An Evaluation of "Pass Cambridge BEC Vantage" and. "Success With BEC"
submitted by. HE Rong. Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirement.
An Evaluation of "Pass Cambridge BEC Vantage" and "Success With BEC"
submitted by
HE Rong
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH STUDIES
Department of English City University of Hong Kong May 2012
Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2 1.1 Research Background ....................................................................................... 2 1.2 The Structure of the Paper ................................................................................ 3 2. Literature Review....................................................................................................... 4 2.1 A Brief Introduction to Materials Evaluation ................................................... 4 2.1.1 What is Materials Evaluation? ................................................................ 4 2.1.2 The importance of materials evaluation .................................................. 5 2.1.3 Types of Materials Evaluation ................................................................ 6 2.1.3.1 Pre-use Evaluation ........................................................................ 6 2.1.3.2 In-use Evaluation .......................................................................... 6 2.1.3.3 Post-use Evaluation ....................................................................... 7 2.1.4 Methods of Materials Evaluation ............................................................ 7 2.1.4.1 The Impressionistic Method ......................................................... 7 2.1.4.2 The Checklist Method ................................................................... 8 2.1.4.3 The In-depth Method .................................................................... 9 2.2 A Brief Review of Existing Checklists ............................................................. 9 2.2.1 Sheldon's Checklist (1988) ..................................................................... 9 2.2.2 Skierso's Checklist (1991) .................................................................... 11 2.2.3 Garinger's Checklist (2002) .................................................................. 13 2.2.4 Reinders and Lewis' Checklist (2006) .................................................. 14 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................ 15 3.1 Research Purpose ............................................................................................ 15 3.2 Research Questions ......................................................................................... 15 3.3 Process of Developing the Checklist .............................................................. 16 3.3.1 First Draft of the Checklist ................................................................... 16 3.3.1.1 Deciding the Categories .............................................................. 16
3.3.1.2 Deciding the Items in Subject Content ....................................... 17 3.3.1.3 Deciding the Items in Language Content .................................... 18 3.3.1.4 Deciding the Items in Exercises and Activities .......................... 20 3.3.1.5 Deciding the Items in Practical Considerations .......................... 22 3.3.2 Getting Feedback and Revising the Checklist ...................................... 24 3.3.2.1 Feedback from A Teacher Who Taught Business English ......... 24 3.3.2.2 First Revision of the Checklist .................................................... 25 3.3.2.3 Feedback from Liz Hamp-lyons ................................................. 25 3.3.2.4 Second Revision of the Checklist ............................................... 26 3.4 Interview ......................................................................................................... 27 3.4.1 Introduction of Subjects ........................................................................ 27 3.4.2 Process of Interview .............................................................................. 27 3.4.3 Interview Results .................................................................................. 28 3.5 Data Collection ............................................................................................... 28 4. Results ...................................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Relationship between Textbook and BEC Vantage Test ................................ 29 4.2 Evaluation of the Test Focused Part in the Textbooks ................................... 32 4.3 Authenticity of the Materials .......................................................................... 34 4.4 The Exercises for Practicing the Four Language Skills for the Test .............. 35 4.5 The Variety and Flexibility of the Grammar Exercises .................................. 37 4.6 Practical Consideration ................................................................................... 39 5. Discussion ................................................................................................................ 41 5.1 Implications of the Results.............................................................................. 41 5.2 Recommendation for Improvements............................................................... 44 5.3 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 44 6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 45 References .................................................................................................................... 47 Appendices ................................................................................................................... 49
Abstract Since the need for published materials for the teaching of English keeps increasing all around the world, the amount of published textbooks also keeps increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to choose the most appropriate materials for studying. As a result, materials evaluation is becoming more and more important. In the last few decades, researchers and scholars in western have carried out studies about materials evaluation. Several methods of materials evaluation have been put forward, and among them the checklist method has been a frequently used one. However, the checklists created by those researchers and scholars seldomly have focused on materials for specific purposes, like business English or test-oriented textbooks. In China, studies about materials are not very common, not to mention the evaluation of the materials for specific purposes. In mainland China, English has been a core course for decades. It means that a student must learn English since they are in primary school. The English taught in schools is general English in most cases. The thing is that nowadays, the demand of learning English for specific purposes rather than learning general English is increasing in China. Thus it is becoming essential to carry out effective evaluations of teaching materials designed for specific purposes. It is believed that this paper would help the learners choose the most appropriate materials to learn business English to take part in the BEC test. In this paper, a checklist which is specific for business English materials would be put forward. Besides, the checklist would be applied to two business English textbooks, namely "Pass Cambridge BEC Vantage" and "Success With BEC". The two textbooks would be evaluated and compared according to the items in the checklist. What is more, some recommendations would be put forward to improve the textbooks. Key Words: materials evaluation; checklist; business English; BEC Vantage test
