Tài liệu Teachers' beliefs and practices of intercultural communication competence in teaching and learning english a survey at a local high school in phu tho province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- HOÀNG THỊ HIỀN TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH: A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE (Hiểu biết của giáo viên đối với năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa trong dạy và học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát ở một trường THPT ở tỉnh Phú Thọ) M.A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HA NOI - 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ HIỀN TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH: A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE (Hiểu biết của giáo viên đối với năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa trong dạy và học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát ở một trường THPT ở tỉnh Phú Thọ) M.A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lê Văn Canh HÀ NỘI - 2019 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Hoang Thi Hien, declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: This work has done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this university. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this university or any other institution, this has been clearly stated. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work. I have acknowledged all main sources of help. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. Signed: …………………………… Date: ……………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Le Van Canh, for his valuable guidance, constructive comments, patient support and encouragement in the completion of this M.A. thesis. He consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right direction whenever he thought I needed it. I would like to send my sincere thanks to my informants in this study, who I selected as the target subjects of this research. Without their enthusiastic contribution and cooperation, this research would certainly not have been successfully conducted. My thanks also go to all my teachers for their great help in providing me with useful advice and constructive comments. In the thesis, it is inevitable that the ideas of many other writers in this field are reflected and developed. Their ideas have stimulated my thinking on doing this paper. My debt to the authors listed in the references is equally great. To all these scholars, I offer my sincere thanks. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family, colleagues and friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. My special thanks go to my parents who have always supported me and told me that I could achieve whatever I wanted. I hope that they would be proud of me today. ii It goes without saying that I am fully responsible for all shortcomings remaining in this study. Author iii ABSTRACT This study was done aiming at finding out how teachers perceive Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) in teaching and learning English. Moreover, how their beliefs are integrated in their teaching practices were also the subjects to point out. To fulfill the abovementioned objectives, the qualitative methodology was utilized, and the data mostly based on semistructured interviews with six teachers of English at a local high school in a mountainous province were synthesized and analyzed. The results of the study, in summary, showed that most of the teachers surveyed have poor understanding of ICC, which results in their confusion about ways to improve students’ ICC. Those beliefs and practices may be influenced by some different factors such as teachers’ lack of experience, materials,... As a result, suggestions and recommendations were investigated so as to deal with the problems. Though the limitations were unavoidable, the study was expected to be beneficial to teachers, students, and researchers of the related subjects. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language EIL English as an International Language ELF English as a lingua franca ELT English Language Teaching ESL English as a Second Language I Interviewer IC Intercultural Communication ICC Intercultural Communication Competence p page T Teacher U.K. United Kingdom U.S. United States v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Fantini’s IC Model (2000) (1.3) Table 1: Teachers’ perception of culture and its importance in p. 15 p. 34 language teaching (3.1.1) Table 2: Objectives of ELT in the context of globalization in p. 36 comparison with those of traditional ELT (3.1.2) Table 3: Teachers’ perception of the components of ICC (3.1.3) vi p. 38 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP .................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ...................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... vii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 1. Rationale of the research problems ................................................................ 1 2. Aims of the study ........................................................................................... 2 3. Research questions ......................................................................................... 3 4. Scope of the research ..................................................................................... 3 5. Method of the study ....................................................................................... 3 6. Significance of the study ................................................................................ 4 7. Structure of the thesis ..................................................................................... 4 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................ 6 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 6 1.1. The relationship between Language and Culture ........................................ 6 1.2. Cross-cultural Communication vs. Intercultural Communication ............ 10 1.3. Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) ..................................... 13 1.4. Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) ................................................................. 16 1.5. The current pedagogy to teach ICC .......................................................... 19 1.6. The role of teachers’ beliefs and practices ................................................ 21 1.7. Previous studies on teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and learning English ............................................................................................... 22 vii Summary .......................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 26 2.1. The setting and participants of the study .................................................. 26 2.2. Data collection instruments ....................................................................... 28 2.3. Data collection procedure ......................................................................... 29 2.4. Data analysis ............................................................................................. 30 Summary .......................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ........................................... 33 3.1. Teachers’ beliefs of ICC in teaching and learning English ...................... 33 3.2. How teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their classroom teaching ............................................................................................................ 40 3.3. Teachers’ ideas about effective ways of teaching ICC ............................. 44 Summary .......................................................................................................... 45 PART THREE: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 46 1. Summaries of the major findings ................................................................. 46 2. Pedagogical recommendations to improve students’ ICC ......................... 46 3. Limitations of the study ................................................................................. 48 4. Recommendations for further related studies ............................................. 49 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 51 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... I APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES .................................................... I APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE.......................................................... VI viii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the research problems The rationale of this study emerged from my own experience as a graduate student and teacher. Having been a teacher of English for more than ten years at a high school in Vietnam, my perceptions of English teaching is affected a lot by the way I was taught when I was a student. Like many other teachers, I paid much attention to grammatical structures and vocabulary. Since the 7year textbook set was implemented in my school, I have always tried to apply CLT into my teaching practices. With a view to helping students develop the four communicative skills, I paid much attention to teach my students to pronounce the words correctly with American or British standards. Not until I attended the workshop “Intercultural Communicative Competence and Education For Global Citizenship” by Prof. Nguyen Quang did I realize that I had much to do to become a better teacher. I started to know that the ultimate goal of teaching English is not just to help students develop the four communicative skills, but teaching English is for global communication, for social responsibility and for intercultural citizenship. Therefore, I was motivated to do research on ICC to understand more about it and wish to help my colleagues clearer about this issue. In today’s globalized world, beside acquiring the four skills, English learners need to develop Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC). It is claimed to be a very important factor affecting the development of the ability to use a foreign language, the ability to communicate and adjust attitudes of learners in multicultural contexts. When students are equipped with the knowledge of other cultures, they have less difficulty in communicating with 1 people coming from different backgrounds. Hence, teaching ICC along with the English language is considered to be extremely important in order to enable them to communicate inter-culturally, not just imitate the British or American people. The development of ICC has become one of the ultimate goals of English language teaching in the context of globalization; however, the integration of intercultural content into English language education in Vietnam has not been paid enough attention. Although much research has been done on ICC in teaching English as a lingua franca in a variety of different contexts, not many studies on the topic have been conducted in the context of Vietnamese high schools. Besides, the concept ICC is still alien to many Vietnamese EFL teachers working in the high school. In addition, most teachers still have limited knowledge about ICC. For all of the abovementioned, I would like to carry out a small-scaled study on “teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and learning English at a local school in Phu Tho province” so as to help solve out the problems. 2. Aims of the study The research has two major aims: - To explore high school teachers’ view about ICC in language teaching. - To find out how teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their classroom teaching. 2 3. Research questions This study is conducted to address the two following research questions: 1. What are high school teachers’ understandings of ICC and its importance in teaching and learning English? 2. How is their understanding translated into classroom teaching? 4. Scope of the research The research explores the notion of ICC in English language teaching and learning from the perspectives of six teachers of English at a local high school in Phu Tho. Regarding its scope, the research was only aimed at exploring teachers’ understanding of ICC and how it is translated into their teaching. 5. Method of the study The method used in this study is survey research, with the use of one main instrument which is interview. Interviews are carried out to idendify teachers’ beliefs of ICC in English teaching and learning. In the second part of the interviews, some questions are raised with a view to examining how teachers apply their understanding into their teaching practices. The use of interviews to survey teachers’ beliefs and practices of teachers would help to get reliable data and help the researcher have a good investigation into the problems of teaching ICC to students. 3 6. Significance of the study It is necessary to be aware of teachers’ attitudes towards improving ICC for students. Thus, this reasearch is beneficial to both teachers of English and high school students. This may help to raise teachers’ awareness of English language teaching in direction of intercultural dimension. The study focuses on enhancing teachers’ understanding of the need and ways to teach English along with ICC appropriately and effectively. In addition, it can be valuable for teachers to self-evaluate their experience in improving students’ ICC. The findings of the study may also bring great benefits to curriculum designers and material developers. Moreover, for the researchers, the study can provide useful information for further studies of the same topic in the future. 7. Structure of the thesis The study is composed of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. Part 1 generally introduces the rationale of the study, aims of the study, research questions. The scope and method of the study are also included. After the significance is stated, part 1 ends with the structure of the study. Part 2 consists of: Chapter 1: Literature Review, gives definitions of the key concepts, deals with a review of previous studies most relevant to the problem under investigation, a statement of unsolved problems and provides the theoretical framework for the study. 4 Chapter 2: Methodology, presents a detailed description of methodology employed in the study, mentions the context of the study, including the description of the participants, the data collection instruments and procedure, the data analysis. Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion, represents the findings of the survey research conducted at a high school in Phu Tho province. It reveals the qualitative analysis of data from semi-structured interviews about teachers’ understanding of ICC in teaching and learning English and how their perception is translated into their teaching. Part 3, Conclusion, summarizes the key points and the outcomes of the study, presents the author’s reflection as well as indicates some limitations of the study, then suggests the pedagogical implications for the teaching of ICC, and finally proposes some recommendations for further research. 5 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the literature on ICC in ELF and teachers’ understandings of ICC is reviewed. 1.1. The relationship between Language and Culture The relationship between culture and language has long been one of the most important topics and of considerable interest to many researchers. To think about this problem, we need to begin with the definitions of language and culture. Since cultures spread across languages and likewise languages spread across cultures (Risager, 2007: 153), for many years, authorities have been engaged in exploring the relationship between the two terms and have concluded that the study of a language cannot be separated from culture studies and vice versa. According to Kramsch (1980), language is the “expressions of cultural reality”, the embodiments of cultural reality, and the symbols of cultural reality (Kramsch, 1998). It determines our thought, the way we think, the way we communicate,…. Hence, there is a dialectical relationship: culture influences language and vice versa language influences culture. Communication creates culture, and culture is a means of communication. All the definitions of language and culture imply that the two are closely connected to each other. On one hand, culture seems so inclusive, it permeates almost every aspect of human life including languages people use. On the other hand, when people need to share a culture, they communicate through language. It can be concluded that culture and language are heavily 6 entwined. Language is created by human beings and represents human society. It is because it reflects all aspects of human social life, the relationship among community members, and their history and development. Hence, language is surely a part of culture and people use language to enact and reflect on culture. People from different cultures have do things in their own ways, so the language they use to communicate reflects cultural differences. It is noted that language and culture have an inextricable and interdependent relationship (Choudhury, 2013); they are not separable, but depend on each other and each supports the development of the other (Mitchell & Myles, 2004). The relationship between language and culture has been researched by many linguists in the development of foreign language. The two earliest linguists, named Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, determined the mutual relationship between language and culture through the “Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis” (reviewed by Hussein, 2012). The “Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis” proposed that language controls the thoughts and perceptions of individuals; therefore, language determines their worldviews. People from different cultures have different worldviews and language shapes their cultures. In other words, language and culture influence each other. The links between language and culture consist of: language as a part of culture (language is an important tool to master for anyone who wants to enter into and understand a given culture); language as an index of culture (language reveals the ways of thinking and doing things in the associated culture); and language as symbolic of culture (languages can be used as symbols to defend or foster the cultures associated with them) (summarised from Fishman, 1996, p. 452). In a similar way, their relationship is 7 described, including: language expresses cultural reality (people use language to express facts, ideas or events for sharing information from their own viewpoints); language embodies cultural reality (the way people use language in communication to create meanings that are understandable to others, for example, the way they use verbal or non-verbal languages means that they are expressing themselves); and language symbolises cultural reality (language is a system of signs that is seen as having a cultural value itself) (summarised from Kramsch, 1998, p. 3). The relationship between language and culture is strong, and “culture is embedded in language as an intangible, all-pervasive and highly variable force” (Crozet & Liddicoat, 1999, p. 116). Points of articulation between language and culture are evident by five specific features of communication: culture in context; culture in the general structure of a text; culture within shorter units of texts; culture in the organisation of the units of texts; and culture in linguistic structures/ words/ syntax/ non-verbal. These links can be briefly understood as follows: culture in context consists of knowledge about the world from individuals’ views, so culture contains specific and local meanings. In context, culture has different implications to language. As such, culture is less apparently attached to language. Culture in a text structure means culture can be found in the way spoken or written texts have been shaped. Textual features, like a part of language, differ from country to country and embody different cultural activities. For example, in pragmatic and interactional norms, culture is expressed through the use of speech acts (for example, the ways to say “thank you”). Language use determines the value of human communication, but more than that, a cultural framework guides the interpretation of 8 language use. Culture in linguistic structures can be seen in the presence of culture in linguistic forms, words, syntax and non-verbal language. The relationship between language and culture is deeply rooted in the way that language reflects culture of one society and its world views. In order to identify culturing of language, one often encounters expressions such as: “language and culture are inseparable”, “language and culture are intimately connected”, “language is culture and culture is language”. Language reflects and conveys culture and cultural connections. Language can be a part of culture, simply defined as a sum of beliefs and practices in society. On the other hand, culture is the product of socially and historically situated discourse communities, created and shaped by language. People use language to express their culture and in this way express their world view in that same society. The individual describes his views using the language that is the product of his culture. Language is a system of signs that by itself has a cultural value. People identify themselves and others through language. Human culture always includes language, and human language cannot be conceived without culture. Linguistic practice is always embedded in some cultural context or another. Since language and cultures are intertwined with each other, learning a language cannot be separated from learning its culture. Only by learning the culture can students better understand the language and use it in communication. It is now generally believed that in language teaching, teachers and learners should pay attention to the culture differences since different languages reflect the different value systems and worldviews of its speakers. By understanding the culture differences, one can avoid making mistakes in communicating as well as misunderstanding. 9 1.2. Cross-cultural Communication vs. Intercultural Communication Culture is usually shared with people who live in and experience the same social environments. Although the two terms cross-cultural communication and intercultural communication are both used to describe human communication which involves people from different cultural backgrounds, there is a clear distinction between these two concepts. The term “cross-cultural” is used to refer to the communication process that is comparative in nature. Hence, cross-cultural communication implies the comparison of phenomenon across cultures in order to understand the dissimilarities and similarities between cultures. Therefore, it requires an understanding of the involved individuals’ cultures. The process of crosscultural interaction is limited to the understanding of different cultures and the ability to make distinctions between them. Cross-cultural “implies the meetings of two cultures across the political boundaries of nation states” (Kramsch, 1998) and refers to the understanding of cultures from two different countries. It is clearly understood that cross-cultural communication tends to compare patterns of communication and interactions across peoples from different cultural backgrounds. The term “intercultural” is used to refer to the communication process between members of different cultural communities. Intercultural communication takes place when our cultural group membership factors affect the communication process. There are many definitions of intercultural communication by experts who offer different interpretations and meanings. Allwood (1985) discussed that intercultural communication is basically the exchange of information between the individuals from the diverse cultural 10