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?

Raise teacher’s awareness of the role of cultural dimensions Significance of the study 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 Oral discourses carry out transactional and interactional functions  i.e convey information and maintain social relationship (Nunan, 1989; Kramsch, 1998) Culture and oral discourses are interrelated  Speaking is regarded as a meaningful interaction, social and situation-based activity (Louma, 2004)

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 PARADIGM CONSTRUCTIVIST Qualitative case study RESEARCH DESIGN

Individual interview Focus group discussion RESEARCH METHOD

Demographic features of participants TeacherAgeGenderQualifications Years of experience Teaching speaking skills for adult learners Experience of studying abroad Linh37Female MA in Applied Linguistics 14 yearsYesno Toan40Male MA in Applied Linguistics 17 yearsYesno Nga52FemaleMA in TESOL21 yearsYesAustralia Kim29FemaleMA in TESOL7 yearsYesAustralia Oanh44FemaleBA in TEFL14 yearsYesno Minh36Male MA in Applied Linguistics 13 yearsYes Canada & Singapore Ha29FemaleMA in Applied Linguistics 6 yearsYesno

1.Transcribing and Translation DATA ANALYSIS 2.Coding and Categorising

Example of coding manifest and latent content ExtractsCoded for Question: What do you think about culture in English language teaching?  K: Culture in ELT is in the process of learning a foreign language. Learning English or other foreign languages is always connected to culture. Sometimes when we look at an English word, we may know what English people probably 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 culture]. In the culture of communication, there are differences in 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. Cultural meaning, identified through the use of English words (Latent content) Communicative culture (manifest content)

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 playTrue-False StatementProblem-solving PresentationSurveyInformation Gaps DiscussionInterviewGroup 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 socio- cultural 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 ). 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.