BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE‟S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY NGUYEN VAN VU HUNG AN INVESTIGATION OF TEACHERS‟ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF CULTURE INTEGRATION INTO HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSES IN BEN TRE PROVINCE MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES MAJOR CODE: 8 22 02 01 MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES BINH DUONG PROVINCE, AUGUST 2023 BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE‟S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY NGUYEN VAN VU HUNG AN INVESTIGATION OF TEACHERS‟ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF CULTURE INTEGRATION INTO HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSES IN BEN TRE PROVINCE MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES MAJOR CODE: 8 22 02 01 MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SUPERVISOR: Dr. NGUYEN THUY NGA BINH DUONG PROVINCE, AUGUST 2023 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My special thanks are due to all those who have made great contributions to my thesis completion. First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Nguyen Thuy Nga my supervisor, for her valuable comments and suggestions during the whole research process.
Her dynamism, enthusiasm, vision as well as her patience have deeply inspired me. Without her support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed. Secondly, I am very grateful to the school management board who have supported me much time to implement this thesis. My sincere thanks also go to Ms.
Nguyen Hong Diem Trang, my colleague, for all her help and encouragement. I would like to thank the research participants who have contributed to this study. Last but not least, I warmly thank my family for their countless support, greatest sympathy and unconditional love. i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: AN INVESTIGATION OF TEACHERS‟ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF CULTURE INTEGRATION INTO HIGH SCHOOL ENLISH CLASSES IN BEN TRE PROVINCE In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Thu Dau Mot University.
Binh Duong, August 2023 NGUYEN VAN VU HUNG ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN VAN VU HUNG, being a candidate for the Master of Art degree in English language, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan, and reproduction of the thesis. Binh Duong, August 2023 Signature NGUYEN VAN VU HUNG iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY.
ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. viii LIST OF TABLES.
ix LIST OF FIGURES. Statement of the problem. Rationale for the study. Definition of terms.
Teachers‟ beliefs and practices. Definition of „beliefs‟. Factors influencing teachers‟ beliefs. Definition of „practices‟.
Factors influencing teachers‟ practices. The importance of studying beliefs and practices. The relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and their classroom practices. Culture in English language teaching.
Definition of „Culture‟. Culture integration in language teaching. Cultural contents in Culture teaching. Language functions in Culture teaching.
Learning activities in Culture teaching. Teachers‟ role in Culture teaching. Previous research on teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding culture integration. Theoretical framework for the study.
Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure. Reliability and Validity. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.
Data analysis from the questionnaire. Teachers‟ beliefs of culture integration. Teachers‟ beliefs about cultural contents of culture integration 38 4. Teachers‟ beliefs about language functions of culture integration.
Teachers‟ beliefs about learning activities of culture integration. Teachers‟ beliefs about teacher roles in culture teaching. Teachers‟ practices regarding cultural contents. Teachers‟ practices regarding language functions.
Teachers‟ practices regarding learning activities in culture teaching. Teachers‟ practices regarding teacher roles in teaching culture 44 4. Data analysis from the interview. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding cultural contents.
Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding language functions. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding learning activities. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding teacher roles. Relationship between teachers‟s beliefs and teachers‟ practices.
Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding cultural contents. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding language functions. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding leaning activities. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices regarding teacher roles.
Differences between the groups analysis. Teachers‟ beliefs about culture integration. Teachers‟ practices of culture integration. Relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and teaches‟ practices.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS. Summary of research findings. Research question 1: The EFL high school teachers‟ beliefs of the cultural integration in English classes. Research question 2: The EFL high school teachers‟ practices of the culture integration in English classes.
Research question 3: The relationship between the EFL high school teachers „beliefs and practices of culture integration in their teaching. Recommendations for educational management. Recommendations for EFL teacher educators. Recommendations for EFL teachers.
Limitations and recommendations for further research. Recommendations for Further Research. Questionnaire and Cronbach‟s alpha of 08 samples. Cronbach‟s alpha of 154 samples.
KMO and Bartlett‟s Test. Krejcie and Morgan (1970)‟s Table for Determining Sample Size from a Given population. 110 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations EFL: English as Foreign Language IC: Intercultural Competence ICC: Intercultural Communicative Competence ICLT: Intercultural language teaching KMO: Kaiser- Meyer- Olkin L1: The first language L2: The second language MOET: Ministry of Education and Training SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Summary of previous studies.
Descriptive statistics of the high school English learning and teaching in Ben Tre context. Demographic of the study participants (questionnaire). Demographic of the study participants (interview). Teachers‟ beliefs about cultural contents.
Teachers‟ beliefs about language functions. Teachers‟ beliefs about learning activities. Teachers‟ beliefs about teacher roles. Teachers‟ practices regarding cultural contents.
Teachers‟ practices in using language functions. Teachers‟ practices regarding learning activities. Teachers‟ practices regarding teacher roles. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices of culture integration in comparison.
Teachers‟ beliefs and practices of teacher roles in comparison. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices in comparison regarding cultural contents. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices in comparison regarding language functions. Teachers‟ beliefs and practices in comparison regarding leaning activities.
Teachers‟ beliefs and practices in comparison regarding teacher roles. Factors contributing to teachers‟ beliefs about integrating culture into EFL teaching. Factors contributing to teachers‟ practices in integrating culture into EFL teaching. Factors contributing to teachers‟ beliefs about teacher roles.
Post Hoc Tests. Factors contributing to teachers‟ practices of teacher roles. 57 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. A model of teachers‟s cultural integration beliefs and practices.
Questionnaire and Cronbach‟s alpha of 08 samples. Cronbach‟s alpha of 154 samples. KMO and Bartlett‟s Test. Krejcie and Morgan (1970)‟s Table for Determining Sample Size from a Given population.
110 xi ABSTRACT An increasingly important curricular aim of teaching EFL is to develop learners‟ intercultural competence for communication with people from different cultures through English. EFL teachers‟ beliefs and practices in relation to integrating culture with English learning seem to have been less explored in Vietnam. This research reports a study of views and practices collected through a questionnaire and an interview about culture integration in EFL teaching from high school English teachers in Ben Tre province. The findings showed that the teachers were unanimously positive in their attitudes towards the motivating power of culture (including popular culture) in language teaching, and also revealed their creativeness of how culture to be integrated in EFL teaching; the connectivity between cultural components and examinations; and the various roles of teachers in practicing culture integration.
The findings suggest the need for EFL teachers to deploy culture as a discursive resource for meaning-making, and to consider culture pedagogy as interlingua and intercultural exploratory dialogues with the students. The need for more official guidance and professional support from the authority to EFL teachers is highlighted. Key words: Culture integration, Teachers‟ beliefs, teachers‟ practices, intercultural competence, communication. INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the introductory information about the conducted research.
First, research background, statement of problem and rationale of the study are introduced. Next, research aims and relevant research questions are presented to specify the problems stated. Research scope is then followed to narrow down research areas, objectives, and participants. Lastly, the outline of the study is presented in the last section of the chapter.
Research background English is believed to be an international language in the world today. It is the most commonly preferred and learned second language and foreign language. It is estimated that the speakers of English as the second or a foreign language are more numerous than native English speakers (Crystal, 2004). According to Philipsen (2002), communication is culturally tied to individuals and communities.
That is why developing competence to communicate effectively and appropriately across cultures, which is known as intercultural competence, should be an integral objective of teaching English besides building learners‟ linguistic competence and communicative competence. In the context of increasing regional integration and globalization, teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in Vietnam undertakes a fresh commission - to contribute to the interculturality for Vietnamese to become capable global citizens. Intercultural objectives are more prominent in the new overall curriculum for teaching English in secondary education and higher. To specify, the stated objectives of the mentioned curriculum are (1) raising comprehensive cultural awareness, (2) building positive intercultural attitudes towards the selfness and otherness, and (3) initially reflecting the values of the home culture in English (MOET, 2018).
As a measure to achieve these objectives, a body of intercultural content of English speaking culture, Vietnamese culture, and other cultures has been added in the new textbook series of Tieng Anh 10, 11, and 12, which was still in piloting stage, known as pilot textbooks (developed by Vietnamese MOET, 2014). Besides the improvement of the course books, teachers should play an 1 active role to contribute to the success of this educational reform because they are the main implementers, who know best their students‟ interests, motivations, aptitudes, or even their personal and cultural identity. According to Le (2007), most of EFL learners have developed good linguistic competence, they still face communicative difficulties arising from the lack of sociolinguistic competence. In addition, they are not fully aware of the fact that language of each community of countries in the world has its own feelings, message expressing ways.
The ways that people in a community communicate is the performance of their culture. It seems that they do not pay much attention to cultural or intercultural elements in their English learning. Consequently, learners usually use the language they learn in the way of their native language expressing, which is inappropriate. This unexpected result must be a part of EFL teachers‟ responsibility because language teachers undeniably play a vital role in helping language learners acquire a language effectively.
Theoretically, culture holds an important role in foreign language acquisition process. Marcal (2010) maintains that students need to learn foreign cultures to understand others‟ viewpoints, prepare for personal encounters with foreign cultures and use the language in context; and Thanasoulas (2001) discusses that culture can enhance and enrich learners‟ communicative competence as well as lead them to empathy and respect toward different cultures and promote objectivity and cultural perspicacity. Also, culture is considered communicative competence (Hymes, 1972), or the 5th language skill. Obviously, incorporating culture in language teaching and learning is essential.
About English language teaching in Ben Tre high school context, two English textbook sets published by Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam are currently being used. One is the pilot and the other is the standard version.