Integrating vietnamese culture into teaching english as a foreign language teacher’s beliefs and practices

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION THESIS INTEGRATING VIETNAMESE CULTURE INTO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION THESIS

INTEGRATING VIETNAMESE CULTURE INTO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: TEACHER’S BELIEFS AND

PRACTICES

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT

FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION)

Supervisor: Vu Hai Ha (Ph.D.) Student: Pham Le Phuong Mai Class: QH2016.F1.E2

Ha Noi, May 2020

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA, HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

LỒNG GHÉP VĂN HOÁ VIỆT NAM TRONG VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH: NIỀM TIN

VÀ THỰC HÀNH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Vũ Hải Hà (Ph.D.) Sinh viên: Phạm Lê Phương Mai

Lớp: QH2016.F1.E2

Hà Nội, tháng 05 năm 2020

Signature of Approval:

_ Supervisor’s Comments & Suggestions

_ _ _ _ _

I hereby state that I, Pham Le Phuong Mai, students of class QH2016.F1.E2, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts Teaching English as a foreign language accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited

in the library should be accessible for study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature:

Date: 11/06/2020

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,

Dr Vu Hai Ha, for his academic supervision I feel fortunate and honored to have had him as my supervisor It was his expertise and research experience that provided me with practical knowledge and constructive comments during the thesis writing process

Furthermore, I am immensely grateful to teachers in 6 lower secondary schools in Hai Duong city for their support In particular, I would like to thank 19 teachers for finishing the questionnaire and participating in the interviews I must express my sincere appreciation to each of these teachers for their encouragement throughout the research

In addition, I want to thank all of my beloveds, without whom I could not have been able to complete this research Thank my family members for their unconditional love and care My heartfelt thanks go to my mother, who has been

an unfailing source of encouragement, advice, and reassurance I aspire to become

a conscientious educator like her

Last but not least, my gratitude is also extended to Linh Giang, Anh Dung, Quynh Chi, Bao Trinh, Phuong Anh, Ha Trang, Thuy Vi for their endless support

An exceptional thank you goes out to Trang Doan for proofreading my translation

My acknowledgments would not be complete without thanking sister Duong, Thu Uyen & Hoai Linh for valuable advice throughout

ABSTRACT

Integrating culture is a classic problem in research about foreign language teaching methodology As English has been widely acknowledged as a global lingua franca, there has been an interest in investigating the integration of local culture in English as a foreign language teaching However, there still exist spaces for further study into this concerning issue, particularly in the context of Vietnam EFL teaching

Fully perceiving the significance of Vietnamese cultural integration, the researcher carried out a study titled “Integrating Vietnamese culture into teaching English as a Foreign Language: Teacher’s beliefs and practices.” The principal objective of this project was to investigate teachers’ beliefs, the extent, and the techniques teachers employed to teach Vietnamese culture in the English classrooms The method adopted in this study was case study design with a combined qualitative and quantitative approach Specifically, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were chosen as the two data collection instruments

It is evident in the data collected from 19 questionnaires and 9 interviews that English teachers participating in the research are well-aware of the importance and benefits of the integration of Vietnamese culture in their EFL teaching However, the integration mostly happens within formal EFL classes rather than being extended to extracurricular activities In a 45-minute lesson, less than 10 minutes is allocated for Vietnamese culture content Regarding the techniques employed by teachers, while teacher-centered techniques are used more frequently, some teachers have utilized the project activity to shift the lesson focus

to students The research also identified three constraints on the further integration

of Vietnamese culture in EFL teaching, namely teachers’ lack of cultural knowledge, unvalidated sources of information about Vietnamese culture, and overloaded content in textbooks This study should, therefore, be of value to teachers, curriculum designers, and education policymakers wishing to assess and further promote the integration of Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT v

ABSTRACT vi

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationales for the study 1

1.2 Aim and research questions of the study 2

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Significance of the study 3

1.5 Organization of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Conceptualization of culture 5

2.2 Relationship between culture and language 8

2.3 Culture in EFL classroom 8

2.4 Culture teaching 10

2.5 Teachers’ beliefs and practices 13

2.6 Related studies 13

2.7 Chapter summary 15

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 Research design 16

3.2 Setting of the study 16

3.3 Participants 17

3.4 Data collection instruments 18

3.4.1 Questionnaire 18

3.4.2 Interview 20

3.5 Data analysis method and procedure 21

3.5.1 Quantitative data 21

3.5.2 Qualitative data 21

3.6 Chapter summary 22

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23

4.1 Research question 1 23

4.1.1 Questionnaire result 23

4.1.2 Interview result 25

4.2 Research question 2 29

4.2.1 The extent to which Vietnamese culture is integrated 30

4.2.1.1 Questionnaire result 30

4.2.1.2 Interview result 33

4.2.2 Techniques to integrate Vietnamese culture 34

4.2.2.1 Questionnaire result 34

4.2.2.2 Interview result 37

4.3 Discussion 42

4.3.1 Constraints on Vietnamese culture integration 42

4.3.2 Suggestions for further integration 44

4.3.3 Teacher-centered and knowledge-based techniques 45

4.3.4 The limited extent of Vietnamese culture integration 46

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 47

5.1 Summary of findings 47

5.2 Implications 48

5.2.1 Methodological contribution 48

5.2.2 Pedagogical contribution 48

5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research 49

APPENDICES 51 REFERENCES 64

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1 Participants’ years of teaching experience 17

Table 3 The importance of Vietnamese culture in EFL teaching, as perceived by teachers 23 Table 4 The fluency with which participants mentioned the benefits (times) 25 Table 5 Cultural aspects mentioned by teachers 32 Table 6 Techniques employed by teachers to integrate

Vietnamese culture, grouped by cluster 34 Table 6 Coding of teachers’ technique to integrate Vietnamese culture 38

Figure 1 Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov’s onion model of culture (2010) 6 Figure 2 Culture triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project (U.S.), 1996) 7 Figure 3 Approaches to teach culture in foreign language education 11

Figure 5 Places where teachers integrate Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching 30 Figure 6 Time allocated for the integration of Vietnamese culture 31 Figure 7 Mean value ranking of techniques employed by

teachers to integrate Vietnamese culture 36

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationales for the study

Today English has been widely acknowledged as a global lingua franca because of the increasing number of people in the world who use English This status has allowed English to be a language of wider communication for various purposes (McKay, 2003) English is seen as “a pluricentric language which is now used across the globe by many speech communities that have adopted English and adapted it to express their characteristic communicative needs” (Sharifian, 2013, p.9) As an international language, English is no longer connected to the culture of the Inner Circle, such as Australia, Canada, the United States, or the United Kingdom (McKay, 2011) This new status of English has greatly contested the hegemony of British and American native-speaker norms in the field of English language teaching (ELT) (Shin et al., 2011) The culture which is integrated into ELT classrooms, hence, is not limited to the culture of Inner Circle countries In the light of teaching English as an international language (EIL), the inclusion of local culture is of paramount importance because one should understand their own

culture in relation to other (McKay, 2011)

In the context of Vietnamese educational reform in foreign language teaching, the National Foreign Language 2020 Project (NFLP 2020), which has been implemented to renovate the tasks of teaching and learning foreign languages substantially, prioritized the development of the 10-year foreign language curricula for Vietnamese schools (Hoang, 2016) Culture in general and Vietnamese culture in particular are recognized as a significant learning objective

in these new 10-year English curricula Specifically, these English curricula aim

to help students gain a general understanding of the countries, people, and cultures

of Vietnam, English-speaking countries and other countries in the world Students’ pride for national cultural values is also nurtured within the new curricula so that after finishing upper secondary schools, students can use English to talk about their Vietnamese culture (MOET, 2018) Moreover, cultural contents are also

significantly integrated into the new English textbooks developed under the National Foreign Language 2020 Project, which is considered an innovative point

In a study which aimed to get evaluative feedback from teachers on the new primary English textbooks, a majority of teachers rated as excellent and very good for an item on the reflection of fundamental cultural values of Vietnam, countries

in South-East Asia and English-speaking countries in Tiếng Anh 3 and Tiếng Anh

4 (Hoang, 2015) A year later, Lai (2016) proved that home culture accounted for

51% of the overall intercultural content in Tiếng Anh 10 (volume 1) As such, it

can be concluded that Vietnamese culture has been recognized as an essential factor in both the objective of the 10-year English curricula and the new English textbooks for school pupils in Vietnam

Also, teachers’ practices in the school play a pivotal role in accelerating the Vietnamese educational reform in foreign language teaching and learning To date, there has been little published information on the integration of home culture in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the context of Vietnam Most of the recent studies have explored teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding the integration of culture in Vietnamese EFL classes from an intercultural perspective (Chau & Truong, 2019a; Kiet, 2011; Nguyen, 2013) Hence, this research focuses only on Vietnamese culture, particularly how lower secondary school English teachers perceive and embed Vietnamese culture in their EFL

teaching

1.2 Aim and research questions of the study

Primarily, this study set out to develop an understanding of lower secondary teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding the issue of Vietnamese culture integration in EFL classrooms In more detail, this study explored the beliefs these teachers have, the extent to which they integrate and techniques they adopt to

integrate Vietnamese culture into their teaching

These above aims are expected to be fulfilled by answering the following research questions:

1 What are lower secondary teachers’ beliefs towards integrating Vietnamese culture in the EFL classroom?

2 To what extent and via which techniques do lower secondary English teachers integrate Vietnamese culture in their EFL teaching practices?

1.3 Scope of the study

As mentioned in the previous part, the focus of this study is the integration

of Vietnamese culture in the EFL classroom rather than the culture of speaking countries or other countries Moreover, this study is limited to an investigation of 19 lower secondary English teachers in Hai Duong city, Hai

English-Duong province

1.4 Significance of the study

Firstly, this study will enhance EFL teachers’ awareness about Vietnamese culture and encourage them to further integrate Vietnamese culture in lower secondary school EFL classrooms in particular

Secondly, this study can serve as a reference for lower secondary school EFL teachers as it decribes a detailed account of how certain techniques are employed to integrate Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching

Thirdly, from the result of this study, the researcher hopes to contribute to the construction of knowledge about how teachers address Vietnamese culture in the new 10 year English curricula The knowledge obtained can assist Vietnamese education policymakers in introducing and implementing policies advocating the development of students’ knowledge about Vietnamese culture

1.5 Organization of the study

The overall structure of the research takes the form of five chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction –presents the rationale for conducting the study, research questions, scope and significance of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review – establishes a theoretical framework to the study

Chapter 3: Methodology – describes the application of a specific process to collect and analyze data

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion – interprets the data, presents and discusses the findings

Chapter 5: Conclusion – summarizes the results and implications proposed from the research as well as its limitations and suggestions for further studies in the future

Following these chapters are References and Appendices

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Conceptualization of culture

Culture has been known as being notoriously difficult to define (Byram & Grundy, 2003) Researchers from multiple disciplines have attempted to formulate definitions of culture based on their perspectives, which has resulted in a debate around the conceptualization of culture Within the scope of this research,

definitions of culture concerning language and communication are examined

Hammers (1985) defined that, from the outside, a culture is “a system of concepts, values, and behaviors, an approach to life, developed throughout its history by a certain people” (p.53) For Thompson (1990, as cited in Kachru, 1999), culture means “the pattern of meaning embodied in symbolic forms, including actions, utterance and meaningful objects of various kinds, by which individuals communicate with one another and share their experiences, conceptions, and beliefs” (p.77)

Besides conceptualizing “culture,” many researchers also suggested different models of culture and presented these models in several analogies for culture One inherent feature of these analogies is that culture is imagined to have multiple layers that represent its tangible and intangible elements (Nguyen, 2013) One of the most significant analogies is the one between culture and onion proposed by Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov (2010) In this model, manifestations

of culture, namely values, rituals, heroes, and symbols, are placed at different skin layers of an onion

Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning that is recognized as such only by those who share the culture The words in a language or jargon belong to this category, as do dress, hairstyles, flags, and status symbols (…)

Heroes are persons, alive or dead, real or imaginary, who possess characteristics that are highly prized in culture and thus serve as models for behavior (…)

Rituals are collective activities that are technically superfluous to reach desired ends, but that, within a culture, are considered socially essential

(…) Examples include ways of greeting and paying respect to others, as well as social and religious ceremonies (…) Rituals include discourse, the way language is used in text and talk, in daily interaction, and communicating beliefs

Values are broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others Values are feelings with an added arrow indicating a plus and a minus side

(Hofstede et al., 2010, pp.8-9) This model indicates that the most profound manifestation of culture is values which remain invisible while the most superficial one is symbols There are also heroes and rituals put in between It is notable that practices which are described

as “visible to an outside observer” consist of rituals, heroes and symbols

Figure 1: Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov's onion model of culture (2010)

In the context of education, Robinson (1988, as cited in Castro, 2011) presented four definitions of the term “culture”, namely the behaviorist definition, the functionalist definition, the cognitive definition, and the symbolic definition

1 The behaviorist definition views culture as the set of patterns that are shared, and that may be observed It refers to the behavior exhibited by a group of people in terms of actions and events

2 The functionalist definition conceives culture as a social phenomenon that presents the rules governing and explaining events and which also makes it easier to provide cultural descriptions and develop awareness

3 The cognitive definition deals with the knowledge shared by a cultural actor and other actors; at the same time, it helps them organize and interpret the world

4 The symbolic definition, as its name suggests, refers to the system of symbols used by the individual to assign meanings to different elements and events

Later on, the 3P culture model was proposed by the National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project (U.S.) (1996) In this model, culture consists

of product, practice, and perspective Specifically, “product” refers to the tangible

or intangible creations of a particular culture For example, traditional dress, food, and literature are known as tangible culture products, while language, music, and political institution are intangible ones Regarding “practice”, it encompasses patterns of social interactions, which can be exemplified by table manners or norms of respect social interaction Finally, “perspective” which underlies

“practices” and “products” of society represents that society’s view of the world Examples of perspectives are the importance of family, the value associated with personal privacy, or the belief that humans are part of the natural world and must respect and care for it It is also noted that in this model, product, practice, and perspective do not exist in isolation but are interrelated with each other (Dema & Moeller, 2012) This relationship is depicted as follows:

Figure 2: Culture triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project

(U.S.), 1996)

When applied in teaching, the 3P model of culture offers teachers two significant benefits Firstly, this model allows teachers to plan their cultural content systematically and contextually (Lange, 1999) Secondly, according to Dema & Moeller (2012), thanks to this model, culture products, practices, and perspectives

can be taught concerning each other, thus helping students acquire a deep understanding of culture rather than disparate knowledge about products and practices

While several ways of conceptualizing the term culture have been suggested, this paper will use the 3P model proposed in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century by National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project (U.S.) (1996) because of its distinct advantages

2.2 Relationship between culture and language

The relationship between language and culture is perceived as being extremely complex (Larzén, 2005) It has long been assumed that language is both the substance which is carried by culture and the medium by which culture is reflected (Harklau, 1999; Kaplan, 1986; Larzén, 2005; Nguyen, 2013) In claiming that language is bound by culture, Kramsch (1998, as cited in Mumu, 2017) developed three ideas which are “language expresses cultural reality,” “language embodies cultural reality,” and “language symbolizes cultural reality” (p.40) As such, it can be inferred that “language is a social and cultural practice that is used within social institutions” (Mumu, 2017, p.40) One year later, Crozet & Liddicoat (1999, as cited in Nguyen, 2013) also articulated four links between language and culture They are “culture as context,” “culture in text structure,” “culture and pragmatics and interactional norms,” “culture and linguistic form” (pp.22-23) Language and culture, hence, are interrelated Specifically, language both reflects culture and constitutes culture It is this relationship that makes culture and culture integration a topic of much interest in the context of foreign language education

2.3 Culture in EFL classroom

In most parts of the world, it has been widely acknowledged that learning a foreign language is no longer mastering an object of academic study but developing a means of communication that is rarely culture-free (Cortazzi & Jin,

language is also about teaching its native speakers’ culture (Sukarno, 2012) Therefore, in foreign language learning settings, the importance of understanding the culture, which is mostly seen as target culture has been emphasized Kramsh (1993, as cited in Hinkel, 1999) indicated that learners of a second and foreign language necessarily become learners of the second culture because a language can only be learned when an understanding of that language’s cultural context is obtained Teachers, hence, should be encouraged to integrate the target culture in their teaching (Margana, 2009) The embedding of the target culture in foreign language classes in general and EFL classes, in particular, can offer learners multiple benefits For example, Margana (2009) claimed that students could avoid culture shock when interacting with native English speakers Furthermore, Byram (1991, as cited in Hinkel, 1999) advocated that by analysis of sociological, structural, and cultural aspects of language, the learner’s awareness and overall proficiency of that language can be developed

However, Margana (2009) cautioned that learners are not “empty vessels having no predispositions toward the world” (p.127) Consequently, learners’ own culture should be considered Besides, given the increasing globalization of the modern world, learners may only need English to fulfill the local purposes or to

interact with other non-native speakers from different cultures or countries (Nault,

2006) It has been stated that the culture of any one particular country, particularly

an Inner Circle country (Kachru, 1989 as cited in McKay, 2011), should not provide the basis for cultural content when teaching EIL After proposing four ways of conceiving of the link between language and culture in ELT, Kramsch & Zhu (2016) concluded that “English both facilitates global citizenship and prompts

a return to local forms of community membership.”

Concerning both target culture and local culture in the EFL classroom, it is not difficult to see the argument for the development of students’ intercultural competence (Crozet & Liddicoat, n.d.) The term “intercultural competence” is used to refer to the ability to interact with people of other cultures by one own language by Byram (1997) Byram (1997) also developed a model of intercultural competence which consists of five savoirs to be acquired by language learners

They are knowledge, attitudes, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness In the literature, the term intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is often used interchangeably with the term intercultural competence (IC) by many scholars (Kiet, 2011) In fact, there exists a slight difference between these two terms Both IC and ICC refer to the individual’s ability to interact effectively and appropriately with people from another culture based on their knowledge, attitudes, and skills However, while the interculturally competent individuals use their first language to interact, a foreign language is employed as a medium by individuals with the intercultural communicative competence

Vietnamese culture content in EFL classes which will be focused on within the scope of this study can be seen as a tool to develop students’ sense of national pride In addition, the home culture will create a positive learning environment for the acquisition of English as a foreign language For example, it can act as an ice breaker by creating humor, fun, and stimuli for learners to engage in language learning activities (Wutun et al., 2018) These researchers also stated that exploring the learners’ home culture can reduce foreignness in EFL classes As such, students’ anxiety is minimized, and they can gain more confidence to learn

to speak English

2.4 Culture teaching

Scholars worldwide have introduced different methods and techniques to either teach culture or integrate culture into foreign language classrooms Le (2017) summarized how culture is taught in foreign language education in the following diagrams:

Figure 3: Approaches to teach culture in foreign language education

These 3 approaches to teach culture in foreign language teaching are developed based on 3 relationships between second/foreign language (L2) and second/foreign culture (C2) With respect to the explicit culture teaching approach, culture is considered as “the explicit language added to the language program” (Le, 2017) However, in the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach, C2 is integrated into L2 teaching The intercultural communication approach offers a more “comprehensive” way to integrate L1 and C1, L1 and L2, C1 and C2, and L2 and L2

In the light of the intercultural communication approach, Hughes (1986) proposed eight techniques for teaching cultural awareness which are described in detail as follows

1 Comparison method The teacher begins each discussion period with a presentation of one or more items in the target culture that are distinctly different from the students’ culture The discussion then centers on why these differences might cause problems

2 Culture assimilators (…) The cultural assimilator is a brief description

of a critical incident of cross-cultural interaction that would probably be misunderstood by the students After the description of the incident, the students are presented with four possible explanations from which they are asked to select the correct one If they make the wrong choice, they are asked to seek further information that would lead them to the correct conclusion

3 Culture capsule (…) The teacher gives a brief presentation showing one essential difference between an American and a foreign custom It is accompanied by visuals that illustrate the difference, and a set of questions

to stimulate class discussion

4 Drama This technique is especially useful for directly involving students

in cross-cultural misunderstandings by having selected members act out in

a series of short scenes, a misinterpretation of something that happens in the target culture (…)

5 Audio motor unit or Total Physical Response Primarily designed as a listening exercise, this method employs a carefully constructed list of oral commands to which students respond The commands are arranged in an order that will cause students to act out a cultural experience

6 Newspapers Many aspects of culture that are not usually found in a textbook are present in the newspaper (…) Good cultural insights can readily be found in headlines, advertisements, editorials, sports pages, comics, even the weather report (…)

7 Projected media Films, filmstrips and slides provide cultural insights as well as providing a welcome variety of classroom activities (…)

8 The culture island The teacher maintains a classroom ambiance that is essentially a culture island through the use of posters, pictures, a frequently changing bulletin board, all of which are designed with the purpose of attracting student attention, eliciting questions and comments

(Hughes, 1986, pp.162-169) Stern (1992, as cited in Nambiar, Hashim, & Mohammad Yasin, 2018) also presented 8 approaches to teaching culture which are

1 Creating an authentic classroom environment (displays and exhibitions

of realia);

2 Providing cultural information (cultural aside, culture capsule and culture cluster);

3 Cultural problem solving (culture assimilator);

4 Behavioral and affective aspects (drama and mini-drama);

5 Cognitive approaches (student research);

6 The role of literature and humanities (literary reading and watching films);

7 Real-life exposure to the target culture (visits to the class by native speakers, pen-pals and visits to other countries);

8 Making use of cultural community resources (everyday environment can

be used as a resource)

(Stern, 1992, as cited in Nambiar, Hashim, & Mohammad Yasin, 2018, p.15) Sercu & Bandura (2005) categorized different culture teaching activities into 2 groups namely the teacher-centered activities and student-centered activities In the former group of activities, the teacher decides on the cultural topics addressed in the classroom In the latter group, the students have the autonomy to explore their favorable cultural topics Later on, Chau & Truong (2019a) classified 16 intercultural language activities into 4 clusters based on the

degree of student-centeredness and relevant potential intercultural competence objectives These 4 clusters are teaching intercultural knowledge, having students explore cultures, developing positive intercultural attitudes, and having students practice language and culture in different settings

2.5 Teachers’ beliefs and practices

In the field of EFL teaching research, beliefs can be considered to be “an affective, attitudinal component” (Castro et al., 2004, p.93) They also stated that

in the continuum from personal theories to objective knowledge, beliefs might stand closer to the former end It is now well established from a variety of studies that there exists a clear yet complicated relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices To date, several studies have attempted to identify the impact of teachers’ beliefs on their instructional behaviors in language teaching in general and EFL teaching in particular From a classroom-based research approach, Burns (1992) was able to show that there exists “an interplay between belief and decision-making constantly operating beneath the surface of more observable classroom language and behavior” (p.63) Later on, Borg (2003) conducted research intending to review a collection of research about relationships between what teachers think, know, and believe and what teachers do in the language teaching classroom Results from this research suggest that language teachers’ cognitions can shape their classroom practices In the context of EFL and culture teaching, Kiet (2011) concluded that “the teachers’ culture teaching practices were greatly influenced by their perceptions and beliefs about culture in language teaching” (p.303)

2.6 Related studies

Culture in foreign language teaching is not new ground Two areas that were focused on in earlier studies are the representation of local cultures in English teaching materials and the effectiveness of integrating local culture in English instructions Nambiar et al (2018) investigated the impacts of supplementary reading modules which are designed to improve students’ communicative ability

with the integration of local culture content The study found that students have positive opinions for the modules as local topics are familiar and more relevant to students Furthermore, the study revealed that thanks to the modules, the communicative ability of lower secondary students did improve, and there was renewed interest, motivation, and willingness to read in English In the same year, local culture integration was also mentioned in a study by Wutun, Arafah, & Yassi (2018) This survey study was conducted to explore how local culture plays its function in enhancing learners’ willingness to speak English The findings of this study reveal that local culture has psychologically positive impacts on EFL learners Specifically, it can reduce learning anxiety, generate emotional experience, and create a fun learning atmosphere Earlier, Sukarno (2012) proposed six steps to insert local culture in EFL classes for character building as follows:

(1) rendering meaningful input texts related to cultures;

Chau & Truong (2019b) examined the extent to which upper secondary school teachers perceived and practiced intercultural integration Participants of this study are 190 upper secondary school EFL teachers in Tra Vinh province, Vietnam Results from this study suggested that “teachers had good perceptions of intercultural integration, but their practices were not sufficient” (p.451) Although participants this study stated that they taught cultures both explicitly and implicitly, quantitative data also revealed that intercultural activities were not often conducted in EFL classes Additionally, these activities are more teacher-centered and knowledge-based

Overall, it can be seen that little is known about the integration of Vietnamese culture in EFL classroom This research gap strongly motivates the researcher to carry this study and thus contribute to the related literature

2.7 Chapter summary

This section has attempted to provide an overview of the literature relating

to the integration of Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching It first starts with the conceptualization of culture, then reviews the relationship between language and culture Culture afterward is put in the context of both EFL teaching and the teaching of English as an International Language In this chapter, culture teaching techniques are also reviewed Next, the importance of investigating teachers’ beliefs and practice and the relationship between them are illustrated Finally, all

of the related studies which were presented suggest that little is known about the integration of Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design

As stated earlier, the research questions of this study are as follows:

1 What are teachers’ beliefs towards integrating Vietnamese culture in the EFL classroom?

2 To what extent and via which techniques do lower secondary English teachers integrate Vietnamese culture in their EFL teaching practices?

These questions aim at investigating teachers’ beliefs and practices within the EFL classroom In order to acquire a better understanding of the research problem and question, this study adopted the case study method with a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods According to Dörnyei (2007), case study method “is highly recommended for exploring uncharted territories or making sense of a particularly problematic research area” (p.155) In the case of the present research, the uncharted territory is the integration of Vietnamese culture in EFL teaching This research design can provide the researcher with different sources of information, thus generating both a condensed understanding of a problem as well as the details (Creswell, 2012)

3.2 Setting of the study

Hai Duong is a small provincial city, located 60 km away from the capital city After eight years of implementing NFLP 2020, this city has achieved 3 out of

5 goals The two remaining goals are the rate of English teachers that meet the CEFR standards and the rate of schools that apply the new English curriculum with

four lessons per week (Hải Dương Còn Hơn 20% Giáo Viên Tiếng Anh Chưa Đạt

Chuẩn, n.d.) However, in recent years, EFL teaching and learning have been

focused by the city council and the city’s department of education and training

This study was conducted in 7 lower secondary schools of the city namely

Le Quy Don lower secondary school, Binh Minh lower secondary school, Vo Thi Sau lower secondary school, Ngo Gia Tu lower secondary school, Le Hong Phong

lower secondary school, Hai Tan lower secondary school and Ngoc Chau lower secondary school

3.3 Participants

In total, 19 English teachers participated in this study They are from 7 lower secondary schools in Hai Duong city, Hai Duong province This study employed purposeful sampling technique and specifically snowball sampling strategy to select participants Purposeful sampling is defined as a qualitative sampling procedure where participants and cites are intentionally selected in order

to obtain detailed insights into a central phenomenon (Creswell, 2012) In this study, the selection of lower secondary schools was based on 2 basic criteria: (1) schools were implementing the new 10-year English curriculum; and (2) school authorities and EFL teachers were interested in the topic of this study

The researcher first contacted the heads of department in 3 schools namely

Le Quy Don lower secondary school, Binh Minh lower secondary school, and Vo Thi Sau lower secondary school to introduce the research and asked if they could recommend any EFL teachers that might be interested in this study Then, the researcher called these teachers via phone to invite them to participate and explain the requirements Further information about the study and consent form were sent via email once teachers accepted the researcher’s invitation The researcher also asked these teachers for the contact of potential partitipants from other lower secondary schools in the city Finally, EFL teachers from Ngo Gia Tu lower secondary school, Le Hong Phong lower secondary school, Hai Tan lower secondary school and Ngoc Chau lower secondary school also agreed to become participants of this study Before contacting EFL teachers in these schools, the researcher asked for the permission from the heads of relevent department in the schools In order to diversify the data, the researcher had recruited participants with varying teaching experience levels

The teachers’ years of teaching experience are illustrated in the following table

Years of teaching experience Number of participants (N=19)

Table 1: Participants’ years of teaching experience

3.4 Data collection instruments

Data were obtained from two sources, namely questionnaire, and interview The following diagram illustrates the process of data collection

Figure 4: Data collection procedure

3.4.1 Questionnaire

Questionnaire was chosen as an instrument to collect quantitative data because it can elicit three types of information from respondents, namely factual, behavioral, and attitudinal (Dörnyei, 2003) In addition, questionnaire has also been known for its “unprecedented efficiency in terms of researcher time, researcher effort, and financial resources” (Dörnyei, 2003, p.9) As such, the questionnaire is suitable to explore teachers’ perceptions and practices regarding Vietnamese culture in EFL teaching

The questionnaire (Appendix B) consists of 2 main parts While the first part aims to explore teachers’ perceptions about the importance of integrating Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching, the second part investigates the extent to which Vietnamese culture is embedded Regarding the first part, there are 10 Likert-scale items ranging from strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree to strongly agree 8 out of 10 items were adapted from Chau & Truong (2019a) Because the questionnaire in Chau & Truong (2019a) was employed to elicit

Administrating the questionnaire

Conducting semi-structured interviews

information on intercultural integration, modifications were made to shift the focus

of the questionnaire to Vietnamese culture integration The two other items were added based on the literature review about the teaching of English as an International Language In the second part of the questionnaire, the first 13 items which utilize a 3 point Likert scale ask participants to rate how often they apply different techniques of culture teaching in their EFL teaching These 13 items were adopted from Sercu & Bandura (2005) The researcher made specific changes in wording to match these items with the issue and topic of the present research Also,

4 items from Sercu & Bandura (2005) were eliminated (“I touch upon an aspect of the foreign culture regarding which I feel negatively disposed”, “I ask my pupils

to think about what it would be like to live in the foreign culture”, “I ask my pupils

to describe an aspect of their own culture in the foreign language”, “I comment on how the foreign culture is represented in the foreign language materials I am using

in a particular class”) 1 item among these 13 items was adopted from Chau & Truong, (2019b) because it matches with project activity designed in the new English textbook (“I ask my students to do kinds of projects to introduce their own

or local culture to the foreigners”) An open-ended question was added for teachers

to list other techniques they may use The next 2 multiple-choice items were designed to inquire into when and how long teachers teach Vietnamese culture The questionnaire ends with 10 Likert scale items also adapted from Chau & Truong (2019a) Several modifications were made so that these items can match the 3P model of culture mentioned earlier in the previous chapter These items ask participants about the frequency they deal with some cultural aspects of Vietnam

1 – 10 5 point Likert scale “What do you think about the importance of

Vietnamese culture integration in EFL classroom?”

11 – 24 3 point Likert scale “What kinds of culture teaching techniques do you

practice to integrate Vietnamese culture?”

25 Open-ended

26 Multiple choice “In an EFL class, how much time you use for

Vietnamese culture teaching on average?”

27 Multiple choice “Where do you integrate Vietnamese culture into

EFL teaching?”

28 – 38 3 point Likert scale “To what extent do you deal with particular cultural

aspects of Vietnam?”

Table 2: Summary of questionnaire items

Because the original versions of the questionnaire were tailored substantially to the present study, scale reliability check was conducted with items from number 1 to 10, 11 to 24 and 28 to 38 Cronbach coefficient alpha values of these three sections in this study were 0.875, 0.914, and 0.775 respectively Once completed, the questionnaire was translated from English to Vietnamese The translation was necessary to facilitate understanding when the questionnaire was administrated to EFL teachers whose mother tongue is Vietnamese Afterwards, the Vietnamese version was sent to a translator to proofread in order to avoid any errors in translation Because “an integral part of questionnaire construction is field testing” (Dörnyei, 2003, p.63), this questionnaire was then piloted to 5 people for initial evaluation This pilot test is of paramount importance because it can provide valuable feedback to improve the questionnaire, thus rendering better data Lastly, the questionnaire was completed online via Google Form after being administrated

to participants via email There were 19 responses in total

study The researcher also probed for more detailed information based on participants’ responses to structured questions After completing the questionnaire,

9 teachers who were considered extreme and information-rich cases were chosen

to participate in the interview by purposeful sampling method Each interview lasted for about 30 to 45 minutes.All of the interviews were conducted through an online conferencing software, specifically Zoom Vietnamese was used to overcome the language barrier Furthermore, to create a reliable semi-structured interview, the researcher decided to combine both hand-written notes and the recordings of the interview to help the researcher generate the “verbatim transcript” of the interview later on (Jamshed, 2014, p.87)

3.5 Data analysis method and procedure

3.5.1 Quantitative data

Responses to the questionnaire were first checked to eliminate any incomplete forms SPSS version 20 was utilized to calculate the mean score, standard deviation and percentage from quantitative data

3.5.2 Qualitative data

Regarding qualitative data analysis, thematic analysis was applied The researcher followed 6 phrases in the thematic analysis procedure proposed by Braun & Clarke (2006) These phrases are listed as follows:

1 Familiarizing yourself with your data;

2 Generating initial codes;

3 Searching for themes;

4 Reviewing themes;

5 Defining and naming themes;

6 Producing the report;

(Braun & Clarke, 2006, p.87) Prior to the analyzing process, data was organized by the pseudonym of participants’ names Recordings from 9 interviews with teachers were then carefully transcribed With data that was readily prepared for analysis, the researcher first read all the transcription to get a sense of the whole data then

started the coding process employing the color-coding techniques According to Creswell (2012), “the object of the coding process is to make sense out of text data, divide it into text or image segments, label the segments with codes, examine codes for overlap and redundancy, and collapse these codes into broad themes” (p.243) There were both theory-driven codes that were developed based on the literature review and data-driven ones which are surprises and not expected to surface initially Data-driven codes were then scrutinized for their theoretical potentials Once the coding process was completed, similar codes were aggregated together

to form several general themes Preliminary themes were then reviewed again before themes were finally defined Besides, the researcher also paid attention to the relationship between codes and themes

3.6 Chapter summary

Overall, this chapter has presented the research design, setting of the study, and participant description Data collection instruments and data analysis methods and procedures have also been described In addition to descriptive information, the researcher also explained rationales for choices in terms of method in this chapter The findings of the study are shown in the section that follows

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter provides an account of the research results and the findings obtained from the proposed method and data analysis process It is divided into 3 main sections, 2 of which present the results relating to research question 1 and research question 2 respectively The last section provides a detailed discussion of the research findings

1 Integrating Vietnamese culture in EFL classrooms is important 4.53 0.96

2 EFL teaching should enhance students’ understanding of their

3 Vietnamese culture should be integrated into EFL classes as early

4 The development of cultural awareness should be kept only for the

5 The Vietnamese cultural dimension in EFL classes should be

6 Integrating Vietnamese culture motivates students to study

7 Integrating Vietnamese culture fosters students’ communicative

competence with people coming from other cultures 4.32 0.95

8 Integrating Vietnamese culture develops students’ sense of

9 Integrating Vietnamese culture creates a positive learning

environment for the acquisition of English as a foreign language 4.11 0.99

10 The study of Vietnamese culture in EFL classes can hinder

Table 3: The importance of Vietnamese culture in EFL teaching,

as perceived by teachers

Item number 1 which asks teachers whether they agree with the importance

of this integration was responded with the highest mean value (4.53) Item number

8 also shares the same highest mean value with item number 1, meaning that

Vietnamese culture integration in EFL classes is highly approved as a method to

develop students’ sense of national pride by teachers Item number 2, expressing

the necessity of this integration in enhancing students’ understanding of their own

cultural identity, ranks the second with the mean value of 4.42 Item number 3 and

5 concerning the Vietnamese integration in the early stage of learning English and

expansion of Vietnamese cultural dimension in EFL classes also received high

approval from teacher In addition, based on the high mean values of item number

6,7 and 9, it can be concluded that teachers participating in this study strongly

agree that the integration of Vietnamese culture can motivate students to study

English better, foster students’ communicative competence with people coming

from other cultures and create a positive learning environment for the acquisition

of English as a foreign language

Among 10 surveyed items, item number 4 and item number 10 receive the

lowest mean value, only 2.32 This means that teachers disapprove of the statement

that the development of cultural awareness should be kept only for the most

advanced levels Additionally, teachers also profoundly disagree with the notion

that the study of Vietnamese culture in EFL classes can hinder progress in

linguistic accuracy It is also noteworthy that this item also has the highest standard

deviation value (1.42), meaning that this is the most controversial among 10 items

Meanwhile, the standard deviation of item number 3 is the lowest (0.93) In other

words, teachers’ opinion towards the idea that Vietnamese culture should be

integrated into EFL classes as early as possible varies the least The standard

deviation values of other items are statistically low, ranging from 0.96 to 1.25

4.1.2 Interview result

This section reports on teachers’ beliefs towards the importance of

Vietnamese culture integration in EFL teaching which are obtained by interviews

A majority of teachers (8 out 9) participating in the interview strongly advocate

integrating Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching They believe that this

integration is an integral part of EFL teaching these days Only one teacher

explicitly denied the importance of integration These teachers also attribute this

great importance of integrating Vietnamese culture to its benefits Thematic

analysis of qualitative data collected from the first part of the interview identified

5 main benefits of this integration, namely:

- Fostering students’ sense of national pride

- Imparting cultural knowledge to students

- Teaching students moral lessons

- Engaging students in English lessons

- Developing students’ communicative competence

Table 4 describes the frequency with which participants mentioned in the

benefits of integrating Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching during their

interview

Participants

Fostering students’

sense of national pride

Imparting cultural knowledge

to students

Teaching students moral lessons

Engaging students in English lessons

Developing students’

communicative competence

Table 4: The frequency with which participants mentioned the benefits (times)

These benefits are presented in greater detail in the following sections

4.1.2.1 Fostering students’ sense of national pride

Firstly, 9 out of 9 teachers unanimously agreed that integrating Vietnamese culture into EFL can foster students’ sense of national pride This benefit was also mentioned the most frequently among 4 benefits To illustrate that this is one of the primary reasons for this integration, two teachers stated that:

Regarding Vietnamese culture, the first reason is to make students feel proud of Vietnamese traditions Until now, students are inheriting the most delicate from the deep-rooted traditions and customs of our ancestors This has strengthened the Vietnamese position in the world As such, students should feel proud of Vietnamese culture in general and Vietnam in particular Without a doubt, Vietnamese culture should be incorporated in any subjects at school, including English (T3)

When Vietnamese culture is integrated into EFL classes, an obvious benefit

is enhancing students’ patriotism I believe that the ultimate aim of teaching Vietnamese culture is to nurture students’ sense of national pride (T9) From the abovementioned answers, it can be seen that these 2 teachers stressed the importance of developing students’ sense of national pride in education in general and EFL teaching in particular Furthermore, when students are proud of Vietnamese culture, they will follow our traditional customs and cultures, which contributes to the preservation of our cultural heritage Moreover, some teachers also stated that national pride is of great importance when students study or work abroad later on

In case students have the opportunity to study overseas, they need to be proud when they say that they are from Vietnam They should be able to tell their international friends about ao dai, Tet holiday, life in the countryside of Vietnam or life in the past (T2)

In the context of globalization, the aim of integrating Vietnamese culture is

to make students proud of it so that later, they can use English to talk about our culture, thus bringing the beautiful image of Vietnam to the world (T3)

4.1.2.2 Imparting cultural knowledge to students

Secondly, imparting cultural knowledge is also agreed as a significant advantage of embedding Vietnamese culture in EFL class by 9 teachers One reason for this is because students hardly know about Vietnamese culture nowadays While some students are aware of the Vietnamese cultural values and actively explore more about them, some students are not that active They lack fundamental knowledge, such as dining etiquettes or greeting traditions According to teacher T8, even worse, compared to Vietnamese culture, some students know more about the culture of other countries such as Korea or Japan Because of this lack of cultural knowledge, interview participants stressed the necessity of integrating the national culture into EFL classes Teacher T2 stated that

From my experience, if there is not any lesson about Vietnam and Vietnamese traditions, students may not even know their origin Thanks to lessons embedded with Vietnamese culture, students’ knowledge has been broadened extensively (T2)

4.1.2.3 Teaching students moral lessons

Thirdly, teaching Vietnamese culture in English classes is considered as a way to teach students about ethics and develop students’ great virtues Students can learn about the admirable personality traits of people in the past They can also learn how to behave appropriately by reading Vietnamese folk tales which are now translated into English This great benefit is illustrated in the following interview

answer:

For example, in a unit about peoples of Vietnam, students have the opportunity to learn about 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam They will realize that despite many differences in lifestyle and traditions, all of these 54 ethnic groups still unite together and live peacefully Students, hence, can learn how to embrace the difference I think this is a way to teach students moral lessons (T3)

4.1.2.4 Engaging students in English students

Fourthly, all teachers participating in interviews perceived Vietnamese culture integration as an effective method to engage students in a lesson They reported that students’ level of engagement increases considerably in lessons in which Vietnamese culture is incorporated This is evident in the following interview answers:

When students are given a chance to talk about their daily life and other familiar topics in their life, students feel more interested in the lessons This will make the lessons more effective Also, students will love to study English more (T1)

I think that the integration of Vietnamese culture can facilitate students’ language acquisition process because they can talk about topics they are already familiar with They only need to express these topics in English In other words, they only need to focus on English This makes the language acquisition process of English much more manageable Students hence also feel more motivated (T2)

Although I am an English teacher, I have a passion for teaching Vietnamese culture because I had received positive feedback from students when they attended my lessons Students always look forward to English lessons, and they are very excited about the lessons (T3)

I believe when our national culture is integrated, students can relate more with the lessons They will feel that the lessons are more meaningful and practical (T5)

I see that my students are very excited about exploring Vietnamese culture

in English For example, they are very excited when I ask them to study about Tet or death anniversary in our culture This makes the lesson more effective (T8)

I often integrate Vietnamese culture as a way to add some changes to my lessons so that students can change their learning atmosphere Students will

be more interested in the lessons because they are always interested in new things (T9)

4 answers reported here illustrate that teachers highly approve of Vietnamese culture integration because it can engage students in the lessons, which is aligned with the benefit mentioned in the literature review This high level

of engagement mostly stems from the fact that they are interested in reading or speaking about the familiar topics in English In other words, students are curious about how their daily life is expressed in a foreign language or about how their surroundings are seen through a new lens Another reason explained in the answers, as mentioned above, is that integrating Vietnamese culture in EFL

Students’ anxiety level can be reduced because they are given a chance to talk about themselves, about topics in their daily life or their own countries, as most of which are matters that students are familiar with Also, the inclusion of Vietnamese culture can give make an English lesson “more meaningful and practical” since they can “relate more with the lessons,” as stated by teacher T5

4.1.2.5 Developing students’ communicative competence

Last but not least, teachers interviewed believed that integrating Vietnamese culture in English can help students develop communicative competence as the inappropriateness in communication is reduced Teachers stated that when students gain cultural knowledge of their country, they will be able to

be aware of the difference between Vietnamese culture and that of other countries, thus eliminating unacceptable behaviors in intercultural interactions To illustrate this, teacher T6 and T5 presented the following example:

In one communication situation, Vietnamese people’s behavior is different from that of foreign people I would like to talk about a common mistake among young English learners For example, in Vietnam, when we care about each other, we often ask questions about age, health, family, or marital status These are all private matters When we teach students, we need to compare and contrast this behavior with that in foreign cultures We need to tell students that in a Western country, [for example], asking about private matters is impolite, and we need to avoid it (T6)

This integration is highly beneficial for students when they study abroad or work in an international environment in the future as they can avoid “culture shock” in communication (T5)

Teacher T7 also believes that only when students can talk about their life in English can it become a communication tool

Learning English is somehow similar to learning Vietnamese literature Letters, words, or grammar are the foundation of a language But based on that foundation, we need to integrate culture so that that language can become helpful For example, in an English lesson about greeting, when a student introduces “my name is”, they are using the grammar of the language only But when they say “my name is Nam”, they are introducing themselves and about their culture They are using English to deliver a message about their culture to other people (T7)

4.2 Research question 2

The next section of this chapter was concerned with the answer to the second research question which is “Via which techniques and to what extent do

lower secondary English teachers integrate Vietnamese culture in their EFL teaching practices?” Data was obtained utilizing both questionnaire and interview

4.2.1 The extent to which Vietnamese culture is integrated

4.2.1.1 Questionnaire result

Figure 5: Places where teachers integrate Vietnamese culture into EFL teaching

Figure 6 compares the proportion of different places where teachers choose

to incorporate Vietnamese culture The four available choices are in English classes, in extracurricular activities, both or others It can be seen that the proportion of teachers choose to teach Vietnamese culture in English classes is the highest at 84.21% The figure for the Vietnamese integration in both English classes and extracurricular activities ranks the second at 15,79% Interestingly, no teacher decides to integrate Vietnamese culture solely in extracurricular activities

84.21%

15.79%

In English classes In extra-curricular activities Both Other