Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS a study on teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the cultural content in the international commercial textbook for non english majors at haiphong private university

Due to these issues addressed above, the research A study on teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the cultural content in the international commercial textbook for non-English major

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***  ***

NGUYỄN THỊ TỐ HOÀN

A STUDY ON TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CULTURAL CONTENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL TEXTBOOK FOR NON- ENGLISH MAJORS AT HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY (Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên đối với nội dung văn hóa trong giáo trình quốc tế dành cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh trường

Đại học Dân lập Hải Phòng )

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: Engl sh T eaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***  ***

NGUYỄN THỊ TỐ HOÀN

A STUDY ON TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CULTURAL CONTENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL TEXTBOOK FOR NON- ENGLISH MAJORS AT HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

(Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên đối với nội dung văn hóa trong giáo trình quốc tế dành cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh trường

Đại học Dân lập Hải Phòng )

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

DECLARATION

To the best of my knowledge and belief, this minor thesis contains no material which has previously been submitted and accepted for any other degree in any university The thesis is my own work and based on my own research It involves no material previously published or written by any other person, except where due reference is acknowledged in the paper

Hanoi, 2014

Nguyễn Thi ̣ Tố Hoàn

The findings showed that Solutions Pre-intermediate Students’ Book was the

textbook on target culture with the British and American culture dominantly presented All the teachers and most of the students expressed positive attitudes towards the cultural content of the book although there were a number of students saying no to culture learning However, the teachers‟ teaching of cultures did not meet the students‟ need The results suggested that some negative attitudes of students need to be recognized and changed as soon as possible Moreover, the university authority needs take more consideration in choosing an international commercial book to be a textbook They also need undertake an investigation into the effectiveness of the new learning and teaching method being applied, which prevented teachers from satisfying students‟ need, with the teachers‟ and students‟

voice involved It is hoped that these findings provide useful criteria for an expanding discussion of cultural issues in ELT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe a debt of gratitude to those who has helped me complete the study

First and foremost, I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Doctor Lê Văn Canh, for his guidance, encouragement and endless support from the early stages to this day

A special thank of mine goes to the teachers and students at Hai Phong Private University who spent time helping me with data collection and gave me encouragement

I also would like to give my genuine thanks to my colleagues who appreciated me for my work and motivated me

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their warm support and constant encouragement that gave me strength to go through the study process

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1.How important of culture in English learning 27 Chart 2.Culture Learning Preferences 28

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1Cortazzi and Jin (1999)‟s classification 25 Table 2 Teachers‟ ways of teaching cultural content of the book 29 Table 3 What students like about their teacher‟s culture teaching 30 Table 4 What students would like to change about their teachers‟ culture teaching 31

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION 01

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 01

2 Aims of the study 03

3 Significance of the study 04

4 Scope of the study 04

5 Research questions 04

6 Methods of the study 05

7 Organization of the study 05

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 06

Chapter 1: Literature review 06

1.1 Overview of culture and language 06

1.1.1 The relationship between culture and language 07

1.1.2 The role of culture in ELT 07

1.1.3 Perspectives on culture learning and teaching from intercultural competence perspectives 9

1.2 Overview of cultural content in the textbook 12

1.2.1 Role of textbooks in ELT 12

1.2.1 Cultural content in the textbook 14

1.2.3 Analysis of cultural contents in the textbook 15

1.3 Studies on teachers‟ and learners‟ attitudes 16

1.3.1 Definitions of attitude 16

1.3.2 The roles of learners' and teachers' attitudes in learning and teaching cultures 17

1.3.3 Previous studies on teachers‟ and learners attitudes towards cultural content in textbook 18

Chapter 2: Methodology 20

2.1 Participants 20

2.2 Research questions 21

2.3 Methods of the study 21

2.3.1.Procedures 21

2.3.2 Data collection instruments 22

Chapter 3: Results and discussion 24

3.1 Research question 1 24

3.2 Research question 2 26

3.3 Research question 3 30

3.4 Research question 4 34

PART C: CONCLUSION 36

1 Summary of the findings 36

2 Concluding remarks 37

3 Implications and recommendations 38

4 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research 39

REFERENCES 41

APPENDIX I

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Culture has been long recognized an inseparable part in teaching language in general and teaching EFL in particular Kramsch (1998) claims that “Language expresses cultural reality…Language embodies cultural reality…Language symbolizes cultural reality” (p.3) Social values, attitudes and cultural elements are now integrated in teaching pedagogy to enhance the cultural competence of learners Cultural aspects along with linguistic features are now more necessary than ever in order to prepare global citizens for the trendy global environment

Since there is no doubt over the closeness of the relationship between language and culture in ELT, new ways of looking at the teaching of language and cultures have been suggested According to Kramsch (1993), “traditional thought in foreign language education has limited the teaching of culture to the transmission of information about the people of the target country, and about their general attitudes and world views” (p.205) This view has ignored the fact that “culture is a social construct, the product of self and other perceptions” (p.205) Thus, he recommends four lines of new thought about the teaching of culture The first is establishing a

“sphere of interculturality” which means that understanding a foreign culture requires putting that culture in relation with one‟s own The second line is teaching culture as an interpersonal process; we should replace the presentation of cultural facts and behaviors by the teaching of a process that applies itself to understandforeignness or „otherness‟ The third is teaching culture as difference, supposing national traits are but one of the many aspects of a person‟s culture The last line is crossing disciplinary boundaries; the teaching of culture is linked to the academically recognized disciplines of anthropology, sociology, and semiology

These ways of thought obviously provide much richer understanding of the teaching

of culture; however, it is also challenging for the majority of language teachers to change their minds and adapt to the new views

The exposure to cultural aspects in second language teaching in the classroom can be mainly provided by means of textbooks Textbooks undoubtedly play significant roles, as Cortazzi and Zin (1999) assert that textbook can be a teacher, a map, a resource, a trainer, an authority, a de-skiller and an ideology

Along with providing linguistic and topical contents, textbook can be a major source of culture elements Hence, a debate on what kind of cultural orientation in the textbook should be used in classroom is evoked Arguments are provoked to consider choosing the best kind of textbooks among three options: textbooks on source/ home cultures, textbook on target cultures and textbook on international target cultures Source/ home culture refers to learner‟s own culture; target culture is the culture which the target language is used as a first language; and international target cultures refer to various cultures in English, or non English speaking countries which use English as an international language

Both teachers and learners play a key role in the teaching and learning of cultural elements from the textbooks in classroom Therefore, collecting their feedback for obtaining a deep insight into the situation and for promoting innovations is of crucial importance Learners should acquire cultural knowledge in

an appropriate way in order to enhance their cultural competence Notably, with the contemporary emphasis on intercultural competence, learners need to be taught culture without preconceptions They must understand that cultures are not monolithic; value or judgment of distinctions between the learners‟ native cultures and other cultures should not be placed Their attitudes to the teaching of cultural content in the textbook, hence, first and foremost need exploiting Besides, there is also a belief that teachers‟ attitudes may be even more important than learners‟

ones, as Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990) state that “Students use a particular course only once, but teachers will use it many times And it is cultural content, more than any other single aspect, that in our opinion influences teachers‟ attitudes”

(p.10) Moreover, teacher is one of the factors involved in cultural content of the textbook by the way he or she addresses that content to the students According to

Ferit (2004), teachers should make learners learn about the cultures and why certain things happen in other cultures They should not try to make their learners think or become like people in the cultures presented They should not give the idea that one‟s own culture is better than the target culture or vice versa They should point out that the cultures differ Teachers‟ attitudes obviously lead to their treatment towards cultural contents and then influence to learners‟ attitudes In a nutshell, it is important to uncover both teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards the cultural contents in the textbook

Due to these issues addressed above, the research A study on teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the cultural content in the international commercial textbook for non-English majors at Haiphong Private University is carried out in

the hope that the teachers‟ and student‟s attitudes – the influential role in learning and teaching cultural contents – are reflected in the context of the study

2 Aims of the study

This study is aimed at exploring the cultural representations in a commercial textbook, which is in use at Haiphong Private University, and the disparities between teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards the teaching and learning of culture regarding the cultural content represented in the evaluated textbook

The two above aims specified in the following objectives:

1) To investigate the cultural content in the textbook used for non-English

major students level 3 and 4 at Hai Phong Private University – Solution Intermediate Students’ Book by Tim Falla and Paul A Davies

Pre-2) To study the students‟ attitudes towards the cultural content in the text book and the teaching of that content

3) To study the teachers‟ attitudes towards the cultural content in the textbook

4) To find out mismatches between teachers‟ attitudes and students‟

attitudes

3 Significance of the study

The study is of significance to the authority of the university when they adopt a global textbook to use officially in the classroom The research offers a deep insight about the evaluation of the textbook by providing the teachers‟ and learners‟

voice It raises the matter of the importance of culture teaching and learning in the global integration Furthermore, it is also of significance to the teachers who are using the textbook as their major course of cultural instruction The study is supposed to draw an insightful picture of teacher‟s perceptions about the issue so that they can self - evaluate their roles in teaching culture in the state – of – art English teaching and learning context

4 Scope of the study

The study only focuses on the cultural content presented in the book Solution Pre-Intermediate Students’ Book by Tim Falla and Paul A Davies (2007), Oxford

University Press The textbook is used officially for students of level 3 and level 4

at Haiphong Private University; therefore, teachers and students from classes of these two levels are examined The research tries to explore their attitudes towards the cultural content in the textbook in order to show clear reflection of the teaching and learning cultures in the context of the study

5 Research questions

The study is supposed to answer the following questions:

(1) What cultures are represented in the “Solutions Pre-Intermediate” textbook?

(2) What are students‟ attitudes towards the cultural content and the teaching of culture in this book?

(3) What are teachers‟ attitudes towards the cultural content in this book?

(4) Are there any mismatches between students‟ attitudes and teachers‟ attitudes towards the cultural content represented in the “Solutions Pre-Intermediate”

textbook?

6 Methods of the study

The research process entailed a study of the representations of the culture in the book in view of cultural orientation – source culture, target culture or international target culture It was carried out using two different methodological tools, one to gather quantitative data and the other one to qualitatively validate the findings of the former

7.Organization of the study

The thesis is composed of three parts: A, B, and C

Part A – Introduction – introduces the statement of the problem and rationale for the study, aims, significance and scope of the study It also includes research questions, methods and introduces the organization of the study

Part B – Development – is composed of 3 chapters Chapter I reviews the literature on the issue of language and culture in English language teaching The focus of this chapter is on the literature on the issue of teaching culture from the perspective of teaching English as an international language Chapter II provides information about the research methodology used in this study This includes information about the participants, methods of data collection and methods of date analysis Chapter III presents the findings of the study The findings will, then, be discussed with reference to the literature review in order to highlight the answers to the research questions

Part C – Conclusion – presents the conclusions that are drawn for the findings of the study Limitations of the study will be acknowledged in this part

Finally, suggestions for further research are made

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews the literature on the issue of language and culture in ELT, cultural content in textbook and studies on teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes

Firstly, it discusses the relationship between culture and language, the role of culture in ELT and perspectives on culture learning and teaching from intercultural competence perspectives Secondly, it reviews issue on roles of textbook, cultural content in textbook and analysis of cultural content in textbook Finally, this chapter discusses the definitions of attitude, the roles of teachers‟ and learners‟ attitudes in learning and teaching culture, and previous studies on teachers‟ and learners‟

attitudes towards cultural content in textbook

1.1 Overview of culture and language

1.1.1 The relationship between culture and language

The term “culture” has been defined in many ways In Moore‟s (1985)words, culture is “the whole of the knowledge, ideas and habits of society that are transmitted from one generation to the next” (p.4) According to Nguyen Quang (1998), culture is “a share background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, custom, beliefs, attitudes, and values” (p.3) Kramsch (1998) states that culture is “a membership in

a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and action”

(p.127)

Because culture is embodied in language, language and culture are not fundamentally inseparable The National Center for Cultural Competence in the USA defines culture as an “integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles, relationships and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; and the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations” (Goode, Sockalingam, Brown, & Jones,

2000)Language is not only an element of culture but it also reflects culture

According to Brown (1994) culture is deeply ingrained part of the very fiber or our being, but language – the means for communication among members of a culture –

is the most visible expression of that culture Thus, a person‟s world view, identity, and systems of thinking, acting, feeling, and communicating can be disrupted by a change from one culture to another He concludes that language is a part of culture and culture is a part of language, and the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture

self-It can be stated that the culture associated with a language cannot be taught

in a few lessons about some aspects of culture such as celebrations, folk songs, or costumes of the area in which the language is spoken Culture is a much broader concept that is inherently tied to many of the linguistic concepts taught in second language classes It is, hence, undeniable that particular languages are associated historically with particular cultures; the languages provide the key to the associated cultures; the languages themselves cannot be fully understood without the context

of the cultures in which they are inextricably embedded; subsequently, language and culture are studied together

1.1.2 The role of culture in ELT

As stated in 1.1.1, culture and language are inseparable In other words, it is impossible to teach language without teaching the culture related to that languages.Brooks (1964)points out:

"As language teachers we must be interested in the study of culture not because we necessarily want to teach the culture of the other country, but because we have teach it If we teach language without teaching at the same time the culture in which it operates, we are teaching meaningless symbols or symbols to which the students attaches the wrong meaning; for unless he is warned, unless he receives cultural instruction, he will associate American

concepts or objects with the foreign symbols."(p.85-86)

It can be seen clearly from Brooks' point of view that teaching a foreign language means nothing without teaching culture of that country Not provided with cultural knowledge, learners merely use language as symbols which attach wrong meanings and ruin their communication in the real life To support the view, Valdes (as cited in Baker, 2001) declares that every language lesson is about something and that something is cultural This belief can be easily accepted because it is long proved that language expresses culture; understanding language of a community is understanding its culture

Moreover, it is the fact that the major objective of foreign language learning and teaching is the mastery of communicative competence Symbols solelycannot help learners to achieve it Sounds, letters and grammar rules become meaningless unless the students are aware of the background knowledge of the real situations they are dealing with In other words, one needs a sound grasp of the background knowledge of the target culture in order to communicate successfully with the speakers of another language The relationship between culture and communication

is elaborated by Samovar, Porter and Jain (1981) as follows:

"Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what, and how the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine how people encode messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted Culture is the foundation of communication."(p.3)

It can be interpreted that human verbal and non-verbal communication is influenced by the culture of the participants in communication Culture is the reference point for transmitting the message and for understanding the message

Therefore, it is impossible to teach language without teaching the culture

While it is no denying that language and culture are closely associated and teaching and learning a foreign language means teaching and learning the culture of the people whose mother tongue is the language being taught and learnt, the teaching and learning of English as an international language is complicated.As an

international language, English no longer belongs to those who use it as their mother-tongue language It is obviously not enough for the learners to master the cultures of native speakers such as the British, American or Australian They need

to be provided with the cultural knowledge of those who use English as a second or foreign language In conclusion, it is an undeniable fact that learning and teaching ESL and EFL becomes meaningless without learning and teaching cultures

In the context of globalization, a greater emphasis is given to the development of students‟ intercultural competence (Byram, 2002), not just communicative competence in the sense stated by Hymes (1972) The shift from communicative competence to intercultural competence is reviewed in the following section

1.1.3 Perspectives on culture learning and teaching from intercultural

competence perspectives

It has been widely recognized in language instruction that linguistic knowledge is not enough for a second or foreign language learner to use the language in socially and culturally appropriate ways Intercultural dimension, therefore, has been introduced and strongly promoted In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF), whichdescribes in a comprehensive way what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able

to act effectively, the importance of „sociocultural knowledge‟, „intercultural awareness‟ and „intercultural skills‟ are emphasized The intercultural dimension, as mentioned in the CEF and other publications, is derived from the fact that social identities are an unavoidably part of the social interaction among speakers, which lead to the need for the knowledge of what is appropriate language besides grammar competence Moreover, when people from different countries communicate to each other in a second or foreign language to both or one of them, they may be acutely aware of their national identities which closely related to culture Byram (2002) argues that:

“Thus, developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching involves recognizing that the aims are: to give learners intercultural competence as well as linguistic competence; to prepare them for interaction with people of other cultures; to enable them to understand and accept people from other cultures as individuals with other distinctive perspectives, values and behaviors; and to help them to see that such interaction is an enriching experience.”(p.10)

As the result, besides linguistic competence, intercultural competence becomes inseparable in language learning and teaching

Another issue concerning to intercultural dimension is the influence of native speaking countries‟ cultures in the culture learning and teaching Although it is undeniable that there exists an aim of language teaching to imitate a native speaker both in linguistic and cultural aspects, the so-called cultural understanding, cultural identity and cultural complexity have been promoted It means that native speakers are no longer considered to be experts and the models; second or foreign language learners relate their own cultures to the target cultures, appreciate the differences between them and raise awareness of their cultural identities Intercultural awareness is defined in the CEF (Council of Europe, 2001) as follows:

“Knowledge, awareness and understanding of the relation (similarities and distinctive differences)between the „world of origin‟ and the „world of the target community‟ producean intercultural awareness It is, of course, important to note that intercultural awarenessincludes an awareness of regional and social diversity in both worlds It is alsoenriched by awareness

of a wider range of cultures than those carried by the learner‟s L1and L2

This wider awareness helps to place both in context In addition to objectiveknowledge, intercultural awareness covers an awareness of how each communityappears from the perspective of the other, often in the form

of national stereotypes.” (p.103)

Thus, in foreign language teaching, emphasis should be given to the

“awareness of the relation between home and target cultures the learner will need

so as to develop an appropriate intercultural competence.” (p.104) From all views of point above, intercultural competenceis defined in this study as the ability to master intercultural knowledge, to be well aware of the differences among cultures in communication and to interact with people as complex human beings with multiple identities and their own individuality

According to Byram (2002), intercultural competence involves four components: attitudes, knowledge, skills and values which are part of a person‟s social identities Intercultural attitudes are the curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one‟s own Knowledge is the understanding of social groups and their products and practices in one‟s own and in one‟s interlocutor‟s country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction Values or critical cultural awareness is an ability to evaluate critically

on the basis of explicit criteria, perspectives, practices andproducts in one‟s own and other cultures and countries To sum up, she relates to the teaching of intercultural competence that “The role of the language teacher is therefore to develop skills, attitudes and awareness of values just as much as to develop knowledge of a particular culture or country.” (p.13)

In terms of testing intercultural competence, it is obviously not difficult to assess learners‟ knowledge and understanding; it could be carried out even through traditional examinations The problem is that knowledge and understanding are only part of intercultural competence and the importance is to assess whether learners have changed their attitudes, become more tolerant of difference and the unfamiliar

To deal with this difficulty, the Council of European has developed a European Language Portfolio which consists of three parts: the passport section, the language biography and the dossier It is considered is a record of learners‟ competence with its aim as claimed by Byram (2002) that “The role of assessment is therefore to encourage learners' awareness of their own abilities in intercultural competence, and

to help them realize that these abilities are acquired in many different circumstances inside and outside the classroom.” (p.32)

In short, the importance of intercultural competence has been long recognized in the literature and in classroom practice It undeniably aims to prepare language learners to be global citizens with full understandings, positive attitudes as well as essential skills toward cultural issues in communication

In foreign language teaching, the textbook plays an important role in carrying out the cultural content Because of this, textbook should be evaluated regarding their cultural representations This evaluation is necessary to inform teachers of the decisions to be made regarding the cultural content to be taught

Section 1.2 reviews the literature on this topic

1.2 Overview of cultural content in the textbook

1.2.1 Role of textbooks in ELT

Textbooks play a key role in the classroom.Richard (2005), an influential author and textbook designer, argues that:

“They serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom (…) In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement the teacher‟s instruction (…) In the case of inexperienced teachers textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training - they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well

as formats that teachers can use Much of the language teaching that occurs throughout the world today could not take place without the extensive use of commercial textbooks.” (p.143)

In addition to confirm the prominent role of textbook, he also points out eight principal advantages of the use of commercial textbooks in teaching as followed:

(1) They provide structure and syllabus for a program

(2) They help standardize instruction

(3) They maintain quality

(4) They provide a variety of learning resources

(5) They are efficient

(6) They can provide effective language models and input (7) They can train teachers

(8) They are visually appealing

- Personal identity (appearance, personalities and hobbies)

- Publication Each of the unit listed above is divided into 7 parts which are vocabulary and listening, grammar, culture, reading, everyday English, writing and get ready for your exam

This series of book is chosen to be taught as textbook for non-English majors

at Hai Phong Private University since they are highly evaluated for its various types

of task, its accessibility to communicative language teaching approach, and especially its support for the examination given by British Council which is going

to be compulsory for the students at the university

1.2.2 Cultural content in the textbook

Textbooks vary in their cultural content Traditionally, the cultural content presented in ELT textbooks was those of the countries where English is spoken as a first language, mainly the United Kingdom and the United States of America

However, the demand of consumers to get more understanding about local cultures has challenged the publishing industry and generated a rising awareness of the content which should be promoted in ELT materials Bobda (1997) notes that there has been a change on the development of materials of English foreign language teaching and learning in Cameroon “First there was a period when all materials were based primarily on British cultural context… Then the stage of incorporation

of African cultural content into curriculum followed, and finally, from late 1980s to date, the stage of indigenization of materials to a basically Cameroon context”

(p.221) In this regard, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) propose three patterns of reflecting culture in English textbooks The first one refers to the learner‟s culture, the source/home culture The second pattern refers to the target culture, where the target language is used as a first language The last one refers to the cultures that are neither the source/home nor the target culture In accordance to these three patters, textbooks are classified into three types: the textbooks that mirror the source/home culture, the textbooks based on the target culture, and the textbooks which aim at the international cultures

1.2.3 Analysis of cultural contents in the textbook

As culture proves to be significant in the content of a textbook, there is a vast body of studies on the issue Bryam (2008) summarizes:

“Analysis of cultural content of textbook is a well – established area and, insofar as it has begun to develop theoretically well – founded criteria, might

be better classified as research into the effects of teaching on learners‟

perceptions (Sercu, 2000)…Feng and Bryam (2002) adopt an alternative, intercultural perspective in content analysis, and advocate intercultural representation in selecting textbook materials and analysis of intention and

interpretation in handling authentic texts in the classroom.”(p.98)

Studies on cultural categories in foreign language textbooks mainly focus on investigating what aspects of culture students should learn in order to be able to function in that culture or interact with people from that culture Some frameworks are proposed by different researchers to describe specific categories of cultural knowledge that should be taught to students Brooks (1964) suggests 64 possible cultural topics which could be used as the contents of brief cultural presentations in the language classroom Checklists for cultural content in the textbook have also been provided (e.g Bryam, 1989) Byram asserts that although cultural learning and teaching has been viewed as an integral part of language education, the great majority of cases were “the more acquisition of information about a foreign country, without the psychological demands of integrated language learning” (Byram, 1989, p.2) She also suggests the following criteria for the evaluation of the cultural content in language textbooks:

a) Social identity and social group (social class, regional identity, ethnic minorities) b) Social interaction (differing levels of formality; as outsider and insider)

c) Belief and behavior (moral, religious beliefs; daily routines) d) Social and political institutions (state institutions, health care, law and order, social security, local government)

e) Socialization and the life cycle (families, schools, employment, rites of passage)

f) National history (historical and contemporary events seen as markers of national identity)

g) National geography (geographical factors seen as being significant by members) h) Stereotypes and national identity (what is “typical” symbol of national stereotypes)

(Byram, 1993, P5-P10)

In a nutshell, though there are many criteria to investigate the culture content

of a book, the classification of Cortazzi and Jin (1999) regarding cultural representations was used for the analysis in this study

1.3 Studies on teachers’ and learners’ attitudes

1.3.1 Definitions of attitude

Attitude is a broad concept in social psychology It is known as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way, including evaluations of people, objects or events Gall and Borg (1996) define attitude as “an individual‟s viewpoint

or disposition towards a particular object (a person, a thing, or an idea)” (p 273)

According to Oxford Dictionary, attitude is the way you think and feel about somebody/ something or the way that you behave towards somebody/ something that shows how you think and feel Anyone can develop a positive or negative attitude toward the object or idea, but attitudes can also be uncertain at times For example, you can change your attitude over time or you might have mixed feelings about a particular person or issue Researchers suggest that attitudes can be explicit and implicit Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of and clearly influence our behaviors and beliefs Implicit attitudes are unconscious, but still have an effect on our beliefs and behaviors Besides, attitudes consist of three components as followed:

(1) An emotional component: How the object, person, issue or event makes you feel

(2) A Cognitive Component: Your thoughts and beliefs about the subject

(3) A Behavioral Component: How the attitude influences your behavior

There is a close link between attitudes and behaviors Behavior does not always reflect attitudes; however, attitudes do determine behavior Researchers suggest some situations in which behavior is determined by attitude For example, if there are few outside influences, behavior is guided by specific attitudes It is believed that a person‟s attitude toward an object affects the person‟s intentions to perform behaviors relating to that object In other words, behavior can be determined by intentions; intentions are the results of overall attitude, and attitudes are a function of salient beliefs However, these causal effects not only work in one direction Performance can provide new information that changes beliefs, attitudes and intentions

1.3.2 The roles ofteachers'and learners'attitudes in learning and teaching cultures

Because attitudes and behaviors have a close relationship as discussed above, attitudes dramatically influence learning and teaching According to Gardner (1985),having a positive attitude toward the language and culture and toward learning a foreign language is an important contributor to the success of foreign language learning A positive attitude might benefit learners in some ways For instance, it motivates learners to search for more input such as interacting with native speakers A positive attitude leads learners to use a variety of learning strategies that can facilitate skill development in language learning A positive attitude also helps learners maintain their language skills after classroom instruction

is over

specific also determine the way they teach For instance, is the teachers support learning and teaching target cultures, they will try to give students great exposure to British or American culture They focus on making their students as native-like as possible It is, hence, more important for teachers to have positive attitudes towards learning and teaching cultures

1.3.4 Previous studies on teachers’ and learners attitudes towards cultural content in textbook

Due to the close link between attitude and behaviors, investigating the learners' attitudes what they learn and how they are taught has long proved to be indispensable in ELT It is now learners not teachers who are the center of ELT In terms of learning and teaching culture, through the textbooks we use, the learners are constantly exposed to content, so it is almost mandatory to examine both the textbooks and the learners' attitude since according to Littlejohn & Windeatt (1989) there may be "a direct relationship between the values and attitudes learners express and those found in the texts with which they work"(p.171-172)

In the new context of learning and teaching cultures, it is advocated that studying English does not change one's identity Student's ethnic, religious, and political background should remain the same There is no need to become more American or British in order to use English well Learners need help distinguish cultural differences, not pass value judgments on those differences It is also known that students who are in need of developing cultural awareness and cultural sensitiveness, are normally least disposed to these goals Therefore, their attitudes toward cultural content need examining closely by the teachers and the authority in order to amend culture teaching and learning methods in the new context

Besides, evaluating a textbook in the teachers‟ aspect has been paid more attention than ever In Hitomi‟s opinion, in the past, “teachers often seem to be treated in both language learning and teaching studies as passive beings who are expected to adapt flexibly to the roles determined by the objectives of the method and by the learning theory on which the method is based” (as cited in Tomlinson, B., 1998, p.239) However, a new tendency needs to be reinforced Hitomi claims:

“This lack of a body of studies on teacher variables seems alarming because teachers are in a crucial position in language teaching and learning and are often expected to

be in charge of vital stages of curriculum development Teachers can even be said to

be the central figures in materials development – for they are the ones who select materials, who actually teach the materials and who sometimes have to rewrite

materials The students come and go and so do materials but a large number of teachers tend to stay.”(as cited in Tomlison, B., 1998, p.239-240)

The teachers‟ attitudes towards cultural contents in textbooks have played an important role in foreign language instruction The way in which teachers understand culture, just as the way they understand language, affects the way they teach culture in language learning Bryam (2008) insists that “learning languages should lead to positive attitudes and accurate perceptions of other cultures, and the causal relationship between language teaching and culture learning in the form of insights and attitudes is one that has been analyzed, albeit rarely” (p.94)

Accordingly, learners of foreign languages should be encouraged to cultivate positive attitudes such as tolerant or sympathetic ones to the differences between their own culture and other cultures This objective is mainly achieved through teachers‟ performance, which is also influenced by their attitudes and perceptions, towards cultural aspects

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Participants

The population of the research is approximately 720 students divided into 24 classes They are currently at level 3 and 4 among 5 levels of English proficiency taught at the university, which means their English is supposed to stand at pre-intermediate level Especially, those at level 4 are expected to communicate with foreigners confidently and get ready to jump up into intermediate level – level 5;

that is the reason why classes of level 4 and 5 have the preferential right to be taught

by volunteer native teachers from other countries coming to the university every year However, the students‟ general English skills are in fact at quite lower levels than the authority‟s expectation Some of them have learnt English for 7 years at secondary schools and high schools, whereas others have only learnt English for 3 years Noticeably, there are some who have never learnt English before Most of the students who learnt English at schools experienced the traditional teaching and learning methods which solely focus on grammar rules, not communicative skills and cultural content Most of them do not have appropriate learning strategies and feel stuck with English The credit registration system of the university worsens the situation Students are allowed to register to classes of higher level even though they have not passed the lower ones, which leads to a ridiculous fact that they can sit at 2 classes of 2 different levels at the same time, or they pass the higher level exam but fail the lower one Any English class, in fact, is of mixed – ability

There are eight teachers in total who are responsible for classes of level 3

and 4 in which the textbook Solution Pre-Intermediate Students’ Book is used Each

teacher takes charge of 3 classes Beside the General English program in which the series book of Solutions is used, the teachers have to work on other programs for different majors at the university Each of them teaches about 25 periods per week

on average which is much more than the workload of teachers at public universities

This may make considerable influence on the teaching quality as the teachers may

not have enough time to prepare for the lesson or simply they are sometimes stressed due to of getting overloaded

2.2 Research questions

The study is supposed to answer the following questions:

(1) What cultures are represented in the “Solutions Pre-Intermediate” textbook?

(2) What are students‟ attitudes towards the cultural content and the teaching of culture in this book?

(3) What are teachers‟ attitudes towards the cultural content in this book?

(4) Are there any mismatches between students‟ attitudes and teachers‟ attitudes towards the cultural content represented in the “Solutions Pre-Intermediate”

After the cultural representations were classified according to three categories, they were used to develop the questionnaire and interviews to be administered to the students and the teachers The questionnaire was administrated

to the students while the interviews were used for the teachers All teachers of classes level three and four were involved in the interviews The reason for using interviews with the teachers is that the number of teachers (n = 8) is not large enough for the administration of the questionnaire Each teacher was in charge of three classes; one among these three classes was randomly chosen to get involved in the questionnaire In short, the data collected for this study came from 8 teachers and 180 students including 102 students at level three and 78 students at level four

Finally,the data from the two above instrumentswas analyzed In this process, not only was data closely examined and validated but there was also a comparison between the answers from students and the ones from the teachers All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study were based on the data analysis

2.3.2 Data collection instruments

1) Student questionnaire:

The student questionnaire (see Appendix 2) aimed to investigate the students‟ attitudes towards cultural learning, cultural content in their textbook and cultural teaching in their classes

The questionnaire consisted of 11 questions that were divided into 3 sections:

attitudes toward culture in learning English as a foreign language, attitudes towards cultural content in the book Solutions Pre-intermediate and attitudes toward the teaching of cultural content in the book Solutions Pre-intermediate

Multi-item scales were employed in the design of the questions items

Closed-ended questions including Likert scales, semantic differential scales, numerical rating scales and multiple-choice items were main part of the questionnaire Besides, specific open questions and clarification questions were also used to investigate more in-depth information Before the questionnaire was delivered to the target students, it was piloted twice with the help of three teachers and 30 students to enhance the quality of questionnaire items

The interview aimed to investigate the attitudes of the teachers towards cultural teaching in general and the cultural content in the textbook in specific

Accordingly, a comparison between students‟ thoughts and teachers‟ ones could be drawn to provide a deep insight of the issue

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Research question 1: What cultures are represented in the Solutions

Pre-Intermediate textbook?

The book Solutions Pre-Intermediate Student’s book belongs to the set of a

five-level course for teenagers who need everyday English and exam preparation It

is written by Tim Falla and Paul A Davies (2007) and published by Oxford

University Press Solutions Pre-Intermediate Student’s book is the textbook for

non-English major students of level three and four at Haiphong Private University The

Solutions set has become official books for all the non-English majors at the

university for two years There are some reasons for this choice Firstly, it seems to

be much more advantageous than the last textbook Reward which was used for five

years and did not work satisfactorily in enhancing students‟ communicative

skills.Solutions are a theme – based kind book with a clear organization and several

of activities and tasks Besides, the publisher provides a rich source of materials for teachers‟ teaching, students‟ self-study and testing such as workbook, MultiROM, Solutions iTools, Pack Back and Test Bank Secondly, the book is designed for learners at level B1 according to Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) Haiphong Private University is one of the colleges and universities in Vietnam which set the standard of B1 CEF as the obligatory condition for all the students Therefore, the book set Solutions is chosen in the hope that it can be helpful for the students to meet the standard of using foreign language

Solution Pre-Intermediate Student’s book consists of 10 units, each of which

is divided into seven parts: vocabulary and listening, grammar (1), culture, grammar (2), reading, everyday English, and writing Five first units are taught in level three and the rest in level four

Table 1 below demonstrates the cultural content of the textbook in the light

of the cultures it presents The categories are based on three kinds of cultural orientation in the textbook according to the classification of Cortazzi and Jin

(1999):source/home culture, target culture and international cultures The numbers show the frequency of the culture in book

Source (Home) culture

(Vietnamese)

International cultures

9 15% Vocabulary: Greeting gestures

Firstly, British and American culture, or the target culture, takes up a significant portion of the cultural content in the book

Secondly, in light of international cultures, other cultures such as Russian, Polish, Chinese, Thais, Japanese and Spanish culture are mainly presented in only

unit seven, cultures and customs, which aims to introduce and discuss different

cultures around the world intensively Thus, instead of being spread extensively from the first to the last page of the book, these cultures are included in one place and considered to be a separated unit among many units of the book

Thirdly, Vietnamese culture, or the source/home culture, is nowhere to be found in the book

From the features discussed above, it can be concluded that Solutions Intermediate is the textbook on target culture with the British and American culture dominantly presented

Pre-3.2 Research question 2: What are students’ attitudes towards the cultural content and the teaching of culture in this book?

To start with attitudes towards culture in ESL learning, a great majority of students (94.4%) agreed that English language and culture have a close relationship;

whereas, only 1.7% of the students did not think such relationship exists and 3.9%

had no idea about the issue This positive finding implies that most of the students were aware of the close link between the language and culture, which could help them much in their second language learning process

In terms of opinions about how important of culture in English learning, Chart 1 below shows the range from unimportant to important, presented by number from 1 to 5

Chart 1

It is obviously seen from the chart that the students highly valued the importance of culture in ESL learning with a large number of students chose number 4 and 5 – the two highest levels in the rank Together with the figure from the first question of relationship between language and culture, the students seemed

to have positive attitude towards learning culture in English classroom

Unsurpringly, 98.7% of the students affirmed that they liked learning culture while only 2.3% said no to culture learning and teaching However, when being ask

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

How important of culture in English learning

ed in details of what culture they prefer to learn, the students gave a variety of answers and reasons for their choices Chart 2 presents the proportion among target cultures (British, American, Australian…), source/home culture or Vietnamese culture a

nd other cultures of non-English speaking countries as chosen by the students

Chart 2

It can be seen from the chart, the preference for target cultures determines a significant percentage, nearly 50% among the three options There were two reasons for this choice Firstly, the students liked the cultures of countries whose English is used as the first language Secondly, they emphasized the close link between Englis

h language and culture; they claimed that getting to know the cultures of native speakers may help them in learning the language better The number of students who preferred learning about Vietnamese culture is not high, about 19.1% They explained Vietnam was their hometown; they wanted to compare Vietnamese culture with others and hoped to introduce it to foreigners in English Other cultures of non-native English speaking countries were also of interest to the students with 32.1% responses

The most popular reason for this choice was the enrichment of knowledge Particularly, some stated the countries they wished to stay and work in the future, then they hoped to know more about those cultures

In order toseek for the evaluation of the cultural content in the textbook Solut ions Pre-intermediate Students’ Book in the light of usefulness, variousness and inte

restingness, the range of options including “not at all”, “not really”, “so-so”, “quite

Culture Learning Preferences

Target cultures Source culture Other cultures

a lot” and “very much” were offered for the students to choose The results were the same among all three aspects since “so-so” was the most popular response, with 53.

1%, 53.5% and 50.9% respectively It is likely that there were neither many criticis

ms nor praise for the cultural content of the book In terms of each item in the cultur

al content,different cultures and customs was the most favorite lesson in level fouras

it was considered “quite a lot” and “very much” by 42.9% of the students As for level three, no single item proved to distinctly superior to the others since around 30%

of the students found all five lessons quite or very interesting and useful

The final section of the questionnaire is to find out the students‟ attitudes towards how they are taught culture in the classroom Table 2 presents teachers‟ ways o

f teaching cultures perceived by the students

Teachers’ ways of teaching cultural content of the book Frequency Percentage

Teacher presents cultural knowledge within the book 94 29.2%%

Teacher provides further cultural knowledge outside the book

Teacher makes reference to Vietnamese cultures 88 27.3%

Teacher makes students evaluate the cultural content to develop critical thinking

knowledge by providing relevant cultural understandings of the real world and especially, establishing relation between target cultures and source/home culture

The teachers, hence, tended to teach cultures in an in-depth way; however, it is likely that they only focused on providing knowledge, not on creating real opportunities in which students could develop their critical thinking and intercultural identity

Being asked about what the students like most about their teachers‟ teaching

of cultures, they gave a large variety of responses which could fall into 6 categories

as in Table 3:

What students like most about their teachers' teaching

of cultural content in the book

Frequency Percentage

Various activities (games, stories, pictures, clips,…) 17 14.4%

Teaching style (intelligibility, friendliness, enthusiasm,…)

Both teaching style and relation to other cultures outside the book

in which other cultures outside the book were introduced and compared to each other The variety of classroom activities made up a relatively small portion Only 14.1% of the students stated that they enjoyed watching video clips, viewing pictures, listening to stories or playing games about cultures