The importance of introducing some cultural aspects on stubborness of the british to sophomores of english majors and non english majors at hanoi pedagogical university no 2

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N0 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY PHAM THI THANH THE IMPORTANCE OF INTRODUCING SOME CULTURAL ASPECTS ON STUBBORNESS OF THE BRITISH TO SOPHOMORES OF ENGLISH MAJORS AND NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELORS OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: PHI THI THO, B.A Hanoi, 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, B.A Phi Thi Tho, without whose valuable comments and guidance, my research would not have been accomplished My special thanks go to my English friends; Ms Jasmine Kathleen and Ms Jenifer Wells who help me find out the information about their cultures as well as provide me books and necessary materials I wish to thank all the lecturers at Hanoi Pedagogical University Number 2, especially the lecturers in the Foreign Language Faculty for their dedicated instructions during years of university work I am greatly indebted to my family for their love, support and encouragement Finally, I am particularly grateful to my close friends for their enthusiasm and kindness, to K37 students of Foreign Language Faculty for helping me in making survey i ABSTRACT The British culture plays an importance role in teaching and studying English Beside the characteristics of Western culture, British culture has typical aspects which are consider as tokens of “Britishness” One of these tokens is stubbornness or conservativeness There are quite a lot of books written about British culture, but these books just discuss this culture in general and not mention the stubbornness in full Therefore, this research work entails introducing the British’s stubbornness to sophomores of English majors and non-English majors to help them understand clearly this typical aspect in British culture ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: Introducing the British’s stubbornness to sophomores of English majors and non-English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University No (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English) I certify that no part of the above report has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under the instructions of my supervisor Date submitted: May 2013 Student Supervisor Pham Thi Thanh Phi Thi Tho iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HPUN2 : Hanoi Pedagogical University Number II SI : International System of Units USSR : Union of Soviet Socialist Republics TNT : Trinitrotoluene EU : European Union UK : United Kingdom BST : British Summer Time GMT : Greenwich Mean Time DST : Daily Savings Time RoSPA : Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents SDST : Single Double Summer Time EC : European Community ELT : English Language Teaching iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: The result of the students’ attitude towards the British’s stubbornness 38 Table 1: Holidays and events 53 Table 2: List of country driving on the left side 54 Table 3: Cities and countries using double-deckers 55 Table 4: SI base units 56 Table 5: Units of measurement in Britain 57 Table 6: List of countries changing the clocks 58 Table 7: Time when British change their clocks 58 v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART ONE INTRODUCTION I Rationale II Research presupposition III Research objectives IV Research scope V Research tasks VI Research methods VII Research significance VIII Research design PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW I An overview of culture and British culture I.1 Culture I.2 British culture II The British’s conservativeness (stubbornness) 10 II.1.What is conservativeness or stubbornness? 11 II.2.The British stay stubbornly different 12 II.2.1 Left-hand side driving 12 II.2.1.1 History 12 vi II.2.1.2 Left-hand side driving in Britain 16 II.2.2 Double-decker bus 17 II.2.2.1 History 17 II.2.2.2 Description 18 II.2.2.3 Double-decker buses in United Kingdom and the differences 19 II.2.3 System of measurement 21 II.2.3.1.What is system of measurement? 21 II.2.3.2 Classification 22 II.2.3.2.1.Imperial and US Customary 22 II.2.3.2.2 Metric system 23 II.2.3.2.3 SI System 25 II.2.3.2.4.Other types of measurement system 25 II.2.3.3 System of measurement in Britain and the conservativeness 26 II.2.4 Clock changing in Britain 28 II.2.4.1 Origin of changing the clocks 29 II.2.4.2.The British Summer Time (BST) and the stubbornness 30 CHAPTER TWO: THE METHODOLOGY II.1 Purpose of the survey 32 II.2 Population of the survey 32 II.3 Type of the survey 33 II.4 Construction of the survey 33 II.5 Preparation of the survey 33 II.5.1 Test items 33 II.5.2 Arrangement of the test items 34 II.6 Administration of the try-out 34 II.6.1 Preparation of the try-out 34 II.6.2 Try-out 34 II.7 Method of data analysis 34 vii CHAPTER THREE: THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY III.1 The results of the survey 36 III.1.1 The results of the students’ attitude towards the importance of learning British culture in learning English 36 III.1.2 The results of the students’ attitude towards the British’s stubbornness 37 III.2 Suggested solutions 39 III.2.1 Suggested solutions for teacher 39 III.2.2 Suggested solutions for student 41 PART THREE CONCLUSION CONCLUSION 43 REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES 47 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 47 viii PART ONE INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE Nowadays, it cannot be denied that English is the most commonly used language among foreign language speakers Throughout the world, when people with different languages come together they commonly use English to communicate In addition, English is commonly spoken throughout much of the world due to Great Britain’s expansion during the colonial age People in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and parts of Africa, India, and many smaller island nations speak English English is the commonly adopted second language in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands As we know, language teaching and culture teaching have a dual nature In order to conduct language teaching well, one must take up the teaching of culture and the teaching of language at the same time When we learn a foreign language, we more than learn a linguistic system We acquire some degree of familiarity with the foreign cultural system It is now broadly accepted that learning a foreign language is not simply mastering the grammar, the vocabulary, but appropriately focusing more on learning a means of communication Communication in real situations is never out of context, and because culture is part of most contexts, communication is rarely culture-free It means that if we use the same word in different culture, we would get different psychological response For example, when reading the sentence "It's morally hard to turn her away as it is a lost dog", most students put "a lost dog" into literal meaning which totally shows our feeling of disgust and dislike for the dog But it is not the case in western countries In the western culture, dogs are regarded as faithful friends and companions So the actual meaning of "the lost dog" here means something precious, valuable and adorable is lost It's obvious that neglecting the cultural difference results in the misunderstanding In Vietnam, learning and teaching English as a second language is paid more and more attention and furthermore, English becomes more and more popular To Some suggested solutions were given to help students and teachers in teaching and learning British culture For English teachers, they should master the knowledge about the British culture so that they can provide students with a good knowledge as well as help students understand more about the aspects of culture English language teachers should find the way to motivate students in learning the target culture such as using game, watching movies, making their own assumption about culture and working with students to study the culture In order to get good knowledge of British culture, students should possess cultural background information in Vietnamese culture They can learn and practice the patterns of daily life in British culture by participating in the information-oriented activities in order to know about the current lifestyle in British culture and compare this lifestyle with that of their own to find the similarities and differences On the other hand, students should study culture themselves With the development of internet, learning about other cultures is not too difficult They can also read books of culture written by native authors, watch films or take part in cultural exchanging program to have more knowledge of British culture It is hoped that this study has made certain contributions to the English language teaching and learning in Vietnam Due to the shortage of time as well as this being the first thesis of the researcher on the matter, errors and shortcomings have inevitably remained Thus, the research warmly welcome and highly appreciates all comments, remarks and suggestions from those who are concerned 44 REFERENCES Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C A (1989) Multicultural education Needham Heights, MA: Allyn& Bacon Bassnett, S (1997).Studying in British Culture: An Introduction New York: Routledge BBC News (2006) Clock change would save lives Bennett, O (2012) British Summer Time and the Daylight Saving Bill 201011.House of Commons Library Bennett, O.(2010) Daylight Saving Bill 2010–11.House of Commons Library Britannica Educational Publishing (2010) The Britannica Guide to Numbers and Measurement The Rosen Publishing Group Chapman, C.S (2005) Controlling strategy, management, and accounting and performance measurement Oxford University Press: USA Childs, P &Storry, M (2002).Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture.Newyork Taylor & Francis e-Library Chisholm, H (1911) The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information University Press Christopher, D (2002) British Culture: An Introduction New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library Collin, J & Martin, A (2000).What’s it like? Life and Culture in Britain Today Cambridge : Cambridge University Press Collins, A (2001) British Life Denmark: Person Plc Damen, L (1987) Culture Learning: The Fifth Dimension on the Language Classroom Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Garwood, C., Gardani, G., & Peris, I.(n.d.) Aspects of Britain and the USA Oxford University Press Hargis, T.S (2006) Rules, Britannia New York: ST Martin’s Press Higgins, M., Smith, C.,& Storey, J (2010) The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 45 Jha, A.(2010) Lighter LaterGuardianArticle.The Guardian :London Kincaid, P.(1986) The Rule of the Road: An International Guide to History and Practice Greenwood Press Kirkup, J (2010) Give me sunshine: David Cameron considers double summertime London: Telegraph Kroeber, A.L., & Kluckhohn, C (1952) Culture: A critical review of concepts and definitions Harvard University Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology Papers 47 Marshall, P (1972) Wheels of London The Sunday Times Magazine McDowall, D (2008) Britain in close-up Longman Mount, H (1993) How England made the English: From why we drive on the left to why we don’t talk to our neighbors London:Longman Parker, D (2009) The official history of privatization London: Rout ledge Rabley, S (1986).Customs and Traditions in Britain London: Longman Rose, W (2010) The battle for British Summer Time The Times: New York Storry, M & Childs, P (2002).British Cultural Identities London and New York : Routledge Thompson, A & Taylor Barry, N ( 2010) The NIST guide for the use of the international system of units National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg Useem, J., & Useem, R (1963) Human Organizations Oxford University Press, USA 46 APPENDICES SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey is designed to collect information for the study on English culture learning The obtained result will be of great importance to our methodology assignment, which aims at working out the most effective methods to incorporating English cultural elements into English training Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated You can be certain that this is for research purpose only and that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Please tick the answer you think the most suitable, or write some words appropriately For some questions you can tick more than one answer Do you think that culture plays an important role in learning a foreign language? A Yes B No Is British culture known much in Vietnam? A Very well B Rather well C Well D Not well at all Are you introduced about British culture in non-major class? A Yes B No How often you mention the aspect of British culture in English class? A Rarely B Sometimes C Often D More than often 47 When someone says that “British stay stubbornly different”, what does it mean? A The British is so selfish They don’t want to care anything except themselves B When someone give any idea They often ignore that idea They don’t want to share or listen They in their own way C The British can be stubbornly conservative about anything which is perceived as a token of “Britishness” What is the origin of left-hand side driving? A In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people B The British are left-hander C A right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left) It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road D I don’t know How many countries whose inhabitants drive on the left-hand side of the road? A only B 20 C 75 D 100 What system of measurement does the British use? A Imperial system B Metric system C Both Imperial and metric system D I don’t know 48 Which units of measurement are used in the UK? Choose YES if that unit is used in the UK and NO if not UNIT OF MEASUREMENT LENGTH LIQUID AREA TEMPERATURE MASS and WEIGHT YES inch foot meter thou mile chain litre gill gallon pint fluid ounce square metre hectares acre rood are Kelvin (K) Degree Celcious Fahrenheit (F) grain tonne pound ounce kilogram 10 How many yards are in 3.00 miles? A 1760 yards x 3=5280 yards B 1500 yards x 3= 4500 yards C 1000 yards x3= 3000 yards 49 NO 11 Convert 52 ounces to pounds A 3.25 lbs B 2.25 lbs C 2lbs D lbs 12 If Bob ran 2.5 km and Rob ran 1.7 mi., who ran farther? A Bob B Rob 13 When you ask for beer in UK, which container is used to serve beer? A a cup B a glass C a pint glass D a bottle 14 What is double-decker? A a kind of house B disco C a kind of bus D a kind of taxi 15 What is the color of the bus in London? A red B it depends on the producer C yellow and red D black 16 Which is the size of two-storey-bus in UK? A 15.0 metres (49 ft in) B between 9.5 metres (31 ft in) and 11.0 metres (36 ft in) long C 18.75 metres (61 ft in) D 13.5 metres (44 ft in) 50 17 Why the British change their clock? A For saving hours of daylight B They want to different from others C The clock in Britain is different D I don’t know 18 How the British change their clock? A They set the clock forward and backward by hour B They set the clock forward and backward by 30 minutes C They set the clock forward and backward by hour D They set the clock forward and backward by 20 minutes 19 When are the clocks changed? A Last Sunday in March and October B Last Monday in April and December C First Monday in January and December D Last Sunday in January and first Monday in November 20 Which are BST and GMT stand for? A …………………………………………………………………… B I don’t know 21 It is 3pm in Vietnam in summer, what time is it in England? A pm B am C 10 pm D 10 am Thanks for your cooperation! KEY: Varied answers Varied answers Varied answers Varied answers C A&C 51 C A UNIT OF MEASUREMENT LENGTH LIQUID AREA TEMPERATURE MASS and WEIGHT inch foot meter thou mile chain litre gill gallon pint fluid ounce square metre hectares acre rood are Kelvin (K) Degree Celcious Fahrenheit (F) grain tonne pound ounce kilogram YES x x NO x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 10 A 16 B 11 A 17.A 12 B 18.A 13 C 19.A 14 C 20 British Summer Time and Greenwich Mean Time 15 A 21 B 52 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Holidays and events Month January February Holidays and Events 1st New Year’s Day 5thTwefth Night 1stCandlemas Day 14th Valentine’s Day 1st St David’s Day (Wales National Day) 8th Mother’s Day March 17th St Patrick’s Day (Ireland’s Special Day) Shrove Tuesday Lent Maundy Thursday Easter April May June July August 1st April Fool’s Day 23rd St George’s Day (England’s National Day 1st May Day Trooping the Colours Wimbledon Tennis Tournament Swan Upping Notting Hill Carnival September Harvest Festival October 31st Halloween 5th Bonfire Night November 11th Remembrance Day 30th St Andrew’s Day (Scotland’s National Day) Advent Decemmber 25th Christmas 26th Boxing Day 53 Table 2: List of country driving on the left side of the road 1.Anguilla 16 East 31 Kiribati 46 Niue 56.Seychelles 66 Tonga 2.Antigua Timor 32 Cocos 47 Norfolk 57.Singapore 67.Trinidad and Barbuda 17 Falkland (Keeling) Island 58 Solomon and Tobago Australia Islands Islands (Australia) Islands 68 Turks and Bahamas 18 Fiji (Australia) 48 Pakistan 59 South Caicos 5.Bangladesh 19 Grenada 33 Lesotho 49 Papua Africa Islands Barbados 20 Guernsey 34 Macau New Guinea 60 Sri Lanka 69 Tuvalu Bermuda (Channel 35 Malawi 50 Pitcairn 61 Suriname 70 Uganda Bhutan Islands) 36 Malaysia Islands 62.Swaziland 71 United Botswana 21 Guyana 37 Maldives (Britain) 63 Tanzania Kingdom 10 Brunei 22 Hong 38 Malta 51 Saint 64 Thailand (England, 11 Cayman Kong 39 Mauritius Helena 65 Tokelau Wales, Islands 23 India 40 Montserrat 52 Saint (New Scotland and 12.Christmas 24.Indonesia 41.Mozambique Kitts and Zealand) Northern Island 25 Ireland 42 Namibia Nevis Ireland) (Australia) 26 Isle of 43 Nauru 53 Saint 72 Virgin 13 Cook Man 44 Nepal Lucia Islands Islands 27 Jamaica 45 New 54 Saint (British) 14 Cyprus 28 Japan Zealand Vincent and 73 Virgin 15.Dominica 29 Jersey the Islands (US) (Channel Grenadines 74 Zambia Islands) 55 Samoa 75.Zimbabwe 30 Kenya 54 Table 3: Cities and countries using double-deckers Europe Africa Asia -United Egypt -Sri Lanka Kingdom North Oceania South America -Canada New - Argentina -Singapore -United Zealand -Chile -Republic of -Japan State Ireland -People's -Germany Republic of China -Macedonia (Hong Kong, -Turkey Macau, Mainland - France China) America -India -Indonesia - Russia 55 -Peru Table 4: SI base units Base quantity Base unit Symbol Time Second S Length Meter M Kilogram Kg (proposed) hyperfine splitting in Cesium-133 Speed of light in vacuum, c Mass Mass New SI constants Current SI constants same as current SI same as current SI of International Prototype Kilogram Planck's constant, h (IPK) permeability Electric current Ampere A of free space, permittivity of free space Temperature Amount substance Luminous intensity of Kelvin K Mole mol Candela Cd triple point charge of the electron, e of Boltzmann's water, absolute zero constant, k Molar mass of Carbon- Avogadro 12 constant NA luminous efficacy of a 540 THz source 56 same as current SI Table 5: Units of measurement in Britain Unit SI equivalent millimeters/ meters 0.02554 millimeters 25.4 millimeters 304.8 millimeters 914.4 millimeters 20116.8 millimeters 1,609.344 meters 4,828.032 meters 185.3184 meters 201.168 millimeters 5.0292 meters Length thou (th) inch (in) foot (ft) yard (yd) chain (ch) mile (mi) league (lea) cable link rod Area perch rood acre square meter 25.29 1011.71 4046.856 fluid ounce(fl oz) gill (gi) pint (pt) quart (qt) gallon (gal) Milliliters (ml) 28.41 142.065 568.261 1,136.52 4,546.09 Volume Mass and weight Temperature Kilograms grain (gr) 0.064 (grams) drachm (dr) 1.771 (grams) ounce (oz) 28.34 (grams) pound (lb) 0.453 stone (st) 6.35 quarter (qtr) 12.7 hundredweight (cwt) 50.8 ton (t) 1,016 Fahrenheit (F) 0.556 Degree Celcious (°C) 57 Table 6: Countries change the clocks Continent Countries Africa Canary Islands, Madeira, Egypt, Morocco, and Namibia North America Most of Canada, most of the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, and Greenland South America Brazil, Chile, Falkland Islands, Paraguay, and Uruguay Asia: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Syria, and Mongolia Europe All countries except Iceland This includes Russia Oceania Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and New Zealand Table 7: Time when British change their clocks Year Time 2006 the Sundays of 26 March and 29 October 2007 the Sundays of 25 March and 28 October 2008 the Sundays of 30 March and 26 October 2009 the Sundays of 29 March and 25 October 2010 the Sundays of 28 March and 31 October 2011 the Sundays of 27 March and 30 October 2012 the Sundays of 25 March and 28 October 2013 the Sundays of 31 March and 27 October 2014 the Sundays of 30 March and 26 October 58 [...]... Scotland and Wales Britain ranks 20 thin the world in terms of population size The population of the UK is more than 60 million The total population of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland is estimated in succession at 50 million, 2. 95 million, 5.1 million and 1.7 million people England has the highest population density and Scotland has the lowest Many parts of London, such as Islington or... premarital sex and nonmarital sex and so on Each country has its own national proud and the British is not an exception The British is considered so conservative and their conservatism is shown in lots of different traits II .2 .The British stay stubbornly different II .2. 1 Left-hand side driving II .2. 1.1 History Why do people in Britain and some of their former colonies drive on the left side of the road?... effort and time to fathom the core values and fundamentals I .2 British culture Being one of countries speaking English, Britain (or Great Britain) is the largest island in the UK The United Kingdom is made of the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Great Britain, on the other hand, comprises only England,... long by 160 feet (48.8 m) wide This is often used by the American public media for the sizes of large buildings or parks that means easily to walk but non- trivial distances Another example is that a ton of TNT equivalent, and its multiples the kiloton, the megaton, and the gigaton were often used in stating the power of very energetic events such as explosions, volcanic events and earthquakes II .2. 3.3... The thesis has 3 main parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion The part “Development” consists of three chapters Chapter one is named “Literature review”, which has 2 sections known as “Overview of Culture, British Culture and British People”, The British s conservativeness” The first section mentions the culture and British culture in the general with different aspects The second... against the person who is going the opposite way of them on their right side That is also reason why swordsmen preferred to keep to the left Therefore, they have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him In another hand, travelling on the left-handed side reduced the chance of the scabbard worn on the left hitting other people Moreover, if people happened to meet a friend on. .. left to ensure that their protective sword arm was between themselves and that stranger Another reason is that the right-handed people find it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if people mount on the left, they should ride the horse on the left side of the road There are 75 countries... from them In a report to Congress, John Quincy Adams (1 821 ) mentioned that weights and measures were among the earliest tools invented by man and may be ranked among the necessaries of life to every individual of human society They enter in to the economical arrangements and daily concerns of every family They are necessary to every occupation of human industry, to the distribution and security of every... (pound), a long hundredweight of 1 12 lb and a long ton of 22 40 lb The stone is not used in the US and the hundredweights and tons are short being of 100 lb and 20 00 lb respectively These systems are most notably different in their units of volume A US fluid ounce (fl oz) (29 .6 ml) is slightly larger than the imperial fluid ounce (28 .4 ml) The same is true of quarts, gallons Volumes such as pints and quarts... objects The collection of this museum is one of the biggest and the most sufficient collections in the world which derived from every continents and showing human’s life from the dawn of human kind The British Library in London is national library and this is one of the biggest libraries of research in the world containing more than 150 million objects and 25 million books in every languages and formations ... in British culture ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: Introducing the British s stubbornness to sophomores of English majors and non -English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University No (Graduation... purposes The imperial system uses a stone of 14 lb (pound), a long hundredweight of 1 12 lb and a long ton of 22 40 lb The stone is not used in the US and the hundredweights and tons are short being of. .. England, Scotland and Wales Britain ranks 20 thin the world in terms of population size The population of the UK is more than 60 million The total population of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern