VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *** *** NGUYỄN THỊ TỐ HOÀN A STUDY ON TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CULTURAL CONTENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL TEXTBOOK FOR NON- ENGLISH MAJORS AT HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY (Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên đối với nội dung văn hóa trong giáo trình quốc tế dành cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh trường Đại học Dân lập Hải Phòng ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *** *** NGUYỄN THỊ TỐ HOÀN A STUDY ON TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CULTURAL CONTENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL TEXTBOOK FOR NON- ENGLISH MAJORS AT HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY (Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên đối với nội dung văn hóa trong giáo trình quốc tế dành cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh trường Đại học Dân lập Hải Phòng ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr. Le Van Canh Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION To the best of my knowledge and belief, this minor thesis contains no material which has previously been submitted and accepted for any other degree in any university.
The thesis is my own work and based on my own research. It involves no material previously published or written by any other person, except where due reference is acknowledged in the paper. Hanoi, 2014 Nguyễn Thi Tố ̣ Hoàn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The study investigates the cultural content of the textbook Solutions Pre- intermediate Students’ Book and the attitudes of students and teachers towards that content. The analysis of the cultural content was based on two criteria – one of Cortazzi and Jin (1999) and the other of Byram (1989).
Survey questionnaire and interview were used to collect information from students and teachers. Via the data, convergences and divergences between students‟ and teachers‟ attitudes were drawn. The findings showed that Solutions Pre-intermediate Students’ Book was the textbook on target culture with the British and American culture dominantly presented. All the teachers and most of the students expressed positive attitudes towards the cultural content of the book although there were a number of students saying no to culture learning.
However, the teachers‟ teaching of cultures did not meet the students‟ need. The results suggested that some negative attitudes of students need to be recognized and changed as soon as possible. Moreover, the university authority needs take more consideration in choosing an international commercial book to be a textbook. They also need undertake an investigation into the effectiveness of the new learning and teaching method being applied, which prevented teachers from satisfying students‟ need, with the teachers‟ and students‟ voice involved.
It is hoped that these findings provide useful criteria for an expanding discussion of cultural issues in ELT. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to those who has helped me complete the study. First and foremost, I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Doctor Lê Văn Canh, for his guidance, encouragement and endless support from the early stages to this day. A special thank of mine goes to the teachers and students at Hai Phong Private University who spent time helping me with data collection and gave me encouragement.
I also would like to give my genuine thanks to my colleagues who appreciated me for my work and motivated me. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their warm support and constant encouragement that gave me strength to go through the study process. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1.How important of culture in English learning.Culture Learning Preferences. 28 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Cortazzi and Jin (1999)‟s classification.
25 Table 2 Teachers‟ ways of teaching cultural content of the book. 29 Table 3 What students like about their teacher‟s culture teaching. 30 Table 4 What students would like to change about their teachers‟ culture teaching 31 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study.
Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study.
Organization of the study. 06 Chapter 1: Literature review. Overview of culture and language. The relationship between culture and language.
The role of culture in ELT. Perspectives on culture learning and teaching from intercultural competence perspectives. Overview of cultural content in the textbook. Role of textbooks in ELT.
Cultural content in the textbook. Analysis of cultural contents in the textbook. Studies on teachers‟ and learners‟ attitudes. Definitions of attitude.
The roles of learners' and teachers' attitudes in learning and teaching cultures. Previous studies on teachers‟ and learners attitudes towards cultural content in textbook. 20 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methods of the study.
Data collection instruments. 22 Chapter 3: Results and discussion. Summary of the findings. Implications and recommendations.
Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research. I LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Culture has been long recognized an inseparable part in teaching language in general and teaching EFL in particular. Kramsch (1998) claims that “Language expresses cultural reality…Language embodies cultural reality…Language symbolizes cultural reality” (p.
Social values, attitudes and cultural elements are now integrated in teaching pedagogy to enhance the cultural competence of learners. Cultural aspects along with linguistic features are now more necessary than ever in order to prepare global citizens for the trendy global environment. Since there is no doubt over the closeness of the relationship between language and culture in ELT, new ways of looking at the teaching of language and cultures have been suggested. According to Kramsch (1993), “traditional thought in foreign language education has limited the teaching of culture to the transmission of information about the people of the target country, and about their general attitudes and world views” (p.
This view has ignored the fact that “culture is a social construct, the product of self and other perceptions” (p. Thus, he recommends four lines of new thought about the teaching of culture. The first is establishing a “sphere of interculturality” which means that understanding a foreign culture requires putting that culture in relation with one‟s own. The second line is teaching culture as an interpersonal process; we should replace the presentation of cultural facts and behaviors by the teaching of a process that applies itself to understandforeignness or „otherness‟.
The third is teaching culture as difference, supposing national traits are but one of the many aspects of a person‟s culture. The last line is crossing disciplinary boundaries; the teaching of culture is linked to the academically recognized disciplines of anthropology, sociology, and semiology. These ways of thought obviously provide much richer understanding of the teaching of culture; however, it is also challenging for the majority of language teachers to change their minds and adapt to the new views. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com The exposure to cultural aspects in second language teaching in the classroom can be mainly provided by means of textbooks.
Textbooks undoubtedly play significant roles, as Cortazzi and Zin (1999) assert that textbook can be a teacher, a map, a resource, a trainer, an authority, a de-skiller and an ideology. Along with providing linguistic and topical contents, textbook can be a major source of culture elements. Hence, a debate on what kind of cultural orientation in the textbook should be used in classroom is evoked. Arguments are provoked to consider choosing the best kind of textbooks among three options: textbooks on source/ home cultures, textbook on target cultures and textbook on international target cultures.
Source/ home culture refers to learner‟s own culture; target culture is the culture which the target language is used as a first language; and international target cultures refer to various cultures in English, or non English speaking countries which use English as an international language. Both teachers and learners play a key role in the teaching and learning of cultural elements from the textbooks in classroom. Therefore, collecting their feedback for obtaining a deep insight into the situation and for promoting innovations is of crucial importance. Learners should acquire cultural knowledge in an appropriate way in order to enhance their cultural competence.
Notably, with the contemporary emphasis on intercultural competence, learners need to be taught culture without preconceptions. They must understand that cultures are not monolithic; value or judgment of distinctions between the learners‟ native cultures and other cultures should not be placed. Their attitudes to the teaching of cultural content in the textbook, hence, first and foremost need exploiting. Besides, there is also a belief that teachers‟ attitudes may be even more important than learners‟ ones, as Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990) state that “Students use a particular course only once, but teachers will use it many times.
And it is cultural content, more than any other single aspect, that in our opinion influences teachers‟ attitudes” (p. Moreover, teacher is one of the factors involved in cultural content of the textbook by the way he or she addresses that content to the students. According to LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Ferit (2004), teachers should make learners learn about the cultures and why certain things happen in other cultures. They should not try to make their learners think or become like people in the cultures presented.
They should not give the idea that one‟s own culture is better than the target culture or vice versa. They should point out that the cultures differ. Teachers‟ attitudes obviously lead to their treatment towards cultural contents and then influence to learners‟ attitudes. In a nutshell, it is important to uncover both teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards the cultural contents in the textbook.
Due to these issues addressed above, the research A study on teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the cultural content in the international commercial textbook for non-English majors at Haiphong Private University is carried out in the hope that the teachers‟ and student‟s attitudes – the influential role in learning and teaching cultural contents – are reflected in the context of the study. Aims of the study This study is aimed at exploring the cultural representations in a commercial textbook, which is in use at Haiphong Private University, and the disparities between teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards the teaching and learning of culture regarding the cultural content represented in the evaluated textbook. The two above aims specified in the following objectives: 1) To investigate the cultural content in the textbook used for non-English major students level 3 and 4 at Hai Phong Private University – Solution Pre- Intermediate Students’ Book by Tim Falla and Paul A Davies. 2) To study the students‟ attitudes towards the cultural content in the text book and the teaching of that content.
3) To study the teachers‟ attitudes towards the cultural content in the textbook. 4) To find out mismatches between teachers‟ attitudes and students‟ attitudes. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the study The study is of significance to the authority of the university when they adopt a global textbook to use officially in the classroom.
The research offers a deep insight about the evaluation of the textbook by providing the teachers‟ and learners‟ voice.