Phát triển năng lực liên văn hóa của học sinh bậc THCS thông qua tương tác với học sinh nước ngoài sử dụng skype trong các giờ dạy tiếng anh

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESLE THUY NGA DEVELOPING LOWER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE BY INTERACTION WITH FOREIGN STUDENTS USING SKYPE IN ENG

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

LE THUY NGA

DEVELOPING LOWER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE BY INTERACTION WITH FOREIGN STUDENTS USING SKYPE IN ENGLISH CLASSES (Phát triển năng lực liên văn hóa của học sinh bậc THCS thông qua tương tác với học sinh nước ngoài sử dụng Skype trong các giờ dạy tiếng Anh)

M.A THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2019

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

LE THUY NGA

DEVELOPING LOWER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE BY INTERACTION WITH FOREIGN

STUDENTS USING SKYPE IN ENGLISH CLASSES

(Phát triển năng lực liên văn hóa của học sinh bậc THCS thông qua tương tác với học sinh nước ngoài sử dụng Skype trong các giờ dạy tiếng Anh)

M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English

Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thanh Long

THAI NGUYEN – 2019

DECLARATION -***** -

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Developing lower-secondary schoolstudents’ intercultural competence by interaction with foreign students using Skype

in English classes” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for theDegree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty, Thai Nguyen University

Thai Nguyen, July 15, 2019

Le Thuy Nga

Approved bySUPERVISOR

Dr Nguyen Thanh Long

Second, I’m especially thankful to teachers from School of ForeignLanguages, Thai Nguyen University for their valuable advice and spiritual support

in the preparation and completion of this study

I also would like to thank Ms Hoang Thi Hai Yen (English Teacher, DoanThi Diem Ha Long School), Ms Bui Thi Kim Ngan (English Teacher, Doan ThiDiem Ha Long School) and five students of Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School whoparticipated in the pilot study, contributing greatly to the finalization of theinterview and as a result, to the completion of the research

I am so grateful to Ms Ha Thi Trang (Head of English Department, DoanThi Diem Ha Long School) for contacting the participants for my research I amalso indebted to all of the participants for their invaluable responses to myinterview Without them, this research would not have been possible

Last but not least, I dedicate this thesis to my loving family, my husband, mydaughter and my son for their ongoing support and love

Language teaching and learning can be seen as a great means to develop theintercultural awareness of language learners, which is the ultimate goal of languageeducation in this era English, as widely accepted, has become an internationallanguage and the number of non-native English speakers has outnumbered nativeones by twice In this sense, English language teaching and learning must include initself the development of intercultural awareness in the learner One key purpose ofEnglish teaching is to develop learners’ awareness of cultural differences reflected

in languages Therefore, the teacher’s role needs to include that of helping learners

to realize that thoughts and views of different nationalities and different types ofsocieties about nature and human society are quite different Therefore, it is of greatimportance to address culture as an integrated part of the language teaching andlearning process, so as to help students to have a good command of necessarycultural knowledge, to develop intercultural skills, and to raise their interculturalawareness

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .iv

ABSTRACT

v Abbreviations

viii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ix PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Research topic area 1

2 The study context 2

3 Focus of the study 3

4 Rationale of the study 4

5 Structure of the thesis 5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 7

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

1.1 Intercultural competence 7

1.2 Motivation 11

1.3 Technology, CALL and ICT, and Skype in ELT 12

1.3.1 Technology 12

1.3.2 CALL and ICT 15

1.3.3 Skype 17

1.4 Conclusion 20

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21

2.1 Field site and participants 22

2.2 Data collection methods 23

2.2.1 Interviews 23

2.2.2 Classroom Observation 25

2.2.3 Participants’ diaries and reflections 26

2.3 Data analysis methods 27

2.4 Ethical considerations and data reliability 28

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

3.1 Students’ conceptualizations of intercultural competence 30

3.2 Students’ motivation on learning English by interactions in English using Skype33 3.2.1 A proactive approach to learning tasks 33

3.2.2 Students’ emotional reactions in interactive lessons 35

3.3 Components of intercultural competence developed from interactions with culturally different people 37

3.4 Discussion 39

PART C: CONCLUSION 41

1 Summary of the key findings 41

2 Pedagogical implications of the study 42

3 Limitations of the study 43

4 Recommendations 44

REFERENCES 46 APPENDIXES I Appendix 1: Interview guide I Appendix 2: Classroom observation protocol III Appendix 3: Diaries and/or reflection instructions V

CALL: Computer Assisted Language Learning

CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference for LanguagesELT: English Language Teaching

IC: Intercultural Competence

ICC: Intercultural Communicative Competence

ICT: Information and Communications Technology

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1 Byram’s model of five components of intercultural communicative

competence, from Byram

Table 2.1 Demographic information about participants

Table 2.2 Interviews

Table 2.3 Classroom observations

Section 2 of the chapter describes the study context with a summary of the history oflanguage education in Vietnam in general and foreign language teaching and learning

in Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School in particular Section 3 describes the focus of thestudy, which states the overarching research question and sub-research questions Therationale for the study will be presented in section 4 The last section reveals thestructure for the presentation of the thesis

1 Research topic area

In this day and age, mobility has become a part of every student’s life Moststudents now have a chance to visit other countries for educational purposes and learnmore about other cultures Therefore, learning foreign languages has become the norm

in the globalized world It is inevitable that students need a certain level of interculturalknowledge and competence to be able to survive in new cultures and educationalcontexts In this respect, one’s understanding of the new cultures, as well as his/herown culture, has a central role to become a globalized citizen Learning a languagewithout culture is a recipe for becoming what Bennett (1993) calls a “fluent fool” Afluent fool is someone who speaks a foreign language well, but does not understand thesocial and philosophical content of that language

Hence, the foreign language teachers’ role has become increasingly importantsince they serve as a medium to teach both the language and the culture of the foreignlanguage In this regard, Jiang (2000) states: "Language and culture are inseparable."Moreover, over time, more and more English teachers realize that when the lesson is

integrated with cultural factors, students will acquire and improve communicationskills Kramsch (1998: 1) emphasized in his study that: "Culture in language learning isnot an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking,listening, reading, and writing It is always in the background, right from day one,ready to unsettle the good language learners when they expect it least, making evidentthe limitations of their hard-won communicative competence, challenging their ability

to make sense of the world around them" This means that culture is not a fifth skill inlanguage teaching, associated with listening, speaking, reading and writing This is thebasis for pointing out the limits of communication capacity, challenging learners'abilities and pointing out the meaning of the world Thus, regarding the need toinvestigate culture and culture teaching in different context of foreign languageteaching, the study explores the relevance of how interactions on Skype with culturallydifferent peers using English help lower-secondary school students’ development ofintercultural competence

2 The study context

Teaching and learning foreign languages, especially the teaching English inVietnam, attracts the attention of many social classes Chronologically, the teaching ofEnglish in Vietnam can be divided into three main periods: the first period extendsfrom the beginning of the French invasion of Vietnam up to 1954, the second period,from 1954 to 1975; and the third period, from 1975 to 1986 During the twenty yearssince national reunification in 1975, the teaching and learning of foreign languageshave experienced many major changes, and after each change a language usuallyemerges as the main one taught in school Before 1986, Russian was a compulsorylanguage at universities and at many institutions there were much more teachers ofRussian than the ones of English In 1986, when the Vietnamese Communist Partyinitiated its overall economic reform, conditions for a thorough look at the role offoreign languages in national development started to emerge The period from 1986 up

to present is characterized by the rapid growth and expansion of English in Vietnam.This English boom began in December 1986, when at its Six National Congress the

Vietnamese Communist Party initiated an overall economic reform known as Đổi mới

(Renovation), opening the door of Vietnam to the whole world In such context,English becomes the first (nearly and only) foreign language to be taught in Vietnam It

is a compulsory subject from grade 3 to grade 12 in most of schools in Vietnam ingeneral and in Ha Long in particular English is taught in schools, universities and evenforeign language centers across the country Most primary schools in Ha Long Cityincluding Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School are now teaching English to pupils in grade

1, 2 instead of 3 as starting class in the project “Teaching and learning foreignlanguages in the national education system between 2008-2020” by the Ministry ofEducation

The linguist Robert Lado defines the goal of learning a foreign language as “theability to use it, understanding its meanings and connotations in terms of the targetlanguage and culture, and the ability to understand the speech and writing of natives ofthe target culture in terms of their great ideas and achievement” (Lado, 1964: 25)Therefore, the English teaching inevitably involves the culture teaching of targetlanguage

It has long been assumed that language and culture are strongly linked to each other and an important aspect of learning a foreign language is learning its culture However, teachers in different classrooms in different parts of the world still ignore the importance of teaching culture as a part of language study.

3 Focus of the study

The study aims to examine how interactions on Skype with culturally differentpeers using English help lower-secondary school students’ development of interculturalcompetence

In order to fulfill these overall aims, three specific objectives that have beenidentified, including:

1 To explore lower-secondary school students’ perceptions of interculturalcompetence;

2 To examine lower-secondary school students’ motivation to learn Englishregarding the use of Skype in English classes to interact with foreign studentsand teachers;

3 To assess student preferences regarding intercultural competence development

in culture-learning activities

The overarching research question formulated for this research is as follows:

How do Skype sessions assist lower-secondary school students develop their intercultural competence?

The sub-questions of the study were:

(1) How do lower-secondary school students perceive intercultural competence?(2) To what extent do lower-secondary school students are motivated to learnEnglish by interactions in English using Skype?

(3) What components of intercultural competence do interactions with culturallydifferent people via Skype develop?

4 Rationale of the study

Vietnam is also experiencing an exponential increase in the use of ICT ineducation and has taken steps to create favourable condition to incorporate ICT into itseducation system (Dang et al., 2013) The most crucial strategies for ICT adoption ineducation in Vietnam are contained in Directive No 55/2008/CT-BGDDT andDecision No 1400/QD-TTg The former is seen by Dang et al (2013, p.13) as a

‘turning point in the strengthening of ICT use in education in Vietnam for the period2008-2012’ whereas the latter is ‘a national project’ on FL teaching and learning forthe period 2008-2020 focusing on ‘professional development for teachers, ICT use inteaching and learning foreign languages and investment in technical facilities’ In order

to achieve such aim, ICT application in lower-secondary education is very important.Research context for this study is not an exception

This study investigates the use of Skype in English classes in Doan Thi Diem

Ha Long School in North Vietnam More specifically, it seeks to develop secondary school students’ intercultural competence through interaction with foreignstudents using Skype in English classes and hopefully to propose suggestions forimproving English speaking classes Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School has been known

lower-as a free-stress studying environment and gained much reputation so far The Englishteaching curriculum which was well-designed with full MOET syllabi integrated withinternational English programs helps students be active, confident, independent anddevelop themselves mentally and physically Students of Doan Thi Diem Ha LongSchool are enjoying a large number of lectures accompanied with PPT and virtuallearning, especially in the classes of more instructional teaching hours It is worthnoticing that for the purpose of this study, Skype which has been used in Englishclasses is ‘a sub category of the larger field of virtual learning and technology’.Witnessing the prevalence of virtual learning in English classes at Doan Thi Diem HaLong School, I was wondering whether or not they have positive educational impacts

on students’ perceptions of intercultural competence

5 Structure of the thesis

The research paper consists of three parts: A, B and C Part A, Introduction is followed by the other two parts: Development and Conclusion The Introduction has

provided the research topic area, the study context, the focus of the study and therationale of the study

Following Part A, there are 3 chapters in Part B including Literature Review, Methodology and Findings and discussion Chapter 1 sets up a theoretical background

for the study by dealing with a number of fundamental concepts and extant literaturerelating to intercultural competence, technology in FL teaching which motivates andgenerates the above addressed research questions This chapter also reviewssome major results found from empirical studies concerning the use of virtuallearning in education in general and in ELT in particular, contributing greatly to theunderstanding of the theoretical background of the study Gaps in previous

studies are then highlighted at the end of Literature Review, validating the

significance of the study

Chapter 2 describes the methodological approach of the study The choice ofqualitative approach is explained with justification for this approach provided in order

to enrich data and help answer the research questions The three sources: interview,observation and students’ diaries and reflections on the Skype sessions are clearlyidentified and stated in this chapter The ethical issues of the study will be discussed

at the end of this chapter while data reliability and validity will be addressed alongthe chapter where relevant

Chapter 3 reveals key findings from an analysis of the research data collectedthrough the interview and participants’ diaries Moreover, the class’ observation isalso carried out to know intercultural competence aspects in interactive learningactivities Furthermore, it presents a detailed interpretation of the findingsconcerning students’ attitudes toward Skype sessions and its assistance in developingtheir intercultural competence The research question will be addressed on the basis

of these findings which are discussed in relation to relevant findings from previousstudies

The last part, Conclusion is devoted to summerizing the findings of the study,

focusing on pedagogical implications of the study, indicating limitations of the study,

and presenting recommendations for further research so as to enhance the values ofintercultural competence through virtual learning tools.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

The previous chapter outlined the three objectives of the study, which are (1) toexplore lower-secondary school students’ attitudes towards interculturalcompetence; (2) to assess student preferences regarding the use of Skype inEnglish classes to interact with foreign students and teachers; and (3) to assessstudent preferences regarding intercultural competence development in culture-learning activities In order to address these objectives, this chapter provides thetheoretical background and foundation for the research prior to a description ofresearch metholody employed for the study

This chapter will review a large body of relevant literature Since the focus of thisstudy is on the student preferences regarding intercultural competence development

in culture-learning activities, it is necessary to begin by looking at the definition

of culture, and then deal with intercultural competence Second, the studies andliterature regarding the use of technology and that of virtual learning in ELT will bereviewed; and the theoretical framework of key factors influencing individualacceptance of the technology adoption in an educational context will be described.Last but not least, the gaps in previous studies will be clearly identified at the end of

Literature review, validating the significance of the study.

1.1 Intercultural competence

In the last decades, Intercultural Competence was reintroduced as Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) as the result of its impact on foreign language

teaching (López-Rocha & Arévalo-Guerrero, 2014) It is necessary to distinguish

between Intercultural Competence and Intercultural Communicative Competence.

According to Byram (1997), the first refer to people’s “ability to interact in their ownlanguage with the people from another country and culture,” while ICC takesinto

account language teaching and focuses on “the ability to interact with people fromanother country and culture in a foreign language” (p 71) In Byram’s (1997) view, aperson who has developed ICC is able to build relationships while speaking in theforeign language; communicates effectively, taking into consideration his own andthe other person’s viewpoint and needs; mediates interactions between people ofdifferent backgrounds, and strives to continue developing communicative skills.Byram (1997), in his model of intercultural communicative competence, puts muchimportance on the language (linguistic competence) and also identity and culturalunderstanding in his conceptualization He argues that a comprehensive definition ofintercultural communicative competence should include the social context and non-verbal dimensions of communication For him the components of interculturalcompetence are attitudes, knowledge, skills and complemented by the values oneholds because of one’s belonging to a number of social group These values are part

of one’s social identities Byram (1997) asserts that the foundation of interculturalcompetence is in the attitudes of the intercultural speaker

Intercultural competence, or IC, refers to the ability to understand cultures,including the learners’ own, and use this understanding to communicate with peoplefrom other cultures successfully, notably in their own language This competence is akey component of intercultural communicative competence, which refers to theability of language learners to communicate with people who come from othercultural backgrounds using the target language

Indeed, to facilitate language learners to develop InterculturalCommunication Competence, language teachers, especially those teaching English asSecond Language (ESL), should first be competent intercultural communicators withgreat confidence and sufficient experience, (Zhang, A Study on ESL Teachers’Intercultural Communication Competence, 2017)

Byram’s (1997) model comprises the dimensions of Attitudes, Knowledge, Skillsand Critical Cultural Awareness In this study, I draw on Byram’s model because it

provides the most comprehensive framework to understanding the

intercultural competence and, thus far, it is considered to be the most influentialmodel in the

educational field

Skills

Interpret andrelate

Attitudes

Relativizing selfValuing other

Skills

Discover and/or interact

Figure 1 Byram’s model of five components of intercultural communicative

competence, from Byram (1997, p.34)

Attitudes are essential and form the foundation for further development of the

student’s intercultural competence (Byram, Gribkova, & Starkey, 2002) To relativizeyourself and value the other, he argues that we need respect for other cultures andcultural diversity, openness, curiosity and discovery The learners need to have a realmotivation for learning and understanding people that are different from themselves

Knowledge refers to several different issues The knowledge that the students

need is not just cultural specific knowledge about a specific national culture, but theyneed cultural general knowledge about concepts that are important forunderstanding how communication between people with different backgroundscan be influenced, such as ethnocentrism, stereotypes and values

In addition to attitudes and knowledge, the intercultural speaker also needs aset of skills Byram et al (2002, p.8) point out a reason why this is an important bothfor learners and teachers.

No teacher can have or anticipate all the knowledge which learners might

at some point need Indeed many teachers have not had the opportunitythemselves to experience all or any of the cultures which theirlearners might encounter, but this is not crucial The teacher’s task is todevelop attitudes and skills as much as knowledge, and teachers canacquire information about other countries together with learners; they

do not need to be the sole or major source of information

From Byram’s (1997) model, we can see that skills refer to two different

elements of intercultural competence regarding skills of interpretation and relation and critical cultural awareness

Culture is always part of foreign language teaching Culture and language areintertwined in a symbiotic balance of power To remove the cultural component from

a language study eliminates the very fiber, which creates the texture and depth

of communication Competence communication is interaction that is perceived

as effective in fulfilling certain rewarding objectives in a way that is also appropriate

to the context in which the interaction occurs (Myron & Jolene, 2013) Almost allstudies on the relationship between language, communication and culture are based

on the exploration of cultural values Culture and communication are inseparable

The majority of teachers in North Vietnam seemed to limit culture to thebehavioral aspect of culture, especially language behavior (Nguyen, 2013) and theydid not consider their EFL teaching in a wider context of intercultural communication,i.e, communication between learners and native and, importantly, non-nativespeakers of the target language (Nguyen, 2014) In addition to that, teachers oftengave culture a minor role in the classroom (Nguyen, Harvey & Grant, 2016) However,students have strong motivation to take part in intercultural online exchanges inEnglish and high levels of interest in other cultures (Wach, 2013)

Culture plays a very important part in language teaching, which is widelyacknowledged by English teaching circle, (Wang, 2011) Language is both a part ofculture and at the same time the deepest cultural reflection English now seems to be

a global language including a lot of implications for language’s learning and teaching.Further, it is essential to acknowledge student preferences to be able to producewell- constructed interactive activities and deliver effective talk, bringing about morefavourable experiences in the classroom Several studies have revealed that perceivedusefulness and likability have direct impacts on attitudes toward the use oftechnology in education and especially, in foreign language teaching and learning(Davis, 1989; Albirini, 2006; Yunus, 2007; Zhang, 2010; Dang et al., 2013) Therefore,this study aims to develop lower-secondary school students’ interculturalcompetence through interaction with foreign students using Skype in English classesand hopefully to propose suggestions for improving English speaking classes

1.2 Motivation

Motivation is the natural human capacity to direct energy in pursuit of a goal.Human beings are purposeful People are constantly learning, and when they do,they use their energy through attention, concentration, action and imagination tomake a sense of the world Most learning in schools, work and social life isactive and volitional, constructing meaning from experiences and the informationavailable, such as when solving a problem or engaging in a conversation There issubstantial evidence that motivation is consistently and positively related toeducational achievement Motivation is important because throughout life, themotivated person will surpass the less motivated person in performances andoutcomes, even though both have similar capacity and the same opportunities

Motivation refers to the root of a person’s desire to foster interculturalrelationships and can be intrinsic or extrinsic Put simply, if a person isn’t motivated to

communicate with people from different cultures, then the components of

intercultural communication competence do not really matter

What is culturally relevant to individuals evokes an intrinsic motivation – acting

or responding for satisfaction of what one is doing (solving an important problem,e.g budgeting money for food and rent) or the value of what one is doing (learninghow to care for children friends or family) All people want is to be effective atwhat they value What individual value engages them emotionally If a person has ahealthy curiosity that drives him or her toward intercultural encounters in order tolearn more about self and others, then there is a foundation from which tobuild additional competence-relevant attitudes and skills This intrinsic motivationmakes intercultural communication a voluntary, rewarding, and lifelong learningprocess Motivation can also be extrinsic, meaning that the desire for interculturalcommunication is driven by an outside reward like money, power, or recognition.While both types of motivation can contribute to ICC, context may further enhance ofimpede a person’s motivation to communicate across culture

The more powerful the feeling that accompanies an experience, the morelikely it will be remembered Strong emotions release hormones, including adrenalineand cortisol, that heighten alertness and enhance the memory of experience.These hormones are likely to be present while some of one’s strongest memories,like deep joy romance, are being made

1.3 Technology, CALL and ICT, and Skype in ELT

1.3.1 Technology

Technology has been employed to facilitate language learning for a long time(Salaberry, 2001; Dudeney & Hockly, 2007) Dudeney and Hockly (2007) affirm theincreasing importance of the use of technology, which is expected to be ‘a normalpart

of ELT practice in the coming years’ (p 7) One of the reasons for this is due to thefact that ‘[younger] learners are growing up with technology, and it is a natural andintegrated part of their lives’ (Dudeney & Hockly, 2007, p.8) In other words, the use

of technology in classrooms is viewed as an inevitable trend in which ‘the use oftechnology in teaching [has become] as natural as the use of books or pens andpaper’ (Dudeney & Hockly, 2007, p.8)

‘Technology’ is referred to by Zhao (2003, p.8) as ‘an ill-defined concept’encompassing ‘a wide range of tools, artifacts, and practices, from multimediacomputers to the Internet, from video tapes to on-line chat rooms, from web pages

to interactive audio conferencing’ Technological resources which are currentlydeployed in FL teaching and learning include audio devices, video, television andradio broadcasts, telephone, computers, and Internet (Fitzpatrick, 2004) Meanwhile,ICT is defined by Fitpatrick and Davies (2003) as an educational technology in whichcomputers play a very important role or that is to say, as a computer-based orinternet- based technology for the purpose of FL teaching and learning Along withthe widespread use of computers, such acronyms as CALL and ICT have beenrecognized globally and attracted more attention from educators, teachers andstudents It should be acknowledged that the appearance journals devoted totechnology and language education proves the increasing awareness of theimportance of technology in language learning and teaching Zhao (2003) andStockwell (2007) list some of the most important journals including CALICO Journal,CALL, Language Learning and Technology, ReCALL and system

Technology has been employed to facilitate language learning for a long time(Salaberry, 2001; Dudeney & Hockly, 2007) If the blackboard, according to Dudeneyand Hockly (2007), is classified as a form of technology, then technology has beenapplied in language teaching for centuries Dudeney and Hockly also affirm theincreasing importance of the use of technology which is expected to be ‘a normalpart

of ELT practice in the coming year’ (p.7) It should be acknowledged that the birth ofjournals devoted to technology and language education, in which some of the mostimportant journals listed Zhao (2003) and Stockwell (2007) are CALICo Journal,CALL, Language Learning and Technology, ReCALL and System, demonstrates theincreasing awareness in the importance of technology in FL teaching and learning.Oommen (2012) asserts that it has become common when such

‘technological tools’ as ‘PCs, laptop, …[and] overhead projector, …’ are used todeliver instructions in the classroom and ‘it has been found very effective’ (p.54) Thiscan be explained by the following reasons First, ‘[younger] learners’, as stated byDudeney & Hockly (2007, p.7), ‘are growing with technology, and it is a natural andintegrated part of their lives’ This is to say, the use of technology in classrooms isviewed as an inevitable trend in which ‘[we] have gone from the era of “chalk-to-chalk”… to PPT slides’ (Craig & Amernic, 2006, p.149) and ‘the use of technology inteaching [has become] as natural as the use of books or pens and paper’ (Dudeney &Hockley, 2007, p.8) Secondly, thanks to technology, it has been able to bring a widerange of ways for students and teachers to practice English and assess performance(Dudeney & Hockley,

2007) It is increasingly clear that English which has emerged as a global language ‘isbeing used in technologically mediated contexts’ (ibid.) As a result, instead ofconstantly adopting conventional teaching methods, ‘new techniques and materials’are

required to be developed ‘so that global language learners can meet the challenges

of the emerging global civilization and use the global language for their diverse needs’(Oomnen, 2012, p.54)

However, Zhao (2003, p.8) clearly argues that ‘[a] specific technology may holdgreat educational potential, but, until it is used properly, it may not have any positiveimpact at all on learning’ Therefore, to assess the effectiveness of any technologicalresource is not to assess the effectiveness of the technology itself, but to assess the

effectiveness of its use, leading to the importance of defining what the intelligent useof

an educational technology is As proposed by Mayer and Moreno (2003), in order toknow whether or not the use of any technology is intelligent, it is necessary to takeinto account three aspects: cognition, instruction and technology Veronikas andShaughnessy (2005) help clarify these three components by asking questionsconcerning (1) the way that people learn (cognition); (2) the way that the learningexperience can be facilitated (instruction); and (3) the way that the instruction andlearning can be improved with the assistance of technology (technology) Savoy et al.(2009) noted that among these components, much attention has been paid to thethird one since one objective that researchers attempt to achieve is to evaluate howeffective the use of educational technologies is When it comes to the use of Skype inthe classrooms, the author is also passionate about exploring the studentperspectives on how Skype enhances instruction and learning during the lecturers.

1.3.2 CALL and ICT

Along with the widespread use of computers in FL teaching and learning, suchacronyms as CALL and ICT have been recognized globally and attracted moreattention from educators, teachers and students

The use of computers in FL teaching dates back to the 1960s (Warschauer andHealey, 1998) Warschauer and Healey famously divide the history of CALL into threemain phases which are behaviouristic CALL, communicative CALL, and integrativeCALL Each stage has its own features and has witnessed changes caused by bothtechnological and pedagogical developments Warschauer and Healey (2000), inspite of the popularity of their analysis of the history of CALL in 1998, suggestanother framework which is inconsistent with the previous one in terms oftechnology These inconsistences shall be discussed briefly bellow

First of all, behaviouristic CALL was conceived in the 1950s but not utilized untilthe 1960s and 1970s (Warschauer and Healey, 1998) whereas the first place iscalled

Structural CALL and dated to the 1970s-1980s in their 2000 publication This modefeatured ‘repetitive language drill, referred to as drill-and-practice (or, pejorativelyas

“drill-and-kill”)’ (Warschauer and Healey, 1998, p.57)

Secondly, communicative CALL which is dated to the 1980s and 1990s inWarschauer and Healey’s publication (2000) was previously said to have appeared inthe late 1970s and early 1980s when the first mode was being rejected theoreticallyand pedagogically and when there were higher possibilities to implement individualwork,

resulting from the appearance of personal computers In this stage, based

‘computer-activities’ should introduce students the way to use forms rather than providethe forms, teach students grammar through a process of inductive discovery ratherthan through deductive explanations, create more opportunities for students toproduce their own utterances instead of just repeating after language samples, and

‘use of the target language predominantly or even exclusively’ (Warschauer andHealey, 1998, p.57) Obviously, communicative CALL focused on what students didwith other students while learning languages on the computers rather than onwhat they did on the computers Meanwhile, speaking of an attitude or purpose,communicative CALL was defined by Seedhouse (1995) as ‘an approach in which theteacher’s main purpose is to produce interaction amongst the learners, and in whichthe software is seen as means to that end’ (p.21)

However, the second mode also ‘began to come under criticism’ by the late 1980sand early 1990s (Warschauer and Healey, 1998, p.57) This stage is, according toWarschauer and Healey (2000), dated to the 21st century The last stage was termed

by Warschauer (1996b) as integrative CALL which aims to achieve the integration offour different skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) and of technology withthe learning of language Students are encouraged to ‘use a variety of technologicaltools as an ongoing process of language learning and use, rather than visiting the

computer lab on a once a week basis for isolated exercises’ (p.58) All these changeshave led to

the change in the teacher and learner roles with the former becoming a facilitatorand the latter becoming an active participant in the learning process In thecontext of a more flexible and modern classroom, teacher training, therefore, plays acrucial role in

creating a generation of teachers being able to ‘use multimedia and other resourceseffectively’ and facilitating the learning experience of students

Bax (2003, p.15) points out ‘[though] these inconsistencies [in the chronology] arenot particularly important in themselves, they are peculiar and avoidable’ Clearly, amore thorough historical analysis is needed to minimize such differences in differentpublications

The use of CALL has been of educational benefits in FL teaching and learning(Kettemann, 1995; Gillespie & McKee, 1999) Nevertheless, Gillespie & McKee arealso aware of the presence of student assistance to CALL and show a number offactors for this; namely infrastructure and compatibility, curriculum design, soundpedagogical strategies, and social and psychological constraints These factors mightpossibly be taken into consideration for further research if students in this researchcontext show reluctance to lecturers’ use of Skype

It is worth noticing that ‘nowadays it is more appropriate to talk about ICT and FLteaching and learning rather than CALL’ (Fitzpatrick & Davies, 2003, p.4) ICT is nowgenerally perceived a major part in enhancing language learning (Koet, 1999).Fitzpatrick and Davies (2003, p.4) contend ‘the growing importance and globalization

of ICT in FL teaching and learning’ is reflected by the establishment of WorldCALL in1998

1.3.3 Skype

Speaking plays a significant role in second/foreign language learning and teaching.Teachers often face a variety of difficulties in meeting learners’ needs in general and

their unwillingness to communicate A large majority of students felt that theywere

more relaxed in class when they had studied a great deal the night before or when they came to class prepared (Dolly, 1990, p.546).

Among the variety of ICT implications, Skype has become a prevalent educationalsoftware technology This Microsoft software enables people to connect to eachother through the internet With Skype, the users can share a story, celebrate abirthday, learn a language, hold a meeting, work with colleagues – just about anythingthey need to do together every day They can use Skype on whatever works best forthem - on their phone or computer or a TV with Skype on it It is free to start usingSkype - to speak, see and instant message other people on Skype for example Theycan even try out group video, with the latest version of Skype

It is always suggested that a sense of reality should be brought into the classroomwhen students have the opportunity to enjoy the types of activities native andother non-native speakers of the target language In language teaching, Skype caninspire students to learn the language, provide authentic learning experiences, create

a student- centered classroom, facilitate intercultural exchange and help studentsdevelop 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, technology literacy,flexibility, social skills, These skills are intended to help students keep up with thelightening – pace of today’s modern markets Learners can easily make free videoand voice calls, send instant messages, share files and share screens Skype provides avariety of educational opportunities for classrooms Students can connect with otherstudents, increase their knowledge, and interact with other cultures It also providesstudents and teachers with the opportunity to participate in virtual tours of historicalplaces, communicate with authors and researchers, and engage in conversations withclassrooms around the world Two classrooms can call each other on Skype globallyand ask questions which related to the class

Research has shown that using Internet technology can enhance the teaching and learning experience (Eaton, 2010; Levy, 2009; Mullen et al., 2009; Peterson, 2009;

Wu, Marek, & Chen, 2013) To achieve meaningful interaction in second language,students often choose to travel overseas at great expense and participate instudy abroad programs Although not a subsitute for the cultural experience of astudy abroad program, technology has made it possible for students to speak face-to-face with native speakers continents away via online communication tools like Skype

in their home or in a classroom Skype is a free software application that allowsinstant communication through text, audio or video messaging through the Internet.Skype was release in 2003 and started to become one of the most popular tools forvideo interaction in real time Because of its great features and accessibility, Skypehas been applied into foreign language learning and teaching across the world

In order to find interactive classrooms overseas, teachers should first have aSkype account and be a member of Microsoft Community or Facebook Groups: Skype

in the Classroom Enthusiasts, Mystery Skype, Skype in the Classroom or Link to theworld Those are free communities that offer live transformative educationalexperiences for students including Virtual Field Trips, talks from Guest Speakers,classroom to classroom connections, and live collaboration projects In this study,students were connected with classrooms around the world to work on projects,explore different cultures, and build greater compassion and empathy for oneanother Skype collaborations were chosen based on their age group, topic, datesand times available and location As Skype Collaborations are run by teachers, it canvary, and depends on the nature of the collaboration – whether it is a one-off call or

a long-term project the teachers will be working on together Usually Skype sessionsare between 30 minutes to an hour to fit in with the school lesson timings Inthis study, students had 35 minutes in each session to interact with foreign studentsthrough Skype in order to broaden their horizons exploring new culture anddiscover how much people in different cultures have in common

1.4 Conclusion

In this chapter, the relevant literature review which has been reviewed inorder to form the theoretical and conceptual framework for the study is presented.From the literature review, the knowledge of intercultural competence has beendiscussed It has been concluded that language is connected to cultural knowledgethat is the interactive and complementary It is the knowledge of the targetculture that helps learners understand what is stated and motivates foreignlanguage learners to learn the target language properly

Secondly, the research in the field of second or foreign language learning hasreviewed the knowledge of technology, CALL and ICT and Skype This helps theresearcher understand the online intercultural interactions

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

The study has three objectives: (1) to explore lower-secondary schoolstudents’ attitudes towards intercultural competence; (2) to assess studentpreferences regarding the use of Skype in English classes to interact with foreignstudents and teachers; and (3) to assess student preferences regarding interculturalcompetence development in culture-learning activities A discussion of themethodological approach and research design best suited to achieve these objectives

is contained in this chapter

This is a qualitative research work with semi-structured interviews,observations and participants’ diaries and reflections as the main sources of data toanswers the research questions posed in Chapter 1 (see 1.3) Ethicalconsiderations will be discussed at the end of the chapter while data reliability andvalidity will be addressed along the chapter where relevant

The study adopted ethnography as its methodology Ethnography is aqualitative research method where behavior is observed in its natural setting for

an extended period of time It looks at people in their cultural setting; their deed aswell as their words; the implicit as well as the explicit; the way in which they interactwith one another and with their social and cultural environment; what is not said

as much as what is said; their language, and the symbols, rituals and shared meaningsthat populate their world, with the object of producing a narrative account of thatparticular culture, against a theoretical backdrop (Singh, 2002)

One of the advantages of ethnography is that it allows for multiple datacollection methods Therefore, in this study I combined three sources of datacollection: semi-structured interviews, class observations and diaries and reflections

In this study, it was assumed that teachers of English incorporating Skype intotheir interactive lessons have already been equipped with sufficient ICT training

2.1 Field site and participants

The study involved a school in the North of Vietnam as its field site It is aprivate school with all three general levels of education (i.e primary, lower-secondaryand upper-secondary), established in 2011 The school offers a complete learningexperience with high-equipped facilities Students are taught English from grade 1 tograde 12 in this school The reason for me to select this school as the research fieldsite was that this school represents a site that is a normal, not an extreme one.Another reason was that this school is also where I was working when my researchwas started, and thus it was a familiar research site for me This familiarity was alsouseful for my fieldwork as well as my rapport with the participants

In order to gain access to the research site, I went back to the school and askedfor an appointment to meet the principal of the school In the meeting withthe principal, she was presented the purpose of the study and described what I would

do in the school The research activities that she was told that I planned to carry out

in the school, as designed, included recruiting students of grade 6 asparticipants, interviewing participants; observing participant’s classes; and collectinglearning materials, diaries and reflections participants noted during the observedclass In addition, I also stated my commitment to protect participants in terms ofensuring the confidentiality of information and participants’ names The principalwas completely supportive of me conducting the research at the school and officiallyallowed to carry out the research as it was proposed After that, participants werestarted recruiting

The participants involved in this study were 5 Vietnamese students from aclass of grade 6 of the school, including 3 girls and 2 boys They were at the age of 12when the study was conducted All of them had been learning English for 5 years atschool and their level of English language proficiency was estimated at level A1 on theCEFR The participants formed the samples of the population of lower-secondarystudents in

Participant pseudonym Age

this school Table 2.1 provides demographic information about the

participants, appearing in their pseudonyms

Table 2.1 Demographic information about participants

Gender

FemaleFemaleFemaleMaleMale

2.2 Data collection methods

In this study, the data were collected over a period of two months, from

October

2018 to December 2018, from three sources: semi-structured interviews withthe participants, observations of the participants’ classroom learning andparticipants’ diaries and reflections on the Skype sessions These data collectionmethods are described in details bellow

2.2.1 Interviews

Interview can create knowledge through human interaction in theconversation between the researcher and participants (Kvale, 1996) Semi-structuredinterviews were conducted to gather information because of its flexibility andefficiency This form of flexible interviewing was chosen because it can help theinterviewer to reword questions, provide prompts, adjust language, clarify pointswhen necessary and answer questions, if any, from participants (Berg 2009) It was

a qualitative data collection

Participant pseudonym Venue

Guided by the research questions, in the interviews, the participants wereasked (with a designed interview guide, which is found in Appendix 1, about (a)their feelings about the Skype collaborative lesson, (b) things that motivated them in

the interactive lesson and (c) what they saw intercultural competence During the

interviews, the participants also shared with me their plans of using English in thefuture Semi-structured interviews were conducted after the classroom observations.Totally, 5 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants.These interviews were conducted in places which were convenient for the participants

in term of where the participants said they felt comfortable All the interviewsoccurred without the presence of any other person and were recorded using a digitalvoice recorder with the permission of the participants during the time they wereconducted Table 2.2 provides information about these interviews

Table 2.2 Interviews

Time length (in minutes)

07:1209:5008:3007:4209:14

2.2.2 Classroom Observation

The second data collection method was used in this study was classroomobservation, i.e direct observation (Patton, 2002) of the participants’ real timeclassroom learning practices Classroom observation was also used to collect data

in this study Observation was a simple, easy-to-use data collection method, although

it was not an investigation because there are no dirrect question-answer relations

My observations aimed to explore pảticipants’ attitudes via their behaviour towardsintercultural competence Direct classroom observation was chosen to be one of themain data collection methods in my study because of its values in addressing theoverarching research question Lorraine Daston and Elizabeth Lunbeck nicely describethe overall importance of observations:

Observation is the most pervasive and fundamental practice of all modern sciences, both natural and human It is also among the most refined and variegated Observation educates the senses, calibrates judgment, picks out objects of scientific inquiry, and forges “thought collective” (2011, 23)

Observation can also serve the purpose of triangulation of data sources as a step

in increasing trustworthiness of findings (Marshall & Rossman, 2011)

Guided by the research question, my observations drew attentions to thestudents, not the teachers A classroom observation protocol was produced to help

me record what I could observe in participants’ classes (see Appendix 2) I asked forthe teacher’s permission before entering the class that being wanted to observe, theteacher told me where I should sit, then, I took the role of the observer, which wasnon- participant observation, during the time in class From my own knowledgeand working experience, classroom observation by colleagues has been a commonpractice in any schools Therefore, I believe that my presence was of no, or at leastlittle, effect on participants’ behavior and activities in the classroom Table 2.3provides information about the observations which were conducted for the presentstudy