CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This chapter aims at presenting the rationale for the field-study, its aims and scope, the research questions, significance, methods, and design of the field-study 1.1 Introduction It is a common assertion that materials in general play a crucial part in language learning (Robinson, 1991; Nunan, 1991) This accounts for the fact that discussions of the roles of materials appear in almost all books on course design Materials not only provide learners with a wide range of useful and fascinating information but also can play a part in enhancing learners’ motivation- thus, facilitate their acquisition (Dudley- Evans& St John, 1998; Nonaka, 2001) On materials, it can be seen that the textbook is the ‘visible heart’ of any ELT (English Language Teaching) program Several advantages of using textbook have been suggested by researchers For example, textbooks help to standardize instruction and assessment That is, by giving students in different classes the same textbook, teachers can teach and test them in the same way (Richards, 2005) Textbooks also provide syllabus for a program, thus supporting novice teachers, training them in methodology and saving their time and effort for more worthwhile pursuits than material production (Cunningsworth, 1995) What is more, since textbooks are always carefully tested before being brought into the market so they give students credibility Students also often expect to use a textbook in their learning program (Sheldon, 1998) In spite of the aforementioned positive view of textbooks use, however, there have also been certain reservations about this use One of the most cited concerns is that textbooks are often implicitly prescriptive and thus might control the methods, process and procedures of classroom practice and ‘deskill’ teachers (Allwright, 1982) Another concern is that since textbooks are often written for global markets, they may not suit all classrooms and might require adaptation to better meet students’ true needs (Richards, 2005) Non-authenticity is also the most limited feature of almost text books Due to teaching purpose, both content and language are presented in idealized and standardized ways rather than they are in real life (Cunningsworth, 1995) Many experts have written on how to choose or develop materials, which are relevant to learners, so that materials can give assistance to learners’ language learning process In developing materials for ESP, it is advisable from many experts to use authentic materials because they can provide students with up-to -date knowledge, expose them to the world of authentic target language, can bring the real world into the classroom and significantly enliven the class (Martinez, 2002; Kaprova, 1999; Leloup& Prnterio, 2000; Dumitrescu, 2000) By this way, authentic materials can motivate students, give them more stimulation in learning a language 1.2 Rationale for the study In Vietnam, ESP has become an indispensable branch in English language teaching in almost all universities to meet the growing demand for communication in many fields such as tourism, banking, science and technology and especially medicine Therefore, selecting, using and adapting textbooks for ESP course are much concerned issues to ESP teachers Given that materials development is an essential process in any language teaching program, this study is conducted to investigate and assess authentic materials use which give assistance to students of medicine in ESP program Before the field- study is discussed further, it would be helpful to provide some background for the situation of ESP program in Vietnam in general and at Hanoi Medical University in particular So far English has been kept its dominant role among worldwide languages In Vietnam, English is considered as a key instrument in training human resource, especially, people working at high levels need to be equipped with the English proficiency to engage in globalize work context Therefore, teaching and learning English, especially, ESP is a necessity in tertiary, yet ESP is still new and very challenging to instructors At Hanoi Medical University, ESP has been paid more attention to recently (French used to be mainly employed in medicine area in Vietnam) Being aware of English serving as a bridge to connect Vietnam’s medicine to world’ advanced medicines, much attempt has been made to improve the teaching and learning English in medicine The principal purpose is to help students cope with materials on Medicine in English, thus they can read medical books, journals and other related reference materials for their further study and for their work after graduation However, after some years, the materials, which has been used revealed failure to meet students’ need and to be not very motivating to them The materials not appear helpful enough to assist students to improve their medical English in terms of grammar structure and vocabulary They have difficulties in memorizing and using the language due to the short diversity of grammar structures and system of content Thus, students are not usually engaged in the reading activities, or they not concentrate on or involve in the reading tasks This existing fact has caused a headache to all teachers and some solutions have been applied such as giving them some extra reading materials from some other books, but the situation has not been significantly improved In an effort to search for a solution to this situation, the researcher has found that many authors have asserted that authentic materials have a positive effect on learners’ motivation and their language acquisition in foreign language classroom Nevertheless, research to date of this topic is inadequate and the researcher suggest that testing these subjective impression- the positive effect of authentic materials on Medicine on students’ learning process and their motivation, will result in a better guidance for the selection and exploitation of reading materials used in ESP program 1.3 Aims and objectives of the field-study This field-study is firstly aimed at supplementing the findings of the earlier study by providing empirical evidence for the effect of authentic materials on the students’ reading proficiency and their involvement levels in class activities Secondly, it is an attempt to meet the need of the students at HMU for a way to access real- life language Lastly, it is expected that the results of the study would serve as a useful source of reference for teachers who are teaching ESP or/ and interested in material development for ESP Specifically, researcher’s main objectives in carrying out this field-study are as follows: - To introduce authentic materials as a tool to supplement the course-book to the second year students at HMU - To examine the effect of the authentic materials on the students’ language acquisition - To elicit students’ opinions of the authentic material use and to lay grounds for the further research 1.4 The scope of the study As this is only a small- sized scale study, a number of issues, though intriguing, would be beyond the scope of inquiry and would be best deal with in a further study, for example, using authentic materials for other objects such as specialists, nurses or medical technicians or designing supplementary materials on ESP program, and so on Also, I will only focus on the influence of authentic materials on the reading proficiency by second year students who are trained to be general doctors at HMU 1.5 Research hypotheses and questions In order to achieve the above - mentioned scope, this study was designed to test the following hypothesis: H1: Students who medical English course with the textbook and supplementary authentic materials will make more improvement in reading proficiency measured by a proficiency test than those who the course with the textbook only The acceptance of this hypothesis would result in the injection to the following null hypothesis or vice versa: Ho: There is no difference in reading proficiency as measured by a proficiency test between students who medical English course with the textbook and supplementary authentic materials and those who the course with the textbook only In order to reach the conclusion on which hypothesis would be accepted, the answers to the research questions that are presented below would be found (1) Is there a significant difference between the reading proficiency scores of the control group (students who the course with the textbook only) and those of the experimental group (students who the course with the textbook and supplementary authentic materials)? (2) What are students’ opinions of the use of authentic materials in extensive reading program? The first question is the focal point The answer to it would yield empirical evidence for the effect of the use of authentic materials on students’ reading proficiency The answer to the last question would provide invaluable information about students’ evaluation of the use of authentic materials as supplement source on their ESP program 1.6 Significance of the study It has long been believed that material development plays an essential role in English teaching Therefore, it is hoped that the authentic materials to be used will help to facilitate and motivate students better in ESP classes and the results of this experiment will support the suggestion of using authentic materials and give a guidance to select and exploit authentic materials in order to improve ESP teaching materials 1.7 Methods of the study The major method employed in this study to find out the answers to the proposed research questions within the scope of the study is a quasi- experimental design which involves the three basic components of experiments as presented by Selinger and Shohamy, that is, the population ( second year students at HMU), the treatment ( the authentic materials use ) and the measurement of the treatment (t- test) ( 1998, p.136) Under the present teaching and learning conditions in Vietnam such as the grouping of students in advance, this method has proved to be the best choice to yield the empirical results for this study Besides this main method, the class journals are collected and unofficial interviews also carried out to students taking part in the program as well as other teachers of English and medical specialists as a complementary tool to obtain their feedback on the program and their suggestions for future programs 1.8 Design of the study The study is divided into five chapters as hereunder: Chapter one presents an overview of the study in which the introduction, the rationale for the study, the aims and objectives, the research hypothesis and questions, the scope, the significance, the research method as well as the design of the study are briefly presented Chapter two reviews the literature relevant and closely related to the study including the textbook evaluation, textbook use and adaptation, the features of ESP and OEP in general and medical English in particular, authentic materials and the effect of using authentic materials on ESP teaching and learning Chapter three is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study with all of its components encompassing the justification for using the quasi- experimental design, the variables, the participants, the design of pretest and posttest, a detailed description of exploited authentic materials and the designing of based- task authentic materials Chapter four, which is the most important part of the study, presents significant findings of the study Chapter five, which is not less important than the preceding one, presents a discussion of the major findings from which some pedagogical implications were derived from This chapter also points out some limitations of the study that serve as the basis for the researcher’s recommendations for further study 1.9 Conclusion In this chapter, an overview of the study has been presented including the rationale for the study, the aims and objectives of the study, the scope of the study, the research hypotheses and questions, significance of the study, the research method employed by the researcher as well as the design of the study The next chapter will review the relevant, closely related literature to provide a theoretical framework for the study CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Textbook Evaluation English language instruction has many important components but the essential constituents to many ESL/ EFL classrooms and programs are textbooks and instruction materials that are often used by language instructors As Hutchinson and Torres (1994) suggest: “The textbook is an almost universal element of [English language] teaching Millions of copies are sold every year, and numerous aid projects have been set up to produce them in various countries… No teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant textbook.” (p.315) Other theorists such as Sheldon (1988) agree with this observation and suggest that textbooks not only “represent the visible heart of any ELT program” (p 237) but also offer considerable advantages for both students and teachers when they are being used in the ESL/ EFL classroom Haycroft (1998), for example, suggests that one of the primary advantages of using textbook is that they are psychologically essential for students since their progress and achievement can be measured concretely when they use them Second, as Sheldon (1988) has pointed out, students often expect to use a textbook in their particular language classroom and program and believe that published materials have more credibility than teacher- generated or “in-house” materials Third, as ONeill (1982) has indicated, textbooks are efficient in terms of time and money, and they can and should allow for adaptation and improvisation Finally, textbooks may constitute an effective resource for learning in classroom and self-directed learning (Cunningsworth, 1995) A learner without a textbook might be out of focus and teacher- independent In spite of aforementioned benefits of textbooks, however, some reservations can be found Some well-founded reservations pointed out by Allwright (1982), for instance, suggest that textbooks are inflexible and generally reflect the pedagogic, psychological, and linguistic preferences and biases of their authors Subsequently, the educational methodology that a textbook promotes will influence the classroom setting by indirectly imposing external language objectives and learning constituents on students as well as potentially incongruent instructional paradigms on the teachers who use them In this fashion therefore, textbooks essentially determine and control the methods, processes and procedures of language teaching and learning Moreover, the pedagogic principles that are often displayed in many textbooks may also be conflicting, contradictory or even out-dated depending on the capitalizing interests and exploitations of the sponsoring agent Other researchers such as Prodromou (1988) and Alptekin (1993) pointed out that textbooks are often cultural artifacts because it is impossible to teach a language without embedding it in its cultural base However, in many instances this might alienate learners if they are forced to express themselves within a culture they have hardly had any experience with and been prepared for In addition, recent appraisals of commercially produced textbooks have also suggested that many textbooks tend to offer classroom learners little opportunity for learning how to properly communicate intentions such as requesting, disagreeing, complaining, and so on in the second language (L2) (Bardovi- Harlig, 2001; Vellenga, 2004) This is firstly because many textbook either not present or they present communicative function (i.e speech acts) unrealistically Boxer and Pickering (1995), for example, found that textbooks generally not contain indirect complaints (i.e complaining about oneself or someone/ something that is not present in the conversation) as a solidarity-establishing strategy Bouton (1996) pointed out that the textbook that he investigated taught invitations that rarely occur in published native speaker (NS) corpora The reason for the unrealistic description of communicative functions in many textbooks is textbooks are often based largely on NS intuition about how communicative functions are linguistically expressed instead of making use of authentic speech (Boxer and Pickering, 1985) As research has shown, in contrast to intuition about language forms or grammar, NS intuition about language use is generally unreliable (Wolfson, 1988) and therefore cannot adequately inform instructional material (Boxer and Pickering, 1995) Secondly, what also adds to the difficulty in learning how to communicate intentions via textbooks is many textbooks seem unhelpful in teaching appropriate rules of using different communicative functions In order to use a communicative function appropriately, learners need to know not only linguistic resources to express it but also the rules of use However, previous research has indicated that textbooks generally provide insufficient information regarding when and for what purpose it is appropriate to make use of a communicative function and which expressions would be appropriate in a particular situation (i.e metapragmatic information) (Crandall and Basturkmen, 2004) Teacher’s manuals, unfortunately, rarely supplement this information (Vellenga, 2004) Similarly, proponents of authentic classroom language models such as Brazil, Coulthard, and Johns (1980), Levis (1999), Cathcart (1989), Bardovi-Harlig et al (1991), and Yule, Matthis and Hopkins (1992) have also pointed out that many scripted textbook language models and dialogues are unnatural and present an oversimplification of language Thus they tend to inadequately prepare students for the types of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and discourse that are used in real world communication While authentic material not automatically bring about effective learning and definitely should not be considered more important than their relevance to learners’ needs and experience (Day, 2003), an unrealistic and oversimplified presentation of language use can be more inhibiting than helpful in developing learners’ language proficiency and communicative competence Hence, the textbook evaluation presented above has brought about an overview of benefits and reservations textbook use that helps teachers identify the strength and weakness of a particular textbook that is already in use (i.e in use or retrospective evaluation) This is to inform teachers in the process of textbook adaptation and decision- making for the next course (Ellis, 1997) 2.2 Textbook use and adaptation Material adaptation is one of the most concerned issues to teachers who desire to make students’ needs and materials as well as learning process well matching Material adaptation is especially significant in ESP teaching where textbooks not appear to catch up with quick changes in terms of content and no textbooks are well- fitted enough to every particular situation Various problems with materials have been addressed by a number of researchers O’Neill (1982: 153) suggest that the textbook can only provide props and framework for classroom teaching and no textbook can expect to appeal to all teachers or learners at a particular level McDnough and Shaw (1993: 83) as well propose that textbooks, internally coherent although they may be, they may not be totally applicable Swales (1980) contends that any given course-book will be incapable of catering for the diversity of needs which exists in most language classroom Allright (1981: 9) also maintains that given the complexity of the whole business of the management of language learning, even with the best intentions no single textbook can possibly work in all situations Sheldon (1988:239) addresses a lack of cultural appropriateness of some of some textbooks, i.e, the thinking underlying the textbook writing may be different from or event in conflict with the assumptions held by the teachers The problems mentioned above are by no means exhaustive, but the key point remains: teachers, with the practical personal knowledge of their classroom teaching, should see textbooks as their servants instead of their masters; as resource of an “ideal bank” which can stimulate teachers’ own creative potential (Cunningsworth, 1984: 65) Adapting their materials allow them to achieve more compatibility and fitness between the textbooks and teaching environment, and maximize the value of the book for their benefit of their particular learners and for the most effective teaching outcome to be achieved It would consequently lead to an improvement of the textbook in sense of being able to suit the particular situation and empowering and reskilling the teachers (Apple and jungck, 1990; Shannon, 1987) Richards (1998: 135) argues that teachers should approach textbooks with the expectation that deletion, adaptation, and extension will be normally needed for the materials to work effectively with their class For these and other reasons, there is already an established tradition of ESP teachers adapting materials Being aware of the crucial role material adaptation and in a big effort to use the textbook as a resource for creativity and inspiration, a learning tool for the students and a mean to an end in the teaching, the researcher has tried using authentic materials to remedy weaknesses of the textbook so as to assist the students in improving their reading proficiency as well as raise their positive attitude to authentic materials 2.3 Materials for ESP 2.3.1 The role of materials Since materials have a significant role, almost all methodologists have spent time talking about materials Mentioning the role of materials in a curriculum, Nunan (1991: 209) asserted that: “Materials, whether commercially developed or teacher – produced, are an important element within the curriculum, and are often the most tangible and visible aspect of it” The important role of teaching materials was once more confirmed by Robinson (1991) when the author said that many writers “are in no doubt that teaching materials are essential” Materials not only play an active part in a curriculum, but also are one of decisive elements in enhancing students’ motivation According to Dudley-Evans & St John (1998), there are reasons why materials are used, which are really significant in the ESP context: - As a source of language - As a learning support - For motivation and stimulation - For reference Kennedy and Bolitho (1984), on their comments on a case if the course content and the learner’s motivation not match, or if the level of motivation is low in the first place, suggest that materials have to be carefully designed to raise this motivation In another case, these two authors also advised to develop materials in a way that they could motivate a learner who had some initial reluctance and help him overcome the reluctance to study English Especially, in some situations, where English ‘materials then play a crucial role in exposing learners to the language, which implies that the materials need to present real language, as it is used, and the full range that learners require’ (Dudley-Evans & S John, 1998) For example, learners extract information from English medium subject textbooks However, if individual texts come from magazines, content and style will be journalistic Therefore, the materials need to maximize the exposure of students to the language, for instance, by providing additional materials It can be concluded from the above discussions that materials are of an importance especially in increasing student’s motivation in language learning To that, materials need to expose learners to the real language, real world in which the target language is used Authentic materials are believed by many authors (Martinez, 2002; Kaprova, 1999; LeLoup & Ponterio, 2000; Dumitrescu, 2000) to be the one that provides students with opportunity to expose themselves to the real language 2.3.2 Authentic materials There have been a number of books and journals containing the explanations of why authentic materials should be included in the lessons, and how it should be selected and used or best exploited Authentic materials should be included because they have a lot of advantages 2.3.2.1 Advantages of authentic materials The authors who support the use of authentic materials, although express in different ways, have in common one idea: “exposure”- the benefit students get from being exposed to the 10 participants’ opinions and their recommendations were collected via a three open-ended questions in which two first questions concerning the strength and limitation of the program and the last one was their own suggestions All most participants confirmed that the program provided them with varied, realistic, relevant, interesting and update topics and texts with communicative and learner-centered post-reading activities This allowed regular revision and self- study as well as significant improvement of vocabulary, grammar structures and medical knowledge However, some weaknesses were identified via the survey questionnaire such as the text over-length, challenging texts and short time for classroom activities From the pros and cons above they suggested that texts should be shortened and simplified or more explanations should be given To deal with the shortage of class contact time a number of them opined that extensive reading with authentic materials should be a part of English speaking club’s program at HMU And a few of the students who are good at English recommended authentic materials in forms of audio and video should be presented to them That numerous subjects expected the program to be continued in the following academic year is a real encouragement to the researcher 4.4 Conclusion In conclusion, this chapter has presented the major findings of the study based on both numeral and non- numeral data gathered during the program These include the results of comparing the reading performance in the pretest and posttest between the experimental and control groups, and the responses given by the experimental group to the statements and questions raised in the post- program questionnaire On the whole, the experimental group’s reading out-performance was confirmed with higher mean score and the subjects’ attitude can be recognized in their responses to the questionnaire These findings are the valuable food for the discussion and implications displayed in the last chapter of this study that will come presently 36 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS The discussion of the findings and answers to the research questions will be presented in this last chapter Based on the result of discussion, pedagogical implications will be made in the hope of improving the English teaching and learning situation at HMU as well as in other educational institutes which share the same situation Perfection is supposed to be hard to achieve especially, in doing research; therefore, the limitations, which are well perceived by the researcher, will also be discussed in this chapter as the basis for suggestions and recommendations for further research on the issue of material development in English teaching 5.1 Discussion of research questions As started right from the beginning of the research paper, this study, deals with two research questions which are repeated hereunder for convenience: 5.1.1 Comparison of experimental and control groups’ reading proficiency after the program The first research question raised was whether a significant difference between the reading proficiency scores gained by the experimental group who did medical English course with the textbook and supplementary authentic materials those gained by the control group who did the course with the textbook only The early comparison of the scores of the pretest and posttest gained by two groups showed that the control group seemed a little higher than the experimental group in reading proficiency as their mean score of the pretest was higher than the experimental group in (6.64 compared to 6.12) However, their performances in the posttest indicated a reversed situation, that is, the experimental group outperformed the control group with a higher mean score (7.48 compared to 6.60) At first glance, therefore, it seemed that the simple answer to this question is “Yes” Yet to avoid making dogmatic, unconvincing conclusion, the result of comparison of the mean gains made by two groups is presented This finding showed that the experimental group obtained a higher mean gain than the control group (1.36 compared to - 0.04) And this difference, as we expected, was proved to be significant tcrit (t = 3.2, tcrit = 1.679, df = 48, p Epstein, O & Perkin, D (2003) Clinical examination.New York: Mosby Gledining, E & Holmstrom, B (1987) English in medicine Cambridge University Press Gardner, R.C &W.E.Lambert.1972 Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning Rowley, Mass: Newburry House Publishers Gronlund, N.E.1985 Megasurement and Evaluation in Teaching Macmillan Publishing Company New York Kaprova, L.V.1999 Considering the Following when Selecting and Using Authentic Materials TESOL Matters, Vol9, No2, April/may 1999 Kenedy, C &R Bolitho.1984 English for Specific Purposes Macmillan Press LTD Krashen, S 1985 The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications London: Longman Krashen, S D (1982) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition English Language Teaching 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Oxford: Heinemann Nonaka,T.2001 The importance of Authentic Language of SLA http://members.aol.com/mr Nonaka/index.htm 48 Nunan, D 1989 Understanding Language Classrooms, Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall Nunan, D 1991 Language Teaching Methodology Prentice Hall Oxer, D., & Pickering, L (1995) Problem in the presentation of speech acts in ELT Materials: the case of complaints ELT Journal 49 (1), 44-58 Robinson, P.C.1991 ESP Today: A Practitioner’s Guide, Prentice Hall Richards, J (2005) The Role of Textbooks in a Language Program Retrieved from the WWW Nov 2007 at http://www.professorjackrichards.com/work.htm Sheldon, L.E (1988) Evaluating ELT textbooks and Materils ELT Journal 42 (4) Tiersky, E & Tiersky, M (1992) The language of medicine in English New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs Vellenga, H (2004) Learning Pragmatics from ESL & EFL Textbools: How Likely ? TESL-EJ (2) Retrieved June 27, 2004, at http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESLEJ/ej30/a3.html Wolfson, N (1988) Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL Cambridge, Ma: Newbury house Yule, G., Matthis, T and Hopkins, M (1992) On reporting what was said ELT Journal 46 (3) 49 50 ... Completing case history/ diagnosis report Writing case history Role playing Presenting 24 20 24 20 No idea (1mark ) 1 Dislike (0 mark) Mean SD Rank 18 4 18 2. 92 0.56 2. 56 2. 92 2.56 0.56 14.01 0.85... 20 80% 24 96% 23 92% 19 76% 24 96% 17 68% 24 % 20 80% 4% 12% 20 % 0% 4% 4% 0% 4% 8% 0% 12% 12% 12% 4% 80% 12% 25 100% 4% 16% 4% 4% 16% 4% 20 % 16 64% 4% 23 96% As can be seen in Table 4, twelve items... nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/October20 02 /day/ day.html Dornyeu, Z 20 01 Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom Cambride: CUP Dougherty, L & Lister, S (20 04) Clinical nursing procedure London: Blackwell Dulley-Evans