Some guides for teaching culture to help students improve their communication skills at Nhu Thanh High School

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL
-------***-------
INNOVATION IN TEACHING
SOME GUIDES FOR TEACHING CULTURE
TO HELP STUDENTS
IMPROVE THEIR ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS
AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL
The writer: Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà
The post: The teacher
Innovation of subject: English
THANH HOA, 2018
 TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT
PAGE
 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1
I. Rationale of the study
1
II. Aims of the study
1
III. Research questions
2
IV. Scope of the study 
2
V. Method of the study
 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
3
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
3
I. Culture
3
II. Important of culture in language teaching
4
III. Culture influence on foreign language teaching
4
IV. Teaching culture in EFL classroom
4
CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL SITUATIONS
5
I. Method of the study
5
II. The reality of teaching and learning English writing skill at Nhu Thanh high school
5
CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING SKILL
7
Recommendations
7
Some practical examples of using games in the writing lesson at Nhu Thanh high school
9
CHAPTER 4: RESULT
17
 PART THREE: CONCLUSION 
18
 REFERENCES
19
PART ONE:	 INTRODUCTION	
 I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
	Currently, English is the most widely spoken language in the world. Due to its spread, starting with the colonization period and continuing with the economic and political power of the U.S.A., it has been used for different purposes around the world such as education, commerce, tourism, and science. People all around the world continue to learn English to reach their different aims.
A critical question arises in terms of English language teaching at this point, that is, whether to teach ‘culture’ along with English or not. The question of teaching ‘culture’ along with English has been discussed by some scholars from the fields of applied linguistics and sociolinguistics for nearly two decades.
There are four views regarding the issue. The first one states that ‘target language culture’should be taught along with English to acculturate language learners into the cultures of English speaking countries (Byram, 1990; Byram & Flemming, 1998). The second view states that there should not be any teaching of the ‘target language culture’ together with English in the countrieswhere English is an institutionalized variety (Kachru, 1985, 1986; Kachru & Nelson, 1996; Canagarajah, 1999). Other two views also reject the idea of teaching ‘target language culture’ along with English. However, while one of the views supports the teaching of ‘local culture’ in English language teaching (Kramsch & Sullivan, 1996; McKay, 2003), the other view holds the position that English has become a lingua franca and it should be taught in a culture-free context (Alptekin, 2005; Jenkins, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005; Seidlhofer, 2001).
 	At Nhu Thanh High school, my students often see culture as hard work, boring, unrewarding, and not a lot of fun.
Therefore, in this study I present some guides which I have used successfully over the last few years with classes of different sizes and levels to teach culture in FL lessons. 
II. AIMS OF THE STUDY
 	I do the research to know about the fact of teaching and learning culture in Nhu Thanh High School more clearly. This study also investigates whether the games can have positive impact on writing process among students and can develop their culture knowledge or not. Bearing in mind, I decide the research with title “ some guides for teaching culture to help students improve their communication skills at Nhu Thanh High School”.	 
III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS	
This study aims at finding answer to the following research question:
How can guides help the students at Nhu Thanh High School improve their culture knowledge?
The question has been addressed to two of the classes (C3, C4) that I have been teaching in Nhu Thanh High School with the aim to examine how guides affect the process of getting culture knowledge.	 
IV. SCOPE OF THE STUDY 
This study does not aim to teach in a systematic way, because it is experience not for teaching but for practice. The study investigates guides to help students practice so that they can improve their culture knowledge.	
V. METHODS OF THE STUDY
In this study, I use some research tools to collect and analyze the needed data.
Recording is used to record the process. 
Surveying through the answer sheets is used to know the practical situation of teaching and learning English culture.
 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT	
 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW	
I. Culture
The word culture has many different meanings. For some it refers to an appreciation of good literature, music, art, and food. For a biologist, it is likely to be a colony of bacteria or other microorganisms growing in a nutrient medium in a laboratory Petri dish. However, for anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns. The term was first used in this way by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871. Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Of course, it is not limited to men. Women possess and create it as well. Since Tylor's time, the concept of culture has become the central focus of anthropology. Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture. They are not culture in themselves. For this reason, archaeologists can not dig up culture directly in their excavations. The broken pots and other artifacts of ancient people that they uncover are only material remains that reflect cultural patterns--they are things that were made and used through cultural knowledge and skills. In other words, Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Cultures are what make countries unique. Each country has different cultural activities and cultural rituals. Culture is more than just material goods, that is things the culture uses and produces. Culture is also the beliefs and values of the people in that culture. Culture also includes the way people think about and understand the world and their own lives. Culture can also vary within a region, society or sub group. A workplace may have a specific culture that sets it apart from similar workplaces. A region of a country may have a different culture than the rest of the country. For example, Canada's east coast Maritime region has a different culture than the rest of Canada, which is expressed by different ways of talking, different types of music, and different types of dances. A family may have a specific set of values, because of this people every time follow their religion to have or find new culture
II. Importance of culture in language teaching
According to Wei (2005:56), language has a dual character: both as a means of
communication and a carrier of culture. Language without culture is unthinkable, so is human culture without language. A particular language is a mirror of a particular culture. Brown (1994:165) describes the relation between language and culture as follows: 'A language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture'. In a word, culture and language are inseparable (cited in Jiang, 2000: 328). When it comes to the realm of teaching and learning, as Gao (2006) presents it, the interdependence of language learning and cultural learning is so evident that one can conclude that language learning is culture learning and consequently, language teaching is cultural teaching (p.59). Gao further states that foreign
language teachers should be aware of the place of cultural studies in foreign language classroom and attempt to enhance students' cultural awareness and improve their communication competence. Wang (2008), likewise, asserts that 'foreign language teaching is foreign culture teaching, and foreign language teachers are foreign culture teachers'. According to Tomalin (2008), the international role of the English language and globalisation are the two main reasons to teach culture as a fifth language skill, in addition to listening, speaking, reading and writing.
'What the fifth language skill teaches you is the mindset and technique to adapt your use of English to learn about, understand and appreciate the values, ways of doing things and unique qualities of other cultures. It involves understanding how to use language to accept differences, to be flexible and tolerant of ways of doing things which might be different to yours. It is an
attitudinal change that is expressed through the use of language.' Tomalin (2008) further argues that teaching of culture in ELT should include cultural knowledge (knowledge of culture's institution, the big C), cultural values (the 'psyche' of the country, what people think is important), cultural behaviour (knowledge of daily routines and behaviour, the little c), and cultural skills (the development of intercultural sensitivity and awareness, using English language as the medium of interaction.)
III. Cultural influence on Foreign Language Teaching
To understand the importance of culture we need to know to what extent cultural background knowledge influences language learning and teaching, and how can we take advantage of that influence. To account for the roles culture plays in language learning and teaching, it is necessary to demonstrate the functions it may perform in the components of language learning and teaching, such as listening, speaking, reading, and translating.
IV. Teaching culture in EFL classroom
Admittedly, it is not an easy task to teach culture. Teachers can show the way rather than regulate a specific way of seeing things, which has the inclination of cultural imperialism. Making students aware of the important traits in the target culture help them realise that there are no such things as superior and inferior and there are differences among people of distinctive cultures, as well. (Wang, 2008:4). Kramsch (1993) argues that a foreign culture and one's own culture should be placed together in order for learners to understand a foreign culture. Learners' interaction with native speakers or text will require them to construct their own meanings rather than having educators simply transfer information about people and their culture, and therefore non-native speakers should have opportunities to make their own meanings and to reflect on both the target culture and their own. Kramsch (1993) refers to this as establishing a “sphere of
interculturality”. Moreover, what educators should always have in mind when teaching culture is the need to raise their students’ awareness of their own culture ( Straub, 1999) and 'the target culture' (Wei, 2005:55), to cultivate a degree of intellectual objectivity essential in cross-cultural analyses (Straub, 1999, cited in Wang, 2008:4). Teachers and program developers are asked (Coleman, 1996; Holliday, 1994; McKay, 2002) to take the learners' sociocultural background into consideration in choosing materials and pedagogical approaches for particular contexts of teaching since ignoring the students' norms and expectations – that is, what students bring to the classroom- is denying the learners' experiences (Dogancay-Aktuna, 2005:100), and thus a lack of consideration of variations in cultures of learning can lead to frustration and subsequent failure in language classrooms (Li, 1998; Holliday, 1994). Mastering in a language requires learners' mastery of the cultural contexts in which important social acts occur because it conveys warm feelings and solidarity among interlocutors (Cohen, 1996; Eisenstein and Bodman, 1986, 1993;
Intachakra, 2004) and is categorized in the 'social' use of language (Kumar, 2002:7). Language learners need to understand what native speakers mean when they use the language, even if they do not choose to replicate native speakers' behaviour (Liddicoat, 2000:51, cited in Paul, 2004).
	 CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL SITUATIONS
I. METHODS OF THE STUDY
The research is done qualitatively in the context of two English classes ( A6 and C1 – At the beginning of school year 2011-2012 at Nhu Thanh High School). In this survey, I use the survey questionnaire for students. This survey is designed to collect information for the study on “An investigation into the Reality of teaching and learning English writing skill at Nhu Thanh High School. 
II. THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL	
Many teachers fail to recognize the interface between language and culture. The literature shows that teachers experience certain problems while teaching, which results in either not dealing extensively with culture or ignoring it completely .
One of the problems that teachers may face is the overcrowded curriculum. The study of culture requires time; therefore, many teachers feel they cannot spare time for teaching foreign language culture in an already overcrowded curriculum. They think that students will be exposed to cultural material later after they have mastered the basic grammar and vocabulary of the target language. However, this ‘later’ never seems to come for most students. Another problem is that teachers may fear of not having sufficient knowledge on the target culture. That is, teachers are afraid to teach culture because they think that they do not know enough about it, and that their role is limited to expose students to facts only. A third problem is students’ negative attitudes. When cultural phenomena differ from what students expect, they may react negatively, characterizing the target culture as “strange”. The fourth problem is the lack of adequate training on behalf of teachers. Teachers may not have been adequately trained in the teaching of culture and do not have suitable strategies and clear goals that would help them to create a framework for organizing instructions around cultural themes.
Consequently, how teachers approach to teaching culture in the foreign language classroom, and whether they have sufficient awareness on how to integrate culture in language teaching have an important role in determining how and to what extent foreign language culture should be integrated into language teaching.
 CHAPTER 3:
RECOMMENDATIONS
TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS
I. RECOMMENDATIONS 
 Guidelines for Teaching Culture 
From methodological point of view, teachers must adopt systematic and structured approach as the learners benefit most when the lessons and the cultural aspects of language teaching are well planned and developed .
Culture learning assessment is a part of learning process and provides important feedback to learners as well as to teacher. Teacher helps learners to express and respond to their cultural learning experiences. Learners move through the stages of learning cycle building skills, developing cultural behavior, discovering cultural explanation. The teacher’s role in the learning cycle is crucial as it can to a great deal influence learner’s attitude towards culture learning. Teacher needs to establish a good working relationship with learners, “creating an atmosphere of mutuality and respect” .
Teacher needs to be versatile. There are numerous roles he has to be able to perform: “to present and elicit cultural information, coach and model cultural behaviors, guide and conduct cultural research and analysis” .
 He also has to listen to learners and empathize with them. Teacher should share his own cultural experience with learners to help them enter another culture. It is obvious that teacher has a central role in developing cultural awareness of his learners. He supplements learners with core materials to integrate cultural objectives into the learning process. He needs to be aware of the fact that every child is individual and has his own cultural identity. Teacher encourages active reflection and cultural comparison; develops metacognitive awareness which includes cultural awareness (Techniques for Developing Cultural Awareness). 
There are many opinions about what techniques should be used in the classroom in order to develop cultural awareness in learners. Literature and drama have been found to be very effective for making learners sensitive to alternative cultural perspectives. Planet and Byram consider importance of learner-centeredness in intercultural teaching (Planet, Byram 1999). This principle should ensure that learner’s own culture is not dealt with as an abstract concept but the focus is put on learner’s involvement in it. Learners are encouraged to reflect on their culture on the basis of their own experience. The fact that these analyses take place in English lessons and learners use techniques which they would use to explain their own culture to people from other cultures, make this different from culture teaching in other subjects. Planet and Byram warn not to provide learners with ready-made information which they might need in their analysis but instead, with information and sources where they might use themselves. Even though learners were born into the culture and are familiar with it, they need to require a more distant and general look on their culture together with some information in these analyses.
Byram urges teachers to start with reflecting on learner’s own culture and only later introduce the target culture. The principle in which learners are supposed to discover their own knowledge applies even to dealing with the target culture. Technique for developing intercultural competence supported by Byram is comparative approach which, as he suggests, should “provide a double perspective but not to evaluate to see which is better” (Planet, Byram 1999:189). This double perspective can be reached by fronting phenomena from target culture and putting focus on interpreting own ways of doing as not ‘natural’ but ‘cultural’ (learned and acquired in home culture). The comparative approach contains evaluation in the terms of improving the familiar, “comparison makes the strange, the other, familiar and makes the familiar, the self, strange – and therefore easier to re-consider” (ibid) .Teacher begins each discussion period with a presentation of one or more items in the target culture that are distinctly different from the students’ culture. The discussion then centers on why these differences might cause problems. Culture assimilators, developed by social psychologists for facilitating adjustment to a foreign culture, are used as a brief description of a critical incident of cross-cultural interaction that would probably be misunderstood by the students. After the description of the incident, the students are presented with four possible explanations from which they are asked to select the correct one. If they make the wrong choice, they are asked to seek further information that would lead them to the correct conclusion. Culture assimilators are supposed to be a good method to promote understanding of cultural information and emotional empathy (Hughes in Valdes 1986). Among other techniques are culture capsule which draw learner’s attention to comparisons between the home and the target culture by presenting isolated items about the target culture. This technique uses visual aids which illustrate the difference, and a set of questions to stimulate class discussion (ibid). Cultural problem solving covers present