English is nowadays spoken and learnt by people of all ages, classes, nationalities, etc with different purposes and of course, English writing is part of their learning. However, previous studies by Nguyen and Helen (2010) found out that nonnative speakers’ (NNS) criticisms were influenced by their own cultures and Nguyen (2006) even statistically proved that less competent learners were more heavily influenced by their cultures than higher competent ones. This is because higher competent learners of English paid more attention to the cultural differences and they were taught as well. Thanks to the development of technology and changes in the attitudes towards teaching and learning method, communicative language teaching (CLT) is now widely used in teaching English in general and writing in particular and CLT includes giving peer comments (or constructive criticisms). Giving peer comments in writing is quite similar to giving advice on personal objects which is not friendly welcome in most Englishspeaking cultures (Houck, 2010 as cited in Nguyen et al, 2010). This signifies that NNS may encounter difficulties in giving peer comments because the way of giving comments in this culture (especially Asia) is not always appropriate in others and even peer comments are often tricky with native speakers (NS) (Houck, 2010 as cited in Nguyen et al, 2010). Nevertheless, it seems that some teachers ask their students to mainly find out the errors of their peers and then suggest improvements rather than teach the students ways to give comments like what native speakers do, which will possibly cause cultural shocks for natives in societies of Englishspeaking countries. Therefore, a nearlyStandard English style in giving comments (or constructive criticisms) should be the model for learners to avoid possible offences in communications. It should be noticed that a Standard English style is very hard to be found. The above analysis of the relationship between native culture and giving comments in English has inspired the researcher to spend time and efforts to observe the peer comments in writing skill of freshmen at ULISVNU. It can be said that freshmen’s peer comments are still influenced by native culture and to some extent peer comments are not appropriate in the Englishspeaking cultures. In this thesis, the researcher will discuss the influence of some Vietnamese cultural factors on peer comments of freshmen and basing on this, the pedagogical implications in teaching students to give comments will be suggested to help teachers raise their students’ awareness.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study English is nowadays spoken and learnt by people of all ages, classes, nationalities, etc with different purposes and of course, English writing is part of their learning However, previous studies by Nguyen and Helen (2010) found out that non-native speakers’ (NNS) criticisms were influenced by their own cultures and Nguyen (2006) even statistically proved that less competent learners were more heavily influenced by their cultures than higher competent ones This is because higher competent learners of English paid more attention to the cultural differences and they were taught as well Thanks to the development of technology and changes in the attitudes towards teaching and learning method, communicative language teaching (CLT) is now widely used in teaching English in general and writing in particular and CLT includes giving peer comments (or constructive criticisms) Giving peer comments in writing is quite similar to giving advice on personal objects which is not friendly welcome in most English-speaking cultures (Houck, 2010 as cited in Nguyen et al, 2010) This signifies that NNS may encounter difficulties in giving peer comments because the way of giving comments in this culture (especially Asia) is not always appropriate in others and even peer comments are often tricky with native speakers (NS) (Houck, 2010 as cited in Nguyen et al, 2010) Nevertheless, it seems that some teachers ask their students to mainly find out the errors of their peers and then suggest improvements rather than teach the students ways to give comments like what native speakers do, which will possibly cause cultural shocks for natives in societies of English-speaking countries Therefore, a nearly-Standard English style in giving comments (or constructive criticisms) should be the model for learners to avoid possible offences in communications It should be noticed that a Standard English style is very hard to be found The above analysis of the relationship between native culture and giving comments in English has inspired the researcher to spend time and efforts to observe the peer comments in writing skill of freshmen at ULIS-VNU It can be said that freshmen’s peer comments are still influenced by native culture and to some extent peer comments are not appropriate in the English-speaking cultures In this thesis, the researcher will discuss the influence of some Vietnamese cultural factors on peer comments of freshmen and basing on this, the pedagogical implications in teaching students to give comments will be suggested to help teachers raise their students’ awareness 1.2 Aims of the study The study was undertaken in order to evaluate the influence of Vietnamese culture on the peer comments of freshmen The specific objectives of the study are: - to evaluate the influence of Vietnamese culture on peer comments of freshmen - to suggest some ways that lecturers can use to help their students deal with this language transference In addition, the aims of the study are also specified in the research questions 1.3 The research questions The research questions that the study addressed are: Research question 1: What are typical ways of giving peer comments of freshmen at VNU-ULIS? Research question 2: What are typical ways of giving comments of English native speakers? Research question 3: What are similarities and differences of commenting between freshmen and English native speakers? Research question 4: What are the Vietnamese cultural factors which have influence on peer comments of freshmen at VNU-ULIS? 1.4 Significance of the study The significance of the study is evaluated by its practicality because the study contributes partial help for both lecturers and students at Division 1, the FELTE, ULISVNU As for students, they may adapt their ways of giving comments on their peers’ assignments, which helps their comments sound more polite, avoid potential offence and encourage their peers to better their assignments In addition, after graduating from university, if students have the chance to work with English native speakers, the suggested ways of giving comments may be useful for them in their working environment As for lecturers, they may reconsider the degree of the influence of some Vietnamese cultural factors on peer comments of their students The researcher hopes that the lecturers will pay attention to teach their students to give comments like what native speakers actually in writing In fact, freshmen are not taught the detailed way to give comments with appropriate choice of words and expressions, which may make their comments less effective 1.5 Scope of the study Due to limitation of time, knowledge and materials, the researcher only focused on some Vietnamese cultural factors having influence on peer comments by freshmen and suggesting some ways to help lecturers deal with this negative language transfer The researcher will analyze comments by freshmen on their peers’ essays and exploit interviews with both students and lecturers 1.6 Organization of the study As can be seen, apart from chapter which gives readers an overview of the study, there are four other main parts Chapter is the theoretical background which reviews some concepts used in the present study: culture and language and their relation, peer comments and some key categorical dimensions having influence on freshmen’s comments The methodology exploited will be presented in chapter and information about subjects, procedure of data collection and analysis will be given clearly as well Chapter shows findings of the study by answering research questions Moreover, the researcher will also discuss the pedagogical implications which can help lecturers teach their students how to give comments The summary and limitation of the study will be shown in chapter 5, the last part of the study CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This chapter sheds light on some background concepts such as “language”, “culture”, “peer comments” and the relationship between language and culture, and then some Anglo-American and Vietnamese Cross-cultural key categorical dimensions that had influence on freshmen’s comments 2.1 Language and Culture “Language” comes from Latin Lingua tongue meaning an utterance or expression, or a dialect, idioms or mode of speech As being defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005:862), “language is the system of communication in speech and writing that is used by people of a particular country or area” Sharing this point of view, Crystal (1992:212) suggested that language is the “the systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs, or written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression” This signifies that language is only used by human beings and this can serve to distinguish between animals (or any other creatures) and humans Culture is derived from Latin “cultura” which means growing or cultivation It seems that in the past, most people were farmers and the systems of beliefs and values were strongly related to farming Possibly, culture has a close relation with farming (It can be seen that the word “agriculture” means farming) In fact, it is extremely hard to say for sure how many definitions of culture there are because each researcher sets his/her own definition to orient or guide to the target of his/her research Among these definitions of culture, Nguyen Quang’s definition of culture separate between the “being” and “human” part which associate with “nature” and “culture” respectively This can be exemplified as follow: Figure 1: Culture and Nature However, Levine and Adelman (1993) had different point of view They supposed culture was similar to an iceberg, which means that people can only see some visible parts of culture This is adopted from their book: … Culture is like an iceberg, much of the influence of culture on an individual can hardly be seen but strongly be felt The visible part of culture does not always create cross-cultural difficulties The hidden aspects of culture exercise a strong influence on behaviour and interactions with others Culture is illustrated as follow: Figure 2: Levine and Adelma’s iceberg of culture Another definition of culture was given by UNESCO in 1996 which emphasized that culture involved both the materials and spirituals of human beings That can be exemplified as follow: spirituals spirituals materials materials Culture Figure 3: UNESCO’s definition of culture In terms of the relationship between language and culture, Kramsch (1983) supposed that language is “the principle means whereby we conduct our social lives” As can be seen, language is now the mirror reflecting the culture Saville-Troike (1982; 35) also shared this viewpoint in their book titled “The Ethnography of Communication: An Introduction”: “there is a correlation between the norm and content of a language and the beliefs, values and needs present in the culture of its speaker” In addition, two terms “language” and “culture” are used interchangeably When saying about one culture, people will immediately say about its language and vice versa Language was once used to indicate the social status involving culture of the speaker In ancient Greece, language was used to distinguish between civilized people and “barbatos” those who spoke unintelligible languages Even, in modern England, dialect (a subcomponent of language) is still used to indicate the social classes of the speaker 2.2 Peer comments First, “peer” is understood as the friend of the same age or the same social status with a person “Comment”, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005:301), is “something that you say or write which gives an opinion on or explains somebody or something” Actually, giving peer comments is also considered as part of the process approach to writing In this part, a student will give his/her opinion about his friend’s writing One question arisen is whether two terms “peer comments” and “criticisms” are similar Criticizing as supposed by Nguyen (2008) is an act of giving negative evaluation of one’s work and then stimulating hears/recipients to change Peer commenting is often understood by learners of English as evaluating writings of their peers on the basis of ideas, grammar and word choice In the present study, the researcher supposes that giving peer comments is an act of giving one’s opinion about one’s work, i.e writing of one’s classmate It should be noted that peer commenting is used to influence those who are given comments by first giving negative (and even positive) evaluation of their work and then suggesting ways for improvements Hence, “criticism” and “peer comments” are similar in terms of giving negative evaluation, a face threatening act Actually, it will be proved in this study that giving negative evaluation is the link between “criticism” and “peer comments” 2.3 Overview of some Anglo-American and Vietnamese Cross-cultural key categorical dimensions Nguyen Quang (1998) supposes that there are fourteen Anglo-American and Vietnamese Cross-cultural categories as follows: Subjectivity - Objectivity Directness - Indirectness Accuracy - Inaccuracy Positive Politeness - Negative Politeness Self-Abasement - Self-Assertion Abstractness - Rationality Sentimentality - Equality Hierarchy - Equality Introversion - Extroversion 10 Deduction - Induction 11 Group Orientation - Individual Orientation 12 High context - Low context 13 Redundancy - Economically 14 Statically - Dynamically Actually, these categories exist in every language However, it is not true to say that one culture only uses this category and refuses the other There is a preference in one culture to each category For example, English native speakers prefer direct style of speaking whereas Asian people, i.e Chinese, Vietnamese or Japanese prefer indirect style While giving comments, students will evaluate the work of one’s of their peers, as a result, it can be predicted that subjectivity will be used most of the time, which makes it nonsense to overview Subjectivity-Objectivity After analyzing data from subjects of the study, the researcher found that there were two categories which had influence on peer comments They are: DirectnessIndirectness and Positive politeness - Negative politeness 2.3.1 Directness - Indirectness Kaplan (1972) observed hundreds of essays of students studying in the United States and concluded that there were differences in expressing ideas among people of different cultures He found out what he called “cultural thought patterns” illustrated as follow: Figure 4: Kaplan “cultural thought patterns” As can be seen, in Anglicist direct expressions are preferred and there are some famous expressions to illustrate this such as “Don’t go round the bush”, or “Get to the 10 Lastly, future studies can be done to investigate the influences of some other cultural categories such as Objectivity-Subjectivity or Self-abasement and Selfassertion The more thorough researches on intercultural communication, the better understanding of the cultural differences and similarities is APPENDICES Appendix 1: Strategies employed in peer commenting There are main strategies for offering peer comment: identify the problem and give advice Identifying the problem: State the problem or errors, mistakes that your peer make in his/her essay Be specific as possible because it can help your peer revise better Some negative words such as “weak” or “wrong” should not be used E.g.: I think you have written conclusions I cannot see your topic sentence 40 Giving advice: “Don’t” and “Do” Explain how the problem can be repaired E.g.: You write “h-e-r-e” but I think it is “t-h-e-r-e” Please note that English speakers often choose to avoid the following” - Don’t use the modals/phrasal modals should, must, have to, ought to E.g.: You should write more clearly (Too strong) - Do use the modals: can, could… E.g.: You might want to give more examples - Don’t use imperatives: E.g.: Write more clearly (Too strong) Appendix 2: How to use “Mitigation devices” in peer commenting Mitigation devices are linguistic devices that can reduce the potential offence They include external mitigating devices such as additional comments; and internal linguistic softening devices such as uncertainty markers, shifts in tense or condition, and softening lexical items or phrases External modification: additional comments, separate from the problem identification and advice giving Complement: Write something positive or good about your peer’s essay E.g.: Well, yours is a very clear essay Internal modification: linguistic softeners a Uncertainty markers: You use to make the impression that you are not sure of your own comments i Use explicit statements of uncertainty: not sure, don’t know… E.g.: I’m not sure of this, you can check in the dictionary ii Use modal verbs, adverbs, phrases that indicate uncertainty: might, may, can… The modal verbs: must and should are out of choice because they show very strong direct 41 E.g.: This question can be clearer if you use a pronoun iii Use questions, rather than bald statements or imperatives to identify a problem or propose a potential solution E.g.: Did you conclude your ideas in the conclusion? b Past tense, conditional: Create a sense of distance between the speaker and the commentator E.g.: I thought it would be better if you put a pronoun here If you gave more examples, your essay would be nicer Other linguistic softeners: i Use verb: seem E.g.: It seems that your essay may lack of coherence iii Use parenthetical phrases such as I think, I’m afraid… E.g.: I think you need more examples Appendix 3: Read the following comments and first evaluate if they are appropriate or not (answer the question: Can they make potential offence?) and then correct them to decrease the degree of offence I suppose that your ideas are not well linked and fully developed Appropriateness: Correction: Your content is good but you should use a wide range of vocabulary to avoid repetition Appropriateness: Correction: 42 Don’t write a long introduction, it must be rather short instead Appropriateness: Correction: You shouldn’t write “this”, I think it has to be “that” Appropriateness: Correction: Why don’t you give examples to illustrate your points? You know, examples are a must Appropriateness: Correction: Don’t make grammar mistakes! I think it must be called “errors” in your cases Appropriateness: Correction: You didn’t pay attention to word choice at all! Appropriateness: Correction: 43 There are a lot of grammar and vocabulary mistakes in your essay Appropriateness: Correction: The arguments aren’t presented logically Appropriateness: Correction: 10 Bad points: grammar mistakes, vocabulary mistakes, spelling mistakes Appropriateness: Correction: Appendix 4: Handouts and Essay given to subjects of the study Handout 1: How to use “Mitigation devices” in peer commenting Mitigation devices are linguistic devices that can reduce the potential offence They include external mitigating devices such as additional comments; and internal linguistic softening devices such as uncertainty markers, shifts in tense or condition, and softening lexical items or phrases External modification: additional comments, separate from the problem identification and advice giving 44 Complement: Write something positive or good about your peer’s essay E.g.: Well, yours is a very clear essay Internal modification: linguistic softeners a Uncertainty markers: You use to make the impression that you are not sure of your own comments i Use explicit statements of uncertainty: not sure, don’t know… E.g.: I’m not sure of this, you can check in the dictionary ii Use modal verbs, adverbs, phrases that indicate uncertainty: might, may, can… The modal verbs: must and should are out of choice because they show very strong direct E.g.: This question can be clearer if you use a pronoun iii Use questions, rather than bald statements or imperatives to identify a problem or propose a potential solution E.g.: Did you conclude your ideas in the conclusion? b Past tense, conditional: Create a sense of distance between the speaker and the commentator E.g.: I thought it would be better if you put a pronoun here If you gave more examples, your essay would be nicer Other linguistic softeners: i Use verb: seem E.g.: It seems that your essay may lack of coherence 45 iii Use parenthetical phrases such as I think, I’m afraid… E.g.: I think you need more examples Handout 2: Strategies for Offering Peer Comments There are main strategies for offering peer comment: identify the problem and give advice Identifying the problem: State the problem or errors, mistakes that your peer make in his/her essay Be specific as possible because it can help your peer revise better Some negative words such as “weak” or “wrong” should not be used E.g.: I think you have written conclusions I cannot see your topic sentence Giving advice: “Don’t” and “Do” Explain how the problem can be repaired E.g.: You write “h-e-r-e” but I think it is “t-h-e-r-e” Please note that English speakers often choose to avoid the following” - Don’t use the modals/phrasal modals should, must, have to, ought to E.g.: You should write more clearly (Too strong) - Do use the modals: can, could… E.g.: You might want to give more examples - Don’t use imperatives: E.g.: Write more clearly (Too strong) 46 Handout 3: Peer comments Name: ……………………………………………………… ………Class:………… Email: ……………………………………………………………………………… Phone number: ……………………………………………………………………… Please give your comments on the following essay about the last holiday of a boy You are advised to have a look at the following questions before you give comments Thank you very much for your cooperation! (Your name will not be given to anyone If you would like to know more about my research, you can leave your email and phone number so that I can give you more information and invite you to have an interview.) Questions: These following questions are useful for you to give comments on your peer’s writing You can answer these questions when you give comments on the writing Organization: Does the essay directly discuss the topic? Is there a clear organizational structure, i.e does it have three parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion? Is the introduction brief and to the point? Does it indicate the main ideas that you will discuss in the body? Are there several paragraphs in the body, each making a different specific point? Is there a brief conclusion that summarizes the main points in the argument? Are the ideas properly linked? Ideas: Is the writer’s opinion clear or you think the writer is not quite sure what he or she thinks? Are the ideas relevant and well supported by evidence and examples? Are the arguments presented logically? 47 10 Are the arguments developed from one paragraph to another or does the writer just repeat him/herself? Grammar/vocabulary: 11 Is there a variety of sentence structure and vocabulary or is there a lot of repetition? 12 Are the linking words (i.e words used to link ideas) helpful or they confuse you? 13 Are the sentences grammatically accurate? Essay: Two weeks ago I came back from holiday I had gone to Turkey The weather was great albeit I was imprisoned in the hotel for two days becouse of heavy rain At the beggining I though that I could not abide staying at the hotel for two days However when I started getting acquainted with other holidaymakers I totally forgot about the bad weather condition and all my negative attitude just gone The gruop of my new friends agumented hour by hour When somebody offered me a drink my answer was always affirmative Eventually I ended up at different rooms each night In the last three days the weather forecast was absolutley wonderful So my friends and me planned a trip to the local market in order to buy some souvenirs When we reached our destination the most astonish think for me was that I had to bargain over the price about every product Before arriving to the hotel we had eaten at a restaurant I ordered helping of stawed vegetables, which tasted lovely, and lamb with bland taste At the airport each of us exchanged phone numbers with each other and now I am looking forward to seeing them again 48 Comments: -Appendix 5: Questions for interview FOR STUDENTS Do you find it hard to give comments on your peer’s writing? Before giving comments, what you often do? Do you give compliments on your peers’ essays though they did not make any or little effort? Do you correct your peer’s writing immediately when you find a mistake? If not, what you do? Do you use questions or modal verbs to ask your peers to improve their writing? Do you use some phrases sounding polite such as “please”? Do you think that English native speakers like what you in peer commenting? After receiving comments from your peers, what you think? Do you agree with them all? Can you improve your essays then basing on these comments? FOR TEACHERS 49 Have you ever looked at the peer comments section in your students’ writing assignments? What you think of the structures or words used by students? Do you think that English native speakers use language like that? Do you teach your students to give comments on the very beginning of the writing course? Do you think that the peer-commenting section is important? Do you think that the students can get benefits from the peer-commenting section? 50 REFERENCE English books Blum-Kulka, Shoshana, 1991 Interlanguage pragmatics: the case of requests In: Phillipson, R., Kellerman, E., Selinker, L., Sharwood Smith, M., Swain, M (Eds.), Foreign/Second Language Pedagogy Research Multilingual Matters Clevedon, Avon, pp 255–272 Brown, P and Levinson, S (1990) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage Cambridge University Press Cooke, M A (1970) Suggestions for developing more positive attitude toward native speakers of Spanish In H N Seelye (Ed.) Perspectives for teachers of Latin American culture Springfield, IL: State Department of Public Instruction Chastain, K (1971) The development of modern language skills: Theory to practice Chicago: Rand McNally Crystal, D (1992) An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Languages England: Blackwell Do Thi Mai Thanh, Dao Thu Trang (2006) Introduction to Cross Cultural Communication Gardner, R C., & Lambert, W E (1959) Motivational variables in second language acquisition Canadian Journal of Psychology 13, 266-272 Gardner, R C., & Lambert, W E (1965) Language, aptitude, intelligence, and second language achievement Journal of Educational Psychology 56, 191-199 51 Gardner, R C., & Lambert, W E (1972) Attitudes and motivation in second language learning Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House 10 Kaplan, J (1972) Cultural thought patterns - in Intercultural Education in Language Teaching 16, pp.1-20 11 Kramsch, C (1998), Language and Culture, Oxford: OUP 12 Kramsch, C (2001) Language and Culture Oxford: Oxford University Press 13 Kitao, K (2000) Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Instruction in the Unites States Online documents at URL http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/library/article/culture.htm [14.06.2004] 14 Levine, D.R & Adelman, M.B (1982) Beyond Language – Intercultural Communication for English as a Second Language Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 15 Ngo Huu Hoang (1998) A cross – cultural study on thanking and responding to thanks in English and Vietnamese M.A thesis College of Foreign Languages VNU 16 Nguyen, T.T.M & Basturkmen, H (2010) Teaching Constructive Critical Feedback In N Houck and D Tatsuki (Eds.), Pragmatics: Teaching speech acts (pp 125-140) Alexandria, VA: TESOL Inc 17 Nguyen, T.T.M (2008) Criticizing in a L2: Pragmatic strategies used by Vietnamese EFL learner Intercultural Pragmatics (1), 41-66 18 Nguyen, T.T.M (2008) Modifying L2 criticisms: How learners it? Journal of Pragmatics, 40 (4), 768-791 19 Nguyen, T.T.M (2005) Pragmatic development in L2 use of criticisms: A case of Vietnamese EFL learners In Foster-Cohen, Susan H 20 Nguyen Quang (1998) Cross-cultural Communication CFL - Vietnam National University - Hanoi 52 21 Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (2009) The Influence of some Vietnamese Cultural Factors on Freshmen’s English Communication B.A thesis CFL - Vietnam National University - Hanoi 22 Oxford University (2005) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Oxford University Press 23 Richards, J C and Schimidt, R W (1983) Language and Communication London and New York: Longman 24 Pulverness, A (2003) Distinctions & Dichotomies: Culture-free, Culture-bound Online documents at URL http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/forum/distanddich.htm [17.06.2004] 25 Saville-Troike, M (1982) The Ethnography of Communication: An Introduction Oxford: Basil Blackwell 26 Stainer, F (1971) Culture: A motivating factor in the French classroom In C Jay & P Castle (Eds.), French language education: The teaching of culture in the classroom Springfield, IL: State Department of Public Instruction 27 UNESCO (2002) UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity 28 Yule, G (1996) The Study of Language (2nd Edition) Cambridge: CUP 29 Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics Oxford: OUP Vietnamese books NguyÔn Quang, (2002) Giao tiếp giao tiếp giao văn hoá NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội Nguyễn Quang, (2003) Giao tiếp nội văn hoá giao văn hoá NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội Nguyễn Quang, (2004) Một số vấn đề giao tiếp nội văn hóa v giao húa NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Néi Nguyen, T.T.M (2006) Nghiên cứu thực nghiệm chuyển di ngữ dụng tiêu cực hành vi ngôn ngữ phê phán người Việt Nam học tiếng Anh ngoại ngữ Tạp chí Ngơn ngữ 2, 20-30 53 54 ... the following Vietnamese dialogue to prove that Vietnamese people prefer indirect style in communication This is taken from their work Let’s see the dialogue: - Host: Chả bác đến nhà chơi, mời... clearly (Too strong) - Do use the modals: can, could… E.g.: You might want to give more examples - Don’t use imperatives: E.g.: Write more clearly (Too strong) 46 Handout 3: Peer comments Name: ………………………………………………………... Overview of some Anglo-American and Vietnamese Cross-cultural key categorical dimensions Nguyen Quang (1998) supposes that there are fourteen Anglo-American and Vietnamese Cross-cultural categories