TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀNG HẢI VIỆT NAM KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ THUYẾT MINH ĐỀ TÀI NCKH CẤP TRƯỜNG ĐỀ TÀI COMPILING TEACHING SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS FOR CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION COURSE FOR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY (Xây dựng tài liệu giảng dạy bổ trợ môn Giao tiếp giao văn hóa cho sinh viên chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Hàng Hải Việt Nam) Chủ nhiệm đề tài: Ths. Nguyễn Thị Thúy Thu Hải Phòng, tháng 5/2016 CONTENT INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Significance of the study.
Methodology of the study. Scope of the study. Design of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION.
Definition of culture. The components of culture. Definition of Communication. The definition of cross-cultural communication.
Culture shock and how to avoid culture shock?. Culture schock? Why culture shock?. Main factors creating culture shock. How culture - shock: From honey moon to Culture shock to integration.
How to cope with culture shock?. 15 CHAPTER 2: CULTURE IMPACTS ON NON – VERBAL COMMUNICATION. Understanding non-verbal communication. The importance of nonverbal communication.
Types of nonverbal communication. Cross-cultural nonverbal communication and culture shock. 31 CHAPTER 3:CULTURE IMPACTS ON VERBAL COMMUNICATION. Addressing forms in Vietnamese language and culture.
Horizontal Relationship- Type 1. The dynamic relationship-type II .The variant of circular relationship. Addressing forms in English - American language and culture. Addressing forms in English - American.
Terms of affection. Objectiveness and Subjectiveness. Definition of objectiveness and subjective. Objectiveness and Subjectiveness in defining the space.
Subjective and objective in pragmatics. Directness and indirectness .What is politeness? .What is FTA?. Bald on record – without redressive action. Positive politeness strategies.
Negative politeness strategies. Implications for English language teaching. 67 LIST OF FIGURES IN THE STUDY LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1: Levine and adalman’s iceburg of culture 7 Figure 2: Classification of Communication 8 Figure 3: W-shaped diagram of culture shock 13 Figure 4: Circular Relationship 34 Figure 5: Horizontal Relationship- Type 2. Nguyen 36 Quang (1999:165) Figure 6: Dynamic relationship type-I 37 Figure 7: Dynamic relationship type-II 38 Figure 8: Dynamic relationship type-II cited in Nguyen 39 Quang (1999:175) Figure 9: Variant of circular relationship.
40 Figure 10: Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Brown 53 and Levinson, 1987) Figure 11: Strategies to minimize risk of losing face 54 (Nguyen Quang, 1999:130) INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale As stated by Nguyen Quang (1998)“ in communication, only language is not enough, behind and deep under it, following many tacit rules, are culture, belief, attitude, norms, values, etc. Each country has its own culture”. Cross- cultural communication (CCC) is not a new subject in most universities nationwide; and it is an interesting and challenging subject.
Materials for this subject are various; however, choosing one course book seems to be not enough for students to understand well many differences and similarities between the two cultures and two countries. Therefore, the author decided to do a research on compiling teaching supplementary materials for Cross-cultural communication course for English major students at Vietnam Maritime University (VMU). Aims of the study The aims of this study are to: - Research and summarize the information from many cross- cultural communication books to compile teaching supplementary materials for English major students at VMU. - Collect and arrange some cross- cultural communication exercises to help students deal with the new theory actively.
Significance of the study It is impossible to separate language from culture when communicating and teaching a foreign language especially at higher level as well. That is the reason why culture learning should always go hand in hand with language learning. In the world, studying about cross culture communication is varied and abundant. Many books written about cross- cultural studies, each of these supplies huge knowledge about culture 1 definitions, culture shock, cross-culture communication, and many other aspects of this field, can be Politeness of Brown and Levinson; Intercultural communication of R Scollon, SW Scollon, 1; or Languages and Gestures of McNeill, David; Gestures: the do's and taboos of body language around the world of Axtell, Roger E.
In Vietnam, cross-cultural studies are recognized well enough with a lot of books such as Intercultural communication and Cross –culture communication for ELT written by Nguyen Quang, Doing business in Vietnam: a cultural guide by Esmond D. and Cuong Pham. The cross- cultural communication course book for English major students at VMU is Beyond Language Intercultural Communication for English as a Second Language written by Deena R. Adelman, Prentice Hall Regents (1982).
This book indicates the main aspects of cross – cultural communication but it does not include the comparing and contrasting analysis between English culture and Vietnamese culture. Moreover, according to the syllabus of Cross-cultural communication subject (see the appendix), students have to do self-study at home to deeply understand what they have learnt in class. Therefore, the author would like to compile teaching supplementary materials to give more information about culture differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese to help students master the language they are learning and be aware of its cultural background. Methodology of the study The method of this study is: - The main method of this study is the contrastive methodology.
- Researching relevant materials - Consulting with Professors of cross-cultural studies - Discussing with English and Vietnamese colleagues 2 5. Scope of the study The author will investigate a number of references materials to build teaching supplementary materials for cross cultural communication course for English major students at Vietnam Maritime University. Design of the study The study is divided into 3 parts: Part I - Introduction includes rationale, aims of the study, methodology of the study, the significant and the organization of the study. Part II – Development is the main and covers the following aspects: Chapter 1: Understanding cross-cultural communication; Chapter 2: Non-Verbal communication in the light of cross-cultural communication; Chapter 3: Verbal communication in the light of cross-cultural communication Part III- Conclusion is the summary of the study, and the suggestions for further research.
3 DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING CROSS – CULTURAL COMMUNICATION 1. Definition of culture 1. Language Language is considered to be a mean of human communication formed from such linguistic units as morphemes, words, sentences. Supporting that point of view, Crystal (1992: 212) states, language is “the systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs, or written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression”.
Therefore, people use language to communicate, to pass their achievements from generation to generation, language is a tool by which people are most frequently judged, and through which they may make or lose friends. It is "the vehicle par-excellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business" (M. Culture Unlike language, culture does not contain fixed rules. It is different from society to society and even from individual to individual.
What is right in one culture may not be right in another culture. Culture, in Moore’s words (1985:4), is “the whole of the knowledge, ideas and habits of society that are transmitted from one generation to the next.” It is more powerful than instinct. Apte (1994), writing in the ten volume Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistic, propose the following definition: “Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral conventions, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member’s behavior and his/her interpretations of the ‘meaning’ of the other people’s behavior.” Moore (1985:4) also claims the following components of culture, which are 4 “beliefs, values, norms, roles, role conflict, and status.Hudson (1982:81) regards culture as “the kind of knowledge” involving cultural knowledge, shared-non-cultural knowledge, and non-shared-knowledge “which we learn from other people, either by direct instruction or by watching their behavior.” In other words, culture is the set of values and ways of acting that mark a particular society. Culture, as stated by Nguyen Quang (1998: 3), is “a share background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, custom, beliefs, attitudes, and values.
Culture in this text does not refer to art, music, literature, food, clothing styles, and so on. It refers to the informal and often hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions, and viewpoints that people in one culture share. The hidden nature of culture has been compared to an iceberg, most of which is hidden underwater! Like the iceberg most of the influence of culture on an individual cannot be seen. The part of culture that is exposed is not always that which creates cross-cultural difficulties; the hidden aspects of culture have significant effects on behavior and on interactions with others”.
No culture is good or bad, cultures are equal but different. There is a famous quote of Mahatma Gandhi that goes “no culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.” Culture does not belong to any single person but to all people. Nguyen Quang in his “Lectures-notes on cross-cultural communication” (2004: 31) also describes culture as “a complex whole of tangible and intangle expressions that are created and adapted by a society or a social group as well as that ways it functions and reacts in given situations.” What can be seen from these points of view is that the language of a community is a part or a manifestation of its culture as Goodenogh’s word “the relationship of language to culture is that of part to whole.” Language and communication modality (verbal, gesture, written) are 5 examples of elements that form and shape a culture. Kramch-Troike (1998:3) clarifies the corelation between language and culture by emphasizing three functions of language related to culture.
They are “expressing cultural reality, embodying cultural reality and symbolizing cultural reality”. What we can see that culture and language are closely interrelated and interwoven.Hudson (1982: 81) argues“As for the relation between language and culture, most of language is contained within culture”. Obviousely, the close relationship between language and culture plays a very important part in communication. It is impossible to separate language from culture when communicating.
The components of culture According to Stephen Moore (1985:4), the components of culture can be defined as the followings: Belief: These are general, vague opinions held about the world and about the nature of society. Values: These are vague beliefs about what is right and correct in the world. Norms: These are socially expected patterns of behavior. Roles: Social roles are patterns of behavior expected of certain people according to the occupation or position they hold in society.
Role conflict: These are innumerable social roles: father, mother, child, and shopkeeper. All of us occupy a number of roles, which are generally complementary, but sometimes they may conflict. Status: this refers to the position of a person or social role in society according to the amount of prestige received from others. According to Nguyen Quang (1998:4), the iceburg of culture includes visible part of culture and invisible part of culture: + Visible part of culture: Appearance, food, language, etc.
6 + Invisible part of culture: values, beliefs, perceptions, communication styles. Figure 1: Levine and adalman’s iceburg of culture(Nguyen Quang, 1998) 1. Definitions of Communication According to Nguyen Quang (1998: 3), communication is the process of sharing meaning through verbal and nonverbal behavior. “Communication, then, is vital to our lives.
To live is to communicate” (Hybels, 1992:5). Communication is “a symbolic process in which people create shared meanings” (Lustig, 1996:29). “Human communication is a conscious or unconscious, intentional, or unintentional process in which feelings and ideas are expressed in verbal and non verbal messages”.( Berko,1989:4) “Communication is any process in which people share information, ideas, and feelings. That process involves not only the spoken and written word, but also body language, personal mannerism and style” (Hybels, 1992:5).