The students’ views on the teaching material

with Hungarian language graduates, lawyers with translation experience and terminologists with various backgrounds, e.g., technical training. To be able to effectively deliver the terminology-related work, terminology committees had to be set up to have professionals from all sorts of specialist fields that the EU oversaw. She pointed out that apart from delivering work closely related to EU terminology, considerable efforts had to be made in the field of personal contacts and professional discussions with specialists in diverse subject areas.

The results seem to indicate that on the whole the students found the teaching material interesting. This is shown by a mean score of 4.2. Based on the students’ opinion, the book does not prove to be difficult to handle. The students’ responses pertaining to the selection of the units also indicate that the topics of the coursebook are appropriate. The coursebook is thought to help students’ understanding of the objectives of the course. These items show the highest mean scores in this section. Still, the results indicate that students did not find the complementary teaching material particularly useful. The score on the length of the material seems to suggest that the coursebook is too long relative to the length of the course. Finally, the results show that the students are generally satisfied with the formatting of the book;

nonetheless, further improvement is needed as it will be shown when describing interview responses on formatting.

Diagram 10 shows the results of the questionnaire items inquiring about students’ pre-course EU-specific background knowledge and EU English competence. The results show that the students did not have or had only little knowledge about the European Union before taking up the course (M=2.62). The item asking about their specialised EU English knowledge shows almost the same result (M=2.69). They feel, though, that after completing the course and using the teaching material their knowledge has been boosted (M=4.46), albeit EU English knowledge is rated lower than general knowledge of the EU.

Diagram 10 The students’ EU knowledge

In the next items of the questionnaire (see Diagram 11) the students were asked to evaluate in what proportion they thought the book contained theoretical and practical knowledge. The comparison of the results shows that practical knowledge is rated higher with a mean score of 4.07. This outcome implies that since the objective of improving the teaching material is to match ‘real-life’ communicative needs in the EU context, the contents of this course component should be clarified.

Diagram 11 Theoretical and practical knowledge 2.92

4.46 2.69

0 1 2 3 4 5

I had knowledge about the EU before using the coursebook

My knowledge on the EU is enlarged after learning from the coursebook

Before using the coursebook, I had specialised EU English knowledge

Mean value

3.84 4.07

1 2 3 4 5

The coursebook contains theoretical information The coursebook contains practical

knowledge

In the fourth section of the questionnaire, the students evaluated the tasks of the teaching material in view of their effectiveness of helping them to understand the subject. In this section they estimated whether the coursebook contained an appropriate number of tasks. The results show that the number of reading comprehension related tasks is found to be appropriate. This item shows the highest mean score. However, other mean values do not exceed the average mean value of 4.0. This score means that the number of other types of tasks should be raised depending on the objectives of the course. Diagram 12 displays the results regarding the number of tasks of the book.

Diagram 12 The appropriateness of the number of tasks

In the last section of the closed items (see Diagram 13), the students were requested to evaluate the effectiveness of the course material in view of the improvement of their skills. The results seem to indicate that the students think that their reading comprehension improved the most. Regarding their writing skills, students affirmed that these skills improved the least throughout the course, as was divulged by the results. The mean score of communication skills is between the values of the two other skills. The students’ overall satisfaction of the teaching material shows a mean value of 4.0.

0 1 2 3 4 5

The tasks of the book help to understand the subject The number of reading comprehension tasks is appropriate The number of written tasks in the book is appropriate The number of oral communicative tasks is appropriate The number of grammar tasks is appropriate The number of translation tasks is appropriate The number of vocabulary related tasks is appropriate

3.92 4.07 3.61

3.76 3.53 3.38

3.76

Mean value Total=5

Diagram 13 Skills improvement

The open-ended question of the questionnaire was answered by six students out of 14.

The students were requested to disclose their ideas on how they would complement the teaching material. The results show that they would like to add materials that focus on developing listening comprehension. One of them reported that “for reasons of future job interview abroad”; he would like to hear about the most up-to-date political and economic issues of the EU. Another student mentioned tasks that broaden EU-specific background knowledge and EU specialist vocabulary. Other responses included seeking out current events in the EU on the Internet; listening tasks on topics related to EU policies, reading journal articles specialising in EU issues, learning the meaning of political expressions related to the EU, or participating in the life of the EU in the frame of voluntary work abroad and studying abroad.

The students were also asked to express their views on the strengths and weaknesses of the coursebook during the interviews. They told me openly what they liked and disliked about the book. The next excerpt reflects Erik’s opinion:

I think the book we are using is good, full of details and information. The smaller picture illustrations and anecdotes make it more interesting. It asks about our personal opinion and it motivates students. (Erik, S/1)

This response may not be the most unbiased one. In general, based on the interview

0 1 2 3 4 5

The course material improves my writing skills The course material improves my communication skills The course material improves my reading skills The course material met my overall expectations

3.07 3.84

4.3 4

Mean value Total=5

responses, it can be said that the students liked the coursebook; however, they expressed a great deal of dissatisfaction concerning its format. They frequently criticised the length of the book and the editing misprints they found in it. The lack of illustrations was often mentioned and the use of colours in the book were lacking. Some said that more glossaries of terms would have been helpful to acquire the new vocabulary. Kitti in the following excerpt comments honestly on this:

At first glance, the book looks unexciting, being black and white. I think it would be more motivating in colour and better formatting would also be needed. (Kitti, S/8)

Kira in this excerpt also speaks about what she was missing:

I would like to enlarge my vocabulary on the EU, I think more vocabulary-related tasks in the book would support this. (Kira, S/2)

The positive opinions involved the students’ appreciation of the different topics covered in the book. The units having to do with employment and studies abroad were especially favoured. They appreaciated the translation-related tasks the book contained and the in-class situations to be acted out in pairs or in groups. They particularly liked writing up the Europass CV and analysing and filling in EU job application forms.

The content of the teacher’s diary here allows me to complement the interview and the questionnaire data. With regard to the teaching material, what I noted is that it is too voluminous compared to the length of the semester, which poses problems in the organisation and the planning of the lessons. The students favour those units of the coursebook that they think can serve their own immediate and future goals. My own diary entries confirm the results of the questionnaire and underpin some of the findings of the interviews.