REPRESENTATIONS OF VIETNAMESE ETHNIC MINORITIES IN NEW HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS = đại DIỆN các dân tộc THIỂU số VIỆT NAM TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA THÍ điểm môn TIẾNG ANH TRUNG học PHỔ THÔNG

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER REPRESENTATIONS OF VIETNAMESE ETHNIC MINORITIES IN NEW HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS Supervisor: Phạm Thị Hạnh, PhD Student: Trịnh Thanh Bình Course: QH2017.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2021 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HÓA CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP ĐẠI DIỆN CÁC DÂN TỘC THIỂU SỐ VIỆT NAM TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA THÍ ĐIỂM MƠN TIẾNG ANH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG Giáo viên hướng dẫn: TS Phạm Thị Hạnh Sinh viên: Trịnh Thanh Bình Khóa: QH2017.F1 HÀ NỘI – 2021 I hereby state that I: Trịnh Thanh Bình, class 17E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (English Teacher Education) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Students’ signature Date: 04/05/2021 Supervisor’s signature of approval ABSTRACT Vietnam is a multicultural country with 54 ethnic groups (Open Development Vietnam, 2020) These include the major Kinh group and 53 ethnic minorities, who mostly reside in remote and mountainous areas Due to their special social background, Vietnamese government has issued special policies Among these is the establishment of boarding schools with suitable programs In these schools, ethnic students use the nationwide applied textbooks Since the targeted learners of these textbooks are mostly Kinh students, the representations of Vietnamese people and culture in the books may concentrate on this group Therefore, representations of ethnic minorities may be unfamiliar to ethnic students, which may reduce their interest (Cunningsworth, 1995) Previously, representations of ethnic groups in English textbooks have been identified to be problematic by several international authors (Bassani, 2015; Kim & Ma, 2018; Yamada, 2006, 2010) In the context Vietnam, except for the finding that the national culture of Vietnam in old English textbooks is described as Kinh culture (Dinh, 2014), the issue of representations of ethnic minorities has not received full attention To address this limit, this study aims to investigate the representations of Vietnamese ethnic minorities in new high school English textbooks and the accompanying teacher’s books Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are adopted The fundamental procedure of this study is Weninger and Kiss’ (2013) semiotic approach, in which texts, tasks and images of an activity are analyzed in relation to each other based on analytical frameworks suggested by several authors (Cunningsworth, 1995; Dinh, 2014, Painter et al., 2012) Findings of the study show underrepresentation of ethnic minorities compared to Vietnamese people and culture, absence of some groups, limited range of topics, and possess a certain potential for cultural learning although it is limited From these major findings, it is advisable that the i textbook designers increase the number of the representations, expand the range of the topics and incorporate interaction among ethnic characters and other groups ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On completion of this study, I would like to express my gratitude to the individuals and parties who have supported and guided me to accomplish this challenging achievement First, my greatest gratification goes to Dr Pham Thi Hanh, the supervisor of this study With her knowledge and valuable critique, she has guided me through this whole study from the very first steps to the end Working with Dr Hanh has broadened my academic knowledge on this field as well as brought me a critical and proper mindset when conducting academic research Having an important role in the completion of this study is Mrs Hoang Thi Hanh, head of Intercultural communication Division and the lecturers of the division Together with the supervisors, Mrs Hanh and the division have provided constructive feedback, in-depth knowledge and orientation to my work throughout the process I would also love to express my gratitude to the authors of the new high school English textbooks for designing the objects of this study Overall, their work has been of great contribution to English teaching and education to Vietnamese students Also, the study would not be completed without the theory and framework proposed by scholars of the concerned fields They are the ones who lay the theoretical foundation of this study To my beloved friends of class 17E1 and FELTE Fast-track program, I would love to express my greatest thankfulness to you You have been of great mental and technical support We have obtained so many memorable achievements and I am lucky to have you guys complete this last step of our journey with me Wish you guys good luck with this final challenge Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends who gave me great support to help me come to this big step of my university time iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study 1.2 Aim and objectives of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of key concepts 2.1.1 Representation 2.1.2 Ethnic group and ethnic minority 2.1.3 Culture 2.2 Representation of groups in language textbook evaluation 2.2.1 The main roles of textbooks and teacher’s books in language teaching 2.2.2 Textbook evaluation in language teaching 10 2.2.3 Representation of groups in language textbook evaluation 10 2.2.4 Semiotic approach to studying cultural representation in language textbooks 12 2.3 Research in representation of ethnic minorities in textbooks 14 2.3.1 Representation of ethnic minorities in non-English language textbooks 14 2.3.2 Research in Representation of ethnic minorities in English language textbooks 17 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22 3.1 Data collection 22 3.1.1 Vietnamese new high school English textbooks 22 3.1.2 Data collection 23 3.2 Data analysis 24 3.2.1 Quantitative approach: Descriptive statistics 24 3.2.2 Qualitative method: semiotic analysis of pedagogical activities 25 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 29 iv 4.1 The frequency of representations of Vietnamese ethnic minorities 30 4.2 How are Vietnamese ethnic minorities represented in new high school English textbooks? 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Bookmark not defined 4.2.1 What ethnic minorities are represented? 32 4.2.2 Topic and subject contents in which ethnic minorities appear 35 4.2.3 How are Vietnamese ethnic minorities represented culturally? 41 4.3 Is there any opportunity for students to learn about ethnic culture through the analyzed activities? 47 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 51 5.1 Major findings 51 5.2 Suggestions for educators 51 5.3 Limitations 52 5.4 Suggestions for future studies 52 REFERENCES APPENDIXES v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 1: Previous studies on representations of ethnic minorities in non-English language textbooks 15 Table 2: Previous studies on Representations of ethnic minorities in English language textbooks 18 Table 3: Analytical frameworks used in the study and adaptation 26 Table 4: Frequency of representations of Vietnamese ethnic minorities in New high school English textbooks 30 Table 5: Analyzed data in specific units 31 Table 6: Ethnic minorities represented and number of direct specification of their origins 34 Table 7: Topics in which ethnic minorities appear 35 Table 8: Number of activities in the topics 36 Table 9: The purposes of the content in activities 38 Table 10: Number of activities representing culture 41 Table 11: Types of ethnic culture represented 42 Table 12: Number of activities with language of feeling 44 Table 13: The focus on denotation and connotation of activities 47 Table 14: The potential for ethnic culture learning of activities 47 Figure 1: Cunningsworth (1995)’s quick and detailed checklists on topic, subject content and social values for student’s book and teacher’s book 11 Figure 2: Representations of ethnic minorities in general and representations of specific minorities 33 Figure 3: Task G10-U10-Cu-2 33 Figure 4: Task G10-U10-S-2 34 Figure 5: Task G10-Rv4-S-3 37 Figure 6: Exercise G11-U5-P-1 37 Figure 8: Exercise G11-U5-W-1 38 Figure 9: Task G11-U8-Pr 39 Figure 10: Task G11-U8-Pr 40 Figure 11: Task G12-U5-S-3 40 Figure 13: G12-U5-Cu-1 43 Figure 15: Task G11-Rv3-P-1 44 Figure 16: Exercise G12-U5-V-2 44 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MOET: Ministry of Education and Training U: Unit Rv: Review G: Grade V: Vocabulary P: Pronunciation Gr: Grammar R: Reading S: Speaking W: Writing Co: Communication Cu: Culture Pr: Project LB: Looking Back vii APPENDIX D REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN GRADE 10 TEXTBOOKS Activity G10-U10-Rv-S-3: The residential areas of ethnic minorities in Sa Pa and Central Highlands are suggestions for eco-tourism destinations Activity G10-U10-Cu-2: “ethnic culture” is mentioned as part of knowledge tour guides are lack of, which lead to tourists’ limited understanding of cultural diversity Activity G10-U10-S-2: The residential areas of ethnic minorities in Sa Pa and Central Highlands are suggestions for eco-tourism destinations Cultural elements such as local life and festivals are suggestions for tourism activities APPENDIX E REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN GRADE 11 TEXTBOOKS This appendix include black and white scan of the activities because the author could not retrieve colored version Representations of Vietnamese ethnic minorities are highlighted and larger versions of text bodies that are too small are retyped Activity G11-U8-P-1: The characters talk about Chăm people’s My Son Sanctuary Activity G11-U5-W-1: 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam, including the minorities, act as a piece of information about Vietnam Activity G11-Rv2-L-5: Over 50 ethnic groups, including the minorities, act as an evidence of cultural diversity in Vietnam Activity G11-U5-Cu-3: The photo portrays traditional dance of Thái people but the dance is not explained in teacher’s guideline although explanation for Trong Com, another dance in the task, is provided The original photo in activity G11-U5-Cu-3 appears in an article about Thái people’s festival (Source: Newspaper of People’s Army) Activity G11-Rv3-P-3: The characters talk about destinations to go on a cultural tour Chăm people’s My Son Sanctuary is an option Activity G11-U5-W-2: 54 ethnic groups, including the minorities, appear in a piece of information about culture of Vietnam Activity G11-U8-Co-1: Chăm people’s My Son Sanctuary is a suggestion for students’ field trip to a cultural heritage site Additional information on the site is provided to the teacher, including its construction during the Chăm dynasty, an indication of its origin Activity G11-U8-Pr: A photo of My Son Sanctuary appears in the prompt for a research project on preservation of cultural heritage sites in Vietnam It can be a suggestion for this project Students are familiar with the sanctuary from previous lessons so they can easily realize this photo and they are encouraged to find further information about it APPENDIX F REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN GRADE 12 TEXTBOOK Activity G12-U5-Cu-2: Students fill in the table with information from the text The reading text about ethnic festivals used in activities G12U5-Cu-1 and G12-U5-Cu-2 Activity G12-U5-Cu-3: Students are asked to share about their experience with and feelings about attending ethnic cultural festivals in Vietnam Activity G10-U5-Cu-1: Photos of Elephant Racing Festival, Forest Worshipping Festival and Boat racing festival of Khmer people From the reading text, students can know the first photo depict Ê đê or M’Nông people and the second photo depict Dao or Nùng people but the specific origins of these groups are not mentioned in teacher’s guidelines The fourth photo, despite appearing in the background of the page, can be part of the activity as the teachers are suggested to ask students to guess about the events in the photos Search results from Google Image show that the first photo portrays M’Nông people and the third photo portrays Khmer people The origin of people in the second photo could not be found The origins of all the three groups in this activity are not directly specified in teacher’s book The original first photo in Activity G10U5-Cu-1 appears in a blogpost about M’Nông people (Source: blogdulich.mytour.vn The original fourth photo in the activity appears in an article about Khmer people’s boat racing festival in Soc Trang (Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong) Activity G12-U5-LB-V: Item mentions traditional gongs and drums, musical instruments of some ethnic groups, as a means to express cultural identity Note that the key to this exercise is incorrect as correct answer to item must be “cultural identity” Activities G12-U5-Pr 1,2,3: Students are asked to research on what define an ethnic group’s cultural identity The project is made up from three activities There are four photos of Ê đê and Chăm people acting as suggestions for students Detailed information about these groups, including their origin, is provided in the teacher’s book Tày group also appear in the suggestions and table of information but is not represented visually Activity G12-U5-S-3: Students are asked to talk about what they should to maintain cultural identity in the age of globalization based on the conversation in activity G12-U5-S-2 There is a photo of Ê đê people’s Naming ceremony but the content of this photo is not explained neither in the textbook nor the teacher’s book The original photo in activity G12-U5-S-3 captures Ê đê people’s Naming ceremony (Source: VOV World) Activity G12-U5-V-2: Students are asked to fill in the gaps with words from activity G12-U5-V-1 Item describes ethnic groups’ cultural practices to be “strange” and item inform students about ethnic groups’ difficulty with maintaining their language and culture Activity G12-U5-W-2: Students are asked to fill in the gaps with provided words Paragraph of the text mentions 50 ethnic groups, including the minorities, as part of Vietnamese population ...ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA NGƠN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HĨA CÁC NƯỚC NĨI TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP ĐẠI DIỆN CÁC DÂN TỘC THIỂU SỐ VIỆT NAM TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA THÍ ĐIỂM MÔN... are Vietnamese ethnic minorities represented in new high school English textbooks? 4.1.1 Number of activities featuring Vietnamese people and culture representing Vietnamese ethnic minorities In. .. representations of Vietnamese ethnic minorities in New high school English textbooks Number of activities Number of Percentage of featuring activities featuring Vietnamese people ethnic minorities