Luận văn An evaluation of the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-Year program): A case study at Quynh Mai secondary school

in a short text / talk / interview go along with specific grammar tables and exercises. There are also some "Remember Boxes" to help students take avoiding action of some familiar errors. Section 4 - Communication - assists students use what they have learnt in the previous sections in daily life situations and supplies them with cultural knowledge about Vietnam and other countries in the world. Section 5 - Skills 1 - constructs and advances students' Reading and Speaking skills. There is a reading text which is often relied on the vocabulary and structures that the students have formerly learnt. Significant new vocabulary items are presented in the text and practiced in a follow-up activity. Speaking activity aims to support students to speak English freely, using the recently practised language and their knowledge of English. 68 Section 6 - Skills 2 - provides students with an opportunity to listen to the language they have practised orally in section 5 and improves their listening skills: listen for general and specific information. Section 7 - Looking Back & Project - lasts about one period of 45 minutes. The Looking Back part recycles the language of the unit through different activities whereas the Project part helps students to work independently or work in a team on a field related to the unit subject. The time allocated for the book is 52 periods (approximately 39 hours). 4.4.2. Contents perceived in the Textbook Table 7: Number of tasks in the book Unit Number of speaking tasks Number of reading tasks Number of listening tasks Number of writing tasks vocabulary grammar Pronun -ciation 1 5 4 1 4 7 9 3 2 6 4 1 4 5 11 4 3 7 3 3 1 4 7 3 4 4 3 2 3 5 10 3 5 3 4 2 2 5 11 3 6 5 3 2 1 6 7 3 7 2 4 2 1 5 8 3 8 6 3 3 1 5 6 3 9 6 3 3 2 3 10 2 10 4 4 2 3 5 7 2 11 5 3 2 2 7 8 4 12 5 2 3 2 4 6 3 Total 58 40 26 26 61 100 36 69 s Units Titles Topics 1 My new school Society 2 My home Society 3 My friends Society 4 My neighborhoods Society 5 Natural wonders of the world Culture 6 Our Tet holiday Culture 7 Television Society 8 Sports and games Sports 9 Cities of the world Society 10 Our house in future Society 11 Our greener world Society 12 Robots Sport 4.4.3. Contents perceived by teachers and students According to Hutchinson and Water (1997), the contents of a language program are signaled through the presence of such factors as grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation and assessing these components is considered crucial in the process of getting data. Particularly, the contents of the textbook under evaluation are valued against five criteria. Table 7 demonstrates the survey results on the book's contents. 70 Figure 8: Judgment on Content Appropriateness Students Teachers 1 Grammar items stressing communicative competence are appropriate to sixth graders. 92 91 2 Materials for teaching vocabulary and pronunciation are adequate. 72 66 3 Grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation are graded appropriately. 95 91 4 The content is pitched at the right level of maturity, language, and conceptual level 49 90 Table 8: Judgment on Content Appropriateness From table 7, it can be seen that there is an agreement from all the teachers and students on almost the factors, although there is a slight disagreement between the teacher and student participants on one of them. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 appropriate grammar items adequate teaching materials appropriateness of language aspects suitable content level Judgment on Content Appropriateness Series 1 Series 2 71 In terms of grammar, more than 90 percent of the participants agree that the grammar items using for improving communicative competence are suitable to students at grade 6. However, the table also indicates that there is dissimilarity between the students' and teachers' opinion on the the content is pitched at the right level of maturity, language and conceptual level, when only nearly 50 percent of students but 90 percent of the teacher agree with the statement. Finally, most of the participants agree that the book's content is introduced topically, join in any grammatical items that match the topic and is described functionally, which permits students to learn basing on their needs. It is suggested by many scholars in applied linguistics that the facets of social and cultural should be taken notice of in evaluating textbooks. As noted by Sheldon (1988 - 2004), it is significant to find out whether or not a textbook 'enshrine stereotyped, inaccurate, condescending or offensive images of gender, race, social class, or nationality'. Findings on the appropriateness of the book on the aspect of social and cultural context are presented in table 8 below. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 relevent speech situation avoiding offensive contents dense in cultural linguistic input representative cultural input Evaluation on Social and Cultural Context students teachers 72 Figure 9: Evaluation on Social and Cultural Context Students Teachers 1 The speech situations are relevant to learners' background, culture and environment. 92 88 2 The book is free from stereotyped, inaccurate, condescending or offensive images of gender, race, social class, or nationality. 92 88 3 The linguistic input is culturally dense (idioms, expressions, slang). 90 90 4 The cultural input is representative of the cultural knowledge that native peers would have. 91 90 Table 9: Evaluation on Social and Cultural Context It can be seen in the table that responses to the factors in this category are positive. In terms of the matter of the significance of the speech situations to the background, culture and environment of the students, 92% of the students and 88% of the teachers agree with the statement. The greater part of the partakers also agree that the book mostly avoids introducing negative topics about gender, racial, cultural and national stereotypes. To the question of whether or not the linguistic input is fully covered with idioms, expressions and slangs, is showed that almost all of the participants agree with the statement. Moreover, about the cultural input of the book, a high proportion of 92% of the students and 88% of the teachers believe that it is representative of the cultural knowledge. Nevertheless, some of the people in the survey think that the contents of the textbook might 73 embrace the typical Vietnamese social and cultural context with such topics such as celebration and ethnicity, etc. and less emphasize on the social and cultural aspects of the ethnic minorities as well as native speakers of the English language. In short, the book is considered effective in representing quite a diverse selection of ethnic groups in Vietnam and some countries around the world and the introduction of the characters in realistic settings and relationships assist reinforce its authenticity in terms of the target social and cultural context. As supported by many linguistic scholars, different kinds of tests should be used to calculate modifications in learning at the end or at in- between stages of a course. Results on this issue are described in the table. Figure 10: Evaluation on Methodology Students Teachers 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 examination requires and learners' need are match good revisions are provided model for final tests provided Ready-made achievement tests are provided. Chart Title students teachers 74 1 There is a good balance between what the examination requires and what the learners need. 90 89 2 The book provides periodical revisions for diagnostic purposes. 98 100 3 The book provides models for final achievement tests. 98 89 4 Ready-made achievement tests are provided. 0 0 Table 10: Evaluation on Methodology With regard to the stability between what the examination requests and what the learners need, the greater part of members agree with this statement, at 90% by the student and 89% by the teacher participants. There is even a higher proportion of agreement among the participants in that the book offers periodical revisions for diagnostic purposes and that it provides models for final accomplishment tests that the students are required to sit for at the end of the school year. The findings also show that no available ready-made achievement tests are delivered in either the student's book or teacher's manuals. However, there are different aspects of the content that are needed to discuss furthermore, including language aspects and description, micro and macro-skills and their percentage, text type, organization of the content and topics and sequence. In terms of language aspects and description, there are other aspects apart from the most important one, grammar. One of the aspects is 75 morphemes which include stem words, prefixes and suffixes. For example word 'unfairly' which has stem word as fair adding of prefix un and suffix ly and these morphemes produces changes in word stem. Each of morphemes contributes the different meaning for the words. Another one to consider is the sounds are also very important in language. Its produce the phonemes to understand the spoken sentences. In hierarchical organization when producing sentences people will make error in speaking or slip of the tongue. The errors also can divide into word errors, morphemes errors and phoneme errors. There are other types errors occur in the linguistic such as word exchange, morpheme exchange and phoneme exchange. Word exchange is an error in which two linguistic units are substituted for each other during sentence production. Finally, phoneme exchange is known as an error in which two phonemes are substituted for each other during sentence production. Regarding micro and macro skills, these terms are to describe what learners can do at various levels in different skill areas, such as an ability to handle interjections or an ability to respond spontaneously and almost effortlessly. These abilities also related to others like an ability to handle heckling or audience questions which is rarely developed and honed consistently in the classroom despite being vital in academic and professional environments. In terms of text types, when it comes to reading an advertisement, an email from a friend or a research article for degree, for example, the kinds of words, phrases, grammatical patterns, writing styles and structures, writers might encounter are very different in each case. In other words, different types of texts contain different features. Being able to recognize these various 76 text types and their distinct features has a number of advantages. Some of these are listed below.  It helps you understand the purpose of the text. The purpose of an advertisement, for example, is to persuade the reader to buy or do something. The purpose of an email to a friend is often to inform. The purpose of a research article is to examine an issue fully, and to argue a particular point with the support of evidence.  It helps you locate information you are searching for more easily, because you will be familiar with how different texts are structured.  It helps you develop a shared understanding about how to communicate effectively in different situations. This means that you will be able to construct similar texts yourself using appropriate formality and structure. Speaking of organization of content, there are three components to content organization: classification, relationships, and stickiness. Traditionally, most researchers have focused most of their effort on classification as a means of organization. Stickiness Content organization is a response to the activity of the information seeker, designed to make that activity more successful. In other words, writers organize content (or anything else) so that the reader’s attempts to find it will be successful. By this definition, anything writers do that makes it more likely that any reader information-seeking behavior will succeed is content organization. 77 Relationships Relationships are all the navigable connections between one piece of content and another. Classification provides one kind of relationship. Even stickiness can provide a kind of relationship, because one piece of sticky content will tend to stick to other pieces of similarly sticky content. But there are relationships between pieces of content that are not a product of either classification or stickiness. To sum up, it is agreed that the units and tasks or exercises connect in terms of theme, situation, topic, pattern of skill development, or grammatical or lexical development in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)” is suitable. The results also tell that the grammar items are closely connected to skills and texts, the tasks are linked to topics and purposes and the skills are linked to topics and texts. Additionally, in terms of the question the book is built upon prerequisite skills and ideas, it is agreed that all the language items and skills help each other and the previous skills lay the basis for the next step in the learning process. Furthermore, the topics and content attaches to everyday experiences and previous learning. By and large, there is a strict linkage among the elements of the book under concern internally and externally. 4.5. Findings of the Study From the data analyses and discussions, it can be concluded that the textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)” partly meet the Year 6 curriculum in terms of aims, content, audience and methodology. 78 This section reports the findings of the study by providing answers to the two research questions formulated at the beginning of the study. 4.5.1. Findings related to Research Questions 1 and 2 Based on the textbook itself and the questionnaires for the students, the researcher has found out the responses to the first research question: To what extent does the textbook meet the aims of the course? In terms of aims, the textbook has reflected the desired aim (stated in the curriculum) of providing and helping students consolidate and widen basic English grammatical knowledge and develop four basic language skills (through Reading, Speaking, Listening and Writing parts). Moreover, the textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)” is perceived by participating students to be a good source to help students widen their knowledge about culture, society and sports through the provided topics, as expected at Quynh Mai Secondary School. Furthermore, the textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)” has prescribed a variety of topics which are very popular, interesting and updated. With attractive topics, the textbook is perceived by participating students to help them both widen their social and cultural knowledge and encourage them to express their own views. Last but not least, the textbook meets the requirements of the Grade 6 curriculum as follows: (1) the textbook has a clear overall layout; (2) each unit has illustrations which may help students understand the content of the lesson easily; (3) the content of each unit is arranged from easy to difficult levels; (4) the textbook includes adequate glossary, review sections and exercises. This is confirmed from the analyses of documentary and interview data. As revealed from the data analyses, the textbook has met the requirements of the curriculum, however, even though the textbooks are well 79 planned, they can be unsuitable to several teachers and learners. Therefore, the answers to the second research question: To what extent is the textbook appropriate to the students’ level of English in terms of language and their background knowledge? have been answered in this study. In terms of aims, there is an equal distribution of the language basic skills, which success to meet the requirements of the learning procedure. Being teachers and guides, the researcher can give more input and practice activities so that help their students develop their language skills more effectively. In terms of topics, the topics of each unit are fairly various and updated, and familiar to the students’ language. Last but not least, the suitability of the design and organization of the textbook can be seen clearly. Particularly, various drawings are evaluated as eye-catching and fascinating. Additionally, there is an utilization about the illustrations in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)” which would accelerate students’ imagination and draw their inspiration to the content of the unit. Moreover, there are additional sets of tasks and activities of pronunciation in the book to help students have more opportunity to practice and consolidate their knowledge, which is appropriate and helpful. 4.6. Discussions The target textbook English 6, as revealed from the evaluation in this study, has some advantages, for example, it is claimed that the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program) offers a readily available source of materials for teachers to concentrate on doing the real work of teaching. Additionally, the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program) is particularly useful in providing support and security for new inexperienced students at secondary schools. Furthermore, students can also get better from using the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 80 (10-year Program) in various ways. In particular, students can use the textbook as a tool for revision of previously taught items, and spontaneously, make themselves acquainted with the new topics in the book. Nevertheless, regarding the use of textbooks, the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program) can have some points need improving. It is widely known that the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program) was written for 6 graders and it has a great impact on the process of teaching and learning. In that sense, the quality of the textbook Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program) can be so significant that it can decide the success or failure of an ELT course. Thus, it is of great significance to conduct the textbook evaluation and to give some adaptation so that the textbook users, who specifically here in this study are Quynh Mai Secondary School’s teachers and 6th-grade students, can use the textbook effectively. 4.7. Summary Analyses of the data collected from the document analysis and the student questionnaires revealed that the textbook under evaluation has certain features that are divided into two groups: Appropriate features and inappropriate features of the target textbook under evaluation (shown in the table below). Table 11. A Summary of Appropriate and Inappropriate Features of the Targeted Textbook Under Evaluation Aspects under Evaluations Appropriate Features Inappropriate Features 81 A. Aims - Providing the students with basic English grammatical knowledge. - Broadening the students’ knowledge about the familiar daily-life situations such as culture, society and sports through the different topics of each unit. Developing unequally the students’ skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. B. Methodology - Differentiated and updated topics. - Attracting the students’ learning interest. - Widening the students’ knowledge in the country and in English speaking countries. - Encouraging the students to express their own views. Some topics are far from knowledge of the students C. Audience - Clear layout - Contain a lot of the illustrations (photo) stimulating the students to be creative - Inadequate review sections and exercises 82 D. Content - Including an adequate vocabulary list and glossary in each unit. - Including the units arranged from easy level to difficult one. 83 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION This part will present the conclusion on the findings of the study and make recommendations for future use of the book. 5.1 Recapitulation The present research study focused on the context of English language teaching and learning in the specific learning and teaching environment in Quynh Mai Secondary School, Ha Noi City. As the textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)” is officially used across the whole country’s secondary schools, it would be useful if the evaluation research can be expanded in other high schools in other districts or provinces in Vietnam with a large number of participating students and teachers. 5.1.1. Summarization of Findings from Research Question 1 After the research process, the first research question of the study has been answered. It can be summarized that there are four main areas of the book need evaluating. Firstly, in terms of aims, the textbook has suggested the aim of delivering and helping students strengthen and widen their basic English knowledge and develop four basic language skills (through Reading, Speaking, Listening and Writing parts). Moreover, the textbook is a good source of information that helps students expand their knowledge about the world. Furthermore, the textbook “Tiếng Anh 6 (10-year Program)” has suggested a numerous topics which are very common, motivating and bring up-to-date. Last but not least, the textbook is suitable to the Grade 6 curriculum because it has a clear overall layout; each unit in the book has illustrations which may help students understand the content of the lesson easily; the content of each unit is arranged from easy to difficult levels; and it 84 contains sufficient glossary, review sections and exercises. This is confirmed from the analyses of documentary and interview data. 5.1.2. Summarization of Findings from Research Question 2 The second research question continues to answer another area of the evaluation of the book. Firstly, in terms of aims, there is an equal delivery of the language basic skills, and this thing is a successful way to meet the requirements of the learning procedure. Secondly, in terms of methodology, it can be concluded that the topics of each unit are fairly various and updated. Furthermore, the audience that the book aims at is very appropriate and updated. Last but not least, the suitability of the contents of the textbook can be seen clearly. Particularly, various drawings are evaluated as eye-catching and fascinating. Moreover, there are additional sets of tasks and activities of pronunciation in the book to help students have more opportunity to practice and consolidate their knowledge, which is appropriate and helpful. 5.2. Concluding Remarks No one can deny the important role of textbooks evaluation in language learning and teaching. Textbooks evaluation may help to select the most appropriate materials to the students and the teaching and learning situation of each college or university. In addition, textbooks evaluation is carried out to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the materials so that changes can be made to improve the appropriateness as well as effectiveness of the materials. Based on the results of the evaluation, the authority can decide either to replace the materials in use to adopt the most suitable one, or to adapt the existing materials. 85 The research results show that the textbook satisfactorily meets both the aims prescribed by the curriculum as well as the teachers’ and the students’ goal of teaching and learning English at Grade 6. Material’s aims of providing the students with new vocabulary or specialist terms related to the students’ major and improving their grammatical knowledge are well met. All the topics are interesting and related to the students’ specialized area. Furthermore, the aims of the book are very practical and have the target of intensifying the English competence of the students. Particularly, about listening skill, students can understand the information that they heard about several topics. In terms of speaking, students can ask and answer questions about familiar topics. In terms of reading, students can read and comprehend the main content and detailed information in the reading text within 80 words, and about writing, students can write a short paragraph within the length of 40 words about familiar topics. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the material under evaluation can be used for the students of Quynh Mai Secondary School. However, there is an inappropriateness in the book that need some improvements is that some of the lessons in the book need more than 45 minutes to be practiced. The insufficient of time spent for all activities of a lesson leads to the need of improvement, in particular, some changes should be made to the material in terms of language aspects and length of some units to make the material more suitable to the students’ level of English and meet the aims of the course. Therefore, the researcher has also attempted to provide some suggestions for improving the appropriateness and effectiveness of the material. The researcher hopes that the findings of her study will provide a 86 firm ground for further research into certain aspects of the material at Quynh Mai Secondary School or attempts in designing new syllabus, developing new sets of materials for the benefits of all the students of Quynh Mai Secondary School. 5.3. Implications The results and analysis of the textbook "Tiếng Anh 6" indicate that the book is suitable enough to be used in the teaching and learning situations in Quynh Mai Secondary School. In response to the research questions, it is also demonstrated that the book is compatible with the requirements of the educational program. Overall, the positive attributes of this book far from the ineffectual characteristics. Some conclusions can be reached on the seven evaluation categories of the book are drawn as follows: 1. First of all, the book possesses a decent general appearance with suitable font size and style, even though the covers should be modified on the purpose of attracting the students' attentions. 2. The design and artworks of the book highly satisfy the anticipations of the schoolchildren and educators with an intense and uniform source of designating technique and many of the resources are gathered from local environment which are acquainted with the students. 3. In terms of objectives, the book quite meets the requirement of the students and teachers about its objectives and fulfils those objectives stated in the educational program. 4. The audiences are content with the contents of the book in accelerating their communicative capability. Nonetheless, it is hoped to provide more appropriate materials for pronunciation. 87 5. With regard to skills, resources for the improvement of the four skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) are appropriate even though some portions in the section of Project in the book are sometimes beside the point to learners' capability. Additionally, it is needed from the book to contain more materials for the practice of stress and intonation. 6. Regarding its teachability, the book meets the expectations of the learners, as well as teachers in the existing background of teaching and learning of the book at Quynh Mai Secondary School. 7. The methodology of the book is quite appropriate, while some of the partakers are still not used to it because they have no prior knowledge in learning the series in the school. In short, despite a few difficulties and shortcomings, the book "Tiếng Anh 6" is appropriate and useful in terms of major concerns for a good textbook for lower secondary school students at Quynh Mai Secondary School. It can be said that the accomplishment of the book as specified in the study is demonstrated to be guaranteed by the thorough editing and look through the process of the textbook. Moreover, detailed analysis of the results presents that there is still some inappropriateness of the book that need some improvement to make the textbook more effective so as to enable to achieve the learning objectives. The challenging aspects of the book can be conquered through the supplementation and adjustment in terms of: Materials for the learning activities and practice of pronunciation, stress and intonation should not be neglected in an attempt to help make speaking and listening to be focal points in the learning and teaching process, and more 88 cultural and social components from the ethnic minorities of Vietnam and those of the native speakers should be added to the book. As this is the first time the addition of all four skills in the processes of assessment is introduced including speaking skills, the test of speaking skill should be exhibited and detailed instructions on how to assess this skill and it should be offered to the teachers. Training on technology exploitation, Internet resources utility and English learning and teaching software application should be a common practice for English teachers at lower secondary school. These are the suggestions and expectations by both the researcher and the teacher and students participating in this study. Hopefully, these recommendations will soon be taken into consideration so that better implementation of the textbook Tiếng Anh 6, will be made for the population of teaching and learning of this book in the near future in the school as well as nationwide. 5.4. Limitations and suggestions for the further study 5.4.1 Limitations The researcher herself is aware of the fact that her study does contain some unavoidable limitations despite her great efforts during the research. First, the researcher is an insider, so consequently sometimes her judgments must be subjective to some extents though she all the time tried her best to make the research as objective as possible. Second, the study has not investigated the students’ level of English before they started learning this specialist material. 89 Third, due to the scope of the study, not all the possible criteria for evaluating a teaching material were examined. In this study, the researcher only focuses on four criteria namely the audience, the aims, methodology and the language content of the material. Therefore, it is hoped that many other suitable approaches to materials evaluation can be employed to help gather more in- depth results for the evaluation of this material. 5.4.2. Suggestions Other studies should focus on other criteria that the researcher of this study has not employed to evaluate the textbook to get more in-depth results for the evaluation of this material. The scope of the study should be expanded in other secondary schools in other districts and provinces in Vietnam with a large number of participating teachers and students. 90 REFERENCES Foreign authors Alamri, L. (1998). Action Research for Language Teachers. The UK: Cambridge University Press. Brown, J.D. (1995). Language Program Evaluation. UK: Cambridge University Press. Celce-Murcia, M. (2001). Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publisher. Cunningsworth, A. (1984). Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Materials. London: Heinemann. Davies, A. (2006). What do Learners Really Want From Their EFL Courses?. ELT Journal, 60 (1), 3-12. Dudley, T. (1998) Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. The UK: Cambridge University Press. Ellis, R. (1997). The Empirical Evaluation of Language Teaching Materials. English Language Teaching Journal, 51(1), 36-42. Gilham, R. (1991), ESP today: A Practitioner's Guide. The UK: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harmer, J. (2007), How to Teach English (Second Edition), Pearson Education Limited. Hutchinson, T. and Waters, A. (1993) English for Specific Purposes: A learning centered approach. The UK: Cambridge University Press. Hussey, A. (1997). Textbook Selection and Evaluation. UK Cambridge University Press. 91 John, S. (1998) The Analysis of Language Teaching Materials: Inside the Trojan Horse. The UK: Cambridge University Press. Lynch, J. (1996), Pacific Languages in Education, the USA: University of Hawai'i Press. McDonough, J. and Shaw, C. (1993) Materials and Methods in ELT. The USA: Blackwell Press. Nunan, D. (1992) Learner-Centered curriculum. The UK: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C. (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. The UK: Cambridge University Press. Swales, J. M. (2000), Languages for Specific Purposes, the USA; University of Michigan Press. Taylor, R. N. (1996), Techniques for Supporting Dynamic and Adaptive Workflow. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Teddlier, B. R., (1973). Educational Evaluation: Theory and Practice. Worthington, OH: Charles A. Jones. The Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, No. 1400/ QD-TTg: Decision on the Approval of the Project entitled “Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008-2020”. Vietnamese authors Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt Ánh (2010). Teacher’s evaluation on “Let’s Go 1A Second Edition” for Grade 3 at Primary Schools in North Vietnam. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Languages and International Studies. 92 Nguyễn Thị Hồng Châm (2010). Adapting English 10 Textbook towards Promoting Learners’ Autonomy and Communicative Competence in Learning Grammar. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Languages and International Studies. Vũ Phương Hiền (2005). An Evaluation of the Book: English for 10th form Students at Kim Lien High School. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Hanoi University of Foreign Studies. Lê Thị Huệ (2009). A Case Study: An Evaluation of the Textbook English 11 taught at Phan Dinh Phung High School. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Languages and International Studies. Nguyễn Thị Hương Lan (2004). An Evaluation of the Piloted "English 10" Textbook 2 at Nguyen Tat Thanh High School. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Nguyễn Tất Thành High School. Nguyễn Thanh Liêm (2006). Television Specialist for the Students at the College of Television. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, College of Television. Trần Thị Chung Oanh (2010). An Evaluation on the Material "Lifelines" for the First year non-English Major Students at Hai Phong University. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Languages and International Studies. 93 APPENDIX 1: LESSON PLAN UNIT 3: MY FRIENDS COMMUNICATION I. Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to  use present continuous for future  distinguish present continuous for actions that are happening now or for future plans II. Language content: the present continuous for future: Be +V-ing III. Procedure Section (Time) Teaching & learning activities Work arrangement Materials (optional) Warm-up & lead in (8 mins) T has students guess new words on the slides: T shows pictures of new words on the slide → students guess the words Whole class PPT Presentation (25 mins) Students look at the pictures of five friends and guess where they are from. Students open their class book, find the name of these students and the place where they are from. T shows a map and point to the country mentioned. T instructs students to complete the handout about Future plans → 5 fastest students gives the handouts for their T. Whole class Individual Textbook, pictures, 1 map, handout Practice (10 mins) Students ask and answer question: When’s your birthday? → It’s on ... Students read out their partner’s star sign. Pair work Textbook Sum up & homework (2 mins) T review how to pronounce 2 consonants and guides students how to do Part D in workbook Students prepare: Skills 1 Individual Workbook 94 SKILLS 1 I. Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:  Remember some key points of advertisements and e-mails  Make their own English camp schedule and report II. Language content:  Vocab: Words to talk about personality and friendships’ activities  Grammar: the present continuous for future III. Procedure Section (Time) Teaching & learning activities Work arrangement Materials (optional) Warm-up & lead in (3 mins) Teacher shows the class 3 pictures of objects that you might use at camp. Example: torch, backpack, hiking shoes... → guess the topic and open books to look and check Whole class slide Reading (20 mins) Activity 1: T shows an advertisement of a summer camp and discusses with students the features of that ad: title, short texts, eye- catching, contact details, etc. Have students look at the ad for 2’ and try to remember as much as they can. Game: Betting point Students work in group of 5 with book closed and answer T’s questions. Before answering the questions, students can bet the points. If they win, they get the points, and if they lose, they lose the points. The point is from 1 to 5. Questions:  The camp is for children of what age?  What did you see in the pictures?  Where will the camp be?  What can you do at the camp?  When does it happen? Activity 2 and 3 T discusses with students the features of e-mails: format, Individual Group work Textbook, pictures, small boards 95 greetings, and endings. Have students read the e-mail for 2’ and try to remember as much as they can. Game: Betting point SS write their answers on the small boards. With some wrong sentences, T might ask SS to fix them. Questions in Ex 3 – page 31 Individual Speaking (20 mins) T asks students to make their English camp schedule then ask them to report their results to class Individual Textbook Sum up & HW (2 mins) T reviews and guides students how to do Part D, E in workbook Students prepare: Skills 2 Individual Workbook 96 SKILLS 2 I. Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:  Listening to understand more about The Superb Summer Camp.  Writing a plan for 4 Teen magazines.  Developed writing skill, listening skill II. Language content:  Vocab: related to the topic “My friends”.  Grammar: simple verbs be and have for descriptions & the Present continuous for future. III. Procedure Section (Time) Teaching & learning activities Work arrangement Materials (optional) Warm-up & lead in (5 mins) Slap the board: T writes words about personality on the board. Students from each group run to the board and slap the word T says. Group work Listening (15 mins) Discussing the questions Ask students to see the photos first. Then point at the words in the box and ask them to do the matching. T plays the recording for checking and practicing reading the words. The advertisement “Superb Summer Camp” T asks students to refer to the contents of the advertisement. Give students time to decide which activities are like more likely to happen at the camp and which are not. Ask them to explain why they think so. Complete the table Have students brainstorm the things that Mr. Lee plans for camp. Play the recording. Ask students to listen the first time. Then play the recording again and follow students to fill in the table as they listen. Students can share their answer before playing recoding a final time to allow pairs to check Whole class Individual Pair work Textbook, CD, MP3 player 97 their answers. Writing (25 mins) Tell the class three letters can help them to write better. Introduce the rubric: Write a magazine entry. Write about your friends. Then write about your plans. Draft 1 Encourage students not to refer back to the unit. Instead they can use what they have learnt during the unit to help them answer the questions. That will help students see how they progressed, and which areas need further practice Individually Textbook Sum up & HW (2 mins) T summarizes the main content Learn by heart vocabulary and structures. Homework: Do workbook all in part D, E Prepare next lesson. Looking back & project Individual Workbook 98 APPENDIX 2: CITATION OF AIMS OF THE TEXTBOOK TIẾNG ANH 6 3.2 Mục tiêu cụ thể Sau khi kết thúc Chương trình tiếng Anh THCS, học sinh có khả năng: • Sử dụng tiếng Anh như một công cụ giao tiếp dưới dạng nghe, nói (đối thoại, độc thoại), đọc, viết nhằm đáp ứng các nhu cầu giao tiếp cơ bản và trực tiếp trong những tình huống gần gũi và thường nhật ở trình độ tương đương Cấp độ A2 của Khung Tham chiếu Chung Châu Âu về Ngôn ngữ; • Có kiến thức cơ bản về ngôn ngữ tiếng Anh, bao gồm ngữ âm, từ vựng, ngữ pháp và thông qua tiếng Anh, có những hiểu biết khái quát về đất nước, con người, nền văn hóa của các nước nói tiếng Anh trên thế giới, đồng thời có hiểu biết và tự hào về những điểm mạnh và giá trị của nền văn hóa dân tộc mình; • Có thái độ tích cực đối với môn học và việc học tiếng Anh; biết sử dụng tiếng Anh làm công cụ tích hợp các nội dung dạy và học khác trong chương trình; • Hình thành và sử dụng các phương pháp, phương thức và chiến lược học tập khác nhau để phát triển năng lực giao tiếp tiếng Anh trong và ngoài lớp học. Chương trình tiếng Anh THCS cụ thể hóa các mục tiêu trên thành các Mục tiêu thể hiện (Performance objectives) qua bốn kĩ năng giao tiếp: nghe, nói (đối thoại, độc thoại), đọc, viết, theo bốn cấp lớp. Cụ thể là Lớp 6 - Cấp độ A2.1, Lớp 7 - Cấp độ A2.2, Lớp 8 - Cấp độ A2.3, Lớp 9 - Cấp độ A2.4. Lớp 6 Hết lớp 6, học sinh có khả năng: Nghe • Nhận biết và nhắc lại được âm, trọng âm, ngữ điệu và nhịp điệu trong các câu ngắn và đơn giản khác nhau. • Nghe hiểu các chỉ dẫn ngắn và đơn giản sử dụng trong các hoạt động học tập trong lớp học. 99 . Nghe hiểu nội dung chính, nội dung chi tiết các bài đối thoại, độc thoại đơn giản, trong khoảng 60 từ về các chủ đề trong chương trình như: gia đình, nhà trường, bạn bè, lễ hội, danh lam thắng cảnh, danh nhân, truyền hình, thể thao, ... . • Nghe hiểu nội dung chính các trao đổi thông tin giữa các bạn cùng tuổi về các chủ đề được quy định trong phần nội dung. Nói • Phát âm được các âm, trọng âm, ngữ điệu và nhịp điệu trong các câu ngắn và đơn giản khác nhau. • Nói được các chỉ dẫn ngắn và đơn giản sử dụng trong các hoạt động học tập trong lớp học. • Hỏi và trả lời ngắn gọn về các chủ đề trong chương trình như: gia đình, nhà trường, bạn bè, lễ hội, danh lam thắng cảnh, danh nhân, truyền hình, thể thao, ... . • Nói những câu đơn giản, liền ý, có gợi ý về các chủ đề quen thuộc. Đọc • Đọc hiểu nội dung chính, nội dung chi tiết các bài đối thoại, độc thoại đơn giản trong khoảng 80 từ về các chủ đề trong chương trình như: gia đình, nhà trường, bạn bè, lễ hội, danh lam thắng cảnh, danh nhân, truyền hình, thể thao, ... . • Đọc hiểu nội dung chính các thư cá nhân, thông báo, đoạn văn ngắn, đơn giản thuộc phạm vi chủ đề quen thuộc (có thể có một số từ, cấu trúc mới). Viết • Viết có hướng dẫn một đoạn ngắn, đơn giản khoảng 40 từ về các chủ đề trong chương trình như: gia đình, nhà trường, bạn bè, lễ hội, danh lam thắng cảnh, danh nhân, truyền hình, thể thao, ... . • Viết các thư, bưu thiếp, tin nhắn hoặc ghi chép cá nhân ngắn, đơn giản 100 liên quan đến nhu cầu giao tiếp hàng ngày trong phạm vi các chủ đề được quy định trong phần nội dung. 101 APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE Hello, my name is Nguyen Thi Vien, teacher at Quynh Mai Secondary School. In an attempt to evaluating the textbook "Tiếng Anh 6", I would greatly appreciate if you could be willing to respond to the questions below. Please read every statement carefully and tick () the choice that you find most suitable. Thank you very much for your cooperation and participation! PERSONAL INFORMATION Teacher’s Name (optional):_____________________________________ Gender: Male Female Age: _____________________________________ Class: ___________ INSTRUCTIONS In responding to the statements in this questionnaire, please check (  ) the appropriate choice as Yes (agree) or No (disagree). A. OBJECTIVES Yes No 1 The book fulfills the objectives of the National Foreign Language 2020 Project and the Piloted English Language Curriculum for Lower Secondary Education. 2 The terminal objectives define the desired degree of 102 mastery. 3 The terminal objectives meet the needs and wants of sixth graders. 4 The developmental objectives are measurable. 5 The developmental objectives suit the level of sixth graders. B. SKILLS 1 The four skills are adequately covered and integrated. 2 Listening material is well recorded and varied (monologues, group conversation, songs, people in everyday situations, e.g. in shops, restaurants, etc.). 3 There is sufficient reading material collected from different sources (magazines, novels, newspapers, letters, diaries, menus, advertisement, etc.). 4 There is sufficient material for spoken English (e.g. dialogues, role-plays, discussions, debates, problem-solving activities, etc.) C. METHODOLOGY 1 The teaching methods used in the book are appropriate to the learning / teaching situation. 2 The level of learner involvement matches the learners' learning style and expectations. 103 3 The techniques for presenting / practicing new language items are suitable for the learners (lockstep / pair-work / small-group work / student presentations / work involving technical subject-matter, etc.) D. GENERAL APPEARANCE 1 The covers are informative and attractive. 2 The font size and style are appropriate for teenagers. 3 The book has a complete and detailed table of contents. 4 There is an informative orientation page. 5 Review section and vocabulary list or glossaries are included. E. DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION 1 There is a variety of design to achieve impact. 2 There is consistency in the use of headings, icons, labels, italics, color and other methods of signposting. 3 The illustrations stimulate students' visualization and creativeness. 4 The book contains illustrations from local environment. F. CONTENTS 1 Grammar items stressing communicative competence are appropriate to sixth graders 104 2 Materials for teaching vocabulary and pronunciation are adequate. 3 Grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation are graded appropriately. 4 The content is pitched at the right level of maturity, language, and conceptual level. G. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS 1 The speech situations are relevant to learners' background, culture and environment. 2 The book is free from stereotyped, inaccurate, condescending or offensive images of gender, race, social class, or nationality. 3 The linguistic input is culturally dense (idioms, expressions, slang). 4 The cultural input is representative of the cultural knowledge that native peers would have. H. METHODOLOGY 1 The teaching methods used in the book are appropriate to the learning / teaching situation. 2 The level of learner involvement matches the learners' learning style and expectations. 3 The techniques for presenting / practicing new language items are suitable for the learners (lockstep / pair-work / 105 small-group work / student presentations / work involving technical subject-matter, etc.) APPENDIX 4: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION AIMS Strong Some None  Established clear learning goals (knowledge, understanding, skills).  Linked new subject matter to prior learning and/or experience. Comments: METHODOLOGY Strong Some None  Varied student groupings: individual; pairs; small groups.  Used multiple modes of instruction, with emphasis on active learning.  Made flexible use of classroom space, time, materials.  Communicated clear directions for multiple tasks. Comments: AUDIENCE Strong Some None  Demonstrated respectful behavior toward students.  Demonstrated sensitivity to different cultures/ethnicities.  Acknowledged/celebrated student strengths/successes.  Active participation by a broad range of students. 106  Students comfortable asking questions/requesting assistance.  Emphasis on competition against self, not other students. Comments: CONTENTS Strong Some None  Lesson targeted one or more State learning standards.  Lesson focused on important ideas, issues, or problems.  Tasks emphasized thought/meaning vs. drill & practice. Comments: 107 APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Teacher’s interview: 1. Does the book English 6 provide you better ways to apply your teaching methods in the lessons? 2. What are the benefits and usefulness of English 6? 3. Are there any difficulties in using English 6? What are they? 4. What do you do to overcome the problem? Students’ interview: 1. What do you think of the book English 6? 2. Could you tell me what the usefulness of English 6 is after learning some lessons? 3. Are there any difficulties in learning the book English 6? What are they?