How to teach american culture in a vietnamese high school curriculum; some suggestions on how to present american public holidays and festivals

1.2 .1 Characteristics of th e students 71 .3 CURRICULUM OF THE ENGLISH SUBJECT 1.4 THE PRESENT INADEQUAC Y IN THE TEACHING OF AMERICAN CULTURE IN VIETNAMESE 2 .1.2 Rese arch on th e r e

TRAN THUY PHUONG

HOW TO TEACH AMERICA" CULTURE

I" A VIET"AMESE HIGH SCHOOL CURRICUWM;

AMERICA" PUBLIC HOLIDAYS A"D FESTIVALS

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Supervisor SIDSEL MILLERSTROM, Ph.D.

80 Chi Minh City, April 2007

HOW TO TEACH AMERICAN CULTURE

SOME SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO PRESENT

AMERICAN PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS

in terms of the statement of the Requirements of Theses in Master's Programs

issued by the Higher Degree Committee

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

Ho Chi Minh City, April 15, 2007.

Tr§n Thuy Phuong

of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities relating to the retention and use of Master's Thesis deposited in the Library.

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

Ho Chi Minh City, April 15, 2007.

Trffn Thuy Phuong

Dr Sidsel Millerstrom, for her whole-hearted guidance, thoughtful and insightful comments, and valuable support in the preparation and completion of this thesis Without her encouragement and guidance, I could not have finished this study.

My special thanks must go to all my teachers for their dedication and helpful instruction during the master course from the year 2003 to 2006.

I wish to thank all the members in my thesis defense committee, who were enthusiastic to read this thesis and helped me to present it to the readers of the Library I hope that this modest contribution will be useful for others to build upon

I also wish to thank all of the teacher respondents from fifteen high schools

in Ho Chi Minh City for their help and willingness to answer the questionnaire and

to give precious opinions to the study I am also grateful to all the students who carefully completed the questionnaires and sincerely provided me with valuable information for this study.

In addition, these friends and colleagues of mine : Vo Thi H6ng Le, Nguyen Thi Thuy Loan , Trftn Thi Van Hoai , and Huynh Thi Bich Phuong were particularly of great help in my preparation of the thesis and searching for relevant references My heartfelt appreciation is expressed to all of them

Last but not least , I would like to dedicate the thesis to my family: my father , my mother , and my sweetheart, for their love, understanding and wholehearted support They have taken care of everything so that I could devote all

my time to the writing of the thesis I am greatly indebted to all of them.

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of culture learning in language education (CLLE) and American culture in order to satisfy students' demands in this increasingly internationalized world The last few decades have witnessed a fundamental rethinking of the aims of foreign language teaching, entailing a shift in emphasis from linguistic competence over communicative competence to intercultural competence The growing emphasis on cultural issues, called for by research and international curricular documents, places new demands on language teachers High school students, especially English-majored students, are supposed to communicate well in intercultural contexts because they have learned English for more than four years Yet many students' parents complain that English-majored students are timid when it comes

to communicating with native speakers on holidays and festivals This study investigates the attitudes towards CLLE in order to identify problems and illuminate possible solutions.

A sample of 155 tenth-grade English-majored students at Nguyen Cong Tru High School (NCTHS), with an ESP level of intermediate, was selected In addition, 15 teachers from fifteen different high schools in Ho Chi Minh City were also surveyed in an effort to identify problems and potential solutions to the inadequacy of CLLE in Vietnamese high school curriculum The data obtained were then subjected to quantitative analysis in an effort to obtain findings Results reveal that (1) most of the students expressed positive attitudes towards CLLE and accepted that CLLE contributes a great deal to their English proficiency and that (2) high school teachers can take the role of English language teachers with regards

to CLLE if they have good perception of CLLE and understand the contribution of CLLE to students' English proficiency This research tries to help teachers and

v

erti icate ongma ity

Aim of the Stud y and Overvi ew of the Thesis 2

1 1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH MAJOR PROGRAM

1.1.1 Teaching and learn ing obj ectives and tim e allocation 5

1.2 1 Characteristics of th e students 7

1 3 CURRICULUM OF THE ENGLISH SUBJECT

1.4 THE PRESENT INADEQUAC Y IN THE TEACHING

OF AMERICAN CULTURE IN VIETNAMESE

2 1.2 Rese arch on th e r elationship betwe en c ulture

2 2 CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND ETHNOCENTRIC

2.4 CLLE AND THEORIES OF LEARNING

VB

AND LINGUISTICS 34 2.4.1 Culture and principles oflanguage learn ing

3.2.2.1 Surve y qu estionnaire for s tudents 4 9

3 2 2.2 Surv ey qu estionnaire for t eachers 49

3 2.3 Data collection procedures 51

4.1.1.1 Students' overall evaluation of English 10

4.1.1.2 Students' evaluation of the amount of the

cultural aspect of English 10 Advanced Textbook 56 4.1.1.3 Students' attitudes toward the importance of

cultural knowledge of English-speaking countries in the study of English 57 4.1.1.4 Descriptive analysis of culture quiz scores 64

4.1.2.1 Teachers' overall evaluation of English 10

4.1.2 2 Teachers' evaluation of the amount of the

cultural aspect of English 10 Advanced Textbook 67 4.1.2.3 Teachers ' perception of culture learning

APPENDIX 1B

APPENDIX2A

APPENDIX2B

Questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version) 126

Questionnaire for teachers (English version) 130

Questionnaire for teachers (Vietnamese version) 134

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1.2 Qualifications and training experiences of the surveyed teachers 9 Table 1 3 Number of English class periods per week at the

Table 3 1 Summary of students' levels of English 47

Table 4.1 Students' comments on English 10 Advanced Textbook 55 Table 4.2 Students' opinions of the topics in English 10 Advanced Textbook 55 Table 4 3 Students' opinions about the amount of cultural knowledge of

English-speaking countries provided in English 10

Table 4.4 Amount of cultural knowledge of English-speaking countries

provided in English 10 Advanced Textbook compared to that

Table 4.5 Frequency of students' attempts acquiring cultural knowledge of

Table 4.6 Reasons for students' not looking for cultural information of

Table 4.7 How much students like acquiring cultural knowledge

Table 4.8 How much more of cultural knowledge students want to see in

English 10 Advanced Textbook compared to the four

English-speaking countries provided in English 10

Table 4.16 Amount of cultural knowledge of English-speaking countries

provided in English 10 Advanced Textbook compared to that

Table 4.17 Teachers' opinions of how much students like acquiring cultural

Table 4 18 Teachers' opinions of the usefulness of culture learning in

Table 4.19 CLLE contribution to English proficiency 70 Table 4 20 Frequency of students' raising cultural questions to teacher 70 Table 4 21 How much more of cultural knowledge teachers want to see in

English 10 Advanced Textbook compared to the four

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communicative skills 71 Table 4 22 Teachers' opinion of which days that should be introduced

Table 4.23 Comparison of students' and teachers ' responses 73 Table 5.1 An instruction program to improve students' cultural competence 111

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

English 10 Advanced Textbook compared to the four

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Culture Learning in Language Education

English as a Foreign Language

English as a Second Language

First Language

Second Language

Second Language Acquisition

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

This thesis reports the results of a study investigating how to teach American culture in a Vietnamese high school curriculum of English language major classes The aim of the study is to determine students' need of acquiring cultural knowledge

of English-speaking countries in their English language learning This introduction presents a discussion of the research questions being addressed and an overview of the whole thesis itself.

Research Questions

Learning a language is not only learning the skills to convey ideas, thoughts, desires, etc but also learning the ways to behave and communicate in that language environment The knowledge of the culture and civilization of a language community helps to behave properly and reach high effectiveness in communication Therefore, in order to master a language, it is essential to learn about the culture of the language community Certainly there is no exception for high school students, especially students majoring in English The main aims of the syllabus of English in high school are to enable students to communicate in English , and with the knowledge from the lessons , students can grasp some timely topics and can express their own ideas about them (according to the "Aims of the Syllabus of English in High School" passed by The Ministry of Education and Training , in Education and Times Magazine 69, June 8 th , 2002) That means it is vitally important to teach the cultures of the English-speaking countries to those students However, culture is not emphasized in English 10 Advanced Textbook (Titng Anh

10 Nang cao , Til Anh et al., 2006) On having a chance to meet native speakers , students find it too difficult to communicate with them , especially about their typical holidays and festivals My students usually ask me about the cultures of

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English-speaking countries , specifically about where to go, what to do , what to say

on particular days , such as on holidays and festivals Whenever I discuss this problem with some of my colleagues, they say they also have to try to answer the same questions They added that students seem not to know many important things

in English and American cultures Therefore, they cannot understand many things they read about in newspapers and the Internet or hear from the native speakers This adds to the difficulties in communication and is one of the main reasons why high school students are not interested in English class The knowledge they learn from their textbook does not adequally help them to understand and mingle with people from other cultures.

The overall aim of this study is to deepen the knowledge about the attitudes

of English-majored students and teachers at the high schools towards the treatment

of culture in English 10 Advanced Textbook (Fitng Anh 10 Nang cao) The questions in focus are : I) Does English 10 Advanced Textbook (Fitng Anh 10 Nang cao) published in 2006 give students sufficient cultural knowledge of English- speaking countries? ; (2) Should teachers introduce more cultural knowledge of English-speaking countries? , (3) Why should teachers know more about some of American public holidays and festivals? and (4) Can high school teachers take the role of English language teachers with regards to culture learning in language education?

Aim of the Study and Overview of the Thesis

The thesis strives to reveal whether or not language teaching today can be described as intercultural , in the sense that culture is taught with the aim of promoting intercultural understanding, tolerance and empathy The results of the investigation will serve as a basis for recommendations that might help to foster culture learning and teaching in English classes at the high school level This study takes its starting-point in language didactics , and can also be regarded as a contribution to teacher cognition research

This investigation was based on data collected from two different sources : The first set of information concerned the students and includes (1) their demographic data, and (2) their responses to a survey questionnaire aimed at measuring their perceptions of learning language through learning culture , their culture learning activities, their evaluation of the cultural knowledge provided in their textbook, and their suggestions concerning how culture learning in language education (CLLE) in high school curriculum can be developed.

The second set of information is similar to that collected from the students but it was collected from teachers This allowed for partial verification of the results

of the students' responses and contributed to the overall strength of the findings of the study This information includes (1) the demographic data of the teachers, and (2) the teachers' responses to another survey questionnaire which aimed to reveal their perceptions of culture learning in language education (CLLE), their CLLE activities, and their evaluation of the cultural knowledge provided in English 10 Advanced Textbook and their suggestions concerning how the CLLE in high school curriculum can be developed.

Summary of Thesis Chapters

In addition to the introduction, the thesis consists of five main chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 provides the background to the research It describes the English language major program with the current textbook, characteristics of the students and the teachers, and the management of the English language major program at some high schools in Ho Chi Minh City.

Chapter 2 reviews the literature on Issues concerning CLLE and the integration of culture into English teaching and learning This chapter involves the two factors that are important to knowledge to make good use of CLLE: language acquisition theory and learning theory, the teacher's role in CLLE implementation; and factors influencing a successful English language major program.

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Chapter 3 presents the methodology employed in the research This chapter includes a presentation of the research questions, methods used in sampling and data collection, an overview of the demographic data of students and teachers, and details of the survey of their evaluation of the cultural knowledge provided in

English 10 Advanced Textbook. In all, 15 teachers from 15 different high schools in

Ho Chi Minh City and 155 students at Nguyen Cong Tru High School were included in the study.

Chapter 4 discusses and analyzes the research findings from the two main data sources: analysis of responses to survey questionnaires and comparison of the two results of students' responses and the teachers' responses I hope that the results

of the study will help teachers to have a fuller understanding of CLLE and how the CLLE in high school curriculum can be developed.

Chapter 5 makes some recommendations on how to best present the topic of American public holidays and festivals to tenth-grade English major students Students are encouraged to look at their own familiar culture from another perspective, and to learn to empathize with and show respect and tolerance for otherness in general, not just concern ing representatives of English-speaking countries The study indicates that many teachers feel unsure about how to teach culture in an appropriate and up-to-date manner This is attributed to, among other things, lack of teacher insights as well as lack of time and adequate material The thesis ends with some recommendations to improve the problem of teaching American culture in a Vietnamese high school curriculum, and a conclusion as to how EFL could be developed in a more intercultural direction.

Because of time limitation, I will focus only on some American holidays and festivals.

CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

This chapter presents the background information essential for the issues discussed in this thesis The chapter consists of four sections The first section is a brief description of the existing English language major program at some high schools in Ho Chi Minh City The second section provides information on the characteristics of the students and teachers to in order to form a picture of the current English language major program for tenth grade students The third section indicates the contribution of culture to English language learning at high school The fourth section discusses the inadequacy in the teaching of American culture as

1.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR PROGRAM FOR TENTH GRADE STUDENTS

This section gives a description of the English language major program for tenth grade students at some high schools in Ho Chi Minh City with the following information discussed:

(1) teaching and learning objectives and time allocation;

(2) course book;

(3) the teaching and learning environment.

1.1.1 Teaching and learning objectives and time allocation

English language learning in the English language major program aims to the proficiency in using English in all the four skills In order to achieve this, incoming students are assumed at intermediate level (level B equivalent) On graduating from

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high schools, English language major students are supposed to pass the entrance examination to an English Department of a university.

of Education and Training allocates four periods of 45 minutes per week as the

means the total is 140 periods The textbook has 16 units and 4 consolidations For each of the learning unit, the time allotted is as follows:

The total is 7.5 periods for each unit Each unit covers two weeks, which is

1.1.2 Textbook

example, students at Nguyen Cong Tru High School are asked to do exercises in the

A, 1990).

Language skills are developed as outlined below:

Listening : listening for general information; for detailed information.

Speaking: carrying out everyday talks; asking and giving information on

related topics; exchanging ideas/opinions on related topics; talking about related topics; describing places, people, and things; giving instructions.

Reading: reading for general information; for detailed information; scanning

for specific information.

Writing: writing a description; a notice; a postcard; a telephone message; a

speech; instructions; a paragraph/passage; a story; formal/informal letters; a biography; an exposition; describing information from charts/tables.

The reality shows that the time allocated above for any of the skills is too little, therefore most schools give students and teachers additional periods, otherwise students and teachers cannot meet the requirements above.

1.1.3 Teaching and learning environment The average number of students in each class is 52 It may be lower at schools located in the city center, and higher at schools in the suburbs Attending sessions at school is compulsory.

1.2 STUDENTS AND TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS 1.2.1 Characteristics of the students

This section provides some information of the students, which included gender and age (see Table 1.1).

64 (41.3%) 91 (58.7%) 3 (1.9%) 149 (96.2 %) 3 (1.9%) Table 1.1 Demographic data ofthe students

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The predominant gender of the surveyed group was female, which is typical for classes major in social sciences in NCTHS, while the male gender is predominant in classes major in natural sciences Most of the students (149) are 16 years old, the most appropriate age to be in grade ten They are in their biological and psychological bend, the ones who have just left lower secondary school to move to upper secondary school Dr Bui Ngoc Oanh (1995), lecturer of psychology at University of Pedagogy, Ho Chi Minh City, considered the students

at this special age as those who are eager to acquire knowledge and communicative skills in order to become mature people Due to English language majoring, all of the students are using the advanced textbook (Tilng Anh 10 Nang cao) with all the four skills _ listening, speaking, reading and writing The students are to get ready for the entrance examination to an English Department of a university In general, students in English language major classes are supposed to be equipped with advanced level of English language skills so as to use English in real life and to further their education later.

1.2.2 Characteristics of the teachers

In the previous section, the information about the students, one of the two agents of the teaching and learning process has been presented This section discusses the role of the second agent: the teachers - the crucial force in teaching and learning English.

The 15 surveyed teachers are from 15 different high schools in different districts in Ho Chi Minh City, aged from 28 to 49 All of them had formal tertiary training in language teaching in different educational institutions within Vietnam, mostly in Ho Chi Minh City Presently, two of the teachers possess MA in TESOL, one is attending an MA course in TESOL, and the rest possess BA degree in English language.

The table below summarizes general qualifications and training experiences

of the surveyed teachers.

Qualifications/ Training experiences Number of the

surveyed teachers

Having attended training courses In new teaching 13/15 methods

Table 1.2 Qualifications and training experiences ofthe surveyed teachers

Table 1 2 reveals the potential of the surveyed teachers in terms of their language proficiency as well as their language teaching competence The fifteen teachers are from fifteen different high schools because the number of English language major classes is usually small in most schools (from one to four classes), and very few teachers (from one to two) in the English language staff of each school are in charge of those classes These are important issues and will be addressed in Chapter III.

1.3 CURRICULUM OF THE ENGLISH SUBJECT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CLASSES

Due to English language majoring, the time allocated by the Ministry of Education and Training for English classes with English 10 Advanced Textbook

means one more period compared to those with the standard textbook (3 periods per week) As one more period is not enough to meet the requirements of an English major program , most schools give students and teachers additional periods per week

so that the students can have more interaction with their teachers and classmates.

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The table below shows the number of English class periods per week at the surveyed schools

Periods of English class per week Number of the surveyed schools

Table 1 3 Number ofEngli sh class periods per week at the surveyed schools

The teachers strictly follow the time allocation schedule by the Ministry of Education and Training and add extra materials into the additional periods

However, students do not show complete satisfaction in the English major program despite the investment of the administration in terms of teaching and learning facilities.

1.4 THE PRESENT INADEQUACY IN THE TEACHING OF AMERICAN CULTURE IN VIETNAMESE HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM

In Vietnam , culture is not emphasized in the two suites of textbooks for English grade 10 , II and 12 One is in use until May 31 s t, 2008 and one started to be

in force on September s", 2006 and will completely replace the former on September s", 2008 The latter, the new textbook, has two different kinds : the standard textbook, which is used by students in general education classes and in classes majoring in natural sciences, and the advanced textbook , which is used by students in classes majoring in social sciences, especially English language major classes Both of the two books consist of sixteen units, among which culture is emphasized in only two units : Unit 12 : MUSIC (in both of them) and Unit 13 :

FILMS AND CINEMA (in the standard textbook) or Unit 13: THEATER AND MOVIES (in the advanced textbook) The advanced textbook is , of course, more

difficult than the standard textbook, but has the same topics and similar classroom activities After graduating from junior high school , the tenth-grade students, who are using either of the textbooks , expect a lot in the curriculum of an upper secondary school , the new school they have just passed the entrance examination into At this age of biological and psychological bend, tenth-grade students fancy learning and discovering new things about life , therefore they expect a great deal in the knowledge their new school provides, especially the knowledge of how to behave properly in different situations In recent years, while Vietnam has been trying to mingle with other countries in the world , especially English-speaking countries , students have become more interested in the cultures of those countries.

On American and English holidays and festivals, teachers are usually asked about where to go , what to do , what to say, etc Students cannot understand things they read about in the newspapers, the Internet , or hear from the native speakers on those days Students say they really want to know such information in time for the specific holidays in an English class , so that they can mingle with American or English people Both teachers and students complain that they cannot find any guidelines in textbooks In order to try to answer students' quest ions on these ' timely topics' , teachers have to resort to Google , which is not accessible to all of Vietnamese teachers Nor can students/teacher assume that all Internet information

is correct This means the curriculum has failed to give students and teachers exposure to quality educational opportunities Active students who want to use English in real life or to major in English say they are very disappointed Such an unsatisfactory curriculum results in students' passive outcomes Many Vietnamese educators have been concocting new teaching techniques, but they seem to forget the importance of culture in language teaching and students ' need , especially English-major students , who are using the advanced textbook The advanced textbook must provide the students with more knowledge than the standard textbook

in every aspect of a language Unfortunately , the authors seem to forget the cultural aspect The lessons fail to provide the students with the practical knowledge they

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need Because it is extremely difficult to have textbooks changed, teachers have to look for something more practical and interesting to add into lessons It is this 'something more practical and interesting' that makes a good teacher of English in a Vietnamese high school! Culture, especially the knowledge of holidays and festivals, seems to attract most of students' interest Talking about the coming holidays and festivals is always a timely topic, because it is the common interest of many people Different people have different interests, but holidays and festivals are the same for everyone That is the reason why students like to talk about this topic the most Since there is almost no information about this in textbooks, students are very disappointed if their teachers cannot fulfill their interest Teachers of English

in my school usually find themselves talking to each other about this topic, but the problem is still unsolved, because no reliable guidelines have been found It is essential for teachers of English to master American and English cultures, or at least, to master some of the most important points in the cultures of these influential nations As this is a serious problem for most high school teachers of English, I would like to make a study on how to best present American public holidays and festivals, so as to give Vietnamese teachers of English a little help in their teaching

in this era of internationalization In this global world, the understanding of another culture is of crucial importance and we language teachers can and must playa key role We are well positioned to do so as we constantly operate at the intersection of language and culture We owe it to our students to go beyond the mechanics of language and delve, head on, into the world of cross-cultural literacy We would be remiss if we did not.

curriculum The thesis hopes to seek the answers to characterized attitudes , to identify problems and to illuminate possible solutions The information in this chapter is essential in identifying the reality of the English major program with

English 10 Advanced Te xtbook (Tu Anh et al., 2006) at high schools in Ho Chi

Minh City.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

In chapter 1, the background to the study has been depicted In this chapter the literature relevant to the study is reviewed in seven main sections: (1) the concept of culture; (2) cultural relativism and ethnocentric issues; (3) culture learning in language education (CLLE) and second language acquisition (SLA); (4) CLLE and theories of learning and linguistics ; (5) the importance of culture in language teaching ; and (6) CLLE teacher's role and competencies.

2.1 THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE This section provides definitions of culture and the relationship between culture and language teaching

2.1.1 What is culture?

The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance (Clepper , 2006) Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society" (Sheilds, 1999:105) Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically (Haviland , 2005 ; Miller, 2007) The nineteenth-century British anthropologist, Edward Tylor, proposed the first and most well-known technical definition of culture, as socially patterned human thought and behavior Culture, he wrote , is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (Tylor, 1924 [orig.

1871], p I)." This definition is an open-ended list, which has been extended considerably since Tylor first proposed it A committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science undertook the first inventory of cultural categories

m 1872 (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952) The committee prepared an anthropological field manual that listed seventy-six culture topics, including language There has been considerable theoretical debate by anthropologists since Tylor over the most useful attributes that a technical concept of culture should stress For example, in 1952 Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn, two American anthropologists, published a list of 164 different definitions of culture that had appeared in anthropological writings since 1700 (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952)

Leslie A White (1959) was a major theoretician in North American anthropology who saw culture as consisting of three essential components, which he referred to as techno-economic , the social, and the ideological In contemporary cultural anthropology, the theoretical positions of the ideationists and the cultural materialists correspond to two different definitions of culture Clifford Geertz (1984), speaking for the ideationists, states that culture consists of symbols, motivations, moods, and thoughts This definition focuses on people's perceptions, thoughts, and ideas , and does not include behavior as a part of culture Cultural materialist Marvin Harris (1975:144) states "A culture is the total socially acquired life-way or life-style of a group of people It consists of the patterned repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are characteristic of the members of a particular society or segment of society " To put it another way, culture is not observable behavior but, rather, the shared ideals, values, and beliefs people use to interpret experience and generate behavior and that are reflected by their behavior

Through the comparative study of many different cultures, anthropologists have arrived at an understanding of the basic characteristics all cultures share Major characteristics include culture is adaptive , culture is related to nature but not

• Anthropologists now avoid the use of " man" to refer t o all humans and instead use generic words s uch as

" humans" and " people" (Miller, 2007:12).

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the same as nature (which means culture diverges from nature, even though related

to it), culture is based on symbols, culture is something that is learned , culture is integrated, and culture is something that changes (Bodley, 1990; Haviland, 2005; Miller, 2007) When anthropologist Leslie A White observed that all human behavior originates in the use of symbols, he expressed "an opinion all anthropologists share" (Haviland, 2005:43) Art , religion , and money involve symbols The most important symbolic aspect of culture is language - the substitution of words for objects Through language, humans are able to share, store, and transmit culture over time (Haviland , 2005:43; Miller, 2007 : 15) In particular, language makes it possible to learn from cumulative shared experience Without it, one could not inform others about events they were not a party to (Haviland, 2005 :43) This means that language is not only part of how we define culture; it also reflects culture Culture is a concept that is inherently tied to many of the linguistic concepts taught in second language classes.

Since this study focuses on public holidays and festivals, dealing mainly with behavior and thinking, I would like to elaborate some more on the second characteristic of culture - culture is related to nature but not the same as nature -

which can help us understand people's behavior and thinking One way of seeing how culture diverges from nature , even though related to it , is to see how basic

" natural" demands of human life are met in different ways because of culturally defined variations (Miller, 2007:13) The universal human functions that everyone must perform to stay alive are eating, drinking , sleeping, and eliminating (Requirements for shelter and clothing vary, depending on the climate Procreation

is not necessary for individual survival , although it is for group survival, so i t is not included here ) Natural demands are such that , if they are not met in a certain time period, a person will die Thus , nature dictates that in all cultures, people will eat ,

drink, sleep, and eliminate (Miller, 2007 : 13)

Eating Culture shapes what one eats, how one eats, and when one eats, and

influences ideas about eating The human body requires certain nutrients for survival, but they can be provided in many ways For example, eating meat is not a necessity for survival Many vegetarian cultures have avoided meat eating of any sort for centuries (Miller, 2007 :13).

Preferences about what tastes good vary markedly, and many examples exist

of foods that are acceptable in one culture and not in another In China, most people think that cheese is disgusting, but in France, most people love cheese One distinction exists between eating animals that are alive and animals that are dead In

a few cultures, consumption of live, or nearly live, creatures is considered a gourmet specialty; for example, a Philippine dish includes ready-to-be-born chicks (Miller, 2007:13), and most Vietnamese people enjoy eating boiled eggs with ready- to-be-born ducks or quails inside In many cultures where hunting and fishing are dominant ways of procuring food, people believe that the freshness of the catch is important They consider canned meat or fish highly undesirable Although some scientists and anthropologists have attempted to delineate universal taste categories into four basic types (sweet, sour, bitter, and salty), cross-cultural research disproves these as universals Among the Weyewa people of the highlands of Sumba, an island in Eastern Indonesia , categories of flavors are sour , sweet, salty, bitter, tart, bland , and pungent (Miller , 2007: 13) The same case can be found in Vietnamese , in which categories of flavors are sour ('chua') , sweet ('ngQt'), salty ('m~n'), bitter ('d~ng'), tart ('chat'), bland ('ngQt thanh') , pungent ('the'), piquant ('cay '), and greasy ('beo ') How to eat is also an important area of food behavior Rules about eating are one of the first things you will confront when entering another culture Proper dining manners in India require that a person eat using only the right hand because the left hand is reserved for assisting in elimination A clean right hand (one that has been rinsed in water, preferably) is believed to be the cleanest dining implement , since silverware , plates, and

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glassware that have been touched by others, even though washed, are never truly pure (Miller, 2007:14).

Drinking. Every culture defines the appropriate substances to drink, when to drink, and with whom In the United States, water is commonly consumed during meals, but in India one takes water only after the meal is finished The meaning of particular drinks and the style of drinking and serving them are heavily influenced

by culture If you offered water to an American guest , he might think it odd Social drinking, whether the beverage is coffee, beer, or vodka, creates and reinforces bonds (Miller, 2007:14).

Sleeping. Common sense might say that sleep is the one natural function that

is not shaped by culture, because people tend to do it every twenty-four hours ,

everyone shuts their eyes to do it, everyone lies down to do it, and almost everyone sleeps at night But there are many cultural aspects to sleep, including the question

of who sleeps with whom Cross-cultural research reveals varying rules about where infants and children should sleep: with the mother, with both parents, or by themselves in a separate room Culture also shapes the amount of time a person sleeps In rural India (and also in Vietnam), women sleep fewer hours than men since they have to get up earlier to start the fire for the morning meal (Miller, 2007:14)

Elimination. How does culture affect the elimination process? Differences emerge in the degree to which elimination is a private act or can be done in more or less public areas Public options include street urinals for males but not for females,

as in Paris In most villages in India (and also in Vietnam) , houses do not have interior bathrooms Instead , early in the morning, groups of women and girls leave the house and head for a certain field where they squat and chat Men go to a different area No one uses toilet paper; instead everyone carries in hislher left hand

a small brass pot full of water with which they splash themselves clean (Miller,

2007:15) The same thing happened in rural Vietnam, where people used water or banana or guava leaves instead of toilet paper In Southern Vietnam, where there are

a large numbers of brooks and ponds, people built wooden ' toilets' over them, so as

to feed the fish they raised This practice has ecological advantages because it adds fertilizer to the fields and leaves no paper litter Westerners may consider the village practice unclean, but village Indians would think that the Western system is unsanitary because paper does not clean one as well as water (Miller, 2007 : 15) In many cultures, the products of elimination (urine and feces) are considered disgusting People do not try to keep such things, nor do they in any way revere them In Papua New Guinea, in the South Pacific, people take great care to bury or otherwise hide their fecal matter They fear that someone will find it and use it for magic against them In some cultures, these substances are believed to have pos itive

effects Among Native American cultures of the Pacific Northwest, urine, especially women's urine, was believed to have medicinal and cleansing properties and was considered the "water of life" (Miller, 2007 : 15) In certain death rituals, it was sprinkled over the corpse in the hope that it might rejuvenate the deceased People stored urine in special wooden boxes for ritual use, including the first bath that a baby was given (the urine was mixed with water for this purpose) (Miller, 2007: 15)

Culture is really an integral part of the interaction among language, thought ,

and behavior Cultural patterns, customs, and ways of life are expressed in language; culture-specific worldviews are reflected in language (Valdes , 1986:45).

It is now broadly accepted in most parts of the world that learning a foreign language is not simply mastering an object of academic study but is more appropriately focused on learning a means of communication Communication in real situation is never out of context, and because culture is part of all contexts, communication is never culture-free Therefore, it is now increasingly recognized that language learning and learning about target cultures cannot realistically be separated (Valdes, 1986) In Britain , for example, many documents about foreign language teaching show three broad aims , as analyzed by Byram (1993 : 15) :

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• The development of communicative competence for use In situations the learner might expect to encounter

• The development of an awareness of the nature of language and language learning

• The development of insight into the foreign culture and positive attitudes toward foreign people

But, as Byram shows, these three aims must be integrated.

In Vietnam, Professor Pham Due Duong, Ph.D., has also attempted to define culture in a broad term In his book Vietnamese Culture in Southeast-Asian Settings ,

2000, he wrote: "Culture is translated into ' van hoa' in Vietnamese 'Van' is the appearance, what one creates, not by nature, to show out During that process, one is 'hoa', or educated, to become better, to change oneself from a natural object into a human" In his lectures to students of Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University-HCMC, he uses

Tylor 's definition of culture as the basis He also mentions UNESCO's other 256 definitions and five constants of culture: Humanities, Values, Cognition, Creation, and Communication The fifth constant, Communication, means it is very important

to incorporate culture into second language teaching The main aims of the syllabus

of English in Vietnamese high schools are to enable students to communicate in English, and with the knowledge from the lessons, students can grasp some timely topics and can express their own ideas about them (according to the "Aims of the Syllabus of English in High School" passed by The Ministry of Education and Training, in Education and Times Magazine 69, June 8 th , 2002) The term culture

can, of course have different meanings Some language teachers use the term to refer to cultural products (e.g literary works or works of art) Others use it to refer

to background information (e g facts about the history or geography of countries where the target language is spoken That is, unfortunately, a very limited concept

of culture Here, the term culture includes such aspects, but it also includes behavior

and attitudes, and the social knowledge that people use to interpret experience In

this way, culture can be seen as the framework of assumptions, ideas, and beliefs that are used to interpret other people's actions, words and patterns of thinking This framework is necessarily subjective and is commonly taken for granted However, it

is crucial that foreign language learners should become aware of differing cultural frameworks, both their own and those of others; otherwise they will use their own cultural system to interpret target-language messages whose intended meaning may

be well -predicated on quite different cultural assumptions.

2.1.2 The relationship between culture and language teaching

Culture and language learning involve a dynamic relationship between the situation and the actors in which cultural context, prior experience , and other factors come into play (Street, 1993; Haviland, 2005; Miller, 2007) Putting culture at the core of language education means preparing students to be culture learners Thus, it

is never enough to find and accept someone else's static definitions of the culture Words and their meaning are linked to a cultural context , and language and cultural patterns change over time and vary according to the situation To become effective culture learners , students must develop a variety of learning strategies ranging from reflective observation to active experimentation or what Kolb, an American researcher and educator, refers to as experiential learning style (Kolb, 1984) Most important is to know how to learn from the context while immersed in it, or what Hughes (1986:55) refers to as "learning how to learn."

The methodology suggested by Byram et a1 (1991) is congruent with Paige's definition of culture learning (Paige , 1997) in that it is anchored in three fundamental learning processes: (1) the learners' exploration of their own culture; 2) the discovery of the relationship between language and culture, and 3) the learning of the heuristics for analyzing and comparing cultures A recent response

by the language teaching profession has been to tum to anthropology and

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intercultural education to explore the systematic use of ethnographic' techniques in and outside of the classroom, whereby, as Jurasek (1995:225) explains, the

"product" of the ethnography is considered less important than "the process of observing, participating, describing, analyzing, and interpreting" (For a more complete description of the ethnographic method and suggestions for its integration into foreign language instruction, see Byram, 1991; Jurasek, 1995; Robinson, 1981) Starting with the recognition that we "can never see through another's eyes;

we must see through our own" (Robinson, 1981:150), the overall goal for the learner is to progress towards the development of intercultural competence by addressing the affective component of such a competence (see Bennett, 1993) Jurasek (1995:228) suggests that such an outcome has two general facets: (1) consciousness-raising in regard to perception and perspective, and (2) "an ever- increasing ability to recognize at least in a limited way what things might look like from the viewpoint of members of another culture" It is worth remarking that the gradual development of such a competence is at the heart of foreign language learning.

2.2 CULTURAL RELATIVISM VERSUS ETHNOCENTRISM

In teaching culture it is essential to differentiate cultural relativism from ethnocentric ideas Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research in by the American anthropologist Franz Boas (1911) in his book The Mind ofPrimitive Man', and then popularized in the 1940s by Boas's students Boas himself did not use the term, and the term became common among anthropologists after Boas's death in 1942 (the term first appeared in the journal American Anthropologist in 1948); thus, the term itself represents how Boas's students summarized their own synthesis of many of

• Ethnography : the scientific description of different races and cultures

• Already slated on pp 15, anthropologisits today consider "primitive" as a derogatory term (Miller, 2007).