SKKN treatment of cross cultural characteristics in the teaching of speaking skill to grade 12a2 students of english in nam dan 1 upper secondary school

- To find out the attitudes of teachers and students at Nam Dan 1 high school toward the importance of culture in learning speaking skills in English language teaching... - To find out t

1

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF TRAINING AND EDUCATION

NAM DAN 1 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

TEACHING EXPRIENCES TOPIC:

Treatment of cross-cultural characteristics in the teaching of speaking skill to grade 12A2 students of English in Nam Dan 1 upper secondary school

Teacher: Hồ Thị Mỹ Hạnh Group: Xã Hội 1 Tel: 0986987872

Nam Dan 2021

PART A: INTRODUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENT

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale……… ………2

2 Aims of the study……….……… 3

3 Scope of the study……… 3

4 Methods of the study……… 3

PART A CONTENT Chapter 1 Literature review………3

Chapter 2: The study……….11

Chapter 3: Solutions ……… ………14

PART C THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE METHODS 1 The result of the study……… ……19

2 The effectiveness of the study……… ……….22

PART D CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

APPENDIX 3

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English, the most popular foreign language in Vietnam, has been taught from the early age (at the age of six or even younger) in most of schools throughout the country as a compulsory subject Thus, many Vietnamese, especially the young people, can speak English; however; not many of them have intelligible cultural knowledge

Personally, I think that cultural gaps are one of the most important keys lead

us to success in communicating genuinely and understanding the real world outside the classroom In order to use the language effectively, language teachers should realize that knowledge of the world's language and culture is increasingly important Language learners need to have mastery of not only the language itself but also the culture in which the language is used Therefore, it is suggested that language teachers should focus on the integration of culture in language classroom, which serves as a tool for helping students understand and appreciate other cultures

Nowadays, in teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, speaking has received a great deal of attention Nonetheless, English is learnt and taught in a non-native environment, students usually do not have close contact with native speakers of English and have little opportunity to discover how these speakers think, feel, and interact with others That is the reason why they do not feel confident enough to converse with English teachers or native speakers and people in other countries where English is used mainly

It proves everything clearly that culture and language can not be separated and the teaching and learning of a foreign language should always be a culture- based course So as to improve student's communicative competence, teacher should insert cross- cultural knowledge into the learning and teaching of speaking skills From my teaching experience, cultural challenges in speaking-class have become a great source of inspiration for my thesis, which deals with the problem:

"Treatment of cross-cultural characteristics in the teaching of speaking skill to

grade 12A1 students of English." This study is, hence, to aim at treating

cross-cultural characteristics into teaching of speaking in English for the teacher and students at Nam Dan I high school

The major aims of the study are as follows:

- To investigate the teachers' and students' attitudes towards the importance

of cross- cultural knowledge to the learning of a foreign language

- To find out the attitudes of teachers and students at Nam Dan 1 high school toward the importance of culture in learning speaking skills in English language teaching

- To find out the effective ways of treatment cross-cultural characteristics

into teaching of speaking skill in English

2 Aims of the study

The major aims of the study are as follows:

- To investigate the teachers' and students' attitudes towards the importance

of cross- cultural knowledge to the learning of a foreign language

- To find out the attitudes of teachers and students at Nam Dan 1 high school toward the importance of culture in learning speaking skills in English language teaching

- To find out the effective ways of treatment cross-cultural characteristics

into teaching of speaking in English

3 Scope of the study

To develop speaking skill and the communicative competence for students

at Nam Dan I high school, teachers has made a lot of effort to motivate the students

to participate in speaking class effectively However, in the thesis, the researcher wants to find out the attitudes, as well as the cross-culture awareness in teaching and learning spoken English The scope of this study is limited to the raising of students' cross-cultural awareness through speaking only

The subjects of the study are grade 12A2 students of English at Nam Dan I high school in Nghe An province The suggestions and recommendations are all centered on a combination of task-based of activity- based syllabuses

4 Methods of the study

Because the purpose of this study is to investigate the teachers` and students` perception of the role of cultural understanding in learning English, a questionnaire was used as the key instrument of data collection Data were analysised quantitatively by means of descriptive statistics

PART B CONTENT

Chapter 1 Literature review

1.1 The importance of cross- cultural knowledge in foreign language

learning 1.1.1 What is cross-culture?

Cross-culture can be seen as cultures in contact or cultures encounters The term "cross-culture" usually refers to the meeting of two cultures or languages across the political boundaries of nation-states ( Claire Kramsch) They are predicated on the equivalence of one nation-one culture-one language In foreign language, teaching a cross-cultural approach seeks ways to understand the other on

the other side of the border by learning his or her national language Cross-cultural communication does not only study cultural differences and their influences on the

people's behaviors but also see the similarities between them

Effective cross-cultural communication is concerned with overcoming

cultural differences across nationality, religion, borders, culture and behavior Cross-cultural communication competency can only be truly achieved through cross cultural awareness training, language acquisition, foreign travel and cultural immersion

Cross-cultural understanding refers to the basic ability of people to

recognize, interpret and correctly react to people, incidences or situations that are open to misunderstanding due to cultural differences It is said that cross-culture understanding is recognition of the ways in which two cultures resemble one another as well as the ways in which they differ

Mastering cross-culture knowledge opens great vista for the teacher and provides a basis for better understanding of persons from other backgrounds, as well as supplying new insights into approaches to teaching a second language According to Meyer (cited in Eli Hinkel;1991:37), intercultural competence has

been defined in foreign language learning as "the ability of a person to behave

adequately in a flexible manner when confronted with actions, attitudes, and expectations of representatives of foreign cultures"

1.1.2 The relationship between language and culture

Culture, unlike language, does not consist of specific rules that apply to all people in one culture Nevertheless, Culture and language have a close relationship Many linguists have been discussed a question for a long time: how

do the language and culture relate to each other? One of the most well known

sources is Sapir-Whorf's hypothesis (cited in Pinker 1994:59) state: "We cut nature

up, organize it into concepts and as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language The agreement

is, of course, an implicit and unstated one, but its terms are absolutely obligatory."

Pinker shows that Whorf did not do his research properly to prove his hypothesis However, it cannot be denied that language and culture are profoundly connected,

or rather, that language is inseparable from culture

According to Claire Kramch (1998:3) "They give meaning to it through the

medium they choose to communicate with one another, for example on the telephone or face to face, writing a letter or sending an e-mail message, reading the newspaper or interpreting a graph or chart The way in which people use the spoken, written, or visual medium itself to creates meanings that are understandable to the group they belong to, for example, through a speaker's tone

of voice, accent, conversation style, gestures and facial expressions." Through

Clair Kramch's idea, we find that language embodies cultural reality As Nguyen

Van Do (2006) has said: "Language and culture can be seen as the faces of a sheet

of paper" Language cannot exist outside the social context, language is a social

1.2 Goals and objectives for treatment of cross-cultural characteristics

in English teaching

From linguist's ideas and analysis about the relationship of language and culture, we can see that teaching culture needs to be integrated in the curriculum of the foreign language Teachers do indeed need to teach students a few critical skills that can help them develop and improve the quality of their intercultural

communication that can help them "get their feet wet in the waters of another

culture." (Seelye 1993) Here are some goals, devised by Seelye in 1974 and

refined in 1993, that will help teachers select cultural data that will increase student

skill in intercultural communication:

Goal 1: Interest- The student demonstrates curiosity about the target culture

and empathy toward its people

Goal 2: Who- The student recognizes that role expectations and other social

variables such as age, sex, social class, ethnicity, and place of residence affect the way people speak and behave

Goal 3: What- The student realizes that effective communication requires

discovering the culturally conditioned images that are evoked in the minds of people when they think, act, and react to the world around them

Goal 4: Where and When- The student recognizes that situational variables

and convention shape behavior in important ways (S/he needs to know how people

in the target culture act in common mundane and crisis situations)

Goal 5: Why- The student understands that people generally act the way

they do because they are using options society allows for satisfying basic physical and psychological needs, and that cultural patterns are interrelated and tend mutually to support need satisfaction

Goal 6: Exploration- The student can evaluate a generalization about the

target culture in terms of the amount of evidence substantiating it, and has the skills needed to locate and organize information about the target culture from the library, the mass media, people, and personal observation

The Nostrands (1970) listed nine objectives: students should have the ability to 1) React appropriately in asocial situation

2) Describe a pattern in the culture

3) Recognize a pattern when it is illustrated

4) “Explain” a pattern

5) Predict how a pattern is likely to apply in a given situation

6) Describe or manifest an attitude important for making oneself acceptable

in the foreign society

7) Evaluate the form of a statement concerning a culture pattern

8) Describe/demonstrate defensible methods of analyzing a socio-cultural whole

9) Identify basic human purposes that make significant the understanding that is being taught

Various versions of these steps have been made, with more or less the same goals and expectations for students

1.3 Some considerations in raising students’ cross-cultural awareness when teaching English as Foreign language

Language teachers and students must have a certain awareness of the foreign culture and its effect on the language being taught and learned When developing

cross-cultural awareness, both learners and teachers of a foreign language need to understand cultural differences Cultural differences play a very important part in teaching English Teachers often base on their activities to teach students how to use structures, expressions instead of those in the country they are working Although they should get students learn to speak English in the native ways, they should see that it is necessary to be more aware of the cultural differences, so that

they can help students understand and use English in a native speaking country

Students often meet intercultural encounters in schools which can lead to many perplexities For example, the students at Vinh university complained about

an American professor that their American teachers often eat bread and drink milk

on the table of the teacher in break and she did not invite their students And the students felt that their teachers did not respect the students Or another example,

an American lecturer at Vinh university thought that the students showed their opposition to the teachers from the first lesson, when the teacher gave questions but no one raised their hand or gave ideas She did not understand that most Vietnamese students are unselfconfident We can see that the role of language in intercultural encounters applies entirely to the teaching situation Therefore, developing cross-cultural awareness in EFL classroom is an indispensable thing in teaching and learning foreign language Learning to understand a foreign culture should help students of another language to use words and expressions more skillfully and authentically; to understand levels of language and situational appropriate; to act naturally with persons of the other culture

We need to understand that if we want our students to master another language, we have to help them become communicatively competent in that language as much as possible Namely, fluently speaking is not just to master of using grammatically correct words and forms but also knowing when to use them and under what circumstances That is the reason why culture is crucially important in learning and teaching foreign language

Interest in culture is linked to the intrinsic motivation of a learner Therefore, if the teacher can get the learner interested in the culture of the L2, then they will hopefully end up with more successful students

When considering language learning, it is clear that the learning of both languages would have cultural goals, and that students would be learning these aspects of culture in a comparative process To achieve culture goals, often teacher has to play a role in breaking down cultural barriers prior to initiating teaching-learning activities Student must be receptive to concept of learning about other cultures more than their own In Vietnam, the learners learning the foreign language has a great limit in communication Thus, the easiest way to begin teaching culture or raise students' awareness is to emphasize similarities and differences between members of students' s family, between schools and between cultures

1.4 Speaking skill and the position in English language teaching

1.4.1 Definition of speaking skill

Speaking is "The process of building and sharing meaning through the use

of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998:13)

Speaking in a foreign language has been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills It plays a vital role since it is the step to identify who knows or does not know a language When attempting to speak, learners must muster their thoughts and encode those ideas in the vocabulary and syntactic structures of the target

language

Speaking is the productive skill, is known to have two main types of conversation namely, dialogue and monologue, which are rather different In monologue, you give uninterrupted oral presentation while in dialogue you interact with one or more other speakers for transactional and international purposes

In conclusion, for many people, speaking is seen as the central skill The desire to communicate with others, often face-to-face and in real time, drives us to attempt to speak fluently and correctly Speaking is also one of necessary skills that students have to acquire in learning a foreign language It helps people to communicate and exchange information and culture with other countries

1.4.2 The position of speaking skills in English language teaching

From the fact, four skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing have certain roles in ELT, but the most important aim of students is using language to communicate with others Thus, it is clear that speaking is the key component to English language teaching

According to Pattison (1992): "when people mention knowing or learning a

language, they mean being able to speak the language" We cannot deny that we

use spoken language more than written language in our lives For students, training speaking skills will help them to feel more confident and to correct grammatical mistakes by themselves in communicative process

The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many foreign language learners The learners often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency

Nunan (1991:39) has ever said that: "mastering the art of speaking is the

single most important aspect of learning a second language or foreign language, and success is measured in term of ability to carry out a conversation in the language." It can be inferred from Nunan's viewpoint that speaking is very

important skill Therefore, having dealt with the importance of oral skills in language teaching and learning, it is essential that language teachers should pay more attention to teaching speaking skills

Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life

1.5 What types of culture should be taught in the foreign language classroom?

Culture and language exist in the same relationship as that in which, within language, meaning and expression develop together Today educators have become aware of the importance of cultural factors in the teaching of speaking skills and they also see the influence of inferences between two cultures-target and learner's cultures-on the teaching and learning skills However, what types of culture should

be taught in the foreign language classroom in order to be suitable with student's awareness and class environment ?, this has been a problem which many educators care about

As Tomalin and Stempleski (1993:7) suggest, it is difficult to identify a detailed syllabus for the study of culture in a language classroom They present three elements of culture:

They claim that behavior culture should be systematically treated in every language class It is fact that many language teachers habitually begin their classes with a five-minute presentation in the foreign language of subject that has not been previously announced The content of the topics may be ones that bring out identity, similarity, or sharp differences in comparable patterns of culture

Ismail Cakir (2006:155) suggests some topics that can be presented within the course

Behaviors

Customs Habits Dress Foods Leisure

Climate Meeting people

Clothing Money

Crime Non-verbal communication

Eating Pets

Education Population

Family life Religion

Geography Social occasions

Dobson (1992) shares Oxford's view that students are apt to be fascinated by the ways in which their culture is similar to or different from an English-speaking one He proposes a series of aspects of life in an English-speaking country that student are especially interested They are:

1 Family relationship 11 Influence of the media

2 The generation gap 12 Sport

3 Dating customs 13 Worship

4 Courtship and wedding customs 14 Holiday

5 Drinking customs 15 Festival

6 Eating habits 16 Leisure activities

7 Features of etiquette 17 Time

8 A typical school week 18 Superstitions

9 Student-teacher relationship 19 Students' life

10 Contemporary fashions 20 Humor

From the ideas above, it is clear that each researcher has an individual opinion about problem: teaching culture in classroom In my opinion, the above cultural elements to be used to teach the target language should be presented in the contexts, and depending on students's level and knowledge, the teacher can choose types of suitable culture to teach in classroom

Chapter 2: The study

2.1 Setting of the study

The study is carried out at Nam Dan I high school where English is one of the compulsory subjects in the curriculum and it is the subjects students have to pass at the national examination by the end of grade 12th to be qualified for the secondary school diploma English curriculum for grade 12th students is divided into two semesters with a total 105 periods, 3 periods per week Each period is 45 minute long

The Textbook which our school are using for grade 12th is " English 12" with a new curriculum which was designed following communicative approach

"English 12" textbook consist of sixteen units Each unit focuses not only on four different language skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing but also such language elements as pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary

Speaking is the second one in each unit introduced just after reading lesson All in all, the topics and activities in each speaking lesson are very multiform with the aim of helping students improve their speaking skill

It is believed that to develop speaking skill for student, the most effective way is inserting various cross-cultural issues in the safe environment of classroom When having a thorough grasp of cross-cultural knowledge of the language which students are learning, they will feel more confident in communication

2.2 Participants and Classroom context

The study is carried out with the participation of grade 12 A2 forty students

at Nam Dan I high school, most of whom are 17-18 years of age and 10 English teachers at Nam Dan I high school During the years at secondary school, the students learnt the old textbook with curriculum concentrating on grammar They are almost beginners in English speaking because they were only exposed to the language in classroom before They had no chances to learn listening and speaking skills and the only knowledge they have is structures and theories of grammar Therefore, along with their difficulties in acquiring any effective language skills, a majority of the students did not have chances to know about what we call "culture" and "cross-culture" and how to use cross-culture knowledge into speaking skill The English teachers need to stimulate their curiosity about English - speaking cultures

2 The actual situation of the study

Language teachers and students must have a certain awareness of the foreign culture and its effect on the language being taught and learned When developing cross-cultural awareness, both learners and teachers of a foreign language need to understand cultural differences Cultural differences play a very important part in teaching English Teachers often base on their activities to teach students how to use structures, expressions instead of those in the country they are working Although they should get students learn to speak English in the native ways, they should see that it is necessary to be more aware of the cultural differences, so that

they can help students understand and use English in a native speaking country

Students often meet intercultural encounters in schools which can lead to many perplexities For example, the students at Vinh university complained about

an American professor that their American teachers often eat bread and drink milk

on the table of the teacher in break and she did not invite their students And the students felt that their teachers did not respect the students Or another example,

an American lecturer at Vinh university thought that the students showed their opposition to the teachers from the first lesson, when the teacher gave questions but no one raised their hand or gave ideas She did not understand that most Vietnamese students are unselfconfident We can see that the role of language in intercultural encounters applies entirely to the teaching situation Therefore, developing cross-cultural awareness in EFL classroom is an indispensable thing in teaching and learning foreign language Learning to understand a foreign culture should help students of another language to use words and expressions more skillfully and authentically; to understand levels of language and situational appropriate; to act naturally with persons of the other culture

We need to understand that if we want our students to master another language, we have to help them become communicatively competent in that language as much as possible Namely, fluently speaking is not just to master of using grammatically correct words and forms but also knowing when to use them and under what circumstances That is the reason why culture is crucially important in learning and teaching foreign language

Interest in culture is linked to the intrinsic motivation of a learner Therefore, if the teacher can get the learner interested in the culture of the L2, then they will hopefully end up with more successful students

When considering language learning, it is clear that the learning of both languages would have cultural goals, and that students would be learning these aspects of culture in a comparative process To achieve culture goals, often teacher has to play a role in breaking down cultural barriers prior to initiating teaching-learning activities Student must be receptive to concept of learning about other cultures more than their own In Vietnam, the learners learning the foreign language has a great limit in communication Thus, the easiest way to begin

teaching culture or raise students' awareness is to emphasize similarities and differences between members of students' s family, between schools and between cultures For foreign language students, language study seems senseless if they know nothing about the people who speak the target language or the country in which the target language is spoken

The study is carried out with the participation of grade 12A2 forty students

at Nam Dan I high school, most of whom are 17-18 years of age and 10 English teachers at Nam Dan I high school They are almost beginners in English speaking because they were only exposed to the language in classroom before They had no many chances to learn listening and speaking skills and the knowledge they have mainly is structures and theories of grammar Therefore, along with their difficulties in acquiring any effective language skills, a majority of the students did not have chances to know about what we call "culture" and "cross-culture" and how to use cross-culture knowledge into speaking skill The English teachers need

to stimulate their curiosity about English -speaking cultures

A survey was conducted to convey the attitudes of the teachers and learners towards the importance of culture ELT The question is:

- What do you think of the role of culture in English learning? (Students)

- What do you think of the role of culture in English learning? (Teachers)

important rather

important

not veryimportant

studentsteachers

Figure 1: The students’ perception of the role of culture in English learning

In overview, it can be seen that the teachers and students at NDI high school share different opinions that all of the teachers hold positive ideas about the position of culture in ELT With knowledge and experience, 100% of the teachers (60% suggests that culture is very important and 40% thinks culture is important) realize that cultural factors are very important to ELT Besides, students have clear difference 42% of the students consider cultural factors very important in ELT, 37.5 % of the students take it important 10% of the students think that culture is

rather important in ELT The percentage of the students thinks culture is not very important is 10% It means that almost students are aware of the importance of the culture However, a small number of students take no care of the position of culture Therefore, it is easy to see that their English level is too low to use culture knowledge in learning English

Chapter 3 Solutions for treatING cross-cultural characteristics into teaching of speaking in English to

grade 12A2 students in Nam Dan I high school

3.1 Implications

Based on the finding from the survey, the researcher would like to provide some recommendations to improve the teaching and learning of speaking skill in the English classrooms

3.1.1 To the teachers

Cultural differences of communication are a common cause of misunderstan ding and can be a cause of discomfort in cross-cultural situations Therefore, the teachers' duty is to own basic understandings about language and culture When the awareness of culture is raised, the teachers will be able to plan, create and construct materials for effective speaking class Culture knowledge is very extensive but students do not know how to apply it to language learning, so the teachers have to bring it to students and help them to master it

Although nowadays, students play the centred role and the learner have a great role in the management of their learning, it does not mean that the students can decide everything, the teachers have to be good leaders to find out the suitable teaching methods and combine different approaches in a context The teachers should use formal and informal instructions indifferent situations It depends on context and particular classes

For the teachers, the attitudes towards culture in the teaching and learning of speaking skill are very important Firstly, they must upgrade intercultural knowledge by themselves To educate students towards intercultural learning after mastering cross-culture knowledge Eclectic methodology, an approach mixed with others, has been proved effectively in the teaching and learning of foreign languages, but no matter what methodologies teachers use, they must encourage learners' active role in studying

In the speaking skill, encouraging all the students in class to speak English and create a competitive atmosphere are very important The teachers should insert interesting cross-cultural activities into lessons to attract students to take part in Gradually, students will overcome their shyness when speaking English and feel more confident to give their own opinions on any issues

From the first day of English classes, the teacher should prepare a cultural environment in their classroom There are many ways to create cultural environment The teachers can ask students to collect and bring the class objects related to some aspects of life in English-speaking countries These objects will help students develop their mental imagine about target language countries or another way, the teachers can ask each student to find a story related to culture of English speaking skill They will have to tell their story in the next lesson

Donn Byrne (1986) has ever said that "the teachers are like conductors in an orchestra" It means that the teachers works as actors with different roles They organize and monitor during the beginning activities while learners are carrying out their duty, teachers are stimulators The teachers must keep an eye on learners' remarks They should create a comfortable environment so that learners can speak out The teachers should pay attention to the way learners express themselves

To Vietnamese learners, the Vietnamese culture has a significant influence

on their study in general, and learning English in particular Most of Vietnamese students are quite shy, as they do not have a lot of chance to talk in front of the crowd so the teachers' the difficulties is to find out the way to motive the students and help help them motivation, get over shyness and self-esteem issues When the learners have confidence, they will feel free to express their opinions during speaking activities There are many learners learning grammar and vocabularies very well, but when being asked to them present any topic, they are not fluent or

do not know how to verbalize This is due to the lack of cultural knowledge Therefore, teachers need to incorporate cultural knowledge and convey encoding values or messages from English to Vietnamese in their teaching

In addition, teachers should know that culture classes do not only help learners enrich vocabularies repertoire but also aid in using the newly acquired words Studying culture, a learner becomes familiarized with specific words in a given context Furthermore, one of the techniques in teaching and learning is to make use of the mnemonic Most of the cultural issues being concrete in nature will be the pegs with which the new vocabulary associated Teachers apply the technique, the learners will associate a newly encounter word with an already acquired one leading to minimization of fossilization of potential misusage of such

a new word

3.1.2 To the students

To learn English successfully, the role of learners is very important They should raise their awareness of the importance of cultures in learning speaking skill They have to learn the difference between cultures by themselves rather than wait for the knowledge provided by from the teacher

The learners need to rely on common conventional expression of communicating specific meanings, particularly on the language environment It is

clear that practice inside the classrooms might not be similar to oral communication outside the classrooms In a foreign language classroom, students have to understand that practice in classroom is rather simple and far from real life The learners need to recognize the importance of communicative competence instead of limiting themselves to gaining adequate knowledge

Students can use some activities to improve their awareness of English culture during speaking practice such as: role- play, drama, or telling story When taking part in these activities, they will use foreign language naturally Their mistakes will be corrected gradually by themselves

3.2 Suggestions for treatment of cross- cultural characteristics in the teaching of speaking skill to grade 12A2 students of English in Nam Dan I high school in Nghe An province

3.2.1 Teachers and students’ sources in Nam Dan I high school for enriching cross-cultural information

To have the comprehensive picture of the target culture from any angles, we need to give students different kinds of information This is to help them way they enrich their cultural knowledge The list below shows some possible sources of information, which can be used as materials for teaching culture

Warschauer 2001: 208 claims that " by engaging in web-based activities students can gradually become members of the community of English language speakers, in the same way that they might through other forms of immersion in a culture." It is unsurprising when the teachers and the students choose it as the favorite source of the cultural information

In Vietnamese context, Hang's study (2004) shows that speaking and reading sections of textbooks are believed to have the richest content of cross-cultural

exchange The teachers always stick to these sections if they want to press on any typical or prominent cross-cultural issues

During foreign language teaching process, depending on each lesson, each situation and students' level, the teachers should choose suitable kinds of cross- culture information to insert into the teaching lesson

For example, to enrich the background knowledge for students, when teaching unit 2: cultural diversity, teachers can show some videos for students to

be aware of some wedding traditions in some countries in the world

Some photos can be used to illustrate the wedding customs of some countries:

In unit 3: ways of socializing, teachers also can use some following pictures

to help students know the ways people use to greet each other

3.2.2 Activities for improving cross-culture teaching methods in NDI

high school

A teacher who teaches a foreign language well should only have good

knowledge but also the ability to master the teaching method Teaching the foreign

language is very difficult, but inserting culture into language to motivate student'

interest in learning this language is more difficult Therefore, in order to help

teacher to orient the culture teaching Patrick Moran (2001) suggests A Framework

for Learning/Teaching Culture, we can base on his suggestion to improve our

teaching method

A)Knowing about (getting information)

1) 1) Nature of content getting information

Eg: The teacher can supply information for students by many ways such as:

giving questions, giving information directly

- What is the capital of the US?

- Sports play an important role in American life

2) Learning objectives - demonstrate a mastery of the information

3) Techniques/activities - cultural readings; films/videotapes; recordings;

realia (cultural artifacts); personal anecdotes

Eg: The teacher give students a passage related to cross-cultural knowledge

and ask students find cross-cultural information in it

4) Note: - How culture is traditionally taught giving students information

and asking them to show that they know it;

Eg: The teacher can ask sts to present the information which they have been

provided by the teacher

- Teacher role: informant

B) Knowing how (developing behaviors)

1) Nature of content skills

Teacher gives students some situation

Eg: - Buying tickets to a sports event,

- Cheering for your team at a football game,

- Acting and speaking like American sports fans

2) Learning objectives: demonstrate an ability a fluency, an expertise,

confidence, ease

3) Techniques/activities: dialogs, role plays, simulations, field experiences

Eg: Using on above topics, students work in group to make dialogues and

then, present in front of the whole class

4) Note: - Where communicative competence in the language and culture occurs Students know both what to say and how to do it in a culturally appropriate manner

- Teacher role: coach or model

C) Knowing why (discovering explanations)

1) Nature of content values and assumptions

Teacher gives some questions in turn

Eg: - Why are sports so important to Americans?

- Are you making an observation or an interpretation?

- Why do Americans have such sports rituals?

- How does this compare with your culture?

2) Learning objectives: - Demonstrate an ability: to infer; to generalize;

- Curiosity; tolerance; sensitivity; empathy

3) Techniques/activities

- Learners interpret and make explanations based on above activities,

- Comparisons with their own culture,

- Reflective writing

4) Note : - Learners engage in actively using their powers of induction,

analysis and intuition to draw conclusions about cultural information or

experiences like anthropologists

- Teacher role: co-researcher or guide

D) Knowing oneself (personalizing knowledge) (applying for students with

high level)

1) Nature of content self-awareness

Eg: Teacher gives students some questions:

- What importance do sports have in your life?

- How did it feel to act like Americans do at a football game? Why?

- Would you choose to act like this? Why?

2) Learning objectives: by behavior/statements demonstrate understanding

of ones' feelings, values, opinions, attitudes, and act upon them

3) Techniques/activities: - Learners examine and make statements about themselves

- Reflective writing,

- Feedback on above activities

They answers above questions means that they are making reflective writing

or statements about themselves

Eg: Sports play important role in my life, I nearly saw all football match on

TV on Saturday and Sunday I like the behavior of Americans do at a football game They show the great interest of the fans However, I will not choose to act like this because I am Vietnamese and these actions are not suitable with Vietnamese

4) Note: - Learners themselves are the subject matter in a process of guided self-discovery, as they study their own values and their reactions to those of the culture They decide whether or not to change

- Teacher role: counselor or guide

To apply the teaching method successfully, the English teachers should use EFL activities Most standard EFL activities can be easily adapted for using in the culture classrooms The most important point is to ensure that the students are actively engaged in the target culture and language

In my opinion some of the activities the teachers should care about in teaching culture:

Culture capsules and clusters, cultural quizzes, cultural assimilators, cartoons, problem solving, role-play, mini-drama, reformulation, noticing, prediction, quizzes, and audio-motor, research, celebrating festivities, kinesics and bod, ect These activities can help improve English culture-teaching and learning

methods at Nam Dan I high school and then some lessons during the course, the participants are asked to prepare a favorite topic related to the content of the lesson

in the next class After that will have to present the topic they are responsible for They can work in groups or work individually to make a comparison between their own country culture and target language's culture Comparing is an effective activity of teaching culture Quizzes are also selected as one of the favorite activities to the participants Almost cultural lessons are designed with quizzes The participants work in pairs or in groups to do the task in the form of quizzes Culture must be fully incorporated as a vital component of language learning Students can be successful in speaking a foreign language only if cultural issues are an inherent part of the foreign language curriculum

III THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE METHODS

1 The result of the study

At the first time of the first term, a test is given to all students 12a2 (40 students) and then the teachers apply cultural activities into lesson plans at 12a2

At the end of the first term, another test in culture is given to the same students The results are found different as follow:

Marks Test 1(%) Test 2(%)

The change in students’ test result after treating English culture-teaching activities

into the teaching of speaking skill

The change in students’test result after treating English culture-teaching activities

into the teaching of speaking skill

From the table, it is very easy to see that test 2 gets higher results as compared with results of test 1 After inserting cross-cultural knowledge into English teaching, cultural knowledge of the students improve distinctly From 0%

of the student gets excellent mark in test 1, in test 2, 10% of the students get excellent mark Similarly, 7.5 % of the students get good marks in the test 1 but it increases 10% in test 2 12.5% gets fair marks in test 1 while in test 2, the number

of students getting fair marks is more double(27.5%) and 10% gets medium marks

in test 1 but 17.5 % in test 2 The remarkable thing here is the rate of students get weak marks and bad marks decreases sharply after applying cultural activities in English teaching 70% of the students get weak and bad marks in test 1 but in test

2, only 35% This means the teaching methods mentioned above to be effective in English teaching in Nam Dan I high school

2 The effectiveness of the study

Though the survey is conducted by a small population of students and teachers, it can help the author have a deeper insight into the situation of English learning and teaching From the result of questionnaires and tests, it is quite clear that treatment of cross-cultural characteristics into speaking lesson is beneficial and feasible The positive effects of cross-cultural integration on motivating student to communicate confidently as it is strongly approved by the majority of students who directly take part in the teaching and learning process

First of all, all the students have realized the importance of cross-cultural knowledge in English learning and teaching They nearly have the same idea that cultural elements are inserted into the lesson, it makes them feel the lessons more interesting and more attractive Furthermore, the students are motivated if they have chance to understand about not only their own culture but also the culture of target language

The students are supposed to be aware of cultural knowledge, the difference and similarities between cultures that helped them make progress in learning English and feel confident in using it The knowledge makes them love to learn English By way of consequences, the teaching of cultures should become an integral part of English teaching

Secondly, the results of the questionnaires and tests have shown that we can not teach language and culture separately They have to be combined together as the cross-culture issues could be taught through the teaching and learning speaking skills or another skills With a quiz or discussion used in pre-post speaking, a motivating learning environment is created to regain their interest in learning and then help improve the speaking skill better Understanding culture of a country, learning the language of this country is very important as it helps foreign language learners communicate effectively in the target language Without the study of English-speaking cultures, English instruction is inaccurate and incomplete

Thirdly, it can be clearly seen from the data analysis that speaking is a crucially important element to raise cross-cultural awareness Conversely, cross-cultural knowledge helps students develop communicative competence more perfectively

Lastly, nowadays with the development of technology and the Internet, we can acess public libraries with enormous information with graceful images about culture of different countries Thus, there are no reasons for not taking advantage

of such a useful and potential source of teaching material

In summary, cultural understanding is very important in EFL Communication is the way to raise intercultural awareness However, a culture is

so enormous that the teachers cannot cover everything Furthermore, the students cannot be expected to grasp everything about a culture What the teachers need to

do is to encourage students think about cross-cultural issues from various perspective without judging them

PART IV CONCLUSION

From the research as above it can be seen that teaching culture is very important in improving the language Most of teachers and students believed that culture plays an important role in their language learning We can not learn a foreign language well when we have no cultural knowledge of that country The learners understand that culture and language have inseparable relationship and teaching language is teaching culture In order to master a language, the linguistic learners need to understand the cultural context where language presides The students need to learn the correct and culturally acceptable way to address people Therefore, raising cultural knowledge and awareness by integrating cultures in language learning and teaching is vital The students will be interested in and have motivation in English learning process Understanding cross-cultural knowledge has been considered to be of great help to the teaching and learning of speaking skill

First of all, the study reviewed some theoretical background including the definitions of culture, cross-culture, language, the knowledge of relationship between language and culture, goals and objectives for treatment of cross-cultural characteristics in English teaching, Goals and objectives for treatment cross-cultural characteristics in English teaching Some considerations in raising students` cross-cultural awareness when teaching English as Foreign language, and the definition of speaking skill, the position of speaking skill in English teaching, what type of culture should be taught in foreign language classes

Secondly, the researcher has discovered some findings through questionnaires and tests The results of the survey have pointed out the positive attitudes of both teachers and students towards the important role of culture learning to speaking skill teaching and learning The study has already found the teachers and students' attitude of the culture activities applying in English teaching and learning

Lastly, the author gives some suggestions for treatment cross- cultural

characteristics into teaching of speaking in English to grade 12A1 students in Nam Dan I high school

Through these findings, we know that treating cross-cultural characteristics

in a lesson is a performing art subject, the teachers always must be an excellent actor to make the performance successful

The treatment of cross-cultural information in speaking lessons through cultural activities can fulfil the two purposes of foreign language education at the same time: one is improving reading skills and other is fostering cross-cultural knowledge

From the finding above, it can be said that culture and language are fundamentally intertwined Attempting to learn a language without learning its associated culture is to miss out on everything that makes the language unique,

exciting and beautiful Culture is very important when studying a language Not only is it important for a student to be able to grammatically communicate with people, but also it is important for students to do so in culturally acceptable ways

In order to succeed at a language, a student must have a thorough understanding of the culture With the help of teachers, culture is incorporated in language learning This helps students gain the necessary knowledge in order to communicate successfully