VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************ LƯƠNG THỊ THANH THẢO INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF EFL TEACHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES WHEN TEACHING THE COURSE BOOK “ NEW HEADWAY, PRE- INTERMEDIATE, THIRD EDITION” Năng lực liên văn hóa của giáo viên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Công Nghiệp trong việc giảng dạy giáo trình “ New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition” M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************ LƯƠNG THỊ THANH THẢO INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF EFL TEACHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES WHEN TEACHING THE COURSE BOOK “ NEW HEADWAY, PRE- INTERMEDIATE, THIRD EDITION” Năng lực liên văn hóa của giáo viên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Công Nghiệp trong việc giảng dạy giáo trình “ New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition” M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof. Nguyen Quang HANOI – 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I, Lương Thị Thanh Thảo, hereby certify that the thesis “Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries whenteaching the course book “New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third Edition” ” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
I also declare that this thesis is result of my own research and efforts and that it has not been submitted for any other purposes. Hanoi, 2016 Signature Lương Thị Thanh Thảo i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my indebtedness and sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Nguyen Quang for his invaluable guidance and great support without which this thesis would not have been completed. Besides, I am heartily thankful to all the lecturers and teachers of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable and interesting lectures and assistance during my study at the university.
Many thanks would go to all the teachers of English at University of Economic and Technical Industries whose active participation and cooperation helped me to fulfill this study. Last but not least, I send my special thanks to my family and my friends who provided abundant assistance and encouragement while this work was in progress. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study examines the intercultural competence of ELF teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries, their self-report in teaching practice and the reflection of their intercultural competence on their teaching. This study adopts a mixed methods research design.
Quantitative data are collected through a survey questionnaire from seventeen EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries. Among them, four teachers participate in the follow-up interviews. The findings of this study suggest that participating teachers’ perceive cultural teaching objectives reflect various aspects of an intercultural perspective toward culture teaching. They are aware of the importance of intercultural competence in teaching however they have not applied frequently in teaching practice yet.
English language teachers concentrated on the factual knowledge and skills parts of teaching the language most of the time, which could be categorized within the pedagogy of information and the pedagogy of preparation respectively; either when they were presenting culture; when they were representing their teaching objectives; when they perceived the teaching of the ICC; or when they were using activities in their classrooms. Less concentration was paid to actual teaching of culture, which could be categorized within the pedagogy of encounter; despite their realization of the importance of it to their students and their openness to other cultures. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.edition TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES. ix LIST OF APPENDIXES.
Rationale of the study. Aims and objectives of the study. Aims of the study. Objectives of the study.
Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the study .5 Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Language and culture correlation.
Byram’s perception of intercultural competence .edition TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Review of related studies. Setting and participants. Data collection instrument.
Data collection procedure. 17 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. From quantitative data. Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence.
EFL teachers self-report their intercultural competence in teaching practice. Teachers’ IC reflected in their practice of teaching. From qualitative data. Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence.
How teachers perceive the teaching of intercultural competence in their classrooms. Teacher’s intercultural competence reflected in their self-report pedagogical practice. Summary of the Research and Main Findings. Limitations of the study .edition TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Suggestions for further studies.edition TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.edition LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CC Communicative competence CEFR Common European Framework of Reference for Languages EFL English as a foreign language ELT English language teaching FLT Foreign language teaching IC Intercultural competence ICC Intercultural communicative competence ILTLP Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice SD Standard Deviation UNETI University of Economic and Technical Industries vii (LUAN.edition TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.edition LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3.1: Definition of Culture from the Respondents’ Point of 19 View Table 3.2: Definition of Culture from the Respondents’ Point of 20 View Table 3.3: Teachers’ beliefs about cultural teaching objectives 22 Table 3.4: Frequency of Dealing with Particular Cultural Aspects 23 Table 3.5: Responses about having the chance to Create a 24 Multicultural Environment in the Language Classroom Table 3.6: Frequency of applying intercultural competence teaching 26 Table 3.7: Means for items showing a positive attitude to teaching 29 about culture Table 3.8: Means for items showing a negative attitude to teaching 30 about culture viii (LUAN.edition TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.edition LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 : Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence 11 ix (LUAN.edition TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.edition LIST OF APPENDIXES Page Appendix A: Survey questionnaire I Appendix B: Interview Question Sheet X x (LUAN.edition TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.edition PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study As a result of globalization, the growing popularity of English as foreign language learning (EFL) has been put an emphasis on both linguistic proficiency and competence. Due to the worldwide trend of globalization, the opportunities to communicate and interact in English have increased and English is considered as the gateway that makes communication possible across cultures. In order to achieve the goal of successful communication, English language teaching has been viewed as imperative way to reach the goal.
However, being influent in the target language does not guarantee that the transmitting messages will be successful. It can result in misinterpretation and miscommunication. Therefore, foreign language education should integrate diverse worldwide culture and relate to learners’ cultural background. In other words, cultural knowledge and linguistic knowledge play an equal role in communication.
According to Byram (1997) and Smith et al (2003, p.89-126)) “in order to enhance English language learners’ intercultural communicative competence, understanding other background is the foundation of making possible assumptions.” Moreover, many scholars such as Byram and Morgan (1994), and Secru (2005) have pointed out the important of intercultural competence (IC) in foreign language education noting that teaching English as a foreign or second language is not merely language teaching, but more importantly “the teaching of global culture.” Since culture plays such an important role in English language teaching, teachers should be considered as a major instructional tool to transmit knowledge and consequently to convey cultural aspects to their students. In recent years, Vietnamese EFL teachers and educators are beginning to understand the greater role of culture plays in foreign language learning and beginning to address the need to integrate a cultural dimension into classrooms (Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, 2007, Nguyen Thanh Long, 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Despite the fact that the importance of culture teaching has gained attention from Vietnamese EFL teachers and scholars, classroom teaching still falls behind theoretical expectation: linguistic teaching still dominates mostly in universities in Vietnam and culture teaching has not been very effective in terms of promoting students’ acquisition of intercultural competence and preparing them for intercultural communication. This makes teaching intercultural competence a significant and heavy responsibility on language teachers’ professional development, which requires additional objectives and focus for teacher education and training programs.
Additionally, it is initiated by my own interest in the topic which inspires me to have a further insight into “Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries when teaching the course book “New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”. Aims and objectives of the study 2. Aims of the study The aim of this study is to investigate intercultural competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries and their self-report in culture teaching. Objectives of the study - To assess the intercultural competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries - To find out EFL teachers’ self-report in culture teaching practices - To find out how EFL teachers’ intercultural competence is reflected in their self-reported pedagogical practice in classroom 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Scope of the study Within the framework of this minor thesis, the study only focuses on university EFL teachers’ attitude of intercultural competence in teaching for non-English major students. Significance of the study The researcher finds it necessary to explore how English language teachers think about teaching culture in their classroom. The need of using English as a means of communication with people from other countries is more and more increasing because of the globalization, Firstly, this study helps to provide teachers and educators with a framework to train English language teachers to incorporate culture into the English language teaching, and also provide an in-depth understanding of the theoretical background of language and culture teaching. Secondly, the study provides the insights into English language teachers’ intercultural competence and their application in practice.
Research Questions 1,What are the perceptions of EFL teachers at UNETI about intercultural competence? 2, How do EFL teachers self-report their intercultural competence in teaching practice? 3, How is teachers’ intercultural competence reflected in their self-reported pedagogical practice in classroom? 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Research methods The study adopts a mixed methodology combining both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis. Seventeen teachers are investigated so as to compare and contrast their understanding and attitudes towards intercultural competence. Two collection instruments are employed including questionnaire, and semi-structured interview.
Design of the study The thesis consists of three parts, namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion. Part A, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the method and the design of the study. Part B, Development, consists of three chapters. Chapter 1, Literature Review, reviews the key constructs and related works.
Chapter 2, Methodology, introduces the participants, the data collection instruments and data analysis procedure. Chapter 3, Findings and Discussions, deals with the results and the discussions concluded from the data analysis. Part C is Conclusion of the study. In this part, the major findings, some recommendations, limitations of the research as well as suggestions for further study are presented.
The appendixes are the last part of the study following the reference. 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.edition PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Language and culture correlation To accomplish a productive discussion of the relationship between culture and language, both terms should be defined. Language is generally accepted as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.