The cultural appropriateness of communicative language teaching

: A case study of the EFL program implementation at a Vietnamese tertiary institution

Abstract

This thesis examines the cultural appropriateness of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Vietnam, a question to which a sound research-based answer has been overdue. To provide insights into this issue, I conducted an “instrumental case study” (Creswell, 2012), considering the factors affecting the implementation of the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program at a Vietnamese tertiary institution. Using Brumfit (1984) and J. C. Richards (2001a, 2001b) as conceptual frameworks, I examined those factors according to three sets of variables: societal and institutional factors, teacher and teaching factors, and learner and learning factors. Subsequently, the findings from the examination were related to the implicit requirements for CLT operationalization (Brown & Lee, 2015) in order to reveal the extent to which CLT could be implemented in the case study. The outcomes of this comparison of CLT in action versus CLT in theory were then interpreted in light of Hofstede’s cultural orientation framework (Hofstede, 1980, 1986, 1991, 2001, 2011; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005; and Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). Employing a primarily qualitative research design, this study collected data by means of lesson observation to investigate the day-to-day operationalization of CLT at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. This classroom-based inquiry was supported by the employment of other research methods including questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview with students, lecturers, program administrators, and also with alumni and employers, and document analysis to ensure triangulation. Also, consultation with multiple stakeholders in the program implementation helped to achieve a multi-angle and in-depth understanding of the factors under study. The study found that CLT did not actually take place as set out by the program, and that attempts to implement CLT did not run aground simply because of superficial problems with Vietnamese EFL education such as large classes, knowledge-oriented exams and inadequate teaching and learning infrastructure. Rather, as was revealed through the lens of the Hofstedian dimensions, the operationalization of CLT principles was ultimately defined by less readily visible yet powerful drivers of the context of use (Vietnam), the culture of which is considerably different from those of the western countries from which CLT has been ‘imported’ into Vietnam. The culturally calibrated interpretation illuminates how endeavors to carry out CLT-oriented activities in the Vietnamese context can be ultimately affected by the overriding features running deep in the Vietnamese culture, including large power distance, collectivism, feminism, high uncertainty avoidance (in education), long-term orientation and restraint. With invaluable implications for the adaptation and implementation of CLT, the study recommends that local cultural context must be taken into consideration when attempting to reconcile the discrepancies that inevitably arise from the transfer of a teaching methodology from one culture to another.

Date of Award	2016
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ping Yang (Supervisor) & Jinghe Han (Supervisor)