MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH ID 1” USED AT TRI DUC HIGH SCHOOL Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 1641900017 By PHAM VAN MANH Supervised by Dr LE VAN TUYEN HO CHI MINH CITY, March/2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH ID 1” USED AT TRI DUC HIGH SCHOOL Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 1641900017 By PHAM VAN MANH Supervised by Dr LE VAN TUYEN HO CHI MINH CITY, March/2018 CERTIFICATION OF THESIS DEFENSE THE THESIS WAS WRITTEN AT HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Academic supervisor name : Dr LE VAN TUYEN The thesis defense session was conducted at Hochiminh City University of Technology (HUTECH) on April, 6th 2018 The Board of Examiners for the Master’s Thesis Defense NAME FUNCTION TT Dr NGUYEN THI KIEU THU Chair Dr LE THI THANH Reader Dr TRAN QUOC THAO Reader Dr PHAM NGUYEN HUY HOANG Member Dr NGUYEN DANG NGUYEN Secretary Member On behalf of the Board of Examiners Chair HCMC, April 6th 2018 HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE MASTER’S THESIS TASK REPORT Student name: PHAM VAN MANH Sex : Male Date of birth: 18/05/1990 Place of birth : NINH BINH Major: English Language Student code: 1641900017 I- Thesis title: AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH ID 1” USED AT TRI DUC HIGH SCHOOL II- Task description and contents: - Students' and teachers’ attitudes and perceptions towards the textbook English ID - The extent the teachers use and exploit the textbook in the classroom Through the investigation, strengths and weaknesses of the textbook itself as well as of the way it is exploited are elucidated and recommendations are made for both designers and teachers III- Starting date: 01/08/2017 IV- Completing date : 17/03/2018 V- Academic supervisor: Dr LE VAN TUYEN SUPERVISOR LE VAN TUYEN FACULTY DEAN i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s thesis submitted today entitled: AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH ID 1” USED AT TRI DUC HIGH SCHOOL In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology Ho Chi Minh City, March/ 2018 PHAM VAN MANH ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, PHAM VAN MANH, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh City, March 2018 Signature …………………………… PHAM VAN MANH iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research would have never been completed without the assistance of some people who always gave support and useful recommendations I would like to express my deep gratitude and heartfelt thanks to a number of people Without them, this research study would not have succeeded First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Le Van Tuyen, my advisor, for his helpful suggestions, guidance and time which inspired me to my best to complete this study He gave me not only invaluable, constructive and insightful suggestions tirelessly, but also warm encouragement Next, I am also really grateful to all lecturers for their helpful instruction during the Master of Art course as well as the staff of Graduate Studies at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology for their kind assistance My honest thanks go to Ms Nguyen Thi Phung, Vice-principal of Tri Duc High School for her support and all the colleagues who are the English teachers at Tri Duc High School, as well as students at Tri Duc High School, for their contribution, enthusiastic engagement in the survey for questionnaires and interviews I would like to thank my classmates who provided me a number of sincere advices and shared with me a lot of knowledge and learning experience during the course Without their help, I think I could have never been completed the courses Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family for their spiritual as well as material supports, especially, my wife who has always supported and encouraged me to overcome all the difficulties in completing this study iv ABSTRACT Textbooks play a key component in most language teaching programs A textbook seems to become the main tool for teachers to convey language knowledge to English as a foreign language (EFL) learner The present study aims to investigate students' and teachers’ attitudes and perceptions towards the textbook “English ID 1” which used at Tri Duc High School (TDHS) at the pre-intermediate level and the extent the teachers use and exploit the textbook in the classroom Through the investigation, strengths and weaknesses of the textbook itself as well as of the way it is exploited are elucidated and recommendations are made for both designers and teachers 308 students and 18 teachers comprising males and females participated in this study The instruments employed in the study were a textbook evaluation questionnaire adapted and modified from some variety checklists of many researchers, semi-structured interviews with ten students and five teachers and classroom observations The 42-item questionnaire using 5-point Likert scale rating from “1=Strongly Disagree” to “5=Strongly Agree” was employed to elicit participants’ response to six main categories including Overall Assessment, Practical Consideration, Language Skills, Subject and Content, Organization and culture Descriptive statistics were carried out to interpret the quantitative data by utilizing mean and standard deviation The data analyzed from the interviews, classroom observation and the syllabus and textbook were analysed based on “Content Analysis” The results showed that both teachers and students had active perceptions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the textbook and they thought that it was consistent with English teaching and learning process at their school In addition, it also revealed that the teachers had some problems in the use of textbook English ID in the classroom v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Thesis statement 1.4 Purpose of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Theoretical Foundation 2.2.1 Materials and Textbooks .9 2.2.1.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of the textbook and its roles in the classroom 14 2.2.2 Textbooks Evaluation 19 2.3 Some review of previous studies 30 2.3.1 Studies on textbook evaluation in Vietnam .31 2.3.2 Studies on textbook evaluation at overseas .33 2.4 Summary 39 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 40 vi 3.1 Introduction 40 3.2 Research site 40 3.3 Participants of the study 41 3.3.1 Students .41 3.3.2 Teachers .43 3.4 Description of the textbook 44 3.5 Research Method 47 3.6 Research instruments 49 3.6.1 Questionnaire .49 3.6.2 Interviews 53 3.6.3 Classroom Observation .54 3.7 Data Collection 55 3.7.1 Procedure of conducting questionaires 56 3.7.2 Procedure of conducting interviews 57 3.7.3 Procedure of conducting classroom observation 58 3.8 Data analyses 58 3.9 Summary 60 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 The Results of the study 61 4.2.1 Research Question 1: Students and Teachers’ perceptions towards the textbook “English ID 1” 61 4.2.2 Research question 2: The extent teachers use and exploit the textbook in the classroom 76 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 87 5.1 Summary of the results 87 5.1.1 Students and teachers’ perceptions towards the textbook English ID 87 5.1.2 The extent the teachers used the textbook in the classroom .89 5.2 Implications of the research 89 5.3 Limitation 90 APPENDIX TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Thân gửi giáo viên, Tôi thực ngiên cứu nhỏ cho luận văn tốt nghiệp thạc sĩ trường đại học cơng nghệ thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Tôi mong muốn hỏi bạn để khảo sát quan điểm bạn sách English ID theo tiêu chí sau Đánh giá chung, Nhu cầu thực tế, Những kĩ Ngôn Ngữ, Chủ đề Nội Dung, Bố cục and Văn Hóa sách Những liệu thu thập từ bạn có giá trị để tìm điểm mạnh điểm yếu Những điểm mạnh điểm yếu xem xét thật kĩ, sau đưa đề nghị để cải thiện sách tốt trình dạy học Tiếng Anh tốt Tất câu trả lời bạn bảo mật sử dụng để làm liệu cho nghiên cứu Xin vui lòng điền vào bảng câu hỏi đánh giá bạn quan điểm bạn làm cho nghiên cứu có giá trị Tơi mong bạn bỏ phút để hồn thành bảng câu hỏi Tất thông tin bạn cung cấp đươc bảo mật Trân trọng cảm ơn hỗ trợ bạn PHẦN 1: THÔNG TIN CHUNG: Xin vui lòng đánh (X) vào câu trả lời phù hợp Giới Tính?  Nam  Nữ Bằng Cấp cao  Cử Nhân  Thạc Sĩ Số Năm giảng dạy Tiếng Anh? : ……………năm  Tiến Sĩ PHẦN 2: ĐÁNH GIÁ SÁCH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN: Xin vui lòng khoanh tròn (O) vào thích hợp đánh số từ đến cho câu trả lời Nếu bạn muốn thay đổi lựa chọn, vui lòng đánh dấu (X) vào câu chọn trước chọn đáp án khác SD: Rất không đồng ý Chú ý: A: Đồng ý D: không đồng ý SA: Rất đồng ý STT DANH MỤC I U: không ý kiến SD D U A SA ĐÁNH GIÁ CHUNG Kiến thức sách đáp ứng đầy đủ nhu cầu học người học Sách giúp người học tiết kiệm thời gian công sức việc chuẩn bị Sách giúp người học nhìn tổng quát chương trình học Sách phù hợp cho việc giảng dạy học tiếng anh trường Sách nên tiếp tục sử dụng cho việc dạy tiếng anh trường thời gian tới 5 5 II NHU CẦU THỰC TẾ Sách có giá thành phù hợp với người học Sách dễ dàng tìm thấy tiếp cận Sách có kích thước tiện lợi cho việc mang Sách vừa xuất gần 10 Sách có thiết kế đẹp mắt III KĨ NĂNG NGÔN NGỮ 11 Bốn kĩ sách thiết kế cách đồng 12 Việc thực hành kĩ lồng ghép với kĩ khác 13 Sách có đầy đủ tài liệu cho kĩ nghe 14 Sách có đầy đủ tài liệu cho kĩ nói 15 Sách có đầy đủ tài liệu cho kĩ đọc 16 Sách có đầy đủ tài liệu cho kĩ viết 17 Từ vựng xếp theo thứ tự hợp lý 18 Từ vựng sách hữu ích cho người học 19 Ngữ pháp xếp theo thứ tự phù hợp 20 Sách nhấn mạnh vào việc luyện phát âm tự nhiên 21 Sách bao gồm đầy đủ tài liệu phát âm 5 5 5 5 5 22 23 Độ khó hoạt động kĩ sách phù hợp với trình độ người học Những hoạt động tập sách hướng dẫn cách dễ hiểu IV CHỦ ĐỀ VÀ NỘI DUNG 24 Chủ đề nội dung sách hợp lý 25 26 27 28 29 30 Chủ đề nội dung sách thú vị, thử thách hấp dẫn Ngôn ngữ sách tự nhiên thực tế Chủ đề sách giúp người học thể quan điểm Chủ đề sách giúp người học đưa tranh luận Chủ đề sách cung cấp cho người học nhiều từ vưng khó Người học dễ dàng đọc hiểu nội dung đọc V BỐ CỤC THIẾT KẾ 31 Nội dung sách xếp hợp lý hiệu 32 Sách có đầy đủ bảng phụ lục 5 5 5 5 5 33 34 35 36 37 38 VI 39 40 Sách có phần tóm tắt chi tiết chức năng, cấu trúc từ vựng Sách bao gồm đầy đủ bảng danh sách từ vựng bảng thích Sách có đầy đủ phần ơn luyện phần tập Sách có đầy đủ phần kiểm tra đánh giá kiến thức học Những học sách kết nối có kiến thức liên quan với Những ôn giúp người học củng cố kiến thức ngơn ngữ học NGỮ CẢNH VĂN HĨA Người học hiểu tình văn hóa xã hội sách Nội dung sách đề cập đến nhiều văn hóa khác Nội dung sách giúp người học hiểu biết cách 41 vận dụng phù hợp kiến thức văn hóa khác vào văn hóa 42 Các tình văn hóa đề cập sách phù hợp với học sinh trường CÁM ƠN BẠN RẤT NHIỀU APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS (ENGLISH VERSION) What you think about the time allocation for each unit in the class? What you think the content division of each unit in the textbook? Which tasks and activities you like best in the textbook? Which skills does your teacher often focus in the class? What does your teacher usually when teaching the lesson about comparing cultures? How many percents of English language did your teacher use in the class? APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS (ENGLISH VERSION) What you think about time allocation for each unit to the students in the class? What you think about the content division of each unit in the textbook? Which tasks and activities you like best in the textbook? Which skill is the most difficult part to teach in this textbook? Do the textbooks raise student awareness about their own culture through comparing cultures? Who manages the training programmes of the school and has responsibility for the selection of the textbook What the managers to know students’ level before the English courses with this textbook start? APPENDIX 10 CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN HỌC SINH (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Thời gian giảng dạy có phù hợp với khả học sinh không? Sự phân bổ nội dung sao? Các hoạt động bạn thích sách này? Kĩ giáo viên bạn thường tập trung vào để dạy nhất? Giáo viên thường làm dạy học liên quan đến việc so sánhcác văn hóa Giáo viên bạn sử dụng phần trăm Tiếng Anh lớp giảng dạy? APPENDIX 11 CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN GIÁO VIÊN (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Thời gian giảng dạy có phù hợp với khả sinh viên khơng? Sự phân bổ nội dung sao? Các hoạt động bạn thích sách Kĩ phần khó để giảng dạy sách này? Những kiến thức văn hóa sách có giúp sinh viên hiểu biết rõ văn hóa họ thơng qua việc so sánh văn hóa với khơng? Ai quản lý chương trình đào tạo tiếng Anh trường có trách nhiệm chọn giáo trình để giảng dạy? Những người quản lý chương trình làm cách để biết trình độ tiếng anh học sinh trước bắt đầu khóa học với sách này? APPENDIX 12 CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CRITERIA Class: 10 Number of students: 35 Proficiency level: Pre-intermediate Class time: 90 minutes Unit: 1; Part: Vocabulary and Grammar Date: 5th September, 2017 Teacher code: T1 Criteria Subcategories No Yes Of the whole lesson identified and shown x to the students Objectives Of activities identified and shown to the students x Diversity of learning x activities Teaching methods Relevant learning activities Interesting learning activities x x How Problems T begins the lesson by introducing Do not engage new Ss vocabulary and explaining their meaning Do not ask Ss, only show their Show the meaning and slides how to pronounce Finish teaching vocabulary, then move to grammar immediately Find synonym and antonym Ss feel very boring Real-life learning activities x Sufficient time allocated to activities x Teaching aids prepared to support the lesson not mention new words which usually ued in real-life Ss read new words too little, only twice, spend much time for teaching “simple present” x Laptop, chalks, Speakers… Use of technology x Used powerpoint to shown to Ss Do not write on the board whatever Ss not understand Pair work and group work organisation x Read new words again Only pair work x Pair work Ss spend talking time too little x Understand the issues and explain them clearly Only give one example Student talking time and teacher talking time Exploitation Use of the coursebook Adaptation x T does not adapt any other material into this lesson, only based on textbook APPENDIX 13 SUMMARY OF INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS How is the time allocation for each unit to you in the class? Student 1: The time allocation for each unit is suitable for my ability Student 2: The time allocation for each unit is good Student 3: The time allocation for each unit is too little and I cannot follow the lesson Student 4: The division time of each unit is unsuitable for me because the time for some activities is too short Student 5: The content of each unit is very long but time allocation is too short Student 6: I cannot get enough language knowledge with the time divided like this Student 7: The time allocation for each is too little and it is very difficult for me to follow the lessons Student 8: The time allocation for each unit has not suitable yet Student 9: The time allocation for a unit in the class is too much, I think that it is not necessary to spend too much time for a unit like that Student 10: I think that it is not suitable to me because the time of every unit is very long and I feel that very boring with that How is the content division of each unit in the textbook? Student 1: The language knowledge of each unit is too little compared with my level Student 2: The content division of each unit is very challenged with learners Student 3: The content division of each unit has not yet served the needs and goals of students Student 4: The content division of each unit is not balanced among the skills Student 5: The content division of each unit is not logical Student 6: The content division of each unit makes students confused and boring Student 7: The students not have much time to practice the skills; they have to study much the grammar knowledge Student 8: The skills of each unit are not organized effectively and balanced Student 9: The content division of each unit does not serve the need of students Student 10: The content division of each unit makes students confused Which skills and activities you like best in the textbook? Student 1: The skills and activities I like best in the textbook is speaking Student 2: Speaking is my favorite skill Student 3: The skills and activities they like best in the textbook is speaking Student 4: I like writing Student 5: Skills and activities I like best in the textbook is learning grammar because I want to have a good score in the examination Student 6: Skills and activities you like best in the textbook is learning grammar Student 7: I not know but they really not like listening Student 8: I not know but they really not like listening Student 9: Skills and activities you like best in the textbook is learning grammar Student 10: The skills and activities they like best in the textbook is speaking Which skills does your teacher often focus in the class? Student 1: Grammar Student 2: Grammar and reading Student 3: Grammar and speaking Student 4: Vocabulary and Grammar Student 5: Of course, Grammar Student 6: Grammar Student 7: Grammar and vocabulary Student 8: Grammar Student 9: Of course, Grammar Student 10: Grammar and Reading What teachers usually when teaching the lesson about cultures? Student 1: I feel embarrassed when the teacher explains much difference between cultures Student 2: The cultural contents in the textbook are too complex; some of them are very far from my cultural knowledge Student 3: I not really understand clearly about the cultural knowledge I learned Student 4: The knowledge of Vietnamese culture is also much challenged and the teacher helped me more understanding through her lesson Student 5: She usually reads articles in English before translating them into Vietnamese but I still have not understood them clearly yet Student 6: The cultural content in the textbook is too complex; some of them are very far from my knowledge Student 7: I think the teacher should teach them through many different activities but comprehension reading Student 8: The cultural content in the textbook is too complex; some of them are very far from my knowledge Student 9: The cultural content in the textbook is too complex; it needs to be explained more clearly by teachers Student 10: She only teaches them through comprehension reading which I feel very boring How many percents of English language did your teacher use in the class? Student 1: My teacher used about 10% English language in the classroom Student 2: about 5% Student 3: My teacher sometimes use a little English Student 4: I think she used English about 10% Student 5: he rarely uses English in the classroom Student 6: from to 10% Student 7: 10% Student 8: about 50% Student 9: from to 10% English language in the classroom Student 10: my teacher used about 50 % in the class APPENDIX 14 SUMMARY OF INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS How is the time allocation for each unit to the students in the class? Teacher 1: The time allocation for each unit is not very relevant to the student Especially, With English classes of mixed ability students Teacher 2: The content of textbook is so difficult for most of the students The time allocation is not enough for the teacher to implement the course Teacher 3: The time distribution for each unit is relevant to the students in the class Teacher 4: The distribution of time for each unit has relevance to the students Teacher 5: The time allocation is only relevant to about 50% of the students in the class How is the content division of each unit in the textbook? Teacher 1: The content division of each unit in the textbook is very suitable for English level of students Teacher 2: The content division of each unit in the textbook is not balance Teacher 3: The content division of each unit in the textbook focused on theory and discussion while students’ practice has little time Teacher 4: The content division of each unit in the textbook is very varied but the number of knowledge is not enough for students to develop their skills Teacher 5: The content division of each unit in the textbook is not completely suitable for my students because my students need much more knowledge Which skills and activities you like best in the textbook? Teacher 1: The skills and activities I like best in the textbook is speaking activities Teacher 2: Teaching Grammar is my favorite activities Teacher 3: The skills and activities I like best in the textbook is teaching grammar through four basic skills Teacher 4: I like to teach writing skill the best because I think that it will help students much in improving their English abilities Teacher 5: Skills and activities I like best in the textbook is teaching grammar through speaking activities Which skill is the most difficult part to teach in this textbook? Teacher 1: The most difficult part to teach in this textbook is listening one because it is difficult for me to teach listening with almost students having low English proficiency Teacher 2: The vocabulary part is very difficult to teach through listening activities Teacher 3: That the most difficult part to teach in this textbook was writing one because almost the students are not positive to apply vocabularies they learned into specific context for this part Teacher 4: To teach listening part in this textbook is really because there is too much listening one which makes me confused Teacher 5: In my opinion, the most difficult part to teach in this textbook is listening activities Do the textbooks raise student awareness about their own culture through comparing cultures? Teacher 1: Yes, there are much compare activities such as talking about some cultures related to your country and this works in the class Teacher 2: Yes, after talking about a different culture, teachers will make questions to students so that they can aware of the differences and similarities Teacher 3: Yes, it happens after every new topic For example, think about food in Japan At the end of this topic, we talk about food in Vietnam Thus, the students have the chance to compare and contrast cultures Teacher 4: Well, maybe I think it also depends on the students I try to this most of the time by asking questions related to Vietnamese culture I also automatically compare things such as food and clothes, especially in speaking Teacher 5: Yes, of course I think students completely aware of their own culture through comparing cultures in the textbook Who manages the training programmes of the school and has responsibility for the selection of the textbook? Teacher 1: The vice-principle manages all the training programmes of this school and they have responsibility for the selection of the textbook Teacher 2: I not have the right to choose the textbook; it is dependent on managers of this school Teacher 3: I don’t know but I think this textbook chosen by vice- principal Teacher 4: Teachers not take part in the choosing of the textbook for this school Teacher 5: Teachers not select the textbook for this school What the managers often to know students’ level before they start their English courses with this textbook? Teacher 1: Students will attend entranced English examination Teacher 2: The students have to take part in entranced English examination Teacher 3: Every student forces to have an entranced English examination to know where their English level is but this test only focus on grammar and reading Teacher 4: The students must take part in entranced English examination to classify their English level However, this test only focuses on grammar and reading Teacher 5: Entranced English examination is first for every student when they study English at this school ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH ID 1” USED AT TRI DUC HIGH SCHOOL Submitted to the Faculty of English... thesis submitted today entitled: AN EVALUATION OF THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH ID 1” USED AT TRI DUC HIGH SCHOOL In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the. .. language (EFL) learner The present study aims to investigate students' and teachers’ attitudes and perceptions towards the textbook “English ID 1” which used at Tri Duc High School (TDHS) at the