Luận văn thạc sĩ teachers and students perceptions on the 11th grade english textbooks

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI CHUNG

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON
THE 11th GRADE ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

Major: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching
Code: 8140111

Supervisor: Assoc, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien


BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN THỊ CHUNG

NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH
VỀ SÁCH TIẾNG ANH 11 MỚI

Ngành: Lý luận và phƣơng pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh
Mã số: 8140111

Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS. TS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền


i

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

The thesis entitled “Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions on the 11th
Grade English Textbooks” is conducted under the supervision of Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien.
I declare that the information reported in this study is the result of my
own work and effort, except where due reference is made. This thesis has not
been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any university.

Quy Nhon, 2022

Nguyen Thi Chung


ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my
supervisor, my professors, my school, colleagues, friends, and family, the
successful completion of this thesis work would not have been possible. I take
this chance to express my deepest thanks to them for their support.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my
thesis advisor Associate Prof.Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien for her continuous
support, expert guidance, and patience throughout the study. She provided me
with assistance at every stage of the process and always expressed his faith in
me. I am gratefully indebted to her for her very valuable comments on this
thesis.
A special thank goes to Phu Yen Department of Education and Training
and Nguyen Khuyen Secondary and High School for giving me the chance to
attend a MA course at Quy Nhon University.
This study was made achievable by the participation of the enthusiastic

teachers and students at High Schools in Song Cau town, who devoted their
time to taking part in this research.
I was also thankful to my colleagues for their support during my study
time. I am also grateful to Quy Nhon University, Post-graduate Department,
and Foreign Languages Department for the administrative assistance.
Last, but not least, I must express my gratitude to my family for
providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement
throughout the course and the study of this thesis.


iii

ABSTRACT
This study explored the teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions on the 11 th
grade English textbooks issued in 2014 under the National Foreign Language
2020 project. The study was conducted with 10 teachers and 100 students
from high schools in Song Cau Town during March 2022. This research
implemented the quantitative and qualitative approaches in collecting the
data, by using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. A questionnaire
was distributed to 10 English teachers and 100 students, and interviews were
completed with 3 teachers and 8 students who returned the questionnaire. The
findings showed that the teachers and students had positive perceptions of the
textbooks in the physical appearance and format and the roles of the
textbooks. The results also showed that teachers and students had different
perceptions of the difficulty level and unit organization, the exercises and
activities, and the skills and sub-skills distribution in the 11th grade English
textbooks.
Keywords: Textbook, teachers’ and students’ perception

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 1
1.1.

RATIONALE .................................................................................... 1

1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................... 2
1.2.1. Aims ................................................................................................ 2
1.2.2. Objectives........................................................................................ 3
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS.................................................................... 3
1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ...................................................................... 3
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ....................................................... 4
1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY .................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................... 5
2.1. TEACHING ENGLISH AT THE GENERAL EDUCATION LEVEL
IN VIETNAM ............................................................................................... 5
2.1.1 The 7-year set of English textbooks................................................. 6
2.1.2. The renovation of the textbooks in Vietnam .................................. 8
2.2. TEXTBOOKS ...................................................................................... 10
2.2.1. Definition of textbook ................................................................... 10
2.2.2. The role of textbooks for EFL teachers and students ................... 11
2.2.3. A description of the 11th – grade English textbooks ..................... 13

2.3. PERCEPTION...................................................................................... 18
2.3.1. Definition of perception ................................................................ 18
2.3.2. Importance of perception on learning and teaching...................... 19


v
2.4. EVALUATION OF TEXTBOOKS ..................................................... 20
2.4.1. Evaluating the design of ELT textbooks....................................... 22
2.4.2. Evaluating the language content of ELT textbooks ...................... 23
2.5. REVIEW OF RELATED EMPIRICAL STUDIES............................. 27
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................ 32
3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................................................... 32
3.2. POPULATION AND PARTICIPANT SELECTION ......................... 32
3.2.1. Teachers ........................................................................................ 33
3.2.2. Students ......................................................................................... 33
3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS ............................................................. 34
3.3.1 Questionnaire ................................................................................. 34
3.3.2. Semi – Structured Interview ......................................................... 37
3.4. DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................ 38
3.5. DATA ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 39
3.6. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ....................................................... 40
3.6.1. Scale Reliability Analysis ............................................................. 40
3.6.2. Validity.......................................................................................... 41
CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .......................................... 42
4.1. TEACHERS‟ PERCEPTIONS ON THE 11TH GRADE ENGLISH
TEXTBOOKS ............................................................................................. 42
4.1.1. Teachers‟ perception on the appearance and format of the 11th –
grade English textbooks .......................................................................... 43
4.1.2. Teachers‟ perception on the difficulty level and unit
organization of the 11th – grade English textbooks. ............................... 46

4.1.3. Teachers‟ perception on the exercises and activities of the 11 th –
grade English textbooks .......................................................................... 47
4.1.4. Teachers‟ perception on the skills and sub-skills distribution of
the 11th – grade English textbooks .......................................................... 50


vi
4.1.5. Teachers‟ perception of the roles of the textbooks ....................... 52
4.2. STUDENTS‟ PERCEPTIONS ON THE 11TH GRADE ENGLISH
TEXTBOOKS ......................................................................................... 53
4.2.1. Students‟ perception of the physical appearance and format on
the 11th grade English textbooks ............................................................. 54
4.2.2. Students‟ perception on the difficulty level and the unit
organization of the 11th – grade English textbooks. ............................... 57
4.2.3. Students‟ perception on the exercises and activities of the 11 th –
grade English textbooks .......................................................................... 60
4.2.4. Students‟ perception on the skills and sub-skills distribution of
the 11th – grade English textbooks .......................................................... 62
4.2.5. Students‟ perception of the roles of the 11th – grade English
textbooks. ................................................................................................ 64
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS................................. 67
5.1. SUMMARY ......................................................................................... 67
5.2 IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY ..................................................... 68
5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ........................................................ 69
5.4. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE STUDIES ....................................... 69
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 70
APPENDICES


vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EFL

:

English as a foreign language

ELT

:

English language teaching

ESL

:

English as a second language

SLA

:

Second language acquisition

CEFR

:

Common

MOET

:

Ministry of Education and Training

VNFLPF

:

Foreign Language Proficiency Framework for Vietnam

European

Framework

of

Reference

Languages

for


viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1. The number of English periods for each level of education in
Vietnam ............................................................................................................. 6
Table 2.2. Book structure, unit structure, component headings, and time
allocated for each heading ( Hoang, V. V., 2015). ......................................... 14
Table 2.3. The topics in the 11th grade Textbooks (MOET, 2012) ................. 15
Table 3.1. The background of teacher participants ......................................... 33
Table 3.2. The background of student participants ......................................... 34
Table 3.3. Process of Conducting the Survey ................................................. 37
Table 3.4. Reliability Statistics of the questionnaire ...................................... 40
Table 4.1. Teachers‟ perception of the 11th grade English textbooks. ........... 42
Table 4.2. Teachers‟ perception on the appearance and format of the 11th –
grade English textbooks .................................................................................. 43
Table 4.3. Teachers‟ perception on the difficulty level and the unit
organization of the 11th – grade English textbooks......................................... 46
Table 4.4. Teachers‟ perception on the exercises and activities of the 11th –
grade English textbooks. ................................................................................. 48
Table 4.5. Teachers‟ perception on the skills and sub-skills distribution of the
11th – grade English textbooks. ....................................................................... 50
Table 4.6. Teachers‟ perception of the roles of the textbooks ........................ 52
Table 4.7. Students‟ perception of the 11th grade English textbooks ............. 54
Table 4.8. Students‟ perception of the physical appearance and format on the
11th grade English textbooks. .......................................................................... 55
Table 4.9. Students‟ perception on the difficulty level and the unit
organization of the 11th – grade English textbooks......................................... 57


ix
Table 4.10. Students‟ perception on the exercises and activities of the 11 th –
grade English textbooks. ................................................................................. 60

Table 4.11. Students‟ perception on the skills and sub-skills distribution of the
11th – grade English textbooks. ....................................................................... 63
Table 4.12. Students‟ perception of the roles of the textbooks....................... 65


1

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. RATIONALE
It can be denied that textbooks play a pivotal role in teaching in all
types of educational institutions - public or private schools, colleges, and
universities - all over the world. Textbooks play a very crucial role in the
realm of language teaching and learning and are considered the next
important factor in the second/foreign language classroom after the teacher.
Textbooks also provide the 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). In
some situations, textbooks serve as the basis for much of the language input
students receive and the language practice that happens in the classroom.
Learning how to use and adapt textbooks is hence an important part of a
teacher‟s professional knowledge (Richards, 2001). For learners, using a
textbook as instructive tool helps them practice and study themselves. The
textbooks may provide the main source of contact they have with the
language apart from input provided by the teacher. In the case of
inexperienced teachers, textbooks may also assist as a form of teacher training
– they provide ideas on how to plan and present lessons as well as formats
that teachers can use.
A few of studies have investigated on the teachers‟ and students‟
attitude of the English textbooks in ESL/EFL classroom (Wen-Cheng et al.,

2011); (Kirkgöz, 2009); (Rahimi & Hassani, 2012); (Khodabandeh &
Mombini, 2018). These studies discussed a textbook evaluation checklist for
standardized use at the elementary level. Furthermore, under the National
Foreign Language 2020 project, the set of Pilot English Curriculum for


2
Vietnamese Upper Secondary Schools was implemented at some piloted high
schools on the 23rd November 2012 by Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET, 2012). With the renovation of English textbooks, a research was
carried out to investigate Vietnamese upper secondary school EFL teachers‟
use of the set of English textbooks Tieng Anh 11 as resources for
achievement tests (Ha Linh & Le, 2020). The findings of this research
indicated the teachers‟ practicing in using the set of English textbooks Tieng
Anh 11 as resources for achievement tests. Another study was done (Tran, P.
N. T., & Tran, 2020) to explore EFL teachers‟ and students‟ perspectives on
communicative skills represented in the 11th grade English textbooks.
Up to now, though the set English textbooks under the National
Foreign Language 2020 project having been piloted in Vietnamese High
Schools, some schools have just implemented this set of textbooks for the first
time. Hence, there has been little investigation of the perceptions of teachers
and students who directly work with the textbooks. Moreover, few studies are
conducted the new “English 11” textbooks. In addition, the investigation of
the English textbooks under the National Foreign Language 2020 project is
quite challenging. For that reason, I choose this study with the aim at
understanding how teachers and students perceive on the new English 11
textbooks so that some contributions in improving textbook task or activities
can be achieved.
1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
1.2.1. Aims

The aim of the study is to find out teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions on
the physical appearance and format, the content (units, activities, exercises, skills
and sub-skills), and the roles of the 11th grade English textbooks issued in 2014
as a result of the National Foreign Language 2020 project (MOET, 2013).


3
1.2.2. Objectives
To achieve this aim, two main objectives were set up
+ To investigate the perceptions of the teachers on the physical appearance
and format, the content (units, activities, exercises, skills, and sub-skills), and
the roles of the 11th grade English textbooks.
+ To examine the students‟ perceptions of the physical appearance and
format, the content (units, activities, exercises, skills, and sub-skills), and the
roles of the 11th grade English textbooks.
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions are proposed in order to determine the
perceptions of the teachers and the students on eight sections of the 11 th grade
English textbooks:
1. What do high school teachers in Song Cau town perceive the 11th
grade English textbooks?
2. What do high school students in Song Cau town perceive the 11th
grade English textbooks?
1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The design of the 11th – grade English textbooks consist of eight
headings in each unit. Due to limited time, ability and research conditions, I
would like to investigate the perceptions of the teachers and the students on
physical appearance and format, language (Vocabulary, Pronunciation, and
Grammar) and skills (Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing), and roles of the
textbook of the 11th grade English textbooks. The participants are 10 teachers

and 100 students who are teaching and learning in some high schools in Song
Cau town.


4
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research is assumed to discover ways in which teachers and students
perceived the textbooks as appropriate or inappropriate sources for English
teaching and learning at some high schools in Song Cau Town. It contributed
more practically for actual teaching and learning situations at high schools.
1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The study consists of five chapters.
Chapter 1 “Introduction”, presents the rationale, aims and objectives,
research questions, the scope of the study, the significance of the study and
the organization of the study.
Chapter 2 “Literature Review”, briefly reviews the literature of previous
studies on teachers‟ and students‟ perception on the English textbooks related
to this study. This chapter also provides the theoretical background textbook
evaluation of the physical appearance and format, the content (units,
activities, exercises, skills, and sub-skills), and the roles of the textbooks.
Chapter 3 “Research Methodology”, deals with the research methods, the
description of the data, data analysis and research procedures. This chapter
also presents the reliability and validity of the data.
Chapter 4 “Findings and Discussions”, focuses on describing, analyzing
and discussing the perceptions of the teachers and the students on eight
sections of the 11th grade English textbooks.
Chapter 5 “Conclusion and Implications”, reveals a summary of the results
of the study. It also offers implications for making the effective ways to
implement these books and mentions the limitations of the study and the
suggestions for further research.

5

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a review of the relevant literature and research that
forms the background of the teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions of the
textbooks. Firstly, I will specify the current teaching English and the changing
the content of English textbooks in Vietnam. Secondly, the importance of
perception in learning and teaching will be provided. Then, I will point out
the roles of textbooks in learning and teaching English. Next, I give a
background evaluation of the textbooks. Finally, it gives an overview of
previous studies that involved teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions of the
English textbooks.
2.1. TEACHING ENGLISH AT THE GENERAL EDUCATION LEVEL
IN VIETNAM
English becomes a compulsory subject for all students at General
Education Level in Vietnam. In General Education Level in Vietnam, there
are three levels with 12 grades: primary level ( from Grade 1 to 5 for children
aged 6 to 11); lower secondary level (from Grade 6 to 9 for children aged 11
to 15); and upper secondary level (from Grade 10 to 12 for children aged 15
to 18) Hoang, V. V., 2010).
In the current curriculum for English teaching, Vietnam is implementing a
10-year educational program, starting from grade 3, and compulsory foreign
language subjects at all levels. Besides, teaching English in grades 1 and 2 is
optional (MOET, 2018). At the present, English is a mandatory subject in all
schools in primary (from grade 3 to 5), lower and upper secondary education.
Students must take English as the compulsory subject in the national
examination for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). All

public schools have to follow the curriculum set by the government. Currently,


6
there are two types of curricula: 7-year English textbooks and 10-year English
textbooks. Therefore, using the textbooks depends on the requirements of each
school and the demand of the local authorities.
Concerning the detail of content, English is introduced from Form 3 –
5, 2 periods in Forms 3, 4, and 5, making the total of 210 periods at the
primary level. English is studied 3 periods a week in Forms 6, 7, and 8, and 2
periods in Form 9, making the total of 385 periods at the lower secondary
level. And English is studied in 3 periods in Forms 10, 11, and 12, making the
total of 315 periods at the upper secondary level (Hoang, V. V., 2010).
The whole formal general education system in Vietnam can be summed
up to show the number of English periods studied at each level and the total
number of English periods studied in table 2.1.
Table 2.1. The number of English periods for each level of education in Vietnam
Level of Education (forms)

Number of Periods each Week

Total periods

Primary (Grades 3 - 5)

2 periods/week/35 weeks

210

Lower secondary (Grades 6 - 8)

3 periods/week/35 weeks

210

Lower secondary (Grade 9)

2 periods/week/35 weeks

70

Upper secondary (Grades 10 -12)

3 periods/week/35 weeks

315

Total

805

2.1.1 The 7-year set of English textbooks
Owning to the development of English as a global language, the
teaching of English in Vietnam has concerned with the roles and the places of
the learners as a central role in learning English. Hence, the teachers are a
facilitator who provides creative contexts for language teaching. To deal with
this situation, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)
organized the design of the curriculum and the writing of English textbooks
for all schools under the Decree N0 14/2001 TC-TTG on the Renovation of

7
the Vietnamese General Education Curriculum (Hoang, V. V., 2010). In early
2008, all high schools applied the 7– year set of English textbooks.
The book consists of 16 teaching units and six reviews. Each teaching unit
is structured into five sections: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and
Language Focus. Each section is taught in 45 minutes ( Minh, N. T. T., 2007).
In a reading lesson, it begins with Before you read activities. These
activities aim to introduce students to the topic and motivate them to read and
elicit new words. Then, it is followed by two or three While you read
activities in order to develop reading skills and strategies such as scanning,
skimming, and guessing meaning in context. Finally, After you read activities
are to require students some further practice, and written language production.
The Speaking section includes three or four activities. The first and
second activities give language input and develop specific language functions
such as expressing opinions, agreements, and disagreements. The remaining
activities are tasks for students to practice.
The Listening section is similar to the Reading section with three stages
Before you listen activities, While you listen activities, and After you listen
activities. The Writing section may begin with a model to help students with
model analysis, language work, and guided writing. The produce of each
writing lesson is a writing text of students.
The Language Focus section consists of two parts, Pronunciation and
Grammar and Vocabulary. The Pronunciation component focuses on the
practice of sounds (vowels, consonants, and clusters) that might help students
define and know how to pronounce correctly. The Grammar and Vocabulary
component aims to consolidate the target forms covered in the unit. Students
must do exercises to practice the structure points in the Grammar and
Vocabulary component.

8
The six review units called “Test Yourself”, aim to help students go
over vocabulary, grammar, and structure which were studied in each unit. The
review units are sample tests for teachers when designing 45-minute tests for
their classes. There are four main components: Listening, Reading, Writing,
and Language Focus in each review. The speaking component is not included.
2.1.2. The renovation of the textbooks in Vietnam
In the context of globalization and the demand for teaching and
learning English as an international language, the study of English is
enhanced and the quality of English teaching and learning in Vietnam is also
promoted to keep up with the tendency of globalization. For that reason, the
Vietnamese Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam signed
Decision N0 1400/QĐ-TTG to promulgate the National Project entitled
“Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education
System, Period 2008-2020 (henceforth 2020 Project) on the 30th of
September, 2008 (MOET, 2008). The general goal of the 2020 project is “...
By 2020 most Vietnamese students graduating from secondary, vocational
schools, colleges and universities will be able to use a foreign language
confidently in their daily communication, their study and work in an
integrated, multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment, making foreign
languages a comparative advantage of development for Vietnamese people in
the cause of industrialization and modernization for the country”.
In 2008 MOET issued a new curriculum to implement a ten–year
education program on teaching and learning a foreign language (MOET,
2008). It describes the tasks for ELT at the secondary school level as enabling
students to:
1. “Identify English and other languages as foreign language subjects
to be taught and learned at education institutions that belong to the

9
national education system.
2. Construct and issue a detailed and unified language proficiency
framework that consists of 6 levels. This framework is compatible
with other common international language proficiency levels and
used as a reference when writing curriculums and teaching plans.
Based on this framework, criteria of evaluation are set up for
different learning and training levels, ensuring interconnection in
language training between school levels.
3. Construct and implement a new program on compulsory language
training at different school levels as follows: qualify KNLNN level
1 when graduating primary school; qualify KNLNN level 2 when
graduating secondary school; qualify KNLNN level 3 when
graduating high school.”
(MOET, 2008: 2)
With the issue of Decision 14000, the Vietnamese Minister of
Education and Training appointed Hoang Van Van as chief author of the tenyear English textbook series for Vietnamese schools under the National
Foreign Language 2020 Project (Hoang, V. V., 2015). Three teams (primary,
lower secondary, and upper secondary) of 15 Vietnamese textbooks writers,
along with English textbook writers of MacMillan Education and Pearson
Education – two leading international foreign language textbook publishers
produced the ten-year English textbook series (from grade 3 to grade 12) for
Vietnamese schools in the process of writing textbooks.
For that reason, on the 23rd November, 2012, the Minister of Education
and Training signed Decision 5209/QĐ-BGDĐT on the Approval of Chương
trình giáo dục phổ thơng mơn tiếng Anh thí điểm cấp trung học phổ thông
(Pilot English Curriculum for Vietnamese Upper Secondary Schools)
(MOET, 2012).

10
It can be denied that this decision brings positive effects on teaching
and learning English through the new set of English textbooks under the 2020
project, whereas it also has some challenges and difficulties for teachers and
students in implementing the textbooks.
In this research, I will investigate the 11th grade English textbooks in
Pilot English Curriculum for Vietnamese Upper Secondary Schools.
2.2. TEXTBOOKS
2.2.1. Definition of textbook
Cambridge Dictionary defines a “textbook as a book that contains
detailed information about a subject for people who are studying that subject”.
The textbook is a source of teaching-learning materials that is used both by
the students and teacher following the curriculum development. Moreover,
the teacher uses textbooks to manage the lesson in teaching and learning
process. Textbooks are considered a source of direction and thought banks for
teachers about how lessons are delivered (Tomlinson, 2008).
Similarly, Hutchinson and Torres (1994, p. 315) state that “the textbook
is an almost universal element of (English language) teaching. Furthermore,
textbooks also work as schedules that have been methodically arranged and
created (Richards, 2001). By the given definition, EFL textbooks are useful
materials that aim at supplying students with essential knowledge, language
skills, and information about English-speaking countries and preparing them
for interaction with people from foreign countries and of different cultural
backgrounds. It can be clear that each textbook gives students information
relating to grammar and vocabulary, as well as communicative competencies.
For that reason, students can develop their language skills by using the
textbook as a useful tool to encourage students in acquiring language
competences.

11
2.2.2. The role of textbooks for EFL teachers and students
English has become an indispensable part of the educational curriculum in
Vietnamese schools. Teaching and learning English as a foreign language is a
challenging task in developing countries in general and in our country in
particularly. Generally speaking, the process of teaching and learning English as
a foreign language at school has to base on main aids and materials. Hence,
textbook is one of the most essential materials for the EFL teaching and learning
processes as it brings benefits for not only teachers but also students. Textbook is
a book containing the information of the subject matter in the school.
English is utilized and learnt as a second language in many countries of
the world. Vietnam has been concerned with teaching and learning English
effectively. Therefore, English textbooks may even constitute the main and
perhaps only source of language input that students receive and the basis for
language practice that happens both inside and outside the classroom.
Richards (2001) stated that textbooks play an integral role in many language
classrooms. Moreover, textbooks function as courses that have been
systematically planned and developed (Day, J., & Krzanowski, 2001).
“Textbooks remain a staple within school curricula worldwide, presenting
teachers and students with the official knowledge of school subjects as well as
the preferred values, attitudes, skills, and behaviors of experts in those fields.”
(Wen-Cheng et al., 2011). Radić-Bojanić & Topalov (2016) investigated
textbooks in the EFL classroom. They claimed that textbooks can serve as a
grammatical and functional framework that students can apply to adapt and
interact in the classroom.
Similarly, O‟Neill points out four purposes for the use of course books.
First, using course book materials bring benefits to students‟ needs. Second,
the students can have a program for their future and an assessment of previous

12
course books. Third, students can acquire precious and reasonable materials.
At last, the teachers can have chances to change and adapt the course books
based on students' needs (O‟Neill, 1982). Otherwise, the content of any
textbooks affects the teacher how to teach and the learner how to learn.
Regardless of the content of English textbooks, textbook evaluation is
necessary to define the appropriate material before being used for a language
program. Furthermore, evaluating textbooks helps teachers select the
textbooks that are professionally designed, fit the curriculum and local
economy and correspond with the aims of the teaching program and the needs
of the students in each school.
Thus, teachers and learners use English textbooks as a guidebook
because of providing explicit frameworks in order to fullfill what they have
done and what they will do. According to Tomlinson (2008), textbooks can be
also the foundations of direction and idea suggestions for teachers about how
lessons can be planned. Tomlinson considers materials evaluation as “the
systematic appraisal of the value of materials in relation to their objectives
and to the objectives of the learners using them” (Tomlinson, 2011). In
addition, Richards and Rodgers (2006) say that textbooks are constructed in
such a way that their tables of contents suggest a gradual development of
language forms and functions, going from the most basic to the most
complex. In English textbooks, they contain pictures and graphic materials
that may help students be more efficient than the teacher‟s descriptions. As
stated by Ahour and Ahmadi (2012), "textbooks are the main sources that can
convey the knowledge and information to the learners in an easy and
organized way" (p.176). Textbooks bring a lot of positive effects which were
defined by Brown (1995) as a source of language, learning support,
inspiration, stimulation, and reference. For that reason, textbooks are

13
considered the most important resources utilized to reach the aims of a course
which are followed of the learners' needs.
Textbooks are needed tools in enhancing learning and teaching English
and supporting teachers to carry out their responsibility satisfactorily. The
students and teachers use the EFL textbooks frequently so their opinions
toward textbooks should be collected and analyzed. On the one hand, teachers
use textbooks as a supporting tool in their teaching in the classroom. Hence,
using or adapting textbooks is a critical part of teachers' professional
knowledge.
2.2.3. A description of the 11th – grade English textbooks
The textbooks were developed based on the new national curriculum,
which was under the National Foreign Language 2020 Project. The content of
the textbooks was designed following the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)
framework and Threshold Level English. The teaching contents for each unit
are summarized in a book map which is provided on the fourth and fifth pages
of each book. Each of the textbooks is accompanied with cassette tapes, a
student‟s workbook, and teacher‟s manual. The language elements are
required such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, and the teaching
and learning process targets skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing and
the learner‟s cultural competence as well (Hoang, V. V., 2016).
There are 10 teaching units and 4 review units in each book. A period
at upper secondary levels lasts for 45 minutes and each unit in the textbook
consists of eight headings: Getting Started, Language (Vocabulary,
Pronunciation, and Grammar), Skills (Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing),
Communication & Culture, and Looking Back & Project (MOET, 2012). The
unit

structure

and

the

teaching

period(s)

allocated

for

each


14
component/heading in the unit are summarized in Table 2.2. Each unit begins
with a dialogue about the topic which incorporates phonological and lexical
items related to the topic, specific functions and notions, and grammatical
structures realizing them (MOET, 2012). The book covers four themes: Our
Lives, Our Society, Our Environment, and Our Future (see Table 2.3).
Table 2.2. Book structure, unit structure, component headings, and time allocated for
each heading ( Hoang, V. V., 2015).
Upper Secondary
Number of units

10

Number of components per unit

8

Component heading

Getting Started
Vocabulary,

Pronunciation,

Grammar
Reading
Speaking
Listening
Writing
Communication & Culture
Looking Back & Project
Time allocated for each heading 1 period