Luận văn intercultural competence of elf teachers at university of economic and technical industries when teaching the course book new headway pre intermediate third edition

ABSTRACT This study examines the inlerculural competence of ELF teachers al University of Liconomic and Technical Industries, their self-report in teaching practice and the reflection o

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATLONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Yen IEEE ÂN HT tr NHH

LƯƠNG THỊ THAXH THẢO

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF EFL ‘TEACHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECQNOMIC AND TECIINICAL INDUSTRIES WITEN

TEACHING THE COURSE BOOK “ NEW HEADWAY, PRE-

INTERMEDIATE, THIRD EDLTION”

Năng lực liên văn hóa của giáo viên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học

Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Công Nghiệp trong việc giảng day giản trình

“ New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAT UNIVERSITY, HA NOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES,

LƯƠNG TIIỊ TIAXH THẢO

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF EFL TEACHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES WHEN

TEACHING THE COURSE BOOK “ NEW HEADWAY, PRE-

INTERMEDIATE, THIRD EDITION”

Năng lực liên văn hóa của giáo viên Tiếng Anh Trường Dai hoc

Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Công Nghiệp trong việc giảng dạy ido trình

“ New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Cade: 60140111

Supervisor: Prof Nguyen Quang

HANOT - 2016

DECLARATION

I, Luong Thi Thanh Thảo, hereby certify that the thesis “Intercultural

Competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries

whenteaching the course book “New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third Edition”

” Gs submitted for the paral fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts al the

Faculty of Post Graduate Studics — University of Languages and International

Studies Vietnam National University, Llanoi | also declare that this thesis is result

of my own research and efforts and that it has not been submitted for any other

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Virst of all, L would like to express my indebtedness and sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof Assoc Nguyen Quang for his invaluable guidance and great support without which this thesis would not have been completed

Besides, I am heartily thankful to all the lecturers and teachers of the Faculty of

Post Graduate Studies — University of Languages and International Studies —

Vietnam National University, Hanoi for thew valuable and mleresting lectures and

assistance during my study at the university

Many thanks would go 1o all the teachers of English al University of Economic

and Technical Industries whose active participation and cooperation helped me to fulfill this study

Last but not least, T send my special thanks to my family and my friends who

provided abundant assistance and encouragement while this work was in progress.

ABSTRACT

This study examines the inlerculural competence of ELF teachers al

University of Liconomic and Technical Industries, their self-report in teaching practice and the reflection of their intercultural competence on their teaching This

study adopls a mixed methods research design Quanlilalive data are collected

through a survey questionnaire from seventeen IDL teachers at University of

Economic and Technical Industries Among them, four teachers participate in the

follow-up interviews The findings of this study suggesL thal participaling teachers’ perceive cultural teaching objectives reflect various aspects of an intercultural

perspective loward culture teaching They are aware of the importance of

intercultural competence in teaching however they have not applied frequently in teaching practice yet Linglish language teachers concentrated on the factual kmawledge and skills parts of teaching the language most of the time, which could

be categorized within the pedagogy of information and the pedagogy of preparation respectively; either when they were presenting culture; when they were representing

their teaching objectives; when they perceived the teaching of the ICC: or when

they were using activities in their classrooms Less concentration was paid to actual teaching of culture, which could be categorized within the pedagogy of encounter,

despite their realization of the importance of it to their students and their openness

to other cullures

in

1 Rationale of the study

2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

2.2 Objectives of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Significance of the study

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.3 Byram’s perception of intercultural competence - - 10

1.4, Review of related studies

2.3 Data colleetion proeedue icon re neec 16

2.4.2, Interviews Analysis cccscsicenoseistntnnessensnee 7

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 From quantitative data

3.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence 19

3.1.2 BRI teachers self-report their infercullural competence im teaching

3.2.3 How teachers perceive the teaching of intercultural competence in their

GÌ48STOOINS Út THỦ HH HH rượu thue TỔ,

3.24 Teacher's intercultural competence reflected in their self-report

Intereultural communicative competence

Intercultural Language Teaching and Leaming in Practice

Standard Deviation

University of Economie and Technical Industries

Table 3.3: Teachers’ beliels about cullural teaching objectives: 22

Table 3.4, Frequency of Dealing with Particular Cultural Aspects 23

Table 3.5: Responses about having the chance to Create a 24

Multicultural Environment in the Language Classroom

Table 3.6: Frequency of applying interculcural competence teaching 26

Table 3.?7: Means for items showing a positive attitude ta teaching 29

LIST OF APPENDIXES

Page

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

‘As a result of globalization, the growing popularity of English as foreign lariguage learmg (FFT) has been pul an emphasis on both linguistic proficiency and competence Due to the worldwide trend of globalization, the opportunities to communicate and interact in Fnglish have increased and English is considered as the gateway that makes communication possible across cultures In order to achieve the goal of successful communication, English language teaching has been viewed as imperative way to reach the goal However, being influent in the target language does not guarantee that the transmitting messages will be successful It can result in misinterpretation and miscommunication Therefore, foreign language education should inlegrate diverse worldwide cullure and relate lo learners’ cullural background

In other words, cultural knowledge and linguistic knowledge play an equal role in communication According to Byram (1997) and Smith et al (2003, p.89-126)) “in order to enhance English language learners’ intercultural communicative competence, understanding other background is the foundation of making possible assumptions.” Moreover, many scholars such as Byram and Morgan (1994), and Secru (2005) have pointed out the important of intercultural competence (IC) in foreign language education noting that teaching English as a foreign or second language is not merely language Leaching, bul more importantly “the teaching of global culuure.”

Since culture plays such an important role in Linglish language teaching, teachers should be considered as a major instructional tool to transmit knowledge and

consequently lo convey cultural aspects Lo their students Tn recent ycars, Vietnamese

BEL teachers and educators are beginning to understand the greater role of culture plays in foreign language learning and beginning to address the need lo integrate a cultural dimension into classrooms (Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, 2007, Nguyen Thanh Long,

2014) Despite the fact that the importance of culture teaching has gained attention from Vietnamese EFL teachers and scholars, classroom teaching still falls behind theoretical expectation: linguistic teaching still dominates mostly in universities in Vietnam and culture teaching has not been very effective in terms of promoting students’ acquisition of intercultural competence and preparing them for intercultural communication ‘This makes teaching intercultural competence a significant and heavy responsibility on language teachers’ professional development, which requires additional objectives and focus for leacher education and training programs

Additionally, it is initiated by my own interest in the topic which inspires me to have a further insight into “Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University

of Economic and Technical Industries when teaching the course book “New

Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”,

2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to investigate intercultural competence of EFL teachers

al Unversity of Reonome and Technical Industries and their self-report in culture

teaching

2.2 Objectives of the study

- To assess Lhe mlercultural competence of FFT teachers al, Universily of

Economic and Technical Industries

- To find out EFT teachers’ self-report in culture teaching practices

- To find out how EFL teachers’ intercultural competence is reflected in thew

self-reported pedagogical practice in classroom

bo

3 Scope of the study

Within the framework of this minor thesis, the study only focuses on university

EFL teachers* attitude of intercultural competence in teaching for non-English major

students

4 Significance of the study

The researcher finds il necessary lo explore how Fnglish language teachers think about teaching culture in their classroom The need of using English as a means

of communication with people from other countries is more and more increasing

because of the globalizalion,

Firstly, this study helps to provide teachers and educators with a framework to train English language teachers to incorporate culture into the English language teaching, and also provide an in-depth understanding of the theoretical background of

language and culture teaching,

Secondly, the study provides the insights into Hnglish language teachers’

intercultural competence and their application in practice

5.2 Research methods

The study adopts a mixed methodology combining both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis Seventeen teachers are investigated so as to compare and contrast their understanding and attitudes towards intercultural competence Two collection instruments are employed including questionnaire, and semi-structured interview

6 Design of the study

The thesis consists of three parts, namely Introduction, Development and

Conclusion

Part A, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the method and the design of the study

Part B, Development, consists of three chapters Chapter 1, Literature Review,

reviews the key constructs and related works Chapter 2, Methodology, introduces the

participants, the data collection instruments and data analysis procedure Chapter 3, Findings and Discussions, deals with the results and the discussions concluded from

the data analysis

Part C is Conclusion of the study In this part, the major findings, some

recommendations, limitations of the research as well as suggestions for further study

are presented

The appendixes are the last part of the study following the reference

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1, Language and culture correlation

To accomplish a productive discussion of the relationship between culture and lariguage, both terms should be defined Language is generally accepted as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication According to Sapir (1921, p8)

“Language is a purely human and non-instinotive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols” ‘hompson (2008) defines language as a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables

us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences” The definition of language

is also supported by Salzman (1993, p.15) as a part of human genetics endowment, and language, which is one of the several systems of communication used by various people

Culture can also be interpreted as “the complex whole, which includes knowledge, belie(s, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities, and habits acquired by humans as members of a society (Tylor, 1874), According to Hubernere (1965, p.78) culture is divided into three categories the sociological or social sciences dimension of cullure, which includes the hislory, geography, economies, and polilical development of a nation, the artistic dimension of culture, which consists of literature, music, art, etc.; and the anthropological oriented dimension of culture, which covers

aspeels such as the belavioral pallerns of the people e.g customs, daily life, standard

of living and religion And there is a most widely accepted definition of culture: culture

is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication pallorns thal are shared, leammed and passed down through the generation in an identifiable group of people Also, another categorization places

culture as a “large or capital-C culture” and a “small-c culture” (Chastain, 1976,

p.338& Doyé, 1999, p.19)

Krech (1962) explained the major functions of language from the following

three aspects:

1 Language is the primary vehicle of commutation;

2 Language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of his history In lum, it helps shaps both personality and culture;

3 Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social group

Tt is often held that the function of language is to express thought and to communicate information Language also fulfills many other tasks such as greeting

people, conducting religions service, ete It is obvious that language plays a paramount

role in developing, elaborating and transmitting culture, enabling us to store meanings and experience to facilitate communication The finction of language is so important in

communication thal il is ever exaggerated by some scholars

However, the definition alone cannot provide us with a clear understanding on

the relationship between language and culture Therefore, we should take a dialectical point of view on the relationship between language and oullurs As is montioned at, the

beginning, language and culture ate inextricably intertwined ‘his approach is

supported by Crozet & Liddicoal (2000) and other researchers and language educators

such as Risager (2005), Carr (2007) Kramsch (1991, p.217) argues that “language and culture are inseparable and constitute a single universal or domain of experience” On

the one hand, language is a part of human being It reflects people’s attitudes, beliefs,

and worldviews Language both expresses and embodies cultural reality On the other hand, language is a part of culture It helps perpetuate the culture and it can influence

the cullure Lo a cortaim oxtonl According Lo Saint-Jacques (2012, p.53), language carr

be seen as a window into the culture of people speaking that language Therefore, it is

difficult to communicate without understanding of culture in spite of mastering thousands of words There is a need to know about the people and the country of the targct language Several authors (Scclyc, 1974, Lafayotte, 1975, Starkey, 1996, McKay, 2000) have stressed the importance of culture in teaching and learning a foreign language The relationship between language and culture in second language leaming and teaching is also discussed widely by many authors, for example, Byram, Morgan et al (1994) and Iliggs (1990)

To sum up, language and culture have an interdependent relationship According

to Bennett & Allon (2003, p.237) “the person who Icams language without learning culture risks becoming a fluent fool” Therefore, there is a need for the teacher to be aware of the cultural differences to help their students get rid of inappropriate behaviors when engaging with native speakers

1.2 Intercultural competence

Language education has experienced from a focus of “linguistics competence”

to communicative competence” and then to “intercultural competence” Chomsky

(1965) has investigated the acquisition of “linguistic competence” Students are expected to develop the understanding of a language correctly only by learning its Tinguistics syslom which includes grammatical structures, vocabulary and pronunciation At that time the socio-cultural context is less of significance in language

acquisition As the pragmatic reform appears al the secoril half of the 20nd century

which emphasizes on the performance of specch acts, language teachers realize that it

is not enough for students to communicate effectively with only well-structured

sentences if they lack the knowledge of how to use these sentences 1 a real corlext,

Ihe term “communicative competence” is investigated in different ways by many scholars It is first introduced by Ilymes (1972) with several systems of rules

underlying commumicalive bebaviors Then Van Fk (1986) who originally applies CC

to FLY also presents six partial or super-ordinate abilities in his research This competence usually consists of four elements: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence (Savignon, 1983 & Alptekin, 2002) Llowever, CC has been criticized by scholars because of focusing on

speech acts and discourse competence instead of cultural competence Meanwhile the

culture of the target language often differs from the first language As argued by Crozet and Liddicoat (1999), commumicative language teaching is not able to link between

language and culure số 1L does not enhance imercultural understanding Therefore,

there is a need to entail a shift m the overall aim of FL instruction trom CC to IC

There are different definitions of intercultural competence The

coneepiualivalion of imfercultural compelenee mainly deals with the abilily to communicate and interact across culture of language leamers According to Byram

(1997) intercultural competence is defined as “the ability to commumcale and imleract

across culture boundaries” As presented in her work, Deardoff (2004, p.194) proposes that intercultural competence include “the ability to communicate effectively and

appropriately in intercultural situation based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills

and attitudes” This definition is also supported by Paige et al (2003) who refer to intercultural competence as the ability of a person to “interact and communicate elToetively with person [rom other eullures and in cullurally diverse soltings*

In addition to the ability to communicate and interact, the sense of cultural

identity 1s another important feature in the notion of intercultural competence Byram,

Gribkova & Starkey ( 2002, p.10) has shown that it is “ the ability to ensure a shared

understanding by people of different social identities, and the ability to interact with people as complex human beings wilh mulliple identities and their own individuality”

Intercultural competence emphasizes leamers’ mediation between different cultures Risager (1998, p.211) has shown that intercultural competence is the ability

that allows leamers lo “fumetion as mechators between their home culture and the target.

culture and to use the target language as contact language with people who use this language as first language” According to Byram& Zarate (1997) it helps leamers to look at thomsclves form an extemal perspective, then analyze and adapt their own behaviors, values and belief’ ‘hey can interpret and understand other perspectives as

well as decide what is taken for granted in their society as mediators between language

and culture ‘Therefore, they can “engage with complexity and multiple identities and avoid stereotyping which accompanies the act of perceiving someone through a single

identity” (Byram et al, 2002, p.9) The “reflective capacity to deal with cultural

differences and to modify behavior when needed” was also taken into consideration by

other cultures Teachers can inspire their students’ interest and their curiosity about

“othemess”, and an awareness of themselves and their own culture from other people’s

perspectives

To sum up, culture is scen as (he gore in the concept of intercultural competence

in language education It is insufficient for language learners to study and work in

multicultural setting only by “linguistics competence” and “communicative

competence” In consequence, there arc a wide range of definitions of “interoultural competence” due to its complexity these definitions all focus on people’s capacity to communicale effectively and appropralcly in the interculiural siluations and their ability to mediate between languages and cultures The next section describes the five

well-known models of intercultural competence.

1.3 Byram’s perception of intercultural competence

Byram (1997) offers a model of IC, which includes five “savoirs” acquired by language Icarners The cloments of this model arc attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness or political education, linked to the values a person acquires as a result of belonging to several social groups in a society ‘hese five savoirs are defined as follows’

1 Savoirs (Knowledge): of social groups and their products and practices i

one's own and in one's interlocutor's country, and of the general processes of societal

and individual interaction

2 Savoir éfre (Altitudes): curiosity and openness, readiness 1o suspend dishclic!”

about other cultures and belief about one’s own

3 Savoir comprendre ( Skills of interpreting and relating): ability to wilerprel a

document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from

one's own

4, Savoir apprendre! faire (Skills of discovery and interaction): ability to

acquire new knowledge of a culture and culural practices and the ability to operate

imowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and

5 Savoir s’engager (Critical cultural awareness/political education): an ability

to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives, practices and

products in one’s own and other cultures and countries.

= Flotata intorpretations to | 7 |» Procedural application of

‘one’s own culluee and, ` a hnowtecige in foal time

trom mulNpls culual

+ Gonarnl interaction procoes « ldontiy extona tor uta

Attitudes (savoir tre)

= Curionity and opennees

2 Readinoos to sunpend diebotiot te: other culluron

+ Boaainoss to suspend taliat

vơ 0w outa,

Figure 1 Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence

Figure | shows the relationship between five elements Byram’s model (1997)

values key dimensions in relation to culture: cultural relativism, critical awareness,

empathy, curiosity, and cultural identity It also presents the inter-relationship of

linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and intercultural competence For Byram, intercultural competence involves an individual’s activity to interact with people in other cultures using foreign language as well as acts as a mediator between people of different culture

Through the five saviors proposed by Byram (1997), language learners can

identify misunderstandings while interacting with people from other cultures, explain

their conflicting interpretations, define the need for further learning, and take action to

avoid such misunderstandings

IC offers an invaluable opportunity to engage language leamers in learning about other cultures It gives language teachers a chance to integrate the teaching of lariguage and cullure

1.4 Review of related studies

In Kurope, Australia, and North America, the importance of intercultural competence teaching has been widely recognized in second and foreign language

curricula and cđucational policies (Sereu, 2006, Liddicol, 2004;) For inslance, in

Europe, the acquisiion of mlercultural compelence has been addressed in the Council

of Europe's (2001) Common European Framework of Reference for

Languages-Learning, teaching, assessment The framework provides a structure for intercultural competence development based on Byram’s (1997) model Moreover, it

provides a common basic for language syllabuses, curiculum guidelines, and assessment Knowledge and skills for language learners ta reach the six levels of

communicative proficiency are identified in the CEFR Culture as one of the main

aspects of the CLI'R is put an emphasis to help language leamers become plurilingual and develop interculturally (Council of Kurope, 2001}

In the United States, the National Standards in Foreign Langauge Education Project is a framework for second language learning Five national standards for foreign language education which are referred to as the five Cs (Standards, 1996) have been proposed, including communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities, Teachers are encouraged to adjust their current communicative

competence oriented teaching practices in order 1o help sludents to acquire imercultural

competence Although many countries’ national curricula for language teaching have

been following the intercultural shift in theory, Garrido & Alvarez (2006), Sercu (2006) argue that both cultural teaching in the broad sense and intercultural

compelence teaching have nol yel become a comuon practice in second and forcign

anyguage

Studies conducted by Huropean researchers, regarding cultural teaching

practices, suggest that most language teachers’ current cultural teaching practices do nol yet have desired outcomes as spocilied in the theorctical lilsralure ( Sercu, 2006,

Sercu, Mendez Garcia & Castro Prieto, 2005)

In Australia, the /ntercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice

(ILTLP) (University of South Australia, 2007) was further developed in Australia The

ILTLP helps teachers increase their knowledge of intercultural language teaching and

leammg Furlhenmore, il helps language teachers able to inlegrale them tito classroom

practice and assessment

Some researchers have investigated foreign language teachers’ perception of ACC and its implementation in the language classroom Serou (2005) conducted a study

thal surveyed teachers of English, German, and French and investigated to whal extant

the teachers” beliefs, levels of instruction, and teaching practices could be promoting

ICC as opposed to mere communicative competence Ile finally found that the majority

of foreign language teachers who participated in the study had “not yet adopted student-centered strategies for teaching intercultural competence” (p 103) because of lacking of proparetion and of appropriate teaching materials and not having sufficient time, resources, or training Teacher's beliefs and practices reparding ICC have been investigated by other researchers such as Paige, Jorstad, Siaya, Klein, and Colby,

(2003); Sercu, (2005)

The lack of curricular support, suitable textbook materials, and ICC testmg,

raises concerns aboul the imlegralion of ilercultural competence into language

cumicula were concluded in the researches of Dulf & Ueluda, (1997); Lavaratlon,

(2003); Young et al., (2009)

In Vietnam, Nguyen Thì Mai Hoa is one of the researchers who highlight the

Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa (2007) also considers

the lack of guidelines, insufficient time, class

importance of intercultural compelenes

s and lack of interculuural capability

as the reasons of communication failure

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1, Setting and participants

2.1.1, Setting

The study is cared out al Facully of Foreign language, University of Economie and Technical Industries (UNETD) Faculty of Foreign language provides the English learning prograins for non-major English students Every classroom is equipped with a projector, and other teaching as well as learning aids There are 44 teachers of English

at the Faculty of Foreign language There is no foreign teacher working at the faculty

2.1.2 Participants

The participants in the research are 17 teachers of Basic English Department leaching Basic Fnglish for second year sludenls They have different degree levels, their minimum level is MA and others have BA degree in English language teaching, Their Fuglish proficiencies are at least Cl according to Common Furopean Framework

of References for Languages (CEFR) They have experience in toachug English at

least 2 years

2.2 Data collection instrument

Démyei (20014) claims “a combination of qualitative and quantitative design might bring out the best of approaches while neutralizing the shortcomings and biases inherent in each paradigm” (p

2) Therefore, a mixed-methods approach is adopted

in this study Survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview are used as the main

instruments of collecting data

2.2.1 Questionnaire

Survey questionnaire is used to examine teacher’s understanding of intercultural competence, their self-report in teaching practice and find out the relationship between teacher’s intercultural competence and thei: applivation in tcachmg English Because

14

questionnaire are self-administrated and data can be collected from a large group of participants within a short period of time according to Seliger and Shohamy (1989), it

is considered to be one of the major advantages of questionnaire Moreover, teacher can be confident to express their viewpoints

The survey questionnaire consists of three main parts in order to caver the main research issues following Cohen et al (2007) recommendations, which suggest that the design of the questionnaire should move from objective facts to subjective attitudes and opinions thre

justifications The sequence of the paris and the sequence of the

research questions follow the recommended pattern The focus is on designing the

questionnaire with mainly closed questions and shart and clear instructions for ease of

analysis and (o give more responses Lo cach question (Redline cl al., 2002) Also, apen- ended questions were added to give in depth data regarding what teachers think ‘There

is no need Lo Iranslale the questionaire inlo Vietnamese, since (he parlicipants are

English language teachers

The questionnaire used in this study, is inspired and adapted from Serou et al.’s

(2005) international survey This study uses part of Sercu et al (2005) international

questionnaire for different reasons; first its topic similarity with this research study; its organization and presentation of each theme in a realistic and systematic way, and the

appropriateness of most of the slalements used in her questionnaire lo answer my

research questions Part A consists of four questions The first two questions focuses on teachers’ definitions of culture and IC The third question is designed to explore how

teachers perceive the teaching of culture Participants’ intercultural competence is evaluated in the last question

Part B consists of four questions which aim to explore what kind of cultural

activities they use in their classrooms; if they are creating a multicultural environment

in their classes, what are the cultural aspects they present; and finally, how they

implement culture Leaching m their classrooms

15

Part C explores the reflection of teachers’ IC and their teaching practice by question 9 The final question contains 20 statements about teachers’ perception of IC

in teaching practice The participants are asked to indicate their degree to the importance of cultural teaching in practice

2.2.2, Interview

Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions are designed to offer

interviewer and inlerviewees, more freedom and flexibility in delivering questions and

providing mformation respectively Interviews help the researcher get “closer to an

individual's perspective” (Kayrooz & Treviit, 2005, p.110) because the researchers can

hear the interviewcos express in their awn words As a resuli, mlerview with open- ended questions can fulfill the important information that survey questionnaires cannot cover The semi-structured interview with nine question (See Appendix B) Questions

1 to 4 explore teacher’s definitions of culture, intercultural competence, their understanding of culture teaching and their intercultural competence in Dnglish

teaching The next four questions explore the awareness of teacher in the importance of

intercultural competence in teaching ‘I'he remaining questions explore the reflection of

teachers’ intercultural competence on their teaching practice

2.3 Data collection procedure

Quantitative data are collected through a survey queslionmaire (Appendix A) in

the first phase of this study Participants arc asked to complete the survey questionnaires and invited to participate in follow-up interviews ‘Those who are

willing to be interviewed are asked to leave their contact information In the second

phase, qualitative data are collected from follow-up face-to-face semi-structured interviews I contact those who have indicated their willingness to participate in an

interview In the end, four parlicipants agree to be interviewed An inlerview is

conducted at a time convenient for each participant ‘The interviews are audio taped and transcribed

2.4, Data analysis

This section is going to describe the data analysis stage for this study tools:

questionnaire and interviews The results of the questiormaire and the interviews are

respectively presented and organized

2.4.1, Questionnaire Analysis

Data is checked for completeness to ensure there is an answer to most questions Questions are checked Lo cnsure they have been understood correctly by ruspondenls for accuracy Data from the completed questionnaires is entered into the computer using Statistical Package for Social Science Software (SPSS) The entered data is saved and thorough data analysis subsequently undertaken ‘his stage involves potential steps

to insure that its design accomplish its validity and reliability

A descniplive analysis of the dala gaims [rom ibe questionnaires’ closed

questions is carried out using frequencies and percentages There are two open-ended

questions which call for another data analysis approach to fulfill the purpose of the

questionnaire The participants’ responses are noted down and calegorized similar ones together Performing counts and ranking responses according to the most frequently

mentioned ones are [ollowed by the calegorization steps

2.4.2 Interviews Analysis

Qualitative data are analyzed using the following procedures Each transcript is

first read through in order to capture an overall flow and gain a general understanding

of the teachers’ about culture intercultural competence and practices of cultural

teaching Afler that (rarseripls are mannally coded Emerging theres are identified and

the name of the theme as a descriptive term is assigned while reading the transcript

Reoccurring themes across the transcripts are marked with the same descriptive term

17

consistently Individual themes are categorized into group themes to identify thematic pattems that emerged in the interview data A list of all themes identified in the transcripts is ercated Meaningful analytical units from the original transcripts arc categorized into corresponding theme Finally, data are analyzed and synthesized to gain an insight into English language teachers’ intercultural competence and their

application in practice

Chapter 3: FINDIN

+8 AND DISCUSSION

3.1 From quantitative data

Quantitative data are analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Teachers’ intercultural competence and their established beliefs about and practices of cultural teaching are described and the relationships between them we ac discussed,

3.1.1 Teachcrs’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence

3.1.1.1 Culture

nation (eg history, geography,

1iterature, rrrusie, art, etc )

(e.g Customs, daily life, standard 5,9% 5,99% | 17,7% 29,4% | 35,3%

of living, religion, ete.)

@ | All three of the above 0% 0% | 11,8% 17,7% | 70,5% | 4.570

Table 3.1 Definition of Culture from the Respondents’ Point of View

Table 3.1 shows that the respondents think that the definition of culture includes all of the three points given (Mean of 4.570) ‘The other rankings indicate that teachers scom lo give more eredil to the geo-political aspect (Mean 4.419) and behavioral aspects of culture (Mean 4.364), which is hoped to be introduced to their students Although there are some teachers who give their own definitions of the term “culture”

in the space provided their definitions slill indicale an understanding of culture as factual knowledge.

3.1.1.2 Intercultural competence

a| How (o conmmunicale interculturally

b| Non judgmental communication with

4] Itis how two different cultures relate

to each other in terms of differences

and similarities 5,9% | 11,8% | 17,7% | 29,4% | 35,3% | 3,964

€| Analy.ảng and adapting ones behavior

when interacting with others 5,9% | 11,8% | 17,79% | 35,3% | 20,43% | 3,806

Table 3.2 Definition of IC from the Respondents’ Point of View

The table shows that the most important aspect for respondents is to teach their

students how to commurieate with others (Mean 4.304) However, understanding [he

students’ own culture is not ranked highly (Mean of 3.806) A space is left in this

question intentionally, se the respondents could express their views about how they

define IC Respondents stress understanding and being familiar with other cultures’

beliefs and attitudes, and how the individuals of those cultures behave in their daily

lives, which will help teachers teaching their students how to express [heir own culture ACC to most of them is a way of how two or more cultures work together alongside each other, and try to live peacefully by mutual understanding

In order lo explore how parlicipaling teachers perceive cultural teaching

objectives from an intercultural perspective, eight objectives are listed which reflect the

hnowledge, attitudes, skills, and awareness dimension in Byram’s (1997) intercultural

competence model Parlicrpants are required to indicate the degree to which Ihey

20

believe the objectives are important on a 4-point scale from 1 (Not Important) to 4

(Very Important) Participants’ responses are presented below in Table 3.3 Most participating teachors believe that all of the cight objectives for promoting students”

intercultural competence are important ‘leachers report that the most important abjective is to develop students’ skills of interaction dimension, namely to “promote

the ability to conduct effective communication with English speaking people” (29, 4%

reporting it Important and 588% Very important) The awareness and attitudes

dimensions are also regarded as important cultural teaching objectives, such as lo

“promote awareness and understanding of different values, beliefs, and ideologies of

both Vietnamese and English speaking people.” and “develop a

curioustoloranl/respectlul/open allitlude towards other cullres and — cultural

difference.”

3.1.1.3 Cultural teaching objectives

Important | important important

Providing information about daily life | 5,9% 177% 411% 35,39

(eg social/political conditions) im

English speaking countries

Promoting understanding of different | 5,9%

process of individual and social

interactions in English and Viemamese

culture

Developing a cudous tolerant/| 50% 11,8% | 353% 4%

respectfu/open attitude towards other

cullures and cultural difference

Promoting the ability to acquire new 59% 177% 4L,1% 35.390

cultural knowledge from

documents/events ftom English

Promoting the ability to conduct q 11,8% 29.4% SEB%

effective communication with English

understanding of different valuos,

belisfs, and idsologies of both

Vietnamese and Thglish spzaking

Comparalively speaking, the three leasl important objectives are beheved Lo be

the following: “provide information about daily life (¢.g social/political conditions) in

English speaking countries,” “promote the ability to acquire new cultural knowledge from decuments‘events fron English cultures,” and “the abilily lo understand and

critically interpret documents/events from English speaking culture.” ‘These objectives reflect the knowledge, skills of discovery, imerpreting, and relating dimension of

intercultural competence teaching It is interesting to note that most aspects of the skills

dimension of intercultural competence are deemed to be less important

3.1.1.4, Teachers’ Intercultural Competence

lhe participating teachers are asked to rate their ability, knowledge, or

willingness related to interenltural competence on the modified 20-item instrument

which is sel up on a Gpoiut scale from © (Not at All) lo 5 (Very High) A single,

composite intercultural competence score is also generated for each participant by adding up and then averaging the score of all the 20 items, which range from zero to

five The mean seore of 3.24 indicates thal teachers’ pereeive inlcreultural competence

is slightly above Average in the 6-point scale Ihe instrument measures four dimensions of intercultural competence, namely, knowledge, awareness, skills, and attitudes, An individual score is caleulated for cach of the dimensions by adding up and then averaging the score of the items that measure the dimension ‘The score of the four dimensions of teachers’ intercultural competence all fall slightly above Average, which indicates that teachers demonstrate average interoultural knowledge, awareness, skills, and attitudes Among the four dimensions of intercultural competence, the participants demonstrate highest level for altitudes (M — 3.51) and lowest level Cor knowledge (M — 3.02)

3.1.2 EEL teachers self-report their intercultural competence in teaching practice 3.1.2.1 Frequency of Dealing with Particular Cultural Aspects

Question 5 asks the respondents to indicate how extensively they deal wal

Mean

Daily life and routines, food and drink ote 2.393

International relations (political, economic and cultural), with students’ own 1.985

Table 3.4 Frequency of Dealing with Particular Cultural Aspects

33

We can indicate from the above table that respondents deal most extensively

with “daily life and routines”, “education and professional life”, “youth culture”, and

“traditions, folklore, and tourist attraction” which scored a mean of 2.393, 2.314, 2.294, and 2.216 respectively Some of them deal with “lmemational relations (political, econamic and cultural), with students’ own country and other countries” and

“different ethnic and social groups” which score a mean of 1,985 and 1,933 respectively Interestingly, the topics that respondents say they work with most extensively are also the lopies which the textbooks stress Teachers teach by the textbook and the topics covered are the ones dealt with in class The topics which arc not extensively explored in the textbooks, such as international relations and different ellmie and soeial groups, do nal feature extensively in classrooms

3.122 The chance to create a multicultural environment in the language classroom

Additionally, questionnaire respondents answer Q 6, to show how teachers can create a multicultural environment in their classrooms, where the four statements follow the cognitive and attitudinal learning aspects, and are all teacher-centered Statements are ranked often, occasionally, and never

6 | Do you have the chance to create a Never | Occasionally Often Mean

multicultural environment in your

language classroom?

a Luss videos, CD-ROMs or the internet to 29.1% | 52.9% 177% 2020

illustrate an aspect of a multicultural

environment

b |Iinvite a pesonG) originaing fiom an 5,9% |118%

English speaking country Ges) to my

classroom

c | T bring objects originating from an English 11,8% | 58.8% 294% 1.802