An investigation into students’ perception of intercultural communication competence at a vietnamese university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NGUYỄN THU TRANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

NGUYỄN THU TRANG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION

OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE

AT A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY

(Nghiên cứu nhận thức của sinh viên tại một trường đại học ở Việt Nam

về năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa)

M.A MINOR THESIS (Type 1)

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

NGUYỄN THU TRANG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION

OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE

AT A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY

(Nghiên cứu nhận thức của sinh viên tại một trường đại học ở Việt Nam

về năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa)

M.A MINOR THESIS (Type 1)

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Prof Nguyễn Hòa

DECLARATION

I declare that this research paper entitled “An investigation into students‟ perception

of intercultural communication competence at a Vietnamese university” was composed of myself except as cited in the references The thesis has not been currently submitted in candidature of any other degree or processional qualification except as specified

Signature

Nguyễn Thu Trang

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to dedicate my warm thanks to my supervisor, Prof Nguyễn Hòa, for his academic, specialized and creative guidance He has been my source of comprehensive knowledge and great inspiration throughout my postgraduate studies

I would also like to show my gratitude to all the students for their participation in the survey who supported my work and helped me get results of reliable and better quality

I am also indebted to my friend, Linh, who was always there for me during my hard time of carrying out this thesis Thank you for continuously encouraging me to overcome obstacles to fully complete this study

Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks and love to my family,

my parents for supporting me spiritually throughout my writing of this research paper

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the students‟ awareness of intercultural communication competence at a Vietnamese university I used mixed method (quantitative and qualitative method), which includes a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to identify students‟ perception toward ICC The results of the study suggested that the majority of students of the research do not have enough awareness of the importance of intercultural communication competence

Keywords: intercultural communication competence, perception, Vietnamese university…

Table of Contents

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Objectives of the research and Research question 2

1.3 Research methodology 3

1.4 Significance of the research 3

1.5 Thesis structure 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Definition of perception 5

2.2 Definition of culture 6

2.3 Definition of Communication competence, Intercultural competence, Intercultural communication competence 8

2.3.1 Definition of Communication competence 8

2.3.2 Definition of Intercultural competence 9

2.3.3 Definition of Intercultural communication competence 10

2.4 Model of Intercultural communication competence 12

2.5 Previous studies 13

2.6 Chapter summary 18

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 19

3.1 Context of the study 19

3.2 Design of the study 20

3.3 Participants 21

3.4 Data collection 21

3.4.1 Questionnaires 21

3.4.2 Semi-structured interviews 23

3.5 Data analysis 25

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

4.1 Results 26

4.1.1 The result of questionnaire 26

4.1.2 The result of interview 34

4.2 Discussion 38

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 42

5.1 Recapitulation 42

5.2 Implications 43

5.3 Limitations 45

5.4 Suggestion for further research 45

REFERENCES 47 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 V APPENDIX 3 VI

negative statement) Table 2 Measure students‟ intercultural awareness

Table 3 Measure students‟ ICC (Using positive statements)

Table 4 Measure students‟ ICC (Using negative statements)

Undoubtedly, the role of culture and intercultural communication in English language education has not always been well-acknowledged Gonen and Saglam (2012) pointed out that: “teachers in different classrooms in different parts of the world still ignore the importance of teaching culture as a part of language study” (p 26) Teachers focus only on promoting learners‟ language proficiency rather than integrate it with intercultural communication in order to perform effectively and appropriately in multicultural situations In the context of Vietnam, intercultural language teaching is not also a current practice in English language education since the integration of culture in teaching and learning is usually ignored Such

situations can trigger the phenomenon that foreign language learners may have the tools for fluency, but they may not be effective and appropriate interactants in multicultural situations

For all the time I studied at the university, I was attracted by the cultural differences The attention I have for it got stronger when I was exposed to intercultural communication I believed that culture and language must be together, for whatever the level of language learner is However, it seemed that not many students share my thought They might be all agree about the importance of intercultural communication competence, but they do not really take that fact seriously Therefore, I would like to carry out a research to see the current situation

of students and then, raise the awareness for us, especially for the foreign language educator of the necessity and momentousness of intercultural communication competence

1.2 Objectives of the research and Research question

I aimed at figuring out students‟ understanding of intercultural communication competence The research clarified the actual situation of Vietnamese university students‟ awareness of what belongs to inter-culture After that, I took a closer look

at the background of language learning situation of Vietnam and then, pointed out the importance of raising awareness of intercultural communication in both learning and teaching process They are used to look for the answer to the question: What is students‟ perception of intercultural communication competence at a Vietnamese university?

1.3 Research methodology

I used the mixed method which includes quantitative and qualitative method for data collection and analysis The research consists of questionnaire and semi-structured interview

Twenty students from one class that already passed a course named “Intercultural communication” of a Vietnamese university participated in this study Three students were chose to be interviewed for having unreliable answers on the questionnaire

1.4 Significance of the research

With the increase of globalization and international trade, English has been used as

a means of communication among people of multicultural backgrounds in the 21stcentury Integrating cultures in English language learning is crucial and indispensable for learners in order to enhance their intercultural communicative competence

Although the significance of ICC has been recognized by a number of researchers and a myriad of studies worldwide, the position of ICC in Vietnam has not always been well recognized and the concept of ICC has still remained vague to most foreign language learners Moreover, the restriction of popularizing intercultural communication course at universities has exacerbated this situation

It is undisputed that ICC is a vital skill for language learners to achieve effective and appropriate communication in the globalized community Today, ICC is more than just being able to speak the native language in the communication process It is rather to know as much as possible about the culture in order to increase the efficiency of international communication This requires knowing the background

of the people, where they are grown up, their habit and tradition, what they care for, how they react and so on Dealing with people from different cultures requires more

than just a language Hence, in this research I will explore foreign language students‟ perception of ICC, and then implicate the importance of incorporating ICC in English language learning and teaching

This study pointed out the students‟ awareness of intercultural communication competence How they understand about ICC‟s importance and whether they think they need to take it more seriously to improve their skill to survive in this globalized and migratory age

1.5 Thesis structure

The research paper contains five main chapters Each chapter discusses the content

as follows:

- Chapter 1: The introduction reveals the rationale of the study, the objectives

of the research, the research questions and methodology, the scope, the research significance The chapter ends with the structure of the thesis

- Chapter 2: The literature review explores the relevant literature in an attempt

to develop the theoretical framework for the study It consists of the definition of perception, culture, communication competence, intercultural competence, intercultural communication competence, the models of intercultural communication competence and several previous studies

- Chapter 3: The research methodology presents the method of the research It also declares the information of the research participations, instruments, method of collecting data and method of analyzing data

- Chapter 4: Data analysis, findings and discussion provide the details of the analysis which consists of general description, data analysis and findings, and discussion

- Chapter 5: Conclusion and implications

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a brief review of the literature related to the intercultural communication will be presented The review will cover a brief discussion of definition of perception, culture, intercultural communication competence, model of intercultural communication competence and several previous studies

2.1 Definition of perception

The first notion in this study that we need to clarify is perception Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world (Lindsay & Norman, 1977) In other words, a person is confronted with a situation or stimuli The person interprets the stimuli into something meaningful to him or her based on prior experiences However, what

an individual interprets or perceives may be substantially different from reality (Pickens, 2005)

A person‟s awareness and acceptance of the stimuli play an important role in the perception process Receptiveness to the stimuli is highly selective and may be limited by a person‟s existing beliefs, attitude, motivation, and personality (Assael, 1995) Individuals will select the stimuli that satisfy their immediate needs (perceptual vigilance) and may disregard stimuli that may cause psychological anxiety (perceptual defense) (Pickens, 2005)

According to Pickens, on the one hand, because of limited capacity, a person must process information selectively; hence, when they are exposed to information from two different channels (methods of delivery such as visual and auditory), an individual‟s perceptual system processes only that which it believes to be most connected However, perceptual defense creates an internal barrier that limits the external stimuli passing through the perception process when it is not congruent

with the person‟s current beliefs, attitudes, motivation, etc This is referred to as selective perception Selective perception occurs when an individual limits the processing of external stimuli by selectively interpreting what he or she sees based

on beliefs, experience, or attitudes (Sherif & Cantril, 1945)

The literature recorded efforts in defining different concepts related to the human cognition With regard to the definition of the term “perception”, Hornby (2000) put

it in the form of a countable noun and defined it as “an idea, belief, or an image that you have as a result of how you see or understand something” (p 977)

2.2 Definition of culture

Before coming into discussion of students‟ awareness of ICC, it is requisite first to analyze and highlight key issues involved in ICC definition Culture is definitely the very first component that is extremely elaborate and need to be interpreted There are countless elucidation of culture worldwide, and each convey divergent standpoint concerning culture As claimed by Goode, (2000), researcher of the National Center for Cultural Competence, is that culture implies both visible and invisible aspects which are shared among group members, and it is not limited

in one generation, nor is it changeable However, it can be passed from one generation to the others, and is quite active because of social variations: “…an integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting, roles, relationships, and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations; is dynamic in nature” (Goode, 2000)

In Apte‟s words (1994), culture is captured in following definition: “Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral conventions, and basic assumptions and

values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member‟s behavior and his/her interpretations of the „meaning‟ of the other people‟s behavior.”

In another exposure, the meaning of culture specified by Lugstig and Koester (2000) presents the vital bond between culture and communication: “Culture is a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms, and social practices, which affect the behaviors of a relatively large group of people.” (Lugstig and Koester, 2000)

Nguyen (1998) gives us a view of culture, which is “a shared background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, custom, beliefs, attitudes, and values Culture in this text does not refer to art, music, literature, food, clothing styles, and so on It refers to the informal and often hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions, and viewpoints that people in one culture share The hidden nature of culture has been compared to an iceberg, most of which is hidden underwater! Like the iceberg most

of the influence of culture on an individual cannot be seen The part of culture that

is exposed is not always that which creates cross-cultural difficulties; the hidden aspects of culture have significant effects on behavior and on interactions with others”

From the fundamental apprehension of culture, we can refer to many other complicated terms such as IC (Intercultural competence), CC (Communication competence) and ICC (Intercultural communication competence)

2.3 Definition of Communication competence, Intercultural competence, Intercultural communication competence

2.3.1 Definition of Communication competence

With reference to the term of CC (Communication competence), Hymes (1972) said that CC is the ability to apply grammatical competence appropriately in social interactions Canale and Swain (1980) explained CC in the context of foreign language education, which was combined of grammatical, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence

Communication is the interaction of individuals with each other for sharing information to achieve a common understanding Besides, communication competence is also defined by Chen (1990) as “the ability to effectively and appropriately execute communication behavior to elicit a desired response in a specific environment” The definition implicates that communication is two sides for a competent individual, which is both transferring ones ideas and fulfilling his/her own communicative goals In an intercultural communication process, the sender and receiver hold diverse cultural background differing in their values, beliefs and attitudes which affect their selection, categorization, organization and perception of messages (AsuncionLande, 1977)

According to J Richards (1985), communication competence includes the following components:

- Knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of the language

- Knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g: knowing how to begin and end conversation, knowing what topics may be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing address forms should be used with different people and in different situations)

- Knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts, such as requests, apologizes, thanks, and invitations

- Knowing how to use English appropriately

He also claims that: “When someone wishes to communicate with others, they must recognize the social setting, their relationship to the other person, and the types of language can be used for a particular occasion They must also be able to interpret written or spoken sentences within the total context in which they are used”

As a result, we can see that communication competence is a crucial aspect in intercultural communication process

2.3.2 Definition of Intercultural competence

Byram (1997) and Bennett (2004) see intercultural competence as the ability to come into contact effectively and appropriately with other people from different cultures IC includes elements as attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness/political education

On the other hands, Sinicrope, (2007) mentioned that IC can be simply defined

as the “ability to step beyond one‟s own culture and function with other individuals from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds” (p 1)

Intercultural competence, which is the capacity to change one‟s knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors so as to be open and flexible to other cultures, has become a critical issue for individuals to survive in the globalized society of the 21st century (Alred and Byram, 2002) Taylor (1994) defines intercultural competency as a transformative process whereby the stranger develops adaptive capacity, altering his/her perspective to effectively understand and accommodate the demands of the host culture A person who has the ability of intercultural competence can develop

relational competence with people from different cultures, manage to solve complicated conflicts by moving around alternatives that arise as a result of cultural differences and improve the ability of doing business with counterparts from different cultures (Huang, 2003)

Learning to deal with different cultures effectively requires cultural awareness, communicative competence, personal attitudes including empathy and flexibility, self-awareness and understanding others values, norms and beliefs

2.3.3 Definition of Intercultural communication competence

It is necessary in addition to distinguish between Intercultural Competence and Intercultural Communicative Competence According to Byram (1997), the intercultural competence refers to people‟s “ability to interact in their own language with the people from another country and culture,” while intercultural communicative competence takes into account language teaching and concentrates

on “the ability to interact with people from another country and culture in a foreign language” (p 71) ICC is the ability to interact with other people but the interaction takes place between people from different cultures and countries using a foreign language, the knowledge of the participants of another culture is linked to their language competence through their ability to use language appropriately and their awareness of the specific meaning, values and connotations of the language (Aguilar, 2010) Furthermore, ICC is composed of linguistics competence, sociolinguistics competence, discourse competence, and intercultural competence (Byram, 1997) In Byram‟s (1997) point of view, a person who has developed ICC will be able to build relationships while speaking in the foreign language; taking into consideration his own and the other person‟s viewpoint and needs; communicating effectively with people of different backgrounds

Intercultural communication competence is defined by Chen and Starosta (1998) as

“the ability to effectively and appropriately execute communication behaviors that negotiate each other‟s cultural identity or identities in a culturally diverse environment”

Wiseman (2001) suggests that intercultural communication competence is comprised of knowledge, skills, and motivation needed to interact effectively and appropriately with persons from different cultures In this definition, motivation is considered as a unique element which is not included in some of the other definitions of intercultural competence and is further defined as “the set of feelings, intentions, needs and drives associated with the anticipation of or actual engagement in intercultural communication” (p 4)

Byram (1997), in his model of intercultural communicative competence, highlights the importance of language (linguistic competence) and also includes identity and cultural understanding in his conceptualization He argues that a comprehensive definition of intercultural communicative competence should include the social context and non-verbal dimensions of communication Byram (1997) indicates that

“when persons from different languages and/or countries interact socially, they bring to the situation their knowledge about their own country and that of the others” (pp 32–33) Additionally, he notes that “part of the success of such interaction will depend on the establishing and maintenance of human relationships, something which depends on attitudinal factors” (pp 32–33)

ICC can be perceived as the ability which helps one to effectively and properly interact in a language other than one‟s native language with others from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds ICC comprises language competence (linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, & strategic competence) and IC (attitudes, knowledge, skills, & awareness) that help one

to be able to successfully integrate in a multicultural society (e.g., Bennett & Bennett, 2004; Byram, 1997; Fantini, 2001; Sinicrope et al., 2008)

2.4 Model of Intercultural communication competence

From dissimilar frame of reference on ICC, different models of IC/ICC development have been suggested in order to promote learners‟ IC/ICC However, the model of ICC which is adapted from model of ICC development suggested by Byram (1997) materialized to be one of the most inclusive and pertinent model to

be used in the context of English language education

As stated by Galante (2015, p.33), “Byram‟s model of ICC is one of the most influential and widely cited models that guide language teachers interculturality in the classroom” This model begins from the perspective of language and culture which are in close proximity It has two main components: language competence and IC The former is composed of linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and discourse competence; the latter embraces four elements: attitudes, knowledge, skills, and awareness They are expanded to include following elements:

- Linguistic competence: the ability to apply knowledge of a language to produce and interpret spoken and written language

- Sociolinguistic competence: the ability to give to the language produced by an interlocutor – whether native speaker or not – meanings which are taken for granted by the interlocutor or which are negotiated and made explicit with the interlocutor

- Discourse competence: the ability to use, discover and negotiate strategies for the production and interpretation of monologue or dialogue texts which follow the conventions of the culture of an

interlocutor or are negotiated as intercultural texts for particular purposes

- Intercultural attitudes: curiosity, openness, and readiness to learn about other cultures, and relativize one‟s own

- Intercultural knowledge: conscious and unconscious knowledge of social groups and their products and practices, and the general processes of societal and individual interaction in one‟s own and in one‟s interlocutor‟s country

- Intercultural skills: abilities to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices, and apply the knowledge and attitudes to interpret documents/events in the target culture and relate them to one‟s own

- Intercultural awareness: ability to be critically aware of culture and cultural practices in one‟s own and in one‟s interlocutors

2.5 Previous studies

A research titled “Intercultural Communicative Competence in Foreign Language Classroom” was conducted by Saeideh Ahnagari and Jafar Zamanian of English Language Department, College of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages - Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran This study presents an analysis of viewpoints in the development of intercultural competence in the English as foreign language teaching classroom in Iran The research problem was formulated: do English as foreign language learners‟ attitudes become more positive due to the impact of intercultural learning and how they benefit from the impact of intercultural learning in their attitude and overall language proficiency? Based on the study carried out in two intact classes at Iran Language Institute with 48 intermediate language learners, the results indicated that practices in intercultural competence develop their positive attitudes about their culture and target language culture and it motivates them to develop their overall language competence The

findings of this study have some implications for second language teachers since they would be aware of the positive impact of intercultural communicative instruction in intermediate level In addition, they will know different techniques for application of these instructions especially in classroom context Moreover, the results of this research can have implications for material developers It helps them design tasks to provide opportunities for focusing on the most effective approach JianJun Liu, MSc in Applied Linguistics, the University of Edinburgh researched on the topic: “An Investigation on Intercultural Communication among Chinese Postgraduate Students at the University of Edinburgh” This study was to investigate the intercultural communication among Chinese postgraduate students at the University of Edinburgh The research specifically explored the social friendship networks of Chinese postgraduate students, their intercultural communicative competence after one-year abroad study and the perceived and real communication problems they come across in intercultural interactions The results revealed that, though Chinese students involved actively in English networks and their intercultural communicative competence was improved in the one-year abroad study, most of Chinese students (97%) still had difficulty in communicating with students from other cultures It was reported that the problem of Chinese students‟ language proficiency and the problem of culture were the two major groups of communication problems in Chinese students‟ intercultural encounters The findings suggested that more emphasis should be placed on intercultural communication knowledge in China‟s English Language Teaching By comparing the perceived communication problems in questionnaires and the discourse analysis results of six actual conversation recordings, it was found that the problem of Chinese students‟ language proficiency and the problem of culture were two major groups of communication problems which blocked successful communication between Chinese students and students from other countries It also verified that

these two major communication problems were important factors influencing international friendship formation The findings of these communication difficulties not only indicated the shortcomings of China‟s English education, but also raised our awareness of the importance of intercultural communication education as a part

of English teaching in China It called for the improvement of China‟s English language teaching, for example, more emphasis should be placed on fostering students‟ language proficiency and imparting of cultural knowledge

Another thesis titled “How to cultivate Intercultural Communication Competence of Non-English Major Students” conducted by Wei Sun of School of Foreign Languages, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China This thesis aimed at presenting the concept of intercultural communication competence, focused its importance on foreign language teaching, and indicated how to cultivate students‟ intercultural communication competence The writer emphasized the relationship between culture and language, communication and culture, she briefly introduced the situation in foreign language teaching in the past and today In this paper, the author tried to illustrate how to cultivate students who are not English major to understand the cultural meanings of language, and tried to help them use English properly, especially in special context The findings of this study pointed out that the significance of the cultivation of intercultural communicative competence is obvious It also provided some useful ideas for English teaching Apparently, it is important to note that although culture of human thinking mode and behavior pattern are the dominant factors, but race, personality, ethnicity, age, gender, economic status, religious and other aspects also affect its understanding Culture is dynamic, the world has a tendency to form collision to the compatibility, and the frequent communication between different cultures is unavoidable Therefore, the content of the intercultural communicative competence should also

be dynamic, it helps put forward the intercultural communication competence training effectively

Jiajun Shen from College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University and Hongwei Huang, Department of Geotechnical Engineering College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China together researched on the topic: “Fostering Intercultural Communication Competence of University Foreign Affairs Administrators” They discussed several issues relating intercultural communication, intercultural communication competence and finally give some strategies about fostering intercultural communication competence of foreign affairs administrators They mentioned the importance of the foreign affairs administrators

in facilitating the cooperation and exchange between universities They need to communicate with students and teachers from different cultures all over the world

It is important to foster their intercommunication competence to achieve success and efficient communication There are 6 ways to foster their intercommunication competence: to have a good grasp of foreign language, to obtain cultural knowledge, to master communication skills, to increase intercultural awareness, to pay attention to the non-language communication competence training and to be a good observer and seeking advices from others Each of these components alone is not sufficient to achieve intercultural communication competence Successful intercultural communication requires much enthusiasm and a willingness to overcome cultural barriers It is a two-way process The ways different cultures approach communication is one of the most important things to take into consideration when planning a collaborative effort that bridges multiple cultures This cross-cultural collaboration is becoming more widespread as the dawn of the Internet Age brings the world closer and closer

Justin C Velten of the University of Texas at Tyler, USA and Carley H Dodd from Abilene Christian University, USA studied on the topic: “The Effects of Intercultural Communication Competency-Based Instruction on Intercultural Communication Competence” The research explored the effects of a competency-based adaptive learning approach in intercultural communication education on intercultural communication competencies (ICCs) targeted for students preparing for a university summer abroad program Applying a pretest-posttest-control group design, the study assessed participant ICCs using the multivariate Go Culture Assessment The treatment group received adaptive group coaching in ICC while the control group received no additional tailored or adaptive preparation Treatment group results revealed significant paired test comparison increases in 11 of the 17 GCA factors, while control group participants increased only in 3 of the GCA factors The study included a comprehensive literature review of intercultural communication competency and indicated the need for more measurable outcomes regarding intercultural communication competencies The findings pointed out that personal growth and development related to ICC factors The review of literature pointed out the need for curricular internationalization leading to personal and situational global awareness However, the literature and this analysis extend that need to underscore for communication educators how intercultural competency exceeds global awareness or internationalization When we heighten communication education by adding ICC qualities, we enlarge the conversation to the skills necessary for host culture engagement This study provided evidence that

a tailored extra-curricular approach alongside minimal classroom intercultural preparation resulted in comparative intercultural communication competency intensification This study also pivoted interest toward scholarship not only for theoretical conceptualizations but for revised intercultural communication education models and assessment In an era of educational scrutiny, communication educators

can provide evidence for enhancing global awareness through intercultural communication competency education

2.6 Chapter summary

This chapter gave a brief review of the literature related to intercultural communication which is its definition and its model This very first chapter also mentioned some previous studies that concern similar topic This review would be used for building the questionnaire in the next chapter The following chapter also revealed the findings of this research and compared it with previous studies

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter justifies the selection of methodology for the study First, it presents and discloses philosophical viewpoints along with the choice of the mixed method (qualitative and quantitative method) and the rationale for the employment of this method After that, it describes setting of the study including participants, instruments for questionnaire and semi-structured interview Finally, research procedure is displayed detailing data collection process and data analysis

3.1 Context of the study

The study investigated students‟ perception of intercultural communication competence from one class in a Vietnamese university Their major was English language and culture There were 18 females and 2 males in the class They were in

a normal class, not high quality one They came from different provinces All of them have studied English as a second language for 12 years before they entered university At the time of the data collection, they were in their third year In the first two years of the university, they had about 20 hours per week to study English proficiency In the third year, they did not spend time studying English proficiency anymore They studied English culture, society, politics, economics, geography, linguistics They have also passed an Intercultural communication discipline Their teachers were qualified enough for university teaching They also completed some courses abroad Their lowest academic qualification was Master in English Teaching Methodology

The learning environment was very positive and dynamic The university organized

a number of contests and extracurricular activities for students to develop their English proficiency and encourage them to practice English

3.2 Design of the study

This is a survey research using mixed method whereby a questionnaire was used to gather data about students‟ awareness of intercultural communication competence

An interview was also conducted to double check the reliability of students‟ answers and explore widely their perspective regarding ICC

Uzma (2018) gives us a general overview about the mixed method (quantitative and qualitative methods) In his paper: “Quantitative researchers may view qualitative research as suspect, or only as a means to generate hypotheses to test in quantitative analyses According to this view, qualitative research is but an intermediate output supporting “empirical” regression analysis On the other hand, qualitative researchers often view quantitative work as too reductive They may only include quantitative data for rhetorical purposes, recognizing that they are outnumbered (no pun intended) in a world dominated by scholars untrained in qualitative methods.” There are numerous definition of the words “qualitative” and “quantitative” From his point of view, qualitative research is any analysis based on words (e.g., texts, interviews, or field notes from observations), and quantitative research as any analysis using numbers, either descriptively or in regression analysis (Uzma, 2018)

He also stated the relationship between qualitative and quantitative: “Amongst the most traditional views of the relationship between qualitative and quantitative research is the use of the former to generate hypotheses and constructs to be measured and tested in the latter That is, there is an outcome that is puzzling (such

as heterogeneity in incumbent organizations‟ responses to technological change or differences in team learning), existing explanations are not satisfactory, and scholars use qualitative evidence to identify potential alternative explanations that are more complete or resolve tensions that exist.”

Considering the fulfilment of the mixed method rather than just quantitative or qualitative approach, I decided to use the mixed method to enhance the reliability of

my research

3.3 Participants

Twenty students in one class from the English Language Teaching Department of a Vietnamese University participated in this study At the time of data collection, participants were in their 3rd years and have surpassed an Intercultural communication discipline

University students have been exposed to inter-culture by some intercultural communication courses, which is opposite to secondary and high school students who have rarely been heard about the concept of culture when learning foreign language Therefore, I believe that carrying out the research on university students would be more reasonable than on lower grade students

agreement There are six positive items and two negative items The second one involved 20 statements to indicate students‟ intercultural communication competence, basing on Ş, N., Penbek, E., Ş, D Y., Ahin, N., Gü, A., & Cerit, L (2012) study There are 13 positive items and seven negative items

The questionnaires was also modified based on the model of intercultural communication competence that I mentioned in the Literature review chapter (See the full questionnaire in Appendix 1)

The questionnaire was conducted at a university in Hanoi Participants were selected on voluntary basis and they answered the questionnaire through a survey paper I assured that their identity would be kept confidential and provided a comfortable atmosphere in all process of the research so that they could freely and honestly answer the questionnaire The data gathered during the research was kept securely and used only for the study purposes

To ensure that students fully understand the questions‟ content, I implemented the survey on five students first to check their understanding Participants were in their third grade of university, they had accumulated and developed a sense of English language understanding, hence, they could figure out easily the questionnaire‟s meaning since the vocabulary and grammar used in the questionnaire were simple After that, I did the survey on twenty students from one class to gather the result The students in that class answered the questionnaire through a survey paper form Before gave them the survey, I already explained that this questionnaire was used for my research purpose only It did not affect their grade or involve any assessment related to their study results

3.4.2 Semi-structured interviews

Furthermore, an interview was carried out to show the actual situation of students in communicating with foreigner and their perception of intercultural communication knowledge that they receive at the university The interview contained two parts The first part was used to double check their answer in the questionnaire The second part included two questions, which is students‟ intercultural communication experience and the need for enhancing their intercultural knowledge at the university By using the first question regarding students‟ intercultural communication experience, I aimed at discovering students‟ exposure to real intercultural communication situation, to see what the effect on students‟ perception

of intercultural communication is The second question pointed out the students‟ thought regarding the need for keep improving their intercommunication competence

For the semi-structured interviews, three students that had the ambiguous answers

on the questionnaire were chose to be interviewed The majority of their answer was one option (all agree, all disagree or all neutral option) For example, student A chose one option for all statements The same situation happened with other two students Therefore, I need to interview them to double check the reliability of the questionnaire answer I invited them one by one to a coffee shop I interviewed in Vietnamese since the purpose of this study is not about testing students‟ English proficiency I wanted to use mother tongue so that the atmosphere would be much more comfortable and they would be free to express their true nature and perspective regarding my questions I also recorded the interview content and transcribed it in the Appendices of this study

There are a number of statements in the questionnaire (28 statements) Hence, I could not interview for all 28 statements That would cause frustration and

uncomfortableness for students I decided to choose some important statements that clarify students‟ perception of intercultural communication the most The statements were used as follows:

- Trong quá trình hiện tại em đang học, em có gặp khó khăn khi giao tiếp với người nước ngoài không? (Do you encounter difficulty when you interact with foreigner?)

- Khi tiếp xúc với người nước ngoài, em có tôn trọng cách họ ứng xử, thể hiện không? (Do you respect the way people from different culture behave?)

- Khi nói chuyện với người nước ngoài, em có cố gắng get idea nhiều nhất có thể từ họ không? (Do you try to obtain as much information as you can when interacting with people from different culture?)

- Em có né tránh hay không muốn tiếp xúc với người nước ngoài không? (Do you avoid the situation that you will have to deal with people from different culture?)

- Em đã bao giờ gặp trường hợp misunderstanding khi nói chuyện với người nước ngoài chưa? (Have you ever experienced misunderstanding when interacting with foreigner?)

- Em nghĩ sao về kiến thức liên văn hóa trong môn Giao tiếp liên văn hóa đó?

Em có thấy học 1 môn giao tiếp liên văn hóa ở trường là đủ không? Có cần học thêm khóa học về liên văn hóa nào không? (What do you think of your intercultural communication knowledge that you‟ve learnt at the university?

Is it enough? Do you need to take any more courses regarding intercultural communication?)

During the interview, I tried to confirm one more time with participants to be very clear about their answers For example, when being asked: “Do you respect the way people from different culture behave?”, after participants gave their answer, I asked

them one more time to check my understanding of their response The conversation was as follows:

- Khi em tiếp xúc với người nước ngoài, em có tôn trọng cách họ ứng xử thể hiện không? Ví dụ như người Ấn Độ hay ăn bốc tay chẳng hạn, hay là lúc nói chuyện họ hay lắc đầu thay cho đồng ý, khác hẳn với mình là khi mình đồng ý thì mình gật đầu Em có thấy khó chịu hay như nào không? (When interacting with foreigner, do you respect the way they behave? For example, Indians usually use their own hands for eating Or they usually shake their head for agreement, which is different from our culture Do you feel unconfortable for that?)

- Khó chịu thì chả đến nỗi, nó cũng chả ảnh hưởng gì mình, em thấy cũng bình thường, không sao cả (Not really, I‟m ok with that.)

- Thế là mình cũng tôn trọng họ đúng không, không có ý gì là miệt thị hay chê bai khó chịu gì hả? (So it means that you also respect them? Without any discrimination?)

3.5 Data analysis

Quantitative and qualitative data analysis proceeded in two phases In the first phase, the data obtained from the learners‟ use of questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics for the total group After that, the semi-structured interview was analyzed by their answer for each question

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This section is divided into two subsections: the former presents the quantitative data derived from the questionnaires while the latter displays the qualitative data obtained from the interviews Finally, it will provide a discussion of the findings

4.1 Results

4.1.1 The result of questionnaire

4.1.1.1 Students’ intercultural awareness

After considering data analysis, I decided to apply descriptive statistics to find the participants‟ intercultural awareness Based on the self-developed cut-off points to assess participants‟ awareness (Table 1), the scores were considered “High” if they were in the upper third of the distribution, “Moderate” if they were in the middle third, and “Low” if they were in the lower third This criteria was applied for positive statement

Table 1a: Criteria of assessing students’ intercultural awareness (for positive statement)

Intercultural awareness Points Options

High 5 Strongly agree

4 Agree Moderate 3 Neither agree or disagree

1 Strongly disagree

For negative one, the criteria would be opposite The scores were considered

“High” if they were in the upper third of the distribution, “Moderate” if they were in the middle third, and “Low” if they were in the lower third

Table 1b: Criteria of assessing students’ intercultural awareness (for negative statement)

Intercultural awareness Points Options

High 5 Strongly disagree

4 Disagree Moderate 3 Neither agree or disagree

1 Strongly agree

This study sought to investigate students‟ perception of intercultural communication competence at a Vietnamese university This section presents the results of the study in terms of statistics

As we can see in the table 2 below, the results of analysis demonstrate the percentage of students‟ answer for each question The questions in below table reflect students‟ awareness of intercultural aspect The questionnaire focuses on how students think about the importance of culture and language integration