Teachers and students attitudes towards the cultural content in the texbook motivate at vus in ho chi minh city ma

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS
THE CULTURAL CONTENT IN THE TEXTBOOK
"MOTIVATE! 2" AT VUS IN HO CHI MINH CITY

A thesis submitted to the
Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By
NGUYEN KHANH VAN

Supervised by
NGUYEN DUY MONG HA, Ph.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER 2021


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my greatest gratitude and appreciation to my
supervisor, Dr. Nguyễn Duy Mộng Hà, for all of her devotion, diligent supervision, and
constant encouragement together with invaluable advice on my thesis writing. Without her
insightful recommendations and constructive comments, it would have been impossible for
me to accomplish my thesis.
I also owe my thankfulness to all the lecturers who are always conscientious in delivering
worthy knowledge to me throughout 2 years studying the TESOL program at USSH,
directly or indirectly contributing to the completion of this thesis. Besides, my sincerest
thanks also go to the Board of Administrators and other members of the Faculty of English

Linguistics and Literature, who gave me an opportunity to defend this thesis.
Simultaneously, I am also immensely indebted to my colleagues and friends working at the
language center - VUS, especially Ms. Lan Hương, Ms. Trúc Mai, Ms. Bảo Quyên, and
Ms. Diệu Vy, whose permanent assistance and precious experience in teaching English
have furnished me with worthful data and information that played an essential role in this
research.
Last but not least, my heartfelt gratitude is sent to my family, whose devoting care and
constant support have encouraged me to accomplish the predetermined goals as well as
overcome the time of discouragement and tiredness. Without their standby support, there
is virtually impossible that this thesis will be completed in time.

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby citify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE
CULTURAL CONTENT IN THE TEXTBOOK "MOTIVATE! 2" AT VUS
IN HO CHI MINH CITY
in terms of the statement of requirements for the Thesis in Mater’s Program issued by the
Higher Degree Committee. No other person’s work has been utilized without
acknowledgement in the content of this thesis. The current thesis has not been submitted
for the award of any degree or diploma in any other situation.
Ho Chi Minh City, October 2021

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RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, NGUYEN KHANH VAN, being the candidate for the degree of Master
in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of
Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library
should be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal
conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis.
Ho Chi Minh City, October, 2021

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................... I
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY.............................................................................................................................. II
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ............................................................................................................... III
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................... IV
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................................................................... VII
LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................................................... VIII
LIST OF PICTURES AND FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... X
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... XI
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................1
1.1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY..............................................................................................................................1
1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................................................................4
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................................................5
1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ..............................................................................................................................5
1.5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ..........................................................................................................................................6
1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................................9
2.1. ATTITUDE............................................................................................................................................................9
2.1.1. The components of attitude ....................................................................................................................... 10

2.1.2. The relationship between attitude and motivation in language teaching and learning ............................ 11
2.1.3. Factors affecting attitude in English learning process ............................................................................. 13
2.1.3.1. Learner’s personality ........................................................................................................................................... 13
2.1.3.2. Educational context ............................................................................................................................................. 13
2.1.3.3. Social context ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
2.1.3.4. Other factors ........................................................................................................................................................ 15

2.1.4. The role of attitude in English teaching and learning process ................................................................. 15
2.2. CULTURE ........................................................................................................................................................... 16
2.2.1. The relationship between culture and language ....................................................................................... 17
2.2.2. Culture in language teaching and learning .............................................................................................. 18
2.2.3. Categories of culture................................................................................................................................. 18
2.2.4. Sources of cultural information ................................................................................................................ 21
2.2.5. Forms of cultural representation .............................................................................................................. 21
2.3. CULTURAL CONTENT REPRESENTATION IN CURRENT EFL TEXTBOOKS ............................................................. 22
2.4. TEXTBOOK EVALUATION ................................................................................................................................... 23
2.4.1. Cultural content representation ................................................................................................................ 23
2.4.1.1. Layout and design ............................................................................................................................................... 25
2.4.1.2. Activities ............................................................................................................................................................. 26
2.4.1.3. Subject and content.............................................................................................................................................. 26

2.4.2. The cultural content delivery .................................................................................................................... 27
2.4.2.1. Goals of culture teaching ..................................................................................................................................... 27
2.4.2.2. Culture teaching strategies................................................................................................................................... 28

2.4.3. Criteria for evaluating cultural content representation in EFL textbooks ................................................ 29
2.5. RELATED STUDIES ............................................................................................................................................. 29
2.6. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................................... 32

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................... 35
3.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 35
3.2. RESEARCH SITE AND PARTICIPANTS .................................................................................................................. 35
3.2.1. Context of the study ................................................................................................................................... 35
3.2.2. Participants ............................................................................................................................................... 36
3.2.2.1. Student participants ............................................................................................................................................. 36
3.2.2.2. Teacher participants............................................................................................................................................. 37

3.3. RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................................................................ 40
3.4. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS .................................................................................................................................. 42
3.4.1. Textbook analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 42
3.4.2. Pilot questionnaires .................................................................................................................................. 43
3.4.2.1. Student pilot questionnaire .................................................................................................................................. 44
3.4.2.2. Teacher pilot questionnaire ................................................................................................................................. 47

3.4.3. Questionnaire............................................................................................................................................ 52
3.4.3.1. Student Questionnaire ......................................................................................................................................... 53
3.4.3.2. Teacher Questionnaire ......................................................................................................................................... 53

3.4.4. Interview questions ................................................................................................................................... 54
3.4.5. Classroom observation ............................................................................................................................. 56
3.5. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE ........................................................................................................................ 57
3.5.1. Textbook analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 57
3.5.2. Classroom observation ............................................................................................................................. 58
3.5.3. Questionnaire............................................................................................................................................ 58
3.5.4. Interview to teachers ................................................................................................................................. 59
3.6. DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................ 60
3.6.1. Textbook analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 60

3.6.2. Classroom observation ............................................................................................................................. 60
3.6.3. Questionnaire............................................................................................................................................ 60
3.6.4. Interview to teachers ................................................................................................................................. 62
3.7. SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................................... 62
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................... 63
4.1. DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................ 63
4.1.1. Data analysis from textbook evaluation .................................................................................................... 63
4.1.1.1. Layout and Design ............................................................................................................................................... 64
4.1.1.2. Activities ............................................................................................................................................................. 65
4.1.1.3. Subject and Content ............................................................................................................................................. 65

4.1.2. Data analysis from classroom observation ............................................................................................... 68
4.1.2.1. Class A ................................................................................................................................................................ 68
4.1.2.2. Class B ................................................................................................................................................................ 69
4.1.2.3. Class C ................................................................................................................................................................ 70

4.1.3. Data analysis from the questionnaire ....................................................................................................... 71
4.1.3.1. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes to the cultural content representation in “Motivate! 2”.................................... 72
4.1.3.2. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes to the cultural content delivery through “Motivate! 2” .................................... 83
4.1.3.3. Factors motivate students to learn the cultures of different countries in the world .............................................. 87

4.1.4. Data analysis from teacher interviews ...................................................................................................... 90
4.1.4.1. Teachers’ perception of the importance of culture teaching ................................................................................ 90
4.1.4.2. Teachers’ perceptions of the cultural content in “Motivate! 2” and the use of supplementary materials to support
culture teaching in class ................................................................................................................................................... 91
4.1.4.3. Teachers’ perceptions of the topic’s relation to learners’ culture when teaching the Target cultural background
......................................................................................................................................................................................... 93
4.1.4.4. Teachers’ perceptions of class activities for culture learning .............................................................................. 94

4.2. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 95

4.2.1. Students and teachers’ attitudes to the cultural content representation in “Motivate! 2” ....................... 95
4.2.1.1. Layout and Design ............................................................................................................................................... 95

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4.2.1.2. Activities ............................................................................................................................................................. 95
4.2.1.3. Subject and Content ............................................................................................................................................. 96

4.2.2. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes to the cultural content delivery through “Motivate! 2” ....................... 97
4.2.2.1. Goals achievement related to cultural competence .............................................................................................. 97
4.2.2.2. Culture Teaching Strategies................................................................................................................................. 98

4.2.3. Factors motivate learners to learn the cultures of different countries in the world .................................. 99
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................... 101
5.1. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................. 101
5.1.1. Teachers and students’ attitudes to cultural content representation in “Motivate! 2”........................... 101
5.1.1.1. Layout and Design ............................................................................................................................................. 101
5.1.1.2. Activities ........................................................................................................................................................... 101
5.1.1.3. Subject and Content ........................................................................................................................................... 102

5.1.2. Teachers and students’ attitudes to the cultural content delivery through “Motivate! 2” ...................... 103
5.1.2.1. Goals achievement related to cultural competence ............................................................................................ 103
5.1.2.2. Culture teaching strategies................................................................................................................................. 104

5.1.3. Factors motivate students to learn the cultures of different countries in the world ................................ 104
5.2. SUGGESTIONS .................................................................................................................................................. 105
5.2.1. Suggestions for teachers ......................................................................................................................... 105
5.2.2. Suggestions for VUS ............................................................................................................................... 107
5.2.3. Suggestions for textbook authors ............................................................................................................ 107

5.3. LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 108
5.4. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ............................................................................................... 109
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................................ 110
APPENDIX 1 ........................................................................................................................................................... 119
APPENDIX 2 ........................................................................................................................................................... 126
APPENDIX 3 ........................................................................................................................................................... 144
APPENDIX 3A: ITEM-TOTAL STATISTICS’ RESULTS OF STUDENT PILOT QUESTIONNAIRE ............ 144
APPENDIX 3B: ITEM-TOTAL STATISTICS’ RESULTS OF TEACHER PILOT QUESTIONNAIRE ............ 146
APPENDIX 4 ........................................................................................................................................................... 148
APPENDIX 4A: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION FORM A............................................................................... 148
APPENDIX 4B: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION FORM B ............................................................................... 153
APPENDIX 4C: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION FORM C ............................................................................... 159
APPENDIX 4D: A SUMMARY OF 3 CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS AT VUS ............................................ 164
APPENDIX 5 ........................................................................................................................................................... 168
APPENDIX 5A: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE IN ENGLISH .......................................................................... 168
APPENDIX 5B: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE IN VIETNAMESE .................................................................. 173
APPENDIX 5C: TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE IN ENGLISH .......................................................................... 178
APPENDIX 5D: TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE IN VIETNAMESE ................................................................. 183
APPENDIX 6 ........................................................................................................................................................... 188

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
VUS

Vietnam USA Society English Centers

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

ELT

English Language Teaching

NTMK

Nguyen Thi Minh Khai

Ss

Students

Ts

Teachers

USSH

University of Social Sciences and Humanities – Ho Chi Minh City

EF

The Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature

TESOL

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

SPSS 26

Statistical Package for the Social Science)

M

Mean

S.D

Standard Deviations

CLIL

Content and Language Integrated Learning

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1. Eight forms of cultural representation in English textbooks ...................................................... 21
Table 2.2. Lee (2009)’s framework of Big “C” and small “c” cultural themes ........................................ 130
Table 2.3. Themes under Big “C” culture in “Motivate! 2” ..................................................................... 131
Table 2.4. Themes under small “C” culture in “Motivate! 2” .................................................................. 133
Table 2.5. The synthesis of culture teaching goals ................................................................................... 134
Table 2.6. The synthesis of culture teaching strategies. ............................................................................ 136
Table 2.7. The synthesis of criteria for evaluating cultural content in EFL textbooks. ............................ 138
Table 2.8. Criteria for evaluating cultural content representation in “Motivate! 2”. ................................ 142
Table 2.9. Eight guiding principles of EFL materials design ................................................................... 143
Table 3.1. Demographic characteristics of student participants ................................................................. 36

Table 3.2. Demographic characteristics of teachers in the survey process ................................................. 38
Table 3.3. Demographic characteristics of teachers in the interview process ............................................. 39
Table 3.4. The brief summary of student pilot questionnaire items ............................................................ 44
Table 3.5. Reliability statistics’ results for “Layout and Design”............................................................... 45
Table 3.6. Reliability statistics’ results for “Activities” ............................................................................. 45
Table 3.7. Reliability statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the first run ................................... 46
Table 3.8. Reliability statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the second run ............................... 46
Table 3.9. Reliability statistics’ results for “Culturally oriented goals” ..................................................... 47
Table 3.10. Reliability statistics’ results for “Culture teaching strategies” ................................................ 47
Table 3.11. The brief summary of teacher pilot questionnaire items .......................................................... 48
Table 3.12. Reliability statistics’ results for “Layout and Design”............................................................. 49
Table 3.13. Reliability statistics’ results for “Activities” ........................................................................... 49
Table 3.14. Reliability statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the first run ................................. 49
Table 3.15. Reliability statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the second run ............................. 50
Table 3.16. Reliability statistics’ results for “Goals achievement related to cultural competence” for the
first run ........................................................................................................................................................ 51
Table 3.17. Reliability statistics’ results for “Goals achievement related to cultural competence” for the
second run. .................................................................................................................................................. 51
Table 3.18. Reliability statistics’ results for “Culture teaching strategies” ................................................ 52
Table 3.19. The brief summary of main research questionnaire items for surveyed student ...................... 53
Table 3.20. The brief summary of main research questionnaire items for surveyed teachers .................... 53
Table 3.21.Item-total statistics’ results for “Layout and Design” ............................................................. 144
Table 3.22. Item-total statistics’ results for “Activities”........................................................................... 144
Table 3.23. Item-total statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the first run ................................ 144
Table 3.24. Item-total statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the second run ............................ 144
Table 3.25. Item-total statistics’ results for “Goals achievement related to cultural competence” .......... 145
Table 3.26. Item-total statistics’ results for “Culture teaching strategies”................................................ 145
Table 3.27. Item-total statistics’ results for “Layout and Design” ............................................................ 146
Table 3.28. Item-total statistics’ results for “Activities”........................................................................... 146
Table 3.29. Item-total statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the first run ................................ 146

Table 3.30. Item-total statistics’ results for “Subject and Content” for the second run ............................ 146
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Table 3.31. Item-total statistics’ results for “Goals achievement related to cultural competence” for the
first run ...................................................................................................................................................... 147
Table 3.32. Item-total statistics’ results for “Goals achievement related to cultural competence” for the
second run ................................................................................................................................................. 147
Table 3.33. Item-total statistics’ results for “Culture teaching strategies”................................................ 147
Table 4.1. Sources of Culture in “Motivate! 2” .......................................................................................... 65
Table 4.2. Themes under Big “C” and small “c” cultures in “Motivate! 2” ............................................... 66
Table 4.3. Students’ attitudes to the layout and design in “Motivate! 2” ................................................... 72
Table 4.4. Teachers’ attitudes to the layout and design in “Motivate! 2” ................................................... 72
Table 4.5. Students’ attitudes to class activities for culture learning .......................................................... 73
Table 4.6. Teachers’ attitudes to class activities for culture learning ......................................................... 73
Table 4.7. Students’ preferences for the forms of culture learning activities ............................................. 74
Table 4.8. Students’ attitudes to the use of supplementary materials for culture learning ......................... 74
Table 4.9. Teachers’ attitudes to the use of supplementary materials for culture teaching ........................ 75
Table 4.10. Students’ and teachers’ preferences for outside sources of information .................................. 75
Table 4.11. Students’ attitudes to the subject and content in “Motivate! 2” ............................................... 76
Table 4.12. Teachers’ attitudes to the subject and content in “Motivate! 2” .............................................. 76
Table 4.13. Students’ attitudes to the study of Source, Target and International cultures .......................... 77
Table 4.14. Teachers’ attitudes to the study of Source, Target and International cultures ......................... 78
Table 4.15. Students’ and teachers’ preferences for learning and teaching the cultural information of
native English-speaking countries .............................................................................................................. 78
Table 4.16. Students’ and teachers’ preferences for learning and teaching the cultural information of nonnative English-speaking countries .............................................................................................................. 79
Table 4.17. Students’ attitudes to the learning of visible and invisible aspects of culture ......................... 80
Table 4.18. Teachers’ attitudes to the teaching of visible and invisible aspects of culture ........................ 80
Table 4.19. Students’ and teachers’ preferences for themes under Big “C” culture ................................... 81
Table 4.20. Teachers’ reasons for teaching themes under Big “C” culture ................................................ 82

Table 4.21. Students’ and teachers’ preferences for themes under small “c” culture ................................. 82
Table 4.22. Teachers’ reasons for teaching themes under small “c” culture .............................................. 83
Table 4.23. Students’ evaluation of the goals achievement related to cultural competence ....................... 83
Table 4.24. Teachers’ evaluation of the goals achievement related to cultural competence of students .... 84
Table 4.25. Students’ attitudes to culture teaching strategies employed in language classrooms .............. 85
Table 4.26. Teachers’ attitudes to the culture teaching strategies employed in language classrooms ........ 85
Table 4.27. Strategies for teaching cultural information inside and/or outside “Motivate! 2” ................... 86
Table 4.28. Hindrances of imparting cultural information in “Motivate! 2” .............................................. 86
Table 4.29. The reasons for students’ intrinsic motivation to learn the cultures of different countries in the
world ........................................................................................................................................................... 87
Table 4.30. The reasons for students’ extrinsic motivation to learn the cultures of different countries in the
world ........................................................................................................................................................... 88
Table 4.31. The effect of gender on students’ selection of native English speaking countries .................. 88
Table 4.32. Teachers’ perception of culture teaching’s advantages ........................................................... 91
Table 4.33. The occurrences of native and non-native English speaking countries in “Motivate! 2” ...... 166

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LIST OF PICTURES AND FIGURES
Picture 1.1. 4 levels of the Student’s Book. .............................................................................................. 119
Picture 1.2. The introduction of “Motivate! 2”. ........................................................................................ 120
Picture 1.3. An example of The Progress check in “Motivate! 2”. ........................................................... 121
Picture 1.4. An example of The Revision Sections in “Motivate! 2”. ...................................................... 122
Picture 1.5. An example of The Vocabulary and Grammar Guide in “Motivate! 2”. ............................... 123
Picture 1.6. An example of The Culture and CLIL rubric in “Motivate! 2”. ............................................ 124
Picture 1.7. Examples of Descriptive texts ............................................................................................... 125
Picture 1.8. Examples of Dialogues for habitual action ............................................................................ 126
Picture 1.9. Examples of Contextualized writing tasks............................................................................. 127
Picture 1.10. An example of Cultural note................................................................................................ 128

Picture 1.11. Examples of Realia .............................................................................................................. 129
Figure 1. Conceptual framework ................................................................................................................ 33
Figure 2. Data collection procedure at VUS ............................................................................................... 59

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ABSTRACT
It is widely acknowledged that there is an undeniably interwoven and inseparable
relationship between language and culture, on the other hand, language is a reflection of
culture. If learners of a certain language only pay heed to its grammatical and lingual
proficiency without cultivating the cultural background of different countries, they might
not perform effectively in increasingly multicultural and multilingual world. On account
of this reason, learning different cultures is extremely necessary in the age of globalization
where English is used internationnally. Hence, EFL teachers should deliver not only the
Target culture (e.g. the UK, the USA, Australia, etc.) but also the International cultures
(e.g. Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, etc.). However, despite the necessity of culture
learning in EFL materials and classrooms, the matters concerning cultural content delivery
and acquisition did not receive much attention in Vietnamese educational setting. As a
result, this study has come into existence to shed light on prominent issues related to the
attitudes of 24 teachers and 144 young learners at VUS to the representation and delivery
of the cultural content in an in-use textbook “Motivate! 2” by means of textbook evaluation,
questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations.
It is reported that “Motivate! 2” has a strong preference for the Target culture, particularly
the cultures of the UK and the USA, while International ones are rarely mentioned.
Moreover, Big “C” culture is found to be the supreme source of culture in “Motivate! 2”
with reference to a variety of topics (e.g. history, food, leisure activities, etc.) whereas small
“c” cultural themes are mentioned with a much lower recurrence. Apparently, the structure
of cultural contents in “Motivate! 2” was basically designed to foster students’ knowledge
of native English speaking countries’ cultures. Consequently, in teachers’ view, “Motivate!

2” is not regarded as a good source of cultural content to better learners’ knowledge of
different cultures and intercultural communicative competence.
Besides, according to teachers’ and students’ evaluation of goals achievement related to
cultural competence, surveyed students could remember and recall prior knowledge based
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on good results of quizzes, tests or games. However, a rather high number of them could
not relate the native English speaking countries’ cultures to their own one and compare the
similarities and differences between them as well as practice culturally appropriate phrases
or sentences in simulated dialogues in the textbook. Hence, it is immensely essential for
teachers at VUS to set up culture-based pedagogical strategies that can provide students
with ample chances to be exposed to real or simulated communicative contexts for applying
useful language use into different situations.
At the final stage, in conformity with the aims and findings of this study, some pedagogical
implications and recommendations for further research were proposed to ameliorate the
quality of language and culture teaching through the target textbook in the context of the
study, and concurrently, create the foundation for those who are interested in the
aforementioned matters.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides an introduction to the study, including (1) background to the study,
(2) aims of the study, (3) research questions, (4) significance of the study, (5) scope of the
study and (6) its overall structure.
1.1. Background to the study
Language, without doubt, pervades in every aspect of our daily life. It plays as a powerful
means of shaping the way a person perceives about the world and defining culture of a

society (Krauss & Chiu, 1998). In other words, language embraces not only the thoughts or
beliefs of an individual but also diverse information in all over the world. Hence, there are
always certain cultural values of a society to be found in every daily use of language. This
perspective has been supported by some researchers and scholars. Thanasoulas (2001), for
example, stated that “language is a social institution, both shaping and shaped by society at
large or in particular the cultural niches”. Sharing the same view, Kramsch (2008) stressed
that “language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value”. So
obviously, there is a close-knit relationship between culture and language. As a result, the
importance of acquiring cultural imformation and values in language classrooms were
accentuated by McKay (2000) and Jourdini (2007) when they considered teaching culture
as important as teaching other four skills of language, and culture should be integrated into
English teaching and learning materials.
However, due to the lack of materials promoting cultural diversity and the matter of time
limitation, ELT in Vietnam tend to pay much more attention to four language skills
development and linguistic components (grammatical, lexical and phonological) but does
not notice much the cultural background and values of different countries (Hoang, 2010;
Nguyen V. H., 2016; Ton & Pham, 2010). Additionally, several teachers believe that culture
teaching can come after language teaching (Nguyen T. M., 2008; Ho, 2011). Nevertheless,
learning a foreign language is not just about gaining knowledge in terms of pronunciation,
vocabulary and grammar (Hymes, 1972). If a foreign language learning is viewed in that
1


way, it considers the use of that language in different communicative contexts as fixed and
limited. Besides, when a person acquires a foreign language, he or she also acquires the
worldview and cultural values of the native speakers of that language (Toohey, 2000;
Savignon, 2007). To use the target language as naturally as a native speaker does, learners
need to understand the intricate cultural connotations behind the language they are saying;
so that they can appropriate their speech in accordance with specifice communicative
contexts. Especially, in today’s globalized world, Vietnamese people have more

opportunities to work in multicultural or multilingual environments and interact with others
coming from different cultures; as a result, the need to better cross-cultural understanding
among Vietnamese learners of English has become more urgent. For these reasons, the
ability to use a foreign language flexibly and effectively in social, academic or
communicative contexts requires more than knowing its grammatical, semantic rules or
being native-like pronunciation; but calls for certain cultural knowledge in the use of that
language for purposeful communication.
Thereby, more and more culture-integrated English textbooks have been introduced to the
educational environment in Vietnam (Chau & Truong, 2019). The textbooks titled
“Motivate!”, in particular, have been applied in the English teaching process for young
learners at a language center in Ho Chi Minh City.
Although a great number of studies into cultural content presented in EFL textbooks have
been conducted, most of them centered on evaluating textbooks used in their own
educational context which are not appropriate for the educational environment in Vietnam
as well as the linguistic competence of Vietnamese learners. Ihsan (2014); for instance,
investigated the cultural content of an English textbook for senior high school entitled “Look
Ahead” in Indonesia. This study paid its attention on revealing the cultures presented
predominantly in the analyzed textbook based on the categorization of Cortazzi and Jin
(1999) (the Source culture, the Target culture and the International culture). Besides, the
study also disclosed how the cultural content is represented in the textbook predicated on
Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi’s classification (1990) (the aesthetic sense, the sociological
2


sense, the semantic sense, and the pragmatic sense). Eventually, the study, on the basis of
the findings, offered some suggestions to English materials developers about the integration
of more Source culture and International culture contents together with the delivery of
cultures in a non-judgmental way. This study provided a good theory reference for cultural
content analysis; however, was not suitable for the practical ELT since it did not examine
the aspects related to EFL teachers and learners.

Besides, there are other foreign studies directing its gaze to the investigation into attitudes
of language learners towards culture or culture teaching and learning. Serap (2018); for
instance, explored the attitudes of Turkish university students towards culture and its
incorporation into language teaching and simultaneously, investigated whether the
birthplace, gender, experience abroad and high school graduated had any influence on their
attitudes. Data yielded by the questionnaires revealed positive attitudes of target participants
towards culture and its incorporation in language teaching through teachers, teaching aids,
and course books regardless of the aforementioned factors. With regard to gender, female
informants expressed more positive attitudes towards culture than males. However, the lack
of the study laid at the neglectfulness of thoroughly evaluating the textbook content,
resulting in the suggestions and implications for ELT being too general and too vague to be
put into function. In brief, the necessity and importance of culture learning is highlighted in
these two foreign studies but generally neglected when it comes to be put into practice.
In the context of Vietnam, there is a study of Tran (2014) on EFL teachers’ beliefs about the
role of culture teaching in ELT and their classroom practices. Data collected from the
questionnaires and semi-structured interviews unveiled that EFL teachers expressed positive
attitudes to the culture teaching and believed that culture instruction held an essential role
in aiding EFL learners to attain target learning outcomes. The findings of this study
contributed to a better comprehension of the current practice of culture teaching in language
classrooms for enhancing the quality of ELT in Vietnam and in other similar contexts.

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Beside Tran (2014)’s study, there is also a study of Do (2016) delving into the attitudes of
teachers and students towards the cultural content in “Tieng Anh 11” at Tran Khai Nguyen
high school - HCMC. The findings yielded by the data of the questionnaire, classroom
observation and interview discovered that a majority of informants expressed their positive
attitudes towards the way cultural content is represented in the English textbook “Tieng Anh
11” (TA11). In addition to the authentic theories in the study, the researcher also made some

beneficial suggestions and implications for further studies with the aim of boosting students’
motivation in learning the cultural content integrated in TA11 and ameliorating the quality
of culture teaching in the context of the study.
Based on previously-mentioned studies, it is easy to perceive that only a small proportion
of recent studies evaluated the cultural content in EFL textbooks used in Vietnam. Moreover,
none of them has not examined the attitudes of teachers and students towards the cultural
content in “Motivate! 2” and the factors influencing learners to acquire the cultures of
different countries before. Besides, the practice of culture teaching mentioned in these
studies was solely suitable for their own contexts and the in-use textbooks, but not for VUS
and “Motivate! 2”. Also, the relationship between culture teaching and language
improvement of student participants was neglected or mentioned in a vague way. Therefore,
the aforementioned issues altogether became a research gap that drove the researcher to
conduct the current study aiming at the attitudes of teachers and students at VUS to the
cultural content in “Motivate! 2” in Ho Chi Minh City.
1.2. Aims of the study
The study centers on enlightening how the cultural content is presented in “Motivate! 2”
and investigating the attitudes of teachers and students at VUS towards the cultural content
representation and delivery through the target textbook.
Simultaneously, intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors influencing students’ attitudes
in learning the cultures of different countries around the world are also scrutinized. Besides,
in light of the obtained results, some useful and appropriate culture teaching techniques are
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expected to be found to help students at VUS overcome the difficulties of culture and
English learning as well as enhance their motivation and consciousness about the
importance of language learning from cultural dimension for the purpose of consolidating
their basic cultural competence and mastering English skills at the same time.
1.3. Research Questions
In order to accomplish the aims stated above, the study addressed the following research

questions:
1. How is the cultural content presented in “Motivate! 2”?
2. What attitudes towards the cultural content representation and delivery through
“Motivate! 2” do teachers have?
3. What attitudes towards the cultural content representation and delivery through
“Motivate! 2” do students have? Which factors motivate students to learn the cultures
of different countries in the world?
1.4. Significance of the study
With those aims achieved by shedding light on recently-stated research questions, the
current study has its own significance which lies in the cultural content evaluation and the
scrutiny of teachers and students’ attitudes towards cultural content representation and
delivery through “Motivate! 2”.
Firstly, in terms of theoretical values, the study provided a thorough review of literature on
relevant aspects of three main subjects, namely attitude, culture and textbook evaluation in
order to set the foundation for the conceptual framework and pave the way for elaborating
the cultural content representation in “Motivate! 2”.
Secondly, with the application of questionnaire, classroom observation and semi-structured
interview as research instruments, a clearer view concerning the attitudes of teachers and
students at VUS to the cultural input and culture teaching through “Motivate! 2” along with
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the factors motivating students in learning different countries’ cultures was also
demonstrated.
Last but not least, on the basis of the accumulated findings, the study drew some pedagogical
implications and recommended some flexible strategies for teaching cultural information
inside and/or outside “Motivate! 2” so as to furnish students with valuable knowledge of
different cultures, potential opportunities to practice culturally appropriate phrases or
sentences in specific communicative situations similar to those presented in the in-use
textbook, which hopefully contribute to the enhancement of their culture learning

motivation and cultural awareness; and thereby, help them perceive the importance of
language learning from cultural dimension as well as sharpen their cultural competence
together with English proficiency for effective intercultural communication.
1.5. Scope of the study
This study paid heed to the attitudes of teachers and students at VUS towards the cultural
content representation and delivery through “Motivate! 2”. The scope of the study, however,
still needs clarification.
First of all, it was mentioned that this study confined itself to the attitudes of teachers and
young learners at VUS. Thus, the study took into account three components of attitudes
including affect, behavior and cognition (Eagly & Chaiken, 1998; Schiffman & Kanuk, 2004;
Van den Berg, Manstead, Van der Pligt, & Wigboldus, 2006). Besides, the study also delved
into intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors affecting learners’ attitude which in turn
influence their language and culture learning.
Secondly, this study was expected to evaluate the cultural content in “Motivate! 2”. The
researcher; thereby, placed an emphasis on two aspects of textbook evaluation including the
representation and delivery of cultural content. In evaluating the cultural content
representation in “Motivate! 2”, three main criteria were selected based on the widely-used
checklists of Litz (2005), namely layout and design, activities and subject and content, while
the sub-criteria were synthesized and picked out from various checklists of such different
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scholars as Risager (1991), Cunningsworth (1995), Reimann (2009), etc. to be in accordance
with three main criteria. The cultural content delivery, on the other hand, scrutinized goals
achievement related to cultural competence and culture teaching strategies to aid the
researcher in clarifying what, when and how to impart the cultural information.
1.6. Organization of the study
The study consists of five main chapters, including (1) Introduction, (2) Literature Review,
(3) Methodology, (4) Findings and Discussion and (5) Conclusion and Recommendations,
apart from the Acknowledgements, Abstract, References and Appendices.

Chapter 1 includes background of the study, aims of the study, research questions,
significance of the study, scope of the study and the organization of the study.
Chapter 2 provides a detailed review of theories and concepts relevant to attitude,
culture and textbook evaluation to generate a conceptual framework for the research.
Chapter 3 describes the methodology employed in the study, including a description
of the research context, target participants, research design, research instruments, and
data collection with data analysis procedures.
Chapter 4 comprises the analysis and discussion of collected data as well as the
major findings of the study according to research instruments.
Chapter 5 presents a brief summary of the findings, proposes some pedagogical
implications and recommendations for further research.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter critically reviews and discusses major concepts and literature necessary for
constructing the conceptual framework of the study. Firstly, the concepts associated with
attitude and its relationship with motivation are investigated and summed up. Secondly,
internal and external motivational factors influencing learners’ attitudes in language
learning are also examined painstakingly. Thirdly, the conceptual definitions of culture
are reviewed and presented. Fourthly, the relationship between language and culture
together with the importance of culture in language teaching and learning are also
reexamined carefully. Fifthly, the attitudes of teachers and students to culture teaching and
learning in EFL classrooms are taken into account along with the synthesis and selection
of appropriate criteria and sub-criteria for evaluating the cultural content in EFL
textbooks. Finally, based on these theories and concepts, the conceptual framework is
established as the guideline for the research.
2.1. Attitude
Attitude plays an essential role in shaping the world view of a person. It affects our

perception of the surrounding world and determines the way we react to different entities
around us. With the critical role played by attitude, it is not surprising that attitudinal
studies possess a long historical background (Oppenheim, 1998). Hence, the term “attitude”
has been defined and discussed by numerous researchers.
Attitude from different views of psychologists is defined as a psychological inclination that
is shown by assessing or evaluating things in a certain way. In early definitions, Fishbein
and Ajzen (1975) stated that “an attitude is a learned predisposition to respond favorably
or unfavorably to an attitude object”. Sharing the same view, Eagly and Chaiken (1993),
in their influential book “The Psychology of Attitudes”, regarded attitude as “a
psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree
of favor or disfavor”. Being developed in light of previous theories, the term “attitude” in
the view of Hogg and Vaughan (2005), was considered as “a relatively enduring
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organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant
objects, groups, events or symbols”. Turning to a more recent definition, Crano and Prislin
(2006) accentuated the evaluative judgment about a stimulus object when conceptualizing
attitudes as “an evaluative integration of cognitions and affects experienced in relation to
an object. Attitudes are the evaluative judgments that integrate and summarize
cognitive/affective reactions”. This definitional perspective embraces three characteristics
of attitude – affect, cognition and behavior – which have been used for generating a
number of conceptual models of the attitude concept. Moreover, Olson and Kendrick
(2008), holding a similar view as Crano and Prislin (2006), considered attitudes to
“encapsulate positive and negative feelings, beliefs, and behavioral information about all
ranges of “attitude objects,” from people to frozen pizza”.
Simply put, a holistic view derived from these definitions suggests that attitude is a state
of mental approval that guide individuals’ behaviors toward facts, entities or different
situations based on experience, prior knowledge, feelings and motives. On the other hand,
with an established knowledge foundation including earlier experiences, relevant cognitive

and affective information, an individual’s attitude is formed.
2.1.1. The components of attitude
Based on the theoretical foundations mentioned above, it is perceived that there are three
components of attitude repeated multiple times to shed light on one of the most influential
models of attitude – the multicomponent model. According to Eagly and Chaiken (1993),
multicomponent model of attitude is “a model of attitude that conceptualizes attitudes as
summary evaluations that have cognitive, affective and behavioral components”. The
three components of attitude are linked internally and interconnected to constitute a
person’s attitude. In other words, a change in one component is likely to result in a change
in other components for maintaining the internal consistency within the attitudinal structure
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)

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The cognitive component involves the beliefs, thoughts and attributes a person associates
with an attitude object (Rosenberg & Hovland, 1960; Baker, 1992; Eagly & Chaiken, 1993;
George, 2004). These beliefs can alter in number from one person to another (Triandis,
1971). On the basis of earlier experiences with the attitude object or observation of the
environment, people develop their cognitive patterns in order to pave the way for
subsequent behavior and such beliefs usually come before the feeling of “for or against”
attached to an object (Summers, 1977).
The affective component, from the view of Baker (1992) and George (2004), involves
positive or negative feelings or emotions toward an attitude object, which may be the
expressions of love or hate, approval or disapproval.
The behavioral component reflects how a person’ cognitions and/or affects influence the
way he/she behaves or reacts to an attitude object (Breckler, 1984). This overt behaviorbased evaluative component is one of the most efficient ways to enlighten and predict the
preparedness of an individual’s actions.
2.1.2. The relationship between attitude and motivation in language teaching
and learning

According to the evidence proposed by some researchers, attitude and motivation are
important factors affecting the success or failure in language teaching and learning
(Dörnyei, 2001; Boyd, 2002; Frey & Fisher, 2010). Concretely, high level of motivation
and positive attitudes to the lessons can ease the learning process and make students
actively engage in class activities while the deficiency of motivation and the existence of
negative attitudes can hinder or make students alienate the learning process (Dörnyei, 2001;
Lennartsson, 2008). Hence, deficient attention to these two factor can lead to the
inefficiencies in general learning and teaching of a certain language.
However, comprehending the term “motivation” thoroughly is not easy since motivation
itself is “a very complex phenomenon with many facets” (Gardner, 2006) and has been
viewed from different schools of thought. For example, many psychologists interpreted
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motivation as “a process or a series of processes that will stimulate, guide, maintain and
finally ends at certain target-directed behavior succession” (cited in Chen, 2012). Or
Harmer (2007) conceptualized motivation as “some kind of internal drive which pushes
someone to do things in order to achieve something”. Those aforementioned views have in
common the view that motivation is a reflection of certain inner forces such as willingness,
want or desire that ignite, direct and maintain a person’s behavior to achieve intended goals.
Nevertheless, motivation, in the perspective of Dörnyei and Otto (1998), was not viewed
in that way; instead, it was conceptualized as “the dynamically changing cumulative
arousal in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates
the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected,
prioritized, operationalized and successfully or unsuccessfully acted out. Motivation
includes biological, emotional, social and cognitive powers. These factors result in the
formation of behavior” (cited in Kayalar, 2016). This definitional perspective was then
consolidated by Malik (2017)’s dictum that motivation through the current cognitive
approaches put the emphasis on individual’s feelings, thoughts and beliefs that are later
transformed into action. Derived from afore-stated views, not only affective factors but

also various mental processes lead to the generation and maintenance of all choices and
actions of a person. Therefore, the key to motivate students in language learning process
and fulfill their needs is to comprehend and find out what motivates them.
By taking learners’ motivation into account, researchers often mention two widely-known
types of motivation, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000; Kong,
2009). Two motivational categories are correlated with the attitudes and learning outcomes
of students (Geary, 2008). Moreover, they are also inseparable in a way that assist and
complement each other when it comes to language acquisition (Kong, 2009). Although
they are different from the nature itself, they can build upon one another to constitute an
individual’s attitudes and in turn affect how a person relate to the surroundings.
In particular, according to Ryan and Deci (2000), intrinsic motivation is the self-desire to
seek out new things and challenges, to analyze one's capacity, to observe or to acquire new
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knowledge. Holding the same view, Dörnyei (2001) simply interpreted intrinsic motivation
as an action that is carried out by the influence of one’s inner desire for experiencing
satisfaction. Clearly, this type of motivation exists when a person perform a certain action
without any obvious external rewards or just try to obtain an opportunity to explore, learn,
and improve their potentials (Coon & Mitterer, 2010; Gardner, 2006).
Contrary to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an
activity in order to attain a desired outcome that comes from an outside source (Ryan &
Deci, 2000). Brown (2007), holding the same perspective as Ryan and Deci (2000),
emphasized that “extrinsic motivation refers to our tendency to perform activities for
known external rewards, whether they are tangible (e.g., money) or psychological (e.g.,
praise) in nature”. In short, extrinsic motivation is formed when people engage in the work
for their own sake to attain something that can be anticipated such as money, health
insurance, praise, awards, bonuses, etc.
2.1.3. Factors affecting attitude in English learning process
It is evidenced that the factors affecting language learners’ attitude which successively

affect their language and culture learning involving personality factors, educational
factors, social factors, and others like age and gender (Ehrman, 1996; McDonough &
Shaw, 1993; Spolsky, 1989).
2.1.3.1. Learner’s personality
An individual’s personality is characterized by his/her multi-traits that “account for
consistent patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving” (Pervin & John, 2001). Thus, the
inner factors of a person’s personality in terms of cognition, affect and behavior influence
the way learners acquire the target language (Shahila & Meenakshi, 2012).
2.1.3.2. Educational context
According to Conteh (2002), there are some factors in terms of educational context
affecting learners’ attitudes to language learning, namely “the general atmosphere of the
learning, classroom dynamics, opportunities for student-student and student-teacher
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