VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CULTURAL CONTENT IN “TIENG ANH 11” AT TRAN KHAI NGUYEN HIGH SCHOOL - HCMC A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By DO THI THANH AN Supervised by LE THI THANH, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to a number of people without whom this thesis would have been impossible. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Le Thi Thanh, my supportive supervisor, for understanding my difficulties, knowing my strengths and weaknesses, sharing useful materials, giving me constructive remarks, and providing me with illuminating insights and invaluable expertise.
Her patience, encouragement, and support greatly contributed to the completion of my thesis. I am also immensely grateful to the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature as well as all my teachers in my MA courses at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities of Ho Chi Minh City for giving me a chance to follow this postgraduate programme, widening my knowledge, developing my language skills, and improving my teaching methods. I acknowledge the great contribution of the school administrators, my colleagues in the English group, and 11th graders at Tran Khai Nguyen High school, where I am currently working as a teacher of English. Without their help, I could not get valuable information and data that played an extremely important role in this study.
Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks also go to my beloved parents who always be there for me, love me unconditionally, encourage me endlessly, support me wholeheartedly, and strongly believe in my ability to write the thesis to the end. i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CULTURAL CONTENT IN “TIENG ANH 11” AT TRAN KHAI NGUYEN HIGH SCHOOL – HCMC in terms of the statement of requirements for theses in Master’s Program issued by the Higher Degree Committee. No other person’s work has been used without acknowledgement in the content of this thesis. The thesis has not been submitted for a degree or diploma in any other institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, October 29th , 2016 DO THI THANH AN ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, DO THI THANH AN, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirement 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 originality of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and scholarly research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis. Ho Chi Minh City, October 29th , 2016 DO THI THANH AN iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .ix LIST OF TABLES .x LIST OF FIGURES. xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background to the study. Aim of the study and research questions.
Significance of the study. Scope of the study. The organization of the study .7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Language and culture.
Definition of culture. The relationship between language and culture. Through linguistic areas. Through non-linguistic areas.
The cultural content in EFL textbooks. Cortazzi and Jin (1999)’s framework. Target cultural content. Source cultural content.
International target cultural content. The presentation of the cultural content in EFL textbooks. The cultural content. Related studies of the cultural content in EFL textbooks.
The cultural content in EFL textbooks in Vietnamese context. Strategies for teaching culture in EFL classrooms. Valette (1986)’s purposes of culture learning in foreign language classrooms. Hughes (1986)’s techniques for increasing learners’ cultural awareness.
Ryffle (1997)’s activities to teach culture in foreign language classrooms. Moran (2001)’s cultural knowings framework. Teachers’ and learners’ attitudes towards culture learning in EFL classrooms. Conceptual framework of the study.
Sample and sampling procedures. Data collection procedure. Framework of data analysis .64 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. The cultural content.
Target cultural content. Source cultural content. International target cultural content. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards how the cultural content is presented in TA11.
The cultural content presented in TA11. Pictures illustrating the cultural content in TA11. Tasks in culturally-loaded units in TA11. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards culture learning through TA11.
Cortazzi and Jin (1999)’s three types of cultural content. Moran (2001)’s stages of cultural knowings. Effects of culture learning through TA11 on students. Difficulties in culture learning and teaching through TA11.
Strategies for teaching and learning the cultural content in TA11 93 4. Cultural topics that should be included in TA11. Findings and discussion. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards how the cultural content is presented in TA11 .1 The cultural content presented in TA11.
Pictures illustrating the cultural content in TA11. Tasks in culturally-loaded units in TA11. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards culture learning through TA11. Cortazzi and Jin (1999)’s three types of cultural content.
Moran (2001)’s stages of cultural knowings. Effects of culture learning through TA11 on students. Difficulties in culture learning and teaching through TA11. Strategies for teaching and learning the cultural content in TA11.
Cultural topics that should be included in TA11 .114 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards how the cultural content is presented in TA11. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards culture learning through TA11. Cortazzi and Jin (1999)’s three types of cultural content.
Moran (2001)’s stages of cultural knowings. Effects of culture learning through TA11 on students. Difficulties in culture learning and teaching through TA11. Strategies for teaching and learning the cultural content in TA11.
Cultural topics that should be included in TA11. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further research .136 APPENDIX 1: SYLLABUS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING .136 APPENDIX 2: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION .141 APPENDIX 2A: Class room observation form A.141 APPENDIX 2B: Classroom observation form B .145 APPENDIX 2C: Classroom observation form C .150 APPENDIX 2D: A summary of 3 classroom observations .156 APPENDIX 3A: Student questionnaire (English version) .156 APPENDIX 3B: Student questionnaire (Vietnamese version) .159 APPENDIX 3C: Teacher questionnaire (English version) .162 APPENDIX 3D: Teacher questionnaire (Vietnamese version) .165 APPENDIX 4: CRITERIA FOR TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS .168 APPENDIX 4A: Huhn (1978)’s criteria for evaluating treatment of cultural contents in textbook .168 APPENDIX 4B: Kilickaya (2004)’s guideline to evaluate cultural content in textbooks .169 APPENDIX 4C: Kristiawan (2012)’s five principles to evaluate ELT materials .171 APPENDIX 4D: Olajide (2010)’s questions to assess the cultural content of two EFL textbooks popularly used in Nigeria primary schools .172 APPENDIX 4E: Reimann (2009)’s criteria for evaluating examples of cultural information in textbooks .173 APPENDIX 4F: Sercu (1998)’s criteria to evaluate the adequacy of textbooks for teaching intercultural competence .174 APPENDIX 5: THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK TA11 .177 APPENDIX 5A: Textbook analysis.177 APPENDIX 5B: Culturally-related units in TA11 .179 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT Communicative Language Teaching EFL English as a Foreign Language EIL English as an International Language ELT English Language Teaching HCMC Ho Chi Minh City L1 First language L2 Second language MOET The Ministry of Education and Training Sts Students T Teacher TA11 Tieng Anh 11 UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization VTEs Vietnamse teachers of English ix LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Moran (2001)’s Cultural Knowings .2 Strategies and Questions for Culture Learning .1 General Information About the Student Subjects .2 General Information About the Teacher Subjects .1 The Cultural Content in TA11 Closely Relates to Students’ Daily Life .2 The Cultural Content in TA11 Is Updated .3 The Cultural Content in TA11 Interests Students A Lot .4 The Pictures in TA11 Illustrate the Cultural Content Well .5 The Pictures Illustrating the Cultural Content in TA11 Are Beautiful .6 The Pictures in TA11 Help Students Visualize Cultural Concepts and Words .7 The Pictures in TA11 Give Students Clues to Talk About the Given Cultural Content .8 The Tasks in Culturally-loaded Units in TA11 Are Fun .9 Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Three Types of Cultural Content (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999) .10 Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Stages of Moran (2001)’s Cultural Knowings .11 Culture Learning Through TA11 Helps Students Realize Similarities and Differences Between Vietnamese Culture and Other Cultures in the World .12 Learning About Vietnamese Culture Through TA11 Helps Students Introduce Their Own Culture to Foreigners or Visitors .13 Culture Learning Through TA11 Provides Students With Vocabulary Needed to Communicate With Members of Other Cultures.14 Learning About Cultures Through TA11 Increases Students’ Interest in Learning English .15 Strategies for Teaching and Learning the Cultural Content in TA11 .95 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Hofstede (1997)’s Onion Diagram .2 Weaver (1986)’s Cultural Iceberg .1 Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards How the Cultural Content Is Presented in TA11 .2 Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Three Types of Cultural Content (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999) .3 Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Stages of Moran (2001)’s Cultural Knowings .4 Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the Effects of Culture Learning Through TA11 on Students .5 Difficulties in Culture Learning Through TA11 .6 Difficulties in Culture Teaching Through TA11 .7 Students’ Top Ten Favourite Cultural Topics .8 Teachers’ Favourite Cultural Topics .9 Students’ Less Favourite Cultural Topics .10 Students’ Favourite Countries .99 xii ABSTRACT It is a truism that language and culture has an undeniably intertwined relationship as language is everywhere in a culture and culture is everywhere in a language. That is to say, learning a foreign language will be nonsense if learners know nothing about the culture associated with that language and members living in that culture.
For this reason, including the culture of Britain and the United States in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) materials is a commonly-held belief permeating the practice of learning and teaching English in many EFL classrooms. However, the new status of English as an International Language (EIL) nowadays interestingly implies that besides the target cultures referring to the culture of countries in which English is spoken as the first language, learners should be introduced to the source culture or learners’ own culture and the international target cultures where English is used as an international language. Although the need to integrate elements of diverse cultures into EFL textbooks and effects of culture learning in EFL classrooms on learners have become worldwide concerns, these issues did not receive much attention in the context of Vietnam, especially in Vietnamese high schools. Therefore, this study aims at finding out the attitudes of 11th graders and their Vietnamese teachers of English (VTEs) towards the presentation of the cultural content in the English textbook Tieng Anh 11 (TA11) and culture learning through this textbook with the participation of 259 students studying in grade 11 and 9 VTEs in charge of 11th graders at Tran Khai Nguyen High school.
Despite some problems existing in TA11 as well as the teaching practice in this context of study, a majority of the participants gave positive responses to the way the cultural content is presented in TA11 and culture learning through this textbook. In accordance with the aims and the findings of this study, some suggestions and recommendations for further research were put forward to enhance students’ motivation in learning the cultural content in TA11, improve the quality of culture learning through this textbook in the context of study, and provide a springboard for those who are interested in this issue.