INCORPORATING CULTURE IN
DEVELOPING ENGLISH SPEAKING
SKILLS FOR EFL ADULT LEARNERS:
A CASESTUDY OF VIETNAMESE
TEACHERS’ VOICES
Mach Buu Hien
SEAMEO RETRAC
OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical background
3. Research design
4. Results and Implications
INTRODUCTION
Status of ELT in Viet nam
 Maintain national culture and identity
 Improve intercultural communication
 Enhance English speaking skills
Status of ELT in Viet nam
 The adoption of CLT:
 There are cultural differences
between the requirements of
teaching methodology and real-life
contexts
Purpose of the study
Investigate teachers’ perspectives in teaching
speaking skills
Investigate the involvement of cultural
dimensions in oral activities
 Find out the effects of culture on EFL adults’
learners’ oral communication
 Provide some recommendations to prepare for
future intercultural communication
Research Questions
1. What do Vietnamese teachers of English
think about culture and its roles in
teaching English speaking skills for EFL
adult learners?
2. How are cultural dimensions included to
improve oral communication?
3. How are EFL adults learners’ speaking
skills influenced through the inclusion of
cultural dimensions?
Significance of the study
Raise teacher’s awareness of the
role of cultural dimensions
Enhance learners’ intercultural
competence
Improve oral communication
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
From socio-cultural perspectives:
 Culture is “a product of socially,
historically situated discourse community,
created and shaped by language” (Kramsch,
1998, p.10)
 Learning a language
is inextricably
connected with social and cultural contexts
(Lantolf, 2000)
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
 Culture and oral discourses are
interrelated
 Speaking is regarded as a meaningful
interaction, social and situation-based
activity (Louma, 2004)
 Oral discourses carry out transactional
and interactional functions
 i.e convey information and maintain
social
relationship
(Nunan,
1989;
Kramsch, 1998)
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Debatable issues of including cultural
dimensions:
 The inclusion of local culture and
target culture
 Teaching culture to develop
intercultural competence for learners
of English
RESEARCH DESIGN
RESEARCH PARADIGM
CONSTRUCTIVIST
Qualitative case study
RESEARCH METHOD
Individual
interview
Focus
group
discussion
Demographic features of participants
Teacher
Age
Gender
Qualifications
Years of
Teaching speaking Experience of
experience
skills for adult
studying abroad
learners
Linh
37
Female
MA in Applied
14 years
Yes
no
17 years
Yes
no
Linguistics
Toan
40
Male
MA in Applied
Linguistics
Nga
52
Female
MA in TESOL
21 years
Yes
Australia
Kim
29
Female
MA in TESOL
7 years
Yes
Australia
Oanh
44
Female
BA in TEFL
14 years
Yes
no
Minh
36
Male
MA in Applied
13 years
Yes
Canada &
Linguistics
Ha
29
Female
MA in Applied
Linguistics
Singapore
6 years
Yes
no
DATA ANALYSIS
1. Transcribing and Translation
2. Coding and Categorising
Example of coding manifest and latent content
Extracts
Question: What do you think about culture in English language teaching?
Coded for
K: Culture in ELT is in the process of learning a foreign language. Learning Cultural meaning, identified
English or other foreign languages is always connected to culture. Sometimes through the use of English
when we look at an English word, we may know what English people probably words (Latent content)
think about that issue. For example, in an English saying “Men are from Mars,
women are from Venus” we can analyse that sentence and understand that people
from western cultures are also aware of the opposite between men and women.
They also notice the necessity to understand the psychology of men and women.
M: It is difficult to give a specific definition, but I think culture is a symbol of a
country, a community. For example in teaching a language, culture relates to Communicative
[communicative culture]. In the culture of communication, there are differences in (manifest content)
the ways of calling each other between Vietnamese people and foreigners. Cultural
factors are inextricably connected to language, for example, the ways they talk
about comparison are also different. Besides, in making questions or answering
questions, Vietnamese people tend not to use compliments, but western people
often say compliments.
culture
TEACHERS’ VOICES
Teachers’ perception of teaching culture in
oral activities
Teachers’ organisation of cultural
dimensions in teaching oral skills
Teachers’ beliefs in possible effect s of
culture on oral skills
Teachers’ perception of teaching
culture in oral activities
Cultural factors were purposively used as
methodological and pedagogical focus of the
lessons
Cultural factors include a set of values that reflect
the ways people use language to express the
meaning and non-verbal factors to communicate
with others
Different awareness of the role of local and target
culture
Examples:
“…I will explain cultural factors to my students and
ask them to express their opinions about the
information…” (T-IIB6)
“…Sometimes when we look at an English word we
may know what English people probably think
about that issue…” (K-IIB5)
Teachers’ organization of cultural
dimensions in teaching oral skills
Local and target culture were engaged in oral
activities by:
 including familiar cultural topics
 localising cultural information
 utilising for the input and output
activities
Teachers’ organization of cultural
dimensions in teaching oral skills
Speaking strategies for the involvement of
cultural dimensions:
Role play
True-False Statement
Problem-solving
Presentation
Survey
Information Gaps
Discussion
Interview
Group project
Teachers’ beliefs in possible effects of
culture on oral skills
Strategic factors for the production of spoken
language
Strengthen the confidence of using spoken
language in communication with others
IMPLICATIONS
Support theoretical framework from a sociocultural constructivist perspectives
Prepare for teachers’ methodological and
pedagogical development:
 Use effective strategies to incorporate
cultural dimensions in oral activities
 Provide an impetus to alter traditional
views in teaching English
IMPLICATIONS
 Reflect a prerequisite to develop a new
professional identity, e.g intercultural
competence teachers
 Enhance Vietnamese learners’
intercultural competence for future
international interaction and
communication
REFERENCES
1. Kramsch, C. (1998). The relationship of
language and culture In Language and Culture
(pp. 3 - 14). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Luoma, S. (2004). Assessing Speaking.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the
communicative classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University.