MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ NGO THI HONG THAM INVESTIGATING TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CULTURAL ASPECTS IN ENGLISH LESSONS AT QUOC HOC GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.11 SUPERVISOR: TON NU NHU HUONG (D.) HUE, 2016 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- NGÔ THỊ HỒNG THẮM ĐIỀU TRA NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỀ KHÍA CẠNH VĂN HÓA TRONG CÁC BÀI DẠY TIẾNG ANH Ở TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN QUỐC HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TÔN NỮ NHƯ HƯƠNG, TIẾN SĨ HUẾ, 2016 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma 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: ………………………… Ngo Thi Hong Tham Date: December 19th, 2016 iii ABSTRACT While the role of teaching culture has been the major discussion among scholars and language teachers around the world, teachers’ classroom practices in terms of culture teaching have not been fully investigated. Since the new version of English textbooks for high school level published by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) include section Culture which is intended to develop students’ cultural awareness while learning English, investigating how teachers of English perceive cultural dimension and how they deal with section Culture in the textbooks is what the current study aims at.
This is a case study which involved three teachers of English department of Quoc Hoc Hue Gifted High School teaching lessons in Tieng Anh 11 of the new version. The data were collected over two months through in-depth interviews with the teachers and classroom observations. The findings showed that in contrast to the teachers’positive attitudes toward the crucial role of culture integration in teaching English, their real teaching performances appeared inadequate due to various factors namely teachers’ insufficient knowledge and teaching methods, poor teaching materials and facilities, time constraint, students’ limited knowledge and skills, and inappropriate curriculum design. The implications were also made which were hoped to ameliorate the situation of teaching English at high school level in Vietnam with the lessons in textbooks of the new version of MOET.
iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis becomes a reality with the kind support and help of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them. First and above all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor Dr. Ton Nu Nhu Huong, Department of English, for her expert, thoughtful guidance extended to me.
Her critical comments and corrections were a great credit to the accomplishment of my thesis. My sincere thanks also go to all the lecturers who were in charge of the postgraduate courses and my class fellows for their deep sympathy and wholehearted support. Without their help, I could not have completed all the courses due to the hardship during pregnancy. I am also indebted to my colleagues at Quoc Hoc Gifted High School.
Their willingness to help and be involved in the study was an enormous contribution to the success of my study. Finally, special thanks go to my family for all their love and encouragement. I am extremely greatful to my parents and parents-in-law for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. I also owe my husband Quốc Anh, who was always willing to be in charge of housework and to take care of our son during my struggle to meet the deadlines, everything he has done for me with his unconditional love and care.
Especially, my love for my little son Hùng Cường was the strongest motivation for me to overcome all the obstacles to make my thesis achievable. Ngo Thi Hong Tham v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference EFL: English as Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language MOET: the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training Ss: Students vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Description of the participants Table 4.1 Information (from the observations) grouping Table 4.2 Teachers’ lesson format Table 4.3 Facets of culture teaching dealt with vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages ABSTRACT. v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES.
vii TABLE OF CONTENTS. viii Chapter I: INTRODUCTION .1 Background of the study .2 Rationale of the study .3 The aims and research questions of the study .4 Significance of the study .5 Scope of the study .6 Structure of the thesis. 5 Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definition of ‘perception’ .2 Definitions of ‘culture’ .3 The relationship between language and culture. The role of teaching culture in ELT .5 Goals of culture teaching in ELT .6 Vietnamese high school students of English .7 An overview of the textbooks Tieng Anh new version of MOET .8 Teachers’ perceptions of the significance of teaching culture and their practice in EFL classrooms.
23 Chapter III: METHODOLOGY .2 Design of the study .3 Context of the study .4 Participants and Materials .5 Analysis of the current textbooks .6 Data collection procedure. 30 Chapter IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 An overview of the data analysis process .2 Teachers’ attitudes regarding the role of teaching culture in English textbook-based lessons .1 The importance of teaching culture and cultural knowledge .2 The essential need for the integration of cultural dimension in English lessons .3 How in reality teachers dealt with the cultural aspects in their teaching practices at Quoc Hoc Gifted High School .1 Teaching culture in teaching English .2 Methods of teaching culture .3 Facets of teaching culture in teaching English.4 Time dedicated to teaching section Culture .4 Challenges to the teachers’ integration of cultural aspects in their teaching in the context of English teaching and learning at Quoc Hoc Gifted High School .1 Teachers’ own knowledge of culture .2 Teaching materials and facilities .4 Students’ knowledge and skills .5 Teachers’ teaching methods and techniques .1 Teachers’ attitudes regarding the role of teaching culture in English textbook-based lessons .2 How in reality teachers dealt with the cultural aspects in their teaching practices at Quoc Hoc Gifted High School .3 Challenges to the teachers’ integration of cultural aspects in their teaching in the context of English teaching and learning at Quoc Hoc Gifted High School .1 Teachers’ own knowledge of culture and teaching methods .2 Teaching materials and facilities .4 Students’ knowledge and skills .2 Summary of findings .4 Research limitations and recommendations for future research. 72 Appendix 1: Interview questions. 76 Appendix 2: Observation sheet.
80 Appendix 3: Observation results. 81 Appendix 4: Interview transcription. 110 xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter serves as the introductory chapter where the background, the rationale, the aims along with the significance and the scope of the present study are presented. It is ended with the outline of the study’s structure.1 Background of the study There is an undeniable fact that the process of globalization has entailed the development of English as an international language.
“A billion are learning it, about a third of the world’s population are in some sense exposed to it and by 2050, it is predicted, half the world will be more or less proficient in it. It is the language of globalization - of international business, politics and diplomacy. It is the language of computers and the Internet” (The Economist, 20 December, 2001). That is, English connects people all over the world.
From ELT perspective, English learners nowadays use English to communicate with not only native speakers but also non-native ones. It means that they get exposed to people from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. In Vietnam, since Doi Moi in 1986, the integration into global market has put Vietnam under the influence of foreign languages and cultures. Particularly, English has received significant attention at all levels of national education from primary to secondary schools and universities in Vietnam.
EFL teaching has become especially important as it plays a key role in Vietnam’s development in economics, technology and education. Furthermore, English has also “become a crucial requirement in employment in many institutions all over the country” (Ho, 2011a, p. Since language and culture are considered two interwoven and inseparable elements (Jiang, 2000), learning a language does not solely involve its vocabulary and linguistic system but it undoubtedly means learning about people’s different aspects of life. In other words, it is impossible to learn a foreign language separately without the engagement of its culture (Gonen & Saglam, 2012).
This leads to the 1 emphasis on teaching culture as an integral part of foreign language education. Given the current EFL teaching and learning context in Vietnam, Vietnamese students have recently gained greater opportunities to learn English and communicate with people from other cultures. In order to help students obtain successful communication and maintain relationships, it is essential for English language teachers to broaden students’ knowledge of culture while teaching the language. Therefore, the cultural dimension in ELT should deserve special consideration.
Research, however, has pointed out that the integration of cultural aspects in English lessons in Vietnam has not been seriously taken into consideration. It is specifically significant in the context of Quoc Hoc Gifted High School, one of the leading high schools in Vietnam. It has set up partnerships with a number of schools from Thailand (e. Benchama Maharat, Kamalasai, Kalasinpittayasan, Prasatwittayakarn), from Japan (e.
Besides, there are annual meetings and exchange programs between Quoc Hoc and universities such as NUS (National University of Singapore), APU (Asia Pacific University of Japan), Queensland University (Australia), New York University Abu Dhabi (The United States), Phillips Exeter Academy (The U. That is to say, students of Quoc Hoc have opportunities to communicate and establish friendships with international students. In order for them to be successful in maintaining the relationships, the knowledge of culture plays a crucial role. Accordingly, the urgent need for including culture teaching in language teaching is inevitable.2 Rationale of the study The study is conducted for the following reasons: In the first place, Communicative language teaching approach has been the focus in ELT context in Vietnam and one of its main objectives refers to the development of students’ cultural knowledge and skills.
“There are certain aspects of it [culture] that are especially important to communication- the use of nonverbal behaviour, for 2 example, which would therefore receive greater attention in the Communicative Approach” (Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p. Indeed, the inseparability of the relationship between language and culture does not guarantee the success of an English lesson without including in it cultural dimension. Secondly, although communicative approach has been adopted, its effectiveness remains uncertain due to many reasons. The problematic issues are analyzed by C.
Le (2001) namely teachers’ low English proficiency, large class size, poor facilities and teaching resources, and pre-determined syllabus and prescribed textbook. Another obstacle is caused by “the exam-oriented educational system” (D. In fact, students are expected to learn English to pass series of exams rather than to mainly communicate. Consequently, teachers “are not confident in demanding their students to focus equally on all four language skills” (p.
55) and hence fail to be committed to communicative approach. This inevitably inhibits teachers from integrating cultural aspects in their English teaching. Finally, the pilot textbooks for high school level, textbooks of the new version, having been in use since 2013 contain a section called Communication and Culture. It means cultural dimension in teaching English has attracted greater attention.