A study on the features of source culture, target culture and international culture represented in textbook tiếng anh 10, tiếng anh 11 and tiếng anh 12 of the 10 year curriculum

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

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG HẠNH

A STUDY ON THE FEATURES OF SOURCE CULTURE,
TARGET CULTURE AND INTERNATIONAL CULTURE
REPRESENTED IN TEXTBOOK TIENG ANH 10, TIENG ANH
11 AND TIENG ANH 12 OF THE TEN-YEAR CRRICULUM

m
M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English English Linguistics

Code: 8220201.01

Hanoi, 2018


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG HẠNH

A STUDY ON THE FEATURES OF SOURCE CULTURE,
TARGET CULTURE AND INTERNATIONAL CULTURE

REPRESENTED IN TEXTBOOK TIENG ANH 10, TIENG ANH
11 AND TIENG ANH 12 OF THE TEN-YEAR CRRICULUM

nh t
m
M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
LUẬ VĂ

HẠC SỸ

Field: English English Linguistics
Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ng Anh
Code: 8220201.01
Supervisor: P f. D . H
Cán bộ HD: GS. S. H

Hanoi, 2018

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Vâ
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CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “A study on the Features of
Source culture, Target culture and International culture Represented in textbook Tiếng
Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 of the 10-Year Curriculum” submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of
Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam
National University, Hanoi is my own study, and that it has not been submitted for
any degree to any other universities or institutions. Where other sources of
information have been used, they have been identified and acknowledged.
Signature

Nguyen Thi Hồng Hạnh


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To accomplish this study, I am indebted to many people for their essential and
thoughtful help.
First and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my
respectable supervisor, Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Van for his restless and sympathetic
encouragement and critical feedback. Without his guidance, this thesis has not been
materialized.
I would also like to acknowledge a particular debt to Dr. Huynh Anh Tuan

for his invaluable advice and enthusiastic support.
Another person I wish to acknowledge my thank is Dr. Ngo Tu Lap, my
American Studies‟ lecturer, who I have disturbed many a time to ask for his worthy
hints though he is not my supervisor.
My sincere thanks also go to the librarian Nguyen Duc Ta. Without his help I
could not collect such large amount of material about the topic. I also thank my dear
colleagues at Tam Duong High School for all their help, support and encouragement
when I encountered difficulties.
Last but not least, I would like to express my thanks to my friends who were

willing to help me during the course. In particular, I find myself owed to my family
especially my husband and my children for their love, care and tolerance in
completion of this thesis.

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ABSTRACT
Since the dawn of human civilization, human beings have borne in
themselves their cultural identities. No one knows for sure since when cultural
values were transmitted from one community to another population, but we are sure
it was, in ancient times probably within their communities or to neighbouring
communities, and then up to now to other communities or even overseas ones with
different frontiers. It has long been proved that language is the most significant
aspect that make up cultural value of a society. Thus, language textbooks should be
those containing cultural content.
This study aims to investigate source culture, target culture and international
culture represented in the new textbook series English 10, English 11 and English
12 of the ten-year curriculum for Vietnamese high schools and helps to promote the
continued development of intercultural competence in language education. based on
Cortazzi and Jin‟s (1999) category and another category i.e. neutral culture based
on Aliakbari‟s (2004) category and Xiao (2010)‟s suggested themes for detecting
big “C” and little “c” culture aspects.
The present study is conducted in the hope of finding out: (1) which source of
culture among Source culture, target culture and international culture is the most
dominant in the selected textbooks and

(2) to what extend are these sources

represented in the textbook series.

The main findings of the study revealed that Vietnamese culture and
International culture gained the highest proportion of cultural references in the
books. While target culture was secondly densely referenced.. Of all the 16
themes for little “c” and big “C” „lifestyle‟, „literature/ art‟ and „values‟ of little
“c” and „education and „social norms‟ of big “C” have gained highest frequency of
other themes. Very few references of „economy‟, „politics‟ could be explored in the
books. Among the cultural data input, pictures and images accounts the most
coverage of the cultural value in the thesis.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASEAN

:

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

ICC

:

Intercultural Communicative Competence

EFL

:

English as a Foreign Language

MOET

:

Ministry of Training and Education

VC

:

Vietnamese Culture

TC

:

Target Culture

IC

:

International Culture

C1

:

Learners‟ native culture

C2

:

Target culture

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.2.a. The structure of the target textbooks
Table 2.2.b. The structure of ONE unit of the target textbooksTable
Table 2.2.c. The theme of each unit in the textbooks
Table 3.2.1.a. Cultural and Culture-free sections of One unit in the books
Table 3.2.1.b. Numbers of aspects of analysis on culture-related content/total
units
Table 4.3. The themes of the units in the textbooks under Big C and little c culture
Table 3.2.2. Source Culture, Target Culture, and International Target Culture in
section Culture and Communication of each unit in the three textbooks
Table 4.1.1. Frequency and percentage of Source Culture, Target Culture and
International Target Culture in the textbooks
Table 4.1.2. Frequency and percentage of big “C” and little “c” in three

books‟

unit themes
Table 4.2. Frequency and percentage of the 16 themes in the textbooks
Table 4.2.3. Frequency and percentage of culture-related content in the

textbooks

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1.1. Iceberg Model of Culture
Figure 2.7.a. An example of Culture-free section in the target textbooks
Figure 2.7.b. An example of Textbook selection with Cultural information

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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Content analysis card of one unit
Appendix 2. Table 3.7. Coding guidelines for the nine themes of big “C” culture
(adopted from Xiao, 2010, p. 39, cited by Dehbozorgi, Amalsaleh, Kafipour, 2009 )
Appendix 3. Table 3. 8 coding guidelines for little “c” culture (adopted from Xiao,
2010, p. 40, cited by Dehbozorgi, Amalsaleh, Kafipour, 2009 )
Appendix 4.

Samples codes for “Modes of Addressing” Subcategories under

“Social norms” of Big “C”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 3
1. Rationale of the study.................................................................................... 3
2. Aims of the study and research questions ..................................................... 4
3. Scope of the study ......................................................................................... 5
4. Significance of the study ............................................................................... 5
5. Method of the study....................................................................................... 6
6. Organization of the study .............................................................................. 7
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................. 8
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE
REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 8
1.1. Textbook evaluation ................................................................................... 8
1.1.1. Textbook.................................................................................................. 8
1.1.2. Textbook evaluation ................................................................................ 8
1.1.3. The roles of textbooks in language education ......................................... 9
1.2. Culture and language................................................................................ 10
1.2.1. Culture ................................................................................................... 10
1.2.2. Language ............................................................................................... 12
1.2.3. Culture and language ............................................................................. 12
1.3. Classification of cultural content in English Textbooks .......................... 13
1.4. Some related studies ................................................................................. 17
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................ 20
2.1. Research context ...................................................................................... 20
2.2. Research material ..................................................................................... 21
2.3. Research questions ................................................................................... 24
2.4. Research approach.................................................................................... 25
2.4.1. Research methodology .......................................................................... 25
2.5. Data analytical framework ....................................................................... 26
2.6. Data analytical unit................................................................................... 27
2.7. Data collection procedure ........................................................................ 28
2.8. Instrument of the analysis ........................................................................ 31

2.8.1. Constructing the content analysis card .................................................. 31
2.8.2. Description of the content analysis card ............................................... 31
2.8.3. Applying the content anlysis card ......................................................... 31
2.9. Research procedure .................................................................................. 32
2.10. Summary ................................................................................................ 33
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................... 34
3.1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 34
3.2. Data analysis and Discussion ................................................................... 35
3.2.1. Data analysis Phase 1: Selection of relevant data and determining the
object of each unit ........................................................................................... 35
3.2.1.1. Data selection ..................................................................................... 35
3.2.1.2. Determining the object of each unit ................................................... 36
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3.2.2. Data analysis Phase 2: Textbook analysis, classifying pictures, texts
and activities into types of culture sources and cultural themes. ................ 38
3.2.2.1. The presentation of Source Culture (VC), Target Culture (TC) and
International Target Culture (IC) under the themes of “Big C” and “Little c”
Culture ............................................................................................................. 38
3.2.2.2. Source Culture or Vietnamese Culture in the textbooks.................... 50
3.2.2.3. Target Culture or Culture of Inner Circle countries: United Kingdom,
America, Australia in the textbooks ................................................................ 55
3.2.2.4. International Target Culture or Cultures of other countries in the
textbooks ......................................................................................................... 57
3.3. Summary .................................................................................................. 59

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION .......................................... 60
4.1. Findings .................................................................................................... 60
4.1.1. Research question 1............................................................................... 60
4.1.2. Research question 2 ............................................................................... 61
4.1.2.1.The cultural theme of each unit in the books .............................. 62
4.1.2.2 Frequency and percentage of cultural themes in the books ................ 62
4.1.2.3.Frequency and percentage of culture-related content in the textbooks
......................................................................................................................... 64
4.2. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 65
PART C: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 66
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 69

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PART A: 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
Culture in English language teaching materials has been subject to discussion
among professionals and teachers for ages. Some teachers want to have cultural
content in their language classrooms and similarly students may wish to acquire the
cultural knowledge, which enables them to engage authentically with the language
use of a particular native-speaking community. With the rising interest in culture

and the development of intercultural approaches in language teaching, evaluating
the cultural contents in EFL textbooks is becoming a great concern. Evaluating the
cultural contents of textbooks is essential because they vary greatly. Just as with
English textbooks, some scholars have proposed criteria or check lists to
evaluate cultural contents (Byram et al., 1994; Cunningsworth, 1995; Huhn,
1978; Kilickaya, 2004; Reimann, 2009; Risager, 1991; Sercu, 1998, cited in Liu,
2016: 841); (Cotazzi and Jin, 1999; Mckay, 2000; and others, cited in Yasemin &
Reyhan, 2011: 161).
Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has been recognized as an
essential skill in the globalized world in foreign language education. In order to
become intercultural communication competent, each individual, in general, and
every English learner, in specific, needs to learn more about other cultures.
Teaching language and culture as an integrated whole and Intercultural Language
Learning have been becoming a new trend. It is an attempt to raise students'
awareness of their own culture, and help them to interpret and understand other
cultures. In this method, no specific culture has been paid attention, but a variety of
cultures has been included in the curriculum. English textbooks profoundly
influence English teaching. Hence, "cultural content in English textbook" is much
of importance that worth being evaluated so that possible hints may be found to
improve it in the future.

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In Vietnam, the subject that cultures have a great influence on foreign
language learning and teaching has now been given more and more concerns in

recent years. Many studies have been conducted on this subject, for instance
(Nguyen et al, 2013; Tran, 2015; Phan & Nguyen, 2008; Nguyen, 2013, Trinh,
2016, etc.). I, myself, found through my experience as an English learner and then
an English teacher that while a great number of students, for most part and in many
circumstances, know what English native speakers are saying, they fail to
understand them due to their limited knowledge of British cultures or English
speaking cultures. Obviously, providing students with only the knowledge of
grammar and the content of English language usage without cultural content is not
enough for them to understand native speakers' saying and writing in a wide range
of

contexts.

My

students,

especially

in

conversation,

demonstrate

misunderstandings, although they do not make any mistakes in grammar or
vocabulary.
Realizing the essential role of cultures in language teaching and learning in
addition to students' lack of success in socializing effectively in English; I have
decided to choose the topic, namely „A Study on the Features of Source Culture,

Target Culture and International Culture Represented in Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh
11 and Tiếng Anh 12 of the 10-Year English Curriculum for Schools in Vietnam’
for my minor thesis.
2. Aims of the study and research questions
On a large scale, general English textbooks increasingly include intercultural
dimensions, and the analysis of such contents has also become a topic of interest in
the EFL field. However, few proposals have contained a systematic method that
integrates each criterion to arrive at an evaluation outcome or weighed each
component in a way that would allow the evaluation to be adapted to varying
teaching contexts. This study aims to promote the continued development of
intercultural competence in language education.
In conducting this study, the researcher expects to discover the Features of
Source Culture, Target Culture and International Target Culture Represented in the
textbooks Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 of the 10-Year English

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Curriculum. It is hoped to be some of help to English teachers to deliberately
include cultural content in their lessons so that English learners can promote their
intercultural communicative competence and raise themselves more interests in
learning English, and also to English textbook designers and authors who may find
some hints to improve their works in the future.

To serve the above-mentioned objectives, two research questions come out:
1. What cultural sources are represented in the series of the textbook

Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 in ten-year English
Curriculum and which cultural source is the most dominant, Source
Culture, Target Culture or International Target Culture?
2. How are those sources of culture represented in the textbook series Tiếng
Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 in ten-year English Curriculum?
3. Scope of the study
Actually, the Ten-year English Textbook Series for Vietnamese Schools
consists of primary textbooks, lower secondary and upper secondary ones. As a
series, no doubt, there is complete integration and articulation between the English
textbooks for primary, lower secondary and upper secondary levels. This includes
an integration of cross-curricular themes and topics. Therefore, it is so far better to
study the whole textbook series from grade 3 through to grade 12 so that a general
overview of cultural content can be evaluated. This research, however, investigates
only the student‟s textbooks for Upper Secondary Level for reasons of space and
time.
Particularly, the study was proposed to work with the features of Source
Culture, Target Culture and international culture represented in three student‟s
textbooks Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 in ten-year English
curriculum for Vietnamese schools.
4. Significance of the study
That the textbooks may contain multicultural sources may be not unexpected,
but how these sources are featured in every section of the books does matter more.
Whether the textbook set is a students‟ home culture or target culture or world
culture biased series is another question to which the researcher hopes to find the
answer.

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Once completed, the study expects to pave the way for a more detailed
exploration of

the boost of intercultural competence in language education in

Vietnam, in general and English teaching in particular . What will be achieved in
this research may help textbook authors raise more concerns in containing cultural
features in their textbooks. Also this study should be of potential benefits to learners
of English who desire to expose to different specific cultures, and also popularize
their own culture to other parts of the world at the same time, a new trend has come
into use in language teaching as well as in other subject.
5. Method of the study
This study is conducted mainly as a qualitative method that is descriptive in
design, accompanied by quantitative analysis of the cultural elements in
textbooks recommended to be used by the MOET in upper secondary education
covering grade 10 through to grade 12 in order to get more various data based on
the presence of cultural factors in the textbooks that may contain hints about
respondent reaction to the value of the teaching material.
Qualitative research uses the natural setting as the source of data. This means
the researcher attempts to observe, describe and interpret settings as they are.
Furthermore, Quantitative research is said to be most helpful when “answering
questions of who, where, how many, how much, and what is the relationship
between specific variables” (Adler, 1996, p. 5, cited in Leech and Onwuegbuzie,
2007: 559).
Researchers can achieve value from qualitative case study research, since it
gathers detailed data from a "multimethod approach" (Joubish et al., 2011: 2083)
such as observation, interpretation and document analysis.

The current trends in qualitative research, especially in language teaching,
have increased since 2000 (Richarch, 2009). In applied linguistics in general and
second language education in particular, the application of a qualitative approach is
favoured, because it brings together a series of rich descriptive and interpretive
accounts, documenting the concerns. In detail, two checklists focusing on the types
of cultural categories are applied. The collected data is going to be analyzed using
comparing and contrasting techniques to find out the quantitative account of
references to different cultural categories in the textbook.

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To carry out the cultural analysis, the total number of units in each
textbook was examined with respect to cultural representations both visual
(pictures, maps, photographs, illustrations, etc.) and written (names of characters
and places, theme of the written texts, etc.), and a list of different cultural references
in each textbook was compiled. The next step involved categorizing those cultural
references

into

three

categories:

the

source

(Vietnamese),

the

target

(British/American) and the international culture (French, German, Spanish, etc.), in
accordance with the framework proposed by Cortazzi and Jin, (1999), and McKay
(2000), adapted from Dehbozorgi et al (2009). Those visuals and written texts that
had no direct reference to any culture, some referring to general categories such as
students, teachers, doctors, etc., were considered as culture-free statements as they
did not represent any particular culture and were therefore not included in the
cultural analysis.
6. Organization of the study
The study consists of three parts:
Part A – Introduction: presents the rationale, aim, scope, significance and
method of the study
Part B – Development: comprises four chapters:
- Chapter 1: Theoretical Background and Literature Review covers the
overview of the literature which includes relevant theoretical background and
reviews of related studies concerning the features of Source Culture, Target
Culture and international culture represented in Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and
Tiếng Anh 12 of the 10-Year English Curriculum for Schools in Vietnam.
- Chapter 2: Research Method describes the method used to investigate the
research matters
- Chapter 3: Data Analysis
- Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion demonstrates the findings accompanied

by data analysis and discussion.
Part C: Conclusion: recapitulates the major findings of the study and
proposes some implications.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE
REVIEW
In this chapter, a review of literature on theory and practice on the features of
cultural content represented in the English textbooks is provided. First, the
definition and role of textbook and textbook evaluation in language teaching are
introduced. Second, the definition of culture and their role in language teaching are
presented. Next, the classification of cultural content in the English textbooks is
discussed. Following this, the studies related to the subject conducted are reviewed.
1.1. Textbook evaluation
1.1.1. Textbook
Textbook is defined by Venezky (1992, cited in Lebrun, 2002: 437) as "a
cultural artifact and as a surrogate curriculum". Textbooks are not like other books.
Risager (cited in Cunningsworth, 1995: 90) states that foreign language teaching
textbooks no longer just develop currently with the development of foreign
language pedagogy in a narrow sense, but they increasingly participate in the
general cultural transmission with the educational system and in the rest of society.
Most of the cultural information comes from course books that are designed for a
specific language. Course books will directly or indirectly communicate sets of

cultural values. This is called 'hidden curriculum' (Cunningsworth, 1995).
Hence, what defines a good foreign language textbook, undeniably, cannot
exclude cultural content.
1.1.2. Textbook evaluation
Hutchinson and Waters defined “textbook evaluation” as “a straightforward,
analytical „matching process: matching needs to available solutions' (Hutchinson
and Waters, 1987: 97, cited in Sheldon, 1988: 237). In basic terms, there seems to
be a „coursebook credibility gap‟ (Greenall 1984: 14, cited in Sheldon, 1988: 237)
because of emphatic contradictions and potential conflicts of interest in their
creation, commercial exploitation, public assessment, selection, and ultimate classroom use. Publishers sometimes neglect matters of cultural appropriacy; they fail to
recognize the likely restrictions operative in most teaching situations; and they are

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not always aware of the pedagogical implications of current theory and research in
linguistics and language learning. Many language textbooks, for example, use
artificial, whole-sentence dialogues, despite the descriptions available of the
truncated nature of authentic oral interaction (Cunningsworth, 1987, cited in
Sheldon, 1988: 239).
A large number of textbook evaluation framework researchers, as cited in
Miekley (2005), such as Byrd ( 2001), Cunningsworth (1979, 1984 & 1995), Daoud
& Celce-Murcia (1979), Ellis (1997), Harmer (1991, 2001), McDonough & Shaw
(2003), Sheldon (1988), Skierso (1991), Tomlinson (2003, 2008), Ur (1996),
Williams (1983), have used the checklist based approach in helping teachers
evaluate ELT textbooks, though the literature coverage is not extensive (Sheldon,

1988). One major advantage of using the checklist approach is that it can provide a
very economic and systematic way to ensure all relevant items are considered for
evaluation (Cunningsworth, 1995, McGrath 2002). A well-designed checklist
should contain evaluation criteria that are clear and concise. Numerous researchers,
as cited in Wang, (2011) such as Sheldon (1988), Harmer (1991), Skierso (1991),
Cunningsworth (1995) have proposed the use of checklist of materials can match up
with student needs.
1.1.3. The roles of textbooks in language education
Considered as "the heart of teaching" process (Richards, 2010), textbooks not
only create instructional materials, "but also to broaden the range of what are
considered appropriate materials" (Norton and Toohey, 2005. p.12). Thus, the use
of an evaluation procedure or checklist can lead to a more systematic and
thorough examination of potential textbooks and to enhanced outcomes for learners,
instructors, and administrators.
Three basic types of materials can be used in language textbooks, according
to Cortazzi and Jin, 1999, cited in Hard, 2004): Source Culture materials, Target
Culture materials, and international materials.

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1.2. Culture and language
1.2.1. Culture
Culture may have different meanings for different professionals or teachers.
According to Kramsch (1998, as cited in Bataineih, 2009: 13), culture is 'a
membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and

history, and a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating,
and action' (p. 127). According to Hinkel (1999, cited in Kim & Paek, 2015: 4), it
refers to areas of inquiry into human societies, groups, systems, behaviors, and
activities in English textbooks. While Brooks (1975: 20) refers to culture as
“everything in human life and the best of everything in human life”. Matsumoto
(1996: 16, cited in Spencer-Oatey, 2012: 2) introduces culture as “the set of
attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different
for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next”. Culture is
something which was and has been created through the history of human
development. Culture is not static, and it always changing. The beliefs and values
we hold now are not completely the same as those held in the prehistoric or
medieval time, or 100 years ago.
These definitions of culture contain two separate parts: elements of culture
and membership. The former refers to the cultural patterns forming the whole way
of life and latter indicates the given community where culture elements are shared
among the group members. The second refers to the culture of a unique group that
can be identified only when people of this group shared certain structural elements.
The structural elements of a culture tend to be more emphasized than the group
membership, because they comprise both the tangible and intangible products made
by human beings. These ideas are discussed in more depth below.
Culture, in accordance to Weaver (1993, cited in Trinh, 2016: 26), can be
seen as an iceberg which consists of both surface and hidden parts. The exposed
parts are represented visibly on and above the water while the hidden part
embodying invisible cultural aspects lies under the water. The submerged part
accounts for a far larger proportion of cultural knowledge and is abstract elements,
so is not obvious or well known to outsiders. In this regard, more in details, culture
is conceptualized as the form of three-level iceberg (Ting-Toony & Chung, 2005,

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cited in Trinh, 2016: 26) (see Figure 2.1.1). Suface-level culture stands for Popular
Culture such as traditional costumes, music, literature, food and clothes. The hidden
parts of culture fall into two layers: the upper layer (immediate-level culture) and
the lower layer (deep-level culture). Immediate-level culture represents symbols,
meanings and norms such as gestures, behaviours, courtesy while deep-level culture
involves the traditions, beliefs and values which are shared by the people in a
society. The deep-level culture may be the most difficult element for foreign
language users because people of any particular community are familiar with their
own cultural backgrounds and might find it hard to adapt themselves in the world of
those who come from different cultures.

Figure 2.1.1. Iceberg Model of Culture
Source: Ting-Toony & Chung (2005, p.28)
In brief, culture should be interpreted through its features and sources. In this
term, culture is not borderless but belongs to a specific civilization, a particular
group of people or a certain community and must be featured through the cultural
elements shared among that community members. Based on this principle, I propose
the following definition of culture:
Culture is not a naturally constructed product but a man-made creation,
both tangible and intangible, represented through particular features
rooting, shared and changed in certain communities, groups of people or
countries in the world and are passed down from generation to generation.

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1.2.2. Language
So far, there has been a number of definitions of language. Different scholars
may define language in different ways. Ferdinand de Saussure (1979, 45), from as
early as the beginning of the twentieth century, regards language as “the most
important semiotic system of all” (cited in Zafiri and Kourdis, 2017: 36). While, M.
K. Halliday (1973, 1985, reviewed in Urban, 2010) defined language as “a social

semiotic”. His most popular work, Introduction to Functional Grammar
(1985/1994/2004), is said to have shifted the focus of linguistics out of the
“syntactic age” into what we might now call the semiotic age”. Later, Risager
(2005, cited in Nguyen, 2016: 116) from a far more general view, discussed
language as a “linguistic flow” in which language may go beyond its border,
however, its original source is always unchanged and identified. Language is said to
be the best of the best product of human beings as ever, before or after. Nothing can
be more artificial and social than language. It is undeniable that language is manmade and social.
1.2.3. Culture and language
Since dawn, we human beings have recognized for so long the relationship
between language and culture.
Bex (1994: 60, as cited in Bataineih, 2009: 10) argues that a language
cannot be emptied of its authentic cultural content. Teachers may emphasize
more or less the cultural messages expressed through language they offer to their
pupils, but the language will inevitably be situated and carry some cultural
assumptions.
Sapir (1949: 81, also cited in Bataineih, 2009: 11) reminded linguists that, if
their works were to be scientifically productive and aesthetically rich, they should

not be dealt with apart from the study of man. This is because language is a cultural
or social product and must be understood as such.
Like others, Kramsch (1994: 177, cited in Bataineih, 2009: 13)
focuses on the interaction between language and culture. In this regard, she points
out that it is a truism to say that teaching language is teaching culture. To her,
culture plays a prominent role in language teaching.

To study a language

involves studying the cultural aspects tied to that language. Because culture and

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language are interwoven, foreign language teachers are involved in handling the
meaning of language rooted in socio-cultural context. Thus, cultural awareness
should become an educational aim in itself and the core of language teaching.
Personally speaking, I prefer Valdes et al.‟s (1986: 61, cited in Bataineih,
2009: 11)‟ idea that it is unavoidable to teach culture when teaching language. She
adds that “the focus of a lesson may be on syntactic or phonetics features, but
the content is cultural”.
Later on, studying language and culture as linguistic flow and cultural flow
should be marked as a new milestone in the history of linguistics study. Risager‟s
fundamental view in Global Flow and Local Complexity” is that languages spread
across cultures, and cultures spread across languages, or in other words, that
linguistic and cultural practices flow through social networks in the world along

partially different paths and across national structures and communities (Nguyen,
2017). Besides, the term “languaculture” (Risarger, 2005, p.110, cited in Trinh,
2016: 32) has been widely used to indicate that language and culture are tightly
related to one another by an invisible tie and cannot be separated, but acquired
together.
Therefore, language and culture have never been proved to be separated and
as a fact, they coexist and support each other to flourish. However, languages may
be borderless, but sources of cultures should be identified.
1.3. Classification of cultural content in English Textbooks
Textbooks plays a significant role in ESL/EFL teaching and learning as they
provide teachers and students with “the foundation for the content of lessons, the
balance of the skills taught, as well as the kind of language practice” (Cheng,
Hung& Chieh, 2011: 94, as cited in Trinh, 2016: 58). Textbooks can vary in terms
of the amount and nature of the culture they are loaded.
From an ICC perspective, cultural values must be included in EFL textbooks
along with the linguistic forms. Many researchers have offered models for
determining cultural content within English textbooks (Byram, 1993a cited in Trinh,

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2016, Cortazzi & Jin, 1999, McKay, 2000, Paige et al, 1999, Xiao, 2010, etc. cited
in Liu, 2016: 841).
Culture is proved “non-natural” but highly social, so it is certain that culture
itself is not arbitrary but derived from a certain community that is called the source
of culture and represented through cultural features shared by that community

inhabitants. In terms of sources, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) propose three categories in
which culture in English textbooks can be investigated. The first category is the
Source Culture, which refers to the learners‟ native culture. The second category is
the target culture1 where the target language is used as a first language, e.g.,
American or British culture. The third category is the International Target Culture,
which refers to different varieties of the Target Culture from both English and nonEnglish speaking countries, e.g., France, Spain, etc. Similarly, McKay (2000, cited
in Nguyen, 2013) identifies three types of cultural materials: Target Culture
materials, learners‟ own culture materials and International Target Culture
materials. She maintains that international target language materials supposedly
cover a variety of knowledge from different cultures all over the world using the
target language. Based on these models, this study aims at identifying the different
types of sources of cultures represented in the English textbooks for Vietnamese
upper-secondary school.
For others, as cited in Nguyen, 2013, 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), 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 (2007a) 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". Thus, determining the cultural basic of EIL is
one of the most complex problems (McKay, 2004).
1

The term “Target Culture” in other fields may be temporarily understood as the phenomenon of
achievement obsession. In order to avoid the misunderstanding leaning forwards this way, the writer once
again claims that in this study, Target Culture refers to American or British Culture, Source Cultures means
Vietnamese Culture, and International Cultures indicates different varieties of the Target Culture from both
English and non-English speaking countries, e.g., France, Spain, etc.

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The researcher argues that, however, the basis of cultural content in English
language materials is greatly influenced by two factors: the aim of the English
language textbooks and learners' need to establish a sphere of interculturality (i.e.
ability to share their ideas and cultures in cross- cultural encounters) in the context
of globalization and intercultural communication. These factors demand that "the
cultural content of EIL materials should not be limited to native English-speaking
cultures" (McKay, 2004, cited in Nguyen, 2013).
In this regard, the identification of sources of cultures in English textbooks
properly reveal some hints based on which the answer to a question that if the
English language in the textbooks is taught to be a foreign language or an
international language, or even the second language can be found.
In terms of cultural themes, similar to the Iceberg Model of Culture
developed by Ting-Toomey and Chung (2005), Paige et al. (1999, 2003, cited in
Dehbozorgi et al, 2014) further divided culture-specific aspect into both Big “C”
and small “c”.

The Big “C” shows a series of statistics and facts about art,

geography, history, education, festivals, and customs of the target speech
community. On the contrary, the small “c” represents that sense of Target Culture
society which is invisible and deeper; such as: norms, beliefs, sociocultural
variables like age, sex, and social position. More recently, Xiao (2010, cited by
Dehbozorgi, et al, 2014) has examined the distribution of cultural details under big

“C” and little “c” types of culture and designed 16 themes as follow to carry out his
examination:
1.

Big “C” cultures are (9 themes): politics, history, economy,

geography,

literature/art,

social norms, education, architectures, and music

(Appendix 1).
2.

Little “c” cultures are (7 themes): food, holiday, lifestyle, customs,

values, hobbies and gestures/ body languages (Appendix 2).
Not far from the opinion that classifies cultural values of language textbooks
in terms of themes, another influential and widely-cited author in the field, Byram,
(1993a, cited in Trinh, 2016 ), from an ICC perspective, have offered models for
determining cultural content through eight areas:

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(1) social identity and social group: groups within nation-state which are basis for
other than national identity, including social class, regional identity, ethnic
minority, and which demonstrate the complexity of individuals‟ social identities and
of a national society.
(2) social interaction: conventions of behaviour in social interaction at differing
levels of formality, as outsiders and insiders within social groups.
(3) belief and behaviour: routine and taken-for-granted actions within a social
group- national or sub-national- and the moral and religious beliefs which are
embodied within them; second, routines of behaviour taken from daily life which
are not seen as significant markers of the identity of the group.
(4) social and political institutions: institutions of the state which characterize the
state and its citizens and which constitute a framework for ordinary, routine life
within the nation and sub-national groups; provision for healthcare, for law and
order, for social security, for local government, etc.
(5) socialization and life-cycle: institutions of socialization - families, schools,
employment - and the ceremonies which mark passage through stages of social life;
presentation of divergent practices in different social groups, as well as national
auto-stereotypes of expectations and interpretations.
(6) national history: periods and events, historical and contemporary in the
constitution of the nation and its identity- both actually significant and, not
necessary identical, perceived as such by its members
(7) national geography: geographical factors within the national boundaries which
are significant in members‟ perceptions of their country; other factors which are
information (known but not significant to members) essential to outsiders in
intercultural communication
(8) stereotypes and national identity: for example, German and English notions of
what is “typically” German and English identity; the origins of these notionshistorical and contemporary- and comparisons among them; symbols of national

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