An initial investigation of u s and vietnamese cultures in contrast through everyday conversations

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ************ NGUYỄN THI ̣ HOÀ NG MY AN INITIAL INVESTIGATION OF U.S AND VIETNAMESE CULTURES IN CONTRAST THROUGH EVERYDAY CONVERSATIONS (BƯỚC ĐẦU NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỐI CHIẾU VĂN HĨA MỸ - VIỆT THƠNG QUA CÁC CUỘC ĐỐI THOẠI HÀNG NGÀY) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Hanoi, 2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Research questions Aims and Objectives of the study Scope of the study Methodology of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT 2 3 CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 A brief overview on Contrastive Analysis 1.1.1 Definition 1.1.2 Macro-linguistic Contrastive Analysis 1.2 A brief overview on Conversation Analysis 1.2.1 Conversation 1.2.2 Conversation analysis 1.3 Language and Culture 1.3.1 What is Language? 1.3.2 What is culture? 1.3.3 The relationship between language and culture 1.4 An overview on Friendship 1.4.1 Definition 5 6 8 10 12 12 v 1.4.2 Types of friendships 1.4.3 Friendship in the U.S culture 1.4.4 Friendship in Vietnam culture CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 12 14 15 16 2.1 Data collection instruments 16 2.1.1 Survey questionnaire 16 2.1.2 Audio taping 17 2.2 Participants 17 2.2.1 Survey questionnaire 17 2.2.2 Audio taping 18 2.3 The procedure of data collection and analysis 18 2.3.1 Survey questionnaire 18 2.3.2 Audio tapes 18 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 20 3.1 Data analysis of the survey questionnaire 20 3.1.1 Question 20 3.1.2 Question 22 3.1.3 Question 23 3.1.4 Question 25 3.2 Data analysis of the audio tapes 26 3.2.1 Situation 26 3.2.2 Situation 27 3.2.3 Situation 28 vi 3.2.4 Situation 3.3 Discussions CHAPTER III: CONCLUSION 29 31 33 Recapitulation Major findings 2.1 Differences 33 34 34 2.2 Similarities 35 Limitations of the study 35 Suggestions for further study 36 REFERENCES APPENDICES vii LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES TABLES Table 1: Answers for question1 of Vietnamese students and American students Table 2: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Table 3: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Table 4: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Table 5: Analysis of conversations for situation Table 6: Analysis of conversations for situation Table 7: Analysis of conversations for situation Table 8: Analysis of conversations for situation Table 9: Summary of Vietnamese-American contrasts FIGURES Figure 1: Iceberg model of Culture Figure 2: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Figure 3: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Figure 4: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Figure 5: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students PART I: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE OF THE STUDY Human beings have been endued with a powerful engine to assist them in the process of expressing their thoughts, feelings and transmitting emotions as well as information to others: language However, there is a question remaining: “Why are misinterpretation, communication breakdown and cultural conflicts still inevitable?” Hymes, D (1966) coined those in one term: “communicative competence” which literally denotes the capability of using one language appropriately under any circumstances The fact is that language and culture are so closely interlaced, which means the impossibility of separating them The focus of the study is on conversations upon everyday topics, which will, to some extent, raise an awareness of cultural similarities as well as differences among speakers, aiming for a successful and fruitful interplay, or at least a reduction in the effect of discrepant socio-cultural factors The study on everyday conversations, specifically the topic of friendship, made by American and Vietnamese students, has been selected to investigate as it was one of the great interests to the researcher and of great help to language insiders and outsiders It is undeniable that how American native speakers react on friendship-related situations in everyday life is far different from how Vietnamese people, secondlanguage speakers, Thereupon, a contrastive analysis of the ways American and Vietnamese deal with disparate cases is regarded practical, necessary and worthy for a mutual understanding 2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS The present study focused on the contrast of American and Vietnamese cultures through everyday conversations, particularly the topic of friendship, within the framework of contrastive analysis, conversation analysis as well as the looks at the relationship between culture and language Therefore, the study was aimed at pointing out the answers for the two questions: (1) What are the similarities between American culture and Vietnamese culture reflected through the topic “Friendship” in daily conversations? (2) What are the differences between American culture and Vietnamese culture reflected through the topic “Friendship” in daily conversations? AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY This study was aimed at promoting communicative competence through everyday conversations between the U.S and Vietnamese cultures, which was done based on the theoretical background of contrastive analysis, conversation analysis and the points of view of language-culture tie Thereupon, the main objective of this study was to analyze and reflect the similarities as well as differences between the two targeted cultures SCOPE OF THE STUDY Since theoretical background is vital to the processes of data analysis, the writer expected to deal with a variety of sets of theories concerning contrastive analysis, conversation analysis and viewpoints on culture-language relationship, etc Due to the constraint of time and personal ability, the writer had no ambition for covering a wide range of everyday conversations; instead, some featured situations related to Friendship were chosen to take into consideration This study was intended to discover how university students of American and Vietnamese cultures reacted to the same circumstances The database of this study consisted of elicited written questionnaires and audio-tapes of natural conversations METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY The study has been carried out based on a combination of different methods of quantitative and qualitative approach which are as follows: - Document; - Synthesize; - Analyze and contrast Questionnaires and audio tapes of native American and of Vietnamese university students were adopted to collect the data for analysis and discussion DESIGN OF THE STUDY The study is comprised of three parts: Part I, “Introduction”, includes the rationale, objectives of the study, research questions, research methods, the scope and the design of the study Part II, “Development”, consists three chapters: - Chapter – Theoretical background - presents the preliminary knowledge of some basic theories and a review of related literature to the study - Chapter - Methodology - describes the research method, data collection instruments, and detailed information about the research procedures - Chapter - Findings and Discussions - analyzes the initial data collected and interviews The chapter mainly focuses on contrasting the similarities and differences between the two mentioned cultures through the analysis of conversations made by American and Vietnamese university students Part III, “Conclusion”, a recapitulation of the research including the theoretical frameworks, methodology and major findings, together with the limitations and suggestions for further study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 A brief overview on Contrastive Analysis 1.1.1 Definition In an attempt to minimize the problems that foreign language learners encounter on their acquisition process, linguists proposed the conceptual theory of contrastive analysis The term „Contrastive Linguistics‟ was first suggested by Whorf (1941), meaning of „a comparative study which emphasizes on linguistic differences‟ However, not until the publication of „Linguistics Across Cultures‟ by Lado, R (1957) was the in-depth excavation into this field commenced Later on, the original term changed to „Contrastive Analysis‟ (CA) as we know it today As Fisiak (1981:1)‟s redefinition, CA is „a sub discipline of linguistics concerned with the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and similarities between them.‟ In other words, CA is the systematic study of a pair or more of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities The goal of CA is to find out the differences between the first language and the target language; simultaneously, via contrastive analysis, problems can be predicted and considered Robert Lado (1957) noted: „Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and 33 PART III: CONCLUSION Recapitulation This minor thesis is a study of the differences and similarities between the U.S culture and Vietnamese culture through everyday conversations To be aimed at contrasting two cultures reflected by daily topic conversations, the study was based on the theoretical frame of contrastive analysis, conversation analysis, together with the looks at the close relationship between language and culture Different views on the concept of „friendship‟ in the U.S and Vietnamese cultures were also revisited In the first part, the overview of the study is presented Then, part II includes three chapters Specifically, theoretical background as the framework for the study is reviewed in chapter Chapter 2, the methodology, gives a full set of information on participants, data collection instruments and data analysis procedure The findings and discussions of the research were provided in chapter Finally, part III summarizes the entire research with significant findings, limitations and suggestions for further study of the paper For the purpose of contrastive task, this thesis chose to launch two research phases The first phase was to survey 80 students: 40 of whom were native American and 40 native Vietnamese The second phase was to tape randomly 16 students among 80 chosen ones above of whom were native American and were native Vietnamese 34 Major findings So far, we have had a close analysis of the elicited written questionnaires and recorded conversations made by native American students (in Georgia and Indiana) and Vietnamese students (in Hanoi) within the theoretical frameworks of contrastive analysis, conversation analysis and viewpoints upon language-culture tie The findings have helped to answer the two research questions about the similarities and differences between American and Vietnamese cultures reflected through conversations on „friendship‟ topic 2.1 Differences The analysis of the data collected from the survey questionnaire as well as the audio tapes has revealed that: - As for American culture, American students in particular and American people in general hold their reputation for being direct, straightforward and frank in dealing with social situations Americans are quick to get to the point and may not spend as much time on polite social talk as many other nationalities Moreover, Americans show that they are normally consistent with their decision from the beginning to the end - As for Vietnamese culture, it is a widely believed assumption that Oriental people prefer maintain a good link with other people and apply face-saving strategy when communicating than turning them down Frankness might appear to Vietnamese people to be rudeness and not more integral than saving face 2.2 Similarities Different people from different cultures may have something in common This case of American culture and Vietnamese culture is not exceptional In spite of the wish of being treated as an independent individual, when gathering in a community, American 35 and Vietnamese people socialize and remain proximity with one another to reach a compromise The reaction chosen in situation represents the similar feature in attitude and verbal behavior of both nations‟ citizens Limitations of the study This study has never been exhaustive By looking at every term used in the phrase “U.S and Vietnamese cultures in contrast through everyday conversations”, it is apparent to see the diversity and complication in research issues Firstly, definitions of „language‟ and „culture‟ remain controversial in linguistic fields No agreement has been reached on how to understand and generalize those terms thoroughly That is not to mention the complex relationship between language and culture Therefore, the concept of investigating of „U.S culture‟ and „Vietnamese culture‟ is also significantly vague, because they consist of a wide range of meanings as well as aspects Secondly, referring to „everyday conversations‟, there are a vast variety of included topics, yet to consider the factors governing the choice of conversation contents They may be listed: the relationship between two speakers, the compatibility between the time, the place, the event and the co-conversants, and so on Finally, within the scope of this study, the results obtained from 80 university students (in the U.S and in Vietnam) participating in the data collection procedures could not be general enough to apply directly to all university students in these regions of the world Another point is that there were only four situations in the questionnaire and audio tapes; they were not a representative of conversation topics of „friendship‟ occurring daily between university students 36 Overall, this study was purely an initial effort of an investigation of two cultures reflected through everyday conversations Suggestions for further study The present study almost cannot take into account other familiar situations to stimulate interactions in daily life There are remaining issues left untouched in this preliminary research into the contrast of Vietnamese and the U.S cultures shown through everyday conversations because of its size and limit The research can be continued in a number of ways For example, it can be either an in-depth analysis of conversations on the topic „friendship‟ with different aspects or investigations of a wider range of areas of everyday conversation topics 37 REFERENCES Aristotle 350BC Nicomachean Ethics Translated by W D Ross Banks, J.A 1988 Multi-ethnic education U.S.: Allyn & Bacon David, G., Cheshire, J and Swan, J 1994 Describing Language (2nd edition) Buckingham: Open University Press Emmitt M and Pollock J 1997 Language and learning: An Introduction for Teaching (2nd edition) Melbourne: Oxford University Press Emmitt, M and Pollock, J 1990 Language and Learning (1st edition) Melbourne: Oxford University Press.OUP Fisiak, J et al 1984 Contrastive Linguistics and the Language Teachers Pergamon Press Oxford Garfinkel, H 1964 Studies in the routine grounds of everyday activities Social Problems, 11, 225-50 Garfinkel, H 1967 Studies in Ethnomethodology Cambridge: Polity Geertz, C 1973 The Interpretation of Cultures New York: Basic 10 Goodwin, C and Heritage, J 1990 Conversation Analysis Annual Review of Anthropology, vol 19 (1) pp 283-307 11 Hall, E.T 1976 Beyond culture Anchor Books/A Division of Random House, Inc 12 Hutchby, I and Wooffitt, R 2008 Conversation Analysis Polity Press, Cambridge 13 Hymes, D.H 1966 Two Types of Linguistic Relativity In Bright, W Sociolinguistics The Hague: Mouton pp 114–158 14 Hymes, D.H 1974 Foundations in Sociolinguistics: An Ethnographic Approach University of Pennsylvania Press 15 James, C 1980 Contrastive Analysis Longman Group ltd 38 16 Johnson, B., & Christensen, L 2004 Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (2nd edition) Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc 17 Kramsch, C 2004 Language, Thought, and Culture In A Davies & C Elder (Eds.), The Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp 235-261) Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing 18 Krech, D 1962 Individual in Society: A Textbook of Social Psychology McGraw-Hill, New York 19 Lee, S.K 2003 Exploring the Relationship between Language, Culture and Identity GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies Vol.3 (2) 2003 ISSB1675 – 8021 Retrieved from the web, August 8th , 2012 http://myais.fsktm.um.edu.my/151/ 20 Liddicoat, A.J 2007 An Introduction to Conversation Analysis Continuum International Publishing Group 21 Nguyen, Q 1998 Vietnamese - American Cross Cultural Differences in Extending and Encountering Compliments – as seen from Communicative Activities Ph.D Thesis 22 Phan, T.V.Q 2011 Some English-Vietnamese cross-cultural differences in refusing a request MA thesis, Hanoi 23 Psathas, G 1995 Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk-in-Interaction Sage Publications 24 Sapir, Edward 1921 Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech New York: Harcourt, Brace 25 Thurgood, G 1990 Contrastive Analysis - An Overview California State University Press 39 26 Tran, X D 2009 A series of reports on the findings of “US and Vietnamese cultures in contrast through everyday conversation” Journal Science of Hanoi National University of Education 27 Tylor, E B 1871 Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom John Murray, London 28 Wardhaugh, R 1992 An Introduction to Sociolinguistics – Basil Blackwell Levinson, S C (1983) Principles of Pragmatics London: Longman I APPENDICES APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE My name is My, Nguyen T.H, currently a M.A student majoring in English Linguistics I am working on my M.A minor thesis In an attempt to find out the similarities as well as differences between the U.S and Vietnamese cultures through everyday conversations in general and friendship topic in particular, I would greatly appreciate if you could respond to the following questionnaire You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Information collected is all reserved for the research Please respond to each statement or question and complete all of them as frankly and accurately as possible Thank you very much for your valuable contribution Firstly, please specify some of your personal information: Full name:………………………………………………………………Age:………… Nationality: ………………………………………………………… Institution: ………………………………………………………… Please answer the following questions by choosing the most suitable options for you What would you if your neighbor turns the music so loud at night that you cannot sleep? a Complain directly to the neighbor or shout out towards the neighbor‟s house II b Ignore the noise and find ways to get back to sleep c Phone and make a request that the neighbor turn down the volume; or call for the landlord‟s help; or the police d Others (please specify): ……………… You are invited to drink something you not like You have refused several times but the inviter insists that “It is a popular drink here and everybody is enjoying it.” What would you do? a Re-confirm your refusal until the inviter quits b Agree to take the drink but not try it c Take the drink and try it d Others (please specify): ……………… You are one of the best students in your class One day, your classmate asks you to let him/her copy your finished homework How would you react to his/her favor? a Accept and hand him/her your homework b Explain that copying is not good; instead, showing him/her how to the homework c Refuse without restraint d Others (specify): ………………… You are to share room with a random schoolmate After a few weeks, you cannot stand your roommate‟s rudeness and untidiness What would you do? a Move out with an excuse that is not related to the roommate‟s problems b Discuss frankly over the problems with the roommate c Tolerate with the problems and continue sharing room d Others (specify): …………………………… III APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Tên Nguyễn Thị Hoàng My, học viên cao học chuyên ngành Ngôn Ngữ Anh; thực luận văn tốt nghiệp Thạc Sỹ Đề tài luận văn chọn với mục đích tìm điểm tương đồng dị biệt văn hóa Mỹ văn hóa Việt Nam thông qua đối thoại hàng ngày nói chung, chủ đề „Tình bạn‟ nói riêng Vì vậy, biết ơn bạn dành chút thời gian hồn thành Phiếu khảo sát Tơi xin cam đoan thông tin cá nhân bạn giữ kín liệu thu từ Phiếu khảo sát dành cho mục đích nghiên cứu Xin trả lời thẳng thắn xác câu hỏi Phiếu khảo sát Rất cảm ơn bạn hợp tác! Hãy điền đầy đủ thông tin cá nhân bạn: Họ tên:………………………………………………………………Tuổi:………… Quốc tịch: ………………………………………………………… Trường: ………………………………………………………… Hãy trả lời câu hỏi cách chọn đáp án hợp với bạn nhất: Người hàng xóm mở nhạc to lúc nửa đêm khiến bạn khơng ngủ Bạn làm gì? a Trực tiếp sang nhà hàng xóm yêu cầu tắt nhạc nói vọng từ nhà sang b Kệ tiếng ồn tìm cách ngủ lại IV c Gọi điện cho chủ nhà cảnh sát để nhờ can thiệp d Phương án khác (hãy làm rõ): ……………… Bạn mời uống thứ nước bạn khơng thích Dù bạn từ chối người mời khăng khăng bạn nên uống người thích Bạn làm gì? a Khẳng định lại từ chối bạn người dừng mời b Nhận đồ uống cầm mà không uống c Nhận đồ uống uống d Phương án khác (hãy làm rõ): ……………… Một ngày, người bạn lớp xin bạn cho chép nhà bạn Bạn phản ứng nào? a Đồng ý cho chép đưa cho người bạn tập bạn b Giải thích việc chép khơng tốt, bạn giúp bạn hồn thành không cho chép c Từ chối thẳng thừng d Phương án khác (hãy làm rõ): ……………… Bạn chung phòng với người bạn trường Sau vài tuần, bạn chịu bừa bộn, thô lỗ người bạn Bạn làm gì? a Chuyển ngồi, viện lý khác khơng liên quan đến người bạn b Nói chuyện thẳng thắn bạn khơng thích người bạn c Chịu đựng tiếp tục bạn d Phương án khác (hãy làm rõ): ……………… V APPENDIX TRANSCRIPTION OF AUDIO TAPES IN ENGLISH Situation Sheilla: The student renting apartment Laura: The landlord Sheilla: Sorry for bothering you this late but I can‟t stand my neighbor He‟s like the most annoying creature in the world Laura: What‟s wrong, Sheilla? Sheilla: He has some kind of problem with his hearing or what He turns the music to the max, for God sake Laura: Calm down Are you sure? Sheilla: Yes, my god Today is not the first time He‟s been doing like that for almost a week now and usually at or a.m Laura: Have you tried talking to him? Sheilla: Of course, phone calls, knocking door, I think I‟ve tried all I lose my patience so I come down here to ask for your intervention Situation Tom: Mary, what a surprise! You look gorgeous tonight! Mary: Hi, Tom! I didn‟t notice you are here, too Tom: I‟ve just settled for a few tik-toks Um, Mary, would you like something to drink? Mary: Not really I‟m fine Tom: Hey, try this, you‟d love it Mary: Err, no, thanks VI Tom: Oh, come on! Look! Everybody‟s having it just now See? Mary: Thank you, Tom You‟re very nice but I‟ll take it as soon as it appeals to me Situation John: Hey dude, homework done? Back me up, bro I forgot about it Ron: You were playing computer games overnight, ain‟t cha? John: You read me well, bro This time only, I swear! Ron: Come on, can‟t fool me I‟ve seen you copying Jane‟s homework a few times It‟s your habit, man! John: Okay okay, I admit, I promise to homework every day, alright? But this homework… Ron: Right I have an idea, let me show you how to it before Mrs Lily arrives Not very tough I‟d say Situation Jim: Peter, see my belt anywhere? Peter: No idea And I guess you have no clues, too Jim: Right What you mean? Peter: I mean you‟re too untidy Look at your mess over there Jim: Not a mess, my clothes, FYI Peter: That‟s my point Your clothes should be on the hanger, not on the floor like mopes Jim: Chill, mate! I can see that Peter: And you‟re not going to anything with it? Or you want to live in this sty until surrounding peope run away from you? Jim: Okay, alright I‟ll it right now VII APPENDIX TRANSCRIPTION OF AUDIO TAPES IN VIETNAMESE Situation Ngọc (Gõ cửa): Anh ơi, ồn quá, anh bật nhỏ nhạc đi, nửa đêm rồi! Buồn cười thật đấy, có phải nói lần đầu đâu Mạnh (Mở cửa): Sao đấy? Nhạc có to đâu nhỉ? Ngọc: Trời, lại cịn khơng to lắm, anh bật nhỏ đeo tai nghe vào, hàng xóm cịn phải ngủ chứ! Mạnh: Ơ hay, nhạc nhà tơi, tơi thích bật nào, kệ Cô mà đeo tai nghe! Ngọc: Anh ngang vừa chứ, có bị dở đâu mà đeo tai nghe ngủ! Mạnh: Tôi không quan tâm Ngọc: Ơ…anh đừng có ngang, phải làm chứ? Mạnh: Tôi thấy đúng! Ngọc: Đồ dở hơi! (bỏ về) Situation Khôi: Này Thúy ơi, có hay cực Thúy: Sao đấy? Cái mà úp mở thế? Khôi: Đây, này, uống đi! Thúy: Ơi khơng, tơi chẳng thích này, khơng hợp vị Khơi: Thì uống cho vui, có đâu mà sợ Thúy: Đã bảo khơng mà lại Khơi: Uống đi, uống thơi Thúy: Không uống không uống Khôi: Bà không uống đừng nhìn mặt tơi nhé! VIII Thúy: Ừ, thơi rồi, uống uống! Situation Trung: Ê mày ơi?! Tuấn: Sao sao? Trung: Làm Giao Dịch Tài quốc tế thầy giao chưa? Tuấn: Rồi, làm hơm qua Sao đấy? Trung: Khó q, tao chả làm Cho tao mượn ngó tẹo, kẻo tí thầy sờ gáy chết Tuấn: Gì? Khơng Khó mà khó Tại mày lười, tao lạ mày Trung: Ừ lười chưa? Cho chép nhờ Tuấn: Cho mày chép nhỡ thầy kiểm tra thấy hai đứa làm giống hệt sao? Trung: Khơng có đâu Mày học giỏi, lại hay phát biểu, thầy kiểm tra mày làm n chí! Tuấn: Hừ, rồi, lần Situation Lan: Sao lại vứt quần áo lung tung này? Hà: Sao đâu? Tí tớ dọn Lan: Tí lúc nào? Ấy bừa bộn Hà: Bừa Tại tớ bận q nên khơng có thời gian dọn mà Lan: Chẳng thấy bảo rảnh, toàn tớ phải dọn hộ Ngăn nắp hộ tớ với! Hà: Nhưng tớ thấy bình thường mà, tớ quen Lan: Ở nhà riêng làm phòng với tớ mà, phải biết thay đổi Đây, bắt đầu thay đổi từ đống quần áo này! Hà: Ừ, rồi, tớ làm ... students and American students Figure 4: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Figure 5: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students PART I: INTRODUCTION... American students Table 3: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Table 4: Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Table 5: Analysis of conversations. .. Table Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students Figure Answers for question of Vietnamese students and American students The above result shows that for the second question,