ABSTRACT

To help evaluate the reading materials in this English textbook, a theory of textbook
evaluation was mentioned. The evaluation was limited to text selection in terms of length,
authenticity, integration into other skills, and topic, and task design dealing with the pre-,
while-, and post-reading activities. In order to elicit their attitudes towards these two
broad themes, copies of the questionnaire will be administered to 400 students and ten
teachers of English at Vo Truong Toan High School in Ben Tre Province in May, 2011.
The analytical framework employed to analyse student and teacher data was strictly
based on the themes and sub-themes as identified in the theoretical framework.

PROBLEM

Since the Tieng Anh 10 textbook was introduced into high schools, there have been both
favourable and unfavourable opinions of educational establishments and individuals such
as MOET, the Minister of MOET, and many other people are concerned for the quality of
language pedagogy in Vietnam. For example, MOET said, “we should elicit attitudes
about textbooks from students, teachers, and student-parent associations” (H. HG, 2008).
Similarly, the Minister of MOET, Nguyen Thien Nhan, puts the emphasis on the
consequences of the heavy workload in the textbook and the need to evaluate it. He says,
“One of the most important reasons that made too many students quit school was heavy
textbook; thus, it should be examined” (as cited in B. T. A, 2008). However, to do this, it
is necessary to establish clear-cut criteria, as Nguyen (2008) puts it, “Can we evaluate
textbooks when we do not have any standardised criteria?”
Given the background together with its gap as identified and presented above, this study
aims to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of reading materials in the English 10
textbook to help improve the quality of English teaching and learning in Vietnam.

1.3 Research questions

The study will try to answer the following questions:

 1. What are students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards reading comprehension
materials in the Tieng Anh 10 textbook?

Underlying this main research question are two sub-questions about text selection and
task design:

2. What are their evaluation of text selection in terms of length, authenticity,

integration into other skills, and topic?

3. What are their evaluation of task design, i.e. pre-, while-, and post-reading
activities?

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.3 Task design

In addition to the text selection of reading materials, according to six categories as laid
out in the previous part, the designed reading tasks of pre-, while-, and post- need to be
considered, since they are methodological tools to bring learners to the general contents
of the text. Therefore, this part will theoretically deal with the evaluation of each of these
stages in a teaching cycle in turn.

2.3.1 Pre-reading

Pre-reading activities can be considered to be an introduction to the text. They are

important to help readers to comprehend a reading text (Crandall, 1995). In this stage,
learners are encouraged to predict the contents of the text by activating their “formal
schemata” (Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, p. 272) or “background
knowledge” (“Language Link”, 2005, para. 9). They can also show their personal
“opinions” (Varaprasad, 1997, as cited in Saricoban, 2004, p. 4) about or “attitudes”
(“Language Link”, 2005, para. 10) to it. As a result, initially they can establish an
interrelationship between themselves and it (ibid., para. 10) or, to some extent, know the
reason why the author wrote it (Varaprasad, 1997, as cited in Saricoban, 2004, p. 4), or
raise their sense of initiative in what they will read (Razi, n.d., para. 21).

Some of the ways to introduce a text are brainstorming, semantic mapping, and free
writing (Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, p. 272). Alternatively, a number of
questions are given to familiarise learners with the context (“Language Link”, 2005, para.
11). These activities and questions can also focus on graphic cues such as “titles,
headings, indentations, white space, as well as any visual and other text displays that
highlight the organisation and relative importance of various themes in the text”
(Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, p. 273).

To sum up, good pre-reading activities ought to involve learners in their background
knowledge to provide initial stimulation to explore a text.

2.3.2 While-reading

If pre-reading ones give vital, albeit only initial, foundation in reading comprehension,
then while-reading tasks will mainly aim at substantially increasing that preliminary
understanding. The knowledge regarding a series of possible activities can be found in
the works of Widdowson (1978), Cunningsworth (1995), Crandall (1995), and Al-Jarf
(2004).

Comprehension questions can vary in the degree of understanding of the text that is
required: from more literal or superficial to deeper levels of meaning. On the one hand,
some questions only claim literal or surface meaning understanding, and are usually of a
straightforward factual nature (Widdowson, 1978, as cited in Cunningsworth, 1995. p.
78), such as the literal recognition, recall or verification of details, sequence of events,
comparisons, and cause-effect relationships (Al-Jarf, 2004, para. 1). Others can be
answered by matching a word in the question to the same word in the text and then
copying out the sentence in the text containing that word (ibid., para. 1). The technique of
scanning is usually used to deal with “these questions”.

On the other hand, there are questions about the general idea of a text. Inherently, these
are more demanding ones that usually claim processing of the text at a deeper level so
that information contained in different parts of the text is identified and combined to give
a complete answer (Widdowson, 1978, as cited in Cunningsworth, 1995, p. 78).
Furthermore, readers are asked to identify the organisation and development of ideas. To
solve these questions, the technique of skimming is applied. Besides, there are inference
questions which require the reader to make a logical conclusion from what is given, or, in
other words, read between the lines (Al-Jarf, 2004, para. 1).

In addition to the discovery of different levels of meaning, while-reading tasks should

help learners deal with linguistic knowledge and consolidate language work Various
types of grammar and vocabulary exercises linked to the reading passage need to be
designed if there are lexical items and grammatical points unfamiliar to the learners but
crucial to the understanding of the text. The purpose of these activities is to help learners
become aware of the context in which linguistic knowledge is embedded. To serve this
purpose, activities, like word-search, are undertaken which require them to look in the
text for either “synonyms, antonyms” (Cunningsworth, 1995, p. 79) or “semantic or
contextual clues, such as topic, words preceding and/or following the unfamiliar words,
commonly used expressions, definitions, direct explanations, descriptions, examples,
parentheses, comma enclosure, appositives, mood and tone available in the written text”
(Al-Jarf, 2004, para. 6).

Ideally, while-reading tasks are supposed to focus on developing not only the techniques
of scanning and skimming to help find out specific and general information and linguistic
knowledge (ideally in its context) but also effective study skills in learners. To serve the
last objective, some activities can be designed to include “underlining, highlighting or
note-taking” (Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, p. 273).
While-reading activities are, therefore, should be designed to help learners develop
reading skills, consolidate linguistic knowledge, and enhance effective study skills.

2.3.3 Post-reading

If pre-reading activities serve as an introduction to the text and while-reading ones

substantially help readers to comprehend it, then post-reading ones can further
consolidate reading comprehension. The significant role of post-reading tasks can be
found in the works of Crandall (1995), Ur (1996), Razi (n.d.), and Saricoban (2004).

There are some activities to help readers “clarify any unclear meaning where the focus is
on the meaning not on the grammatical or lexical aspects of the text” (Razi, n.d., para.
25). Alternatively, to understand the text more deeply, “readers are asked to summarise
the content in a sentence or two. This may be done in the target language or the mother
tongue” (Ur, 1996, p. 146) and it is helped by making use of key words and structures
(Razi, n.d., para. 25). Besides, they can make an outline (Saricoban, 2004, p. 5) or draw
a conclusion of the text and catch the missing parts in the text (Razi, n.d., para. 25). Also,
they can be encouraged to make a critical analysis and evaluation of the text content
linguistic knowledge (Crandall, 1995, as cited in Richards, 2001, pp. 273-274).

In fact, to further comprehend the text, learners should clarify, summarise, evaluate, and
analyse it.

In summary, the role of pre-, while-, and post-reading activities is very important
because, taken together, they can serve as adhesive and gradual steps to help learners
comprehend the text in full.