چکیده:
Humanism and socio-constructivism have entailed drastic developments in education including that of foreign/second language. Incorporating teachers and learners in all areas of education including materials development and evaluation, focusing four-pairs of binoculars on evaluating EFL materials can be taken amongst the outcomes of this trend. This study is a report of an evaluation of the ESP textbooks used in an Iranian university setting in order to investigate the extent of the compatibility of their perspectives on the ESP textbooks in general and on those in Humanities vs. engineering, specifically. To do so, about 180 ESP students and 30 teachers from Humanities and Engineering disciplines participated in the study. To collect the data, two valid questionnaires were specifically developed to measure general and specific features of the textbooks separately. Multi-method statistical analyses of the data revealed a comprehensive picture of the views of the participants on both the criteria dependability of the ESP materials in terms of content, exercises/activities, vocabulary-grammar, and physical attractiveness and maxims match. The chi-square results showed uniformities in the responses of both groups, but from the teachers’ perspectives, the books did not meet the criteria as they, holding more negative attitudes, expressed dissatisfaction with the books. On the contrary, the students showed more satisfaction with them, indicating that they meet the expected criteria of both types. ANOVA between groups’ evaluations of the data proved compatible with those of the frequency and chi-square analyses. Similarly, all of the correlation coefficients between the components of teachers and students’ questionnaires were shown statistically significant. Meanwhile, between-group paired samples t-test on both questionnaires showed significant differences between the students’ evaluations on both sets of criteria. Independent t-test for comparing teachers and students’ evaluations on both instruments sustained the results of the correlational analyses. Furthermore, both groups were found holding different perspectives as far as academic discipline was concerned: Humanities vs. Engineering. The findings, then, sustain roughly incompatible maxims towards ESP textbooks, varying views on the dependability issue, and differences as to componential analysis of the criteria. Pedagogically, the findings suggest student involvement in the process of syllabus design and materials evaluation, and preparation in general and ESP, in particular
خلاصه ماشینی:
Multi-method statistical analyses of the data revealed a comprehensive picture of the views of the participants on both the criteria dependability of the ESP materials in terms of content, exercises/activities, vocabulary-grammar, and physical attractiveness and maxims match.
The situation implies that it is important for teachers to evaluate, select and adapt teaching materials, especially ESP textbooks, to meet teachers’ and students’ needs in order to maximize learning potentials.
As an experimental Endeavor, this study attempts to evaluate two different groups of (Iranian) ESP textbooks in engineering and humanities fields in terms of learner-teacher’s maxims.
Results and Discussion Investigation of the First Research Question The first research question was "to what extent are Iranian ESP teachers and learners’ evaluations of the ESP textbooks compatible?" In line with the analyses made concerning questions one and two, further analyses were made to comparatively probe the perspectives of both groups on the ESP textbooks in terms of general, specific, and content features.
Table 2: Analysis of Chi-Square of Teachers and Students' Views on ESP Textbooks based on Specific features RESPONDENTS Value df Asymp.
Table 4 displays the frequencies, percentages and the standardized residuals for the teachers and students' responses to the ESP textbooks through general features.
To investigate it, first a repeated measure of ANOVA was run to probe any significant differences between the teachers and students' evaluations of the contents in terms of general and specific features.
Percentages of Teachers and Students' Views towards ESP Textbooks Based on General Features Table 6.