Intermediate training level of Viet - Hung Industrial College = Điều chỉnh giáo trinh New Headway - elementary dành cho sinh viên hệ trung cấp của trường CĐCN V20150227

IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i
Candidate‟s statement .ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations v
List of figures, charts and tables vi
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Statement of problem and the rationale for the study 1
2. Aims of the study 3
3. Significance of the study 3
4. Scope of the study 4
5. Methods of the study 4
6. Design of the study 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6
1. Textbook in EFL teaching and learning 6
1.1. Definition of term “textbook” 6
1.2. The role of textbook in teaching and learning English 6
1.3. Textbook evaluation 7
1.4. Textbook adaptation 8
2. Context in textbook 8
2.1. The term “context” 8
2.2. Lead- in context 9
2.3. The role of context in learning English 10
3. Need analysis 10
3.1. Definition of needs 10
3.2. Need analysis in language teaching 11
4. Description of the study‟s settings 11

4.1. The current English syllabus 11
4.2. The teachers 12
4.3. The learners 12
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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13
1. Subjects of the study 13
2. Data collection and procedure 13
3. Method of data analysis 14
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 15
1. An overview of lead- in contexts in textbook New Headway elementary 15
2. General evaluation about the textbook New Headway elementary 15
3. Detailed evaluation about the textbook 18
3.1. Students‟ attitudes towards the topics and lead- in contexts 18
3.2. Teachers‟ observation on students‟ reflections 20
3.3. The rate on average 22
4. Teachers‟ use of contexts in the textbook 23
5. Student need analysis 24
6. Conclusion 27
CHAPTER 4: ADAPTING CONTEXTS IN TEXTBOOK NEW HEADWAY
ELEMENTARY 28
1. Criteria for the adaptation 28
2. Method for the adaptation 28
3. Problematic lead- in contexts and the adaptations 29
3.1. Context 1 29
3.2. Context 2 32
3.3. Context 3 32
3.4. Context 4 36
3.5. Context 5 36

CONCLUSION 39
1. Summary of the study 39
2. Implications from the study 39
3. Limitations of the study 40
4. Suggestions for further study 40
REFERENCES 41
APPENDICES

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LIST OF ABREVIATIONS


VIC
Vietnam- Hungary Industrial College
EFL
English as Foreign Language

VII
LIST OF CHARTS, AND TABLES
Charts
Chart 1: Overall rating of the textbook
Chart 2a: Students‟ overall evaluation of the topics
Chart 2b: Students‟ detailed evaluation of the topics
Chart 2c: Students‟ attitude toward unfamiliar contexts
Chart 3a: Teachers‟ overall observation about students‟ reflection on topics
Chart 3b: Teachers‟ detailed observation about students‟ reflection on topics
Chart 3c: Teachers‟ attitude toward unfamiliar contexts
Chart 4a: Students‟ overall evaluation about the topics (in average)
Chart 4b: Students‟ detailed evaluation about the topics (in average)
Chart 5a: Students‟ overall evaluation about the lead- in contexts
Chart 5b: Students‟ detailed evaluation about the lead- in contexts
Chart 5c: Students‟ attitude toward unfamiliar lead- in contexts
Chart 5d: Students‟ attitude toward unfamiliar lead- in contexts
Chart 6a: Teachers‟ overall observation about students‟ reflection on lead- in contexts
Chart 6b: Teachers‟ detailed observation about students‟ reflection on lead- in contexts
Chart 6c: Teachers‟ attitude toward unfamiliar lead- in contexts
Chart 7a: Students‟ overall evaluation about the lead- in contexts (in average)
Chart 7b: Students‟ detailed evaluation about the lead- in contexts (in average)
Chart 8a: Teachers‟ overall use of lead- in contexts
Chart 8b: Teachers‟ detailed use of lead- in contexts
Chart 9: Student age demographic
Chart 10: Student sex demographic
Chart 11: Students‟ living place
Chart 12: Students‟ English learning experience
Chart 13: Students‟ knowledge analysis

Chart 14: Students‟ learning motivation
Chart 15: Students‟ learning purpose
Chart 16: Students‟ using material
Chart 17: Students‟ preferred lead- in activities
Chart 18: Students‟ type of context
Chart 19: Students‟ most difficult facing with the textbook
Chart 20: Students‟ attitude toward foreign and Vietnamese contexts
Tables
Table 1: English syllabus for VIC intermediate training level
Table 2: An overview of lead- in contexts in the course book New Headway elementary

VIII
INTRODUCTION

1.7.Statement of problem and the rationale for the study
"You can only learn what you already know”- Sufi Proverb.
Reading in many documents and learning from reality, It can be recognized that I
English now a day has no longer been the language of English speaking countries but it has
been becoming the dominant global language. This has been changing considerably views
and beliefs of teachers and learners in teaching and learning the language. If the traditional
belief that learning English must follow a “standard language” of native speakers and the
culture of them must be integrated into learning materials as a rigid principle, it is now
considered to be more flexible. The context issue of the teaching and learning has never
been taken into account so thoroughly like that before. The appearance of the terms such as
“teaching in context”, “learning in context”, “from communicative to context- based” etc
are evidences. Consequently, teaching and learning in local areas should be reviewed,
especially the use of course book as the central and nearly unique material in many
colleges currently should be changed toin some extents.
Course book, also called textbook has been used commonly as the only learning
material in English classrooms in most Vietnamese colleges until now. Viet- Hung

Industrial College (VIC) is also among those. A pilot survey showed that there is 56% of
students at the college use the textbook as the unique learning material. It was seen through
observations that 90% of the classes used this material alone in acquiring English in class.
The textbook, which is availably designed and, is taught commonly with available
contents, has been causing many problems in teaching and learning. The contexts in the
lead-in phase of the book which were used to present and practice the new language
unrealistically have resulted in low effectiveness in learning.
While teachers “tend to teach the textbook itself, rather than use it as a resource for
creativity and inspiration, a learning tool for their learners and a means to an end in their
teaching (Cunningsworth, 1995: 139) is a big problem, there are many researchers who
make clear various problems with the material. O‟Neill (1982: 153) suggests that the
textbook can only provide props and framework for classroom teaching; and no textbook
can expect to appeal to all teachers or learners at a particular level. McDonough and Shaw
(1993: 83) also propose that textbooks, internally coherent although they may be, they may
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IX
not be totally applicable. Swales (1980) contends that any given course book will be
incapable of catering for the diversity of needs which exists in most language classrooms.
Allwright (1981: 9) also maintains that given the complexity of the whole business of the

management of language learning, even with the best intentions no single textbook can
possibly work in all situations. Sheldon (1988: 239) addresses lack of cultural
appropriateness of some textbooks, i.e. the thinking underlying the textbook writing may
be different from or in conflict with the assumptions held by the teachers. It is obviously
that using textbook as unique teaching materialhave been recognizing the being more
important role day by day of English as a global language is no longer the good choice.
Indeed, although the teachers at the college have tried to apply new teaching
methods as well as improve their techniques in class teaching, their students still and I have
shared with my students this experience each time I come to class. I have tried my best to
help them learn this language by applying all methodological knowledge of
communicative approach that I learned from books and my training course but the result
was not in my expectation. My students still keep making the same mistakes and unable to
build their communicative skills. which I have made every effort to correct in writing and
speaking.The boring and stressful atmosphere often covers most English classes of
students at intermediate level, who have low English proficiency when they enter the
college and always show less motivation to learn it. A pilot survey by the researcher
showed that one of the big difficulties for the students of this level is the context of the
lessons. Most of them said that they feel the context of the language is like something
coming from the sky and they cannot understand why they have to learn these strange
things, what they are going to do with these knowledge as they are looking forwards to
finding a job as a worker or a staff in a national company or factory.
Therefore the problem should be concerned by the teachers among many other
problems related to the ineffectiveness in English teaching. More specifically, textbook
adaptation should be considered an important and indispensable issue during language
teaching process because it is the teachers but not language experts who have “direct
personal knowledge of their classroom teaching” can understand their learners most and
know the most suitable ways to meet the learners‟ demand.
In addition, adapting their materials allows the teachers to achieve more
compatibility and fitness between the textbook and the teaching environment, and

X
maximize the value of the book for the benefit of their particular learners and for the most
effective teaching outcomes to achieve. It would consequently lead to the improvement of
the textbook in the sense of being able to suit the particular situation and empowering and
reskilling the teachers (Apple and Jungck, 1990; Shannon, 1987). Richards (1998: 135)
argues that teachers should approach textbooks with the expectation that deletion,
adaptation, and extension will be normally needed for the materials to work effectively
with their class.
Within the background above, the research was conducted to find out more effective
way to adapt the textbook in order to fit the particular learners‟ learning. Through
investigating on the students and teacher‟s evaluation on the textbook, truth could be
revealed and used as a basis for the adaptations at present and in the future. “In every
problem there is a gift”, the saying of Jean Zukowski/ Faust in a journal by Alan Seaman,
Ph.D also an inspiration for the author to choose this topic. The study really gives the
researcher a chance to make theories into practice, improve her skills in making teaching
plans, and most of all make her teaching more effective.
Especially, their ability to speak also showed less improvement. And the results
that showed in strictly in writing tests have made me really disappointed.
I stared to mind the problem and tried to think about the reasons. If what I resisted
many years agobefore that the teacher was the unique creator of the world and that it was
only necessary to have a good teacher in the learning process of students, now it have
changed my view. The only learning materialdocument my students hold in their hands,
the textbook, have has aeffected on their learning a lot. This enforces me to take effort in
studying and finding out some easier ways for my students to access language knowledge
while using this chief leaning document.
A pilot survey helped me recognize one of the big difficulties for the students of
intermediate vocational training level in learning English is the context of the lessons.
Most of them said that they feel the context of the language is like something whatcoming
from the sky and they cannotcan‟t understand why they have to learn these strange things,
what they are going to do with these knowledge as they are looking forwards to finding a

job as a worker or a staff in a national company or factory.
On the other hand, I have learned in my teacher training course that it is the
teachers, but not the experts, who are the most suitable for doing adaptation in their
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XI
language teaching because it is them who can understand best their learners and who know
how to make their learners achieve the expecting goals. I have also learned from a saying
of Jean Zukowski/ Faust in the journal by Alan Seaman, Ph.D that “In every problem there
is a gift”. This saying makes me more confident to do the research.
All the above reasons have inspired above enforce me to choose this topic for
study. The results of the study will enable, firstly to give myself a chance to make theories
into practice, secondly to improve my skills in making teaching plans and of course finally
to make my teaching more effective and my students‟ learning better.
2.8.Aims and objectiveso of the study

As mentioned from the above rationales, the study aims at finding out more effective
way to adapt the textbook in order to fit the learning of these particular learners. The
specific aims of the research are as follows:

 To investigate students‟ evaluations on the contexts of the current textbook.
 To find out about students‟ need on suitable contexts in their learning.
 To create suitable contexts for the current textbook in order to help the learners
access the material more easily.
.
 In order to To reduce student‟s difficulties in learning Englisha foreign language.
To improve the quality of teaching and learning in the college.
To find out more effective methods in teaching English for particular learners.
To practice studying and researching into an important field of material development in
foreign language teaching.
To achieve these aims and objectives above, the study mustmust answer three3
questions:
1. How do contexts in the current textbook cause difficulties for the learners?
2. What are the suitable contexts for the students to learn effectively?
3. How areto adapt these existingavailable contexts adapted?ts to meet the
students‟ interests?
3.9.Significance of the study

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cả aims và objectives vào như thế này. Có thể bỏ đi
objectives.
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đủ: How are the existing contexts adapted / hoặc
What are the ways of adapting the existing contexts
to ?
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Int is an attempt to bring scientific theories into practice in a particular teaching
environment. and for particular learners, t

Theis study iswill make one a great contribution to the non- stop innovation in teaching
methodology in the college. It brings new theoretical insights intoto the use of materials,
especially use of textbook in teaching English methedological theory because there hasn‟t
not yet been any research into textbook adaptation aapplied in the college so far. There
isn‟t a textbook adaptation that bases on methodological theory in the college.

On the other hand, Ithe study can alsot brings practical benefits to English teaching
and learning in the college. It provides useful and specific clues on designing suitable
contexts for presenting new language to the teachers who teach English for the learners of
vocational training at intermediate level. This It creates a very important skill of adapting
skill materials is considered to be very important for an EFL teacher in teaching job at the
college.

4.10. Scope of the study
As many language experts said, when we use a textbook for particular learners, there
will be so many inappropriateness of it that teachers should consider to adapt. For example,
there are common adaptations applied to textbook focus on activities, skills, methodology,
texts etc. This thesis aimed at studying the contexts of the course book which is currently
used in the college of the researcher. However, recognizing that the research topic is too
large with so many types of contexts designed in the textbook as well as the limitation of
time allowed and the limited number of pages, the study can only cover the kind of
contexts that are used at the beginning of each lesson to present new language. And
because the contexts are used in the lead- in stage of each lesson, the author
contemporarily calls them “lead- in contexts” and presumes to use this term throughout the
next parts of the thesis. The study concerns these issues:
 Briefly review the topic as well as the lead- in contexts of the textbook
 Analyze students‟ evaluations on the textbook concerning topics and contexts
 Survey teachers‟ use of the lead- in contexts in the textbook
 Analyze students‟ need on familiar learning contexts
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này.
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 Find out the most problematic lead- in contexts
 Suggest some suitable lead- in contexts as samples for the adaptation Em viết
tiếp nhé!
11. Method of the study
According to Huchinton and Waters (1987), the best methodology for studying the

needs of any particular group of students is to use such method as questionnaires, follow-
up interviews, and collection of authentic texts. Therefore, in order to find out answers to
the research questions mentioned above, survey question about naires, a quantitative
method in research was exploited to collect opinions about the course book as well as the
teachers and students‟ attitudes towards the contexts, used to teach new language at the
beginning of each lesson in the textbook New Headway elementary. Through the data
collected from the questionnaire, truth value of persuasive statistics concerning the
investigated issues could be obtained. In addition, a follow- up interview, a qualitative
method in research, was undertaken to make the data clearer and more valuable.
On the other hand, information from other sources such as the Internet, journals and
books was collected, summarized, analyzed and synthesized. Collecting information and
analyzing data from other sources also equipped the researcher with background
knowledge and literature of the investigated issues.
Through analyzing the information and data collected, the researcher have flexibly
taken advantages of all the above mentioned methods as a source of evidence to enhance
the persuasive value of the study.
12. Design of the study
The paper includes four chapters altogether.
Chapter 1- Literature Review reviews theoretical background on which the whole
study is based on, including theoretical issues of using contexts in presenting new
language.
Chapter 2- Methodology describes in detail the methods and procedures that the
researcher use in conducting this research.
Chapter 3- Data analysis and findings presents the results collected together with the
author‟s discusses findings and possible inferences from such findings.
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Chapter 4- Adapting contexts in the textbook New Headway elementary provides
some criteria for adapting the lead- in contexts of the textbook, some sample adapted
contexts and some suggestions for further study.

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews the theories related to textbook evaluation and adaptation in
general and context in particular. In addition, it also concerns theories about need analysis.
And as an exception, a description of the study‟s setting is presented in this part. All of
these serve as the basis for an investigation into students‟ evaluation on the textbook and
their need on suitable contexts for the textbook which is carried out and presented in the
next chapter.
1. Textbook in EFL
1.1. Definition of terms “textbook” in the study
The term „textbook‟ is defined as „books that are used to teach students; in the past,
textbooks only referred to printed books, but nowadays the term also includes various kind
of materials such as discs, visual media (video, film footage), and electronic publications
such as electronic books, CD- ROMs (KEDI Cyber Textbook Museum,
In this paper
textbook or course book will be used interchangeably to refer to books intended by their
producers to be used as core teaching materials.
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1.2. The role of textbook in teaching and learning English
Textbooks are key component in most language programs. In some situations, they
serve as the basis for much of the language input the learners receive and the language
practice that occurs in the classroom. They may provide the basis for the content of the
lessons, the balance of the skills taught and the kind of the language practice the students
take part in. In other situations, the textbooks may serve primarily to supplement the
teacher‟s instruction. For learners, the textbooks may provide the source of contact they
have with the language apart from the input provided by the teacher. In the case of
inexperienced teachers, textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training- they
provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as the formats that teachers can use.
Much of the language teaching that occurs through out the world today could not take
place without the extensive use of commercial textbooks. Learning how to use and adapt
textbooks is hence an important part of teacher‟s professional knowledge (Richards, 2001:
254-256),.
However, textbooks also have limitations. They may contain inauthentic language, they
may distort the content, they may not reflect the students' needs, they can deskill teachers,
and they are expensive (Richards, 2001). Therefore, the teachers should evaluate the
teaching materials before using it in teaching.
1.3. Textbook evaluation
As mentioned above, textbook takes an important role as it has many advantages.
However the material also contains many disadvantages so it should be necessary to
evaluate textbook before applying it into teaching and learning.
Cunningsworth (1995) proposes four criteria for evaluating textbooks: (1) They
should correspond to the learner's needs. They should match the aims and objectives of the
language- learning program; (2) They should reflect the uses (present or future) which the
learners will make of the language. Textbooks should be chosen so that they will help

equip students to use language effectively for their own purposes; (3) They should take
account of students' needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes, without
dogmatically imposing a rigid "method"; and (4) They should have a clear role as a support
for learning. Like teachers, they mediate between the target language and the learner.
Based on Tomlinson‟s (1998) conception of what constitutes effective language teach-
ing materials, a good textbook is believed to have the following features:
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 They should attract the students‟ curiosity, interest and attention.
 Textbooks should help students to feel at ease.
 Textbooks should help students to develop confidence.
 Textbooks should meet students‟ needs.
 Textbooks should expose the students to language in authentic use.
 Textbooks should provide the students with opportunities to use the target language to
achieve communicative purposes.
 Textbooks should take into account that the positive effects of language teaching are
usually delayed.

 Textbooks should take into account that students differ in learning styles.
 Textbooks should take into account that students differ in affective factors.
 Textbooks should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic
and emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities.
1.4. Textbook adaptation
Despite the great effort that textbook writers make to meet the needs of the intended
users, textbooks are subject to adaptation when they are actually used in the classroom.
After all, most commercial textbooks are not written for any particular class. Maley
(1998:281 in Tomlinson, 1998) suggested the following options to adapt materials:
 Omission: the teacher leaves out things deemed inappropriate, offensive, unproductive,
etc., for the particular group.
 Addition: where there seems to be inadequate coverage, teachers may decide to add to
textbooks, either in the form of texts or exercise material.
 Reduction: where the teacher shortens an activity to give it less weight or emphasis.
 Extension: where an activity is lengthened in order to give it an additional dimension.
(For example, a vocabulary activity is extended to draw attention to some syntactic
patterning.)
 Rewriting/modification: teacher may occasionally decide to rewrite material, espe-
cially exercise material, to make it more appropriate, more “communicative”, more
demanding, more accessible to their students, etc.
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 Replacement: text or exercise material which is considered inadequate, for whatever
reason, may be replaced by more suitable material. This is often culled from other
resource materials.
 Re-ordering: teachers may decide that the order in which the textbooks are presented
is not suitable for their students. They can then decide to plot a different course through
the textbooks from the one the writer has laid down.
 Branching: teachers may decide to add options to the existing activity or to suggest
alternative pathways through the activities. (For example, an experiential route or an
analytical route.)
2. Context in textbook
2.1. The term „context”
Nowadays, the phrase “teaching language in context” is no longer strange to teaching
methodologists and modern teachers. It implies that when teaching language, the teachers
should bear in mind not only showing students what language means (language
knowledge), but they also have to show them how it is used (language
use/communication).
The simplest definition comes from the Wiktionary, „context‟ is defined as „the text in
which a word or passage appears and which helps ascertain its meaning; On the other hand,
the communicative language teaching approach sees context as “a dynamic, not a static
concept: it is to be understood as the surroundings, in the widest sense, that enable the
participants in the communication process to interact, and that make the linguistic
expressions of their interaction intelligible” (Kirsten Malmkicer and John Williams, 1998
cited from Mey, 1993: 38).
However the explanation of the term, which supports best for the study, should be
in the theory of Harmer (1996). Here it is defined as “„the situation or body of information
that causes language to be used”. In this theory, Harmer points out that the context for
introducing new language should have such characteristics as: (1) It should show what the
new language means and how it is used, (2)It should be interesting for the student, and (3)
It should provide the background for a lot of language use.

For example, in the textbook New Headway elementary, to introduce the verb BE (am/
is/ are) at the present simple tense, a context of two friends Paula and Rosa greeting and
giving their self introduction in an office is offered. Similarly, a collect of 12 everyday
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XVIII
objects is used as context to present singular and plural nouns; read and listen to the
telephone numbers is context of teaching numbers; reading personal information in Keesha
Anderson‟s identity card is the context to use verb BE (am/ is/ are) in questions and
negative, etc.
Base on this theory and on the difficulties that the students have faced with during
learning English in unfamiliar contexts available in the textbook, the researcher would try
to design more suitable contexts for her students to help them understand the language
more easily and to use it more effectively in communicative situations.
2.2. Lead- in context
In Harmer's theory, a model for introducing new language is offered which has five
components: Lead-in, Elicitation, Explanation, Accurate reproduction, and immediate
creativity. During the lead-in the context is introduced and the meaning or use of the new
language is demonstrated. This is the stage at which students may hear or see some
language (including the new language) and during which students may become aware of
certain key concepts. The key concepts are those pieces of information about the context
that are vital if students are to understand the context and thus the meaning and use of the
new language. Because the scope of this thesis is to study the contexts which are used to
present new language at the lead- in stage of each lesson, the researcher presume to use the

term “lead- in context” to imply the contexts offered at the beginning of each lesson to help
students recognize the meaning of situation in which learning structure is used.
2.3. The role of context in learning language
The key to understanding language in context is to start not with language, but with
context (Hymes 1972: xix). The role of context is central in language learning. It‟s
common that EFL students don‟t really understand the various meanings of new words in
different contexts. That‟s why EFL students don‟t know how to apply the words they have
learned practically in various contexts. It‟s fundamental for teachers to provide a rich
context for students‟ language learning and practice. For instance, linguistic contextual
information enhances adolescents‟ interpretation of idioms (Nippold & Martin, 1989). The
contextual cues surrounding a particular word can help readers get that‟s meaning. In
contrast, context-reduced language will be hard for readers to tolerate (Brown, 2001).
Consequently, it‟s more effective for EFL students to learn language in meaningful
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XIX
contexts than learn isolated words through memorization and drilling
(
3. Need analysis
3.1. Definition of needs
All courses are based on a perceived need of some source. Richterich (1973) considers
language needs as “the requirements, which arise from the use of a language in the

multitude of situation, which may arise in the social lives of the individuals and groups”.
By analyzing the language needs of a specific group of learners, we should be able to
identify those notions and functions that will be most valuable to teach.
Another definition comes from goal- oriented perspective, needs can be defined as
what students should be able to do at the end of their language course or “what the user-
institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program
of language instruction” (Mountfort, 1981:27).
In this thesis, the definition of Brindley (1984: 28) would be employed. According to
him, needs refer to wants, desires, demands expectations, motivations, lacks, constrains,
and requirements. From this point of view, the needs of students may be in a great
harmony or in opposition to the requirements of the course designers.
3.2. Need analysis in language teaching
A needs analysis is the method by which a teacher finds out and records what it is that
a student wants or needs to study in their class. According to Iwai et al. (1999), the term
needs analysis generally refers to the activities that are involved in collecting information
that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the needs of a
particular group of students.
Conducting a needs analysis may just about be the most important thing to do for
language class. This applies particularly to smaller groups or individuals. So what is it?
Basically, it‟s a way of finding out what the students want and need to learn. It consists of
gauging their current ability level, and what they want to achieve. It goes back in part to
finding out the reason why the students are learning English. If the answer they give to this
question is too generic to be useful, some well-pointed questions will help to get the most
from them. A needs analysis can be conducted either in conversation or by getting the
students to fill out a form. The study utilizes questionnaires to collect data of this type.
4. Description of the study‟s setting
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XX
4.1. The current English syllabus
The syllabus was designed by a group of teachers, approved by the Board of Deans of
the Foreign Language Department , and then applied for all classes of the intermediate
training level in the college. Its title is „Basic English for elementary learners‟. The class
time takes 120 periods (90 hours) and it is separated into 2 parts, one part for the first term
of the first year students and another for the second term in the same year. It is assigned as
a compulsory subject in the college.
The objectives of the course is to provide students with basic grammar knowledge to
help them develop communicative skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing at
level A (according to the ranking of English proficiency in Vietnam).
The content of the syllabus is based closely on the textbook. It includes 14 lessons of
which each lesson focuses on particular grammatical structures, functional speech, and
specific language skills. After every four lessons, there‟s a test which is usually in the
format of reading and writing, applied to collect the students‟ feedback on learning and to
assess their learning progress. These progress tests account for 25 percent of the total mark.
The final test is carried out in the writing format at the end of the course. It makes up 50
percent of the whole assessments. (See detail content in appendix 1 on page I)

4.2. The teachers
The teaching staff includes 14 teachers who are aged from 28 to 50, with their teaching
experiences ranging from 4 to 25 years, among whom 12 are female teachers. Most of
them have BA degree in language teaching; only 4 have been trained in MA courses. The
fact that the teachers are mostly females causes many disadvantages in their jobs because
they are at the age of having and raising small children. So they don‟t have enough time
investing in their jobs.
As the result, most teachers mainly choose traditional way of teaching in their classes,
which is direct- instructions, a very common teacher- centered approach. Here „the teacher
is seen as the source of all knowledge and controls the flow of information‟ (Holly Boyko-
These teachers are used
to grammar- translation methods and form- focused instructions. Another reason for
choosing this teaching style is the limited time designed in the syllabus. With this reason, it
is not surprised that the teachers have chosen the less time- consuming teaching method.
Comment [P7]: Em có cho là người thông qua
chương trình giảng d y l à trưởng khoa/ BCN khoa/
hay trường???
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XXI
Most of the teacher said they usually use cassette player as teaching aid in their class
because there are listening parts in the textbook. Other while, they don‟t use teaching aids
(such as additional pictures, projector or videos etc) because it takes time to edit and plan
the lessons. The main teaching materials are textbook New Headway elementary, teacher‟s
book and the textbooks‟ CDs. According to the author‟s survey, 75 percent of them often
prefer using available texts, tasks and exercises in the textbook during the class time.
4.3. The learners
Although this is a technical college, the

number of female students is approximately
equal to the number of male students. The
students isare aged from 18 to 25 and they
mainly live in rural areas. These students have
learnt English since they wereas at school
(from 3 to 10 years). However, many teachers
assessed that the students‟ English proficiency in this training level is very low. Survey on
student self evaluation also showed that (figures in chart 4.3). Other while, it seems that the
learning motivation in these learners is not high because most of them prefer focusing their
learning on profession. Only few of them focus on learning English for academic purpose.
According to the researcher‟s observation, most students have passive learning styles.
They commonly choose individual learning. Their shyness in learning foreign language
makes them rarely show their opinions in class which is very difficult for teachers to carry
out speaking activities in class. However they show a lot of excitements on the topics
related to their interests such as sport, entertainment, food, music, etc. It is obviously that
what knowledge the students know well, they will be willing to talk about it.
There is also a fact that many students pay too much attention on driving their learning
to an end of examinations. This strategy may be affected by the improper requirements of
the syllabus and assessment methods. The tests designed in writing format may make them
focused on learning grammatical structures rather than building skills. As the result, the
language program objectives achieved are very low.
On using learning materials, it can be seen that most students in this training level use
textbook as the main and only document during their learning process, both using it for
learning new language knowledge in class and doing exercises at home. Some of them also
Chart 4.3. Students' self evaluation about English proficiency
13.5
37.5
40
5
4

0
10
20
30
40
50
Level 0- 2 3- 4 5- 6 7- 8 9 10
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XXII
use English- Vietnamese Dictionary but very few of them use Vietnamese- English
Dictionary which limits their chance to increase their vocabulary a lot.

CHAPTER II. METHODOLOGY
1. Subjects of the study
The research is conducted to meet English learning demand of the students at
intermediate vocational training of the college, so the students at this level were defined as
the participants. In addition, the teachers of the college‟s English department were also
chosen to be the participants because they are people who work directly with the students
during the learning process. Therefore the results of the study could be reliable.
Following the design above, 200 first- year students were selected randomly in 4
classes that the researcher teaches. Their ages ranged from 20 to 22. They have just
finished learning the textbook New Headway elementary, so they could give the best
evaluations on the material. Besides, the survey was also carried out with the participation
of 14 teachers in English department. They were between 28 and 50 years old, with their
teaching experiences ranging from 4 to 25 years. The follow- up interview was undertaken
with 15 students chosen randomly among 200 students above.
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XXIII
2. Data collection and procedure
This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research method to collect data
because their instruments such as questionnaire and interview were considered to be
relatively precise and time saving to do in educational researching (Nunan 1992: 140). By
this method the research could obtain a “snapshot” of conditions, attitudes and beliefs of
the learners and teachers toward using the current textbook at the college. Specifically, a
series of questionnaires were used to gather information about students and teachers‟
evaluation of the textbook New Headway elementary in such aspects as overall rating the
course book, topic evaluation, lead- in contexts evaluation and teacher‟s adaptation with
the contexts. In addition, other questionnaires were also delivered to the students to survey
their need in English learning. Following, the researcher carried out a group interview
among students and teachers to make the data clearer and more reliable.
Firstly, the survey questionnaire was conducted. The questionnaires were divided

into two parts. The first part surveyed background information about learners such as their
sexes, ages, living places, experiences, purposes, motivations and interests in learning
English. Closed questions were mainly used because they were considered to be easier to
collate and analyze in the later research stage. There were two open questions used to find
more about student difficulties in learning and using the material. Other series of questions
focus on student needs were also integrated in this part to survey their ambitions on study
skill and communicative contents, especially focused on the contexts of each lesson. The
criteria chosen above were based on the checklist of analyzing the learning and teaching
situation for the best course book selection of Cunningsworth (1995).
The second part of the questionnaire was designed to finds out about learners and
teachers‟ evaluations on the current textbook. These questionnaires focused on topics and
contexts of the book, especially lead- in contexts. The purpose was to know about the
learners‟ attitudes toward the contexts of textbook. Similar to the first part, most questions
were closed types. There were only two open questions designed to learn more about the
reasons why the negative feedbacks happened. The designed questions were based on
closed question types in survey questionnaires model by Nunnan (1992: 143), cited in
Youngman (1986).
Following, a follow –up group interview was undertaken after the questionnaire
survey results were found out. The research issues which are unclear and specific were dug
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XXIV
deeper to find out how the contexts cause difficulty for the students and what kind of
changes they expect to be done in the textbook.
All the data collection methods and duration above was believed to help the
researcher find out appropriate suggestions for her research problem in the following part
of the study.
2. Methods of data analysis
This study utilized quantitative and qualitative method in analyzing the data.
Quantitative analysis processes the data in the form of numbers and statistics. According

to that, the data collected from questionnaires was coded into charts of different
categories such as the attitudes of students towards the topics of the textbook, the
teachers‟ observation on student reflections on the lead- in contexts of the textbook etc.
The qualitative analysis is carried out with the data in form of words after the fulfillment
of the quantitative analysis. The result of the follow- up interview was analyzed in depth
to learn more about the reasons of problematic contexts emerged during the quantitative
data collection. These methods were applied because they were believed to be effective
instruments to find out valuable and reliable research results. Another reason is that they
are not time- consuming methods.
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

1. An overview of lead- in contexts in the course book New Headway
(See the appendix on page )
2. General evaluations about the textbook New Headway elementary
In order to have a general view on how contexts in the current textbook cause
difficulties for the learners, overall evaluations which focus on rating the whole book, its
topics and its lead- in contexts of each lesson will be demonstrated and discussed.
Firstly, in the overall
evaluation according to the
survey, the course book New
Headway elementary is
commonly rated „good‟ by
teachers (76%) and „normal‟ by
9
0
42
75
45.5
25
3.5

0
0
20
40
60
80
100
Excelent Good Fair Poor
Chart 1. Overall rating of the textbook
Percentage of students
Percentage of teachers
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XXV
students (46.6%) (Figure in chart 1). This can be inferred that the book, to some extent,
hasn‟t gained the students‟ interest yet. Most students and teachers in the group interview
said that they are most pleased with the design and organization of the book, but 30% of
students argued that there seems to have some problems with the content. For instance,
some lessons offer irrelevant contexts with students‟ background knowledge. The
vocabulary necessary for students to express ideas in their particular situations is not

enough. This is not surprising because most commercial course books are not designed for
particular learners.
Secondly, it can be seen
that the topics of the lessons
haven‟t really attracted the
students yet. There are only
40.5% of students like the
topics while 41.5% of them
keep neutral attitude (Figure
in chart 4a).
Separately, the result shows that most students rate the topics „normal‟ while the
teachers observed that most of them like the topics (48.8%) (Figure in charts 2a and 3a).
Most students (57%) agree that the topics they don‟t like the topics partly because they
don‟t understand the situations inside (Figure in chart 2c), while the 92% of teachers agree
with the reason above (Figure in chart 3c).
Chart 2a. Students' overall evaluation of the topics
13.8
32.2
40.2
13.8
0
10
20
30
40
50
Quite like Like Neutral Dislike

Chart 3a. Teachers' overall observation about the students' reflection on topics
5.4

48.8
42.9
3.6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Quite like Like Neutral Dislike

Chart 4a. Students' ovarall evaluation about the topics (average)
9.6
40.5
41.5
0.0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Quite like Like Neutral Dislike
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Comment [P8]: Em diÔn ®¹t l¹i chç nµy
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XXVI
Chart 2c. Students' attitude on unfamiliar contexts
13%
44%
16%
27%
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Neutral

Chart 3c. Teachers' attitude on unfamiliar topics
17%
75%
8%
0%
Completely agree
Partly agree
Disagree
Other views

Finally, for the purpose and scope of the study, the lead- in contexts of each lesson is
taken into consideration in this survey. The result shows that most students are neutral in
this evaluating (36.4%). Especially, the following level of the evaluation is dislike which

takes 16.7% (Figure in chart 7a). This may be inferred that most lead- in contexts of each
lesson are not attractive enough for
the students.
Separately, the students‟ overall
evaluation on lead- in contexts
demonstrates neutral level at 30.4%
and dislike level at 12.6% while
teachers‟ overall observations show
student neutral level at 34.5% and
dislike level at 20.8% (Figure in charts 5a and 6a). Most students agree that they don‟t like
the lead- in contexts which are far unfamiliar with their background knowledge (53%), and
that they are more willing to learn if the situations are familiar to them (82%) (Figure in
charts 5c and 5d). Detailed analysis of students‟ neutral and dislike attitudes will be
demonstrated in the following parts.
17.0
32.0
38.4
12.6
0
10
20
30
40
50
Quite like Like Neutral Dislike
Chart 5a. Students' overall evaluation about the lead- in contexts

12.5
32.1
34.5

20.8
0
10
20
30
40
Quite like Like Neutral Dislike
Chart 6a. Teachers' overall observation on students' reflection with lead- in contexts

14.8
32.1
36.4
16.7
0
10
20
30
40
Quite like Like Neutral Dislike
Chart 7a. Students' overall evaluation about the lead- in contexts (average)
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XXVII
Chart 5c. Students' attitude about unfamiliar contexts
12%
41%
22%
25%

Chart 5d. Students' attitude about familiar contexts
36%
46%
6%
12%
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Neutral

3. Detailed evaluations about the textbook
3.1. Students‟ attitudes toward topics and lead- in contexts
In detailed evaluation on each lesson of the textbook, although most students show
slightly interest in all the topics, the noticeable demonstrations are neutral attitudes. The
topics which get common favorite are those of easy accessible ones or interesting to the
students and the less favorite topics are those of more difficult to say about. Here are the
top five topics of each type (Figure in chart 2b):
Top interesting topics
Top uninteresting topics
Topic 1. Greeting and introduction
Topic 4. Weekday and weekend activities

Topic 6. Speaking about abilities
Topic 9. Food and drinks
Topic 12. Future plans
Topic 2. Introduction about other people
Topic 3. Talking about jobs
Topic 7. Telling about the life in the past
Topic 8. Events happened in the past.
Topic 11. Describing people

Chart 2b. Student's detailed evaluation about the topics
25
10
6
18
14
19
7
7
27
8
6
15
12
22
40
36
30
35
38
30

20
20
47
28
27
43
27
34
32
48
53
38
40
39
40
40
22
47
49
36
47
35
4
7
12
10
10
13
33
33

4
18
20
7
15
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 4
Topic 5
Topic 6
Topic 7
Topic 8
Topic 9
Topic 10
Topic 11
Topic 12
Topic 13
Topic 14
Quite like
Like
Neutral

Dislike

In evaluating about the lead- in contexts, it can be seen that the most interesting
contexts are those of easy and accessible or interesting ones to the students because
they like to talk about what they know well about. Here the contexts are as follows:
Context 1. Paula and Rosa introduce to each other about name and country
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Comment [P9]: Em diÔn ®¹t l¹i chç nµy

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Comment [P10]: Em diÔn ®¹t l¹i chç nµy

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XXVIII
Context 6. People‟s abilities in work and sport
Context 9. Everyday food and drinks
Context 10. Comparing life in city and the country
In contrast, the common unfavourite contexts are those which sound unattractive to
the students or unfamiliar to their background knowledge. These contexts usually result
in a situation that students keep silent during all the class time. Five top unfavourite
contexts are as follows (Figure in chart 5b):
Context 2. Keesha‟s personal identity cards
Context 7. The life of poetess Mattie Smith
Context 11. Describing people and activities happening
Context 12. Rosie and her teachers‟ plan for the future
Context 14. Talking about countries you have ever been to
Chart 5b. Students' detailed evaluation about the lead- in contexts
22
10
15
15
13
20
15
21
28
19
13
10
22
18
39

29
34
33
35
37
26
36
39
36
24
23
33
28
35
48
41
41
41
36
44
31
26
33
45
49
35
36
5
15
11

12
12
8
16
13
8
13
19
19
11
19
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Context 1
Context 2
Context 3
Context 4
Context 5
Context 6
Context 7
Context 8
Context 9
Context 10
Context 11
Context 12

Context 13
Context 14
Quite like
Like
Neutral
Dislike

Taking the five contexts above into consideration in term of relevance with their
topics, we can infer some possible findings. For instance, contexts 2, 7 and 11,
belonging to topics 2, 7 and 11 which get most neutral evaluations and rather high
interested evaluations, show that both topic and lead- in context are unattractive ones to
the learners; However, topics 12 and 14, while considered unfavourite, belong to
topics which have most interest or rather high percent of interest. This is understood
that while students may like the topic very much, the uninterested contexts can
relatively reduce their motivation in learning.
3.1. Teachers‟ observation on student reflections
It can be seen that there is a relative difference between the direct survey results
from students and those from teachers on the same issue. The teachers‟ observation on
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