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Article An Evaluation On The Suitability of The New English File
Article An Evaluation On The Suitability of The New English File
N¨m 2017
Journal of Science and Technology
SUMMARY
Textbooks have been a subject of hot debates in education. A wide array of issues related to
textbooks has been highlighted in recent years and evaluating textbooks is one of the most striking
matters which should be adequately addressed. This article presents an evaluation of a language
textbook in a specific institutional context. It uses descriptive research design to investigate the
perception of the ten educators on the level of suitability of the New English File Textbooks to
non-English major students at Thai Nguyen University of Sciences, Vietnam. Results from the
study will serve as the basis for proposing changes and suggesting recommendations regarding
teaching methods and material adaptation that could enhance the quality of English learning and
teaching at an EFL context.
Key words: evaluation, suitability, New English File Elementary and Pre-intermediate, non-
English major students, Thai Nguyen University of Sciences.
“textbook is perfect” for all context [1]. is the evaluation on the suitability of the
Therefore, an attempt to carry out a critical textbooks using the Likert’s scale rating.
evaluation on these materials is crucial to The data gathered were described statistically
formulate the principles for their quality using percentage, frequency for respondents’
improvement and further development through profiles and mean and standard deviation for
corrections, revisions, and adaptations. perceptions on teaching-learning contents and
With the above-mentioned concerns, suitability of the textbooks to the target
“Evaluation on the Suitability of the New students and courses.
English File (NEF) Textbooks in an EFL FINDINGS
Teaching Context” has come into conception
The respondents’ demographics
with the main aims of investigating strengths
and weaknesses of NEF textbooks and their Results of the survey questionnaire clearly
compatibility with the intended learning show that most of the respondents (80%) are
outcomes as seen from the point of view of 10 females and only two out of ten were male
TNUS educators. From that, some which supports that teaching is a female-
suggestions are going to be proposed to dominated profession. Besides, their ages
promote the effective uses of these materials range from 28 to 53, with the median of 34. In
to help students to achieve level B1 as a terms of experience in teaching English, the
compulsory requirement of graduation. numbers vary from 6 to 31 years among
educators. This means that teachers at TNUS
METHODOLOGY
are quite experienced in the teaching
The research employed the descriptive profession, with an average mean of 13.2
method to find out educator respondents’ years. Furthermore, only two educators at
perceptions on the suitability of the currently TNUS hold a PhD degree while all others
used textbooks of New English File have master degrees.
Elementary and Pre-intermediate levels to
However, with regard to number of
non-English major students and to the course
professional training courses, programs,
intended learning outcomes at Thai Nguyen
workshops or seminars attended, seven out of
University of Sciences.
ten (70%) respondents claimed that they have
The respondents of this study were 10 tertiary never participated in any textbook evaluation
educators working full time and part-time at activity. Moreover, only two educators (20%)
the Faculty of Basic Sciences of Thai Nguyen admitted that they have actually joined
University of Sciences, Vietnam. Descriptive textbook evaluation activities. It can be
design endeavors to illustrate and interpret the concluded that most of the respondents have
situation of the research. In this study, it was never taken part in professional training or
used to describe the respondents’ profile, experienced doing any textbook evaluation
perceptions on the suitability of teaching- during their teaching career.
learning contents of NEF to TNUS students
General attributes of the textbooks
and to the course outcomes.
Table 1 shows the results of data gathered
Due to the time constraints, the research
through a questionnaire related to TNUS
instrument used in the study is a self-made
educators’ perception on general attributes of
questionnaire to seek for the English
the course-book New English File Elementary
educators’ insights on the suitability of the
and Pre-intermediate. It is obvious that the
coursebook in their teaching contexts. The
respondents strongly agree that most of the
first part consisted of the respondents’
tasks in the textbooks are interesting with the
demographics, followed by the evaluation on
mean of 3.30 at the standard deviation of
the teaching-learning contents of the
0.84. Moreover, they agree that the language,
textbooks New English File and the last part
materials and situations used in the books are
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Nguyễn Thị Quế và Đtg Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 167(07): 55 - 59
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Nguyễn Thị Quế và Đtg Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 167(07): 55 - 59
knowledge and skills needed in pursuing their and adaptation should be offered to educators
required level of language (level B1) and at TNUS so that they can better help their
enable them to use in daily communication students be able to use English as a means of
and future exchanges at workplaces. communication as well as to achieve level B1
However, some of the aspects in the in CEFR as a compulsory requirement for
textbooks are not really appropriate to graduation.
students’ socio-economic and cultural REFERENCES
contexts. Besides, some of the listening tasks 1. Ansary H. & Babaii E. (2002), “Universal
are too difficult for students to master. characteristics of EFL/ESL textbooks: Towards
systematic textbook evaluation”, The Internet
In the light of findings gathered in the study, TESL Journal, Retrieved 19th December, 2016 at
the researchers hereby recommend that to http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ansary-Textbooks/.
ensure the successful practices of exploiting 2. Cuningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing your course
the textbooks, TNUS educators should adapt book. Heinemann.
3. Nguyen Ngoc Hung (2010), “Innovation in
some parts of the listening tasks to be easier English Language Education in Vietnam:
for students instead of asking them to do what Challenges, Opportunities and Solutions,
the textbooks require. Besides, reading texts International Conference in TESOL, Hue,
of the national and local cultures should also Vietnam.
replace texts of native English speaking 4. TNU (2013), Project on standardizing language
skills for TNU academic staffs and students of the
countries in teaching so as to motivate 2013-2015 and the 2016-2020 periods, Retrieved
students to participate in the lessons. Finally, 29th February, 2016 at http://www.tnu.edu.vn/
as a suggestion, frequent activities regarding Pages/-tnuvb-portal_VanBanPhapQuy-tnudoc-44-
textbook evaluation or material development tnusite-1.html
TÓM TẮT
ĐÁNH GIÁ SỰ PHÙ HỢP CỦA GIÁO TRÌNH NEW ENGLISH FILE
ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ
TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KHOA HỌC – ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN
Giáo trình là một chủ đề luôn được tranh luận sôi nổi trong giáo dục. Có nhiều vấn đề liên quan tới
giáo trình đã được nhấn mạnh trong những năm gần đây. Đánh giá giáo trình chính là một trong
những vấn đề nổi bật đó và rất cần được xem xét một cách đầy đủ, toàn diện. Bài báo này đưa ra
đánh giá về một giáo trình ngôn ngữ đang được sử dụng ở một đơn vị giáo dục. Bài báo sử dụng
phương pháp nghiên cứu mô tả để điều tra quan điểm của các giảng viên tiếng Anh về mức độ phù
hợp của giáo trình New English File khi giảng dạy cho sinh viên không chuyên ngữ tại trường Đại
học Khoa học, Đại học Thái Nguyên. Kết quả của nghiên cứu sẽ là cơ sở để đề xuất những thay
đổi và đưa ra những gợi ý liên quan tới đổi mới phương pháp dạy học và cải biên tài liệu nhằm cải
thiện chất lượng dạy và học tiếng Anh.
Từ khoá: đánh giá, sự phù hợp, Giáo trình New English File trình độ sơ – trung cấp, sinh viên
không chuyên ngữ, Trường Đại học Khoa học - Đại học Thái Nguyên.
Ngày nhận bài: 15/02/2017; Ngày phản biện: 13/4/2017; Ngày duyệt đăng: 28/6/2017
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Tel: 0963888288; Email: quenguyentnu@gmail.com
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