Hiểu biết của giáo viên đối với năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hoá trong dạy và học tiếng anh, một nghiên cứu khảo sát ở một trường THPT ở tỉnh phú thọ

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
----------

HOANG THI HIENHOÀNG THỊ HIỀN

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH:
A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE

(Hiểu biết của giáo viên đối với năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa
trong dạy và học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát
ở một trường THPT ở tỉnh Phú Thọ)
HIỂU BIẾT CỦA GIÁO VIÊN ĐỐI VỚI NĂNG LỰC GIAO TIẾP LIÊN
VĂN HÓA TRONG DẠY VÀ HỌC TIẾNG ANH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU
KHẢO SÁT Ở MỘT TRƯỜNG THPT Ở TỈNH PHÚ THỌ
M.A. Minor ThesisMINOR THESIS


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.0160.14.10

HA NOI – - 2019


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

HOÀNG THỊ HIỀN

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH:
A SURVEY AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE

(Hiểu biết của giáo viên đối với năng lực giao tiếp liên văn hóa
trong dạy và học tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu khảo sát
ở một trường THPT ở tỉnh Phú Thọ)HIỂU BIẾT CỦA GIÁO VIÊN ĐỐI
VỚI NĂNG LỰC GIAO TIẾP LIÊN VĂN HÓA TRONG DẠY VÀ HỌC
TIẾNG ANH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU KHẢO SÁT Ở MỘT TRƯỜNG
THPT Ở TỈNH PHÚ THỌ

M.A. Minor ThesisMINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.0160.14.10


Supervisor: Assoc. Pprof., Dr. Lê Văn Canh

HÀ NỘI - 2019 HÀ NỘI - 2019


DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP
I, Hoang Thi Hien, declare that this thesis and the work presented in it
are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own
original research.
I confirm that:

This work has done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research
degree at this university.
Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree
or any other qualification at this university or any other institution, this
has been clearly stated.;
Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always
clearly attributed.;
Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given.
With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own
work.;
I have acknowledged all main sources of help.;
Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I
have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have
contributed myself.;
Signed: ……………………………
Date: ………………………………

1


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my
supervisor, Aassoc. Pprof. Le Van Canh, for his valuable guidance,
constructive comments, patient support and encouragement in the
completion of this M.A. thesis. He consistently allowed this paper to be
my own work, but steered me in the right direction whenever he thought
I needed it.
I would like to send my sincere thanks to my informants in this study, who I
selected as the target subjects of this research. Without their enthusiastic
contribution and cooperation, this research would certainly not have been

successfully conducted.
My thanks also go to all my teachers for their great help in providing me
with useful advice and constructive comments.
In the thesis, it is inevitable that the ideas of many other writers in this
field are reflected and developed. Their ideas have stimulated my
thinking on doing this paper. My debt to the authors listed in the
references is equally great. To all these scholars, I offer my sincere
thanks.
Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family,
colleagues and friends for providing me with unfailing support and
continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through
the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment
would not have been possible without them. My special thanks go to my
parents who have always supported me and told me that I could achieve
whatever I wanted. I hope that they would be proud of me today.
2


It goes without saying that I am fully responsible for all shortcomings
remaining in this study.
Author

3


ABSTRACT
This study was done aiming at finding out how teachers perceive Intercultural
Communication Competence (ICC) in teaching and learning English.
Moreover, how their beliefs are integrated in their teaching practices were
also the subjects to point out. To fulfill the abovementioned objectives, the

qualitative methodology was utilized, and the data mostly based on semistructured interviews with six teachers of English at a local high school in a
mountainous province were synthesized and analyzed. The results of the
study, in summary, showed that most of the teachers surveyed have poor
understanding of ICC, which results in their confusion about ways to improve
students’ ICC. Those beliefs and practices may be influenced by some
different factors such as teachers’ lack of experience, materials,... As a result,
suggestions and recommendations were investigated so as to deal with the
problems. Though the limitations were unavoidable, the study was expected
to be beneficial to teachers, students, and researchers of the related subjects.

4


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

EIL

English as an International Language

ELF

English as a lingua franca

ELT

English Language Teaching

ESL

English as a Second Language

I

Interviewer

IC

Intercultural Communication

ICC

Intercultural Communication Competence

p

page

T

Teacher

U.K.

United Kingdom

U.S.

United States

5


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Figure 1: Fantini’s IC Model (2000) (1.3)
Table 1: Teachers’ perception of culture and its importance in

p. 15
p. 34

Table 2:

language teaching (3.1.1)
Objectives of ELT in the context of globalization in

p. 36

Table 3:

comparison with those of traditional ELT (3.1.2)
Teachers’ perception of the components of ICC (3.1.3)

p. 38

6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP....................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................ iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES......................................................................vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................vii
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................1
1. Rationale of the research problems...............................................................1
2. Aims of the study..........................................................................................2
3. Research questions........................................................................................3
4. Scope of the research.....................................................................................3
5. Method of the study.......................................................................................3
6. Significance of the study...............................................................................4
7. Structure of the thesis....................................................................................4
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT............................................................................6
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................6
1.1. The relationship between Language and Culture........................................6
1.2. Cross-cultural Communication vs. Intercultural Communication............10
1.3. Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC).....................................13
1.4. Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural
Communication Competence (ICC)................................................................16
1.5. The current pedagogy to teach ICC..........................................................19
1.6. The role of teachers’ beliefs and practices................................................21
1.7. Previous studies on teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and
learning English..............................................................................................22

7

Summary.........................................................................................................25
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY..................................................................26
2.1. The setting and participants of the study..................................................26
2.2. Data collection instruments......................................................................28
2.3. Data collection procedure.........................................................................29
2.4. Data analysis............................................................................................30
Summary.........................................................................................................32
CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION............................................33
3.1. Teachers’ beliefs of ICC in teaching and learning English.......................33
3.2. How teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their classroom
teaching...........................................................................................................40
3.3. Teachers’ ideas about effective ways of teaching ICC..............................44
Summary.........................................................................................................45
PART THREE: CONCLUSION..........................................................................46
1. Summaries of the major findings.................................................................46
2. Pedagogical recommendations to improve students’ ICC..........................46
3. Limitations of the study................................................................................48
4. Recommendations for further related studies.............................................49
REFERENCES......................................................................................................51
APPENDICES.........................................................................................................I
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES...................................................I
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE.........................................................VI

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP............................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................ii
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................vii

8


PART ONE: INTRODUCTION....................................................................1
1. Rationale of the research problems.......................................................1
2. Aims of the study...................................................................................1
3. Research questions................................................................................2
4. Scope of the research.............................................................................2
5. Method of the study...............................................................................2
6. Significance of the study.......................................................................3
7. Structure of the thesis............................................................................3
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT....................................................................5
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................5
1.1. The relationship between Language and Culture...............................5
1.2. Cross-cultural Communication vs. Intercultural Communication......8
1.3. Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC)............................11
1.4. Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural
Communication Competence (ICC)........................................................13
1.5. The role of teachers’ beliefs and practices........................................16
1.6. Studies on teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and
learning English.......................................................................................17
Summary..................................................................................................17
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY..........................................................19
2.1. Participants and setting.....................................................................19
2.2. Research procedure...........................................................................20
2.3. Data collection methods...................................................................20
2.4. Data analysis.....................................................................................22
Summary..................................................................................................23
CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION...................................24

3.1. Teachers’ beliefs of ICC in teaching and learning English...............24
9


3.2. How teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their
classroom teaching..................................................................................29
3.3. Teachers’ ideas about effective ways of teaching ICC.....................32
Summary..................................................................................................33
PART THREE: CONCLUSION..................................................................34
1. Summaries of the major findings.........................................................34
2. Pedagogical recommendations to improve students’ ICC.................34
3. Limitations of the study........................................................................36
4. Recommendations for further related studies....................................37
REFERENCES..............................................................................................38
APPENDICES.................................................................................................I
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES...........................................I
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE..................................................V
DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP.............................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................vii
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION......................................................................
1. Rationale of the research problems.........................................................
2. Aims of the study.....................................................................................
3. Research questions..................................................................................
4. Scope of the research...............................................................................
5. Method of the study.................................................................................
6. Significance of the study.......................................................................2

7. Structure of the thesis..............................................................................
10


PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT......................................................................
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................
1.1. The relationship between Language and Culture.................................
1.2. Cross-cultural Communication vs. Intercultural Communication........
1.3. Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC)................................
1.4. Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural
Communication Competence (ICC)............................................................
1.5. The role of teachers’ beliefs and practices............................................
1.6. Studies on teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and
learning English...........................................................................................
Summary......................................................................................................
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY..........................................................18
2.1. Participants and setting.....................................................................18
2.2. Research procedure...........................................................................19
2.3. Data collection methods...................................................................19
2.4. Data analysis.....................................................................................21
Summary..................................................................................................22
CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION...................................23
3.1. Teachers’ beliefs of ICC in teaching and learning English...............23
3.2. How teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their
classroom teaching..................................................................................28
3.3. Teachers’ ideas about effective ways of teaching ICC.....................31
Summary..................................................................................................32
PART THREE: CONCLUSION..................................................................33
1. Summaries of the major findings.........................................................33
2. Pedagogical recommendations to improve students’ ICC.................33

3. Limitations of the study........................................................................35
11


4. Recommendations for further related studies....................................36
REFERENCES..............................................................................................37
APPENDICES...................................................................................................
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES.............................................
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE.....................................................
DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP............................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................ii
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................vii
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION....................................................................1
1. Rationale of the research problems.......................................................1
2. Aims of the study...................................................................................2
3. Research questions................................................................................2
4. Scope of the research.............................................................................2
5. Method of the study...............................................................................2
6. Significance of the study.......................................................................3
7. Structure of the thesis............................................................................3
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT....................................................................5
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................5
1.1. The relationship between Language and Culture...............................5
1.2. Cross-cultural Communication vs. Intercultural Communication......9
1.3. Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC)............................12
1.4. Teaching English as a lingua franca (ELF) and Intercultural
communicative competence (ICC)..........................................................15

1.5. The role of teachers’ beliefs and practices........................................18
12


1.6. Studies on teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and
learning English.......................................................................................19
Summary..................................................................................................20
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY..........................................................21
2.1. Participants and setting.....................................................................21
2.2. Research procedure...........................................................................22
2.3. Data collection methods...................................................................22
2.4. Data analysis.....................................................................................23
Summary..................................................................................................24
CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION...................................25
3.1. Teachers’ beliefs of ICC in teaching and learning English...............25
3.2. How teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into their
classroom teaching..................................................................................31
3.3. Teachers’ ideas about effective ways of teaching ICC.....................34
Summary..................................................................................................35
PART THREE: CONCLUSION..................................................................36
1. Summaries of the major findings.........................................................36
2. Pedagogical recommendations to improve students’ ICC.................36
3. Limitations of the study........................................................................39
4. Recommendations for further related study.......................................40
REFERENCES..............................................................................................41
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES............................................45
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW SAMPLE.....................................................51

13

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ICC

ICC

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

ELT

English Language Teaching

EIL

English as an International Language

ELT

English Language Teaching

ESL

English as a Second Language

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

U.K.

United Kingdom

U.S.

United States

I

Interviewer

T

Teacher

14


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:

Teachers’ perception of culture and its importance to

Table 2:

language teaching
Objectives of ELT in the context of globalization in

Table 3:

comparison with those of traditional ELT
Teachers’ perception of the components of ICC

15


PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the research problems
The rationale of this study emerged from my own experience as a graduate
student and teacher. Having been a teacher of English for more than ten years
at a high school in Vietnam, my perceptions of English teaching is affected a
lot by the way I was taught when I was a student. Like many other teachers, I
paid much attention to grammatical structures and vocabulary. Since the 7year textbook set was implemented in my school, I have always tried to apply
CLT into my teaching practices. With a view to helping students develop the
four communicative skills, I paid much attention to teach my students to
pronounce the words correctly with American or British standards. Not until I
attended the workshop “Intercultural Communicative Competence and
Education For Global Citizenship” by Prof. Nguyen Quang did I realize that I
had much to do to become a better teacher. I started to know that the ultimate
goal of teaching English is not just to help students develop the four
communicative skills, but teaching English is for global communication, for
social responsibility and for intercultural citizenship. Therefore, I was
motivated to do research on ICC to understand more about it and wish to help
my colleagues clearer about this issue.
As a core subject in the school curriculum in Vietnam, teaching and learning
English has been put much emphasis on for many years. With the application
of communicative language teaching appproach, teachers of English have
always made attempts to help their students to master four language skills:
reading, writing, listening and speaking in order to communicate in English

successfully. However, in In today’s globalized world, beside acquiring the

1


four skills, English learners do need to develop Intercultural
Communication Competence (ICC). It is claimed to be a very important
factor affecting the development of the ability to use a foreign language,
the ability to communicate and adjust attitudes of learners in
multicultural contexts. When students are equipped with the knowledge
of other cultures, they have less difficulty in communicating with people
coming from different backgrounds. Hence, teaching ICC along with the
English language is considered to be extremely important in order to
enable them to communicate inter-culturally, not just imitate the British or
American people. The development of ICC has become one of the ultimate
goals of English language teaching in the context of globalization;
however, the integration of intercultural content into English language
education in Vietnam has not been paid enough attention.

Much Although much research has been done on on the definitions and
constructs of ICC in teaching English as a lingua franca in a variety of
different contexts, yet not much has been conductednot many studies on the
topic have been conducted in the context of Vietnamese high schools. to
explore teachers’ perception of ICC in teaching and learning English in
Vietnamese context. Besides, the concept of the ICC is still alien to most
many Vietnamese EFL teachers working in the high school. researchers and
educators in Vietnam. In addition, most teachers still have limited
knowledge about intercultural competenceICC.

2

For all of the abovementioned, I would like to carry out a small-scaled study
on “teachers’ beliefs and practices of ICC in teaching and learning
English at a local school in Phu Tho province” so as to help solve out the
problems.
2. Aims of the study
The research has two major aims:
-

To address explore high school teachers’ view about ICC in language

teaching.
-

To find out how teachers integrate their understanding of ICC into

their classroom teaching.
3. Research questions
This study is conducted to address the two following research
qquestions:
1. How doWhat are high school teachers’ understandings of about ICC
and its importance in teaching and learning English?
2. How is their understanding translated into classroom teaching?
4. Scope of the research
The research explores the notion of ICC in English language teaching
and learning from the perspectives of six teachers of English at a local
high school in Phu Tho. Regarding its scope, the research was only aimed
at exploring teachers’ understanding of ICC and how it is translated into
their teaching.

3


5. Method of the study
The method used in this study is survey research, with the use of one
main instrument which is interview. Interviews are carried out to
idendify teachers’ beliefs of ICC in English teaching and learning. In the
second part of the interviews, some questions are raised with a view to
examining how teachers apply their understanding into their teaching
practices. The use of intervirews to survey teachers’ beliefs and practices
of teachers would help to get reliable data and help the researcher have a
good investigation into the problems of teaching ICC tofor students.
6. Significance of the study
It is necessary to be aware of teachers’ attitudes towards improving
intercultural communicationICC for students. Thus, this reasearch is
beneficial to both teachers of English and high school students. This may
help to raise teachers’ awareness of English language teaching in
direction of intercultural dimension. The study focuses on enhancing
teachers’ understanding of the need and ways to teach English along with
intercultural communicationICC appropriately and effectively. In addition,
it can be valuable for teachers to self-evaluate their experience in
improving students’ ICC. The findings of the study may also bring great
benefits to curriculum designers and material developers. Moreover, for
the researchers, the study can provide useful information for further
studies of the same topic in the future.
7. Structure of the thesis
The study is composed of three main parts: Introduction, Development and
Conclusion.

4


Part 1 generally introduces the rationale of the study, aims of the study,
research questions. The scope and method of the study are also included.
After the significance is stated, part 1 ends with the structure of the study.
The rest of the study includes two parts as follow:
Part 2 consists of:
Chapter 1: Literature Review, gives definitions of the key concepts, deals
with a review of previous studies most relevant to the problem under
investigation, a statement of unsolved problems and provides the
theoretical framework for the study.
Chapter 2: Methodology, presents a detailed description of methodology
employed in the study, mentions the context of the study, including the
description of the participants, the data collection instruments and
procedure,, the methods and procedure of the study, the data collection
dataand analysis.
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions, represents the findings of the
survey research conducted at a high school in Phu Tho province. It
reveals the qualitative analysis of data from individual semi-structured
interviews

about

teachers’

understanding

of

intercultural

communicationICC in teaching and learning English and how their
perception is translated into their teaching.
Part 3, Conclusion, summarizes the key points and the outcomes of the
study, presents the author’s reflection as well as indicates some
limitations of the study, then suggests the pedagogical implications for the

5


teaching of intercultural communicationICC, and finally proposes some
recommendations for further research.

6