Trang 1 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES --- TRAN THI ANH DUONG EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE CO
Trang 1HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
-
TRAN THI ANH DUONG
EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES
OF TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE
COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH LESSONS
AT SOME HIGH SCHOOLS IN QUANG BINH PROVINCE
MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University
THUA THIEN HUE, 2023
Trang 2HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
-
TRAN THI ANH DUONG
EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES
OF TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE
COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH LESSONS
AT SOME HIGH SCHOOLS IN QUANG BINH PROVINCE
MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
CODE: 8140111
SUPERVISOR: DR TRAN QUANG NGOC THUY
THUA THIEN HUE, 2023
Trang 3ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
-
TRẦN THỊ ÁNH DƯƠNG
NHẬN THỨC VÀ THỰC HÀNH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH
VỀ DẠY NĂNG LỰC GIAO TIẾP LIÊN VĂN HÓA
TRONG BÀI HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG
TỈNH QUẢNG BÌNH
LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP
DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH
MÃ SỐ: 8140111
NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS TRẦN QUANG NGỌC THUÝ
THUA THIEN HUE, 2023
Trang 4STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself
Signed: ……… Tran Thi Anh Duong
Date: 20/12/2023
Trang 5ABSTRACT
This study investigated EFL teachers’ perceptions and their classroom practices of teaching intercultural communicative competence (ICC) It employed data collected from interviews, and classroom observations from a sample of eight EFL teachers working at some high schools in Quang Binh province
The findings provided evidence that most of the teachers valued ICC in the English curriculum
However, their understanding of the term ICC was vague and superficial They devoted little class
time to develop students’ ICC and their lessons mainly focused on language knowledge because it was the content of major examinations When the teachers did focus on ICC in their lessons, they usually transmitted cultural facts without paying attention to conversational skills and an understanding of differences in behaviors, attitudes, and values in different countries However, there was evidence of good practice in teaching ICC in the observed classes Notably, the teachers designed classroom activities as well as adapted and modified tasks to develop students’ ICC The thesis concludes with recommendations to enhance the teaching of ICC in high schools in Vietnam
Trang 6ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis would not have been possible without the help and support of numerous people
My sincere gratitude is first and foremost directed at my supervisor To work on my M.A thesis under her supportive direction and benefit from her knowledge is a great honor and a fantastic opportunity for me The amount of gratitude I have for her expert guidance, unending patience, and unwavering support as I worked on this thesis is beyond words
I want to express my sincere gratitude to eight teachers from various upper secondary schools in Quang Binh province for their willingness to spend time with me and for their careful preparation
of the lesson I observed This thesis would not have been possible without their enthusiasm I've saved my family this final, but by no means least, word of appreciation Without their unwavering love, concern, and support, I doubt I could have accomplished this thesis
Trang 7List of Tables
Table 3.1 Information of the teachers
Table 3.2 Information of the teachers and sixteen class observation
Trang 8List of Figures
Figure 4.1.2 EFL teachers’ understandings towards ICC
Figure 4.2.2 Teachers' satisfaction with the cultural content of the textbooks
Figure 4.2.3 Activities for ICC engagement in English lessons
Figure 4.2.5 Materials for Engaging ICC in English lessons
Figure 4.2.6 The perspectives of the teachers regarding the necessity of changes for developing ICC
Trang 9List of Abbreviations
ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ICC Intercultural Communicative Competence
ID Intercultural Dimension
MOET Ministry of Education and Training
FL Foreign Language
CLT Communicative Language Teaching
CLIL Content and Language Integrated Learning
Trang 10TABLE OF CONTENTS
Statement of original authorship i
Abstract ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Tables iv
List of Figures v
List of Abbreviations vi
Table of content vii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Research rationale 1
1.2 Research objectives 2
1.3 Research questions 2
1.4 Scope of the research 3
1.5 Significance of the research 3
1.6 Structure of the study 4
Chapter 2 Literature Review 5
2.1 Intercultural Communicative Competence 5
2.1.1 Definition of ICC 5
2.1.2 Relationship between language and culture 6
2.1.3 Intercultural dimension (ID) in language teaching 7
2.1.4 Culture in language teaching methodologies 8
2.1.5 Challenges in integrating ICC into foreign language teaching 9
2.2 EFL teachers perceptions on ICC in contexts of English as a foreign language 12
2.3 EFL teachers’ practices of teaching ICC 13
2.4 Related studies 16
Chapter 3 Research methodology 20
Trang 113.1 Introduction 20
3.2 Research context 20
3.3 Research design 21
3.4 Participants of the study 21
3.5 Data collection methods 23
3.5.1 Interviews 23
3.5.2 Classroom Observations 26
3.5.3 Procedure of the study 26
3.6 Pilot of the study 27
3.7 Reliability and validity 27
3.8 Data analysis 29
3.9 Ethical considerations 29
3.10 Chapter summary 30
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion 31
4.1 EFL teachers’ perceptions towards teaching ICC 31
4.1.1 EFL teachers objectives in teaching English 31
4.1.2 EFL teachers’ understanding towards ICC 34
4.1.3 The importance of ICC for the EFL classroom 36
4.1.4 Factors that would enhance students’ ICC 39
4.1.5 Promoting students' ICC 42
4.1.6 Teachers' role in promoting students’ ICC 44
4.2 EFL teachers’ practices of teaching ICC in their English lessons 45
4.2.1 Sharing knowledge and life experiences 45
4.2.2 Adapting the syllabus and modifying tasks 48
4.2.3 Activities and combining activities to teach ICC 51
4.2.4 Fostering proper attitudes in students 53
Trang 124.2.5 Freedom to use teaching materials 54
4.2.6 Changes in curriculum, teaching materials, and assessment 57
4.3 Discussion 58
4.3.1 EFL teachers’ perceptions towards teaching ICC 58
4.3.2 EFL teachers’ practices of teaching ICC into their English lessons 60
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implication 62
5.1 Summary of the finding 62
5.2 Pedagogical implications 63
5.3 Limitations of the study 65
5.4 Recommendations for further research 66
REFERENCES 67
APPENDICES 78
Trang 13Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Research rationale
Culture, an important aspect of language learning, can sometimes be overlooked in language classes in Vietnam The emphasis of English teaching and learning in Vietnam is on the development of fundamental skills such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing (Nguyen, 2008) Many Vietnamese teachers believe in the "teaching language first, then culture" approach advocated by Omaggio (1993, pp.357-358) However, ineffective communication, particularly in different nations, results from a lack of cultural understanding ICC integration
in teaching English is probably a way to address this weakness
Promoting intercultural understanding and communication through English language education is important for Vietnamese citizens Globalization and rapid social and economic development have resulted in a desire to improve Vietnamese people’s English language skills With intercultural communication opportunities have rapidly expanded (Vogt, 2016), EFL teachers in Vietnam should equip their students with the skills necessary to engage in successful intercultural conversations
Recognizing the importance of ICC, in 2018 the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) stated in the General School Education Curriculum: “English provides students with an important international communication tool, enabling them to exchange information, advanced scientific and technical knowledge, explore cultures, thereby leading to intercultural understanding and promoting a sense of global citizenship, contributing to the development of personal qualities and competences Through learning English and understanding different cultures, students can better understand and love their own language and culture.” (MOET,
2018, pp.3) Because teachers must act as cultural mediators and facilitators in the classroom, they should have a good understanding of the need to incorporate cultural dimensions into the
Trang 14curriculum for English classes As a result, there is an increasing need to expand teacher's subject-specific and pedagogical knowledge to include a global viewpoint In this regard, several researchers concur that ICC components must be incorporated into teacher preparation and practice (Alptekin, 2002; Atay, 2008; Erling, 2008)
In Quang Binh Province, the coursebook Tieng Anh 10 by Vietnam Education Publishing House has been used since 2022 In fact, most of the EFL teachers only concentrate on teaching culture in Culture and Communication lessons as required and they do not pay much attention to develop students’ ICC as the requirements of the new English curriculum Meanwhile, because of social and economic condition, the students in this province have very little exposure to practice ICC in real – life and the practices of EFL teachers in English lessons is a precious source for student to approach to this competence
For the above reasons, the research on “EFL teachers' perceptions and practices of teaching intercultural communicative competence into English lessons at some high schools in Quang Binh province” was carried out Hopefully, this study could gain an insight into some high school EFL teachers’ perceptions and practices regarding ICC teaching in Quang Binh province
1.2 Research objectives
This research is carried out to achieve two following objectives:
- to investigate the upper- secondary school teachers’ perceptions towards teaching ICC in their English lessons
- to investigate the upper- secondary school teachers’ practices ICC in their English lessons
1.3 Research questions
In order to achieve the above two key objectives, the research seeks to answer the following two questions:
Trang 151 What are EFL teachers’ perceptions towards teaching ICC?
2 How do EFL teachers implement ICC into their English lessons?
1.4 Scope of the research
In this study, the main focus is teaching ICC into English lessons at some high schools in Quang Binh province This research is limited to five upper secondary schools using the coursebook series of Tieng Anh 10 by Vietnam Education Publishing House, including 1 upper secondary schools in Dong Hoi city and 1 upper secondary school in Hoan Lao Town,
Bo Trach district and 3 upper secondary school in other districts.The data of the study is collected from 8 EFL upper-secondary teachers from 5 high schools in Quang Binh province about their perceptions and practices of teaching ICC in their English lessons
1.5 Significance of the research
ICC is still a new key term for English teachers in Quang Binh province, and in Vietnam as a whole The popular text book series Tieng Anh 10, 11,12 by Vietnam Education Publishing House has only five parts in the old curriculum: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus With a strong emphasis on globalization, the English curriculum in 2018 included culture as a component of language learning, and there is a section on communication and culture in Tieng Anh 10 For teachers, it is always a challenge to introduce a completely new curriculum framework into teaching How teachers perceive ICC and how teachers apply ICC in practice is still an enigma for researchers As a result, it is expected that this study will provide valuable information about teachers' existing perceptions and practices of cultural teaching, and willingness to integrate ICC into their teaching The study's findings should help English language educators, curriculum designers, and teachers reflect on their current curriculums and syllabuses and adhere to the modern objectives of foreign language teaching
Trang 161.6 Structure of the study
The thesis is divided into the following five chapters:
Chapter 1 "Introduction" provides the rationale of the study, research objectives, research questions, research scope, and the organization of the study
Chapter 2 “Literature Review” presents the concepts and definitions of the key terms related
to the study as well as a review of the previous studies
Chapter 3 "Research Methodology" outlines the procedures for the investigation, data gathering, and analysis
Chapter 4 “Findings and Discussion" presents and discusses the results collected from the participants' observations and interviews
Chapter 5 “Conclusion” summarizes the main findings of the study and points out some of implications, limitations and suggestions for further research
Trang 17Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Intercultural Communicative Competence
2.1.1 Definition of ICC
According to Chen & Starosta (1996), ICC is the capacity to decide on cultural meanings and
to engage in appropriate and effective communication behaviors that take into account the interactants' multiple identities within a given context Compromise over cultural aspects, realizing multiple cultural identities, and building acceptable and successful communication patterns are the ICC elements that are highlighted in this description Teachers must teach students how to understand the world from others' perspectives, be sensitive to various cultures while also being conscious of their own, and improve their communicative skills and knowledge in order to help learners develop their ICC After obtaining such an ICC level, a foreign language student is referred to as an “intercultural speaker.” Byram (1997) identifies the characteristics of intercultural speakers as attitudes, skills, and knowledge While skills include interpreting and relating as well as discovery and interaction, knowledge is made up
of “social groups and their products and practices in one's own and in one's interlocutor's country, as well as of the general processes of societal and individual interaction,” Byram (1997, p 34) However, it is not as simple as it may seem to train students to develop these abilities Researchers from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, and communication, frequently use ICC As a result, ICC can be referred to as having “global competence, international competence, multicultural competence, and so on” (Fantini, 2010,
p 3) Although many scholars are interested in conceptualizing ICC, it is challenging to come
up with a clear description (Dai & Chen, 2014) Miike (2010, referenced in Dai & Chen 2014) asserts that different perspectives on “culture” have an impact on how each researcher conceptualizes ICC As a result, there does not appear to be agreement on what it exactly
Trang 18means According to several researchers (e.g., Deardorff, 2004; Lázár, 2003; Wiseman, 2002; Chen & Starosta, 1998), the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in a multicultural setting is what they meant by this term ICC complies with Wiseman's (2002) definition of “capacity to communicate” as the knowledge, skills, and willingness to communicate
The listings of elements in the definitions above are suitable and applicable to the pedagogical context of teaching ICC into English lessons as the topics are mainly related to communicative competence The views given above also show that ICC covers many aspects
of language teaching such as knowledge, skills and attitudes
2.1.2 Relationship between language and culture
When students study a language, they study the culture, and as they practice speaking the language, they practice communicating with people from other cultures (Byram, 1989) Zhou
& Griffiths (2011) agreed with Byram's assertion that when someone learns a language, they also learn about the culture of the target language in order to enhance the learners' understanding of the cultural notion and the connection to the language Due to this connection, cultural instruction has become more significant in the teaching of foreign languages, particularly in the area of teaching English As a result, the EFL curriculum should pay special attention to cultural teaching as well as the required methods and strategies to be used in the classroom The target cultures are crucial to language acquisition in today's second- and foreign-language classrooms In his research, Marek (2008) noted that the target language culture is a crucial element in the process of successful language learning, and more focus on target language culture among teachers in the classroom is strongly suggested If teachers incorporate culture into the language-learning process, students' respect for cultural differences will increase significantly during the classroom language-learning process
Trang 19However, it frequently looks that students know very little about the target cultures Language, culture, and learning are acknowledged as being inherently interconnected, according to Moloney (2007) It is understood that the language's structure and the ideas it conveys share cultural information
To sum up, there is a connection between language and culture Students must study the culture associated with the language they are learning in the classroom because "the person who learns language without studying culture risks becoming a fluent fool" (Bennett, Bennett,
& Allen, 2003, p 237) The relationship between language and culture emphasizes the value
of intercultural competence, which is covered in more detail in the following section
2.1.3 Intercultural dimension (ID) in language teaching
The ID in language teaching has been discussed under a variety of categories There have been several terms used, including intercultural language learning, intercultural communicative language teaching, intercultural language teaching and learning, and intercultural learning (Nguyen et al., 2016) The ID tries to refocus language learning and teaching on the intercultural theme despite utilizing distinct words More specifically, ICC has replaced communicative competence as the primary objective of language instruction (Newton et al., 2010) To comprehend and accept people from other cultures as separate persons with diverse perspectives, beliefs, and behaviors, it is crucial to "prepare them [learners] for interaction with people of other cultures" (Byram et al., 2002, p 6)
Language teachers can include ID in a variety of methods in order to improve their students' ICC For instance, language teachers can provide opportunities for students to interact with various cultures and/or expose them to scenarios that are similar to those they could encounter while interacting with people from other cultures (Aguilar, 2007) Utilizing the communities
of other cultures as resources through ethnographic research or fieldwork is one of the most
Trang 20efficient methods (Aguilar, 2007; Byram et al., 2002; Liddicoat & Scarino, 2003) This technique involves placing students in the target community to provide them with additional opportunities to learn about and interact with members of that culture, such as through academic exchange programs (Norvilien, 2012)
However, living abroad or becoming fully immersed in another culture is insufficient to raise ICC Immersion and active thought on many cultures appear to increase comprehension (Gregersen-Hermans, 2015; Liu, 2014) By incorporating real sources from the target community into language lessons, teachers can give students the chance to interact with foreign cultures (Kennedy, 2020; E Peterson & Coltrane, 2003; Savignon & Sysoyev, 2005) Films, documentaries, news, television programs, printed materials, websites, and tourism brochures are some examples of these sources Many academics (e.g., McConachy & Hata, 2013; E Peterson & Coltrane, 2003) have cited role play as a helpful technique that allows students to act out misunderstandings that may occur due to cultural differences between nations In actuality, these circumstances frequently result in communication failures and an uncomfortable or humiliating feeling among the participants
2.1.4 Culture in language teaching methodologies
Although "language and culture are wired in together” (Agar, 1991, cited in Roberts, 2009, p 16), a survey of the literature showed that this was not always the case Later literature highlighted the connection between culture and language, establishing an interdisciplinary field of study The statement “a view of language is necessary that unites language and culture rather than treats them as separate entities” was made by Agar (1991, p 175) For many years, the predominant approach to teaching foreign languages was to exclude culture from the classroom The grammar translation method is one of the first approaches of teaching foreign languages This approach's major goal was to encourage pupils to study and enjoy literature
Trang 21written in other languages (Larsen-Freeman, 2000)
Consequently, the emphasis on culture is restricted to the fine arts and literature According to Larsen-Freeman (2000), the direct method focused on the culture by providing information about “the history of the people who speak the target language, the geography of the country
or countries where the language is spoken, and information about the daily lives of the speakers of the language” (p.29) The communicative approach to teaching languages placed
a high value on the interpretation of communicative skill in terms of linguistic accuracy According to Coste et al (2009), attention has been placed on the variety of ways that language acts or functions can be expressed rather than the variety of cultural contexts in which these acts and functions occur and take on particular meanings It has been suggested that intra- and inter-linguistic variety is more significant than intra- and intercultural difference (pp 9-10) Byram, Holmes, and Savvides (2013) contrasted earlier approaches that focused primarily on reading and analyzing literary texts with the communicative approach that was introduced in the 1970s and which gave teaching and learning foreign languages a
“cultural turn” (p 253) The communicative competency of learners in their first language as well as any other foreign languages they choose to study is significantly influenced by culture, according to Bern's summary of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method (as cited in Savignon, 2002, p 6) “Merely having a basic understanding of the culture of an English-speaking nation will not be sufficient,” Savignon (2002) continued A basic sense of empathy and openness toward other cultures must be acquired” (p 10) The CLT had a very limited understanding of the subject matter or what was meant by teaching culture in foreign language schools
2.1.5 Challenges in integrating ICC into foreign language teaching
Although numerous methods for integrating ICC into foreign language teaching have been
Trang 22proposed and several studies have shown that ICC improves students' ability to communicate
in the foreign language they have learned (Alyan, 2011; Byram & Risager, 1999; Byram et al., 2013; Garrido & lvarez, 2006; Sercu, 2006), an integration of ICC into foreign language teaching is hardly ever seen in foreign language classrooms around the world According to a review of the literature on the subject, there are a number of barriers that prevent foreign language teachers from accurately and fully implementing the intercultural approach to language instruction and integrating ICC into their curricula
The first factor is teachers' inability to fully understand ICC and how to incorporate it into their lessons Numerous researchers (e.g Atay, Kurt, Amlibel; Gu, 2016; Sercu, 2006; Tran & Dang, 2014) concurred that although teachers had favorable opinions of ICC, they infrequently incorporated the cultural and intercultural dimensions into their classrooms because they were unfamiliar with the intercultural approach to language teaching and ICC The way the teachers included cultural and intercultural components into their teaching was negatively impacted by their lack of a solid understanding of the ICC and the intercultural approach to language instruction Without a solid understanding, the majority of teachers teach culture in the conventional manner, imparting cultural knowledge or material to students, which is unlikely to aid students in developing ICC or becoming intercultural speakers (Barletta Manjarrés, 2009; Gu, 2016; Sercu, 2006)
The intercultural approach lacks a standardized methodology for addressing culture in a language classroom, which is the second barrier preventing foreign language teachers from fully adopting the intercultural approach to language teaching and integrating ICC into their instruction (Garrido & lvarez, 2006; Barletta Manjarrés, 2009) It is challenging for teachers
to set cultural objectives for teaching and learning in a language classroom, according to Garrido and lvarez (2006) Even when cultural objectives have been clearly outlined, further
Trang 23decisions must be made regarding which cultural aspects should be included to improve communication and how they can be introduced to students Because culture is a variable and difficult-to-define notion, there may not be a consistent methodology for studying it It is likely that foreign language teachers feel lost or even confused when teaching culture due to the inconsistent nature of teaching methodologies, the fluid and complex nature of culture, as well as a lack of a firm understanding of the intercultural approach to language teaching (Garrido & lvarez, 2006; Gu, 2016)
The fact that the multicultural approach to language education lacks systematic assessment is another reason why foreign language teachers have not adopted it more widely (Barletta Manjarrés, 2009; Gu, 2016) Because ICC assessment methods are primarily qualitative and subjective, there is a lack of systematic evaluation (Gu, 2016, p 13) Similar to the aforementioned perspective, Barletta Manjarrés (2009) asserted that assessments of culture and ICC are inherently subjective, which presents teachers with a number of difficulties Additionally, teachers must create and use a variety of assessment tools (such as problem-solving tasks, case studies, and portfolios), adding to their workload, in order to properly assess culture and ICC as recommended by the intercultural approach to language teaching (Gu, 2016) It is not surprising that teachers are hesitant to completely implement the multicultural approach to their language education, despite their good opinions toward this technique, given the lack of systematic assessment and potential increase in their workload
In addition to the aforementioned problems, inadequate administrative support and a lack of teaching resources that can be used to support ICC in a language classroom have also been identified as barriers to ICC integration (Gu, 2016; Young & Sachdev, 2011; Barletta Manjarrés, 2009; Garrido & lvarez, 2006) Regarding administrative backing, Gu (2016) said unequivocally that “the lack of administrative encouragement, support, or imperatives” (p.12)
Trang 24contributed to the low integration of ICC into the teaching of foreign languages There is currently a dearth of pertinent learning resources that can be used to support the integration of ICC into the teaching of foreign languages (Barletta Manjarrés, 2009; Garrido & lvarez, 2006) In contrast to ICC, the majority of widely accessible textbooks continue to encourage language competency Additionally, the fact that ICC is still not seen as the primary objective for learning a foreign language by teachers, students, and their parents (Sercu, 2006; Onalan,
2005, as cited in Tran & Dang, 2014), as well as the fact that teachers lack the time to cover cultural content due to the abundance of curriculum content (Karbinar & Guler, 2013), all contributed to the teachers' minimal adoption of the intercultural approach to language teaching
2.2 EFL teachers perceptions on ICC in contexts of English as a foreign language
Understanding the cultural beliefs, mindsets, and perceptions of EFL teachers is essential since these characteristics can influence how they teach in the classroom The topic of teacher perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs has therefore been the subject of numerous studies in the area of teaching foreign languages (Atay et al., 2009; Bastos & Arajo, 2015; Clouet, 2012; Young & Sachdev, 2011) A qualitative study on this topic revealed that teachers primarily associate ICC with "promoting positive attitudes towards others, the individuals themselves, and plurilingual and intercultural communication situations and languages" (Bastos & Araújo,
2015, p 14) This finding provides insight into how teachers define ICC Recent studies on culture education also reflected that transition as policy makers, curriculum developers, and practitioners began to embrace intercultural knowledge Paige et al (2003) conducted a study
of the literature on culture teaching and learning through their project titled Intercultural Studies Project by generating over 3000 citations, which were then reduced to over 1200 journal articles Paige et al (2003) made the following finding about teachers' perspectives on
Trang 25teaching culture: teachers view language study as more than just learning a language; they see
it as learning about other ways of living and as comprehending other people According to research, teachers are also a crucial part of learning about cultures, children view teachers as their most valuable resources, and there are gaps between what students need and what teachers offer Teachers may also be required to operate in an ethnocentric setting or under societal and institutional restrictions, which might undermine their best efforts as members of the educational system (p 55) When gathering data for studies on teaching ICC or IC, researchers base their work on a number of different areas They include intercultural foreign language teaching ideas, attitudes, and norms as well as language learning objectives and different cultural teaching activities According to academics, how teachers define the goals
of teaching a foreign language might ultimately influence the way they conduct themselves in the classroom Culture, language, and general skill learning objectives have traditionally been subdivided into three categories in studies on the goals of teaching foreign languages (Castro
& Sercu, 2005)
The results of several studies (such as Atay et al., 2009; Castro & Sercu, 2005) revealed that teachers define culture teaching more in the traditional sense, which means they impart knowledge about typically visible aspects of culture like daily life, rituals for special occasions, clothing, foods, etc This suggests that teacher-centered activities were preferred by teachers over student-centered ones as well (Sercu & Bandura, 2005) In addition, Guilherme (2002) a survey of Portuguese instructors found that the ICC activities they claimed to apply
in the classroom mainly involved comparison and/or contrastive exercises
2.3 EFL teachers’ practices of teaching ICC
Many academics have noted that teachers develop their perceptions and beliefs through a variety of sources, including experience, conversations with colleagues, textbooks, and
Trang 26pedagogical knowledge materials (Sercu & Bandura, 2005; Castro & Sercu, 2005; Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Sercu, 2006) Wood (1996) further stated that teachers’ “B A K” which stands for teachers' beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge (Woods, 1996) aids in the execution of their ideas In other words, these ideas and impressions influence how teachers actually teach Classroom procedures can also be impacted by “the culture learners bring to the classroom, cultural issues in the course books, and teachers' understandings of culture and their role in teaching culture” (Atay, 2009, p 223) A dearth of empirical studies on classroom studies that can accurately capture the true classroom environment has drawn criticism from academics (Sercu et al., 2005; Young & Sachdev, 2011) Instead of doing classroom observations, current literature (e.g., Bickley, Rossiter, and Abbott, 2014; Clouet, 2012; Tomak, 2012; Xue
& Pan, 2012) uses questionnaires, interviews, and self-reflection journals to get insight into classroom practices
Atay et al (2009) analyzed data collected from 503 Turkish EFL teachers who were given a questionnaire that included questions on culture teaching practices as well as how frequently they incorporate culture teaching in order to seek and provide an answer to the question of how frequently these culture teaching practices are handled in EFL classrooms According to teachers, they occasionally use cultural teaching techniques
The goal of Clouet (2012) was to investigate teachers' perspectives on culture in the teaching
of foreign languages and their reported present practices The study by Clouet (2012) revealed that, although teachers make an effort to include activities that increase their students’ openness and tolerance toward various cultures, when it came to defining the function of the teacher in culture education, knowledge transmission was the focus
Young and Sachdev (2011) examined the classroom practices of seasoned instructors in the USA, UK, and France by gathering information using a variety of data collection approaches,
Trang 27including questionnaires, focus groups, and diaries Their research suggested that teachers believed ICC may be successful and valuable, but they were hesitant to put it into practice Reflecting on their actual classroom practices, participants listed a number of reasons why they were not implementing ICC, including “lack of learner interest, a lack of curricular support, a lack of suitable textbook material, a lack of ICC testing, and concern about engaging with controversy” (p 95) Additionally, having a limited understanding of other cultures and being unsure of which aspect of those cultures to teach may make teachers hesitant to include activities that deal with culture in their classrooms (Omaggio, 2001 as cited in Uso-Juan & Martinez Flor, 2008) This is because overloaded curricula force teachers
to cover a lot of material in class
How to incorporate ICC into English lessons
Like CLT, the intercultural approach to language education is based on the ideas of centered and learning through doing, and it calls for active rather than passive student participation
learner-Two approaches have so far been put out as productive strategies to incorporate ICC into the teaching of foreign languages An analysis of comparable techniques is the first method Byram et al (2002) assert that the comparative analysis technique calls for students to examine and contrast their own culture with that of the target language in order to identify parallels or contrasts between the two cultures
This method can also be used with a variety of CLT approach activities, such as simulation, role-play, and information-gap exercises (Byram et al., 2002; Corbett, 2022) One example of how to use the comparative analysis technique with a role-playing exercise was presented by Byram et al in 2002 Learners may be asked to role-play receiving a visitor in order to better grasp how speakers of the target language behave, interact, and communicate in various
Trang 28contexts One learner takes on the character of a foreigner visiting his or her own country in this role-playing game, which can be carried out in pairs (Byram et al., 2002), while the other learner assumes the position of a host receiving the visitor It is thought that this kind of activity can introduce students to other cultures, aid them in better realizing the parallels and discrepancies between cultures in this particular situation, and help them learn from their experiences putting themselves in another person’s shoes (i.e playing the role of visitor) The second method involves presenting the currently available learning materials from critical and intercultural viewpoints (Byram et al., 2002) This strategy allows teachers to use any subject or information found in the learning materials and “encourage learners to ask further questions and make comparisons” of that theme or content with resources found in the learners' culture, according to Byram et al (2002) If a reading passage in a textbook is about sports, for instance, teachers may encourage students to connect the theme of sports to other issues like gender, age, region, and religion in addition to having them practice basic reading skills like identifying main ideas, supporting details, or summarizing the passage In some cases, teachers could inquire as to whether or not this sport is well-liked in the country of the learners or whether or if men or women play it more often Byram et al (2002) stated that the major goal of this method was to “get learners to compare the theme in a familiar situation with examples from an unfamiliar context” (p 16)
2.4 Related studies
ICC is a new topic, thus it receives a lot of attention and is the subject of studies In the investigation of the role of ICC in the teaching of foreign languages, Atay et al (2009) gathered the opinions and viewpoints of Turkish EFL teachers It also aims to demonstrate how these perspectives are reflected in academic environments The researchers used a questionnaire distributed to 503 teachers to collect data, and they found that although EFL
Trang 29teachers in Turkey are aware of the value of culture in language learning, they do not always include culture in their lessons
Budharugsa (2011) employed closed- and open-ended questionnaires to look into the opinions
of 54 Thai secondary school teachers about the ICC and the EFL teaching styles The results revealed that 40% of the participants thought their classes equally emphasized language and intercultural ability Yet, 60% of the interviewees said that in actual practice, they spent more time fostering linguistic competence than ICC Also, rather than increasing skills and awareness in ICC, 58% of the cultural dimension integrated in their lesson was devoted to knowledge of foreign customs and daily life They used a teacher-centered approach to instruction The most common activities utilized to foster ICC were teachers sharing with their students what they had heard and read about various cultures as well as what they found intriguing or weird
To learn more about the attitudes and practices of 36 teachers from the USA, UK, and France
on the use of an ICC model in English language programs, Young and Sachdev (2011) conducted study with them The results from the use of diaries, focus groups, and questionnaires revealed that while participants thought the intercultural approach was suitable and beneficial, they appeared unprepared to implement it in practice Moreover, there was minimal assistance in the form of appropriate resources and assessment, and ICC received less attention in the curriculum
Jata (2015) looked at the attitudes of ten professors at an Albanian institution about the instruction of culture and intercultural competence in English language classes According to the questionnaire results, intercultural competency abilities were ranked as the least important teaching objective by 70% of the teachers, whereas linguistic competence was ranked as the first priority Although understanding the value of ICC, they had trouble incorporating it into
Trang 30their lessons due to time restraints, the curriculum's emphasis on linguistic skills, the students' poor level of language proficiency, and the lack of appropriate materials However, when they did teach culture, most of them tended to focus on teaching observable components of culture like geography, history, and daily life rather than other parts of culture
Six language teachers from secondary schools in Sweden were interviewed by Israelsson (2016) to learn more about their opinions on the idea of ICC The findings indicated that while the teachers had a rudimentary understanding of ICC, they lacked sufficient knowledge
of its theoretical underpinnings They also did not completely incorporate culture into their lessons To aid teachers in understanding and putting into practice the theories' knowledge, abilities, and attitudes, the researcher recommended that they be concretized
Researchers Cheewasukthaworn and Suwanarak (2017) interviewed 16 Thai EFL teachers to learn about their attitudes toward ICC, their ideas for incorporating ICC into lessons, and the significance of ICC to their students Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data The results of the two techniques indicated that the participants had a general understanding of the ICC idea but not a detailed understanding They defined ICC as
“the communication between individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, and that knowledge or understanding of cultural differences between communicators can help to the success of the communication.” (pp 177-204)
Additionally, they believed that the interlocutor's background distinguished ICC from communicative skill; ICC dealt with the communication of interlocutors with various cultural backgrounds, whereas communicative competence dealt with communication between two persons Also, while the findings of the questionnaires indicated that the majority of instructors thought ICC may assist students' communicative skill in English, information from the interviews did not indicate that teachers had a sizable amount of faith in it Add more
Trang 31material about culture and ICC components to the curriculum as their method for boosting ICC in language classes
In Vietnam EFL teaching context, Nguyen's ethnographic study (2013) and Ho's study (2011) demonstrated the teacher perspectives of ICC in the context of teaching English as a foreign language, with a focus on the values, beliefs, norms, and attitudes that underlie other people's behavior as well as utterances However, the instructors' actual instruction was linguistically predominate, and culture instruction consisted solely of imparting cultural data using a teacher-centered approach Nguyen's findings demonstrated that teachers were passing along cultural information from their native, primarily English-speaking nations, while Ho's results indicated that most respondents "sometimes" and "rarely" related to so-called ICC activities in English classroom This contributes to the fact that Vietnamese students may master English
in terms of its grammar and linguistics while paying less attention to ICC, according to Nguyen (2013)
Vo (2017) looked into how English lecturers in six southern Vietnamese universities perceived their students’ ICC The majority of participants feel that studying or using English helps people better comprehend different cultures, yet there is still a gap between lecturers' opinions and actual ICC teaching methods They experience some impediments related to time constraints, professors' cultural awareness, and an environment where English is spoken All researches that I have found and discussed above were carried in different contexts No single study has been carried out to investigate EFL teachers' perceptions and practices of teaching ICC in English lessons at some high schools in Quang Binh province That is the reason why I decide to conduct this research
Trang 32Chapter 3 Research methodology 3.1 Introduction
The research methodology, participants, procedure, pilot study, reliability, validity, and ethical considerations are all covered in this chapter This chapter also shows how the data was analyzed and discussed in order to achieve the study's objectives
3.2 Research context
The study was carried out in the school year 2022 - 2023, the same year as the General Education English Language Curriculum of 2018 was introduced for grade 6 in lower- secondary school and 10 in upper-secondary school Because it is highlighted in the specific objectives of the new curriculum, ICC is now more crucial than ever: “English provides students with an important international communication tool, enabling them to exchange information, advanced scientific and technical knowledge, explore cultures, thereby leading to intercultural understanding and promoting a sense of global citizenship, contributing to the development of personal qualities and competences.” (MOET, 2018, p 3)
The upper secondary English curriculum will enable students to have a more “extensive understanding of the landscape, people and culture of English-speaking countries and other countries in the world, understand and respect cultural diversity, and basically reflect on the values of Vietnamese culture in English.” (MOET, 2018, p 7)
English is used as an important international communication tool, enabling learners to explore cultures, thereby leading to intercultural understanding and promoting a sense of global citizenship, contributing to the development of personal qualities and competencies (MOET, 2018) The school year was also the time when most of the upper-secondary schools in Quang Binh province have used the new series of Tieng Anh 10 In each unit in the textbooks, there
is a lesson specially designed for teaching culture and communication This section has the
Trang 33culture/ CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) to provide students with cultural knowledge about the ASEAN countries and English-speaking countries around the world It also develops CLIL, featuring engaging content from a range of different subject areas such as history, geography, or science related to the topics of the units Through reading interesting texts students get information about cultural aspects of the unit topic and learn about how others live and learn Students also enhance their knowledge of the world and gain a better grasp of their own culture by contrasting aspects of Vietnamese culture with those of other nations
3.3 Research design
To answer the two research questions, I chose qualitative research approaches The goals of the qualitative approach, according to Schumacher & Mcmillan (1993), are to understand the person or phenomenon, and the verbal descriptions used to collect the data rather than figures
In order to gather in-depth data regarding participants' thoughts, feelings, and experiences, a qualitative research approach is used (Denzin, 1989) As my research questions are about teachers’ perceptions and practices towards ICC, I found that qualitative design is suitable for
my study My data includes teacher interviews and face-to-face observations of English teachers teaching ICC and teachers interviews
3.4 Participants of the study
The teachers voluntarily took part in the research Eight EFL teachers from five upper secondary schools in Quang Binh province were using Vietnam Education Publishing House textbooks Table 3.1 provides information on their background
The EFL teachers came from five upper secondary schools in Quang Binh province, two of which were in Dong Hoi city, and the others were in other areas, such as Hoan Lao town, Bo Trach district, and Quang Ninh district The teachers picked ranged in age from 26 to 46, had
Trang 34different genders (1 male and 7 females), educational backgrounds, and teaching experience Eight of the teachers were interviewed, and their practices for incorporating culture into reading sessions were subsequently observed These teachers were given the pseudonyms Teacher 1, Teacher 2, Teacher 3, Teacher 4, Teacher 5, Teacher 6, Teacher 7, and Teacher 8 Table 3.1 contains details of the eight teachers
Table 3.1
Information of the teachers
Teacher Gender Age Year of
experience
Teaching area
Being abroad Educational
degree Teacher 1 Female 35 12 Rural never been abroad Bachelor
twice to travel
Bachelor
Teacher 3 Female 45 22 Town never been abroad Bachelor Teacher 4 Female 40 18 Rural never been abroad Bachelor Teacher 5 Female 35 13 Rural never been abroad Bachelor Teacher 6 Female 33 10 Rural never been abroad Bachelor Teacher 7 Female 33 10 Rural never been abroad Bachelor
to travel
Bachelor
Table 3.2
Information of the teachers and sixteen class observation lessons
Teacher Observation Lesson
Trang 352 Grade 10- Unit 8: Communication and culture Teacher 2 3
4
Grade 10- Unit 7: Communication and culture Grade 10- Unit 8: Communication and culture Teacher 3 5
6
Grade 10- Unit 7: Communication and culture Grade 10- Unit 9: Communication and culture Teacher 4 7
8
Grade 10- Unit 8: Communication and culture Grade 10- Unit 10: Communication and culture Teacher 5 9
10
Grade 10- Unit 6: Communication and culture Grade 10- Unit 9: Communication and culture Teacher 6 11
12
Grade 10- Unit 8: Communication and culture Grade 10- Unit 10: Communication and culture Teacher 7 13
14
Grade 10- Unit 7: Communication and culture Grade 10- Unit 10: Communication and culture Teacher 8 15
16
Grade 10- Unit 9: Communication and culture Grade 10- Unit 10: Communication and culture
3.5 Data collection methods
Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were used in this study to gather data
3.5.1 Interviews
An interview is a tool used in qualitative research to collect data It aims to explain the significance of key concepts in the subjects' daily lives Understanding the significance of what the respondents say is crucial to an interview, claims Kvale (1996) Information and meaning-level information are covered in the interview portion Interviews are effective for eliciting participants' experiences and other hidden information The interviews are conducted both in English and Vietnamese due to respondents' preferences to use their native language
Trang 36(Bryman, 2012, p 274) Semi-structured interviews are based on questions where the order of the questions might vary Semi-structured interviews consist of open questions that give the respondents greater freedom when answering During the course of these interviews, new questions and insights might lead to follow-up questions that the interviewer considers relevant for the purpose of the study Bryman, 2012, p 206) According to Alvehus (2013, p 113), semi-structured interviews can encourage the respondents to discuss and interact more freely instead of having a structured interview, leading to the loss of significant interactive elements Semi-structured interviews can offer additional depth to what was supplied by the surveys (Husband, 2020, p 8), which gives room for improved analysis and understanding of the quantitative data Potential disadvantages with semi-structured interviews are that they are time-consuming, require much data analysis as the interviewers may start discussing other dilemmas that draw away from the subject matter
In conclusion, interviews are more effective at eliciting narrative material that enables researchers to delve deeper into people's perspectives (Kvale, 1996; 2003) In order to discover more about how participants see ICC, how it might be incorporated into teaching, and how it affects students' communicative English competency, I conducted interviews with them
Conducting the semi-structure interviews
One to two weeks before to the observations, semi-structured interviews were conducted depth interviews with each of the eight EFL teachers from the upper secondary schools were requested To give the participants time to consider the answers, 13 questions were provided
In-to them beforehand 12 open-ended questions were asked during the face-In-to-face or online interviews, which ranged in length from 13 to 25 minutes and were used to gather information
Trang 37and find answers to the research questions (see Appendix I) Two research questions can be answered with the data collected from twelve interview questions The twelve questions consist of:
(1) What are your main objectives in teaching English?
(2) How do you understand the term “intercultural communicative competence”?
(3) How importance of ICC do you think in the EFL classroom?
(4) What factors do you think that would enhance students’ intercultural communicative competence?
(5) What did you do to promote intercultural competence of your students in your teaching practices? Can you give some examples of what you do in the classroom or outside the classroom?
(6) What is Teachers' role in promoting students’ ICC?
(7) How do you convey intercultural knowledge to your students?
(8) Do you often adapt the syllabus and redesigning tasks to improve students’ ICC?
(9) What activities do you often use to teach ICC? Do you often combine activities to teach them?
(10) Do you think it is important for EFL teachers to help students to foster appropriate attitudes towards ICC?
(11) Are you free to use extra-curricular teaching materials? If yes, what sources do you often use?
(12) Do you think that changing your teaching practice to introduce more work on ICC is necessary? If yes, What sort of changes might you make?
Trang 383.5.2 Classroom Observations
In order to understand the settings of teaching and learning, researchers might use observations to covertly monitor what participants do in their natural environment (Taylor-Powell & Steele, 1996) An observation checklist was developed for this study to collect as many specifics as possible as well as to precisely document the various behaviors, approaches, and actions in respect to ICC presented throughout EFL courses It is also a practical technique to learn about the topics that teachers might not openly discuss in direct interviews Instead than depending on what people say they did, researchers may see what people actually do Researchers can also gather data without depending on teachers' availability or willingness to do so, right where and when the lesson is taking place Through
my obsevations, I investigated the following issues: (i) How teachers present the topics about culture, (ii) how teachers motivate their students in developing their ICC, (iii) how teachers provide students with cultural knowledge Thank to my observations in teachers' post classroom observation meetings, I focus on two questions: (1) if they satisfied with the
methods they had just applied (2) and there were any changes/suggestions for better
teaching at the next classes
3.5.3 Procedure of the study
First, some upper secondary schools in the province of Quang Binh received an email asking them to participate The email contained details about the study, its objectives, and instructions for participating Teachers who indicated a desire to take part in the interview through email were then contacted to discuss the interview's time and date The initial email was sent once more after a week had passed to remind schools and give them another opportunity to participate in the study
Trang 393.6 Pilot of the study
A pilot study was carried out to improve the study's validity The pilot study had three participants, all of whom provided feedback Fifteen pilot questions had been given to them before so that they had time to think of the answers
They were asked about how they perceive ICC as well as how they apply ICC in English lessons After that, they were requested to provide feedback on the questions to demonstrate whether they had fully comprehended them
The number of interview questions was decreased from 15 to 12 based on the information gathered and the comments from the participants A question about participants' enthusiasm for teaching about the cultures of English speaking countries was dropped Three questions about teachers’ role in promoting students’ ICC were combined in one question Additionally, some questions were reorganized Through this process, the researcher was able to examine the questions, delete some of them, and modify others for the benefit of the following interview
3.7 Reliability and validity
Reliability is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring process produces the same results on successive trials, according to Carmines & Zeller (1979) According to this perspective, the consistency of study findings constitutes research reliability In actuality, there are numerous potential inaccuracies in the measurement of any occurrence Therefore, using consistent measurement tools and techniques for reducing measurement errors are without a doubt essential for carrying out trustworthy study activity (Carmines & Zeller, 1979)
In this study, specific data gathering tools such as classroom observation and interviews were used This methodological approach improved the research's validity and dependability while
Trang 40also fostering a thorough comprehension of the area under study Additionally, the fundamental ethical norms of research were strictly followed with regard to participant privacy and information confidentiality
The researcher was the only one who used and processed the aforementioned devices, which considerably minimized data collection bias and strengthened the dependability of the research
The validity of a research study, according to Polit and Hungler (1999), is determined by whether the study captures the expected outcomes Validity is only possible if the research tools help you accomplish your research goals (Polit, 1999)
A semi-structured interview is one method that improves the validity of qualitative research, according to Noble and Smith (2015, p 4) Semi-structured audio interviews provide a deeper understanding of the participants' points of view and, consequently, the participants' responses They also allow one to review the data to confirm any new themes that may have emerged It is beneficial to collect data from multiple sources since the findings from the interviews lend support to the quantitative findings Because the interviewee can talk for themselves and the interviewer does not fully control the discussion, semi-structured interviews enable the participants to address topics in greater length and depth
For this study, direct observations were made The fact that all of the teachers and students were aware that their lessons would be used for educational research The teachers, however, were unaware of my precise research objectives and the classroom observation checklist, so they were unaware of the elements of their lessons I wished to emphasize
Using a variety of strategies throughout a process is advised to lessen the possibility of researcher bias Through observations and interviews gathered throughout the same academic year, I examined the integration of ICC into English lessons for the study Furthermore, my