (2007a), published by McGraw-Hill

1.3 Purpose of the study

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Interactions 2 - Silver Edition by Tanka and Baker (2007a) published by McGraw-Hill, related to two skills: Listening and Speaking

1.4 Research questions and hypotheses Research questions

1 What are students’ and teachers’ attitudes and views on the content and layout of the textbook?

b the parts found in each chapter of the textbook?

c the ways in which the content and tasks in the textbook are exploited in terms of teaching and learning?

2 Are there any relationships between students’ and teachers’ attitudes and views on a the content and layout of the textbook?

b the parts found in each chapter of the textbook?

c the ways in which the content and tasks in the textbook are exploited in terms of

teaching and learning? Hypotheses

As far as the second research question is concerned, it is hypothesized that there are no relationships between students’ and teachers’ attitudes and views on

the content and layout of the textbook

b the parts found in each chapter of the textbook

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1.5 Significance of the study

This study will provide a basis for decision-making in terms of cancelling or maintaining the use of the textbook series In the case of continued use of this series, the study should provide teachers of English at Tra Vinh University with some guidelines on the process of adaptation or supplementation of the textbook The research may also help offer insights into extraneous factors such as students’ motivation, interests that the English Department at Tra Vinh University has to pay attention to when deciding on a certain kind of textbooks later Naturally, when the coursebooks meet the students’ interest, needs, levels and course requirements, the students will feel and learn better as well as get better studying results This also enhances Tra Vinh University’s position

1.6 Overview of the thesis structure

The following section gives a brief overview of the contents of each chapter of the

present thesis This thesis includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 - Introduction consists of four sections: background of the problems, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions and hypotheses, significance of the study, and overview of thesis chapters

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Chapter 3 - Research Methodology describes the research samples, research instruments, materials, and analytical framework on whose basis the research method used to analyze the data in the present study as well as the procedure of data collection Chapter 4 - Results and Discussion displays data analysis and major findings along

with discussion of the findings

Chapter 5 - Conclusion and Implications gives a summary of the main findings of

the thesis and their implications/recommendations for listening/speaking

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the theoretical framework related to this study It includes the distinction of curriculum and syllabus and the process of syllabus and coursebook

design as well as the selection and evaluation of coursebooks in general and

coursetbooks in listening and speaking The chapter ends with the discussion of the study in the field, which creates the basis establishment of the ‘niche’ of the present study

2.1 Curriculum versus syllabus

In Vietnam, it is usually difficult to distinguish the difference between “curriculum” and “syllabus” because they have unspecific Vietnamese meaning They both are misunderstood as “chuong trinh hoc” or “chuong trinh giang day” They mean “learning program” or teaching program” In fact, in English, “curriculum” and “syllabus” are completely different in meaning

Syllabus and curriculum distinction was defined as follows:

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Candlin (1984) suggested that curricula are concerned with making general statements about language learning, learning purpose and experience, evaluation, and the role relationships of teachers and learners According to Candlin, they will also contain banks of learning items and suggestions about how these might be used in class Syllabuses, on the other hand, are more localized and are based on accounts and records of what actually happens at the classroom level as teachers and learners apply a given curriculum to their own

situation These accounts can be used to make subsequent modifications to the curriculum, so that the developmental process is ongoing and cyclical (cited in

Nunan, 1988c, p 3)

Dubin and Olshtain, (1986) also looked at the curriculum in a broad view as follows: A curriculum contains a broad description of general goals by indicating an overall educational- cultural philosophy which applies across subjects together with a theoretical orientation to language and language learning with respect to the subject matter at hand A curriculum is often reflective of national and political trends as well (pp 34-35)

In contrast, they described “a syllabus is a more detailed and operational statement of teaching and learning elements which translates the philosophy of the curriculum into a series of planned steps leading towards more narrowly defined objectives of each level” (p 35)

In short, “‘Curriculum’ is concerned with the planning, implementation, evaluation,

management, and administration of education programmes ‘Syllabus’, on the other hand, focuses more narrowly on the selection and grading of content.” (Nunan, 1988c,

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2.2 Approaches to syllabus design 2.2.1 Types of syllabuses

Syllabus is classified by different types according to different points of view One most prominent classification of the basic types of syllabus is White’s (1988) White divided syllabuses into two types: Type A and Type B in contrast Whereas Type A is an interventionist approach, concerns with the "What?" and “doing things to learner”, Type B is a non-interventionist, concerns with the "How" of learning and “doing things

for or with learner” Therefore, Type A syllabus focuses on content and skill

objectives, and Type B emphasizes a natural approach and places learners in real-life communication Further, White (1988) classified language syllabus types into content- based, skills-based and method-based syllabuses

Bases for language syllabuses CONTENT METHOD | | LEARNING PROCESS | SKILL LANGUAGE J PROCEDURAL - Skill Learning cĩ Structural | Informational Receptive/ - Cognitive focus acquisition focus focus focus Productive Task-based focus Learner-led SITUATION FUNCTIONAL Contextual Notional/

focus Functional focus

Figure 2.1 Types of syllabuses (White, 1988, p 46)

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Another classification of syllabuses was found in Nunan (1988c, p 27) The author cited that “it was Wilkins (1976) who first drew attention to the distinction between synthetic and analytic syllabuses”

Moreover, Nunan (1988c) also mentioned to product syllabuses and process syllabuses Product syllabuses include grammatical syllabuses and functional- notional syllabuses In contrast, process syllabus comprises procedural syllabuses, task-based syllabuses, and content syllabuses

Generally, Nunan (1988c) showed the work of several researchers in the field of SLA about classifying and criticizing different kinds of syllabuses However, “a given syllabus will specify all or some of the following: grammatical structures, functions, notions, topics, themes, situations, activities, and tasks” Consequently, the inclusion of

each of these elements “will be justified according to beliefs about the nature of

language, the needs of the learners, or the nature of learning.” (Nunan, 1988c, p 12) Besides, in Ur (1996) there are different syllabus types such as grammatical, lexical, grammatical-lexical, situational, topic-based, notional, functional-notional, mixed or multi-strand, and procedural

Nevertheless, according to Dubin and Olshtain (1986, p.38), “course designers who carefully consider the various approaches to syllabus design may arrive at the conclusion that a number of different ones are needed and are best combined in an eclectic manner in order to bring about positive results.”

In conclusion, syllabuses and types of syllabuses were differently defined and classified The choice of each type of syllabus reveals its distinct value systems and

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beliefs in language learning in particularly and education in general Therefore, in

making decisions about syllabus design, it is necessarily taken into consideration all the possible elements of a particular syllabus that may affect the language teaching and learning By choosing, tailoring and integrating the factors of syllabus according to the needs and expectations in context, the syllabus design is much more appropriate and

effective

From distinction types of syllabus, it is seen that the syllabus for speaking and listening which used in the textbooks — Interactions/ Mosaic is “skill-based” and “topic-based”

because this series comprises Listening/ speaking books, Reading books, Writing

books and Grammar books Each book is arranged in chapters and each chapter is for each topic

2.2.2 Selecting and grading content and learning tasks

Now there is a variety of different types of language syllabus According to Harmer

(2001), all of these syllabuses “might be taken as a starting point in the planning of a

new coursebook, or of a term’s, or year’s work” Nevertheless, “what type it is, every syllabus needs to be developed on the basis of certain criteria” The syllabus design criteria include “learnability”, “frequency”, “coverage”, and “usefulness” “The syllabus designer has to balance such competing claims when making decisions about selection and grading (pp 295-296)

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2.2.2.1 Selecting content

Nunan (1988c, p 85) explored that “these days, few syllabus designers who adopt a synthetic orientation would be prepared to defend a syllabus based entirely on grammatical forms Most attempt some sort of synthesis between grammatical, functional, and notional items” He demonstrated “some of the ways in which syllabus planners have tried to integrate these various components” However, “the link between grammatical, functional, and notional components is not entirely predictable,

although there are certain components which are consistently linked together by

syllabus designers and coursebook writers” (p 87) He concluded that “many of the coursebook currently available attempt to integrate topical and notional elements as well as grammatical and functional ones.” (p 89)

2.2.2.2 Grading content

Nunan (1988c, p 92-93) found that “traditionally, items in a grammatical syllabus are graded largely according to whether they are easy or difficult, and that difficulty is defined in grammatical items, grammatical difficulty is not necessarily the same as learning difficulty” Moreover, according to him, several researchers “claim that the

order in which learners actually acquire grammatical items is very often different from

the order of difficulty suggested by linguists” He explored “researchers such as Pienemann and Johnston (1987) claim that it is learning difficulty, determined by such things as short-term memory, rather than grammatical difficulty, which determines those items, students will be capable of learning at a given stage.”

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2.2.2.3 Selecting learning tasks

Approaches to syllabus design should take “the advantage of having a restricted set of goal statements is that it can provide a degree of coherence which may otherwise be

lacking” In addition, “it also enables the syllabus planner to link classroom tasks to the real-world uses to which learners might wish to put their second language skills”

Furthermore, “in educational context where there is no specific communicative end in sight, proposals have been made for basing the syllabus, not on content, but on

procedures which are felt to promote second language acquisition.” (Nunan, 1988c, pp

98-99)

About content syllabuses, Mohan (1986) developed the knowledge framework which can provide teachers with the potential for organizing knowledge and developing learning activities consists of specific, practical aspects (description, sequence, and choice) and general, theoretical aspects (classification, principles, and evaluation) (Nunan, 1988c, p 49) Thus, Mohan suggested representing situational language and situational content in combination through flowcharts related to knowledge framework for developing activities concentrating on either description, sequence, or choice (Nunan, 1988c, pp 104-105)

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the subject matter to be taught

materials, i.e those things the learner will observe/ manipulate the activities the teacher and learners will be carrying out

the goals for the task

the abilities, needs and interests of the students Nn nA + W NO

the social and cultural context of instruction

2.2.2.4 Grading learning tasks

“Grading becomes a major problem in syllabuses based on tasks and activities rather than lists of grammatical items” (Nunan, 1988c, p 107), so “different syllabus designers and coursebook writers have looked to different criteria in carrying out such

tasks” (Nunan, 1988c, p 121)

According to Nunan (1988c), “it is generally assumed that difficulty is the key factor in determining the ordering of items in a syllabus” (p 48) and “all things being equal,

activities which can be exploited at different levels of difficulty are more useful than

those which are only suitable for a single proficiency level” (p 108)

Candlin (1987) raised the significant factors in determining difficulty such as cognitive load, communicative stress, particularity and generalizability, code complexity and interpretive density, content continuity, and process continuity (Nunan, 1988c, p 59) In brief, “because of the variety of factors involved, it not always easy to determine whether a given activity is easier or more difficult than another; it is sometimes a matter of judgment” (Nunan, 1988c, p 108)

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2.3 Principles of coursebooks design or materials development

Tomlinson (1998, pp 7-21) suggested a set of 16 principles and each of which was discussed in detail These principles are very valuable when they are explained and

demonstrated with the examples to indicate how they could be applied Among above

principles, some principles relate to language learning and the others are about the general beliefs in learning and satisfy the need of learner differences and facilitation According to McGrath, (2002, p.154), “Nunan (1988b:1) showed how the principles

were realised in a particular set of material”, but his remarkable principles attaches

special importance to the curriculum and the latter pays attention to developing learners’ ability in their learning strategies and learning autonomy

Next, Nunan (1988a, p 99) reported that in a learner-centred approach, experienced

teacher found the more useful materials with the following characteristics: 1 The materials can be exploited in a variety of ways;

2 The materials should reflect the outside world (authenticity of text and task); 3 The materials should foster independent learning by making the learners “more

aware of the learning process” (e.g building self-evaluation and assessment into the tasks);

4 The materials should be suitable for mixed groups of learners with different

proficiency levels and preferred learning styles;

5 The materials should act as a model for teachers to develop their own

variations

6 The materials should also reflect the sociocultural context within which they be

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Rossner (1988: 143), discussing teacher’s expectations of materials, sees the impact of communicative principles as being most clearly visible in the

following

Material will:

1 provide ‘comprehensive input’ for generalised rehearsal of skills and ‘activation’ of learners’ interlanguage repertoire;

2 raise learners’ awareness about language, communication, learning, etc.; 3 provide experiences of communication in the new language similar or parallel

to those likely to be encountered beyond the learning situation

(cited in McGrath, 2002, p.155)

Hutchinson and Walters’ (1987) approach to the formulation of principles, like that of Rossner, is to start from intended effect of the materials, or as they put it, ‘what materials are supposed to do (p 107) Their principles are paraphrased below

Material should:

1 act as a stimulus to learning (e.g texts are interesting; there are opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge and skills; both teacher and learners can cope with the context);

2 help to organise the teaching-learning process (e.g there should be a clear and

coherence structure which help the teacher to plan lessons and learners to feel

a sense of progress and achievement, but the structure should not be so rigid that monotony results);

3 embody a view of the nature of teaching and learning (i.e reflect the beliefs of the writer);

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.ì provide models of correct and appropriate language use

(cited in McGrath, 2002, p.155)

Bell and Gower (1998, pp 122-125) “decided ona set of key principles in details when

they wrote a coursebook” Here are the headings of the principles: Flexibility, From

text to language, Engaging content, Natural language, Analytic approaches, Emphasis on review, Personalised practice, Integrated skills, Balance of approaches, Learner development, and Professional respect

In addition, according to Crawford (2002), effective teaching materials included the following characteristics:

1 Language is functional and must be contextualised

2 Language development requires learner engagement in purposeful use of

language

The language used should be realistic and authentic

Classroom materials will usually seek to include an audio visual component

In our modern, technologically complex world, second language learners need

to develop the ability to deal with written as well as spoken genres

Effective teaching materials foster learner autonomy

Materials need to be flexible enough to cater to individual and contextual

differences

Learning needs to engage learners both affectively and cognitively

(pp 84-87)

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instance, “by adhering to certain principles in the texts and tasks provided, the book

can assist and promote an approach to self-directed learning” (p 78)

In brief, although different theorists state many principles of coursebooks design and materials development, most of them have the some common principles Firstly, the materials should meet the learners’ differences and facilitate the learners’ learning

Moreover, materials ought to be authentic and make learner feel at ease or feel

interested In addition, the materials have to develop language skills to the outside world beyond classroom Besides, the materials should encourage learner autonomy However, not many theorists discussed about coursebooks design and materials development related to curriculum and syllabus

2.4 Existing instruments for choosing and evaluating coursebooks or materials In Tomlinson (1998, p.xi), materials evaluation is “the systematic appraisal of the value of materials in relation to their objectives and to the objectives of the learners using them” He also determined that evaluation can be pre-use to predict potential value, whilst-use to understand and to describe “what the learners are actually doing whilst the

materials are being used”, and post-use to analyse the result of using the materials

Rea-Dickins and Germaine (2009) stated that general evaluation purposes are for three principal reasons: (1) accountability, (2) curriculum development and betterment, and (3) self-development: teachers and other language teaching professionals (p 23) In evaluating classroom learning materials, they propose that evaluation criteria should concern the purposes and content of language learning as well as the procedures of text and task performance in the classroom (p 34)

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According to Dublin and Olshtain (1986, pp 29-30), “in surveying the existing materials, it is necessary to develop questions as an aid for evaluating them” They

suggest considering the following questions: hy, NH nA fF WO t

By whom and where the materials developed? Were they produced for the

international market which at best is concerned with the broadest possible

definition of the target population?

Are the materials compatible with the syllabus?

Do most of the materials provide alternatives for teachers and learners?

Which language skills do the materials cover?

How authentic are the text types included in the materials?

How do learners and teachers who have used the materials feel about them?

When the only documents to be examined are commercial textbooks in use, it is

necessary to mind the following questions:

1 Do the commercial textbooks in use contain statements about educational and

linguistic point of view? Do these policy statements coincide with the views held by the teachers using the materials? Or, are the teachers, themselves, aware of such educational and linguistic orientations?

How have the teachers using the textbooks adapted them to the timeframe and

other constraints of the course?

Do the teachers make any cultural adaptations with the textbooks?

Do they see the textbook as serving the goals of their students in terms of examinations to higher levels of education or higher levels in the language program?

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Many scholars suggested several criteria, guidelines, or checklists for evaluation or

selection of textbooks They are summarized in Table 2.1 below

Table 2.1 Summary of instruments of textbooks selection and appraisal Authors, years Instruments

William (1983) Weighting of 28 different criteria, under 7 headings: general, technical, speech,

grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, with ratings (very useful, quite useful, fairly

useful, not so useful) (cited in Driessen, 2003, p 13)

Mondria and De

Vries (1987)

Three approaches: (1) what does the teacher want? (2) what do the textbook author

say? (3) the textbook itself’ (cited in Driessen, 2003, p 13)

Grant (1987) -Three stages of evaluation: initial evaluation, detailed evaluation and in-use

evaluation

-CATALYST: Communicative? Aim? Teachability? Available Add-ons? Level?

Your impression? Student interest? Tried and tested? (pp 119-120)

-Applying the three-part questionnaire to decide how far a textbook satisfy three conditions: Does the book suit your students? Does the book suit the teacher? and Does the textbook suit the syllabus and examination? Each part includes ten questions and the answer ratings (yes, partly, no) (pp 121-127)

Sheldon (1988) Presenting a textbook evaluation sheet by assessment of 17 factors: layout/

graphics, selection grading, physical characteristics, authenticity, guidance and so

on; with ratings (poor, fair, good, excellent) and comments For instance, “Js the

material clearly organized? Is there space to write in the book? Do the tasks exploit language in a communicative or ‘real-world’ way? Are the teacher's notes useful and explicit?” (pp 242-245)

Van der Voort

and Mol (1989) Determining headings : teaching package components, physical aspects, method,

table of contents in textbook and workbook, audio-visual media, teacher guide, skills, pronunciation, grammar, texts, socio-cultural knowledge, exercise materials, tests, differentiation (cited in Driessen, 2003, p 13)

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Nunan (1989) “Groups of evaluative questions about goals and rationale, input, activities, roles and settings, implementation, grading and integration, assessment and evaluation in

order to evaluate communicative tasks” (cited in Driessen, 2003, p 13)

Matthews Main criteria with 18 elements: general impression, methodology, coverage of

(1991) grammar, four skills, grading, lay-out, presentation and practice of new language,

variety, illustrations, story-line, series of books, sexism, easiness of use, culture

bias, extras, pre-testing, availability, and price (pp 204-206)

Cunningsworth | Quick-reference checklist for evaluation and selection, including aims and

(1995) approaches, design and organization, language content, skills, topic, methodology,

teachers’ books, and practice considerations (pp 3-4)

Ur (1996) Stating 19 criteria, ratings (very low, low, high, very high); weighting based on

personal preferences, followed by some overall evaluation such as clear attractive

layout; print easy to read, plenty of authentic language, good vocabulary explanation and practice, adequate guidance for the teacher; not too heavy presentation load and so on (p 186)

Davies and Teachers asking themselves four key questions: Is it right for your institution? Pearse (2000, p

150),

Does it suit your experience and the way you teach? Is it right for your learners?

and Is it right as a coursebook?

Ansary and Creating a set of universal features of EFL/ ESL Textbooks: features about

Babaii (2002) approach, content presentation, physical make-up, and administrative corners

(Basing on 10 EFL/ESL textbook evaluation schemes and 10 EFL/ESL textbook)

Harmer (2007) | Considering ten areas in the checklist with some possible questions for coursebook analysis: price and availability, add-ons and extras, layout and design, instructions, methodology, syllabus, language skills, topics, cultural, teacher’s guide (p.154)

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the textbook of most of the authors are considering the content, the layout and design, topics, and skills (but four skills in general coursebooks) A checklist to judge a

specific skill textbook such as listening, speaking, reading, or writing cannot be found

2.5 Exploiting, adapting and supplementing coursebooks or materials

With a good coursebook, there is a strong possibility that the language, content

and sequencing in the book will be appropriate, and that the topics and treatment

of the different language skills will be attractive As a result, the teacher will want

to go ahead and use what is in the book (Harmer, 2007, p 146)

Therefore, good exploitation of the textbooks or materials is very necessary because “exploitation is the creative use of what is already there (e.g text, visual, activity) to serve a purpose which is additional to that foreseen by the textbook writer” (McGrath, 2002, p 65) “Teachers need strategies for working with the book open and closed.”

“Teachers also need specific strategies for handling coursebook presentation material,

practice material, and skills development material” (Davies & Pearse, 2000, p 150)

In contrast, if the coursebook is not appropriate for a particular group of students, the

teachers have four alternatives to consider They are omitting lessons from courseboook, replacing the coursebook lesson, adding activities and exercises to the coursebook, or adapting what is in the book (Harmer, 2007, pp 146-147)

Also, Ur (1996, p.189) suggested that “most commercially produced materials can be adapted to fit a range of needs and goals not originally envisaged by the materials writers” Further, "most language-teaching course books probably need supplementing

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to some extent, if only in order to tailor them to the needs of a particular class or to offer richer option” (Nunan, 1998, p 219)

According to Tomlinson (1998), material adaptation is “making changes to materials in

order to improve them or to make them more suitable for a particular type of learners.”

In addition, “adaptation can include reducing, adding, omitting, modifying, and

supplementing Most teachers adapt materials every time they use a textbook in or to

maximize the value of the book for their particular learners” (p xi)

Supplementary materials are “materials designed to be in addition to the core materials of a course They are usually related to the development of skills of reading, writing, listening or speaking rather than to the learning of language items” (p xiii)

Maley (1998, pp 281-283) advised that teachers can “use some or all of the following strategies to make the published course bearable, or more effective:”

(1) “Give it a rest”: Teachers introduce additional material to restore interest or supply light relief such as songs, rhymes, games, cartoons, off-air recordings, video clips, etc

(2) “Change it”: Teachers can adapt materials by using several options such as omission, addition, reduction, extension, rewriting/ modification, replacement, re- ordering, branching

(3) “Do it yourself’: Teachers can use “Scissors and Paste” and “the process option”

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adding or deleting content, reorganizing content, addressing omissions, modifying tasks, and extending tasks

Vasquez (2001) reviewed Davies and Pearse’s ideas that “it is only the teacher who can adapt activities according to the learners' needs and interests, bring situations to life,

explain and/or demonstrate activities and tasks, organize the manner of classroom

interaction, and monitor and help learners” (para 11)

In brief, there is no book perfect in itself or for a particular learning situation The

teachers have to know how to make a textbook work by exploiting, adapting and supplementing it in some way to meet their own specific learners and teaching situation (Davies & Pearse, 2000, p 150)

2.6 Features of listening and speaking skills

It is very important to grasp the features of listening and speaking because they relate to choosing and evaluating the listening and speaking coursebooks

2.6.1 Features of listening skill

“Listening is the Cinderella skill in second language learning All too often, it has been overlooked by elder sister-speaking” “Listening is thus fundamental to speaking”

(Nunan, 2002, pp 238-239)

According to Underwood (1989, pp 9-14), the features of spoken English are sounds, stress and intonation, the organisation of speech, syntax and vocabulary, pauses and ‘fillers’, and ‘formal/ informal’ language Teachers can help students to use these features in discovering what they hear

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Howatt and Dakin (1974) stated “listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying This involves understanding a speaker’s accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his meaning” Thus, “an able listener is

capable of doing these four things simultaneously” (cited in Yagang, 1993)

“Willis (1981:134) listed a series of micro-skills of listening, which she calls enabling skills” They are predicting what people are going to talk about; guessing at unknown words or phrases without panicking; using one’s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand; identifying relevant points; rejecting irrelevant information; and retaining relevant points (note-taking, summarizing) Moreover, micro-skills of listening are also recognizing discourse markers ( e.g., Well; Oh, another thing is; Now, finally; etc); recognizing cohesive devices (e.g., such as and which, including link words, pronouns, references, etc.); understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc., which give clues to meaning and social setting; and understanding inferred information (e.g., speakers’ attitude or intentions) (cited inYagang, 1993) Anderson and Lynch (1988) stated two facts about listening — reciprocal listening and non-nonreciprocal listening While the former refers the listening tasks where there is an opportunity for an interaction between the listeners and speakers, the latter refers to one direction listening from speakers to listeners such as listening to the radio or a formal lecture (p 4)

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interpreting rhythm, stress and intonation to identify information focus and emotional/ attitudinal tone and extracting gist/ essential information from longer aural texts without necessary understanding every word

Widdowson (1983) referred to the two principal sources of information in the process of comprehension as “(1) systematic or linguistic knowledge (knowledge of phonological, syntactic, and semantic components of language systematic terms) and (2) schematic or non-linguistic information” (“relevant individual knowledge, memory, and experience, which allow us to incorporate what we learn into what we know”) The

relationship between information sources in comprehension is illustrated in the

following figure (cited in Anderson & Lynch, 1998, pp 11-13) — Factual — sociocultural knowledge of co-text — semantic — syntactic — phonological background knowledge procedural knowledge

— how language is used in discourse

sins ee ae txedbntulxkEiknonnoÏ ng Hhfg 3582 Sz2<z2,L.erierksrsinkimesuskxrinkrsesriuoTT1 geen † =-= knowledge of situation

— physical setting, participants, etc — what has been/will be said (written) | vs 15T 7 1001-52 -.2Xã ;c12xec+rorfer2rroTrErerarE-SCE225-zta42ze2EX2Ze2ierereiyEerESrTYTTT” † knowledge of the language system schematic knowledge ty ty ty context ty td systemic knowledge — — — —< | QO | ZzC©—ưử z mm mở z 9ð Z© |

Figure 2.2: Information sources in comprehension (Anderson & Lynch, 1998, p 13)

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In other words, background knowledge is very important in understanding language

The lack of schematic or contextual information makes comprehension difficult or

impossible Hence, background problems, language problems and listening problems are the causes of the comprehension problems (Anderson & Lynch, 1988, pp 35-43) Besides, Buck (2001, pp 32-43) raised the aspects of comprehension that are unique to listening They are phonological modification (assimilation, elision, intrusion, strong form and weak form), accents, prosodic features (stress: word stress and sentence stress; intonation: emotional, grammatical, informational, textual, psychological, and indexical), speech rate, hesitation (unfilled pauses, filled pauses, repetitions and false starts), and discourse structure

2.6.2 Features of speaking skill Ur (1996) assumed that:

Of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers’ of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primary interested in learning to speak (p 120)

“Speaking a language is especially difficult for foreign language learners because effectively oral communication requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interactions” (Shumin, 2002, p 204)

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basically a set of grammar and pronunciation rules, vocabulary and knowledge about how they are normally used Skill was seen as the ability to use them” (p 49)

Bygate (1987, pp 5-6) also distinguished between motor-perceptive skills which involve correctly using the sounds and structures of language and interaction skills which are the skills of using knowledge and motor-perceptive skills for purpose of

communication

In Nunan’s (1989, p 32) summary, successful oral communication involves developing the ability of articulate phonological features of the language comprehensibly; mastery

of stress, rhythm, intonation patterns; an acceptable degree of fluency; and

transactional and interpersonal skills It is necessary to develop skills in taking short and long speaking turns; skills in the management of interaction; skills in negotiating meaning; conversational listening skills (successful conversations require good listeners as well as good speakers); skills in knowing about and negotiating purposes for conversations; and using appropriate conversational formulae and fillers

Ur (1996, p 120) also raised characteristics of a successful speaking activity The first

characteristic is “learners talk a lot” Learners talk as much as possible in the time

allotted to then activity The second one is “participation is even” All participants get a chance to speak and contribute in the classroom discussion The third one is “motivation is high” That means “learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective” The last one is “language is of an acceptable

level Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily

comprehensible to each other, and at an acceptable level of language accuracy.”