SKKN NHỮNG NHÂN tố GIAO văn HOÁ ẢNH HƯỞNG đến kỹ NĂNG đọc HIỂU TIẾNG ANH của học SINH TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA i THỰC TRẠNG và GIẢI PHÁP

THANH HÓA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TĨNH GIA 1 HIGH SCHOOL
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MINOR THESIS IN EDUCATION

CROSS-CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING TĨNH GIA I HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION:
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
(NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ GIAO VĂN HOÁ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH
CỦA HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA I: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

Researcher: NGUYỄN THỊ HÀ, MA
Teacher at Tĩnh Gia 1 high school
Field: English

THANH HÓA, 2014


ABSTRACT
Reading comprehension is a complex process of the interaction between the writer’s
language and the readers’ prior background knowledge or memory schemata. In the reading
comprehension process, readers’ linguistic elements are very important, but sometimes we
can not read behind the lines except by the help of background knowledge of culture, because
the meanings of words are often acquired in a certain circumstance of culture. However, to
my best teaching experience, most of English foreign language learners in Vietnam in general
and in Tĩnh Gia 1 high school in particular lack of cultural background knowledge and that is
why they have a lot of difficulties in achieving exact reading comprehension. This has urged
me to carry out the present study.
By describing and interpreting the data collected through action research conducted in
Tĩnh Gia 1 high school, firstly, I managed to investigate cross-cultural factors affecting

reading comprehension, from these to find out cross-cultural barriers in English reading
comprehension skills, and then, gave some suggestions for both teachers and students to
improve the students’ RC skills.
With detailed investigations and valid findings, I believe this study is a reliable and
useful source of reference for language classes in general and for any Vietnamese English
foreign language learners and teachers who share the same concern.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................i
Tables of contents......................................................................................................................ii
A . INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study. ...........................................................................................................1
2. Aims of the study.…...………...............................................................................................1
3. Research methods of the study...............................................................................................1
B . DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND......................................................2
1.1. Reading comprehension ........ ............................................................................................2
1.2. The relationship between culture and language..................................................................2
1.2.1. Language and culture: ..........................................................................................2
1.2.2. The role of culture in language teaching and learning..........................................2
1.2.3.The role of cross-cultural background knowledge in English reading
comprehension............................................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY....................................................................................................3
2.1. The subjects.........................................................................................................................3
2.2. The research method...........................................................................................................4
2.2.1. The procedure of the action research....................................................................4
2.2.2 The instruments of data collection.........................................................................5
2.3. The data collection procedures............................................................................................5
CHAPTER 3: THE FINDINGS..............................................................................................6

3.1. Linguistic barriers in relation to cross-culture in the English RC...............................6
3.1.1. Vocabulary............................................................................................................6
3.1.2. Grammar................................................................................................................8
3.1.3. Pragmatics.............................................................................................................9
3.2. The causes of the cross-cultural barriers......................................................................10


3.2.1. The external causes.............................................................................................10
3.2.2. The internal causes .............................................................................................11
CHAPTER 4: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLUTIONS..............................................11
4.1. Cross-cultural factor teaching and learning in foreign language instruction...........11
4.1.1. When should the study of cross-culture begin?.….....…....................................11
4.1.2. What aspects of cross-culture should be taught in the classrooms?....................11
4.1.3. The principles for cross-culture teaching ...........................................................12
4.1.4. Common approaches to the teaching of cross-culture .......................................12
4.2. Supplementary activities for developing students’ cross-cultural awareness in
reading lessons........................................................................................................................12
4.2.1. Activities that focuses on creating an authentic classroom environment ...........13
4.2.2. Activities that focus on providing cultural information .....................................13
4.2.3. Activities that focus on developing students’ cross-cultural awareness ............14
C . CONCLUSION
1. The application of this research on reading comprehension teaching..................................16
2. Some implications for a better reading comprehension lesson............................................17
2.1. To students: ...........................................................................................................17
2.2. To the teachers: .....................................................................................................18
2.3. To the textbook compilers .....................................................................................19
3. Significance of the study. .. .................................................................................................19
4. Limitation and suggestions for further study.......................................................................20
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

A. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study

In English learning, the linguistic knowledge elements play a vital role in reading
comprehension (RC). However, in the process of reading, many Vietnamese students have
already possessed the above knowledge but they still can not comprehend the texts
completely because the meanings of words are acquired in a certain circumstance of culture.
Every social communication possesses its own certain thought pattern, value, ways of life...
Therefore, if a Vietnamese student does not know about the English culture, such as histories,
values, mode of thinking, customs, religion and life style, he may fail to understand the exact
meaning of the texts so understanding the cultural content of what one reads is a crucial
factor in RC.
From my experience as a teacher of English at Tĩnh Gia 1(TG1) high school for eight
years, I have realized that the cultural content is not really concerned while studying reading
lessons in textbooks. The cultural knowledge remains unexplored and neglected in English
reading learning and teaching process in this school. That is why the great efforts made by
teachers to improve the quality of English reading lessons can not help to meet the teaching
goals and students have much trouble in comprehending of the reading texts. This issue has
brought me a great desire to conduct action research in order to examine cross-cultural factors
that cause barriers in English RC for students at TG1 high school as well as to give some
suggestions for incorporating the cultural knowledge into reading lessons. With this study, the
researcher hopes to help students at TG1 high school to have a better RC skill.
2. Aims of the study.

The study aims at:

- Investigating the cross-cultural factors in students’ English RC process at TG1 high schools
- Discovering students’ cross-cultural barriers to English RC in the classrooms,

- Suggesting some solutions to reduce and eliminate them in order to achieve the exact RC
3. Research methods of the study.

To get the goals of the study, this study is conducted action research that employs both
quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data. With this action research, the
quantitative analyses are through the process of data collected from tests and questionnaire.
The qualitative approach is employed to deal with the data gathered from follow-up
interviews. All comments, suggestions, and conclusions in the study are based on the results
of the data analysis.
B. DEVELOPMENT


CHAPTER 1: THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Reading comprehension

There are many definitions of RC and they all show that reading is much more than
just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends. It is a process
in which the readers (as they read) can recognize the graphic form and understand the relation
between the writing and the meaning. Learning a foreign language is a process which
requires learners to integrate many language skills. Learners of a second or foreign language
may rarely find chances to communicate with native speakers orally, but they can read
different texts in different subjects with varying degrees of detail and difficulty. It is generally
accepted nowadays that reading is a key skill for most students learning a foreign language.
In short, RC plays a vital role in teaching and learning a foreign language. This fact calls for
suitable teaching methods to help the students become more active in learning reading.
1.2 The relationship between culture and language
1.2.1. Language and culture

Language is the product of culture. One important instrument of cultural expression is
language. Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. On the one hand,

without language, culture would not be possible. On the other hand, language is influenced
and shaped by culture; it reflects culture. The relationship between language and culture is
deeply rooted. Language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties. “Culture is
in language, and language is loaded with culture” (Agar, [2001, pg 28]).
1.2.2. The role of culture in language teaching and learning . “Linguistic competence alone is

not enough for learners of a language to be competent in that language”(Krasner, 2004, pg
132). Language is rooted in culture and culture is reflected and passed on by language from
one generation to the next. From this, one can see that learning a new language involves the
learning of a new culture. Consequently, teachers of a language are also teachers of culture It
can be said that cultural content is a key to effective teaching and learning a second or foreign
language. Necessarily, students cannot master the language unless they have mastered the
cultural contexts in which the language occurs. It is actually hard for language learners to
communicate well without knowledge of culture such as codes of behaviors, and different
beliefs, etc. As a result, this is the reason why we can come to the conclusion that teaching
and learning language are more than teaching and learning a system of syntax and lexicon.
1.2.3. The role of the cross-cultural background knowledge in English RC

Schema theory, a psycholinguistic model, emphasizes that RC is an interactive process
between the reader’s previous background knowledge and the text. According to the theory,


EFL readers’ RC is not only due to how easy or difficult a text is for them but more depends
on the level of readers’ recall from their culturally familiar background knowledge and from
the contextual clues about cultural origins (Carrell, 1984, pg :312)
For a long time, in Vietnam, English teaching has focused on the language forms such
as phonetics, vocabulary and grammar and ignored the effect of background knowledge of
culture. As the carrier of culture, the cultural background of language is rather extensive.
Lacking of the necessary cultural background may hinder people from comprehending
language. For instance, when the president Reagan took up his post, an American wrote to a

Vietnamese teacher: “the United States has gone from peanuts to popcorn”. The syntax of this
sentence is very simple. However, the Vietnamese teacher did not understand the sentence at
that time until her friend explained to her that former president Jimmy Carter owned a big
peanut farm while the present president Reagan is an actor and people eat popcorn while they
watch TV. She suddenly realized the real humorous meaning of this sentence. From this case,
we can see that to comprehend the language, not only depends on the comprehension of
vocabulary and grammatical structures, but also depends on the comprehension of relevant
background knowledge of culture
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY
2.1. The subjects

The study was based on the content of 3 textbooks: “Tiếng Anh 10, 11, 12” which
follows the theme-based approach. It was conducted with the participation of students of
three grades 10th, 11th, 12th.(10A5, 11A4, 12A7) at TG1 high school. It is known that it is not
always feasible to carry out the study with all the students from three classes. Thus, the
researcher, who is in charge of teaching English for these classes, only chose 48 students at
the age of 16-18 (6 males and 10 females from one class) as the final sample of the study.
They took part in data collection instruments: Tests, questionnaire and follow-up interviews
The subjects were divided equally into 2 groups (9 males and 15 females in each) that
are the control group and the experimental group. 3 males and 5 females from one class were
in one group. The other students in the three classes still attended the program but no data
were collected on these students. With the aims at selecting two compatible groups for the
treatment, the subjects in this study were arranged in accordance with their level of English
based on the results of their placement test.
2.2. The research method

The method employed in this study is action research, with the use of a number of
instruments, namely tests, questionnaires and interviews.

2.2.1. The procedures of the action research

This action research project was carried out as follows
Step 1: Problem identification
When working on reading lessons, the students as well as teachers often focus on so
much the linguistic forms. They took linguistic knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, phonetics
into consideration to comprehend the text. In fact, they master them but can not get exact
comprehension of the reading texts. Perhaps, they needed some help to be aware of how
important cross-cultural factors are to RC.
Step 2: Preliminary investigation
I spent two weeks collecting baseline data through observation and recording
behaviors of the students and teachers when they dealt with cross-cultural elements during
the reading process to find out their reading behavior and the answer to the questions:
“whether they appreciate cross-cultural elements in the reading process or not ” and “What
are the true cross-cultural problems that they encounter? ”. I asked them to do a reading test
to measure them. I also designed the pre-questionnaire to investigate cross-cultural factors
affecting reading
process, which factors lead to barriers and the reasons for them.
Step 3: Hypothesis
After reviewing the initial data, I formed a hypothesis that the reason for students’ low
reading proficiency might be due to some cross-cultural elements causing barriers in reading
process. That is by giving some approaches, principles and activities to incorporate crosscultural elements into reading lesson, the researcher gives some suggestions for solutions, it
is believed that the RC of my students would be improved.
Step 4: Plan intervention
Following the hypothesis, some steps were taken to implement a plan: Firstly, teachers
were introduced to use some cultural-based activities in the reading lessons. These activities
were alternatively used every week in order to get over the barriers that might appear to them.
Secondly, teachers and students were asked to record their behaviors after reading
lessons. They took notes positive things after using these activities. It was really necessary
and useful for the students and teachers as well because they might feel motivated if they got

some progress. Then, the students were asked to do post-tests and fill in the postquestionnaire. Some students and teachers were invited to take part in the follow-up
interviews.


Step 5: Evaluation
In order to clarify to what extent the cross-cultural elements would affect RC and cause
problems, information and results from the post-tests, the questionnaire and interviews, were
collected, analyzed and interpreted
2.2.2. The instruments of data collection

Tests were administered to explore the subjects’ treatment and attitudes towards the
reading lessons containing cross-cultural factors. In this study, two separate tests, a pretest
and a posttest, were used to collect data. In fact, they are two versions of the same test. The
use of the same test before and after the experiment treatment was to measure exactly the
difference that may have been caused by that treatment.
Questionnaires were delivered right after the subjects had finished the pre-test. The
questionnaires were collected to find out the cross cultural factors in English RC process of
teachers and students at TG1 high school, discover teachers’ and students’ cultural obstacles
to English RC in the classrooms. All information collected helped the researcher to identify
results of the study
Interviews were conducted with the subjects who had unclear or ambiguous answers to
the researcher in order to make sure once again about the data collected.
The combination of various data collection instruments would provide a
comprehensive overview of the research.
2.3. The data collection procedures

It can be described in details as follows:The data collection procedures commenced in
early March and ended at the end of April 2014. All of the procedures involved the following
steps.
Step 1: In the first week of March, TG1 students were given a RC test considered to be pretest. Based on the test scores , cross-cultural factors in reading lessons were classified.

Step 2: Also in March, after doing the pre-test, only subjects in the control group were
piloted with the questionnaire. From the answers to find out the results, all of this work was
completed in the middle of March.
Step 3: After that, the researcher taught the students for one month. It is time the treatment of
principles, approaches, culture-based activities were tried out into the lessons to investigate
the solutions for the problems. This lasted for four weeks between March and April.


Step 4: In the third week of April, students were asked to do the post-test. Then, the students
in the experimental group were given the questionnaire. Test score from this test and the
answers of these questions were analyzed and compared with the pre-ones to find out how
effective culture-based activities were to students’ RC.
Step 5: Individual interviews were conducted with 10 students in mid April. All of the
interviews were tape-recorded and then transcribed. All of this work was finished at the end of
April.
CHAPTER 3: THE FINDINGS
3.1 Linguistic barriers in relation to cross-culture in the English RC

Language seems to be woven into the very fabric of every human culture; and to such
an extent that it is hard to imagine what human culture would be like without language. A
proper understanding of a language is impossible without a full awareness of the cultural
context in which it is used. Since RC and culture are closely interrelated to one another,
Vietnamese learners encounter some difficulties when they tend to achieve the exact English
reading passages comprehension in textbooks. The barriers of culture to language can be
roughly explored in three major domains of language system: Vocabulary, sentences and
texts. The following is the detail identification of cross-cultural elements causing barriers for
students in reading lessons in high school textbooks
3.1.1 Vocabulary

As the basic element of language, vocabulary is the backbone of the whole language

system. It certainly reflects the differences of culture most obviously and extensively. On the
one hand, some English words can have their equivalents in Vietnamese, so during the
process of reading, readers from different cultures may not experience culturally related
comprehension barriers. However, there may be many words in one culture, for which the
equivalents can not be found in other cultures; in other words, “vocabulary vacancy”. On the
other hand, although we can find the equivalent word, the meaning extent of a word and the
connotation of culture are not complete equivalent between different cultures. The differences
of culture in vocabulary in the high school textbooks can be reflected in the following:
Many English words can find the equivalents in Vietnamese while the cultural
connotations of them are different. Three aspects will be concerned: the quantity of the
equivalents, the meaning extent of the equivalents and the cultural association of the
equivalents.


The quantity of the equivalents: The numbers of equivalents of English and Vietnamese
are
not the same
- One English word has many Vietnamese equivalent meanings
For example:
English

Rice

Vietnamese

Lúa

Gạo

Cơm

- One Vietnamese word has many English equivalent meanings
For example:
Vietnamese

Khán giả

English

Viewer

Audience

Spectator

- One English word has many Vietnamese equivalent meanings which are different, even
opposite
English
Vietnamese

Expect
Kỳ vọng (positive meaning)

Dự kiến (negative meaning)

- The storm is expected to hit Thanh Hoa. (negative meaning)
- He is expected to get the first prize. (positive meaning)
- One English word has one Vietnamese equivalent translation but different meaning
English

On the other hand (showing contrast)

Vietnamese

Mặt khác (additional idea)

The meaning extent of the equivalents: There is one equivalent word in Vietnamese to an
English word, but the meaning extent of two words are not exactly the same. One reason may
be is that the meaning extent of English vocabulary is larger than that of Vietnamese
vocabulary. For instance:
- “Morning” in English refers to time section from 0 hour to twelve o’clock in twenty-four
hours’ system, but in Vietnamese, morning refers to the time section from dawn to noon.
– To Vietnamese students, “dinner” means “bữa tối” but in English, besides this, it is also
used to refer to formal parties, even at noon. A Vietnamese student is shocked at being invited
to “Christmas Dinner at 2.00 ”. If you invite an English to enjoy “tea”, surely that, he will
wait to be serevd something to eat.


Another situation is that the meaning extent of English vocabulary is smaller than that
of Vietnamese vocabulary. For instance:
- In English culture, “family” usually refers to the family of two generations including
parents and children, even refers to the family of a couple, which does not want children.
However, in Vietnamese, the “family” often refers to the family of three generations including
grandparents, parents and children; sometimes it even refers to the family of four generations.
The cultural association of the equivalents
English words can find the equivalent in Vietnamese but these two kinds of cultures
give each word different cultural association within society.
For example, the red color, in English culture, red stands for danger, but in
Vietnamese, red for blood, victory and fortune. The blue color, in English, means depression
or sorrow such as “in a blue mode”. “a blue outlook” but in Vietnamese blue implies hope.

For students who are learning English, it is essential that know not only the conceptual
meaning of vocabularies, but also the cultural information, the vocabularies have with them
and otherwise serious misunderstanding can occur in comprehension of the text meaning.
3.1.2. Grammar

Cross-cultural barriers not only exist in the abundant vocabulary, but also exist in the
aspect of grammar. English is language governed by strict rules and regulations. However,
Vietnamese grammar is very flexible.
The typical cross-cultural barriers can be seen in comparing the English passive voice
and the English tenses with the Vietnamese equivalents. In English, the passive sentence,
itself does not convey the negative or positive meaning. This causes barriers for Vietnamese
students when they want to comprehend a reading text containing a lot of passive sentences.
They do not know how to interpret the sentence towards negative form “bị” or positive form
“được” if they do not understand the certain context as well as cultural senses hidden inside
that context.
3.1.3. Pragmatics

`

In term of pragmatics, the meaning of the sentence is often implied inside the

unwritten one. This is the contextual meaning, that depends a lot on the readers’ background
knowledge. In English, although the word and its meaning are almost the same, the sentence
that is composed of the vocabulary expresses different meaning. This is very hard for
Vietnamese students to understand.


For example, He is a professional / She is a professional.
From the angle of language, the two sentences above describe a person who is
engaged in a kind of specific profession. Actually, from the perspectives of region, sex,

profession and society, the first sentence means that he is a professional boxer, but the later
may mean that she is a prostitute. Vietnamese students often meet comprehension barriers
while reading English idioms and proverbs because they contain abundant connotations of
culture.
For example, “A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they
be.”
In this proverb, according to English culture, we know that in ancient Britain, a
woman’s status was very low, such that they were considered to be tractable just like a dog.
But how the walnut tree be such an integrated part of this proverb? It is because there was a
superstition in ancient Britain. People considered that if they beat the trunk of the walnut tree
in spring, the tree would bear many more walnuts in that year. Take English idioms as
examples:
1. As red as a beetroot (Đỏ như củ cải đường)
But, in Vietnamese culture, students do not know what the beetroot is, even in their
thinking, a beetroot is white, not red, so they translate it into “đỏ như gấc”
2. As quiet as a mouse, ( Lặng im như chuột)
In English, people use a mouse to compare with silence. On the contrary, in
Vietnamese, people use as quiet as a rice to express the same meaning (Im như thóc).
Texts are another aspect of cultural phenomenon. There are many differences between
the texts of English and Vietnamese. Firstly, in English, as texts are influenced by thought
patterns, there are logic and coherence relationships between the sentences and paragraphs,
such as the sentences that express time relationship, space relationship, comparison and
diversion, inference and conclusion. Secondly, language forms (including the using of repeat,
synonym and the parallel structures), the means of connection (such as substitution, ellipsis
and anaphora) and logic arrangement combine together to influence the structures of texts,
and these three aspects are different from Vietnamese.
Vietnamese culture is an example of subjectivity while English speaking countries
have objectivity. In Vietnamese culture , the ego is at the center of universe. When reading,

the reader knows where the speaker is. In English speaking culture, the ego is among other
things in the universe .When reading, do not care or know where the writer is:
For example: - Đi lên bộ/ Đi xuống cơ sở

Đi lên /Đi xuống : Go to

From what has been discussed above, cross-cultural barriers conceal many aspects of
language. Understanding the social culture of English language is helpful for comprehending
English texts. The more Vietnamese students understand English culture, the less
comprehension barriers they will meet in English reading
3.2 The causes of the cross-cultural barriers
3.2.1. The external causes

To explain the cultural barriers appearing in vocabulary, language determinism in
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (cited in Brown [1986, pg 104]) pointed out that language shapes or
influence our thinking in different way to some extents. The strong version in the constructive
analysis hypothesis also showed that we are prisoners of our language. we can only think and
imagine what our language allows. The constructive analysis hypothesis claimed that the
principal barriers to second language acquisition are the interference of first language system
with second language system.
For example: Vietnamese does not eat much bread everyday so have only word “bánh
mỳ” while the western have many names to call it or the Eskimo have 12 words to call
“snow” because they are familiar with it.
3.2.2The internal causes

Besides the external causes including reader’s vocabulary and the knowledge of
grammar and pragmatics, this study will also examine the internal causes. This includes
thought pattern and value as the two most essential ones. Moreover, individualism and
collectivism, iIndependence and dependence are considered as the internal causes
In conclusion, as language and culture combine together, Vietnamese students meet

cross-cultural barriers of every aspect in the process of English reading. Obviously,
fundamental to text comprehension is the reader’s ability to master the language knowledge
and understand the culture of the language.
CHAPTER 4: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLUTIONS
4.1. Cross-cultural teaching and learning in foreign language instruction
4.1.1 When should the study of culture begin?


Should culture be postponed until students can study it in the target language? Will
special emphasis upon culture be wasteful of precious class time? Should cultural materials
be postponed until students have greater maturity and greater language competence? Ideally,
the study of culture should begin on the very first day of class and should continue every day.
The concept of culture should be communicated to students in the earliest phases of their
instruction in order to lessen their difficulties in mastering the language.
4.1.2 What aspects of culture should be taught in the foreign language classroom?

According to Valette, [1986, pg 179], there are two main components of culture in the
language classroom. "One component is the anthropological or sociological culture: the
attitudes, custom, and daily activities of a people, their ways of thinking, their values, their
frames of reference. Since language is a direct manifestation of this phase of culture, a
society cannot be totally understood or appreciated without knowledge of its language. The
other component of culture is the history of civilization. Traditionally representing the
“culture” element in foreign language teaching, it includes geography, history, and
achievements in the sciences, the social sciences, and the arts. This second component forms
the framework for the first: it represents the heritage of a people and as such must be
appreciated by the students who wish to understand a new target culture"
4.1.3 The principles for culture teaching

Like teaching other aspects in foreign language instruction, culture teaching requires
systematic development of its teaching principles. Principles for culture teaching are

mentioned in a number of studies and Kramsch’s [1998, pg 290] list may be considered one
of the most noticeable. Her principles of teaching culture led to a new way of looking at the
teaching of language and culture. These include:
- Establishing a sphere of inter-culture, which means that teaching culture is not transferring
information between cultures but a foreign culture should be put in relation with one’s own.
The intercultural approach includes a reflection on both cultures.
- Teaching culture as an interpersonal process, which means replacing the teaching of facts
and behaviors by the teaching of a process that helps to understand others.
- Teaching culture as difference, which means considering the multi-cultures and multiethnicity of modern societies and looking at various factors like age, gender, regional origin,
ethnic background, and social class . In other words, cultures should not be seen as
monolithic.


- Crossing disciplinary boundaries, which means linking the teaching of culture to other
disciplines like anthropology, sociology and semiology.
4.1.4. Common approaches to the teaching of culture

In the history of culture teaching different approaches have been observed. Some of
them have lost ground, others have had and still have dominant positions. Approaches to the
teaching of culture can be classified in different ways. Traditionally, they can be divided into
two broad groups: the mono-cultural approach (which mostly focuses on the culture of the
country whose language is studied) and the comparative approach (which is based on
comparing learners’ own and the other culture).
4.2. Supplementary activities for developing students’ cross-cultural awareness in reading
lessons

There is a great variety of activities for teaching culture in English classes, such as
cultural aside, slice-of-life activity, culture assimilator, audio-motor unit,

micrologue,

drama, web quest, ... As teaching culture is not the primary objective in English classes in
Vietnam and it is aimed at developing students’ cross-cultural awareness, the activities
selected in this study are supposed to help integrate culture into language teaching.
Supplementary activities for culture teaching in reading lessons may fall into the following
three groups:
4.2.1. Activities that focus on creating an authentic classroom environment

These activities are supposed to be simple and may be conducted at the beginning of
English learning. They are designed to set a more memorable learning, especially in the
situation where language and culture are taught far away of the target country. Students may
be asked to collect or make by themselves posters, wall charts, maps and realia that are
connected to the cultural topics in the syllabus and can create a visual presence of the other
culture.
From the first day of English classes the teacher should prepare a cultural environment
in his/her classrooms. He/she may ask the students to collect and bring to the class objects
(things, books, pictures, ..) related to some aspects of life in English-speaking countries.
Posters, pictures, maps, signs and realia of many kinds are essential in helping students
develop a mental image about target language countries. The objects may be put in the
English language corner in the classroom if the classroom is large enough or hung on the
wall. The collection may be carried out by groups of students and according to some common
topics chosen by themselves. For example:
“School talks”(unit2, Tiếng Anh 10)

- School life which may correspond with


- Famous people, especially in Music, Cinema, Football, related to the topics
“Music”, “Films and Cinema”, “The World Cup” in Units 12, 13 and 14, Tiếng Anh
10)

- Famous places including buildings, monuments, sightseeings, entertainment places… that
may be used when teaching the topics “An excursion”, “National Parks”, “Historical places”,
… in Units 6, 11 and 16.( Tiếng Anh 10)
4.2.2. Activities that focus on providing cultural information

Cultural information may be introduced to students through different activities such as
cultural aside, cultural capsule or quiz.
Cultural aside is an item of cultural information presented by the teacher when it
arises in the text. It is often unplanned and brief culture comment. This activity is called by
Nostrand (1974: pg 298) an incidental comment. It helps to create a cultural content for
language learning and make mental associations similar to those that native speakers make. In
some cases, this activity may provide disordered and incomplete information.
An example of “the cultural aside” may be taken for the teaching of the topic
“National Park” (Reading section, unit 11, Tiếng Anh 10). As two other National Parks in
Kenya and USA, in addition to Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, are mentioned in the
reading task, the teacher may explain to the class some specific cultural features introduced in
the passage. For example:
+ Explanation of geographical places such as Nairobi, Kenya, Everglades.
+ Emphasis on educational purpose of the National Park in Kenya
+ Emphasis on tourism purpose of the National Park in Vietnam
Culture capsule is a brief description of one aspect of other cultures followed by a
discussion of the contrasts between the students’ and other cultures. It is also suggested that
students prepare a cultural capsule at home and present it during class time. The oral
presentation may be combined with realia as well as a set of questions to raise discussion.
Normally, one capsule does not take more than ten minutes. According to Stern (1992: pg
240) and Chastain (1988: pg 310), the main advantage of using a culture capsule is its
“compactness and practical quality”. Furthermore, when conducting this activity, students
become involved in the discussion and can consider the basic characteristics of their own
culture.
The activity of “the cultural capsule” may be designed for the teaching of the topic

“The story of my village” (Unit 8, Tiếng Anh 10). Students are asked to read the reading
passage in advance at home and prepare some information which should contain some
contrastive features between their own everyday life routine and that of the people in an


English-speaking country. Or contrasts may be presented about the traditional model of a
Vietnamese village and that of an English-speaking village.
Quiz is a quite useful activity in learning new information. In addition, it may be used
to test knowledge that the teacher has previously taught. Students may be familiar with this
activity in an earlier stage of learning English, even in primary school. For Grade 10, the
teacher should develop it into a more complicated and attracting activity. Along with getting
the right answer, students should be encouraged to predict and through that they can become
more interested in finding new knowledge.
The following example of “the quiz” can be suitable for the teaching of the topic “The World
Cup” (Unit 14, Tiếng Anh 10).
The World Cup is held......

.a. every year

b. every two years

c.

every

four

years
4.2.3. Activities that focus on developing students’ cross-cultural awareness

These activities may be designed for a later stage in teaching English. The most
appropriate for Vietnamese situation activities of this kind may be culture assimilator, critical
incidents and student research.
Cultural assimilator, according to Stern (1992: pg 223), was originally developed to
prepare Peace Corp volunteers for life in a foreign environment. The activity consists of two
parts: a brief description of a critical incident of cross-cultural interaction that may be
misinterpreted by students and a suggestion of four possible explanations, from which
students are asked to choose the most appropriate one. At the end of the activity, students are
often given feedback why one explanation is right and the others wrong in certain cultural
context. The cultural assimilator is advantageous in many ways. It seems fun to read and
involves cross-cultural problems. Furthermore, it helps create tolerance of cultural diversity.
- Culture assimilator
The following examples may be used when teaching Unit 1. A day in the life of… or
Unit 2. School talks. ( Tiếng Anh 10)
Situation 1. You are a student at a high school in London. Today you are 10 minutes late
for the English class. When you arrive, the teacher is reading a story to students. In this
case, you’d better:
1. Knock the door and wait until the teacher lets you come in.
2. Go in quietly and take a seat in the class.
3. Wait outside the classroom until the break in order not to disturb the class.
4. Go to the teacher and apologize.


Critical incidents are developed from the culture assimilator and therefore it looks like
the culture assimilator in some way. In doing this activity, students are also given a brief
description of an incident or a situation which demand them to make some kind of decision.
This kind of activity does not provide ready-made solutions and students should read the
incident independently and make individual decisions as well as reasoning for those
decisions. Next, group or class discussion may be organized to see how students’ decisions
and reasoning compare and contrast with those of the members from the target culture. Like

the culture assimilator, critical incidents easily get students involved in doing the activity and
promote intellectual understanding of cross-cultural issues. Preparation of both of these
activities seems to be time-consuming and require a certain level of familiarizing with the
target culture.
-Critical incident:This example may be used in Unit 8 ( Tiếng Anh 10). The story of my
village.
Situation 1. “Six years ago Peter was an exchange student and lived in a Vietnamese family
in a small village not far from the university. After class, he often went to his room in the
evening for an hour or two and did his homework or wrote letters or just relaxed and listened
to music. He didn't think there was anything wrong with it - to him it was just normal. One
day his host-Mom came to him and asked if he was OK. She said they had thought that he
was sad and homesick, or maybe not happy with the host family because he would go to his
room and stay there for a couple of hours every evening. He was really surprised to hear
this”.
Discuss in groups about what causes the misunderstanding in this situation.
Student research is considered a more complicated activity which should be used with
more advanced students. Student research can be carried out as a mini-project on any aspect
of the target culture that interests students themselves. This kind of activity may be done
individually or in group. Students should be encouraged to find out a research topic that
seems interesting to them. Student research often takes time and effort, but for some students,
it can lead to a long-term interest in the target culture and research skills may stay with them
even after they leave school.
There are many topics in the textbook that may be used for student research. In order
to do some research into cross-cultural comparison, students may be organized in groups of
five-ten and choose their favorite topic, for example:
- School routine of students in Vietnam and an English-speaking country
- Vietnamese and American young people’s attitudes towards folk music


- Everyday life routines in a Vietnam’s village and an English-speaking country’s village

C. CONCLUSION
1. The application of this research on reading comprehension teaching

In the studying process of this research, the researcher only used the reading lessons
incorporated culture-based activities for the experimental group to find out the results. From
the positive responses, the researcher, as a teacher, incorporated culture-based activities into
all reading lessons which contain cross-cultural elements for all English classes afterwards. It
can be confirmed that culture-based activities help to deal with cross-cultural barriers in
reading lessons and get the aims of the reading lessons. Teaching language, especially reading
comprehension, can not be separated from teaching culture. All experimental students were
realised to be highly motivated by and interested in culture-based activities incorporated in
reading lessons, from which they derive curiosity and desire to discover new land-culture.
The application of culture-based activities on reading lessons shown that these activities were
very effective in developing cross-cultural awareness as well as getting rid of cross-cultural
barriers in reading lessons. It is culture-based activities that stimulate them in English
learning and make the reading lessons more interesting. It is hoped that this research will be
introduced to all teachers of English and help them have the ways to incorporate crosscultural elements into reading lessons effectively.
2. Some implications for a better RC

Basing on the findings from the data analysis, the researcher would like to provide
some implications as follows to bridge cultural gaps and improve the teaching and learning of
RC skills in classrooms
2.1. To students

Firstly, to be successful in learning English, Students’ attitudes towards English need
to be changed. They should consider English as important as other subjects in the curriculum
and appreciate the role of culture in studying English. Most Vietnamese learners of English
hold the view that the aim of English mainly lies in “passing an exam”. When they are
learning English, they usually focus on mastering of language knowledge and basic skills
which are usually tested in exams. As a result, though some English learners may have

mastered the whole grammatical system, large vocabulary and standard pronunciation, they
find it hard to follow a native speaker, can not speak fluently but read slowly or write with
many mistakes. The lack of cultural knowledge usually result in an inappropriate expression.


Secondly, Learners should raise their awareness of cultures in learning RC skills. Not
only linguistic units but also cultural knowledge convey the real meaning of the text.
Thirdly, Students’ role is no longer passive recipients. As a foreign language learner,
they can explore the cultural knowledge by themselves from different courses. They should
feel free to express their own ideas, to put questions to the teachers or to show their
disagreement with their teachers. He should not only learn the knowledge of language, but
also try his best to contact the social and cultural aspects of English speaking countries and
learn the background knowledge of literature, history, geography, local condition and
customs. He should use every means to enlarge his points of view.
Only in these ways, can he get better understanding of the differences between English
culture and Vietnamese culture so as to eliminate the comprehension barriers of cross-culture
communication and improve overall abilities in English reading.
2.2. To the teachers.

From the findings, the researcher suggests some possible ways for teachers to
eliminate the difficulties as well as cross-cultural barriers in RC
- To improve teachers’ cultural background knowledge.
.

To make the learning of English interesting and useful for the learners, English

teachers will have to take cognizance of the relationship between language and culture.
‘Cultural understanding becomes a problem-solving device’. (Whiteford, M.B.& Friedl,J.
[1992, pg 289]) Cultural concepts will be introduced smoothly and effectively to the students
if teachers have clear understanding about these concepts. Only by understanding crosscultural elements appearing in the reading texts, can teachers instruct their students on the

cultural background of language usage, choose culturally appropriate teaching styles, explore
culturally based linguistic differences to promote understanding instead of misconceptions or
prejudices .and guide students to accumulate relative cultural background knowledge when
reading material. Through enormous reading, students’ understanding of culture will become
ripe and complete.
- To establish and strengthen the cultural sense: Teachers should choose famous works and
literary pieces of English culture as the reading materials as much as possible. Many such
works and literary pieces can be of high quality in terms of spiritual culture. The more they
learn from reading actual reading, they do in English, it is hoped that the more that
Vietnamese students of English reading will improve their reading abilities. We should
consciously combine the language teaching and cultural elements, such as to input the proper


cultural knowledge while teaching. Moreover, teachers should encourage and lead students to
read more about the history, geography, local affair and customs of English culture. In every
stage and aspect of language learning, teachers should encourage students to discover cultural
phenomenon and cultural connotation and often compare English and Chinese cultures and
find out their differences to strengthen the sensitivity to the culture of the target language.
- To design specialized questions in plan for reading lessons containing cross-cultural
factors: Questioning can be divided into three stages: (1) pre-reading. The questions of this
stage are the leading questions to stimulate students’ cultural knowledge of their mother
language and interest in different cultures. (2) while-reading. Put forward one or two
important questions before their reading and let them read with questions. After their reading,
teachers should put forward the analytical questions to stimulate students to analyze,
synthesize and generalize the phenomenon of the different culture. (3) post-reading. Compare
the cultures of mother language and English and put forward some subjective questions.
Teachers should lead students to rethink and discuss some questions of culture in the process
of discussion. Teachers should also encourage students to try their best to use the target
language. In this way, students will get deeper understanding of English culture.
- To design supplementary activities for developing students’ cross-cultural awareness: As

teaching culture is not the main purpose of teaching English in Vietnamese high schools, even
when cross-cultural issues appeal a lot to teachers and students of English: there may be no
timetable left for cultural classes. In such cases, supplementary activities may be included in
pre-, while- or post-teaching of the reading skills or they may serve as extra-curricular
activities. There is a great variety of activities for teaching culture in English classes, such as
cultural aside, slice-of-life activity, culture assimilator, audio-motor unit, drama, web
quest, ...the activities selected in this study are supposed to help integrate culture into
language teaching. Based on the objectives of teaching English in high schools,
supplementary activities for culture teaching in reading lessons may fall into the following
three groups:
2.3. To the textbook compilers

It is highly recommended for the textbook compilers. who have high expectations
from teachers of English, to provide teachers more opportunities to improve their students’
cross-cultural awareness. To meet this demand, teachers must be allowed to design a
specialised plan for the reading lesson containing cross-cultural elements to help students to
overcome cross-cultural barriers. They can adapt the textbooks in order to be suitable to their
own students’ levels. Besides this, teacher’s books guide the teachers how to select the


correct cultural context. The context used in English foreign language classrooms should be
familiar with the students Moreover, with the typical school feature of students from different
areas of the whole country, the managers should give learners priorities to meet and get
exposure to native speakers or strengthen foreign relations with English speaking-countries
and promote the student and teacher collaboration programs. English teachers should learn
more about the cultures of English speaking countries. They should be given more overseas
training opportunities to get exposed to English culture.
3. Significance of the study

Even though cross-cultural factors in English RC are necessary for most English

learners, it is surprising that there is not much investigation into these. This research provides
an insight into cross-cultural factors that cause barriers in English RC that most of the
Vietnamese students who are studying English encounter. This study would make a small
contribution to help teachers and students realize the essential role of the cross-cultural
background knowledge in their reading lessons. More importantly, the study are believed to
give some suggestions for solutions. With the activities were mentioned in the study, it is
hoped that teachers and students would find the best ways to incorporate cross-cultural
knowledge in their reading lessons.
4. Limitation and suggestions for the further study

Although, this study will be helpful to the teachers and learners of English at the high
school level, there remain several limitations as follows:
Findings from this study mainly based on the results of the questionnaire and
interviewing which are administered to the 48 students. Information was therefore not indepth. These calls for further research which uses other instruments like in-depth class
observation. Further investigation is needed for the carrying out on larger student population
to have more reliable data analysis.Moreover this thesis can not cover all the cross-cultural
barriers in reading lessons and suggestions for solutions that may be helpful to the teachers
and to students to achieve exact RC. This also leaves a gap for other researchers. Finally, the
study merely investigates the current situation at TG1 high school. Therefore, it would be
interesting to conduct a similar study in other schools and compare the results. Hopefully,
other colleagues will also find the thesis useful and we will see other possibilities for
thoughtful innovations in teaching methods in order to further the research.
In conclusion, from the cultural perspective, I have identified the limited cultural
background knowledge, learning attitudes and teaching style as the major factors which cause


cross-cultural barriers in English RC classrooms within the Vietnam high school context. It is
also pointed out that to improve the teaching and learning of reading English, English
teachers should gain a deeper understanding of undercurrent cultural conflicts and be able to
show the differences and similarities among cultures./.

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Appendix 1