VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* TRÂ ̀ N MINH THA ̀ NH AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY I” FOR SECOND–YEAR STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY UNDER THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY (Đánh giá giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Công nghệ thông tin I” dùng cho sinh viên năm thứ hai Trƣờng Đại học Công nghệ Thông tin và Truyền thông thuộc Đại học Thái Nguyên.) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* TRÂ ̀ N MINH THA ̀ NH AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY I” FOR SECOND–YEAR STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY UNDER THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY (Đánh giá giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Công nghệ thông tin I” dùng cho sinh viên năm thứ hai Trƣờng Đại học Công nghệ Thông tin và Truyền thông thuộc Đại học Thái Nguyên.) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111 Supervisor: Prof. Nguyen Hoa Hanoi, 2014 i DECLARATION I – Tran Minh Thanh, a candidate for the Degree of Master of Arts (TEFL) hereby state that I accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master‘s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature Tran Minh Thanh ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest gratitude goes to Professor. Nguyen Hoa, my supervisor, for his valuable instructions, comments and criticisms as well as his kind encouragement during the development of this thesis. I am deeply indebted to the teachers and students at ICTU for their generous cooperation and enthusiasm from which I have benefited a lot during my study. Finally, I wish to express my sincerely thanks to my wife for her understanding and supports for me throughout the preparation and development of the thesis. iii ABSTRACT The ESP coursebook ―English for Information Technology I‖ compiled by four teachers of English of ICTU has been employed as the teaching materials for the second-year students of Faculty of Information Technology since 2009. However, up to now, there has been no official research conducted to evaluate the relevance of the coursebook to the learners‘ needs as well as its suitability to the desired objectives of the course. The purpose of this study is to reveal the findings and information about the coursebook evaluation from the perspectives of students and teachers of ICTU. With this regard, the study tries to assess the relevance of the coursebook to the students‘ needs in terms of content, format and methodology. Four teachers of English and 80 second-year students participated in the survey. The findings show that the coursebook is rather relevant to the needs of learners. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS English for IT I English for Information Technology I ESL/EFL English as a Second Language/ English as a Foreign Language ESP English for Specific Purposes ICTU University of Information and Communication Technology IT Information Technology v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Research question 2 4. Methods of the study 2 5. Scope of the study 3 6. Significance of the study 3 7. Design of the study 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Materials in language teaching and learning 5 1.1.1. Concepts of materials 5 1.1.2. Types of materials 6 1.2. English for specific purposes 8 1.3. Materials evaluation 9 1.3.1. Definition of materials evaluation 9 1.3.2. Purposes of materials evaluation 10 1.3.3. Types of materials evaluation 11 1.3.4. Methods of materials evaluation 12 1.3.5. Criteria for materials evaluation 13 1.3.6. Materials evaluation models 14 vi 1.4. Needs analysis 16 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1. An overview of current ESP teaching and learning at ICTU 17 2.1.1. Context 17 2.1.2. The objectives of the ESP course ―English for IT I‖ 17 2.1.3. The coursebook description 18 2.2. Research methods 19 2.2.1. Research question 19 2.2.2. Participants 19 2.2.3. Data collection instruments 20 2.2.4. Data collection procedure 21 CHAPTER III: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. About learners 23 3.1.1. Learners‘ background of learning English 23 3.1.2. Learners‘ levels of English 23 3.1.3. Learners‘ purposes and expectations of learning the ESP course ―English for IT I‖ 24 3.1.4. Learners‘ needs of learning the ESP course ―English for IT I‖ 25 3.2. Learners‘ and teachers‘ evaluation of the coursebook ―English for IT I‖ 27 3.2.1. The evaluation of the content 27 3.2.2. The evaluation of the format 32 3.2.3. The evaluation of the methodology 34 PART C: CONCLUSION 1. Summary of the study 38 3. Some conclusions 38 3. Limitations of the study 39 4. Suggestions for further study 40 Reference 41 Appendices: vii Appendix 1: I Appendix 2: VI Appendix 3: XI Appendix 4: XIII Appendix 5: XIX 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study In accordance with the innovation in education and training, English is considered an important subject taught at both schools and universities in Vietnam. In universities English courses are usually divided into General English (GE) course and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. University of Information and Communication Technology (ICTU) under Thai Nguyen university is not an exception. In the curriculum for ICTU students, English courses account for 10 credits, which are distributed into two phases: General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). General English consisting of two courses (a total of six credits) aim to train students in four general skills of English. The two courses of General English explore a variety of topics related to real life situations. ESP including two courses with four credits in total is designed to teach students English language for specific purposes, such as English for Electronics and Telecommunications, English for Automation Technology and English for Information Technology. The role of an ESP course is to bring to the learners what they desperately need in real life. Students of Faculty of Information Technology are introduced with ESP courses in the second academic year. These ESP courses are divided into two modules using two coursebooks ―English for Information Technology I‖ and ―English for Information Technology II‖. In ICTU, coursebooks are mostly used as teaching and learning materials for both teachers and learners. They not only provide a framework for teachers in obtaining the objectives of the course but also play an important role as a guide to the teacher in conducting lessons. From the perspective of learners, a coursebook truly affects their attitudes and performance on lessons throughout the course. It is true that when learners like their coursebook, they like the course as well, and become active participants to the lessons. Therefore, the appropriate choice of a coursebook is an issue of great concern and is paid much attention to by both administrators and lecturers of English here. However, most of the textbooks in the market are written by native speakers or other lecturers coming from other universities rather than from [...]... the member institutions under Thai Nguyen University (TNU) Its specialized training domain is Information and Communication Technology There are five main faculties: Faculty of IT, Faculty of Electronics and Communication Technology, Faculty of Automation Technology, Faculty of Economic Information Systems and Faculty of Basic Sciences; and two other departments Among them, Faculty of Information Technology. .. total, and use two coursebooks “English for IT I” and “English for IT II” Students attend the class every three periods per week for 10 weeks To complete each module, except for the points for attendance, students are required to take a 45minute mid-term test and a final written examination by the end of the course 2.1.2 The objectives of the ESP course “English for IT I” The course “English for IT I”. .. barrier for a successful communication Therefore, it can be argued that the improvement of IT lexis and the correct pronunciation of this lexis are the learners‘ most urgent needs The satisfaction of these needs would promote the satisfaction of the other needs 3.2 Learners’ and teachers’ evaluation of the coursebook “English for IT I” 3.2.1 The evaluation of the content Skills allocation To meet the learners‘... learning the course were ―important‖ or “very important” For example, 52% of them claimed that the development of IT lexis was important and 39% of them ranked this purpose “very important” 37% and 44% of students supposed that the oral communication and discussion with foreign people in English was also “important” and “very important”, respectively A similar portion of students chose level 3 and level... IT I” and the coursebook description Then, it presents the detailed description of methods employed to evaluating the coursebook „English for IT I” at ICTU where the study is carried out 2.1 An overview of current ESP teaching and learning at ICTU 2.1.1 Context University of Information and Communication Technology (ICTU), which formerly was Faculty of Information Technology founded in 2001, is one of. .. the coursebook “English for Information Technology I” relevant to the learners’ needs in terms of content, format and methodology? 2.2.2 Participants Population The target population for this study includes approximately 250 second-year students of Faculty of Information Technology and four English language teachers who are responsible for teaching the ESP course “English for IT I” at ICTU Sampling The. .. of choosing a coursebook suitable for their teaching situation They have to select a coursebook that suits the needs of their students, their unique characteristics and their preferences and one that the teacher believe will motivate them Therefore, that the identifying the needs of the students should be carried out so that the teacher or the book writer can select or develop a coursebook which can... students of Faculty of Information Technology and four involved teachers of English at ICTU 2 - Semi-structured interviews - were conducted to look for both teachers and students further opinions on the coursebook based on their experience in using it or to clarify any misunderstanding 5 Scope of the study The coursebook “English for IT I” has been used as the official teaching materials in the ESP... terms of language performance, the coursebook should cover both receptive skills (reading skills and listening skills) and productive skills (speaking skills and writing skills) Hutchinson and Water suggested that there should be a balance of these four macro-skills in the coursebook The table below presents the evaluation of both students and teachers on the portion of four macroskills designated in the. .. obtain information about and from the learners to find out whether the materials are suitable to students age, knowledge of English, interest and so on Aims of the materials: The evaluator has to check if the materials match the aims and objectives of the course Content of the materials: The evaluator has to check if the materials‘ language points, macro-skills/micro-skills, and topic suit the learners‘ . NGUYEN UNIVERSITY (Đánh giá giáo trình Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Công nghệ thông tin I dùng cho sinh viên năm thứ hai Trƣờng Đ i học Công nghệ Thông tin và Truyền thông thuộc Đ i học Th i Nguyên. ). chuyên ngành Công nghệ thông tin I dùng cho sinh viên năm thứ hai Trƣờng Đ i học Công nghệ Thông tin và Truyền thông thuộc Đ i học Th i Nguyên. ) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English. “ENGLISH FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY I FOR SECOND–YEAR STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY UNDER THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY (Đánh giá giáo trình Tiếng Anh chuyên