Teachers beliefs and practices of intercultural communication competence in teaching and learning english a survey at a local high school in phu tho province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - HOÀNG THỊ HIỀN TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH: A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE (Hiểu biết giáo viên lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa dạy học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát trường THPT tỉnh Phú Thọ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HA NOI - 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ HIỀN TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH: A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE (Hiểu biết giáo viên lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa dạy học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát trường THPT tỉnh Phú Thọ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh HÀ NỘI - 2019 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Hoang Thi Hien, declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research I confirm that: This work has done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this university Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this university or any other institution, this has been clearly stated Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work I have acknowledged all main sources of help Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself Signed: …………………………… Date: ……………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Le Van Canh, for his valuable guidance, constructive comments, patient support and encouragement in the completion of this M.A thesis He consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right direction whenever he thought I needed it I would like to send my sincere thanks to my informants in this study, who I selected as the target subjects of this research Without their enthusiastic contribution and cooperation, this research would certainly not have been successfully conducted My thanks also go to all my teachers for their great help in providing me with useful advice and constructive comments In the thesis, it is inevitable that the ideas of many other writers in this field are reflected and developed Their ideas have stimulated my thinking on doing this paper My debt to the authors listed in the references is equally great To all these scholars, I offer my sincere thanks Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family, colleagues and friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without them My special thanks go to my parents who have always supported me and told me that I could achieve whatever I wanted I hope that they would be proud of me today ii It goes without saying that I am fully responsible for all shortcomings remaining in this study Author iii ABSTRACT This study was done aiming at finding out how teachers perceive Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) in teaching and learning English Moreover, how their beliefs are integrated in their teaching practices were also the subjects to point out To fulfill the abovementioned objectives, the qualitative methodology was utilized, and the data mostly based on semistructured interviews with six teachers of English at a local high school in a mountainous province were synthesized and analyzed The results of the study, in summary, showed that most of the teachers surveyed have poor understanding of ICC, which results in their confusion about ways to improve students’ ICC Those beliefs and practices may be influenced by some different factors such as teachers’ lack of experience, materials, As a result, suggestions and recommendations were investigated so as to deal with the problems Though the limitations were unavoidable, the study was expected to be beneficial to teachers, students, and researchers of the related subjects iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language EIL English as an International Language ELF English as a lingua franca ELT English Language Teaching ESL English as a Second Language I Interviewer IC Intercultural Communication ICC Intercultural Communication Competence p page T Teacher U.K United Kingdom U.S United States v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Fantini’s IC Model (2000) (1.3) Table 1: Teachers’ perception of culture and its importance in p 15 p 34 language teaching (3.1.1) Table 2: Objectives of ELT in the context of globalization in p 36 comparison with those of traditional ELT (3.1.2) Table 3: Teachers’ perception of the components of ICC (3.1.3) vi p 38 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi TABLE OF CONTENTS vii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the research problems Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the research Method of the study Significance of the study Structure of the thesis PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 The relationship between Language and Culture 1.2 Cross-cultural Communication vs Intercultural Communication 10 1.3 Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) 13 1.4 Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) 16 1.5 The current pedagogy to teach ICC 19 1.6 The role of teachers’ beliefs and practices 21 1.7 Previous studies on teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and learning English 22 vii Summary 25 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 26 2.1 The setting and participants of the study 26 2.2 Data collection instruments 28 2.3 Data collection procedure 29 2.4 Data analysis 30 Summary 32 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33 3.1 Teachers’ beliefs of ICC in teaching and learning English 33 3.2 How teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their classroom teaching 40 3.3 Teachers’ ideas about effective ways of teaching ICC 44 Summary 45 PART THREE: CONCLUSION 46 Summaries of the major findings 46 Pedagogical recommendations to improve students’ ICC 46 Limitations of the study 48 Recommendations for further related studies 49 REFERENCES 51 APPENDICES I APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES I APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE VI viii Burns, A (1996) Starting all over again: From teaching adults to teaching beginners In D Freeman, & J C Richards (Eds), Teacher learning in language teaching (pp 154-177) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Byram, M (1997) Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H (2002) Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching: A Practical Introduction for Teachers Strasbourg: Council of Europe Byram, M (2008) From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship: Essays and reflections Clevedon, Great Britain: Multilingual Matters Cannell, C F and Kahn, R L (1968) Interviewing In G Lindzey and A Aronson (eds) The Handbook of Social Psychology, vol 2: Research Methods New York: Addison-Wesley, 526–95 Chen, G M., & Starosta, W J (1999) A Review of the Concept of Intercultural Awareness Human Communication, 2, 27-54 Choudhury, M H (2013) Teaching Culture in EFL: Implications, Challenges and Strategies IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social 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Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Sercu, Lies; Bandura, Ewa & Castro, Poloma (Eds.) (2005) Foreign language teachers and intercultural competence: An international investigation UK: The Cromwell Press Ltd Spitzberg, B H., & Cupach, W (1984) Interpersonal communication competence Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Ting-Toomey, S (1999) Communicating across cultures, 272 New York: Guilford Press Ting-Toomey, S., & Kurogi, A (1998) Facework competence in intercultural conflict: An updated face-negotiation theory International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 22, 187-225 Tran, T Q (2015) An Intercultural Communicative Language Teaching for EFL Learners Doctoral Dissertation Nakhon Ratchasima: Suranaree University of Technology 56 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES English version Date Teacher code PRE-INTERVIEW   Introduce the purpose of the study   QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW I Personal Information When and where were you trained to be a teacher of English? What is your highest academic degree? How many years have you been teaching English totally and how many years have you been teaching in this school? How many classes are you teaching in this academic year? How many periods you teach a class in a week? What is the average number of students in each of your classes? II Teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in Teaching and Learning English What is culture and how important is it to language teaching? What are the main objectives of English language teaching in this context of globalization? Are there any changes in comparison with those of conventional English language teaching? How you perceive ICC? According to you, what components is it composed of? I How important you think ICC is in teaching and learning English (compared to grammar, vocabulary and the four skills)? Why you think so? What abilities does one need to be an intercultural speaker or to communicate with people from different cultures effectively? How you allocate time for teaching language and culture? What materials you often use in your teaching practice to help improve students’ ICC? + Does the current textbook offer enough cultural knowledge? What cultural aspects are your students most familiar with? What should be added? + Are you free to use additional materials you think useful for cultural teaching in your class? If yes, what are other teaching materials/sources you use? What kinds of activities you practice during classroom teaching time in order to help develop students’ ICC? What constraints you encounter in preparing your students for being inter-culturally competent speakers? 10.What are your ideas about effective ways to teach ICC? III Closing question Do you have anything to share more about ICC in teaching and learning English? CONCLUDING STATEMENT  cooperation II Vietnamese version Hướng dẫn Phỏng Vấn Ngày Mã số Giáo viên _ TRƯỚC KHI PHỎNG VẤN  ới thiệu thân  Giới thiệu mục đích đề tài nghiên cứu  ấp cấu trúc buổi vấn  ộ vui vẻ tạo cho người vấn cảm thấy thoải mái tự tin CÁC CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN I Thông Tin Cá Nhân Thầy/cô cho biết thầy/cô đào tạo trở thành giáo viên tiếng Anh đâu nào? Thầy/cơ cho biết cấp cao gì? Thầy/cô dạy học Tiếng Anh tổng thời gian thầy/cô công tác trường năm? Thầy/cô dạy lớp học năm học này? Với lớp học thầy/cô dạy tiết tuần? Số lượng học sinh trung bình lớp học thầy/cô bao nhiêu? II Quan điểm thực tiễn giáo Viên phát triển lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa (NLGTLVH) giảng dạy tiếng Anh trường trung học phổ thơng Văn hóa văn hóa quan trọng việc dạy ngơn ngữ? Mục tiêu giảng dạy tiếng Anh bối cảnh tồn cầu hóa ngày gì? Những mục tiêu có thay đổi so với mục tiêu giảng dạy tiếng Anh truyền thống không? III Thầy cô quan niệm NLGTLVH? Theo thầy/ cô, NLGTLVH bao gồm thành tố nào? Thầy/ nghĩ NLGTLVH có tầm quan trọng việc dạy học Tiếng Anh (so sánh với ngữ pháp, từ vựng bốn kỹ giao tiếp? Tại thầy/cô lại nghĩ vậy? Một người để trở thành người giao tiếp liên văn hóa hay để giao tiếp với người từ văn hóa khác cách hiệu cần có lực gì? Thầy/ cô phân chia thời gian dạy ngơn ngữ dạy văn hóa? Thầy/ thường sử dụng tài liệu giảng dạy để giúp phát triển NLGTLVH cho học sinh? + Sách giáo khoa thầy/ dùng có cung cấp đủ kiến thức văn hóa khơng? Những khía cạnh văn hóa quen thuộc với học sinh? Kiến thức văn hóa nên bổ sung thêm? + Thầy/ có thoải mái sử dụng thêm tài liệu sách giáo khoa mà thầy cho hữu ích để dạy văn hóa lớp học khơng? Nếu có (nguồn) tài liệu gì? Thầy/ thường dùng loại hoạt động thời gian dạy học lớp để giúp phát triển NLGTLVH cho học sinh? Thầy/ có gặp phải trở ngại việc chuẩn bị cho học sinh trở thành người có khả giao tiếp liên văn hóa khơng? 10.Thầy/ cho biết ý kiến cách hiệu để dạy NLGTLVH? III Câu hỏi thêm IV Thầy/ có muốn chia sẻ thêm NLGTLVH dạy học tiếng Anh không ạ? KẾT THÚC PHỎNG VẤN Cảm ơn hợp tác thầy/ cô giáo V APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE Teacher INTERVIEW  Date of interview: November 06th, 2018  Interview Duration: 14.07 minutes  Gender: Female I Personal Information 1.I When and where were you trained to be a teacher of English? 1.T4 I was trained to become a teacher of English in 2006 at Ha Noi University of Education 2.I What is your highest academic degree? 2.T4 Now I am … My highest academic degree is bachelor 3.I How many years have you been teaching English totally and how many years have you been teaching in this school? 3.T4 I graduated in 2006 and until now I have been teaching English for 12 years and in this school for 10 years 4.I How many classes are you teaching in this academic year? 4.T4 I am teaching classes in this school year VI 5.I How many periods you teach a class in a week? 5.T4 Each class I teach about 3.5 periods on average per week 6.I What is the average number of students in each of your classes? 6.T4 The number of students in each of my classes fluctuates from 40 to 45 students II Teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and learning English 7.I What is culture and how important is it to language teaching? 7.T4 I not specialize in the field of culture, so as far as I know culture is traditional values of any country, a specific people These values may be about different aspects of everyday life When learning a language, if we understand about its culture, it helps make the process of learning the language better I can say, learning language means learning culture For example, learning English is learning about cultures of English speaking countries 8.I What are the main objectives of ELT in this context of globalization? Are there any changes in comparison with those of conventional ELT? 8.T4 As far as I see, the main objective of ELT today is to teach students to communicate and use English in the best way In comparison with it in the past, the purpose of traditional English teaching is mainly to help students learn to tests, learn to write Today, the approach is to equip students with the competence to communicate and the ability to use the language in daily life VII 9.I How you perceive ICC? According to you, what components is it composed of? 9.T4 In my opinion, ICC is the competence to use cultural values in the way… , use our own cultural knowledge in communication A very important part of ICC is the ability to use language And we need to understand the cultures of countries where the language is used 10.I How important you think ICC is in teaching and learning English (compared to grammar, vocabulary and the four skills)? Why you think so? 10.T4 From my point of view, ICC plays an essential role in language teaching It is like a part of teaching grammar, pronunciation or teaching reading skill because only when understanding about culture can learners use it easily and use it in contexts correctly and appropriately 11.I What abilities does one need to be an intercultural speaker or to communicate with people from different cultures effectively? 11.T4 In my opinion, to communicate with people from different cultures effectively, communicators need firstly the ability to use the language, secondly the ability to understand the culture, and thirdly skill I mean the interpersonal skill which helps us to communicate and transfer the information that we want to express 12.I How you allocate time for teaching language and culture? 12.T4 In English class, the way we teach depends on the topic of the lesson It also depends on the skill that is to be taught Today, in the new English textbook, each unit has a lesson in which we teach a little about culture and VIII about the communication competence In that lesson, I often spend about a quarter of that period letting students find out the information related to the topic In other periods, considering the content of each lesson, which is fixed, I often spend some time to tell my students all the culture-related information that I have searched 13.I What materials you often use in your teaching practice to help improve students’ ICC? 13.T4 The first material I usually use is textbooks Secondly, I can exploit some videos on the Internet I can also use reference books In my opinion, in fact, the textbook cannot cover all the cultural aspects We can have many online material resources If students want to find out more about any topic, they can it using a lot of materials, not only textbooks because textbooks were designed with only a certain number of topics and we teach in a limited amount of time So it is certainly not enough and not diverse Some topics such as family values, social values, volunteer are regularly provided in textbooks It is some other topics, for example, such as eating culture, table manners…that I haven’t found in textbooks In my school, students haven’t got access to online resources in the classroom However, if it is well-prepared before class, we can teach students effectively 14.I What kinds of activities you practice during classroom teaching time in order to help develop students’ ICC? IX 14.T4 In order to help develop students’ ICC, I usually give students home assignments in which students are assigned to find out about a topic They have to find the information by themselves, analyze, synthesize the information on their own at home And in class, they have to present the results 15.I What constraints you encounter in preparing your students for being inter-culturally competent speakers? 15.T4 Some constraints, for example, audio- and visual- teaching aids are still limited The chance to get online access in the classroom is not regular Students are not active in finding and using the materials including the information related to ICC 16.I What are your ideas about effective ways to teach ICC? 16.T4 From my point of view, to teach ICC effectively, students need to be provided with more information about cultural values of countries in the world Students understand this to avoid cultural shocks III Closing question 17.I Do you have anything to share more about ICC in teaching and learning English? 17.T4 I haven’t got anything else to share, and thank you very much X ... effective and appropriate intercultural communication Attitudes and motivations also play a very important role in ICC Motivation was well-defined as the aspiration to participate in intercultural interactions... Cross-cultural Communication vs Intercultural Communication 10 1.3 Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) 13 1.4 Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural Communication Competence. .. interactions for the determination of learning and understanding about other cultures (Arasaratnam, 2004) Arasaratnam (2006) further states that motivation is 15 “the desire to engage in intercultural