VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*******************

VŨ MAI DUYÊN

THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF UTHENTIC
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS IN
GENERAL ENGLISH COURSE AT THÁI BÌNH UNIVERSITY

PHÁT TRIỂN VÀ ĐÁNH GIÁ TÀI LIỆU CHÂN THỰC BỔ TRỢ CHO
SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRONG KHÓA HỌC TIẾNG ANH CƠ
BẢN TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THÁI BÌNH

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code:

60140111

Hanoi, 2015


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*******************

retention and use of M.A graduation thesis deposited in the library.

Vũ Mai Duyên

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe my deepest gratitude to my supportive supervisor, Duong Thu Mai,
Ph.D, for her whole-hearted assistance, encouragement as well as the profound
guidance she gave me while I was doing my research.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to all my teachers
and lecturers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable
instruction and assistance throughout the realization of this thesis.
I am heartily thankful to the administrators, my colleagues, and first-year
students at Thái Bình University for their willingness to participate in the research.
Without their help, this project could not be fulfilled.
Last but not least, I am indebted to my beloved family and friends who have
unfailingly inspired me to complete this study.
Hanoi, September 2014

ii


ABSTRACT
This study attempts to develop and evaluate a set of authentic supplementary
materials

for


iii


LISTOF ABBREVIATIONS
ASM

set of Authentic Supplementary Materials

C/F

Credit / Fair (students)

CLT

Communicative Language Teaching

ELT

English Language Teaching

ESP

English for Specific Purposes

G/vG

Good, very Good (students)

HOTS High-Order Thinking Skill

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii
LISTOF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... iv
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ viii
LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................. viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1
1.

Rationale ........................................................................................................... 1

2.

Aims of study and research questions................................................................ 2

3.

Scope of the study ............................................................................................. 2

4.

Method of the study .......................................................................................... 3

5.

Design of the study ........................................................................................... 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................... 4
CHAPER I: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 4
1.1. Material Development in English Language Teaching ...................................... 4
1.1.1

3.3. The impacts of the ASM (Research question 2) .............................................. 42
3.3.1. Impactson linguistic and extra-linguistic skills ....................................... 42
3.3.2. Impactson communicative competence ................................................... 44
3.3. Differences between the evaluationsof thetwo groups(Research question 3) ... 46
3.3. Future use of the ASM .................................................................................... 47
3.4. Chapter summary ............................................................................................ 47
PART C: CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................... 48
1.

Summary of the findings and discussion ......................................................... 48
1.1.

The development of the ASM ................................................................. 48

1.2.

The evaluation of the ASM..................................................................... 48

2. Conclusions ...................................................................................................... 49
3.

Recommendations ........................................................................................... 50

4.

Limitations ...................................................................................................... 50

vi




LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.2-1: Forms of authentic materials in the ASM ..................................................... 26
Table 3.1-1: Students’ learning styles .............................................................................. 39
Table 3.1-2:Means on Practical Utilizing ......................................................................... 40
Table 3.3-1:Means on linguistic skills ............................................................................. 42
Table 3.4-1: Future use of the ASM ................................................................................. 47

viii


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In this“post-method” era when an increasingly dominant awareness is there exist no such
things as best teaching method, or perfectcommercial language teaching materials to fit
every unique context (Prabhu, 1990; Kumaravadivelu, 1994; Woodward,2001), language
teachers need to be enabled to write their own materials in order to reduce the dependency
on published materials and as a means of professional development (Jolly & Bolitho 1998,
pp.111-112).Using their own language learning and teaching experience as a personal
knowledge base and gaining theoretical insights on material development and evaluation,
teachers can devise the most suitable materials to their particular teaching context. These
language teachers, in good time, could create and nurture an environment supporting the
development of language knowledge and social skills that their learners need to function in
larger society.
With the desire tooffera motivating, beneficial and serviceable General English course for
first-year students at Thái Bình University (TBU), the integrating of authentic materials
into the curriculum is of utmost importance. The authenticity is felt significant since it
gives learners a taste of the natural language use, cultural issues and real world experiences
(Richard, 2001; Kelly et al, 2002; McGrath, 2002). This taste on one hand enhances
motivation, generates deeper interests, and facilitates comprehension; on the other hand it

Thái Bình University?
Question 2.To what extent arethe Authentic Supplementary Materials effectivefrom the
perspectives of first-year studentsand teachers of English at Thái Bình University?
Question 3. To what extent do the two English proficient student groups differ in their
evaluation on the Authentic Supplementary Materials?
3. Scope of the study
The minor thesis limits its scope to onlyauthentic materials as a source of supplementation
since investigating all kinds of supplementary materials are such broad topics that they
cannot be wholly discussed within the framework of this paper.
The process of applying such materials in real teaching and examining their effectiveness
is within the scope of this small study.Investigating the attitudes of TBU teachers and
targetedstudents towards the materials, the paper also attempts to figure out whether or not
there is difference in the evaluations of student groups based on their English
proficiencylevels.
Subjects of the material evaluation include104 first-year students at two faculties at TBU
who are not English majored, the results of this study hence may be generalized to only
non-English major students at Vietnamese colleges and universities.

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4. Method of the study
The study is carried out on the basis of relevant theoretical document analysis andauthentic
English material collection for the material development process. Asurvey questionnaire
and semi-structured interviews are used for material evaluation. First of all, intensive and
extensive reading of related-theory documents on material development and evaluation
would provide principledframeworks andcriteriafor the authentic material selection for the
supplementation process. Secondly, after being implemented, the ASMevaluation is carried
out in order to obtain detailed and comprehensive informationfor the decision on the future
use of the ASM.In the second stage, both quantitative and qualitative research methods are


Material Development in English Language Teaching

1.1.1 Materials in English language teaching
Tomlinson (1998, p. xi) defines that materials are “anything which presents or informs
about the language being learned” or “anything that can be used to facilitate the learning of
a language”. McGrath’s (2002, p.7) agrees that materials are “all kinds” that “can be
exploited effectively for language learning”.
Regarding the role of language learning and teaching (LLT)materials,a large volume of
research has demonstrated its critical importance in language acquisition. Nunan (1988,
p.98) states that language teachingmaterials are “an essential element within the
curriculum…. they provide concrete models for desirable classroom practice and …..
fulfill a teacher development role.” Richards (2001, p. 251) alsotitles materials as “a key
component in most language programs”.He perceives the functions of materials as the
basis for language input (lesson contents, skills taught) as well as language practice
occurring in language classroom; and as a form of teacher training which provides
teachers with ideas on how to plan and teach lessons.
In terms of classification,(Tomlinson 2003, p.2) notes that materials can be linguistic,
visual, auditory or kinaesthetic. Taking the formsof print or non-print,hand-written or
media-distributed (internet websites, computer software, etc.) (Richards, 2001, p.251;
McGrath, 2002, pp. 125-136), linguisticmaterials may be informative – informing learners
about the target language; instructional – guiding learners in practising the
language,experiential– providing learners with experiences of the language in use,eliciting
– encouraging learners to use the language; and exploratory – helping learners to make
discoveries about the language (Tomlinson, 2012, p.143).
Pedagogical materials – materials designed for language learning and teaching,nonpedagogicalmaterials –authentic materials (e.g. off-air recordings, newspaper articles),

4



those sources in ways which maximize the likelihood of intake”. Tomlinson (2012) makes
the

definition

clearer

when

emphasizing

material

development

as

all

the

processesincluding material evaluation, adaptation, design, production, and exploitation
research, which aremade use of by practitioners who produce and/or use materials for
language learning(pp. 143-144).
Essentially,material development is an educational operation which helps teachers to
identify ways to make up,modify; select, edit,adapt and use the LLT materials in order for
them at their best to be a “key component” within the language program.
1.1.2.1. Approaches to material development in ELT
The development and implementation of ELT materials can be approached in several
different ways, each of which surely has different implications. This paper describes three

II. Determine acceptable evidence.
III. Plan learning experiences & instruction.
Figure 1-2: Stages in the Backward design process
As a well-established tradition in curriculum design in general education, Backward design
has re-emerged as a prominent curriculum development approach in ELT. The Common
European Framework of Reference is a recent example of backward design (Richard, 2013,
pp. 5-20).
It is recognized that, there is no one best approach, and that forward design, central design
and backward design might each work well in different circumstances (Richard, 2013).
Each approach has advocates and practitioners who can cite magnificentexamples of
successful implementation. These approaches actually might also work concurrently in
some circumstances.
This paper would rather follow David Crabbe’s suggestion that “in fact, design goes
backwards and forwards whatever the starting point” (cited in Richard 2013, p.
28).Considering the specific context, starting with the consideration about what students
are able to do after a period of instruction, the ASMin this study corporates task-based
instructions to transform contents into “a blueprint which enables the desired learning

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outcomes to be achieved”, to use Richard’s (2013, p. 6) words.Before the ASM’s
development isdescribedin detail in the subsequent chapter(see 2.2.1), it now comes to the
need of a principled framework for ELT material development.
1.1.2.2. Principled Frameworks for Material Development in ELT
Investigations into the processes and frameworks of material development carried out by
Nunan (1988), Prowse(1998), Tomlinson (1998, 2003), Richards (2001) reveal that
numerous material developers rely on intuitive feel for activities which are likely to work,
not much on principles of learning and teaching. Richards (1995, p. 105) though referring
his need of inspiration for writing materials, concludes that this process is “90 percent

with reasons for the failure of the materials (if there is) and find out clues to material
improvement.
With reference to the current study on the development of authentic supplementary
materials, the envisaged steps of need identification exploration have already been done by
the institution. The following sectionsdescribethe other stages, though, not in the exact
order.

1.1.3. Process of Authentic Supplementary Material Development in ELT
The currentpaper is an addition whichconcentrates on using authentic materials as a source
of supplementation. Benefits of authentic materials are taken into consideration and made
best use of.
1.1.3.1. Authentic materials
There exists a complex web of definitions as to what exactly authentic materials consist
of.In general, there are two main trends of definitions. One focuses on the non-teaching
purposesand the native originof the materials which expose learners to real language style
and usages, cultures, social situations that learners are likely to encounter when engaging

8


in actual communicative use outside the classroom. The other trend focuses on the real
originand communicative purposesof the materials.
Nunan (1988), Harmer (1991), Richards (2001), Mc Grath (2002),though may define the
term using different words, all agree in that authentic materials are any which are
-

real-life texts,

-


needs in their own specific teaching situation” (Ansary & Babaii, 2002, p.6).

9


The sound reasons for teachers to use other materials beside core textbooks have been
identify by Brown (1994), McGrath (2002) and Richards (2005). The scholars argue that
there exits gaps or mismatches between the official textbook and different needs of specific
individuals whose language competence levels may be varied as well. More specifically,
learners may need to expose to a wide range of textual materialsto promote motivation, or
they need more practice of particular skills or grammar components which is not adequate
in quantity in the textbook.
Drawingupontheliteratureonsupplementation,McGrath (2002) classifies between syllabus
driven process and concept driven process. That is, teachers can choose or design worthy
materials after they have identified what they need to supplement for a particular class; or
teachers can choose interesting materials accidentally with the hope that they can use such
materials in their future teaching. Teachers may utilize items from different published
sources or from others’, even learners’ writings or teacher may devise their own
materials. Teacher-prepared materials are likely to be more up-to-date and more relevant
to students’ needs and interests since teachers know their own students well. Differently
viewed, supplementary materials may be either content-oriented which focus on different
topics and information, or form-oriented which emphasize appropriate ways of using the
language components presented in the main course-book.
In sum, a variety of ideas on authentic materials and supplementary materials has been
viewed in order to provide foundation knowledge to supplement the currently-used
textbook “Enterprise 2” to maximize students’ learning potentials. The following section
will devote the literature on criteria for selecting authentic supplementary materials in
ELT.
1.1.3.3. Criteria for SelectingAuthentic Supplementary Materialsin ELT
Using authentic materials in an ELT class does not simply mean putting any pieces

With regard to the supplementation, the relevance to syllabus and course-book
strongly affects the materials’ selection; otherwise the supplementary materials may waste
learners’ time.
Intrinsic interest
Being in consideration, if a material is patently not going to interest learners, however
relevant it is, it should be replaced by one will.Granting that learners are so interested in
the topic or activity in the material, they will NEED the language to talk about it (Roberts,
2014), then materials succeeds in the act of learning motivation.The involvement cultural
components using the target language, including culturally based practices, beliefs,
linguistic and non-linguistics behaviors (Richard, 2001, p. 253) may arouse learners’
interest. It should be aware that something completely acceptable in one culture may be
taboo in another so it is advisable to consider theculturalappropriateness.

11


Exploitability (availability, length, legibility, audibility)
Potential problems relating to the legibility of a written text (e.g. small font size texts or
hard-to-read handwriting), or to the audibility of tapes or video clips may lead to the
decision to select alternative ones. Over and above, materials chosen must be available
over a long term and easily obtainable in learners’real life. Learners can encounter them
someday somewhere somehow. Certainly, authentic information and itemsmust be legally
free of copyright restrictions.
In a few words,interesting, culturally engaging and relevant authentic materials should
reduce the likelihood of learners to get bored but at the same time are not allowed to make
learners lose track of the lessons.
Up to now, the paper has presented three approaches of forward, central and backward
design; a principled circular frameworkof six steps for developing ELT materials and four
major selection criteria for authentic materials. The subsequent discussion is about theories
and studies into the material evaluation in ELT, an important stage inthe ongoing process

evaluation as the dynamic process with attempts to measure the value or potential value of
materialsormeasure the effects of the materials on their users. That is, ELT material
evaluation is the assessment of whether a collection of spoken and written English is
effective and appropriateor not when compared with the prescribed objectives in the target
ELT context.
To recap, when evaluators judge oneELT material, whether they are learners, teachers,
material developers or experts, they primarily accumulates information to answer
preliminary questions on the effectiveness of the materials in facilitating ELT practice.
Questions may be whether the materials are achieving the setup goals, or they are
responding to learners' needs, or whether learners and teachers are satisfied with the
materials, or whether learners are learning sufficiently from them. The answers afterward
are to make optimum use of the materials’ strong points and compensate for shortcomings.

1.2.1. Approaches to Material Evaluation
Johnson (1989) and Robinson (1991) support that material evaluation can be classified into


preliminary (establish materials’ potential suitability),



formative (examine how materials really work in the classroom), and



summative evaluation (identify strengths and weaknesses of the materials’
performance over a period of continuous use).

McDonough & Shaw (1993) distinguishes between





retrospectiveevaluation(examine whether the materials used “work well” or not).

Recently, McGrath (2002) introduces the concepts of:


pre-use evaluation (carried out before a material is used to examine the potential
performance of the materials),



in-use evaluation (see whether the materials in use should be replaced or not), and



post-use evaluation (provide retrospective assessment of the materials’ performance
and is helpful to decide whether to use the materials in the future).

In general, there is a good deal of overlap in the frameworks proposed. Accordingly,
whether evaluators have a quick or a detailed look into the materials, whether
examiningbefore, after or whilematerials are in use, they actually judgeif the material
issuitable in its own parameter values or if itworks well for particular learners or specific
purposes.
This minor study desires to identify strengths and weaknesses of a set of authentic
supplementary materials from the perspectives of students and teachers after is has been
put into service so that a decision on the future widespread use of the materials can emerge
for all stakeholders involved.