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

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS

IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

HUẾ - 2020

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS

IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE:9 14 01 11

Supervisors:

1 Dr Tôn Nữ Như Hương

2 Assoc Prof Dr Phương Hoàng Yến

HUẾ - 2020

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

The thesis entitled “Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) to Business English students- A case study at a college in Vietnam” has been submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis I have fully acknowledged and referenced the ideas and works of others in my thesis

My thesis does not contain works extracted from any theses, dissertations or research papers previously presented for other degrees or diplomas at this or any other institutions

Signature

Hồ Thị Phùng Duyên

ABSTRACT

Among various studies on Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in Foreign language Teaching (FLT), there has been little empirical research on teachers’ perceptions of ICC in Business English teaching (BET), their ICC practices and factors influencing their integrating ICC into BET

In order to fill in such a gap, this case study research was carried out with six Business English (BE) teachers working in a selected college specializing in business in the southern part of Vietnam The research aimed at exploring the teachers’ perceptions of ICC in their BET, their ICC practices and factors influencing their integrating ICC into BET The data were collected through three research instruments, namely in-depth interview, document analysis of three course syllabi, twelve lesson plans and three BE textbooks in current use and classroom observation

The research findings revealed that the teachers neither perceived ICC adequately nor taught it comprehensively to their BE students In their view, language competence was the first priority in BET while ICC came the second in importance This led to their limited ICC teaching with the dominance of intercultural knowledge dimension through teacher-centeredness Intercultural skills dimensions were touched upon either incidentally when the cultural contents were explicit or spontaneously with the aim to facilitate or enliven the language teaching and learning Multiple opportunities potential for teaching ICC throughout the interculturalized BE textbooks were not fully exploited The findings also unveiled several barriers influencing their decision to teach and not to teach ICC in their BE classes They were the teachers’ insufficient ICC knowledge and pedagogy, the students’ low language proficiency and inadequate self-study ability, the absence of explicit ICC objectives in the teaching syllabi and assessment as well as the lack of facilities and experiential learning

In spite of some limitations in the research scope and data gathering tools, the research findings shed more light on teaching ICC in BE education at tertiary level in Vietnam and provided empirical evidence for practical implications to BET

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my whole-hearted gratitude to my chief supervisor, Dr Tôn Nữ Như Hương for her advice, support and encouragement from the very start of my PhD journey I am also deeply grateful to my associate supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Phương Hoàng Yến who gave me a lot of enthusiastic guidance and sincere sharing whenever I was lost in confusion

I particularly would like to express my thankfulness to Assoc Prof Dr Trần Văn Phước, Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Thị Hồng Nhung, Dr Bảo Khâm, Assoc Prof Dr Trương Viên, Assoc Prof Dr Lê Phạm Hoài Hương, Dr Trương Bạch Lê, Dr Hồ Thị Mỹ Hậu, Dr Nguyễn Hồ Hoàng Thủy, Dr Nguyễn Thị Bảo Trang, Dr Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy and Dr Nguyễn Văn Huy who supported me with practical advice and philosophical direction Their comments on my thesis generated a plenty of meaningful ideas to fulfill my research

I am indebted to the research site for allowing me to conduct this research, and to all of the participants who enthusiastically joined my research and provided me with a very valuable source of data

Last but not least, this dissertation could not have been completed without the boundless love and encouragement from my whole family Thank you for your unconditional love and care for me My deepest thanks go to my loving husband, son and daughter for being patient with me and always by my side throughout the hard journey

LIST OF FIGURES xi

LIST OF TABLES xii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Research aims and research questions 3

1.3 Research design overview 4

1.4 Research scope 5

1.5 Significance of the research 6

1.6 Structure of the thesis 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Definitions of key terms 8

2.2 Theories of Intercultural communicative competence (ICC)

2.2.1 Models of ICC in Foreign language teaching (FLT)

2.2.1.1 Deardoff’s model

2.2.1.2 Byram’s model

2.2.2 ICC-What to teach

2.2.3 ICC-How to teach 13 13 14 14 20 20

2.2.3.1 Culture-static view and dynamic view

2.2.3.2 Culture teaching approaches

2.2.3.3 Liddicoat’s Interacting Processes of Intercultural Pedagogy

2.2.3.4 Newton and Shearn’s ICLT approach

21 22 23 24 2.2.3.5 Techniques and activities for developing ICC in ELT 24

2.3 Inter-relationship among teachers’ perceptions, practices and influential

2.5.2 Teachers’ culture/ICC teaching practices 37

2.5.3 Studies on ICC in business 41

3.7.3 Direct observation 55

3.8 Data analysis methods 57

3.8.1 Analysis of the interview data 58

3.8.2 Analysis of the teaching documents 60

3.8.3 Analysis of the classroom observation data 60

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS 66

4.1 Teachers’ perceptions of ICC in BET 66

4.1.1 Teachers’ understanding of culture 66

4.1.2 Teachers’ understanding of ICC and ICC teaching 69

4.1.3 Teachers’ awareness of the significance of ICC 74

4.1.4 Teachers’ attitudes toward interculturalizing BET 79

4.1.4.1 Willingness 79

4.1.4.2 Reluctance and reasons 81

4.2 Teachers’ ICC practices 82

4.2.1 Priority of language competence with syllabus and textbook-oriented

4.2.4 Student-centered culture teaching approach 96

4.2.5 Missing many opportunities potential for developing the students’ ICC 101

4.3 Factors influencing teachers’ integrating ICC into their BET 103

4.3.1 Learner profile- students’ low English language proficiency and lack of self-learning ability 104

4.3.3 Improvisational teaching acts 110

4.3.4 Teachers’ knowledge- teachers’ inadequate ICC knowledge and ICC teaching method 111

4.4 Summary 115

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 119

5.1 Summary of the key findings 119

5.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions of ICC and ICC teaching in BET 120

5.1.2 Teachers’ ICC practices in BET 120

5.1.3 Factors influencing the teachers’ integrating ICC into BET 121

5.2 Implications of the research 122

5.2.1 Implications for in-service BE teachers 122

5.2.2 Implications for Vietnamese BE teacher educators 123

5.2.3 Implications for policy makers 123

5.2.3.1 At macro level 123

5.2.3.2 At micro level 124

5.3 Research contributions 125

5.4 Limitations of the research and avenues for future research 126

5.5 Summary 127

LIST OF THE AUTHOR’S PUBLICATIONS 128

REFERENCES 129

Appendix A: Research design summary 141

Appendix B: In-depth interview questions 142

Appendix C: Consent form 145

Appendix D: Sample of Interview coding and theming 147

Appendix E: Content analysis questions 155

Appendix F: Sample of a Teaching syllabus 156

Appendix G: Sample of Document data coding and theming 161

Appendix H: Sample of a Lesson plan 162

Appendix I: Summary of the Lesson plans analysis 166

Appendixes J, K, L: Summaries of the content analysis of the three textbooks 168

Appendix M: Classroom observation sheet 174

Appendix N: Information about classroom observations 175

Appendix O: Sample of Observation data coding and theming

Appendix P: Samples of Classroom observation transcripts 177 181

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASEAN: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations

BET: Business English teaching

CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages EFL: English as a foreign language

ICC: Intercultural communicative competence ICLT: Intercultural communicative language teaching ILT: Intercultural language teaching

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Byram’s ICC model………15

Figure 2.2: Data-driven model……… 28

Figure 2.3: Sources of the teachers’ language teacher cognition……… 29

Figure 2.4: Formation of the teachers’ classroom practices……… 30

Figure 4.1: Summary of the main findings of the research……… 118

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: The participants’ demographic information 49

Table 3.2: Research questions and the data gathering procedures 50

Table 3.3: An example of interview data coding and theming 59

Table 3.4: The analytical framework of the research 62

Table 4.1: Results of the content analysis of the three syllabi 77

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter introduces the rationale of the research, research aim, research questions, research design overview and research scope The chapter also presents the significance of the research and its structure

1.1 Rationale

English has become a working language in the world’s globalization 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

Well-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

1.2 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

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?

1.3 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

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

1.4 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

1.5 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

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)

1.6 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

CHAPTER 2

LITURATURE REVIEW

In order to contextualize this research, the literature review is outlined with four sections First, the key terms of the research are defined Next, theories of ICC with respect to IC and ICC models, intercultural communicative language teaching (ICLT) approaches, ICC teaching principles, ICC teaching techniques and activities and models for exploring the mutual relationship among teachers’ perceptions, practices and influential contextual factors are addressed to provide deeper insights into the concept and form the theoretical framework for the present research The third section explores ICC teaching in ELT and in BET Finally, previous studies with the focus on teachers’ perceptions of ICC, ICC teaching practices, and influential factors are reviewed to establish a space for the current research

2.1 Definitions of the key terms

ideology regarding the process of gaining and exerting dominance of one group of people over others and 7/ group membership or a group of people or country sharing the same worldviews, communication systems and behaviors

In the definition of Ting-Toomey and Chung (2005), culture is seen as “a learned meaning system that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings, and symbols that are passed on from one generation to the next and are shared to varying degrees by interacting members of a community” (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2005, p 28) This definition views culture as: pattern (e.g traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings, and symbols), process (e.g process of transmission of the structure/pattern from generation to generation through interaction) and function (i.e when the traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings, and symbols are shared, a culture or community identity is formed) The authors describe culture in the form of an image of an iceberg with the above and below water-surface sections While the surface level of the iceberg represents what we can see, hear and touch when experiencing a new culture, so-called visible culture of big C culture, a large proportion of invisible culture or small C culture including expectations of appropriateness and politeness and so on applied in everyday interactions lies in hidden part under the water The lack of this invisible cultural knowledge is considered as the root of misunderstandings and failure in intercultural communication

Thompson (2003) views culture as “a set of shared meanings, assumptions and understandings which have developed historically in a given community (a geographical community or a community of interest- for example, a professional community)” (p.109) This definition includes the important cultural themes stated by Faulkner et al., (2006): structure (e.g shared meanings, assumptions and understandings), function (i.e culture helps to define a group, even a professional community through the sharing of the meanings, assumptions and understandings) and process (i.e process of development), and group membership (e.g a professional

community) In the same vein, Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino and Kohler (2003) see culture as an umbrella term including both cultural products and structure/pattern such as values, beliefs, attitudes of the people who make up a cultural group Kramsch (1998, p.10) emphasizes the dynamic aspect of culture with “a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and acting” Similarly, Brown (1994) defines culture as the combination of product and structural elements or observable and unobservable cultures shared and inherited among the people of a community

Halverson (1985) emphasizes the crucial position of culture in ICC The author implies that culture should be viewed as a complete dimension including both observable knowledge of culture or big C culture and unobservable knowledge of culture or small c culture in order to avoid misunderstanding in intercultural communication Practically, the former is more frequently touched upon in language teaching while the latter seems less taught in language classes Only when students are aware of cultural differences in “small c” culture, they can be more conscious of their home culture and the other’s

The present research explores culture from an intercultural perspective - the dynamicity of culture would be more focused Thus, culture can be understood as a system of structural elements such as values, beliefs and norms shaping and guiding the behaviors of members of a community, formed and transmitted by the members through social interactions

2.1.2 Communicative competence (CC)

CC is defined as the combination of linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and pragmatic competence (Council of Europe, 2001) Similarly, Byram (1997) states the three core competences of CC, namely linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and discourse competence In the current research, CC is used interchangeably with language competence

2.1.3 Intercultural competence (IC)

Deardorff (2006) describes this competence as “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (pp 247-248) Byram (1997) defines the IC of foreign language learners as “the ability to interact in their own language with people from another country and culture, drawing upon their knowledge about intercultural communication, their attitudes of interest in otherness and skills in interpreting, relating and discovering” (p 70) Byram’s IC model consists of five dimensions or “saviors”, namely attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction and critical cultural awareness (see Figure 2.1), described in more detail in the section of ICC theories Additionally, Byram (1997) also develops a set of specific objectives for the acquisition of this competence Thus, Byram’s IC model is applicable with the current research

2.1.4 Intercultural communicative competence (ICC)

Byram (1997) defines ICC as the ability “to interact with people from another

country and culture in a foreign language” (Byram, 1997, p 71), and in certain

situations, this competence includes the ability “to act as a mediator between people of different cultural origins” (p 71) Byram’s (1997) model describes ICC as a group of linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and IC including five elements: attitude, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction and critical cultural awareness

In light of Byram’s ICC definition, Sercu et al (2005, p.3) conclude that “ICC, then, builds on CC and enlarges it to incorporate intercultural competence” Byram’s definition is also used by multiple professional researchers on culture and ICC teaching such as Korhonen (2003), Sercu (2005), Deardoff (2006), Liddicoat (2008), Penbek et al (2012), Reid (2015) and others Byram’s definition and model of ICC were also

applied to orient the ELT and assessing objectives by The Council of Europe (2001) They are used as the working definition and model for the present research because of their applicability and suitability for the research aim

2.1.5 Teachers’ perception

Rao and Narayana (1998, p.329) define perception as the process “whereby people select, organize, and interpret sensory stimulations into meaningful information about their work environment” Quick and Nelson (1997, p.83) refer to perception as “interpreting information about another person”, or “interpreting and organizing sensory information to produce a meaningful experience of the world” (Lindsay & Norman, 2013, p.161) In a word, perception relates to a person’s interpretation or understanding about the surrounding environment

Teacher’s perception is presented in Borg’s definition (2003, p.81) of teachers’ cognition as “what teachers think, know and believe” While what teachers think and know refers to teachers’ perception, knowledge, understanding, awareness, and so on (Borg, 2009; Lindsay & Norman, 2013; Quick & Nelson, 1997; Rao & Narayana, 1998), what teachers believe is defined as teachers’ belief, attitude, opinions, and so on (Kagan, 1992; Mansour, 2009)

Within the current research, the term teachers’ perceptions is used to refer to the teachers’ understanding of ICC and ICC teaching, of the objectives of BET and ICC teaching, the roles of ICC in BET, and the teachers’ attitudes toward integrating ICC into BET

2.1.6 Teaching practices

Several researchers (e.g Brophy and Good, 1986; Wang, Haertel & Walberg, 1993; cited in TALIS, 2009) describe “teaching practices” as teachers’ close monitoring, adequate pacing and classroom management as well as clarity of

presentation, well-structured lessons and informative and encouraging feedback According to Sercu et al (2005), teaching practices refer to both inside classroom and outside classroom activities This research explores the teachers’ ICC practices through the teaching content, teaching approaches, teaching activities intentionally employed to

develop the students’ ICC within their classroom BE instruction

2.1.7 Business English (BE)

BE is studied by adult learners either working or preparing to work in a business context (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1996) The authors affirm that BE includes two varieties, namely English for General Business Purposes (EGBP) and English for Specific Business Purposes (ESBP) Although EGBP courses follow EFL course designs, their materials are in business contexts since they are developed for “pre-experienced” learners who need to prepare for their future career in the business world (Frendo, 2005, p.1) Meanwhile, ESBP courses are designed for “job-experienced learners” (Ellis & Johnson, 1994) or for those who need to be more specializing in their business field (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1996)

In this research, BE is identified as EGBP 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

2.2 Theories of ICC

2.2.1 Models of ICC in FLT

In order to set a frame for collecting and analyzing the data, the IC model of Deardoff (2006) and the ICC model of Byram (1997) are reviewed These are the typical models echoed in multiple studies on ICC in FLT of well-known researchers

such as Reid (2015), Newton and Shearn (2010), Liddicoat (2008), Sercu et al (2005), Korhonen (2003) and others

2.2.1.1 Deardoff’s IC model (2006)

Regarding IC in FLT, Deardorff (2006) develops a process model including a continuous process of working on attitudes, knowledge, skills, internal outcomes and external outcomes related to intercultural competence The process of obtaining IC starts at positive attitudes toward other cultures Then, people obtain cultural knowledge, cultural self-awareness and sociolinguistic awareness and develop skills to listen, observe and evaluate, to analyze, interpret and relate the other cultures to their own After being equipped with the two dimensions, they gain internal outcome with adaptability, flexibility, ethno-relative view and empathy At this stage, the individuals apply what they have acquired to interact with people from different cultures and achieve external outcome in intercultural communication, increasing the positive attitudes for another cycle of developing IC One impressive feature of this model is the possibility to move from individual attitudes and/or knowledge and skills to external outcome straightaway

2.2.1.2 Byram’s model (1997)

Byram’s ICC model (see the figure below) contains following four component competences

- Linguistic competence: the ability to interpret and produce language, both in spoken

and in written forms, applying the acquired linguistic knowledge

Figure 2.1 Byram's ICC model Reprinted from Teaching and assessing intercultural competence (p.73), by M Byram, 1997, Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters

- Sociolinguistic competence: the ability to understand one’s interlocutor’s meanings,

and negotiate meanings with the interlocutor

- Discourse competence: the ability to construct and interpret language appropriately in

intercultural texts

- Intercultural competence: encompassing five dimensions or five “savoirs” described

as intercultural attitudes explained as curiosity, openness or readiness to view the home culture and the target cultures without prejudices; intercultural knowledge consisting of visible culture or cultural products and invisible culture or practices and processes of interaction of the home and the interlocutors’ cultures; skills of interpreting and relating understood as the capacity to interpret cultural messages from other cultures and to explain and relativize it to one’s own for mediation in different cultural contexts; skills of discovering and interacting regarding to the ability to obtain new intercultural knowledge and to use the achieved knowledge, attitudes and skills to interact under the challenges of real life communication; and critical cultural awareness explained as the ability to evaluate cultural differences critically from the mediating point of view

Briefly, Byram’s (1997) model shows that ICC requires IC, placed as the foundation of ICC with five dimensions, in addition to the three core competences of

CC Byram also introduces a set of specific objectives regarding each dimension of IC

as follows (1997, pp.57-64)

Attitudes (Savoir etre):

 willingness to seek out or take up opportunities to engage with otherness in a relationship of equality; this should be distinguished from attitudes of seeking out the exotic or of seeking to profit from others;

 interest in discovering other perspectives on interpretation of familiar and unfamiliar phenomena both in one’s own and in other cultures and cultural practices;

 willingness to question the values and presuppositions in cultural practices and products in one’s own environment;

 readiness to experience the different stages of adaptation to and interaction with another culture during a period of residence;

 readiness to engage with the conventions and rites of verbal and nonverbal communication and interaction

 the types of cause and process of misunderstanding between interlocutors of different cultural origins

 the national memory of one’s own country and how its events are related to and seen from the perspective of one’s interlocutor’s country

 the national memory of one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on it from one’s own

 the national definitions of geographical space in one’s own country and how these are perceived from the perspective of other countries

 the national definitions of geographical space in one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on them from one’s own

 the processes and institutions of socialization in one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country

 social distinctions and their principal markers, in one’s own country and one’s interlocutor’s

 institutions, and perceptions of them, which impinge on daily life within one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country and which conduct and influence relationships between them

 the process of social interaction in one’s interlocutor’s country

Skills of relating and interpreting:

 identify ethnocentric perspectives in a document or event and explain

their origins;

 identify areas of misunderstanding and dysfunction in an interaction and

explain them in terms of each of the cultural systems present;  mediate between conflicting interpretations of phenomena Skills of discovering and interacting (Savoir apprendre):

 elicit from an interlocutor the concepts and values of documents or events and to develop an explanatory system susceptible of application to other phenomena;

 identify significant references within and across cultures and elicit their significance and connotations;

 identify similar and dissimilar processes of interaction, verbal and non-verbal, and negotiate an appropriate use of them in specific circumstances;

 use in real-time an appropriate combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes to interact with interlocutors from a different country and culture, taking into consideration the degree of one’s existing familiarity with the country and culture and the extent of difference between one’s own and the other;

 identify contemporary and past relationships between one’s own and the other culture and country;

 identify and make use of public and private institutions which facilitate contact with other countries and cultures;

 use in real-time knowledge, skills and attitudes for mediation between interlocutors of one’s own and a foreign culture

Critical cultural awareness/ political education (Savoir s’engager):

 identify and interpret explicit and implicit values in documents and events in one’s own and other cultures;

 make an evaluative analysis of the documents and events that refers to an explicit perspective and criteria;

 interact and mediate in intercultural exchanges in accordance with explicit criteria, negotiating where necessary a degree of acceptance of them by drawing upon one’s knowledge, skills and attitudes (Summarized from Byram, 1997, pp 57-64)

It can be concluded that Deardorff’s (2006) IC model demonstrates ongoing complexity of intercultural development with intercultural dimensions as Byram’s (attitudes, knowledge, awareness and skills) Moreover, his model shows a very impressive step: students can reach the external outcomes directly from attitudes, knowledge and skills However, the interaction of IC with language competence is not expressed explicitly, and more detailed objectives need to be stated to reach the outcomes

Meanwhile, Byram’s (1997) ICC model proves to be more detailed with a group of linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and IC of five dimensions The specific descriptions of the five “saviors” and the set of objectives for each IC dimension (as described earlier) sufficiently facilitate FLT and assessment It is clarified in Byram’s model that IC interacts with three other core competencies of CC to form ICC in FLT, and teaching ICC means integrating IC into FLT With knowledge of Byram’s model, in order to explore the teachers’ ICC teaching practices, the current research focuses on the teachers’ integrating the five dimensions of IC into their BET for the development of the students’ ICC Thus, Byram’s (1997) ICC model provides a theoretical frame suitable with the aims of the current research, dominantly orienting the researcher’s data collection, interpretation and discussion

2.2.2 ICC- What to teach

Byram’s (1997) ICC model indicates the integration of IC in FLT with specific dimensions Cortazzi and Jin (1999) and McKay (2000) emphasize the use of EFL/ESL textbooks with source culture, target culture and international cultures to promote learners’ ICC since they include interactants worldwide using English as a global language Lario de Oñate and Vázquez Amador (2013) suggest strategies to identify the intercultural contents in textbooks such as studying “the presence of the concept in the selected textbooks; if the topic is included in either activities dealing with verbal communication, or with non-verbal communication; cultural aspects (e.g greetings, topics on small talk, gift giving, etc.); business contexts in which interculturality appears (e.g negotiations, business meetings, socializing, travelling, etc.); the cultures mentioned” (pp.171-172) In the same vein, Lázá et al (2020, p 9) state that in order to develop learners’ ICC, the teachers should “teach culture through language”, and the cultural teaching contents need to intentionally and systematically include the source, the target and international cultural knowledge and focus on developing other dimensions of IC

ICC teaching contents, therefore, need to include all dimensions of IC, and international cultures, not merely native ones should be taught in a dynamic and integrated way with language In the current research, the teachers’ ICC teaching contents and the interculturality of the teaching documents are explored and analyzed on the basis of these theories

2.2.3 ICC - How to teach

Teachers’ ICC teaching practices can be envisioned through their views on approaching culture The following section reviews the static and dynamic views on culture identified by Liddicoat (2001)

2.2.3.1 Static view and dynamic view on approaching culture

According to Liddicoat (2001), language teaching has been influenced by two views of culture: static and dynamic Static view treats culture as self-contained factual knowledge or cultural artifacts to be observed and learned about, rather than participated in In other words, teaching culture from static view resembles teaching “knowledge-out-of-context” (Applebee, 1996, cited in Newton & Shearn, 2010b, p 37) This static way of approaching culture focuses on product theme, for example, the history, customs, institutions, arts, literature and geography, folk dances, festivals, fairs and food, famous people of a country which can be obtained outside classroom as cultural information or knowledge When culture is approached statically, it might be treated separately from language (Liddicoat, 2001) Static view on culture, therefore, does not support intercultural communication since it does not touch upon the dynamic aspect of culture (i.e culture as a process of exploring, relating, interpreting, sharing, acting, evaluating through interactions) and fails to create opportunities for students to experience the cultural challenges in real communication processes

In contrast, culture seen from the dynamic view is constantly embedded in language Teaching culture through dynamic view encourages students to approach the cultural artifacts they learn with flexible view on cultural variables across different contexts It emphasizes the ways in which cultural meanings are shaped and interpreted in human action and interaction Pham (2014) affirms that the judgment of politeness in language use depends on the interlocutors’ understanding of the values and beliefs underlying one’s utterances, behaviors or texts Approaching culture from both static and dynamic views enables people to avoid misinterpretation of the others’ meanings and be more polite in intercultural communication This culture teaching approach is congruent with intercultural language teaching (ILT) (Lo Bianco et al., 1999) and intercultural communicative language teaching (ICLT) approach (Newton & Shearn, 2010b) in terms of learners’ active engagement in the process of exploring self and

exploring others Thus, the research instruments for collecting data are designed on the concept of both views to explore BE teachers’ perceptions of ICC and their ICC teaching practices

2.2.3.2 Culture teaching approaches

Lo Bianco et al (1999, p.17) suggest four approaches to teach culture in language classrooms: the “traditional approach to teaching culture”, the “Culture studies” approach, the “Culture as practices”' approach, and “intercultural language teaching (ILT) approach”

The traditional approach to teaching culture: This approach focuses on teaching

language through written texts of native English-speaking countries The teaching objectives focus on language and cultural knowledge

The Culture studies' approach: This approach views teaching culture as teaching

knowledge of history, geography and people of the target language country, serving as the background knowledge for learning the language of a country

The Culture as practices approach: “This approach sees culture a collective way of

acting through language” (p.19) However, culture is presented statically and homogeneously

Intercultural language teaching (ILT) approach: This approach includes three

dimensions: the teaching of links between language and culture, the comparison between learners' first language/culture and target language/culture, and intercultural exploration By using the dimensions in language classrooms, teachers can enable the learners understand more about the invisible cultural knowledge, be more aware of the cultural differences between their “self” and the “others”

Accompanying ILT approach, Lo Bianco et al (1999) recommend the following five principles:

Culture must be taught explicitly This principle implies the role of culture in FLT

The language curricula, syllabi, teaching materials as well as the teaching approach must feature culture as one of the essential outcome standards

The bilingual / multilingual speaker is the norm Speaking English like the native

speakers is not the norm of ICC teaching Teachers in ILT classroom need to help their students obtain more multicultural view of the world by touching upon both of the home culture and the international cultures Accordingly, FLT and assessment objectives should focus on this kind of norm

Experiential learning is required to acquire IC Tasks, authentic materials and field

trips exposing the students to practical situations and developing their creativity in using the target language need to be included in the FLT programs

Role of teachers and learners are redefined Teachers in ILT classes need to apply

student-centered approach in teaching language to create more space for the learners to explore their own language and culture and the others’

New approaches to language testing are needed to assess IC This principle focuses on

the matching of teaching and assessing ICC teaching objectives should be included specifically in the language teaching curricula and assessment

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

Liddicoat (2008) recommends Interacting Processes of Intercultural Pedagogy including four processes, namely noticing, comparing, reflecting and interacting Noticing is the crucial process in teaching and learning intercultural communication Thus, teachers can help their students actively notice the cultural similarities and differences The comparing process enables the students to relate to their own culture

and explore the other cultures for cultural awareness This process plays the foundation for reflection stage which mirrors how the students respond to cultural diversity Since ICC regarding active involvement in diversity, the students then need to use what they have known to interact in intercultural situations

2.2.3.4 Newton and Shearn’s (2010b) ICLT approach

Newton and Shearn (2010b) mention the ICLT approach with the aim at developing the learners’ understanding of their own identity in relation to others and developing their openness to diversity, willingness to experience new cultures (Newton & Shearn, 2010b) The authors’ ICLT approach features exploring one’s own culture, exploring others’ cultures, comparing cultures for tolerant attitudes toward differences

and mediating in cultural diversity ICLT is based on six principles as follows

1 Integrates language and culture from the beginning 2 Engages learners in genuine social interaction

3 Encourages and develops an exploratory and reflective approach to culture and culture-in language

4 Fosters explicit comparisons and connections between languages and cultures 5 Acknowledges and responds appropriately to diverse learners and learning contexts 6 Emphasizes ICC rather than native-speaker competence

2.2.3.5 Techniques and activities for developing ICC in English language teaching

Reid (2014), Zerzová (2012) and Kostková, (2012) (cited in Reid, 2015) maintain that in most research findings in the field of developing ICC, teachers mainly teach socio-cultural aspects (factual information, holidays, traditions, food, housing, etc.) and pay little attention to sociolinguistic, pragmatic competences and non-verbal communication In his study (Reid, 2015), Reid suggests nine techniques to teach ICC in English lessons as follows

Comparison method: This technique concentrates on discussing the differences

between the native and target cultures Teachers, for example, can verify the topic of “school” with school routine, subjects, clothes to wear, and ways of behavior

Cultural assimilation: Teachers introduce critical incidents which would probably be

misunderstood Students choose one possibility among several ones which they think is correct Non-verbal greetings are interesting activities for this technique

Cultural capsule: Teachers use this technique to demonstrate the differences of the two

cultures For example, with the topic “customs”, the issue of the main meal of the day could be discussed among different countries

Cultural island: This technique guides the teacher to create an interesting cultural

atmosphere in the classroom by using various kinds of visual aids

Reformulation: Reformulation is retelling a story to a partner in his/her own words By

watching a video and retelling parts of the story, students can practice speaking and their socio-cultural knowledge

Prediction: Teachers use this technique to evoke the students’ curiosity and interest to

talk through activities such as finishing (predicting) a half-told story or predicting the contents of a topic based on a few pieces of information

Total Physical Response (TPR): TPR technique is designed to respond to oral commands in order to act out a cultural experience Role play: This technique enables

students to act out the role of drama characters in different real life intercultural communicative situations

Treasure hunt: This technique develops students’ intercultural perspective by guiding

them to search for information relating to the target culture; then create and present their projects and posters to others

Regarding ICC teaching activities, Hartmann and Ditfurth (2007) recommend the following activities to develop the five IC dimensions in Byram’s model (1997)

Intercultural attitudes: brainstorming, using visual aids when working with texts to

create curiosity and interest, using texts written by or about learners from other cultures telling about their lives, reading authentic texts brought by learners (songs, interviews) and doing face-to-face encounter projects (e-mail, exchange);

Intercultural knowledge: exploring facts from films, texts, internet, authentic materials

and talking guest speakers;

Skills of interpreting and relating: writing new scenes, new ending for dramas, and

looking at actions in literary texts from the point of view of minor characters and providing projects/simulations to help learners experience a situation from different cultural point of view; roleplaying;

Skills of discovering and interacting: comparing e-mails doing face-to-face and

encounter projects (web cam), chatting, joining study visits, negotiating cultural misunderstandings and role playing;

Critical cultural awareness: critically comparing; for example, how German and

Japanese deals with small talk;

Briefly, Byram’s ICC model (1997), Lo Bianco et al.’s ILT approach (1999), Liddicoat’s Interacting Processes of Intercultural Pedagogy (2008), ICLT approach recommended by Newton and Shearn (2010b) and ICC teaching techniques and activities (Hartmann & Ditfurth, 2007; Reid, 2015) all emphasize the inseparable relationship between language and culture, the explicit teaching of culture in an integrated way with language teaching from the basic level, the dynamic view when approaching culture and the student-centeredness when teaching culture in language Additionally, the outcome standard of the FLT program is bilingual/multilingual