Dalat university and yersin university of dalat english majored students knowledge of vietnam history and culture in english stuation and solutions

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: DALAT UNIVERSITY AND YERSIN UNIVERSITY OF DALAT ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF V

HO CHI MINH CITY VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

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PHAN THỊ UYÊN THI

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Supervisor

Senior Lecturer PHAN THỊ KIM LOAN, MA

DA LAT, 2008

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

DALAT UNIVERSITY AND YERSIN UNIVERSITY OF DALAT

ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS’

KNOWLEDGE OF VIETNAM HISTORY AND CULTURE IN ENGLISH

SITUATION AND SOLUTIONS

in terms of the statement of the Requirements of theses in Master’s Programs issued

by the Higher Degree Committee

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any institution

Phan Thị Uyên Thi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Mrs Phan Thị Kim Loan, for her whole-hearted guidance, thoughtful and insightful comments, and valuable support in the preparation and completion of this thesis Without her encouragement and guidance, I could not have finished this study

My special thanks must go to all my teachers for their dedication and helpful instruction during the master course from the year 2005 – 2008

I wish to thank all the members in my thesis defense committee, who were enthusiastic to read and comment on this thesis

I also wish to thank all of the teacher respondents from Yersin University of Dalat for their help and willingness to answer the questionnaire and to give precious opinions to the study I am also grateful to all the students who carefully completed the questionnaire, fulfilled the test and sincerely provided me with valuable information for this study

In addition, I would like to send my sincere thanks to Prof Nguyễn Công Thành for his precious time for reading and commenting on my thesis on the preparatory step

of the study My heartfelt appreciation is expressed to him

Besides, I am very grateful to Dr Trần Nguyễn Thy Bình, my former boss, who always created favorable conditions of time and finance for me to pursuit the course during the time I studied away from home Without her help, I could not overcome difficulties and challenges to finish my study successfully

Last but not least, I would like to dedicate the thesis to my family: my mother, my husband and my mother – in – law, for their love, understanding and wholehearted

support They have taken care of everything so that I could devote all my time to the writing of the thesis I am greatly indebted to all of them

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Phan Thị Uyên Thi, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library

In term of these conditions, I agree that the original version of my thesis deposited

in the Library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library, for care, loan, or reproduction of thesis

ABSTRACT

One of the popular national concerns in the era of globalization is not only how to preserve but also how to introduce the national history and culture to the world English majored students are considered one of the most important sources of historical and cultural messengers in Vietnam as they have many chances to contact and communicate with foreigners

The purpose of the present study was to determine how English students of Dalat University (DU) and Yersin University of Dalat (YU) know about Vietnam History and Culture (from now on, it is called VH&C) in English, difficulties they encounter and suggestions to improve the situation The study was also to find out if the course of British Studies (BS) students have learned can help and if the course

of VH&C in English should be included in the training program of English Bachelor

128 third-year English majored students of DU and YU were asked to complete a test which consisted of two parts (BH&C and VH&C) And questionnaires were delivered to those students and 32 English teachers of YU

The data of the study showed that the majority of students were below average at expressing the information of VH&C in English Their difficulties include the shortage of knowledge, vocabulary and, more importantly, the lack of their interests

in the topics Moreover, the test result indicated that the course of BS did not play a significant role in the matter And, almost all of the teachers and students agreed that the training program of English Bachelor should include the course of VH&C

in English

The implied target of the study is to provide the educators and authorities the general information of English majored students’ knowledge of national history and culture in English, in hope that they will think about and have something done to make the current situation better, contributing to the process of preserving and spreading national specific characteristics of history and culture during the era of globalization

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS V ABSTRACT VI TABLE OF CONTENTS VIII LIST OF TABLES XIII LIST OF FIGURES XVI ABBREVIATION XVII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11

2.1 HISTORY KNOWLEDGE 11

2.1.1 The roles of history 11

2.1.1.1The role of history in developing national identities 12

2.1.1.2The role of history in human development 14

2.1.1.3The role of history as a reliable source of information 15

2.1.1.4The role of history in developing our society at the present and in the future 16

2.1.1.5The role of history in professional fields 17

2.1.2 Students’ knowledge of national history 18

2.1.3 How to teach History 19

2.1.3.1Teaching History in general 19

2.1.3.2Teaching History in English 21

2.2 CULTURE KNOWLEDGE 24

2.2.1 What is culture? 24

2.2.2 The roles of culture in language learning 30

2.2.3 How to teach culture 32

2.2.3.1Culture learning 33

2.2.3.2How to teach culture 34

2.3 SUMMARY 40

CHAPTER 3: DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 41

3.1 RESEARCH SETTING AND SAMPLING 41

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 41

3.2.1 Description of the test 41

3.2.2 Description of the questionnaires 43

3.2.2.1The questionnaire for students 43

3.2.2.2The questionnaire for teachers 43

3.2.3 Administration 44

3.3 SUMMARY 44

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 45

4.1 FINDINGS 46

4.1.1 Descriptive analysis of the test results 47

4.1.1.1Comparing the two parts of the test 47

4.1.1.2Analyzing the part two of the test 54

4.1.2 Descriptive analysis of questionnaires 56

4.1.2.1Students’ responses: 56

4.1.2.2Teachers’ responses 60

4.2 ANALYSIS 62

4.2.1 How DU and YU English students know about VH&C in English 62

4.2.2 The difficulties students encounter when expressing VH&CI in English 66

4.2.3 The role of BS course in improving students’ knowledge of VH&C in English 68

4.2.4 The necessity of VH&C course in English in the training program of English Bachelor 68

4.3 SUMMARY 71

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION 72

5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS 72

5.1.1 Some suggested activities for short-term solutions 72

5.1.1.1.Seminars and meetings of cultural exchanges 72

5.1.1.2 Field trips to historical and cultural landscapes 72

5.1.1.3 Contests 73

5.1.2 Some other temporary activities 74

5.1.2.1.Comparing and contrasting the Britain and Vietnam information during the course of BS 74

5.1.2.2.Adding this topic to regular English classes 74

5.1.2.3.Increasing the material of the VH&C in English or in bilingual directly delivered to students 75

5.1.2.4.Organizing an extra-curriculum course of VH&C for interested students 75

5.1.2.5.Publishing a pocket dictionary of VH&C in English for domestic use 75

5.1.3 Long-term solution: a course of VH&C in English 76

5.1.4 Suggested solutions to predictable difficulties in teaching VH&C in English 76 5.1.4.1.Authentic materials: 76

5.1.4.2.Teacher resources 80

5.1.4.3.Classroom activities 80

5.1.5 Scope of application 81

5.1.5.1 Departments or universities of other foreign languages rather than English 81

5.1.5.2.Departments or universities of Tourism or Foreign Trade 81

5.1.5.3 Departments or universities of Vietnamese studies or Asian studies 82

5.1.5.4.International schools or universities 82

5.2 CONCLUSION 82

BIBLIOGRAPHY 85

APPENDICES 95

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2 1: The interpretations of culture 26

Table 2 2: Diverse definitions of culture 26

Table 4 1: Comparing the two parts of the test 48

Table 4 2: Comparing the two parts of the test after ranking 48

Table 4 3: Frequencies of questions # 1, #16, #17, and #18 49

Table 4 4: Frequencies of questions #2 and # 21 50

Table 4 5: Frequencies of questions #3, #5 and # 26 50

Table 4 6: Frequencies of questions # 6 and #27 51

Table 4 7: Frequencies of question #7, #19 and #23 51

Table 4 8: Frequencies of questions # 15 and #30 52

Table 4 9: Frequencies of questions #4 and #24 52

Table 4 10: Frequencies of questions # 10 and # 29 53

Table 4 11: Frequencies of questions # 11 and # 25 53

Table 4 12: Frequencies of questions #16, #18, #24, #28 and #30 54

Table 4 13: Frequencies of questions # 21 #22 and #26 55

Table 4 14: Frequencies of questions # 17, #19, # 20, #23, #25, #27 and #27 55

Table 4 15: The population of students in the survey 56

Table 4 16: Students’ duration of learning English 57

Table 4 17: Students’ self – evaluation on English level 57

Table 4 18: Students’ evaluation on the importance of VH&C knowledge to English majored students 58

Table 4 19: Students’ self – evaluation on their knowledge of VH&C 58

Table 4 20:Students’ opinion on expressing VH&C in English 59

Table 4 21: Students’ opinion on difficulties of expressing VH&C in English 59

Table 4 22: Students’ opinion on the suggestion that the course of VH&C in English should be included in the English Bachelor training program 59

Table 4 23: Teachers’ evaluation on the importance of VH&C knowledge to English majored students 60

Table 4 24: Teachers’ opinion on students’ expressing VH&C in English 61

Table 4 25: Teachers’ opinion on students’ difficulties of expressing VH&C in English 61

Table 4 26: Teachers’ opinion on the suggestion that the course of VH&C in English should be included in the English Bachelor training program 61

Table 4 27: Comparing students and teachers’ evaluation on the importance of VH&C knowledge to English majored students 62

Table 4 28: Comparing the final results of the two parts in the test 63

Table 4 29: Comparing students’ self – evaluation on their knowledge of VH&C and the test results 64

Table 4 30: Comparing students and teachers’ opinion on students’ expressing VH&C in English 66 Table 4 31: Comparing students and teachers’ opinions on students’ difficulties of expressing VH&C in English 67 Table 4 32: Comparing students and teachers’ opinions on the suggestion that the course of VH&C in English should be included in the English Bachelor training program 69

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1: Comparing students and teachers’ evaluation on the importance of VH&C knowledge to English majored students 63Figure 4 2: Comparing the final results of the two parts in the test 64Figure 4 3: Comparing students’ self – evaluation on their knowledge of VH&C and the test results 65Figure 4 4: Comparing students and teachers’ opinions on students’ expressing VH&C in English 67Figure 4 5: Comparing students and teachers’ opinions on the suggestion that the course of VH&C in English should be included in the English Bachelor training program 70

ABBREVIATION

VH&C: Vietnam History and Culture

VH&CI: The information of Vietnam History and Culture

BH&C: British History and Culture

BS: British Studies

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This thesis reports the results of a study investigating how English majored students know about VH&C in English, difficulties they encounter as well as suggested solutions to improve the current situation This chapter presents the introduction, including the background of the study, the statement of purpose, the research questions, the significance of the study, the assumptions, the limitations and delimitations, and the organization of the study

Background

Globalization seems to be the most important and meaningful catchword of our decade; it is the key metaphor used to describe the far-reaching changes in modern societies “Globalization both homogenizes and fragments”, Zawawi Ibrahim (2003) stated in “Globalization and National Identity: Managing Ethnicity and Cultural Pluralism in Malaysia” It is clear that globalization allows nations and citizens of the world to share common events, values and knowledge, often instantaneously thanks to advances in telecommunications and information technology Ideally, globalization should be “an arena for all kinds of flows and exchanges” (Hannerz, 1996) in which the local is synergized with the global and vice versa Ernest Gellner, an influential theorist on the cultural dimension of nationhood, once argued that for a given society to persist, it must be one in which its people “can breathe and speak and produce…the same culture” “In reality, of course, globalization has also fragmented identities and rekindled ethnic divisions once dormant under the control of nation-states”, Zawawi emphasized In addition,

100 ideas website (2006) gives us a pessimistic view, “Globalization is the extreme face of capitalism erasing any local value or tradition in the overall organization of profit It represents a threat to any sort of traditional society and therefore it is no wonder people feel threatened Cultural distinctions are being dissolved or are seen

as irrelevant to this core thing - globalization, which is deciding how we live.” We can see that nowadays, the tendency of global integration stimulates international exchanges and has influences on every aspects of society such as economy, education, science, etc.; and national culture and history are not an exception Globalization not only indicates the increasing international competition, the openness and transparency of international markets, the permeability of political and cultural borders for capital, products and ideas; moreover, scientists are observing an increasing adaptation of lifestyles, patterns of consumption and leisure time, value orientation and interests, an adaptation of the conditions of work and welfare; cultural differences will gradually vanish and give way to a more global culture (Klaus Heinemann)

To answer the question if there is any difference in the role of culture of our age compared with that of the previous ones, Prof Vu Khieu stated:

In the past, when culture was commonly regarded as the domain of the higher classes, President Ho Chi Minh developed it on a larger scale and gave it a more important role He not only put culture alongside economic, political and social matters, but he also urged us to have a deeper understanding of its role in the sense that even it lays within the boundaries

of politics and economics For him, without culture, economics could not develop Likewise, a political system could not be stable if its political line could not be worked out under the most advanced light of epochal culture (Diệu Ngọc, 2005)

Whatever the effects of globalization on society in general and the national identity

in particular are, no one can deny it is the time to preserve national culture and history from disappearance because of globalization Why is culture important? As Thien Ngo et al (2006) stated, “In the 21st century, the world is shrinking – mobile phones and the Internet can take us around the world in a nanosecond In fact, the ease with which we can confront, or be confronted by, other nations is the very reason why an understanding of culture is important” (p.15)

According to Klaus Heinemann, what kind of world do we wish to build in the 21st century? We will try to answer that we aspire to a globalized world, but within some limits, a kind of fair globalization that rejects opportunist gluttony We dream

of a world able to preserve the diversified peculiarities and identities of its inhabitants, a unified and diversified world at the same time

Many activities have been put into action The UN and UNESCO declared 1988-97

a "culture decade" and stated four (4) principal aims: 1 To acknowledge a cultural dimension in development; 2 To affirm and enrich cultural identities; 3 To broaden participation in cultural life; and 4 To promote international cultural cooperation International donor agencies began including culture in their development work in the late 1980s and early 1990s In 1995, the World Commission for Culture presented its report on Our Culture Diversity In 1998, the UNESCO conference

“The power of culture” was held in Stockholm, and this was followed in Florence

by Culture Counts in 1999 (Kipuri, 2002)

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Preserve America have a common mission, which is to promote the history and the culture of the United States This organization announces the annual Preserve America History Teacher

of the Year Award, which honors outstanding teachers of American history across the country This Institute, founded in 1994, promotes the study and love of American history Preserve America is a White House initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to preserve America’s historic, cultural and natural heritage (Mrs Push’s talk, 2005)

China faces the predicament of maintaining an official version of its ‘national culture’ while being confronted with globalization and diverse searches for cultural and local identities As Wu Mei and Guo Zhenzhi (2006) put it, “Never before has China been so committed to globalization and the world system of capitalism” It has transformed so rapidly into an industrialized and market-oriented society that it seems remote from the cultural tradition that has been uniquely ‘Chinese’ for

thousands of years Every aspect of Chinese culture, from its language, political system, modes of production, law, military, education, architecture, to customs, values, family structure, entertainment, even costume and cuisine, has undergone tremendous change Modern Chinese people, in the hasty break with anything deemed ‘traditional’ and the headlong rush for economic wealth, have suddenly found themselves at a sad loss within Chinese culture, identity and even the landscape Chinese endeavors to protect and preserve Chinese culture reveal two orientations: one is the state strategy which emphasizes creating and reinforcing an official version of ‘national Chinese culture;’ the other features the different and innovative efforts of many individuals and grassroots communities, who have taken into their own hands the mission of conserving traditional and local customs, cultures and diversity (Wu Mei and Guo Zhenzhi, 2006)

Vietnam is in this process Since 1986, after the embargo was called off, the relationship between Vietnam and the world has been much improved, thanks to the renovation (Doi moi) policy, especially addressed to international relations As a result, a great number of foreign organizations, companies and individuals have invested in Vietnam in all fields: economy, education, science, technology, etc., spearheading significant contribution to Vietnam development “Not so long ago, Vietnam was struggling for its national sovereignty Today, Vietnamese are both preserving their national identity and opening their doors to welcome friends from all over the world The country’s socio-economic development has fostered educational and culture exchanges, encouraged language learning and cultural understanding, all of which are an inseparable part of the process of development” (Thien Ngo et al., p 15, 2006) It is both a chance and challenge for Vietnam to follow the motto “Integration without dissolution” How can we study world cultural quintessence and help foreigners understand more about Vietnamese history and culture at the same time?

According to VietNam Net Bridge Newspaper (2007), it is also the content of a talk held by the Institute for Culture Studies under the Vietnam Institute of Social Sciences, Prof Bryan S Turner – the Asia Research Institute, and the Singapore National University made a presentation Prof Turner mentioned situations in some countries in Asia that have affected the culture and lifestyle of those nations Participants also said that globalization would have effects on countries, especially when importing different cultures The most important thing is how to integrate but still preserve national identity In Vietnam, scientists listed difficulties in the preservation of national culture and socio-economic development, especially in Hanoi – the capital, with one thousand years of culture For example, during the economic development and expansion of the capital, Hanoi has enlarged its roads Archaeologists discovered many valuable relics imbued with Vietnamese traditional cultural identities The contradiction is that economists would like to destroy these for the sake of convenient transport, and the cultural activists want to keep relics because they are national identities Therefore, there is a need for a combination of efforts and dialogues between committees, agencies and scientists It is necessary to draw the participation of scientists to pay more attention to the globalization and the preservation of cultural identity in Vietnam in the present period

A sustainable long – term solution to the preservation of culture and history is suggested that we should preserve our culture in our ways of living, thinking and working, and share our knowledge of Vietnamese history and culture in our daily conversation with foreigners, as Dr Kipuri (2002) stated “To grasp other's pride in their history and culture we must know and be proud of our own Every community nourishes the cultural manifestation of its own identity” However, we can do that only when we have certain knowledge of our own national history and culture With

a poor concept of our own identity, we have little capacity to relate to others To see the others, we must know and see ourselves Self-esteem, identity and dignity are important cornerstones for a culture of tolerance and understanding According to Daniel Pekarsky, PhD (1998), education plays an important play to solve this

matter However, he emphasized that schools that were thought of as vehicles of direct instruction have not been in a right position

This situation is the same to Vietnam where the factor of culture has not been paid much attention in education while teaching history has not been effective In other words, education has not much contributed to the preservation of history and culture The topic discussed in this paper is how to improve English majored Students’ knowledge of Vietnam history and culture in English so that they can introduce Vietnam to the world, after finding out their difficulties It is clear that English language is one of Vietnamese’ students’ main obstacles There is a fact that, though Vietnamese people’s proficiency of foreign languages in general, particularly English, is much improved, we do not feel confident to introduce our history and culture in foreign languages to foreigners Even students of English find

it difficult to do this as well Students of English of Dalat University and Yersin University of Dalat are no exception What are the causes of this situation? Are there any solutions to the problems? This study aims to find out the answers for these questions in hope to improve the situation in the two universities in Dalat in particular and generalize the application to other universities or educational centers

in general facing the same problems

Statement of Purpose

The objectives of this study are to investigate:

(1) How English majored Students of Dalat University (DU) and Yersin University of Dalat (YU) know about Vietnam History and Culture (from now on, it is called VH&C) in English;

(2) if the course of British Studies (BS) they studied can help to improve their VH&C knowledge in English;

(3) the difficulties DU and YU students of English encounter when expressing VH&CI in English;

(4) if a course of VH&C in English can help to improve the current situation The investigation of these issues was based on

(1) a test with two parts (British history and culture (BH&C) and VH&C) to evaluate the knowledge of VH&C in English of DU and YU English majored students and check if the course of BS may help;

(2) a questionnaire to understand their opinion on the importance of the knowledge of VH&C in English, the difficulties they encounter as well as their ideas on the necessity of VH&C course in English;

(3) a questionnaire with the same structure and purposes to get teachers’ evaluations on the same matters

Research Questions

One question guides this study:

What are the difficulties DU and YU students of English encounter when expressing VH&CI in English and the suggestions to solve the problems?

Three sub questions are also addressed:

1 How do DU and YU English majored students know about VH&C in English?

2 Does the course of BS help them to improve their VH&C knowledge in English?

3 Is it necessary that a course of VH&C in English be included in the training program of English Bachelor?

Significance of the Study

In the process of development and integration, it is our prominent duty to protect and develop our history and culture, aside from studying the history and culture of other countries over the world It is thought that education plays an important role

in this matter However, this matter has so far not been given due consideration It is the attempt of this study to provide the educational authorities a general view of the situation, including how English majored students know about VH&C in English as well as the obstacles they face in this field From that, they can initiate their thoughts of the ways to improve the situation Also, this paper will focus on the necessity of a VH&C course in English for English majored Students of DU and

YU, which is expected to improve their ability of expressing VH&CI in English If

it works well, English majored Students of DU and YU in particularly and Vietnam

in general, the main Vietnamese history and culture messengers, will be more confident and ready to introduce to the foreigners our history and culture This, hopefully, will contribute to the preservation and development of Vietnamese

History and Culture in the process of global integration

Assumptions

The study is based on the following assumptions:

1 The methods and procedures of data collection and analysis are reliable and appropriate to obtain the information to answer the research question and sub questions

2 The students and teachers are thorough in their responses, and have no difficulty

in understanding the items of the questionnaire and test

Limitations

The study aims to investigate four issues of DU and YU’s English majored Students’ knowledge of VH&C in English: at which level their knowledge is, the obstacles they encounter, whether the course of BS can help and whether the course

of VH&C in English should be included in the training program of English Bachelor to improve the current situation The investigation was conducted through

a test for students and questionnaires for students and teachers It is undeniable that the most popular ways or chances for students to introduce VH&C to foreigners are short talks, so speaking skill plays an important role in this matter However, this study addresses to third-year English majored students, with a certain proficiency of English; and the factors of knowledge and vocabulary of relating topic are concerned, with the assumption that English majored students, with adequate information and linguistic knowledge, including relating vocabulary will find no obstacle to talk or to discuss with others, even foreigners, in English Therefore, the test was designed to check students’ knowledge and vocabulary relating to VH&C

in written only and acceptable spelling and grammar errors were ignored The other skills such as reading, listening and speaking will not be mentioned in this study

Delimitations

Due to the nature of this study and the research methods of data collection, generalization and recommendations will be limited to the setting of Dalat University and Yersin University of Dalat The particular composition of the sample

of the two universities participating in the study may also limit generalization of the results The recommendations from the study may, however, be beneficial to other institutions in similar situations

Organization of the paper

The thesis consists of five main chapters as follows:

Chapter 1, introduction, provides the background to the research, the statement of purposes, the research questions, the significance of the study, the assumptions, the limitation and delimitation of the paper

Chapter 2 reviews the literature and research relevant to this study, focusing on students’ knowledge of history and culture About history knowledge, this chapter involves the roles of history, students’ knowledge of national history, and how to teach history The remaining part of the chapter focuses on culture knowledge, including the definitions, the roles of culture in language learning, and how to teach culture

Chapter 3 presents the design and methodology employed in the research This chapter includes the research setting, the methods used in sampling and data collection, the research design with test and questionnaire description as well as the administration of the investigation

Chapter 4 discusses and analyses the research findings from the three main data sources: students’ test results, students and teachers’ questionnaires

Chapter 5 presents some recommendations to improve English majored students’ knowledge of VH&C in English and the conclusion This chapter presents some suggested activities of short-term solutions, some other temporary activities, and suggestions for predictable difficulties of long-term solutions – a course of VH&C

in English in the training program of English Bachelors Finally yet importantly, this chapter provides the scope of application which presents some subjects that this paper can be applied to

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

One of the concerns in this paper is students’ knowledge of history and culture In fact, this matter is always a focus to educators all over the world and numerous investigations and studies have been conducted to test students’ history and culture knowledge and find out the solutions to improve the situation In this chapter, the literature relevant to the study is reviewed in two main issues, history knowledge and culture knowledge

2.1 HISTORY KNOWLEDGE

2.1.1 The roles of history

People live in the present, and they plan for the future History, however, is the study of the past Why must we study it? And, why are many students urged to study more history than necessary? There are many different arguments about this question To many students nowadays, learning history is not important Today, people need to focus on new technologies and entrepreneurship, not on studying how past generations were fighting wars all the time for not founded reasons However, they must study History at school According to Peter N Stearns (1998), any subject of study needs justification: its advocates must explain why it is worth attention

There are some reasons history holds its place in current education we would no longer accept, such as to distinguish the educated from the uneducated; to choose a better candidate for law school or even a business promotion because this use can encourage mindless memorization Followings are some important roles of history that place this subject at the current position in every education

2.1.1.1 The role of history in developing national identities

National history has long played a prominent role in the forging of national

During the course of 1995, Dr Nick Tate, the Chief Executive of SCAA (School Curriculum and Assessment Authority), initiated a debate on the role of history teaching in schools in the formation of national identity In a keynote speech delivered to history teachers and advisers in York in September 1995, Dr Tate outlined his belief that 'national identities depend on stories' and that teachers need

to provide children with 'a sense of belonging to a community which stretches back into the past and forward into the future' in order to give them 'a sense of meaning

in a world which is in a state of constant social, economic and technological flux' Paul Goalen (1997)

Stefan Berger (2007) stated that the real task facing politicians and historians today

is to build alternative participatory solidarities to those of national identities and national histories

Goalen (1997) in “History and National identity in the Classroom” said that there was little evidence beyond the assertions of some politicians and administrators that the history curriculum is capable of turning children into 'better' citizens Previous researchers into the development of patriotism in children, such as E.L Horowitz and J Piaget writing in the 1940s and 1950s, did not focus on the contribution of the history curriculum to the development of identities, whilst more recent research into early twentieth-century imperialistic and patriotic history textbooks sometimes assumed that their messages were quietly absorbed by a passive audience However, history learning in classroom, combining with getting historical information on the media could develop students’ national identity as well as the national position in the world In his study, 24 students were interviewed to test their knowledge of English history He concluded:

There is little evidence from this pilot study that we are in danger of producing a narrowly nationalistic generation as a result of the centrally imposed history curriculum in England On the contrary, many pupils are able to draw quite a balanced picture of their country's contribution to the modern world taking some pride in the achievements of Britain whilst at the same time realizing that the national past is not simply a record of heroes and glorious victories

History provides identity, and this is unquestionably one of the reasons all modern nations encourage its teaching in some form

Historical data include evidence about how families, groups, institutions and whole countries were formed and about how they have evolved while retaining cohesion Studying history, family identity is established and confirmed Many institutions, businesses, communities, and social units use history for similar identity purposes And of course nations use identity history as well—and sometimes abuse it Histories that tell the national story, emphasizing distinctive features of the national experience, are meant to

drive home an understanding of national values and a commitment to national loyalty (Stearns, 1998)

In brief, as Anthony (1999) said, the population must be persuaded that it has a unique identity, a national character, which distinguishes it from every other human group A spectrum of cultural devices is employed to create the image and one of

the most important of these, because it is indispensable, is history

2.1.1.2 The role of history in human development

According to Peter N Stearns (1998) in “Why study History?”, “History should be studied because it is essential to individuals and to society and because it harbors beauty” On the remarks at the Preserve America History Teacher of the Year Award Ceremony in 2005, Mrs Push quoted the saying of the eminent historian David McCullough ‘The work of history - writing history, teaching history - calls for mind and heart.’ To better understand the people of the past, we must make a connection with them One history teacher said, "If you don't know where you've come from, then you don't know where you're going It's an interesting subject, incorporating culture, military, economics, social sciences, sports, politics, etc.!”

In his paper, Stearns also mentioned some other advantages of learning history First, history contributes to moral understanding Studying the stories of individuals and situations in the past allows a student of history to test his or her own moral sense, to hone it against some of the real complexities individuals have faced in difficult settings He said "‘History teaching by example’ is one phrase that describes this use of a study of the past—a study not only of certifiable heroes, the great men and women of history who successfully worked through moral dilemmas, but also of more ordinary people who provide lessons of courage, diligence, or constructive protest.”

More important, studying history encourages habits of mind that are vital for responsible public behavior, whether as a national or community leader, an

informed voter, a petitioner, or a simple observer A study of history is essential for good citizenship This is the most common justification for the place of history in school curricula

2.1.1.3 The role of history as a reliable source of information

For the first place, history offers a storehouse of information about how people and societies behave Understanding the operations of people and societies is difficult, and we can do this by studying history Stearns said:

How can we evaluate war if the nation is at peace—unless we use historical materials? How can we understand genius, the influence of technological innovation, or the role that beliefs play in shaping family life, if we don't use what we know about experiences in the past? Some social scientists attempt

to formulate laws or theories about human behavior But even these recourses depend on historical information, except for in limited, often artificial cases in which experiments can be devised to determine how people act Major aspects of a society's operation, like mass elections, missionary activities, or military alliances, cannot be set up as precise experiments Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past, must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does

in societal settings

This, fundamentally, is why we cannot stay away from history: it offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies function simply to run their own lives History, then, provides the only extensive materials available to study the human condition It also focuses attention on the complex processes of social change, including the factors that are causing change around us today

There is a fundamental tension in teaching and learning history between covering facts and developing historical habits of mind Because history provides an immediate background to our own life and age, it is highly desirable to learn about forces that arose in the past and continue to affect the modern world This type of knowledge requires some attention to comprehending the development of national

institutions and trends It also demands some historical understanding of key forces

in the wider world (Peter N Stearns, 1998)

2.1.1.4 The role of history in developing our society at the present and in the future

The fourth reason history is undeniable as an important subject is that studying the past helps us understand the present and better prepare the future The past causes the present, and so the future Any time we try to know why something happened,

we have to look for factors that took shape earlier Stearns states, “Only through studying history can we grasp how things change; only through history can we begin to comprehend the factors that cause change; and only through history can we understand what elements of an institution or a society persist despite change” History provides data about the emergence of national institutions, problems, and values—it is the only significant storehouse of such data available It offers evidence also about how nations have interacted with other societies, providing international and comparative perspectives essential for responsible citizenship Further, studying history helps us understand how recent, current, and prospective changes that affect the lives of citizens are emerging or may emerge and what causes are involved

Mrs Push (2005), in her speech, emphasizes that history plays an important part in our current life We are also encouraged by the lives of the people before us When

we study our history, when we know the challenges that each generation has faced, and when we see how each generation has overcome those challenges and then has dealt with them, then it gives us courage that we, too, can overcome the challenges

of our time

Dr Naomi Kipuri (2002) has the same idea “Awareness of our origins and experiences and beliefs that have molded us is more important than ever Understanding one's past and present context is a crucial precondition for choosing

what to take with us into the future, what we leave behind, and the point at which

we seek to build something new and merge with other cultural expressions”

2.1.1.5 The role of history in professional fields

The other utility of studying History is the usefulness in the world of work, as in Stearn’s paper Its study helps create good businesspeople, professionals, and political leaders The reasons are not hard to identify that students of history acquire, by studying different phases of the past and different societies in the past, a broad perspective that gives them the range and flexibility required in many work situations They develop research skills, the ability to find and evaluate sources of information, and the means to identify and evaluate diverse interpretations Work in history also improves basic writing and speaking skills and is directly relevant to many of the analytical requirements in the public and private sectors, where the capacity to identify, assess, and explain trends is essential

Why study history? The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness Some history depends

on personal taste, where one finds beauty, the joy of discovery, or intellectual challenge Historical study, in sum, is crucial to the promotion of that elusive creature, the well-informed citizen It provides basic factual information about the background of our political institutions and about the values and problems that affect our social well-being It also contributes to our capacity to use evidence, assess interpretations, and analyze change and continuities No one can ever quite deal with the present as the historian deals with the past—we lack the perspective for this feat; but we can move in this direction by applying historical habits of mind, and we will function as better citizens in the process

2.1.2 Students’ knowledge of national history

According to the recent results of a national study, American college students have

a shaky grasp of American history (Oakland Tribune, 2006).These were among the

60 multiple-choice questions posed to 14,000 randomly selected college freshmen and seniors at 50 colleges Nationwide, seniors got an average of 53 percent of the questions correct; on average, freshmen answered 52 percent of the questions correctly Still, the study findings indicate American students did not know enough about events and principles basic to their nation The author suggested that educators must do a better job of teaching history, and not just at the college level The lesson must begin much earlier in elementary school

Another investigation showed that Chinese youngsters are short of knowledge in Chinese history The investigation was made among 14-28 year old residents in the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan by paying a direct visit to their families The average score of 1065 valid questionnaires on Chinese history is 27.69 points if the full mark is 100 points And only 1.5 percent of all respondents won scores above 60 points

In Vietnam, this matter has been much discussed, particularly after yearly national examination of university entrance In “Dạy và học môn Lịch sử hiện nay: Thực trạng và giải pháp tháo gỡ”, Professor Phan Huy Lê, the president of the Vietnam History Science Association stated that the exam results in 2006 shocked the educators: 80% of students were under average, with 60% of them got under 1 mark over 10 The number showed the seriously warning situation of students’ lack of knowledge in history In this paper, he mentioned some reasons of the situation and suggestions to solve the problems The first reason is that history was not in the right position in curriculum, students pay more attention to Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, English than History The second reason is that traditional method still keep key role in History class so teachers could not make students interested in learning history And the last reason is that textbooks, materials and curriculum

were not interesting enough to raise students’ motivation in learning He concluded that whenever materials, curriculum and teaching methods were improved, students’ knowledge would get better

2.1.3 How to teach History

One of the topics discussed in this paper is the students’ knowledge of history in English; followings in this section are some studies about how to teach history in general and in English in particular

2.1.3.1 Teaching History in general

According to Montse Roquet Pugès et al., we can not use the teaching methods of a conventional history class to apply to a class of History in English However, some innovative activities to increase students’ interest in studying history can be used as references for teachers who teach History in English

As mentioned above, one of the reasons why students do not like to study history is that the ways of teaching history have not been effective in raising students’

motivation ASU professor Michael Rubinoff said, "I bemoan the fact that there are

so many people who find history boring," and he did wish more people would be enthusiastic about the great events and people who shaped their culture

To answer the question “What skills does a students of History develop”, Peter N Stearns (1998) mentioned the ability to assess evidence, the ability to assess conflicting interpretations and experience in assessing past examples of change

In the special issue “New Approaches to Teaching History”, Fielding (2002) has written a paper titled “Engaging Students in learning History” He emphasized that what a history teacher should do is providing students with opportunities to do and

to talk about history, encouraging them to take on the role of the historian in a creative and critical way Teaching history does not mean filling them a narrative of

names and dates for recall and test purposes but they will learn it through involvement

Ever since I read the results of a memory study conducted by Danielle Lapp

of the University of Texas which revealed that "we remember only 10% of what we read, 20 % of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, and 90 percent of what we do and say", I could no longer lecture or present history in "the old way"

He stated that the first priority in how to teach history effectively is to develop learning strategies that arouse and engage the historical imaginations of students To demonstrate that he has taught history “in a new way”, Fielding gave some solutions in teaching history To the author, crosswords, puzzles, word searches, and filling in the blank or trivia pursuit and posters are interesting but not effective strategies because they can keeps students busy and some of them can find it fun in learning but they do not have chance to learn historical contexts and involve no critical thinking

Watching films, videos or DVD's, field trips, debates, mind map, events graph are interesting and sometimes effective strategies if teachers can combine them with other activities of critical thinking and decision-making

Interesting, imaginative, and effective strategies include role-playing, enactments, tableaux and simulations because students learn not only about the event, rules, dates, and people but they learn even more about process

re-A series of tableaux, a striking scene or picture created by people posing, often in costume can be used effectively to recreate an event, especially when a narrator is used to describe the various scenes and/or progression of events Another variation on role-playing, tableaux can be less intimidating because not everyone needs to speak but everybody can participate

Combining role-playing and tableaux is that the author called stepping into the picture, a concept he developed after participating in a History Alive! workshop presented by Bert Bower from the California Teachers Institute Basically it

involves students role-playing people in a picture The idea is to assign roles based

on the people in the picture, students research their person, and then they create a conversation about the issue that is the subject or reason for the photograph He said, “This exercise is excellent for stirring up the historical imagination, researching, discussing issues, and identifying people and places It can, with thoughtful help from the teacher, involve some excellent critical thinking The teacher will need to encourage students to ask some penetrating questions in order

to recreate a realistic or accurate historical context Students do tend to want to impose the present on the past.”

2.1.3.2 Teaching History in English

The paper “Is it possible to teach history in English to students with a limited command of the language” by Montse Roquet Pugès, Cristina Escobar Urmeneta, and Imma Cuscó Clarasó is considered one of the remarkable studies relating to this topic

Teachers, students and teaching methods

To find out their target question, they solved some initial questions such as what kind of teachers, students, what to teach, and how to teach These questions will be also discussed in the recommendation with adjustment to the DU and YU background In this section, these authors’ study would be summarized as follows because it provides useful information for this topic

About teachers, they discussed:

In our case reality struck us: although the idea of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) sounded nice to many members of the staff, it soon became apparent that for the moment there were not any content teachers willing to embark in the project The main reason teachers put forward was that they did not feel confident enough in their linguistic skills

to face such a commitment Some colleagues also reported that they thought that the extra-effort that any kind of innovation projects brings about is not

sufficiently appreciated by the educational authorities or by society Therefore, it became clear that the English teachers would be the ones who would take responsibility for planning and teaching a non-linguistic subject

As English teachers, we didn’t think that this was the ideal situation We strongly believe that content lessons should be planned and taught by teachers with a profound knowledge of the subject Foreign language teachers can be of a great help trying to foresee the linguistic problems students might come across and help planning tasks, which support learner’s comprehension and production activities However, we thought that, under the circumstances, it was worth to open a new path, which could be continued, eventually, by other colleagues

They choose students of fourth ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) who

“reach their highest level of proficiency in the target language within the stage of compulsory education”; and the history of 20th century, which is thought to be appropriate and worldwide

About the teaching methods, they emphasized that we could not teach History in a foreign language in the same way that it is usually taught when the language of instruction is the L1 They summarized some adjustments of other authors, including:

1 Helping students understand a variety of simplified and authentic texts with historical content

2 Helping students understand the teacher’s explanations in the target language

3 Enabling students to use the target language confidently in small group work and in class discussions

4 Providing guidance on how to use the target language for academic purposes or CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) (Crandall, 1987), more precisely in the domain of Social Sciences This would include skills such as searching, selecting, relating and organizing information, describing, comparing, defining, explaining, evaluating, concluding and presenting their work in the form of written assignments or oral presentations (Benejam and Quinquer, 2000.)

Procedures in the classroom

With these completed tasks, Montse Roquet Pugès et al chose materials, planned the courses with double-checks and evaluations And then, they proceed the research to illustrate the outcomes They carried out a 35-hour course of history in English to the non-native students with well-prepared steps and effective activities

The lead-in unit with the brainstorm of historical events categorized into the events

and time was helpful not only for students to increase their confidence in their possibilities to succeed but also for teachers to have a general view of the students’ characteristics, including their previous knowledge in History as well as their linguistic abilities

Each of the topic units, an important part of the course, was done with different

steps Initiation tasks were reading comprehension and discussion of important historical events Initiation tasks were followed with group - work debate tasks in which students exchange information, discuss their ideas and come to conclusions Different task types were designed to elicit the discussion: classifying activities, jigsaw speaking, role-plays, poster-design, etc Small group work naturally leads to in-depth discussions and teacher’s mini-lectures Then, increasing knowledge was the time for teachers to provide further explanations on the topic (mini-lectures) raising during discussion, helping the students to establish links with other events Alternatively, they present new reading texts that may help to answer the questions posed by the students

Research project was students’ assignments during the course Students, working in

pairs or in groups, were asked to produce a written report about one historical period and then make oral presentations to the class

The study of Montse Roquet Pugès et al comes to the conclusion with fruitful results The students, after overcoming the shock and disbelief of studying another subject in foreign language, enjoyed the class with the pleasure of new experience