A cross-cultural study of using the Sandwich feedback by Vietnamese and American teachers and its effects on students’ uptake

A cross-cultural study of using the Sandwich feedback by Vietnamese and American teachers and its effects on students’ uptake Nghiên cứu giao văn hoá về việc sử dụng “sandwich feedback” của giáo viên người Mỹ và người Việt trong việc đưa ra lời phê bình và tác động của nó đối với sự tiếp thu của sinh viên Lại Hoài Châu University of Languages and International Studies M.A. Thesis. English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Supervisor : Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng Năm bảo vệ: 2012 Abstract. Giving feedback is an indispensable part in teaching in general and in teaching foreign language in particular. Feedback benefits both teachers in orienting students to the right track and students in improving their study. However, basing on the mood, the culture and specific circumstance, feedback would turn to be sensitive, the atmosphere in class, therefore, could be altered under those comments. This research invests time and space to study about the culture of giving sandwich feedback in classroom of teachers from America and Vietnam. The author presupposed that sandwich feedback is quite new in Vietnam and with Vietnamese traditional preferences of talking, teachers would prefer to give a long, hedging comment. However, the result of the research was surprised her when in fact, American teachers use hedging a lot in their comments and the flexibility in applying sandwich feedback, to some extents, affects positively to the learners. The research suggests some useful pedagogical implications and opens some new direction for further consideration. Keywords. Giao văn hóa; Tiếng Anh; Giáo viên Content. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale 1 1.2. Previous studies 3 1.3. Aims of study 4 1.4. Research questions 5 1.5. Significance of study 5 1.6. Scope of the study 5 1.7. Organization of the study 6 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 8 2.1. Definition of feedback 8 2.2. Definition of criticism 9 2.3. Definition of sandwich feedback communication (SFC) 11 2.4. Pragmatics and significance of SFC in communication 13 2.4.1. What is pragmatics? 13 2.4.2. What is Politeness? 16 2.4.3. Politeness strategies (PSs) 16 2.4.4. Relation of sandwich feedback and politeness 20 2.5. Vietnamese and American cross-cultural SFC 21 CHAPTER 3: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 24 3.1. Overview of the research methodology 24 3.2. Design of study 25 3.2.1. Selection of informant 25 3.2.2. Data collection instrument 27 3.2.3. Data processing procedure 28 3.3. Data analysis 29 3.3.1. The patterns of SFC (Structures of SFC that teachers often use) 29 3.3.2. SFC as a politeness strategy 34 3.4. Discussion 41 CHAPTER 4: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 43 4.1. Pedagogical implication 43 4.2. Limitation of study and the suggestion for further researches 44 4.3. Conclusion REFERENCE QUESTIONNAIRE 45 46 References. Abbas, A. M. (2010). 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Retrieved May 17th, 2012, from http://www.lexiophiles.com/topic/the- relationship-between-language-and-culturehttp://www.lexiophiles.com/topic/the- relationship-between-language-and-culture . A cross-cultural study of using the Sandwich feedback by Vietnamese and American teachers and its effects on students’ uptake Nghiên cứu giao văn hoá về việc sử dụng sandwich feedback . sandwich feedback in classroom of teachers from America and Vietnam. The author presupposed that sandwich feedback is quite new in Vietnam and with Vietnamese traditional preferences of talking,. strategies (PSs) 16 2.4.4. Relation of sandwich feedback and politeness 20 2.5. Vietnamese and American cross-cultural SFC 21 CHAPTER 3: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 24 3.1. Overview of