Đánh giá các hoạt động tiền đọc của sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 11 mới nhằm tạo động lực và nâng cao kết quả đọc của học sinh

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES


HONG TH TÂM THNH

AN EVALUATION OF PRE-READING ACTIVITIES IN THE
NEW TEXTBOOK TIENGANH 11 IN MOTIVATING AND
IMPROVING STUDENT’S READING PERFORMANCE

(ĐA
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NH GIA
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M.A.MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10


Hanoi, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES


HONG TH TÂM THNH

AN EVALUATION OF PRE-READING ACTIVITIES IN THE
NEW TEXTBOOK TIENGANH 11 IN MOTIVATING AND
IMPROVING STUDENT’S READING PERFORMANCE

(ĐA
́
NH GIA
́
CA
́
C HOA
̣
T ĐÔ
̣
NG TIÊ

̀
N ĐO
̣
C CU
̉
A SA
́
CH GIA
́
O
KHOA TIÊ
́
NG ANH 11 MƠ
́
I NHĂ
̀
M TA
̣
O ĐÔ
̣
NG LƢ
̣
C VA
̀

NÂNG CAO KÊ
́
T QUA
̉
ĐO

̣
C CU
̉
A HO
̣
C SINH)

M.A.MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Phm Th Thanh Thy, PhD.

Hanoi, 2013
i

DECLARATION
This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Education.
I confirm that this is my own research and that it has not been published or
submitted for any other degrees.
Student‟s signature

Hong Th Tâm Thnh

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The graduation thesis could not have been fulfilled without help,
encouragement, support of a number of people who all deserve my sincerest
gratitude and appreciation.
First and foremost, it is with affection and appreciation that acknowledge my
indebtedness and deepest thanks to Mrs. Pham Thi Thanh Thuy, PhD., my
supervisor, who gave me a clear sighted guidance as well as invaluable suggestions,
my thesis could not have come into being.
I would be also grateful to two teachers of English, especially Ms. Nguyen
Thi Thuy Hang and Ms. Phan Thi Tuong Van as well as 11
th
form students in class
of 11A3 and 11A5 at Dao Duy Tu high school in Thanh Hoa for answering my
survey question, interviews and participating in the experiment teaching of applying
adaptation of pre-reading activities in reading classes. Their enthusiastic
participation has helped me a lot of finding out the effects of adapting activities for
pre-reading stage in reading class on student‟s motivation and reading performance
in order to suggest some ideas to use them effectively.

I would also like to thank Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, my colleague, for her
precious advice from the beginning of this paper.
Last but not least, I should acknowledge my great gratitude to all my friends
in Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International
Studies, and my family for their understanding, encouragement, assistance as well
as financial supports during the process of preparing this graduation paper.




iii

ABSTRACT
This research investigated whether adaptation of pre-reading activities
increased the classroom motivation, involvement as well as reading performance of
learners at an upper-secondary school. The main methods were employed in this
study namely document analysis, students survey questionnaire, teachers interview,
classroom observation and pre-test post-test experimental design. Eighty four
students selected from two classes (11A3 was employed as the control group and
11A5 as the experimental group) at Dao Duy Tu high school were used for the
study. The students selected were made up of both male and female. The findings
revealed that pre-reading activities in the textbook were too monotonous to get
students involved in the reading lesson. Students and teachers were not in favor of
these activities available in the current textbook. Also, adaptation of textbook
activities would be helpful in increasing the students‟ motivation in pre-reading
stage and better comprehension can be gained through exposure to pre-reading
activities. The study recommended that teachers could use pre-reading activities as
a useful tool to facilitate students‟ motivation and reading comprehension
performance. It also could be suggested that teachers should change some
inappropriate pre-reading activities of students‟ interests in the reading class to get

them join in those activities with great eagerness.







iv

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

TTT: Teacher talking time
STT: Students talking time
T: Teacher
Ss: Students
EFL: English foreign language
Df: Degree of freedom
T: Test
M: Mean
Std Dev.: Standard Deviation
Sig.: Significance
No.: Number
P: Probability value

v

LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 3.1: Students‟ beliefs towards the reading texts in the new English 11
Figure 3.2: Students‟ attitudes to their teacher‟ pre-reading activities
Figure 3.3: Frequency of undertaking extra pre-reading activities in reading class
Figure 3.4: Students‟ involvement in pre-reading activities in reading lessons
Figure 3.5: Students‟ preference for participation in pre-reading activities
Figure 3.6: Teachers‟ evaluation of reading texts in the textbook
Figure 3.7: Teachers‟ evaluation on pre-reading activities in English 11
Figure 3.8: Frequency of adaptation for pre-reading activities
Figure 3.9: Teachers‟ methods for adaptation

Table 3.1: Description of topics in English 11
Table 3.2: Activities of reading stage in 6 units are analyzed
Table 3.3: Pre-reading activities of 6 units are analyzed
Table 3.4: Difficulties students encounter in reading lessons
Table 3.5: The most frequently used activities to start a reading lesson
Table 3.6: Students‟ beliefs about good effects of pre-reading activities
Table 3.7: Students‟ beliefs about bad effects of pre-reading activities
Table 3.8: Frequency of using pre-reading activities by the teachers
Table 3.9: Students‟ preferences for pre-reading activities
Table 3.10: Students‟ evaluations on pre-reading activities in the textbook
Table 3.11: Students‟ recommendation on pre-reading activities to make a reading
lesson more interesting
Table 3.12: Teachers‟ beliefs about the purposes of carrying out pre-reading
activities
Table 3.13: Teachers‟ beliefs about students‟ participation in pre-reading activities
Table 3.14: Teachers‟ recommendation to increase students‟ participation

Table 3.15: Teachers‟ difficulties when undertaking pre-reading activities
Table 3.16: Number of students involve in teacher‟s activities of pre-reading stage
in the control and experimental group
Table 3.17: Teacher talking time (TTT) and students talking time (STT) of the
control group and the experimental group at pre-reading stage
Table 3.18: The summary of independent-and paired-samples t-tests
Table 3.19: The t-test for the experimental and control groups
vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii
ABSTRACT iii
LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS iv
LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
1. Rationale to the study 1
2. Aims and objectives of the research 2
2. 1. Aims of the research 2
2. 2. Objectives of the research 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the research 3
5. Methods of the research 3
6. Expected findings 4
7. Significance of the research 4
8. Limitations of the research 5
9. Outline of the research 5
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 6
I. 1. Theoretical background about pre-reading activities 6

vii

I. 1. 1. Definition and the importance of pre-reading activities in teaching
reading 6
I. 1. 2. Types of pre-reading activities 7
I. 2. Theoretical background about motivation 8
I. 2. 1. Definitions and types of motivation 8
I. 2.2. The importance of motivation in learning reading 9
I. 2.3. Common factors affecting students‟ motivation in learning the reading
skill 9
I. 2. 3.1. Students‟ factors 9
I. 2. 3. 2. The reading materials factors 10
I. 2.3. 3. The teacher‟s factors 10
I. 4. Theoretical background about textbook evaluation 10
I. 4. 1. Definitions 10
I. 4. 2. Criteria for textbook evaluation 11
I. 5. Theoretical background about textbook adaptation 11
I. 5. 1. Definitions 11
I. 5. 2. The necessity of textbook adaptation when teaching foreign languages 12
I. 5. 3. Techniques for textbook adaptation 13
PART II: METHODOLOGY 15
II. 1. Setting of the research 15
II. 2. Subjects of the research 15
viii

II. 2. 1. The students 15
II. 2. 2. The teachers 16
II. 3. Data collection instruments 17
II. 3. 1. Document analysis 17
II. 3. 2. Survey questionnaire for students 17

II. 3. 3. Interview for teachers 17
II. 3. 4. Classroom observation 18
II. 3. 5. Pre-test post-test experimental design 18
II. 4. Data collection procedure 18
CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 20
III. 1. Document analysis 20
III. 2. Data collected from survey questionnaire for students 24
III.2.1. Students‟ experience of English learning 24
III.2.2. Students‟ beliefs towards the reading texts in the new English 11 24
III.2.3. Difficulties students encounter in reading lessons 25
III.2.4. The most frequently used activities to start a reading lesson 26
III.2.5. Students‟ attitudes to their teacher‟ pre-reading activities 26
III.2.6. Students‟ beliefs about good effects of pre-reading activities 27
III.2.7. Students‟ beliefs about bad effects of pre-reading activities 27
III.2.8. Frequency of undertaking extra pre-reading activities in reading class . 28
ix

III.2.9. Students‟ participation in pre-reading activities in reading lessons 29
III.2.10. Students‟ preference for participation in pre-reading activities 29
III.2.11. Frequency of using pre-reading activities by the teachers 30
III.2.12. Students‟ preferences for pre-reading activities 31
III.2.13. Students‟ evaluations on pre-reading activities in the textbook 33
III.2.14. Students‟ recommendation on pre-reading activities to make a reading
lesson more interesting 34
III. 3. Data collected from teacher interview 35
III.3.1. Teachers‟ evaluation of reading texts in the textbook 35
III.3.2. Teachers‟ evaluation on pre-reading activities in English 11 35
III.3.3. Teachers‟ beliefs about the purposes of carrying out pre-reading
activities 36
III.3.4. Teachers‟ belief about students‟ participation and their suggestions to

increase students‟ participation in pre-reading activities 37
III.3.5. Frequency of adapting pre-reading activities and methods of adaptation
39
III.3.6. Teachers‟ difficulties when undertaking pre-reading activities 40
III.4. Data collected from classroom observation 41
III.5. Data collected from pre-test post-test experimental design 46
PART C: CONCLUSION 50
1. Summary of the study 50
x

2. Recommendations for using and adapting pre-reading activities in reading class
at grade 11 effectively 52
2.1. When and how to use pre-reading activities 52
2.1.1. When using pre-reading activities 52
2.1.2. How to use pre-reading activities 53
2.2. When and how to adapt pre-reading activities in reading class 55
2.2.1. When conducting pre-reading activity adaptation in reading class 55
2.2.2. The way of conducting pre-reading activity adaptation 56
3. Limitations of the study 57
4. Suggestions for further study 57
REFERENCES 58
APPENDICES I
APPENDIX 1 I
APPENDIX 2 V
APPENDIX 3 VI
APPENDIX 4 XX
APPENDIX 5 XXII
APPENDIX 6 XXV

1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale to the study
Recently, the renovation in education especially in the textbook of 11
th
form
has brought many achievements but requires innovating in teaching methods of four
language skills, among which reading comprehension is regarded as a very
important skill, the starting point of each unit. Therefore, it is necessary to apply
different techniques to help students learn reading comprehension more effectively,
in which pre-reading activities hold an important role in motivating students to read
and understand the lesson more easily. It is a matter of fact that English 11 apart
from suitable points still has some unsuitable points. Clearly, the textbook is just a
tool that helps teachers succeed in language teaching. While teaching language,
teachers are expected to organize the tasks and activities in order to respond the
objectives of the teaching and learning process. Nonetheless, the students‟ levels of
English are different in various areas in Vietnam. Not all students have the same
English proficiency in a class while the current English textbooks are compulsory
for teaching at all high schools. Furthermore, it is a common knowledge that
motivation is related to success in second language learning in general and learning
reading in particular. It is assumed that if the students are motivated, especially
from the pre-reading stage, their reading tasks will be completed more successfully
and obstacles while reading will not affect to their understanding any longer.
Therefore, the research entitled “An evaluation of pre-reading activities in
the new textbook Tieng Anh 11 in motivating and improving students‟ reading
performance” is conducted to explore not only the current situation of adapting pre-
reading stage at Dao Duy Tu high school in Thanh Hoa province but also the

positive results and its effects on student‟s motivation as well as reading
performance. Hopefully, the paper is also to offer some practical suggestions for not
only teachers but also textbook writers or designers to adapt pre-reading activities in
reading classes more effectively.
2

2. Aims and objectives of the research
2. 1. Aims of the research
The study is carried out with the aim to analyze pre-reading activities in the
new textbook English 11. Moreover, it explores the situation of teaching pre-
reading activities in reading comprehension lessons at Dao Duy Tu high school.
Eventually, it provides some effective adaptations enabling students of learning
English to be motivated and improved in reading performance.
2. 2. Objectives of the research
The paper is intended to achieve the following objectives:
1. Exploring suitable and unsuitable points of pre-reading activities in the new
textbook English 11 published in 2007 by Education Publishing House.
2. Investigating into the current situation of pre-reading stage in teaching
reading lessons to 11
th
form at Dao Duy Tu high school-Thanh Hoa.
3. Suggesting some practical adaptation for pre-reading stage in order to
increase students‟ motivation and performance in reading comprehension
lessons.
3. Research questions
In order to achieve the above aims and objectives, the investigation is supposed
to answer the following research questions:
1. What are some suitable and unsuitable points of pre-reading activities in the
new textbook English 11?
2. What is the current situation of using pre-reading activities in the new

textbook English 11 at Dao Duy Tu high school?
3. How can we make pre-reading stage more effective in motivating and
improving students‟ reading performance?
3

4. Scope of the research
Within the scope of a study, adapting reading activities is a vast topic and it
results in difficulties for the researcher to get in depth into the analysis of all the
aspects of the issue. Consequently, this paper only concentrates on investigating
some pre-reading activities in reading class. In addition, due to limited time, the
author can only focus on students at grade 11, especially group 11A3 and 11A5 as
well as some teachers at Dao Duy Tu high school to carry out the survey
questionnaire, interview, observations and pre-test post-test design.
5. Methods of the research
The study attempts to evaluate pre-reading activities in motivating and
improving reading performance on the 11
th
form students at Dao Duy Tu high
school. In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the following methods are
employed: textbook analysis, survey questionnaire for students, interviews for both
teachers and 11
th
graders, classroom observations and pre-test post-test
experimental design.
Initially, the researcher analyzes the textbook English 11 to explore the
suitable and unsuitable points of pre-reading activities.
Moreover, the situation of conducting pre-reading activities at Dao Duy Tu
high school is investigated by distributing questionnaire for students and interview
for teachers.
Next, the researcher observes two classes (11A3 and 11A5) in the twelve

reading lessons focusing on the pre-reading stage. 11A3 is employed as the control
group using original pre-reading activities in the textbook. While for the
experimental group (11A5), the same lessons are taught with adjusted pre-reading
activities. Analyzing and comparing the number of students‟ involvement in
teacher‟s pre-reading activities, students talking time to prove whether the
4

adaptation of textbook activities will be helpful in increasing the students‟
motivation in pre-reading stage.
Finally, a pre-test post-test experimental design was administered for the
study to reveal that providing pre-reading activities might serve as useful tools for
language teachers and reading teachers in facilitating learners‟ reading
comprehension ability. Both groups were pre-tested the same reading
comprehension passage; however, only the experimental group received the
treatment regarding pre-reading activities.
6. Expected findings
Hopefully, my study is able to:
 Explore the suitable and unsuitable points of pre-reading activities in
the new textbook English 11.
 Investigate into the current situation of pre-reading stage in teaching
reading to 11
th
form at Dao Duy Tu high school.
 Seek out the effective ways of using pre-reading stage in teaching
reading to help students achieve the goals of reading lessons.
7. Significance of the research
The study highlights the vital role of pre-reading stage in offering an
overview of the materials and making the structure and organization of the text for
students. The research, hence, makes an important contribution to illuminate not
only the current situation of adapting some activities in pre-reading stage at Dao

Duy Tu high school but also the positive results and its effects on student‟s
motivation as well as reading performance. Much more importantly, this research
would like to give out some practical suggestions for teachers to adapt pre-reading
activities in reading classes more effectively.
5

8. Limitations of the research
 This research can only explore the use of pre-reading stage in teaching
reading to make reading lesson more effective to 11
th
form students at Dao
Duy Tu high school.
 The success of this study depends much on the attitudes of the participants,
including students and teachers involved.
9. Outline of the research
The research is organized into three main parts as follows:
Part A - Introduction presents the background to the study, states the aim,
the research questions, the scope, and the methods of study and outlines the
organization of the research.
Part B - Development consists of three chapters:
Chapter I - Literature Review conceptualizes the study‟s theoretical
background, presents the concepts relevant to the topic of the thesis: pre-reading
activities, motivation, textbook evaluation and suggested adaptation for using pre-
reading stage effectively to make reading lessons comprehensible.
Chapter II - Methodology describes the research instruments and detailed
information about the subjects of the study as well as the research procedure is also
provided.
Chapter III - Findings and Discussions analyzes the initial data and the data
to monitor the change to evaluate the effects of pre-reading activity adaptation on
student‟s motivation and reading comprehension improvement.

Part C - Conclusion summaries the main points presented as well as supplies
some practical suggestions to help teachers increase effectiveness of pre-reading
stage. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further possible research are also
discussed in this section.
6

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides the theoretical background of pre-reading activities,
motivation, textbook evaluation and suggested adaptation for using pre-reading
stage effectively to make reading lessons comprehensible.
I. 1. Theoretical background about pre-reading activities
I. 1. 1. Definition and the importance of pre-reading activities in teaching
reading
So far, different researchers such as Lazar (1993:83), and Graves (1995:664)
have provided many definitions of pre-reading activities. Lazar, for example,
defined pre-reading activities as activities that help students with cultural
background, stimulate student interest in the story, and pre-teach vocabulary.
Besides, Graves defined pre-reading activities as “devices for bridging the gap
between the text‟s content and the reader‟s schemata.”
It cannot be denied that pre-reading activities play a crucial important role in
motivating the students through the reading lesson. The aims of pre-reading stage
are to activate the student‟s knowledge of the subject, to provide any language
preparation that might be needed for coping with the passage and, finally to
motivate the learners to want to read the text, according to Celce-Murcia
(1991:225). Furthermore, Tudor (1989:17) called pre-reading activities
“enabling activities” because they provide a reader with the necessary background
to organize activity and to comprehend the material (these experiences involve
understanding the purposes for reading and building a knowledge base necessary for
dealing with the content and the structure of the material). They said that pre-

reading activities elicit prior knowledge, and focus attention.
7

I. 1. 2. Types of pre-reading activities
Based on the crucial role of pre-reading stage in encouraging students to read
and motivating them in order to enable them to read the text more effectively,
teacher should make full use of pre-reading stage as it is important in building
confidence and creating interest within learners as well as activate their background
knowledge and schema in regard to the target text. This can be achieved by using
following activities as Doff (1997:59) stated.
 Presenting some new vocabulary
It is a fact that learners often have difficulty in reading when they encounter
new words and new words may de-motivate students. Therefore, some unfamiliar
words especially ones that make it difficult to understand the text need to be
presented before-hand. Nonetheless, it is not necessary to introduce all new words
before reading. Students can get the meaning of many new words basing on the
context.
 Introducing the text
Teacher may help students get familiar with the topic by giving them some
expected ideas about the text they are going to learn and having some ideas about
the topics increases students‟ interest and desire to read. Students can get exposure
to the topic by many ways: playing games, listening to story, music or teacher can
host a short discussion to start students thinking about the topic. Another common
way to introduce the topic is to give a simple sentence “We are going to read
about…” or “The text is about…”
 Giving guiding questions
By giving some guiding question before reading teacher can help students
activate their prior knowledge about the topic. The guiding questions aim at giving
students a reason to read by giving them something to look for as they read the text
and leading students towards the main points of the text, so that after the first

reading they should have good general idea of what it is about.
8

I. 2. Theoretical background about motivation
I. 2. 1. Definitions and types of motivation
It is common knowledge that motivation is thought to be important and
inevitable in most fields, without which one is difficult to succeed. Motivation to
learn a second language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual
work or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the
satisfaction experienced in this activity. According to Kleinginna (1981:6)
motivation considered as “a desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented
behavior”. Sharing the same point, Brown (2002:160) indicated that “motivation is
some kinds of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve
something”. Motivation is also suggested by Woolfolk (2001:136) as “an internal
state that arouses, directs and maintains behavior”. Moreover, “motivation involves
the attitudes and effective states that influence the degree of effort that learners
make to learn a second language.” (Ellis, 1997:5) Overall, motivation refers to the
combination of effort and desire plus favorable attitudes toward learning the
language and occurs as a result of connection of external and internal influences.
Apparently, kinds of motivation and their features have been discussed by
scholars and psychologists, who referred to motivation which comes from inside
and from outside. Among them, Moore (1992) separated motivation into two main
categories intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation that have an important part
in classroom motivation and they are partially accessible to teacher‟s influence.
According to Moore (1992:261) “intrinsic motivation is what learners bring to
learning environment, that is, their internal attitudes: attitudes, values, needs and
personality factors.” For example, students who love to read are intrinsically
motivated to read-there is something about reading that they enjoy and that makes
them want to do it even if there is no reward for it. In addition, he said that
“extrinsic motivation originates outside the individual and is concerned with

external environments factors that help shape students‟ behavior” (Moore,
1992:261). For instance, for students who do not enjoy reading, a token economy
9

involving stickers or a class store may prompt them to read more often. In short,
most writers agreed that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation interact with each other
and play an important role in second language learning. As a result, students can be
either motivated by internal or external factors depending on the circumstances and
conditions the activity is performed.
I. 2.2. The importance of motivation in learning reading
Actually, most of the English learners usually find reading the toughest and
the most boring of the four practical skills. They complain that they feel bored with
the reading lesson. Moreover, the students‟ motivation in learning the reading skill
is quite low, some of them are unwilling to participate in the reading activities, and
others read the text without any interest. From these facts, it is advisable for the
reading teachers to stimulate their students or arouse their interest in dealing with
reading activities, especially at the opening stage of the lesson. Girard (1997:120)
once emphasized that: “it is an important part of a reading teacher‟s job to motivate
learners.” There are certain ways for the teachers to activate their students‟
motivation. To have an effective one, it is essential to examine factors affecting
their motivation.
I. 2.3. Common factors affecting students’ motivation in learning the reading
skill
I. 2. 3.1. Students’ factors
There are many factors that can help learners become interested in what they
are reading such as their thought, feelings, interests, and their background
knowledge. Actually, background knowledge, which refers to the existing
information on a specific topic, is vital to the reading skill. Consequently, if
students lack background knowledge, it is difficult for them to get involved in the
activities, especially for reading activities. They will be unable to use their existing

knowledge to comprehend the new material and more importantly they will lose
their interest in reading the text.
10

I. 2. 3. 2. The reading materials factors
Reading material is another important factor that greatly influences the
students‟ motivation in a reading lesson. First of all, if the reading material is
interesting and relevant to the students, it will motivate them to read more. Reading
material should have suitable contents, this means, the texts are considered suitable
will tell the students thing they do not know and introduce them to new and relevant
ideas. Secondly, reading material‟s language items such as vocabulary and
grammatical structures may have an impact on the students‟ motivation “knowing
vocabulary and structures is necessary for getting meaning from a text” (Aebersold
& Field, 1997:138). Through the texts, the students can comprehend the way the
others feel or think and make them read for themselves.
I. 2.3. 3. The teacher’s factors
Definitely, teachers also pose an important factor in motivating the students
in a reading lesson. The teachers, in fact, play the key role in creating a good
classroom environment, since it has a powerful effect on the encouragement or
discouragement of motivation to learn. Furthermore, the teachers‟ activities and
tasks are the chief component to the students‟ motivation learning reading skill.
Therefore, the teachers need to choose carefully for a specific phase of a reading
text, especially for the pre-reading stage. If not, the students will be left in confusion
and unable to get involved in dealing with the reading passage.
I. 4. Theoretical background about textbook evaluation
I. 4. 1. Definitions
Many authors have defined material evaluation so far. Hutchinson & Water
(1987:96) suggested that “evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something
for a particular purpose”. Especially, Dudley & St John (1998:128) affirmed that
“evaluation is a whole process which begins with determining what information to

gather and ends with bringing about the change in current activities or influencing
11

future ones”. An utmost important characteristic of materials evaluation is defined
by Tomlinson (1998: xi) as “the systematic appraisal of the value of materials in
relation to their objectives and to the objectives using them”.
From the above definitions, it can be inferred that materials evaluation
involves that determination of what needs to be evaluated, the objectives and
requirements for the materials, and the judgments of the value of the materials being
evaluated in relation to the objectives and requirements determined.
I. 4. 2. Criteria for textbook evaluation
Certain sets of criteria have been mentioned by different scholars. Among
them, Hutchinson & Torre (1994:32) proposed four criteria need to be considered
when evaluating materials as follows:
(i) Information about target learners;
(ii) Aims and objectives of the course (to find out if the materials can satisfy
those aims and objectives);
(iii) Content of the materials (to measure if the content of the materials is
suitable to the content prescribed in terms of language description, language point,
macro-skills and their proportion, and micro-skill);
(iv) Methodology (to indicate if the theories of learning on which the course
is based are in line with the one of the materials under evaluation, to determine
whether the kind of exercises/ tasks included in the materials are suited to course
requirements).
I. 5. Theoretical background about textbook adaptation
I. 5. 1. Definitions
Adaptation by its nature is the act or process of adapting, or fitting or the
state of being adapted or fitted. In terms of language teaching, course book
adaptation involves changing existing course books so that they become more
suitable for specific learners, teachers or situations, according to Tomlinson

12

(1998:236). There are several definitions of adaptations by different scholars.
Madsen & Bowen (1978: ix) claimed adaptation is an action of employing “one or
more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing,
simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifying cultural/ situational content.”
Ellis, M. (1986:47) considered adaptation as the process of “retaining, rejecting, re-
ordering and modification” and Tomlinson (1998b: xi) referred to “reducing,
adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing”.
I. 5. 2. The necessity of textbook adaptation when teaching foreign languages
Actually, it can be said that textbook is a key component in most language
course and it is considered as a source of language, a learning support. It is also for
stimulation and for reference. Among many important components of English
language instruction, textbooks used by language instructors are considered as the
most essential constituent to any language program.
“The textbook is an almost universal element of ELT teaching. […] .
No teaching- learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant
textbook.”
(Hutchinson & Torres, 1994:315)
Despite the above-mentioned undeniable advantages of the textbooks in
language teaching, there is no perfect course book for every course. Cunningsworth
(1984:6) stated that “No course-book will be totally suited to particular teaching
situation”. A course-book can be ideal in this situation but in the others is not.
Sheldon (1988:239) addressed lack of cultural appropriation of some textbooks, for
instance, the thinking underlying the textbook writing may be different from or in
conflict with the assumptions held by the teachers.
To sum up, teaching materials are a crucial component in any language
teaching context. So both the benefits and limitations of the use of textbooks needs
to be considered, and if the textbooks that are being used in a program are judged to
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have some negative consequences, remedial action should be taken, such as by
adapting or supplementing books or by providing appropriate guidance and support
for teachers in how to use them appropriately.
I. 5. 3. Techniques for textbook adaptation
After recognizing a gap (mismatch or non-congruence) between published
teaching materials and the needs and objectives of the classroom, the teacher has to
address the practicalities of adapting the material to meet her class objectives more
closely. Mc Donough & Shaw (1993) and Cunningsworth (1994) offered lists of
techniques that may be used when adapting materials better to fit a specific class, as
follows:
 Adding: When adding to published material the teacher is supplementing the
existing materials and providing more materials. The teacher can do this by
either extending or expanding.
 Extending: means the teacher supplies more of the same type of materials,
thus making a quantitative change in the material.
 Expanding: is to add something different to the materials. The change is
qualitative.
It is important to note that to materials can come at the beginning, at the end or
in the middle of the materials being adapted.
 Deleting: subtracting and abridging
As with the technique of adding, material can be deleted both quantitatively
(subtracting) or qualitatively (abridging). For instance, a teacher can decide to do
five of the questions practicing the simple past tense instead of the ten in the
textbook. When abridging, however, the teacher may decide that focusing attention
on pronunciation may inhibit the learner‟s fluency and decide not to do any of the
pronunciation exercise in a course-book.