VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ TUYẾT MAI INTEGRATING AMERICAN CULTURAL STUDIES INTO TEACHING ENGLISH TO THE GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT TRAN PHU GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL: AN INITIAL INVESTIGATION Bước đầu nghiên cứu việc tích hợp dạy kiến thức văn hoá Mỹ trong việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh khối 11 Trường THPT chuyên Trần Phú, Hải Phòng M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 HANOI –2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ TUYẾT MAI INTEGRATING AMERICAN CULTURAL STUDIES INTO TEACHING ENGLISH TO THE GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT TRAN PHU GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL: AN INITIAL INVESTIGATION Bước đầu nghiên cứu việc tích hợp dạy kiến thức văn hoá Mỹ trong việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh khối 11 Trường THPT chuyên Trần Phú, Hải Phòng M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: VŨ THỊ THU THỦY, M.A HANOI – 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION …………………………………………………………….iii TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………………….iv LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………….…vii LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………….…viii PART I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………. Rationale of the study…………………………………………………………. Aims of the study……………………………………………………………. Scope of the study…………………………………………….
Significance of the study……………………………………………………. Method of the study…………………………………………………………. Design of the study…………………………………………………………….5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT ……………………………………………………….5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………. Language and Culture 1.
What is language ……. What is Cultural studies? ………………………,,,……………………………. Cultural studies in language teaching ………………. What are the main goals for teaching American cultural studies? …………………9 3.
What are the principles for teaching American culture studies? ………………… 10 4. What are the most common approaches to the teaching of American Cultural studies? ……………………………………………………………………………. …11 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. What are some techniques and activities for teaching American Cultural studies? ……………………………………………………………………………….
Evaluating materials for teaching American Cultural studie……………………. 14 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………. Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning American Cultural studies at Tran Phu Gifted High School. Data collection instruments ……………………………………….
Data collection procedure……………………………………………. Data analysis procedure……………………………………………….23 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION …………………………24 3. Findings from questionnaires for the teachers ……………….1 The teachers‟ perceptions on the definition of American Cultural studies ……………………………….2 The teachers‟ perceptions on the importance of teaching American cultural studies in the classroom ………………………….3 Frequency of teaching the culture-related issues ………………….25 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.4 The teachers‟ way of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom …………………………………………………………….5 The teachers‟ choice of topics for American Cultural studies in the classroom ………………………………………………………………26 3.6 The teachers‟ choice of materials of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom ……………………………………………………… 27 3. The teachers‟ opinions about difficulties in teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom ……………………………………………….2 Findings from questionnaires for the students ………………………………31 3.1 The students‟ perception of the importance of learning American Cultural studies in the classroom ………………………………….2 The students‟ opinions of the ways of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom …………………………………………….3 The students‟ choice of topics for American Cultural studies in the classroom …………………………………………………………….4 The students‟ ways of gaining American Cultural studies knowledge …………………………………………………………….
Findings from class observations ………………………. Findings from the interview ………………………………………………. Discussion of the findings ………………………………………………….40 PART III: CONCLUSION …………………………………. Summary of the study …………….41 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Limitations of the study ………………………………………………………. Suggestions for further study………………………………………………….I Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for the teachers ………………………………I Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for the students ………………………………V Appendix 3: Interview Questions ……………………………………………….VIII Appendix 4: Suggested lesson plan …………………………………………… .IX vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Characteristics of the teachers Table 2: Difference between the teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about the ways of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom Table 3: Difference between the teachers‟ and students‟ scores for topics of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The teachers‟ scores for the ways of teaching Americans studies in the classroom Figure 2: The teachers‟ scores for the topics of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom Figure 3: The teachers‟ scores for materials for teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom Figure 4: Difficulties in teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom Figure 5: The students‟ score for the ways of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom Figure 6: The students‟ score for the topics of teaching American Cultural studies in the classroom viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study It cannot be denied that English has nowadays become a common means of communication of human being all over the world. Perceiving that trend of the global integration, Vietnam has been more and more active to train active and dynamic Vietnamese, who can use English fluently for communicative purposes.
That is the reason why in 2002, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has set out new aims for English language teaching for secondary education as well as introduced new series of English textbooks from grade 6 to grade 12. The new English textbooks for high school students are divided into two sets: the advanced and the standard. Each unit in the new English textbooks consists of five parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus, among which the Language Focus sections are to consolidate students‟ pronunciation and grammar. They are claimed to adopt the latest teaching and learning approaches: communicative approach and learner-centered approach and aim at developing both language skills and language knowledge for students.
Since their nation-wide implementation in the school year 2006-2007, a great number of researchers have been carried out to evaluate these new textbooks as well as to find out how these textbooks are actually implemented or the difficulties that teachers and students at high schools have to face when teaching and learning with the new textbooks. Most of these studies have dealt with the teaching and learning of the four language skills which are believed to be new for both teachers and students. However, there is still one more indispensable aspect which tends to be depreciated. It is culture that turns out to be the fifth skill in language learning and tacked on to the 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com teaching of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
It always stays in the background to decide the good language learners when paid enough attention to. It supports learners to achieve their communicative competence. Nevertheless, the number of research on the teaching and learning of culture in general and America studies in particular in the classroom is obviously limited. It is necessary to carry out more research on how teachers and students teach and learn culture in the actual classroom.
Besides, national examinations (national examinations for GCSE, university entrance examinations) have currently included some questions related to American cultural studies issues (for example: how to address certain situations, etc.) On the other hand, there are various cultures that English language is getting connected with. Among those, the United States has a leading economic, political and cultural force in the world. Moreover, the United States is also the ideal destination for overseas students, which has resulted from its top-ranking education system. Thus, learning about the culture of the United States appears to be a wise choice.
Moreover, after two years of teaching English with the new English textbooks at Tran Phu Gifted High School, the researcher observed that the teachers and learners there faced a number of difficulties in teaching and learning American cultural studies in the classroom. According to Bada (2000: 101), “the need for cultural literacy in ELT arises mainly from the fact that most language learners, not exposed to cultural elements of the society in question, seem to encounter significant hardship in communicating meaning to native speakers.” In addition, nowadays the L2 culture is presented as an interdisciplinary core in many L2 curricula designs and textbooks (Sysoyev & Donelson, 2002). 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Stimulated by the above reasons, the researcher has decided to conduct this study. It is hoped that this study will discover the reality of teaching and learning American cultural studies at Tran Phu Gifted high school in order to contribute some immediate solutions.
Aims of the study The aim of this study is to examine the current teaching and learning of American cultural studies in the high school classroom at Tran Phu Gifted High School. In order to achieve the aim, the study seeks to find out: (1) The teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions on the importance of American cultural studies teaching and learning (2) How the teachers and the students deal with American cultural studies in the classroom (3) The teachers‟ perceived difficulties in teaching and learning American cultural studies in the classroom 3. Research questions: To achieve the aim and objectives of the study, the following research questions were proposed: 1. How do the teachers and the students at Tran Phu Gifted High School perceive the importance of American cultural studies teaching and learning? 2.
How do the teachers teach and the students learn / expect to learn American cultural studies in high school classroom? 3. What method and techniques do the teachers and the students use / expect to use? 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. What are the difficulties in teaching and learning American cultural studies as perceived by the teachers? 4. Scope of the study.
This study is limited to the teaching and learning reality with regard to teaching and learning American cultural studies in the classroom. This study is a detailed survey at Tran Phu Gifted High School in Hai Phong. Therefore, the findings of the study are not intended to be generalized to other school contexts. Indeed the findings may not apply beyond the actual participants in this particular study.
Significance of the study This study helps to identify the problems and suggests ways of improving them; therefore, it is hoped that this study will be beneficial in many ways. First, participants in the study (the teachers and the learners at Tran Phu Gifted High School) will benefit immediately from the experience of reflection. Secondly, the findings of the study will contribute information to textbook writers and educators to determine curricula and program direction. Method of the study The study was designed to use both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Then, various instruments were used to collect the data for the study from different sources: - survey questionnaires to investigate the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards American cultural studies, their teaching and learning habits and their difficulties in teaching and learning American cultural studies in the classroom 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - class observations to get information about both the teachers‟ methods of teaching and students‟ ways of learning American cultural studies in the classroom. - interviews with the teachers to get in-depth information about the teachers‟ and the grade 11 students‟ suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of American cultural studies in the classroom. Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. The Introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale, aims, scope, significance, methodology and design of the study.
The major part of the study, the Development, is divided into three chapters. Chapter one provides theoretical background for the study. Chapter two presents the methodology of the study and the last chapter is devoted to analyzing and discussing the findings of the study. The Conclusion part provides a brief summary of the findings in correspondence with the four proposed research questions as well as offering some recommendations for better American cultural studies teaching and learning.
The limitations of and suggestions for further study are also discussed in this chapter. Besides, the survey questionnaires for the teachers and students and the suggested lesson plan are included in the Appendices.