Phát triển năng lực liên văn hóa của học sinh bậc THCS thông qua tương tác với học sinh nước ngoài sử dụng skype trong các giờ dạy tiếng anh

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THUY NGA DEVELOPING LOWER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE BY INTERACTION WITH FOREIGN STUDENTS USING SKYPE IN ENGLISH CLASSES (Phát triển lực liên văn hóa học sinh bậc THCS thơng qua tương tác với học sinh nước sử dụng Skype dạy tiếng Anh) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THUY NGA DEVELOPING LOWER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE BY INTERACTION WITH FOREIGN STUDENTS USING SKYPE IN ENGLISH CLASSES (Phát triển lực liên văn hóa học sinh bậc THCS thông qua tương tác với học sinh nước sử dụng Skype dạy tiếng Anh) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thanh Long THAI NGUYEN – 2019 DECLARATION ***** -I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Developing lower-secondary school students’ intercultural competence by interaction with foreign students using Skype in English classes” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty, Thai Nguyen University Thai Nguyen, July 15, 2019 Le Thuy Nga Approved by SUPERVISOR Dr Nguyen Thanh Long ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis First and foremost, my gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thanh Long for his patient guidance and insightful advice throughout the duration of the study despite his busy schedule Without his assistance, motivation, enthusiasm and immense knowledge, this study would not have been completed However, shortcomings and errors, if any, in this thesis are my own Second, I’m especially thankful to teachers from School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University for their valuable advice and spiritual support in the preparation and completion of this study I also would like to thank Ms Hoang Thi Hai Yen (English Teacher, Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School), Ms Bui Thi Kim Ngan (English Teacher, Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School) and five students of Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School who participated in the pilot study, contributing greatly to the finalization of the interview and as a result, to the completion of the research I am so grateful to Ms Ha Thi Trang (Head of English Department, Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School) for contacting the participants for my research I am also indebted to all of the participants for their invaluable responses to my interview Without them, this research would not have been possible Last but not least, I dedicate this thesis to my loving family, my husband, my daughter and my son for their ongoing support and love ABSTRACT Language teaching and learning can be seen as a great means to develop the intercultural awareness of language learners, which is the ultimate goal of language education in this era English, as widely accepted, has become an international language and the number of non-native English speakers has outnumbered native ones by twice In this sense, English language teaching and learning must include in itself the development of intercultural awareness in the learner One key purpose of English teaching is to develop learners’ awareness of cultural differences reflected in languages Therefore, the teacher’s role needs to include that of helping learners to realize that thoughts and views of different nationalities and different types of societies about nature and human society are quite different Therefore, it is of great importance to address culture as an integrated part of the language teaching and learning process, so as to help students to have a good command of necessary cultural knowledge, to develop intercultural skills, and to raise their intercultural awareness TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT v Abbreviations viii LIST OF FIGURES TABLES .ix AND PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Research topic area The study context Focus of the study Rationale of the study Structure of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Intercultural competence 1.2 Motivation 11 1.3 Technology, CALL and ICT, and Skype in ELT 12 1.3.1 Technology 12 1.3.2 CALL and ICT 15 1.3.3 Skype 17 1.4 Conclusion 20 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21 2.1 Field site and participants 22 2.2 Data collection methods 23 2.2.1 Interviews 23 2.2.2 Classroom Observation .25 2.2.3 Participants’ diaries and reflections 26 2.3 Data analysis methods 27 2.4 Ethical considerations and data reliability 28 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30 3.1 Students’ conceptualizations of intercultural competence 30 3.2 Students’ motivation on learning English by interactions in English using Skype33 3.2.1 A proactive approach to learning tasks .33 3.2.2 Students’ emotional reactions in interactive lessons .35 3.3 Components of intercultural competence developed from interactions with culturally different people 37 3.4 Discussion 39 PART C: CONCLUSION 41 Summary of the key findings 41 Pedagogical implications of the study 42 Limitations of the study 43 Recommendations 44 REFERENCES .46 APPENDIXES I Appendix 1: Interview guide I Appendix 2: Classroom observation protocol III Appendix 3: Diaries and/or reflection instructions V Abbreviations CALL: Computer Assisted Language Learning CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ELT: English Language Teaching IC: Intercultural Competence ICC: Intercultural Communicative Competence ICT: Information and Communications Technology FL: Foreign Language PPT: PowerPoint LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure Byram’s model of five components of intercultural communicative competence, from Byram Table 2.1 Demographic information about participants Table 2.2 Interviews Table 2.3 Classroom observations PART A: INTRODUCTION This thesis examines how interactions on Skype with culturally different peers using English help lower-secondary school students’ development of intercultural competence This first section, Research topic area is followed by the other four sections including Study context, Focus of the study, Rationale for the study, and Structure of the thesis Section introduces the research topic area of the present study Section of the chapter describes the study context with a summary of the history of language education in Vietnam in general and foreign language teaching and learning in Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School in particular Section describes the focus of the study, which states the overarching research question and sub-research questions The rationale for the study will be presented in section The last section reveals the structure for the presentation of the thesis Research topic area In this day and age, mobility has become a part of every student’s life Most students now have a chance to visit other countries for educational purposes and learn more about other cultures Therefore, learning foreign languages has become the norm in the globalized world It is inevitable that students need a certain level of intercultural knowledge and competence to be able to survive in new cultures and educational contexts In this respect, one’s understanding of the new cultures, as well as his/her own culture, has a central role to become a globalized citizen Learning a language without culture is a recipe for becoming what Bennett (1993) calls a “fluent fool” A fluent fool is someone who speaks a foreign language well, but does not understand the social and philosophical content of that language Hence, the foreign language teachers’ role has become increasingly important since they serve as a medium to teach both the language and the culture of the foreign language In this regard, Jiang (2000) states: "Language and culture are inseparable." Moreover, over time, more and more English teachers realize that when the lesson is REFERENCES Bax, S (2003) CALL – Past, Present and Future System 31 p 13-28 Bennett, J M (1993) Cultural marginality: Identity issues in intercultural training In R M Paige (Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience (2nd ed., pp 21-71) Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press Berg, B.L 2009 Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences 7th ed Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon Byram, M (1997) Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence Cleverdon, UK: Multilingual Matters Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H (2002) Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching A Practical Introduction to Teachers Retrieved from: http://lrc.cornell.edu/rs/roms/507sp/ExtraReadings/Section0/Section0/uploads/File1 235 272745204/InterculturalDimensionByram.pdf Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K (2007) Research Methods in Education London: RoutledgeFalmer Craig, R.J & Amernic, J.H (2006) PowerPoint Presentation Technology and the Dynamics of Teaching Innovation Higher Education 31.p 147-160 Creswell, J (2002) Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall Dang, X.T, Nicholas, H., & Lewis, R (2013) ICT Training and ICT Use among Vietnamese Foreign Language Teachers Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal (3) p 13-24 Davis, F.D., Bagozzi, R.P & Warshaw, P.R (1989) User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models Management Science.35 (8) p 982-1003 Dolly J Y (1990) An Investigation of Students’ Perspectives on Anxiety and Speaking University of Tennessee Dornyei, Z & Taguchi, T (2010) Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing 2nd Ed New York: Routledge Dudeney, G & Hockly, N (2007) How to Teach English with Technology Harlow: Pearson Education Limited Eaton, S.E (2010) How to use Skype in the ESL/ EFL classroom The Internet TESL Journal, 16 (11), 1-14 Fitzpatrick, A & Davies, G (eds.) (2003) The Impact of Information and Communications Technologies on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and on the Role of Teachers of Foreign Languages EC Directorate General of Education and Culture Fitzpatrick, A (ed.) (2004) Analytical Survey: Information and Communication Technologies in the Teaching and Learning of Languages: State-of-the-Art, Needs and Perspective, Moscow: UNESCO Institute of Information Technologies in Education Gillespie, J & McKee, J (1999) Resistance to CALL: Degrees of Student Reluctance to Use CALL and ICT ReCALL 11 (1) p 38-46 Kettlemann, B (1995) How efective is CALL in ELT? ReCALL (1) p 4953 Koet, T (1999) ICT and Language Skills: An Integrated Course ReCALL 11 (1) p 65-71 Kramsch, C (1998) Language and culture Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press Kvale, S (1996) Interview Views: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Jang, W (2000) The relationship between culture and language ELT Journal, 54 (4), 328-334 Jin Wang (2011) Culture Diferences and English Teaching Luohe Medical College China DOI:10.5539/elt.v4n2p223 Lado, R (1964) Language teaching: A scientific approach Levy, M (2009) Technologies in use for second language learning The Modern Language Journal, 93 (s1), 769-782 López-Rocha, S., & Arévalo-Guerrero, E (2014) Intercultural communication discourse In M Lacorte (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of Hispanic applied linguistics New York: Routledge Lorraine, D., & Elizabeth, L Histories of Scientific Observation University of Chicago Press London DOI: 10.1007/s11191-012-9515-z Marshall, C., & Rossman, G B (2011) Designing qualitative research (5th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Mayer, R & Moreno, R (2003) Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning Educational Psychologist 38 (1) p 43-52 Mullen, T., Appel, C., & Shanklin, T (2009) Skype-based tandem language learning and web 2.0 In M Thomas (Ed.), Handbook of research on Web 2.0 and second language learning (pp.101-118) Hershey, PA:IGI Global Myron W Lustig & Jolene Koester (2013) Intercultural competence: interpersonal communication across cultures Upper Saddle River, N.J : Pearson Prentice Hall N.M Terhune (2016) Language learning going global: linking teachers and learners via commercial Skype-based CMC, Computer Assisted Language Learning, 29:6, 1071-1089, DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2015.1061020 Nguyen, T.L (2013) Integrating culture into Vietnamese University EFL Teaching: a critical ethnographic study, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland Nguyen, T.L (2014) Integrating pedagogy into intercultural teaching in a Vietnamesesetting: From policy to the classroom, International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 9:2, 171-182, DOI:10.1080/18334105.2014.11082030 Nguyen, T.L, Sharon Harvey & Lynn Grant (2016)What teachers sayabout addressing culture in their EFL teaching practices: the Vietnamese context, InterculturalEducation, 27:2, 165-178, DOI: 10.1080/14675986.2016.1144921 Patton, M.Q (1990) Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods 2nd Ed CA: Sage Pennington, M (Ed.) (1992) Reflecting on teaching and learning: A development focus for the second language classroom Kowloon: City Polytechnic of Hong Kong Peterson, M (2009) Learner interaction in synchronous CMC: A sociocultural perspective Computer Assisted Language Learning, 22(4), 303-321 Salaberry, M.R (2001) The Use of Technology for Second Language Learning and Teaching: A Retrospective The Modern Language Journal 85 (1) p 39-56 Savoy, A., Proctor, R.W., & Salvendy, G (2009) Information Retention from Powerpoint and Traditional Lectures Computers & Education, 52 p 858-867 Schon, D A (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions The Jossey-Bass Higher Education Series San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers Seedhouse, P (1995) Communicative CALL: Focus on the Interaction Produced by CALL software ReCALL (2) p 20-28 Singh, V and Dickson, J (2002), Ethnographic approaches in Partingdon, D (Ed.), Essential Skills for Management Research, Sage, London Stockwell, G (2007) A Review of Technology Choice for Teaching Language Skills and Areas in the CALL Literature ReCALL 19 (2) p 105-120 Veronikas, S & Shaughnessy, M (2005) An Interview with Richard Mayer Educational Psychology Review 17 (2) p 179-190 Warschauer, M & Healey, D (1998) Computers and Language Learning: an Overview, Language Teaching 31 (2) p 57-71 Warschauer, M (2000) CALL for the 21st Century In IATEFL and ESADE Conference Barcelona, July 2000 Wilkinson, S (2000) Women with breast cancer talking causes: Comparing content, biographical and discursive analyses Feminism & Psychology, 10, 431– 60.doi:10.1177/0959353500010004003 Wu, W.C.V., Marek, M., & Chen, N.S (2013) Assessing cultural awareness and linguistic competency of EFL Learners in a CMC-based active learning context System, 41(3), 515-528 Zhang, Y (2017) A Study on ESL Teachers’ Intercultural Communication Competence doi: 10.5539/elt.v10n11p229 Zhao, Y (2003) Recent Developments in Technology and Language Learning: A Literature Review and Meta-analysis CALICO Journal 21 (1) p 7-27 APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Interview guide English version Date of interview: Time of interview: Participant code: Main questons Possible probes Q1 How did you feel about the (Interested? Uninterested? Others?) Skype collaboration lesson? Q2 What motivated you during the  interactive lesson using Skype? Did you have chances to meet foreign students through Skype in class?  How did you feel about the content of the lesson?  How was your language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) improved? Q3 “Intercultural competence” is a  term that is widely used, for example in talking of language learning In your setting of English as a foreign language learner, how you personally define this term? What you think of first when you hear or see the word “intercultural competence”?  What is conveyed by this word for you?  Which you attach this word to? An individual person, a group of people, nation, or ? Vietnamese version: Câu hỏi Gợi ý C1 Em cảm thấy sau tham gia (Thú vị? Không thú vị? khác?) buổi học tương tác Skype? C2 Điều tạo động lực học tiếng Anh  cho em lớp học tương tác Skype? Em có hội gặp gỡ học sinh nước ngồi thơng qua lớp học Skype?  Em cảm thấy nội dung buổi học?  Các kỹ ngôn ngữ em cải thiện (Nói, Nghe, Đọc, Viết) C3 “Năng lực liên văn hóa” thuật  Em nghĩ đến điều nghe ngữ sử dụng rộng rãi, ví dụ nói đến thuật ngữ “Năng lực liên văn việc học ngơn ngữ Với vai trò học sinh hóa?” học tiếng Anh ngoại ngữ, em  Từ mang nội dung gì?  Em gắn nội dung với từ này? định nghĩa thuật ngữ nào? Một cá nhân, nhóm người, dân tộc, ? Appendix 2: Classroom observation protocol OBSERVATION PROTOCOL (Used for classroom observations) Project title: Developing lower-secondary school students’ intercultural competence by interaction with foreign students using Skype in English classes  Observer’s role: Non-participant The observer does not take any active part in the class that is observed The observer’s activities are litmited to observing the students’ learning activities and taking notes of their perceptions towards the intercultural competence  What to be observed: During classroom observations in this project, observed are students’ learning activities and behaviour Teachers’ teaching activities are not observed and recorded  Who to be observed: In classroom observations, only the students are observed The teachers are not observed  What to be collected: The data to be collected include students’ learning activities and behaviour in the observed classes Evidence of teachers’ teaching practices and materials is not collected  What to be recorded: In classroom observation the students’ learning activities and behaviour are recorded The focus is on students’ attitudes towards the intercultural competence and their motivation on Skype collaborations Teachers’ teaching activities are not recorded  How to record: Recording of students’ learning activities and behaviour are conducted in form of run-on note-taking in an A4 notebook and video-taping on a computer Notes on the teacher’s practices and video-tapes are to be taken in silience and in a manner that is as unobstructive as possible Appendix 3: Diaries and/or reflection instructions INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING DIARIES/ REFLECTION (Provided by Teachers) At the end of the Skype collaboration, each student is required to write a diary or reflection report page (either in English or Vietnamese) and submit it The report should present what has been learned, obtained during the lesson, the contributions of individuals to the group's common work, as well as difficulties, advantages, and remedies, in the process of interacting with students from other countries via Skype In the report, students should also state, if there is an opportunity to another similar Skype collaboration lesson, what changes will students make to achieve better results than this lesson Vietnamese version: HƯỚNG DẪN VIẾT BÁO CÁO PHẢN HỒI (Do Giáo viên cung cấp) Khi kết thúc buổi học, học sinh tham gia nghiên cứu yêu cầu viết trang báo cáo phản hồi (có thể tiếng Anh tiếng Việt) nộp cho cô giáo dự Báo cáo cần trình bày điều học được, thu suốt trình tham gia buổi trao đổi qua Skype, đóng góp cá nhân vào cơng việc chung nhóm, khó khăn, thuận lợi, biện pháp khắc phục,… trình tham gia tiết học Trong báo cáo, học sinh cần nêu rõ, có hội tham dự buổi trao đổi khác tương tự, học sinh có thay đổi để đạt kết tốt tiết học trao đổi ... WITH FOREIGN STUDENTS USING SKYPE IN ENGLISH CLASSES (Phát triển lực liên văn hóa học sinh bậc THCS thơng qua tương tác với học sinh nước sử dụng Skype dạy tiếng Anh) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION... can use Skype on whatever works best for them - on their phone or computer or a TV with Skype on it It is free to start using Skype - to speak, see and instant message other people on Skype for... learn English by interactions in English using Skype? (3) What components of intercultural competence interactions with culturally different people via Skype develop? Rationale of the study Vietnam