CULTURAL FACTORS

Here you will consider cultural factors, particularly in Vietnam, which relate to CLT and critical thinking. Several studies are presented as well as an overview of the learning preferences of Vietnamese EFL learners.

Cultural considerations

Awhile ago I was invited to give a teacher training session to about 300 Vietnamese teachers of EFL on the topic of student motivation. While I was waiting to take the stage, the director of the local educational governing entity was giving a speech to the audience. The speech was all in Vietnamese, but thankfully the seminar coordinator was fluent in both Vietnamese and English and was able to translate the content of the speech for me on the spot. I still distinctly remember at one point the director told the participants that they needed to pay close attention to everything I had to say because I was from the "West" and had valuable knowledge to help them teach more effectively.

My reaction to this was - I’ll admit it - fear! How on earth could I be expected to live up to such lofty expectations? I allowed this fear to inspire me to give one of the best teacher training sessions I’d ever delivered. However; my reaction afterwards, after I'd had time to reflect on his words and what was implied by them, was confusion and led me to wonder why being from the West would automatically lend value to what I was about to present, especially when considering that 100% of my audience was from the “East.”

The views of the "other" methods of teaching in Vietnamese EFL classrooms

The concept of the "other" is still a predominant trend when one considers the differences between so called Eastern, or typically Asian, teaching methods and Western, or those found in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Europe. For instance, in an article by researcher Ha, she notes how often negative language is used to refer to students and teachers in Eastern cultures, mainly due to the fact that the majority of scholarly research is written from the perspective of Western researchers. Whether this is a carry-over from colonial eras, or whether this is rooted in data that has been collected, analyzed and scrutinized under a Western microscope, the result is still the same in the EFL field: EFL teaching methodology which embraces a Western communicative approach is more highly favored than traditional approaches to learning a foreign language. Any alternate approach is automatically viewed as deficient and doing a disservice to the learners.

The idea also predominates that Eastern students are not exposed to Communicative Language Teaching and are passive participants in the classroom, or that non-native teachers of EFL tend to shy away from these methods due to their desire to maintain control in the classroom. However, as Ha writes: "In his Vietnam study, Howe suggested that whether students were active or passive depends on the teacher's expectations. The comments of these teachers suggest that they wanted, and worked towards encouraging an active attitude in their students (Lewis & McCook, p. 150)."

For instance, a teacher named 'Mai' in Ha's study taught using CLT using questioning techniques to help students become engaged in reflective and critical thinking (Ha, p. 54). The results were favorable and students found the learning environment warm and supportive and this enabled them to discover their own voice in the classroom. This also allowed the learners an active role in shaping their own learning.

Also from Ha’s study, consider 'Lan' who encouraged students to form their own opinions through active inquiry and questioning, withholding her own opinions so as not to influence the opinions of her students. Lan’s students, when given the proper environment, were able to engage in debating and class discussions on a variety of topics they felt passionately about.

The most important point that Ha brings to light is this: "Differences should not and must not be interpreted as 'deficit' (p. 52)." What is meant by this is that in considering the differences between the way learners are taught a foreign language in the United States, versus the way they are taught a foreign language in Vietnam, it is crucial to consider the culture and the environment (Ha, p. 52). In Vietnam, the Vietnamese classroom is seen as a family – supportive, polite, and warm – where the students and teachers construct knowledge together with the teacher serving as mentor and guide (Ha, p. 53). Additionally, the role of the teacher is different in that they emphasize their role as 'behavior educators' or 'moral guides' and this attitude is reflected in the way the traditional Vietnamese classroom nurtures and develops good citizens (Ha, p. 55). Considering these approaches to Vietnamese education – family-like, supportive, polite, warm, moral, etc. – it is difficult to classify what is commonly seen as an Eastern teaching style as deficit in comparison to a Western classroom where many of these values are not readily found.

Multi-tasking in a Vietnamese EFL University Classroom

Another interesting study which disparages the myth that Eastern, or for our purposes Vietnamese, learners are passive and incapable of critical inquiry or communicative language learning was conducted by Baurain.

In this study, the researcher had a vast amount of material to cover in one course, so he developed a methodology called "multi-tasking" in which students worked collaboratively to work through texts and then teach other class members. Multi-tasking learning involves many CLT features, such as study, teach, create, use metacognition, respond, and write (Baurain, p. 239). Additionally, the function of working collaboratively was not only successful, but meets the learning desires of Vietnamese learners who want the following according to a survey of over 300 Vietnamese EFL learners:

deeper social relationships in the classroom;
a classroom atmosphere which stimulates discussion;
more explicit training in learner-centered methodologies;
encouragement to produce oral English;
a positive and supportive environment;
constructive feedback;
peer interaction;
thinking/rehearsal time;
a family-style environment which involves plenty of group work and collaboration; and
context and a link between learning and real-world application (Tomlinson & Dat, pp. 212-217).

As multi-tasking is essentially a collaborative, or cooperative learning method, Baurain’s study proved effective as it met many of the needs and wants of Vietnamese learners listed above. In his classroom, cooperative learning was embraced fully and the teacher and learners became "learning partners" and the concept generated a significant amount of enthusiasm in the learners (Baurain, p. 240). The method additionally promoted student autonomy, facilitated a wide range of learning styles, led to greater gains in reading, interpretation and language generally, and learners were engaged, productive and motivated most of the time (Baurain, p. 244).

Finally, for students who are typically viewed as “passive” learners, the exact opposite was realized in Buarain’s class. He introduced metacognition, or thinking about thinking using graphic organizers and other tools, as well as structured questioning, similar to that used in both studies covered under the “Critical thinking” page of this website. Over time, the questioning techniques the teacher used led learners to cease asking for the "right answers" but to instead consider and analyze texts for themselves (Baurain, p. 241).

Concluding remarks

The most important idea to take away from examining what happens in some, but perhaps not all, Vietnamese EFL classrooms is this: Cultural factors, learning needs and wants, and the teachers’ role in the classroom all contribute to the way that communicative learning and critical thinking takes place. Teachers who create a supportive, encouraging environment will engender communication in their classroom; and teachers who desire active, rather than passive, learners will have active learners in their classroom. It has nothing to do with outdated views of Eastern versus Western teaching methodology.

References

Baurain, B. (July 2007). Group multitasking in literature classes. ELT Journal: Oxford University Press. Vol. 61 (3). Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.

Ha, P.L. (January 2004). University classrooms in Vietnam: contesting the stereotypes. ELT Journal: Oxford University Press. Vol. 58 (1). Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.

Lewis, M. & McCook, F. (April 2002). Cultures of teaching: voices from Vietnam. ELT Journal: Oxford University Press. Vol. 56 (2). Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.

Tomlinson, B. & Dat, B. (2004). The contributions of Vietnamese learners of English to ELT methodology. Language Teaching Research. Vol. 8 (2). Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.