'VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES co NGUYEN THI THUY HANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO CULTURAL ELEMENTS VIA LINGUISTIC MEANS IN NEW TTEADWAY TEXTBOOKS (Nghiên cứu các yếu tổ văn hóa thông qua phương tiện ngôn ngữ trong bộ giáo trình New Headway) M. Minor Programme Thesis FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60.15 HÀ NỘI — 2010 'VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES co NGUYEN TH] THUY HANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO CULTURAL ELEMENTS VIA LINGUISTIC MEANS IN NEW HEADWAY TEXTBOOKS (Nghiên cứu các yếu tổ văn hóa thông qua phương tiện ngôn ngữ trong bộ giáo trình New Headway) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISII LINGUISTICS CODE: 60. SUPERVISOR: PHAN THI VAN QUYEN, M.A HÀ NỘI — NĂM 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DeelitalioH.
see sestesistintuststiatienusmenatististiisiasistietieieeiaeneeseeiel Acknowledgements ii Abstrarl,. - - - - e il ‘Table of contents iv List of tables. avi PART A: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study 2.
Scope of the stutly- 2 5. Methods of the study. Designof the sbudy. 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT ‘heoretical Background.
Elements of Culture 1. Inierrelationship between Langags anđ Culture. Cnltural dimension of English language learning and teaching M Chapter 2: Methodology 17 2.1, Materials under investigation. The context of the study 2.5, Data collection proeedt9s.
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions, 3 3. Identifications of Bnitish cultural elements in New Headway texfbooks. Norms: - wl Số. Identifications of American cultural elementsin New Teadway textbooks.
Trnplicstious for incorporating cullure toavhing into English lmguags tcaching.39 3, Limitations of the study and suggestions for further siudy. - - - 42 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The #equency of oecurence of British cultural elements in New Tieadway textbooks. ‘Table 2: The fiequency of occurrence of American cultural elements in New Headway øxIbooks. Table 3: The comparison of #equsncy of ooomrenoe betwzen British and American cullural clamnents in New Headway Textbooks.
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions, 3 3. Identifications of Bnitish cultural elements in New Headway texfbooks. Norms: - wl Số. Identifications of American cultural elementsin New Teadway textbooks.
Trnplicstious for incorporating cullure toavhing into English lmguags tcaching.39 3, Limitations of the study and suggestions for further siudy. - - - 42 Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions, 3 3. Identifications of Bnitish cultural elements in New Headway texfbooks. Norms: - wl Số.
Identifications of American cultural elementsin New Teadway textbooks. Trnplicstious for incorporating cullure toavhing into English lmguags tcaching.39 3, Limitations of the study and suggestions for further siudy. Designs of the study This tes ch comisis of 3 pals INTRODUCTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND. This pat discusses rationale, aims of the sludy, research questions, scope af the study, methods ofthe study, and designs of the study.
PartB: DEVELOPMENT This is the focus of the study which is divided into 3 chaplers Chapter1: Theoretival Background. ‘This part discusses the culture, elements of culture, British and American culture, language, intorrelationstip belwssn language and culture, and cultural dimonsion of English language Jearning and teaching Chapter 2: Methodology It consists of materials under investigation, the context of the study, research question, rescarch metheds, and data collection procedures. Chapter 3: Findings and discussions This part focuses on analyzing cullural elements such as norms, values, attitudes and communication styles revealed in the New Headway Textbooks. Then, give discussions.
PartC CONCLUSION To sum up the major findings, give implicalions for incorporating culture leaching inlo English language teaching and then, give suggestions for further research vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The #equency of oecurence of British cultural elements in New Tieadway textbooks. ‘Table 2: The fiequency of occurrence of American cultural elements in New Headway øxIbooks. Table 3: The comparison of #equsncy of ooomrenoe betwzen British and American cullural clamnents in New Headway Textbooks. Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions, 3 3.
Identifications of Bnitish cultural elements in New Headway texfbooks. Norms: - wl Số. Identifications of American cultural elementsin New Teadway textbooks. Trnplicstious for incorporating cullure toavhing into English lmguags tcaching.39 3, Limitations of the study and suggestions for further siudy.
The eoneept of culfur, thersftre, involves the way people from a particular cultural background think, fest, aol amake fiends, worship and behave in a comnmnity. Culture distinguishes one human group fiom others. It also distinguishes mman being from animals. Culture is shared, learned symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and affects peopls’s beluviors, norms, values, attitudes, customs, Lifestyle, perceptions, taboos and communicative styles, att, history , geography, economics and political systems.2, Elements of culture.
‘There are many ways of understanding and defining about the culture. So each author gives different definitions of cultural clements. Sure authors define and el: sssify clements elvarly, Dut others have not classified them clearly, only give some suggestions about them or only list some of typical elements of culture. In this part, 1 only list some classifications of cultural elements ftom some famous authors such as Stephen Moore, Stephen Dahl, Saville-Troike, Tomalin and Stompleski, Gail Robinson, Nelson Brooks and UNESCO erganization.
According to Stephen Moore (1985:4 as cited by Do Mai Thanh & Dao hu Trang , 2006: 5-6) cullure consists of the following elements: Beliefs, values, norms, roles, tole conflict, and status. = Beliefs: are general, vagus opinions held about the world and aboul the nature of society. They vary by society and sometimes by subcultures, eg, God created the carth in seven days, or that Jesus was the son of God « __ Values: are vague beliefs about what is right and correct in the world. they imply thal there are certain appropriate forms of action which ought to be taken, eg.
Life is precious therefore, it is wrong to kill anybody. = Nomms: are socially expeeted palterns of behavior. Not talking out loud during a play, wearing black clothes to a fimeral. * Roles: social roles are pattems of behavior expected of certain people according to the occupation or position they hold in society.
Hg, ‘The role of clergyman is to be sympathetic, well-mannered, well-spoken, religious, and charitable. A swering, heavy-drinking, perty-going clergymmem would be regarded with astonistiment by most people. vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The #equency of oecurence of British cultural elements in New Tieadway textbooks. ‘Table 2: The fiequency of occurrence of American cultural elements in New Headway øxIbooks.
Table 3: The comparison of #equsncy of ooomrenoe betwzen British and American cullural clamnents in New Headway Textbooks. PART A: INTRODUCTION This part consists of rationale, aims of the study, research question, scope of the study, methods of the study and design of the study. Rationale As we know, language and culture are interdependent and interactional. Culture affects the way language is usod and language may reflect many factors of oullure in tum.
In addition, what is right one culture may not be accepted in another culture, As people from one country to another , cultural differences become apparent to them. and Davies, E (1998-99-11) wher discussing, Hare and language usc have cote lo the conclusion that if learners do not acquire some familiarity with the cultural norms of native speakers of their target language, they will meet difficulties in commmnicating these ones. ‘Lhus, cultural knowledge is obviously a vital key for Vietnamese students for success in learning English because second language learning is sccond culture lcarning, Without the study of cultuic, foreign language instruction is inaccurate and incomplete, Clearly, if you do not understand about cullise of a community, you canmol understand and express filly meanings in the context of that communication; therefore you will not be able to gain a successful communication. English — (he popular language in inleruational commnnicalion, has played ä crucial rele im many fields.
It has been taught in Vietnam for decades. Nowadays, English has become a compulsory subject in schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam. Therefore, different kinds of Lnglish teaching and learning materials are available now in Vietnam, However, the main emphasis on slractural miles and forms oflen sarvos ns (ho principal mothod of teaching English. Most Vietnamese teachers tend to focus on teaching grammar, vocabulary, language skills without paying much attention to cultural background knowledge.
The students may get difficultics in achieving contextual, situational and cultural appropriateness in communication. For foreign language students, language study seems meaningless if they know nothing about the peuple who speak thal language or the country in which that language is spoken. Foreign Tanguage loarssing is abso forcign enllure learning. So, language learners need to be aware, for example, of the culturally appropriate ways to address people, make requests ot invitations, suggestions or express gratitude to someone, etc.
‘To communicate successfully, language 6. Designs of the study This tes ch comisis of 3 pals INTRODUCTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND. This pat discusses rationale, aims of the sludy, research questions, scope af the study, methods ofthe study, and designs of the study. PartB: DEVELOPMENT This is the focus of the study which is divided into 3 chaplers Chapter1: Theoretival Background.
‘This part discusses the culture, elements of culture, British and American culture, language, intorrelationstip belwssn language and culture, and cultural dimonsion of English language Jearning and teaching Chapter 2: Methodology It consists of materials under investigation, the context of the study, research question, rescarch metheds, and data collection procedures. Chapter 3: Findings and discussions This part focuses on analyzing cullural elements such as norms, values, attitudes and communication styles revealed in the New Headway Textbooks. Then, give discussions. PartC CONCLUSION To sum up the major findings, give implicalions for incorporating culture leaching inlo English language teaching and then, give suggestions for further research PART A: INTRODUCTION This part consists of rationale, aims of the study, research question, scope of the study, methods of the study and design of the study.
Rationale As we know, language and culture are interdependent and interactional. Culture affects the way language is usod and language may reflect many factors of oullure in tum. In addition, what is right one culture may not be accepted in another culture, As people from one country to another , cultural differences become apparent to them. and Davies, E (1998-99-11) wher discussing, Hare and language usc have cote lo the conclusion that if learners do not acquire some familiarity with the cultural norms of native speakers of their target language, they will meet difficulties in commmnicating these ones.
‘Lhus, cultural knowledge is obviously a vital key for Vietnamese students for success in learning English because second language learning is sccond culture lcarning, Without the study of cultuic, foreign language instruction is inaccurate and incomplete, Clearly, if you do not understand about cullise of a community, you canmol understand and express filly meanings in the context of that communication; therefore you will not be able to gain a successful communication. English — (he popular language in inleruational commnnicalion, has played ä crucial rele im many fields. It has been taught in Vietnam for decades. Nowadays, English has become a compulsory subject in schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam.
Therefore, different kinds of Lnglish teaching and learning materials are available now in Vietnam, However, the main emphasis on slractural miles and forms oflen sarvos ns (ho principal mothod of teaching English. Most Vietnamese teachers tend to focus on teaching grammar, vocabulary, language skills without paying much attention to cultural background knowledge. The students may get difficultics in achieving contextual, situational and cultural appropriateness in communication. For foreign language students, language study seems meaningless if they know nothing about the peuple who speak thal language or the country in which that language is spoken.
Foreign Tanguage loarssing is abso forcign enllure learning. So, language learners need to be aware, for example, of the culturally appropriate ways to address people, make requests ot invitations, suggestions or express gratitude to someone, etc.
