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1 Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter presents the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study 1.1 Rationale English has gained its great popularity in Vietnam, a country attempting to develop her technological capacity and to increase her participation in the global processes For many people in Vietnam, English is seen as one of very necessary means to get a good job Thus, there is a growing demand to learn this language for communication We have been concentrating on structures and forms and producing materials that may help our students to have perfect diphthongs or a flawless command of the third conditional while leaving out anything approaching real, valid, meaningful contents If our students have any hope of using their language skills to communicate in the global village, cultural awareness is crucial Therefore, language teachers should realize that knowledge of the world’s language and culture is increasingly important In order to use the language effectively, language learners need to have mastery of not only the language itself but also the culture in which the language is used Language learners need to be aware, for example, of the culturally appropriate ways to address people, express gratitude, make requests, and agree or disagree with someone They should know that behaviours and intonation patterns that are appropriate in their own speech community may be perceived different by members of the target language speech community They have to understand that, in order for communication to be successful, language use must be associated with other culturally appropriate behavior In short, culture becomes an indispensable part in any foreign language curriculum Tourism students at HCC are fully aware of this When being asked why culture is very important, they believe that understanding culture helps them become more confident and successful in communicating and that cultural information is one kind of their motivation in learning English On the contrary, many of them not realize the importance of culture in ELL because they say that learning English is a hard work for them to master it as a language, and English cultural knowledge is one of their problem Teaching English culture is considered important by most teachers but it has remained “insubstantial and sporadic in most language classroom” (Omaggio, 1993:357) Omaggio gives several reasons for this including lack of time, uncertainty about which aspects of culture to teach, and lack of practical techniques Although language teachers realize the importance of teaching English culture in EFL classes and the potential of improving the teaching of English culture is tremendous, the outstanding problems to be solved are still improving Among many others, I found that the biggest headache for language teachers, especially the teacher of EFL, is how to integrate English culture teaching into our language programs This is the matter I want to raise in my thesis It is an attempt to look into the matter of how to incorporate cultural elements into English training at HCC 1.2 Aims of the study With the hope to contribute a small part in working out the effective ways of incorporating English cultural elements into English training at HCC, that is to get insight into sociocultural problems facing Tourism students, this thesis is aimed at: - Emphasizing the importance of cultural knowledge in foreign language teaching and learning - Investigating conditions of Tourism students in learning English culture and their expectation on English culture - Finding out the effective ways of incorporating English cultural elements into the English training with the Comparing- Contrasting approach Hopefully, with a deep insight into the situations, in terms of both theory and practice, the study will improve current situation of English culture learning of Tourism students at HCC 1.3 Scope of the study The focus of the study is on the corporation of English cultural elements into English training in the light of the communicative approach The specific purpose of the research is confined to English cultural elements as the culture of the target language The textbook HIGH SEASON (Keith Harding & Paul Henderson, Oxford University Press, 1999) is selected as a basis for the performance of the study The participants of the study are Tourism students of HCC The study focuses on working out a general profile of English cultural corporation into English training at HCC so as to try out methodological activities that could improve the current situation of English culture learning of Tourism students 1.4 Research questions of the study My study is intended to answer two following questions: What are Tourism students’ attitudes towards English cultural learning? How does students’ cultural understanding change through the incorporating English cultural elements into the lessons? 1.5 Methods of the study In this research, the theoretical background mainly bases on books written by a variety of scholars on foreign language teaching and cultural teaching issues The thesis author employs action research to analyze the data collected Comments, remarks, comparisons and conclusions are based on factual research: observation, survey questionnaires, interviews, discussion, and experience In order to achieve the purpose of the study, survey questionnaires are utilized to survey the situation of learning culture being developed and administered at the beginning of a semester Tests in culture for the participants after applying the culture- teaching activities, interviews and other survey questionnaires on the focused group are conducted in the end to gain quantitative and qualitative data of how these teaching methods take effect on students’ English culture learning and achievement Observations and informal discussion are effectively combined with them, too 1.6 Design of the study The study is divided into four chapters: Chapter one presents the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study Chapter two reviews the related literature that helps to give the theoretical foundation for this study This review consists of the literature on the place of culture knowledge in foreign language learning, goals for incorporating culture into the foreign language class, and Comparing and Contrasting as activities of raising students’ culture awareness Chapter three contains the study that includes three sections The first summarizes the situation analysis The second describes the data collecting instruments The third provides the data analysis Chapter four focuses on conclusion, which includes the summary of the study, limitations of the study, and recommendations for the further study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter the researcher will provide a discussion of findings from previous researchers on the topic of cultural knowledge’s roles to Tourism students at HCC This chapter is divided into three sections: The place of culture knowledge in foreign language learning, Goals for incorporating culture into the foreign language class, Comparing and Contrasting as activities of raising students’ culture awareness 2.1 The place of culture knowledge in foreign language learning 2.1.1 Definition of Culture Culture may mean different things to different people Therefore, it can be defined in many ways Some depict it as the art, literature, and music of people, their architecture, history, religion, and their traditions The others focus more on the customs and specific behaviours of the people Anthropologists define culture as “ the whole way of life of a people or group In this context, culture includes all the social practices that bond a group of people together and distinguish them from others” (Montgomery and Reid- Thomas, 1994: 5) Based on this definition, it is my opinion that culture is all the accepted and patterned ways of behaviour of a person The ways of thinking, feeling and acting are the reminder of a certain community Besides, this concept of culture also includes the physical manifestations of a group as exhibited in their achievements and contributions to civilization Culture has a certain influence on our lives at every moment Nowadays, some researchers claim that cultural learning positively affects students’ linguistic success in foreign learning Others state that culture can be used as an instrument in the processes of communication when culturally- determined behavioural conventions are taught (Byram et al 1994) These two conceptions are far too narrow for our purposes here, however We believe that culture should not be seen as a support to language teaching but that it should be placed on an equal footing with foreign language teaching “Culture” may be explained “the ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools which characterize a given group of people in a given period of time ” (Brown, 1987 :122) Besides, “ what is important in culture is what one is expected is think, believe, say, do, eat, wear, pay, ensure, recent, honor, laugh at, fight for, and worship, in typical life situation” (Brooks, 1968: 218, cited in Oxford, 1996: ix) The concept of culture, therefore, involves the way people from a particular cultural background think, make friends, worship and behave in a society No single individual can live without sharing a culture with others Put in other words, culture is derived from a community and a community, in turn, reflects its culture In this paper, I takes Nguyen Quang’s view of culture (2006: 24) as the working definition: “ Culture is the whole complex of tangible and intangible expressions that are created and adapted by a society or a social group as well as the ways it functions and reacts in given situations” Based on this definition, in my point of view, culture helps distinguish one society or social group from another not only o terms of the availability of those expressions and behaviour, but also in terms of their proportionality and manifest ability” In short, these above opinion of culture show that culture is a deeply ingrained part of people’s life However, language- the means for communication among members of a culture- is the most visible and available expression of that culture And so a person’s world view, self- identity, and system of thinking, acting, feeling, and communicating can be disrupted by a change from one culture to another Therefore, when we learn a language we can not separate it from culture Culture should be taught with the language until advanced level, and teachers should make students aware of the cultural features in relation to the language which will be presented in the next part 2.1.2 Culture knowledge and foreign language learning In the field of foreign language teaching, one aspect that occasionally emerges as a topic of discussion is the relationship between knowledge of a foreign language and knowledge of the culture It is likely that the question of “culture” is often regulated to the end of a language teaching plan It seems as if it is always something of a bonus if the teacher manages to find time to introduce a bit of the culture of the foreign language into the classroom- some music perhaps, or a traditional dance, in the final lesson of the course In learning a second language, culture becomes highly important because it is “an ingrained set of behavior modes of perception” (Brown, 2000: 118) As Vietnamese saying goes, “language and culture are two sides of a coin”, one cannot exist without the existence of the other Since language is used to reflect culture, there is a close relationship between the two According to Brown (1987: 123), a language is a part of a culture and a culture is part of language; the two are intricately interwove such that one can not separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture Language, then, is the trace of the development process of civilization The language is contained in the culture and the language itself contains almost everything that one says about the culture Without the formlanguage, the culture can not be explicit Obviously, language can not exist outside the social context, so the relationship between culture and language must be put into that social context This relationship is expressed in the following diagram (Nguyen Van Do, 1999 : 9): LANGUAGE CULTURE SOCIETY It can not be denied that the words utter refer to common experience They express facts, ideas or events that are communicable because they refer to a stock of knowledge about the world that other people share Words also reflect their authors’ attitudes and beliefs, their points of view, which are also those of others In both cases, language expresses cultural reality In addition, Kramsch (1993: 93) points out: “If language is seen as social practice, culture becomes the core of language teaching Cultural awareness must then be viewed as enabling language proficiency Culture in language teaching is not an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading and writing” She explains that language is inextricably connected to culture We can not be competed in the language if we not understand the culture that has shaped, and how that culture relates to our own first language/ first culture Thus, foreign language teaching and learning must equip students with the tools they need to be effective world citizens Their increased ability to appreciate the complexities, similarities and differences that exits in our world will lead them toward careers and service related to activities based on this substantive knowledge and experience Cultural understanding prepares the ability to acknowledge and respect cultural differences As language teachers, we need to be interested in the study about culture in order to teach the culture of another country because we have to teach it Robert Politzer (cited in Valdes, 1994: 123) remarks that if we teach a language without teaching, at the same time, the culture in which the students may attach wrong meanings, they will receive culture instructions Besides, cultural learning has previously been seen as something for advanced learners, an extension exercise that can be taken on to an ordinary lesson This is partly due to the frequent error of assuming that students with a low level of English also have a low intellect generally Kramsch (1992: 125) states “intercultural awareness, as a fundamental feature of language and an integral part of language learning, is important at all level.” Briefly, regardless of different points of view, the study of culture takes an important place in language teaching and learning studies in order to facilitate the process of learning and avoid culture shocks The process of foreign language learning involves not only perceiving the similarities and differences in other cultures but also recognizing the native culture Thus, the question “ What are the cultural topics in foreign language learning ? ” good for teachers’ thought 2.1.3 Cultural elements in foreign language learning This is the conclusion of Robert Politzer, who says in the Georgetown University Report of the Fifth Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Teaching: “As language teachers we must be interested in the study of culture not because we necessarily want to teach culture of the other country but because we have to teach it.” This point of view make me consider one question : “ How much of the culture of a country should be taught along the language?” It is the fact that many successful language teachers habitually begin their classes with a five- minute presentation in the foreign language of a subject that has not been previously announced The content for this simple and effective device may often be a topic that brings out identity, similarity, or sharp differences in comparable patterns of culture Some topics can be presented within the course are suggested by Ismail Cakir (2006: 155) below: Climate History Pets Clothing Holidays Population Crime Language Religion Eating Leisure activitiies Social occasions Education Meeting people Sports Family life Money Transportation Geography Nonverbal communication Vacation Besides, the following list of topics ( Roseanne Tavares and Ildney Cavalcanti, 1996: 19) may consider all properties that are included in the definition of the word “culture”: * Social identity: Groups characterized by social class; Ethnic minorities * Social interaction at different levels of familiarity * Belief and Behaviour: Patterns of everyday life, usually taken for granted * Socio- political institutions: Institutions of the state and of socialization such as ceremonies, local government * National history and geography: Historical events; Geographical places * Media: TV; Newspaper; Radio * Arts: Literature; Cenima * Language variation: Cockney ( Here the main focus is on how language is presented) To sum up, the above cultural elements to be used to teach the target language should be presented in the contexts accompanying the native ones with the aim of increasing students’ awareness and developing their curiosity towards the target culture, helping them to make comparisons among cultures The comparisons are not meant to underestimate any of the cultures being analyzed, but to enrich students’ experience and to make the aware that although some culture elements are being globalized, there is still diversity among cultures In order to this, it is necessary for teachers to be aware of goals for incorporating culture into the foreign language class 2.2 Goals for incorporating culture into the foreign language class According to Seelye (1994 : 154), the following goals should be achieved to teach culture for understanding: * Goal = Interest- The student demonstrates curiosity about the target culture and empathy toward its people * Goal = Who- The student recognizes that role expectations and other social variables such as age, sex, social, class, ethnicity, and place of residence affect the way people speak and behave * Goal = What- The student realizes that effective communication requires discovering the culturally conditioned images that are evoked in the minds of people when they think, act, and react to the world around them * Goal = Where and When- The student finds that situational variables and convention shape behavior are important ways (s/ he needs to know how people in the target culture act in common mundane and crisis situations) * Goal = Why- The student understands that people generally act the way they because they are using options society that allows for satisfying basic physical and psychological needs, and that cultural patterns are interrelated and tended mutually to support need satisfaction * Goal = Exploration- The student can evaluate a generalization about the target culture in terms of the amount of evidence substantiating it, and has the skills needed to locate and organize information about the target culture from the library, the mass media, people, and personal observation Additionally, Nostrands (1976 : 175) listed nine objectives that students should have the ability to get: 1) React appropriately in a social situation 2) Describe a pattern in the culture 3) Recognize a pattern when it is illustrated 4) “Explain” a pattern 5) Predict how a pattern is likely to apply in a given situation 6) Describe or manifest an attitude important for making oneself acceptable in the foreign society 10 7) Evaluate the form of a statement concerning a culture pattern 8) Describe/ demonstrate defensible methods of analyzing a socio- cultural whole 9) Identify basic human purposes that make the significant understanding that is being taught In fact, students will be more interested in their learning if they are brought into the contexts which easily to see the differences and similarities Thus, it is advisable for any teacher who tends to incorporate cultures into his or her language classroom is to pick out the interesting aspects of a culture and present them in a way that will engage students One of many effective ways that many teachers consider nowadays with the view of raising students’ culture awareness is using Comparing and Contrasting as activities which will be shown in the next part 2.3 Comparing and Contrasting as activities of raising students’ culture awareness 2.3.1 Comparing- Contrasting approach Teaching culture is considered important by most teachers but is has remained “insubstantial and sporadic in most language classroom” (Omaggio, 1993: 357) Omaggio gives several reasons for this including lack of time, uncertainty about which aspects of culture to teach, and lack of practical techniques Although language teachers realize the importance of teaching culture in EFL classes and the potential of improving the teaching of culture is tremendous, the outstanding problems to be solved are still improving Among many others, the biggest headache for language teachers, especially the teacher of EFL, is how to integrate culture teaching into our language programs Comparing- Contrasting is an approach to teach language and culture together in the Framework of Cultural Awareness Model (Liddicoat and Crozet, 2001 : 120) The model assumes that in order to successfully interact with people from other cultures we have to understand ours and the other’s cultural values, norms, customs, and social systems It also argues that the knowledge of ourselves as the cultural being is the foundation of knowing others in terms of their own culture It is especially important that students have the opportunity to think about and talk about what they notice, either in their first language or in the second language According to Comparing- Contrasting approach, students’ noticing is followed up wherever there is an 26 stage, the textbook HIGH SEASON (Keith Harding & Paul Henderson, Oxford University, 2000) is introduced As the name of the faculty (Tourism ), major subjects of the study are closely related to tourism, and English have been great priorities in the training program at the faculty as well as the college 3.1.2 Participants and classroom context The study is carried out with the participation of 100 students of tourism at HCC They are the ones from classes C.QDL 05.1 and C QDL 05.2 representing a population of over 4000 students in 78 classes of the course Most of them are 19- 20 years of age In terms of language learning, they have different experience Nevertheless, their level of English proficiency is still quite low and varies a lot due to the fact that they come from different places Many of them come from the rural areas where there are no favorable English learning conditions The others come from the towns and cities and have better chances for leaning English Furthermore, during the years at school, a majority of the students did not have chances to learn about what we call ‘culture’ However, it is the fact that although the students have learnt English for several years, along with their difficulties in acquiring any effective language skills at university, their cultural background knowledge is still very poor 3.2 Data collecting instruments The data collection methods applied in this study is aimed at collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to make use of analytical and exploratory- interpretive paradigms in applied linguistics The quantitative and qualitative data collected from questionnaires, observation, structured interviews and informal discussions are analyzed statistically and interpreted from the researcher’s stance The procedure of data collection is as follows: i Before the course, a questionnaire (Questionnaire 1- Appendixes) is distributed to Tourism students to get the general overview on the situation of English culture learning at HCC and identify their expectation in learning English culture ii Two classes C.QDL 05.1 and C.QDL 05.2 are chosen in the study During the English course, class C.QDL 05.2 is not interfered by any cultural items, whereas class C.QDL 05.1 has a lot of chances to work with English culture Two selected classes have the 27 same level in English This is confirmed by a pre- test (Test 1- Appendixes) before the course The researcher directly teaches class C.QDL 05.1 and observes class C.QDL 05.2 iii After the course, another test (Test 2- Appendixes) and another survey questionnaire (Questionnaire 2- Appendixes) are given to students in order to see if there is any change in the participants’English culture achievement after applying culture- teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach in ELT iv An informal interview and discussion with teachers of English at HCC is carried out to explain the changes 3.2.1 Survey questionnaires This study uses survey questionnaires as an information collection instrument The overall purpose of the survey is to investigate the perceptions of Tourism students of the importance of English cultural awareness to ELT and ELL and to work out the changes in English culture achievement after applying some methods and techniques Items of the questionnaire are designed in a short and clear way Each questionnaire takes 10 to 15 minutes of class time The researcher explains items carefully while urging the respondents to answer faithfully to themselves As the questionnaires are handed in, answers are collected and presented in the percentage tables and charts Questionnaire is an easy and quick instrument to get information from a lot of people in limited time However, sometimes it is impossible to check seriousness or honesty of the answers This is especially true in this study, which is an abstract, attitudinal concept Therefore it is advisable to incorporate more than one method of data collection in a study 3.2.2 Class observation It is an on- the- spot observation in which they are performing in the real classroom settings The observation aims at enabling the author to get what she watches, follows, and records all the activities as they are the most reliable data, or to check the reliability of the data collected from other sources- the survey questionnaire The author of the study observed the C.QDL 05.2 The observation is carried out with a set of checklist made by the author including the students’ attitudes towards teachers’ activities, their involvement in the activity, and their reactions with each other while completing the task 28 3.2.3 Interviews and informal discussions Based on the survey questionnaires, teachers of English at HCC are asked for an interview after the post- course test Informants are invited to answer the questions with the author explaining the questions and clarifying unclear answers The data collected from the interviews is transcribed for the purpose of analysis Informal discussions are carried out in short breaks and gatherings during the course 3.3 Data analysis In this part, the data collected from the survey questionnaires will be analyzed to figure out the English culture- teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach that can be applied to the real classes An evaluation on the effectiveness of English cultureteaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach is also discussed in detail at the end of the chapter by the means of observation, interviews, informal discussion and tests An overview to culture learning at HCC will be presented in the investigation through a survey questionnaire and informal discussions This is useful for proposing some tools that can be applied into English culture learning of the study 3.3.1 An overview on Tourism students’ English culture learning at HCC In this section, an overview to Tourism students’ learning at HCC with be presented in the investigation through a survey questionnaire (Questionnaire 1- Appendixes) and informal discussions This is useful for proposing some tools that can be applied into English culture learning of the study 3.3.1.1 Tourism students’ choice of suitable sections for English cultural delivery at HCC- Table Question 4: Please think of your textbooks and tick the section that you find suitable to contain cultural exchange Section Presentation Ss’ choice(%) 15 Section Listening Ss’ choice(%) 32 29 Grammar Speaking 89 Vocabulary 22 Reading 80 Practice 20 Writing 31 It is apparent from the table that Tourism students strongly agree to choose speaking and reading sections to deliver cultural items The students (89%) find speaking sections the best one to learn English culture From further discussion most of the students say that they are free to exchange with their friends or teachers to get cultural information In speaking lesson, the teachers have a great chance to deliver and correct their students’ mistake in culture The reading section is another favorable one for their choice (80%) because they want to deliver or have cultural information because the reading text is the most rich in cultural information They can exploit a lot from this 3.3.1.2 Tourism students’ preferences in English cultural elements- Table Question 5: What English cultural elements you you find motivated in ELT and ELL? English Cultural Elements Ss ( % ) English cultural elements Ss ( % ) Living conditions 34 Art 32 Work 70 Relationship 48 Entertainment 72 Festivals and Holiday 65 Food and Drink 47 Traditional values 51 Fastion 50 Belief and Behavious 65 30 As the table indicates, entertainment and work are thought to be the elements motivating the students most (72%, 70% respectively) whereas living conditions and art element not attract the students’ attention much (34%, 32% respectively) From the discussion, the students say that they care work element most because they think it will help them with their future jobs Besides, they confide that they want to learn the other English elements like festivals and holiday as well as English behaviors 3.3.1.3 Tourism students’ sources for enriching cultural information- Table Question 6: How you enrich your cultural knowledge? Students’ cultural sources Ss ( % ) Students’ cultural sources Ss ( % ) TV, video 44 Newspapers 70 Internet 90 Literature 33 Songs 55 Photographs, pictures 45 Stories 52 Interviews 25 The above table shows Tourism students’ facts on the cultural information resources they use to enrich their cultural knowledge at HCC We are living in the information technology age, so most the students (90%) use it In fact, Internet is the most diversified source that covers all the other sources because we can find almost everything online such as stories, pictures, songs, newspapers, literature, TV program It is unsurprising when the Tourism students choose it as the most favorite source of the cultural information 3.3.1.4 Tourism students’ opinion of the problems when they deal with cultural activities in the class- Table Question 7: What are your problems/ difficulties when you deal with cultural activities in the class ? Problems Being lack of cultural knowledge Students ( % ) 90 31 Being shy and can not well 56 Not interested in cultural activities 15 From the students’ answers, the major difficulty when they cultural activities is the lack of cultural knowledge which is proved by such a great percentage of 90% Another difficulty is that the students are shy and can not these activities well with th percentage of 56% Just a small number of students say that the problem is they are not interested in these activities (15%) Furthermore, one idea added by some students is that they find it hard because they have little time to practice in class 3.3.2 The change in Tourism students’ test result after the application Before the course, a test (Test 1- Appendixes) is given to the two classes C.QDL 05.1 and C.QDL 05.2 The test result proves that the students of the classes are at the same level It can be seen from the table below: Marks Excellent (9.0- 10) Good (8.0- 8.9) Fair (7.0- 7.9) Medium (5.0- 6.9) Weak (3.0- 4.9) Bad (1.0- 2.9) Class C.QDL 05.1 (%) 8 14 36 Class C QDL 05.2 (%) 14 37 31 Table 5: Tourism students’ test result before the application During the study, the above activities are applied in C.QDL 05.1, and the other class C.QDL 05.2 is let free during the process of learning English At the end of the term, another test in culture (Test 2- Appendixes) are given to the two classes and the results are found different as follows: 32 Chart 1: Tourism students’ test result after the application Class C.QDL 05.1 gets higher results comparing to those of class C.QDL 05.2 We can see that 15% of the students in class C.QDL 05.1 gets excellent marks, 12% gets good marks and 20% gets fair marks while the respective numbers of the students of class C.QDL 05.2 are 5%, 10% and 15% The numbers of C.QDL 05.1’s poor students is lower comparing to those of class C.QDL 05.2 That means the teaching methods mentioned above proves to be effective in ELT and ELL at HCC 3.3.3 The change in Tourism students’ survey questionnaire result after the application The other survey questionnaire (Questionnaire 2- Appendixes) after the application also gives the same result with the test result above 3.3.3.1 The change in Tourism students’ viewpoints on the role of culture in ELL- Chart Surprisingly, Tourism students’ attitudes to the importance of English cultural knowledge in English learning are considerably changed It can be seen in the chart below: 33 From the chart, we can see Tourism students’ attitudes towards the role of culture in ELL change in an optimistic way The number of students appreciating the role of culture in ELL increases (18%- very important and 13%- important) whereas those who refuse the role of culture in ELL decrease (rather important- 16% and not important at all- 15%) In the discussion, Tourism students confide that their English cultural knowledge is improved, which helps them understand the language better Moreover, they feel much more confident to communicate with the foreigners they meet This proves that the culture teaching activities are effective as they can change Tourism students’ viewpoint on the importance of culture in ELL 3.3.3.2 The change in Tourism students’ evaluation on their own English cultural knowledge – Chart The change in Tourism students’ evaluation on their own English cultural knowledge is shown in this chart: 34 It is apparent that Tourism students are much more confident in their English cultural knowledge after applying the culture teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach: 30% instead of 10% of the students say that they are very good at English The same thing applies to the students who believe that they are good at English (28% instead of 8%) Especially, the number of the students who are unconfident in their English cultural knowledge declines sharply (by 35%) In the interview, the students confirm that they perceive almost English culture from the lessons That means culture teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach really work well 3.3.3.3 The change in Tourism students’ expectation on the frequency of English culture learning- Chart The number of Tourism students’ preference on the frequency of the culture lessons is shown in two pie- charts below: 35 36 After the course we can see that the students want to have more intensive course in culture 14% of Tourism students instead of 7% want to ‘always’ have cultural lessons in ELL whereas 11% instead of 25% of Tourism students want to learn culture at the frequency “rarely” This indicates that Tourism students become more interested in English culture after we introduced culture teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach To sum up, most of Tourism students agree that the activities used in the course are very interesting and effective respectively From the discussion, they share their excitement with the author They conclude that the activities so very interesting that they can learn with ease The activities also bring them many chances to practice their English because during the time of doing the tasks they can speak English Other students think that the activities are not effective and interesting at all They confide that they are not competent in English, so they find it difficult to join the activities Culture lessons are boring and challenging for them From the interviews and informal discussion, Tourism students like Cartoon categories most This kind of activity bring about a lot of fun and a new breeze to the students They confide in the formal discussion and interview that they feel relaxed after each stage of hard study without missing a chance to learn culture Show and tell is found very motivating to the participants They show a big surprise and satisfy as well because students can observe the target culture with their own eyes Students admit that this is the first time they are oriented to culture at the beginning of the term It makes them more interested and confident in learning English Social behaviour and Shopping habits are the third- rank interesting to the students Dating customs are a rich land for the teachers and students to exploit their knowledge and they can compare with their own culture Crosscultural role plays is always inviting to any students because it brings comfortable atmosphere into the classroom The other activities also give an impression on the researchers Students have a clear understanding because they have a great chance to compare the target culture with their own culture These activities require students to analyze culture- bound situations Holiday photographs ; Early, on time, or late ? and Today’s TV schedule enabled students to actively participate in the cultural heritage of the people they are studying 3.4 Conclusion 37 In this chapter, the setting of study has been described One notable contextual feature of the study is that English learning is compulsory in a technical college, where students tend to conner the mainly in language rather than culture The choice of research method as well as the rationale of employing such methods was also discussed The chapter also presented a brief description of some culture- teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach applied in the study, aiming at finding the effective ways of incorporating English cultural elements into English training An analysis on the collected data found out the Tourism students’ attitudes towards culture learning as well as the difficulty in learning culture Evaluations on the effectiveness of the culture- teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach employed in the study have been discussed in this chapter, too 38 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION In the previous chapter, various activities for incorporating English cultural elements into English training at HCC have also been introduced and applied The findings of the study and the implications will be presented in this chapter 4.1 Summary of the study In the process of international integration, ELT should be viewed in a wider social and cultural perspective That is why the study aimed to incorporate English cultural elements into English training at HCC with the view to giving some practical knowledge and draw attention of the teachers of English First of all, the study reviewed some theoretical background including the definitions of culture, the relationship between culture knowledge and foreign language learning , cultural topics in foreign language learning, goals for incorporating culture into the foreign language class, and Comparing and Contrasting as activities of raising students’ culture awareness The significant of the study is the survey from which the author has discovered some major findings as follow During the study, a number of activities such as Cartoon categories, Show and tell, Social behaviour, Holiday photographs, Early, on time, or late ?, Today’s TV schedule, Dating customs, Cross- cultural role plays, Shopping habits are applied into ELT and ELL, which brings about a good result in incorporating English culture elements into English training The majority of Tourism students show a strong motivation with the activities used in the classroom, especially they can exploit their culture knowledge, analyze culture- bound situations, compare the target culture with their own culture Culture- teaching activities of Comparing and Contrasting approach must be used in harmony A single activity can not effectively work alone It takes times and effort for stable effectiveness to take place However, there are still some problems in teaching culture at HCC They come from the teachers and students themselves and from the teaching and learning conditions The first problem is the students’ fear of lack of adequate knowledge of the target culture The fact for not having a good knowledge of culture discourages them from the involvement in this field during the course 39 The second one is students’ negative attitudes When the cultural phenomena differ from what they expect, students often react negatively, characterizing English culture as “strange” Therefore, teachers need to help students revise not only their “linguistic patterns,” but also their “cultural patterns” The low linguistic proficiency of their students made them unsuccessful in applying the activities in teaching, too The next problem HCC teachers are facing is heavy- loaded curriculum The study of culture involves time that many teachers feel they cannot spare They content themselves with the thought that Tourism students will be exposed to cultural material later, after they have mastered the basic grammar and vocabulary of the language The last one is the lack of adequate training HCC teachers may not have been adequately trained in the teaching of culture and, therefore, they not have strategies and clear goals that help them to create a viable framework for organizing instructions around culture themes 4.2 Limitations of the study Although this study is carefully designed, it is inevitable that it has certain limitations Firstly, due to the limitation of time, the study is considered short for any remarkable attitudinal change The participants involved in the survey are of small size, questionnaires were administered to a limited number of students, therefore the findings are not quite of popularity Secondly, the access to richer and more updated materials is not really available Morover, the researcher just has suggested some activities based on her little experience in a class beforehand Finally, the lesson plan for incorporating English cultural elements into English training was not suggested from the textbook 4.3 Recommendations for further study As written above, there are still some problems in the matter of incorporating English culture elements into English training at HCC In order to be better in English teaching and learning with reference to the context of HCC, further studies are needed to gain better insights into the following aspects Firstly, there should be a research, which works with how to balance the linguistic content and cultural content in English training curriculums In addition, the researcher hopes to work with other colleagues to combine and compile some 40 more supplementary materials that are useful for Tourism students when they deal with cultural interactions Another aspect that the study should be applied on students of other faculties in HCC And the last is that there should be more research into designing culturebased textbooks by teachers who major in culture items so that both Vietnamese teachers and students can have a better understanding of culture knowledge ... material later, after they have mastered the basic grammar and vocabulary of the language The last one is the lack of adequate training HCC teachers may not have been adequately trained in the. .. Briefly, there are many activities for incorporating English cultural elements into the English training with the Comparing- Contrasting approach which are applied by a lot of foreign language teachers... Contrasting approach applied in the study, aiming at finding the effective ways of incorporating English cultural elements into English training An analysis on the collected data found out the Tourism students’