A cross cultural analysis of english textbook for grade 11 and suggestions of supplementary activities for students’ cross cultural awareness

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES --- TRẦN THỊ HẢI A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-

TRẦN THỊ HẢI

A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOK

FOR GRADE 11 AND SUGGESTIONS OF SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS’ CROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS

PHÂN TÍCH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH LỚP 11

TỪ KHÍA CẠNH GIAO VĂN HÓA VÀ ĐỀ XUẤT CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG BỔ TRỢ ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN NHẬN THỨC GIAO VĂN

HÓA CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111

HANOI – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-

TRẦN THỊ HẢI

A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOK

FOR GRADE 11 AND SUGGESTIONS OF SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS’ CROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS

PHÂN TÍCH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH LỚP 11 TỪ KHÍA CẠNH

GIAO VĂN HÓA VÀ ĐỀ XUẤT CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG BỔ TRỢ ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN NHẬN THỨC GIAO VĂN

HÓA CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111

Supervisor: Prof Nguyễn Quang, Ph.D

HANOI - 2014

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled:

“A cross-cultural analysis of English textbook for grade 11 and suggestions

of supplementary activities for students’ cross-cultural awareness”

is the result of my own work for the degree of Master of Arts in English Language Teaching Methodology at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and this thesis is the total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material

in this thesis has not been submitted for any other university or institution wholly and partially

Hanoi, 2014

Trần Thị Hải

I wish to take this opportunity to express my heart felt thanks to the lecturers of the Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies who help me a lot during the Master Course Last but not least, I owe my parents and my husband their continuous support Their patience and love have helped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an insurmountable task

ABSTRACT

This study was intended to examine the cultural content presented in English textbook for Grade 11 and suggest some activities for raising students’ cross-cultural awareness

To achieve the above mentioned objective, the research based on quantitative methods was conducted in order to give a brief account of how culture is treated according to the modified checklists designed by Cortazzi and Jin, Hirsch et al and Chastain. The main findings of the research were as follows: (1) the textbook can be classified as an international target culture textbook in which students are exposed

to various kinds of cultures such as world culture, international culture and Vietnamese culture (2) the textbook reveals elements of cross-cultural comparison that promote students’ cross-cultural awareness (3) the research suggests some supplementary activities among a number of activities used for culture teaching in classrooms that may be used to develop students’ cross-cultural awareness

The author hopes that the findings of the research may support teachers to

adjust their cultural teaching content and help textbook editors in the next reform of

high school textbooks

ABBREVIATIONS

FLT: foreign language teaching

SLT: second language teaching

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A INTRODUCTION……… 1

1 Rationale of the study……… 1

2 Objectives of the study…… ……… 2

3 Research questions……… 2

4 Scope of the study……… 3

5 Methods of the study……… 3

6 Structure of the study……… 3

PART B DEVELOPMENT……… 5

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……… 5

1.1 Foreign language textbooks and treatment of cultural content………… 5

1.1.1 Classification of cultural content in foreign language textbooks……… 5

1.1.2 Cultural topics and categories in foreign language textbooks……… 7

1.1.3 Checklists for analyzing the cultural dimension in foreign language textbooks……… 8

1.2 Culture teaching in foreign language teaching……… 10

1.2.1 Principles for culture teaching……… 10

1.2.2 Common approaches to the teaching of culture……… 11

1.2.2.1 The mono-culture approach……… 11

1.2.2.2 Comparative approach……… 11

1.2.2.3 Other approaches……… 12

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY……… 14

2.1 Material under analysis……… 14

2.2 Research questions……… 16

2.3 Research methods……… 17

2.4 Data collection procedures……… 17

2.5 Checklists for the cross-cultural analysis in the study……… 17

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS……… 19

3.1 Research question 1……… 19

3.2 Research question 2……… 21

3.3 Research question 3……… 23

3.3.1 Influence of factors the choice of activities when teaching culture to Grade 11 students in Vietnam……… 24

3.3.2 Supplementary activities for developing Grade 11 students’ cross-cultural awareness in Vietnam……… 24

3.3.2.1 Elmore’s activities………

25 3.3.2.1 Peck’s activities……… 27

PART C CONCLUSION……… 30

1 Summary of main findings……… 30

2 Implications and recommendation……… 31

3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research……… 32

References……… 33

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Vietnam has been a member of World Trade Organization (WTO) since

2006 This integration is both opportunity and challenge Thanks to this decision, Vietnamese people are easy to seek a job and gain higher salary It, however, requires labour source with high level and effective communication in an international language In order to understand each other, people need to understand not only each other’s language, but also each other’s culture This can open the door

to better international understanding and ensure peaceful relations between nations

Language and culture are interdependent and interactional Language may reflect many factors of culture and culture affects the way language is used in turn

As Bremberk (1977:14) states “to know another’s language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of one’s self” Thus, learning culture is obviously a vital factor for Vietnamese students for success in communication because second language learning is second culture learning Without the study of culture, foreign language instruction is inaccurate and incomplete In modern FLT/SLT materials, textbook editors rightly emphasize the close relationship between learning a language and learning its culture It is suggested that just learning four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) may cause the improper understanding of the meanings of a language

In 2006, a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory subject, is

“instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as world cultures” was developed by Ministry of Education and Training (MOET, 2006) MOET designed new English textbooks for high schools to foster students’ four skills and provide students with overall knowledge of English-speaking countries, their people and cultures in 2002 One of the objectives of English teaching and learning is to enhance students’ cross-cultural awareness Since their nation-wide implementation in the school year 2007-2008, a great deal of research have been

carried out to evaluate English textbook of grade 10 as well as to find out how the textbook are actually implemented or the difficulties that teachers and students have

to face when teaching and learning by the new textbook However, most of these studies have dealt with the teaching and learning of the four language skills which are believed to be new for both teachers and students at grade 10 and grade 11 And one research on cross-cultural factors for grade 10 was conducted Hence, there is still a lack of research on cross-cultural factors in English textbook of grade 11

For the aforementioned reasons, the author has decided to conduct this study It is hoped that this study will help students and teachers realize cross-cultural factors which may be implicit or explicit in the textbook, contribute some immediate activities to develop students' cross-cultural awareness

2 Objectives of the study

This research was carried out to serve the following objectives:

 To identify cultural treatment and categories revealed in the textbook

 To suggest supplementary activities for Grade 11 students’ cross-cultural awareness

so that English learning and teaching become more interesting and effective

2 What type of cultural categories does Grade 11 English textbook introduce and to what extent?

3 What type of supplementary activities should be used to improve Grade 11 students’ cross-cultural awareness?

4 Scope of the study

The thesis focuses on Reading and Listening passages in Grade 11 English textbook (developed by Hoang Van Van et al., Vietnam Education Publishing House, 2007) The tasks in Reading and Listening sections and the content of Speaking, Writing and The Language Focus sections (including illustrations) are also employed for analysis when and if appropriate

In the national high school English syllabus, there are no appropriate guidelines for cultural instructions although the stress on students’ cross-cultural awareness is emphasized It is believed that a good cross-cultural evaluation of a textbook can be made when the goal of cultural instructions is clearly stated in the syllabus Therefore, the study just makes an attempt to conduct a small-scale cross-cultural analysis of the Grade 11 textbook It does not provide a general assessment

of the whole set of Grade 10, Grade 11 and Grade 12 English textbooks for Vietnamese high schools

5 Methods of the study

In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the study resorts to quantitative method The analysis is conducted according to the two modified checklists proposed by Cortazzi and Jin, Hircsh et al., Chastain

6 Structure of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts:

Part A: INTRODUCTION – All the academic routines required for an MA thesis are presented

PART B: DEVELOPMENT – This is the focus of the study and consists of 3 chapters

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

Chapter 2: Methodology of the study

Chapter 3: Results and discussions

Part C: CONCLUSION: Review of the findings, implications and limitations of the study and some suggestions for further research are given

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Foreign language textbooks and treatment of cultural content

1.1.1 Classification of cultural content in foreign language textbooks

Textbooks and instruction materials are often used by teachers and language instructors since they are considered essential constituents in EFL/SLT As Hutchinson & Torres (1994:315) suggest “the textbook is an almost universal element of English language teaching.” They suggest that textbooks can support teachers through potentially disturbing and threatening change processes, demonstrate new and/or untried methodologies, introduce change gradually, and create scaffolding upon which teachers can build a more creative methodology of their own A very indispensable assumption about using textbooks in FLT/SLT is that they reflect the culture through their cultural content Dunnet, Dubin and Lezberg (1986) posit there are two types of textbooks: one-dimensional and two-dimensional One-dimensional textbooks focus on the target language culture and leave few possibilities for comparison, “unless the teacher injects a question, such

as, ‘This is what American do What do you do?’ or ‘This is the American view What is your view?” (Dunnet, Dubin and Lezberg (1986: 153) While two dimensional textbooks encourage cross-cultural understanding, they treat culture-related themes from two different perspectives, thus stimulating both comparison and contrast between the target and the source cultures Later on Moran (2001: 15-18) offers four categories of cultural content that should be introduced to students where cultural content is identified as:

- Knowing about, relating to cultural information – facts about products, practices and perspectives of the target culture as well as students’ own;

- Knowing how, referring to cultural practices in the everyday life of the people of the target culture;

- Knowing why, constituting an understanding of fundamental cultural perspectives – beliefs, values and attitudes;

- Knowing oneself, concerning the individual learners’ self-awareness In other words, students need to understand themselves and their own culture as a means to comprehend the target language culture

Regarding culture-related teaching materials and textbooks in English classroom, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) provide a novel look at the sources of cultural information They classified the sources of culture textbooks into source culture textbook (learner’s own culture), target culture textbook (any English-speaking countries where English is spoken as a first language), and international target culture textbook (English-speaking or non-speaking English countries around the world where English is not used as a first language) They distinguish three types of cultural information to be presented in foreign language textbooks:

- Source culture textbooks refer to the textbooks which present language learners’ own culture Usually, these are the textbooks that are produced at a national level for a particular country Preparation of the language helps learners to introduce their own culture to English-speaking visitors is the main purpose of this kind of textbooks

- Target culture textbooks usually focus on one or two target cultures, such as the United Kingdom, United States The textbooks of this category are the most popular instruction materials in the EFL context The reason for integrating target culture into English classroom lies in firstly that learning a target culture will nurture student motivation and develop their attitudes toward language learning Students using such textbooks might have more competence when talking to people from the target culture or visiting the target country They could also be aware of cultural differences between their own culture and the target culture, so students’ awareness

of the target culture is thus enhanced

- International target culture textbooks involve textbooks that include a wide variety of cultures set in English-speaking countries or in countries where English is not a first or a second language, but is used as an international language, namely lingua franca Students not only learn the target culture from such textbooks but

also learn about more than one culture Their knowledge of other cultures may enhance student’s motivation, develop their attitudes toward language learning, and raise their awareness of other cultures

1.1.2 Cultural topics and categories in foreign language textbooks

Researchers have made many attempts to find out relevant cultural issues to deliver in foreign language textbooks It mainly focuses on investigating what aspects of culture students should learn in order to be able to function in that culture

or interact with people from that culture They proposed some frameworks to describe specific categories of cultural knowledge that should be taught to students

Brooks (1986: 124-128, first published in 1964) compiled 62 possible cultural topics which could be used as the contents of brief cultural presentations in the language classroom He also draws a considerable attention to a comparison of a student’s view of life with that of an individual in the new speech community

Under each topic he provides some example questions so that teachers could elaborate the topic according to students’ age and experience For example, under the topic “Soft drinks and alcohol” he presents the following questions:

What types of nonalcoholic beverages are usually consumed by young people and adults? What is the attitude towards beer, wine, and spirits? What alcoholic drinks are in frequent use at home and in public?

(Brooks 1986: 126) Similar to Brooks, Chastain (1988:303-304), based on the idea of anthropological definition of culture, proposes thirty-seven categories of culture themes for foreign language learners To develop students’ comprehension of the values behind the categories, Chastain suggests using comparison and contrast when introducing these culture themes There are 37 topics in his list, including Geography, Contemporary Science, Commonly Known History, Clothing, Transportation, Home, Economic System, Earning a Living, Retirement, Money, Services, Health and Welfare, Family, Courtship and Marriage, Population, Politics, Death, Crime, Humor, Holidays, Leisure Activities, Correspondence, Language,

Education, Courtesy Phrases, Good Manners, Eating, Social Interaction, Non-verbal Communication, Religion, Ecology, Vacations, Travel, Daily Routines, Pets, The Press, Meeting Personal Needs

Durant (1997:31) also emphasizes the comparative approach He details list

of cultural topics which comprise food, customs, the legal and judicial system, holidays, housing and gardens, social attitudes, and forms of political expression

He also posits there is no need for any fixed list or fixed order of themes Teachers could choose topics depending on students’ interest and suggestions

The above cultural topics may lead to an unsystematic provision of information Therefore, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEF) (2002) groups into a list of seven categories These include everyday living (e.g., food and drink, holidays and working practices), living conditions, (e.g., housing conditions), interpersonal relations (e.g., class structure, family structures and relations between generations), values, beliefs and attitudes (e.g., social class, wealth, regional cultures, minorities and arts), body language, social conventions (punctuality, dress and behavioral and conversational conventions) and ritual behavior (e.g., birth, marriage and death)

Stern (1992) focuses on six categories which an average language student is likely to require: places, individual persons and way of life, people and society in general, history, institutions and, finally, art, music, literature and other achievements He claims that a student needs to have “some sense of physical location to which relate the target language” To teachers, he suggests that they can overcome the vastness of material by careful selection and differentiated approaches

1.1.3 Checklists for analyzing the cultural dimension in foreign

language textbooks

In order to help teachers to pick up teaching materials that best meet the demand of the course and students’ needs, there have been various checklists for analyzing foreign language textbooks However, some scholars such as Byram

(1997:71), Cortazzi and Jin (1999:201) and Skopinskaja (2003:44) contend that in some checklists the cultural studies dimension is missing Cortazzi and Jin (1999:202) add that other checklists address only certain aspects of culture (for example, stereotypes) or varieties of target cultures (for example Britain or the USA).Still others put aside uncomfortable social realities such as unemployment, poverty and racism

Byram (1989) and Cortazzi and Jin (1999) offer Huhn’s (1978) list There are seven criteria to deal with the cultural content of foreign language textbooks in his list: Cultural information must be accurate and contemporary;

The question of stereotypes must be handled critically;

It must provide a realistic picture of the foreign society;

It must be free from ideologies;

Facts should not be presented in isolation;

The historical material should be presented explicitly;

Later on Cunningsworth (1995), the social and cultural context in foreign language course must be understandable to students and they should be able to interpret “the relationships, behavior, intentions, etc of the characters portrayed in the book” He asks the following questons”

 Are the social and cultural contexts in the textbook comprehensible to the students?

 Can students interpret the relationship, behaviours, intentions etc of the characters portrayed in the book?

 Are women given equal prominence to men in all aspects of the textbook?

 What physical and character attributes are women given?

 What professional and social positions are women shown as occupying?

 What do we learn about inner lives of the chracters?

 To what extent is the language of feeling depicted?

 Do the textbook characters exits in some kind of social setting, within a social network?

 Are social relationships portrayed realistically?

Thanks to Huhn’s (1978) list of criteria, Cunningsworth’s (1995) checklist or recent checklists like Sercu’s (1998) set of questions, Kilickaya (2004), it can be seen that scholars have developed them in a more systematic way However, it cannot be denied that the textbook assessment is more or less subjective, difficult to answer and time-consuming for researchers who want to develop a questionnaire based on those checklists

1.2 Culture teaching in foreign language teaching

1.2.1 Principles for culture teaching

When students learn a foreign language, their ultimate aim is to understand the ways people do things and why they do them With traditional teaching methods, students are focused on the improvement of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills as well as the teaching of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar These may lead to misunderstanding in some real situation or communicate less effectively, or even cause culture shock to students Scholars have been ongoing concerns about the teaching of culture in foreign language instructions Like teaching other aspects in foreign language instruction, culture teaching requires organized development of its teaching principles Kramsch’s principles may be considered the most noticeable one Kramsch (1993: 205-206) warns against a simple “transmission of information” about the foreign culture and its members’ worldviews She highlights what she calls “new way of looking at the teaching of language and culture” These include:

- Establishing a sphere of interculturality, which means that teaching culture

is not transferring information between cultures but a foreign culture should

be put in relation with one’s own The intercultural approach includes a reflection on both cultures

- Teaching culture as an interpersonal process, which means replacing the

teaching of facts and behaviors by the teaching of a process that helps to understand others

- Teaching culture as difference, which means considering the

multiculturality and multiethnicity of modern societies and looking at various factors like age, gender, regional origin, ethnic background, and social class

In other words, cultures should not be seen as monolithic

- Crossing disciplinary boundaries, which means linking the teaching of

culture to other disciplines like anthropology, sociology and semiology

Kramsch (1993) concludes that these “lines of thought lay the ground for a much

richer understanding of culture than heretofore envisaged by the majority of language teachers”

1.2.2 Common approaches to the teaching of culture

Researchers or scholars have observed, researched and classified approaches

to the teaching of culture in different ways in which some of them have lost ground, others have had dominant positions In very broad terms, they divided ways to teach culture into two: those focusing only on the culture of the country whose language studied is called the mono-cultural approach, and those based on comparing learners’ own and the other culture is called the comparative approach

Risager (1998:246) calls the mono-cultural approach the foreign-cultural approach It focuses on the culture of the country where the language is spoken and

is based on the concept of a single culture It seems to be a shortcoming today because it is lack of the relationship between cultures The aim of the teaching is to develop native speaker communicative and cultural competence This approach was prevalent until the 1980s and is looked down nowadays since it does not consider learners’ understanding of their own culture

The comparative approach puts the stress on the relationship between the foreign culture and the learners’ own Buttjes and Byram (1991:13, cited in Edginton 2000: 136) state that instead of providing learners with “a one-way flow

of cultural information” they should be encouraged to reflect on their own and

foreign culture With the comparative approach, students learn that people can do things by many ways, and their way is not the only possible one Learner’s knowledge, beliefs and values combining with those of other culture are addressed

to form a successful communication Byram and Planet (2000:189) state that “the comparative approach does involve evaluation but not in terms of comparison with something which is better, but in terms of improving what is all too familiar.” Comparison gives learners a new perspective of their own language and culture Through this, students discover both similarities and differences of their own and other cultures As a result, they can enhance knowledge, understanding and acceptance

- The theme-based approach

Theme-based or thematic approach to the teaching of culture relies on certain themes, for example, family, humour, beauy, liberty, value, religion, symbolism, ceremony, love and education, which are seen as typical of a culture This approach endeavours to indicate the values and relationships in a given culture and helps learners to understand it better Nevertheless, it might be difficult for them to see individual people and understand social processes and values from this perspective and could lead to stereotyping (Visniewska-Brogowska 1999: 61) Theme-based approach has some flaws because it provides students with an unsystematic view of the target culture

- The task-oriented approach

This approach is based on learners’ own research Different from the previous one,

it is characterised by co-operative tasks Learners work in pairs or small groups on various aspects of the other culture They share and discuss their findings with others in order to form a more complete picture Finally, learners interpret the information within the context of the other culture and compare it with their own

- The skill-centered approach

The skill-centred approach aims at developing learners’ skills, which they may need

to deal with issues related to communication among cultures Therefore, this approach is beneficial for people needing to live in the target-language community

It does not merely mean knowledge of the other culture The skill-centered approach addresses awareness and skills as much as content, their similarities as well as differences