SKKN NHỮNG NHÂN tố GIAO văn HOÁ ẢNH HƯỞNG đến kỹ NĂNG đọc HIỂU TIẾNG ANH của học SINH TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA i THỰC TRẠNG và GIẢI PHÁP

THANH HÓA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TĨNH GIA HIGH SCHOOL - MINOR THESIS IN EDUCATION CROSS-CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING TĨNH GIA I HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS (NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ GIAO VĂN HOÁ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA I: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ GIẢI PHÁP) Researcher: NGUYỄN THỊ HÀ, MA Teacher at Tĩnh Gia high school Field: English THANH HÓA, 2014 ABSTRACT Reading comprehension is a complex process of the interaction between the writer’s language and the readers’ prior background knowledge or memory schemata In the reading comprehension process, readers’ linguistic elements are very important, but sometimes we can not read behind the lines except by the help of background knowledge of culture, because the meanings of words are often acquired in a certain circumstance of culture However, to my best teaching experience, most of English foreign language learners in Vietnam in general and in Tĩnh Gia high school in particular lack of cultural background knowledge and that is why they have a lot of difficulties in achieving exact reading comprehension This has urged me to carry out the present study By describing and interpreting the data collected through action research conducted in Tĩnh Gia high school, firstly, I managed to investigate cross-cultural factors affecting reading comprehension, from these to find out cross-cultural barriers in English reading comprehension skills, and then, gave some suggestions for both teachers and students to improve the students’ RC skills With detailed investigations and valid findings, I believe this study is a reliable and useful source of reference for language classes in general and for any Vietnamese English foreign language learners and teachers who share the same concern TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .i Tables of contents ii A INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study .1 Aims of the study.… ……… .1 Research methods of the study .1 B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Reading comprehension 1.2 The relationship between culture and language 1.2.1 Language and culture: 1.2.2 The role of culture in language teaching and learning 1.2.3.The role of cross-cultural background knowledge in English reading comprehension CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 The subjects .3 2.2 The research method 2.2.1 The procedure of the action research 2.2.2 The instruments of data collection .5 2.3 The data collection procedures CHAPTER 3: THE FINDINGS 3.1 Linguistic barriers in relation to cross-culture in the English RC .6 3.1.1 Vocabulary 3.1.2 Grammar 3.1.3 Pragmatics 3.2 The causes of the cross-cultural barriers 10 3.2.1 The external causes 10 3.2.2 The internal causes .11 CHAPTER 4: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLUTIONS 11 4.1 Cross-cultural factor teaching and learning in foreign language instruction 11 4.1.1 When should the study of cross-culture begin?.… … 11 4.1.2 What aspects of cross-culture should be taught in the classrooms? 11 4.1.3 The principles for cross-culture teaching 12 4.1.4 Common approaches to the teaching of cross-culture .12 4.2 Supplementary activities for developing students’ cross-cultural awareness in reading lessons 12 4.2.1 Activities that focuses on creating an authentic classroom environment 13 4.2.2 Activities that focus on providing cultural information .13 4.2.3 Activities that focus on developing students’ cross-cultural awareness 14 C CONCLUSION The application of this research on reading comprehension teaching 16 Some implications for a better reading comprehension lesson 17 2.1 To students: 17 2.2 To the teachers: .18 2.3 To the textbook compilers .19 Significance of the study 19 Limitation and suggestions for further study .20 REFERENCES APPENDIX A INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study In English learning, the linguistic knowledge elements play a vital role in reading comprehension (RC) However, in the process of reading, many Vietnamese students have already possessed the above knowledge but they still can not comprehend the texts completely because the meanings of words are acquired in a certain circumstance of culture Every social communication possesses its own certain thought pattern, value, ways of life Therefore, if a Vietnamese student does not know about the English culture, such as histories, values, mode of thinking, customs, religion and life style, he may fail to understand the exact meaning of the texts so understanding the cultural content of what one reads is a crucial factor in RC From my experience as a teacher of English at Tĩnh Gia 1(TG1) high school for eight years, I have realized that the cultural content is not really concerned while studying reading lessons in textbooks The cultural knowledge remains unexplored and neglected in English reading learning and teaching process in this school That is why the great efforts made by teachers to improve the quality of English reading lessons can not help to meet the teaching goals and students have much trouble in comprehending of the reading texts This issue has brought me a great desire to conduct action research in order to examine cross-cultural factors that cause barriers in English RC for students at TG1 high school as well as to give some suggestions for incorporating the cultural knowledge into reading lessons With this study, the researcher hopes to help students at TG1 high school to have a better RC skill Aims of the study The study aims at: - Investigating the cross-cultural factors in students’ English RC process at TG1 high schools - Discovering students’ cross-cultural barriers to English RC in the classrooms, - Suggesting some solutions to reduce and eliminate them in order to achieve the exact RC Research methods of the study To get the goals of the study, this study is conducted action research that employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data With this action research, the quantitative analyses are through the process of data collected from tests and questionnaire The qualitative approach is employed to deal with the data gathered from follow-up interviews All comments, suggestions, and conclusions in the study are based on the results of the data analysis B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Reading comprehension There are many definitions of RC and they all show that reading is much more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends It is a process in which the readers (as they read) can recognize the graphic form and understand the relation between the writing and the meaning Learning a foreign language is a process which requires learners to integrate many language skills Learners of a second or foreign language may rarely find chances to communicate with native speakers orally, but they can read different texts in different subjects with varying degrees of detail and difficulty It is generally accepted nowadays that reading is a key skill for most students learning a foreign language In short, RC plays a vital role in teaching and learning a foreign language This fact calls for suitable teaching methods to help the students become more active in learning reading 1.2 The relationship between culture and language 1.2.1 Language and culture Language is the product of culture One important instrument of cultural expression is language Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it On the one hand, without language, culture would not be possible On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture; it reflects culture The relationship between language and culture is deeply rooted Language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties “Culture is in language, and language is loaded with culture” (Agar, [2001, pg 28]) 1.2.2 The role of culture in language teaching and learning “Linguistic competence alone is not enough for learners of a language to be competent in that language”(Krasner, 2004, pg 132) Language is rooted in culture and culture is reflected and passed on by language from one generation to the next From this, one can see that learning a new language involves the learning of a new culture Consequently, teachers of a language are also teachers of culture It can be said that cultural content is a key to effective teaching and learning a second or foreign language Necessarily, students cannot master the language unless they have mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs It is actually hard for language learners to communicate well without knowledge of culture such as codes of behaviors, and different beliefs, etc As a result, this is the reason why we can come to the conclusion that teaching and learning language are more than teaching and learning a system of syntax and lexicon 1.2.3 The role of the cross-cultural background knowledge in English RC Schema theory, a psycholinguistic model, emphasizes that RC is an interactive process between the reader’s previous background knowledge and the text According to the theory, EFL readers’ RC is not only due to how easy or difficult a text is for them but more depends on the level of readers’ recall from their culturally familiar background knowledge and from the contextual clues about cultural origins (Carrell, 1984, pg :312) For a long time, in Vietnam, English teaching has focused on the language forms such as phonetics, vocabulary and grammar and ignored the effect of background knowledge of culture As the carrier of culture, the cultural background of language is rather extensive Lacking of the necessary cultural background may hinder people from comprehending language For instance, when the president Reagan took up his post, an American wrote to a Vietnamese teacher: “the United States has gone from peanuts to popcorn” The syntax of this sentence is very simple However, the Vietnamese teacher did not understand the sentence at that time until her friend explained to her that former president Jimmy Carter owned a big peanut farm while the present president Reagan is an actor and people eat popcorn while they watch TV She suddenly realized the real humorous meaning of this sentence From this case, we can see that to comprehend the language, not only depends on the comprehension of vocabulary and grammatical structures, but also depends on the comprehension of relevant background knowledge of culture CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 The subjects The study was based on the content of textbooks: “Tiếng Anh 10, 11, 12” which follows the theme-based approach It was conducted with the participation of students of three grades 10th, 11th, 12th.(10A5, 11A4, 12A7) at TG1 high school It is known that it is not always feasible to carry out the study with all the students from three classes Thus, the researcher, who is in charge of teaching English for these classes, only chose 48 students at the age of 16-18 (6 males and 10 females from one class) as the final sample of the study They took part in data collection instruments: Tests, questionnaire and follow-up interviews The subjects were divided equally into groups (9 males and 15 females in each) that are the control group and the experimental group males and females from one class were in one group The other students in the three classes still attended the program but no data were collected on these students With the aims at selecting two compatible groups for the treatment, the subjects in this study were arranged in accordance with their level of English based on the results of their placement test 2.2 The research method The method employed in this study is action research, with the use of a number of instruments, namely tests, questionnaires and interviews 2.2.1 The procedures of the action research This action research project was carried out as follows Step 1: Problem identification When working on reading lessons, the students as well as teachers often focus on so much the linguistic forms They took linguistic knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, phonetics into consideration to comprehend the text In fact, they master them but can not get exact comprehension of the reading texts Perhaps, they needed some help to be aware of how important cross-cultural factors are to RC Step 2: Preliminary investigation I spent two weeks collecting baseline data through observation and recording behaviors of the students and teachers when they dealt with cross-cultural elements during the reading process to find out their reading behavior and the answer to the questions: “whether they appreciate cross-cultural elements in the reading process or not ” and “What are the true cross-cultural problems that they encounter? ” I asked them to a reading test to measure them I also designed the pre-questionnaire to investigate cross-cultural factors affecting reading process, which factors lead to barriers and the reasons for them Step 3: Hypothesis After reviewing the initial data, I formed a hypothesis that the reason for students’ low reading proficiency might be due to some cross-cultural elements causing barriers in reading process That is by giving some approaches, principles and activities to incorporate crosscultural elements into reading lesson, the researcher gives some suggestions for solutions, it is believed that the RC of my students would be improved Step 4: Plan intervention Following the hypothesis, some steps were taken to implement a plan: Firstly, teachers were introduced to use some cultural-based activities in the reading lessons These activities were alternatively used every week in order to get over the barriers that might appear to them Secondly, teachers and students were asked to record their behaviors after reading lessons They took notes positive things after using these activities It was really necessary and useful for the students and teachers as well because they might feel motivated if they got some progress Then, the students were asked to post-tests and fill in the postquestionnaire Some students and teachers were invited to take part in the follow-up interviews Step 5: Evaluation In order to clarify to what extent the cross-cultural elements would affect RC and cause problems, information and results from the post-tests, the questionnaire and interviews, were collected, analyzed and interpreted 2.2.2 The instruments of data collection Tests were administered to explore the subjects’ treatment and attitudes towards the reading lessons containing cross-cultural factors In this study, two separate tests, a pretest and a posttest, were used to collect data In fact, they are two versions of the same test The use of the same test before and after the experiment treatment was to measure exactly the difference that may have been caused by that treatment Questionnaires were delivered right after the subjects had finished the pre-test The questionnaires were collected to find out the cross cultural factors in English RC process of teachers and students at TG1 high school, discover teachers’ and students’ cultural obstacles to English RC in the classrooms All information collected helped the researcher to identify results of the study Interviews were conducted with the subjects who had unclear or ambiguous answers to the researcher in order to make sure once again about the data collected The combination of various data collection instruments would provide a comprehensive overview of the research 2.3 The data collection procedures It can be described in details as follows:The data collection procedures commenced in early March and ended at the end of April 2014 All of the procedures involved the following steps Step 1: In the first week of March, TG1 students were given a RC test considered to be pretest Based on the test scores , cross-cultural factors in reading lessons were classified Step 2: Also in March, after doing the pre-test, only subjects in the control group were piloted with the questionnaire From the answers to find out the results, all of this work was completed in the middle of March Step 3: After that, the researcher taught the students for one month It is time the treatment of principles, approaches, culture-based activities were tried out into the lessons to investigate the solutions for the problems This lasted for four weeks between March and April Step 4: In the third week of April, students were asked to the post-test Then, the students in the experimental group were given the questionnaire Test score from this test and the answers of these questions were analyzed and compared with the pre-ones to find out how effective culture-based activities were to students’ RC Step 5: Individual interviews were conducted with 10 students in mid April All of the interviews were tape-recorded and then transcribed All of this work was finished at the end of April CHAPTER 3: THE FINDINGS 3.1 Linguistic barriers in relation to cross-culture in the English RC Language seems to be woven into the very fabric of every human culture; and to such an extent that it is hard to imagine what human culture would be like without language A proper understanding of a language is impossible without a full awareness of the cultural context in which it is used Since RC and culture are closely interrelated to one another, Vietnamese learners encounter some difficulties when they tend to achieve the exact English reading passages comprehension in textbooks The barriers of culture to language can be roughly explored in three major domains of language system: Vocabulary, sentences and texts The following is the detail identification of cross-cultural elements causing barriers for students in reading lessons in high school textbooks 3.1.1 Vocabulary As the basic element of language, vocabulary is the backbone of the whole language system It certainly reflects the differences of culture most obviously and extensively On the one hand, some English words can have their equivalents in Vietnamese, so during the process of reading, readers from different cultures may not experience culturally related comprehension barriers However, there may be many words in one culture, for which the equivalents can not be found in other cultures; in other words, “vocabulary vacancy” On the other hand, although we can find the equivalent word, the meaning extent of a word and the connotation of culture are not complete equivalent between different cultures The differences of culture in vocabulary in the high school textbooks can be reflected in the following: Many English words can find the equivalents in Vietnamese while the cultural connotations of them are different Three aspects will be concerned: the quantity of the equivalents, the meaning extent of the equivalents and the cultural association of the equivalents Critical incidents are developed from the culture assimilator and therefore it looks like the culture assimilator in some way In doing this activity, students are also given a brief description of an incident or a situation which demand them to make some kind of decision This kind of activity does not provide ready-made solutions and students should read the incident independently and make individual decisions as well as reasoning for those decisions Next, group or class discussion may be organized to see how students’ decisions and reasoning compare and contrast with those of the members from the target culture Like the culture assimilator, critical incidents easily get students involved in doing the activity and promote intellectual understanding of cross-cultural issues Preparation of both of these activities seems to be time-consuming and require a certain level of familiarizing with the target culture -Critical incident:This example may be used in Unit ( Tiếng Anh 10) The story of my village Situation “Six years ago Peter was an exchange student and lived in a Vietnamese family in a small village not far from the university After class, he often went to his room in the evening for an hour or two and did his homework or wrote letters or just relaxed and listened to music He didn't think there was anything wrong with it - to him it was just normal One day his host-Mom came to him and asked if he was OK She said they had thought that he was sad and homesick, or maybe not happy with the host family because he would go to his room and stay there for a couple of hours every evening He was really surprised to hear this” Discuss in groups about what causes the misunderstanding in this situation Student research is considered a more complicated activity which should be used with more advanced students Student research can be carried out as a mini-project on any aspect of the target culture that interests students themselves This kind of activity may be done individually or in group Students should be encouraged to find out a research topic that seems interesting to them Student research often takes time and effort, but for some students, it can lead to a long-term interest in the target culture and research skills may stay with them even after they leave school There are many topics in the textbook that may be used for student research In order to some research into cross-cultural comparison, students may be organized in groups of five-ten and choose their favorite topic, for example: - School routine of students in Vietnam and an English-speaking country - Vietnamese and American young people’s attitudes towards folk music - Everyday life routines in a Vietnam’s village and an English-speaking country’s village C CONCLUSION The application of this research on reading comprehension teaching In the studying process of this research, the researcher only used the reading lessons incorporated culture-based activities for the experimental group to find out the results From the positive responses, the researcher, as a teacher, incorporated culture-based activities into all reading lessons which contain cross-cultural elements for all English classes afterwards It can be confirmed that culture-based activities help to deal with cross-cultural barriers in reading lessons and get the aims of the reading lessons Teaching language, especially reading comprehension, can not be separated from teaching culture All experimental students were realised to be highly motivated by and interested in culture-based activities incorporated in reading lessons, from which they derive curiosity and desire to discover new land-culture The application of culture-based activities on reading lessons shown that these activities were very effective in developing cross-cultural awareness as well as getting rid of cross-cultural barriers in reading lessons It is culture-based activities that stimulate them in English learning and make the reading lessons more interesting It is hoped that this research will be introduced to all teachers of English and help them have the ways to incorporate crosscultural elements into reading lessons effectively Some implications for a better RC Basing on the findings from the data analysis, the researcher would like to provide some implications as follows to bridge cultural gaps and improve the teaching and learning of RC skills in classrooms 2.1 To students Firstly, to be successful in learning English, Students’ attitudes towards English need to be changed They should consider English as important as other subjects in the curriculum and appreciate the role of culture in studying English Most Vietnamese learners of English hold the view that the aim of English mainly lies in “passing an exam” When they are learning English, they usually focus on mastering of language knowledge and basic skills which are usually tested in exams As a result, though some English learners may have mastered the whole grammatical system, large vocabulary and standard pronunciation, they find it hard to follow a native speaker, can not speak fluently but read slowly or write with many mistakes The lack of cultural knowledge usually result in an inappropriate expression Secondly, Learners should raise their awareness of cultures in learning RC skills Not only linguistic units but also cultural knowledge convey the real meaning of the text Thirdly, Students’ role is no longer passive recipients As a foreign language learner, they can explore the cultural knowledge by themselves from different courses They should feel free to express their own ideas, to put questions to the teachers or to show their disagreement with their teachers He should not only learn the knowledge of language, but also try his best to contact the social and cultural aspects of English speaking countries and learn the background knowledge of literature, history, geography, local condition and customs He should use every means to enlarge his points of view Only in these ways, can he get better understanding of the differences between English culture and Vietnamese culture so as to eliminate the comprehension barriers of cross-culture communication and improve overall abilities in English reading 2.2 To the teachers From the findings, the researcher suggests some possible ways for teachers to eliminate the difficulties as well as cross-cultural barriers in RC - To improve teachers’ cultural background knowledge To make the learning of English interesting and useful for the learners, English teachers will have to take cognizance of the relationship between language and culture ‘Cultural understanding becomes a problem-solving device’ (Whiteford, M.B.& Friedl,J [1992, pg 289]) Cultural concepts will be introduced smoothly and effectively to the students if teachers have clear understanding about these concepts Only by understanding crosscultural elements appearing in the reading texts, can teachers instruct their students on the cultural background of language usage, choose culturally appropriate teaching styles, explore culturally based linguistic differences to promote understanding instead of misconceptions or prejudices and guide students to accumulate relative cultural background knowledge when reading material Through enormous reading, students’ understanding of culture will become ripe and complete - To establish and strengthen the cultural sense: Teachers should choose famous works and literary pieces of English culture as the reading materials as much as possible Many such works and literary pieces can be of high quality in terms of spiritual culture The more they learn from reading actual reading, they in English, it is hoped that the more that Vietnamese students of English reading will improve their reading abilities We should consciously combine the language teaching and cultural elements, such as to input the proper cultural knowledge while teaching Moreover, teachers should encourage and lead students to read more about the history, geography, local affair and customs of English culture In every stage and aspect of language learning, teachers should encourage students to discover cultural phenomenon and cultural connotation and often compare English and Chinese cultures and find out their differences to strengthen the sensitivity to the culture of the target language - To design specialized questions in plan for reading lessons containing cross-cultural factors: Questioning can be divided into three stages: (1) pre-reading The questions of this stage are the leading questions to stimulate students’ cultural knowledge of their mother language and interest in different cultures (2) while-reading Put forward one or two important questions before their reading and let them read with questions After their reading, teachers should put forward the analytical questions to stimulate students to analyze, synthesize and generalize the phenomenon of the different culture (3) post-reading Compare the cultures of mother language and English and put forward some subjective questions Teachers should lead students to rethink and discuss some questions of culture in the process of discussion Teachers should also encourage students to try their best to use the target language In this way, students will get deeper understanding of English culture - To design supplementary activities for developing students’ cross-cultural awareness: As teaching culture is not the main purpose of teaching English in Vietnamese high schools, even when cross-cultural issues appeal a lot to teachers and students of English: there may be no timetable left for cultural classes In such cases, supplementary activities may be included in pre-, while- or post-teaching of the reading skills or they may serve as extra-curricular activities There is a great variety of activities for teaching culture in English classes, such as cultural aside, slice-of-life activity, culture assimilator, audio-motor unit, drama, web quest, the activities selected in this study are supposed to help integrate culture into language teaching Based on the objectives of teaching English in high schools, supplementary activities for culture teaching in reading lessons may fall into the following three groups: 2.3 To the textbook compilers It is highly recommended for the textbook compilers who have high expectations from teachers of English, to provide teachers more opportunities to improve their students’ cross-cultural awareness To meet this demand, teachers must be allowed to design a specialised plan for the reading lesson containing cross-cultural elements to help students to overcome cross-cultural barriers They can adapt the textbooks in order to be suitable to their own students’ levels Besides this, teacher’s books guide the teachers how to select the correct cultural context The context used in English foreign language classrooms should be familiar with the students Moreover, with the typical school feature of students from different areas of the whole country, the managers should give learners priorities to meet and get exposure to native speakers or strengthen foreign relations with English speaking-countries and promote the student and teacher collaboration programs English teachers should learn more about the cultures of English speaking countries They should be given more overseas training opportunities to get exposed to English culture Significance of the study Even though cross-cultural factors in English RC are necessary for most English learners, it is surprising that there is not much investigation into these This research provides an insight into cross-cultural factors that cause barriers in English RC that most of the Vietnamese students who are studying English encounter This study would make a small contribution to help teachers and students realize the essential role of the cross-cultural background knowledge in their reading lessons More importantly, the study are believed to give some suggestions for solutions With the activities were mentioned in the study, it is hoped that teachers and students would find the best ways to incorporate cross-cultural knowledge in their reading lessons Limitation and suggestions for the further study Although, this study will be helpful to the teachers and learners of English at the high school level, there remain several limitations as follows: Findings from this study mainly based on the results of the questionnaire and interviewing which are administered to the 48 students Information was therefore not indepth These calls for further research which uses other instruments like in-depth class observation Further investigation is needed for the carrying out on larger student population to have more reliable data analysis.Moreover this thesis can not cover all the cross-cultural barriers in reading lessons and suggestions for solutions that may be helpful to the teachers and to students to achieve exact RC This also leaves a gap for other researchers Finally, the study merely investigates the current situation at TG1 high school Therefore, it would be interesting to conduct a similar study in other schools and compare the results Hopefully, other colleagues will also find the thesis useful and we will see other possibilities for thoughtful innovations in teaching methods in order to further the research In conclusion, from the cultural perspective, I have identified the limited cultural background knowledge, learning attitudes and teaching style as the major factors which cause cross-cultural barriers in English RC classrooms within the Vietnam high school context It is also pointed out that to improve the teaching and learning of reading English, English teachers should gain a deeper understanding of undercurrent cultural conflicts and be able to show the differences and similarities among cultures./ REFERENCES Agar, M (2001) Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation New York Brown, H.D (1986) Learning a Second Language In Culture Bound Joyce Merrill Valdes (Ed) Cambridge University Press Carrell, P.L (1984) Schema theory and ESL reading: Oxford: Oxford University Press Chastain, K (1988), Developing Second Language Skills Theory and Practice, Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers Goodman, K.S, (1982) Reading a psycholinguistics guessing game In H Singer & B Hoàng Văn Vân (2006) Tiếng Anh 10, Nhà Xuất Giáo dục, Hà Nội Hoàng Văn Vân (2007), Tiếng Anh 11, Nhà Xuất Giáo dục, Hà Nội Hoàng Văn Vân (2008), Tiếng Anh 12, Nhà Xuất Giáo dục, Hà Nội Kramsch, C (1998) Language and Culture Oxford: Oxford University Press 10 Krasner, I (2004), The role of culture in language teaching Dialogue on Language Instruction 11 Nguyễn Văn Do, (2007) Language culture and society Nhà xuất Đại học Quốc gia, Hà Nội 12 Nguyễn Quang (1983) Intercultural communication Nhà xuất Đại học Quốc gia, Hà Nội 13 Nostrand, H L (1974), Empathy for a Second Culture, Motivations and Techniques, Illinois: National Textbbok 3rd Edition,Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Company 14 Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching methodology Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education 15 Stern, H.H (1992), Issues and Options in Language Teaching, Oxford: Oxford University Press 16 Valette, R (1986), The culture test In J.M Valdes (Ed.), Culture bound Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 17 Whiteford, Michael B & Friedl,John (1992) The Human Portrait: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology 3rd Edition.Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Appendix THE PRE-TEST Time permitted: 45 minutes Đọc kỹ đoạn văn sau chọn phương án (ứng với A B, C, D) cho câu trả lời FOLK MUSIC Pop music has always been influenced by other forms of music As important form is folk music Folk songs are the songs composed and sung by country people The songs may be hundreds of years old, so nobody knows who originally composed them Modem music is often music for dancing In Britain it was traditionally played with instruments like flute, accordion, etc In the 1950s and 1960s the people who wrote songs and played them with acoustic guitars were also called folk singers The songs were often “protest songs”, complaining of bad things happening in society Which form of music is pop music mainly influenced by? A classical music B folk music C jazz D rock’n’ roll Who were folk songs composed by? A country side people B city people C modern musicians D old singers Why are folk songs called “protest songs”? A Because they are sung by county people B Because they are hundreds of years old C Because nobody knows who originally composed them D Because they complain about bad things happening in society In the United States and Canada, it is very important to look at a person in the eyes when you are having a conversation with him or her If you look down or to the side when the other person is talking, that person will think that you are not interested in what he or she is saying This of course, is not polite If you look down or to the side when you are talking, you may appear hiding something, that is, it might seem that you are not honest However, people who are speaking will sometimes look away for a few seconds when they are thinking or trying to find the right word But they always turn immediately back to look the listener in the eyes These social rules are the same for two women, two men, a woman and a man, or an adult and a child 4: These social rules are used for _ A two men B a man and a woman C everybody 5: When you are talking to an American or Canadian, you should _ A look directly at him or her B look to the side C avoid looking directly at him or her D look down D two women 6: Looking down or to the side when you are spoken to means _ A you respect him or her B you feel bored with his or her words C you are afraid of him or her D you are paying attention to him or her 7: It is very _ of you not to look in the eyes of the listener while talking A impolite B polite C honest D dishonest 8: People can look away for a few words while speaking _ A to find something B to find the correct word C to hide something D to hide their feelings Thanks giving is a national holiday in the United States which (9) the bountiful crop harvested by the Pilgrims in 1621 (10) a winter of starvation It's a day of feasting and giving thanks This (11) _of celebrating Thanksgiving has continued through the years On November 26th, 1789, President George Washington proclaimed the First National Thanksgiving Day In 1863 President Lincoln revived the custom Since then each president has (12) _a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday of November (13) _the holiday A organizes B memorizes C celebrates D marks 10 A as B for C with D after 11 A custom B habit C experience D work 12 A published B issued C gave D produced 13 A as B like C of D for The end Appendix THE POST-TEST Time permitted: 45 minutes Đọc kỹ đoạn văn sau chọn phương án (ứng với A B, C, D) cho câu trả lời SOCCER Soccer is the most popular sport throughout the world The most famous competition in soccer is the World Cup, which is an international soccer tournament held every four years There is one tournament for men and another for women More than a billion people around the world watch the World Cup on television The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in 1904.In 1930 the first World Cup tournament was held in Uruguay with just 13 teams Now teams from some 200 countries participate in elimination games within their own regions before qualifying as one of the 32 nations in the final tournament The original World Cup trophy was given permanently to Brazil to honor that country’s record third World Cup title in Mexico in 1970.Many soccer fans consider Pele , the Brazilian forward, the best soccer player of all time He won fame for his amazing ball control and powerful shots In 1986, Mexico became the first nation to host the World Cup twice The 2002 World Cup was first held in Asia by Japan and Korea There were………………… nations participating in the first World Cup Tournament A thirteen B thirty-two C two hundreds D four Mexico hosted the World Cup for the second time in……………………… A 1970 B 2002 C 1986 D.1930 The country to host the World Cup for the first time is……………………… A Mexico B Uruguay C Japan D Korea Although the United States is a large country with many people, the language is almost the same wherever one goes There are two reasons for this One is that people move around a great deal in the United States A man may grow up in one part of the country, go to college in another part, find work in another place, and marry a girl from still another part of the country Railroads, airplanes, cars and highways make it easy to travel in America Many large companies have branches in different areas of the country and transfer their workers from one branch to another The second important factor is public communication Movies, radio, and television all have a standard way of speech, and almost everyone in the United States hears it There are, however, some words and expressions more common in one part of the country than in others Throughout the history of the United States, large groups of immigrants have come to make their homes and they give new words to the language 4: In the United States A each state has its own language B the language is different from place to place C one cannot go wherever he wants D people travel a great deal 5: According to the writer A in America people have to study only in their native town B means of transport are well-developed C there are no trains and planes D one cannot marry a girl from another state 6: Many large companies A not have branches in other parts B have branches in different areas C not employ workers from different areas D not have their workers work in the branches 7: In the United States, public communication A is not well-developed B has no standard way of speech C has a standard way of speech D is not important 8: Which sentence is true? A In the United States there are a lot of immigrants B In the United States there are no immigrants C In the United States all words and expressions are the same in every part D The American language has no new words There are a lot of things you should follow to be a welcome guest in America When you are (9) to have dinner at your friend’s house, it’s necessary to bring a small present Flowers are always nice; or you may bring a bottle of (10) if you know that your friend likes drinking You are expected to arrive for dinner on time or just a few minutes late Don’t get there early If you are going to be more than fifteen minutes late, you should call and tell them Try to relax and enjoy yourself at the dinner table If you don’t know about choosing the (11) fork or knife, just watch the other people, and follow them If you still have no idea of (12) to do, ask the person next to you When it comes to the food, if you like it, say so They are looking forward to hearing your compliments Of course, you will thank them for the meal and for their kindness It is also a good idea to send a (13) note the day after A made B demanded C invited D forced 10 A juice B wine C lemonade D Coke 11 A new B main C big D right 12 A where B which C why D what 13 A welcome B goodbye C message D thank-you The end-Appendix SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is designed for the study: “Cross-cultural factors affecting students’ English reading comprehension at TÜnh Gia high school: Problems and solutions” Your answers are very important for this research All the information provided by you is to use for research purpose only (Only the researcher knows your answers, so please answer as frankly and accurately as you can.) Please choose only one the answer for each question Part Personal Background Information (Please provide some information about you) - Full name: - Class: - Where you live? A Town B Mountainous Village C Plain Village - Your average mark in English in the first term: Part Questions A Students’ attitudes towards the importance of cross-culture in reading comprehension Question 1: How is your cultural background knowledge? A Very good B Not good C Bad Question 2: How you rate your interest in learning cross-cultural elements in reading lessons? A High B Medium C Low Question 3: How important is cross-cultural background knowledge in your reading comprehension? A Very important B Not important C Not at all Question 4: How many cross-cultural elements can you identify in the reading passages of your textbook? A Very many B Not many C Not at all B Cross-cultural factors cause barriers in students’ reading comprehension Question 5: Can you rank these things in order of its importance in learning reading comprehension? A Vocabulary B Grammar C Cultural background knowledge Question 6: What is the big difficulty you have encountered when you want to achieve the meaning of the passages containing cross-cultural elements? A Lack of vocabularies B Lack of grammatical rules C Lack of cross-cultural knowledge Question 7: Are you satisfied with your teacher’s cross-cultural elements teaching in reading lessons? A Very much B Not much C Not at all Question 8: How often are the cross-cultural factors taught in reading lessons? A Often B Sometimes C Rarely C Culture-based activities were incorporated in reading lessons Question 9: What is the cause of cross-cultural obstacles in learning reading? A Student’s limited cultural knowledge B Teacher’s limited cultural knowledge C Lack of references Question 10: How are the cross-cultural contents in texts often taught in reading lessons? A Explain B Tell stories C Give culture-based activities Question 11: In what ways you often enrich your cross-cultural knowledge? A From books, newspapers and magazines B From teacher’s lessons C From TV and internet Question 12: To what extent you agree with the following statement? “The teachers or the school authority should hold some lectures about cultures, customs, comparing Vietnamese culture with western culture” A Strongly agree B Partly agree Thanks for your co-operation! Appendix C Strongly disagree INTERVIEW QUESTIONS List three things you were unsatisfied with the teaching of the reading lessons containing cross-cultural factors a b c What you suggest for the effective teaching and learning reading lessons containing cross-cultural elements? Thanks for your co-operation! DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled: “CROSS-CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING TINH GIA I HIGH CHOOL STUDENTS’ ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS” is the result of my own research for the better English reading comprehension lessons at Tĩnh Gia high school and that, it has not been published or submitted for any other purposes Researcher’s signature Nguyễn Thị Hà Headmaster’s signature ... activities seems to be time-consuming and require a certain level of familiarizing with the target culture -Critical incident:This example may be used in Unit ( Tiếng Anh 10) The story of my village... These activities may be designed for a later stage in teaching English The most appropriate for Vietnamese situation activities of this kind may be culture assimilator, critical incidents and... countries participate in elimination games within their own regions before qualifying as one of the 32 nations in the final tournament The original World Cup trophy was given permanently to Brazil