Luận văn thạc sĩ Luật học: Văn hóa bối cảnh thấp và văn hóa cao: So sánh xuyên văn hóa trong quan hệ gia đình giữa người Mỹ và người Việt

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN TONG HUONG TRA 443020 LOW AND HIGH CONTEXT CULTURES: A CROSS - CULTURAL COMPARISON IN FAMILY GRADUATION PAPER Hanoi-2023 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN TONG HUONG TRA 443020 LOW AND HIGH CONTEXT CULTURES: A CROSS - CULTURAL COMPARISON IN FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AMERICANS AND VIETNAMESE SUPERVISOR Nguyen Thi Hong Thu, MA Hanoi-2023 DECLARATIONS I hereby state that I am Nguyen Tong Huong Tra, class 4430, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Supervisor Student Nguyen Thi Hong Thu Nguyen Tong Huong Tra April 04", 2023 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for my wonderful Supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Hong Thu M.A., for her enormous support towards my research with great patience, devotion, valued advice, profound insight, and experience I have completed all the various obstacles and finished this thesis thanks to her constant encouragement throughout the writing process Besides my supervisor, my sincere thanks go to all the Members of the Thesis Committee, and the teachers who work hard and fair to evaluate this research of mine to give perceptive comments and questions, as well as provide me with detailed feedback to help my future studies I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the administrative personnel and staff members of Hanoi Law University and particularly the Department of English for their generous assistance and services Last but not least, I am particularly grateful for my family members and close friends who have been supportive and caring throughout the journey with their unconditional love and kindness il ABSTRACTS In the process of globalization, culture plays an important role in people’s lives This process has made cross — cultural a research topic that attracts many scholars The purpose of this paper is to clarify similarities and differences in low and high — context cultures and the perception of the Vietnamese and American people, namely in the family relationship To achieve that objective, through qualitative and quantitative methods, information, and data were obtained from 101 participants, including Americans and Vietnamese The questionnaire was mainly used to obtain analytical information showing differences between two low and high — context cultures According to the results, with a low context culture, in family relationships, Americans experience fewer misunderstandings and have a simpler way of communicating Meanwhile, in a culture with a high context, Vietnamese people need ingenuity and understanding in family communication In addition, the results of the interview express the perception of participants in this issue In the future, the difference between low and high — context cultures in family relationships should be further analyzed to limit communication problems Moreover, the information to behave in accordance with each cultural context not only to avoid misunderstandings but also to contribute to stronger family relationships Keywords: Cultural context, cross — cultural communication, low — context culture, high — context culture, family relationships il TABLE OF CONTENTS Declarations Page Acknowledgements Abstracts il Table of contents iii List of abbreviations iv List offigures/tables Vĩ 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND r%œe 1.3 Cultural 1.4 1.1.1 Definition of culture 14 1.1.2 Manifestations of culture l6 1,5 Cultural context 18 Cross — cultural communication 20 High — and low — context culture 20 1.4.1 High — context culture 20 1.4.1.1 Definition of high — context culture 22 1.4.1.2 Characteristics of high — context culture 22 1.4.2 Low — context culture 23 1.4.2.1 Definition of low — context culture 24 1.4.2.2 Characteristics of low — context culture 24 Theories of family relationships 1.5.1 Definition of family 25 27 1.5.2 Theories of family relationships 28 1.6 Previous study 1.7 Summary iv CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 29 2.1 Research design 29 2.5, Participants 29 2.3 Data collection 30 2.4 Data analysis 30 2.5 Summary 32 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 33 3.1 Results 33 3.1.1 Comparison of family relationships between Americans and 33 Vietnamese 3.1.1.1 Association 33 3.1.1.2 Responsibility 36 3.1.1.3 Confrontation 38 3.1.1.4 Communication 39 3.1.1.5 Improvisation 42 3.1.2 Perception of participants of the difficulty in intercultural 44 communication and recommendations 3.1.2.1 Perception of participants of the difficulty in intercultural 44 communication 3.1.2.2 Recommendations of participants 47 3.2 Discussions 48 3.2.1 Discuss similarities and differences in family relationships of 48 two cultural contexts 3.2.2 Discuss the perceptions and solutions proposed of the 51 participants 3.3 Summary 52 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS 53 4.1 Recommendations for people from low — context culture 53 4.2 Recommendations for people from high — context culture 54 4.3 Summary 55 CONCLUSION 56 REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix I: The survey questionnaire Appendix II: Transcription of interview LIST OF TABLES Table 1 The association between family members in America and Vietnam 33 Table 2 Responsibility between family members in America and Vietnam3_6 Table 3 Confrontation between family members in America and Vietnam 38 Table 4 Communication between family members in America and Vietnam 39 Table 5 Improvisation between family members in America and Vietnam 43 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Manifestation of Culture at Different Levels of Depth 10 Figure 2 Diagram comes from Lloyd E Kwast’s article Understanding Culture 12 Figure 3 The frequency of facing communication difficulties in the context of participant culture 45 Figure 4 Differential assessment of cultural contexts is a cause of conflict in presonal 46 vi