Appropriateness of the textbook "American Headway 1" for the first year students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province Lê Thị Ca Sơn Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Assoc M.Ed Đỗ Bá Quý Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: “Textbook plays a pivotal role in language classroom in all types of educational institution – public school, college and language school – all over the world” (Garinger, 2001) However, textbooks are not always professionally designed and not always fit the aims of the teaching program and the needs of the students Thus, textbooks should be careful evaluated and selected before being used It is in this view this thesis was carried out to evaluate the textbook “American Headway 1” which currently in use for first year students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province (HUI) With the hope to improve the effectiveness of the teaching and learning English at HUI in the future, the researcher would like to present some practical suggestions for the adaptation of the textbook The subjects involved in the study are 90 first year students and 10 English teachers at HUI The data collection instruments used in this study was survey questionnaire and informal interview A survey on the teachers and students’ opinion found out the appropriateness of the textbook in terms of teaching and learning language skills and language elements Interview results have revealed some strengths and weaknesses of the textbook Based on the findings of research results, the thesis suggests some additions and modifications in the textbook in order to overcome the textbook’s weaknesses so that it will become more effective in the future Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp dạy học; Giáo trình iii Content: Table of contents Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of ABBREVIATIONs vii List of Tables and charts viii Part A: Introduction 1 Rationale……………………………………………………………………… Aims of the study………………………………………… Research questions…………………………………………… Significance of the study……………………………… Methods of the study…………………………………………………………… Scope of the study……………………………………………………………… Design of the study……………………………………………………………… Part B: Development Chapter 1: Literature review 1 Textbook…………………………………………………………………… 1.1 Definitions of textbook…………………………………………………… 1.2 The roles of textbook……………………………………………………… 1.3 Textbook evaluation……………………………………………………… 1.4 Textbook adaptation……………………………………………………… 1.2 Language skills……………………………………………………………… 10 iv 1.2 Receptive skills…………………………………………………………… 10 1.2 1.1 Listening…………………………………………………………………… 10 1.2.1.2 Reading…………………………………………………………………… 10 1.2.2 Productive skills…………………………………………………………… 11 1.2.2.1 Speaking………………………………………………………………… 11 1.2.2.2 Writing…………………………………………………………………… 11 1.3 Language elements……………………………………………………… 12 1.3.1 Grammar…………………………………………………………………… 12 1.3.2 Vocabulary………………………………………………………………… 12 1.3.3 Pronunciation……………………………………………………………… 13 1.4 Summary……………………………………………………………………… 13 Chapter 2: An overview of the textbook and current Situation of using textbook at HUI 14 2.1 Current situation of using textbook…………………………………………… 14 2.1.1 Brief introduction of HUI…………………………………………………… 14 2.1.2 Teachers and teaching methods…………………………………………… 15 2.1.3 Students and their background……………………………………………… 16 2.2 An overview of the textbook………………………………………………… 17 Chapter 3: Methodology……………………………………………… 19 3.1 Setting………………………………………………………………………… 19 3.2 Research design……………………………………………………………… 20 3.3 Participants…………………………………………………………………… 20 3.4 Data collection instruments…………………………………………………… 21 3.4.1 Survey questionnaires……………………………………………………… 21 3.4.2 Interview…………………………………………………………………… 22 3.5 Data collection procedures…………………………………………………… 22 3.6 Summary……………………………………………………………………… 23 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion………………………………… 24 4.1 Data and data analysis …………………………………………………… 24 v 4.1.1 Survey questionnaires……………………………………………………… 24 4.1.2 Interview…………………………………………………………………… 34 4.2 Feasible solutions…………………………………………………………… 36 4.2.1 Extension…………………………………………………………………… 36 4.2.2 Re-ordering………………………………………………………………… 37 4.2.3 Modification………………………………………………………………… 37 4.2.4 Braching…………………………………………………………………… 38 4.2.5 Addition…………………………………………………………………… 39 Part C: Conclusion……………………………………………………… 40 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………… 40 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further studies…………………… 40 Reference…………………………………………………………………… 42 Appendices vi List of ABBREVIATIONS HUI Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry ELT English language teaching GE General English ESP English for Specific Purposes AH1 American Headway PPP Presentation - Practice - Production vii List of Tables and charts TABLES Table 1: Content of the textbook “American Headway 1” Table 2: The teachers’ experience of teaching Table 3: The role of the textbook in teaching and learning English Table 4: Teachers’ opinions about the presentation of four skills in the textbook Table 5: Students’ opinions about the presentation of four skills in the textbook Table 6: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about the difficult degree of four skills in the textbook Table 7: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about skill development Table 8: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about the level emphasis on the four macro skills of each unit in the textbook Table 9: Teachers’ opinions and students’ opinions about the location of time for four macro skills CHARTS Chart 1: Students’ history of learning English Chart 2: Students’ time of learning English Chart 3: Teachers’ satisfaction of the textbook Chart 4: Students’ satisfaction of the textbook Chart 5: Teachers and students’ attitudes towards grammar points in the textbook Chart 6: The approach to grammar in the textbook Chart 7: The stage of PPP approach paid most attention Chart 8: The number of techniques of PPP approach is used in each unit Chart 9: The quantity of new words in every unit Chart 10: Students’ vocabulary after learning the textbook Chart 11: The textbook includes materials for pronunciation works Chart 12: Students’ pronunciation after completing the textbook Part A: Introduction Rationale for the study The textbook is “the visible heart of any ELT (English Language Teaching) program” (Sheldon 1988:237) 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 ways (Richards 2005) The 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 are more, students also often expect to use the textbook in their learning program (Sheldon 1988) Without textbooks, they may think their learning is not taken seriously, thus, textbooks are psychological essential for students Textbooks may constitute an effective resource for learning in the classroom and self-directed learning (Cunningsworth 1995) A learner without a textbook might be out of focus and teacher-dependent However, textbooks are not always professionally designed and not always fit the curriculum and closely correspond to the aim of a teaching program and the needs of the students Thus, textbooks should be carefully evaluated and selected before being used for a certain language program As a teacher of HUI (Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry), I have worked quite closely with the textbook “American Headway 1” I have noticed that although the book has shown a great deal of improvements, it also bears several limitations These limitations may cause considerable difficulty for both students and teachers, especially, for teachers who wish to teach in a communicative way For all those reasons, I think that textbook evaluation helps the managerial and teaching staff select the most appropriate material available for a particular course It also helps to identify the strengths and weakness of a particular textbook This is to inform teachers in the process of textbook adaptation and decision-making for the next course To this end, I have decided to carry out a study entitled “Appropriateness of the textbook “American Headway 1” for the first year students at HUI based in Thanh Hoa Province Aims of the study The study aimed at: - Evaluating "American Headway 1" in the terms of its methodology and practicality Specifically, it seeks to answer such a question as how the four language skills and language elements are taught and practiced - Finding out the strengths and the weaknesses of the textbook - Suggesting changes to enhance the textbook's appropriateness for the first year students' needs at HUI based in Thanh Hoa Province Research questions The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answer to the following research questions: - Is the textbook “American Headway 1” suitable for the students’ level and the teachers at HUI based in TH Province in terms of language skills and language elements? - What suggestions should be offered to help teachers and students to overcome the weaknesses of the textbook? Significance of the study In order to serve the purpose of teaching and learning effectively, the textbook needs to be professionally designed, fits the curriculum and closely corresponds with the aim of the teaching program and the needs of the students Thus, teachers and learners working with the textbook might experience considerable difficulty in achieving the ultimate goal of their teaching and learning program, which is developing students’ communicative competence The current study helps to identify the problem and suggests ways of improving them This contribution would be of practical value to textbook authors, teachers and students Methods of the study In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study was designed to use two methods: survey questionnaire and informal interview The data can be recorded formally and informally The interview is used to record information from teachers and students The survey questionnaire to both students and teachers is to get more information to support the study Scope of the study The author of the study is always aware that a great number of criteria should be taken into consideration for a textbook and each criteria on need taking into account various aspects However, within the limits of a minor thesis, this study only seeks the appropriateness of the textbook “American Headway 1” in terms of their methodology and practically Specially, it seeks to examine the communicative nature of the textbook and the ease of their use That is, to seeks to answer such question as how the four language skills and language elements are taught and practiced 3 Design of the study The minor thesis is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part A (Introduction) presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods and the design of the study Part B (Development) consists of four chapters Chapter reviews the theoretical background, which is relevant to the purpose of the study Chapter gives a brief introduction of the textbook and current situations of teaching and learning at HUI Chapter describes the research methodology, which focuses on the context of the study, participants and the instruments and data collection procedures Chapter deals with data analysis and some suggestions Part C (Conclusion) summaries the study and offers some suggestions for further research 42 REFERENCES Ali Jahangard (2007), Evaluation of EFL Materials Taught at Iranian Public High Schools, Asian EFL Journal Allwright, R (1982), What we want teaching materials for? 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Table 2: The teachers’ experience of teaching Table 3: The role of the textbook in teaching and learning English Table 4: Teachers’ opinions about the presentation of four... for the first year students at HUI based in Thanh Hoa Province Aims of the study The study aimed at: - Evaluating "American Headway 1" in the terms of its methodology and practicality Specifically,... appropriateness for the first year students'' needs at HUI based in Thanh Hoa Province Research questions The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answer to the following research