آکادمی و موسسه علمی پژوهشی ابن سینا

عنوان

بررسی فعالیت های توجه بخشی (آگاه سازی) مربوط به دستور زبان و واژگان در دوره های جدید آموزش زبان انگلیسی

چکیده پایان‌نامه

فعالیت های توجه بخشی (آگاه سازی)  یکی از مهمترین دسته های فعالیت های آموزشی هستند  که مورد غفلت واقع شده اند و در این فعالیت ها زبان آموز با یک شکل از زبان دوم مواجه می شود و از او خواسته می شود تا یک سری اعمال را بر روی آن انجام دهد. بنابراین تحقیق حاضر با هدف بررسی فعالیت های توجه بخشی در دوره های جدید آموزش زبان انگلیسی که به طور گسترده در ایران مورد استفاده قرار می گیرند انجام شد. بدین منظوراز یک  پرسشنامه با 27 سوال در مقیاس لیکرت استفاده شد که به وسیله 90 معلم زبان انگلیسی و 170 زبان آموز تکمیل شد. سوال های اصلی پرسشنامه از مدل های فعالیت های توجه بخشی مربوط به دستور زبان و واژگان که به ترتیب به وسیله ویلیس و ویلیس (1996) و گریوس و تاف  (2007) پیشنهاد شده بودند گرفته شدند و برخی از سوال ها به وسیله محقق اضافه شدند. با استفاده از روش تحلیل عاملی پرسشنامه مقیاس لیکرت روایی لازم را به دست آورد و با استفاده از  روش کرونباخ آلفا مشخص شد که پرسشنامه دارای پایایی 0.72 می باشد. سپس پرسشنامه به فارسی بازگردانده شد و روایی لازم را برای زبان آموزان به دست آورد. با استفاده از روش مجذور خی و تی گروه مستقل سعی شد که تفاوت های معنا دار بین پاسخ های معلمان و زبان آموزان پیدا شود. به منظور تحلیل بیشتر داده ها از یک مصاحبه شبه نظام مند که بر روی 20 معلم و 20 زبان آموز انجام شد استفاده شد.با استفاده از روش تحلیل محتوا الگو های تکراری در مصاحبه ها استخراج شد و سپس با نتایج پرسشنامه مقایسه شد. نتایج تحقیق نشان داد که اگرچه 5 دوره جدید آموزش زبان اگلیسی مورد استفاده در ایران فعالیت های مختلفی در بخش دستور زبان و واژگان را گنجانده اند، تعدادی از فعالیت های توجه بخشی مربوط به دستور زبان و واژگان (تعمیم دادن ، استفاده از زبان مادری ، بازسازی ،بحث در مورد انتخاب واژگان، تحقیق در مورد واژگان)  در آنها گنجانده نشده است. نتایج حاصله ممکن است در رابطه با انتخاب دوره مناسب آموزش زبان انگلیسی برای کسانی که در حوزه آموزش زبان در ایران فعالیت می کنند سودمند واقع شود

واژه های کلیدی:  فعالیت های توجه بخشی مربوط به دستور زبان و واژگان، دوره های جدید آموزش زبان انگلیسی، بررسی کتاب های درسی

فصل پنجم

5.1. Restatement of the problem
As it was discussed previously in chapter one, the present study aimed at investigating five current international  ELT series which are widely used in Iran with regard to incorporation and adoption of grammar and vocabulary consciousness-raising activities. Due to the reason that a great amount of budget and time is devoted to English language learning and teaching in Iran, and due to the fact that textbooks play a crucial role in the process of English language learning, it is important for the private sectors and the EFL teachers to choose the book that seems most beneficial and suitable to their goals and align with current theories and practices in second language education.
      However, the profusion of published materials available on the market makes this selection a tough job. Thus, meticulous evaluations of the series in different aspects are needed. Furthermore, grammar and vocabulary learning are two important aspects of learning the English language. Grammar and vocabulary consciousness-raising activities seem to facilitate the acquisition of grammatical patterns and vocabulary items (Yip, 1994; Willis and Willis, 1996; Fotos, 1998; Graves, 2002). To the best of the researchers' knowledge, very little research seems to have been conducted to evaluate the current ELT series based on consciousness-raising criteria. 
     Therefore, the present study made an attempt to reconsider the five current international ELT series with regard to grammar and consciousness-raising tasks to help the stakeholders choose the best book that fits their educational norms and goals.

5.2. Discussion
In this section, the attempts were made to discuss the items of the questionnaire and the semi-structured interview in the light of the descriptive and inferential statistics and the researcher's subjective scrutiny.
1.    Do the series make students search a set of data to identify a particular pattern of usage and the language forms associated with it?
     Schmitt (1990) argues that noticing and conscious attention to language forms and the patterns connected with them is necessary for learning grammar. 
     The results of the researchers’ evaluation indicated that American English File required the students sixty-one times to seek a particular structure among a data pool including reading or listening to a conversation. Four Corners also provided the requested structures in the "language in context" section and asked the students to search for them in twenty-four tasks. 
     Furthermore, Interchange incorporated grammatical structures in the "conversation" and "perspectives" sections and asked the students to search for them in the grammar sections in thirty-two tasks. However, Total English and English Result did not seem to provide students with such kind of data to work with. The results of the questionnaire also showed that both students (M=3.67) and EFL teachers (M=3.74) neither agreed nor disagreed with this item.
2.    Do the Series make students work with a set of data and sort it according to similarities and differences based on formal criteria?
     Experts in the field (e.g., Long, 1991; Norris and Ortega, 2002) support the inclusion of instruction of formal grammatical criteria. They believe that formal grammatical deficiency may result in a breakdown in communication. A glance through the series shows that Four Corners and Interchange look for formal criteria. Most of the tasks (f= 25, f= 20 respectively) that work with the input data, ask the students to distinguish formal criteria, or underline them. In addition, forty-eight (10.9%) activities incorporated in Total English require the students to find out formal criteria.  
     American English File highlighted the formal structures to draw students' attention toward them (f=11). English Result incorporated different sporting activities including sorting tenses and clauses (f= 13). However, the results of the questionnaire showed that both students and teachers had no idea regarding this item (M=3.60, M=3.48).
3.    Do the series make students work with a set of data and sort it according to similarities and differences based on semantic criteria?
     Krashen (2003) holds that formal grammar instruction has no role in language teaching due to the fact that humans learn to produce their first language with no formal instruction of the grammatical patterns.  Thus, both formal criteria and semantic criteria should be incorporated in the ELT series. 
     American English File includes activities that need sorting based on both formal and semantic criteria. These activities include reading and listening comprehension activities which urge the students to use and sort the grammatical structure. Total English also includes a type of activity in which the students are asked to find the meaning difference among a set of sentences. This type of activity was found to be adopted fourteen times (3.18%) throughout Total English. English Result makes use of tables, signs, charts, and diagrams in grammar activities which require the students to interpret them while acquiring the grammatical pattern. The subjective scrutiny of the series also revealed that thirteen grammar activities took advantage of semantic criteria in the English Result series. Four Corners and Interchange encourage formal criteria in grammar activities. Besides, questionnaire results indicated both students and teachers neither agreed nor disagreed with this item. (M=3.77, M=3.73 respectively).

4.    Do the series make students give a generalization about language and check this against more language data?
     The subjective scrutiny of the series indicated no use of this activity in all five series (f=0). This kind of activity presumes a more inductive approach toward grammar presentation. In spite of the fact that the series has tried to use both deductive and inductive approaches in teaching grammar, none of them have adopted this activity of generalization which is more inductive in nature. In other words, all the series present the grammatical rules overtly, whether before or after the grammar activities. The questionnaire results also show that students' and teachers' ideas are relatively the same in this regard. 
5.    Do the series encourage students to find similarities and differences between patternings in the first language and patternings in English?
     Several studies have advocated the role of first language in learning English as a second language. Brown (1998) for instance, examined the role of L1 grammar in English segmental structure. She proposed comparing and contrasting L1 with L2 English facilitates learning the segmental structure of English. Furthermore, in a study, Gomez (2001) found that 58% of his students agreed with using L1 in their class and comparing it with L2 English. However, the investigation of the series revealed that none of them encouraged resorting to the students' first language and comparing it with L2 English in teaching grammar (f=0), something which seems inevitable in some EFL contexts like that of the present study in which the students frequently pick on the teachers to switch into Persian (their L1) in teaching grammatical points most plausibly because they are mostly used to deductive teaching of grammar in their L1 (i.e. Persian) in the (junior and senior) secondary school education of English. The mean for the students' responses was the least for this item (M=3.29). Furthermore, teachers' responses also gained a relatively lower mean for this item in comparison to other items (M=3.1). Thus, the results of the questionnaire corroborated the researchers' subjective evaluation in this regard.
6. Do the series make students manipulate language in ways that reveal underlying patterns?
     The researchers' subjective scrutiny indicated none of the series (f=0) tried to involve the students in exploring the underlying grammatical patterns. Teachers and students' responses to this item also proved a lack of such activities in the series. (M= 3.61, M=3.32 respectively).
7.    Do the series make students recall elements of a text?
     According to Willis and Wills (1986), one of the activities in making the students conscious of grammatical patterns is making them recall elements of a text. One of the activities enhancing text recall is "knowledge mapping training" suggested by Chmielewski and Dansereau (1998). Knowledge maps are node-link concepts in which the ideas are connected to other ideas through a series of labeled links. Knowledge maps facilitate recalling concepts, ideas, and elements in a body of text in an inter-related structure (Chmielewski & Dansereau, 1998). 
     American English File includes an activity which requires the students to cover a text and recall a story using the knowledge mapping to recall the correct grammatical structures (book 3, p.33), (f=7). Four Corners and Interchange include a kind of pair work in which the students are asked to recall and retell the sentences and ask and answer them. Four Corners surpasses Interchange in this respect and incorporates sixteen activities of the ilk, while Interchange incorporates only nine. The other two series lack such kind of activity (f=0). However, the results obtained from students' and teachers' questionnaires with regard to this item indicated that both teachers and students rated this item relatively higher than the other items. (M=3.86, M=4.03)

8.    Do the series make students reconstruct elements of a text?
     Thornbury (1997) postulates that reformulation and reconstruction tasks promote noticing. He also argues that these types of activities have the potential to draw the learners' attention to both meaning and form (noticing elements that are present and absent).
      Reconstruction activities were found to be one of the most prevalent types of grammar consciousness-raising activities in the series evaluated and two hundred and two incidences of such activities were found in all five series. Different instances of text reconstruction include filling in the blanks, multiple-choice items, and text reconstruction. American English File incorporates an activity which requires the students to construct a meaningful sentence with some of the elements of the sentence given to the students (f=18). The activities which require the students to fill in the blanks with correct grammatical form are rampant in all the five series. American English File asks the students twenty-nine times, Total English thirty-four times, English Result forty-six times, Four Corners thirty-four times, and Interchange twenty-eight times to fill in the blanks with the correct grammatical form. English Result involves an activity in which the students are required to read a written text and retell or rewrite it using the correct elements (f=5). Total English asks the students to reconstruct a text using the four choices given to them (f=8). 
      Although the student's and teachers' responses did not significantly differ regarding this item, teachers rated this item relatively higher (M=3.96) than the students. (M= 3.81). The relatively high mean for this item among teachers might imply that incidences of reformulating and reconstructing activities are well distributed in the series.

9.    Do the series make students use reference works - dictionaries, grammars, and study guides?
          Tomlinson (2011) holds that referring to references including dictionaries can be regarded as a criterion to evaluate a textbook. This shows the critical role of referring students to dictionaries and other reference works of the ilk. However, the subjective evaluation of the series showed that no incidences of reference training were found in the series (f=0). Furthermore, this item obtained the lowest mean among teachers' responses (M=2) and also a rather low mean among students' responses (M= 3.31) which confirms our subjective analysis. The results for this item show that the current ELT series are in pressing need of incorporating material guiding and encouraging the students towards using different reference works. 
10.    Do the series emphasize the conscious use of different techniques/ strategies and activities of grammar learning? 
     Ever since Naiman, Frohlich, Stern, and Todesco (1976) stated that good language learners use a wider range of strategies in comparison to their poor counterparts, the concept of strategy use has received increasing attention. Grammar strategies that are in turn a part of language learning strategies are classified by Naiman et al. (1976) as ‘following the rules given in text’, ‘inferring grammar rules from texts’, ‘comparing L1 and L2’ and ‘memorizing structures and using them’. The descriptive statistics for the item showed a rather high mean for both students and teachers' responses (M=3.92, M=4.23 respectively). The perceptions of the students and teachers suggest that the series try to make students conscious of different grammar techniques, strategies, and activities. Different incidences of grammar techniques, strategies and activities were found in the five series (Interchange= 86, Four Corners= 22, English Result=126, American English File= 85, Total English= 180). 
11.    12. 13. Do the series use an explicit, implicit, or a combination of both approaches in presenting grammar?
     Ellis (2002) believes that the main goal of consciousness-raising is developing explicit knowledge of grammar. Furthermore, an association for language awareness (ALA) maintains that language awareness is explicit knowledge of the language. However, Cohen (2003) holds that course contents intending to train students in strategies require incorporating both implicit and explicit contents. Thus, there seems to be no unanimous consensus in the literature with regard to this issue. 
     The researchers' subjective evaluation revealed that American English File adopted an approach more implicit in nature in teaching grammatical patterns. Three-hundred and ten of the tasks (64.5%) adopted an implicit approach.  The series (i.e. American English File) usually starts with a text or a conversation or listening and then provides the students with different grammar activities. Although the grammar section starts with a grammatical topic, no explicit grammatical rule or pattern is presented at the beginning or at the end of the book. 
     On the contrary, Interchange and Four Corners adopt a more explicit approach to teaching grammar. Two-hundred and ninety-one (75 % of grammar tasks in Interchange) and one-hundred and eight (56% of grammar tasks in Four Corners) were explicit in nature. These two series follow the same theories in teaching grammar and they first introduce the grammatical point at issue. They then go on with presenting the grammar box and the exceptions of the particular grammatical rule. Different grammar activities are then presented for the students to consciously use the patterns. Nevertheless, no implicit pattern or rule is presented in the aforementioned series. 
   Total English and English Results follow a combination of both approaches in presenting grammar. Total English names the grammatical rule. However, the book warms up the students with implicit pre-tasks. The "Active Grammar" box is the explicit part of grammar in which a brief explanation of the structure is provided. It was also found that two-hundred and six (47%) of the tasks in Total English were implicit in nature, showing that the series have stricken a balance between using implicit and explicit approaches to grammar presentation.  
    English Result has also incorporated a "grammar box" into the grammar section in which some examples of the pattern are included, followed by questions on the usage of the pattern. Different grammar activities are then provided. Likewise, no pattern is explicitly presented throughout the book. The researcher's scrutiny revealed that three-hundred of the tasks (52%) in English Result were explicit in nature showing a mixture of both approaches. 
     Finally, the results of the descriptive analysis for item thirteen indicated that both students (M= 4.06) and teachers (M=3.87) perceived the series to follow a mixture of both approaches in presenting grammar, although students did more so. This finding is in line with the researchers' scrutiny which revealed that only two of the series adopted a combination of both implicit and explicit approaches.
14.    Do the series use unfamiliar words to describe the concepts the students are familiar with to make them curious about the world of words?
     A good example of this item is asking the students to close the door because it is ajar, instead of asking the students to close the door because it is not completely closed. However, very few instances of this activity were found in the series.
    American English File has tried to bold the unknown vocabularies in sentences whose meaning is easy for the students to perceive (f=48). Some reading comprehension activities in English Result ask the students to find the closest meaning for unknown words in the texts (f=132). However, the means for this item in students' and teachers' responses were relatively low (M=3.82, M=3.44 respectively). This might be due to the fact that both students and teachers do not consciously use these activities. 
15.    16. Do the series use words that sound alike and look alike (i.e. homophones and homographs)?
     Zhou, McBride-Chang, Fong, Wong, and Cheung (2012) found that Chinese students who were trained in homophones improved significantly in vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, according to Graves and Taffe (2002), using homophones and homographs is the second step in vocabulary instruction program. 
     Total English makes use of minimal pairs in vocabulary sections (i.e. hair, heir; seat, sit). However, this type of activity is only practiced at the intermediate level and is not rampant throughout the series. The total incidence of this type of activity was found to be six. 
     American English File and English Result have incorporated tasks related to both homophones and homographs at the pre-intermediate levels (f= 21 and f= 34 respectively). In the researchers' idea, the incorporation of this type of activity in the series at the pre-intermediate level might be justified by the necessity for consciously familiarizing them with and establishing the sound-symbol relationship at the beginning levels.     
       Students perceived the series used a rather high number of homophones and homographs (M=3.95, M=4.04 respectively). However, teachers' responses showed that homophones and homographs were not frequently used in the series (M=3.63, M=3.38 respectively). These findings show that material developers need to reconsider using these two types of activities in the series.
17. Do the series use words that look nothing like what they mean (i.e. idioms, clichés, and puns)?
      According to Nation (2001), idioms can be added to vocabulary being learned by including them in dialogues and stories which are used in regular ELT materials. Besides, the findings of De Caro (2009) indicated that by learning and using idioms, the learners were able to increase their knowledge about idioms, they learned new vocabulary and improved their communicative skills. Thus, the next type of activity in vocabulary instruction is the use of idioms, clichés, and puns. 
     Interchange has incorporated different idioms and puns into the headings and sub-headings of the book (i.e. once in a blue moon, life is like a game) (f=5). Likewise, Four Corners has made attempts in incorporating idioms, clichés, and puns in headings, sub-headings, conversations, and readings. In addition, a number of vocabulary activities (f=11) have consciously focused on puns in Four Corners 3.
     Total English high intermediate includes vocabulary activities that require the learners to classify a set of idioms according to their concepts (i.e. time, money, food, etc.). However, only four incidences of such activities were found in the series.
      Although American English File has not explicitly included the use of idioms and proverbs in the vocabulary sections, the reading sections contain idioms, clichés, and puns. Within the same lines, English Result has not incorporated activities that focus on the use of idioms and clichés (f=0).    Therefore, it can be concluded that American English File and English Result require a conscious focus on the use of idioms, clichés, and puns to enhance the vocabulary knowledge of the readers. 
   
18. Do the series immerse students in a rich, precise, interesting, and intensive use of vocabulary (e.g., using children's literature)?
     Chang (2007) investigated the role of children's literature in teaching English to young learners in Taiwan. She concluded that literature designed for young language learners in Taiwan had a little positive impact and suggested children's literature to be included in the materials. 
     However, the subjective scrutiny of the researchers indicated no signs of children's literature were found in the series (f=0). The descriptive statistics of the questionnaire also revealed that the means for this item were relatively lower in comparison with those for the other items (M=3.81, M=3.65 for students and teachers respectively). The reason for the lack of children's literature might be the nature of the series and their intended audience. That is, the series has been developed for the teenager and mainly adult EFL learners.
    
19.    Do the series require students to work extensively and intensively with words?
     Baumann and Kameenui (2003) maintain that word consciousness depends on the in-depth knowledge of words. Therefore, direct, explicit, and intensive practice is needed for the in-depth development of new concepts so that the student knows why he/she must announce verses proclaim in a given sentence. 
     Although intensive use of new vocabulary items has been stressed in the literature, no tasks have been designed to train students in an in-depth knowledge of new vocabulary items. The low mean for teachers' perception of this item (M=3.39) expresses that such activities are not incorporated in the series and are thus needed to be included.

20.    Do the series require students to write extensive essays using most of the words they have learned?
     By the term "extensive'", Graves and Taffe (2002) mean, provoking students to write extensive essays with as many as words they know. Interchange requires the students to write essays on a given topic in sixty-four "writing tasks". Although the framework for essay writing is provided, the students are free to write as many as words they know. Similarly, Four Corners urges the students to write forty-eight essays within the given framework.
     English Result starts writing sections with a vocabulary activity for review purposes. It goes on with a short reading to activate or provide background schemata and a paragraph structure. Finally, the book asks the students to put all these together and compose another paragraph. This activity requires extensive use of known vocabulary. The number of writings incorporated in the English Result series is forty-eight.  
     Although Total English provides the students with a "writing bank" which includes twenty-four writing tasks, it is not of the extensive type and a strict framework is given to the students. Students are first trained in writing activities including filling in the blanks or choosing from among multiple choices. 
     American English File also starts the writing sections with a reading in which the students are asked to correct the grammatical mistakes and also fill in the blanks with appropriate words. The students are then asked to write an essay on the same topic with the words they know. However, only twenty-eight writing tasks have been incorporated in the series.
     The descriptive statistics for this item revealed that although the series has incorporated different extensive writing activities, students (M=3.39) and teachers (M= 3.65) are not so much satisfied with them. This might be due to the reason that the series has tried to provide the students with a certain framework or a "guided" writing task. This framework may confine the students with a given set of vocabularies and prevent them to write extensively. The total number of writing tasks in all five series was one hundred and forty-eight. This finding suggests that material developers should incorporate more writing tasks in the series.
21.    Do the series involve students in discussions about the word choices they make, why they make those choices, and how skillful use of words makes a speech and writing more precise, more memorable, and more interesting?
       The subjective scrutiny revealed that only a few instances of this activity were incorporated in the series (f= 12 in total). English Result has incorporated activities in which the students are asked to discuss the semantic differences of the words (i.e. the difference between road and path or turn and bend). Likewise, Total English has incorporated seven semantic differentiation tasks throughout the whole series.
      The other series have not included semantic differentiation activities. The descriptive analyses showed that three students and four teachers missed answering this item in the questionnaire. The teachers ranked this item with a relatively low mean and a high standard deviation (M=3.51, SD=0.96) implying that the teachers' ideas were widely different in this regard. This finding suggests that students and teachers should pay much more attention to the potential benefit of these activities in the series. 
22.    Do the series involve students in systematic efforts (research was done by the students themselves) to investigate different data sources including both written and spoken ones?
     Although none of the series has incorporated an activity which consciously requires the students to do research about words (f=0), the Chi-square analyses revealed that the only item in which the students' perceptions were significantly different from those of the teachers was this item (p= 0.01). The students ranked this item significantly higher than the teachers. This finding might indicate that the students are interested in doing research about new vocabulary items in spoken and written data sources. However, teachers seem not to be interested in making the students do research in this respect. The finding implies that teachers can adapt or adopt different activities in which the students are asked to do a piece of research on the new words. 

23.    Do the series make teachers explicitly instruct students in the knowledge of words?
     Teachers did not agree the series made them explicitly instruct the words (M=3.44). Furthermore, as the researchers' subjective scrutiny shows, the series require the students to do the vocabulary activities independently without the direct involvement of the teacher. However, the students' mean (M=3.81) was relatively higher than that of the teachers. The finding suggests that students need to be more independent in vocabulary learning and the amount of teacher involvement should be reduced.
24.    Do the series emphasize the conscious use of different techniques/ strategies and activities of vocabulary learning?
     Although the means for this item were not so much higher than those for the other items, this item obtained one of the highest means among the others. The findings imply that different techniques, strategies, and activities of vocabulary learning have been consciously focused on in the series. Thus, it can be concluded that the series has been relatively successful in promoting the students' consciousness toward vocabulary learning strategies and activities. The subjective evaluation of the series revealed that Interchange stressed the use of eight different vocabulary learning strategies in one-hundred and twenty-eight different tasks. Four Corners incorporated the use of thirteen different strategies in two-hundred and forty different tasks. Additionally, American English File and English Result were found to have adopted a wider range of strategies (f=17 and f= 22 respectively) 
25.    26.27. Do the series use an explicit, implicit, or a combination of both approaches in presenting vocabulary items?
     The implicit approach to vocabulary learning holds that the meaning of a new word is learned totally subconsciously as a result of abstraction from repeated exposures in different contexts (Krashen, 1987). On the other end of the continuum of implicit-explicit vocabulary acquisition is explicit vocabulary acquisition which holds that a certain amount of consciousness is needed to notice new vocabulary items and use strategies to infer and keep them (Gass, 1999; Schmidt, 1990). 
      The subjective evaluation of the series indicated that eighty-one percent (f=120) of the vocabulary activities in the Interchange Series were explicit in nature. Furthermore, Four Corners adopted two hundred and twelve (88%) explicit vocabulary activities. It was also found that seventy-three percent (f=456) of the activities in the English Result adopted the explicit approach in teaching vocabulary. Two hundred and five activities (64%) of different task types in Total English were explicit in nature. Finally, 345 tasks (90%) in American English File instructed vocabulary explicitly.
      The results of the Independent Samples t-test indicated that the teachers' perceptions were not significantly different from those of the students in this respect (p=.064). The finding could suggest that the students and the teachers' perceptions and awareness of grammar and vocabulary consciousness-raising activities are, overall, almost similar.
     Finally, frequency analysis of the students' and teachers' interviews indicated that the teachers mentioned the three templates of the interview more than the students (f=111 and f=68 respectively). Although this difference was not statistically significant, it could suggest that teachers were more aware of the different consciousness-raising tasks and agreed with their inclusion in the five ELT series. In the researchers' view, students might not be so much aware of and familiar with consciousness-raising tasks, which might be the possible reason for the existence of a lower frequency of the codes in the students' interviews.

5.3. Conclusion

     The crucial role of consciousness in the process of second language learning has been investigated and proved by different ELT scholars ( Schmitt, 1990, Rutherford and Sharwood Smith, 1985). However, few studies have focused on the critical role of consciousness in the ELT series. Thus, attempts were made in the present study to develop and validate a consciousness-raising Likert scale questionnaire that can be used by the other researchers as well.
     Furthermore, the results of the present study showed that although the current books enjoyed the incorporation of different vocabulary and grammar consciousness-raising activities, they lacked some main ones. The results of the scrutiny showed that activities like making generalizations, cross-referencing, manipulating language to find the underlying patterns, discussing word choices, researching about vocabulary, and using children's literature were lacking in the series. The reason might be due to the nature of the language teaching theories behind the books. Four Corners which is a recently published series seems to have incorporated more activities of the ilk. However, vocabulary has not received due attention in Four Corners. Interchange series which is considered to be the progenitor of the Four Corners showed no significant difference in presenting grammar and vocabulary. Thus, it might be concluded that Four Corners did not improve much regarding vocabulary and grammar presentations in general and consciousness-raising activities in particular.
     The scrutiny also revealed that English Result which is also a recently published series in ELT enjoys different vocabulary and grammar teaching strategies. It was also concluded while the American English File was rich in presenting grammar, it did not well emphasize teaching vocabulary. Total English was concluded to be weak in presenting both grammar and vocabulary and many consciousness-raising activities were found to be lacking in the series. The results of the chi-square analyses indicated that although some of the items were answered differently by teachers and students, teachers and students' opinions did not significantly differ except for one item (e.g. involving students in systematic efforts to investigate different data sources including both written and spoken ones). Finally, the results of the semi-structured interviews also corroborated the teachers' and students' opinions. It can be concluded that both teachers and students are not aware of the potential value of the grammar and vocabulary consciousness-raising activities included in the series.
  
5.4. Implications of the study
     Since no validated consciousness-raising questionnaire was found to evaluate the ELT series, the researcher attempted to develop and validate a Likert scale questionnaire. The present questionnaire can be adopted by other researchers interested in the field of grammar and vocabulary consciousness-raising. Furthermore, the results of the present study might be useful for material developers. It might suggest the authors of Four Corners and American English File that although the series was rich in different aspects, the vocabulary sections of the series should be reconsidered with incorporating a wider range of vocabulary learning activities and word consciousness-raising activities. The authors of Total English can also reconsider the grammar and vocabulary sections of the book to enrich them. Teachers can also find the results of the present study useful. EFL teachers teaching the aforementioned books can adapt the activities from other sources to improve the process of English language learning in their classrooms. Students can also adapt and practice more grammar and vocabulary consciousness-raising activities using other data sources (i.e. Internet, the teacher, and other EFL books available on the market).

5.5. Suggestions for further studies
     Although the present study sought to evaluate the five current international ELT series in detail, the scope of the study and the complexity of the statistical procedures did now allow the researcher to evaluate the series one by one. Thus, it is recommended to the researchers meticulously based on the checklist and validated questionnaire provided in the present study.
     Furthermore, ESP books which are widely used in Iranian universities also need a deep evaluation with regard to grammar and vocabulary consciousness-raising. Thus, the researcher also recommends evaluating ESP books taught in Iranian universities based on the checklist and questionnaire provided in the present study.
     Finally, an intact area of research in Iran seems to be "teacher consciousness-raising". Devoted researchers are recommended doing research studies on teacher consciousness-raising in both EFL and ESP contexts in Iran.

در صورت داشتن هرگونه سوال در ارتباط با انجام پایان‌نامه و رساله دکتری رشته آموزش زبان با آکادمی ابن سینا در ارتباط باشید.