VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- HOÀNG THỊ HIỀN TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH: A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE (Hiểu biết của giáo viên đối với năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa trong dạy và học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát ở một trường THPT ở tỉnh Phú Thọ) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HA NOI - 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ HIỀN TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH: A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE (Hiểu biết của giáo viên đối với năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa trong dạy và học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát ở một trường THPT ở tỉnh Phú Thọ) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Lê Văn Canh HÀ NỘI - 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Hoang Thi Hien, declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research.
I confirm that: This work has done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this university. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this university or any other institution, this has been clearly stated. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given.
With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work. I have acknowledged all main sources of help. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. Signed: …………………………… Date: ……………………………… i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.
Le Van Canh, for his valuable guidance, constructive comments, patient support and encouragement in the completion of this M. He consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right direction whenever he thought I needed it. I would like to send my sincere thanks to my informants in this study, who I selected as the target subjects of this research. Without their enthusiastic contribution and cooperation, this research would certainly not have been successfully conducted.
My thanks also go to all my teachers for their great help in providing me with useful advice and constructive comments. In the thesis, it is inevitable that the ideas of many other writers in this field are reflected and developed. Their ideas have stimulated my thinking on doing this paper. My debt to the authors listed in the references is equally great.
To all these scholars, I offer my sincere thanks. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family, colleagues and friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. My special thanks go to my parents who have always supported me and told me that I could achieve whatever I wanted.
I hope that they would be proud of me today. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com It goes without saying that I am fully responsible for all shortcomings remaining in this study. Author iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study was done aiming at finding out how teachers perceive Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) in teaching and learning English. Moreover, how their beliefs are integrated in their teaching practices were also the subjects to point out.
To fulfill the abovementioned objectives, the qualitative methodology was utilized, and the data mostly based on semi- structured interviews with six teachers of English at a local high school in a mountainous province were synthesized and analyzed. The results of the study, in summary, showed that most of the teachers surveyed have poor understanding of ICC, which results in their confusion about ways to improve students’ ICC. Those beliefs and practices may be influenced by some different factors such as teachers’ lack of experience, materials,. As a result, suggestions and recommendations were investigated so as to deal with the problems.
Though the limitations were unavoidable, the study was expected to be beneficial to teachers, students, and researchers of the related subjects. iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language EIL English as an International Language ELF English as a lingua franca ELT English Language Teaching ESL English as a Second Language I Interviewer IC Intercultural Communication ICC Intercultural Communication Competence p page T Teacher U. United States v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Fantini’s IC Model (2000) (1. 15 Table 1: Teachers’ perception of culture and its importance in p.1) Table 2: Objectives of ELT in the context of globalization in p.
36 comparison with those of traditional ELT (3.2) Table 3: Teachers’ perception of the components of ICC (3. 38 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the research problems. Aims of the study.
Scope of the research. Method of the study. Significance of the study. Structure of the thesis.
4 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT. 6 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW. The relationship between Language and Culture. Cross-cultural Communication vs.
Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC). Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC). The current pedagogy to teach ICC. The role of teachers’ beliefs and practices.
Previous studies on teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and learning English. 22 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. 25 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY. The setting and participants of the study.
Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. 32 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers’ beliefs of ICC in teaching and learning English.
How teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their classroom teaching. Teachers’ ideas about effective ways of teaching ICC. 45 PART THREE: CONCLUSION. Summaries of the major findings.
Pedagogical recommendations to improve students’ ICC. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further related studies. I APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES.
I APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE. VI viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the research problems The rationale of this study emerged from my own experience as a graduate student and teacher. Having been a teacher of English for more than ten years at a high school in Vietnam, my perceptions of English teaching is affected a lot by the way I was taught when I was a student.
Like many other teachers, I paid much attention to grammatical structures and vocabulary. Since the 7- year textbook set was implemented in my school, I have always tried to apply CLT into my teaching practices. With a view to helping students develop the four communicative skills, I paid much attention to teach my students to pronounce the words correctly with American or British standards. Not until I attended the workshop “Intercultural Communicative Competence and Education For Global Citizenship” by Prof.
Nguyen Quang did I realize that I had much to do to become a better teacher. I started to know that the ultimate goal of teaching English is not just to help students develop the four communicative skills, but teaching English is for global communication, for social responsibility and for intercultural citizenship. Therefore, I was motivated to do research on ICC to understand more about it and wish to help my colleagues clearer about this issue. In today’s globalized world, beside acquiring the four skills, English learners need to develop Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC).
It is claimed to be a very important factor affecting the development of the ability to use a foreign language, the ability to communicate and adjust attitudes of learners in multicultural contexts. When students are equipped with the knowledge of other cultures, they have less difficulty in communicating with 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com people coming from different backgrounds. Hence, teaching ICC along with the English language is considered to be extremely important in order to enable them to communicate inter-culturally, not just imitate the British or American people. The development of ICC has become one of the ultimate goals of English language teaching in the context of globalization; however, the integration of intercultural content into English language education in Vietnam has not been paid enough attention.
Although much research has been done on ICC in teaching English as a lingua franca in a variety of different contexts, not many studies on the topic have been conducted in the context of Vietnamese high schools. Besides, the concept ICC is still alien to many Vietnamese EFL teachers working in the high school. In addition, most teachers still have limited knowledge about ICC. For all of the abovementioned, I would like to carry out a small-scaled study on “teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and learning English at a local school in Phu Tho province” so as to help solve out the problems.
Aims of the study The research has two major aims: - To explore high school teachers’ view about ICC in language teaching. - To find out how teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their classroom teaching. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Research questions This study is conducted to address the two following research questions: 1.
What are high school teachers’ understandings of ICC and its importance in teaching and learning English? 2. How is their understanding translated into classroom teaching? 4. Scope of the research The research explores the notion of ICC in English language teaching and learning from the perspectives of six teachers of English at a local high school in Phu Tho. Regarding its scope, the research was only aimed at exploring teachers’ understanding of ICC and how it is translated into their teaching.
Method of the study The method used in this study is survey research, with the use of one main instrument which is interview. Interviews are carried out to idendify teachers’ beliefs of ICC in English teaching and learning. In the second part of the interviews, some questions are raised with a view to examining how teachers apply their understanding into their teaching practices. The use of interviews to survey teachers’ beliefs and practices of teachers would help to get reliable data and help the researcher have a good investigation into the problems of teaching ICC to students.
3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the study It is necessary to be aware of teachers’ attitudes towards improving ICC for students. Thus, this reasearch is beneficial to both teachers of English and high school students. This may help to raise teachers’ awareness of English language teaching in direction of intercultural dimension.
The study focuses on enhancing teachers’ understanding of the need and ways to teach English along with ICC appropriately and effectively. In addition, it can be valuable for teachers to self-evaluate their experience in improving students’ ICC.