Intercultural barriers faced by expatriate teachers of english at foreign language centers in vietnam m a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS FACED BY EXPATRIATE TEACHERS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HOCHIMINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS FACED BY EXPATRIATE TEACHERS OF ENGLISH

AT FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTERS

IN VIETNAM

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the completion of

the Master’s thesis in TESOL

By

VO HUYNH THANH

Supervised by

PHO PHUONG DUNG, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2019

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this thesis entitled “INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS FACED BY EXPATRIATE TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AT FOREIGN LANGUAGE

CENTERS IN VIETNAM” is my own work

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution

Ho Chi Minh City, June 8th, 2019

Võ Huỳnh Thanh

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Võ Huỳnh Thanh, being the candidate for the degree of Master

in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of the theses

Ho Chi Minh City, June 8th, 2019

Võ Huỳnh Thanh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my valued teacher and supervisor, Dr Phó Phương Dung, for her wholehearted guidance, encouragement and dedication But for her untiring perseverance in the face of my terrible procrastination, her indefatigable support and her precious counsel, this thesis would have never been on completion

I am also really indebted to my colleagues and friends, especially Ms Phương Thảo, Ms Bích Hảo, Ms Ngọc Diệp, Ms Thu An, Mr Minh Mẫn, Mr Chí Thành who were willing

to help me deliver the questionnaires to expatriate teachers during the data collection process

I am also deeply thankful to Mr Ngọc An for his careful proofreading my paper, and

Mr Minh Giang and Ms Thị Thảo who were very kind to share with me their valuable research experience

I am also grateful for Dr Phương Vũ, whose effective medical treatment has helped me ease my chronic depression, overcome my desperation and get my energy back for the completion of this thesis

My heartfelt thanks also go Ms Thu An, whose never-ending source of support and inspiration have led me through the tough times of my thesis

I also owe sincere thanks to many other teachers, friends and colleagues for their valuable advice, encouragement and mental support

Finally yet importantly, my deepest gratitude goes to my family, my loving mother and father Without the unconditional love, constant care, endless support and relentless drive they gave me, my thesis would have never been completed

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of originality i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Acknowledgements iii

List of abbreviations ix

List of tables x

List of figures xiv

Abstract xv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 Scope of the study 6

1.6 Outline of the thesis 6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Operational definitions of terms 8

2.1.1 Expatriate teachers 8

2.1.2 Intercultural barriers 9

2.2 Culture and foreign language education 10

2.2.1 Culture and education 10

2.2.2 Culture and English language teaching 12

2.2 Views and approaches of studying culture 13

2.2.1 Viewpoints on culture 13

2.2.2 Approaches of studying culture 14

2.3 Cultural dimensions 14

2.3.1 Concept 15

2.3.2 Models of cultural dimensions 15

2.3.3 Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions 17

2.4 Contextualization of Hofstede’s model in Vietnam’s educational context 19

2.4.1 Power distance 20

2.4.2 Individualism versus Collectivism 21

2.4.3 Uncertainty avoidance 23

2.4.4 Masculinity versus Femininity 25

2.4.5 Short-term versus long-term orientation 26

2.4.6 Indulgence versus Restraint 27

2.5 Expatriate teachers and their problems working overseas 28

2.5.1 Challenges facing expatriate teachers working overseas 28

2.5.2 Anticipatory factors in expatriates’ intercultural adjustment 31

2.6 Conceptual framework of the study 33

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 36

3.1 Research design 36

3.2 Context of the study 38

3.3 Sampling 40

3.4 Preliminary study 41

3.5 The main study 45

3.5.1 Participants 45

3.5.2 Research instrument 46

3.5.3 Data collection procedure 52

3.5.4 Data analysis procedure 53

3.6 Summary 55

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 56

4.1 Perception of expatriate EFL teachers about the cultural differences 56

4.1.1 Level of cultural differences 56

4.1.2 Challenge level of cultural differences 57

4.2 Expatriate teachers’ encounters with intercultural barriers resulting from Vietnamese students’ characteristics 58

4.2.1 Frequency of expatriate teachers’ encounters 58

4.2.2 Challenge level of expatriate teachers’ encounters with cultural dimensions of Vietnamese students’ characteristics 67

4.2.3 Association between frequency and challenge level of intercultural barriers facing the expatriate teachers 76

4.3 Effects of expatriate teachers’ personal factors on their perception of intercultural barriers in EFL classes 77

4.3.1 Effects of expatriate teachers’ personal factors on frequency of their encounters with intercultural barriers 77

4.3.2 Effects of expatriate teachers’ personal factors on challenge level of their encounters with intercultural barriers 81

4.4 Discussion of results 87

4.4.1 Expatriate teachers’ perception of cultural differences 87

4.4.2 Frequency and challenge level of expatriate teachers’ encounters with intercultural barriers resulting from Vietnamese students’ characteristics 87

4.4.3 Association between frequency and challenge level of intercultural barriers 91 4.4.4 Effects of personal factors on expatriate teachers’ encounters with intercultural barriers 91

4.5 Summary 92

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 94

5.1 Conclusion 94

5.2.1 Implications for expatriate EFL teachers 95

5.2.2 Implications for Vietnamese EFL learners 98

5.2.3 Implications for other EFL stakeholder 99

5.3 Limitations and recommendations for future research 101

REFERENCES 102

APPENDICES 112

APPENDIX 1 SUMMARY OF VIETNAMESE STUDENTS’ CHARACTERISTICS ACCORDING TO HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSION 113

APPENDIX 2 CULTURAL VALUE SCORES BETWEEN VIETNAM AND NATIONS OF EXPATRIATE EFL TEACHERS 115

APPENDIX 3 OBSERVATION GUIDE 116

APPENDIX 4 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 117

APPENDIX 5 QUESTIONNAIRE ON INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS FACING EXPATRIATE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTERS IN HCMC 118

APPENDIX 6 SPSS OUTPUT OF PARTICIPANTS’ DEMOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS 125

APPENDIX 7 SPSS OUTPUT OF RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 128

APPENDIX 7A SPSS OUTPUT OF RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE (PILOTING VERSION) 129

APPENDIX 7B SPSS OUTPUT OF RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE (OFFICIAL VERSION) 131

APPENDIX 8 SPSS OUTPUT OF TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 133

APPENDIX 9 SPSS OUTPUT OF FREQUENCY OF TEACHERS’ ENCOUNTERS WITH INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS 134 APPENDIX 10 SPSS OUTPUT OF CHALLENGE LEVEL OF TEACHERS’

ENCOUNTERS WITH INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS 140 APPENDIX 11 SPSS OUTPUT OF ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FREQUENCY AND CHALLENGE LEVEL OF TEACHERS’ ENCOUNTERS WITH INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS 146 APPENDIX 12 SPSS OUTPUT OF EFFECTS OF PERSONAL FACTORS ON

TEACHERS’ ENCOUNTERS WITH INTERCULTURAL BARRIER 147 APPENDIX 12A SPSS OUTPUT OF EFFECTS OF PERSONAL FACTORS ON FREQUENCY OF TEACHERS’ ENCOUNTERS WITH INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS 148 APPENDIX 12B SPSS OUTPUT OF EFFECTS OF PERSONAL FACTORS ON CHALLENGE LEVEL OF TEACHERS’ ENCOUNTERS WITH

INTERCULTURAL BARRIERS 152

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language

EFL English as a foreign language

TESOL Teaching English to speakers of other languages

CELTA Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

ANOVA Analysis of variance

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Different classifications of cultural dimensions 16

Table 2.2 Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture……… 19

Table 2.3 Differences in educational circumstances between Small and Large Power Distance Societies……….21

Table 2.4 Differences in educational circumstances between Collectivist and Individualist societies 22

Table 2.5 Differences in educational circumstances between Weak Uncertainty Avoidance and Strong Uncertainty Avoidance societies 24

Table 2.6 Differences in educational circumstances between Feminine and Masculine societies 26

Table 2.7 Differences in the learning culture between Western and Eastern culture 31

Table 3.1 Summary of participant demographical characteristics 46

Table 3.2 Distribution of items in the questionnaire 49

Table 3.3 Comparison between the piloting questionnaire and the official questionnaire 51

Table 3.4 Specifications of instrument delivery 52

Table 3.5 Process of administering the questionnaire 53

Table 3.6 Analysis framework for the Means scales of questionnaire items 54

Table 4.1 Level of general cultural differences perceived by expatriate teachers 56

Table 4.2 Challenge level of cultural differences between expatriate teachers and Vietnamese students 57

Table 4.3 Frequency of intercultural barriers according to cultural dimensions 58

Table 4.4 Frequency of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Power Distance dimension 60

Table 4.5 Frequency of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Collectivism dimension 61

Table 4.6 Frequency of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Uncertainty Avoidance dimension 62 Table 4.7 Frequency of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Feminism dimension 64 Table 4.8 Frequency of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Long-term Orientation dimension 65 Table 4.9 Frequency of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Restraint dimension 66 Table 4.10 Challenge level of intercultural barriers according to cultural dimensions 67 Table 4.11 Challenge level of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Power Distance dimension 69 Table 4.12 Challenge level of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Collectivism dimension 70 Table 4.13 Challenge level of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Uncertainty Avoidance dimension 71 Table 4.14 Challenge level of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Feminism Dimension 73 Table 4.15 Challenge level of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Long-term Orientation dimension 74 Table 4.16 Challenge level of teachers’ encounters with students’ features of Restraint Dimension 75 Table 4.17a Tests of normality of frequency and challenge level of intercultural barriers 77 Table 4.17b Correlations between frequency and challenge level of intercultural barriers 77 Table 4.18 Test of Normality for challenge level of intercultural barriers 78 Table 4.19 Kruskal-Wallis test for frequency of intercultural barriers with nationality as a grouping variable 78

Table 4.20a Ranks for frequency of intercultural barriers 79 Table 4.20b Mann-Whitney test for frequency of intercultural barriers with gender as a grouping variable 79 Table 4.21 Kruskal–Wallis test for frequency of intercultural barriers with age as a grouping variable 79 Table 4.22 Kruskal–Wallis test for frequency of intercultural barriers with teaching experience as a grouping variable 80 Table 4.23 Kruskal-Wallis test for frequency of intercultural barriers with interaction types

as a grouping variable 80 Table 4.24a Ranks for frequency of intercultural barriers for the teachers with and without previous intercultural training 81 Table 4.24b Mann-Whitney test for frequency of intercultural barriers with previous intercultural training as a grouping variable 81 Table 4.25 Tests of normality of challenge level of intercultural barriers 82 Table 4.26a Test of Homogeneity of Variances for challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ nationalities 82 Table 4.26b ANOVA statistics for challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ nationalities 82 Table 4.27a Statistical comparison of challenge level of encounters between genders 83 Table 4.27b Levene’s Test and Independent-Samples T-test for challenge level of intercultural barriers between expatriate teachers’ genders 83 Table 4.28a Test of Homogeneity of Variances for challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ age groups 84 Table 4.28b ANOVA statistics for challenge level of encounters among age groups 84 Table 4.29a Test of Homogeneity of Variances for challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ levels of teaching experience 84 Table 4.29b ANOVA statistics for challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ levels of teaching experience 84

Table 4.30a Statistical comparison among expatriate teachers’ interaction types on challenge level of intercultural barriers 85 Table 4.30b Test of homogeneity of variances of challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ interaction types 85 Table 4.30c ANOVA statistics for challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ interaction types 85 Table 4.30d Post hoc Tukey HSD of challenge level of intercultural barriers among expatriate teachers’ interaction types 85 Table 4.31a Comparison of expatriate teachers with and without previous intercultural training on challenge level of intercultural barriers 86 Table 4.31b Levene’s Test and Independent Samples Test for challenge level of intercultural barriers between expatriate teachers with and without previous intercultural training 87

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Conceptual framework of the study 34 Figure 4.1 Frequency of intercultural barriers facing expatriate teachers according to cultural dimensions 59 Figure 4.2 Challenge level of intercultural barriers facing expatriate teachers according to cultural dimensions 68 Figure 4.3 Summary of major research findings 93

ABSTRACT

The past century has witnessed thousands of foreigners entering Vietnam to work

as English teachers Coming from different countries, these expatriate teachers inevitably encounter a number of potential challenges to their language instruction such as dissimilar teaching-learning styles, teacher-student roles and interaction, and classroom etiquette These challenges, as a matter of fact, lie at the root of cultural differences, where there exists a mismatch between these teachers and their local students regarding their learning culture, which has still been an unexplored issue in the context of Vietnam

To explore challenges posed by cultural differences to the work of expatriate teachers in Vietnamese context, this study was conducted with a focus on quantitative data to cast a light into the reality of expatriates’ EFL teaching and fill the gap in the current literature The study revealed that there were marked cultural differences between expatriate teachers and their Vietnamese students in EFL classes which were perceived by these teachers as intercultural barriers to their teaching These barriers, regardless of their cultural dimensions, occurred at various frequencies and posed challenges of different levels to the expatriate teachers In addition, the findings suggested that expatriate teachers’ gender and outside-of-work interaction among many personal factors of theirs exerted an impact on their encounters with intercultural barriers Particularly, female teachers seemed to experience intercultural barriers on a more regular basis and at a greater challenge level than male counterparts, and expatriate teachers interacting with both local and other expatriates tended to find it less challenging to deal with intercultural barriers than those interacting with other expatriates only Based on the findings, pedagogical implications were drawn to raise the awareness of expatriate teachers, students, and other EFL stakeholders so that these intercultural barriers can be promptly anticipated and effectively conquered

Key terms: cultural differences, intercultural barriers, expatriate teachers, Vietnamese

EFL context

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the introduction to the study, which consists of (1) background to the study, (2) aims of the study, (3) research questions, (4) significance

of the study, (5) scope of the study, and (6) outline of the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

Nowadays, it is unsurprising to see that English has deeply penetrated many important fields of the society As a matter of fact, increasing economic and cultural globalization has spurred the expansion of English, which positions it as an “unrivaled lingua franca” of the globe (Medgyes, 2001, p 429) More and more people from various countries speak English as their second or foreign language According to Crystal (2006), the number of people who speak English as a first, second and foreign language worldwide grew from 1.2 billion in 2003 up to 1.5 billion in 2006 It is undoubted that the demand for learning English has recently become greater than ever before This has led to a striking increase in the number of people who join in the English teaching force, especially nationals from English-speaking countries travelling around the world to teach English

Vietnam, a fast-growing economy in South-East Asian, is not an exception in this trend It has numerous advantages for being an ideal destination for international English teachers, such as having a huge demand of learning English for international commerce and cooperation, good access to and prospects for teaching career, comfortable living cost as well as a fascinating culture and beautiful scenery The factors all together brought a number of expatriates to Vietnam and work in the TESOL industry, particularly in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (henceforth called HCMC

in short) According Pham (2014), between 2011 and 2014, HCMC Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs granted permits to 4,146 expatriates to work as English teachers in HCMC It is also of note that the number of foreign teachers granted work permits in HCMC has increased over the years Starting at 671 in 2011, this figure climbed to 810 in 2012 and then leapt to a high of 1160 in 2012 until it reached 1505 by the end of October 2014

Interestingly enough, the upsurge in expatriate teacher number is not only from the huge demand of learning English as a Foreign Language (henceforth called EFL for short) but also from a prevailing belief in Asia that native English-speaking teachers are superior to non-native English-speaking teachers in terms of their authentic pronunciation and natural language (Ian & Duong, 2014) This preconceived idea tends

to exaggerate the benefits and the roles of expatriate teachers in EFL classes, but at the same time may neglect or overlook a wider range of potential obstacle to the language instruction of expatriate teachers in comparison with their local counterparts Evidently, living and working in a new environment whose culture and first language are totally different from their own, expatriate teachers especially the newly arrived inevitably face more than a few challenges to their teaching jobs According to Halicioglu (2015, p 2), foreign teachers have to struggle with “the change of location and culture, the change in the student body and colleagues, the change in parental expectations, the loss of familiar signs and symbols, and so forth”, which will “have a huge impact on their professional satisfaction and personal happiness”

Central to the major obstacles facing expatriate teachers when they work overseas

is the cultural differences of educational context where there exists a mismatch between expatriate teachers and their local students in terms of their perceptions and practices in the teaching and learning process According to Tran (2013) and T H Y Vo (2014), expatriate teachers must deal with many differences in teaching and learning styles, teacher-student roles and interaction, and classroom etiquette This fact implies some trouble and may cause increasing concern over their acculturation and teaching efficacy

Regarding expatriates and their teaching English overseas, plenty of research has been carried out around the world; however, the majority of them tend to be limited to (1) problems, factors and causes contributing to the failure of cultural adjustment, and work performance in the host countries (e.g Yu, 2016), (2) differences between native-speakers and non-native speaker teachers on constructing English teachers’ professional identity (e.g Liu & Xu, 2011) or (3) local students’ perception towards expatriate teachers (e.g Walkinshaw & Oanh, 2014) Meanwhile, there has been little research into their specific difficulties or barriers in EFL classes, especially those associated with cultural differences when working with local students

In light of Vietnamese EFL context, only few foreign and Vietnamese researchers conducted studies into this issue such as Ballard and Clanchy (1984), C Ellis (1995) and

T H Y Vo (2014) Nonetheless, these authors only theoretically speculated barriers of expatriate teachers through analyzing intercultural matters created by conflicts in values, norms and legacies between local traditional culture and theirs, and then predicted ensuing negative influences on the teaching and learning process Therefore, there is an urge for more empirical research into the intercultural barriers of expatriate teachers of English in Vietnam to examine the issue in reality and to verify the speculations from previous research

Realizing all the aforementioned issues and hoping to contribute a solution, the researcher decided to conduct an empirical study to cast a light into the intercultural barriers faced by expatriate teachers in the EFL context of Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular In fact, HCMC is selected as the representative population because most foreign languages centers hiring expatriate EFL teachers in Vietnam gather in this city The detailed reasons for this selection will be further discussed in the context of the study of Chapter 3

1.2 Aims of the study

In the hope of contributing to the efforts to identify problems and work out solutions to support EFL teaching of expatriate teachers at foreign language centers in HCMC in particular, and improve the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam in general, the present study was conducted with the aims of investigating (1) expatriate EFL teachers’ perception of cultural differences between them and their Vietnamese students at foreign language centers, (2) the intercultural barriers faced by expatriate teachers resulting from Vietnamese students’ problematic characteristics in the classroom and (3) the influence of personal factors on the teachers’ encounters with the barriers From these findings, the study proposed suggestions and practical strategies for expatriate teachers and other relevant stakeholders to help deal with expatriates’ intercultural barriers in EFL classroom at foreign language centers in Vietnam

1.3 Research questions

Despite their increasing role as English instructors at most foreign language centers

in Vietnam, expatriate teachers have received little attention from researchers in the field There is scarcely any extensive research into expatriate teachers of English, especially expatriate teachers at foreign language centers in Vietnam In addition, as mentioned previously, there are hardly any studies conducted on the barriers, particularly intercultural barriers, in the EFL context of Vietnam The two aforementioned issues led the researcher to generate the following research questions to successfully accomplish the earlier stated aims

RQ1: What is the perception of expatriate EFL teachers about the cultural differences between them and their Vietnamese students at foreign language centers in HCMC?

RQ2: How are cultural dimensions of Vietnamese students’ characteristics perceived as intercultural barriers to the teaching of expatriate EFL teachers at foreign language centers in HCMC?

RQ 2a: How often do expatriate teachers face the intercultural barriers in their teaching?

RQ 2b: To what extent do the intercultural barriers challenge the teaching of expatriate teachers?

RQ 2c: Is there any association between frequency of intercultural barriers and the challenge level of intercultural barriers facing the expatriate teachers? RQ3: Do personal factors of expatriate teachers (i.e their nationality, gender, age, teaching experience and previous training in intercultural communication) have an effect

on the frequency and challenge level of intercultural barriers faced by the expatriate teachers?

1.4 Significance of the study

The current study is of great significance due to its efforts to enhance the quality

of English teaching and learning in Vietnam with the involvement of expatriate teachers

It is worth being carried out for the following reasons

Firstly, from the theoretical viewpoint, this study will fill the gap in the research literature on this issue Numerous reports and studies have displayed anticipated difficulties foreign teachers, especially Westerners, may encounter when teaching in Asian countries based on observation of foreign language classrooms and analysis of cross-cultural differences However, no empirical studies have been conducted to seek the opinions of expatriate teachers who are teaching in Vietnamese contexts, particularly

in foreign language centers in HCMC, to explore fully the issue in practice Therefore, the current study could be the first empirical study in Vietnam’s EFL context to address intercultural barriers faced by expatriate EFL teachers, aimed at providing up-to-date, practical, meaningful and reliable findings from the participants’ sharing about the actual challenges they faced when teaching EFL to Vietnamese students at foreign language centers in HCMC

Secondly, from the practical viewpoint, what is found from the study may supply useful information about the EFL context in Vietnam, and raise the awareness of EFL expatriate teachers, especially the newly arrived, unexperienced, or pre-serviced ones This insightful information and great awareness can help them get ready for or deal with any possible intercultural barriers in Vietnamese EFL classrooms more effectively

Thirdly, the study, with its findings, can offer EFL expatriate teachers theoretical and practical implications to take into consideration and apply in their own teaching contexts Thanks to this, they may improve their classroom environment and enhance their interaction with Vietnamese students, thus boosting their teaching competence in general Furthermore, the suggestions from the research results will serve as a base which can assist expatriate teachers to work out more useful solutions to overcome intercultural challenges in their teaching

Finally, this study can also provide meaningful insights for the management of foreign language centers and other EFL stakeholders in HCMC in particular, and in Vietnam in general so that they can take timely and appropriate remedial measures to support and facilitate the teaching of EFL expatriate teachers in Vietnam, especially in terms of intercultural issues when recruiting, training and evaluating these teachers In this way, we can ensure that expatriate teachers are interculturally qualified to offer effective EFL instruction in Vietnamese context

1.5 Scope of the study

As having been presented, HCMC is chosen to represent the population; therefore, this study narrows down its scope to the research issues at only foreign language centers in HCMC In addition, the goal of this study is to explore the barriers that expatriate teachers of English encounter and the extent to which such barriers challenge their teaching at foreign language centers in HCMC In fact, the barriers can

be perceived and found at various levels, such as social level, institutional level, and classroom level Despite their great impacts, barriers at the social and institutional levels tend to go beyond the control of the teachers and do not directly interfere in the teaching and learning process Meanwhile, barriers at the classroom level are more apparent and tend to have a more direct impact on the teaching and learning process, especially in the interaction between the teachers and students Therefore, in order to offer more meaningful and practical implications for expatriate teachers, the current study focuses

on this level and investigates the issue based on classroom circumstances, specifically students’ practices of English learning, through the lens of expatriate teachers

Moreover, this study limits its scope by employing the term “intercultural barriers” instead of “barriers” in the sense that it concentrates on issues caused by the cultural differences between the expatriate teachers and their Vietnamese students rather than any other factors in the educational context In fact, problems caused by most of the other factors in the educational context (e.g insufficient facilities, big class size, and heterogeneous student level) are mostly encountered by both expatriate and local teachers, and therefore are not archetypal of expatriate teachers As a result, with a focus

of getting insights into the barriers unique to expatriate teachers, this study is not to address those

1.6 Outline of the thesis

The current thesis includes five main chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Literature Review, (3) Methodology, (4) Results and Discussion and (5) Conclusion and Recommendations, accompanied by the Acknowledgements, Abstract, References and Appendices

The first chapter entitled Introduction offers the background information of the study and the purpose for carrying out the research This chapter also presents the aims, the significance and the scope of the study

The second chapter namely Literature Review consists of two main sections The first section establishes the theoretical background for the study with a detailed review

of cultural theories and concepts related to the research problem The latter reviews previous research regarding expatriate teachers’ problems in overseas work, especially anticipatory factors in their intercultural adjustment to eventually build up the conceptual framework which, in turn, serves to guide the research design, data collection and data analysis

The third chapter, Methodology, illustrates the methods employed to carry out the study In this part, the research questions are further explained Moreover, the research design and procedures for collecting and analyzing data are also described in detail The next chapter, entitled Results and Discussion, is devoted to the analysis and discussion of the collected data, the major findings of this current research This chapter does not only answer the research questions but also forms the base for the recommendations of Chapter Five

The last chapter, entitled Conclusion and Recommendations, offers a brief summary of this current research, implications for expatriate EFL teachers to deal with intercultural barriers when teaching English to Vietnamese learners, and recommendations for further research in the future

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter offers theoretical background for the study with a detailed review of theories and concepts related to intercultural issues It also includes previous research on expatriate teachers’ trouble working abroad and anticipatory factors in their adaptation

to the new culture Based on these, a conceptual framework is finally achieved to guide the methodology of the study

2.1 Operational definitions of terms

This section provides the basis and operational definitions of the two key terms

employed in this thesis: expatriate teachers and intercultural barriers

2018, p.1) In fact, this term is understood in different ways, especially in the scope of business and global work In an effort to synthesize definitions available in the current literature, McNulty and Brewster (2017) gave a general definition of “an expatriate” as:

a person who lives outside their native country, and is physically mobile across international borders, whether for professional or personal reasons, whether for short or long periods of time, whether organizationally sponsored or not, and regardless as to whether one is crossing an ocean (‘going overseas’, as one might do from Brazil to Australia) or moving across land (‘going abroad’, as one might do from the USA to Canada) (p 23)

Based on these above definitions, the current study comes up with its operational

definition of expatriate teachers of English or in other words, expatriate EFL teachers,

which means those who speak English as a first language or an official second language

in their country and currently teach English as a foreign language in a foreign country

In this sense, these teachers are not necessarily rooted from native English-speaking countries such as the US, the UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand They may come from other countries whose official language is English such as South Africa, Singapore

or The Philippines The formation of this definition comes from the reality of the current EFL teaching context in Vietnam where foreign nationals of many countries have been

involved in English instruction In this sense, the term expatriate teachers of English

refers to both native teachers and non-native teachers of English This term, as a result,

bears strong resemblance to the term foreign English teachers – a more commonly-used

term in the ELT industry For this reason, three terms are used interchangeably in this

study with the same meaning: expatriate teachers of English, expatriate EFL teachers and foreign English teachers

This is similar to the term cultural barriers regarded as “traditions which become hurdles

in path of understanding or teaching/learning completely different languages among which body languages, religious beliefs, etiquette, and social habits are noteworthy” (Mirdehghan, HoseiniKargar, Navab, & Mahmoodi, 2011, pp 15-16)

In fact, there exist in the literature many terms employed to describe culture,

namely cultural, multicultural, cross-cultural and intercultural They differ in their

meanings, describing a variety of perspectives one may take when interacting with

people from other cultures Cultural generally refers to things connected with culture, whereas multicultural deals with things including several groups of cultures which do not necessarily interact with each other (American Heritage Dictionary, 2011) Cross- cultural concentrates on the comparison of different cultures, where one specific

dominant culture is regarded as the norm to compare and contrast with others

(Gudykunst, 2003) Meanwhile, intercultural emphasizes the interaction and exchange

of ideas and norms, and relationship development wherein there is mutual understanding, respect, and learning from one other among those of different cultures (Gudykunst, 2003)

In EFL context, where the teacher-student interaction plays a key role in the

success of language learning, it is helpful to adopt the term intercultural due to its

highlight on interaction, interchange and learning of cultural values among different cultures, which are vital factors to establish and maintain good rapport between expatriate teachers and local students

Based on these aforementioned ideas, this section ends with an operational

definition for the term intercultural barriers faced by expatriate teachers of English in this study as any circumstances, problems, challenges, or difficulties which result from cultural differences between expatriate teachers and their Vietnamese students, and prevent or hinder the teachers from performing their teaching effectively

2.2 Culture and foreign language education

To make clear the concept and roles of culture in this study, this section reviews relevant literature on the position of culture in education, especially in foreign language education

2.2.1 Culture and education

Culture has been believed to play a leading role in human mindsets, Vygotsky (1978) asserts that the cultural context of a society results in its own cognitive development and tendencies This cultural impact on cognition generally shapes people’s world views which also include their perceptions, attitudes and practices towards education As K W Chan and Elliott (2002) argue, culture can govern the epistemological beliefs including teaching philosophy Rosenberg, Westling, and McLeskey (2008, p 18) also emphasize that “the effect of culture on beliefs about education, the value of education, and participation styles cannot be overestimated” This means that culture is considered to characterize the process of teaching by defining the teaching and learning styles as well as the attitudes to knowledge, as stated by Ballard and Clanchy (1984) and Kennedy (2002) Further, culture, according to Pratt, Kelly, and

Wong (1999), also shapes what good teaching is and what good teachers are In this way, culture exerts a great impact on both teachers and learners

As for learners, Bentley, Tinney, and Chia (2005), Rubenfeld, Clément, Lussier,

Lebrun, and Auger (2006), and Raymond and Choon (2017) all agree that one’s cultural

background has a central role in their learning In the same vein, Richardson (1994) and Park (2010) regard culture as a contributor to different learning styles of students Specifically, Park (1997a, 1997b, 2000, 2001) believes that students of different cultural backgrounds tend to differ in their learning styles M L Chen (2009) also emphasizes the considerable impact of cultural background on second language acquisition

As for teachers, culture, particularly cultural views, is a deciding factor for their perceptions and interpretations of the reality, which involve their beliefs and practices of teaching (Cabello & Burstein, 1995) In fact, teachers cannot deny that their communication and teaching styles reflect their cultural background Much of what teachers say and do, the way they say and do it, and especially how they interact with students are deeply influenced by the way they were born, brought up and socialized As

a result, it is quite common that many expatriate teachers tend to teach and understand local EFL learners in the same way as they have been brought up in their culture This may be a source of potential conflicts and hindrances to the teaching and learning process because teachers may possibly misinterpret students’ behaviors and inaccurately judge students from some cultures as poorly behaved or disrespectful (Rosenberg et al., 2008)

To be more specific, it seems unacceptable for a Western teacher to see his/her students keep silent and avoid eye contact with their teachers most of the time, which most Asian students are culturally inclined to (Bennett, 2003, as cited in Rosenberg et al., 2008) This happens since traditionally “most European American children are taught

to value active classroom discussion and to look teachers directly in the eye to show respect, while their teachers view students’ participation as a sign of engagement and competence” (Rosenberg et al., 2008, p 1) This cultural assumption and stereotype can result in cultural clashes between teachers and students of different cultures unless there

is multicultural awareness and toleration

Therefore, it is of great significance for teachers to be mindful that cultural differences lead to different cognitive processes (Norenzayan, Choi, & Peng, 2007);

therefore, every cultural group tends to follow particular language and interaction styles which are tremendously various among different cultural groups (Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003) That is why cultural differences between teachers and students should never be discounted

2 2 Culture and English language teaching

There is no denial that culture has an all-pervasive influence on every aspect of human affairs, whereby education is not an exception As stated by Rosenberg et al (2008), the influence of culture on beliefs about education, the value of education, and participation styles cannot be underestimated By tradition and necessity, culture and cultural issues are usually addressed in ELT as an indispensable part However, there exist various perceptions and interpretations of culture in this regard

One influencing view is that culture is bound up with language and the learning

of a foreign language inherently comprises its culture, speaking target culture Kramsch and Widdowson (1998) argue that the instruction of culture, either implicitly or explicitly, permits the understanding of social interaction, and that learning another language is learning a new culture, without which there is no context for learning its language Accordingly, EFL teachers are often recommended to explain culture, specifically target culture, and raise students’ awareness of cultural differences to facilitate their language learning EFL teachers are therefore regarded as not only language instructors but also those who play active roles as cultural mediators (Echevarria & Graves, 2007), and “cultural brokers” who can “thoroughly understand different cultural systems, are able to interpret symbols from one frame of reference to another, can mediate cultural incompatibilities, and know how to build bridges or establish linkages across cultures that facilitate the instruction process”(Gay, 1993, p 293) This is because the culture implicitly conveyed and oriented by the instructors, curriculum and textbook may not be the same as the culture of the learners This approach

is nevertheless a source of controversy since much debate has taken place about which culture should be taught among a number of different cultures relating to English such

as American or British, and which culture of the learners should be considered: culture

of their ethnicity, nation or region, profession, or generation

From another perspective, culture is considered as the wider social contexts or the general settings wherein the process of English teaching and learning occurs Kabir

(2010) states that culture embodies the beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, social customs and

habits of the people of a society As a result, the process of teaching and learning, an integral part of our daily social practices, is prone to be influenced by the cultural factors and varies greatly from culture to culture According to Shahidullah (1999), the experience of learning and modes of teaching and learning are diverse according to context This approach is helpful in the way it can reason out cultural challenges that teachers or students may deal with when they move to work or study in alien cultures Given that the nature of the current study focuses on cultural problems experienced by expatriate EFL teachers, this view is more relevant and adopted in the study

2.2 Views and approaches of studying culture

As culture has been recently a growing concern in educational and intercultural research, there exist a variety of ways to view and examine it in the literature This section discusses prevalent views and approaches of studying culture

2.2.1 Viewpoints on culture

As mentioned by Moran (2001), there are three broad viewpoints in the literature

to look at culture, namely (1) the functionalist view, (2) the interpretive view, and (3) the conflict view The functionalist view looks at culture at national level, assuming that there is national culture in which all members of a nation share with one another This is the most popular view that influences most learning materials of language and culture (Moran, 2001) The interpretive view focuses on the views of insiders - members of a particular community that really matter in a culture phenomenon As a matter of fact, there are different cultures among different groups of a society such as families, friends

or colleagues This view therefore considers all culture as “local” (Geertz, 1973) The conflict view emphasizes on the communities and their inharmonious relationships with one another Accordingly, all groups of the society are presumed to be in competition and conflict, struggling for power and influence

Looking closely at typical features of Vietnamese students causing problems for expatriate EFL teachers, this study utilized the functionalist view when assuming that all Vietnamese students share a set a culturally-based learning characteristics

2.2.2 Approaches of studying culture

Multiple views on culture have led to various ways of examining it According to Damen (1987), there are two approaches for studying culture: emic and etic perspectives

The emic approach refers to insider view of culture To be specific, the emic approach addresses how members of a culture simply explain their own culture, which

is based on their words, beliefs and perception This approach, in the words of Moran (2001), is believed to be the best way to study something newly discovered or previously undiscovered

The etic approach shows how outsiders or visitors to a culture use their preconceived notions and criteria to describe, explain or analyze any culture (Moran, 2001), which is mainly based on pre-existing theories and perspectives originated outside

of the culture in question Developing and employing theoretical categories and frameworks, the etic approach is thus “useful in attaining cultural understanding” (Moran, 2001, p 82) when researchers do comparative analyses involving two or more cultures or identifying areas of culture which exist cross-culturally This etic approach with different cultural models supports the afore-mentioned functionalist view of culture since it generalizes a common national culture community

With a view to examining the intercultural barriers facing expatriate EFL teachers, this current research focuses on the etic approach when developing the research instruments as it is appropriate for the nature of the study However, the researcher also partly utilized the emic approach at initial stages to identify the research issues and consider suitable theoretical frameworks for the study

2.3 Cultural dimensions

As the etic approach of studying culture is mainly utilized in this study, this part

is going to specify it with a review of predominant theoretical frameworks of cultural dimensions commonly employed in intercultural research

2.3.1 Concept

Cultural dimensions, culture dimensions or cultural value dimensions, are what

create the implicit standards or common beliefs and principles, based on which we form our opinions of what is right or wrong and what is suitable or unsuitable (Moran, 2001) Through this, they shape our thoughts, emotions and behavior Cultural dimensions are termed differently in the literature They can be referred to as “cultural perspectives” (Moran, 2001), “cultural patterns” (Stewart & Bennett, 2011), or “value orientations” (Abraham, 2008; Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck, 1960)

The notion of cultural dimensions is established through an enquiry into the philosophical antagonism between the particularity and the universality, the disparity and the similarity (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010) In particular, cultural dimensions are specific cultural value patterns that serve as the basis for the analysis of cultural values that “highlights the potential differences and similarities of value patterns between cultural groups” (Stella Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2005, p 56) These dimensions are useful when steering us towards the modification of our attitudes and the expansion of our comprehension of human behaviors, the diversity and complexity of our current world (Adler, 2002)

2.3.2 Models of cultural dimensions

Thanks to the comparative research of cultures all over the world, specific value patterns in various nations have been discovered by numerous researchers in the field of sociology, anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, intercultural communication, international management and linguistics as well The prominent theoretical frameworks

of culture in the literature with different classifications of cultural dimensions are summarized in Table 2.1

Interestingly enough, these aforementioned theoretical frameworks of cultural differences, despites disparity in their phrasing, show a high level of overlap in the formation of their cultural dimensions It is notable that these dimensions are constructed with contrasting values across the cultures which are put along a continuum going from one extreme to the other This simplification makes it easier to make comparisons amongst the cultures when treating cultural differences at the national and regional level

according to Sanderson (2007), have widespread uses in numerous aspects of human affairs such as psychology, business, communication, management and education Nevertheless, these paradigms based on essentialist cultural theories are not without criticism mainly owing to their weaknesses including simple generalization, potential cultural stereotyping, unrepresentative samples, inappropriate methods of data collection, and unreliable and/or outdated database (Sanderson, 2007) However, these frameworks still have their own values because cultural dimensions are viewed as cultural-level tendencies or general values on a cultural level, which do not necessarily have to explain the individual differences of all members in a culture and which are quite stable from generation to generation

Table 2.1 Different classifications of cultural dimensions

Hall (1977) Low context

 explicit communication

 task-oriented

 flexible group boundaries

 less desire for authority

 outer locus control

 fixed timing

High context

 implicit communication

 relationship-oriented

 strong group boundaries

 strong desire for authority

 inner locus control

 flexible timing Hofstede (1991;

Hofstede et al.,

2010)

1 Power distance (from small to large)

2 Collectivism versus individualism

3 Femininity versus masculinity

4 Uncertainty avoidance (from weak to strong)

5 Long-term versus short-term orientation (added in 2010)

6 Indulgence versus restraint (added in 2010) Schwartz (1994) 1 Conservatism

2 Individualism versus collectivism

3 Affectivity versus neutrality

4 Specificity versus diffuseness

5 Achievement versus ascription,

6 Time orientation,

7 Relation to nature

2.3.3 Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions

2.3.3.1 Rationale for using Hofstede’s model

Of the existing theories of culture in the literature, Hofstede’s model appears to have the greatest impact on other academics in his field His cultural dimensions offer researchers and practitioners an invaluable resource in the drives of intercultural relationships (M L Jones, 2007) In fact, it has had the most citation in the existing literature (Bond, 2002; Hofstede, 1997) and has been the most widely-used model among other researchers (Furrer, Liu, & Sudharshan, 2000; Ross, 1999; Søndergaard, 1994)

It is of note that the first publication of his model in 1980 stimulated a multitude

of other empirical studies in the same field or relevant fields that applied, tested, or replicated his theory In business, Hofstede’s model is considered as the most remarkable intercultural research of work-related values (Bhagat & McQuaid, 1982) and has been instrumental in the management of a number of business systems (Michael & College, 1997; Smith, 1998) Examples of research based on Hofstede’s (1991) model in the same field include Fernandez, Carlson, Stepina, and Nicholson (1997), Sui Pheng and Yuquan (2002), and Wu (2006) Meanwhile, those of other fields consist of Soares, Farhangmehr, and Shoham (2007) on marketing and management, Cronjé (2011) on cross-cultural communication, and Sadeghi, Saribagloo, Aghdam, and Mahmoudi (2014) on education

There is a wide range of reasons for the spread of Hofstede’s (1991) models First,

it is one of the first bodies of work to measure cultural differences among nations Second, Hofstede’s paradigm has the advantages of a well-structured research method and simplicity which makes it influential in cross-cultural research for a long time (Mead, 1993; Teng, 2007) Last but not least, it is superior to the other frameworks in the literature due to consistent theory, rigorous design, and solid empirical data which was systematically collected (M L Jones, 2007; Søndergaard, 1994)

In addition, based on his research and other collaborators around the world,

Hofstede developed two so-called Country Culture Tools, including The Hofstede insights culture compass and The Hofstede insights country comparison tool available

online at his website: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-culture-tools/ , which

provide an easy way to measure and speculate the cultural value differences between countries The latter tool is partially employed in the current study to lay the foundation

for the conceptualization and development of the research issue as it can provide the national scores of each cultural dimension of the Hofstede’s (2010) model for the cultural comparison between Vietnam and countries of expatriate teachers in this study

For the aforementioned reasons, the current research utilized Hofstede’s (2010) dimensions of cultural differences to identify and analyze intercultural issues in the ELT setting, especially those rooted from cultural values In this study, Hofstede’s (2010) model serves as a theoretical framework to develop research tools, systemize and explain actual situations of cultural differences that can be explicitly observed in the classroom

2.3.3.2 Overview of Hofstede’s model

Hofstede (1991, p 5) defines culture as “the collective mental programming of the human mind which distinguishes one group of people from another” This kind of programming affects our thinking patterns reflected in the sense that people adhere to numerous aspects of life and which grow crystallized in the institutions of a society

Hofstede created his earliest model of national culture based on factor analysis of the survey outcomes of cultural values conducted at IBM (a multi-national company with subsidiaries of over 60 nations) over the period of 1967 to 1973 This research examined how values in the workplace are affected by national culture His original framework,

which was included in his book Culture's Consequences, printed in 1984, originally consisted of only four cultural dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance In 2010,

collaborating with Michael Harris Bond and Michael Minkov, he updated his model with

two more dimensions of Confucian Heritage Culture, namely Long-term Orientation versus Short-term Orientation, and Indulgence versus Restraint His up-to-date model

with six cultural dimensions of national culture is summarized in Table 2.2

Table 2.2 Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture (Hofstede et al., 2010)

Dimension Description

Power Distance

(PD) This dimension shows the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions handle power inequalities and expect that there

are power inequalities amongst people in the society

on human relationships including modesty, cooperation, caring for quality of life and the weak

Uncertainty

Avoidance (UA)

This dimension addresses a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity It measures how a society faces unknown situations, unexpected events, and the stress of change

Indulgence versus

Restraint (IND)

This dimension measures the extent to which a society caters or allows for the personal desires and immediate needs of its members

2.4 Contextualization of Hofstede’s model in Vietnam’s educational context

Due to a number of advantages as mentioned in the previous section, Hofstede’s (2010) cultural dimension model serves as the foundation for the current research This section is to describe the application of this model, its related data in understanding cultural differences and how it relates to the educational context of Vietnam, especially regarding how culture formulates Vietnamese learners’ distinct characteristics

According to Hofstede (1986), the puzzlement between the teachers and students

of two different cultural backgrounds can be attributed to the differences of the two societies in the social positions between teachers and students, the relevance of curriculum, the cognitive abilities of their members, and the expectations and processes

of teacher-student and student-student interactions In terms of such interactions, the role patterns of teachers and students at school differ significantly between societies

scoring high and those scoring low for each cultural dimension of Hofstede’s model This section is to compare and contrast these cultural differences between Vietnamese students and expatriate teachers of English based on Hofstede’s (2010) model of national

cultures and The Hofstede insights country comparison tool

2.4.1 Power distance

According to Hofstede (1986, 2010), a comparison of school circumstances in a large power distance and in a small power distance society can reveal numerous disparities They can be classified into different perspectives namely (1) perceptions of truth: impersonal or teacher-based, (2) respect for students’ independence or the lack thereof, (3) center of teaching-learning process: teacher or student, (4) who initiate communication: teachers or students, (4) possibility for students’ spontaneous speaking, (5) possibility for students to contradict or criticize teachers openly, (6) source of effective learning: teacher-student interaction or teachers’ excellence, (7) respect for teacher outside classroom or the lack thereof, (8) whether parents side with teachers or misbehaving students, and (9) preferences for young or old teachers Extremes in school circumstances where small and large power distances differ are illustrated in Table 2.3

According to the data from Hofstede’s comparison tool, Vietnam scores very high

on this dimension and is thus a Large Power Distance country, contrasting with most Western countries which belong to Low Power Distance countries This shows that students in Vietnam generally tend to accept hierarchical order in teacher-student interaction without justification Actually, under the influence of Confucianism, Vietnamese learners have a high respect for the hierarchical roles of teachers since they have been traditionally taught to respect and “not to argue with seniors or express their own feelings in personal ways (T H Y Vo, 2014, p 69) Teachers are believed to have higher authority and play the roles as “gurus” whose power and knowledge should never

be challenged (Hofstede, 1986) As a result, teachers are expected to be ones who make all decisions in the classroom (P M Nguyen, Terlouw, & Pilot, 2005)

This characteristic fosters the teacher-centered education and inhibits students’ creativity, autonomy and critical thinking Under this influence, many Vietnamese students hesitate to interact or disagree with their teachers Most of them seem to be teacher-reliant and hesitant to have an idea in the teaching and learning process such as

suggesting topics, ways of learning, asking for clarification or expansion of what they have learned

Table 2.3 Differences in educational circumstances between Small and Large Power Distance

Societies (Hofstede, 1986, p 313)

SMALL POWER DISTANCE SOCIETIES LARGE POWER DISTANCE SOCIETIES

stress on impersonal “truth” which can be in

principle obtained from any competent person

stress on personal “wisdom” which can transferred in the relationship with a particular teacher (guru)

a teacher should respect the independence of

his/her students

a teacher merits the respect of his/her students

student-centered education (premium on

initiative)

teacher-centered education (premium on order)

teacher expects students to initiate

teacher

teacher is never contradicted nor publicly criticized

effectiveness of learning related to amount of

two-way communication in class

effectiveness of learning related to excellence

of the teacher outside class, teachers are treated as equals respect for teachers is also shown outside class

in teacher/student conflicts, parents are

expected to side with the student

in teacher/student conflicts, parents are expected to side with the teacher younger teachers are more liked than older

teachers

older teachers are more respected than younger teachers

2.4.2 Individualism versus Collectivism

In accordance with Hofstede (1986, 2010), there are some basic differences between an individualist and a collectivist society, which can be easily noticed in school circumstances These differences can be classified into eight aspects: (1) attitudes to traditions or novelty, (2) perception of age reserved for learning, (3) purposes of learning, (4) degree of students’ initiative to speak up in class and in groups, (4) ways of group division: based on background or ad hoc, (5) attitudes towards confrontation and open discussion of conflicts, (5) degree of face-consciousness, (6) goals of education, (7) values of diplomas and certificates compared with competence (8) degree of teachers’ preferences in treatment of their students The details of these aforementioned differences are displayed in Table 2.4

Table 2.4 Differences in educational circumstances between Collectivist and Individualist societies

(Hofstede, 1986, p 312)

COLLECTIVIST SOCIETIES INDIVIDUALIST SOCIETIES

positive association in society with whatever is

students expect to learn how to do students expect to learn how to learn

individual students will speak up in class when

called upon personally by the teacher

individual students will speak up in class in response to a general invitation by the teacher individual students will only speak up in small

groups

individual students will only speak up in large groups

large classes split socially into smaller

cohesive subgroups based on particularist

criteria (e.g ethnic affiliation)

subgroupings in class vary from one situation

to the next based on universalist criteria (e.g the task “at hand”)

formal harmony in learning materials should

be maintained at all times (T-groups are taboo)

confrontation in learning situations can be salutary; conflicts can be brought into the open neither the teacher nor any student should ever

be made to lose face

face-consciousness is weak

education is a way of gaining prestige in one’s

social environment and of joining a higher

status group (“a ticket to ride”)

education is a way of improving one’s economic worth and self-respected based on ability and competence

diploma certificates are important and

displayed on walls

diploma certificates have little symbolic value

acquiring certificates, even through illegal

means (cheating, corruption) is more important

than acquiring competence

acquiring competence is more important than acquiring certificates

teachers are expected to give preferential

treatment to some students (e.g based on

ethnic affiliation or on recommendation by an

influential person

teachers are expected to be strictly impartial

According to Hofstede’s comparison tool, Vietnam has a low score on Individualism, thus being a country of collectivism Similar to power distance, collectivism

is also an effect of Confucianism, which is still predominant in many East Asian countries and can be explicitly seen in education context like in the classroom The most typical feature of the learners in collectivist cultures is their adherence to their own groups, that is, they are “split socially into cohesive subgroups” (Hofstede, 1986, p 312) Consequently, their identity, attitudes and actions are therefore decided by their relationships with others Whoever they are, whatever they think and do are mainly based on what groups they belong to, not their personal opinions or motives Hence, to guarantee their group membership, maintaining the group harmony is even more significant than their immediate personal benefits

This concept of collectivism focuses on harmony maintenance and confrontation avoidance in a group (Hofstede, 1995) Regarding this, Hofstede (1986, p 312) asserts

that “formal harmony in learning situations should be maintained at all times” In this aspect, face consciousness emerges and plays an important role in social and interpersonal relationships among students with the acts of protecting face, gaining face and giving face (Ramsay, p 264)

As a result, students from the culture tend to be modest and try not to make themselves different from the others In fact, they neither want to take risks losing their own face by speaking out their mind nor lose others’ face by showing conflicting ideas or criticizing them openly More interestingly, to most students in Confucian cultures, raising voice when others are quiet can be considered as an act of elevating one’s self above others (Reid, 1995) and may break the social harmony with others in class This “one-for-all mentality” in the words of P M Nguyen et al (2005, p 7) is therefore well appreciated among Vietnamese students to show respect to their group consensus and harmony

More specifically, C Ellis (1995) and T H Nguyen (2002) point out that the fear of losing face, which is considered as serious and shameful in a collectivist culture, contributes greatly to communication reluctance among Vietnamese students It is not rare to hear complaints about verbally passive learners in East Asia who have “disinclination to express views and reluctance to contribute to discussions” (Ramsay, 2005, p 264) This behavior pattern in some ways can cause troubles when teachers want their students to give comments about their groupmates or to work in a new group In addition, different but brilliant ideas of individuals can be ignored when the majority makes the decision and they tend to keep silent to respect their group consensus

2.4.3 Uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance refers to “the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations” (Hofstede, 1991, p 113) In educational context, Hofstede (1986, 2010) depicts many differences between countries with high and low uncertainty avoidance, which fall into the following issues: (1) learners’ attitudes towards ambiguity of learning situations, (2) expectations for teachers’ knowledge, (3) attitudes towards teachers’ language, (4) teachers’ rewarding students based on accuracy or originality, (5) degree of tolerance for teachers’ and students’ emotional expression, (6) teachers’ attitudes towards intellectual disagreement, (7) teachers’ desires to learn from learners’ parents These issues are explained in Table 2.5

Table 2.5 Differences in educational circumstances between Weak Uncertainty Avoidance and

Strong Uncertainty Avoidance societies (Hofstede, 1986, p 314)

WEAK UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE STRONG UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE

students feel comfortable in unstructured

learning situations: vague objectives, broad

a good teacher uses plain language a good teacher uses academic language

students are rewarded for innovative

approaches to problem solving

Students are rewarded for accuracy in problem solving

teachers are expected to suppress emotions

(and so are students)

teachers are allowed to behave emotionally (and so are students)

teachers interpret intellectual disagreement as a

stimulating exercise teachers interpret intellectual disagreement as personal disloyalty teachers seek parents’ ideas teachers consider themselves experts who

cannot learn anything from lay parents—and parents agree

According Hofstede’s data, Vietnam is ranked among countries of weak uncertainty avoidance as most countries in western countries Specifically, Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov (2005) from their findings conclude that Vietnam, along with China, Hong Kong and Singapore has the lowest level uncertainty avoidance among Confucian Heritage Cultures

Considering Vietnam’s actual context, this result seems incompatible with the classroom reality Hofstede (2005, p 179) recognized that students in weak uncertainty avoidance cultures are prone to “despise too much structure” and “like open-ended learning situations with vague objectives, broad assignments, and no timetables at all” This behavior pattern, however, “cannot hold true for Vietnamese learners” in reality because many researchers have showed the opposite in many contexts (Q X Le, 2013,

p 18) As a matter of fact, a high level of uncertainty avoidance is identified among students in Confucian Heritage Cultures by later researchers such as Oxford and Burry-Stock (1995) and Ramsay (2005) In the same vein, H Wang (2003), P M Nguyen et

al (2005) and Vo (2014) acknowledge that this strong uncertainty avoidance still prevails among students in China and Vietnam Students in these countries prefer structured learning process and usually hesitate to volunteer answers or participate in a new activity for fear of making mistakes and lose their face (V C Le, 1999) Besides, they are quite meticulous in note-taking and are inclined to write down their ideas before speaking out (T H Y Vo, 2014) In addition, it is observable in practice that many of them exhibit a habit of doing consensus-checking with others before publishing their