VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 11 OF THE TEN-YEAR CURRICULUM MOT PHAN TÍCH VE CAC YEU TO VĂN HOA TRONG SACH GIAO KHOA TIENG ANH 11 HE 10 NAM M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 Ha Noi, 2024 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 11 OF THE TEN-YEAR CURRICULUM MOT PHAN TÍCH VE CAC YEU TO VĂN HOA TRONG SACH GIAO KHOA TIENG ANH 11 HE 10 NAM M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201. Hoang Van Van Ha Noi, 2024 CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby formally declare that the minor thesis "An Analysis of Cultural Elements in the Textbooks English 11 of the Ten-Year Curriculum" that I have submitted to the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree is an original work of mine and has not been submitted for credit toward any other degree to any other academic establishments. When information from additional sources was used, it was noted and appropriately identified. Ha Noi, 2024 Nguyen Thi Thien Trang Approved by SUPERVISOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To accomplish the study, I owe a lot of people for their crucial and considerate assistance.
First and foremost, I would like to express my thankfully sincerely to Prof. Hoang Van Vân, my respectable supervisor for his sustained guidance and timely feedback. Without his support, this minor thesis could not have been materialized. I would also like to thank the lecturers and administrators of Faculty of Post- graduate Studies, especially Dr.
Huỳnh Anh Tuấn — Dean of Faculty of Graduate Studies, for giving me the opportunity to do this research. Moreover, I received a lot of encouragement and support from my dear colleagues and my friends during the time I carried out the thesis. Their constant assistance is undoubtedly a strong spiritual support for me. And most of all, my beloved family, with whom I always seek comfort whenever I encounter difficulties during the thesis process.
ABSTRACT As English has become recognized as a global language, the significance of intercultural communication skills has grown, thereby influencing the approach to foreign language instruction. Consequently, language has emerged as a primary means of representing one's own culture, as well as English-speaking and diverse cultural backgrounds. The thesis has been conducted to find out (1) the presence of cultural elements in the textbook Tiéng Anh I] (English 11) and (2) their distribution through the textbook Tiếng Anh I1 in the Ten-year English Textbook Series under the Vietnamese National Foreign Languages Project 2020. Guided by the frameworks proposed by Chao (2011) which classifies culture into five categories which are Source Culture, Target Culture, International Cultural, Intercultural Interaction and Universality Across Culture; and supported by Xiao’s checklist (2010) of 16 themes under into two main cultural categories big “C” and little “c”, the study aims to detect the cultural elements embedded in the textbooks and analyze how they are distributed across the curriculum.
By adopting a qualitative approach with the support of quantitative method, this study thoroughly examines the content and identify cultural factors presented in the researching materials. The findings reveal that the two volumes of the textbook Tiếng Anh I1 contain a full range of cultural sources, in which Source Culture gains the highest proportion of cultural references and Target Culture ranks the second position. Among 16 themes in Xiao’s checklist, “history” of big “C” and “gestures/body language” of little “c” account for the highest frequency. Very few references related to “politics” and “hobbies” and no references about “music” are explored in the two volumes of the textbook.
Overall, the textbooks serve as effective multicultural resources, fostering learners’ intercultural communicative competence which is essential for the 10-year English educational goals. TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARA TIƠN. HH He i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. He ii icon.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIA TIONS. ch trrrererree vi LIST OF TABLES.- tt HH HH. vii LIST OF FIGURES. c5 22t HH H211 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
5G ng kh eee | 1. Rationale of the Study. Aims of the study and research Questions. Scope of the Study .- - SH TH HH HH HH 3 1.
Significance of the StU Y. Method of the 0 45. Organization of the theS1S.- Gà 1S HH ng Hư 4 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW —. Evaluation of the textbook .- Gv TH TH HT TT HH ng g 6 2.
The role of textbooks in learning and teaching language. Evaluation of a quality teXfbOOk.- 5 TH HH HH gi, 7 2. Culture in Foreign Language TeachIng. Iceberg model of CUÏfUT€.
Inter-relationship between language and culture. Cultural components in language textbooks_. Intercultural communicative COMPCtENCE. Some related SfU1€S.- 5 5+ HT HH ng TH ngàng 17 2.
20 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .- G1 ng HH HH nh nghe 22 E0 8n. Research questions revisited. SH v* HS SH HH HH Hư 26 3. Data analysis Íram€WOTK.
Data analytical UITI{.- << 0E HH nu ng ng tưy 30 3. Data collection procedure _. SH HH Hit 35 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Question 1: What cultural elements are represented in the textbook Tiếng Anh li.
Question 2: How are these cultural elements distributed in the textbook Tiếng AM 0n. The frequency and percentage of cultural themes in Tiếng Anh 11. Frequency and percentage of culture-related content in Tiếng Anh I] 42 V0 o:aiai. The presentation of Source Culture (VC), Target Culture (TC), International Culture (InC), and Interaction Culture (IrC) under the theme of big “C".
The presentation of Source Culture (VC), Target Culture (TC), International Culture (InC), and Interaction Culture (IrC) under the theme of little “c"”. Discussion about the distribution of the sources of culÏture. - Gàtc 52 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION. HH ng key 53 5.
Summary of main ÍindingsS. Implications and recommendations _. Limitations of the Study .- SH HH ng ng ng ng ngư 56 5. Suggestions for further research.
TH nh TH nọ TH ke 58. I Appendix 1: Coding guidelines for the nine themes of big “C” culture. I Appendix 2: Coding guidelines for the seven themes of little “c” culture. I LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EEL : English as a Foreign Language MOET : Ministry of Education and Training ICC : Intercultural Communicative Competence InC : International Culture IrC : Intercultural Interaction TC : Target Culture VC : Source Culture (Vietnamese Culture) UAC : Universality Across Culture vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3.
The themes presented in each unit in Tiếng Anh 11. The structure of ONE unit in Tiếng Anh 1]. The concepts of five categories of cultures based on Chao’s framework "——. The concepts of 16 cultural themes based on Xiao’s checklist.
The number of analytical đafa. The distribution of cultural themes big “C” and little “c” in Tiếng Anh 11 Culture, Intercultural Interaction and Universality Across Culture. Frequency of 16 culture themes in ten units and four reviews of Tiéng Table 4. Frequency and percentage of culture-related content in Tiếng Anh 11 42 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 2.
Iceberg Model of Culture 0.1: An example of Universality Across Culture.2: An example of Intercultural Interaction in conversation .3: An example of Intercultural Interaction in visual elements. 33 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the rationale of the study, its aims and research questions as well as its scope and significance are introduced. In addition, the method of the study and its structure are also included. Rationale of the study For a long time, the combination of cultural elements into foreign language teaching in general and English language in particular has received great attention and research investment from educators and language teachers.
Many English teachers expressed their desire to bring cultural factors together with language apprehension in the language lessons in order to create cultural knowledge for students in the process of international integration. Thanks to that, the interest of learners in exposure to a new language is aroused. In present integration context, the assessment of cultural factors contained in the general teaching materials, here is the textbook, has become a topic that attracts scholars all over the world. Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) refers to an individual's capacity to effectively communicate with people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds (Barrett et al.
In today's globalized society, interactions among individuals of varying cultures are increasingly facilitated through the use of English as a universal language (Kachru, 1992; McKay, 2002). This trend is sustained by the growing international cooperation in economics, politics, education globalization, immigration, and technological advancements, which foster intercultural exchanges. Consequently, it becomes imperative for students to develop their ICC to engage effectively with diverse cultures in the global arena (Byram & Wagner, 2018). The success of any communication revolves around the effectiveness of information exchange, the establishment and maintenance of relationships (Byram, 1997).
On the other hand, cultural disparities can lead to varying interpretations among communicators from different cultural backgrounds, potentially resulting in misunderstandings during interactions. Byram (2012) stated that "acting inter-culturally and attaining 1nter-culturality` may stem from being intercultural" (p. 86), implying individuals can comfortably engage and relate between their own cultures and those of others. From his point of view, it falls upon language educators to enrich their students’ ICC by helping them recognize the inter-connectedness between their own cultures and those of others.
The evaluation of cultural factors in English textbooks has also received great research attention from Vietnamese researchers in recent years, as in Vietnam, English is considered a foreign language, a basic and compulsory subject in the general education curriculum which is an indispensable part of general education” (Hoang, 2011: 97; 2018, 2022). English teaching methods and materials have been changed constantly in Vietnam since the National Foreign Language 2020 Project first launched on September 30, 2008. Under the direction of MOET, a series of piloted English textbooks were compiled with the revolution in both curriculum and teaching materials. Since then, a number of remarkable studies on evaluating some transformation in these textbooks have been conducted.
For instance, Hoang (2015, 2016) presented the development in English textbooks in Vietnam and the renovation of the curriculum design on his article published on VNU Journal of Science: Educational Research. Besides, Nguyen (2013) chose the topic “analysis of cultural factors in the textbook Tiéng Anh 12 (English 12) in the perspective of English as an International Language” to conduct her M. Having the same interest, Nguyen (2018) chose the similar topic as evaluating cultural elements in three textbooks Tiếng Anh 10 (English 10), Tiếng Anh I1, and Tiếng Anh 12 (English 12) on the three features of culture (source, target and international) for her M. In addition, how cultural components presented in English textbooks and its effects on the learners also became the theme of Kieu (2020), Nguyen el at.
(2020) and so on. Personally, as an English teacher at a high school in the suburban of Hanoi, I highly appreciate the incorporation of cultural themes in English teaching. Once my students have a clear understanding of how the language they are learning is applied and how context-specific when communicating with native speakers, they will feel more confident in communication with the people from the target culture and international culture. However, it is an ongoing reality for my students that they are often misunderstood or sometimes amused in the situations presented when doing homework related to cultural issues or when communicating with foreigners due to the lack of intercultural communicative competence.