Post on 11-Jan-2016
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.