VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
  
NGUYỄN THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG
AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL FACTORS IN THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH
12 FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL
LANGUAGE

PHÂN TÍCH CÁC YẾU TỐ VĂN HÓA TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 12
THEO QUAN ĐIỂM TIẾNG ANH LÀ NGÔN NGỮ QUỐC TẾ M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10 HANOI – 2013


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations
Full phrases
1. ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
2. CLT
Communicative Language Teaching
3. EFL
English as a Foreign Language
4. EIL
English as an International Language
5. ELF
English as a Lingua Franca
6. ELT
English Language Teaching
7. ESL
English as a Second Language
8. FLT
Foreign Language Teaching
9. MOET
Ministry of Education and Training
10. SLA
Second Language Acquisition
11. TESOL
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
12. WTO
World Trade Organization
13. WEs
World Englishes


1.6. Previous studies 17
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 20
2.1. The Vietnamese English teaching context 20
2.2. Overview of the National Curriculum and Syllabus for ELT 21
2.3. Research methodology 22
2.4. Content analysis 22
2.5. The conceptual framework of the study and criteria for analysis 23
2.5.1. The conceptual framework 23
2.5.2. Criteria for analysis 23
2.6. Content analysis procedure 24
2.6.1. Purpose of the analysis 24
2.6.2. Sample of the analysis 24
2.6.3. Elements of the analysis 26
2.6.4. Units of analysis 26
2.6.5. Instrument of the analysis 26
2.6.5.1. Constructing the content analysis card 26
2.6.5.2. Description of the content analysis card 26
2.6.5.3. Applying the content analysis card 27
2.7. Procedures of the study 28
vii

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 29
3.1. Culturally oriented activities in the textbook 29
3.2. Cultural representation in the textbook 30
3.3. Cultural distribution in the textbook 31
3.3.1. Vietnamese culture in the textbook 31
3.3.2. International culture in the textbook 33
3.3.3. Target culture in the textbook 34
3.4. Opportunities for students to compare and contrast cultures 35
PART III - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 37

The structure of each unit in the textbook English 12
25
Table 3.1
Frequency and percentage of the cultural activities related to the
whole activities of the textbook English 12
29
Table 3.2
Frequency and percentage of Anglo-Saxon culture and non-
Anglo-Saxon culture in the textbook English 12
30
Table 3.3
Frequency and percentage of three types of cultures in the
textbook English 12
31
Table 3.4
Frequency and percentage of Vietnamese culture in the textbook
English 12
33
Table 3.5
Frequency and percentage of International culture in the
textbook English 12
33
Table 3.6
Frequency and percentage of Target culture in the textbook
English 12
35
Table 3.7
Frequency and percentage of activities that provide
opportunities for students to compare and contrast cultures
35


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school teacher of English, I have noticed that the new set of textbooks introduced
nationwide in 2006 by MOET shows a great deal of improvement as compared with
the old grammar-based one. However, I wonder whether it keeps pace with changes
in terms of cultural content required by the advent of EIL. Whose cultures are
presented in the textbooks? How are they distributed? Do they provide learners any
opportunities to compare and contrast cultures? Therefore, there has arisen a strong
need to tackle a study to find answers to those questions, figuring out to what extent
the textbooks can equip learners with adequate cultural instruction in the context of
EIL. This is my motivation in conducting this research.
2. Research aims, objectives and research questions
This study aims at analyzing the cultural content in the textbook English 12
to figure out whether or not it provides students with adequate cultural instruction in
EIL context. The objectives of the study are to define whose cultures are more
presented in the textbook so that decisions on modification or supplementation of
the cultural content can be made. In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims and
objectives, the study was designed to find answers to the following overarching
research question:
- To what extent does the textbook English 12 meet the criteria for the cultural
content from the perspective of English as an International Language?
The above question encompasses three sub-questions that this study aims to answer:
1. What cultures are embedded in the textbook English 12?
2. Which culture predominates in the textbook English 12?
3. To what extent does the textbook English 12 provide opportunities for
students to compare and contrast the target culture, the home culture and the
international culture?

3
3. Scope of the study Summary:
This part has introduced general details which serve as research background
leading to the formation of research needs. The impetus for the study has arisen
from the fact that today English has gained the status of an international language,
entailing changes in approach to basis of cultural content in EFL teaching materials.
Therefore, a study to examine cultural content of current EFL textbooks should be
conducted. The research aims, objectives and research questions, the scope and
significance of the study as well as the structure of the thesis have also been
clarified in this part.
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PART II - DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the concept of culture in terms of its definition and its
relation to language which leads to the inclusion of culture in language teaching. It
also clarifies the key concept of EIL before discussing the issue of culture in EIL
teaching which serves as basis to determine cultural content in materials for the
teaching of EIL. After that, some previous studies on the topic of EIL are reviewed.

Language is a part of culture and it also reflects culture. Brown (2000, p.
177, cited in Saluveer, 2004, p.11) contends that "a language is a part of 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 their language or culture".
Byram (1989, p. 94, cited in Saluveer, 2004, p.11) adds that "the language holds the
culture through the denotations and connotation of its semantics", which is why it is
important to teach culture through its language. Kramsch (1998, p.3, cited in
Saluveer, 2004, p.11) identifies three ways how language and culture are bound
together. First, language expresses cultural reality (with words people express facts
and ideas but also reflect their attitudes). Second, language embodies cultural reality
(people give meanings to their experience through the means of communication).
Third, language symbolizes cultural reality (people view their language as a symbol
of their social identity) (Saluveer, 2004, p.11).
Language reflects culture, or it is a vehicle to carry culture, as it is often said.
In fact, the forms and uses of a given language reflect the cultural values, cultural
conventions and pragmatic strategies of a society. "Lexical and grammatical
categories of a language have been assumed to determine how its speakers

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conceptualize the world around them" (Thanasoulas, 2001, p.8). For instance, under
the influence of a hierarchy culture, addressing forms/personal pronouns in
Vietnamese are not fixed but dependent on a particular context, while those of
English are unchanged regardless of situational contexts. Moreover, Thanasoulas
(2001) discovers that culture has grammar of its own. He clarifies the idea by giving
an example: When an American sees a bus coming, he almost always uses the
present progressive (" the bus is coming"), but a Japanese uses the present perfect
("the bus has come"). He concludes that "the difference between the two cultures
lies in the conceptual organization of experience which they choose, or rather are
conditioned, to adhere to"(Thanasoulas, 2001, p.9).
Due to the relationship between language and culture, teaching a language

Kachru proposed his famous three concentric circles model:

(a) The Inner Circle: where English is the primary language of the country and
where the ownership of English was claimed and norms originated;

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(b) The Outer Circle: where English serves as a second language in a multilingual
countries as a means of intranational or local communication;
(c) The Expanding Circle: where English is widely studied as a foreign language.
In accordance with Kachru's three concentric circles model, Kirkpatrick
(2007) categorises English varieties into three groups: (1) Native varieties refer to
English in Kachru's Inner Circle; (2) Nativised varieties are English in the Outer
Circle; and (3) Lingua Franca varieties are English functioning as a foreign
language used by all remaining countries in the Expanding Circle.
One noticeable contribution of Kachru's model, as Graddol (1997) remarks,
is that it highlights the unique development of English in these three contexts. In the
Inner Circle, the spread of English was a result of a migration of English speakers
with each settlement establishing its own national variety. In the Outer Circle,
however, English has spread largely due to colonization by English-speaking
nations. The spread of English in the Expanding Circle is largely as a result of
foreign language learning within the country.
Another contribution of Kachru's model is that it instantly shows the number
of English users worldwide, which is no fewer than three billion. However, more
importantly, it exposures the imbalance in the number of native and non-native
speakers of English at present and in foreseeable future. Today, the number of non-
native English speakers exceeds that of native speakers and in the next 50 years, as
Graddol (1999) concludes, the imbalance will be far greater:
based solely on expected population changes, the number of people using English as their second
language will grow from 235 million to around 462 million during the next 50 years. This
indicates that the balance between L1 and L2 speakers will critically change, with L2 speakers

helped to clarify the notion of English as an International Language.
1.3.2. What is English as an International Language (EIL)?
Naturally, when the above question is heard, one would expect an answer
that describes EIL as a single standard international English which may have the

11
higher prestige and function than the existing British and American standard
Englishes. Such a single EIL, however, "is not possible to establish nor necessary to
do so" (Yano, 2006). EIL can be seen as the core of world varieties of English,
sharing basic grammar and vocabulary, pragmatic strategies, and intelligibility, "a
loose league of regional standards Englishes with mutual intelligibility which are
spoken and understood by the educated speakers of any of varieties" ( Yano, 2006) .
Precisely speaking, by EIL, most people emphasize the use of English on global
scale. In other words, EIL is, actually, nothing more than any variety of English
when used for international communication. The following definitions of EIL may
support the aforesaid argument:
 EIL refers to the use of English by people of different nations in order to communicate
with one another. ( Talebinezhad Mohammad Reza & Aliakbari, 2001 )
 The role of English as a language of international communication, for example, when a
Brazilian and a Japanese businessman use English to negotiate a business contract. The
type of English used on such occasions need not necessarily be based on native speaker
varieties of English (e.g. American English or British English) but will vary according to
the mother tongue of the people speaking it and the purposes for which it is being used.
(Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1992, p.124).
However, it does not mean that English has no necessary features for it to
be called an international language. In her book "Teaching English as an
International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches" (2002), Sandra Lee
McKay contends that English meets all features of an international language: (1),
English is used by people of different nations to communicate with one another
(Smith, 1976); (2), English owns a special status recognized in every country

de-nationalized; and (c) the educational goal of learning it is to enable learners to
share their ideas and culture to others. Thus, in the case of EIL, the typical
relationship that exists between language and culture needs to be re-examined
(McKay, 2002). No one can deny British or American culture of EIL, however this

13
culture is not the only one that EIL carries and reflects. All languages, let alone an
international language like English, always take on new cultural meanings, or
"languaculture" (Risager, 2006: 110) while functioning in intercultural
communication. The relationship between language and culture is not fixed but
depends on the users and the contexts. Therefore, Risager (2006) concludes that a
language such as English will have as many "languacultures" as there are speakers
of the language, and in this sense, the English language is unnecessarily closely
associated with English-speaking cultures (Do, 2012). And as Yano (2007, p. 32)
contends, the new owners of English use it in their way "to express themselves,
their society, and their culture":
In Southeast Asia, telephone operators say "Come again" instead of "Would
you repeat it again?”. In Malaysian English, sex difference is added to the word
"cousin" and hence, "cousin brother" and "cousin sister" are commonly used. When
people in the Philippines are nervous, they say "I have a mouse in the chest". When
asked why they do not use the idioms used by native speakers, they say 'If
Americans can say "I have butterflies in my stomach" why can't we say "I have a
mouse in the chest?" (Yano, 2007). In Africa, redundant pronouns are inserted to
echo the subject as in "Robert he is currently working for the government" (Kachru
and Nelson, 2006, cited in Yano, 2007). In Vietnam, "Good morning teacher" is
used by most students to greet their teachers (1).
These aforesaid examples help to consolidate a fact that when used globally
English does not bear in it merely the culture of its native speakers (Anglo-Saxon
culture) but also the culture of non- native speakers (non- Anglo- Saxon culture).


of cultures that some call it a "free-culture" language (Alptekin, 2005, cited in
Penny Ur, 2009).
1.5. Cultural content in materials for EIL teaching
Cortazzi and Jin (1999) distinguish three types of information that can be
used in language textbooks and materials: source culture (the learner's own culture)

15
Target culture (culture of a country where English is spoken as a first language) and
International target culture ( a great variety of cultures in English and non-English
speaking countries). Which type is appropriate for EIL teaching materials?
Determining the cultural basic of EIL is one of the most complex problems
(McKay, 2004). For some, it is impossible to teach a foreign language without its
culture base (Steward, 1982; Valdes, 1986; Byram, 1998, cited in McKay, 2004).
For others, however, EIL is not linked to any particular culture ( Smith, 1976) but
belongs to numerous cultures and identities, becoming "the major language of a
developing mass culture" ( McKay, 2002, p. 15), so it is not simple to decide on
what culture(s) to be included in EIL materials as in any other foreign language
materials. Kirkpatrick (2007) remarks:
"As many learners of English worldwide are learning English to communicate with
fellow non-native speakers, the appropriateness of native-speaker models and the
cultures associated with them needs to be questioned" (p. 3).
Obviously, in the context where far more interactions are between non-native
speakers (1), a conformity to discourse conventions or rhetorical styles of native
speakers does seem of "little value and of extreme inappropriateness to the local
context" (Pennycook, 1988, p.20, cited in Pham, 2001, p.7).
The researcher argues that, by and large, the basis of cultural content in EIL
materials is greatly influenced by two factors: (1) characteristics of EIL, namely,
the special relationship between EIL and culture and (2) learners' need to establish a
sphere of interculturality in the context of globalization and intercultural
communication.

All things considered, it can be concluded that the basis of cultural content in
materials for EIL teaching in all circles should be a combination of both Anglo-
Saxon culture and non-Anglo-Saxon culture. The model will give students chance
to establish a sphere of interculturality, get familiarized with a diversity of cultures,
reflect on their own culture, compare and contrast cultures, thus developing their
critical cultural awareness (Aguilar, 2007) and intercultural competence: the
sensitivity to other cultural norms and the ability to adapt and function appropriately
when interacting with people from other cultures (Alptekin, 2005).

17
1.6. Previous studies
The advent of EIL has created a new wave in the ocean of English pedagogy.
If in the early half of the 20th century, such phrases as World Englishes (WEs) and
EIL or ELF (English as a lingua franca) almost never sounded in linguistic forums
and conferences, nowadays, they echo almost everywhere. Actually, the
unprecedented worldwide spread of English in the last five decades has created
heated issues attracting a broad spectrum of TESOL professionals not only of non-
Anglo-Saxon origin (Kachru, David Nunan, Canagarajah ) but also Anglo-Saxon
origin (McKay, David Crystal, Kirkpatrick, Mc Arthur ). The vibrant area of study
on WEs, EIL, and ELF has resulted from an objective demand and natural trend of
globalization and intercultural communication, by no means from subjective
willingness or desire of some group of non-Anglo- Saxons seeking for their equal
linguistic status to Anglo-Saxons. Accompanying with the boiling forum of EIL is a
growing body of publications and research concerning the full global dimension of
English today.
World Englishes, English Today, and Asian Englishes are some of linguistic
journals which have been published to exclusively focus on WEs. There are other
excellent introductory texts to WEs such as The Other Tongue ( Kachru, 1992),
Oxford Guide to World Englishes (McArthur, 2002) which Kirkpatrick (2007)
commented as "extremely valuable background and reference materials". Other

English teaching context are Do, H. T (1999); Pham, H.H (2001); Tran, L.(2000);
Ton, N.N.H & Pham, H.H (2010); Vo, T.T.L (2009); Luong, T.H.T (2011); Ngo,
H.H (2012); Do, T.M.N (2012). Their studies, albeit few in number, have made
significant contribution to the issue, paving the way for WEs approach and EIL/ELF
perspective in ELT of the context. Ton & Pham (2010) conducted survey studies to
discover the preferred varieties of English from the Vietnamese teachers' and
learners' point of view. Pham (2001) and Ngo (2012) step further from these