Luận văn Điều tra thái Độ của sinh viên Đối với nội dung văn hóa trong giáo trình new headway pre imtermediate Ở trường Đại học công nghiệp tp hcm cơ sở thanh hóa

Aims of the study The study focuses on investigating the attitude of students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in ‘Thanh Hoa Province towards cultural contents expessed

VIETNAM NATIONAL LNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

KACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES Rololololok dcicieloledok dokadc lied dala ied dak oko k ide lek aokak ak

LE THI NGA

AN INVESTIGATION INTO TITE STUDENTS’ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CULTURAL CONTENTS IN THE TEXTBOOK NEW ITEADWAY PRE-IMTERMEDIATE AT ITO CTI MINIT CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY BASED IN TILANII

TOA

(DIEU TRA THAI DO CUA SINH VIEN DOI VOI NOI DUNG VAN HOA TRONG GIÁO

'PRINH NEW HEADWAY PRE-IMTERMEDLATE O TRUONG DAI HOC CONG NGHIEP

THÀNH PHO HO CHI MINH CO sd THANH HOA)

MINOR M.A THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

TIA NOT, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ool aol GIcI AOI Ral IG IGA OI CICK JOACIGI I AGRAGK TOK ARO ROOK

LE THI NGA

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STUDENTS’ATTITUDES TOWARDS TITE CULTURAL CONTENTS IN THE TEXTBOOK NEW

HEADWAY PRE-IMTERMEDIATE AT ITO CHI MINIT

CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY BASED IN THANII

HOA

(DIRU TRA THÁI DỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN DÓI VỚI NỘI DỰNG VĂN HÓA TRƠNG GIÁO

TRINH NEW HEADWAY TRE-IMTERMEDIATE Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP

THANH PHO HO CHI MINH CO 86 THANH HÓA)

MINOR M.A THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410

Supervisor: Phan Thi Van Quyén M.A

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF ORINALITY ẨẨẨỐẨẨỐẨỐỐỒÓỒÔ

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS "

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLE§ AND CIIARTS

PART I: INTRODUCTION,

Rationales

Aims of the study

Research questions

Scope of the study

Mcthods of the study

Design of the study

PARY I DEVELOPMENT

1 Cullure:

2 Language and (he relationship bebween language nitd CUỈ[UC

4 Identifications of British and ‘American ultra elements i 1m Nay jew

2.1, Current situation of teaching —— English at the HỮI 20

2.2 Research questions

3.3 Method of the study

2A Data Collection Instrum

2.5, Data collection procedures

CHAPTER IL: DATA ANALYSIS

3.1 Questionnaire for students

3.2 Interviews with sludents

CHAPTER IV: FINGDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

Findings

Suggestions for improving the sitnation

PART Ill: CONCLUSION

1 Coneluion +

2 Limitations of the study

3 Suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW

aus

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE

CULTURAL CONTENTS IN THE TEXTBOOK NEW HEADW AY Pre-

intermediate AY HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY BASED IN

THANE HOA

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

+ Globalization leads to the remarkable teaching and leaming English issue

+ Besides, there is a dialectical connection between langnage and cufture

+ However, the students al HUT bascd in Thanh Hoa oflen ncgicet cullural contents

while studying English

2 Aims of the study

The study focuses on investigating the attitude of students at Ho Chi Minh City University

of Industry based in ‘Thanh Hoa Province towards cultural contents expessed in the textbook Headway 2 to enhance the effect of using them as a means to provide comprohonsibts input in learning English

3, Research questions

‘This research is cartied out to find the answer to the following research questions:

1 Are sindonts inicrested in learning culture when studying limguage?

2, Do teachers include cultural contents in their lectures?

3 Are students satisfied with their teacher's cultural teaching?

4, Scope of the study

As it has been stated above, the study is designed to cxplorc students’ attitudes towards cultural contents in the textbook NH Pre in order to make some methodological recommendations for studying English The sindy is, therefore, explorative by mature

Given the aims of the study, I imited myself'to focus on the first-year students at the HUI who have studied the textbook NH Pre,

5 Methods of the study

- Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used

- ‘The data for the study are collected ftom questionnaires and interviews

- Discussion with the supervisor

6 Design of the study

‘The study is presented in three parts: introduction, development and conclusion

Part one INTRODUCTION introduces the rationale, aims, focus, objectives, research questions, scope, methods and design of the study

Part two DEVELOPMENT concludes 3 chapters,

Chapter one is the literature reviews ‘This chapter intends to sef up the framework of the study Tl focuses on the thoory of the relationship belween culture and language

Chapler lwo includes two sections The first section presents the local situation in the

foreign language group, Ho Chi Minh city University of Industry, the Branch in Thanh Hoa, with a brief description of the leaming and teaching conditions, students, teachers

and course book used for teaching basic English The sccoud scution describes the rescarch methodology that includes the description of the subjects, setting, data collection

instruments and procedures

Chapter three presents the results collected from the sclf-observation, questionnaires and interviews in the form of tables and figures ‘This is followed by the discussion and analysis

of the data

Part three CONCLUSION inchides the implications and suggestions for teaching Bnglish through teaching culture Recommendations for further research are also mentioned in this part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1.Culture

- Definition of Culture

~ Elements of Culture

1 2, Language and the relationship between language and culture

1, 3 Learning Attitudes

- Defini

ions of ailitudes

- The role of attituiles in language learning

1 4 ldentifications of British and American cultural elements in New Headway textbooks

- Brilish cultural elements

- American cultural clements

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Current situation of teaching and learning English at the HUL

- Brief introduction of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry based in ‘Thanh Hoa Province

~ Students and their background

Students of HUL come from all parts of 1'hanh Hoa province (Thanh Hoa city, đistricts and

Trotmlainous sreas) Some of thonr have Iearncd English for 7 yoars al secondary and high school whercas others have only Icarned English for 3 years Specifically, sơme other students have never leamed English before Most of students who learned English at school experienced traditional method of Linglish teaching (the Grammar- translation method) the cmphiasis of which is on the leaning of the rules of the language, not on the acquisition of language skills and cutural contents, Furthermore, the majority of the students does not have appropriate leaming strategies and have passive leaming styles Therefore, their Gencral English skills arc supposed to be at lower levels

- The course book

New headway textbooks ( written by Liz and John Soars) consist of six levels which are ai boginmer, clemenlary, pre-intermediats, intermediate, apper-inlermediats and advanced However, in my research only New headway at pre-intermediate level is under

investigation New headway- pre-intermediate is divided into 14 units Lach unit of

textbooks is divided inlo sections such as Teadig, listening, writing, speaking, vocabulary ang grammar, The textbooks have been designed according to the miscellany approach It isa type of course books the content of which is eclectic

New Hoadway Drc may salisfy the derumds of the commuanivative approach ta language teaching They emphasize the learning of the language for clcaly defined purposes and four major skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking in a very

sara

systernalic way The Teacher's Book also provides pholocopiable progres:

additional activities as well as detailed answer keys and notes, so that teachers have a

wealth of support In addition, we can see some notes and explanations for cultural fealures of countries, espovially English speaking cultures Indeed, if we have a closer

Jook at New Headway Pre, we discover cultural elements in almost every text or activity It

would be extremely difficult to cover all the cases in which the course books offer learners information about the target culture ‘The presentation of culture takes various forms:

examining cveryday life and cultural behaviour, looking info communication styles,

norms, values and attitudes, etc The activities focus on particular subject areas like

shopping, food, meals, traffic, restaurants, jobs and many more A great advantage of the

cours: book is that it gives not only information and knowledgc about the target culture but also other foreign cultures Learners are given an opportunity to deal with various cultural issues The aim is lo develop an understanding of English countries in general Towever, British and American cultures are the most prominently described in the textbook

2.2, Research questions

‘This rescarch is carried out to find the answer to the following rescarch questions:

1 Ave students intzre:

2 Do teachers include cultural contents in their lectures?

3 Are students satisfied with their teacher's cultural teaching?

2.3, Method of the Study

To achicve the aims stated, quantitative method was mainly uscd The data collected for the study come from 100 first- year students at the HUI based in ‘Thanh Hoa Province who

‘have just finished studying NH Pre

ed in leaming culture when studying language?

Survey questionnairas wore used to collect information and evidence for the study with the hope that the research would be reliable and the processing of the data would be manageable within limited time budget

Tn addition, the research also uscd qualitative method that is the author eollecied sore information based on her informal classroom observations and interviews with 10 students chosen ftom 100 students ‘I'he researcher hopes that these methodologies supplement each other and the data are more reliable

All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study are based

on the data analysis,

2.4, Data Collection Instruments

‘The main instruments, which I have used in this study to collect data, are questionnaire and

1T€TVIews

2.4.1 Questionaire

The research questionaire consists of nine questions that are divided into three parts: the

students’ attitudes toward the culture, the students’ attitudes towards the cultural contents in

the lexthook NH Pre and the difficulties thy enhance when studying the cullural contents

in this textbook,

The questionaire aims to investigate the students’attitudes towards cultural leaming in general and their attitndss towards the cultural contents in the textbook NIT Pre as well as their attitudes to cultural teaching in their English classes

2.4.2 Interview

‘The interview is carried out after finishing the quostionairc part 10 out of 100 students arc chosen to give further ideas

2.5 Data collection procedures

In order to get results showing the differences in attitudes of the students towards the

cutural contents, nine questions were delivered to the participants After the questionnaires, students were chosen tandomly for the interviews before and after the experiment, and

finally coltceled data is analized

CHAPTER I: DATA ANALYSIS

‘This chapter analysed the collected data from the survey questionnaires and the interviews

to find the answers for the research questions

3.1 Questionnaire for students

3.1.1 The attitudes of students at HUI based in Thanh Hoa Province towards culture

Jearning when studying language

In short, it can be concluded that most of the students answer that they aro not very interested in culture because it is also not very important for them in studying English More than a third of studetns suppose that cutural knowledge is not important to ther at all

in Ieamning English As a result, a very small parcentage of them suppose that they are

interested in culture and determine its importance Moreover, no one say that they master

gonoral cultural knowledge such as ils definition and clemants very well; and more than 1half of them do not understand these at all

3.1.2 The attitudes of students at the HUY based in Thanh Hoa Province towards the

cultural contents in the textbook NZ Pre

- When these 100 students were asked whether they could identity the cultural elements in the textbook NH Pre after finishing the course, well over a half of students can do although

it is not much 36% cannot do at all

~ A great number of students at [MUI based in Thanh [loa showed a negative attitude

towards the cultural contents in the textbook NH Pre, Much more respondents said that the

cultural contents were not rich enough (61%), wheares only 39% said that these contents

were rich The number of students who supposed thal the cultural contents boring were

slighlly frigher than inlerosting, 41% and 35%, Similarly, this happened to the idea whether these contents were obviously expressed or not

3.1.3 The students’ attitudes towards the cultural teaching

Most of the students (78%) said that they were not satisficd with the teachers’ cultural teaching in the class None of them felt very satisfied but 22 % of the students have shown

good altiludes Lowards iL

3.1.4 Studcuts’ difficulties when learning cultural contents in the texthook NH Pre 72% of the students admitted that they lack background knowledge of British and

American culture 28% of respondents were worried about lack of vocabulary to express their idcas said that they had difficultios im expressing idous because they lacked

*eowiede aboul the cullure TL was difficult for 12% because they had ol any visual

illustrations Only 8% said that they had no time to acquire cultural knowledge

3.2 Interviews with students

After gathering information ftom the survey questionnaires, the researcher conducted

instructional interviews with 10 students out of 100 studants under questions 1,2 in

interview part to confizmm students’ further idcas about the cultural contents in eurent

textbook All of the interviewed students said that:

‘The things that students unsatisfied are

(1) Their teachers have not emphasized the importance of cultural knowledge when

teaching English yel

(2) Time allowance for cultural contents in English classes is so limited,

(3) The cultural contents in the textbook NII Pre are not very obviously expressed to

identify them,

(*) ‘The things that students will be satisfied and can improve students’ cultural knowledge

(1) they are reminded about the importance of Tiritish and Arperican cultural knowledge in studying, English in the first lessons of the course

(2) they are transferred the culture definition and its elements as soon as possible during, +the course so that they can themselves identify the cultural elements in each part of the

Jesson or diseuss with their friends

(3) the teachers should tell more stories and give more exercises related to culture as well

as use a variety of activities and techniques for integrating ths cultural contents into their leaching,

(4) the comparison between British and American culture and Vietnamese culture should

‘be done if possible in order that students not only find more interested in cultural contents

‘bat they also can memorise these easily and deeply

CHAPTER TV: FINGDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS:

4.1 Findings

Firstly, the first year students at the HUI show not very positive attitudes towards cutture and studying it, Not many of these students see the importance of cultural knowledge for their learning English as well as communication with native speakers Consequently, nol all of them are really interested in culturat lessons

Secondly, it is clear ftom the survey that the students are not satisfied because cultural conlonis aro nol always inlagrated inlo English lessons To be more oxacl, thay wanl to ba taught the basie knowledge of culture thal helps them to identify the eudturat elements i each unit The students also say that the teaching techniques and activities are not varied enough ‘The students expressed their wish to acquire British and American cultural knowledge through miore interesting conmunicalive activities such as games, songs, slory telling, picture desoribing,

It is clear that nowadays there is a tendency to study English for communication, therefore cultural knowledge plays an important role However, a considerable number of the English leamers at HUI based in ‘Thanh Hoa Province do not focus on this in class ‘This situation is due to the following reasons

4.2 Suggestions for impraving the situation

4.2.1 Suggestions for students

Firstly, io be suecessful in learning Fngtish, students “niHades towards English need to change They should consider English as important as other subjects in the cuiculum and appreciate the role of culture in studying Lngtish

Scoondly, students’ attitude towards cultural knowicdgc and cultural leaming also should

be improved it not only helps them to broaden their knowledge but if is also a vital part of jearning Fnglish for communication

‘thirdly, students’ role is no longer passive recipients ‘They can explore the cultural Imowledge by thonisclves from different sources They shoutd feel Ess lo cxpress thai own ideas, to put questions to the teachers, to show their disagreements with the teachers

4.2.2, Suggestions for teachers

First of all, the teachers should provide the students with the knowledge of the cultures of English-speaking countries which is considered the effective means of mastering English