1 ABSTRACT Evaluation plays a crucial role in the teaching and learning activity. In its narrow sense, evaluation involves teachers’ assessment of students’ achievement and students’ judgment of teachers’ performance. More broadly, evaluation can provide a helpful database for teachers to build up their initial lesson plans, for external assessors to judge the components of a course and for researchers to start their work. Therefore, in order to build up valid data folder, evaluation should be treated seriously and carefully. The reading course for the first year fast track students in Hanoi university of Languages and International Studies (HULIS) has been adapted many times since the establishment of the Department on the way of finding an ideal course satisfying the expectation of the teaching staff. The course introduced this year is the latest version resulted from the innovation of the two previous theme- based and task-based ones. The evaluation of the course helps to 2 identify the strength and the weakness of the course, contributing to the staff’s decision-making about the ideal one. It is in this view that the study seeks to evaluate the reading course 1 for the first year fast track students at HULIS. Specifically, it involves the evaluation of the course syllabus and the course material with a view to confirming the potency of the course as well as proposing implications to innovate the course. Hopefully, the innovation would bring the course closer to the ideal one expected by the teaching staff of the Department. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I owe my indebtedness to my supervisor Ms. Phung Ha Thanh, MA for her valuable guidance throughout the process of this research. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the teaching staff of the Fast track program, especially to Ms. Nguyen Thu Trang for their providing me with related documents and suggestions for my research, without which the project would not have been accomplished. A special thank would also go to the two groups of first year fast track students who took part in the lessons, contributed to the idea budget and spent time completing my questionnaires. The information collected was a precious source of data to make the research fruitful. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my family for their support and encouragements from the beginning to the end of the research process. 4 PART 1. INTRODUCTION Evaluation is especially important in education, or more specifically, in the teaching and learning of a language. At the outset, the evaluating process helps teachers and students determine learning achievements or satisfaction. Later on, the evaluation outcomes offer a good data base for novice teachers to develop initial lesson plans and teaching practice, and for interested teachers to conduct further research and improvement. (Kiely and Rea- Dickins, 2005, p. 5). For this reason, evaluation must be done in a well-planned valid way. For example, in order to judge the value of a language course or program, the evaluation must “include all the practices and instruments involved in gathering and compiling the data necessary to make judgments” about it (Brown and Rodgers, 2005, p. 227). Teachers may do evaluation to check the effectiveness of the course materials, of the classroom activities, of the students’ learning or 5 such (Brown and Rodgers, 2005, p. 228). Only by doing this would the evaluation “confirm the validity of the classroom practice” when any partial elements of the course are satisfactory and “form a basis” for changes when they are not (Germaine et al., 1992). Knowing the importance of course evaluation, the current research was conducted to evaluate Reading course 1 – the first reading course for first year students in the fast-track program, University of languages and International Studies. The evaluation based itself on the following context. Reading, in the belief shared among the teaching staff of the fast track program, is of great importance to Fast-track students. In the era of informatization when knowledge has a short life, students need to read well to form a good basis for their self-study as well as for their study in class. Therefore, since its establishment in 2001, the fast track teaching group has piloted many versions of reading course for their freshmen. A skill-based reading course applied in the beginning years succeeded in providing students with sufficient 6 reading sub-skills to develop reading on their own, yet at the same time it failed to boost their background knowledge. A theme-based reading course that followed produced students with a good vocabulary pool but without an adequate understanding of the reading strategies to become critical readers. All the preceding versions of the reading course showed their deficiencies, which urges the staff to come up with a new one capable of combining the advantages of its elder brothers and efficiently dealing with their disadvantages. Reading course 1 is the newest version resulted from the piloting of different types of prior versions. The course is the meeting point of a skill-based approach and a theme-based one. Whether this would be the ideal course in demand to be continued in the following years is open to question. An evaluation of the course is, therefore, called for as a “means analysis” to gain information for the answer (Germaine et al., 1992). 7 The research aims at analyzing and evaluating the reading course for first-year fast track students. Specifically, it consists of an evaluation of the syllabus and the material. Hopefully, the research would find answers to the following questions: In terms of the satisfaction of students’ needs: • To what extent does the course meet students’ need in terms of language providing and skills developing, from the perspective of the students? • To what extent does the course meet students’ need in terms of language providing and skills developing, from the perspective of the teacher? In terms of achievements of objectives: • To what extent does the course satisfy all the objectives set by the teaching staff of the Fast-track Program, from the perspective of the students? 8 • To what extent does the course satisfy all the objectives set by the teaching staff of the Fast-track Program, from the perspective of the teacher? In terms of facilities: • How well are the facilities utilized in helping the students in the learning activities, from the perspective of the students? • How well are the facilities utilized in helping the teacher in the teaching activities, from the perspective of the teacher? In terms of course assignments: • How effective are the assignments in helping the students achieve their goals, from the perspective of the students? • How effective are the assignments in checking students’ progress, from the perspective of the teacher? In terms of course book: • How suitable is the course book to the learners’ level, from the perspective of the students? 9 • How suitable is the course book to the learners’ level, from the perspective of the teacher? • How effective is the course book in helping the students achieve the goals and objectives, from the perspective of the students? • How effective is the course book in helping the students achieve the goals and objectives, from the perspective of the teacher? The research was conducted to evaluate the first reading course, specifically the syllabus and the course book, for first year fast track student at University of Language and International Study (HULIS), Vietnam National University (VNU). Participating in the research are 50 fast track freshmen of the two school years: 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, the researcher as the course designer and another teacher in charge of teaching it. The evaluation took place in the first semester of the school year 2007-2008 in the duration of 4 months from September to December (phase 1: 10 initiation) and repeated itself in the first semester of the school year 2008-2009 (phase 2: adaptation). It was expected to work out the data to validate the good elements of the course and point out the place for course adaptation and innovation. PART 2. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical background for the thesis arose from works of Williams (1984), Aeersold (1997), Nuttall (2000), Aebersold, 1997, Breen, 1984. Reading has been approached in view of the Bottom up, the Top down and the Interactive school. The Bottom up theory (Aebersold, 1997, p.18) sees the text as the combination of phrases, which, similarly, are composed of words. The Top down approach argues that readers are those who have their own background knowledge, their own assumptions and expectations that they bring along and [...]... Cambridge University Press  31 Wallace, M J (19 98) Action research for language teachers United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press Wilkins, D A (19 76) Notional syllabuses Oxford: Oxford University Press Wilkins, D A (19 83) Notional syllabuses revisited Applied Linguistics, 2 /1, 83-89 Williams, E (19 84) Reading in the language classroom London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd Yalden, J (19 87) The Communicative... J.D (19 95) Overview of the curriculum The Elements of language curriculum: A systematic approach to program development Boston, M.A: Heinle & Heinle Cook, V.J (19 85) Language functions, social factors, and second language learning and teaching International review of Applied Linguistics, 23, 12 -15 28 Crombie, W (19 85) Rational syllabuses Oxford: Oxford University Express Dublin, F &Olshtain, E (19 86)... L (19 97) From reader to reading teacher USA : Cambridge University Press Bell, R.T (19 81) An introduction to Applied Linguistics approach and methods in Language teaching London: Batsford academimc and Education Ltd Bouna, G.D (19 96) The research process Australia: Oxford University Press Breen, M.P (19 84) Contemporary paradigms in syllabus design Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brown, D (19 94)... Gajendra, K V & Kanka, M (19 99) Researching education: Perspective and techniques Falmer Press Genesee, F & Upshur, J A (19 96) Classroom-based evaluation in second language education United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press Germaine, K et al (19 92) Evaluation Oxford: Oxford University Press Graves, K (2006) Teachers as course developers USA: Cambridge University Press Grellet, F (19 81) Developing reading... Evaluation is for the consideration of ways to innovate or change the practice for a better one 13 CHAPTER 2 COURSE DESCRIPTION: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND ACTION PLAN 2 .1 Action research Action research, whose main function is to assist the “reflective cycle”, was chosen in the current study (Wallace, M 19 98, p 18 ) Firstly, action research is the more suitable research methodology because the core purpose... objectivity of the research may be questioned as the researcher is also the designer of the course and the teacher teaching the course However, as stated by Hoyle (19 72: 24, quoted in Stenhouse 19 88: 14 4, cited in Rea-Dickins and Germaine, 19 92:66), “Ultimately, it is the teacher who has to operationalize on innovation at the classroom level” As an insider, the researcher has a thorough look at the course.. .11 refer to when reading a text The interactive school, which is currently approved of by many researchers as well as educators, say that the reading process is made up from both the Bottom up and Top down approach, either alternately or at the same time (Aebersold, 19 97) Evaluating a course, which includes the evaluation of its content,... way for “small group professional practice” (Wallace, M 19 98, p 18 ) Finally, the context of the research can satisfy the multi-source requirement of doing an action research 14 when teachers and students can collaborate with each other to carry out many research instruments to evaluate the course In brief, the action research approach is carefully chosen for and applied in the study with a hope to bring... requirements As a result, the school-year 2007-2008 saw the introduction of the new reading course for first-year students – Reading 1 An evaluation is called for to validate the new course 2.4 Course Designing Process The course was designed following the framework of course development processes in Graves (2006, p 13 ) 2.5 Design of the course in the initiation phase Reading 1 is a course that sets the... education and psychology USA: Sage Publications Munby, J (19 97) Communicative Syllabus design United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press Nguyen et al (2007) Changing for the better: Challenges and Opportunities Journal of Science, Foreign Languages, 23, 6567 Nunan, D (19 85) Language teaching course design: Trends and Issues Australia: National Curriculum Resource Centre Nunan, D (19 87) The teacher . requirements. As a result, the school-year 200 7-2 008 saw the introduction of the new reading course for first-year students – Reading 1. An evaluation is called. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical background for the thesis arose from works of Williams (19 84), Aeersold (19 97), Nuttall (2000), Aebersold, 19 97,