Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in Vietnam

Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in VietnamTeaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

English has become a working language in the world’s globalization Well- known international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and others intensely carry out their business using English Thus, globalization has promoted ELT, especially Business English (BE) education In comparison with General English, BE is more dynamic in its own way, more specific in context, embedded in business skills and frequently used by interactants from different cultures Consequently, BE is more tolerant with cultural diversity (Frendo, 2005; Kankaanranta & Louhiala-Salminen, 2013) In this vein, communicative competence (CC) including linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and pragmatic competence (Council of Europe, 2001) seems inadequate to communicate effectively in the global working environment since language and culture are closely interrelated (Byram, 1997; Corbett, 2003; Lo Bianco, Liddicoat & Crozet, 1999; Liddicoat, 2008; Sercu, Bandura, Castro, Davcheca, Laskaridou, Lundgren, Garcia & Ryan, 2005) CC enables the users to communicate successfully in the target language with the effective exchange of information and messages between the interlocutors However, successful global communication requires more than merely efficiency of information exchange; it aims at building and maintaining relationships

2 among people from diverse cultural backgrounds (Byram, 1997) In this regard, while the notion of CC skips the exploration of culture necessary to make the exchange of information appropriately in various cultural settings (Corbett, 2003), ICC steps further with the aim to help people deal with diverse cultural conflicts in intercultural communication Thus, ICC is notably useful for businesspeople to add values to their own business and customers (Frendo, 2005) The author affirms that BE teachers need to include three dimensions in their BET: “linguistic competence, discourse competence and intercultural competence” (p.8)

In light of globalization and integration into the world, the Government of Vietnam has launched the project "Teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system in the period of 2008-2020”, advocating the teaching and learning of ICC to enable Vietnamese graduates to use a foreign language confidently in “an integrative, multi-lingual and multi-cultural working context” (Government of Vietnam, 2008, p.1, English translation)

Inspired by the global trend and the national project of interculturalizing FLT, the researcher conducted the current research for the following specific reasons

Firstly, although ICC has attracted attention of multiple researchers of ICC in FLT throughout the world (e.g Al Hasnan, 2015; Bastos & Araújo, 2014; Kawamura,

& Kaczmarek, 2011; Mosa, 2013; Osman, 2015; Sercu et al., 2005; Tian, 2013; Tony

& Itesh, 2011; Zhou, 2011), there are few studies on this field in Vietnam Nevertheless, these studies (Chau & Truong, 2019; Ho, 2011; Nguyen, 2013; Tran & Seepho, 2016) mainly focused on integrating culture in General English language teaching and learning while the field of BE, where language is embedded closely within authentic contexts of cultural diversity and thus, reflects the need of ICC, has not been investigated The current research, therefore, is hoped to enrich ICC literature in BET

The second reason comes from the researcher’s own motivation to explore how the teachers perceive the role of ICC in their BET and if they are teaching ICC comprehensively to their business students An anecdote from one of the researcher’s graduates working in an Import-Export company urged her to study this topic The graduate told her that she felt shocked and got lost in the relationship with her business partners from different countries while working with them The reasons did not arise from her English proficiency but from the lack of her awareness of the customers’ cultures “I need to read more about cultures to make them pleased and avoid offensive mistakes in communication”, she said Her story made the researcher look back at her BET and realized a gap in intercultural teaching A question emerged: Can a separated course of British and American cultures as taught in most of Bachelor curricula of English language enable students to deal with cultural diversity when getting out for a job in the multicultural workplace? Specifically, can the graduate in the story communicate successfully with Japanese business partners with her understanding of only American culture or even with no knowledge of other cultures? Hopefully, the findings of the current research can pinpoint the gaps so that persuasive suggestions can be made for positive change in ICC teaching and learning in BET in Vietnam

Finally, the role of a BE teacher in the period of globalization and the personal motivation to understand comprehensively about ICC in order to help students avoid the challenges which the graduate in the aforementioned story encountered have urged the researcher to start this research journey.

Research aims and research questions

The aim of the present research is to gain a deep understanding of how teachers in a Vietnamese BET context teach ICC Since the knowledge of teachers’ teaching ICC is related to teachers’ perceptions of ICC in BET and contextual factors

4 influencing their teaching practices, the following research questions are designed in order to obtain the research aim

1 How do the teachers perceive teaching ICC in BET?

2 How do the teachers teach ICC to their BE students?

3 What factors influence the teachers’ integrating ICC into their BET?

Research design overview

The specific purpose of the present research is to explore the BE teachers’ perceptions of ICC, their teaching ICC to the BE students as well as factors which might influence their integration of ICC into their BE lessons All of the issues were studied in the participants’ real teaching environment in order to gain an insight into their views and practices The data were collected through a variety of sources, namely in-depth interviews, classroom observations and documents of syllabi, textbooks and lesson plans Thus, constructivist worldview, qualitative approach and case-study design were appropriate to address the research questions

The Department of English at a well-known college specializing in business in the southern part of Vietnam was chosen as the research site because it met the requirement of information-rich case for studying in-depth (Patton, 1990, p.169) Six

BE teachers of the Department of English who met all of the pre-determined criteria were invited to join the research

The theories of ICC and ICC teaching as well as the previous studies relevant to the research field were reviewed in order to establish an applicable theoretical framework for the present research The data were collected through three sources: 1/ direct observations/ field notes; 2/ in-depth interviews; and 3/ documents of syllabi, textbooks and lesson plans Following the guidelines regarding thematic analysis

5 suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) and McMillan and Schumacher (1993), the data analysis was done in four phases The first three ones included the separated analysis of the three data sources, and the last phase involved the triangulation of the themes emerging from the three sources for final themes and patterns to be reported and interpreted In order to limit the researcher’s subjectivity and biases, all of the criteria required for qualitative research such as credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were taken into consideration The findings then were discussed in relation to the literature review for the conclusions and practical implications regarding ICC in BET.

Research scope

Firstly, this research explores teachers’ teaching ICC to BE students at a college specializing in business in the southern part of Vietnam during the school years 2016-

2019 In the research, the teachers’ perceptions were explored through their understandings of culture and ICC, ICC teaching, the objectives of BET and ICC teaching, the significance of ICC in BET and their attitudes toward integrating ICC into BET The teachers’ ICC teaching practices were examined through their cultural teaching contents, approaches, and activities within the classroom instruction, and the factors influencing the teachers’ teaching ICC in their BE courses were also investigated The results of the current research, therefore, provide deeper insights into ICC in BET in Vietnam tertiary education and can be generalized to similar contexts

Secondly, the research focuses on how teachers perceived and taught ICC in order to gain a comprehensive view on their perceptions of ICC and their ICC teaching pedagogy The research problems may be different from the students’, entrepreneurs’ or administrators’ perceptions Thus, the scope of the current research is limited to ICC teaching to BE students from teachers’ perspectives at a college context

Finally, BE in the present research refers to English for General Business Purposes (EGBP) (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1996) since it is taught for the aim of developing students’ communication skills that they need to succeed in business and enlarging their knowledge of the business world After the course, the students are expected to become more fluent and confident in using the language of business and increase their career prospects English for Specific Business Purposes (ESBP), another branch of BE (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1996), is not studied in this research.

Significance of the research

The research is hoped to contribute to ICC teaching and researching in BE in the following ways

Firstly, the findings from this research are expected to fill in the gap of research on ICC in the field of BET in the current literature in both Vietnamese and international contexts and lay the theoretical foundation for ICC teaching and researching in BET

Secondly, the case-study design and the combination of three sources to collect documentation data, namely syllabi, lesson plans and textbooks in the current research can diversify the design and data gathering instruments for research on ICC in BE Additionally, the constructivist worldview applied in the present research may bring back practical knowledge of ICC teaching in BET context which may not be obtained if other worldviews are adopted

Finally, ICC teaching under the influential factors in BET context in Vietnam will be acquired from the research This contributes to generating relevant and practical implications for in-service BE teachers, BE teacher educators and policy makers from macro to micro level to interculturalize BET In-service BE teachers, including the researcher, are believed to understand ICC, ICC instructional method and its role in

7 intercultural communication more comprehensively Obviously, once teachers have positive attitudes towards ICC teaching, they may be more willing to put more efforts to teach this competence in their BE courses Moreover, the research also provides BE teacher educators and policy makers with useful information of BE teachers’ ICC perceptions, their ICC practices and the factors influencing the teachers’ integrating ICC teaching in BET These are the sources of empirical data for developing supportive policies encouraging ICC teaching and learning in FLT in general and in BET in particular as implied in the objectives of the National foreign language policy (Government of Vietnam, 2008).

Structure of the thesis

The thesis includes five chapters as follows

Chapter 1 introduces the rationale of the study, states the problems existing in the research field, the research questions, an overview of the research design, research scope and the significance of the research

Chapter 2 reviews the theories in ICC to form the theoretical framework for the research and summarizes and discusses the previous studies relating to the research area to identify a space for the present research

Chapter 3 presents the research methodology with qualitative approach followed by detailed descriptions of the research design, the data gathering and data analytical methods

Chapter 4 reports the findings in order to address the research questions and discusses the research results in relation to the reviewed theories and previous studies

Chapter 5 summarizes the key points of the research, draws out the research contributions as well as limitations, makes suggestions to the problems in ICC teaching in BE educations and opens new avenues for further research

LITERATURE REVIEW

Inter-relationship among teachers’ perceptions, practices and influential

Many researchers affirm the powerful interrelationship between language teachers’ cognition and their practices (Bailey 1996; Bartels 1999; Breen 1991; Breen, Hird, Milton, Oliver & Thwaite 2001; Burns 1996; Gatbonton 1999; Golombek 1998; Johnson 1992a; Lam 2000; Nunan 1992; Richards 1996, 1998a, 1998b; Richards, Li & Tang 1998; Smith 1996; Ulichny 1996; Woods 1991, 1996; cited in Borg, 2003) According to these authors, teachers’ perceptions and their practices are mutual informing; thus, what teachers perceive certainly shapes what and how they teach In the same vein, Borg (2003) states that the apprentice time at school and novice training period significantly form teachers’ initial but firm perceptions and affirms the inseparable relationship among teacher beliefs, practices and contextual factors (Birello, 2012)

The data driven model of ệztỹrk and Gỹrbỹz’s (2017, p.17) for the inter- relationship among teachers’ cognition, practices and contextual factors includes three clusters (see Figure 2.2 on the next page), namely sources of language teachers’ cognition, formation of classroom practices and institutional context Each cluster presents the factors influencing its formation

Main sources of teacher cognition Classroom practices

Figure 2.2 Data-driven model Adapted from “Re-defining language teacher cognition through a data-driven model: The case of three EFL teachers” by G ệztỹrk and N Gỹrbỹz, 2017, Cogent Education, 4

The cluster of institutional context shows the factors, namely the previous institutional atmosphere, experienced colleagues, present institutional atmosphere, curriculum and testing policies, powerfully impact on both of the cognition and classroom practices of language teachers

Regarding teachers’ cognition, ệztỹrk and Gỹrbỹz (2017) describe five sources shaping teachers’ cognition (see Figure 2.3) prior language learning experiences at school, pre-service education, previous institutional contexts, novice teacher education, and previous teaching experiences These sources provide teachers with more experience and stabilize their principles ready for official cognition before entering their real teaching context

Figure 2.3 Sources of the teachers’ language teacher cognition Adapted from “Re- defining language teacher cognition through a data-driven model: The case of three EFL teachers” by G ệztỹrk and N Gỹrbỹz, 2017, Cogent Education, 4

Language Teacher cognition Pre-service education

- Teaching as trial and error

Reconceptualization of already existing knowledge

- Constructing principles Prior language learning experiences

The cluster of teachers’ practices describes specific factors roughly influencing teachers’ teaching practices (see Figure 2.4) They consist of institutional context, learner profile and improvisational teaching, alongside teachers’ initial cognition before entering real class teaching All of these factors directly influence teachers’ decision of what to teach and how to teach However, this is a dynamic process symbolized with the arrows in it That means classroom implementation shapes teachers’ new perceptions which have the potential to revise, reformulate and adapt already previous perceptions and principles With specific elements listed in the clusters of teachers’ cognition, practices and influential factors, ệztỹrk and Gỹrbỹz’s data driven model (2017) is selected as the working model for analyzing the mutual relationship of the three key conceptions of the current research

Figure 2.4 Formation of the teachers’ classroom practices Adapted from “Re-defining language teacher cognition through a data-driven model: The case of three EFL teachers” by G ệztỹrk and N Gỹrbỹz, 2017, Cogent Education, 4

2.4 ICC teaching in ELT and BET

Before examining how ICC has been taught in BE language classes, ICC in ELT needs to be reviewed

Sercu et al (2005) believe FLT should be interculturalized since teaching a foreign language means connecting learners to a world that is culturally different from their own Risager (cited in Arabski & Wojtaszek, 2011) claims “languages spread across cultures, and cultures spread across languages’’, and “culture is communication, and communication is culture” Plenty of studies and discussions have been carried out regarding the interrelationship between language and culture (Arabski & Wojtaszek, 2011) Language enables people to understand the invisible values, beliefs, perspectives, and attitudes that shape the culture shared by a community

Globalization era witnessed the shift from teaching CC to teaching ICC in FLT to meet the demand of global mobility (Piasecka, p.31) This revolution implies that student’s ICC should be the crucial objective of second and FLT This ICC turn was expressed through the explosion of interculturality in BE textbooks published in the 2000s (Lario de Oủate & Va1zquez Amado, 2013) and many national policies to enhance ICC in FLT throughout the world (cited in Newton & Shearn, 2010a, p.10 ) such as The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (The Council of Europe, 2001), The British National Languages Strategy, The Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century (The U.S.A, 1996), The Australian Intercultural language Teaching and Learning in practice project 2006–2008, The International Curriculum for Chinese Language Education (2008), and The Vietnam National foreign Language project 2020 (Vietnam government, 2008)

Why ICC is necessary in BET? The answer actually lies in the characteristics and functions of BE itself BE is very dynamic in its own way, specific in context, embedded in business skills and frequently used by interactants from different cultures Thus, BE is more tolerant with cultural diversity (Kankaanranta & Louhiala- Salminen, 2013) In this regard, language, culture and business are interplayed, and a body of research has showed in business communication, native speakers of English are outnumbered by non-natives (Waechter, 2013), resulting in the fact that English is spoken in different ways since people bring their own cultures into their English speaking “In every culture of the world, authority, bureaucracy, creativity, good fellowship, verification and accountabilities are experienced in different ways” (Trompenaars, 1994; cited in Sweeney, 2011, p.14) This means the business environment in the globalization era becomes more challenging and complicated because of different etiquette, expectations and assumptions of politeness and appropriateness in intercultural business communication For instance, American interviewers may appreciate direct and quick responses from the interviewees while Japanese ones prefer “words must be weighed, not counted” If businesspeople interpret what their counterparts say through their own cultural lenses, stereotype or prejudice becomes unavoidable, causing failure in intercultural business communication Scollon and Scollon (2001) draw a conclusion from years of consulting major business organizations that misinterpreting the counterparts’ discourse frequently leads to miscommunication and even hostility in intercultural business communication Studies have unveiled three reasons why some international business ventures failed: “lack of intercultural skills and competence, inability to communicate effectively at a global level, and failure to practice acceptable etiquette in business negotiations” (cited in Melvin, Ephraim & Otis, 2012, p.217) The authors also affirm effective intercultural communication helps businesspeople build up

33 business relationship with their counterparts and significantly contributes to their business’ success in the international working environment

International trade has been developing tremendously in the globalization era ICC, therefore, plays a very important role in bridging the gaps in intercultural communication Teaching ICC in BET helps learners be aware of cultural diversity for tolerant and positive attitudes toward cultural differences and provides them with necessary skills to avoid misinterpretation of the others’ messages, offensive mistakes, and severe trouble, significantly contributing to their success when doing business with people from other cultural backgrounds

In an interview about teacher’s beliefs and practices conducted by Birello (2012), Borg emphasized the interrelationship among three elements in an equation, namely teachers’ perceptions, practices and contextual factors Thus, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of teachers’ practices of culture/ICC teaching in English language education, the three elements should be altogether reviewed

2.5.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture/ICC and contextual factors

In European context, Sercu et al (2005) carried out an international quantitative study on European language teachers’ perceptions of ICC with the participation of 424 secondary school teachers of English, German, French, and other languages from six European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Spain and Sweden and Mexico) The results exposed that although the teachers perceived the importance of culture in language teaching, this domain was considered as a peripheral aspect after language competence The teachers showed both willingness and unwillingness to integrate culture into their language teaching, and revealed multiple contextual factors preventing them from teaching culture in their language classes such as the lack of

34 time, teachers’ insufficient culture knowledge and culture pedagogy, and the absence of interculturality in the curriculum and teaching materials

Larzộn-ệstermark (2008) studied how Finnish-Swedish EFL teachers conceptualized cultures through interviews with thirteen participants The results showed that the teachers perceived culture teaching in EFL classes as the transmission of facts from teachers to students Additionally, in their view, culture involved “a dual perspective” (p.536), enabling one to relate his/her own culture to other cultures The teachers’ conceptualization of teaching culture, therefore, reflected a static view since the cultural contents in their language classes were taught out of context The dynamic view of teaching culture in practice was not reported through the interviews

In Palestinian context, Abu Alyan (2011) studied EFL teachers’ belief of culture and ICC using a case study of one of the leading Palestinian universities The teachers in this study understood culture as a system of values, beliefs, ways of thinking and behaviors, and ICC was perceived as the ability to communicate with people from other cultures with the cultural knowledge of the self and native English-speaking countries Furthermore, they also considered ICC as CC According to Sercu et al (2005, p.3), “ICC builds on CC and enlarges it to incorporate IC”; thus, the teachers were not aware that all of the dimensions of IC including intercultural attitudes, intercultural knowledge, intercultural skills and critical awareness (Byram, 1997) should be understood as the components integrated and interwoven with CC to help people deal with various cultural conflicts in intercultural communication Sharing the same interest with Abu Alyan, Zhou (2011) employed a mixed-method research with

ICC in English language teaching (ELT) and Business English teaching (BET) 1 ICC in ELT 2 ICC in BET 2.5 Review of previous studies 31 31 32 33 2.5.1 Teachers’ perceptions of culture/ ICC teaching and contextual factors

cultures into ELT for the development of the students’ intercultural knowledge and attitudes Nevertheless, in knowledge of ICC theory, in addition to intercultural knowledge, positive attitudes toward cultural differences and language competence, ICC consists of skills and critical awareness for successful communication across boundaries

In a word, the findings from the above studies reflect the language teachers’ static view on teaching culture, focusing on transmitting a body of visible and invisible cultural knowledge to the students (Liddicoat, 2001) The other dynamic dimensions of

IC, namely skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovering and interacting, and critical awareness were not employed to develop the students’ ICC Although the teachers were aware of the necessity of teaching culture/ICC in language classes, this came as the second priority after teaching language A number of contextual challenges such as the teachers’ insufficiency of cultural knowledge and culture teaching methods, students’ limited language proficiency, linguistically oriented curriculum and assessment, time constraints and the students’ lack of motivation in learning English and social rejection accounted for their hesitation to integrate culture/ICC into their FLT

2.5.2 Teachers’ culture/ICC teaching practices

Regarding culture/ ICC teaching practices, 424 secondary school teachers of English, German, French, and other languages from six European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Spain and Sweden and Mexico) in the international quantitative study carried out by Sercu et al (2005) reported that they frequently taught by the textbooks, and their objective of teaching culture was merely teaching cultural knowledge with the dominance of British or American culture Moreover, they preferred teacher-centered culture teaching approach, focusing on enhancing the pupils’ familiarity with the foreign cultures and devoted more time to language

38 teaching than to culture teaching Despite the fact that most of the teachers were willing to embed ICC teaching into their language teaching, this willingness was not mirrored in their teaching practices

The aforementioned study of Larzộn-ệstermark (2008) in Finland showed three categories of culture teaching activities implemented by the EFL university teachers In the first category, the teachers provided the students with visible culture of English speaking countries; the second category involved the teacher’s sharing their own intercultural experience with the students to prepare them for the future communication with native speakers; the third one related to experiential learning activities through which the students were given opportunities to experience real-life intercultural situations such as visits by native speakers and simulated communication with native speakers In spite of reporting the teaching activities reflecting intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes, the teachers’ real culture teaching was the conveyance of cultural information to their students The third category somewhat expressed their dynamic view on approaching culture although it was not usually implemented in their ELT activities

Abu Alyan’s (2011) case-study on EFL Palestinian university teachers’ belief of culture and ICC indicated the gaps between the teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices The participant teachers were aware of the inseparable relationship between language and culture and perceived ICC as the ability to communicate with people from other cultures with the knowledge of the self and of the English/American culture However, linguistic competence was dominant in their classroom teaching practices and culture teaching served as the background supporting language teaching and learning Likewise, the findings from Zhou’s (2011) mixed-method study with 201 Chinese university EFL teachers revealed the commonalities between their perception and their culture instruction Specifically, the teachers devoted more time to teach English language while culture was occasionally taught via teacher-centered approach

In New Zealand, East (2012) conducted interviews with the FLT teachers and found that culture was addressed as artifacts and treated separately from language teaching In their view, intercultural knowledge was adequate to assist the students to communicate effectively across boundaries Similarly, Luk (2012) from Hongkong showed the findings from interviews with EFL teachers that the participants found it necessary to teach culture in language and were aware of the role of culture in motivating their students However, culture was not focused throughout their language teaching practices and was considered as “a special treat, a lesson sweetener, or an appetizer before the main course” (Luk, 2010, p 256) The teachers’ treatment of culture as a marginal aspect in ELT expressed their static view on approaching culture, departing far from the ICC teaching principles

The quantitative study with Iranian EFL teachers of Mosa (2013) and the mixed-method study with Chinese EFL teachers of Tian (2013) both investigated the teachers’ perceptions of culture/ICC and their practices The two studies shared the same findings in which the teachers’ culture teaching patterns were done traditionally through teacher-centeredness, and ICC skills dimensions were not touched upon Tian’s study also discovered the teachers’ intentional focus on the home culture besides the diversity of other cultures

The studies from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Al Hasnan, 2015; Osman, 2015) were done to investigate ICC perceptions and practices of the EFL teachers in their own countries These studies gathered data from questionnaire surveys, written reflections, individual interviews, focus-group interviews, class observations Their results showed the EFL teachers’ reservation toward the interculturalization of ELT Although the teachers perceived the important role of ICC in intercultural communication, their culture teaching was mainly the teacher’s transmission of native cultural knowledge to their students ICC teaching was not focused from the macro level to micro level and the teachers were unwilling to teach ICC

In Vietnam ELT context, Ho’s (2011) conducted a mixed-method study on EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching and learning culture from an intercultural perspective with the participation of fourteen EFL teachers and 200 EFL students from two universities The data collected from the teachers’ classroom observations expressed the similarity between the teachers’ perceptions and their practices As mentioned earlier in the previous section, the teachers in the study conceptualized culture in relation to cultural knowledge, vocabulary and language use Accordingly, the findings unveiled the teachers’ three culture teaching patterns: teaching culture through vocabulary and expressions; teaching cultural knowledge such as “famous people, facts about Britain, the first man on the moon and so on” (p.53); teaching culture through sharing the teacher’s own intercultural experience Culture teaching was given a peripheral position in the participants’ EFL classes and achieving native speaker-competence was considered as the assessing goal Their teaching patterns expressed the separation of culture from language; thus, their EFL students were not provided with activities to develop the dynamicity in learning culture for ICC

In the same vein, Nguyen’s ethnographic study (2013) carried out in a university in North Vietnam and the quantitative study of Chau and Truong (2019) revealed the facts that the teachers rarely conducted ICC teaching in their language classes Their ELT teaching was linguistically dominant and culture teaching was merely providing facts of the home culture and mostly English-speaking cultures through teacher-centered approach Regarding ICC pedagogy, Tran and Seepho (2016) developed an ICLT model including principles, activities, learning materials to teach ICC in ELT courses on the basis of Byram’s (1997) ICC model and the IC models developed by Deardorff (2006) and Fantani (2000)

It can be seen from the reviewed studies that although the teachers acknowledged the essential role of culture/ICC in ELT, their classroom teaching approaches and activities were linguistically oriented The culture teaching was done

41 traditionally through teacher-centeredness with the teacher’s transmitting cultural knowledge to the students The skills dimensions of ICC were not well integrated into their language teaching These teaching patterns go against the theories of ICLT (Newton & Shearn, 1020b) which emphasizes learners’ autonomy in learning culture and teachers’ dynamic culture teaching approach aiming at ICC, not native-like language competence as the outcome standard of the FLT program

2.5.3 Studies on ICC in business

Regarding ICC in business communication, Junko and Viswat (2011) study the cultural awareness of Americans who have experience in doing business with Japanese people They investigate 20 American businesspeople working at a Japanese company either in Japan or in the United States, or Americans with experience in doing business with Japanese people either through interviews or questionnaires Their findings reveal a number of difficulties arising from cultural differences between American and Japanese Zheng (2015) and Chunrong (2016) both analyze personal understandings of successful intercultural business communication skills, emphasize the importance of learning these skills and suggest strategies to improve students’ ICC in business such as expressing positive awareness toward other cultures, adapting to cultural differences, comparing one’s culture with the target’s and enacting one’s cultural knowledge for effective communication with different cultures Apart from the similar strategies with Zheng, Chunrong (2016, p 60) suggests taking the advantages of online materials and designing Culture-oriented Courses in BE learning to develop ICC for

BE students Although these studies are about ICC in intercultural business communication, they do not touch upon teachers’ ICC perceptions and practices in BET

In a word, although the studies regarding ICC in FLT were done in different contexts through different research methods, they dominantly investigated ICC in

Research gaps

The literature review reveals some gaps which need to be exploring Firstly, most of the previous studies mainly investigated teachers’ perceptions of ICC and their ICC teaching practices in the field of general English with the subjects from Secondary schools and universities Several questions emerge: How do teachers perceive ICC in BET? What are their attitudes toward integrating ICC into BET? Do they teach ICC in their BE classes? Are there any factors influencing their integrating ICC into BET? Actually, there has been no empirical research addressing these questions so far although BE is the field where the need of ICC is reflected clearly because of its culturally diverse characteristics as aforementioned in the introduction section Secondly, while case-study design seems the “preferred strategy when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real-life context” (Yin, 2009, p.13), the number of studies conducted with this design in the field of ICC in ELT is still limited Finally, analyses of three kinds of teaching documents altogether, namely syllabi, lesson plans and textbooks for gathering data were not used in the previous studies The current research findings will thereby contribute to filling the gaps in the current literature

Summary

This chapter has presented the major theories relating to ICC in FLT and ICLT approach to form the theoretical framework of the research Firstly, it provides the definitions of the key terms of the thesis Secondly, the chapter reviews the models of ICC and ICC pedagogies Thirdly, inter-relationship among teacher’s perception, practices and contextual factors has also been addressed to establish the frame for the analysis, interpretation and discussion of the research findings Next, ICC in ELT and in BET have been summarized to feature the role of ICC in intercultural business communication Finally, previous studies regarding the research problems have been reviewed to expose the gaps of ICC in BET that need exploring in the present research

In a word, the literature review assists the researcher to confirm the worthiness of her research topic and establish a theoretical framework relevant to her research problems and guides her on every step of the research process

The next chapter presents the research methodology

METHODOLOGY

Constructivist worldview

Research design and data interpretation are shaped by how a researcher perceives the issues happening around him/her (Marshall & Rossman, 1999; Creswell, 2013) The scholars state such influence as a researcher’s worldview and emphasize that the goal of research through constructivist worldview is based on the participants’ views of the situation being studied A constructivist researcher listens carefully to what the participants say or do in their life settings and focuses on the specific context in which they live and work in order to understand their historical and cultural settings Further, “a constructivist researcher’s aim is to interpret the meanings the participants have about the studied issues on the basis of his/her personal, cultural and historical experience” (Creswell 2013, p.37)

The purpose of the present research is to explore the BE teachers’ perceptions of ICC and their teaching ICC to the BE students as well as factors which might influence their willingness to teach ICC in BE lessons All of the issues were studied in the

45 participants’ real working environment in order to gain an insight into their views and practices The researcher visited the research site to understand the participants’ teaching context, collected the data personally and searched for the answers to the research questions from the participants’ views The interpretation of the data was done from the researcher’s own experiences and background Constructivist worldview, therefore, is what can best describe the research design and the interpretation of the data.

Qualitative approach

According to Creswell (2013) constructivist world view research frequently accompanies qualitative approach including the characteristics namely “natural setting, researcher as key instrument, multiple sources of data, inductive and deductive data analysis, participant’s meanings and reflexivity” (p 235)

In the present research, the data were collected from the participants in their real teaching context During the research process, the researcher kept a focus on the meanings that the participants shared about the research issues The researcher carried out the data collection through a variety of sources, namely in-depth interviews, classroom observations and analyses of syllabi, textbooks and lesson plans, and played the role of the key instrument in all of the stages of the research Qualitative approach is therefore appropriate to address the research questions in the current research The following section explains the use of case study as the research design.

Research design

Case study design was used to conduct this research since it enables the examination of “one phenomenon in depth at a selected site” (McMillan & Schumacher, 1993, p.438) In the same vein, Yin (2009, p.18) offers the detailed definition of case study:

A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident

Moreover, case studies are suitable to address "How” or "Why" research questions, and when the research focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real-life context (Yin, 2009) Accordingly, the present research essentially aims at exploring in depth the BE teachers’ perceptions and teaching practices from an ICC perspective as well as contextual factors influencing their teaching ICC in BE lessons in their real teaching classes The data were collected from three sources: field notes of direct observations, in-depth interviews and analyses of syllabi, lesson plans and teaching textbooks to address the research questions The process of collecting data was done in the participants’ real teaching context, and three sources of data were triangulated to address the research questions Case-study design, thereby, would be appropriate for the research The section below describes the site selection procedures.

Research site

After mapping the field through “social map”, “spatial map” and “temporal map” as suggested by McMillan and Schumacher (1993, p 412), the researcher could gain a sense of the total context and decided to select the Department of English at a college in Ho Chi Minh City, the south of Vietnam as the research site because of the following reasons:

Firstly, the college meets the requirement of information-rich case for study in- depth (Patton, 1990, p.169) since the key field of the college is international trade Thus, the BE curricula and syllabi designed and managed by the English Department include all typical courses of BE suitable for both teaching and researching purposes Moreover, the college has to rigorously follow the accreditation process implemented by Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade and organize a conference for

47 conversations with enterprises annually to catch up with the social demands; the teaching and training programs, therefore, are carefully selected with the official approval of the College Editorial Scientific Jury and updated every year if necessary

Secondly, the college is ranked as the one of the best colleges in Vietnam with the high and stable volume of enrollment and the training for approximately 10,000,000 students annually (www.toplist.com.vn) The college is well-known for its

20 years of experience in providing the society with high quality labor force at tertiary level in the major fields of: 1/ International Trade including Import-Export, Logistics, and International payment, Logistics; 2/ Business English; 3/ Accounting & Finance with Corporate Accounting, Corporate Finance; 4/ Business administration with the focus on E-Commerce, Hospitality, Human resources management and Quality management, Petroleum Business Administration, Commercial Marketing, Management Informatics, and Tourism and Travelling throughout Vietnam with a great number of graduates employed every year All of these are the emerging majors in the field of business which need to be included in the training programs of any business institutions

Thirdly, BE is one of the compulsory subjects to all of the college students leveled from English for General Business Purposes (EGBP) in the first two years and English for Specific Business Purposes (ESBP) in the last year The students’ English language proficiency outcome standards vary from TOEIC 500 to 650 compatible with each major (COFER, 2018) The fact that TOEIC score is selected as the English language proficiency outcome standards has confirmed the college’s target of equipping the graduates with BE communication skills in the global working environment The three investigated textbooks are the official teaching materials used for teaching EGBP Besides EGBP courses, the students are required to fulfill an ESBP course suitable with their major such as English for Marketing, English for Accounting or English for Hotel and Hospitality, and so on

Finally, as explained earlier in the introduction section, business means diversity and BE is certainly related to authentic context, and more tolerant to otherness (Frendo, 2005; Kankaanranta & Louhiala-Salminen, 2013) Thus, ICC enables the students in this business-majored college to deal with cultural diversity in intercultural business communication in their future working environment This college is thereby worth being the research site.

Participants

In the current research, concept sampling, “which is a purposeful sampling strategy in which the researcher samples individuals because they can help the researcher generate or discover a theory or specific concepts” (Creswell, 2012, p 208) was used to select participants The specific pre-determined criteria were: 1/ having experienced intercultural situations to be more aware of ICC in global communication; 2/ teaching the BE course for at least two years at the research site so that they have adequately experienced the course objectives, the teaching content and teaching context; 3/ willingly giving permission for the researcher’s classroom observations and documents access; 4/ voluntarily participating in the in-depth interviews Meeting all of these criteria proved they were of rich information, knowledge, experience and communication skills to become a very good source for the data collection

The participants were the six BE teachers in the Department of English who met all of the above stated criteria Creswell (2013, p.239) states the regular number of four or five participants from his review of case study research In the current study, the number of six participants is a manageable number, helping the researcher gain understanding of each participant Following several informal conversations, an invitation to the in-depth interview were officially sent to each participant The participants manifested a variety of educational background, age, gender, and teaching experience Their demographic information is summarized in Table 3.1 below

Table 3.1: The participants’ demographic information

Code Age Sex Years of teaching BE

Teacher 1 (T1) 39 Male 13 Yes MA on TESOL

Teacher 2 (T2) 38 Female 10 Yes MA on TESOL

Teacher 3 (T3) 44 Female 22 Yes MA on TESOL

Teacher 4 (T4) 38 Female 10 Yes MA on TESOL

Teacher 5 (T5) 35 Male 8 Yes MA on TESOL

Teacher 6 (T6) 45 Female 22 Yes MA on TESOL

Researcher’s role

In qualitative research methods, the researcher is the primary instrument for gathering and analyzing data (Merriam, 1998; Creswell, 2013) Yin (2009) states a list of required skills for a researcher such as the capability to ask good questions and interpret the answers, being a good "listener", being flexible, being unbiased by preconceived notions In the current research, the researcher played the role of the observer, interviewer, and translator of the interview data and followed all the procedures of case study design in order to collect valid and reliable data, objectively analyzed the data collected, authentically reported the findings from the participants’ meanings and logically expressed the discussion As a BE teacher at the research site for many years, the researcher might bring certain biases to the current research Although a plenty of efforts, stated in detail in the section of trustworthiness, was made to reduce subjectivity, the way that the researcher viewed, understood and interpreted the data might be influenced by the biases However, being an insider researcher significantly facilitated the researcher’s procedures of participant selection, data collection and obtaining full permission to access the site and documents The insider researcher also had deep understanding of the context and the policies relating to the research These should be considered as the advantages in Vietnamese context since the inconvenient geographic distances within the busiest city in Vietnam and local

50 culture of incommunicative sharing with strangers may prevent the researcher from accessing the site and collecting valid data in an unknown school The next section states the data gathering methods.

Data gathering methods

Following the recommendations of McMillan & Schumacher (1993) and Yin (2009), the data were collected through three instruments: 1/ in-depth interview; 2/ documentation including syllabi, lesson plans and BE textbooks in current use; 3/direct observation/ field note taking The main purpose of this rigorous data collection is to develop insightful understanding of the participants’ perceptions of ICC and their practices as well as influential factors in the real teaching context Specifically, the correspondence of the research questions and the data gathering procedures is shown in Table 3.2 that follows

Table 3.2: Research questions and the data gathering procedures

Research questions Data gathering procedures

1 How do the teachers perceive ICC in BET?

In-depth interviews Content analyses of syllabi + lesson plans

2 How do the teachers teach ICC to their BE students?

Classroom observations In-depth interviews Content analyses of syllabi + textbooks + lesson plans

3 What factors influence the teachers’ integrating

Classroom observations In-depth interviews Content analyses of syllabi + textbooks + lesson plans The followings state the strengths and weaknesses of the data collecting instruments and explain the reasons for choosing them in more depth

Yin (2009) affirms interviews are useful for case study design since they relate directly to the research topics and provide explanations Nevertheless, interviews may generate bias due to poorly articulated questions To limit the weaknesses of interviews, two pilot interviews were conducted with the two teachers of the Department of English at the college other than the participants joining the official study The pilot interviews were used to refine the interview questions, test the time management, generate possible probe questions needed in additional to the key interview questions and test the recording device The pilot interviews actually provided several probe questions in the section of institutional factors with the teachers’ enthusiastic sharing about their expectation of the college policies Thus, ten more minutes was added to the anticipated interview time for more probe questions while the main interview questions were unchanged The results of the pilot interviews were not included as part of the research

As stated earlier in the participant selection, six BE teachers were invited to the in-depth interviews because this application allowed the researcher to collect a good and detailed source of data from the individuals who have special knowledge, status and communication skills Each participant was asked to sign a letter of consent (see Appendix C, p 145) before the interview The time and place to conduct the interviews were at the participants’ discretion, and the library and teacher’s room were preferred Each interview lasted from twenty-three to twenty-seven minutes After the preliminary analysis of the data, T1, T4 and T5 were invited for the second interviews for ten minutes to clarify some of the information about their ICC teaching activities, teaching syllabi and materials Open-ended questions (see Appendix B, p 132 for the interview questions) help the interviewees answer without constraints and express their ideas on various dimensions The interviews were audio-recorded and conducted in Vietnamese to facilitate the participants’ idea expression and ease their anxiety The

52 interviews were transcribed verbatim in Vietnamese and each interview was saved as an individual Microsoft Word file The findings were translated into English and reported in the finding and discussion chapter

Besides the main interview questions, the participants were asked several probe questions for further explanations or clarification The interview questions were written in alignment with the research questions and the theoretical framework with the focus on four specific sections as follows

This section aims to collect information about the participants’ age, education and intercultural experience in terms of their studying culture/ ICC in the BA or MA course, and their working or travelling in intercultural communicative environment The data may reveal factors partially accounting for their current perceptions of ICC and ICC teaching

Section 2: corresponding to research question 1: “How do the teachers perceive ICC in

In this section, the interview questions reflect what the teachers “think, know and believe” (Borg, 2003, p.81) about culture and ICC as driven by Byram’s ICC model (1997) and the factors forming their present perceptions suggested through ệztỹrk and Gỹrbỹz’s model (2017, p 17) The teachers’ perceptions of ICC were explored via: 1/their understanding/ definition of culture and ICC and ICC teaching; 2/ their awareness of the significance of ICC in BET; 3/ their attitudes toward integrating ICC into BET The data collected show whether the teachers fully understand ICC and ICC teaching with all the stated dimensions, how they perceive the role of ICC in BE, and their attitudes toward integrating ICC into BET.

Section 3: corresponding to research question 2: “How do the teachers teach ICC to their BE students?”

This section explores the participants’ ICC teaching in terms of 1/ the cultural teaching contents; 2/ their instructional activities incorporating ICC teaching; 3/ the criteria of the course assessment; 4/ their teaching foci The data collected may reveal if cultural contents are available in their teaching materials; whether or not the teachers are teaching ICC; if yes, which dimension of IC is touched upon, and what approach is used

Section 4: corresponding to research question 3: “What factors influence the teachers’ integrating ICC into Business English teaching?”

Guided by ệztỹrk and Gỹrbỹz’s model (2017, p 17) relating to the formation of teachers’ classroom practices, this section explores the institutional context including the curriculum and syllabus policies, testing policies, class size, classroom facilities, interculturality of the textbooks, time allocation to the course; the students’ profiles including their English proficiency level; improvisational teaching The data collected explain the teachers’ decision making regarding the integration of ICC into BET and shed more light on the participants’ present perceptions as the experience during the real teaching in the real context can add new knowledge forming their new perceptions

The individual interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and lasted for approximately thirty minutes each at the time and places at the participants’ discretion

To start each interview, the researcher firstly explained the purpose of the research one more time, guaranteed the confidentiality and asked the participant to sign the informed consent form The demographic questions then were asked in form of conversations to establish rapport, enabling the interviewee to feel comfortable and natural After being audio-recorded, the interviews were transcribed and analyzed The transcripts of the

54 participants’ interviews were sent to them for checking accuracy, and the researcher had the participants return their feedbacks (if any) by email

Hancock and Algozzine (2006, p.103) affirm that documentation in case studies enables the researcher to validate and strengthen evidence from other sources Yin (2009, p.102) states both of the strengths of documentation as stability, exactness and broad coverage and the weaknesses of this method such as biased selectivity, reporting bias and difficulties in assessing

The content of three syllabi, the participants’ 12 lesson plans and three BE textbooks in current use were examined because these documents were accessible to the researcher and used for the compulsory subjects with the focus on BE communication Concerning the lesson plans, before officially teaching a new subject, the teachers at the research college are required to have a teaching demonstration in front of the panel and submit the demonstration lesson plans for evaluation In the current research, the participants were asked to give the researcher any lesson plans of the three investigated courses The criteria for the selection of the lesson plans were 1/ being designed for any lessons from the investigated textbooks, and 2/ being officially evaluated by the panel (see Appendix H, p 162 for the sample of the lesson plans) Finally, twelve lesson plans were collected from the participants Regarding the syllabi, the regulation of delivering the officially approved syllabi to all students right at the beginning of the courses makes these documents compulsory and available to all teachers (see Appendix F, p.156 for the sample of the syllabi)

Actually, there is a close inter-relationship among syllabi, lesson plans and the textbooks However, examining the course objectives and the teaching foci in the syllabi and lesson plans can shed more light on the teachers’ perceptions of ICC since

55 the teachers can be more creative and independent in their own lesson plans Teachers have to be the curriculum implementers but can be their own lesson plan designers

Specifically, the course syllabi and the lesson plans were examined for: 1/ the language and explicit ICC teaching objectives; 2/ the activities explicitly incorporating ICC teaching; 3/ the teacher’s teaching foci in the lesson plans; 4/ the marking criteria for the speaking and writing tests in the syllabi The three BE textbooks were analyzed for: 1/ ICC objectives; 2/ cultural content, activities or business contexts in which interculturality appears such as greetings, inviting, socializing, travelling, etc potential for the teachers to develop their students’ ICC; 3/ explicit/implicit culture teaching instructions; 4/ diversity of cultures

Data analysis methods

The current research followed the process of qualitative analysis defined as “a systematic process of selecting, categorizing, comparing, synthesizing and interpreting to provide explanations of the single phenomenon of interest” (McMillan & Schumacher, 1993, pp.480-488) In order to facilitate the analysis, the data tracking of the interviews and field notes were formatted as “teacher number, type and number of the data collection tool, number of the interview section or field notes and date; for example, (T1, interview 1, section 3, 24.5.19) or (T3, field notes 3.4, 16.10.18) Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the three data sources of the research because it:

 Can usefully summarize key features of a large body of data, and/or offer a “thick description” of the data set

 Can highlight similarities and differences across the data set

 Allows for social as well as psychological interpretations of data

 Can be useful for producing qualitative analyses suited to informing policy development (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p 97)

Following the guidelines regarding thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) and McMillan and Schumacher (1993), the data analyses were done in four phases The first three ones included the separated analyses of the three data sources, and the last phase involved the triangulation of the themes and subthemes emerging from the three sources for final themes, subthemes and patterns to be reported and discussed In order to familiarize with the data, the researcher read all of the three data sources including field notes from the observations, interview transcripts and the teaching documents carefully for many times to understand the participants’ meanings, picture their ICC teaching contents and pedagogy and physical setting of the observed classes as well as the content of the teaching documents Initial ideas about each source of the data were noted down Specifically, the data were analyzed in the following order

3.8.1 Analysis of the interview data

After catching the whole meaning of the data, the researcher started the initial coding process According to McMillan and Schumacher (1993, p.486), “coding is the process of dividing data into parts by a classification system” and the strategies to develop a classification system are “starting with predetermined categories and breaking each category into smaller sub-categories” In this phase, the researcher re- read each transcript of the interviews carefully line by line to draw out topics Then each topic from the data segment was written as a code/subtheme into the Word file using Insert Comment in Microsoft Word They were written next to the data segment which they related to and saved as a separated file on the computer with the name of the predetermined category such as “Teachers’ definition of culture” or “Teachers’ ICC teaching practices” Table 3.3 on the next page shows briefly an example of how a data

59 segment was coded, and the sample of interview coding and theming in detail was included in Appendix D (p.147)

Table 3.3: An example of interview data coding

Category/theme: Participants’ understanding of culture

In my opinion, culture refers to many things such as language, ways of life, daily routines, or even the cuisine, festivals of countries, and the way people interact with each other every day

Culture is the same as traditional customs Culture also influences the ways people communicate

I think culture includes many aspects: language, communication, business

3.8.1.2 Searching for themes and subthemes

The topics from the data segments were compared for duplication and overlapping meanings, then similar topics were grouped into larger clusters to form categories, abstract names representing the meaning of similar topics Following McMillan and Schumacher’s strategy (1993) of developing a classification system for categories, a new list on a separate sheet containing three columns was made The first column included major topics found in the data source, the second contained unique topics important to the research purpose and the third column encompassed unrelated topics After the categories were identified, themes, subthemes and patterns were

60 formed by grouping similar categories Then the researcher re-checked all the themes and patterns emerging to make sure they made up persuasive answers addressing the research questions For example, 13 topics relating to the teachers’ understanding of culture were categorized into the theme namely “teachers’ understanding of culture” including five subthemes: “culture as many aspects of life”, “culture as verbal and non- verbal languages”, “culture as the ways of communicating and behaving in business and in daily life” and “culture as the meaning underlying one’s behaviors and speech

3.8.2 Analysis of the teaching documents

As mentioned in section 3.7.2, the course syllabi and the lesson plans were analyzed for 1/ the language and explicit ICC objectives; 2/ the activities explicitly incorporating ICC teaching; 3/ the teacher’s teaching foci in the lesson plans; 4/ the marking criteria for the tests in the syllabi The three BE textbooks were analyzed for 1/ ICC objectives; 2/ cultural content, activities or business contexts in which interculturality appears (e.g greetings, inviting, socializing, travelling, etc.); 3/ explicit/implicit culture teaching instructions; 4/ diversity of cultures In order to identify themes and subthemes, the researcher read the documents thoroughly and based on the guided analysis questions (Kawamura & Kaczmarek, 2011) (see Appendix E, p 155) and the reviewed theories regarding ICC teaching contents to highlight/ underline the examined contents and made summaries of the examination (see Appendix G, p 161 for an example of document data coding, Appendix H, p 162 and Appendix I, p 166 for the sample of lesson plan and the summary of the lesson plan analysis; Appendixes J, K and L, pp 168-173 for the summaries of the content analysis of the three BE textbooks)

3.8.3 Analysis of the classroom observation data

The recording of each participant teaching on the observation sheets were read carefully for the whole picture of their teaching content and teaching pedagogy Then,

61 driven by the aim of the observations, the data segments reflected the participants ICC teaching, their teaching foci and the cultural topics potential for ICC teaching were manually underlined on the observation sheets After that, these underlined points were written down as the field notes during or right after each observation Finally, all of the notes were categorized for themes and teaching patterns (see Appendix O, p 177 for the sample of the observation data coding)

At this stage, triangulation, the cross-validation among data sources (McMillan

& Schumacher, 1993, p 498) was used to seek for the same themes/patterns from the three sources The authors suggest having the data found in artifacts, interviews and observations cross-checked for regularities in the data In the present research, the themes and subthemes emerging from the data sources were triangulated with each other For example, the teachers’ ICC teaching patterns from the interview data were triangulated with what was expressed throughout their real teaching acts in the observation data and with what was written in their lesson plans and syllabi for the similarities as well as discrepancies Then the final subthemes/patterns generating from the three sources of data were analyzed to gain insights into the teachers’ ICC teaching practices in BET.

The analytical framework of the research

The analytical framework in Table 3.4 on the next page shows the tentative themes and subthemes predetermined on the basis of the research questions, the literature review of ICC theory and previous studies It also sets the analytical foundation on which the data would be analyzed

Table 3.4: The analytical framework of the research

Tentative themes and sub- themes

Teachers’ perception s of ICC in

- Teachers’ understanding of culture & ICC in BET

- Teachers’ awareness of the significance of ICC in BET

- Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching ICC in BE lessons

- Qualitative & thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) and McMillan and Schumacher (1993)

- ệztỹrk & Gỹrbỹz’s model of the formation of teacher cognition (2017)

ICC teaching practices in BET

- Teaching foci (language or culture or both)

- Qualitative & thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) and McMillan and Schumacher (1993)

- ILT approach Crozet et al (1999)

- Liddicoat’s Interacting Processes of Intercultural Pedagogy (2008)

- ICLT (Newton & Shearn, 2010b) - ICC teaching techniques & activities (Reid, 2015; Hartman & Ditfurth, 2007) & previous studies

- Qualitative & thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke

63 contextual factors proficiency & improvisational teaching

- ệztỹrk & Gỹrbỹz’s model of factors influencing teachers’ instructional practices (2017) & previous studies

Trustworthiness

Qualitative research needs to meet a number of criteria, namely credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability (Lincohn & Guba, 1985) The scholars define that credibility is the equivalent of internal validity in quantitative research and is concerned with the aspect of truth-value In the current research, the researcher employed several strategies to increase the credibility such as spending plenty of time at the site to build up trust with the participants and to collect rich data; carrying out the interviews in Vietnamese to facilitate the participants’ understanding and expressing ideas; implementing the observations and interviews in the natural settings, the classrooms, to reflect the reality of the phenomenon; gathering data from legally- approved syllabi, lesson plans and textbooks used officially in the real teaching context; emailing the interview transcripts to the participants for their comments on the accuracy of the data

Regarding transferability which means the applicability of the research findings (Lincohn & Guba, 1985), the researcher selected a typical college specializing in business with a variety of majors in the field and popular BE teaching textbooks (Market leader, Profile 1, English for Business Communication) The participants were recruited in terms of their BE teaching and intercultural experience, potential to contribute rich information and provide new insights on the research problems In order

64 to help readers judge whether the findings of the current research are transferable to their own setting, the researchers provided a thick description of data

In order to increase dependability or consistency of the research, the data analysis process was carried out in line with the accepted standards for case study design In the current research, the criteria, rationale, and decision process in purposeful sampling were stated specifically, and the procedures of collecting and analyzing the data were transparently presented

Concerning confirmability or neutrality, the interpretation of data was done on the basis of the participants’ meanings The threats of insider’s biases were limited by the use of several instruments to collect data and by the triangulation of the data sources from these instruments The interviews in the research were audio-recoded and the interview records were transcribed verbatim in Vietnamese to guarantee the authentication of the participants’ meanings The transcribed versions of the interviews were sent to the participants for clarifying and checking the accuracy of the data The translation of the interview data used for analysis was done carefully in order to keep the original meanings of the participants.

Research ethics

Ethical guidelines consist of “informed consent, deception, confidentiality, anonymity, harm to subjects and privacy” (McMillan and Schumacher, 1993, p 397)

At the first contact with the selected participants, the researcher clearly explained the purpose of the research, committed to assure the confidentiality to them in order to get their consent (see Appendix C, p.145 for consent form) for joining the research and gain their permission for the observations as well as interviews Each participant’s name was coded (e.g T1, T2) to keep their confidentiality As the research was done on the basis of trustworthiness and transparency, the researcher sent the participants the

65 interview transcripts for their comments on the accuracy of the data although there were no adjustments sent back.

Summary

This chapter presents the methodology employed to conduct the current research The reasons why the researcher selected constructivist worldview, qualitative approach and case-study design were explained Additionally, the selection of research site and participants, the procedures to carry out the data collection and data analysis, the researcher’ role as the key instrument and steps taken to increase credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were described in detail Finally, the strategies to protect the participants’ confidentiality were stated in the research ethnics The next chapter presents the findings from the data collected to address the three research questions

FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

Teachers’ perceptions of ICC in BET

The teachers’ perceptions of ICC are explored through 1/their understanding of culture, ICC, and ICC teaching; 2/ their awareness of the significance of ICC in BET; 3/ their attitudes toward interculturalizing BET To answer the first question, data were collected from the in-depth interviews and the content analyses of BET syllabi and lesson plans The themes which emerged from the data analyses were 1/ teachers’ understanding of culture, 2/ teachers’ understanding of ICC and ICC teaching, 3/ teachers’ awareness of the significance of ICC, and 4/ teachers’ attitudes toward interculturalizing BET

There were four subthemes emerging from the interview data regarding the teachers’ understanding of culture: 1/culture as many aspects of life, 2/ culture as

67 language, 3/ culture as the ways of communicating and behaving in business and daily life and 4/ culture as the meanings underlying one’s behaviors and speech

The interview data analysis showed that four out of six participants viewed culture as an umbrella containing many aspects of life such as daily routines, ways of life, lifestyle, leisure activities, cuisine, festivals, customs, people, population and geography T1 said:

In my opinion, culture refers to many things such as language, ways of life, daily routines, or even the cuisine, festivals of countries, and the way people interact with each other every day (T1, interview 1, section 2, 25.4.19)

T2 viewed culture as “traditional customs, entertainment, religion, history and dressing” Similarly, T4 defined culture in terms of “people, population, geography, typical characteristics of the regions”, and T5 also saw culture as “the lifestyle” of a people The interrelationship between language and culture was emphasized by four participants (T1, T2, T3, & T5) The participants affirmed that culture also meant nonverbal language expressed through behaviors, gestures such as eye contact, nodding and shaking head, exchanging business cards and so on According to T2, not everything could be expressed through the means of verbal language Politeness was also reflected via one’s gestures and ways of dressing “If you enter a pagoda in Thailand, you should know how to dress appropriately in the eye of the local people” she said

During the interviews, the participants defined culture as “the ways of communicating and behaving in business and daily life” They constantly mentioned the terms “behaviors”, “interactions” and “communication” This was reflected through their various examples expressing the ways people communicate verbally such as socializing, telephoning, using words in communicating, greeting (T1, T3), entertaining business partners, making small talk (T2) giving compliments, apologizing

(T4) and writing business letters (T1) with people from different cultural backgrounds The participants specially focused on the cultural meanings underlying one’s behaviors and speech in intercultural communication For example, T3 explained the different meanings in greetings In her opinion, when teaching “Greeting”, the teacher had to explain more than just provided the key phrases such as “Hello”, “How do you do” or

“It’s very nice today” She emphasized the actual meaning lying under the greetings:

For example, I come to see you and see your daughter learning Then I will say to her

“Are you learning?” That is my greeting not my real question with the meaning “Are you learning or having lunch?” People from other cultures may find my greeting offensive, though (T3, interview 3, section, 27.4.19)

To make her explanation clearer, T3 shared one more example of misunderstanding in greetings: When a foreign partner said to her “It’s very nice today”, she might wonder why he said “fine” or not “fine weather” since she didn’t intend to go out with him Actually, “It’s just greeting”, and T3 thought that the teacher needed to explain the real meaning under the key phrases of greetings so that the students could understand gradually from the time they study basic English T1 explained to the students the different meanings underlying “eye contact” in different cultures He talked to the students that “Vietnamese people usually nod their heads if they agree on something and shake their heads if they disagree; however, Hungarians often do the opposite” (Interview 1) In the same vein, T5 emphasized “sending a red envelope in China to someone means sending him lucky wishes while this conveys a very negative meaning in Mexican culture” Similarly, T6 affirmed the necessity to provide the students with the meaning hidden in different gestures in different cultures since the lack of this kind of cultural knowledge probably caused offensive mistakes in intercultural communication

In sum, the data regarding the participants’ understanding of culture showed that they viewed culture in three aspects The first related to culture as cultural products or

69 artifacts including many aspects of life, verbal and non-verbal languages, behaviors and communication in business and in daily life The second, emphasized more through their answers, involved culture as structural elements such as the values, beliefs, norms, and meanings underlying one’s behaviors and utterances The third expressed dynamicity of culture through the process of interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds

The participants’ understanding of cultures reflects their dynamic view on approaching culture with more concern about invisible cultural knowledge via intercultural interactions This result is congruent with the active nature of culture in the definition of Faulkner et al (2006) and also resembles the findings from the studies of Zhou (2011), Tian (2013) and Nguyen (2013) in the fact that culture included both visible and invisible knowledge However, the participants in the current research paid more attention to how the others interpreted their behaviors and utterances in intercultural situations In light of ICC teaching theory, they were aware of culture from an intercultural perspective, considered as the major premise for the application of ICLT in BE (Newton & Shearn, 2010b)

4.1.2 Teachers’ understanding of ICC and ICC teaching

In the present research, the participants all found it easy to define this term and agreed on the important role of ICC - that was to enable the BE students to work and communicate successfully in intercultural environment The data from the in-depth interviews revealed that the participants understood the term “ICC” as the capacity to understand the interlocutors’ cultures to behave and communicate in harmony in intercultural communication with BE language proficiency and knowledge of other cultures The home culture was also touched upon via their sharing about the comparing approach between the home culture and the others’ in their teaching activities In the teachers’ view, teaching cultural knowledge of the other cultures,

70 especially in the field of business, and BE language competence helped the students have more tolerant attitudes toward “the differences” and communicate and work effectively across boundaries They shared their views as below:

ICC is the ability to use the knowledge of culture to communicate and behave effectively and to understand the cultural aspects of the people with whom we are doing business (T1, interview 1, section 2, 25.4.19)

The participants all emphasized the important role of cultural knowledge in intercultural communication They also showed the interest in “the otherness” They paid more attention to the interlocutor’s likes and dislikes to make them “pleased” in communication and felt the need to understand the other cultures in order to behave

“appropriately” or “politely” T2 shared her husband’s experience in working with the Fin partners who preferred going into the matters directly instead of making much small talk T3 and T5 gave the examples of exchanging business cards with Japanese business partners

Teachers’ ICC practices

After coding the data from the in-depth interviews, classroom observations and documents, the researcher could synthesize the following teaching contents and patterns relating to the participants’ ICC practices: 1/ priority of language competence with syllabus and textbook-oriented teaching, 2/ dominance of intercultural knowledge dimension teaching, 3/ teacher-centered culture teaching approach, 4/ student-centered culture teaching approach, and 5/ missing multiple opportunities potential for ICC teaching

4.2.1 Priority of language competence with syllabus and textbook-oriented teaching

The data from the in-depth interview showed the participants’ focus on the four skills, BE vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar in their BET According to them, the pressure from the students’ passing the exams and the lack of ICC criteria in the marking scheme were the crucial reasons accounting for the very small amount of or even no time for ICC teaching Followings are the participants’ answers from the in- depth interviews:

… For example, when teaching the language for giving advice and warnings in textbook Profile 1, I firstly teach them vocabulary Then, when the students have enough vocabulary, I ask them what they know about the exchanging business cards in Japanese culture before move to the listening activity….The first objective is to fulfill the lesson sections stated in the syllabus, the second is the students’ marks to pass the course, and the last is to help them continue with more difficult courses and have enough technical terms and professional knowledge to get out for a job.” (T4, Interview 4, section 3, 25.4.19)

T1 indicated an approximate number for the time ratio of language to culture was 80%-20%, and the time for culture teaching was even less if the professional and language contents occupied most of the class time T4’s estimation was less than 20% for culture teaching The other participants also emphasized the priority of language teaching:

Teachers can teach culture from the basic level such as Greetings, but we don’t have ICC criteria in the test marking scheme The first and the foremost is the language (T5, interview 5, section 3, 21.5.19)

The data collected from the classroom observations showed the similar teaching patterns with the focus on the four skills, vocabulary, sentence structures, word use and pronunciation The participants shared a common teaching procedure during each lesson: following strictly the activities in the order listed in the syllabi and textbooks, asking some warming up questions or telling anecdotes relating to the topics of the activities to provide the students with some background knowledge and vocabulary needed for the upcoming activities, explaining bilingually what the students needed to do, asking the students to explain some key vocabulary and correcting their pronunciation or language use in their speaking or writing Most of the teaching time was devoted to language activities and ICC was additionally taught when the cultural instructions were explicit or when the contexts, the vocabulary, gestures or the speech

84 acts needed to have cultural explanations Followings are the field notes from the participants’ classroom observations:

There were multiple intercultural components hidden in the textbook; the teacher mainly focused on key phrases, sentence structures, speaking and listening skills There were three times during 135 minutes of the lesson when ICC was taught: the use of “excuse me”, the preference of using indirect questions in British and American cultures and the differences in addressing between Vietnamese and other cultures The aim of this ICC teaching was to demonstrate the language of telephoning Plenty of ICC teaching opportunities were ignored (T1, field notes 1.1, 28.11.18 & field notes 1.2, 30.11.18)

Similarly, other field notes from the observations showed that although the lessons were full of ICC components; for example, “eating out vs eating at home”,

“eating fast food”, “working at home”, “having short meetings” (T3, field notes 3.1,7.12.18), “doing business online”, offering explanations for the given facts such as

“why fewer women use the internet than men”, “about 90% of new European product launches fail”, and “in Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than fifty minutes” (T4, field notes 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 7.12.18), the teacher spent most of the time teaching vocabulary, pronunciation, speaking and listening skills They followed the syllabi strictly ICC teaching involving home culture was touched upon quickly when the teacher asked the students to share their habit of eating out (T3, field notes 3.1, 7.12 18) Plenty of ICC teaching opportunities were missed

In the same vein, T4, T5 and T6 devoted most of their time to teach language skills, BE vocabulary and pronunciation ICC was taught for 3 minutes out of 45 minutes of the lesson (T5, field notes 5.1, 2.5.18) The observations showed that in many lessons, the participants did not touch upon ICC although there were potential intercultural communicative contents in the textbook activities For example, T3 skipped the cultural contents from unit 8 of the textbook “Profile 1”: “Eating out-

Eating at home”, “Eating fast food” and “Working at home” (Field notes 3.1, 7 12 18); T4 did not exploit culture from the topic “Business online” in Unit 10 of the textbook “Profile 1” (Field notes 4.1, 7 12.18); T5 missed the chance to teach ICC from the discussion topics on page 36 of the textbook “Market leader”: “ The best ideas in the last 20 years”, “The creative person you most admire” and “Ways that companies should do to encourage new ideas” (Field notes 5.1, 1.10.18); T6 did not explore cultural contents from the starting-up and listening activities on pages 22 and

24 of the textbook “Market leader” about “shopping habits”, “shopping at retail outlets” and “global shopping channel” (Field notes 6.1, 25.5.19) Although these topics included potential cultural contents, the participants devoted most of their time to language skills, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation

The results from the document analysis were compatible with the findings from the interview and classroom observation data The teachers’ teaching aim was language competence, and culture teaching was occasionally done when the cultural contents or culture teaching instructions were explicit in the textbooks (T2, Appendix H, p.162) Culture teaching occupied a limited time in the form of warming up activities, but the final aim was to teach vocabulary (T4) Many activities potential for ICC teaching were not explored and presented in the syllabi and lesson plans The studies of Sercu et al (2005) and Nguyen (2013) also showed the teachers’ teaching by the textbooks and the reviewed studies expressed the same focus on language competence The teachers’ practices really indicate the importance of interculturalized syllabi and assessment as well as teaching materials It can be argued that these factors, together with teachers’ perceptions of ICC essentially contribute to orienting the extent to which they teach ICC in BE lessons

4.2.2 The dominance of intercultural knowledge dimension teaching

Byram’s IC (1997) consists of five dimensions, namely intercultural knowledge, attitudes, awareness, skills of discovering and relating and skills of interpreting and interacting In this section, the dimensions are analyzed in detail

Just like the reviewed studies, this was the most frequently taught dimension recorded throughout the participants’ descriptions in the in-depth interviews, their lesson plans and classroom observations In accordance with their perceptions, they focused on providing the students with a body of cultural knowledge of the interlocutors with the emphasis on the values, beliefs, attitudes and meaning underlying one’s behaviors, speech acts and norms They said:

If I teach culture, I will integrate into my BET what is practical about culture such as daily routines, culture in communication in specific situations, culture in business interactions in different countries… For example, when talking about exchanging business cards with Japanese, if the students understand Japanese culture, they will know how to greet, how to give and receive business cards properly to meet their Japanese partners’ expectation (T1, interview 1, section 3, 25.4.19)

Factors influencing teachers’ integrating ICC into their BET

4.3.1 Learner profile- students’ low English language proficiency and their lack of self-learning ability

This factor was mentioned as the first and foremost to account for the hesitation to implement ICC teaching in the participants’ classrooms

Through the in-depth interviews, the participants complained the students’ low English language proficiency making them spend more time teaching grammar, vocabulary, even translating the texts from English into Vietnamese to ensure the students’ understanding All of these language activities frequently put them in the condition of teaching against the clock

T3 revealed that the vocabulary, listening and grammar sections occupied most of the teaching time The teacher would be very happy if the students could only speak fluently about what she had just taught them; “understanding culture is beyond the teacher’s expectation” (Interview 3, section 4, 27 4.19) Similarly, T4 found it difficult to teach ICC because of “the students’ English language proficiency, absorbability and the time allocated to the course, the big volume of knowledge needed to teach to the students” and “uneven language proficiency of the students in a class” (Interview 4, section 4, 25.4.19) T4 and T6 suggested creating “the base” (language competence) before teaching ICC They were afraid that the students were not proficient enough to understand and express their ideas about culture (Interview 2, section 4, 25 4.19 & interview 6, section 4, 16 10.18) Besides, the linguistically oriented syllabi and assessment forced the participants to devote most of their time to teach language skills to meet the test requirements T1 said:

The time allocated to review the lessons and teach the basic knowledge for the students to do the achievement tests is a big problem Therefore, teaching ICC is influenced sufficiently because the teacher firstly has to distribute the time properly to convey all

105 the knowledge necessary for the students to do the final exams before teaching other things (T1, interview 1, section 4, 25.4.19)

T3 confirmed that “although the textbook is well designed, the teacher has no time to teach everything” (Interview 3, section 4, 27.4.19) In the same vein, T4 said “I have to use up my time for teaching the vocabulary, listening and grammar sections

…” (Interview 4, section 4, 25.4.19) T5 did not guarantee that he could manage the course time if he spent time teaching culture

“The time allocated to each lesson is very limited It is a hard job for the teacher to complete the linguistic content listed in the syllabus; they don’t have enough time to integrate ICC into their teaching” (T6, interview 6, section 4, 16.10.18)

The participants were put under the pressure of fulfilling what was needed for the students to do the exams They did not want to cope with the question “why the test content does not match the teaching content” (T1, Interview 1, section 4, section 4, 25.4.19) Further, T1 added that the students’ self-learning ability was not adequate while ICC required them to actively join the learning process to explore other cultures (Interview 1, section 4, 25 4.19) ệztỹrk and Gỹrbỹz (2017) place the role of the learners in the center of their model, affirming their importance in influencing directly the teachers’ instructional decisions According to the participant teachers, the students’ BE proficiency was low, and so was their self-learning ability The teachers, therefore, had to devote much of the time to review grammar, correct pronunciation, teach vocabulary and even translate the instructions into Vietnamese to facilitate the students’ understanding, and these activities occupied plenty of teaching time Although the teachers acknowledged the importance of teaching culture in BE, they could not do it as much as they would like to do Consequently, their teaching focus was language competence to meet the syllabus and assessment objectives The studies of Sercu et al (2005), Ho (2011), Tony

106 and Itesh (2011), Tian (2013) share the same constraint in teaching culture in EFL classrooms, but the students’ self-learning ability was not mentioned in their findings Thus, on the one hand, students should be equipped with self-learning ability, and their

BE language proficiency should meet certain standard before entering official courses, but on the other hand teachers need to be aware of teaching ICC from the beginning level since this is the first principle of ICLT approach (Newton & Shearn, 2010b)

4.3.2.1 Absence of explicit ICC objectives in the teaching syllabi and assessment

Syllabi are considered as the contracts between teachers and students The teachers in the present research are required to send the students the course syllabus by the first day of the course and follow strictly the content written in the syllabus The participants’ interviews showed the same findings as those from the syllabus analysis: ICC teaching objective was not stated explicitly in the syllabi; the syllabus content and assessment were linguistically oriented The marking criteria for the speaking and writing tests dominantly included language knowledge and skills (see Table 4.1, p.66)

Consequently, the teachers had to follow the syllabi under the pressure of enabling their students to do the tests They avoided the students’ question about why there was a mismatch between the teaching content and the test content The teachers suggested including ICC teaching objectives in the course syllabi and assessment marking criteria to “make up the close relation between the teaching content and assessing content” (T5, interview 5, section 4, 21.5.19) In his opinion, this facilitated the teachers’ and students’ orientation in teaching, assessing and learning ICC and created the unity of teaching ICC among different BE classes with different teachers as a result

Regarding the interculturality of the textbooks in current use, the interview data showed that the participants agreed that “cultural content in the teaching textbooks are

107 rather diverse” and the so is the source of English textbooks of the English Department (T3, interview 3, section 4, 27.4.19); “the textbooks include cultural content and it lies implicitly in different sections (T4, interview 4, section 4, 25.4 19); “Language was dominant in the textbooks for ESP while cultural content exists explicitly in reading sections of English for Business communication textbook” (T5, interview 5, section 4, 21.5.19) T5 said that he only touched upon culture when it is included explicitly in the teaching sections The teachers said:

If ICC marking criteria were written in the syllabi, teachers and students would focus on them The teachers then can orient their students that they should pay attention to intercultural communication if they want to get marks If we don’t have ICC marking criteria in the assessment, it will be very difficult …When the teacher gives ICC marking criteria, the students then will be aware that they need to do that and feel interested with the assigned activities (T1, interview 1, section 4, 25 4.19)

Just like T1, T2 said that there were no ICC teaching objectives in the syllabi as far as she could remember She also suggested including ICC in the course syllabi so that the teachers had to focus on it when teaching since “teachers usually teach what is written in the syllabi and do not dig into ICC as it is not mentioned” (T2, interview 2, section 4, 25.4.19)

T3 also revealed the lack of ICC in the marking criteria for the speaking test She just focused on “the content, language use, pronunciation and fluency (T3, interview 3, section 4, 27.4.19) Similarly, T4 found no ICC criteria in the marking scheme of the speaking and writing tests The assessment focused on professional knowledge, communication skills including pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, speaking or presenting manner In her view, if the assessment had contained ICC criteria, it would have been able to orient the teachers and students to ICC teaching and learning (T4, interview 4, section 4, 25.4.19)

The participants all complained about the low quality of the internet system making it hard for them to download necessary materials for teaching culture directly in the class The traditional table and bench arrangement with from 40 to 45 students in one class prevented them from organizing teaching activities They said that the

Summary

The chapter has interpreted and discussed the findings of the research in regard to the research questions, the theoretical framework and the previous studies (see Figure 4.1 for the summary of the research findings)

The findings showed the majority of commonalities among the three data sources Regarding the first research question about the participants’ perceptions of ICC in BET, the results showed that the participants saw culture in three themes The first included cultural artifacts, namely many aspects of life such as ways of life, daily routines, festivals, cuisine, leisure activities, people, geography, customs (four participants); language (four participants); ways of communicating and behaving in business and in daily life (six participants) The second encompassed meanings underlying one’s behaviors and speech, and it was more emphasized to be more tolerant and polite in intercultural communication The third related to the dynamic aspect of culture (i.e culture was formed through social interactions) Thus, the teachers’ perceptions of the three core aspects of culture show their awareness of teaching culture from an intercultural perspective, a positive signal for teaching ICC in BET

ICC teaching was understood as the combination of BE language proficiency and intercultural knowledge, and teaching ICC in BE aimed to help the students communicate effectively in the multicultural working environment Although the participants perceived the importance of ICC in BET in the globalization, their BET objective was still language dominant They revealed the lack of ICC in the BET

116 courses and recommended adding this competence to the current BET syllabi Four out of six participants supported integrating ICC into BET while two of them were unwilling to teach ICC because of the students’ low language proficiency and self- learning ability and the absence of ICC objectives in the teaching syllabi and assessment Actually, ICC needs skills dimensions in addition to BE language competence and intercultural knowledge, awareness and attitudes Besides, the teachers’ reluctance to teach culture in BE shows their treatment of culture and language as the two separate domains, departing far from ICLT principles

In order to answer the second question about the participants’ ICC teaching practices, the data from the three sources were analyzed to search for their ICC teaching contents and patterns The findings revealed the language competence priority with syllabus and textbook-oriented teaching, the dominance of intercultural knowledge teaching, the supremacy of teacher-centered culture teaching approach and limited student-centered culture teaching approach Although the teachers reported a variety of culture teaching activities to develop the skills dimensions of ICC, these activities were not organized intentionally and systematically in their observed BET In spite of the rich interculturality in the textbooks, the first and foremost priority of the teachers’ BET was BE language competence Multiple explicit and implicit cultural contents in the teaching documents were not fully exploited to teach ICC comprehensively ICC teaching either appeared with very limited time when the cultural contents were made explicit in the textbooks or was done through spontaneous teaching ICC teaching aimed to serve language teaching, spice up the learning atmosphere and provide intercultural knowledge for polite interaction in intercultural communication In light of ICLT approach, language and culture need to be treated equally and integrated explicitly and intentionally from the early stage of FLT process.

The findings relating to the third research question about the factors influencing the participants’ ICC teaching were analyzed from the in-depth interviews, lesson plans, syllabi and textbooks and classroom observations Besides the participants’ insufficient intercultural knowledge and ICC teaching methods, four contextual obstacles limiting their ICC teaching were exposed They were the students’ low English language proficiency and lack of self-learning ability, the absence of explicit ICC objectives in the syllabi and assessment, the lack of facilities, and the absence of after-class activities and foreignness in the studying environment All of these co- existing barriers negatively influenced the participants’ decision to implement ICC teaching in their BE classes In the current research, most of the barriers influencing the teachers’ decision of teaching ICC in BE are similar with those in the reviewed studies of ICC in general English teaching This can be explained by the teachers’ original qualification of English language teachers not Business teachers as shown in table 3.1 (p 41) To some extent, this may have impact on their perceptions of the challenges in teaching ICC to EFL students

Obviously, there is a logical relationship among the teachers’ ICC perceptions their ICC practices and influential factors In addition to teachers’ adequate perceptions of ICC, ICC teaching methods, and students’ suitable English language proficiency, other contextual factors such as supportive college’s polices and atmosphere should be consistently interculturalized so that the teachers can confidently teach BET from an ICC perspective

The next conclusion chapter summarizes the whole research, confirms the research contributions, suggests some implications for the relating parties, exposes several limitations of the research and opens avenues for future studies in the field.

Figure 4.1: Summary of the key findings of the research

RQ3: Factors influencing the teachers’ integrating ICC into their BET RQ1: Teachers’ perceptions of ICC in BET

RQ2: Teachers’ ICC teaching practices

- Culture as many aspects of life

- Culture as verbal and non- verbal languages

- Culture as the ways of communicating & behaving

- Culture as the meanings underlying one’s behaviors and speech through social interaction

- Comparing cultures to be more understanding and tolerant to the otherness

Teachers’ understanding of ICC & ICC teaching:

- ICC as the capacity to understand other cultures to behave and communicate in harmony in intercultural communication

- ICC teaching as the integration of intercultural knowledge into BE language lessons

Teachers’ awareness of the significance of ICC in BET

- ICC as the important competence in BE but after language competence

- Suggesting integrating ICC objectives into the course objectives

Teachers’ attitudes toward interculturalizing BET

- Reluctance to teach ICC and reasons

- Students’ low English language proficiency & their lack of self- learning ability

- Absence of explicit ICC objectives in the teaching syllabi and assessment

- Absence of after- class activities and foreignness in the studying environment

- Teachers’ inadequate ICC knowledge and ICC teaching method

- Priority of language competence with syllabus and textbook-oriented teaching

- Dominance of intercultural knowledge dimension

- Teacher-centered culture teaching approach

- Student-centered culture teaching approach

- Missing various opportunities potential for ICC teaching

CONCLUSIONS

Summary of the key findings

This research aims to explore how Vietnamese teachers teach ICC to their BE students The research questions regarding teachers’ perceptions of culture and ICC, their attitudes toward teaching ICC in BE classes, their ICC teaching practices and contextual factors influencing their integrating ICC into BET were addressed through a case-study research with the participation of six BE teachers A famous college specialized in International Trade in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam was selected as the research site because its major was suitable with the research purpose

In the hope of filling in the gaps of the current literature, the researcher decided to explore this forgotten land through three research questions:

1 How do the teachers perceive ICC in their Business English teaching?

2 How do the teachers teach ICC to their Business English students?

3 What factors influence the teachers’ integrating ICC into Business English teaching?

In order to address the research questions, the data were collected through in- depth interviews, the analysis of 03 teaching syllabi, 12 lesson plans and 03 BE

120 textbooks in current use and classroom observations The data analysis was done under the guidelines of qualitative and thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) and McMillan and Schumacher’s strategy (1993) In this research, the mutual relationship of the three research questions was analyzed on the base of ệztỹrk and Gürbüz’s data-driven model (2017, p.17) The data analysis uncovered some key findings addressing the three research problems

5.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of ICC and ICC teaching in BET

Regarding the teachers’ perceptions of ICC and ICC teaching in BET, the findings indicated that the teachers did not perceive ICC and ICC teaching adequately

In their view, possessing BE language competence, intercultural knowledge and polite attitudes toward differences was the key to open the door to effective intercultural communication Whereas, ICC requires teachers to integrate all dimensions of IC into their language teaching, and students themselves need to be provided with opportunities to actively explore, be aware and encounter cultural differences to find a meeting point in the diversity In the present research, the teachers considered ICC as the peripheral competence after language competence This concept actually treats culture as a separated domain from language, going against the ICLT theories that language and culture are interrelated and they need to be processed equally and inseparably

5.1.2 Teachers’ ICC practices in BET

The results relating to the participants’ ICC teaching unveiled the commonalities between their ICC perceptions and ICC practices The teaching of language competence was more focused while culture teaching was touched upon either spontaneously or incidentally when the cultural contents were explicit in the teaching materials However, the final aims of such culture teaching acts were supporting language teaching, spicing up the learning atmosphere or providing the

121 students with intercultural cultural knowledge By emphasizing language outcomes, the participants missed further opportunities to intentionally dig into the available cultural contents for developing their students’ ICC comprehensively

5.1.3 Factors influencing the teachers’ integrating ICC into BET

The findings revealed several factors manipulating the participants’ inclination to teach ICC in BE lessons, namely teachers’ inadequate ICC knowledge and ICC pedagogy, students’ low English language proficiency, and the lack of self-learning ability and unfavorable policies from the college such as the absence of ICC objectives in the syllabi and assessment, the lack of facilities, the absence of after-class activities and foreignness in the studying environment To some extent, these factors also imply the lack of effective policies supporting ICC teaching and learning from the macro level of Vietnam education while the country has been on the way of integrating into the world

The findings of this research shared some commonalities with the previous studies in terms of teachers’ insufficient understanding of ICC and their lack of ICC pedagogy in ELT, the consideration of ICC as the peripheral competence, the teacher- centered culture teaching approach (Sercu et al., 2005; Ho, 2011; Zhou, 2011; Nguyen, 2013; Titan, 2013; Osman, 2015) and the contextual obstacles influencing teachers’ integrating ICC into ELT (Ho, 2011; Tony & Itesh, 2011; Nguyen, 2013; Tian, 2013) However, in contrast with the previous studies, the findings of this research showed the teachers’ concern about the meanings underlying one’s behaviors and utterances through intercultural interactions, the interculturalized teaching materials and a certain extent of teachers’ student-centered culture in their BET All of these differences imply the teachers’ BET from an intercultural perspective, reflecting the feasibility of interculturalization of BET in Vietnam tertiary education The following section presents several practical implications in detail

Implications of the research

5.2.1 Implications for in-service BE teachers

Firstly, in order to interculturalize BET and help students obtain ICC, teachers themselves need to change their own awareness of the objectives of BET and ICC so that they would be more willing to change their culture teaching pedagogy to reach the image of “Foreign language and IC teachers”, described as the ones who possess intercultural knowledge to explain the similarities as well as differences between the home culture and foreign cultures to the students and own instructional strategies to develop the BE students’ autonomy in learning culture for ICC

Secondly, teachers should state ICC objective clearly in their lesson plans and exploit fully the cultural contents existing either explicitly or implicitly in their teaching materials in order to create opportunities for ICC teaching and learning

Thirdly, it is very necessary for teachers to develop all dimensions of IC in BET, not just intercultural knowledge and attitude dimensions Skills dimensions need to be focused more in order to help the students actively explore new cultures, notice the cultural differences between their own and the others’ to develop their critical cultural awareness and positive attitudes toward cultural conflicts and reflect what they have obtained through activities which can enable them to encounter the otherness in intercultural communication

Finally, it would be better if teachers themselves create extra activities such as visits by foreign speakers, field trips to international schools or events containing intercultural encounters to increase experiential learning This method of teaching and learning would create more opportunities for the BE students to be soaked in real-life intercultural communication and more aware of the role of ICC in BE

5.2.2 Implications for Vietnamese BE teacher educators

In the current research, the participants’ BA curriculum included a separated course, namely “British & American cultures” and ICC was not focused in both of the

BA curriculum and MA course for TEFL This treatment of culture and ICC can partially account for the gaps in the teachers’ ICC perceptions and practices Thus, in order to improve the situation, the curricula of both BE language pre-service and in- service teacher professional development programs need to be the kind of interculturalized ones They are purposefully designed to teach ICC explicitly and aim to increase the teachers’ awareness of the essential role of ICC in BET in the globalization, their ICC understanding, ICC pedagogy and ICC assessment in BET as well as their ability to select, adapt and evaluate BE materials from an ICC perspective Obviously, whenever teachers have positive attitude toward change and feel confident enough to change, they will be more willing to change

Vietnam National foreign language policy (Government of Vietnam, 2008) should be included with guidelines facilitating the policy implementation of the micro level including universities, colleges, foreign language departments and language teachers New Zealand Ministry of Education creates a website for language teachers and learners (at: http://learning- languages.tki.org.nz/), supporting the schools, language teachers and learners to be updated with curriculum development guides, professional training, language resources, and language teaching and assessment guidelines, local and global latest pedagogy innovations and research in language education This can be considered as a good example of communication channel from the central to the local Besides a similar website, seminars, workshops and written documents should be developed so that there will be more effective communication

124 flows of guidelines and information from the macro level to micro level Further, training courses in country and overseas should be enhanced to develop teachers’ awareness, knowledge and pedagogy of ICC in ELT in general and in BE in particular

The barriers preventing ICC teaching emerging from the findings call for more supportive policies from the administrators of institutions and foreign language departments In order to develop ICC teaching and learning at institution level, the authorities need to be aware of the essential role of ICC in BET and are willing to create innovative atmosphere and convenient conditions to teach BE from ICC perspective as follows

Firstly, the English language proficiency of the students must be even and reach the required average level before starting their official BE language courses at the institution This helps to release the teachers’ burden to “review everything” for the students and save time for developing their ICC

Secondly, BE curricula and syllabi should include explicit objectives of ICC teaching and assessment, and all of the contents potential for ICC teaching should be explicitly included in the syllabi so that teachers and learners will be aware of their responsibility to teach and learn this competence Since the findings uncovered that the teachers taught by the syllabi and textbooks, they will be more willing to follow the course objectives strictly Practically, the teaching materials in this research were proved to be interculturalized, however, some sections rich for ICC teaching were crossed out in the syllabi, and this partially prevented them from interculturalizing their BET

Thirdly, in-service teachers also need supportive professional teacher training programs from the institutional level to develop their ICC, awareness of ICC in BET

125 and pedagogy to teach ICC comprehensively and to select, adapt and evaluate their BE teaching materials effectively for ICC teaching

Fourthly, modern facilities such as movable chairs and tables, good internet system need to be equipped to support ICC teaching

Finally, the lack of foreignness in the learning environment sufficiently influenced the motivation to teach and study ICC Therefore, institutions and foreign language departments should enhance teacher and student-exchanging programs, organize cultural events such as Vietnamese cuisine festival, Japanese hand-made fair, flea markets and so on These activities create experiential learning enabling students to explore not only their own identity but also new cultures and practice dealing with cultural differences for ICC development.

Research contributions

The present research findings have basically answered the three research questions set out at the beginning and expose several theoretical, methodological and practical contributions as follows

In theories, the theoretical framework of the current research casts more light on ICC and ICLT in ELT and contributes to laying the theoretical foundation for any studies on ICC in the field of BET Two more elements, specifically the teachers’ lack of ICC pedagogy and their inadequate understanding of ICC and ICC teaching, could be added to the analytical framework for the factors manipulating teachers’ inclination to teach ICC in BE lessons The research findings also fill in the gaps of teaching ICC in BE in the current literature review and expand the theories of ICC and ICLT approach from ELT in general to BET in particular

In methodology, the research diversifies the research design and data gathering instruments in the field of ICC in FLT with case-study design and the combination of

126 three sources to collect documentation data, namely syllabi, lesson plans and textbooks Although there have been several studies on ICC in ELT, none of them have been conducted with case-study design in BE Moreover, the constructivist worldview adopted in the research has generated the new body of knowledge concerning the teachers’ perceptions of ICC, their ICC teaching practices and the contextual factors that might not have been gained if other views had been adopted

In practice, the research reveals the truth that the BE teachers neither perceived ICC adequately nor taught ICC comprehensively In addition to the contextual factors as those stated in ệztỹrk and Gỹrbỹz’s (2017) model, the research results show the two more barriers preventing BE teachers from teaching ICC in BE classes including the teachers’ lack of ICC pedagogy and their inadequate understanding of ICC and ICC teaching The contextual factors somewhat contribute to the knowledge about the influence of educational policies on the innovation of BET in Vietnam tertiary education These results lead to the relevant implications for the relating parties including in-service BE teachers, BE teacher educators and policy makers from macro to micro levels for the interculturalization of BET and express the urgent need to teach

BE from an intercultural communicative perspective in order to help BE students catch up with the global demands

Additionally, several commonalities and discrepancies between the present research results and the previous ones have been indicated, hopefully providing more persuasive evidence for positive change in BET not only in Vietnam and but also in any countries with the similar context.

Limitations of the research and avenues for future research

In spite of casting more light on teachers’ perceptions and practices of ICC in BET in Vietnam, the research still bears several limitations However, these research limitations might open new avenues for future research

Firstly, the research explored ICC teaching in BET only from teachers’ perspectives In order to provide the readers with an overall view on the field, larger- scale studies can be done for the investigation of ICC teaching and learning of both teachers and students since foreign language (mostly English) has been a compulsory subject in the teaching curricula at all levels in Vietnam Moreover, ICC is especially related to business; therefore, more research could focus on entrepreneurs to explore their perceptions, their challenges and their needs in this field

Secondly, the scope of this research was EGBP Thus, studying ESP subjects such as English for Hotel and Hospitality, English for Tourism and Travelling, English for Marketing, English for Accounting, and so on can provide deeper insights into BE teachers’ ICC perceptions and practices

Finally, although the research data were collected through three sources, namely the analysis of the teaching documents, the teachers’ classroom observations and in- depth interviews with the teachers, it would be more convincing to have data from more sources such as post-interviews, questionnaires or interviews with the undergraduates in international schools, postgraduates or even with employers of multinational companies who can be of very rich practical information for in-depth study Hopefully, the future research can fill in these shortcomings

Summary

The findings of the case-study research with six BE teachers as participants cast more understanding about teaching ICC in Vietnam tertiary BE education The three key research questions regarding teachers’ perceptions of ICC in BET, their ICC teaching practices and influential factors were addressed through the detailed analyses of the three thick sources of data, namely in-depth interviews, field notes of classroom observations and course syllabi, lesson plans and teaching textbooks The research findings pinpointed several gaps in the BE teachers’ perceptions of ICC expressed

128 through their insufficient understanding of the dimensions of ICC and their considering ICC as a peripheral aspect in BET Under the influence of multiple contextual barriers, the gaps in the teachers’ perceptions of ICC led to their incomprehensive ICC teaching practices with the emphasis on language competence and the dominance of cultural knowledge transmitting through teacher-centeredness, apart from the ICLT approach required for “FL & IC” teachers

The findings filled in the gap in the current literature of ICC in BET and provided BE in-service teachers, BE teacher educators and policy makers from the macro to micro level with empirical evidence for more focus on ICC in BE education

In spite of several limitations in the research scope and the data collecting instruments, the research can open several avenues for future studies in the field

LIST OF THE AUTHOR’S PUBLICATIONS

1 Ho, T P D (2019) Vietnamese teachers’ perceptions of integrating intercultural communicative competence (ICC) into Business English teaching ThaiTesol Journal, 32(2), pp 17-31

2 Ho, T P D., & Ton, N N H (2020) Factors influencing teachers’ integrating intercultural communicative competence (ICC) into Business English teaching Hue

University Journal of Science: Social Sciences and Humanities, 129(6b)

Abu Alyan, A (2011) Exploring teachers’ beliefs regarding the concepts of culture and intercultural communicative competence in EFL Palestinian university context: A case study ProQuest Dissertations Publishing Retrieved from https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest- com.librarylink.uncc.edu/docview/882896651?accountid605

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APPENDIX A: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH DESIGN

1 How do the teachers perceive ICC in Business English teaching?

2 How do the teachers teach ICC to their Business

3 What factors influence the teachers’ integrating ICC into their Business English teaching?

1.1 To understand how the teachers define culture &

ICC & ICC teaching in BET;

1.2 To understand how the teachers perceive the role of ICC in BET

1.3 To explore the teachers’ attitudes towards integrating ICC teaching into BET

2.1 To explore their teaching foci;

2.3 To address the teachers’ ICC teaching contents, approach & activities or the lack thereof;

To understand what might be the influential constraints for them in implementing

Six Business English teachers at a college specializing in business education

Field notes of classroom observations, in- depth interviews & analyses of the 3 syllabi, 12 lesson plans & 3 BE textbooks in current use

APPENDIX B: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Section 1: Demographic information Date: Code: Duration:

3 Years of teaching Business English:

Teachers’ perceptions of ICC in

- Understanding of culture, ICC & ICC teaching

-Could you please define the terms “culture” & “Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in BE?”

- How do you understand teaching ICC in BE?

- Perceptions of the significance of ICC in BET

- What are your main goals in teaching BE?

- How do you think about the benefits of teaching ICC to the BE students?

- Attitudes toward ICC teaching in BE

- How do you think about “ICC” as a goal of BE teaching?

- If ICC needs to be considered as one the goals of BE teaching, are you willing to integrate ICC teaching in your Business English teaching? Why? Why not?

- What are your teaching foci?

- Please share some examples of your teaching activities from the textbooks which could develop the students’ ICC in your opinion

- Why do you think these teaching activities can help to develop your students’ ICC?

- How often do you organize these activities in your BET?

- Could you tell me some challenges influencing your teaching ICC in BE?

- What do you think about the degree of cultural content in your current teaching textbook?

- How do you think teaching such textbook can contribute to the students’

Influential contextual factors -Institutional context: development of ICC?

- How do you think BE textbooks should touch upon different cultures of both English and non-English speaking countries as well as the source /Vietnamese culture?

- How many students are there in your official class?

- Does this class size influence your implementation of teaching ICC to students?

If yes, in what way?

- How many periods do you officially teach per week?

-Does this workload influence your implementation of teaching ICC to students? If yes, in what way?

- How do you evaluate the students’ English proficiency?

- Does this factor prevent you from teaching ICC in your classroom? If yes, in what way?

- How do you think about the time allocated for the course?

- Does the time allocation prevent you from applying ICC in your classroom? If yes, in what way?

- Please tell me the assessment of the course

- Why do you use these assessments with your students?

- Does the college have any policies supporting the teachers’ ICC teaching?

-How do you think about the importance of the college’s policies in developing ICC teaching and learning?

APPENDIX C: CONSENT FORM FOR PARTICIPATING IN

Research Title: Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in Vietnam

You are invited to take part in my research The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore teachers’ perceptions of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) and their teaching ICC in Business English education as well as the factors influencing their integrating ICC into Business English teaching This research is expected to contribute to the research literature of teaching ICC in the field of Business English and to the improvement of ICC teaching and learning at tertiary level in Vietnam In this study, I will conduct semi- structured interviews, observe classes, and analyze 3 course syllabi, namely Business English, English for Business Communication and English for General Business Purposes, 12 teachers’ lesson plans and 3 Business English textbooks in current use Therefore, I would like to ask for two of your lesson plans from the aforementioned courses

Your expected time commitment for this study is:

- An in- depth interview (approximately 30 minutes)

The interview will be in Vietnamese It will be recorded and transcribed, and field notes will be taken during classroom observations

The data collected and information obtained will be used for my research Your name will not be disclosed in the research; I will use pseudonyms, instead

Your participation in this study is voluntary, and you are free not to participate or withdraw from the research at any time Upon your request to withdraw, all information pertaining to you will be destroyed Nevertheless, if you choose to participate, all the information will be strictly confidential

If you are willing to take part in this research, please sign the statement on this form Thank you very much for your cooperation

If you have any questions about the research, please contact the researcher at the email - or mobile number -

I have read and understood the information on the form, and I agree to be part of this research I understand that my responses are completely confidential and that I have the right to withdraw at any time

APPENDIX D: SAMPLE OF INTERVIEW CODING AND THEMING

TRANSCRIPTION CODE/ SUB-THEME CATEGORY/

Nhận thức của giáo viên về văn hóa, khả năng giao tiếp liên văn hóa

(KNGTLVH) và giảng dạy khả năng này trong tiếng Anh thương mại (TATM)

I: Bây giờ mình sẽ hỏi bạn một số câu liên quan đến văn hóa nhé Bạn có thể định nghĩa văn hóa là gì không?

T1 Câu hỏi này khá là khó (cười) Theo em nghĩ văn hóa tức là chúng ta sẽ nói rất là nhiều cái, ví dụ như là liên quan đến vấn đề ngôn ngữ, liên quan đến các lối sống hằng ngày, các lối sinh hoạt hằng ngày Hoặc là thậm chí chúng ta có thể đề cập với lại cái vấn đề ẩm thực của các nước đó, lễ hội của các nước đó, thậm chí là các cách mà mình tương tác với nhau hằng ngày cũng là thông qua quá trình văn hóa

I: Vậy bạn hiểu như thế nào về cụm từ KNGTLVH?

T1: À thực tế cái vấn đề này em cũng chưa bao giờ được nghiên cứu và cũng chưa

148 bao giờ được tiếp cận với nó cho nên nó cũng khá là mới mẻ đối với em Nhưng mà nếu trả lời câu hỏi này á, thì chắc là em sẽ hiểu như thế này ạ Vấn đề gọi là

Summary of the Lesson plans analysis

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Explicit cultural content in reading section (- Read part A of an article about the dream jobs of British people) was used to teach reading skill

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Explicit cultural contents in reading & listening sections (pp.30-31) (Activity 1: Read the magazine extract Why is this story good news for British makers? & Activity 3: In part B, Natalia gives advice to companies which are thinking about exporting their products) were used to teach reading & listening skills

- Language objectives, explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Explicit cultural contents in warming-up sections (Ask students what it is that makes people culturally diverse; draw out ideas on: conventions and customs, language, history, religion, geography) were used to lead to the reading section

Market leader Unit 3: Buying and selling

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- No culture teaching Market leader Unit 1: Career Summary 3.1

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Culture teaching activity in the warm- up was used to introduce the term “career”, the theme of the unit

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- No culture teaching Market leader Unit 5: Stress Summary 5.2

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

- No culture teaching Market leader Unit 5: Stress Summary 6.2

- Language objectives, no explicit ICC objectives

- Teaching foci: 4 skills and grammar, grammar & Vocabulary

APPENDIX J: SUMMARY OF THE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF

THE TEXTBOOK: ENGLISH FOR BUSINESS

Cultural content Explicit culture teaching instructions

Listening & Discussion) v (i.e Read the text- Eye contact- below Identify the basic message implied by the text; p.6) v (i.e Welcoming visitors- What happens when a visitor arrives with an appointment to visit a company? p

The USA, Nigeria, Japan, China

- Small talk: keeping the conversation doing

- Inviting, and accepting or declining

- Cross- cultural communication on the telephone (Reading, discussion)

- Planning and getting started (Listening,

- The middle of the presentation v Singapore,

- What do you mean by

- Not Getting what you don’t want (Discussion,

APPENDIX K: APPENDIX J: SUMMARY OF THE CONTENT

ANALYSIS OF THE TEXTBOOK: PROFILE 1

Cultural content Explicit culture teaching instructions

- Language for describing roles v England

- Language for giving advice and warnings

APPENDIX L: SUMMARY OF THE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF

Cultural content Explicit culture teaching instructions

- Talk about your career plan v UK & Vietnam

- Listening: An interview with the Finance Director of a TV company v UK

- Reading: Facebook profile v UK, US, France

- Reading: India- Taka searching for a new CEO

- Talking about shopping habits v Vietnam

- Listening: An interview with the director of

Marketing of a TV shopping channel v

- Reading: Women on top v Vietnam & other countries

- Negotiating v Vietnam & other countries WORKING ACROSS

- Reading: Safer cycling v Vietnam & other countries

- Successful meetings v Britain, the USA

- Discussing stressful situations v Vietnam & other countries

- Listening: An interview with a Director of

Marketing at a health consultancy v UK

- Reading: Web articles V Vietnam & other countries Unit 6: Entertaining

- Listening: An interview with a CEO v Vietnam & UK

- Socializing V Vietnam & other countries WORKING ACROSS

- Discussing new businesses and business sectors v Vietnam & other countries

(Cultural contents, teaching procedure, teaching focus, activities incorporating ICC teaching if any, approach)

APPENDIX N: INFORMATION OF CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS

CO1 Unit 3: Could I leave a message?

CO2 Unit 3: Could I leave a message?

CO3 Unit 3: Could I leave a message?

CO2 Unit 2: Culture and entertainment (English for

CO3 Unit 3: Could I leave a message?

- Language for giving advice and warnings (p

CO2 Unit 8: Time is money

- Listening: How the 3 people manage their time (50)

- 02 period CO2 Unit 12: Problem solving

CO3 Unit 12: Problem solving (con.)

- Skills: Successful meetings, part A (p.40) CO2 Unit 4: Great ideas (con.)

(Market leader) Skills: Successful meetings, parts B, C & D (p.41)

CO3 Unit 4: Great ideas (con.)

(Market leader) -Skills: Successful meetings, part E (p.41)

- Discussion: ways to pay for goods/services (p.26)

- Discussion: ways to pay for goods/services

- Starting up: stressful situations (p.44) Vocabulary: Stress in the world place (p.45)

APPENDIX O: SAMPLE OF OBSERVATION DATA CODING AND THEMING

Physical setting: 40 students with 2-3 students at a table and bench in 2 rows, black board, laptop for listening, micro phone

3 In part B, Natalia gives advice to companies which are thinking about exporting their products Work in groups What do you think Natalia will say about help from the government, where to meet new customers in new markets, language, culture, sales brochures?

4 Listen to part B Listen to part B and compare what Natalia says with your answers in section 3

- The teacher asks the students the meanings of “sales brochures”, “trade fairs”; emphasizes the pronunciation of “word” vs “world”

- The teacher explains the situation and asks the students to discuss in groups:

“What should people learn about culture when they think about exporting to other countries?”

- The teacher asks one representative from each group to present their ideas and another student to write the words or phrases on the board (habits, customs, regional language, communication skill, traditional dishes, communication culture, behaving culture, lifestyle, dressing and so on) After

- Teaching ICC via group discussion

179 that, he checks the list, explains some words and asks the students to pronounce the vocabulary loudly before moving to the listening activity

- The teacher explains the instruction of the listening part and asks the students to listen to the CD

Culture/ ICC teaching activities: The teacher asks the students to discuss:

“What should people learn about culture when they think about exporting to other countries?” (10 minutes)

Teaching foci: Vocabulary, pronunciation, and listening and speaking skills Language elements

Note 5.5: The teaching content is potential to teach ICC regarding culture in export The teacher focused on vocabulary, pronunciation and listening and speaking/ presenting skills There is one moment when he creates opportunities for the students to discuss and explore what exporters should know about culture before exporting This culture teaching activity takes about 10/50 minutes and is done via student-centeredness The final aims of the discussion are vocabulary, pronunciation and language skill instruction

APPENDIX P: SAMPLES OF CLASS OBSERVATION

(Unit 3: Could I leave a message? English for Business Communication; p.24)

To facilitate readers’ understanding of the extracted class observation transcript, the following conventions were employed:

Ss more than one student speaking

T: Now, please look at page 24 The lesson today is “Could I leave a message?” Trong bài này chúng ta sẽ học một số điều Thứ nhất, preparing to make a phone call, chúng ta sẽ học cần chuẩn bị gì trước khi gọi điện; thứ hai, receiving calls, là khi nhận điện thoại thì mình sẽ nói như thế nào; thứ ba, taking and leaving messages, tức là cách nhận và để lại tin nhắn; tiếp tục là asking for and giving repetition, là cách yêu cầu người nói lặp lại và cách lặp lại ý và cuối cùng là phần the secretarial barrier sẽ áp dụng trong role play

Now, please look at the picture, the cartoon and tell me what problem you can see in this picture

Ss: The time (the students look at the picture of two people talking on the phone from the two different countries)

T: Ah, the time zone is different between the caller and the receiver Right?

T: You can see that it’s 11 o’clock in the morning at the caller’s place while it’s one o’clock in the morning at the receiver’s place It’s very early So, how can we deal with this problem? Or what should you do before you make a phone call?

Ss: Need to check the time

T: Right We need to check the time before we call someone

How often do you check the time before you call someone?

What time should you call someone and what time shouldn’t you call someone?

T: Should we call someone at any time we like? At break? At lunch time?

T: Right Now, please work in group and tell me what you need to prepare before making a phone call

(The students work in group in three minutes After that, the teacher calls some students to stand up and share their ideas This activity serves as the pre-listening step leading to the listening to a director of Inter Marketing suggesting ways to prepare for telephone calls)

OBSERVATION EXTRACT # 2- CO3-T3 (Unit 9: The customer; Profile 1; p.56)

To facilitate readers’ understanding of the extracted class observation transcript, the following conventions were employed:

Ss more than one student speaking

(5 In part B, Ralph discusses the future of the retail trade What do you think are the main differences between buying clothes in the past and now/in the future?)

T: Now, tell me if you want to buy clothes or shoes, will you go to the shop or market? S1: Market

T: So, at present you usually go the shops and supermarkets for your clothes Now, please compare and tell me the differences between buying clothes in the past and now Let’s think about your grandparents Các bạn hãy nghĩ về ông bà mình, thế hệ trước How did they go shopping for clothes? Did they go to the supermarkets?

T: Right They went to the market or used made-to-measure clothes Do you remember the phrase “made-to-measure” I told you before? (The teacher shows the phrase on the slide) Now, repeat after me: “made-to-measure”

T: No, not đo lường Its meaning is “may đo theo yêu cầu của khách hàng” How about now and in the future? How do people buy clothes?

Ss: Go to the supermarket, go to the shop…

T: Well, now you can go to the shop to buy clothes, and in this lesson, some shops can scan your size and send to their supplier for made-to-measure clothes

(The teacher shows a power point slide showing how people shopped for clothes in the past (green column) and how they do it now/ in the future (yellow column) She asks some students to stand up and read aloud each sentence, corrects their pronunciation and explains the meaning in Vietnamese)

T: Can you read the first sentence in the green column? TA (S5), please?

S5: “Clothes were made-to-measure”

T: /kləʊz/ (The teacher corrects the student’s pronunciation of “clothes”) Now, can you read the second sentence on the yellow column and translate it into Vietnamese, H (S6), please?

S6: Some shops will now scan your body on to their computer and email your details to their factory or supplier