HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES --------------- NGUYEN THI MINH HANG TEACHING CULTURE: A STUDY ON EFL TEACHERS’ PRACTICES IN TEXTBOOK-BASED READING LESSONS AT SOME UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University THUA THIEN HUE, 2022 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES --------------- NGUYEN THI MINH HANG TEACHING CULTURE: A STUDY ON EFL TEACHERS’ PRACTICES IN TEXTBOOK-BASED READING LESSONS AT SOME UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: DR. BAO KHAM THUA THIEN HUE, 2022 ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ --------------- NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HẰNG NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC THỰC HÀNH DẠY VĂN HÓA TRONG CÁC GIỜ ĐỌC HIỂU SỬ DỤNG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG TỈNH QUẢNG TRỊ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. BẢO KHÂM THỪA THIÊN HUẾ, 2022 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree in any university. I certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Signed: …………………… Nguyen Thi Minh Hang Date: 25/9/2022 i ABSTRACT Culture teaching has become more and more important in teaching English because of the close relationship between language and culture as well as the enormous benefits it brings about in language teaching and learning. One of the objectives of the General education English language curriculum 2018 is that students will be able to have a more extensive understanding of the culture of English-speaking countries and other countries in the world (MOET, 2018). To meet the demands of English learning and teaching and achieve the objective, the present study sought to seek some light on EFL teachers exploiting cultural content and their teaching culture in EFL textbook-based reading lessons in Quang Tri province. It also investigated the obstacles and difficulties facing EFL teachers in teaching culture in reading lessons.
In-depth interviews and observations were used collect data. The collected data revealed there is a bridge between what they stated in the interviews and their cultural teaching practices in the reading lessons observed. The bridge comes from time constraints, learners’ low English proficiency levels, teachers’ lack of knowledge and experience of teaching culture, and the lack of cultural content in the textbooks. The findings of the current study have clear implications for educational managers, textbook writers, and EFL teachers.
Pre-service and in-service teachers should be given more training sessions in teaching culture. Textbook writers should include more cultural content in reading texts, and EFL teachers should equip themselves with more cultural knowledge and cultural teaching methods. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would have been impossible without the help and support of a number of people. My deepest and sincere thanks will be dedicated to my supervisor, whose encouragement, guidance, patience, and support enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject in which I am really interested.
I also would like to express my sincere thanks to other teachers of the University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University, and my colleagues at Le Quy Don High school who have encouraged and helped me a lot to complete the thesis. Finally, I would like to thank every person, including family and friends, for all of their support throughout my studies. iii List of Tables Table 3. Teachers’ demographic information Table 3.
Information of the teachers' Table 3. Information of the teachers and eight class observations Table 4. Teachers’ exploitation of cultural contents in classroom observations iv List of Figures Figure 4. The participants’ preference for culture.
The participants’ interest in cultural elements from the interviews Figure 4 C. Exploiting cultural content in reading lessons v List of Abbreviations BE………………………Business English BET…………………. Business English Teaching EFL …………………… English as a Foreign Language ICC …………………. Intercultural Communicative Competence IcLLT ………………….
Intercultural Language Learning and Teaching vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of original authorship ____________________________________________ i Abstract ______________________________________________________________ ii Acknowledgements_____________________________________________________ iii List of Tables _________________________________________________________ iv List of Figures __________________________________________________________v List of Abbreviations ___________________________________________________ vi Table of contents______________________________________________________ vii Chapter 1: Introduction _________________________________________________1 1. Scope of the research _______________________________________________2 1. Significance of the study ____________________________________________3 1. Organization of the research _________________________________________3 Chapter 2: Literature Review ____________________________________________4 2.
Definition of culture ________________________________________________4 2. Relationship between language and culture ______________________________5 2. Culture and language education _______________________________________6 2. Benefits of culture learning and teaching ____________________________7 2.
Helping learners learn the target language better ___________________7 2. Helping to increase learners’ motivation _________________________7 2. Promoting effective communication_____________________________7 2. Helping to reduce stereotypes __________________________________8 2.
Helping learners to value and respect other cultures and their own _____8 vii 2. Main obstacles in teaching and learning culture _______________________8 2. Learners’ lack of knowledge of the target language _________________9 2. Limited exposure to the authentic cultural environment _____________9 2.
Native culture interference ____________________________________9 2. Time constraint on teaching and learning culture__________________10 2. Teachers’ lack of knowledge and experience in teaching culture _____10 2. Culture changes over time ___________________________________10 2.
Culture and reading lessons ______________________________________11 2. Culture and reading texts ________________________________________11 2. Teaching culture in reading activities ______________________________11 2. Teaching culture in pre-reading activities _______________________12 2.
Teaching culture in while-reading activities______________________12 2. Teaching culture in post-reading activities _______________________13 2. Culture in the reading texts in the English textbooks by Vietnam Education Publishing House. Review of related studies ___________________________________________14 Chapter 3: Research Methodology _______________________________________19 3.
Research context and curriculum _____________________________________19 3. Participants of the study ____________________________________________20 3. Data collection methods ____________________________________________22 3. Piloting the interviews ______________________________________23 3.
Conducting the semi-structured interviews ______________________24 viii 3. Procedure of the study __________________________________________26 3. Validity and reliability. Data analysis ____________________________________________________28 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion ______________________________________29 4.
EFL teachers’ exploitation of cultural content in textbook-based reading lessons29 4. The participants’ views on the benefits of teaching culture in textbook-based reading lessons ____________________________________________________29 4. Recognizing cultural content in reading texts ________________________31 4. The participants’ decisions to include, omit or simplify cultural content in reading texts ______________________________________________________32 4.
The participants’ preference for culture ____________________________38 4. The participants’ interest in cultural elements _______________________40 4. The ways to exploit cultural content in reading lessons using the English textbooks of Vietnam Education Publishing House. Preparation for teaching culture in reading lessons____________________43 4.
Teaching culture in EFL textbook-based reading lessons __________________44 4. Teaching culture in pre-reading stages _____________________________44 4. Teaching culture in while-reading stages ___________________________46 4. Teaching culture in post-reading stages ____________________________47 4.
Main obstacles in teaching culture in textbook-based reading lessons ________49 4. Reading texts in textbooks _____________________________________49 4. Time constraints_____________________________________________51 ix 4. Students’ low level of English proficiency ________________________51 4.
Teachers’ lack of knowledge and experience in teaching culture. Large class sizes ______________________________________________53 4. The extent to which cultural content was exploited in the reading texts. Teaching culture in EFL textbook-based reading lessons _______________55 4.
Main obstacles and challenges in teaching culture in textbook-based reading lessons ___________________________________________________________56 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implication ___________________________________58 5. Summary of major findings _________________________________________58 5. Implication for better teaching culture in textbook-based reading lessons _____59 5. Implications for educational managers _____________________________59 5.
Implications for teachers ________________________________________60 5. Suggestions for further study ________________________________________61 References ___________________________________________________________62 Vietnamese references ________________________________________________62 English references ____________________________________________________62 Appendices __________________________________________________________66 x Chapter 1: Introduction 1. Research rationale Today English has become by far the most important foreign language in Vietnam, and it has been taught widely in almost every school. However, many students encounter difficulties learning the language due to the lack of cultural background knowledge (Le & Thai, 2020).
Recognizing the issue, in 2018 the Vietnamese government and the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued the General School Education Curriculum: English Curriculum (Chương trình giáo dục phổ thông: Chương trình môn tiếng Anh). One of the overall objectives expressed in the new curriculum is: “the curriculum enables students to have an overview of the landscape, people and cultures of some English speaking countries and other countries in the world; have good attitudes and feelings towards those countries, their people, their cultures and their languages” (MOET, 2018, p. In the English textbooks by Vietnam Education Publishing House, culture and communication have been considered as important as reading, speaking, listening, and writing. Culture has a close relationship with language and it helps learners to learn the target language better, increase learners’ motivation, promote effective communication, and respect other cultures as well as their own one (Brown, 2000; Brown, 2001; Ginsberg, 2015).
In Quang Tri Province, the coursebook series of Tieng Anh 10, 11, and 12 (ten- year English language curriculum) by Vietnam Education Publishing House have been used in some upper secondary schools since 2015. In fact, most of the EFL teachers only concentrate on teaching culture in Culture and Communication lessons as required and they do not pay much attention to teaching culture in the others. Furthermore, because of the social and economic conditions of the region, students there have very little exposure to “real-life” cultural diversity. To compensate for the lack of “real-life” cultural contexts, 1 reading lessons provide students with a lot of valuable knowledge, which helps them to broaden their knowledge of culture as well as understand the deep meaning of the English language (Genç & Şenel, 2017).
The pre-reading and post-reading activities can enhance students’ cultural knowledge and facilitate their intercultural communicative competence. For the above reasons, the research “Teaching Culture: A Study on EFL Teachers’ Practices in Textbook-based Reading Lessons at Some Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province” will be carried out. Research aims This research has two aims: - to investigate how the EFL teachers exploit cultural contents in the reading texts in the English textbooks of Vietnam Education Publishing House and teach culture in reading lessons in Quang Tri Province. - to investigate the obstacles the EFL teachers face when teaching culture in textbook- based reading lessons.
Research questions To achieve the aforementioned aims, the research seeks to answer the following three questions: 1. To what extent did EFL teachers exploit cultural content in the reading texts? 2. How do EFL teachers teach cultural elements in EFL textbook-based reading lessons? 3. What obstacles do EFL teachers face when teaching culture in textbook-based reading lessons? 1.
Scope of the research In this study, the main focus is culture teaching in FFL textbook-based reading lessons at some upper secondary schools in Quang Tri province. The research was limited to five upper secondary schools using the coursebook series of Tieng Anh 10, 11, and 12 2 by Vietnam Education Publishing House, including 2 upper secondary schools in Dong Ha city and 3 upper secondary schools in other districts. Eight EFL teachers from these schools were the participants in the study. Significance of the study The research is expected to have the following potential outcomes.
First, an investigation into teachers’ practices would raise teachers’ awareness of teaching culture in textbook-based reading lessons at some upper secondary schools. Second, the findings of this study can help to provide a comprehensive understanding of teaching culture in English reading lessons and the inseparable relationship between culture and language. Last but not least, from challenges encountered by EFL teachers in teaching culture in textbook-based reading lessons, many solutions will be suggested so that teaching English and culture will be more effective. Organization of the research The thesis is intended to consist of five chapters as follows: Chapter 1: “Introduction” which includes the rationale of the study, research aims, research scope, and the organization of the study.
Chapter 2: “Literature Review” which deals with a brief summary of previous studies related to the research. Chapter 3: “Research Methodology” which states the methods of the study, data collection, and analysis.