The relationship between cultural knowledge and reading fluency a study on high school efl students

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

Student’s name: NGUYỄN NGÂN NGỌC
Thesis title:

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND READING
FLUENCY: A STUDY ON HIGH SCHOOL
EFL STUDENTS

MASTER’S THESIS
(IN MAJOR OF ENGLISH TEACHING
METHODOLOGY)

Long An, 2018


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

Student’s name: NGUYỄN NGÂN NGỌC
THESIS TITLE:

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND READING
FLUENCY: A STUDY ON HIGH SCHOOL
EFL STUDENTS
Major: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 1660140111840024
MASTER’S THESIS IN ENGLISH TEACHING &

RESEARCH METHOD

SUPERVISOR: Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Yen

Long An, 2018


ABSTRACT
This research aimed to examine the relationship between cultural knowledge
and reading fluency. An experiment was carried out among forty students at a
high school in Long An province. A pre-test and post-test were utilized to
measure the participants’ reading comprehension and reading speed. A test of
cultural knowledge was also administered. During the treatment, the
experimental group was provided with cultural knowledge development
activities. The results showed that cultural knowledge plays an integral role in
EFL learners’ reading comprehension and there is a correlation between these
two variables. It was also found that better knowledge of culture will boost
learners’ confidence. Based on the findings, some implications for teaching
the reading skill are recommended.

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deep gratitude to my superior, Doctor Tran
Thi Ngoc Yen for her valuable guidance, constructive comments, precious
orientation and warm encouragement from forming the first basic structure of
this manuscript till the completed thesis.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to my students I worked with in
order to gather the data for my study.

I would also like to thank my colleagues and my friends for
proofreading the first draft of the thesis.
Finally, I would like to delicate this work to my family, whose great
support and encouragement have helped me a lot in the production of this
study.

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACTS …………………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………….. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………….. iv
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION ………………………………….. 1

1.1 Rationale ……………………………………………………………

3

1.2 Research aims and objectives ………………………………………

4

1.3 Research questions ………………………………………………….. 6
1.4 Research methods ……………………………………………………

7

1.5 Thesis design ………………………………………………………..

CHAPTER 2

8

LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………. 9

2.1 Cultural knowledge
2.1.1 Definition

………………………………………………….. 11

2.1.2 Important factors of cultural knowledge ……………………. 11
2.1.3 Cultural knowledge in high school English curriculum ……... 14
2.2 Reading comprehension
2.2.1 Definition ……………………………………………………. 31
2.2.2 The importance of reading comprehension …………………. 31
2.2.3 Factors affecting reading comprehension …………………….. 33
2.2.4 Assessing reading comprehension ……………………………. 34
2.3 Reading speed
2.3.1 Definition ………………………………………………………. 35
2.3.2 Factors affecting reading speed ………………………………. 36
2.3.3 Measuring reading speed ……………………………………... 37
2.4 Difficulties ELF students have in reading English texts ………….

38

2.5 Methods to develop EFL reading fluency …………………………

43

iii


CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research questions ……………………………………………….

46

3.2 Participants ………………………………………………………..

46

3.3 Materials …………………………………………………………..

47

3.4 Procedures …………………………………………………………

47

CHAPTER 4

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Results

4.1.1 Results on the cultural knowledge test ……………………..

50

4.1.2 Pre-test results
4.1.2.1 Reading speed ………………………………………. 52
4.1.2.2 Reading comprehension …………………………….. 52
4.1.3 Post-test results
4.1.3.1 Reading speed ………………………………………. 55
4.1.3.2 Reading comprehension …………………………….. 55
4.2 Discussion
4.2.1 Relationship between cultural knowledge and reading speed … 57
4.2.2 Relationship between cultural knowledge and reading
comprehension . …………………………………………………………….. 60

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary and conclusion ……………………………………………. 69
5.2 Limitations of the study …………………………………………….. 70
5.3 Recommendation for further research ……………………………… 71

iv


REFERENCES ………………………………………………………. 73
APPENDIX A ……………………………………………………….

76

APPENDIX B ……………………………………………………….

78

APPENDIX C ………………………………………………………… 80
APPENDIX D ………………………………………….…………….

82

APPENDIX E ………………………………………………………..

84

APPENDIX F …………………………………………………………. 86
APPENDIX G ……………………………………………………….

89

APPENDIX H ………………………………………………………

92

………………………………………………………

94

APPENDIX J …………………………………………………………

96

APPENDIX K ………………………………………………………

99

APPENDIX I

v


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1. EFL: English as Foreign Language
2. L2: Second language
3. RT: Reading Text
4. wpm: words per a minute

LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 4.1.1

Students’ reading speed - Textbooks

………………. 50

Chart 4.1.2.2

Students’ reading comprehension –Reference Books …. 53

Chart 4.1.3.1

Reading speed between 2 post-tests …………………… 55

Chart 4.1.3.2

Students’ cultural knowledge ……………………….. 56

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Reading speed scores (wpm) on reading texts in Textbooks ……. 51
Table 2: Reading speed scores (wpm) on reading texts in Reference books…54
Table 3: Scores on students’ cultural knowledge in textbooks and reference
books …………………………………………………………………….... 57

vi


CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION

English is considered as an international language all over the world.
English is also a compulsory subject in National High School Graduation
Examination. It is regarded as a tool of communication and plays a more
significant part in the modern society as well as in educational field. English
has become the core target for High School students to conquer so that they
can achieve good results in their coming exams and even succeed in their
future job. Mastering English helps them overcome many problems in their
study on different fields and feel more confident to get their achievement in
such an integrated society.
Having been aware of the importance of teaching English for my students, I
have wondered several better ways to assist them to study English better.
Skills on teaching a foreign language or cognitive ability of students can

influence on effects of providing better education in English subject, which
attracts my concern. My experiences on teaching a foreign language show me
that both of them are believed to be indispensible. Especially, reading fluency
plays an important role in acknowledging a foreign language. If grammar is
the structure of studying a foreign language, reading ability can help students
fill in that structure with lively and useful background of knowledge. In order
to gain the best benefits in comprehending reading texts easily, cultural
knowledge of students about countries’ customs is likely to be very necessary.
Reading fluency and cultural knowledge have close-knit relationship. They
contain mutual interaction. Reading is a comprehending process which
combines the known information with the unknown information. Possessing
the related culture background knowledge will contribute to the students'
accurate understanding of the texts as more known information can promote
comprehension. Comprehending a text is an interactive process between the

1


reader's background knowledge and the text. Text cannot be understood
correctly without cultural background knowledge. Therefore, in English
teaching, we should try to make students understand the language in its
cultural context. Students can never be expected to learn English well without
learning and understanding the culture of the native English speakers. In the
EFL classroom in high schools, teachers should attach English lesson to
cultural factors in the language learning process and integrate cultural
knowledge and information into the teaching curricula.
Besides, teachers should not only improve personal qualities to teach the
cultural background knowledge more accurately, comprehensively and widely,
but also help improve students' cultural awareness and lead the students to
attach importance to cultural language learning. Meanwhile, students should

also lay emphasis on the cultivation of their cultural background knowledge on
their initiatives. They can accumulate and enrich their background knowledge
through the English text-supplementary materials (such as workbooks, and
reading passages in the collection of practice tests) as well as the other
readings (for example, English novels, stories, newspapers and journals), try to
make full use of the Internet and make themselves more contact with the
foreign cultural knowledge. In conclusion, students' reading comprehension
competence will have great improvement if they are well known of the cultural
background knowledge (Lia, 2001).

2


1.1 Rationale
English is supposed to be one of three important and compulsory subjects
for high school students. It is not only listed as the main subject for junior
secondary students in the entrance exam into high schools but also the
obligatory one for High School students who prepare for National High School
Graduation Examination. Reading passages are included in National High
School Graduation Examination. On the other hand, cultural issues are
represented in a separated section in new English textbooks. Culture is the
topic that easily attracts students’ attention. Therefore, reading knowledge
through cultural contents is considered a significant strategy for teachers to
provide education for learners. Background on cultural knowledge contributes
to enhance teaching skills of reading in an effective way. Cultural issues are
familiar topics to students. Knowledge about cultures attracts students’
concern and their attention to the lesson contents, especially reading passage.
Reading part accounts for 40 per-cent of the National High School
Graduation Examination but a majority of students do not succeed in getting
high marks in English subject due to getting afraid of long reading passages or

shortage of cultural knowledge. Thus, the purpose to help students overcome
troubles in reading ability encourages me to pay more attention to teaching
skills. And cultural knowledge has gradually become the most effective
solution for this problem. Cultural content is concerned adequately in
Common Europe Framework of Reference for Languages. Consequently, the
relationship between cultural knowledge and reading comprehension becomes
an interesting topic that attracts me most. I hope that my research results will
help students accelerate their knowledgeable achievements, stimulate teaching
methods among English teachers and contribute to educational goals in
English in the future.

3


1.2 Research aims and objectives
The purpose of the research is to investigate and find out that cultural
knowledge plays an integral role in EFL learners’ reading fluency and there is
a correlation between these two variables.
When students interact with new English books, they are excited about
studying the part of Culture and Communication. They are so curious that they
try hard to read the whole of passage to finish their reading. At the same time,
they get some strange and valuable experiences on life and customs in another
country. Comprehending a text is an interactive process between the reader's
background knowledge and the text. Text is unlikely to be understood
correctly without cultural background knowledge. Many experts claim that
there are two factors affecting reading comprehension; the first one is the
degree and speed of brain's perception of word symbols, it means the readers'
linguistic knowledge in other words; the other one is the effect of "something
behind the eyes". The so-called "something behind the eyes" refers to the
readers' cultural background knowledge. Therefore, apprehending cultural

background knowledge adequately is very important to reading. As far as
background knowledge is concerned, Carrel said: "In the EFL/ESL classroom,
we must be particularly sensitive to reading problems that result from the
implicit cultural background knowledge presupposed by a text." (Carrel,
1983). The term "cultural background knowledge" is also sometimes referred
to as all the information and ideas, all the perceptions and concepts, as well as
the intellectual residues of emotional expressions, held in long-term memory
by readers. Paulston and Bruder also point out that learning to read is easier
"when the cultural background is familiar and students can draw on cultural
information in the decoding process", in their book, Teaching English as a
Second Language: Techniques and Procedures (Paulston,1976, pp5-6).

4


In every text that we are teaching, many words and sentences are cultureloaded. In other words, they found that cultural knowledge plays a vital role in
reading comprehension. Efficient comprehension requires the ability to relate
the textual material to one's own cultural background knowledge. English
books concerning language and culture have turned up as a better solution.
Nowadays the importance of culture teaching has been widely recognized in
teaching English as a foreign language, and the cultivation of cultural
awareness has been prescribed clearly in the new English Curriculum Standard
as one of the five basic goals in English teaching. However, although most of
the EFL teachers have already recognized the importance of cultural
background knowledge, the study of these issues remains superficial and rarely
achieves any substantial progress. Actually, the English teachers usually
neglect culture teaching intentionally or unintentionally or sometimes select
some of aspects of culture in English teaching due to time limitation. In
addition, many students have little awareness of connection between language
learning and culture learning.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between
cultural knowledge and reading fluency. The learners are given opportunity to
read and learn about culture in their language class. Reading ability of these
students will be compared with students who only read the common texts. I
hope that results of the research will represent the better performance of the
learners in the experimental group applied with culture teaching. It is expected
that there will be a meaningful relationship between teaching culture and EFL
readers’ comprehension of texts
The more cultural knowledge the teachers use and teach in EFL classes, the
better the short stories, novels, and reading texts are comprehended by English
foreign language learners. The teaching of culture should be an integral and

5


systematic component in the ideal foreign language classroom. Developing a
culture-based approach for teaching will be dependent upon many factors such
as teachers’ cultural knowledge, natural setting for teaching or classroom
environment and attitudes of learners towards foreign language. These factors
have an impact on the success and failure of culture teaching in language
classrooms. For example, Damen (1997, p. 5) indicates that teachers as
cultural guides and their correct cultural knowledge plays the most important
role in language classes. Furthermore, textbooks also can serve as one of the
decisive factors in culture learning. Wandel (2003) suggested that textbooks
should contain materials allowing and provoking opinions and discussions on
cultural issues. The findings of this study are the importance of teaching
culture as an effective way to achieve a good reading comprehension and to
have vocabulary breadth of knowledge. Once cultural competence is
recognized as important as linguistic competence, appropriate attention could
be allocated to the teaching of culture to students learning a foreign language.

In general, in this study, the main focus is on the relationship between cultural
background on reading comprehension by making a comparison between
language learners’ scores on reading tests with culturally familiar contents and
common contents.
1.3 Research question(s)
Question 1:
Is there any correlation between EFL high school students' cultural
knowledge and their reading speed?
Question 2:
How does EFL high school students' cultural knowledge affect their
reading comprehension?

6


1.4 Research methods
In order to do research on the relationship between cultural knowledge
and reading comprehension, experimental method has mainly been applied.
Results of various tests will be processed and analyzed to find out the tendency
of correlation in students’ reading fluency and cultural knowledge. From this
tendency, we can know how to combine and adjust the content of cultural
knowledge which is available in textbooks or even additional information
about cultures. This technique of combination aims at enhancing English
lesson attraction into reading ability of students.
Participants include 40 students studying English at the same level in my
High School.
At the first stage, these forty students have to finish Cultural English Tests.
These reading tests are composed at the level of KET or PET. Reading passage
and questions about are printed on different papers separately. At first, the
papers of reading texts are delivered to students for them to read. Each student

will give the period of time for them to complete their reading text. This stage
has been taken by my students. They finished reading a text (about 250 words)
in a limit of five to eight minutes following to their ability of memory and
comprehension. Then papers of reading questions were passed out after papers
of reading text had been collected. Students had to answer the questions or
choose True or False thanks to their comprehensive ability about the passage
that they had just read. The effect of Cultural English Test was to make sure
that 40 students are at the same level and their reading speed was also
measured. This kind of test to measure reading speed scores will be carried out
three times at different points of time, every week.
At the second stage, General Knowledge tests are carried out on those forty
students at three different times. Reading passages accompanied with their

7


questions are given to them at the same time. Marks on this kind of test will be
stored to compare with the above tests.
Finally, 40 students have to finish another kind of reading tests. Marks
between Cultural Knowledge Tests and General Reading Tests will be
compared together and then illustrated to draw a conclusion. It is predicted that
possible results are positive or negative correlation or even no correlation.

1.5 Thesis design
The thesis consists of five chapters.
Chapter 1 is the introduction, which provides a brief introduction, rationale
and an overview of the thesis such as research objectives, questions, methods
and thesis design.
Chapter 2 is the literature review, in which previous research about the nature
of cultural knowledge, reading comprehension, reading speed; difficulties

which ELF students have in reading English texts and methods to develop EFL
reading fluency will be discussed.
Chapter 3 refers to the methodology of this thesis including research questions,
participants, materials and procedures.
Chapter 4 presents findings and discussion dealing with results on cultural
knowledge tests, pre-test and post-test results, then leading to the relationship
between cultural knowledge and reading speed, and the relationship between
cultural knowledge and reading fluency.
Chapter 5 is considered conclusion which contains summary & conclusion,
limitations of the study and recommendation for further research

8


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The opportunity of having taught new English books following to the pilot
national programs partly contributes to my consideration about cultures which
have been referred officially in textbooks in Vietnam. This key characteristic
seems to be the sweet heart of English textbooks. Instead of being simple and
monotonous textbooks, they become reproductive and more attractive with the
color of cultural diversity worldwide. Consequently, the features of English (in
the role of an international language) and culture (on behalf of the tradition of
a country) have filled in the meaningful pages of textbooks. Both teachers and
students are always interested in not only studying a foreign language but also
discovering mysterious horizons of diverse cultures. Research on the
relationship between cultural knowledge and reading comprehension will
create valuable benefits to support my teaching strategies.
As Juri Lotman ever said: "no language can exist unless it is stepped in the
context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have, at its corner,
the structure of natural language." (Lotman, 1978, pp23-211) Language and

culture are interdependent. It is language that distinguishes humankind from
other animals. The belief that there is a very close relationship between
language and culture has long been held by anthropologists.
In recent years, with the deepening and popularizing of the research of the
intercultural communication, more and more foreign language teachers have
formed such a consensus, foreign language teaching is not only for cultivating
students' ability of listening, speaking, reading and writing, but also helping
students possess another competence like cultural competence. At the same
time, cultural competence will stimulate students' English learning especially
the English reading competence which is the most important part of English
learning.
9


The relationship between background knowledge and reading
comprehension in native language has been investigated extensively. Results
in this area are hoped to show a facilitating effect on reading comprehension,
in both adults and children, of having background knowledge of the topic of a
text (Anderson &Pearson, 1984; Weber, 1991). Lipson (1983) compared the
reading comprehension of children in relation to their religious affairs and
found an effect of religious affairs on reading comprehension when children
read texts about a topic dealing with aspects of their familiar or unfamiliar
religion.
Some researchers have also provided evidence for a potential role of
background knowledge in reading comprehension in a second foreign
language.

A facilitating effect of cultural familiarity was found for both

reading comprehension and reading efficiency. Bernhardt (2005) findings

suggested that texts which contain culturally familiar content schema are easier
to process. A number of studies regarding the activation of content schema
suggest some ways to EFL teachers. As Anderson and Pearson (1984) have
argued that the readers are able to only fully comprehend a text if they already
know quite a bit about what is in the text.
Heilman et al. in 1986 proposed that "background knowledge can be
thought of as an individual's experiential or conceptual background for written
text (word recognition capabilities, concept of print, understanding word order,
and understanding word meanings) as well as for the content of what he is
reading". Reading comprehension is a function of cultural knowledge.
(Heilman, 1999, PP 25-32).

10


2.1 Cultural knowledge
2.1.1 Definition
Following to familiarization with selected cultural characteristics, history,
values, belief systems, and behaviors of the members of another ethnic group
(Adams, 1995), Cultural knowledge is defined as a knowledgeable background
of a typical culture in specific period of history. Cultural knowledge is all we
know that characterize a particular culture. It can include descriptions such as
those known as cultural dimensions. Examples of cultural dimensions are
Individualism-collectivism, Long-term relationship. Cultural knowledge can
be enriched by some simple factors such as people´s habits and customs
including their food, music, festivals, traditions, rituals or simply basic
background on some specific subjects. We can pay attention to the way people
greet and talk to each other. Language is a good indicator of how a culture is.
2.1.2 Important factors of Cultural knowledge
Cultural knowledge plays an integral part in the basic background of

learners’ reading comprehension ability. The correlation between EFL
high school students' cultural knowledge and their reading speed is also
concerned so much. This correlation partly contributes to the development
in reading fluency of learners.
First, the easiest way to improve students’ awareness of the cultural
influences is to observe oneself carefully. When confronted with
behaviors or attitudes that seem alien or annoying, try to read carefully
for cues that point to underlying assumptions and values that may form a
coherent framework for dealing with others. A bad reaction to a more
authoritarian approach to management style may be a product of deeper

11


assumptions and values you hold related to social status or the value of
titles and power. Cultural knowledge can first be accessed through a
person’s attitude
Secondly, that is viewpoints and experiences that someone has got in
his life. This tends to increase self-awareness of the assumptions and
values that shapes one’s own ideas about what is natural and normal and
that influence behavior and decision-making. With careful observation of
the cultural patterns that shape behavior in both oneself and others, one
can learn to see things more easily from the perspective of others and
respond to behaviors that seem different or even annoying in a calm and
rational way.
Thirdly, a group’s tradition or society customs influence on cultural
knowledge. These techniques for learners to become sensitive to cultural
differences can be applied at various levels of human social grouping.
They can apply to what anthropologists think of culture, or the
differences that exist among nationalities and ethnicities. And they can

also apply to the micro-cultures created by particular organizations like
companies.
In the end, learners’ comprehensive ability in many different fields is
one the factors affecting cultural knowledge. And it requires a lot of
work, particularly when it comes to becoming astute at recognizing the
assumptions and values that motivate one’s own behavior and are
interpreted by others. Students spend more time on discovering the useful
information on various areas, and then they are able to remember that

12


information. This partly contributes to enrich learners’ cultural
knowledge.
Cultural conflict is usually a product of the inability to not only
recognize the ways culture shapes the actions of others, but also our own
ideas, attitudes, and actions. Learners should be flexible to overcome
cultural conflict to achieve cultural knowledge on some obvious fields in
our life.
Students are easily sensitive to comprehend cultural knowledge
included in different subjects at their high school. If a student is good at
biology, he easily understands the reading passage about photosynthesis.
So they are able to complete reading comprehension questions correctly.
Whenever students are fully aware of lesson contents on physics, their
acquisition in reading passage about weightlessness or acceleration in
movement can be finished in shorter time. Moreover, learners are able to
know the way how salt dissolves in water or the formula of salt and water
if they are skillful at chemistry. When they face with the long reading
texts about someone’s background or biography, even person description,
they will not feel so complicated and they will find it easy to complete

the reading passages if they have ever got knowledge about those
characters in literature or history before.
This study aims to investigate the effect of cultural background
knowledge on learning English Language, especially in reading skill. It also
aims to investigate if there are significant differences between subjects'
performance in reading comprehension according to cultural knowledge
and general ability in English. The effect of cultural background knowledge

13


on subjects' performance in reading comprehension is considered to be
pretty important.

2.1.3 Cultural knowledge in high school English curriculum
Culture is closely attached with communication. Interculturalists overlook
the task of developing language competence just as language teachers overlook
the task of developing intercultural abilities. Language and culture are
acknowledged to be dimensions of each other. Language is viewed as a
communication tool – a method humans use to indicate the objects and ideas
of their physical and social world. On the other hand, languages are sets of
words tied together by rules; so mastering a foreign language is described as
the simple process of substituting words and rules to get the same meaning
with a different tool.
However, cultural shocks are not avoidable if people do not know how to
apply their foreign language in appropriate situations and in correct
understanding about cultures. Whoever speaks a foreign language well but
does not understand the social or philosophical content of that language is easy
to get into troubles because they themselves and others overestimate their
ability. When attending some complicated social events, they can be taken

offense if they do not understand the events deeply. The best way to avoid
misunderstanding in cultural communication is to comprehend more
completely the cultural dimension of language.
New English textbooks open new interesting horizons for students in grade
10 with the appearance of the specific part: “Communication and Culture” in
every unit of English lesson. There are two student-books for two semesters of
a school year. While student-book 1 offers learners with cultural differences

14


among South East Asian countries with simple and familiar topics such as
“Family life in Singapore and in Viet Nam” or “Health practices" in Indonesia
and in Viet Nam”, English Student-book 2 attracts learners with cultures
among European countries and even Africa with different exciting topics.
Family life

In Singapore

What is the popular type of Nuclear

In Viet Nam
extended

family?
Who takes care of young Nursery school or child- Grandparents or great
children when their parents minder

grandparents

are at work?
Who looks after elderly Nursery home

Children

parents?

children

How

do

contribute

the

or

grand

parents Taking part in the activities Helping their children

to

educating of Parent Support Group or with their homework or

their children?

Parent Teacher Association giving them advice on

behavior

Cultures between Viet Nam and Singapore are extended in other visions. Both
Vietnam and Singapore are located in Southeast Asia, with the tropical and sunny
weather the whole year. Because of the hot weather, people love to go to the
beach on vacations… Because of the same region, two countries have the same
food culture: rice, noodles, fresh vegetable, and herbs all play important roles in
Vietnamese food as well as one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. People
tend to eat according to “family style” with sharing dishes. Each gets a plate or
bowl with rice, then shares with everyone else the bowls of food set in the middle
of table… Most males dominate as the heads of household. The young people
live with their parents until they get married… Females play an important role in

15


the society. Gender discrimination has been eliminated so that everyone has
equal opportunities in education…
Viet Nam

Singapore

The environment is polluted and
it is alarming in Vietnam. Vietnam
displayed even worse performance
including air quality with effects on
human

health,

water,

and

environmental burden of diseases.

Singapore is considered the cleanest
country in the world. There are many
posters in buildings and parks telling people
what they should and shouldn't do. Those
who don't obey the rules will be fined or
arrested.

Education:
+ Education System has been

+ Known as the best education in the

developed better and better.
+ Children spend 5 years in

Southeast Asia.
+ Children spend six years in primary

primary school, 4 years in

school and four years in secondary

secondary school and 3

school and then go on to a vocational

years in high school and then

school or university.

go on to a vocational or
university.
A white crescent moon facing a pentagon of
The flag:

five small white five-pointed stars .The

The star represents the five main

elements of the flag denote a young nation

classes in Vietnamese society—

on the ascendant, universal brotherhood and

intellectuals, farmers, workers,

equality, and national ideals.

businessmen and military

16

personnel.

In another unit of English lesson, the method of Chinese health care is also
introduced through the reading topic of Acupuncture. In spite of some difficult and
strange terms of vocabulary, most of students are quite fascinated with the new
topic. Thus, Acupuncture becomes the exciting issue for them to discuss in pairs or
in groups. Moreover, they talk about some traditional health beliefs and practices
in Viet Nam and Indonesia.
Viet Nam

Indonesia

+ Ailments are caused by an imbalance + Illnesses are caused by either naturally
of yin and yang

or personally

+ Herbal medicine and indigenous folk + Traditional treatments, herbs and
practices used to treat the sick

therapies used to treat the sick

+ Goals to restore yin/ yang balance

+ Goal to restore normal, proper and
comfortable condition

+ Previously thought ineffective but +

Efficient,

safe,

cost-effective,

recent evidence shows positive health affordable and accessible, especially for
incomes

the poor

Moreover, traditional kinds of music are sweet and gentle topic for students to feel
and inquire easily thanks to the beautiful rhythm enclosed in the listening disk. The
aspects of cultures are comprehended through not only reading or speaking skills but
also through listening skills. The combination of natural senses helps them
experience cultural issues perfectly and successfully.
Country
Name of

Viet Nam

Indonesia

Quan Ho singing

Dangdut singing

17