An Analysis of Cultural Factors in the Textbook English 12 from the Perspective of English as an International Language = Phân tích các yếu tố văn hóa trong sác

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
  



NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG



AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL FACTORS IN THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH
12 FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL
LANGUAGE

PHÂN TÍCH CÁC YẾU TỐ VĂN HÓA TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 12
THEO QUAN ĐIỂM TIẾNG ANH LÀ NGÔN NGỮ QUỐC TẾ


M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10





HANOI – 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
  



NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG



AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL FACTORS IN THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH
12 FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL
LANGUAGE

PHÂN TÍCH CÁC YẾU TỐ VĂN HÓA TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG
ANH 12 THEO QUAN ĐIỂM TIẾNG ANH LÀ NGÔN NGỮ QUỐC TẾ


M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10
SUPERVISOR: Dr. LÊ VĂN CANH



HANOI - 2013
iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations
Full phrases
1. ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
2. CLT
Communicative Language Teaching
3. EFL
English as a Foreign Language
4. EIL
English as an International Language
5. ELF
English as a Lingua Franca
6. ELT
English Language Teaching
7. ESL
English as a Second Language
8. FLT
Foreign Language Teaching
9. MOET
Ministry of Education and Training
10. SLA
Second Language Acquisition
11. TESOL
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
12. WTO
World Trade Organization
13. WEs
World Englishes

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II
ABSTRACT III
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS V
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES VIII
PART I - INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Research aims, objectives and research questions 2
3. Scope of the study 3
4. Significance of the study 3
5. The structure of the thesis 3
PART II - DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER I. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1.1. The concept of culture 5
1.1.1. Definition 5
1.1.2. Relationship between language and culture 6
1.2. Culture in second/ foreign language teaching 7
1.3. English as an International Languge 8
1.3.1. Kachru's Three Circles Model and English varieties 8
vi

1.3.2. What is English as an International Language (EIL)? 10
1.4. The issue of culture in the context of teaching English as an International
Language 12
1.5. Cultural content in materials for EIL teaching 14

1.6. Previous studies 17
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 20
2.1. The Vietnamese English teaching context 20
2.2. Overview of the National Curriculum and Syllabus for ELT 21
2.3. Research methodology 22
2.4. Content analysis 22
2.5. The conceptual framework of the study and criteria for analysis 23
2.5.1. The conceptual framework 23
2.5.2. Criteria for analysis 23
2.6. Content analysis procedure 24
2.6.1. Purpose of the analysis 24
2.6.2. Sample of the analysis 24
2.6.3. Elements of the analysis 26
2.6.4. Units of analysis 26
2.6.5. Instrument of the analysis 26
2.6.5.1. Constructing the content analysis card 26
2.6.5.2. Description of the content analysis card 26
2.6.5.3. Applying the content analysis card 27
2.7. Procedures of the study 28
vii

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 29
3.1. Culturally oriented activities in the textbook 29
3.2. Cultural representation in the textbook 30
3.3. Cultural distribution in the textbook 31
3.3.1. Vietnamese culture in the textbook 31
3.3.2. International culture in the textbook 33
3.3.3. Target culture in the textbook 34
3.4. Opportunities for students to compare and contrast cultures 35
PART III - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 37

1. Conclusion 37
2. Recommendations 38
3. Limitations of the study 40
4. Suggestions for further research 40
BIBLIOGRAPHY 41
APPENDIX 1. CONTENT ANALYSIS CARD I
APPENDIX 2. ADAPTATION 1 IX
APPENDIX 3. ADAPTATION 2 X
APPENDIX 4. ADAPTATION 3 XII

viii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures
Figure
Content
Page
Figure 1
Kachru's categorization of countries in which English is used
8
Figure 2
The organization of 16 topics in the textbook English 12
25


Tables
Tables
Content
Page
Table 2.1

The structure of each unit in the textbook English 12
25
Table 3.1
Frequency and percentage of the cultural activities related to the
whole activities of the textbook English 12
29
Table 3.2
Frequency and percentage of Anglo-Saxon culture and non-
Anglo-Saxon culture in the textbook English 12
30
Table 3.3
Frequency and percentage of three types of cultures in the
textbook English 12
31
Table 3.4
Frequency and percentage of Vietnamese culture in the textbook
English 12
33
Table 3.5
Frequency and percentage of International culture in the
textbook English 12
33
Table 3.6
Frequency and percentage of Target culture in the textbook
English 12
35
Table 3.7
Frequency and percentage of activities that provide
opportunities for students to compare and contrast cultures
35

1
PART I - INTRODUCTION
This part introduces the rationale of carrying out this study, its aims and
objectives as well as its scope and significance. The part also presents the structure
of the thesis.
1. Rationale of the study
Unlike any other language which normally rests itself in its homeland,
English has stepped beyond the boundary of its first settlements, initially the United
Kingdom, later the United States of America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand,
travelling to every corner of the world, being used by people of all kinds of
nationalities and ethnic backgrounds as a common language for most of their
international encounters (Crystal, 1997; Graddol, 1997; McKay, 2002) and has
actually grown into "a world property" (Talebinezhad, 2001), used "by the world"
and "for the world" (Ngo, 2012). One of its lengthened names: English as an
International Language (henceforth EIL) indicates an attempt to reflect such global
scale usage of the language.
English has become a global language with so many implications for the
teaching and learning of the language. McKay (2002: 1) points out that "the
teaching and learning of an international language must be based on an entirely
different set of assumptions than the teaching and learning of any other second or
foreign language". These assumptions give rise to changes in teaching methods,
learners' goals, materials, assessment and the view on the cultural content in the
teaching and learning materials.
One of the questions arising from the context of EIL teaching is: Is totally (or
extremely) native English-speaking cultures oriented approach to teaching and
learning materials still reasonable with the advent of EIL? This question implies
changes in approach to cultural content of materials for EIL teaching. As a high

2
school teacher of English, I have noticed that the new set of textbooks introduced
nationwide in 2006 by MOET shows a great deal of improvement as compared with
the old grammar-based one. However, I wonder whether it keeps pace with changes
in terms of cultural content required by the advent of EIL. Whose cultures are
presented in the textbooks? How are they distributed? Do they provide learners any
opportunities to compare and contrast cultures? Therefore, there has arisen a strong
need to tackle a study to find answers to those questions, figuring out to what extent
the textbooks can equip learners with adequate cultural instruction in the context of
EIL. This is my motivation in conducting this research.
2. Research aims, objectives and research questions
This study aims at analyzing the cultural content in the textbook English 12
to figure out whether or not it provides students with adequate cultural instruction in
EIL context. The objectives of the study are to define whose cultures are more
presented in the textbook so that decisions on modification or supplementation of
the cultural content can be made. In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims and
objectives, the study was designed to find answers to the following overarching
research question:
- To what extent does the textbook English 12 meet the criteria for the cultural
content from the perspective of English as an International Language?
The above question encompasses three sub-questions that this study aims to answer:
1. What cultures are embedded in the textbook English 12?
2. Which culture predominates in the textbook English 12?
3. To what extent does the textbook English 12 provide opportunities for
students to compare and contrast the target culture, the home culture and the
international culture?

3
3. Scope of the study

Given the aforementioned aims and objectives, this study is limited to the
analysis of the cultural content embedded in the textbook English 12 for
Vietnamese high school students.
4. Significance of the study
Findings of this study will help to raise cultural awareness among textbook
writers, classroom teachers and students. They also suggest pedagogical solutions to
the challenge of addressing the issue of culture in the context of teaching English as
an international language. Those suggestions will help to develop better Vietnamese
high school students’ intercultural awareness so that they can use English for
international communication more effectively in their personal and career life.
5. The structure of the thesis
This thesis is divided as follows:
PART I is Introduction. This part presents general details that serve as the
rationale of the study. It also introduces the scope of the study, research objectives
and research questions, its significance, and outlines the thesis.
PART II - Development is divided into three chapters
Chapter 1 - Theory and Literature Review clarifies important theoretical
issues: the concept of culture, the concept of EIL and the issue of culture in EIL
and cultural content in materials for EIL teaching as well as reviewing previous
studies on the topic.
Chapter 2 - Methodology presents the method used to analyze the cultural
factors of the textbook. It also describes setting and sample of the research, data
collection instrument, and data collection procedure and data analysis.

4
Chapter 3 - Findings Analysis and Discussion presents the results from the
data collected and a discussion of the findings.
PART III is Conclusion and Recommendations. It presents the
recommendations drawn from the findings of the study and concludes the thesis.

Summary:
This part has introduced general details which serve as research background
leading to the formation of research needs. The impetus for the study has arisen
from the fact that today English has gained the status of an international language,
entailing changes in approach to basis of cultural content in EFL teaching materials.
Therefore, a study to examine cultural content of current EFL textbooks should be
conducted. The research aims, objectives and research questions, the scope and
significance of the study as well as the structure of the thesis have also been
clarified in this part.









5
PART II - DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the concept of culture in terms of its definition and its
relation to language which leads to the inclusion of culture in language teaching. It
also clarifies the key concept of EIL before discussing the issue of culture in EIL
teaching which serves as basis to determine cultural content in materials for the
teaching of EIL. After that, some previous studies on the topic of EIL are reviewed.

1.1. The concept of culture
1.1.1. Definition
There are numerous ways to define the concept culture. On a general level,
culture has been referred to as "the ways of a people" (Lado, 1957, cited in
Thanasoulas, 2001). Chastain (1988, p. 302, cited in Saluveer, 2004) defines
culture as "the way people live", Brown (2000, p.176, cited in Saluveer, 2004) sees
culture as "a way of life" and includes" the ideas, customs, skills, arts and tools that
characterise a given group of people in a given period of time".
Moran (2001, p.3, cited in El Shawa, 2011) provokes five dimensions of
culture: products (food, clothes, tools), practices (verbal and non-verbal language,
actions and interactions), perspectives (values, beliefs), communities ( race, gender,
religions ) and persons (individuals) and adopts the following definition (p.34, cited
in El Shawa, 2011): Culture is the evolving way of life of a group of persons,
consisting of a shared set of practices associated with a shared set of products, based
upon a shared set of perspectives on the world, and set within specific social
contexts.
Also, according to Oguro (2008, cited in El Shawa, 2011), the latest
categorization of culture in foreign language pedagogy is devised by ACTFL

6
(American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language) Standards for Foreign
Language Learning in the 21st century (National Standards for Language Education
Project, 2005). In these standards, any culture is divided into "Three Ps":
Perspectives, Products, and Practices. Perspectives are "traditional ideas and
attitudes, beliefs and values", Practices are "the knowledge of what to do when and
where", and Products are "the manifestations that reflect the perspectives of the
culture."
The current study adopts this definition as it is related to foreign language
education.
1.1.2. Relationship between language and culture

Language is a part of culture and it also reflects culture. Brown (2000, p.
177, cited in Saluveer, 2004, p.11) contends that "a language is a part of culture and
a culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one
cannot separate the two without losing the significance of their language or culture".
Byram (1989, p. 94, cited in Saluveer, 2004, p.11) adds that "the language holds the
culture through the denotations and connotation of its semantics", which is why it is
important to teach culture through its language. Kramsch (1998, p.3, cited in
Saluveer, 2004, p.11) identifies three ways how language and culture are bound
together. First, language expresses cultural reality (with words people express facts
and ideas but also reflect their attitudes). Second, language embodies cultural reality
(people give meanings to their experience through the means of communication).
Third, language symbolizes cultural reality (people view their language as a symbol
of their social identity) (Saluveer, 2004, p.11).
Language reflects culture, or it is a vehicle to carry culture, as it is often said.
In fact, the forms and uses of a given language reflect the cultural values, cultural
conventions and pragmatic strategies of a society. "Lexical and grammatical
categories of a language have been assumed to determine how its speakers

7
conceptualize the world around them" (Thanasoulas, 2001, p.8). For instance, under
the influence of a hierarchy culture, addressing forms/personal pronouns in
Vietnamese are not fixed but dependent on a particular context, while those of
English are unchanged regardless of situational contexts. Moreover, Thanasoulas
(2001) discovers that culture has grammar of its own. He clarifies the idea by giving
an example: When an American sees a bus coming, he almost always uses the
present progressive (" the bus is coming"), but a Japanese uses the present perfect
("the bus has come"). He concludes that "the difference between the two cultures
lies in the conceptual organization of experience which they choose, or rather are
conditioned, to adhere to"(Thanasoulas, 2001, p.9).
Due to the relationship between language and culture, teaching a language

involves or even means teaching its culture.
1.2. Culture in second/ foreign language teaching
"It has been emphasized that without the study of culture, teaching L2 is
inaccurate and incomplete" and "for L2 students, language study seems senseless if
they know nothing about the people who speak the target language or the country in
which the target language is spoken" ( Genc & Bada, 2005, p.73). Therefore, the L2
culture is presented in many L2 curricula designs and materials (Sysoyev&
Donelson, 2002, cited in Genc & Bada, 2005, p.73). Some consider knowledge of
target culture the fifth skill alongside with reading, speaking, listening and writing
skills in the process of foreign language acquisition (Tomalin, 2008, cited in Ngo,
2012). In this principle, learners are encouraged to use the target language in
conformity to norms and cultural conventions of the target community. "Cultural
adjustment" and "acculturation" are considered essential factors in determining how
successful an L2 learner is in his or her process of language acquisition.
Thanasoulas (2001) remarks:

8
On a practical note, culture teaching should allow learners to increase their knowledge of
the target culture in terms of people's way of life, values, attitudes, and beliefs, and how
these manifest themselves or are couched in linguistic categories and forms. More
specifically, the teaching of culture should make learner aware of speech acts,
connotations, etiquette, that is appropriate or inappropriate behaviour, as well as provide
them with the opportunity to act out being a member of the target culture (p.17).
Thus, a learner of Chinese learns about Chinese culture, a learner of English
learns about Anglo-Saxon culture and tries to imitate it. This practice remained
unchanged in ELT until English has spread worldwide, developing into different
varieties and gained a status of an international language.
1.3. English as an International Language
1.3.1. Kachru's Three Circles Model and English varieties
The beginning point of EIL forum seems to have emerged in 1985 when

Kachru proposed his famous three concentric circles model:

(a) The Inner Circle: where English is the primary language of the country and
where the ownership of English was claimed and norms originated;

9
(b) The Outer Circle: where English serves as a second language in a multilingual
countries as a means of intranational or local communication;
(c) The Expanding Circle: where English is widely studied as a foreign language.
In accordance with Kachru's three concentric circles model, Kirkpatrick
(2007) categorises English varieties into three groups: (1) Native varieties refer to
English in Kachru's Inner Circle; (2) Nativised varieties are English in the Outer
Circle; and (3) Lingua Franca varieties are English functioning as a foreign
language used by all remaining countries in the Expanding Circle.
One noticeable contribution of Kachru's model, as Graddol (1997) remarks,
is that it highlights the unique development of English in these three contexts. In the
Inner Circle, the spread of English was a result of a migration of English speakers
with each settlement establishing its own national variety. In the Outer Circle,
however, English has spread largely due to colonization by English-speaking
nations. The spread of English in the Expanding Circle is largely as a result of
foreign language learning within the country.
Another contribution of Kachru's model is that it instantly shows the number
of English users worldwide, which is no fewer than three billion. However, more
importantly, it exposures the imbalance in the number of native and non-native
speakers of English at present and in foreseeable future. Today, the number of non-
native English speakers exceeds that of native speakers and in the next 50 years, as
Graddol (1999) concludes, the imbalance will be far greater:
based solely on expected population changes, the number of people using English as their second
language will grow from 235 million to around 462 million during the next 50 years. This
indicates that the balance between L1 and L2 speakers will critically change, with L2 speakers

eventually overtaking L1 speakers.
(Graddol 1999: 62, cited in McKay, 2002, p.11)
The model, however, bears a drawback in that it advocates "the connotation
of linguistic superiority in the model's core" (Do, 2012). Regarding the Inner Circle
communities as norm-providing, the Outer Circle communities as norm-developing

10
and the Expanding Circle communities as norm-dependent, Kachru accidentally
denied "the right to their own variety-development" of the Expanding Circle
communities and treated Inner Circle English as the "model of correctness" ( Do,
2012). In fact, "English has developed into local varieties by adopting and adapting
to local languages and cultures in its process of inevitable localization and
internalization" (Yano, 2006, ), or speaking more briefly "is being shaped, in its
international uses, at least as much by its non-native speakers as its native speakers"
(Seidlhofer, 2004, p.211). The "norm-provider" status of Inner Circle speakers is no
longer ensured but should be seen as "used-to-be"; and rather, "if they wish to
participate in international communication in the 21st century, they will too have to
learn EIL"(Jenkins, 2000, cited in Seidlhofer, p.228). Logically, if the world once
witnessed the emergence of "New Englishes" in Outer Circle countries, then, in the
not too distant future it is sure to welcome the appearance of more and more "New
Englishes" in the Expanding Circle countries (Still More Englishes, Gorlach, 2002,
cited in Seidlhofer, 2004). The word "new" and the suffix "es" here are nothing
more than an evidence that English today is no longer a "monolithic" entity but as
"a heterogeneous language with multiple norms and diverse grammars"
(Canagarajah and Said, 2009, cited in Do, 2012). Hence, the co-existence of a
number of world varieties of English ( British, American, Indian, East African,
European, South-East Asian, to name just a few) with all of their distinctive features
both linguistically and socio-culturally, and especially with their own equal rights
should be seen as an inevitable outcome of the worldwide spread of English in the
era of globalization. It is this outcome that has both created a demand for and

helped to clarify the notion of English as an International Language.
1.3.2. What is English as an International Language (EIL)?
Naturally, when the above question is heard, one would expect an answer
that describes EIL as a single standard international English which may have the

11
higher prestige and function than the existing British and American standard
Englishes. Such a single EIL, however, "is not possible to establish nor necessary to
do so" (Yano, 2006). EIL can be seen as the core of world varieties of English,
sharing basic grammar and vocabulary, pragmatic strategies, and intelligibility, "a
loose league of regional standards Englishes with mutual intelligibility which are
spoken and understood by the educated speakers of any of varieties" ( Yano, 2006) .
Precisely speaking, by EIL, most people emphasize the use of English on global
scale. In other words, EIL is, actually, nothing more than any variety of English
when used for international communication. The following definitions of EIL may
support the aforesaid argument:
 EIL refers to the use of English by people of different nations in order to communicate
with one another. ( Talebinezhad Mohammad Reza & Aliakbari, 2001 )
 The role of English as a language of international communication, for example, when a
Brazilian and a Japanese businessman use English to negotiate a business contract. The
type of English used on such occasions need not necessarily be based on native speaker
varieties of English (e.g. American English or British English) but will vary according to
the mother tongue of the people speaking it and the purposes for which it is being used.
(Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1992, p.124).
However, it does not mean that English has no necessary features for it to
be called an international language. In her book "Teaching English as an
International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches" (2002), Sandra Lee
McKay contends that English meets all features of an international language: (1),
English is used by people of different nations to communicate with one another
(Smith, 1976); (2), English owns a special status recognized in every country

(Crystal,1997); and (3), English spreads largely by many individuals acquiring it,
but not through speaker migration ( Brutt-Griffler, 2002).
The growing number of bilingual users of English, however, does not
characterize it as an international language. Other equally significant features need
to be taken into account as well. These features, as Smith elaborated in 1976, are that:

12
(a) its learners do not need to internalize the cultural norms of native speakers of
that language
(b) the ownership of an international language becomes de-nationalized, and
(c) the educational goal of learning it is to enable learners to communicate their
ideas and culture to others.(cited in McKay, 2002, p.12)
Hence, EIL is cross-border; its primary function is to enable speakers to
share ideas and cultural views, and is no longer connected to the culture of the Inner
Circle countries (H.H, Cindy Lee). It can be any variety of English used "by the
world" and "for the world” (Ngo, 2012).
One point with regard to terms should be mentioned is that whenever English
is referred to as the preferred option for communication among people from
different first language backgrounds, the denomination English tends to get
modified by the addition "as a(n) x". Besides "English as an international language"
(Jenkins, 2000; McKay, 2002) there are also "English as a lingua franca" (ELF)
(Gnutzmann, 2000; Seidlhofer, 2001) or "English as a global language" (Crystal,
1997; Gnutzmann, 1999a) and so forth (Seidlhofer, 2004). These terms, however,
all refer to English used for intercultural communication by people of different
ethnic backgrounds and cultures.
1.4. The issue of culture in the context of teaching English as an
International Language
An international language by definition is not linked to any particular culture
as Smith (1976) contends: (a) its learners do not need to internalize the cultural
norms of native speakers; (b) the ownership of an international language becomes

de-nationalized; and (c) the educational goal of learning it is to enable learners to
share their ideas and culture to others. Thus, in the case of EIL, the typical
relationship that exists between language and culture needs to be re-examined
(McKay, 2002). No one can deny British or American culture of EIL, however this

13
culture is not the only one that EIL carries and reflects. All languages, let alone an
international language like English, always take on new cultural meanings, or
"languaculture" (Risager, 2006: 110) while functioning in intercultural
communication. The relationship between language and culture is not fixed but
depends on the users and the contexts. Therefore, Risager (2006) concludes that a
language such as English will have as many "languacultures" as there are speakers
of the language, and in this sense, the English language is unnecessarily closely
associated with English-speaking cultures (Do, 2012). And as Yano (2007, p. 32)
contends, the new owners of English use it in their way "to express themselves,
their society, and their culture":
In Southeast Asia, telephone operators say "Come again" instead of "Would
you repeat it again?”. In Malaysian English, sex difference is added to the word
"cousin" and hence, "cousin brother" and "cousin sister" are commonly used. When
people in the Philippines are nervous, they say "I have a mouse in the chest". When
asked why they do not use the idioms used by native speakers, they say 'If
Americans can say "I have butterflies in my stomach" why can't we say "I have a
mouse in the chest?" (Yano, 2007). In Africa, redundant pronouns are inserted to
echo the subject as in "Robert he is currently working for the government" (Kachru
and Nelson, 2006, cited in Yano, 2007). In Vietnam, "Good morning teacher" is
used by most students to greet their teachers (1).
These aforesaid examples help to consolidate a fact that when used globally
English does not bear in it merely the culture of its native speakers (Anglo-Saxon
culture) but also the culture of non- native speakers (non- Anglo- Saxon culture).

(1) Brian Stott, a British Council agent working in Vietnam in the early 2000s, was surprised by
this greeting and proposed that Vietnamese students should not say "teacher". However, his
proposal has not been accepted because in Vietnam it is considered rude not to mention a teacher's
career in greeting or any other communicative setting
- Source : Magazine "English Now", British Council

14
This has also proved that, to date, gaining global status, English is no longer
completely controlled by norms of its originators albeit those originators established
the linguistic rules. Rather, today English native speakers merely play a participant
role in the global communication in an English medium
Given the relationship between an international language and culture made
by Smith (1976), Mc Kay (2002) contends that the users of English whether in a
global or local sense do not need to internalize the cultural norms of Inner Circle
countries in order to use the language effectively as a medium of wider
communication. Furthermore, when EIL is used by speakers from Outer and
Expanding Circle countries to communicate across borders, one of its main uses is
to allow speakers to tell others about their ideas and culture. She concludes:
1. As an international language, English is used in a global sense for international communication
between countries and in a local sense as a language of wider communication within multilingual
societies.
2. As it is an international language, the use of English is no longer connected to the culture of
Inner Circle countries.
3. As an international language in a local sense, English becomes embedded in the culture of the
country in which it is used.
4. As English is an international language in a global sense, one of its primary functions is to
enable speakers to share with others their ideas and culture. (p. 12)
Hence, EIL is not linked to any one country or culture; rather it must belong
to those who use it. EIL does not reflect culture of its originators alone, but reflects
culture of anyone who uses it. EIL functions as a vehicle to carry such a wide range

of cultures that some call it a "free-culture" language (Alptekin, 2005, cited in
Penny Ur, 2009).
1.5. Cultural content in materials for EIL teaching
Cortazzi and Jin (1999) distinguish three types of information that can be
used in language textbooks and materials: source culture (the learner's own culture)

15
Target culture (culture of a country where English is spoken as a first language) and
International target culture ( a great variety of cultures in English and non-English
speaking countries). Which type is appropriate for EIL teaching materials?
Determining the cultural basic of EIL is one of the most complex problems
(McKay, 2004). For some, it is impossible to teach a foreign language without its
culture base (Steward, 1982; Valdes, 1986; Byram, 1998, cited in McKay, 2004).
For others, however, EIL is not linked to any particular culture ( Smith, 1976) but
belongs to numerous cultures and identities, becoming "the major language of a
developing mass culture" ( McKay, 2002, p. 15), so it is not simple to decide on
what culture(s) to be included in EIL materials as in any other foreign language
materials. Kirkpatrick (2007) remarks:
"As many learners of English worldwide are learning English to communicate with
fellow non-native speakers, the appropriateness of native-speaker models and the
cultures associated with them needs to be questioned" (p. 3).
Obviously, in the context where far more interactions are between non-native
speakers (1), a conformity to discourse conventions or rhetorical styles of native
speakers does seem of "little value and of extreme inappropriateness to the local
context" (Pennycook, 1988, p.20, cited in Pham, 2001, p.7).
The researcher argues that, by and large, the basis of cultural content in EIL
materials is greatly influenced by two factors: (1) characteristics of EIL, namely,
the special relationship between EIL and culture and (2) learners' need to establish a
sphere of interculturality in the context of globalization and intercultural
communication.

(1) Beneke (1999) Gnutzmann (2000) estimate that about 80 percent of verbal exchanges in which
English is used as a second or foreign language do not involve any native speakers of English.
( Barabra Seidlhofer, 2004 : 209 ).
.

16
These factors demand that "the cultural content of EIL materials should not
be limited to native English-speaking cultures" (McKay, 2003, p.140). Namely:
 Regarding the relationship between EIL with culture, the use of cultural content in EIL
teaching should warrant the following characteristics of an international language:
1. As it is an international language, the use of English is no longer connected to the culture of
Inner Circle countries.
2. One of the primary functions of English, as in the case with any international language, is to
enable speakers to share their ideas and cultures. (McKay, 2002, p.81)
 Regarding the cultural "pluralism" nature of English today, "it cannot be assumed that the
culture of any one particular country, especially an Inner Circle country should provide the
basis for cultural content when teaching EIL" (McKay, ibid., p.82) and "English needs to
be used as a vehicle to raise awareness of three types of cultures: the "home" culture,
international culture(s), and the culture of ( native) English - speaking peoples", therefore,
cultural content in materials should be a combination of "source and international, not just
that of the English-speaking peoples." (Penny Ur, 2009, pp. 5-6)
 "If one of the goals of using culture in EIL teaching is to help individuals interact in cross-
cultural encounters, then merely knowing about a culture will not be sufficient to gain
insight into how to interact in these encounters." (McKay, ibid., p.82)
 "In certain contexts, it may be that the local or lingua franca model should be used as a
classroom model and regional cultures - at least the cultures of the learners - should
constitute the curriculum. In short, the curriculum should comprise the cultures of the
people using the language for cross-cultural communication rather than Anglo-American
cultures."(Kirkpatrick, ibid., p.3)

All things considered, it can be concluded that the basis of cultural content in
materials for EIL teaching in all circles should be a combination of both Anglo-
Saxon culture and non-Anglo-Saxon culture. The model will give students chance
to establish a sphere of interculturality, get familiarized with a diversity of cultures,
reflect on their own culture, compare and contrast cultures, thus developing their
critical cultural awareness (Aguilar, 2007) and intercultural competence: the
sensitivity to other cultural norms and the ability to adapt and function appropriately
when interacting with people from other cultures (Alptekin, 2005).

17
1.6. Previous studies
The advent of EIL has created a new wave in the ocean of English pedagogy.
If in the early half of the 20th century, such phrases as World Englishes (WEs) and
EIL or ELF (English as a lingua franca) almost never sounded in linguistic forums
and conferences, nowadays, they echo almost everywhere. Actually, the
unprecedented worldwide spread of English in the last five decades has created
heated issues attracting a broad spectrum of TESOL professionals not only of non-
Anglo-Saxon origin (Kachru, David Nunan, Canagarajah ) but also Anglo-Saxon
origin (McKay, David Crystal, Kirkpatrick, Mc Arthur ). The vibrant area of study
on WEs, EIL, and ELF has resulted from an objective demand and natural trend of
globalization and intercultural communication, by no means from subjective
willingness or desire of some group of non-Anglo- Saxons seeking for their equal
linguistic status to Anglo-Saxons. Accompanying with the boiling forum of EIL is a
growing body of publications and research concerning the full global dimension of
English today.
World Englishes, English Today, and Asian Englishes are some of linguistic
journals which have been published to exclusively focus on WEs. There are other
excellent introductory texts to WEs such as The Other Tongue ( Kachru, 1992),
Oxford Guide to World Englishes (McArthur, 2002) which Kirkpatrick (2007)
commented as "extremely valuable background and reference materials". Other

scholars, Brutt-Griffler (2002), Melchers and Shaw (2003), Jenkins (2000, 2005),
Kirkpatrick (2002, 2007) also edited series and books on WEs which provide a
summary of current development and key debates. A wide range of other
publications are thickening the corpora that accept EIL/ ELF and advocate EIL
perspective. Among them are Seidlhofer's corpus projects (2001) Vienna Oxford
International Corpus of English (VOICE) that captures the use of ELF by speakers
from a variety of first language backgrounds and The Macquarie Dictionary (1997)

18
incorporating words from a range of Southeast Asian Englishes (cited in Do, 2012).
Later in recent years, texts focus more on Asian Englishes. Hong Kong University
is currently publishing a series on Englishes in Asia (Adamson, 2004; Stanlaw,
2004; Kachru, 2005). Other works can be listed as: Bolton (2002) and Groves
(2009) on Hong Kong English; Bolton (2003) and Adamson (2004) on China's
English; Stanlaw (2004) on Japanese English, and so forth (cited in Kirkpatrick,
2007 and Do, 2012). Along with invaluable discussions on development and
distinctive features of varieties of WEs, almost all the publications provide
implications for their teaching and learning. Those implications concern all domains
of English pedagogy including the possibility of using a lingua franca model and
skills required by English language teachers (Kirkpatrick, 2007), features of EIL
and cultural content in EIL materials (McKay, 2002), discussion on learners' goals
and general approaches to ELF education (Penny Ur, 2009).
Cultural content of EIL materials has been elaborated by noted scholars of
Anglo-Saxon and non Anglo-Saxon origins: Smith (1976), Widdowson (1994),
McKay (2002, 2003, 2004), Kirkpatrick (2007), Penny Ur (2009), Jenkins (2005),
Talebinezhad Mohammad Reza & Aliakbari (2001), Prodromou (1988, 1992). In
their books and articles, these authors restrict or even deny the hegemony of
Anglo-Saxon culture in EFL textbooks and highlight the importance of inclusion of
non-Anglo-Saxon culture, especially learner's culture in the curriculum.
Locally speaking, the first sewers of WEs and EIL/ELF in the Vietnamese

English teaching context are Do, H. T (1999); Pham, H.H (2001); Tran, L.(2000);
Ton, N.N.H & Pham, H.H (2010); Vo, T.T.L (2009); Luong, T.H.T (2011); Ngo,
H.H (2012); Do, T.M.N (2012). Their studies, albeit few in number, have made
significant contribution to the issue, paving the way for WEs approach and EIL/ELF
perspective in ELT of the context. Ton & Pham (2010) conducted survey studies to
discover the preferred varieties of English from the Vietnamese teachers' and
learners' point of view. Pham (2001) and Ngo (2012) step further from these