Contextual motivation
With the fast process of integration and the growth of international businesses and trades in Vietnam, the ability to communicate in English has become a passport to a better job and a turnkey to opportunity The need for highly skilled and competent English speakers makes English language learning and teaching a major issue in Vietnamese education today In 2008, the project to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages in Vietnam through 2020 was approved by the Prime Minister, and attracting overseas foreigners to teach in Vietnam is included in the project As a result, there have been an increasing number of foreign teachers teaching English in Vietnam in recent years (Binh, 2012; Vietnam to bring in more native speakers to teach English, 2013) This situation happens not only in schools and universities but also in various kindergartens, international schools, and English language centers such as the British Council, the American Apollo, and the Cambridge International Examinations Consequently, the access to a multicultural classroom in Vietnam has become increasingly easy In addition, a significantly rising number of Vietnamese are choosing to study abroad (Hang, 2009) to gain globally-recognised degrees, which increases job prospects and boosts their language skills Australia and America are the leading study destinations for Vietnamese students (Vietnamese students on the move, 2014) In English classroom at military schools, the presence of foreign teachers may be less common However, Vietnam’s development cooperation with English speaking countries has gradually been stronger Hence, there are more and more native English teachers teaching Vietnamese military students in Vietnam, and it is also true for the number of scholarships for military students to study in English speaking countries such as America, Australia and New Zealand In the current context, the need for understanding of intercultural interaction between Vietnamese students and foreign teachers in English classroom and the role of culture in intercultural communication has been rising There have been many international studies of intercultural communication (Hall, 1966; Hofstede, 1986; Bennett, 1998;
Corbett, 2003; Dogancay-Aktuna, 2005; Crose, 2011; Nataša Bakić-Mirić, 2012) In Vietnam, intercultural communication has not been paid due attention to in English language teaching and learning, but there is a growing interest (Nguyen, 2010; Kiet, 2011; Bright, 2012; Canh, 2013) However, the focus is more on the side of teachers or overseas Vietnamese students There has not been much research on how intercultural interaction between Vietnamese students and foreign teachers takes place in English classroom, let alone the interaction between military students and foreign teachers
Having taught English at a military school for several years, I can see that military students, like Vietnamese students in general, are eager to have English lessons taught by foreign teachers However, the cultural differences between Vietnamese students and foreign teachers are considered to cause conflicts and misunderstanding when they encounter intercultural interaction (Ellis, 1995)
Because intercultural communication in English language learning and teaching in Vietnam has not been paid due attention to, Vietnamese students in general and Vietnamese military students in particular are not well prepared for intercultural communication For the given situation, and my concern about the way to help my students be confident when interacting with foreign teachers and make their experience of learning English with foreign teachers a positive one, I take this opportunity to conduct this study on intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom This is a case study of a single English class in a military school in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Significance of the study
In terms of theory, this study is hoped to provide some useful contribution to knowledge of authentic intercultural interaction in an educational context This research is expected to help Vietnamese military learners of English better understand cultural factors involved in their interaction with foreign teachers, and the impacts of these cultural factors on the interaction Also, the study is hoped to help with a better understanding between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers to motivate their learning and teaching process In terms of practice, this study raises teacher’s and student’s awareness of intercultural communication and can contribute to the teaching of English and of intercultural communication in Vietnamese military schools.
Aims and scope of the study
Aims of the study and research questions
The researcher views interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom as a truly intercultural setting that need a close inspection The aims of this study are:
to describe and interpret inter-cultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom
to describe and interpret how Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers think of that interaction
to find out what cultural factors involve in the interaction and whether they facilitate or hinder the process of that interaction
These objectives are parallel with four following questions:
1 How do the Vietnamese military students and their foreign teachers interact in English classroom?
2 How do they perceive that inter-cultural interaction?
3 What cultural factors underlie their classroom interaction?
4 To some extent, do those cultural factors facilitate or hinder the classroom interaction?
Scope of the Study
To limit the scope of the study, this research examines intercultural interactions in English classroom by focusing on teacher-student interactions The study considers all forms of interaction: verbal and non-verbal, positive and negative This is the case of military school in Hanoi with the participation of 18 Vietnamese military students and two foreign teachers, and it has no intention of generalisation.
Organization of the study
This thesis is organised into three main parts: Part A- Introduction, Part B - Development and Part C - Conclusion This introductory part presents the research aims, scope, significance, and organisation of the study Next, part B - Development is divided into three chapters Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical matters of intercultural interactions in English classroom such as definitions of culture, intercultural communication, and classroom interaction It also reviews related past research Chapter 2 explains the methodological approach and procedures of the study It deals with the description of the case, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis process Chapter 3 reports the results for each research question The thesis ends with part C - Conclusion, which discusses findings and suggests implications for EFL education, especially in military schools It also presents some limitations of the study and suggestions for further research.
LITERATURE REVIEWS
Culture
Culture is often considered the core concept of intercultural communication (Martin
& Nakayama, 2010); therefore, discussion of definitions of culture and the relationship between culture and communication is essential in this study
Singer (1998) defines culture as “a pattern of learned, group-related perceptions – including both verbal and nonverbal language, attitudes, values, belief systems, disbelief systems and behaviours that is accepted and expected by an identity group” (p 5, as cited in Jones & Quach, 2007, p 5) Thus, culture is something that is learned from parents, schools, the media and the broader community Gudykunst
(1983) states that, cultures are dynamic because they are created and recreated through shared interactions (cited in Jones & Quach, 2007) This means cultures are not fixed and people could learn and relearn different cultures during their lifetime
Jones and Quach (2007) believe that culture is made up of a particular group of people’s shared values and assumptions These key features of culture are shared by many authors (for example: Spencer-Otatey, 2000; Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013):
Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioural conventions and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member’s behaviour and each member’s interpretations of the
“meaning” of other people’s behaviour (Spencer-Otatey, 2000, p 4)
Culture is not simply a body of knowledge but a framework in which people live their lives, communicate and interpret shared meanings, and select possible actions to achieve goals (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013, p 22)
Because culture is made up of shared values and assumptions, people tend to believe that the ways they behave and the things they value are right and true for everyone However, different groups may have different values, ways of communicating, customs, conventions, and assumptions; and thus when people from different cultural groups communicate with each other, conflicts may appear (Jones and Quach, 2007).
Culture and communication
The relationship between culture and communication is complex (Martin &
Nakayama, 2010) As Samovar and Porter (2004) state, communication and perception are affected by culture (cited in Patel, Li & Sooknanan, 2011) Culture, therefore, is a significant factor in how people communicate and how they perceive any form of communication Barro et al (1998) view culture as “an active meaning- making system of experiences which enters into and is constructed within every act of communication” (p 83) Thus, culture not only influences communication but also is influenced by communication (Barro et al., 1998; Martin & Nakayama, 2010; Patel, Li & Sooknanan, 2011) In sum, culture and communication are inclusive and interrelated.
Intercultural communication
In the era of globalization and technology, Vietnamese people are more likely to encounter international interactions which need English as a common language for communication However, such intercultural interactions can be difficult if we do not know how to deal with people who are culturally different from us Increasing our knowledge and understanding of other people and their cultures is more important today than ever before Therefore, it is necessary to prepare Vietnamese language students for intercultural communication in an increasingly multicultural world
Barnett and Lee (2003) define intercultural communication as the cultural information exchange between two groups of people who are culturally different
Intercultural communication, therefore, concerns communication between people who come from different cultures (Ting-Toomey, 1999) Basically, we can understand that intercultural communication embodies the interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds, and it implies a procedure that people of one specific culture observe the target culture and reflect on their own and the target culture (Byram, 1989) In short, intercultural communication is recognised in this study as an interaction between people from distinctive cultural backgrounds which might influence or be influenced by their own cultural characteristics.
Intercultural communication versus Cross-cultural communication
The theoretical study of intercultural and cross-cultural communication cannot be entirely isolated (Prosser, 2009) However, it is necessary to distinguish these two terms in this study
Intercultural communication, as discussed above, is defined as the study of communication between people whose cultural backgrounds are significantly different Whereas, a cross-cultural communication study compares and contrasts the communication of people from different cultures and explain how communication varies from one culture to another (Prosser, 2009) Simply put, cross-cultural approach means a comparison and contrast between two or more cultural groups; therefore, the main goal of cross-cultural approach is the study of a specific concept within one culture and compare to other culture (Prosser, 2009)
Intercultural approach, on the other hand, mainly aims at the development of intercultural competence which is viewed as the ability to behave and respond properly and successfully in various cultural contexts (Messner & Schafer, 2012;
Spitzberg, 2000) The concept of intercultural communicative competence, thus, will be discussed in the following section.
Intercultural communicative competence (ICC)
The term intercultural communicative competence has been defined in various ways ICC is regularly viewed as united mix of “knowledge, motivation and skills to interact effectively and appropriately with members of different cultures”
(Wiseman, 2003, p 192) Byram (1997) defines ICC as “the ability to communicate and interact across cultural boundaries” (p 7, as cited in Hien, 2014, p 117) The differences in cultural backgrounds of people are considered the challenging features for intercultural interaction Thus, the process of obtaining intercultural and communicative competence is complicated ICC, as proposed by Byram (1997), requires five significant factors: attitude, knowledge of oneself and others, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, critical cultural awareness (p 91, cited in Hien, 2014)
In the era of globalisation, the ICC approach is getting an influential position in foreign language teaching and learning practice (Houghton, 2009, cited in Hien,
2014) Considering the importance of ICC in foreign language education and the trend of globalisation, Vietnamese language students should be taught to interact appropriately and effectively in intercultural communication encounters.
Classroom interaction
In order to enhance understanding of the relationship between classroom interaction and foreign language acquisition, it is relevant to firstly deal with the various definitions of interaction in the classroom Brown (1994) views interaction as “the collaborative exchange of the thoughts, feelings, or ideas between two or more people resulting in a reciprocal effect on each other” (p.159) Classroom interaction, according to Dagarin (2004), is a two-way process between the participants in the learning process in which the teacher and students mutually influence There are two means of resources that enable interaction to be achieved: language and non-verbal means of expression Both resources (verbal and non- verbal) are of the same importance (Dagarin, 2004) In short, classroom interaction consists of all types of interaction that goes on in a classroom It refers to the conversation between teachers and students and as well as among the students, in which the students’ active participation and learning becomes important
In deed, all of the types of classroom interaction are important to engage learning and teaching Nevertheless, only the student-teacher interaction will be explored in the study Verbal interaction is of focus in this study However, in certain acts, the complementary meaning of other paralinguistic features and non-verbal interactions add to or even change the meaning and intentions of verbal acts Thus, in certain moments of the interaction analysis, both verbal and non-verbal interactions of students and teachers in the video – recordings will be studied
As Chaudron (1988) asserts, the interactive features of classroom behaviours has been recently regarded with a more significant role like the following: a Turn taking During the interaction, both the teacher and students take turns to speak The number of turns taken by an individual in an interaction displays how effectively he/she is involved in the interaction b Questioning and answering It is possible that the teacher’s questioning promotes students’ production of their target language, and the students’ answering may be considered a positive effort to foster their learning process c Negotiation of meaning When the students do not understand what the teacher attempts to convey or vice versa, requests for clarification, and comprehension and confirmation checks may be used by both the teacher and students to ask for clarification from the other d Feedback The feedback which typically involves error correction from the teacher is essential to boost the students’ learning Furthermore, students can also give feedback such as to ask for explanation from the teacher (pp 131-
In this study, those features were used as guidelines for the researcher in taking notes during observation and analysis of classroom interaction Moreover, in order to deeply understand the nature of student-teacher intercultural interaction in English classroom, non-verbal behaviors of both students and teacher such as eye contact, smile and hesitation were given careful consideration
1.1.6.3 Classroom interaction and foreign/second language acquisition
In second and foreign language learning, interaction has long been considered to play an important role (Seliger, 1977; Lier, 1996; Hall & Walsh, 2002; Luk & Lin, 2007; Zhao, 2013) Lier (1996) considers interaction the most important thing in the curriculum (cited in Walsh, 2011) Seliger (1977) views interaction in the classroom as the practice of new linguistic concepts acquired or learned in the classroom By participating in classroom interactions, students can enrich their linguistic resources and build their confidence to communicate with others in English (Luk & Lin,
2007) As Hall and Walsh (2002) assert, classroom interaction is one of the most important ways of achieving learning in classrooms Teachers and students build a common body of knowledge through interacting with each other In addition, teachers and students can create mutual understandings of their roles and relationships, and the accepted behaviours and expectations of their involvement as members in their classroom
In sum, interaction in English classroom is beneficial for students’ learning In order to improve students’ learning outcomes, it is necessary to engage students in meaningful interactions with teachers and other students in classroom context The quality of interaction, according to Walsh (2006), is largely determined by teachers in their face to face communication with learners.
Cultural dimensions and teacher-student interaction in the classroom
When teachers and students from different cultures interact, there may appear conflicts because their teaching and learning styles are dissimilar (Hofstede, 1986)
Therefore, it is worth considering Vietnamese and Australian cultures and their impacts on the nature of Vietnamese student- Australian teacher interaction in classroom
Cultural dimensions are various and have been investigated by many researchers (Hofstede & Bond, 1984; Hall, 1966, 1983; Triandis, 1990, 1995) Hofstede (1986), in a comparative study of culture within a large multinational organisation, proposes a cultural analysis in terms of the four dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance and relates the factors to classroom interaction, which helps us to regard expectations of how teacher/student patterns of interaction are shaped by culture These dimensions formulate the behavior of individuals of a certain culture but have been criticized as demonstrating the eccentricity of one particular organization (Gallivan & Srite,
2005) and lessening and simplifying the concept of culture (McSweeney 2002)
However, it is the research methodology that is mostly criticized, not the theory
(Ford et al 2003) Therefore, these dimensions are reliable in theory (Straub et al
1997) and have been separately verified and replicated by other researchers (Smith et al 1996)
When comparing Vietnam with Australia, the two dimensions of power distance and individualism differ most significantly (see Figure 1) Thus, this study will discuss differences between teacher-student interaction in Vietnamese culture and Australian culture in the light of these two culture dimensions
Figure 1 Comparison of value orientations: Vietnam versus Australia (Vietnam in comparison with Australia, 2014)
Individualism versus Collectivism and teacher-student interaction
Hofstede (1986) defines individualism as a culture assuming that everyone grows up to look after his/her own interest and the interest of his/her immediate family only (p 307) Whereas, collectivism is defined as a culture assuming that people are born into one or more tight ‘in- groups’ from which he/she cannot separate him/herself (p 307) In individualist culture, the individual is likely to value personal well-being higher In collectivistic culture, the individual are likely to more highly value what is best for the social institutions that he or she belongs to over personal ambitions and goals The difference on this point might determine the way of teaching and learning during classroom activities in the intercultural classrooms (Hofstede, 1986)
In collectivism societies, students want to learn how to do, expect teacher to initiate communication, and only speak up in class when asked personally by teachers
Face-saving is highly valued for both teachers and students (Hofstede, 1986) In contrast, students from individualism societies want to learn how to learn and speak up in class in response to a general invitation by the teacher Consciousness of face- saving is weak (Hofstede, 1986).
Power distance and teacher-student interaction
Power distance is defined as “a characteristic of a culture defines the extent to which the less powerful persons in a society accept inequality in power and consider it as normal” (Hofstede, 1986, p 307) Cultures with larger power distance prefer that authorities should remain powerful and hierarchy is appropriate for the society
On the other hand, in societies with low power distance people seek to equalise the distribution of power Power distance has been believed to be dominantly influential in learning outcomes (Paulus et al 2005)
In large power distance societies, the classrooms tend to be teacher-centred The teacher is considered the expert He/she is highly respected, and never contradicted or criticised Students in large power-distance societies focus more on absorbing knowledge from the teacher and only speak up when personally invited Students expect teachers to provide paths to learn and effective learning dependents on the competence of teachers (Hofstede, 1986, p 313) Conversely, in small power distance societies, the classrooms tend to be student-centered Teachers expect students to look for their own ways to learn and effective learning relates to efforts from both students and teachers Students’ independence is highly respected by teachers Students can speak up freely in class and have opportunities to criticize teachers (Hofstede, 1986).
Vietnamese and Australian teacher-student interaction influenced by cultural
As asserted by Canh (1999), traditional view of the teacher-student relationship in Vietnam is that the teacher is expected to be “the sole provider of experience in the target language” (p 74) who is “highly respected by the students” (p 75) and what the teacher says is “unquestionably standard norms” (p 75) As a result, Vietnamese learners “feel rude if they interrupt, question, or argue with their teachers” (p 76); and if they do not understand something, they “are not daring enough to ask for clarification in public for fear of losing face” (p 76) These findings are similar to Hofstede’s (1986) concepts of collectivism and large power distance In contrast, Australian culture is attributed to individualism and small power distance societies (Hofstede, 1986, p 309) As Ellis (1995) states, teaching and learning styles are mainly decided by the value orientations of a particular society Therefore, in this study which explores the interaction between Vietnamese students and Australian teachers, it is relevant to examine the difference between traditional Vietnamese teacher-student interaction and Australian teacher-student interaction in the classroom (See Table 3)
Table 1 Vietnamese Teacher-Student Interaction versus Australian Teacher-
Student Interaction Related to the Individualism versus Collectivism and the Power
Distance Dimensions of Culture (adapted from Hofstede, 1986, pp 312-313)
(Collectivism, Large Power Distance Society)
(Individualism, Small Power Distance Society)
3 a teacher is highly respected by his/her students
5 students expect teacher to initiate communication
7 students expect teacher to outline paths to follow
9 students speak up in class only when invited by the teacher
11 students expect to learn how to do
13 teacher is never contradicted nor publicly criticized
15 effectiveness of learning related to excellence of the teacher
17 neither the teacher nor the student should have to lose face
19 teachers are expected to give preferential treatment to some students
4 a teacher should respect the independence of his/her students
6 teacher expects students to initiate communication
8 teacher expects students to find their own paths
10 students may speak up spontaneously in class
12 students expect to learn how to learn
14 students are allowed to contradict or criticize teacher
16 effectiveness of learning related to amount of two-way communication in class
18 Consciousness of face-saving is weak
20 teachers are expected to be strictly impartial
Indeed, the cultural differences between a large power distance culture embedded in collectivism (Vietnam) and a small power distance culture covered by individualism (Australia) are considered to cause conflicts and misunderstanding when people encounter intercultural interaction.
Reviews of relevant studies
An (2002), to provide additional details to the current situation of learning and teaching English in Vietnam, addresses two issues concerning the effects of
Confucianism: the traditional method of teaching and the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) Questionnaires were delivered to 230 learners at different levels in Ho Chi Minh City to test the hypothesis that because of the effects of Confucianism, Vietnamese learners are passive and dependent on their teachers and their attitudes towards CLT are negative She simultaneously conducted a similar study on a smaller scale with 128 teachers in the city to discover cultural effects on their teaching The results of this survey suggest that Vietnamese learners are no longer completely passive In fact, they enjoy participating in activities that help them to use the language, and thus there is hope for more efficient and effective language learners
Tuan (2011) conducted a questionnaire survey to examine EFL students’ preferred learning styles and linkages between learning style preferences and individual attributes The participants were 172 students from ten intermediate EFL classes at the Center for Foreign Languages of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City His study suggests that EFL students showed a strong preference for more communicative activities enabling them to be involved in physical movement He finds out that Vietnamese students are more and more adapting themselves to active learning This finding is similar to what An (2002) reported, and thus, has shown a continuation of Vietnamese students’ adaptation to be more active in language learning
In terms of foreign teachers teaching English in Vietnam, Canh (2013) employed a qualitative study exploring the discursive construction of the professional identity of a small group of native-English-speaking teachers (NESTs) working in an English department of a Vietnamese university (n=5) He implemented semi-structured face-to-face interviews to gain insights into NESTs’ construction of their professional identities in a particular EFL context His findings revealed that NESTs identify themselves as students’ partners in the construction of knowledge rather than givers of knowledge Also, NESTs considered themselves motivators for the students to use English for authentic communication and to improve their English pronunciation They tried to familiarize the students with their own practices, rather than adapted their teaching styles to the students’ needs and learning styles
It can be inferred from the three above-discussed studies that Vietnamese students in general, and Vietnamese military students in particular, are becoming more active in English classroom and interested in taking part in activities enabling them to practice the language Foreign teachers, in contrast, determine to familiarize the students with their own teaching styles, rather than adapt the way they teach to the needs and learning styles of Vietnamese students.
Summary
So far the literature review has shown that, because of cultural differences between a collectivism and large power distance society and an individualism and small power distance society, conflicts and misunderstanding between Vietnamese students and foreign teachers are likely to appear when they interact in the classroom; and in order to have successful interactions, they have to obtain culture understandings Recent studies has points out that Vietnamese students are slightly adapting themselves to be more active learners; whereas, foreign teachers are likely to insist on their own teaching styles in Vietnamese classroom context without adjusting to Vietnamese students’ learning styles However, no studies were found that examine the intercultural communication experiences of Vietnamese military students with foreign teachers and their perceptions of those interactions As explained previously, due to the globalization of English language and the increase in intercultural interactions between Vietnamese students and foreign teachers, the understanding of other cultures is of crucial importance for successful communication Therefore, this study addresses those gaps and extends previous studies by examining the interactions of Vietnamese military students when in contact with foreign teachers at a Vietnamese military school It specifically analyzes the cultural factors underlie teacher-student interactions in classroom and their impacts on those interactions, the participants’ perceptions of their intercultural interactions, thus shedding light on the relationship between culture and communication The outcomes of this research will help EFL teachers and students in Vietnam to better understand the current intercultural communication status of Vietnamese military students This research will also be helpful to researchers who want to further study the field of intercultural communication and how Vietnamese military students communicate with people from different cultures
The next chapter presents the methodology for this study and explains why such methodology is used to examine teacher-student intercultural interaction in English classroom.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
General Method
This research employed a qualitative case study to investigate student-teacher interaction in the classroom A qualitative approach is suitable to address the investigated issue for two reasons First, this study attempted to provide an in-depth understanding of teacher-student intercultural interactions in English classroom context which is a naturally occurring one (Patton, 2002) Second, this study not only examined how the teachers and students interacted physically but also sought to understand how their interactions were influenced by their cultural perspectives
The use of qualitative approach helped the researcher obtain a holistic picture of not only what was happening in English classroom, but also why things were taking place as they were I started with precise observations and interviews, and let the categories of analysis to emerge from the collected data as the study was taking place (Kasinath, 2013) Thus, I could strive to understand the intercultural teacher- student interaction in a “genuine” English classroom without assuming answers to research questions, but makes ready to discover new and original situations in its natural settings
I was determined to conduct a case study research because this approach allows me to deeply understand the current student-teacher intercultural interaction in its real- life context from the perspective of the teachers and students being studied (Gall et al., 2003), and provide a rich description (Creswell, 1998) of the many contextual factors surrounding the investigated case (Mckay, 2006) In this study, the case is a group of 18 students and two foreign teachers, and the boundaries of the case are their intercultural interaction (verbal and non-verbal) in English classroom during eight lessons This research is an intrinsic case study, which is undertaken because of the researcher’s desire to have better understanding of a particular case (Stake,
Participants and Site
A military language center in Hanoi, belonging to the Vietnamese ministry of Defence, provided the context for this study This unit offers various foreign language courses of different levels for Vietnamese military personnel There are about three to five English classes taught by Vietnamese teachers, and a certain number of students are chosen to study in some classes with native English teachers based on their entrance exam scores The English classes taught by Australian teachers are funded by the Australian government in a defence cooperation program between Vietnam and Australia
The researcher has had a close connection with the school for five years, having been a part-time English teacher here from 2009-2013 This relationship provided the researcher with an ease of access to the students and native teachers and meant that the participants were less likely to feel uncomfortable when participating in the study Nevertheless, knowing the participants was not an adequate basis for obtaining access Therefore, informal conversations through e-mail with the potential teacher participants and a face-to-face informal conversation with the intended student participants about the research’s purposes, the benefits involved, the participants’ privacy and the possibility of being involved took place prior to the beginning of the project (See appendixes A and B) Both teachers and students had shown an interest in and a willingness to be involved in the project as they could see the potential for the work to improve understanding
The studied teachers are two Australian teachers They are part of the same teaching team working with the studied students One of the teachers is a military officer and is in charge of teaching military English for the studied class; the other is a civilian teacher who is responsible for general English They are both experienced teachers who have taught English for military students in Vietnam for about three years
Table 4 shows the teacher participants Pseudonyms are used and will be used throughout this report
Table 2 List of Teacher Participants
A single English class of 18 Vietnamese military students at the studied school was chosen to participate in this study Sixteen of the students are males, and two are females Their ages range from 26 to 37 They have learnt English with foreign teachers at this school for more than two months All of the students are military officers who work for different military units in Vietnam such as hospitals, newspapers, and technical factories The students’ English level is Intermediate
However, some students may be better at English than others Table 5 shows the student participants, and pseudonyms are used to respect the students’ confidentiality and anonymity
Table 3 List of Student Participants
Data Collection Instruments
There are many ways to collect data and case study is not likely to use only one of these methods (Gerring, 2007) With the aim of achieving an in-depth understanding of the case, it was necessary for several methods of data collection analysis to arise Consequently, four data collection instruments were used in this study To obtain data on how students and teacher interact, classroom observations were conducted To understand the students’ and teacher’s thoughts and feelings of their interaction process and to confirm the analysis of their interaction pattern, stimulated retrospective interviews with teachers and selected students were implemented after each observed lesson In order to obtain deeper insights into students’ and teacher’s belief, attitudes, and experiences; focus-group interviews with students, and individual open-ended interviews with teachers were carried out after the observation and retrospective interview had been completed The data of this case study consists of: a) The researcher’s observation of interaction between student-teacher and teacher-student within classroom settings b) Interviews with students and teacher individually to elicit perceptions of observed interactions c) Interviews with teachers individually and with focus group of students to elicit their attitudes and beliefs of intercultural interactions in general
The researcher observed four lessons taught by each teacher to study the participants’ behaviours: the students’ verbal and non-verbal interactions with their foreign teacher and the foreign teacher’s interactions with the students and her response to various aspects of students’ intercultural communication The observation took place for six days over six weeks depending on the class and teachers’ schedule The total time of class observation was eight hours During the observed lessons, I was not involved in the class’ activities, but sitting in a fixed position at the corner of the classroom In this way, I could interpret the interactions as an outsider Because I attempted not to miss any significant intercultural interactions in the lessons, field notes were taken simultaneously as interactions occurred The field notes were taken cautiously with the aim of preventing participants from feeling strained by virtue of being observed I tried to be as descriptive as possible to capture the nature and concurrence of the lessons In the field notes, I noted the date and time of observations; the teacher’s name and number of students involved in the lesson; the classroom’s atmosphere, the actions, behaviors and words of the participants when they interacted and how I was feeling at that moment Handwritten notes were typed up immediately after each observed lesson so that I could “fill in the blanks” in my brief notes taken while observing the classroom and diminish the time demand for data analysis
However, the lessons were moving quickly and it was impossible for me to capture everything In order to catch the nature of the classroom, the participants’ identity in interactions, and many aspects of nonverbal communication such as gestures, bows, and eye contact (Johnson, 1992), I wished to set up video and audio recordings during the observed lessons Though, only one of the two foreign teachers agreed to have a camera in the classroom during her lessons Therefore, audio recording was set up during the lessons taught by Ms Jane and video recording was conducted during Ms Lyn’s lessons with the participants’ consent
Still, video and audio recordings both retain some problems such as the presence of the tape recorder can affect students’ and teacher’s behaviours; or students may move out of range (Johnson, 1992) In order to minimize the impact of video and audio recordings on the participants’ behaviours, I kept the camera on a tripod in a fixed position that attracts little notice of the students and teacher Also, a small portable voice recorder was placed on a table at the corner of the classroom where I kept my field notes during the observation The small size of the recorder seemed to attract no attention of the participants The recording devices were checked carefully to avoid any machine failures and dead battery before recording, and a backup was done after every recorded lesson or interview to avoid data loss
Indeed, observation plays a crucial role in classroom research (Hopkins, 2008) The transcripts of teacher-student intercultural interactions during eight English lessons including general and military English were the major source of data for this study
These data, which were collected unobtrusively in natural settings, are valid for learning how humans think and act in real life (Woodside, 2010)
Interviewing is viewed as a “basic mode of inquiry” (Seidman, 2006, p 8), which is widely used to access people’s experiences and their inner perceptions, attitudes, and feelings Stimulated recall which is properly implemented can help the researcher discover the participants’ thoughts that are not obvious through observation only (Gass and Mackey, 2000) In the observed lessons, the participants’ thoughts and hidden reactions which were not expressed during the interaction can not be simply obtained by observation Therefore, I employed retrospective interviews to uncover the participants’ thoughts on their intercultural interactions during the observed lessons
Retrospective interview was individually carried out with teachers and selected students after each observed lesson The aims of these interviews were to explore the implications and motivations of the participations’ actions when they were interacting with each other in the observed lessons and to elicit their thoughts and feelings that were not expressed at the time when the interactions were taking place
I recalled the students’ and teachers’ actions and speech when they were interacting with the teacher and student(s) in the lessons, and elicited their reflection on their thoughts and feeling at that moment The retrospective interview was semi- structured interview which is a combination of partly control and partly freedom to develop the interview (Wallace, 1998, p 147) In this way, I had a list of questions beforehand to ask, but I could add or modify probes according to the participants’ responses The questions were open-ended so as to encourage a full and meaningful answer from the participants (See Appendix C and D) The individual retrospective interviews lasted from 10 to 20 minutes During the interview, I listened attentively to the participants and avoided giving concrete reactions to participants' responses, only “informal prompts” (Leech, 2002, p 668) like “uhm, I see, uh-huh, ok” were used to show that I was listening and interested However, at the start of each interview and sometimes during the interview, I gave careful instructions so that the participants could understand that they were required to talk about their thoughts, feeling and hidden reactions at the time of the interaction, not about what they think at the moment of the interview
After each observed lesson, some students interacting significantly with the teacher would be invited to take part in a retrospective interview The retrospective interviews with individual students were arranged soon after their class time to limit the effect of memory decay There were 15 retrospective interviews with students in total Of the15 retrospective interviews, 14 interviews were conducted on the same day of the observed lessons, 01 interview was carried out one day after the observed lesson in the classroom
The retrospective interviews with students were conducted in Vietnamese so as not to create difficulty for students in expressing their thoughts Though, they were encouraged to shift codes at any time they liked between Vietnamese and English
After each observed lessons in the morning, the teachers were invited to a retrospective interviews at lunch time I observed eight lessons on six days, so there were six retrospective interviews with teachers in total The retrospective interviews with both teachers were performed using my field notes and diagram of significant interactions and noticeable students with the verbal records of both teacher and students (See Appendixes E and F)
Two individual open-ended interviews were carried out with two native teachers after the observations and retrospective interviews had finished These interviews aimed to explore the teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and experience of intercultural interaction with Vietnamese military students in English classroom in general, not about the interaction in the observed lessons The interviews took place in the teacher’s room and were audio-recorded with the participants’ consent The interviews lasted about half an hour in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere The interview questions were open-ended allowing for a variety of answers from the participants (See Appendix G)
After the observations, retrospective and open-ended interviews were completed; two focus-group interviews were implemented with two groups of students: eight students who interact frequently with their foreign teachers and nine students who do not interact much with their foreign teachers in the observed lessons
The focus group interview is defined as a structured and focused discussion with a small group of individuals (Barrows, 2000), run by moderator (Marczak & Sewell) to obtain perceptions on a specified area of interest in an open-minded, non- threatening environment (Krueger & Casey, 2000) In this study, focus group interview was used since it enabled the researcher to explore deeply to attain in- depth insights into the researched topic (Barrows, 2000) and to get the data in a short time because they can cover a large number of people in the same group (Wall, 2001, cited in Masadeh, 2012) The two focus-groups in this study had the ideal size of about eight people (Krueger & Casey, 2000) and took place in the classroom, which was convenient and relaxed Both focus groups lasted about 30 minutes before their class time In order that I could identify the participants during data analysis, video and audio recordings were used with the students’ consent As in the observed lessons, the camera was fixed on the tripod without disturbing the students The small-sized voice recorder was placed on the table which is close to the speakers facing away from sources of noise The aim of focus groups was to explore the students’ attitudes and experience of intercultural interaction with foreign teachers in English classroom in general The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese; however, code switching was encouraged (See Appendix H)
During the focus groups interviews, I acted as the moderator who listened attentively and greatly encouraged all the students to give their ideas without expressing judgments The students were told that there would be no right or wrong answers to any of the questions but that all different opinions would contribute to this study.
Transcription and analysis of data
The interviews were transcribed verbatim one by one Nonverbal signals such as laughs, sighs, and pauses were also made note of A detailed and careful transcript consisting of the interview’s verbal and nonverbal material can be extremely useful to a researcher studying the transcript months after the interview took place (Seidman, 2006)
The transcription symbols used in this study were adapted from Atkinson &
Heritage, (1984) and Have (1999) (See Appendix I) The classroom interactions and focus group interviews were transcribed using audio recording and then video recording to assign the right speakers The teacher-student interactions in the observed lessons were transcribed selectively and purposively according to classroom interactive features proposed by Chaudron (1988) (See chapter 2, section
2.1.5.2) The transcriptions of both retrospective and focus group interviews with students were in Vietnamese However, excerpts from these data that are shown in the thesis were translated into English by the researcher When translating the excerpts, I did not reconstruct grammatical or lexical errors All the transcription was copied into two versions One was kept in the original state and served as a reference to which the researcher may turn to put excerpted passages in context throughout the study (Seidman, 2006) The other copy was used during data reduction process The transcription of retrospective interview with students was integrated into that of retrospective interview with teachers during data analysis
The participants’ real names were identified until the transcription stage
Pseudonyms were then given to be used during the analysis process and in upcoming report All 18 student participants’ pseudonyms were carefully chosen to avoid confusion Still, in order to assist comprehension of the data, the group to which students belong or the date of retrospective interview was kept next to the pseudonyms, e.g.: Huy-FG1 means Huy from focus group 1; Lien-R21.03 means Lien in retrospective interview on 21, March; Jane-IO means Jane in individual open-ended interview
The data of this study consist of classroom interaction and interview transcripts
These two forms of data are all qualitative in nature, so the data from observation and interviews are analysed using a qualitative analysis method Data analysis in qualitative research includes “concurrent flows of activity: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/ verification” (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p 10) (See Figure 2)
Firstly, data reduction was done inductively, i.e., the researcher did not approach the material with a set of hypotheses to test or with a theory developed in another context to which he or she hoped to match the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, cited in
Seidman, 2006) Actually, I dealt with the transcripts with an open mind, searching for what appears to be important and of interest from the text I first read the transcripts and marked with brackets the passages that are interesting so that I could reduce and then shape the material into a form in which it can be displayed
Secondly, I displayed interview data using two basic ways First, profiles of individual participant were developed and grouped in two categories: students and teachers Second, I marked individual passages; grouped these in subcategories such as (students’/teachers’) perceptions, cultural factors; and then studied the subcategories for thematic connections within and among them In this way, the research questions of this study were not formulated prior to analysing data; rather, they emerged from the data and were formulated Additionally, no coding or counts of the data occurred because my purpose was to understand single cases and not accumulations of data
Finally, the last stage was drawing conclusion and verification This stage showed the final results of the research Using the result of findings, I expect to be able to give clear descriptions about the teacher –student intercultural interaction in English classroom
Figure 2 Stages of Data Analysis
Validity of the study
Critics of the case study method believe that the study of a small number of cases can not offer grounds for establishing generality of findings (Stake, 1995; Dobson et al, 1981) Though, the selection of a single case or nonrandom sample is done precisely because the researcher attempts to understand the particular deeply, not to find out the general truth of the many (Merriam, 1998, cited in Duff, 2008, p 48)
The purpose of this study, which is an intrinsic case study, is not to understand generic phenomenon, but a particular one which is of the researcher’s interest Thus,
I had no attempt to generalize the findings of this study beyond the local context
Qualitative researchers normally employ one or more of the following procedures and report results in their investigations to establish validity in qualitative project: member checking, triangulation, thick description, peer reviews, and external audits (Creswell & Miller, 2000) In this study, the use of four different data collection methods enabled triangulation to be obtained because the researcher could look at the issue from different perspectives In this way, I could cross relate the gathered data in order to ensure its accuracy Also, in reporting the study, I provided a rich description of the students and teachers involved, the study’s context, and, most importantly, all of the steps I took to carry out the study Besides, in selecting examples to illustrate particular conclusions, I selected representative examples from the data rather than unusual or surprising instances In such a way, the validity of this study was enhanced.
Summary
Qualitative case study methods were employed to explore intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teacher in English classroom in depth The methodology demanded that the researcher make no assumptions of the findings The sampling process and the participants’ description were clearly stated
The data collection and analysis were presented in detail Finally, this chapter singled out some possible threats to the validity of this research and methods used to demolish these threats of the study were mentioned In the next chapter, the study’s findings and analysis will be represented.
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Physical Environment
In the video recordings of the observed lessons, students sat at tables arranged in the
U shape This arrangement of sitting allowed more interactions between teacher and students than that in which students sit together in rows while teachers are on the platform Posters of common expressions in daily conversations in English, basic structures and expressions of a presentation, etc were stuck on the walls around the classroom Apart from the white board and the cassette, the class was equipped with a television which had a flat 32-inch screen The classroom’ physical environment, therefore, could be advantageous to the teacher-student interaction in the lessons.
Social environment
In the audio and video recordings of eight observed lessons taught by both foreign teachers, it can be clearly seen that teachers and students have relaxed relationship
In the beginning of the lessons, there was no formal addressing and salute between teachers and students In fact, they just greeted each other with a friendly “hello” or “how are you doing?” Here are some examples from the audio recordings from both teachers’ lessons:
T: how is everybody today? Good? yes yes? Did you have a good morning? yes yes? Interesting? yes very interesting! lovely! nice guy! ((talking about the male teacher of previous lessons)) very very fun lovely guy! yes Did he tell you that he broke his bicycle from Thailand?
((laughing)) why do you know that story? because he told me he told every one we’re friends on Facebook so I know yeah
In excerpt 3.1, the students and teacher had a small talk about their feeling of previous lessons taught by another foreign teacher and the information about his broken bicycle that he shared with them The power distance between the teacher and the students was small in the beginning
T: how did you spend your holiday? we visit our family [we met our friends,] good! You had a two-week holiday but no break for me ((breathing
T: out)) So I hope you enjoyed your ( ) anyway So, today of course we have a test I LOVE TEST! ((laughing)) ((laughing))
Yes All right, but this is our nightmare! sorry? this test is our nightmare
In excerpt 3.2, the students and teacher had a small talk about how they spent their vacation The atmosphere was relaxed, and the students were not afraid of making a joke of the fact that they were going to have a test
From excerpts 3.1 and 3.2 I could see that the awareness of teacher’s and students’ different status in the classroom was weak The students did not seem to take power distance into consideration when interacting with the foreign teachers although they come from a large power distance society In this intercultural interaction, students and teachers are negotiating a third culture place in which power distance is lessened
In the audio and video recordings, the interactions between the studied students and teachers were active For example, in Ms Jane’s writing lesson in the audio recordings, the teacher asked students to work in pairs checking their partner’s writing paper (that they had done in the previous lesson) The teacher went around the class and joined each pairs checking their work and offering help Students were free to ask the teacher’s comments on their work Here is an example:
Jane, please help me check!
Check YOU or check the writing? ((laughing)) ((laughing))
((check the writing for the student))
In excerpt 3.3, the student spoke freely in the class without asking for permission from the teacher He also called the teacher by her first name The teacher took a joke when the student made a mistake in his using language, which created a relaxing atmosphere in the classroom In the retrospective interview with both the teacher and student, they both felt very relaxed and enjoyed the situation
[…] If students make a mistake in English and it's funny I'll try like to make it as joke […] so that they see that their mistake like the language's funny not at them
[…] they do the same with my Vietnamese ((smile)) (Jane-RI20.03)
It is a funny situation […] the teacher created a relaxing environment in the classroom (Han-RI20.03)
It was obvious that the relationship between student and teacher was close The students did not feel upset even though the teacher made a joke on his mistake Both the student and teacher appeared to be used to small status differences In this context of intercultural communication, the relaxed atmosphere, the low power distance, created by the teacher – who is of higher power – is uptaken by the students
In the audio and video recordings, there was no formal ending of the lectures The teachers usually encouraged students and suggested content for next lesson in the end of the lectures Here are two examples from Ms Lyn’s lessons:
T: all right We won’t start our listening exercise just now What you will do is ( ) morning tea break Yes! ((laughing)) We’ll be back in fifteen minutes Take a break! fifty ((laughing)) fifty?
T: all right So today we covered lots of important grounds, great structures, ( ) the size of bla bla bla organisations and units within the army This is extremely important and yes you will have an exam on this Not next but sometimes ( ) maybe the week after …
In both excerpts 3.4 and 3.5, the teacher ended the lessons informally by telling the students to take a break in fifteen minutes or reminding the students about the important knowledge they needed to remember The teacher-student relationship in these excerpts demonstrated a characteristic of a small power distance society which was proposed by Hofstede (1986).
The features of interaction between teachers and students in the classroom
Generally, it is the teachers that decide when to stop or interrupt a student turn (Mchoul, 1978) During the observed lessons, the teachers were the first one to speak, and they used verbal and non-verbal messages to control the turn taking
There are two examples from both teachers’ lessons in the audio and video recordings:
44 T: can you turn over the page?
((turning their books)) what you to remember (.) that’s the basic structure of a narrative paragraph (3) Then we have two stories here The first story is of a fright in the forest Do you know the word fright? fear? good Something that scares you ((miming the action of being scared)) Fright in the forest (2) What you have to do is READ the story of a fright in the forest and NUMber them in a corRECT order
So which things happen first, (.) then second, third and then you must decide background information ( ) the beginning of the story Ok? (.)
I would like you to do it by YOURselves first, please
T: ok Stop there (.) Stop there ((using her hands to signal students))
(2) I should ( ) some people forgot We discussed last week that he is actually caNOEing, NOT ROWing (2) With rowing you PULL ((miming the action of pulling)) Yes, pull Is he pulling? No He is using a paddle Yeah So right now he is canoeing, not rowing It’s different (.) he’s canoeing and he’s using a paddle This is a paddle ((miming the action of using a paddle)) He’s going forward, not going backward With rowing, you sit and pull Sit and pull (miming the action of rowing))…
In excerpts 3.6 and 3.7, both teachers gave careful and detailed instructions to make sure the students could understand and follow the instructions Both verbal and non-verbal messages were used to explain the meanings of new words or distinguish confusing words for students by both teachers Students in lessons taught by both foreign teachers usually just followed teachers’ pace
((giving instructions)) ok Does everybody understand? yes lovely! Does everybody have grammar book? no yes? no We left it at home
In excerpt 3.8, some students forgot their grammar book at home and they freely informed the teacher This showed that the students were relaxed in the relationship with their teacher In this excerpt, the teacher initiated the interaction as usual; however, the students did not wait to be called personally to take turns in the interaction The students in this example are not restricted in their involvement in the classroom interaction, but spontaneously responded to the teacher’s questions
In both teachers’ lessons, teachers asked questions and students answered when the teachers asked Students’ answering questions immediately and directly without asking for permission to talk when they wanted to answer is common Students’ asking questions freely in front of the class did happen but not regularly Examples can be found through the whole audio and video recordings; however, there are some typical examples as follows:
T: ((checked the work for S1 for a few minutes and then left her for another pairs))
Jane, one more question, please! ok, Lien Wait a minute I’ll come back later
In excerpt 3.9, the student asked the teacher for help in front of the class freely She seemed to be quite active and inquisitive when not hesitating to ask questions She also demonstrated that the teacher was like a friend of her, not an authority (line 74) in the way she addressed the teacher by the first name and in the informal request using one phrase Later, in the retrospective interview, the teacher expressed that she was very happy when students ask more questions And the student admitted that she had more questions to ask and wanted the teacher to spend more time with her
I actually thought this is really good […] I get really happy when students they want to ask more questions They're asking in English, they're asking why something is I like it when they argue with each other, too […] That means they're actually thinking about it […] ((smile)) (Jane-RI21.03)
I wanted her to spend more time checking my work and explain for me because my writing had many mistakes I have many questions to ask […] I always want her spend most time helping me ((smile)) (Lien-RI21.03)
The way the student asked the teacher questions in excerpt 4.9 demonstrated that Vietnamese students are not necessarily “passive, rote learners” (PennyCook, 1998, p 162) these days
Ok (2) with the strength of six hundreds and twenty five men, the organisation is?
Number one Number TWO What’s the RANK of the comMANder of the batTAlion? lieutenant-colonel
Lieutenant- COLonel what’s the TITle?
CO Now (.) number THREE, the commander of COMpany has the rank of?
Major MAjor And has the title of?
OC Get that clear in your pen!
In excerpt 3.10, the teacher asked questions generally and students answer chorally or some students answered the questions spontaneously without being invited personally The foreign teacher in the excerpt focused much on correctness, especially the pronunciation It seemed that, for her, the correct pronunciation of students is of crucial importance This corrective feedback, interestingly, is commonly found in traditional Vietnamese classrooms (Canh, 1999)
When the teacher or the students do not understand something during the lesson, they can ask each other for clarification This kind of interaction sometimes appeared in the observed lessons Here is an example as follows:
Jane, how can I say? She wants to thank or she talks to thank? so what is (suitable) do you think?
T: give thanks or thank? you say- give give changes to say, say thanks say thanks?
English is very confusing You have talk, say, speak,
In excerpt 3 11, the students confidently asked the teacher for clarification
Although he did not know the answer, he took risk giving his opinion The teacher in the excerpt asked for the student’s opinion before giving her answer In this way, the student was given a chance to think critically When asked about her thought of the situation that students gave wrong answers when she was giving feedback, she said:
[…] The questions were quite open- ended You can have different interpretations
So […] that’s why I asked Ss why, what made them think that (Jane-RI 19.03)
It was evident that the teachers respected the students’ independence and expected students to be independent in their learning
((telling his idea)) ok Alright Phong, what do you think? Is it a good idea?
(4) ((waiting for the student to speak up)) I’m sorry I ah (2) I haven’t understand, You don’t understand? Which step don’t you understand? what will we group ok So remember before we had to take these sentences and we had to put them in the correct order, yes, but in the middle (3) the middle sentences don’t have any details to the
111 story So what you and Trung must do together is discuss and write down the middle sentences for the story Ok?
The situation in excerpt 3.12 happened in the writing lesson At first, the students were asked to work in pairs putting the given sentences in the correct order Then, they had to discuss and make up a story from those sentences by adding more details and sentences When the class were doing the task, the teacher came up to this pair and asked for S1’s ideas, then she asked S2 for his comments on S1’s ideas This student, at that time, admitted that he did not understand what he was asked to do Later, when asked whether he would ask for clarification from the teacher when he could not understand the teacher’s instructions, the student said:
Sometimes I ask the teacher to explain Sometimes I ask my partner (Phong- RI20.03)
The student’s hesistation of asking for clarification from the teacher may come from his underlying cultural perspective However, it can also come from the student’ lack of condidence in their language proficency
Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of their intercultural interactions
The foreign teachers in this study thought that Vietnamese students were unfamiliar with their teaching styles They were not used to being asked more open-ended questions and often hesitated to give their opinions openly
[…] sometimes students have had a difficulty not in what is being taught but how it is being taught […] What we teach maybe in a different way to what they're familiar with so sometimes students are a little bit resistant […] I think they just are not used to being asked more open-ended questions I don't think they're passive I think they just are unfamiliar […] (Jane- IO)
[…] Vietnamese sometimes are not outspoken, confident, or loud, in fact the opposite, quite, don't want to say anything, unsure […] (Lyn-IO)
Obviously, when teachers and students from different cultures interact, there would be a clash because their teaching and learning styles are different (Hofstede, 1986)
As explained by McLean and Ransom (2005), ways of learning are “inherently culturally bound with educational values, behaviours and skills taught from birth and honed through the formative years” (p 46) without being much consciously aware Students’ expectations of what will occur in a lesson will be influenced by their past experiences in secondary school or higher education institutions (Carroll,
2005) According to Carroll (2005), students’ previous experience may involve:
teachers as experts and authorities, providing answers;
teachers acting as parental figures, guiding and being involved with the student as a person;
teachers knowing students’ problems and guiding them to solutions;
teachers giving clear instructions on what students must do; and
teachers being generally available to students out of class (p 33)
When coming to intercultural interaction with foreign teachers, students may behave as if these teacher-student relationships will continue to happen in the classroom (Carroll, 2005) The students in this study, when they first encountered intercultural interactions in the classroom, they seemed a bit hesitant about involving in the communicative activities that were created by the teachers
However, according to the studied foreign teachers, although Vietnamese students had been a little bit hesitant at first, after a period of time, they quickly got familiar with the teachers’ teaching method and became more active
[…] we watched ah movie, Romeo and Juliet It was really difficult for the students Ah and at the end of a, (.) they were given a topic a card that had one scene in the movie And they had to act out the scene in front of the class Actually
I thought they're not going to do this, they'll be embarrassed and they were just wonderful, they went in and they did everything at the best of their ability (.) really involved and that really inspired me (Jane-IO)
You just have to provide a good situation for Vietnamese students to perform and they will Provide good lessons, good materials, encouragement and they will […]
"run with the ball" […] they are very much gaining spirit, (2) the top performances are really pushing their personal boundaries as far as be over- instead, you know, extrovert instead of an introvert They are getting louder, they’re participating more, they’re loving debates, presentations […] (Lyn-IO)
Apparently, the teachers believed that the students in this study were not completely
“rote learners” (PennyCook, 1998, p 162), but they were getting more and more active This confirms previous studies which reported that Vietnamese learners are no longer completely passive (An, 2002; Tuan, 2011; Hong & Warren & Fehring,
In order to encourage the students’ participation in the lessons, the teachers attempted to create an interactive classroom environment where students have to be active and independent
I make the students perform, the students have to provide the answers, […] read the book out loud, […] So it's not the teacher speak for 95 percent of the time […] [I was motivated] when I see students really perform […] getting out of their comfort site, […] asking questions, they are really keen to find out what's the answer to this or what's that piece of information are not understanding there I want to see that and I encourage that, I encourage them to ask, to be inquisitive, to participate, I don't want to see 15 statues in the class (Lyn-IO)
The teachers’ expectation that students would think critically and independently was expressed clearly in the retrospective interview with Ms Lyn on April, 03 In the lesson on the same day, the students were asked to work in pairs discussing the picture in the textbook without looking at the text below the picture When seeing one student looked at the dialogue, she covered the text and asked him to keep speaking When asked about her thought and the reasons for her action at that time, she said:
[…] sometimes students will look for an easy way out I have to force them not to take the easy way out because what I'm doing is strengthening their ability to for free speech […] They know they have to just speak about the picture So looking at this ((pointing to the dialogue in the textbook)) is probably taking the lazy way out Because he is using the words from here [the dialogue] to get ideas to keep speaking, rather than from this (pointing to her head)) The words have to come from here [the student’s mind] […] So I take away his lazy way out, force him to focus on what I wanted him to do (Lyn-RI03.04)
The student in this example, later in the retrospective interview, expressed that because his English competency is low; he decided to look for the words in the text instead of brainstorming vocabulary himself
I knew that she asked us to talk about the picture I couldn’t think of any words so I picked up the words in the dialogue to speak ((smile)) […] When she covered [the text], I couldn’t keep on speaking ((smile)) (Phong-RI03.04)
It was clear that the teachers in this study insisted on pushing students to be independent and active in their learning process Therefore, the teachers considered themselves an instructor who provides students with good advice and encourages them to be more confident and freely give their opinion in the classroom
Cultural factors underlie the teacher-student interaction and their impact
on the teacher-student intercultural interaction in the classroom
According to the participants, there did exist differences between the two cultures of students and teachers
There was just a big gap between my culture and their culture […] I mean Australian culture is very different from Vietnamese culture […] (Jane-IO)
I think there do exist some cultural differences […] (Chuong-FG2)
As perceived by the participants, there were some cultural differences involved in their teaching and learning process such as attitudes about topics for public discussions, conceptions of beauty, love for romance, respect for teachers, and typical personality These cultural factors will be discussed in more detail as follows:
3.3.1 Attitudes to topics for public discussions
According to the teachers, one of the cultural differences between Vietnamese and Australian cultures was their different attitudes to topics for discussion in public areas Australian people are open to give their opinions about everything in public; whereas, typical Vietnamese people do not feel relaxed discussing political issues in the classroom or open area
[…] in Australia we talk about our opinion about everything government, politics, EVERYthing very open and I know that typically Vietnamese students are not comfortable discussing those things in the classroom or open area […] (Jane-IO)
Besides, there were many topics that Vietnamese students consider political issues, but the foreign teachers did not think the same as their students
[…] there are lots of things they think it's political but I don't […] (Jane-IO)
This cultural difference, thus, created work load on the teachers when they prepared the lessons The teachers had to spend much time considering carefully before conducting activities and topics for class discussion
[…] it's hard for me to prepare or anticipate how students are going to react or what the outcome might be, […] I find that tricky after really consider like would my students feel comfortable talking about it, how why and how can I fix that (Jane- IO)
This demonstrated that the teachers in this study were well aware of the cultural differences between them and the students and tried to find an efficient way to deliver the knowledge The teachers also tried to avoid culturally sensitive topics to ease the classroom interactions rather than imposing their perspectives on the students
The foreign teachers found that there is a difference between Vietnamese conceptions of beauty and what is defined as beauty in Australian culture They gave the different ideas of beautiful skin as an example
[…] opinion like what is beautiful and what is not beautiful when we discussed
Students think I'm crazy because I say: “Oh no dark skin is beautiful” […] (Jane-IO)
Because Vietnamese and Australian conceptions of beauty are different, the teachers had to carefully consider the outcome of the activities they created in the classroom
[…] I have to really think about if I think something acceptable is this the same in Vietnam […] (Jane-IO)
As expressed by the teachers, Vietnamese people seem to be much more interested in romance, poetry and music than Australian people
[…] Vietnamese people seem very romantic like they have such a love for romance and poetry and music […] People here seem much more interested in love and romance than in Australia […] (Jane-IO)
Because of the students’ great love for romance and music, the teachers could use that idea to create activities which strongly inspired students during the lessons
[…] People here seem much more interested in love and romance than in Australia
So that’s nice You can use that one idea to teach the whole or other things (Jane- IO)
Thus, the students’ love for romance and music, as perceived by the teachers, could have a positive impact on the teachers’ teaching practice in this studied school
The teachers affirmed that teachers are more highly regarded in Vietnamese culture than those in Australian culture Vietnamese students, especially adult students, show great respect to their teachers in the classroom
[…] teachers are revered in Vietnamese culture, so in Vietnam […] the teacher is an important person in the community Whereas in our culture, a teacher is not held in high regard like a teacher is here […] (Lyn-IO)
This cultural factor, in the teachers’ view, helped to enhance their intercultural interaction with the students in the classroom
[…] So that helps us with our lessons, helps the interaction between students and teacher from a teaching respective because straight away you have more respect in a Vietnamese classroom […] (Lyn-IO)
It may be inferred from the teacher’s perception that, the fact that teachers are more respected in Vietnamese classroom facilitates their intercultural interactions
However, showing great respect to the teachers may also mean that Vietnamese students are more obedient in the classroom and avoid publicly criticize the teachers As a result, the students will be hesitant about giving their opinion in the classroom Whereas, the teachers tried their best to encourage the students to be open in giving their opinions This seemed to contradict with the teachers’ expectations from students Thus, with one different cultural feature, the teacher could see it both as facilitative and hindering
The foreign teachers in this study expressed that typical Vietnamese people are quiet and are not familiar with expressing their opinions directly; typical Australian people, in contrast, are loud, confident and direct in expressing their opinion
I'm so outspoken, confident, loud And Vietnamese sometimes are not outspoken, confident, or loud, in fact the opposite, quite, don't want to say anything, unsure […] (Lyn-IO)
However, the teacher thought it was not quite an impact on their interaction with the students They just had to urge the students to be more confident in a more gentle way
I just have to encourage people to come out of their ( ) a bit more gently […]
The foreign teachers’ good understanding of the students was revealed clearly through the way they perceived the cultural factors involved in their interactions with students in the classroom and how they were to resolve the differences and made an effort to get along with the students
There were various cultural factors involved in the interactions between the students and teachers in this study Some cultural differences such as attitudes to topics for public discussion, conceptions of beauty and typical personality created work load on teachers when they prepare the lessons On the contrary, some cultural differences such as love for romance and respect for teacher helped them a lot in their teaching process and interaction with the students in the classroom
To some extent, do cultural differences hinder or facilitate the teacher-
In general, the foreign teachers affirmed that cultural differences between Vietnamese and Australian did not hinder their teaching process, and thus, did not hinder the interaction between teachers and students in the classroom At the same time, they believe that several cultural differences between Vietnam and Australia facilitate their teaching process
It doesn't really hinder Nothing really hinders my teaching or my experience […]
(Jane-IO) Some cultural factors that are definitely an advantage for us […] (Lyn-IO)
According to the students in this study, the cultural differences did not hinder them from interacting with their foreign teachers They proposed two reasons as follows:
First, their foreign teachers were familiar with Vietnamese cultures after a long time living and working in Vietnam
I haven’t seen anything that hinders the interactions because foreign teachers in this school have been teaching English in Vietnam for a long time They know Vietnamese culture very well (Thuan-FG2)
[…] they have lived in Vietnam for many years and they understand [Vietnamese culture] Thus, there is nothing hindering [teacher-student interactions]
I think the foreign teachers here have been teaching in Vietnam for a period of time, so they know Vietnamese culture very well They may have learnt some courses of Vietnamese culture Consequently, […] there is no cultural impact, I mean, in a negative way […] (Manh-FG1)
The students’ views were in line with the teachers’ sharing of their experience in working in a multicultural environment, which, as perceived by the teachers, helped them deal with cultural differences in a multicultural classroom
I grew up in Melbourne, in a part of a city which is really multicultural and my school has 44 different nationalities and most of them a lot of Vietnamese people I think when you go to live in an area where you are so familiar with people have been different from you It makes it much easier to work in the classroom […] So when I go to the classroom I am the different one so I know how that feels and I have to try and bridge that line to identify the differences but also to show as people we’re similar (Jane-IO)
I worked at DITC, the Defence International Training Center, […] I've worked with students from other nations […] Before even joined the army, I was a foreign scientist with the police […] After I was a foreign scientist for nine years, I was teaching English in South Korea for three years, then I joined the army, so teaching English overseas and living overseas I already had experience […] (Lyn-IO)
Second, the students thought that modern Vietnamese people are getting more and more extrovert and open to other cultures
Vietnamese people are now extrovert, and their ways of thinking are modern I think nothing hinders the interactions (Loi-FG2)
As a result, the students in this study believed that cultural differences between students and teachers were left outside the classroom
Maybe it is not true that nothing hinders, but if there is, it is only in people’s thoughts During the process of working with Vietnamese students, they [teachers] completely forget those differences (An-FG2)
Conversely, they asserted that the cultural differences actually facilitate their intercultural interactions with foreign teachers In order to affirm that idea, they proposed two reasons as follows:
First, the cultural differences made the students more curious and thus encouraged them to acquire knowledge
[…] sometimes the lack of understanding between two cultures creates curiosity among people, and thus, it becomes an advantage, not a difficulty (Dang-FG2)
Second, students can learn good things from their teachers’ working style such as being in time and disciplined or meeting deadline and thus they become better
[…] I think the exchange between two cultures is very positive Their culture; which is being on time, disciplined in class, and meeting deadline; will make me become better Those characteristics will be useful when I join other environments
Briefly, the students in this study considered that cultural differences between them and their foreign teachers facilitated their intercultural interactions in the classroom
In summary, both Vietnamese students and foreign teachers in this study assert that differences between two cultures did not hinder the teacher-student intercultural interaction in the classroom
The teachers saw beneficial and adverse impacts of cultural differences on their teaching process and interactions with students The students, on the other hand, did not propose any negative impacts of cultural differences on their interaction with foreign teachers in the classroom They perceived that the differences between two cultures aid their intercultural interactions with foreign teachers in the classroom
Although both teacher and student participants in this research expressed that cultural factors did not hinder their interaction in the classroom, misunderstandings between the students and teachers were found Here is an example from one observed lesson:
I don’t want to be the teacher to correct such writing like this!
Lien, you're a doctor and so you are obviously very smart You have good skills so you can diagnose, diagnose the essay ((smile))
This happened in the writing lesson when the teacher asked students to work in pairs checking their partner’ essay which they had done in the previous lesson The retrospective interview with the teacher took place first When asked about her feeling and thought at the time the situation in excerpt 4.15 happened, she said:
I think you know for the students at first though they always ask "why aren't you correcting them?" and you have to explain "well, if I correct it you will learn nothing because I already knew that it's wrong […] Students take a long time to get used to that They […] just can't imagine that the teacher isn't going to correct everything […] (Jane-RI21.03)
The student in the situation, later in the retrospective interview, expressed that:
At that time I thought if she had to check all these writing papers, it would be hard work for her because there were lots of mistakes in our essays and the mistakes were so stupid She must have had a headache checking all of the essays I was sympathetic about her hard work I just wanted to show my empathy for her
It was easy to see that the teacher did not realise what the student really wanted to convey In excerpt 4.15, the student’s intention was to show empathy for the teacher’s hard work when she had to correct all of the students’ essays which contained lots of mistakes The teacher, on the other hand, considered what the student expressed a complaint Obviously, the teacher understood the student’s intention in a somewhat negative way instead of a positive one This misunderstanding between the student and teacher might be the result of the differences in their verbal interaction styles which were characterized as direct versus indirect by Ting-Toomey (1999) As proposed by Ting-Toomey (1999), the difference between direct and indirect styles is in the extent to which the communicators’ intentions are revealed through their tone of voice and the
“straightforwardness of their content message” (p 103) In the direct verbal style, the speaker’s intentions are clearly revealed by statements which are said in a straight tone In the indirect verbal style, in contrast, the speaker’s actual intentions tend to be camouflaged by verbal statements which are uttered with more nuanced tone of voice (Ting-Toomey, 1999, pp 103-104) In this case, the student expected to show her empathy for the teacher by making a complaint about the bad writing; however, the teacher directly inferred from this complaint that the student refused to do the task and expected the teacher to correct the writing herself
In short, it is certain that such misunderstandings, if regularly happen, will result in bad impacts on the relationship and interaction between students and teachers
Summary
This chapter has presented the findings of classroom observation and interview data In order to provide a clear picture of the studied classroom, this chapter contained descriptions of the physical and social environment of the classroom The findings of teacher-student classroom interactions were analysed according to interactive features in the classroom which are proposed by Chaudron (1988): turn taking, questioning and answering, negotiation of meaning, and feedback The participants’ perceptions of their classroom interaction were divided into two sections: teachers’ perception and students’ perception The cultural factors involved and their impacts on the interaction have been classified into five categories: attitudes to topics for public discussion, conceptions of beauty, love fore romance, respect for teacher and typical personality Finally, the question whether those cultural differences hinder or facilitate teacher-student classroom interaction was separately answered according to the perceptions of teachers and students The next chapter will present discussion on the findings, comments on this study’s limitations, implications for EFL learning and teaching and suggestions for further research
This study examines the nature of intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom context and the hidden cultural values and perceptions in their intercultural interaction in the classroom
Qualitative methods in the field of applied linguistics are implemented to interpret four sources of data: classroom observation, retrospective interviews, focus group interviews and individual open-ended interviews The data from the eight observed lessons were used to examine teacher-student intercultural interaction, and then cross checked with data from the retrospective interviews The data from the retrospective interviews, focus group interviews and individual open-ended interviews were used to study the participants’ perceptions and cultural factors involved in the interaction and double-checked with data from the observed lessons
First, the findings of the research will be summarized according to the research questions, and discussed in the light of previously identified and reviewed literature
Next, the implications and limitations of the study will be deliberated Finally, this part will be concluded with recommendations for further study.
Research findings
1.1 How do the Vietnamese military students and their foreign teachers interact in English classroom?
The findings of this study generate some interesting discussions of the role of learners in English classes taught by foreign teachers According to the observations and audio/video recordings, the students in this study appeared to engage in active intercultural interaction with their foreign teachers The Vietnamese military students participated quite actively in the lessons These findings conform to previous studies which reported that the Vietnamese learners are no longer completely passive Their consciousness of losing face in the classroom was not quite strong and the power distance between the students and their teacher in the classroom was small The students were used to calling their teachers by their first names, asking questions, and initiating communication with the teachers in the classroom At the same time, the Vietnamese military students remain some characteristics of collectivism and large power distance society proposed by Hofstede (1986) such as high respect for teachers and expectation for the teacher to outline paths for them to follow The students’ negotiation of meaning was not common and they rarely contradicted teachers during the lessons
Both the foreign teachers in the study created lots of communicative activities during the lessons and independence of students was encouraged The teachers see their role as a facilitator who gives advice and encourages students to find their own paths in their learning These findings reinforce Hofstede’s (1986) nature of teacher-student interaction in an individualism and small power society
1.2 How do the Vietnamese students and their foreign teachers perceive their inter-cultural interaction in the classroom?
Both the students and teacher perceived that their classroom interaction was positive However, the teachers’ and students’ expectations were mismatched
While the teachers want their students to be independent, inquisitive and involved in communicative tasks; the students desire their teachers to correct every mistake that they make, especially pronunciation mistakes, and to teach them basic knowledge so that they can improve their skills, especially speaking and listening skills The teachers consider themselves facilitators who provide advice and the students should find their own paths; whereas the students expect the teachers to outline paths to follow Actually, misperceptions about how students and teachers expect the other to behave affect their understanding of each other (McLean & Ransom,
2005) Therefore, the foreign teachers’ sensitive instruction on what students can and cannot expect from the teachers may be highly appreciated by the students (Carroll, 2005)
It is obvious that adapting and accepting new ways of learning will not be easy for all students and may even be unachievable for some (Carroll, 2005) Thus, teachers may need much patience, sensitiveness and adaptability during their teaching process If the teachers see their role as a facilitator who gives advice to students in their learning process rather than as a knowledge provider, they should think of ways to help students be familiar with the teachers’ new role
1.3 What cultural factors underlie their classroom interaction?
The foreign teachers see both positive and negative impacts of cultural differences on their interactions with students The cultural factors involved in the teacher- student intercultural interaction in this study, as perceived by the foreign teachers, are attitudes to topics for public discussion, conceptions of beauty, love fore romance, respect for teacher and typical personality Some cultural differences such as attitudes to topics for public discussion, conceptions of beauty and typical personality create work load on teachers when they prepare the lessons, but they perceived that these cultural differences do not hinder their interaction with students In contrast, some cultural differences such as love for romance and respect for teacher help them a lot in their teaching process and interaction with Vietnamese students in the classroom
Apparently, some cultural differences are hidden during the interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom As a result, misconception and misunderstanding sometimes occur without being fully conscious of by both students and teachers These findings raise awareness of cultural differences for both students and teachers involved in intercultural interaction in the classroom As stated by Miller (1998), the effective and efficient teaching and learning practices mostly result from the mutual sympathy and understanding between teachers and learners It is essential for Vietnamese students in general and the Vietnamese military students in particular to find a “third place”
(Kramsch, 1993, as cited in Kiet, 2009, p 67) where language learners combine elements of different cultures and develop their own understanding of the differences between those cultures In this third place, which is unrestricted and dynamic, language learners bridge the gap between cultural differences and reach their personal and communicative targets (Crozet and Liddicoat, 2000, cited in Kiet,
1.4 To some extent, do those cultural factors facilitate or hinder the classroom interaction?
Both the student and teacher participants in this study perceive that differences between two cultures do not hinder the teacher-student intercultural interaction in the classroom The studied Vietnamese military students believe that the cultural differences facilitate their interaction with teachers in the classroom because they create curiosity which encourages students to be more inquisitive.
Implications
This research has been the first study that tries to explore intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom context Thus, the present study makes an original contribution to the knowledge of teacher-student intercultural interaction and their perceptions and attitudes to those interactions in a natural setting
This study also deepens the understanding of Vietnamese culture Particularly, the power distance dimension of Vietnamese culture is reaffirmed in this study
Although large power distance is found in teacher-student relationship in Vietnamese culture such as high respect for the teacher, in a multicultural classroom like the English class in this study, the different power statuses between teacher and student is not intensely conscious of by both teacher and student participants In fact, the power distance between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers is lessened
The stereotype of Vietnamese students that are “passive and rote learners”
(Pennycook, 1998) is challenged by this research The findings of the present study indicate that Vietnamese students in general and Vietnamese military students in particular are no longer completely passive and rote learners They are getting more actively involved in communicative tasks during the lessons and gradually learn to be more independent in their language learning process Therefore, this study provides critical understanding of the frequent complaint about Vietnamese learners’ passiveness and rote learning In addition, this study shows that the successful interaction between Vietnamese students and foreign teachers can be achieved by mutual understanding of cultural differences and students’ language competence development
The present study also provides some aspects of Australian culture and learning and teaching styles reflected by the studied foreign teachers Specifically, in Western culture in general and in Australian in particular, students are expected to think critically and work independently in their learning process The teachers, therefore, see their role of a facilitator who provides advice for students Furthermore, this study questions the literature confirming that foreign teachers teaching English in Vietnam align themselves with their teaching styles, rather than adapt to the students’ needs and learning styles (Bright, 2012; Le Van Canh, 2013) Actually, the teacher participants in this study, although they expect to familiarize students with their teaching styles, they attempt to find an efficient way to teach Vietnamese students by paying attention to their students’ cultural backgrounds and adapt their lessons according to parts of their students’ cultures
This study reveals that in the process of learning English as a foreign language, both cultural understanding and reasonable language competence are essential for students to interact successfully with their teachers Beside the crucial need to train students to be competent at using English for communication, the present study indicates that raising fully cultural awareness and finding a “third place” (Kramsch,
1993) where elements of different cultures are combined and understanding of the differences between cultures is developed are invaluable to both Vietnamese students and foreign teachers when they come to intercultural interaction in the classroom
The gap between students’ and teachers’ expectations, which was found in this study, implies that Vietnamese students should be trained to be familiar with and open to the learning culture in the society of the target language The foreign teachers teaching in Vietnam also need to be aware of the students’ typical learning style and the difference between cultures as to find an efficient way to teach the students without experiencing disappointment
Finally, it is essential that not only the physical nature of the interaction should be noticed but also the hidden cultural values and perceptions need to be given careful consideration in any English training program in order to guarantee that students can develop a deep understanding of the target culture.
Limitations
Although this study gives original knowledge of the intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom context, it does have some limitations
The first limitation of the study comes from the limited population of the subjects
This study was conducted on a small group of students in one military school in Hanoi, and its results cannot by all means be generalized Besides, the teacher participants are female, and thus what they perceive can be a representative of female teachers In addition, the majority of the student participants in this study are male; therefore their perception can be typical of male students There must be some different opinions due to gender difference Moreover, the time of observation is a little short Four periods of each teacher’s lessons is not long enough to collect a sufficient data for generalisation
Concerning the data collection process, this study employed both video and audio recording to obtain the data It was undeniable that the presence of the camera in the classroom may partly affect the quality of the data Therefore, it is necessary to carefully dealt with the data from this study
A significant part of the data for this study is from the retrospective, focus group and individual open-ended interviews Although the data obtained from these interviews greatly contributed to the understanding of the participants’ perceptions and attitudes, these data should be treated cautiously.
Recommendations for further study
Although this study was conducted on a small group of students in a military school in Hanoi and its results cannot be generalized, others in similar situation can benefit from them There are a lot of other issues to be addressed about intercultural interaction between Vietnamese students and foreign teachers for a later research which they may enjoy noticing while studying this original study
It would be valuable to do a further research that is concerned with the other aspects of teacher-student interaction besides the ones involved in this study such as teacher identity, students’ gender, etc The findings of this study will be of interest to anyone desiring to explore how home students and foreign language teachers in many different countries perceive teacher- student intercultural interaction in foreign language education and how their perceptions and attitudes affect their teaching and learning process Understanding students’ perceptions and attitudes of their experience of learning with foreign teachers is of crucial importance for home teachers to provide students with intercultural competence skills and raise students’ awareness of cultural differences in order to prepare for their encounter of intercultural communication The understanding of teachers’ perceptions and attitudes of their teaching across cultures is essential for teacher educators who expect to design (international) teacher education programmes which can explain and illustrate to foreign language teachers how to encourage the acquisition of intercultural competence in their classes (Bright, 2012)
By giving actual evidence and in-depth analysis, this study displays various aspects of the cultural factors influencing the participants’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of their intercultural interaction in English classroom context The present study, thus, provides theoretical and methodological basis for further studies desiring to understand teacher-student intercultural interaction in a multicultural classroom
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LIST OF APPENDIXES……….……… I Appendix A – Information Sheet……….……… II Appendix B – Consent Form……… ….…… III
Appendix C - Translation of the Guiding Questions and Instructions for the Retrospective Interview with Students……….………….…….……… V
Appendix D - The Guiding Questions and Instructions for the Retrospective Interview with Teachers……….……… VI
Appendix E - Diagram of the Teacher- Student Interaction in the Observed Lesson……….……… … VII Appendix F - Field Note during Classroom Observation….…….……… VIII
Appendix G - The List of Questions Used during the Individual Open- Ended Interview with Teachers……… ……….………… X
Appendix H - The Translation of the Vietnamese Open-Ended Questions Used during the Focus Group Interview with Students……… XI Appendix I - Transcription Symbols……… XII Appendix J - Sample of Retrospective Interview with the Teacher … XIII Appendix K - Sample of Retrospective Interview with the Student … XVI Appendix L - Sample of Open-Ended Interview with the Teacher… XVIII
University of Languages and International Studies
0983362909 Email: mschuc.edu@gmail.com
Email: dhnn@vnu.edu.vn Internet http://ulis.vnu.edu.vn/english/
Exploration of intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom
Ngô Thị Chúc, MA student of ULIS Vietnam National University
Why is the research being done?
This study’s purpose is to examine the nature of the intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers The result is expected to improve the English language teaching and learning practice in Vietnam
Who can participate in the research?
I would be interested to hear from any Vietnamese military students whose English is competent enough to communicate with their foreign teachers in an English classroom, and any foreign teachers who are teaching English for Vietnamese military students in the school of this study
What choice do you have?
Participation in this research is entirely your choice Only those people who give their informed consent will be included in the project Whether or not you decide to participate, your decision will not disadvantage you If you do decide to participate, you may withdraw from the project at any time without giving a reason and without consequence You have the option of withdrawing any data which identifies you
What would you be asked to do?
If you decide to participate, you will be asked to:
Participate in four lessons with Vietnamese military students and foreign teacher, which will be video and audio recorded and transcribed by the researcher later
Participate in a retrospective interview with the researcher discussing your interactions in the lessons recorded
Participate in a focus group interview with the researcher discussing your attitudes and experience of your intercultural interaction in English classroom
How much time will it take?
The taped lessons will take around 60 minutes The interview will take each of you around 20-30 minutes outside of class time A short debriefing session will be conducted afterwards
What are the risks and benefits of participating?
The information obtained from the research will be used to develop a better understanding between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in order to motivate their learning and teaching process
There are no apparent risks of participating beyond those of everyday life Participation can be terminated at any time If the participant feels uncomfortable about the procedure, they are welcome to discuss it with the director of the language school
How will your privacy be protected?
The recording will be transcribed and checked for accuracy by the researcher Only the researcher will have access to the data During the analysis phase, any names will be removed and replaced by a pseudonym Any quotes used in subsequent publications will be anonymous and individual participants will not be identified in any report arising from the project Potentially identifiable data will be kept in password protected files, and any further analysis or re-use of the data will be properly referenced The researcher and the supervisors involved will maintain confidentiality of the data analysis and discussion and not divulge the identifiable data to outside parties
How will the information collected be used?
The results of the study will be presented in the researcher’s MA thesis at the University of Languages and International Studies
How can participants get accessed to the results?
On request, participants will have access to the results of the research when these documents are cleared for public distribution
What do you need to do to participate?
Please read this Information Statement and be sure you understand its contents before you consent to participate If there is anything you do not understand, or you have questions, please contact the researcher
If you would like further information, please contact Ms Ngô Thị Chúc by email mschuc.edu@gmail.com , phone in Vietnam: +84 983862909
Thank you for considering this invitation
University of Languages and International Studies
0983362909 Email: mschuc.edu@gmail.com
Email: dhnn@vnu.edu.vn Internet http://ulis.vnu.edu.vn/english/
Exploration of intercultural interaction between Vietnamese military students and foreign teachers in English classroom
Ngô Thị Chúc, MA student of ULIS Vietnam National University
I agree to participate in the above research project and give my consent freely
I understand that the project will be conducted as described in the Information Statement, a copy of which I have retained
I understand I can withdraw from the project at any time and do not have to give any reason for withdrawing
I consent to participate in four lessons which are video recorded, and the retrospective and focus group interviews that follow
I understand that my personal information will remain confidential to the researcher
I understand that my participation is voluntary and unpaid
I have had the opportunity to have questions answered to my satisfaction
Signature: (not essential if sent electronically) Date:
Appendix C - Translation of the Guiding Questions and Instructions for the Retrospective Interview with Students
I am interested in what you were thinking while you were interacting with the teacher in the lesson, especially what you were thinking but you did not say for some reason So, what I’d like you to do is tell me what you were thinking, what was in your mind at that time while you were talking to her
You can use Vietnamese to express your thoughts, but you can use English words whenever you like I will remind you of the exact time and activity when you were interacting with her, what you and your teacher were saying/ doing at that time
1 Can you tell me what you were thinking at that moment?
2 What did you expect your teacher to do at that time?
3 What did you expect your teacher to say at that time?
4 How were you feeling at that time?
5 If you could go back to that situation, what would you say or do?
6 Did anything cause you to speak differently from what you had planned?
If yes, what was it?
7 Did any reactions of the teacher make you want to involve more in the lesson? If yes, what was it?
8 Did any reactions of the teacher discourage you? If yes, what was it?
Appendix D - The Guiding Questions and Instructions for the Retrospective Interview with Teachers
I am interested in what you were thinking while you were interacting with the students in the lesson, especially what you were thinking but you did not say for some reason So, what I’d like you to do is tell me what you were thinking, what was in your mind at that time while you were talking to him/ her I will show you the diagram of the students’ positions for today’s lesson and I will remind you of the exact time and activity when you were interacting with him/ her, what you and your student were saying or doing at that time
1 Can you tell me what you were thinking at that moment?
2 What did you expect your students to do/say at that time?
3 How were you feeling at that time?
4 If you could go back to that situation, what would you say/do?
5 Did anything cause you to speak differently from what you had planned? If yes, what was it?
6 Did any reactions of the students make you more enthusiastic in the lesson? If yes, what was it?
7 Did any reactions of the students make you less enthusiastic in the lesson? If yes, what was it?
Appendix E - Diagram of the Teacher- Student Interaction in the Observed Lesson
9:20 read out loud the passage while
T was listening to Ân reading a sentence
10:05 argue that the range can be available in the afternoon
“Oh my god” after hearing the T give the task
10: 13 do not know what to do during pair work (task 5)
Appendix F - Field Note during Classroom Observation
Lesson: 01 Writing skill: Narrative Paragraphs Teacher: Jane (Audio recorded)
Number of SS = 18 Observer: NGÔ THỊ CHÚC
One student was late for class, so she had to sing a song as a punishment for her being late
The class’s atmosphere was relaxed
T kept a smiley face and the atmosphere was comfortable
New lesson: Writing narrative paragraphs + Handout: writing focus: narrative paragraphs
- T asked some SS to read out loud the paragraph in the handout and asked them why the information is needed
- T asked SS to do the exercises alone
* Observer’s comment: What I can see here is that the SS show high respect to the T and they do not ask many questions, just answer when they are asked
* When T asked SS: Are you ready to start? some SS said: “Yes” But (12) said: “No.”
Asked T: Did you hear that? If yes, ask: What were you thinking at that time? How were you feeling at that time?
Ask (12): Why did you say that? What were you thinking at that time?
* One S, (16) asked the T: How much time do we have? The T hadn’t said anything but
Asked T: How were you feeling at that time? Did you planned to say anything to him differently?
Ask (12): Why did you say that?
* While the SS were discussing in pairs and they were not allowed to write anything, T noticed that (13) was writing T told him: “No writing” He answered: “It’s for brainstorming” T agreed and asked him to make sure his partner, (12), seems to feel uncomfortable
Asked T: How were you feeling at that time? Did you planned to say anything to him differently?
Ask (13): How were you feeling at that time? If you could go back to that situation, what would you say to the T?
* Pair (9) and (10) stopped discussing while other SS were still doing their work T came up to this pair and they explained that they were brainstorming
Asked T: What were you thinking at that time? Did you plan to say anything to them?