VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
---------------------

TRẦN THỊ HẢI

A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOK

FOR GRADE 11 AND SUGGESTIONS OF
SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
FOR STUDENTS’ CROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS

PHÂN TÍCH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH LỚP 11

TỪ KHÍA CẠNH GIAO VĂN HÓA VÀ ĐỀ XUẤT
CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG BỔ TRỢ ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN NHẬN THỨC GIAO VĂN
HÓA CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.140.111

HANOI – 2014
 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
--------------------

TRẦN THỊ HẢI

A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOK

FOR GRADE 11 AND SUGGESTIONS OF
SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
FOR STUDENTS’ CROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS

PHÂN TÍCH SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH LỚP 11 TỪ KHÍA CẠNH
GIAO VĂN HÓA VÀ ĐỀ XUẤT
CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG BỔ TRỢ ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN NHẬN THỨC GIAO VĂN
HÓA CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.140.111
Supervisor: Prof. Nguyễn Quang, Ph.D.

HANOI - 2014
 DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled:

“A cross-cultural analysis of English textbook for grade 11 and suggestions
of supplementary activities for students’ cross-cultural awareness”
is the result of my own work for the degree of Master of Arts in English
Language Teaching Methodology at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies,
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi and this thesis is the total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts.
I have provided fully documented references to the work of others. The material
in this thesis has not been submitted for any other university or institution wholly
and partially.

Hanoi, 2014

Trần Thị Hải

i
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research paper would not have been completed without the help of many
people to whom I would like to express my deep gratitude.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Nguyen
Quang, Ph.D. my supervisor, for his wholehearted support, his precious knowledge,
assistance, consideration and encouragement during the process of writing and
completing the thesis.
I wish to take this opportunity to express my heart felt thanks to the lecturers of
the Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies who help me a lot during the Master Course.
Last but not least, I owe my parents and my husband their continuous support.
Their patience and love have helped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an
insurmountable task.

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 ABSTRACT

This study was intended to examine the cultural content presented in English
textbook for Grade 11 and suggest some activities for raising students’ cross-
cultural awareness.

To achieve the above mentioned objective, the research based on quantitative

methods was conducted in order to give a brief account of how culture is treated
according to the modified checklists designed by Cortazzi and Jin, Hirsch et al. and
Chastain. The main findings of the research were as follows: (1) the textbook can be
classified as an international target culture textbook in which students are exposed
to various kinds of cultures such as world culture, international culture and
Vietnamese culture. (2) the textbook reveals elements of cross-cultural comparison
that promote students’ cross-cultural awareness. (3) the research suggests some
supplementary activities among a number of activities used for culture teaching in
classrooms that may be used to develop students’ cross-cultural awareness.
The author hopes that the findings of the research may support teachers to

adjust their cultural teaching content and help textbook editors in the next reform of

high school textbooks.

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 ABBREVIATIONS

FLT: foreign language teaching

SLT: second language teaching

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… 1
1. Rationale of the study………………………………………………………… 1
2. Objectives of the study……..…………………………………………………. 2
3. Research questions…………………………………………………………… 2
4. Scope of the study…………………………………………………………….. 3
5. Methods of the study…………………………………………………………. 3
6. Structure of the study………………………………………………………… 3
PART B. DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………………………. 5
CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND………………………………… 5
1.1. Foreign language textbooks and treatment of cultural content…………. 5
1.1.1. Classification of cultural content in foreign language textbooks……………….. 5
1.1.2. Cultural topics and categories in foreign language textbooks…………………. 7
1.1.3. Checklists for analyzing the cultural dimension in foreign language
textbooks………………………………………………………………………………… 8
1.2. Culture teaching in foreign language teaching……………………………… 10
1.2.1. Principles for culture teaching………………………………………………… 10
1.2.2. Common approaches to the teaching of culture……………………………… 11
1.2.2.1. The mono-culture approach……………………………………………………… 11
1.2.2.2. Comparative approach…………………………………………………………… 11
1.2.2.3. Other approaches………………………………………………………………… 12
CHAPTER 2. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………... 14
2.1. Material under analysis………………………………………………………….. 14
2.2. Research questions………………………………………………………………. 16
2.3. Research methods………………………………………………………………... 17
2.4. Data collection procedures………………………………………………………. 17
2.5. Checklists for the cross-cultural analysis in the study………………………… 17
CHAPTER 3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS…………………………………… 19
3.1. Research question 1……………………………………………………………… 19

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3.2. Research question 2……………………………………………………………… 21
3.3. Research question 3……………………………………………………………… 23
3.3.1. Influence of factors the choice of activities when teaching culture to Grade
11 students in Vietnam……………………………………………………….. 24
3.3.2. Supplementary activities for developing Grade 11 students’ cross-cultural
awareness in Vietnam………………………………………………………… 24
3.3.2.1. Elmore’s 25
activities……………………………………………………………..
3.3.2.1. Peck’s activities……………………………………………………………….. 27
PART C. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………. 30
1. Summary of main findings…………………………………………………… 30
2. Implications and recommendation…………………………………………... 31
3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research…………….. 32
References……………………………………………………………………………… 33

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 PART A. INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the study

Vietnam has been a member of World Trade Organization (WTO) since

2006. This integration is both opportunity and challenge. Thanks to this decision,
Vietnamese people are easy to seek a job and gain higher salary. It, however,
requires labour source with high level and effective communication in an
international language. In order to understand each other, people need to understand
not only each other’s language, but also each other’s culture. This can open the door
to better international understanding and ensure peaceful relations between nations.
Language and culture are interdependent and interactional. Language may
reflect many factors of culture and culture affects the way language is used in turn.
As Bremberk (1977:14) states “to know another’s language and not his culture is a
very good way to make a fluent fool of one’s self”. Thus, learning culture is
obviously a vital factor for Vietnamese students for success in communication
because second language learning is second culture learning. Without the study of
culture, foreign language instruction is inaccurate and incomplete. In modern
FLT/SLT materials, textbook editors rightly emphasize the close relationship
between learning a language and learning its culture. It is suggested that just
learning four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) may cause the
improper understanding of the meanings of a language.
In 2006, a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory subject, is
“instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as world
cultures” was developed by Ministry of Education and Training (MOET, 2006).
MOET designed new English textbooks for high schools to foster students’ four
skills and provide students with overall knowledge of English-speaking countries,
their people and cultures in 2002. One of the objectives of English teaching and
learning is to enhance students’ cross-cultural awareness. Since their nation-wide
implementation in the school year 2007-2008, a great deal of research have been

1
 carried out to evaluate English textbook of grade 10 as well as to find out how the
textbook are actually implemented or the difficulties that teachers and students have
to face when teaching and learning by the new textbook. However, most of these
studies have dealt with the teaching and learning of the four language skills which
are believed to be new for both teachers and students at grade 10 and grade 11. And
one research on cross-cultural factors for grade 10 was conducted. Hence, there is
still a lack of research on cross-cultural factors in English textbook of grade 11.
For the aforementioned reasons, the author has decided to conduct this
study. It is hoped that this study will help students and teachers realize cross-
cultural factors which may be implicit or explicit in the textbook, contribute some
immediate activities to develop students' cross-cultural awareness.
2. Objectives of the study

This research was carried out to serve the following objectives:

 To identify cultural treatment and categories revealed in the textbook.
 To suggest supplementary activities for Grade 11 students’ cross-cultural awareness
so that English learning and teaching become more interesting and effective.
3. Research questions

In this research, the cross-cultural analysis of the textbook is carried out to

answer the following questions:
1. How are cultural and cross-cultural contents treated in Grade 11 English
Textbook? Which cultures are represented in the nationally developed Grade 11
English textbook and to what extent?
2. What type of cultural categories does Grade 11 English textbook introduce
and to what extent?
3. What type of supplementary activities should be used to improve Grade 11
students’ cross-cultural awareness?

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 4. Scope of the study

The thesis focuses on Reading and Listening passages in Grade 11 English

textbook (developed by Hoang Van Van et al., Vietnam Education Publishing
House, 2007). The tasks in Reading and Listening sections and the content of
Speaking, Writing and The Language Focus sections (including illustrations) are
also employed for analysis when and if appropriate.
In the national high school English syllabus, there are no appropriate
guidelines for cultural instructions although the stress on students’ cross-cultural
awareness is emphasized. It is believed that a good cross-cultural evaluation of a
textbook can be made when the goal of cultural instructions is clearly stated in the
syllabus. Therefore, the study just makes an attempt to conduct a small-scale cross-
cultural analysis of the Grade 11 textbook. It does not provide a general assessment
of the whole set of Grade 10, Grade 11 and Grade 12 English textbooks for
Vietnamese high schools.
5. Methods of the study

In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the study resorts to

quantitative method. The analysis is conducted according to the two modified
checklists proposed by Cortazzi and Jin, Hircsh et al., Chastain.
6. Structure of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts:

Part A: INTRODUCTION – All the academic routines required for an MA thesis
are presented
PART B: DEVELOPMENT – This is the focus of the study and consists of 3
chapters
Chapter 1: Theoretical background
Chapter 2: Methodology of the study
Chapter 3: Results and discussions

3
Part C: CONCLUSION: Review of the findings, implications and limitations of
the study and some suggestions for further research are given.

4
 PART B. DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1. Foreign language textbooks and treatment of cultural content
1.1.1. Classification of cultural content in foreign language textbooks
Textbooks and instruction materials are often used by teachers and language
instructors since they are considered essential constituents in EFL/SLT. As
Hutchinson & Torres (1994:315) suggest “the textbook is an almost universal
element of English language teaching.” They suggest that textbooks can support
teachers through potentially disturbing and threatening change processes,
demonstrate new and/or untried methodologies, introduce change gradually, and
create scaffolding upon which teachers can build a more creative methodology of
their own. A very indispensable assumption about using textbooks in FLT/SLT is
that they reflect the culture through their cultural content. Dunnet, Dubin and
Lezberg (1986) posit there are two types of textbooks: one-dimensional and two-
dimensional. One-dimensional textbooks focus on the target language culture and
leave few possibilities for comparison, “unless the teacher injects a question, such
as, ‘This is what American do. What do you do?’ or ‘This is the American view.
What is your view?” (Dunnet, Dubin and Lezberg (1986: 153). While two
dimensional textbooks encourage cross-cultural understanding, they treat culture-
related themes from two different perspectives, thus stimulating both comparison
and contrast between the target and the source cultures. Later on Moran (2001: 15-
18) offers four categories of cultural content that should be introduced to students
where cultural content is identified as:
- Knowing about, relating to cultural information – facts about products, practices
and perspectives of the target culture as well as students’ own;
- Knowing how, referring to cultural practices in the everyday life of the people of
the target culture;
- Knowing why, constituting an understanding of fundamental cultural perspectives
– beliefs, values and attitudes;

5
- Knowing oneself, concerning the individual learners’ self-awareness. In other
words, students need to understand themselves and their own culture as a means to
comprehend the target language culture.
Regarding culture-related teaching materials and textbooks in English
classroom, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) provide a novel look at the sources of cultural
information. They classified the sources of culture textbooks into source culture
textbook (learner’s own culture), target culture textbook (any English-speaking
countries where English is spoken as a first language), and international target
culture textbook (English-speaking or non-speaking English countries around the
world where English is not used as a first language). They distinguish three types of
cultural information to be presented in foreign language textbooks:
- Source culture textbooks refer to the textbooks which present language learners’
own culture. Usually, these are the textbooks that are produced at a national level
for a particular country. Preparation of the language helps learners to introduce their
own culture to English-speaking visitors is the main purpose of this kind of
textbooks.
- Target culture textbooks usually focus on one or two target cultures, such as the
United Kingdom, United States. The textbooks of this category are the most popular
instruction materials in the EFL context. The reason for integrating target culture
into English classroom lies in firstly that learning a target culture will nurture
student motivation and develop their attitudes toward language learning. Students
using such textbooks might have more competence when talking to people from the
target culture or visiting the target country. They could also be aware of cultural
differences between their own culture and the target culture, so students’ awareness
of the target culture is thus enhanced.
- International target culture textbooks involve textbooks that include a wide
variety of cultures set in English-speaking countries or in countries where English is
not a first or a second language, but is used as an international language, namely
lingua franca. Students not only learn the target culture from such textbooks but

6
also learn about more than one culture. Their knowledge of other cultures may
enhance student’s motivation, develop their attitudes toward language learning, and
raise their awareness of other cultures.
1.1.2. Cultural topics and categories in foreign language textbooks
Researchers have made many attempts to find out relevant cultural issues to
deliver in foreign language textbooks. It mainly focuses on investigating what
aspects of culture students should learn in order to be able to function in that culture
or interact with people from that culture. They proposed some frameworks to
describe specific categories of cultural knowledge that should be taught to students.
Brooks (1986: 124-128, first published in 1964) compiled 62 possible
cultural topics which could be used as the contents of brief cultural presentations in
the language classroom. He also draws a considerable attention to a comparison of a
student’s view of life with that of an individual in the new speech community.
Under each topic he provides some example questions so that teachers could
elaborate the topic according to students’ age and experience. For example, under
the topic “Soft drinks and alcohol” he presents the following questions:
What types of nonalcoholic beverages are usually consumed by young
people and adults? What is the attitude towards beer, wine, and spirits? What
alcoholic drinks are in frequent use at home and in public?
(Brooks 1986: 126)
Similar to Brooks, Chastain (1988:303-304), based on the idea of
anthropological definition of culture, proposes thirty-seven categories of culture
themes for foreign language learners. To develop students’ comprehension of the
values behind the categories, Chastain suggests using comparison and contrast when
introducing these culture themes. There are 37 topics in his list, including
Geography, Contemporary Science, Commonly Known History, Clothing,
Transportation, Home, Economic System, Earning a Living, Retirement, Money,
Services, Health and Welfare, Family, Courtship and Marriage, Population, Politics,
Death, Crime, Humor, Holidays, Leisure Activities, Correspondence, Language,

7
Education, Courtesy Phrases, Good Manners, Eating, Social Interaction, Non-verbal
Communication, Religion, Ecology, Vacations, Travel, Daily Routines, Pets, The
Press, Meeting Personal Needs.
Durant (1997:31) also emphasizes the comparative approach. He details list
of cultural topics which comprise food, customs, the legal and judicial system,
holidays, housing and gardens, social attitudes, and forms of political expression.
He also posits there is no need for any fixed list or fixed order of themes. Teachers
could choose topics depending on students’ interest and suggestions.
The above cultural topics may lead to an unsystematic provision of
information. Therefore, Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEF) (2002) groups into a list of seven
categories. These include everyday living (e.g., food and drink, holidays and
working practices), living conditions, (e.g., housing conditions), interpersonal
relations (e.g., class structure, family structures and relations between generations),
values, beliefs and attitudes (e.g., social class, wealth, regional cultures, minorities
and arts), body language, social conventions (punctuality, dress and behavioral and
conversational conventions) and ritual behavior (e.g., birth, marriage and death).
Stern (1992) focuses on six categories which an average language student is
likely to require: places, individual persons and way of life, people and society in
general, history, institutions and, finally, art, music, literature and other
achievements. He claims that a student needs to have “some sense of physical
location to which relate the target language”. To teachers, he suggests that they can
overcome the vastness of material by careful selection and differentiated
approaches.
1.1.3. Checklists for analyzing the cultural dimension in foreign
language textbooks
In order to help teachers to pick up teaching materials that best meet the
demand of the course and students’ needs, there have been various checklists for
analyzing foreign language textbooks. However, some scholars such as Byram

8
(1997:71), Cortazzi and Jin (1999:201) and Skopinskaja (2003:44) contend that in
some checklists the cultural studies dimension is missing. Cortazzi and Jin
(1999:202) add that other checklists address only certain aspects of culture (for
example, stereotypes) or varieties of target cultures (for example Britain or the
USA).Still others put aside uncomfortable social realities such as unemployment,
poverty and racism.
Byram (1989) and Cortazzi and Jin (1999) offer Huhn’s (1978) list. There are seven
criteria to deal with the cultural content of foreign language textbooks in his list:
Cultural information must be accurate and contemporary;
The question of stereotypes must be handled critically;
It must provide a realistic picture of the foreign society;
It must be free from ideologies;
Facts should not be presented in isolation;
The historical material should be presented explicitly;
Later on Cunningsworth (1995), the social and cultural context in foreign language
course must be understandable to students and they should be able to interpret “the
relationships, behavior, intentions, etc. of the characters portrayed in the book”. He
asks the following questons”
 Are the social and cultural contexts in the textbook comprehensible to the
students?
 Can students interpret the relationship, behaviours, intentions etc. of the
characters portrayed in the book?
 Are women given equal prominence to men in all aspects of the textbook?
 What physical and character attributes are women given?
 What professional and social positions are women shown as occupying?
 What do we learn about inner lives of the chracters?
 To what extent is the language of feeling depicted?
 Do the textbook characters exits in some kind of social setting, within a
social network?

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  Are social relationships portrayed realistically?
Thanks to Huhn’s (1978) list of criteria, Cunningsworth’s (1995) checklist or recent
checklists like Sercu’s (1998) set of questions, Kilickaya (2004), it can be seen that
scholars have developed them in a more systematic way. However, it cannot be
denied that the textbook assessment is more or less subjective, difficult to answer
and time-consuming for researchers who want to develop a questionnaire based on
those checklists.
1.2. Culture teaching in foreign language teaching
1.2.1. Principles for culture teaching
When students learn a foreign language, their ultimate aim is to understand
the ways people do things and why they do them. With traditional teaching
methods, students are focused on the improvement of speaking, listening, reading
and writing skills as well as the teaching of pronunciation, vocabulary and
grammar. These may lead to misunderstanding in some real situation or
communicate less effectively, or even cause culture shock to students. Scholars
have been ongoing concerns about the teaching of culture in foreign language
instructions. Like teaching other aspects in foreign language instruction, culture
teaching requires organized development of its teaching principles. Kramsch’s
principles may be considered the most noticeable one. Kramsch (1993: 205-206)
warns against a simple “transmission of information” about the foreign culture and
its members’ worldviews. She highlights what she calls “new way of looking at the
teaching of language and culture”. These include:
- Establishing a sphere of interculturality, which means that teaching culture
is not transferring information between cultures but a foreign culture should
be put in relation with one’s own. The intercultural approach includes a
reflection on both cultures.
- Teaching culture as an interpersonal process, which means replacing the
teaching of facts and behaviors by the teaching of a process that helps to
understand others.

10
 - Teaching culture as difference, which means considering the
multiculturality and multiethnicity of modern societies and looking at various
factors like age, gender, regional origin, ethnic background, and social class.
In other words, cultures should not be seen as monolithic.
- Crossing disciplinary boundaries, which means linking the teaching of
culture to other disciplines like anthropology, sociology and semiology.
Kramsch (1993) concludes that these “lines of thought lay the ground for a much
richer understanding of culture than heretofore envisaged by the majority of
language teachers”.
1.2.2. Common approaches to the teaching of culture
Researchers or scholars have observed, researched and classified approaches
to the teaching of culture in different ways in which some of them have lost ground,
others have had dominant positions. In very broad terms, they divided ways to teach
culture into two: those focusing only on the culture of the country whose language
studied is called the mono-cultural approach, and those based on comparing
learners’ own and the other culture is called the comparative approach.
1.2.2.1. The mono-cultural approach
Risager (1998:246) calls the mono-cultural approach the foreign-cultural
approach. It focuses on the culture of the country where the language is spoken and
is based on the concept of a single culture. It seems to be a shortcoming today
because it is lack of the relationship between cultures. The aim of the teaching is to
develop native speaker communicative and cultural competence. This approach was
prevalent until the 1980s and is looked down nowadays since it does not consider
learners’ understanding of their own culture.
1.2.2.2. The comparative approach
The comparative approach puts the stress on the relationship between the
foreign culture and the learners’ own. Buttjes and Byram (1991:13, cited in
Edginton 2000: 136) state that instead of providing learners with “a one-way flow
of cultural information” they should be encouraged to reflect on their own and

11
foreign culture. With the comparative approach, students learn that people can do
things by many ways, and their way is not the only possible one. Learner’s
knowledge, beliefs and values combining with those of other culture are addressed
to form a successful communication. Byram and Planet (2000:189) state that “the
comparative approach does involve evaluation but not in terms of comparison with
something which is better, but in terms of improving what is all too familiar.”
Comparison gives learners a new perspective of their own language and culture.
Through this, students discover both similarities and differences of their own and
other cultures. As a result, they can enhance knowledge, understanding and
acceptance.
1.2.2.3. Other approaches
- The theme-based approach
Theme-based or thematic approach to the teaching of culture relies on certain
themes, for example, family, humour, beauy, liberty, value, religion, symbolism,
ceremony, love and education, which are seen as typical of a culture. This approach
endeavours to indicate the values and relationships in a given culture and helps
learners to understand it better. Nevertheless, it might be difficult for them to see
individual people and understand social processes and values from this perspective
and could lead to stereotyping (Visniewska-Brogowska 1999: 61). Theme-based
approach has some flaws because it provides students with an unsystematic view of
the target culture.
- The task-oriented approach
This approach is based on learners’ own research. Different from the previous one,
it is characterised by co-operative tasks. Learners work in pairs or small groups on
various aspects of the other culture. They share and discuss their findings with
others in order to form a more complete picture. Finally, learners interpret the
information within the context of the other culture and compare it with their own.
- The skill-centered approach

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The skill-centred approach aims at developing learners’ skills, which they may need
to deal with issues related to communication among cultures. Therefore, this
approach is beneficial for people needing to live in the target-language community.
It does not merely mean knowledge of the other culture. The skill-centered
approach addresses awareness and skills as much as content, their similarities as
well as differences.

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 CHAPTER 2. METHODOLOGY

2.1. Material under analysis

The content of Standard English textbook Grade 11 (by General Editor and Chief
Editor Hoang Van Van, Vietnam Education Publishing House, 2007) is under
analysis. This is a theme-based textbook, which includes 16 units and 6 review
units. Each unit focuses on one specific theme with five parts such as Reading,
Speaking, Listening,Writing and Language Focus. Grammar and vocabulary
presents central grammar points and vocabulary of each unit. This part enables
student to understand and use the correct vocabluary and structures in
communication. Six review lessons are presented in a form of TEST YOURSELF
paper. It is designed for students to assess their abilities and knowledge on their
own after every 2 or 3 units. There is a list of vocabularies for each lesson at the end
of the book. A great advantage of the textbook is that it gives not only information
and knowledge about the source culture but also the target cultures. Learners are
given an opportunity to deal with various cultural issues. The aim is to develop an
understanding of cultures of English-speaking countries in general. The analysis of
its cultural content may set a continuous step for the analysis of the whole set of
high school English textbooks in terms of how culture is treated. It is the reason
why the author chooses the textbook for analysis.
Hereinafter are the six broad themes in the teaching content of Grade 11
English textbook: You and me; Education; Community; Nature; Recreation; People
and places.
Titles/topics for sixteen units in the textbook are broken from six above
themes. Each unit consists of five sections: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing
and Language Focus.
Reading: Like Grade 10 English textbook, Grade 11 English textbook begins
with reading section in each unit. The aim of this choice is, through reading skills
such as scanning, skimming, to provide information and help students get familiar

14
with the topics and the language content of the unit. Students are based on those to
speak, listen and write about related issues of the next periods and outside the
classroom. The reading text includes a passage (a monologue or a dialogue) from
240 to 270 words. The teaching of reading is allocated into three steps: Before you
read, While you read and After you read. Before you read facilitates students to
make accquaintance with the topic and the content of the unit, introduces
vocabularies of the passage. While you read is aimed at developing reading skills
and helps students comprehend the content of the passage. This section regularly
includes two or three reading tasks. After you read is to consolidate students’
reading skills through activities such as summarizing, retelling the passage by
informal language or linking the studied topic with real life.
Speaking: The purpose of the teaching is to develop student’s speaking skills
based on issues related to the topic. There are two to four tasks in the section. The
first two tasks provide students with language input and enhance certain
communicative competences. The other tasks require students to improve those
language input and communicative competences into an oral text which lasts
approximately one – two minutes to practice the speaking skill with or without
teachers’ instruction.
Listening: The section is aimed at developing students’ listening skills such
as intensive listening, extensive listening, listening for specific information,
listening for gist and so on based on the issues involved in the topic of the unit. Like
the teaching of reading, the teaching of listening is managed under a three-stage
procedure: Before you listen, While you listen and After you listen. Before you listen
is designed to help students get familiar with the topic and the content, introduce
new words in listening section. While you listen includes two to three tasks such as
requiring students to match information, answering true or false, choosing the best
answer from A, B, C, D or answering questions. After you listen is designed with
similar tasks of reading section.

15
 Writing: Writing is the most difficult and complicated skill for both students
and teachers. Like the approach used in Grade 10 English textbook, Grade 11
English textbook normally begins with a sample of concrete writing task such as:
writing a letter, writing description of a close friend, writing description of
information in bar chart or line chart or table, writing about hobbies. Following a
sample, students are required to finish some tasks in order to find out content,
structure, and words used in the type of writing. Later, students are required to
conduct guided writing based on given questions or word cues. However, unlike
Grade 10 English textbook, Grade 11 English textbook is designed to create a
certain confortable environment. This is shown by providing some suggestions of
content, but students can choose language and writing style.
Language Focus: This section is complied to consolidate students’ language
competencies. The teaching of Language Focus consists of two parts: Pronunciation
and Grammar - Vocabulary. Pronunciation asks students to repeat right some
consonants, practice to pronounce them in words and sentences. Grammar and
Vocabulary including structures and grammar is important to development of
students’ communicative skills.
2.2. Research questions
The study focuses on identifying the cultural treatment and cultural
categories in Grade 11 English textbook. So the study is set up to answer the
following questions:
Question 1: How are cultural and cross-cultural contents treated in Grade 11
English Textbook? Which cultures are represented in the nationally developed
Grade 11 English textbook and to what extent?
Question 2: What type of cultural categories does Grade 11 English textbook
introduce and to what extent?
Question 3: What type of supplementary activities should be used to improve Grade
11 students’ cross-cultural awareness?

16
2.3. Research methods
This study uses quantitative method in order to analyze and quantify how
culture is treated according to the modified checklists designed by Cortazzi and Jin,
Hirsch et al. and Chastain. The data collected from references, investigation,
findings and discussions are analyzed. Steps to conduct the study are presented:
The first step is reference to theoretical background of cross-cultural
treatment, cultural content, cultural categories and cultural teaching. The next step
is investigation in the Grade 11 English textbook (by General Editor cum Chief
Editor Hoang Van Van). The last step is findings and discussions about cultural
treatment, cultural categories in the textbook and suggest some activities to raise
students’ cross-cultural awareness.
2.4. Data collection procedures
In this study, the cross-cultural analysis of the textbook is carried out
according to the following procedures:
Firstly, read and review theoretical background of culture from referent books,
research papers and so on.
Secondly, select scholars’ checklists used for cross-cultural analysis in the study.
Thirdly, list the titles of sixteen units in the textbook to investigate main themes
presented in it.
Next, read passages of Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing sections and
highlight main topics/subtopics of each passage/section as well as their illustrations
(if any) and then categorize the contents of the passages and illustrations according
to the checklists developed for the analysis.
Lastly, make statistics and present the results in tables to analyze, compare and
summarize the frequency of occurrence of cultural contents. Then, suggest activities
to raise students’ cross-cultural awareness.
2.5. Checklists for the cross-cultural analysis in the study
The author bases herself on two modified checklists proposed by Cortazzi
and Jin, Hircsh et al., Chastain to conduct the analysis.

17
 The first checklist is used to classify English textbooks in terms of their
cultural treatment and is proposed by Cortazzi and Jin (1999: 204). Cultural
contents are focused on rather than the four language skills to develop criterion for
analyzing English textbooks used worldwide. The categories in the modified
classification of Grade 11 English textbook include:
 Referring to Vietnamese culture
 Referring to foreign culture including:
- Refering to English speaking cultures (English is used as first
language)
- Refering to world cultures (English is used as the international
language)
- Cross-national comparison
- Refering to Universal culture
The second checklist used to count the number of detailed cultural categories
and is developed by Hirsch et al. (1988) and Chastain (1988: 304). This checklist
includes 14 fields and is presented below:
- Geography -Festivals and Holidays
- History - Science and Technology
- Language and Literature - Business and Economics
- Sociology and Lifestyle - Politics
- Nature - Sports
- Fine Arts - Education
- Hobbies - Health

As mentioned above, the author only examines the culture teaching content
in the Vietnamese Grade 11 English textbook. Therefore, the references to different
cultural categories in the textbook is a quantitative account. The two checklists
focus on the kind of cultural content as well as frequencies of occurrence given to
various countries and cultural categories in the textbook.

18
 CHAPTER 3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1. Research question 1
How are cultural and cross-cultural contents treated in Grade 11 English
Textbook? Which cultures are represented in the nationally developed Grade 11
English textbook and to what extent?
This is the summary of the frequency and types of references to Vietnamese
and foreign cultures according to Checklist One which is introduced by Cortazzi
and Jin (1999: 204). The classification of Grade 11 English textbook in terms of its
cross-cultural treatment is indicated as follows:
Referring Types Frequency %
1. Referring to Vietnamese culture 20 25%
2. Referring to foreign culture 60 75%
2.1. Referring to English-speaking cultures 12 15%
2.2. Referring to world cultures 13 16%
2.3. Cross-national comparison 6 8%
2.4. Referring to Universal culture 29 36%
Total 80 100%
Table 1: The frequency and types of references to Vietnamese and foreign cultures
Table One illustrates that foreign culture accounts for three fourths
equivalent to 75 percent comparing to Vietnamese culture. As can be seen,
Universal culture is prevalent in the teaching content of the textbook. With the texts
referring to universal culture, students can learn how English-speaking people
express a number of ideas in English. Examples for this category are a passage
about friendship, a text about personal experience, a text about world population, a
text about nature in danger or a text about sources of energy. When the passages
belong to Universal culture, they may not have a number of cross-cultural effects
for students as they have no specific scope.
Ranked at the second place is the content about the Vietnamese culture
(25%) in the table. Passages about the Vietnamese culture cover the broader area of

19
culture and provide students with knowledge of Vietnamese history, culture such as
illiteracy throughout Vietnam, Tet holiday, Cat Ba National Park, Ponagar Cham
Tower, volunteer activities of Spring School in Ho Chi Minh City and so on.
Reference to English-speaking culture and world culture appeals nearly equal
in the textbook (15% and 16% respectively). The definition of “English-speaking”
countries normally refers to nations that the first language is English. In this study,
countries belonging to the “English-speaking culture” are the United Kingdom, the
United States of America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland. Frankly
speaking, according to statistics, English-speaking culture mentioned the most in
the textbook are information about the United Kingdom and the United States of
America. Examples are passages introducing culture features about birthdays and
anniversaries in the United States, a listening dialogue about the Boston Marathon,
volunteer work in the United States, a famous people (for example, Neil Armstrong
- American astronaut, Mark Twain -American writer), leisure activities in Britain,
Linda with her wonderful collection. For world culture, the passages in the book
are listed in world culture since they introduce countries other than Vietnam and
English-speaking countries. They are passages about The Great Wall of China, The
Great Pyramid of Giza, Yang Liwei - China’s first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin - the first
human to fly into space, customs in Spain, Portugal, Iran, New Year’s Days in
Japan.
The lowest percentage is found in cross-national comparison (8%) but it
reveals that the cross-national comparison is highlighted. Cross-national comparison
means that two cultures or countries are compared. This draws a conclusion that the
textbook pays certain attention to cross-culture teaching. Examples can be seen in
the passage about voluntary Work in the United States and listening passage about
voluntary works at Spring School in Ho Chi Minh City or reading passage about Tet
in Vietnam while listening about New Year’s Days in Japan.
Comparing to Grade 10 English textbook published in 2006, it is clear that
Grade 11 English textbook develop and expand a variety of cultures. Grade 10

20
English textbook does not mention China and ASEAN countries, however,
information about those nations, Iran, Portugal are included in Grade 11 English
textbook. One more difference is that in Grade 10 English textbook has a big
difference between world culture (8%) and English-speaking culture (31%). In
contrast, Grade 11 English textbook has nearly balance between world culture and
English-speaking culture (16% and 15% respectively). Therefore, it can be
concluded that textbook authors draw attentions to other nations used English
language as international language. This helps students to gain knowledge of other
societies and have more and closer ties in many areas between Vietnam and those
countries. In terms of cultural treatment, according to Cortazzi and Jin’s
classification (1999:204) the textbook may be classified as “international target
culture textbook”, which helps to develop students’ cross-cultural awareness as it
employs a variety of cultures where the target language is used as an international
language. It is guessed that in Grade 12 English textbook, the authors would widen
student’s knowledge of other English-speaking countries like Australia, Canada,
New Zealand.
3.2. Research question 2
What type of cultural categories does Grade 11 English textbook introduce
and to what extent?

Based on the list of cultural categories developed by Hirsch et al. (1988) and
Chastain (1988), the distribution of frequency and percentage of specific cultural
categories in Grade 11 English textbook is summarized
Cultural categories Frequency %
Geography 0 0%
History 11 14%
Language and Literature 4 5%
Society and lifestyle 19 23%
Nature 9 11%

21
 Fine Arts 0 0%
Hobbies 10 12%
Festivals and Holidays 6 7%
Science and Technology 6 7%
Business and Economy 0 0%
Politics 0 0%
Sports 7 9%
Education 9 11%
Health 1 1%
Total 82 100%
Table 2: Distribution of frequency and percentage of cultural categories according
to Checklist Two
From the table above, we can see that Society and Lifestyle is revealed the
most frequently with the highest rate, 23%. The detailed contents of this theme
belong to the topics such as Friendship, Personal Experience, and Party and they
subjected under both Vietnamese culture and foreign culture. After Society and
Lifestyle it is History, Nature, Hobbies and Education which are revealed with high
percentages of 14%, 11%, 12%, and 11% respectively. For History category, it is
observed through the introduction of people (Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, Mark
Twain) or famous places (Cat Ba National Park, the Great Pyramid of Giza, The
Great Wall of China, Ponagar Cham Towers). Nature category is presented through
the topic Nature in Danger and Sources of Energy. Hobbies and Education are
identified in the topics of Hobbies and Recreation; Volunteer work and Illiteracy.
Besides these categories, the attention is paid to Languages and Literature, Festivals
and Holidays, Science and Technology, Sports with more or less than 7%. The least
frequency is Health, Geography, Fine Arts, Business and Economy and Politics are
not mentioned in the textbook.
It is obvious that the cultural categories in the textbook are quite broad. A
quick look in the Grade 10 English textbook shows that cultural categories

22
appearing in Grade 10 English textbook is less or even are ignored in Grade 11
English textbook, for example, Geography accounts for 18% in Grade 10 English
textbook but it is eradicated in Grade 11 English textbook. It is believed that issues
neglected in grade 10 and grade 11 would be added in grade 12. Surely, contents
decided to teach at each grade at high school is considered carefully. Society and
Lifestyle ranked first in Table Two implies their belief that Grade 11 students
should learn more about the specific area. The textbook’s authors thought the
students’ age or development, and limited amount of time at Grade 11 to allocate
cultural categories.
3.3. Research question 3
What types of supplementary activities should be used to improve Grade 11
students’ cross-cultural awareness?
When students learn a foreign language, their ultimate aim should be
directed towards the understanding of the way people do things and why they do
them. Clearly handling this goal, the textbook authors have paid more attention to
the cultural content in foreign language textbook. Indeed, any listening to the
utterances of native speakers, any reading passages, any examination of pictures of
natives speakers engaged in natural activities will introduce cultural element into
students. Learning to understand a foreign culture helps students of another
language to use words and expressions more skillfully and authentically; to
understand situationally appropriate; to act naturally with people of the other culture,
while recognizing and accepting their different reactions and to help students of
other tongues feel at home in their own culture.
Although cultural teaching and learning are not stated in the high school
English syllabus, fundamental information about culture, cross-cultural comparison
is surely contained in foreign language textbooks. Ministry of Training and
Education is planning to replace textbooks in 2015. It is believed that the goal to
develop students’ cross-cultural awareness have installed by English syllabus
designers.

23
3.3.1. Influence of factors on the choice of activities when teaching culture to
Grade 11 students in Vietnam
Although nowadays, students plays the centered role and the learners have a
great role in the management of their learning, it does not mean that students can
decide everything, teachers have to be good leaders to find out the suitable teaching
methods and combine different approaches in a context. Therefore, factors having
influences on the choice of activities includes three main items as follows:
For teachers, the attitudes toward culture in teaching are very important.
They must upgrade cross-cultural knowledge by themselves. No matter what
methodologies teachers use, they must encourage learners’ active role in studying.
In Vietnam, as a consequence of preparation for endless examinations, teachers
seems to pay more attention to improving students’ four communicative skills and
there may be little time left for culture teaching.
For learners, to learn English successfully, they should raise their awareness
of the importance of cultures. They have to learn the difference between cultures by
themselves rather than wait for the knowledge provided by teachers. In Vietnam,
students live in various places from urban, rural to remote, mountainous areas. With
maturity, different level of knowledge, it is very hard to propose activities to teach
culture.
For context, Vietnam is the same as number of other nations, the context to
teaching culture apparently shows problems. That is students are physically and
often psychologically removed from the reality of the target culture. In this case
culture teaching provides background to boost students to visualize the reality.
3.3.2. Supplementary activities for developing Grade 11 students’ cross-
cultural awareness in Vietnam
Teaching culture requires a lot of efforts from teachers in order that students
can enrich their cultural awareness with enthusiasm. In this paper, the author
proposes some practical activities summarized by Christine Elmore, contributed by
Deborah Peck. As can be seen, teaching culture is not the primary objective in

24
English classes in Vietnam, the activities selected in this study are supposed to help
integrate culture into language teaching. From the result of question 1, 2 and the
factors influencing the choice of culture teaching activities, supplementary activities
for culture teaching in Grade 11 include the following ones:
3.3.2.1. Elmore’s activities:
 Cultural Islands
From the first days of class, teachers should prepare a cultural island in their
classrooms. Posters, pictures, maps and realia of many kinds are essential in
helping students develop a mental image. Start students off by making them aware
of the influence of various foreign cultures in this country, introducing students to
the borrowed words in their native language or place-names of our country. This
helps students to realize they already know many words in the target language. A
good introductory activity is to send students on cultural scavenger hunts to
supermarkets and department stores and have those makes lists of imported goods.
For examples:
- Posters or pictures about party, volunteer work, celebration may
correspond with the topics in Unit3, Unit 4, Unit 8
- Famous people, football, sports may be used to teach in topics “The
Asian games”, “Space Conquest” in Unit 12 and Unit 15
- Famous places including buildings, sightseeing, that may be related to
the topics “Nature in Danger” Unit 10, “The wonders of the world”
Unit 16
 Culture Capsules
Culture Capsules are generally prepared out of the class by students but presented
during class time in 5 or 10 minutes. A Cultural capsule consists of a paragraph or
so of explanation of minimal difference between the native culture and the target
culture. Essentially a culture capsule is a brief description of some aspect of the
target language culture followed by or incorporated with contrasting information
from students’ native language culture. The contrasting information can be provided

25
by the teacher, but it is usually more effective to have the students themselves point
out contrasts.
Culture capsules are usually done orally with the teacher giving a brief lecture on
the chosen cultural point and then leading a discussion about the differences
between cultures. For example:
The activity of “the cultural capsule” may be designed for the teaching of the
topic “Tet in Vietnam” (Unit 8). Students are asked to read the reading passage in
advance at home and prepare some information which should contain some
contrastive features between their own everyday life routine and that of the people
in an English-speaking country. Or contrasts may be presented about the traditional
model of a Vietnamese Tet and New Year holiday of an English-speaking country.
 Culture Assimilators
The culture assimilator provides the student with 70 to 100 episodes of target
cultural behavior. Culture assimilators consist of short (usually written) descriptions
of an incident or situation where interaction takes place between at least one person
from the target culture and persons from other cultures (usually the native culture of
the students being taught). The description is followed by four possible choices
about the meaning of the behavior, action, or words of the participants in the
interaction with emphasis on the behavior, actions or words of the target language
individuals.
Students read the description in the assimilator and then choose which of the four
options they feel the correct interpretation of the interaction. Once all students have
made their individual choices, the teacher leads a discussion about why particular
options are correct or incorrect in interpretation.
The following examples may be used when teaching Unit 3. A party or Unit
8. Celebrations.
Situation 1. You are a student at a high school in London. You are invited to
take part in a 32th birthday party of a woman. A wish you’d better not say:
1. Happy birthday to you!

26
 2. Happy 32th birthday to you!
3. Best wishes.
Situation 2. You are a Vietnamese student studying in an English-speaking
country. You are invited to New Year party. What gifts shouldn’t you bring?
1. Money.
2. Champagne.
3. Flowers
 Critical Incidents/problem Solving
Critical incidents are another method for teaching culture. Critical incidents are
descriptions of incidents or situations which demand that a participant in the
interaction make some kind of decision. Most of the situations could happen to any
individual. Generally, the procedures with a critical incident are to have students
read the incident independently and make individual decisions about what they
would do. Then the students are grouped into small groups to discuss their decisions
and why they made them the way they did. Then all the groups discuss their
decisions and the reasons behind them. Finally, students have to be given the
opportunity to see how their decision and reasoning compare and contrast with the
decisions and reasoning of native members of the target culture.
This example may be used when teaching Unit 3 A party.
Situation: John is an exchange student studying in Vietnam. He was invited to join
his host-Mom’s birthday party. He wanted to give his host-Mom a present, but he
hesitated to ask her about what present he should give her.
Discuss in groups about what John should do in this situation.
3.3.2.2. Peck’s activities
Deborah Peck (1998) introduced some other activities, which can be used in the
foreign language class.
 Quizzes
Quizzes are one of the most successful activity types. Quizzes can be used to test
materials that the teachers have previously taught, but they are also used in learning

27
new information. The teacher can ask the students to answer true or false to each of
the questions in pairs or groups. They will share their existing knowledge and
common sense to give answers. It is not important whether students get the right
answer or not, but by predicting, students will become more interested in finding
out the right answer. The right answer can be given by the teacher, through a
reading, listening, or video. At this point, extra information can be provided.
Quizzes offer a high-interest activity that keeps students involved in learning.
The following example of “the quiz” can be suitable for the teaching of the topic
“The Asian Games” (Unit 12).
1. The Asian Games is held
a. every year
b. every two years
c. every four years
2. The first Asian Games is held in
a. 1950
b. 1951
c. 1952
3. Gold medals won by Vietnam at 14th Asian Games held in Busan,
Korean
a. 4
b. 5
c. 6
4. Who won one gold medal with 80kg in bodybuilding at 14th Asian
Games?
a. Pham Van Mach
b. Ly Duc
c. Nguyen Hong Son
5. The purpose of the Asian Games are to
a. develop competition among Asian countries

28
 b. develop sport spirit within Asian nations
c. develop intercultural knowledge and friendship with Asia.
 Student research
Student research is one of the most powerful tools that we can use with students
because it combines their interests with the classroom. For example, after the first
class, the teachers ask students to search the internet or library and find information
on any aspect of the target-culture that interest them. In the following class, students
explain to their group what they have learned and answer any questions about it.
This can lead to poster-sessions or longer projects. For some students, it can even
lead to a long-term interest in the target-culture.
Activities are varied for raising students’ cross-cultural awareness. Howerver, some
certain activities are better selected in certain classroom contexts with different
students at different English level. Under any circumstances, it is undeniable that
students can only be successful in language learning if cultural issues are an
indispensable part in foreign language teaching curriculum.
There are many topics in the textbook that may be used for student research.
In order to do some research into cross-cultural comparison, students may be
organized in groups of five-ten and choose their favorite topic, for example:
- Gifts for parties in Vietnam and an English-speaking country
- Vietnamese and American young people’s attitudes towards volunteer work
- Hobbies in Vietnamese people and an English-speaking country
- The ways to welcome Tet in Vietnam and New Year in an English-speaking
country.

29
 PART C. CONCLUSIONS

1. Summary of main findings

The author’s study aims at at examining the cultural content of Grade 11
English textbook presented in the textbook and suggesting some supplementary
activities for developing students’ cross-cultural awareness.
With the content of the passages used to teach the four macro skills in focus,
the study gives a brief account of how culture is treated according to the modified
checklists designed by Cortazzi and Jin, Hirsch et al. and Chastain. The cross-
cultural analysis of the textbook reveals that the textbook can be classified as an
international target culture textbook in which students are exposed to more than one
culture. English-speaking cultures are apparently dominant nearly equal to world
cultures (15% and 16% respectively). Some elements of cross-cultural comparison
(8%) presented in the textbook confirm that the textbook, to various degrees, helps
promote students’ cross-cultural awareness along with improving their four
language skills.
The analysis gives answers to the questions “what cultural categories are
presented in the textbook and to what extent?”. The statistics show that Grade 11
textbook authors pay the most attention to Society and lifestyle (23%). Other
aspects of culture such as History (14%), Hobbies (12%), Nature (11%), Education
(11%), Sports (9%) are also rank the next place in the textbook. The last place
belongs to Language and Literature (5%), Festival and Holiday (7%), Science and
Technology (7%). In the textbook, very little or no information is given to Health,
Business and Economy, Politics and Geography.
Another important part of the study is suggestion of supplementary activities
that may be used to develop students’ cross-cultural awareness. The suggestion is
based on the following points:
- The objectives of teaching English in Vietnamese high schools, which include
providing cultural knowledge of foreign countries and developing students’ cross-
cultural awareness

30
- The findings from research questions 1 and 2 of the study
- The practical teaching of English in Vietnamese high schools
Among a variety of activities used for culture teaching in the classroom, some are
selected to integrate the development of students’ cross-cultural awareness into
language teaching. The activities are included some Christine Elmore’s activities
and Deborah Peck’s activities.
It would be hopeful that with the author’s study, Grade 11 students could
both learn English and develop cross-cultural awareness and the authors of the
textbook can select and gain the better sections to supplement and renew for the
next reformation of high school English textbooks.
2. Implications and recommendation
Teaching English cannot be separated from teaching its culture. In order to
help master English effectively via the textbook, cultural elements should be
highlighted by the teachers during the language lessons. Also, it should be noted
gradually that it is necessary to teach culture to the students so that they can
overcome all difficulties or culture shock in real-life communication. The author
hopes that this study would provide an effective method for investigating the cultural
content of a foreign language textbook. It is quite common practice that cultural
topics are included in a textbook mainly for studying the language and not for
teaching specific cultural knowledge.
With the analysis results, it is the Grade 11 English teachers’ responsibility to
find practical solutions to this problem to integrate culture teaching into their
language teaching in one way or another. Teachers who are interested in the target
culture might plan their own extensive teaching program on culture, especially for
extra-curricular activities. Or they can make some changes when teaching the four
skills so that cross-cultural activities may be integrated into the classroom timetable.
Besides, the textbook writers should realize which cultural knowledge is
underrepresented in Grade 11 textbook, so that they will give more presentation to
them when compiling new English textbooks for high school students.

31
 3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research
This research has only presented and analyzed the cultural content of Grade 11
English textbook. Despite the author’s great efforts, the study has shown many
inevitable shortcomings and weaknesses due to the author’s incomplete knowledge
of the field as well as limited ability of doing scientific work and some other
objective factors such as constraints of time and reference materials relating to
subject-matter under investigation. It is hoped that the findings of the following
work may help teachers adjust their culture teaching content and assist textbook
compilers in the future. Therefore, the further research should be done in the future.
Firstly, it should be done by other tools such as survey, questionnaires or
classroom observation. The checklists used for the analysis should be modified by
including some more classifications designed by other scholars (except the ones
proposed by Cortazzi and Jin, Hirsch et al. and Chastain) in order to set a more
effective and comprehensive framework for analysis.
Secondly, there should be research into the analysis of Grade 12 textbooks in
the future in order to provide the whole picture of teaching culture in English
language teaching in Vietnamese high schools.
Lastly, besides findings of analysis of textbooks, the researcher’s hope is to
go into treatment of cross-cultural characteristics in the teaching of the four skills to
all grades at high school.

32
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