INCORPORATING CULTURE IN DEVELOPING ENGLISH SPEAKING

SKILLS FOR EFL ADULT LEARNERS: A CASESTUDY OF VIETNAMESE

TEACHERS’ VOICES

Mach Buu Hien SEAMEO RETRAC

OUTLINE

1. Introduction

2. Theoretical background

3. Research design

4. Results and Implications

INTRODUCTION

Status of ELT in Viet nam

Maintain national culture and identity

Improve intercultural communication

Enhance English speaking skills

Status of ELT in Viet nam

The adoption of CLT:

There are cultural differences between the requirements of teaching methodology and real-life contexts

Purpose of the study

Investigate teachers’ perspectives in teaching speaking skills

Investigate the involvement of cultural dimensions in oral activities

Find out the effects of culture on EFL adults’ learners’ oral communication

Provide some recommendations to prepare for future intercultural communication

Research Questions

1. What do Vietnamese teachers of English think about culture and its roles in teaching English speaking skills for EFL adult learners?

2. How are cultural dimensions included to improve oral communication?

3. How are EFL adults learners’ speaking skills influenced through the inclusion of cultural dimensions?

Raise teacher’s awareness of the role of cultural dimensions

Significance of the study

Enhance learners’ intercultural competence

Improve oral communication

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

From socio-cultural perspectives:

Culture is “a product of socially, historically situated discourse community, created and shaped by language” (Kramsch, 1998, p.10)

Learning a language is inextricably connected with social and cultural contexts (Lantolf, 2000)

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Oral discourses carry out transactional and interactional functions

i.e convey information and maintain social relationship (Nunan, 1989; Kramsch, 1998)

Culture and oral discourses are interrelated

Speaking is regarded as a meaningful interaction, social and situation-based activity (Louma, 2004)

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Debatable issues of including cultural dimensions:

The inclusion of local culture and target culture

Teaching culture to develop intercultural competence for learners of English

RESEARCH PARADIGM

CONSTRUCTIVIST

Qualitative case study

RESEARCH DESIGN

Individual interview

Focus group

discussion

RESEARCH METHOD

Demographic features of participants

Teacher Age Gender Qualifications Years of

experience

Teaching speaking

skills for adult

learners

Experience of

studying abroad

Linh 37 Female MA in Applied

Linguistics

14 years Yes no

Toan 40 Male MA in Applied

Linguistics

17 years Yes no

Nga 52 Female MA in TESOL 21 years Yes Australia

Kim 29 Female MA in TESOL 7 years Yes Australia

Oanh 44 Female BA in TEFL 14 years Yes no

Minh 36 Male MA in Applied

Linguistics

13 years Yes Canada &

Singapore

Ha 29 Female MA in Applied

Linguistics

6 years Yes no

1. Transcribing and Translation

DATA ANALYSIS

2. Coding and Categorising

Example of coding manifest and latent content

Extracts Coded for Question: What do you think about culture in English language teaching?

K: Culture in ELT is in the process of learning a foreign language. Learning English or other foreign languages is always connected to culture. Sometimes when we look at an English word, we may know what English people probably think about that issue. For example, in an English saying “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus” we can analyse that sentence and understand that people from western cultures are also aware of the opposite between men and women. They also notice the necessity to understand the psychology of men and women.

M: It is difficult to give a specific definition, but I think culture is a symbol of a country, a community. For example in teaching a language, culture relates to [communicative culture]. In the culture of communication, there are differences in the ways of calling each other between Vietnamese people and foreigners. Cultural factors are inextricably connected to language, for example, the ways they talk about comparison are also different. Besides, in making questions or answering questions, Vietnamese people tend not to use compliments, but western people often say compliments.

Cultural meaning, identified through the use of English words (Latent content)

Communicative culture (manifest content)

TEACHERS’ VOICES

Teachers’ perception of teaching culture in oral activities

Teachers’ organisation of cultural dimensions in teaching oral skills

Teachers’ beliefs in possible effect s of culture on oral skills

Teachers’ perception of teaching culture in oral activities

Cultural factors were purposively used as methodological and pedagogical focus of the lessons

Cultural factors include a set of values that reflect the ways people use language to express the meaning and non-verbal factors to communicate with others

Different awareness of the role of local and target culture

Examples:

“…I will explain cultural factors to my students and ask them to express their opinions about the information…” (T-IIB6)

“…Sometimes when we look at an English word we may know what English people probably think about that issue…” (K-IIB5)

Teachers’ organization of cultural dimensions in teaching oral skills

Local and target culture were engaged in oral activities by:

including familiar cultural topics

localising cultural information

utilising for the input and output activities

Teachers’ organization of cultural dimensions in teaching oral skills

Speaking strategies for the involvement of cultural dimensions:

Role play True-False Statement Problem-solving

Presentation Survey Information Gaps

Discussion Interview Group project

Teachers’ beliefs in possible effects of culture on oral skills

Strategic factors for the production of spoken language

Strengthen the confidence of using spoken language in communication with others

IMPLICATIONS

Support theoretical framework from a socio-cultural constructivist perspectives

Prepare for teachers’ methodological and pedagogical development:

Use effective strategies to incorporate cultural dimensions in oral activities

Provide an impetus to alter traditional views in teaching English

IMPLICATIONS

Reflect a prerequisite to develop a new professional identity, e.g intercultural competence teachers

Enhance Vietnamese learners’ intercultural competence for future international interaction and communication

REFERENCES

1. Kramsch, C. (1998). The relationship of language and culture In Language and Culture (pp. 3 - 14). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2. Luoma, S. (2004). Assessing Speaking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

3. Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University.