VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
PHẠM THỊ HẢI YẾN
ANGLO-SAXON BASED OR GLOBAL BASED CONTENT:
AN EVALUATION OF THE COURSE BOOK NEW ENGLISH FILE
PRE- INTERMEDIATE FOR FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR
STUDENTS AT ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY

(ĐIỂM VỀ NỘI DUNG CUỐN GIÁO TRÌNH NEW ENGLISH FILE PRE- INTERMEDIATE
DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐIỆN
LỰC THEO NỘI DUNG ĐỊNH HƯỚNG ANH MỸ HOẶC ĐỊNH HƯỚNG TOÀN CẦU)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014
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DECLARATION

I certify my authorship of the minor thesis entitled “Anglo-Saxon based or
global based content: an evaluation of the course book New English File Pre-
Intermediate for first year non-English major students at Electric Power University”
in terms of the statement of requirements for the thesis and the field study reports in
Masters’ programs is the result of my own work, except where otherwise
acknowledged and that this minor thesis or any parts of the same had not been
submitted for a higher degree to any other universities or institution. I agree that the
origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study
and research. Hanoi, 2014 Phạm Thị Hải Yến
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ABSTRACT

This study aims at examining whether Anglo-Saxon culture or global culture is
disseminated in the course book New English File Pre-Intermediate. The data are
collected by using survey questionnaire, interview and document analysis. 150 first
year non-English major students and 5 lecturers at Electric Power University are
employed as participants. The content of the afore-mentioned course book is analyzed
to extract all the possible kinds of culture included in each module. The study finds
that both Anglo Saxon culture and global culture are embedded in the course book;
however, the former is more predominant than the latter. Based on those findings, the
study provides some suggestions for teachers as well as students to improve the quality
of teaching and learning English as an international language.
Table 3.1.1: Students’ opinions about learning English integrated into culture
Table 3.1.4: Students’ opinions about the kinds of culture presented in the course book
Table 3.1.7: Students’ opinions about some difficulties of learning English integrated
into culture
Table 3.3.1: Frequency and percentage of the cultural activities in the textbook
Table 3.3.2: Frequency and percentage of Anglo-Saxon culture and global culture in
the textbook
Table 3.3.3: The presence of Anglo-Saxon culture in the textbook
Table 3.3.4: The presence of global culture in the textbook
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION………………………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………… ii
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………… iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, FIGURES AND TABLES…………………………iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………… v
PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………… 1
1. Rationale…………………………………………………………………… 1
2. Research Aims and Research Questions……………………………………. 2
3.Significance…………………………………………………………………. 2
4.Scope……………………………………………………………………… 3
5.Design……………………………………………………………………… 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………………… 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………… 4
1.1 Course books in Language Teaching and Learnin………………………4
1.1.1Definitions of course book, text book and material…………………………… 4
1.1.2 Characteristics of a course book…………………………………………… 5
1.2 Culture in course books………………………………………………… 7
1.2.1 What is culture? …7

3. Limitations of the study………………………………………………………40
4. Suggestions for further research…………………………………………….41
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………… 42
APPENDIX 1……………………………………………………………………… I
APPENDIX 2………………………………………………………………………. V
APPENDIX 3……………………………………………………………………… VI

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Today, English is considered as an international language, and more and more
people use it for a variety of specific purposes. As a result, choosing methodologies,
cultures, and models to teach English as a global language, not a normal language, is
not an easy issue. McKay (2002) states that “it is imperative we examine what goals
and approaches in English language teaching are appropriate for the various kinds of
EIL users.” This leads to that it is complicated and difficult for designing suitable
course books. In Vietnam, a British or American textbook tends to be chosen in ELT,
but its contents mostly relate to native English speaking cultures, which is not
appropriate for teaching EIL.
In addition, whenever it comes to language, culture is always mentioned with it
because language and culture are so closely linked that any change within culture is
reflected in the language and vice versa. As a result, the aspects of language are
expressed through the cultural content in course books. An assumption is given that if
a textbook is composed by native speakers, its orientation of content is Anglo-Saxon
based content. McKay (2002) points out that “Currently, many ELT materials use
cultural topics related to native English-speaking countries on the grounds that
learning English should entail knowledge of native English speaking cultures”. In the
article English as culture action, Prodromou (1988) also shows that one of the reasons
why students are not motivated by culture learning is that the way of presenting culture

The findings of the thesis will be useful not only to the researcher, but also to the
teaching staff and the first year non-English major students at Electric Power
University. In addition, the results of the study may be considered as a foundation
towards improving the quality of teaching and learning English as an international
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language at EPU. The researcher hopes that teachers of English at EPU can use this
course book flexibly and choose a better course book in the future.
4. Scope
Due to the limited scope of time and content of a minor thesis, the research attempts
to review the kind of cultural content in the course book basing on Anglo-Saxon based
and global based content. The researcher will employ 150 first year non-English major
students to fulfill the survey questionnaire and 5 teachers of English for interviewing.
(See clearly in the chapter 2 – Methodology)
5. Design
There are three main parts in this thesis including introduction, development, and
conclusion.
Part A: The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope,
and design of the thesis.
Part B: The development consists of three chapters:
Chapter one: Literature Review- presents a review of literature concentrating on the
issues related to culture, the role of culture in learning English, cultural content, course
book, textbook and material.
Chapter two: Methodology- focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis
including an overview of current English teaching and learning at Electric Power
University, research methods, and the data collection procedures.
Chapter three: The study- discusses the data, the findings of the study; points out the
strengths, weaknesses, and students’ and teachers’ perception about a cultural course
book content.
Part C: Conclusion and Suggestions- The conclusion provides a brief summary of

written on a white board about anything that presents or informs about the language
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being learned. Materials of these kinds can be obviously exploited effectively for
language learning. However, in the local setting, textbooks seem to be the most widely
used materials in language teaching.
Therefore, within this master thesis the terms “textbook”, “course book”, and
“material” are used interchangeably.
1.1.2. Characteristics of a course book
Textbooks play an important role in language learning and teaching and are
paid much attention to by many authors and researchers. In the field of education,
characteristics of an ELT textbook are on debate.
According to Deuri (2012), a good textbook should have the following
characteristics:
Adequate Subject Matter: The subject matter should be based on the
psychological needs and interests of students. It should be related to the student’s
environment and have a variety of topics such as prose, poetry, story, biography,
narration, description, etc. In addition, it should be practical utility as well as
informative.
Suitable Vocabulary and Structures: The vocabulary should be controlled, properly
selected and graded. The introduction of vocabulary should be progressive within
the series of readers. The words and structures should be introduced in a systematic
order. The simple meaning should be used a word or structure if they have
more than one meaning. At the end of the text book, a glossary of difficult words and
structures should be given.
Style: The style should be based on the principle of simple to complex. The subject
matter should be presented in a logical manner. The style should be appealing to the
students.
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situations such as culture, religion, gender, and appropriate price.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) also agree that a good material is the one that
gives student a stimulus for learning, offers teachers to organize the process of
teaching and learning. Moreover, it must have a view of the nature of language and
learning, the nature of the learning tasks, and a very useful function in broadening the
basis of teacher training. Finally, a good textbook needs to use the models of correct
and appropriate language use.
All in all, each author has different views about a good textbook. Not all the
ELT materials have all above characteristics; however, teachers should take
consideration carefully to select an appropriate textbook for students and the context of
learning and teaching.
1.2. Culture in course books
1.2.1. What is culture?
When discussing the term culture, we often refer to music, art, food,
geography, literature, customs, regions, etc. Actually, culture is viewed under many
dimensions and has many different meanings for different authors.
According to Kramsch (1998: 127), culture is “a membership in a discourse
community that shares a common social space and history, and a common system of
standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and action”.
Eli Hinkel (1999) also shares the idea that a number of definitions of culture
are the same as “there are the field of inquiry into human societies, groups, systems,
behaviors and activities”
Rogers and Steinfatt (1999) regard culture as “the total way of life of people
composed of their learned and shared behavior patterns, value, norms, and material
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objects”. It means that culture has influence on the way people lives, thinks, behaves
and speaks in their lives.
However, Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990) view culture under some
dimensions. They classify culture into four senses: the aesthetic, the sociological, the

 the ability to use appropriate exponents of the various communicative
functions
 the ability to use appropriate intonation patterns
 the ability to conform to norms of politeness, which is different from the
learners’ culture, including taboo avoidance
 the awareness of conventions governing interpersonal relations-questions of
status, obligation, license, where different from the learners’ culture
 the familiarity with the main rhetorical conventions in different written
genres such as different types of letters and messages, form-filling,
advertisements
All in all, the different definitions of culture provide with different values.
However, in general, culture involves in the way people from a particular region or
cultural background lives, thinks, behaves and it can distinguish them from the others
and from animals.
1.2.2. Culture in course books
Many authors and researchers reflect the relationship between language and
culture in the field of ELT pedagogy. Carkil (2010) gives the idea that “the lack of
teaching culture or involving culture specific elements in teaching materials leads to
failure to understand and communicate the target language and societies”. Moreover,
Abdullah also adds that cultural understanding should not be disregarded but should be
in the heart of second language learning. So it is very important to disseminate cultural
elements in textbooks.
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Cortazzi and Jin (1999) divide the cultural information used in language
textbooks and materials into three categories: source culture materials, target culture
materials and international target culture material.
According to Cortazzi and Jin (1999), Source Culture materials refer to the
learners’ own culture as content. Target Culture material address to the culture of a
country where English is spoken as a first language or mother tongue. Finally,

culture will become a “fluent fool”. It means that he or she can speak a language well
and fluently but does not understand the social or philosophical content of that
language. As a result, when learning a foreign language, it is vital for learners to gather
cultural information for a better communication. In addition, according to McKay
(2003), culture has an effect on language teaching in two dimensions: linguistic and
pedagogical ones. As for linguistics, culture influences the semantic, pragmatic, and
discourse levels of the language. Pedagogically, it affects the choice of the language
materials because cultural content of the language materials and the cultural basis of
the teaching methodology are taken into consideration while deciding upon the
language materials.
Kitao (2000) gives some benefits of teaching culture in language classroom. He
said that learning culture provides students with a reason to study the target
language as if they understand culture clearly, their studying language and literature
will become more meaningful. Learning culture can motivate and increase learners’
curiosity about, interests in target countries. Besides, it can “give learners a liking for
the native speaker of target language”, “help avoid the stereotype” and play a vital part
in general education.
Mentioning the importance of culture in language teaching, Kramsch (2001)
claims that students can realize similarities and differences among a variety of cultural
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groups by learning culture. Even, studying culture makes them understand and
tolerate the other people. In addition, the ultimate goal to learn culture is to narrow the
gap between the two cultures and ultimately overcome ethnocentric views. Hence, it is
necessary for language learners to learn culture in language classroom. It will help
them communicate well and adjust themselves to real situations.
From the aforementioned ideas, it is inevitable that culture should be included
into language classroom. The idea for incorporating culture into language teaching and
learning has been concerned by many authors and educators. Many teachers have paid
attention to incorporating culture in their lectures. Politzer, (as cited in Brooks, 1960)

However, in language programs, evaluation from the viewpoint of Kiely and
Rea-Dickins may have more meanings than others. It is regarded as “the judgment
about students by teachers and by external assessors; the performance of teachers by
their students, program managers and institutions; and programs, departments and
institutions by internal assessors, external monitors and inspectors” (Kiely and Rea-
Dickins, 2005, p. 5).
From the aforesaid definitions, it can be concluded that “material evaluation is a
procedure that involves measuring the value (or potential value) of a set of learning
materials. It involves making judgments about the effect of the materials on the people
using them”. (Tomlinson, 2003:15).
1.4.2. Purposes of course book evaluation and the importance of course book
evaluation
Course book evaluation serves many purposes. It helps to identify the strengths
and weaknesses of the materials in use. As a result, both teachers and learners need to
evaluate materials to meet their needs, demands and interests. Ellis (1997) gives two
reasons why materials should be evaluated. Firstly, it supplies information to decide
whether materials in use are worthwhile or not. Secondly, it gives teachers the way to
14

modify materials more effectively for future use. Moreover, Sheldon (1988) also
provides some other reasons for material evaluation. He states that the selection of an
ELT often signals an important administrative and educational decision where there is
considerable professional, financial or even political investment. In addition,
evaluation helps the managerial and teaching staff of a specific institution or
organization to discriminate between all of the available materials on the market.
Finally, it supports the educators to identify the particular strengths and weaknesses in
materials in use. It will also assist teachers with realizing the strong points of the
materials in use and adapting the unsuitable exercises, tasks, or activities to meet their
students’ needs and demands.
To conclude, course book evaluation helps us make decision in choosing

This chapter has provided a brief review of literature, which helps to form the
theoretical and conceptual framework for the study. It is divided into four sections. Firstly,
a number of concepts about course book, textbook and material are addressed and some
characteristics of a good textbook are given according to some leading scholars. Secondly,
the definitions of culture and culture in course books are dealt with. Thirdly, the
researcher has given the role of culture in language learning and teaching. Finally, major
issues in course book evaluation such as definitions of course book evaluation,
purposes of course book evaluation, types of course book evaluation are presented
clearly in this chapter.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
This is survey research including such instruments as Survey Questionnaire,
Interview and Document Analysis, that is, the content of the textbook is analyzed.
2.1. Research settings and participants and participant selection methods
2.1.1. Research settings
The study was carried out at EPU that consists of five majors: Electric System,
Mechanics, Information Technology, Electrical Communication, and Business
Administration. Among them, Electrical System can be seen the most important one
with a large number of students joining the course. English is a compulsory subject at
EPU with 10 credits. Generally, students at EPU learn English for two years. In the
first year, they will be provided with General English by using the course books New
English File Elementary and New English File Pre-Intermediate. In the second year,
they will study English for Specific Purposes. Each year is divided into two semesters;
each lasts 13 weeks and then finishes with the end of examinations. For a General
English course, student will have to take part in 6 periods each week. They will study

Oxenden, Christina Latham Koeing and Paul Seligson and published by Oxford
University Press. It consists of 9 modules, each modules includes 4 sub-modules A, B,
C, D with different topics, Practical English, Writing, and Revise and Check. NEF Pre
provides students with an all-round practical knowledge of grammar, skills,
vocabulary, pronunciation and real-life functional language.
In the course book NEF Pre, a typical sub-module is presented with following
sections:
- Grammar: New grammar structures are presented by using pictures, discussion
questions or asking students to read or listen to a conversation. After the forms and the
rules, students have chances to practice with a variety of exercises.