SEAMEO Regional Training Center (SEAMEO RETRAC)

1. SEAMEO Regional Training Center (SEAMEO RETRAC) INCORPORATING CULTURE IN DEVELOPING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR EFL ADULT LEARNERS: A CASESTUDY OF VIETNAMESE TEACHERS’ VOICES Mach Buu Hien SEAMEO RETRAC

2. OUTLINE Introduction 2. Theoretical background Research design Results and Implications

3. INTRODUCTION Status of ELT in Viet nam • Maintain national culture and identity • Improve intercultural communication • Enhance English speaking skills

4. Status of ELT in Viet nam • The adoption of CLT: • There are cultural differences between the requirements of teaching methodology and real-life contexts

5. 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

6. Research Questions What do Vietnamese teachers of English think about culture and its roles in teaching English speaking skills for EFL adult learners? How are cultural dimensions included to improve oral communication? How are EFL adults learners’ speaking skills influenced through the inclusion of cultural dimensions?

7. Significance of the study Raise teacher’s awareness of the role of cultural dimensions Enhance learners’ intercultural competence Improve oral communication

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. 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

11. RESEARCH DESIGN RESEARCH PARADIGM CONSTRUCTIVIST Qualitative case study

12. RESEARCH METHOD Focus group discussion Individual interview

13. Demographic features of participants

14. DATA ANALYSIS Transcribing and Translation Coding and Categorising

15. Example of coding manifest and latent content

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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)

19. 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

20. Teachers’ organization of cultural dimensions in teaching oral skills Speaking strategies for the involvement of cultural dimensions:

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. REFERENCES Kramsch, C. (1998). The relationship of language and culture In Language and Culture (pp. 3 - 14). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Luoma, S. (2004). Assessing Speaking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

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