DSpace at VNU: Cultural elements in English textbooks Tiếng Anh 3, Tiếng Anh 4, Tiếng Anh 5. A preliminary evaluation

DSpace at VNU: Cultural elements in English textbooks Tiếng Anh 3, Tiếng Anh 4, Tiếng Anh 5. A preliminary evaluation tà...

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE

- -

DO THI TO NGA

CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS “TIẾNG ANH 3”, “TIẾNG ANH 4”, “TIẾNG ANH 5” A PRELIMINARY

EVALUATION

ĐÁNH GIÁ BƯỚC ĐẦU CÁC YẾU TỐ VĂN HOÁ TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA “TIẾNG ANH 3”, “TIẾNG ANH 4”, “TIẾNG ANH 5”

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English linguistics Code: 60220201

HA NOI, 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE

- -

DO THI TO NGA

CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS “TIẾNG ANH 3”, “TIẾNG ANH 4”, “TIẾNG ANH 5” A PRELIMINARY

EVALUATION

ĐÁNH GIÁ BƯỚC ĐẦU CÁC YẾU TỐ VĂN HOÁ TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA “TIẾNG ANH 3”, “TIẾNG ANH 4”, “TIẾNG ANH 5”

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Do

HA NOI, 2015

DECLARATION

I hereby state that I, Do Thi To Nga, being a candidate for the Degree of Master of Arts, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of M.A Thesis deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin 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 librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis

Hanoi, July 2015

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof Nguyen Van Do, my supervisor, for thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable suggestions, various sources of reference and precious corrections on

my writing Furthermore, I am grateful to his close guidance and generous help, which have been great encouragement to me during the process of writing up the thesis

I, hereby, would like to express my sincere thanks to lecturers of Faculty

of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lessons and suggestions, which aroused the thesis for this study to be realized

My appreciation is also extended to the authors of English primary

textbooks Tiếng Anh 3, Tiếng Anh 4, Tiếng Anh 5 for their assistance in data

analysis

Finally, I would like to thank my family, especially my parents and my husband for their constant source of love, support and encouragement in times of difficulty and frustration

ABSTRACT

The study on “Cultural elements in English textbooks “Tiếng Anh 3”,

“Tiếng Anh 4”, “Tiếng Anh 5” A preliminary evaluation” is a Minor Programme

Master thesis It is aimed at examining the cultural elements presented in the

textbooks Tiếng Anh 3, Tiếng Anh 4, Tiếng Anh 5 and suggesting some hints to

improve it in the future

Based on quantitative methods, the study gives a brief account of how culture is treated according to the modified checklists designed by two groups of authors Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi and Cortazzi and Jin, Hirsch et al The main findings reveal that both local and non-local cultural references are presented in the textbooks and among the four cultural dimensions disseminated in the textbooks, sociological sense is the most dominant dimension From the findings, some suggestions are given with the hope that they might be a reliable source of

about how cultural element is presented in the English primary textbooks and provide some hints on how to improve it in the future

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE

In this 21st century, when the world has become “flat” and closely integrated, effective communication seems to be one of the crucial concerns In order to communicate well and successfully, people need to understand not only each other’s language, but also each other’s culture This can open the door to better international understanding and ensure successful relations

Language and culture are indivisible elements in the field of language teaching According to Peck (2012), “language learning should be more than the manipulation of syntax and lexicon” It means that just learning four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) may not lead to the proper understanding of the hidden meanings of a language Thanasoulas (2001) also confirms that “teaching a foreign language is not tantamount to giving a homily

on syntactic structures or learning new vocabulary and expressions, but mainly incorporates or should incorporate, some cultural elements which are intertwined with language itself.”

Inevitably, the role of textbooks in English Language Teaching cannot

be underestimated and cannot be separated from language learning in classroom They are considered the key component in most TEFL programs, which is essential for both teachers and learners (Tok, 2010) It is the visible heart of any English Language program (Sheldon 1988) McGrath (2002) also states that a textbook is like oil in cooking, it is a useful base ingredient Cortazzi and Jin (1999) confirm that: A textbook can be a teacher, a map, a resource, a trainer, an authority, a de-skiller and an ideology Hence textbook can be a major source of cultural elements beside providing linguistic and topical contents …

In accordance with the National Foreign Languages 2020 Project, on 12 August 2010, Ministry of Education and Training issued Decision No 3321/QĐ-BGDĐT on the Promulgation of the Pilot English Curriculum for Elementary, and one of its objectives is providing a basic knowledge of English-speaking countries, their peoples and cultures; as well as fostering pupils’ love and respect

of their own language and culture Hence, it can be seen clearly that the English syllabus explicitly emphasizes the development of pupils’ cross-cultural awareness right at the beginning of learning English

It may be supposed that, in foreign language textbooks used in primary schools, whether the teaching of culture is implicit or explicit, cultural aspects of textbook content as well as the improvement of pupils’ cultural awareness should

be given adequate attention Since 2011, the Vietnam Education Publishing House, in line with the Decision No 3321/QĐ-BGDĐT, has introduced a new set

of English textbooks for primary students which provides a good opportunity to include cultural content into the teaching syllabus, and thus enriching pupils’ cultural knowledge along with developing their four language skills

2 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the cultural elements in three

English textbooks Tiếng Anh 3, Tiếng Anh 4, Tiếng Anh 5 used at primary school

level in Vietnam, compiled by Hoang Van Van et al., published by Vietnam Education Publishing House This study is hoped to assist teachers, educators and English textbook authors to have general view about how cultural element is presented in English primary textbooks and provide some hints on how to improve it in the future

3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The concept of “cultural analysis and evaluation” may not attain a unique understanding and differ in different studies according to different researchers

In this study, the cultural analysis of the textbook is supposed to answer the following questions:

Research question 1: Are both local culture and non-local culture

disseminated in the English primary textbooks Tiếng Anh 3, Tiếng Anh 4, Tiếng

Anh 5? Which is the most prominent culture presented in the textbooks?

Research question 2: What is the most prominent cultural dimension presented in the textbooks? How is culture disseminated in the textbooks?

4 METHODS OF THE STUDY

In this study, quantitative method is much resorted to To collect data for analysis and evaluate, two checklists focusing on the kinds of cultural categories are designed The collected data is be analyzed using comparing and contrasting techniques to find out the quantitative account of references to different cultural categories in the textbooks

5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

In Vietnam, there exist two official sets of English textbooks for primary

level compiled by Vietnamese authors They are Let’s learn English 1, Let’s

learn English 2, Let’s learn English 3 and Tiếng Anh 3, Tiếng Anh 4, Tiếng Anh

5 The initial set was first published about 10 years ago and the latter has just

been developed in line with the Project 2020 since 2011 In this study, I just focus on the contents in the second set

The study just makes an attempt to conduct a preliminary evaluation about cultural elements in the primary English textbooks It is believed that a good cultural evaluation of a textbook can be made only when the goal of cultural instructions is clearly stated in the syllabus In the national primary school English syllabus there are no appropriate guidelines for cultural instructions although the stress on pupils’ cross-cultural awareness is emphasized

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