Tài liệu Nghiên cứu về việc xử lý các khía cạnh liên văn hóa trong lớp học tiếng anh của giáo viên ở trường chuyên hạ long

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THI NGA A STUDY ON HA LONG GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ADDRESSING OF INTERCULTURAL ASPECTS IN THEIR CLASSES (Nghiên cứu về việc xử lý các khía cạnh liên văn hóa trong lớp học tiếng Anh của giáo viên ở Trường Chuyên Hạ Long) M.A. THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 3 ATTESTATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this submission of the minor thesis entitled “ A study on Ha Long gifted high school English teachers’ addressing of intercultural aspects in their classes” is my own work. To the best of my knowledge, it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at SFL or any other educational institutions. The thesis has not been submitted to any other examining body and has not been published. Any contribution made to the research by others is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. Thai Nguyen, July 2019 Le Thi Nga Approved by SUPERVISOR Dr. Nguyen Thi Hang i 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis could not have been accomplished without the help and support from a number of people. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks and my deepest gratitude towards Dr. Nguyen Thi Hang, my supervisor, for her thorough instruction, precious guidance and ideas and constant encouragement from the first day of working out the outline for the research to the last days of writing up the thesis. Without her invaluable support, this graduation paper would not have been completed. My special thanks are also sent to my colleagues and my beloved students at Ha Long high school for gifted students for their enthusiastic participation in my study. Their devoted and sincere contribution helped shape the validity and reliability of this study. Last but not least, I owe a great debt of gratitude towards my family and my friends for their endless care, support and faith in me. Thai Nguyen, July 2019 Le Thi Nga ii 5 ABSTRACT This study examines the practice of teaching culture among English teachers at high school in Vietnam with practical experience in English as a foreign language. It focuses on the forms of intercultural learning provided by teachers and teachers’ utility of culture input to develop students’ intercultural competence. Teachers of English at Ha Long high school for gifted students are considered a cultural group, which is the reason for me to apply an ethnographic method in the study. The data for analysis is collected from two sources: class observations and postobservation interviews with the teacher participants. The findings show that culture teaching is now integrated closely with linguistic competence in the curriculum. The teachers exploit different forms of intercultural learning to provide students with intercultural knowledge, among which project-based learning activity, discussion on cultural differences and role plays are of extreme preference, enabling students to self-discover the culture aspects assigned. Noticeably, most of those forms are based on the input available in the set English textbook. Teachers had little opportunity to use supplementary material. In the practice of culture teaching, the factors preventing both students and teachers from achieving their culture-intaking were also explained, among which time constraint was the key reason. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations are provided for both English teachers and educational administrator for improving the quality and quantity of culture teaching at high schools in Vietnam. iii 6 TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Rationale ................................................................................................................... 2 1.3. Aims of the study ...................................................................................................... 4 1.4. Research questions .................................................................................................... 4 1.5. Significance of the study ........................................................................................... 4 1.6. Scope of the study ..................................................................................................... 5 1.7. Design of the study.................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 6 2.1. Conceptualisations of culture .................................................................................... 6 2.2. Culture in language education ................................................................................... 7 2.2.1. Relationship between language and culture .......................................................... 7 2.2.2. Intercultural competence ....................................................................................... 8 2.3. Cultural content in language teaching materials ....................................................... 9 2.4. Previous studies of IC teaching ............................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 13 3.1. Ethnography ............................................................................................................ 13 3.2. Field site and participants........................................................................................ 14 3.3. Data collection procedure ....................................................................................... 16 3.3.1. Classroom observation......................................................................................... 16 3.3.2. Semi-structured interviews ................................................................................... 17 3. 4. Data analysis .......................................................................................................... 19 3.4.1. Step 1 .................................................................................................................... 19 3.4.2. Step 2 .................................................................................................................... 20 3.4.3. Step 3 .................................................................................................................... 20 iv 7 CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................ 21 4.1. Forms of intercultural learning provided by the teachers ....................................... 21 4.1.1. Project-based learning ......................................................................................... 22 4.1.2. Discussion on cultural differences ....................................................................... 25 4.1.3. Role-play .............................................................................................................. 27 4.2. Teachers’ utility of culture input to develop students’ intercultural competence........ 30 4.2.1. Teachers’ use of set teaching materials ............................................................... 31 4.2.2. Teachers’ use of supplementary culture input ..................................................... 36 4.3. Summary ................................................................................................................. 40 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 41 5.1. Summary of the findings ......................................................................................... 41 5.1.1 Forms of intercultural learning provided by the teachers .................................... 41 5.1.2. Teacher’s utility of culture input .......................................................................... 42 5.2. Recommendations for more effective integration of culture into English lessons... ..42 5.2.1. Physical dimension............................................................................................... 42 5.2.2. Professional dimension ........................................................................................ 43 5.2.3. Providing teachers with more professional support ............................................ 43 5.3. Limitations of the study .......................................................................................... 44 5.4. Suggestions for further study .................................................................................. 44 5.5. Conclusion............................................................................................................... 45 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 46 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ I APPENDIX 1: CLASS OBSERVATION SHEET .......................................................... I APPENDIX 2: THE INTERVIEW GUIDE ................................................................... II v8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language IC: Intercultural competence ICC: Intercultural communicative competence MOET: Ministry of Education and Training vi 9 LIST OF TABLES` Table 3.1: Demographic information about participants …………………………… 16 Table 4. 1: Summary of intercultural learning forms……………………..…............. 22 Table 4. 2: Summary of project-based learning activities………………...…………. 23 Table 4. 3: Summary of discussion activities……………………………...………… 27 Table 4. 4: Summary of role-play activities……………………..…………………... 29 Table 4. 5: Summary of how culture input utilized…………………...……………... 32 Table 4. 6: Culture input provided in set teaching materials………………...………. 36 vii 10 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Introduction In the age of globalization with its resulting economic, technological, social and educational transformation, there is an increased need for the development of intercultural competence (IC). This ability to communicate across cultural boundaries and mediate between cultures should be an important goal of language education (Byram, 1997, 2009). In order to develop learners’ IC, culture is regarded a core element and strongly linked with language. In this sense, culture plays a critically important part in language teaching which is acknowledged by the English teaching circle (Wang, 2011). Language is both a part of culture and at the same time the deepest cultural reflection. The linguist Robert Lado defines the goal of learning a foreign language as “the ability to use it, understanding its meanings and connotations in terms of the target language and culture, and the ability to understand the speech and writing of natives of the target culture in terms of their great ideas and achievement” (Lado, 1964). Therefore, the English teaching inevitably involves culture teaching. In Vietnam, the traditional perspective that teaching the language simply means providing students with an understanding of the nature of the foreign language, asking the student to do lexical and grammatical exercises or developing one or two language skills such as reading or writing has become out of date. Hoang (2016) stated that the purpose of learning the language in modern time is using language elements like pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar and four language skills to reach the target of developing students’ intercultural competence (IC). This enables students to understand foreigners and communicate with them in real life. From Hoang’ perspectives, to address IC, which is a new focus of English curriculum, culture must be explicitly taught as a central element and integrated with the teaching of language (Crozet & Liddicoat, 1999, 2000; Liddicoat, 2002; Newton & Shearn, 2010b). In fact, the IC objectives have been highlighted by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) when compiling new English teaching syllabus. The introduction of a newly added section - Communication and Culture- is a good example 1 of overt intercultural integration of the new English textbooks. It is confirmed that the integration of culture into EFL teaching in Vietnam has been recognized from macro level with the evidence of IC objectives in the curriculum and the representation of intercultural contents and activities in the new English textbooks. However, to enact this reformation comprehensively, EFL teachers should take active roles as the main implementers, who integrate culture into their teaching appropriately to their students and teaching contexts. The widespread of this modern approach has led to some positive changes in foreign language education in Vietnam. One noticeable change is the teachers’ positive attitudes towards culture teaching. Interestingly, more and more high schoolteachers in foreign language education have realized they need to devote more efforts so as to facilitate language learners to develop their intercultural communication competence, (Zhang, 2017). Gifted high school teachers who are in charge of training brilliant students should be pioneers in integrating culture into the teaching and learning of foreign language for the development of learners’ IC. However, it is a fact that there is still a heavy focus on only linguistic knowledge, while culture has not received enough attention and devotion as observed by Ho (2011), as well as in my own experience. This is also the case in Ha Long high school for gifted students where I am currently teaching. Regarding the need to investigate culture teaching in the context of foreign language teaching at high school, the study explores the relevance of implementing the cultural aspects of Ha Long high gifted schoolteachers in the teaching and learning English. 1.2. Rationale There are three main reasons why I conducted this present study. Firstly, I carried out this study based on my great passion for cultural aspects in language education and my awareness about the importance of integrating culture into language teaching for the development of language learners’ IC. It was the most important driving force that motivated me to engage in conducting this study. From the findings of the study, I can gain insights into the realities of teaching and learning 2 culture in a gifted high school where I am working. The findings were expected to broaden my professional knowledge about the culture teaching practices so that I can apply it into my own teaching for better learning outcomes for my students in terms of developing their ability to communicate across cultures in intercultural settings. Secondly, in the Vietnamese context of foreign language education, there is superficial knowledge about the issue of addressing IC. There have been limited numbers of studies thoroughly investigating Vietnamese language teachers’ beliefs and practices in integrating culture in their language teaching, except for Nguyen (2013) study. His study extensively or comprehensively examines how EFL teachers in a Vietnamese university EFL teaching context address culture. However, as a high school teacher, I would like to investigate this issue in a high gifted school where I am currently teaching to become more aware of my colleagues’ teaching practices, which is useful for my professional development. Thirdly, the study aimed at offering recommendations for making positive change in foreign language education in Vietnam, particularly at the high school level of education. This critical element will help language teachers as well as my colleagues at my school to make changes in their teaching practices. These changes might include more supportive policies produced by foreign language education policy makers, teachers’ awareness of the important role of culture in language teaching, teachers’ pedagogical learning and knowledge, teachers’ own IC, and teachers’ ability to teach and assess IC. Such changes, when made in the Vietnamese teachers’ language education context, will ultimately enable learners develop their ability to communicate across cultures in intercultural situations, thus meeting the requirements of the new government foreign language education policy. As a teacher of English at Ha Long high school for gifted students, who is aware of the fact and wish to contribute some suggestions for possible improvements in learners’ IC, I decided to do the research entitled “a study on Ha Long gifted high school English teachers’ addressing of intercultural aspects in their classes.” 1.3. Aims of the study 3 This study is aimed at exploring how the teachers of English at Ha Long high school for gifted students address cultural aspects in their classes in terms of the intercultural learning opportunities they provided, and the culture input they utilized. Moreover, the study is also targeted at examining some obstacles facing the teacher participants whilst teaching culture to propose practical pedagogical solutions. 1.4. Research questions Based on the aims set up above, the study addresses the following research questions: 1. What forms of inter-cultural learning do gifted high school teachers of English provide for their students? 2. How do gifted high school teachers of English utilize culture input to develop their students’ intercultural competence? 1.5. Significance of the study The study is expected to raise language teachers’ awareness of the cultural components in EFL teaching and learning for the development of learners’ IC. From the findings of this study, some pedagogical recommendations will be provided to help EFL teachers address cultural aspects in their classroom more effectively. Moreover, I would like to share my understanding about this interesting and useful issue with my colleagues who have the same enjoyment of teaching English in different cultures. 1.6. Scope of the study The study was carried out with the participation of five teachers of English teaching 12th grade students at Ha Long high school for gifted students in the academic year 2018-2019. The study focuses on the reality of teaching and learning English at Ha Long high school for gifted students. It centers on the teachers’ provision of culture learning opportunities for the students, especially teachers’ explanation of cultural components, teachers’ setting and managing of tasks and activities that foster students’ culture learning, teachers’ use of teaching materials and other teaching aids. 4 1.7. Design of the study The study consists of five chapters as follows: Chapter I: Introduction: This chapter includes the rationale of the study, the aims and scope of the study as well as the research questions. Chapter II: Literature review: This chapter presents some key definitions related to IC and a review of previous studies conducted by both foreign and domestic researchers to give the whole picture of the matter. Chapter III: Methodology: This chapter describes my methodology including research method, field sites and participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis. Chapter IV: Data analysis and discussion: This chapter analyses and discusses the data obtained from classroom observation and post-observation interviews. Chapter V: Conclusion: The final chapter summarizes the key findings of the study, puts forward some recommendations based on these findings and gives suggestions for further study and the limitations of this thesis. 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Culture and teaching culture in a language class have been of great attention from language researchers and teachers. Culture has been viewed from various perspectives. In order to provide the basic theoretical framework for the study, this chapter begins with a review of culture in general. The next part gets closer to culture in language teaching, followed by an overview of culture teaching practices. This chapter ends with a review of related previous studies on culture teaching. 2.1. Conceptualisations of culture There are various ways in defining culture. For example, Bates and Plog (1990) view culture as “a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning”; More specifically, Robertson (1981) defines culture as “Culture consists of all the shared products of human society” (Robertson, 1981, p. 67). That is, culture not only includes visible property like organizations, companies but also non-material concepts like languages, ideas, customs, etc. To make it simple, culture is related to the whole lifestyles of a community, “the ways of a people.” According to Bate (1990, p. 84), “culture is a complex of beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that are passed on from generation to generation through learning." Hudson (1990) states that "culture is a kind of knowledge that we learn from others through direct instruction or by monitoring their behaviour.” Sir Edward B. Tylor is said to be the one giving the definition of culture as “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”(Cited in Yue (1994, p. 112)). This concept of culture is all-embracing, and includes the behavioural, the creative material, the institutional, and the cognitive. In this study, “culture” refers to the perception that a professional community, like EFL teachers in a school share. In this case, EFL teachers in school might be considered a cultural group. In this cultural group, the teachers share certain beliefs in the necessity to teach culture, the techniques used, etc. 6 2.1. Culture in language education 2.1.1. Relationship between language and culture There are different views on the relationship between language and culture. For many, language and culture are inseparable and interwoven (e.g., Crozet & Liddicoat, 1999, 2000); for others, these two are separable in certain respects depending on the point of departure in viewing them (e.g., Risager, 2006). Risager (2006) argues that when language and culture are considered at the generic level (i.e., human language and human culture) these two are inseparable. However, at the differential level that distinguishes languages and cultures, it can be observed that language and culture can be separated because “languages spread across cultures, and cultures spread across languages” (Risager, 2006, p. 2). Despite these different points of view, it is a point of consensus that human language and culture are inseparable, specifically in the sense that “culture is embedded in language as an intangible, all-pervasive and highly variable force” (Crozet & Liddicoat, 1999, p. 116). This all-pervasive embedded-ness of culture in language is represented by what Crozet and Liddicoat (1999) term “points of articulation between language and culture” (p. 116): culture in context, in general textual structure, in text units, in organizations of text units, and in linguistic structures, words, syntax, and nonverbal behaviors. These interrelationships are central features of the process of human communication and can be found at all levels of human communication, specifically intercultural communication (Liddicoat, 2009). These links between culture and language are indicated in the following situations: culture as context, culture in text structure, culture and pragmatics and interactional norms, culture and linguistic form. Thus, culture and language are inseparable. Culture is in language and language encodes and constitutes culture. In the context of language education, how to address culture has always been of great attention. The section below (section 2.3) discusses the approaches to culture in language education. 7 2.1.2. Intercultural competence In modern foreign language education, IC has received due attention to, and in certain context, has become the goal of language teaching. According to Byram, intercultural competence is “the ability to interact in their own language with people from another country and culture, drawing upon their knowledge about intercultural communication, their attitudes of interest in otherness and skills in interpreting, relating and discovering” (Byram, 1997, p. 70). Meanwhile, Deardorff (2006) defines this competence as “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (pp. 247-248). According to Deardorff (2006), the process in which IC is acquired begins at the individual level and with the individual’s positive attitudes (e.g., respect in valuing other cultures, openness, and curiosity). From that point, the individual gains knowledge and understanding (including cultural self-awareness, deep cultural knowledge, and sociolinguistic awareness) and develops skills in listening, observing and evaluating others, as well as in analyzing and interpreting. Equipped with such knowledge and skills, an internal outcome, embodied by a shift in his/her frame of reference, is then developed in the individual. The informed frame of reference shift is represented by empathy, adaptability, flexibility, and an ethno-relative view. At the interactional level, the individual presents an external outcome, i.e. effective and appropriate communication and behavior in an intercultural situation. This external outcome then becomes a driving force for the development of the individual’s positive attitudes, which function as the starting point for another cycle of the development of IC. In this study, the term IC refers to the capacity of Vietnamese high school students to interact with people from foreign countries in different real-life situations. In such situations, the students can use the language input, culture input, and the skills they have learnt to be communicative. 8 2.3. Cultural content in language teaching materials Culture tends to be relegated to a specific section in textbooks or to be the subject of readers. The teachers can argue that every photo, drawing, reading package and dialogue is the subject not just of linguistic exploitation but of cultural discussion and debate. Nowadays our textbooks contain print, audio, CDROM and DVD components and even dedicated websites which are better avenues for teaching cultural awareness. Several different factors may have an impact on the success and failure of culture teaching in language classrooms. Teachers, curricula, and textbooks are among the most important factors to take into consideration. Damen (1987, p. 5) postulated that there are reasons for the limitations of teachers’ efficiency as cultural guides. Lafayette (1988) points out that among the three main components of the language curriculum (language, literature, and culture), the greatest amount of time and energy is still directed to the grammatical and lexical aspects of language; nonetheless, culture remains the weakest component “due to its uneven treatment in textbooks and to the lack of familiarity, among teachers, with the culture itself and with the techniques needed to teach it.” Textbooks can serve as one of the decisive factors in culture learning. Wandel (2003) suggests that textbooks should contain materials allowing and provoking diverging opinions and discussions on cultural stereotyping. Cortazzi and Jin (1999) stated that it is often expected that second or foreign language textbooks should contain elements of the target culture. These authors also clearly articulated that English as a foreign language textbook can have seven different roles in culture learning. Textbooks can be a teacher, a map, a resource, a trainer, an authority, and an ideology. In order to get a comprehensive picture of the target culture from many angles, we need to present our students with different kinds of information. Some possible sources of information which can be used as materials for teaching culture are videos, CDs, TV, the internet, stories, realia, interviews, etc. By using a combination of visual, audio and tactile materials, we are also likely to succeed in addressing the different learning styles of our students, (Cullen, 2010). 9 2.4. Previous studies of IC teaching There have been a number of studies on culture, the role of culture in language teaching, culture input, and techniques of teaching culture. This section provides a review on the findings of some prominent researches on this topic, both domestic and international context. In his study named “The Role of Culture in Second or Foreign Language Teaching: Moving Beyond the Classroom Experience”, Marilyn Fleet (2006) emphasizes on the necessity of teaching culture together with linguistic knowledge in language education, regardless of the students’ age. This viewpoint was previously proposed by Peck (1998), who insisted that culture must be taught from the first language teaching and not be terminated. However, Jerrold Frank (2013), although well aware of the urge to provide language students with certain culture knowledge, is concerned about how we could combine knowledge and cultural understanding in the context of a language class. He means, in class, the focus is on the linguistic competence, including grammar, syntax, phonetics and some social conventions associated with the language they are learning, not the authentic situations with real foreigners. Therefore, according to Palmer (2007), there is a need to incorporate socio-cultural elements into language classes. Concerning practices of teaching culture, it is found out by a number of researchers that most of the cultural content comes from the course books. One typical finding is presented in a study by Sercu et al. (2005). He states that most of culture input the teacher resorts to is provided in the set textbook and and high-ranking domains of culture such as values and beliefs are almost avoided. In other words, activities developing students’ intercultural knowledge and attitudes were more prominent than intercultural skills. In the context of Vietnam, Chau and Truong (2018), Ho (2011), also confirm that the most common practice of teaching cultures among Vietnamese teachers is transmitting intercultural knowledge from the course books. They explain that teachers’ intercultural integration is topic-dependent and peripheral due to their considerable concerns of language objectives. This is understandable as 10 the target of teaching language in Vietnam is language competence rather than culture knowledge. This practice is different from that shared by Thelma Perso in the study “Cultural Responsiveness and School Education” in 2012. He finds out that teaching of culture includes multicultural education, cultural differences and diversity, which are provided through authentic situations and other supplementary input. In order to teach culture effectively, researchers believe suitable techniques play an important role. Krasner (1999) presents some useful techniques and methods of teaching culture to foreign language students: observation through films, news broadcasts, maps, or menus, having students visit ethic sections or restaurants of cities, mini drama, which provides an example of miscommunication in the form of dramatization and the students are asked to discover the cause of the miscommunication, culture capsule, which offer brief explanations of foreign language customs, and culture capsule can also be in the form of oral presentation, reading, writing, or visual aids or realias, and role play, which gives the students opportunities to demonstrate and rehearse appropriate cultural behaviour. Peterson and Coltrane (2003) suggest some instructional strategies to teach language and culture that may seem helpful for teachers looking for some practical ways to integrate culture in their language lessons: (a) using authentic materials such as films, news broadcasts, television shows, websites, photographs, magazines, newspapers, restaurant menus, travel brochures, and other printed materials to engage the students in discussion of cultural issues; (b) using proverbs as a way to help students to explore the target culture; (c) having students act out a miscommunication based on cultural differences; (d) presenting objects such as figurines, tools, jewellery, or images that originate from the target culture to serve as a foundation from which the teachers can discuss other cultural, historical, and linguistic factors, or the students can be asked to do further research to find more information about the items presented; (e) using exchange students, immigrant students, or students who speak the target language at home as expert sources for classroom discussion; (f) sending students into the community of the native speakers of the target language to find information about their target culture; (g) using literary texts as sources for learning culture; (h) using 11 films and television segments to provide students with an opportunity to witness behaviours which are not obvious in texts. Consulting the findings of the mentioned research in this section, this study is carried on with a hope to have an insight in the practice of teaching culture among Vietnamese teachers, more specifically those teaching at high school. The study hopes to shed light on the techniques and forms of culture input that Vietnamese teachers use in teaching intercultural knowledge to their students. 12