(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) A cross-cultural study of using the Sandwich feedback by Vietnamese and American teachers and its effects on students’ uptake

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LẠI HOÀI CHÂU A CROSS – CULTURAL STUDY OF USING THE SANDWICH FEEDBACK BY VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN TEACHERS AND ITS EFFECTS ON STUDENT’S UPTAKE (NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HOÁ VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC “SANDWICH FEEDBACK” ĐỂ PHÊ BÌNH CỦA CÁC GIÁO VIÊN NGƯỜI VIỆT VÀ NGƯỜI MỸ VÀ TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NÓ ĐỐI VỚI SỰ TIẾP THU CỦA SINH VIÊN) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Hanoi - 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LẠI HOÀI CHÂU A CROSS – CULTURAL STUDY OF USING THE SANDWICH FEEDBACK BY VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN TEACHERS AND ITS EFFECTS ON STUDENT’S UPTAKE (NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HOÁ VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC “SANDWICH FEEDBACK” ĐỂ PHÊ BÌNH CỦA CÁC GIÁO VIÊN NGƯỜI VIỆT VÀ NGƯỜI MỸ VÀ TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NÓ ĐỐI VỚI SỰ TIẾP THU CỦA SINH VIÊN) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: Dr Ngơ Hữu Hồng Hanoi - 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT Page DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATION CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of study 1.6 Scope of the study 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Definition of feedback 2.2 Definition of criticism 2.3 Definition of sandwich feedback communication (SFC) 2.4 Pragmatics and significance of SFC in communication 2.4.1 What is pragmatics? 2.4.2 What is Politeness? 2.4.3 Politeness strategies (PSs) 2.4.4 Relation of sandwich feedback and politeness 2.5 Vietnamese and American cross-cultural SFC CHAPTER 3: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 3.1 Overview of the research methodology 3.2 Design of study 3.2.1 Selection of informant 3.2.2 Data collection instrument 3.2.3 Data processing procedure 3.3 Data analysis 3.3.1 The patterns of SFC (Structures of SFC that teachers often use) 3.3.2 SFC as a politeness strategy 3.4 Discussion CHAPTER 4: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 4.1 Pedagogical implication 4.2 Limitation of study and the suggestion for further researches 4.3 Conclusion REFERENCE QUESTIONNAIRE v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 5 8 11 13 13 16 16 20 21 24 24 25 25 27 28 29 29 34 41 43 43 44 45 46 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In the world where globalization has connected everyone closer, it is so common when people mention every aspects of it day after day The expression of globalization has shown everywhere from the food to clothes, from house decoration to the choice of car, especially in the way people communicate The need of exchange information becomes greater, leading to the born and development of cross-cultural communication In this type of communicating, besides the content of information, culture understanding played a crucial role for the message to be understood fully and politely Without awareness of culture, communication can negatively impact to the relationship and on the contrary, the relationship between interlocutors will be motivated with a deep understanding of culture For example, in America, after the presentation, people are often got good comments like: “You did an excellent presentation” In fact, it is just a polite signal in their culture and possibly the performance is not as good as that praise, the presenter will recognize the necessity of improving their behaviors then It would not be a big problem if those styles of comment were not applied in Vietnam where people trust all the words in the feedback they get and think of their performance as vivid as those words‟ description After all, the problem of cross cultural communication, sooner or later, will be shown out The above example can be found anywhere in international companies and schools in Vietnam, inspiring the author to have a careful scan of this matter – giving feedback Though it is not new, there is type that has not been widely known: sandwich feedback This topic caught the author‟s great attention, leading to the decision of researching about it TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com So far, no one could deny the role that English has empowered in aspects of life and became the international language, being learnt and taught widely in all countries However, in process of teaching this language to students, teachers from different countries have their own way of monitoring classroom in each part of a lesson In my opinion, among parts of teaching, presenting, eliciting, the skill of giving feedback is one of the most noticeable matters This act follows other activities as a review part for both teacher and students to have a reflection on what they have done before It not only greatly benefits students in correcting or editing their products but also be a challenge for teachers The instructors may find it a difficult part for the fact that giving comment on others‟ work is inherently a sensitive case, requiring them to think and talk carefully in accordance with culture Hence, it is a good reason for the choice of this act to be the focus of research In Vietnam, the teaching and studying of English have a long time been imposed to the curriculum, but it is clear that cultural factors were not paid enough attention It is required from the fact that teachers must have an orientation for their teaching strategies, basing on solid knowledge of cross culture and politeness strategies, bringing good effects to their teaching In position of a teacher, the author of these papers (researcher) has a motivation to carry out the research to raise her own understanding of giving sandwich feedback, benefiting her in the way of giving assessment for students Moreover, not only is this politeness limited to the use in classroom but also it can be applied in daily life among wise communicators which helps them a lot in work and other fields 1.2 Previous studies There are hundreds of papers writing about cross cultural communication and politeness strategies like: “Politeness strategies in Oprah Winfrey show” by Jantima (2009), or “The use of politeness strategies as a factor in peer-editing in foreign TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com language classroom” by Amores, etc In Vietnam, there are previous researches about Vietnamese-American cross culture but none of them has mentioned about the use of sandwich feedback Communication strategies are also gets the concerns of many learners (study of boasting by Nhung, 2010, about economicality and redundancy in requesting by My, 2010, about expressing sympathy by Hien, 2010, about disparaging by Van, 2010) Giving comment strategies are paid notice as well by Huong (2011) with dissertation about corrective feedback, by Hang (2010) with application of feedback in writing, etc However, “sandwich feedback” (see definition in 2.2) is still a new term in Vietnam Hence, these papers not only revise the way that teachers in Vietnam use feedback but also introduce a new type of feedback In short, under the push of finding something new, interesting and useful, the topic of sandwich feedback in cross cultural communication had been chosen to be the main discussion of these papers According to this study, teachers could have a deeper look at their teaching manners, see clearly the advantages and drawbacks of the new method of comment and consider applying it in their teaching 1.3 Aims of study Regarding to the previous researches, the author inspire herself looking up the answers for some following questions as the purposes of the whole research First, what sandwich feedback is and what its roles are in communication in general and in giving comment to Vietnamese students in particular The background part will be considered under the view of communication, looking at feedback as a strategy to strengthen the effects of communication The discovery about the acts of giving feedback and the use of sandwich feedback basing on the theories of speech and politeness will be covered first and then its application in second language classrooms TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com The second aim of these papers is to find out the similarities and differences in the use of sandwich feedback among Vietnamese and American teachers Giving comments is an art that can affect hearers‟ attitudes and feelings Due to the distinction in background culture, teachers in different countries give their students feedback in various ways Thus, the dissertation heads to search out a worthy comparison between the two cultures Hopefully some useful pedagogical implications could be implied from those findings, contributing to the teaching procedure of the author in particular and of other teachers in general Those main aims orient the papers to set up some detailed goals For the first target to build up a trustful background, the definitions and relating aspects would be retrieved from rare materials of previous studies and sources on the Internet The searching would provide the author and readers a theory part on which other following parts of collecting data could be based on The searching will focus mostly on the metaphor images of sandwich, comparing it with a politeness strategy of giving comments to students Besides, the types, methods and field of application would also be paid attention On the other hand, to narrow the view on Vietnam circumstances, the author would carry out a survey and observations to calculate the data and make the necessary implications In this main part, the frequency, the method that teachers used would be focused most It is great if the author could find out some common structures and sentences that teachers often use In addition, the questions in the survey would be around the attitude of students towards feedbacks and sandwich feedbacks Their uptakes should be let evaluated from their general results and their self-evaluation 1.4 - Research questions In what way that criticisms are often given to students by Vietnamese and American teachers? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com - How often the teachers use the sandwich feedback in their assessment to students‟ work? - What may be the effects of sandwich feedbacks on students‟ uptake? - What are the suggestions for teachers in teaching English for Vietnamese students? 1.5 Significance of study In the trend of studying about cross culture and its expression in daily life, this linguistic dissertation adds an unfilled part about strategy of giving smart feedback to learners As mentions above, in Vietnam, those there are researches of politeness strategy have been touched several years ago but the volume wrote about feedback is still limited and there is no study about sandwich feedback before Another expected contribution of these papers is the withdrawal of similarities and differences in the use of sandwich feedback between American and Vietnamese teachers, providing more useful knowledge for teachers The result of these papers could help not only the author in reacting to students but also other teachers in finding a wise way to communicate with students in classrooms 1.6 Scope of the study The research is going to be carried out in months, from April, 2012 to September 2012 For the limitation of time and trustful reference documents, the author has to constringe the scope of a cross cultural research in all aspects In this dissertation, the differences between American and Vietnamese cultures are taken into consideration through the comparison of English using It is necessary to emphasize that English in these papers is only considered the tool to express the thoughts and conventional habits of people in different countries with different cultural backgrounds To be more TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com detailed, the focus of the study is about the way teachers giving sandwich feedbacks to students, not disparaging, ill speaking or other acts of communication During the time of researching, the author found out that there are many types of feedback presented by the scholars: differentiated, early warning, peer grading, etc However, for her own interest, only “sandwich feedback” is chosen to be the main concern of these papers It is both new and inspiring to define, category and find out the fact about this strategy of communication During the time of carrying out the thesis, Vietnamese and English documents of famous authors writing about the concerned matters would be involved as a background sources for the author to base on Referring to the objectives above, the author intended to observe the teaching procedure of Vietnamese teachers in some university and colleges in Hanoi and American teachers in ACET center with their students The age and gender are not the counted factors in this research 1.7 Organization of the study Following the usual format, the study is divided into four main chapters: Introduction, Theoretical background, Data analysis and Conclusion respectively The first chapter: Introduction It mentions the basic information about the research: reasons to choose topic, the significance, objectives and scope of the study The second chapter: Theoretical background It covers the review of literary products for the definitions of basic concepts of the research: feedback, criticism, sandwich feedback, politeness strategy, Vietnamese-American cross cultural researches The third chapter: Data collection and analysis There is room for methodology, data collection instruments, procedures of collecting data The discussion of data collected could be found in last sub part of this chapter TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com The last chapter: Pedagogical implications and conclusion It covers some pedagogical implications for teachers to use the act politely and effectively, the recognition of limitations of the research and the suggestions for further studies In brief, this first chapter presents the readers with an overview of the research: the reasons for carrying out, the goals, limitation, organization and meaning of the study The readers would find reasonable ideas and good orientation for the following part of data collection and data analysis TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com hardly joke when they talk to learners and they also not have intention to minimize the imposition putting on students with percentage of 5,8% and 17,6% respectively for those strategies Students’ improvement: With this situation, the author recognizes that the feedbacks have effect on students‟ uptakes when, in the later presentations, students appear to have better preparation and notice more about their intonation 75% students of American guiders admits that they are impacted by the feedbacks and have the clear orientation to correct their wrong intonation in daily life Their check lists of mistakes commented by other students and teachers prove this assumption Just a little lower but number of students taught by Vietnamese teachers that make progress is optimistic as well: 62% These students, although sometimes make confusion with the raising in the ending of the sentences, they shows their try in improve it according to the teachers‟ comment Over 90% of interviewers agree that they not feel hurt or ashamed getting those feedback As a result, to some extent, the SFC shows it advantages to advanced students 3.4 Discussion Those above analyses play the crucial role in answering the research questions that are put out from the very beginning of these papers From the statistics, there are some points can be generalize The first thing can be retrieved from the data analysis results is that teachers, to some extents, have conception and awareness of using SFC in their daily teaching Although the number is not as high as expected, it shows the up-to-date knowledge and attention of teachers in finding the best way to give their students assessment This can be due to the increase in number of cultural researches recently and a better teacher education system which heads for the practical purposes of perceiving new languages It is 41 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com motivated to see the high percentage of Vietnamese teachers involving in this modern method, improving the ways that people often see about serious relationship between teachers and students in traditional thinking where teachers order students to follow The second interesting fact drew from data analysis is the same decrease in the frequency and intense of SFC with the improvement of students‟ language proficiency among American teachers and native ones With richer experiences after years, teachers would know how to apply detailed strategies wisely to their specific groups of learners It can also easy to recognize from the statistics that the number of strategies in oral comments is larger than that in writing form, proving the flexibility in verbal feedback Another finding of the study is the effects of sandwich feedback comments and students‟ reaction to those feedbacks As mentioned in the theoretical background, people‟s normal psychology is secured and not want to be offended even they make mistakes Students, with their complicated psychology of young age, are vulnerable under the strictness of teachers Consequently, they seem to react positively and make improvements in their next presentation in case the teachers use SFC to assess their products/ presentations This phenomenon is easy to understand and observe, establishing the foundation for teachers to have suitable ways dealing with this sensitive circumstance in class In short, this chapter is considered the core of the research for the statistics and information it provides the author and readers The answers for research questions are found with the frequency of using SFC, the differences among Vietnamese and American teachers in application of the strategy, the reactions and improvements of students Basing on these information and discussion, the author suggests the name for some further researches and recommends teachers with some pedagogical implications in the next chapter 42 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 4.1 Pedagogical implication For the limitation of participants, the results of the study cannot be used to overgeneralize for larger samples; still, they suppose the author some considerations for application of strategy in teaching First, the SFC undeniably shows teacher‟s cleverness and brings good effects to students‟ uptake It is necessary that those who deliver lectures everyday raise more awareness about this new but interesting method, then make it more applicable and helpful with various rank of strategies and forms Teacher can combine comments from other students to get a full view of the writing/performance, making the feedback more perfect and persuasive It is a good idea as well when the praises are given in oral forms and criticisms are wrote in another piece of writing, which can avoid the lack of time and not causing shame for listeners It should be noticed that time management 43 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com and levels of students are important factors when giving SFC, not turning it into a lengthy and boring strategy of politeness From the application of a small group of teachers with good results, the ideas of organizing official classes training instructors about practical politeness strategies are born In larger scale, it is not bad to have courses for teachers to study about the techniques that they often use in teaching with detailed information about: eliciting, giving feedback, group work control, etc., where teacher can share own experiences and situation for others Moreover, there is a lesson for foreign teachers living in Vietnam to have a deep knowledge of Vietnamese culture and get the adaptation in dealing with native students The cultural conflicts and overwhelming can happen anywhere in a class in which teachers and learners come from different backgrounds The instructors, thus, should know how to apply the modern ways of comment intelligently, avoiding causing shock to students who may be familiar with the traditional grammar-translation method On the other hand, the teacher‟s own way of giving sandwich feedback should be kept at a suitable level It is crucial to create a new environment in classroom with new method and not let native students have great reverse effects on teacher‟s style Last but not least, the application of SFC is not as narrow as in classroom boundary but intelligent teachers can apply it in their daily life when evaluating other‟s characteristics It leaves the lessons for people to give and receive feedback in a polite way, avoiding the breaking down of communication by minor displeasure 4.2 Limitation of study and suggestion for further researches Though being invested with time and careful consideration, these papers are unavoidable of containing mistakes and bias It is for the lack of researching time that the ambition of author to develop more aspects of the problems is hindered There are 44 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com only more than four months of concentration, limiting the length and conditions for deeper researching Another minor point of these papers is the lack of material for a complete scan of theoretical background and thus the author was not fully supported to create a wider part of theory base As a result, the bias and limitation of back ground appear in some places of the study Further, the small group of participants decreases the validity and reliability of the results, which is the reason for the short lists of valuable discussion and implications However, everything has two sides when the limitation of research becomes an opening source for others looking at SFC in different aspects For example, there can be a research about the use of SFC in environment of an international school or multinationals Besides, findings about students‟ attitude and detailed measurement of their improvement would be a good topic for study as well It is important to keep in mind that the subjects in present papers not, by any means, represent Vietnamese and American teachers as a whole As a result, it leaves land for other studies to examine different aspects of matters with larger numbers of participants for an overview of a valuable politeness strategy 4.3 Conclusion The results of research give the author a correction of the hypothesis that was supposed at the beginning of the process While many people think that in Vietnamese culture, face saving acts are used commonly and hedging is a negative strategy that appeared in most criticisms, it is not so true Vietnamese teachers‟ assessment to students are often more direct and intensive than that by American teachers With the culture of speaking directly, American teachers seem not to apply that traditional strategy to their students: they hedge a lot in their comments Hardly they forget to praise students before and after the criticisms, making the weaknesses become minor and easily to be grasped The explanation for this phenomenon may lie in the concepts about power, distance ad 45 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ranking of impositions in the two cultures With the Far East country, there was a thousand year tradition of respecting the teachers, the distance between the instructors and learners is quite far and the teachers have a greater power in the talk with students, leading to the slighter ranking of impositions in their talk to students On the contrary, in America where the equal power between people is appreciated and the distance is lessened, the ranking of impositions is automatically raised Despite the author‟s first attempt to study cross-cultural communication study, there remain some limitations However, with the effort of carrying out a valuable research, the author hopes that these papers are helpful for teachers of English in Vietnam REFERENCES Books, articles and journals In Vietnamese Trần Ngọc Thêm (1999) Cơ sở văn hoá Việt Nam Hà Nội Nhà xuất Giáo dục In English Abbas, A M (2010) The concept of pragmatic politeness with reference to standard English and standard Kurdish Amores, M J (2007) Use of politeness strategies as a factor in peer editing in the foreign language classroom Paper presented at the Northeast Conference, West Virginia University Austin, J L (1962) How to things with words Cambridge: Havard University Press Belludi, N (2008) Sandwich feedback technique Brown, P., & Levinson, S (1987) Politeness: Some universals in language usage 46 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cao, T H (2009) Hiding bad feelings in daily conversations in American and Vietnamese University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi Dahl, Ö (1999) Inflationary effects in language and elsewhere Stockholm University Doan, T.T.H (2009) Politeness strategies employed in salary negotiation by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi - cultural workplace in Vietnam University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi Eckstein, J (2004) Feedback Patterns Paper presented at the EuroPLoP Grice, H P (1975) Logic and conversation: NewYork: Academic Press Hinkel, E (1999) Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Justová, V (2006) Direct and Indirect Speech Acts in English Masaryk university in Brno, Brno Kramsch, C (1998) Language and Culture: Oxford University Press Lamtiri, R (2010) Communications in contexts: approaches to criticisms Moulay Ismail University Leech, G (1983) Principles of Pragmatics London: Longman Levinson, B.Politeness Retrieved Sep, 4thBrown & Levinson, 2012, from http://www.situatedgaming.com/CISTheoryPrimary/politeness.html Levinson, S C (1983) Pragmatics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Malamud (2007) Lectures on pragmatics: acting with speech Retrieved August 8th, 2012, from people.brandeis.edu/~smalamud/ling100/outline12.pdf Nall, S P (2008) An analysis of the face threatening act strategies used in international trade email correspondence.Unpublished manuscript, National 47 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Kinmen Institute of Technology Nguyen, V D.(2007) Language, Culture and Society Nguyen, T T L (2010) A cross-cultural study on pragmatic transfer in compliment responses by learners of English at Hung Vuong University University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi Nguyen, T P T (2010) Politeness strategies in requests in "The Thorn Birds" University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi Pennington, R (2011) The Feedback Sandwich Resource International, Seamon's, R (2001) The Routledge Companion of Aesthetics Retrieved September, 21, 2012, from http://www.slideshare.net/thomasbanne/what-is-criticism11351463 Servey, J T Feedback: Beyond the Sandwich.Unpublished manuscript, Uniformed Services University Seven suggestions for giving feedback to other people (2011) Bristol: University of Bristol Hien, T T T A politeness strategy in expressing sympathy by American and Vietnamese speakers University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi Te, H D (2010) Social relationships Retrieved August, 10, 2012, from http://www.vietspring.org/values/social.html TEMCAT (2009) What is Criticism? Retrieved August 15th, 2012, from www.temcat.com Terkourafi, M Three levels in politeness theory and practice Valdes, J M (1986) Culture bound Cambridge: Cambridge university press Watte, R J (2003) Politeness Cambridge: Cambridge Unviversity Press 48 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Xiujun, L (2001) A study on Linguistic Politeness Phenomena in English Changwon National University, Seoul Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics Oxford: Oxford University Press Internet source Internet [1]: Feedback Retrieved April 9, 2012, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/feedback Internet [2]: Varieties of criticism (2012, 27 September 2012 at 14:34) Retrieved August 23rd, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_criticism#Positive_criticism Internet [3]: Criticism (2012, 23rd September 2012 at 05:53) Retrieved August 14th, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism Internet [4]: Seamon, R (2001) What is criticism Retrieved September 29th, 2012, from www.slideshare.net/thomasbanne/what-is-criticism-11351463 Internet [5]: Farahyasir (2010, March 22nd) What is criticism?What are the rules and principles in criticism? Retrieved August 21st, 2012, from http://www.questionsonislam.com/question/what-criticism-what-are-rules-andprinciples-criticism-what-kind-things-should-person-who-c Internet [6]: Sandwich (Octorber 1st) Retrieved July 13th, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich Internet [7]: Communicating with Vietnamese people (2008, Octorber 7th, 2008) Retrieved July 13th, 2012, from http://www.vietnam-beauty.com/vietnameseculture/vietnam-culture-value/13- vietnam-culture-value/164-communicatingwith-vietnamese-people.html Internet [8]: Vietnam cultural standards (2010, Octorber 1st) Retrieved June 29th, 49 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2012, from http://www.vietnamonline.com/culture/overview-ofrelationships.html Feedback (2010) Retrieved July 3rd, 2012, from www.port.ac.uk%2Fdepartments%2Fservices%2Fdcqe%2Fdevelopingyouracade micpractice%2Fdownloads%2Ffiletodownload%2C114562%2Cen.pdf&ei=nGtr UI-FCPomAW6yoHQAQ&usg=AFQjCNHDXJr81XntbFFPuJiiIT_RwODw1A&sig2= mP2LF6emeUulBM3G3mt6Jw Internet [9]: What is constructive criticism? (2012) Retrieved Sep 2nd, 2012, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-constructive-criticism.htm# Internet [10]: Emma (2010, Jan 4th, 2010) The relationship between Language and Culture Retrieved May 17th, 2012, from http://www.lexiophiles.com/topic/therelationship-between-language-and-culturehttp://www.lexiophiles.com/topic/therelationship-between-language-and-culture 50 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 51 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX Survey questionnaire My name is Lai Hoai Chau This survey is designed for my research into “A crosscultural study of using the sandwich feedback by Vietnamese and American teachers and its effects on students’ uptake” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated It is assured that you will not be identified under any circumstances Thank you very much for your assistance! A Please answer these questions below or tick (√) where appropriate:  Nationality: ……………  Teaching experience: ≤ year > years ≤ years ≥ years  Level of students: Elementary Intermediate Advanced B Please make a tick where appropriate (you can choose more than one option) (“T” stands for “teachers”, “S” stands for “Students”) Statement Never/rarely Sometimes Often Usually Always You give comments to Ss‟ presentation You criticize S right after their performance You just mention S‟s weakness in your comments You encourage S by I TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com emphasizing their good points only You start your comments with a praise You starts with just one sentence of praise and then a list sentences of criticism You start your comments with a praise, then criticism and finally praise again The skill that T often give comment most is : Speaking Listening Writing Reading What is your purpose when you praise students before criticizing them? To be polite To prevent S‟s embarrassment To encourage them with good points which could be reused in next performances To avoid hurting S‟s feelings Not to shock or surprise others Other reasons: (please specify) .………… What is your purpose when you praise students after criticizing them: To ease the S‟s feeling after the criticism To make your marking easier when you intend to give S bonus To be polite To withdraw S‟s attention again before other‟s presentation To persuade others that the mistakes are just minor Other reasons: (please specify) ………… How your S react after your praise-criticism-praise comments: II TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com They listen attentively and make a change in their next performance They listen, but they not change in next performance/behaviors They show their discomfort They just pay attention to the praise and make it stronger in next presentation, but the weaknesses are still kept the same Others: (please specify)……………………………………… What may be the differences in giving comments to an elementary and a higher level students with the same kind of mistakes: The criticisms should be strict and intensive for higher level S The comments are all the same for any level of S The elementary one should get straight, strict comments rather than a mild, and hedging one The elementary S should get more praises before and after the criticisms than higher ones Other opinion: (please specify)………………………………………… What are the normal parts of your comments to students? Just praises Just criticisms A praise – a criticism A praise – a criticism – a praise A restatement of good points – a suggestion Other (please specify)………………………………………………… What you verbally say when you want to start to comment on students‟ performance/behaviors: A general praise (Ex: You did a good job) A specific praise (Ex: Your voice in part is really expressive) A general criticism (Ex: Your writing is not come up to my expectation) A specific criticism (Ex: Your body language is so poor) Please specify your answer by at least examples: How are your criticisms on students‟ weaknesses/ mistakes? A general criticism on most outstanding mistake (Ex: The grammar of your writing is not good) Specific criticisms on each category of mistakes made in the performance III TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Specific criticisms in each part of task General criticism, mentioning all mistakes occurred Please specify your answer by at least examples: How you often close your comments? After finishing the criticisms of bad points, I end my comment I use a short sum-up sentence I praise students again for what they have done I encourage the students for next performance I suggest the improvements or give them advice in avoiding mistakes Please specify your answer by at least examples: C Please briefly write your answers below How would you verbally comment on the following cases: - An elementary S with full of grammatical mistakes in their writing: - An advanced S with wrong intonation in their speaking presentation: Your time and effort in providing the information is greatly appreciate THANK YOU! IV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ... Selection of informant The main involvement of the research is the American teachers in Australia Center for Education and Training (ACET) and some other famous centers in Hanoi and Vietnamese teachers. .. limited and there is no study about sandwich feedback before Another expected contribution of these papers is the withdrawal of similarities and differences in the use of sandwich feedback between American. .. application would also be paid attention On the other hand, to narrow the view on Vietnam circumstances, the author would carry out a survey and observations to calculate the data and make the necessary