Rationale of the study
As a result of globalization, the growing popularity of English as foreign language learning (EFL) has been put an emphasis on both linguistic proficiency and competence Due to the worldwide trend of globalization, the opportunities to communicate and interact in English have increased and English is considered as the gateway that makes communication possible across cultures In order to achieve the goal of successful communication, English language teaching has been viewed as imperative way to reach the goal However, being influent in the target language does not guarantee that the transmitting messages will be successful It can result in misinterpretation and miscommunication Therefore, foreign language education should integrate diverse worldwide culture and relate to learners’ cultural background
In other words, cultural knowledge and linguistic knowledge play an equal role in communication According to Byram (1997) and Smith et al (2003, p.89-126)) “in order to enhance English language learners’ intercultural communicative competence, understanding other background is the foundation of making possible assumptions.”
Moreover, many scholars such as Byram and Morgan (1994), and Secru (2005) have pointed out the important of intercultural competence (IC) in foreign language education noting that teaching English as a foreign or second language is not merely language teaching, but more importantly “the teaching of global culture.”
Since culture plays such an important role in English language teaching, teachers should be considered as a major instructional tool to transmit knowledge and consequently to convey cultural aspects to their students In recent years, Vietnamese EFL teachers and educators are beginning to understand the greater role of culture plays in foreign language learning and beginning to address the need to integrate a cultural dimension into classrooms (Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, 2007, Nguyen Thanh Long,
2014) Despite the fact that the importance of culture teaching has gained attention from Vietnamese EFL teachers and scholars, classroom teaching still falls behind theoretical expectation: linguistic teaching still dominates mostly in universities in Vietnam and culture teaching has not been very effective in terms of promoting students’ acquisition of intercultural competence and preparing them for intercultural communication This makes teaching intercultural competence a significant and heavy responsibility on language teachers’ professional development, which requires additional objectives and focus for teacher education and training programs
Additionally, it is initiated by my own interest in the topic which inspires me to have a further insight into “Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries when teaching the course book “New Headway, Pre-intermediate, Third edition”.
Aims and objectives of the study
Aims of the study
The aim of this study is to investigate intercultural competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries and their self-report in culture teaching.
Objectives of the study
- To assess the intercultural competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries
- To find out EFL teachers’ self-report in culture teaching practices
- To find out how EFL teachers’ intercultural competence is reflected in their self-reported pedagogical practice in classroom
Scope of the study
Within the framework of this minor thesis, the study only focuses on university EFL teachers’ attitude of intercultural competence in teaching for non-English major students.
Significance of the study
The researcher finds it necessary to explore how English language teachers think about teaching culture in their classroom The need of using English as a means of communication with people from other countries is more and more increasing because of the globalization,
Firstly, this study helps to provide teachers and educators with a framework to train English language teachers to incorporate culture into the English language teaching, and also provide an in-depth understanding of the theoretical background of language and culture teaching
Secondly, the study provides the insights into English language teachers’ intercultural competence and their application in practice.
Research Methodology
Research Questions
1,What are the perceptions of EFL teachers at UNETI about intercultural competence?
2, How do EFL teachers self-report their intercultural competence in teaching practice?
3, How is teachers’ intercultural competence reflected in their self-reported pedagogical practice in classroom?
Research methods
The study adopts a mixed methodology combining both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis Seventeen teachers are investigated so as to compare and contrast their understanding and attitudes towards intercultural competence Two collection instruments are employed including questionnaire, and semi-structured interview.
Design of the study
The thesis consists of three parts, namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion
Part A , Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the method and the design of the study
Part B , Development, consists of three chapters Chapter 1, Literature Review, reviews the key constructs and related works Chapter 2, Methodology, introduces the participants, the data collection instruments and data analysis procedure Chapter 3, Findings and Discussions, deals with the results and the discussions concluded from the data analysis
Part C is Conclusion of the study In this part, the major findings, some recommendations, limitations of the research as well as suggestions for further study are presented
The appendixes are the last part of the study following the reference.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Language and culture correlation
To accomplish a productive discussion of the relationship between culture and language, both terms should be defined Language is generally accepted as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication According to Sapir (1921, p8)
“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols” Thompson (2008) defines language as a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences” The definition of language is also supported by Salzman (1993, p.15) as a part of human genetics endowment, and language, which is one of the several systems of communication used by various people
Culture can also be interpreted as “the complex whole, which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities, and habits acquired by humans as members of a society (Tylor, 1874) According to Hubernere
(1965, p.78) culture is divided into three categories the sociological or social sciences dimension of culture, which includes the history, geography, economics, and political development of a nation; the artistic dimension of culture, which consists of literature, music, art, etc.; and the anthropological oriented dimension of culture, which covers aspects such as the behavioral patterns of the people e.g customs, daily life, standard of living and religion And there is a most widely accepted definition of culture: culture is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generation in an identifiable group of people Also, another categorization places culture as a “large or capital-C culture” and a “small-c culture” (Chastain, 1976, p.338& Doyé, 1999, p.19)
Krech（1962）explained the major functions of language from the following three aspects:
1 Language is the primary vehicle of communication;
2 Language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of his history In turn, it helps shape both personality and culture;
3 Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social group
It is often held that the function of language is to express thought and to communicate information Language also fulfills many other tasks such as greeting people, conducting religious service, etc It is obvious that language plays a paramount role in developing, elaborating and transmitting culture, enabling us to store meanings and experience to facilitate communication The function of language is so important in communication that it is even exaggerated by some scholars
However, the definition alone cannot provide us with a clear understanding on the relationship between language and culture Therefore, we should take a dialectical point of view on the relationship between language and culture As is mentioned at the beginning, language and culture are inextricably intertwined This approach is supported by Crozet & Liddicoat (2000) and other researchers and language educators such as Risager (2005), Carr (2007) Kramsch (1991, p.217) argues that “language and culture are inseparable and constitute a single universal or domain of experience” On the one hand, language is a part of human being It reflects people’s attitudes, beliefs, and worldviews Language both expresses and embodies cultural reality On the other hand, language is a part of culture It helps perpetuate the culture and it can influence the culture to a certain extent According to Saint-Jacques (2012, p.53), language can be seen as a window into the culture of people speaking that language Therefore, it is difficult to communicate without understanding of culture in spite of mastering thousands of words There is a need to know about the people and the country of the target language Several authors (Seelye, 1974; Lafayette, 1975; Starkey, 1996;
McKay, 2000) have stressed the importance of culture in teaching and learning a foreign language The relationship between language and culture in second language learning and teaching is also discussed widely by many authors, for example, Byram, Morgan et al (1994) and Higgs (1990)
To sum up, language and culture have an interdependent relationship According to Bennett & Allen (2003, p.237) “the person who learns language without learning culture risks becoming a fluent fool” Therefore, there is a need for the teacher to be aware of the cultural differences to help their students get rid of inappropriate behaviors when engaging with native speakers.
Intercultural competence
Language education has experienced from a focus of “linguistics competence” to communicative competence” and then to “intercultural competence” Chomsky
(1965) has investigated the acquisition of “linguistic competence” Students are expected to develop the understanding of a language correctly only by learning its linguistics system which includes grammatical structures, vocabulary and pronunciation At that time the socio-cultural context is less of significance in language acquisition As the pragmatic reform appears at the second half of the 20nd century which emphasizes on the performance of speech acts, language teachers realize that it is not enough for students to communicate effectively with only well-structured sentences if they lack the knowledge of how to use these sentences in a real context
The term “communicative competence” is investigated in different ways by many scholars It is first introduced by Hymes (1972) with several systems of rules underlying communicative behaviors Then Van Ek (1986) who originally applies CC to FLT also presents six partial or super-ordinate abilities in his research This competence usually consists of four elements: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence (Savignon, 1983 &
Alptekin, 2002) However, CC has been criticized by scholars because of focusing on speech acts and discourse competence instead of cultural competence Meanwhile the culture of the target language often differs from the first language As argued by Crozet and Liddicoat (1999), communicative language teaching is not able to link between language and culture so it does not enhance intercultural understanding Therefore, there is a need to entail a shift in the overall aim of FL instruction from CC to IC
There are different definitions of intercultural competence The conceptualization of intercultural competence mainly deals with the ability to communicate and interact across culture of language learners According to Byram
(1997) intercultural competence is defined as “the ability to communicate and interact across culture boundaries” As presented in her work, Deardoff (2004, p.194) proposes that intercultural competence include “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situation based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes” This definition is also supported by Paige et al (2003) who refer to intercultural competence as the ability of a person to “interact and communicate effectively with person from other cultures and in culturally diverse settings’
In addition to the ability to communicate and interact, the sense of cultural identity is another important feature in the notion of intercultural competence Byram, Gribkova & Starkey ( 2002, p.10) has shown that it is “ the ability to ensure a shared understanding by people of different social identities, and the ability to interact with people as complex human beings with multiple identities and their own individuality”
Intercultural competence emphasizes learners’ mediation between different cultures Risager (1998, p.244) has shown that intercultural competence is the ability that allows learners to “function as mediators between their home culture and the target culture and to use the target language as contact language with people who use this language as first language” According to Byram& Zarate (1997) it helps learners to look at themselves form an external perspective, then analyze and adapt their own behaviors, values and beliefs They can interpret and understand other perspectives as well as decide what is taken for granted in their society as mediators between language and culture Therefore, they can “engage with complexity and multiple identities and avoid stereotyping which accompanies the act of perceiving someone through a single identity” (Byram et al., 2002, p.9) The “reflective capacity to deal with cultural differences and to modify behavior when needed” was also taken into consideration by Dellit (2005, p.17)
However, intercultural competence of language learners cannot be achieved only through policies, materials, or even residence abroad as argued by Byram &
Zarate (1997) Therefore, teachers’ awareness and understanding of intercultural competence are necessary to ensure students’ progress (Sercu, 2002) Teachers have responsibilities to help learners realize the relationship between their own culture and other cultures Teachers can inspire their students’ interest and their curiosity about
“otherness”, and an awareness of themselves and their own culture from other people’s perspectives
To sum up, culture is seen as the core in the concept of intercultural competence in language education It is insufficient for language learners to study and work in multicultural setting only by “linguistics competence” and “communicative competence” In consequence, there are a wide range of definitions of “intercultural competence” due to its complexity These definitions all focus on people’s capacity to communicate effectively and appropriately in the intercultural situations and their ability to mediate between languages and cultures The next section describes the five well-known models of intercultural competence.
Byram’s perception of intercultural competence
Byram (1997) offers a model of IC, which includes five “savoirs” acquired by language learners The elements of this model are attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness or political education, linked to the values a person acquires as a result of belonging to several social groups in a society These five savoirs are defined as follows:
1 Savoirs (Knowledge): of social groups and their products and practices in one's own and in one's interlocutor's country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction
2 Savoir être (Attitudes): curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one's own
3 Savoir comprendre ( Skills of interpreting and relating): ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from one's own
4 Savoir apprendre/ faire (Skills of discovery and interaction): ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction
5 Savoir s’engager (Critical cultural awareness/political education): an ability to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives, practices and products in one's own and other cultures and countries
Figure 1 Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence
Figure 1 shows the relationship between five elements Byram’s model (1997) values key dimensions in relation to culture: cultural relativism, critical awareness, empathy, curiosity, and cultural identity It also presents the inter-relationship of linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and intercultural competence For Byram, intercultural competence involves an individual’s activity to interact with people in other cultures using foreign language as well as acts as a mediator between people of different culture
Through the five saviors proposed by Byram (1997), language learners can identify misunderstandings while interacting with people from other cultures, explain their conflicting interpretations, define the need for further learning, and take action to avoid such misunderstandings
IC offers an invaluable opportunity to engage language learners in learning about other cultures It gives language teachers a chance to integrate the teaching of language and culture.
Review of related studies
In Europe, Australia, and North America, the importance of intercultural competence teaching has been widely recognized in second and foreign language curricula and educational policies (Sercu, 2006; Liddicot, 2004;) For instance, in Europe, the acquisition of intercultural competence has been addressed in the Council of Europe's (2001) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:Learning, teaching, assessment The framework provides a structure for intercultural competence development based on Byram’s (1997) model Moreover, it provides a common basic for language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, and assessment Knowledge and skills for language learners to reach the six levels of communicative proficiency are identified in the CEFR Culture as one of the main aspects of the CEFR is put an emphasis to help language learners become plurilingual and develop interculturally (Council of Europe, 2001)
In the United States, the National Standards in Foreign Langauge Education Project is a framework for second language learning Five national standards for foreign language education which are referred to as the five Cs (Standards, 1996) have been proposed, including communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities, Teachers are encouraged to adjust their current communicative competence oriented teaching practices in order to help students to acquire intercultural competence Although many countries’ national curricula for language teaching have been following the intercultural shift in theory, Garrido & Alvarez (2006); Sercu
(2006) argue that both cultural teaching in the broad sense and intercultural competence teaching have not yet become a common practice in second and foreign language classrooms
Studies conducted by European researchers, regarding cultural teaching practices, suggest that most language teachers’ current cultural teaching practices do not yet have desired outcomes as specified in the theoretical literature ( Sercu, 2006;
Sercu, Mendez Garcia & Castro Prieto, 2005)
In Australia, the Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice
(ILTLP) (University of South Australia, 2007) was further developed in Australia The ILTLP helps teachers increase their knowledge of intercultural language teaching and learning Furthermore, it helps language teachers able to integrate them into classroom practice and assessment
Some researchers have investigated foreign language teachers’ perception of ICC and its implementation in the language classroom Sercu (2005) conducted a study that surveyed teachers of English, German, and French and investigated to what extent the teachers’ beliefs, levels of instruction, and teaching practices could be promoting ICC as opposed to mere communicative competence He finally found that the majority of foreign language teachers who participated in the study had “not yet adopted student-centered strategies for teaching intercultural competence” (p 103) because of lacking of preparation and of appropriate teaching materials and not having sufficient time, resources, or training Teacher’s beliefs and practices regarding ICC have been investigated by other researchers such as Paige, Jorstad, Siaya, Klein, and Colby, (2003); Sercu, (2005)
The lack of curricular support, suitable textbook materials, and ICC testing raises concerns about the integration of intercultural competence into language curricula were concluded in the researches of Duff & Uchida, (1997); Lazaratton, (2003); Young et al., (2009)
In Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa is one of the researchers who highlight the importance of intercultural competence Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa (2007) also considers the lack of guidelines, insufficient time, class sizes and lack of intercultural capability as the reasons of communication failure.
METHODOLOGY
Setting and participants
The study is carried out at Faculty of Foreign language, University of Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI) Faculty of Foreign language provides the English learning programs for non-major English students Every classroom is equipped with a projector, and other teaching as well as learning aids There are 44 teachers of English at the Faculty of Foreign language There is no foreign teacher working at the faculty
The participants in the research are 17 teachers of Basic English Department teaching Basic English for second year students They have different degree levels, their minimum level is MA and others have BA degree in English language teaching
Their English proficiencies are at least C1 according to Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR) They have experience in teaching English at least 2 years.
Data collection instrument
Dửrnyei (2001a) claims “a combination of qualitative and quantitative design might bring out the best of approaches while neutralizing the shortcomings and biases inherent in each paradigm” (p 242) Therefore, a mixed-methods approach is adopted in this study Survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview are used as the main instruments of collecting data
Survey questionnaire is used to examine teacher’s understanding of intercultural competence, their self-report in teaching practice and find out the relationship between teacher’s intercultural competence and their application in teaching English Because questionnaire are self-administrated and data can be collected from a large group of participants within a short period of time according to Seliger and Shohamy (1989), it is considered to be one of the major advantages of questionnaire Moreover, teacher can be confident to express their viewpoints
The survey questionnaire consists of three main parts in order to cover the main research issues following Cohen et al (2007) recommendations, which suggest that the design of the questionnaire should move from objective facts to subjective attitudes and opinions through justifications The sequence of the parts and the sequence of the research questions follow the recommended pattern The focus is on designing the questionnaire with mainly closed questions and short and clear instructions for ease of analysis and to give more responses to each question (Redline et al., 2002) Also, open- ended questions were added to give in depth data regarding what teachers think There is no need to translate the questionnaire into Vietnamese, since the participants are English language teachers
The questionnaire used in this study, is inspired and adapted from Sercu et al.’s
(2005) international survey This study uses part of Sercu et al (2005) international questionnaire for different reasons; first its topic similarity with this research study; its organization and presentation of each theme in a realistic and systematic way; and the appropriateness of most of the statements used in her questionnaire to answer my research questions Part A consists of four questions The first two questions focuses on teachers’ definitions of culture and IC The third question is designed to explore how teachers perceive the teaching of culture Participants’ intercultural competence is evaluated in the last question
Part B consists of four questions which aim to explore what kind of cultural activities they use in their classrooms; if they are creating a multicultural environment in their classes; what are the cultural aspects they present; and finally, how they implement culture teaching in their classrooms
Part C explores the reflection of teachers’ IC and their teaching practice by question 9 The final question contains 20 statements about teachers’ perception of IC in teaching practice The participants are asked to indicate their degree to the importance of cultural teaching in practice
Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions are designed to offer interviewer and interviewees, more freedom and flexibility in delivering questions and providing information respectively Interviews help the researcher get “closer to an individual’s perspective” (Kayrooz & Treviit, 2005, p.110) because the researchers can hear the interviewees express in their own words As a result, interview with open- ended questions can fulfill the important information that survey questionnaires cannot cover The semi-structured interview with nine question (See Appendix B) Questions
1 to 4 explore teacher’s definitions of culture, intercultural competence, their understanding of culture teaching and their intercultural competence in English teaching The next four questions explore the awareness of teacher in the importance of intercultural competence in teaching The remaining questions explore the reflection of teachers’ intercultural competence on their teaching practice.
Data collection procedure
Quantitative data are collected through a survey questionnaire (Appendix A) in the first phase of this study Participants are asked to complete the survey questionnaires and invited to participate in follow-up interviews Those who are willing to be interviewed are asked to leave their contact information In the second phase, qualitative data are collected from follow-up face-to-face semi-structured interviews I contact those who have indicated their willingness to participate in an interview In the end, four participants agree to be interviewed An interview is conducted at a time convenient for each participant The interviews are audio taped and transcribed.
Data analysis
This section is going to describe the data analysis stage for this study tools: questionnaire and interviews The results of the questionnaire and the interviews are respectively presented and organized
Data is checked for completeness to ensure there is an answer to most questions
Questions are checked to ensure they have been understood correctly by respondents for accuracy Data from the completed questionnaires is entered into the computer using Statistical Package for Social Science Software (SPSS) The entered data is saved and thorough data analysis subsequently undertaken This stage involves potential steps to insure that its design accomplish its validity and reliability
A descriptive analysis of the data gains from the questionnaires’ closed questions is carried out using frequencies and percentages There are two open-ended questions which call for another data analysis approach to fulfill the purpose of the questionnaire The participants’ responses are noted down and categorized similar ones together Performing counts and ranking responses according to the most frequently mentioned ones are followed by the categorization steps
Qualitative data are analyzed using the following procedures Each transcript is first read through in order to capture an overall flow and gain a general understanding of the teachers’ about culture, intercultural competence and practices of cultural teaching After that transcripts are manually coded Emerging themes are identified and the name of the theme as a descriptive term is assigned while reading the transcript consistently Individual themes are categorized into group themes to identify thematic patterns that emerged in the interview data A list of all themes identified in the transcripts is created Meaningful analytical units from the original transcripts are categorized into corresponding theme Finally, data are analyzed and synthesized to gain an insight into English language teachers’ intercultural competence and their application in practice.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
From quantitative data
Quantitative data are analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Teachers’ intercultural competence and their established beliefs about and practices of cultural teaching are described and the relationships between them we are discussed
3.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence 3.1.1.1 Culture
Table 3.1 Definition of Culture from the Respondents’ Point of View
Table 3.1 shows that the respondents think that the definition of culture includes all of the three points given (Mean of 4.570) The other rankings indicate that teachers seem to give more credit to the geo-political aspect (Mean 4.419) and behavioral aspects of culture (Mean 4.364), which is hoped to be introduced to their students
Although there are some teachers who give their own definitions of the term “culture” in the space provided, their definitions still indicate an understanding of culture as
Culture is 1 2 3 4 5 Mean a The geo-political aspects of a nation (e.g history, geography, economics and political developments)
4,419 b The artistic dimension (e.g literature, music, art, etc.) 5,9% 11,8% 17,7% 23,5% 41,1%
4,045 c Behavioral patterns of people (e.g Customs, daily life, standard of living, religion, etc.)
4,364 d All three of the above 0% 0% 11,8% 17,7% 70,5% 4,570
Mean a How to communicate interculturally with others 5,9% 5,9% 11,8% 35,3% 48% 4,304 b Non-judgmental communication with other cultures 5,9% 11,8% 35,3% 29,4% 17,7% 3,647 c A field of research that studies how people understand each other across group boundaries 5,9% 5,9% 11,8% 52,9% 23,5% 3,895 d It is how two different cultures relate to each other in terms of differences and similarities 5,9% 11,8% 17,7% 29,4% 35,3% 3,964 e Analyzing and adapting ones behavior when interacting with others 5,9% 11,8% 17,7% 35,3% 29,4% 3,806
Table 3.2 Definition of IC from the Respondents’ Point of View
The table shows that the most important aspect for respondents is to teach their students how to communicate with others (Mean 4.304) However, understanding the students’ own culture is not ranked highly (Mean of 3.806) A space is left in this question intentionally, so the respondents could express their views about how they define IC Respondents stress understanding and being familiar with other cultures’ beliefs and attitudes, and how the individuals of those cultures behave in their daily lives, which will help teachers teaching their students how to express their own culture
ICC to most of them is a way of how two or more cultures work together alongside each other, and try to live peacefully by mutual understanding
In order to explore how participating teachers perceive cultural teaching objectives from an intercultural perspective, eight objectives are listed which reflect the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and awareness dimension in Byram’s (1997) intercultural competence model Participants are required to indicate the degree to which they believe the objectives are important on a 4-point scale from 1 (Not Important) to 4 (Very Important) Participants’ responses are presented below in Table 3.3 Most participating teachers believe that all of the eight objectives for promoting students’ intercultural competence are important Teachers report that the most important objective is to develop students’ skills of interaction dimension, namely, to “promote the ability to conduct effective communication with English speaking people” (29, 4% reporting it Important and 58,8% Very important) The awareness and attitudes dimensions are also regarded as important cultural teaching objectives, such as to
“promote awareness and understanding of different values, beliefs, and ideologies of both Vietnamese and English speaking people,” and “develop a curious/tolerant/respectful/open attitude towards other cultures and cultural difference.”
3.1.1.3 Cultural teaching objectives “Culture teaching” is Not important
Providing information about daily life (e.g social/political conditions) in English speaking countries
Promoting understanding of different process of individual and social interactions in English and Vietnamese culture
Developing a curious/ tolerant/ respectful/open attitude towards other cultures and cultural difference
Promoting the ability to acquire new cultural knowledge from documents/events from English cultures
Promoting the ability to conduct effective communication with English speaking people
Promoting the ability to understand and critically interpret documents/events from English speaking culture
Promoting awareness and understanding of different values, beliefs, and ideologies of both Vietnamese and English speaking people
Fostering students’ respect for world cultural diversity
Table 3.3 Teachers’ beliefs about cultural teaching objectives
Comparatively speaking, the three least important objectives are believed to be the following: “provide information about daily life (e.g social/political conditions) in English speaking countries,” “promote the ability to acquire new cultural knowledge from documents/events from English cultures,” and “the ability to understand and critically interpret documents/events from English speaking culture.” These objectives reflect the knowledge, skills of discovery, interpreting, and relating dimension of intercultural competence teaching It is interesting to note that most aspects of the skills dimension of intercultural competence are deemed to be less important
The participating teachers are asked to rate their ability, knowledge, or willingness related to intercultural competence on the modified 20-item instrument which is set up on a 6-point scale from 0 (Not at All) to 5 (Very High) A single, composite intercultural competence score is also generated for each participant by adding up and then averaging the score of all the 20 items, which range from zero to five The mean score of 3.24 indicates that teachers’ perceive intercultural competence is slightly above Average in the 6-point scale The instrument measures four dimensions of intercultural competence, namely, knowledge, awareness, skills, and attitudes An individual score is calculated for each of the dimensions by adding up and then averaging the score of the items that measure the dimension The score of the four dimensions of teachers’ intercultural competence all fall slightly above Average, which indicates that teachers demonstrate average intercultural knowledge, awareness, skills, and attitudes Among the four dimensions of intercultural competence, the participants demonstrate highest level for attitudes (M = 3.51) and lowest level for knowledge (M 3.02)
3.1.2 EFL teachers self-report their intercultural competence in teaching practice 3.1.2.1 Frequency of Dealing with Particular Cultural Aspects
Question 5 asks the respondents to indicate how extensively they deal with particular cultural aspects of cultural teaching according to frequency of use from (1) never to (3) often
Table 3.4 Frequency of Dealing with Particular Cultural Aspects
Different ethnic and social groups 1.933
Daily life and routines, food and drink etc 2.393
Other cultural expressions (music, drama, art) 2.097
International relations (political, economic and cultural), with students’ own country and other countries
We can indicate from the above table that respondents deal most extensively with “daily life and routines”, “education and professional life”, “youth culture”, and
“traditions, folklore, and tourist attraction” which scored a mean of 2.393, 2.314, 2.294, and 2.216 respectively Some of them deal with “International relations (political, economic and cultural), with students’ own country and other countries” and
“different ethnic and social groups” which score a mean of 1.985 and 1.933 respectively Interestingly, the topics that respondents say they work with most extensively are also the topics which the textbooks stress Teachers teach by the textbook and the topics covered are the ones dealt with in class The topics which are not extensively explored in the textbooks, such as international relations and different ethnic and social groups, do not feature extensively in classrooms
3.1.2.2 The chance to create a multicultural environment in the language classroom
Additionally, questionnaire respondents answer Q 6, to show how teachers can create a multicultural environment in their classrooms, where the four statements follow the cognitive and attitudinal learning aspects, and are all teacher-centered
Statements are ranked often, occasionally, and never
6 Do you have the chance to create a multicultural environment in your language classroom?
Never Occasionally Often Mean a I use videos, CD-ROMs or the internet to illustrate an aspect of a multicultural environment
29,4% 52,9% 17,7% 2.020 b I invite a person(s) originating from an English speaking country (ies) to my classroom
5,9% 11,8% 82,3% 1.241 c I bring objects originating from an English speaking country to my classroom
11,8% 58,8% 29,4% 1.802 d I decorate my classroom with posters illustrating particular aspects of the English speaking culture (s)
Table 3.5 Responses about having the chance to create a Multicultural
Environment in the Language Classroom
Table 3.5 shows that respondents ranked higher in the usage of the internet or CDROMs to illustrate aspects of multicultural environment in their classrooms (mean 2.020), which shows that nowadays teachers are doing their best to be up to date with modern technologies in presenting their lessons Decorating their classrooms with posters illustrating particular aspect of the target culture, or bringing objects from other cultures, is less frequent The least frequent activity that the teachers mentioned is inviting a native speaker to their classroom
3.1.2.3 Frequency of applying intercultural competence teaching
Knowledge a I ask students to discuss the way in which Vietnamese people and Vietnamese culture is perceived by English speaking people
% 11,8% d I ask students to explore different perspectives Vietnamese and English speaking people may have on a particular event/phenomena
% 11,9% j Besides cultures of English speaking countries, I also touch upon cultures of other countries
Skills of discovery and interaction b I ask students to explore connotations and implications implied in documents/events from
English cultures % % g I ask students to use their cultural knowledge and skills to explain documents/events from English cultures
Attitudes c I ask students to share what they find fascinating or strange about English cultures
% 17,7% k I encourage students to questions their own values, beliefs, and perspectives which are perceived differently by people from other cultures
Skills of interpreting and relating e I ask students to explore areas of misunderstandings in communications between Vietnamese and English speaking people and explain the causes
% 17,7% i I ask students to discuss the origins of stereotypes that Vietnamese people have for English cultures
Awareness f I ask students to discuss how their own values and beliefs influence the way they perceive other cultures
% 17,7% h I ask students to explore values, beliefs, and ideological perspectives implied in events/documents from English culture
Table 3.6 Frequency of applying intercultural competence teaching
Teachers are asked to indicate how often they apply 11 teaching activities which reflect the five dimensions of intercultural competence proposed in Byram’s (1997) model (Table 3.6) Among them, teaching activities indicate in item a, d, and j were to promote students’ knowledge dimension, activities in item c and k are to enhance their intercultural attitudes, activities in item b and g are to develop skills of discovery and interaction, item e and i are for the skills of interpreting and relating, and item f and h for intercultural awareness
The findings suggest that intercultural competence teaching is not regularly conducted in participating teachers’ EFL classes Among the 11 teaching activities, only three of them are applied frequently by more than half of the participating teachers: 53% of the teachers report that they frequently ask their students to share what they find fascinating or strange about English cultures; the same percentage of the teachers report that they frequently ask students to explore areas of misunderstandings in communications between Vietnamese and English speaking people and explain the causes as well as ask their students to explore different perspectives that Vietnamese and English speaking people may have on a particular event/phenomenon These three activities help students to promote some aspects of the attitudes, knowledge, and skills of interpreting and relating dimension of intercultural competence
Most participating teachers do not apply the remaining eight teaching activities, which reflect some aspects of all the dimensions of intercultural competence teaching
For instance, activities that aim to promote the skills of discovery and interaction are not conducted frequently: 17,7% of the teachers indicate that they never ask students to discuss the origins of stereotypes that Vietnamese people have for English culture
From qualitative data
3.2.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture and intercultural competence 3.2.1.1 Culture
The majority of the interviewees perceive culture as something not complex and definable with two or three words only Few interviewees are of the firm view that culture is something all-embracing that should be experienced However, most of the participants make serious attempts to come to terms with the multifaceted concept of
Statements Mean d Before you can teach culture(s) or do anything about intercultural dimension of language teaching, students have to possess a sufficiently high level of proficiency in the language itself
3.629 j When you have a limited number of teaching periods, culture teaching has to give way to language teaching
3.589 n Teaching intercultural competence is important only if it is necessary for the students (e.g travelling)
3.304 q Language problems lie at the heart of misunderstandings in international contacts, not cultural differences
2.938 culture by listing elements that they consider to be embedded in it, such as this interviewee’s response:
“ Culture means language, traditions, thoughts, way of living, and lifestyle”T1
Data from the interview reveals similarities in responses, with many respondents defining culture as a combination of three aspects: the social aspects of a nation, behavioral patterns of people, and the artistic dimension of any culture From the collected data from semi-structured interview, teachers’ definitions of culture can be categorized into three categories: culture as a factual knowledge, culture as a skill and culture as a Bi-directional belief
Knowledge of the world can be seen as the first thing that teachers mentioned when they were asked about culture Three teachers describe culture in terms of facts about history, geography, religion and political conditions of the English-speaking countries, while another interviewee regard folkloristic features as traditions and ways of life as an essential part of culture Firstly, they mention about the festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween Secondly, they refer to daily life with all its special habits and routines as far as school, work, leisure-time activities and family life
“the ways of life in different countries; how they live, how they act in different situations, how they celebrate their festival” T4
Cultural products are also listed as an element of culture Moreover, interviewees indicate another outer, visible aspect of culture that is the artistic dimension Two of them refer to the art, film and music associated with the English- speaking countries This clearly shows that interviewees’ perception of culture is influenced by their readiness to include certain aspects of it into their own teaching If teachers know that using films or music with their students pays off, it is easy to prefer to look at culture as just that, rather than as something they do not normally include in their classroom work and perhaps do not even know how to address in a teaching context
“For example, when I talk about one of the characters in the classroom, they ask lots of questions about it and they bring some more information, as well, about this character; such as “Star War”, “The Scent of a Woman” It makes them get near or close to the language they are learning.” T1
Modes of thought are the last category The inner, mental processes of people sharing the same culture are also mentioned by the teachers They describe in terms of the values, norms and beliefs underlying the way people live and act Interestingly, two participants also talk about ways of thinking and ways of looking at and interpreting the world as components of culture
It is characterized as a procedural knowledge, where the focus is on learning how to act in an appropriate manner, not breaking the rules and conventions of the target language culture and thus inadvertently offending people Two participants refer to behavioral habits related to specific social situations For example, one teacher stated as follow:
“when and how people speak to one another in different settings, such as in a place of worship, in a shop or in a restaurant, at a chemist’s, when visiting friends or relatives, at school.” T2
The teachers also stress the importance of using phrases of politeness and conventionalized linguistic responses in general as well as relate to how and in what contexts certain expressions are used
Besides social practices and social-linguistic practices mentioned above, three interviewees see culture as more than knowledge and know-how relate to target cultures Awareness of their own cultural background is considered a necessary basis for more or less conscious comparisons which the students will make when encountering other cultures Knowing the reasons why their own culture and the foreign cultures act the way they do can enable the understanding of similarities and differences
“It is very important for me to teach it in my classroom for different reasons, for example, a person may face a certain situation which is in his culture is inappropriate, but for someone else it is ok or I ask my students the way people celebrate at a wedding, or on their day of rest, and comparing how this differs from the home culture”.T1
Culture as Bi-direction belief
Two interviewees see culture as more than knowledge and know-how relate to target cultures The necessity of learning about and knowing the students’ own culture is stressed and seen as a prerequisite for relating the two to each other on equal terms
In other words, awareness of their own cultural background is considered a necessary basis for more or less conscious comparisons which the students will make when encountering other cultures Knowing why representatives of familiar culture and the foreign culture(s) act the way they do is seen as enabling a deeper understanding of similarities and differences, which is clear in the quote from this interviewee:
“We help them to distinguish between the differences and similarities of the target culture and their own culture We give them good and bad examples and ask them to compare with their culture Therefore, they can understand why people in other cultures acting in that way” T3
The cultural content not only involve English speaking culture(s) and other cultures from the perceptions of the students’ culture, but also their own culture from the beliefs of the English-speaking culture(s) and any other cultures The following excerpt may serve as an illustration:
Summary of the Research and Main Findings
This study aims to explore English language teachers’ perceptions towards teaching IC It investigates the way in which teachers perceive themselves as professionals How they understand and define the concepts “culture” and “IC” To what extent they see ICC as an objective in their language classroom How they approach the teaching of ICC in their classrooms One of the reasons for exploring teachers’ perceptions regarding teaching ICC in FL education was to be able to provide teachers with professional development opportunities which build on their existing beliefs and teaching practices The research findings on teachers’ perceptions indicate that teachers’ perceptions affect their conceptions of specific teaching situations and, eventually, their teaching practice (Carter & Doyle, 1995) Therefore, taking teachers’ perceptions as the starting point and trying to alter them, seems to hold the best promise for altering teaching practice The backbone of the research is a list of questions derived from preliminary interviews with English language teachers and addressed by the study which were designed to meet the research objectives, and which have been mentioned above This focus corresponds with Byram’s work who proposed teaching ICC on the grounds that cultures are the seed-bed for both constancy and change, and that language and culture cannot be separated It could be argued that fulfilling this strategy necessities qualifying English language teachers and cementing their cognitive skills Moreover, taking into consideration the importance of the English language teachers’ opinions and views as regards the reforming of both English language programs and curricula, this is a vitally critical issue This is what the present study tries to stress as a highly important problem to be solved The main findings of the study regarding teachers’ knowledge indicates that teachers are aware of and familiar with the TCs they are presenting to their students with the help of their textbooks, which do not ignore such awareness or familiarity of the TCs However most of the teachers identified culture as factual knowledge transmitted through them, or the textbooks, to their students Some of the teachers appreciated the deep definition of culture and described culture as skills where the English culture(s) are still in focus, but now the students’ own culture is also presented, and explaining to their students how this may affect positively their own culture and their understanding of TCs Only a few teachers accepted culture as a bi-directional belief, which will help their students’ cultural awareness where they are presenting a deeper explanation of culture in their classrooms, and preparing them for intercultural encounters The underlying idea here is that intercultural encounters may be enriched by all cultures taking part
Significantly, teachers’ definitions of ICU and ICC reflect building their students’ curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbeliefs about other cultures and beliefs about their own culture; and building their students’ knowledge of social groups, their products and their practices This reflection may prepare students to be more open to the idea of universality of humanity, being empathetic with others and being prepared to justify themselves When talking about the place of culture in ELT the majority of teachers agreed on presenting TCs in their classroom because they believe that this understanding will give their students the opportunities to be more open to others and make them more empathetic The ELT teaching objectives is categorized into general teaching objectives; language teaching objectives; and culture teaching objectives
Most teachers were willing to provide their students with general teaching objectives and language teaching objectives to help them acquire the knowledge in order to succeed in their academic studies However, because of the changing world and its present cultural needs, and because of the multicultural society we are living in, teachers try to present culture teaching objectives as a priority in their classrooms, even though some of them lack time or cultural preparation When teachers were asked about how they perceive the teaching of ICC in their classrooms their cultural teaching objectives could be categorized into three dimensions: the knowledge dimension, where teachers provide their students with general background information; the skills dimension, where teachers prepare students for future intercultural encounters by giving them social and sociolinguistics skills; and finally, the attitudinal dimension, which develops positive attitudes towards other cultures in general and TCs in particular, with the ultimate goal of promoting tolerance and empathy, and in the long run, creating conditions for peaceful coexistence Teachers were interested in promoting their students’ ability to be empathetic with people living in other cultures
The three types of cultural objectives can be seen as stages in a cumulative process that teachers are trying to achieve, within the time constraints Regarding how English language teachers approach the teaching of IC in their classrooms, and what their practices are in doing so these could be divided into three pedagogies: pedagogy of information, which provides students with factual information about the English speaking countries; pedagogy of preparation, which aims at preparing students for behaving appropriately when meeting people from English speaking countries; and pedagogy of encounter, which aims at reducing ethnocentric views by fostering positive attitudes towards, and respect for, representatives of both TCs and other cultures in general Even though most teachers stated that their main cultural objective was to foster tolerance and empathy, few of them applied teaching strategies beyond the level of transmission of facts Moreover, regarding teachers’ classroom practice, this study found that the teaching activities practiced frequently are mainly teacher- centered, rather than being student-centered, though some teachers also ask their students to explore aspects of TCs, to compare cultures or to reflect on cultural differences Significantly, those teachers who believe that language and culture can be integrated are the ones with beliefs supporting the teaching of ICC, while the ones who believe that culture teaching and language teaching cannot be integrated are the ones who have awareness of contextual constraints of teaching ICC To conclude the findings, we can identify that English language teachers concentrated on the factual knowledge and skills parts of teaching the language most of the time, which could be categorized within the pedagogy of information and the pedagogy of preparation respectively; either when they were presenting culture; when they were representing their teaching objectives; when they perceived the teaching of the ICC; or when they were using activities in their classrooms Less concentration was paid to actual teaching of culture, which could be categorized within the pedagogy of encounter; despite their realization of the importance of it to their students and their openness to other cultures.
Limitations of the study
The study has several major limitations Firstly, it is a small-scale study with a limited number of teachers at the Faculty of Foreign Language at UNETI
Secondly, using closed-ended questions in the questionnaires also have its limitations This type of questions proves its usefulness by asking for fixed responses, which causes the need to select the answer from a given multiple choice It prevents the participants from providing elaboration or justification for their choice However, the participants who do not take part in the follow-up interview are not able to add deep insights about the issues under investigations
Thirdly, limitation of the study is also associated with teachers’ self-reported cultural teaching practice Cultural teaching practices are reflected through teachers’ own descriptions of what they do in their classes and what the students’ feedback is
Finally, the questionnaire administration can be a problem because the amount of time given to the teachers may affect their responses and due to the time constraint of the interview, the data is not rich enough to reflect their understanding and teaching practice
Despite the limitations, the main purpose behind this study is to explore English language teachers‟ perceptions towards teaching IC in ELT at UNETI It aims to investigate the way in which teachers perceive themselves as professionals How do they understand and define the concepts “culture” and “IC”? How do EFL teachers self-report intercultural competence in teaching practice? How is teacher’s intercultural competence reflected in their self-reported pedagogical practice in classroom? To overcome the above mentioned limitations and provide in-depth information, some further studies are desired
Firstly, another study is hoped to be done at a larger scale which involves greater number of teachers and data should be collected from the students to get higher reliability and validity A future avenue for research would be to explore the issues from students’ perspective, for instance, how students perceive and articulate the needs and expectations for culture teaching and learning, which also play a vital role in the integration of cultural dimension into EFL teaching
Secondly, future research exploring teachers’ culture teaching practice through classroom observations, which would provide a more reliable and detailed picture of when, what, and how culture teaching is conducted in EFL classes is worth being carried out
Thirdly, future research can focus on how to prepare EFL teachers for intercultural competence teaching, such as the design and carrying out of teacher training and processional development program focusing on intercultural competence teaching, and teachers’ feedback in terms of how it helps them to integrate cultural teaching into their EFL classes
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I would like to thank you for your kindness, your precious time, and willingness in participating in this study “Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries when teaching the course book “New Headway, Pre- intermediate, 3rd edition” My study aims to gain more understanding of the Intercultural Competence of English language teachers, and find out how teachers self-report in the classroom as well as the relationship between teachers’ Intercultural competence and their performance in practice I believe that by giving me your opinions in this questionnaire I might build a better understanding of your perception
“Intercultural Competence of EFL teachers at University of Economic and Technical Industries when teaching the course book “New Headway, Pre-intermediate, 3 rd edition”
A Teachers’ perceptions of Culture and Intercultural Competence
Question 1: According to you, what is culture? Choose one answer for each statement from 5 to 1; 1 is “least agree with” and 5 is “most agree with”
Do you have another definition?
Question 2: How do you define “Intercultural Competence”?
Choose one answer for each statement from 5 to 1; 1 is “least agree with” and 5 is “most agree with”
2 Intercultural Competence is: 1 2 3 4 5 a How to communicate interculturally with others b Non-judgmental communication with other cultures c A field of research that studies how people understand each other across group boundaries d It is how two different cultures relate to each other in terms of differences and similarities e Analyzing and adapting ones behavior when interacting with others
Do you have another definition?
1 Culture is 1 2 3 4 5 a The geo-political aspects of a nation (e.g history, geography, economics and political developments) b The artistic dimension (e.g literature, music, art, etc.) c Behavioral patterns of people (e.g Customs, daily life, standard of living, religion, etc.) d All three of the above
Question 3: To what degree do you believe the following objectives are important for cultural teaching in EFL education?
3 “Culture teaching” is Not important
Important Very important a Providing information about daily life (e.g social/political conditions) in English speaking countries b Promoting understanding of different process of individual and social interactions in English and Vietnamese culture c Developing a curious/ tolerant/ respectful/open attitude towards other cultures and cultural difference d Promoting the ability to acquire new cultural knowledge from documents/events from English cultures e Promoting the ability to conduct effective communication with English speaking people f Promoting the ability to understand and critically interpret documents/events from English speaking culture g Promoting awareness and understanding of different values, beliefs, and ideologies of both Vietnamese and English speaking people h Fostering students’ respect for world cultural diversity
Question 4: Please rate your ability, knowledge, or willingness ［ Please circle the answer ］ (0= Not at all, 1= Very low, 1=Low, 3=Average, 4=High, 5= Very high)
Very low Low Average High Very high a I am familiar with the cultural norms and expectations of English culture (e.g., food, eating manner, clothing, greetings, public
0 1 2 3 4 5 behaviours, etc.) b I can describe some important historical/social/political events that have shaped English cultures
0 1 2 3 4 5 c I can contrast communicative behaviours of Vietnamese and English speaking people in social setting (e.g., family, school, office, etc.)
0 1 2 3 4 5 d I can describe the history of relationships between Vietnam and English speaking countries
0 1 2 3 4 5 e I can describe how some events in Vietnam are perceived by people from English speaking countries
0 1 2 3 4 5 f I am interested in knowing unfamiliar aspects of English culture (e.g., history, traditions, and people’s values, etc.)
0 1 2 3 4 5 g I am willing to understand differences between Vietnamese and English speaking people in their behaviors, values, and beliefs
0 1 2 3 4 5 h I am interested in knowing the different ways that English speaking people see a particular event in Vietnam
0 1 2 3 4 5 i I am willing to question my values and beliefs which are perceived differently by people from other cultures
0 1 2 3 4 5 j I am able to identify how some misunderstandings happen in interactions between Vietnamese and English speaking people
0 1 2 3 4 5 k While interacting with English speaking people, I adjust my behaviour, body language, and gesture according to what is considered appropriate by them
0 1 2 3 4 5 m I am able to find out unfamiliar cultural information I come across in oral or written communication situations
0 1 2 3 4 5 n Before I talk or write to English speaking people, I think about how they, with different cultural backgrounds, will feel about or react to what I am going to say or write
0 1 2 3 4 5 o I think I should not immediately judge people from other countries, because their behaviours might just be the result of cultural differences
0 1 2 3 4 5 p I can recognize when some Vietnamese people communicate inappropriately to English speaking people
0 1 2 3 4 5 q I am able to understand an English document in its own cultural context 0 1 2 3 4 5 r I demonstrate awareness of seeing myself as a "culturally conditioned" person with personal habits and preferences
0 1 2 3 4 5 s I am aware of the diversity in English cultures (e.g., differences in race, class, gender, and profession, etc.)
0 1 2 3 4 5 t I demonstrate awareness of English speaking people’s reactions to me which reflect their cultural values
0 1 2 3 4 5 u I demonstrate awareness of how my values and ethics are reflected in specific situations in my interaction with people from other countries
B EFL teachers self-reported Intercultural competence in teaching practice using the course book “New headway, Pre-Intermediate, Third edition”
Question 5: Please, choose one answer for each statement (1= Never; 2= Occasionally;
How extensively do you deal with particular cultural aspects?