SKKN Integrating local cultural factors into teaching communication and culture lesson in the textbook English 10-Global Success

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

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.1. Rationale

In the past few decades, the field of English Language Teaching has started to

emphasize the linguistic and cultural diversity rather than focusing only on teaching

aspects related to the English language. Therefore, cultural awareness has become an

integral part of English classrooms. The need for cultural awareness cannot be ignored

and in order to make communication sufficient, it needs to be accompanied by

multidimensional cultural awareness since communication almost never exits culture –

free.

In Vietnam, however, the role and status of culture in language teaching has

always been a challenging issue for teachers. Their conception and opinion may be very

different regarding the meaning of culture and the possibilities of incorporating cultural

content into the language teaching process. These differences can result from their

previous experience as language learners, from what they have learnt along their

training process, and from the various possibilities they have had to come into direct

contact with the target culture. The cultural content taught in language classes may also

be influenced by the extent of differences between the native and target cultures.

Compared to grammar or vocabulary, culture is more difficult to define; therefore, it is

not clear what and how should be taught.

However, we strongly believe that some principles, recommendations, and

practical ideas regarding the introduction of cultural content must be included in

the curriculum of language teaching methodology. Teacher trainees need to

develop a theoretical and practical awareness of what culture means and in what

forms it may be present in the language classroom.

As teachers of English, we are well-prepared to meet this challenge. In order

to raise students’ awareness of culture in general and local culture in particular, we

have been motivated to do a research into “Integrating local cultural factors into

teaching communication and culture lesson in the textbook English 10-Global

Success”.

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.2. Aims and objectives

This study investigates how to integrate local cultural factors into teaching

communication and culture lesson effectively.

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.3. Scope of the study

This study will be carried out in a local high school among the population of

0th graders. This study will be restricted to language learners using the textbook

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English 10-Global Success in their English classes, which focus on communication

and culture lessons. Thus, the findings are limited to this population and context.

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Further studies among different levels of students or courses could yield more

information and techniques on how this application could be used to its fullest to

benefit student’s learning experience in a holistic way.

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.4. Significance of the study

The present study has significance for future practice, research and policy.

The results of this study could be used by several groups of teachers. The findings

might assist EFL teachers in improving the design of their lessons.

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