English teachers' cultural dimension of collectivism and its impact to teachers' oral interaction in English classes in Ho Chi Minh City

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

ENGLISH TEACHERS’ CULTURAL DIMENSION OF COLLECTIVISM

AND ITS IMPACT TO TEACHERS’ ORAL INTERACTION IN ENGLISH

CLASSES IN HO CHI MINH CITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master

of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by: NGUYEN THI THANH HIEN

Supervisor: Dr. LE HOANG DUNG

HO CHI MINH City, June 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI THANH HIEN

ENGLISH TEACHERS’ CULTURAL DIMENSION OF COLLECTIVISM

AND ITS IMPACT TO TEACHERS’ ORAL INTERACTION IN ENGLISH

CLASSES IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Major: Master of Arts (TESOL)

Code: 60140111

A THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL)

Supervisor:

LE HOANG DUNG, PhD

HO CHI MINH City, June 2017

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “English Teachers' cultural dimension of

collectivism and its implication to teacher oral interaction in English speaking

classes in Ho Chi Minh City Open University” is my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, no other person‟s work has

been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, 2017

Nguyen Thi Thanh Hien

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor,

Dr. Le Hoang Dung for his continuous support of my thesis. His patience,

suggestion, and guidance are valuable to my thesis. Without his insightful

comments as well as his coaching and mentoring sessions, I could not successfully

complete this thesis.

My deepest thanks also go to all the teacher participants in the study. Without their

precious help, I could not have such a rich data to finish the research as planned.

I would also like to express my thanks to my family for the great spiritual support.

Without their encouragement and love, I could not have courage to finish this

journey.

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ABSTRACT

The cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism is one popular cultural trait

that has been considered in the educational setting across cultures. It significantly

influences the oral interaction between teachers and students in class. Individualism

helps shape directness, person-orientation, verbal-based style, and self￾enhancement. Collectivism promotes indirectness, status-orientation, context-based

style, and self-effacement. In the Vietnamese context where collectivism is

dominant, it is argued that there is a negotiation process of individual EFL teachers

on the polar of collectivism when they orally communicate with students. This

study includes five EFL teachers who are identified as collectivistic on the cultural

continuum. This study applied questionnaire and observation as the tools for data

analysis. The study shows that there is a positive correlation between collectivism

and indirectness in the teachers‟ responses in class, between collectivism and self￾effacement through the practice of praises in class. Also, there is a negative

correlation between collectivism and person-orientation and between collectivism

and context-base style. The study also draws out some unexpected but significant

matters in the classroom oral interaction of these EFL teachers.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................ i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... iv

Page ........................................................................................................................... iv

LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................. vii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. viii

ABBREVIATIONS.....................................................................................................1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................1

1.1. Background to the study................................................................................1

1.2. Statement of the problem...............................................................................5

1.3 Significance of the study ...................................................................................6

1.4 Organization of the thesis..................................................................................7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................8

2.1 Individualism and collectivism at the cultural level..........................................8

2.2. The negotiation process of individuals in the individualism-collectivism

dimension in social settings.....................................................................................9

2.3 Individualistic and collectivistic oral interaction styles ..................................10

2.3.1 Components of oral communication .........................................................10

2.3.2 The framework of individualistic and collectivistic oral interaction styles

............................................................................................................................11

2.3.2.1. Direct versus indirect style and its logic ............................................13

2.3.2.2. Person- versus status-oriented style and the verbal or context-based

language use....................................................................................................14

2.3.2.3. Self-enhancement versus self-effacement style.................................15

2.3 The framework of collectivistic interaction style in the Vietnamese context .15

2.4. The discourse in the English communicative classroom................................17

2.4.1. The interaction pattern..............................................................................17

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2.4.2. EFL teachers‟ instruction, questions and feedback..................................18

2.4.2.1. Teachers‟ instruction..........................................................................18

2.4.2.2. Teachers‟ questions............................................................................19

2.4.2.3. Teachers‟ feedback ............................................................................20

2.5 The challenges of EFL teachers‟ talk in the communicative English classroom

...............................................................................................................................21

2.6 The impact of Vietnamese EFL teachers‟ cultural dimensions on the teachers‟

oral interaction in the English classes....................................................................23

2.7 Hypotheses of EFL teachers‟ cultural dimensions on their oral interaction

styles in their class.................................................................................................24

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................28

3.1 Research design ...............................................................................................28

3.2 Sampling ..........................................................................................................30

3.2.1 Population..................................................................................................30

3.2.2 Sample .......................................................................................................30

3.2.2.1. The sampling process.........................................................................31

3.2.2.2. The classroom context of the research...............................................32

3.3 Data collection .................................................................................................34

3.3.1. Questionnaire............................................................................................34

3.3.2. Classroom Observation ............................................................................37

3.4 Data collection process....................................................................................40

3.5 Data analysis approaches.................................................................................42

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................44

4.1. Results.............................................................................................................44

4.1.1. Results from the questionnaire .................................................................44

4.1.1.1. Data from the questionnaire...............................................................44

4.1.1.2. Data from the open-ended questions .................................................48

Students as Ingroup .....................................................................................48

The role of verbal and vocal cues in the oral interaction in class..............49

4.1.2 Results from the classroom observation....................................................50

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4.1.2.1. Indirectness-directness.......................................................................50

4.1.2.2. Self-effacement..................................................................................52

4.1.2.3. Status-oriented style...........................................................................53

4.1.2.4. Context-based style............................................................................55

4.1.2.2. The field notes....................................................................................60

Observation for the frequencies of teacher talk ..............................................60

4.1.3 Results from the voice analysis data .........................................................67

4.1.4. Summary of the data analysis...................................................................78

4.2 Discussion........................................................................................................79

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION..................................................................................85

5.1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................85

5.2 Recommendations............................................................................................86

5.3. Limitations and recommendations for further research..................................87

5.3.1. Limitations................................................................................................87

5.3.2. Recommendations for further research ....................................................88

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................89

APPENDIX 1 ............................................................................................................95

APPENDIX 2 ..........................................................................................................102

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 4.1a – Distribution of the cultural dimension of the respondents............. 45

Figure 4.1b – Distribution of the cultural dimension of the participants............. 45

Figure 4.2 – Individual frames of oral interaction style....................................... 58

Figure 4.3 - Distribution of the participants on the four domains of verbal

communication..................................................................................................... 60

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 The framework of the low-context communication and high-context

communication (Adapted from Ting-Toomey (1999))........................................ 13

Table 2.2 Framework of verbal interaction of EFL teacher individualists and

collectivists........................................................................................................... 24

Table 3.1 Participant Profile ................................................................................ 32

Table 4.1 Summary of the questionnaire result of the five participants .............. 47

Table 4.2 Scores of Directness............................................................................. 51

Table 4.3 Scores of Self-enhancement................................................................. 53

Table 4.4 Scores of Person-orientation ................................................................ 54

Table 4.5 Scores of Verbal-based style................................................................ 56

Table 4.6 Participants‟ scores for the four indicators .......................................... 57

Table 4.7 Frequencies of teacher instruction, questions and feedback ................ 62

Table 4.8a Teacher 1‟s voice analysis.................................................................. 68

Table 4.8b Teacher 2‟s voice analysis ................................................................. 70

Table 4.8c Teacher 3‟s voice analysis.................................................................. 72

Table 4.8d Teacher 4‟s voice analysis ................................................................. 74

Table 4.8e Teacher 5‟s voice analysis.................................................................. 76

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ABBREVIATIONS

EFL : English as Foreign Language

HCC : High-context Communication

LCC : Low-context Communication

IRF : Initiate – Response – Feedback

IRE : Initiate – Response – Evaluation