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

ABSTRACT This study examines the intercultural competence of ELF teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries, their self-report in teaching practice and the reflection of

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

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

LƯƠNG THỊ THANH THẢO

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF EFL TEACHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES WHEN TEACHING THE COURSE BOOK “ NEW HEADWAY, PRE-

INTERMEDIATE, THIRD EDITION”

Năng lực liên văn hóa của giáo viên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Công Nghiệp trong việc giảng dạy giáo trình

“ New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2016

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

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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

LƯƠNG THỊ THANH THẢO

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF EFL TEACHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES WHEN TEACHING THE COURSE BOOK “ NEW HEADWAY, PRE-

INTERMEDIATE, THIRD EDITION”

Năng lực liên văn hóa của giáo viên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Công Nghiệp trong việc giảng dạy giáo trình

“ New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Prof Nguyen Quang

HANOI – 2016

DECLARATION

I, Lương Thị Thanh Thảo, hereby certify that the thesis “Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries whenteaching the course book “New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third Edition”

” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi I also declare that this thesis is result

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

purposes

Hanoi, 2016 Signature

Lương Thị Thanh Thảo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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

Besides, I am heartily thankful to all the lecturers and teachers of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable and interesting lectures and assistance during my study at the university

Many thanks would go to all the teachers of English at University of Economic and Technical Industries whose active participation and cooperation helped me to fulfill this study

Last but not least, I send my special thanks to my family and my friends who provided abundant assistance and encouragement while this work was in progress

ABSTRACT

This study examines the intercultural competence of ELF teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries, their self-report in teaching practice and the reflection of their intercultural competence on their teaching This study adopts a mixed methods research design Quantitative data are collected through a survey questionnaire from seventeen EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries Among them, four teachers participate in the follow-up interviews The findings of this study suggest that participating teachers’ perceive cultural teaching objectives reflect various aspects of an intercultural perspective toward culture teaching They are aware of the importance of intercultural competence in teaching however they have not applied frequently in teaching practice yet English language teachers concentrated on the factual knowledge and skills parts of teaching the language most of the time, which could

be categorized within the pedagogy of information and the pedagogy of preparation respectively; either when they were presenting culture; when they were representing their teaching objectives; when they perceived the teaching of the ICC; or when they were using activities in their classrooms Less concentration was paid to actual teaching of culture, which could be categorized within the pedagogy of encounter; despite their realization of the importance of it to their students and their openness

to other cultures

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF APPENDIXES x

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

2.1 Aims of the study 2

2.2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Significance of the study 3

5 Research Methodology 3

5.1 Research Questions 3

5.2 Research methods 4

6 Design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Language and culture correlation 5

1.2 Intercultural competence 7

1.3 Byram’s perception of intercultural competence 10

1.4 Review of related studies 12

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 Setting and participants 14

2.1.1 Setting 14

2.1.2 Participants 14

2.2 Data collection instrument 14

2.2.1 Questionnaire 14

2.2.2 Interview 16

2.3 Data collection procedure 16

2.4 Data analysis 17

2.4.1 Questionnaire Analysis 17

2.4.2 Interviews Analysis 17

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19

3.1 From quantitative data 19

3.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence 19

3.1.2 EFL teachers self-report their intercultural competence in teaching practice 23

3.1.3 Teachers’ IC reflected in their practice of teaching 28

3.2 From qualitative data 30

3.2.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence 30

3.2.2 Teaching objectives 34

3.2.3 How teachers perceive the teaching of intercultural competence in their classrooms 36

3.2.4 Teacher’s intercultural competence reflected in their self-report pedagogical practice 38

PART C: CONCLUSION 40

1 Summary of the Research and Main Findings 40

2 Limitations of the study 43

3 Suggestions for further studies 44

REFERNCES 45 APPENDIX A: I APPENDIX B: X

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CC Communicative competence

CEFR Common European Framework of Reference for Languages EFL English as a foreign language

ELT English language teaching

FLT Foreign language teaching

IC Intercultural competence

ICC Intercultural communicative competence

ILTLP Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice

SD Standard Deviation

UNETI University of Economic and Technical Industries

Multicultural Environment in the Language Classroom

LIST OF FIGURES

Page Figure 1 : Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence 11

LIST OF APPENDIXES

Page

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

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

In other words, cultural knowledge and linguistic knowledge play an equal role in

communication According to Byram (1997) and Smith et al (2003, p.89-126)) “in order to enhance English language learners’ intercultural communicative competence, understanding other background is the foundation of making possible assumptions.”

Moreover, many scholars such as Byram and Morgan (1994), and Secru (2005) have pointed out the important of intercultural competence (IC) in foreign language education noting that teaching English as a foreign or second language is not merely

language teaching, but more importantly “the teaching of global culture.”

Since culture plays such an important role in English language teaching, teachers should be considered as a major instructional tool to transmit knowledge and consequently to convey cultural aspects to their students In recent years, Vietnamese EFL teachers and educators are beginning to understand the greater role of culture plays in foreign language learning and beginning to address the need to integrate a cultural dimension into classrooms (Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, 2007, Nguyen Thanh Long,

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

Additionally, it is initiated by my own interest in the topic which inspires me to

have a further insight into “Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University

of Economic and Technical Industries when teaching the course book “New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”

2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

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

at University of Economic and Technical Industries and their self-report in culture teaching

2.2 Objectives of the study

- To assess the intercultural competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries

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

- To find out how EFL teachers’ intercultural competence is reflected in their self-reported pedagogical practice in classroom

3 Scope of the study

Within the framework of this minor thesis, the study only focuses on university EFL teachers’ attitude of intercultural competence in teaching for non-English major students

4 Significance of the study

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

of communication with people from other countries is more and more increasing because of the globalization,

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

Secondly, the study provides the insights into English language teachers’ intercultural competence and their application in practice

5.2 Research methods

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

6 Design of the study

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

Part A, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the method and

the design of the study

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

reviews the key constructs and related works Chapter 2, Methodology, introduces the participants, the data collection instruments and data analysis procedure Chapter 3, Findings and Discussions, deals with the results and the discussions concluded from the data analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

Culture can also be interpreted as “the complex whole, which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities, and habits acquired by humans as members of a society (Tylor, 1874) According to Hubernere (1965, p.78) culture is divided into three categories the sociological or social sciences dimension of culture, which includes the history, geography, economics, and political development of a nation; the artistic dimension of culture, which consists of literature, music, art, etc.; and the anthropological oriented dimension of culture, which covers aspects such as the behavioral patterns of the people e.g customs, daily life, standard

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

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

culture as a “large or capital-C culture” and a “small-c culture” (Chastain, 1976, p.338& Doyé, 1999, p.19)

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

1 Language is the primary vehicle of communication;

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

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

It is often held that the function of language is to express thought and to communicate information Language also fulfills many other tasks such as greeting people, conducting religious service, etc It is obvious that language plays a paramount role in developing, elaborating and transmitting culture, enabling us to store meanings and experience to facilitate communication The function of language is so important in communication that it is even exaggerated by some scholars

However, the definition alone cannot provide us with a clear understanding on the relationship between language and culture Therefore, we should take a dialectical point of view on the relationship between language and culture As is mentioned at the beginning, language and culture are inextricably intertwined This approach is supported by Crozet & Liddicoat (2000) and other researchers and language educators such as Risager (2005), Carr (2007) Kramsch (1991, p.217) argues that “language and culture are inseparable and constitute a single universal or domain of experience” On the one hand, language is a part of human being It reflects people’s attitudes, beliefs, and worldviews Language both expresses and embodies cultural reality On the other hand, language is a part of culture It helps perpetuate the culture and it can influence the culture to a certain extent According to Saint-Jacques (2012, p.53), language can

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

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

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

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

1.2 Intercultural competence

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

to communicative competence” and then to “intercultural competence” Chomsky (1965) has investigated the acquisition of “linguistic competence” Students are expected to develop the understanding of a language correctly only by learning its linguistics system which includes grammatical structures, vocabulary and pronunciation At that time the socio-cultural context is less of significance in language acquisition As the pragmatic reform appears at the second half of the 20nd century which emphasizes on the performance of speech acts, language teachers realize that it

is not enough for students to communicate effectively with only well-structured sentences if they lack the knowledge of how to use these sentences in a real context

The term “communicative competence” is investigated in different ways by many scholars It is first introduced by Hymes (1972) with several systems of rules underlying communicative behaviors Then Van Ek (1986) who originally applies CC

to FLT also presents six partial or super-ordinate abilities in his research This competence usually consists of four elements: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence (Savignon, 1983 & Alptekin, 2002) However, CC has been criticized by scholars because of focusing on speech acts and discourse competence instead of cultural competence Meanwhile the culture of the target language often differs from the first language As argued by Crozet and Liddicoat (1999), communicative language teaching is not able to link between language and culture so it does not enhance intercultural understanding Therefore, there is a need to entail a shift in the overall aim of FL instruction from CC to IC

There are different definitions of intercultural competence The conceptualization of intercultural competence mainly deals with the ability to communicate and interact across culture of language learners According to Byram (1997) intercultural competence is defined as “the ability to communicate and interact across culture boundaries” As presented in her work, Deardoff (2004, p.194) proposes that intercultural competence include “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situation based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes” This definition is also supported by Paige et al (2003) who refer to intercultural competence as the ability of a person to “interact and communicate effectively with person from other cultures and in culturally diverse settings’

In addition to the ability to communicate and interact, the sense of cultural identity is another important feature in the notion of intercultural competence Byram, Gribkova & Starkey ( 2002, p.10) has shown that it is “ the ability to ensure a shared understanding by people of different social identities, and the ability to interact with people as complex human beings with multiple identities and their own individuality”

Intercultural competence emphasizes learners’ mediation between different cultures Risager (1998, p.244) has shown that intercultural competence is the ability that allows learners to “function as mediators between their home culture and the target

culture and to use the target language as contact language with people who use this language as first language” According to Byram& Zarate (1997) it helps learners to look at themselves form an external perspective, then analyze and adapt their own behaviors, values and beliefs They can interpret and understand other perspectives as well as decide what is taken for granted in their society as mediators between language and culture Therefore, they can “engage with complexity and multiple identities and avoid stereotyping which accompanies the act of perceiving someone through a single identity” (Byram et al., 2002, p.9) The “reflective capacity to deal with cultural differences and to modify behavior when needed” was also taken into consideration by Dellit (2005, p.17)

However, intercultural competence of language learners cannot be achieved only through policies, materials, or even residence abroad as argued by Byram & Zarate (1997) Therefore, teachers’ awareness and understanding of intercultural competence are necessary to ensure students’ progress (Sercu, 2002) Teachers have responsibilities to help learners realize the relationship between their own culture and other cultures Teachers can inspire their students’ interest and their curiosity about

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

To sum up, culture is seen as the core in the concept of intercultural competence

in language education It is insufficient for language learners to study and work in multicultural setting only by “linguistics competence” and “communicative competence” In consequence, there are a wide range of definitions of “intercultural competence” due to its complexity These definitions all focus on people’s capacity to communicate effectively and appropriately in the intercultural situations and their ability to mediate between languages and cultures The next section describes the five well-known models of intercultural competence

1.3 Byram’s perception of intercultural competence

Byram (1997) offers a model of IC, which includes five “savoirs” acquired by

language learners The elements of this model are attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness or political education, linked to the values a person acquires as a result of belonging to several social groups in a society These five savoirs are defined as follows:

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

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

2 Savoir être (Attitudes): curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief

about other cultures and belief about one's own

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

document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from one's own

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

acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction

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

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

products in one's own and other cultures and countries

Figure 1 Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence

Figure 1 shows the relationship between five elements Byram’s model (1997) values key dimensions in relation to culture: cultural relativism, critical awareness, empathy, curiosity, and cultural identity It also presents the inter-relationship of linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and intercultural competence For Byram, intercultural competence involves an individual’s activity to interact with people in other cultures using foreign language as well as acts as a mediator between people of different culture

Through the five saviors proposed by Byram (1997), language learners can identify misunderstandings while interacting with people from other cultures, explain their conflicting interpretations, define the need for further learning, and take action to avoid such misunderstandings

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

1.4 Review of related studies

In Europe, Australia, and North America, the importance of intercultural competence teaching has been widely recognized in second and foreign language curricula and educational policies (Sercu, 2006; Liddicot, 2004;) For instance, in Europe, the acquisition of intercultural competence has been addressed in the Council

of Europe's (2001) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:Learning, teaching, assessment The framework provides a structure for

intercultural competence development based on Byram’s (1997) model Moreover, it provides a common basic for language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, and assessment Knowledge and skills for language learners to reach the six levels of communicative proficiency are identified in the CEFR Culture as one of the main

aspects of the CEFR is put an emphasis to help language learners become plurilingual and develop interculturally (Council of Europe, 2001)

In the United States, the National Standards in Foreign Langauge Education Project is a framework for second language learning Five national standards for foreign language education which are referred to as the five Cs (Standards, 1996) have been proposed, including communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities, Teachers are encouraged to adjust their current communicative competence oriented teaching practices in order to help students to acquire intercultural competence Although many countries’ national curricula for language teaching have been following the intercultural shift in theory, Garrido & Alvarez (2006); Sercu (2006) argue that both cultural teaching in the broad sense and intercultural competence teaching have not yet become a common practice in second and foreign language classrooms

Studies conducted by European researchers, regarding cultural teaching practices, suggest that most language teachers’ current cultural teaching practices do not yet have desired outcomes as specified in the theoretical literature ( Sercu, 2006; Sercu, Mendez Garcia & Castro Prieto, 2005)

In Australia, the Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP) (University of South Australia, 2007) was further developed in Australia The

ILTLP helps teachers increase their knowledge of intercultural language teaching and learning Furthermore, it helps language teachers able to integrate them into classroom

practice and assessment

Some researchers have investigated foreign language teachers’ perception of ICC and its implementation in the language classroom Sercu (2005) conducted a study that surveyed teachers of English, German, and French and investigated to what extent the teachers’ beliefs, levels of instruction, and teaching practices could be promoting ICC as opposed to mere communicative competence He finally found that the majority

of foreign language teachers who participated in the study had “not yet adopted student-centered strategies for teaching intercultural competence” (p 103) because of lacking of preparation and of appropriate teaching materials and not having sufficient time, resources, or training Teacher’s beliefs and practices regarding ICC have been investigated by other researchers such as Paige, Jorstad, Siaya, Klein, and Colby, (2003); Sercu, (2005)

The lack of curricular support, suitable textbook materials, and ICC testing raises concerns about the integration of intercultural competence into language curricula were concluded in the researches of Duff & Uchida, (1997); Lazaratton, (2003); Young et al., (2009)

In Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa is one of the researchers who highlight the importance of intercultural competence Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa (2007) also considers the lack of guidelines, insufficient time, class sizes and lack of intercultural capability

as the reasons of communication failure

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Setting and participants

2.1.1 Setting

The study is carried out at Faculty of Foreign language, University of Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI) Faculty of Foreign language provides the English learning programs for non-major English students Every classroom is equipped with a projector, and other teaching as well as learning aids There are 44 teachers of English

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

2.1.2 Participants

The participants in the research are 17 teachers of Basic English Department teaching Basic English for second year students They have different degree levels, their minimum level is MA and others have BA degree in English language teaching Their English proficiencies are at least C1 according to Common European Framework

of References for Languages (CEFR) They have experience in teaching English at least 2 years

2.2 Data collection instrument

Dörnyei (2001a) claims “a combination of qualitative and quantitative design might bring out the best of approaches while neutralizing the shortcomings and biases inherent in each paradigm” (p 242) Therefore, a mixed-methods approach is adopted

in this study Survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview are used as the main instruments of collecting data

2.2.1 Questionnaire

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

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

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

The survey questionnaire consists of three main parts in order to cover the main research issues following Cohen et al (2007) recommendations, which suggest that the design of the questionnaire should move from objective facts to subjective attitudes and opinions through justifications The sequence of the parts and the sequence of the research questions follow the recommended pattern The focus is on designing the questionnaire with mainly closed questions and short and clear instructions for ease of analysis and to give more responses to each question (Redline et al., 2002) Also, open-ended questions were added to give in depth data regarding what teachers think There

is no need to translate the questionnaire into Vietnamese, since the participants are English language teachers

The questionnaire used in this study, is inspired and adapted from Sercu et al.’s (2005) international survey This study uses part of Sercu et al (2005) international questionnaire for different reasons; first its topic similarity with this research study; its organization and presentation of each theme in a realistic and systematic way; and the appropriateness of most of the statements used in her questionnaire to answer my research questions Part A consists of four questions The first two questions focuses on teachers’ definitions of culture and IC The third question is designed to explore how teachers perceive the teaching of culture Participants’ intercultural competence is evaluated in the last question

Part B consists of four questions which aim to explore what kind of cultural activities they use in their classrooms; if they are creating a multicultural environment

in their classes; what are the cultural aspects they present; and finally, how they implement culture teaching in their classrooms

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

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

2.2.2 Interview

Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions are designed to offer interviewer and interviewees, more freedom and flexibility in delivering questions and providing information respectively Interviews help the researcher get “closer to an individual’s perspective” (Kayrooz & Treviit, 2005, p.110) because the researchers can hear the interviewees express in their own words As a result, interview with open-ended questions can fulfill the important information that survey questionnaires cannot cover The semi-structured interview with nine question (See Appendix B) Questions

1 to 4 explore teacher’s definitions of culture, intercultural competence, their understanding of culture teaching and their intercultural competence in English teaching The next four questions explore the awareness of teacher in the importance of intercultural competence in teaching The remaining questions explore the reflection of teachers’ intercultural competence on their teaching practice

2.3 Data collection procedure

Quantitative data are collected through a survey questionnaire (Appendix A) in the first phase of this study Participants are asked to complete the survey questionnaires and invited to participate in follow-up interviews Those who are willing to be interviewed are asked to leave their contact information In the second phase, qualitative data are collected from follow-up face-to-face semi-structured interviews I contact those who have indicated their willingness to participate in an interview In the end, four participants agree to be interviewed An interview is

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

2.4 Data analysis

This section is going to describe the data analysis stage for this study tools: questionnaire and interviews The results of the questionnaire and the interviews are respectively presented and organized

2.4.1 Questionnaire Analysis

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

to insure that its design accomplish its validity and reliability

A descriptive analysis of the data gains from the questionnaires’ closed questions is carried out using frequencies and percentages There are two open-ended questions which call for another data analysis approach to fulfill the purpose of the questionnaire The participants’ responses are noted down and categorized similar ones together Performing counts and ranking responses according to the most frequently mentioned ones are followed by the categorization steps

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

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 From quantitative data

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

3.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence

3.1.1.1 Culture

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

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

in the space provided, their definitions still indicate an understanding of culture as factual knowledge

a The geo-political aspects of a

nation (e.g history, geography,

economics and political

developments)

5,9% 5,9% 11,8% 17,7% 58,8%

4,419

b The artistic dimension (e.g

literature, music, art, etc.) 5,9% 11,8% 17,7% 23,5% 41,1%

4,045

c Behavioral patterns of people

(e.g Customs, daily life, standard

of living, religion, etc.)

5,9% 5,9% 17,7% 29,4% 35,3%

4,364

d All three of the above 0% 0% 11,8% 17,7% 70,5% 4,570

c A field of research that studies how

people understand each other across

group boundaries 5,9% 5,9% 11,8% 52,9% 23,5% 3,895

d It is how two different cultures relate

to each other in terms of differences

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

e Analyzing and adapting ones behavior

when interacting with others 5,9% 11,8% 17,7% 35,3% 29,4% 3,806

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

The table shows that the most important aspect for respondents is to teach their students how to communicate with others (Mean 4.304) However, understanding the students’ own culture is not ranked highly (Mean of 3.806) A space is left in this question intentionally, so the respondents could express their views about how they define IC Respondents stress understanding and being familiar with other cultures’ beliefs and attitudes, and how the individuals of those cultures behave in their daily lives, which will help teachers teaching their students how to express their own culture ICC to most of them is a way of how two or more cultures work together alongside each other, and try to live peacefully by mutual understanding

In order to explore how participating teachers perceive cultural teaching objectives from an intercultural perspective, eight objectives are listed which reflect the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and awareness dimension in Byram’s (1997) intercultural competence model Participants are required to indicate the degree to which they

believe the objectives are important on a 4-point scale from 1 (Not Important) to 4 (Very Important) Participants’ responses are presented below in Table 3.3 Most participating teachers believe that all of the eight objectives for promoting students’ intercultural competence are important Teachers report that the most important objective is to develop students’ skills of interaction dimension, namely, to “promote the ability to conduct effective communication with English speaking people” (29, 4% reporting it Important and 58,8% Very important) The awareness and attitudes dimensions are also regarded as important cultural teaching objectives, such as to

“promote awareness and understanding of different values, beliefs, and ideologies of both Vietnamese and English speaking people,” and “develop a curious/tolerant/respectful/open attitude towards other cultures and cultural difference.”

3.1.1.3 Cultural teaching objectives

“Culture teaching” is Not

important

Somewhat important

Important Very

important

Providing information about daily life

(e.g social/political conditions) in

English speaking countries

5,9% 17,7% 41,1% 35,3%

Promoting understanding of different

process of individual and social

interactions in English and Vietnamese

culture

5,9% 17,7% 52,9% 23,5%

Developing a curious/ tolerant/

respectful/open attitude towards other

cultures and cultural difference

5,9% 11,8% 35.3% 47%

Promoting the ability to acquire new

cultural knowledge from

documents/events from English

cultures

5,9% 17,7% 41,1% 35,3%

Promoting the ability to conduct

effective communication with English

speaking people

0 11,8% 29,4% 58,8%

Promoting the ability to understand

and critically interpret

documents/events from English

speaking culture

5,9% 23,5% 41,1% 29,4%

Promoting awareness and

understanding of different values,

beliefs, and ideologies of both

Vietnamese and English speaking

Table 3.3 Teachers’ beliefs about cultural teaching objectives

Comparatively speaking, the three least important objectives are believed to be the following: “provide information about daily life (e.g social/political conditions) in English speaking countries,” “promote the ability to acquire new cultural knowledge from documents/events from English cultures,” and “the ability to understand and critically interpret documents/events from English speaking culture.” These objectives reflect the knowledge, skills of discovery, interpreting, and relating dimension of intercultural competence teaching It is interesting to note that most aspects of the skills dimension of intercultural competence are deemed to be less important

3.1.1.4 Teachers’ Intercultural Competence

The participating teachers are asked to rate their ability, knowledge, or willingness related to intercultural competence on the modified 20-item instrument which is set up on a 6-point scale from 0 (Not at All) to 5 (Very High) A single, composite intercultural competence score is also generated for each participant by adding up and then averaging the score of all the 20 items, which range from zero to five The mean score of 3.24 indicates that teachers’ perceive intercultural competence

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

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

Question 5 asks the respondents to indicate how extensively they deal with particular cultural aspects of cultural teaching according to frequency of use from (1) never to (3) often

Table 3.4 Frequency of Dealing with Particular Cultural Aspects

Mean

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

country and other countries

1.985

We can indicate from the above table that respondents deal most extensively with “daily life and routines”, “education and professional life”, “youth culture”, and

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

“different ethnic and social groups” which score a mean of 1.985 and 1.933 respectively Interestingly, the topics that respondents say they work with most extensively are also the topics which the textbooks stress Teachers teach by the textbook and the topics covered are the ones dealt with in class The topics which are not extensively explored in the textbooks, such as international relations and different ethnic and social groups, do not feature extensively in classrooms

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

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

6 Do you have the chance to create a

multicultural environment in your

language classroom?

Never Occasionally Often Mean

a I use videos, CD-ROMs or the internet to

illustrate an aspect of a multicultural

environment

29,4% 52,9% 17,7% 2.020

b I invite a person(s) originating from an

English speaking country (ies) to my

classroom

5,9% 11,8% 82,3% 1.241

c I bring objects originating from an English

speaking country to my classroom

11,8% 58,8% 29,4% 1.802