Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter presents the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study.
1.1. Rationale
English has gained its great popularity in Vietnam, a country attempting to develop
her technological capacity and to increase her participation in the global processes. For many
people in Vietnam, English is seen as one of very necessary means to get a good job. Thus,
there is a growing demand to learn this language for communication.
We have been concentrating on structures and forms and producing materials that
may help our students to have perfect diphthongs or a flawless command of the third
conditional while leaving out anything approaching real, valid, meaningful contents. If our
students have any hope of using their language skills to communicate in the global village,
cultural awareness is crucial. Therefore, language teachers should realize that knowledge of
the world’s language and culture is increasingly important. In order to use the language
effectively, language learners need to have mastery of not only the language itself but also
the culture in which the language is used. Language learners need to be aware, for example,
of the culturally appropriate ways to address people, express gratitude, make requests, and
agree or disagree with someone. They should know that behaviours and intonation patterns
that are appropriate in their own speech community may be perceived different by members
of the target language speech community. They have to understand that, in order for
communication to be successful, language use must be associated with other culturally
appropriate behavior.
In short, culture becomes an indispensable part in any foreign language curriculum.
Tourism students at HCC are fully aware of this. When being asked why culture is very
important, they believe that understanding culture helps them become more confident and
successful in communicating and that cultural information is one kind of their motivation in
learning English. On the contrary, many of them do not realize the importance of culture in
ELL because they say that learning English is a hard work for them to master it as a
language, and English cultural knowledge is one of their problem.
Teaching English culture is considered important by most teachers but it has
remained “insubstantial and sporadic in most language classroom” (Omaggio, 1993:357).
Omaggio gives several reasons for this including lack of time, uncertainty about which

culture learning of Tourism students.
1.4. Research questions of the study
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My study is intended to answer two following questions:
1. What are Tourism students’ attitudes towards English cultural learning?
2. How does students’ cultural understanding change through the incorporating English
cultural elements into the lessons?
1.5. Methods of the study
In this research, the theoretical background mainly bases on books written by a
variety of scholars on foreign language teaching and cultural teaching issues.
The thesis author employs action research to analyze the data collected. Comments,
remarks, comparisons and conclusions are based on factual research: observation, survey
questionnaires, interviews, discussion, and experience.
In order to achieve the purpose of the study, survey questionnaires are utilized to
survey the situation of learning culture being developed and administered at the beginning of
a semester. Tests in culture for the participants after applying the culture- teaching activities,
interviews and other survey questionnaires on the focused group are conducted in the end to
gain quantitative and qualitative data of how these teaching methods take effect on students’
English culture learning and achievement. Observations and informal discussion are
effectively combined with them, too.
1.6. Design of the study
The study is divided into four chapters:
Chapter one presents the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study.
Chapter two reviews the related literature that helps to give the theoretical
foundation for this study. This review consists of the literature on the place of culture
knowledge in foreign language learning, goals for incorporating culture into the foreign
language class, and Comparing and Contrasting as activities of raising students’ culture
awareness.
Chapter three contains the study that includes three sections. The first summarizes
the situation analysis. The second describes the data collecting instruments. The third

characterize a given group of people in a given period of time ” (Brown, 1987 :122).
Besides, “ what is important in culture is what one is expected is think, believe, say, do, eat,
wear, pay, ensure, recent, honor, laugh at, fight for, and worship, in typical life situation”
(Brooks, 1968: 218, cited in Oxford, 1996: ix). The concept of culture, therefore, involves
the way people from a particular cultural background think, make friends, worship and
behave in a society. No single individual can live without sharing a culture with others. Put
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in other words, culture is derived from a community and a community, in turn, reflects its
culture.
In this paper, I takes Nguyen Quang’s view of culture (2006: 24) as the working
definition:
“ Culture is the whole complex of tangible and intangible expressions that are
created and adapted by a society or a social group as well as the ways it functions
and reacts in given situations”. Based on this definition, in my point of view, culture
helps distinguish one society or social group from another not only o terms of the
availability of those expressions and behaviour, but also in terms of their
proportionality and manifest ability”
In short, these above opinion of culture show that culture is a deeply ingrained part of
people’s life. However, language- the means for communication among members of a
culture- is the most visible and available expression of that culture. And so a person’s world
view, self- identity, and system of thinking, acting, feeling, and communicating can be
disrupted by a change from one culture to another. Therefore, when we learn a language we
can not separate it from culture. Culture should be taught with the language until advanced
level, and teachers should make students aware of the cultural features in relation to the
language which will be presented in the next part.
2.1.2. Culture knowledge and foreign language learning
In the field of foreign language teaching, one aspect that occasionally emerges as a
topic of discussion is the relationship between knowledge of a foreign language and
knowledge of the culture. It is likely that the question of “culture” is often regulated to the
end of a language teaching plan. It seems as if it is always something of a bonus if the

do not understand the culture that has shaped, and how that culture relates to our own first
language/ first culture. Thus, foreign language teaching and learning must equip students
with the tools they need to be effective world citizens. Their increased ability to appreciate
the complexities, similarities and differences that exits in our world will lead them toward
careers and service related to activities based on this substantive knowledge and experience.
Cultural understanding prepares the ability to acknowledge and respect cultural differences.
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As language teachers, we need to be interested in the study about culture in order to
teach the culture of another country because we have to teach it. Robert Politzer (cited in
Valdes, 1994: 123) remarks that if we teach a language without teaching, at the same time,
the culture in which the students may attach wrong meanings, they will receive culture
instructions. Besides, cultural learning has previously been seen as something for advanced
learners, an extension exercise that can be taken on to an ordinary lesson. This is partly due
to the frequent error of assuming that students with a low level of English also have a low
intellect generally. Kramsch (1992: 125) states “intercultural awareness, as a fundamental
feature of language and an integral part of language learning, is important at all level.”
Briefly, regardless of different points of view, the study of culture takes an important
place in language teaching and learning studies in order to facilitate the process of learning
and avoid culture shocks. The process of foreign language learning involves not only
perceiving the similarities and differences in other cultures but also recognizing the native
culture. Thus, the question “ What are the cultural topics in foreign language learning ? ”
good for teachers’ thought
2.1.3. Cultural elements in foreign language learning
This is the conclusion of Robert Politzer, who says in the Georgetown University
Report of the Fifth Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Teaching:
“As language teachers we must be interested in the study of culture not because we
necessarily want to teach culture of the other country but because we have to teach
it.”
This point of view make me consider one question : “ How much of the culture of a
country should be taught along the language?”. It is the fact that many successful language

of the cultures being analyzed, but to enrich students’ experience and to make the aware that
although some culture elements are being globalized, there is still diversity among cultures.
In order to do this, it is necessary for teachers to be aware of goals for incorporating culture
into the foreign language class.
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2.2. Goals for incorporating culture into the foreign language class
According to Seelye (1994 : 154), the following goals should be achieved to teach
culture for understanding:
* Goal 1 = Interest- The student demonstrates curiosity about the target culture and empathy
toward its people.
* Goal 2 = Who- The student recognizes that role expectations and other social variables
such as age, sex, social, class, ethnicity, and place of residence affect the way people speak
and behave.
* Goal 3 = What- The student realizes that effective communication requires discovering the
culturally conditioned images that are evoked in the minds of people when they think, act,
and react to the world around them.
* Goal 4 = Where and When- The student finds that situational variables and convention
shape behavior are important ways. (s/ he needs to know how people in the target culture act
in common mundane and crisis situations)
* Goal 5 = Why- The student understands that people generally act the way they do because
they are using options society that allows for satisfying basic physical and psychological
needs, and that cultural patterns are interrelated and tended mutually to support need
satisfaction.
* Goal 6 = Exploration- The student can evaluate a generalization about the target culture in
terms of the amount of evidence substantiating it, and has the skills needed to locate and
organize information about the target culture from the library, the mass media, people, and
personal observation.
Additionally, Nostrands (1976 : 175) listed nine objectives that students should have
the ability to get:
1) React appropriately in a social situation

assumes that in order to successfully interact with people from other cultures we have to
understand ours and the other’s cultural values, norms, customs, and social systems. It also
argues that the knowledge of ourselves as the cultural being is the foundation of knowing
others in terms of their own culture.
It is especially important that students have the opportunity to think about and talk
about what they notice, either in their first language or in the second language. According to
Comparing- Contrasting approach, students’ noticing is followed up wherever there is an
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explanation of the function of particular actions in the target culture. Some teachers may
worry that as non- speakers, they do not have enough insight into the other culture to teach it.
However, being a native speaker is not always an advantage, because in an intercultural
approach, the teacher needs to know something about both cultures. Because this approach is
comparative and is based on learning to notice differences, the important element is the
exploration of difference that is something teachers and students can do together.
Oxford (1994 : 26) shares the same view that teacher must be careful to teach the
pleasant aspects. The essence of culture understanding is to know how your own culture is
both similar to and different from the target culture. Therefore, activities and materials
should portray different aspects of the culture. In other words, teachers need to “sell”
different views of the culture to their students. Introducing deliberate contrasts within a
culture can be useful. Some different ‘selling points’ are contrasted below:
+ Attractive vs. Shocking
+ Historical vs. Modern
+ Similarities vs. Differences
+ Old people vs. Young people
+ Dark aspects of culture vs. Bright
+ City life vs. Country life
+ Facts vs. Behaviour
+ Stated belief vs. Actual belief
Briefly, the Comparing- Contrasting approach that has been found to be successful in
raising students’ cultural awareness through lessons. Nevertheless, how do the teachers

4. A spokesperson for each reads the list to the class.
5. Write the different categories of subject matter mentioned by students on the board. Then
write the following questions on the board:
- Are cartoons common in your country?If so, what is the most common subject matter?
- How are British cartoons similar to cartoons in your country? How are they different?
6. Students work in groups, discussion of the following questions:
- What did you learn about British humor from this activity?
- What did you learn about humor in your own culture?
* Variation: Intermediate level and above
Instead of focusing on the subject matter of the humor, students can draw up a list of
visible aspects of British life contained in the cartoons, for example:
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1. Houses and homes (rooms, furniture, etc.)
2. Work environments (offices, factories, etc.)
3. Leisure (fishing, reading, watching TV, etc.)
4. Eating and drinking (restaurants, pubs, etc.)
5. Travel (traffic, road signs, etc)
6. Shopping (supermarkets, department stores, etc.)
7. Clothes and fashion (uniforms, hairstyles, etc.)
2.3.2.2. Dating customs
* Aim: To compare relationships between men and women in
the UK with those in the students’ culture(s)
* Materials: A task sheet for each student
* Level: Lower- intermediate and above
* Preparation: Photocopy the task sheet overleaf.
* In class:
1. Explain to the class that they are going to compare relationships between men and women
in the UK with relationships between men and women in their our culture(s)
2. Divide the class into pairs, distribute the task sheet.
3. The students work in pairs, discussing the customs listed on the task sheet, and indicating

S  D 
Note:............................................
5. Women may invite men to parties or other social
events.
S  D 
Note:............................................
6. Teenagers usually date people of the own age, but
sometimes girls date boys who are two or three years
older.
S  D 
Note:............................................
7. Teenagers meet members of the opposite sex at
school, parties, or other social events.
S  D 
Note:............................................
8. Men and women sometimes share expenses on a
date.
S  D 
Note:............................................
9. Teenagers and young adults meet and choose their
own dates.
S  D 
Note:............................................
10. Men and women date people of different economic,
ethnic, social, or religiuos backgrounds
S  D 
Note:............................................
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2.3.2.3. Cross- cultural role plays
* Aim: To increase awareness of the types of misunderstanding that

- In what ways are shopping habits in the UK different from shopping habits in your
culture?
Task sheet
Shopping habits
The statements below give information about shopping habits in the UK. Are these habits the
same ( S) or different ( D) from ones in your country? Put a tick in the appropriate boxes. If
any of the habits different, write brief notes explaining the differences.
In the UK In your country
1. Adults do most of their own shopping for
clothes.
S  D 
Note:........................................................
2. Mothers usually buy all the clothes for the
young children in the family.
S  D 
Note:........................................................
3. Teenagers usually choose their own clothes.
S  D 
Note:........................................................
4. Married couples usually shop for large items
such as cars, furniture, and TV sets together.
S  D 
Note:........................................................
5. Shopping for groceries usually done by going
to the supermarket once a week.
S  D 
Note:........................................................
6. Shops do not close for lunch, and some stay
open till 7.00 p.m. or later on certain days,
especially in big cities.