The representations of life outside Vietnam in first-year technical university textbooks in Hanoi and their influence on students’ intercultural communicative competence in English learning THI LAN HUONG LAM BA, MA (University of Languages and International Studies – VNU) Submitted to the School of Education University of Newcastle in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (EDUCATION) October 2017 1 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that the work embodied in the thesis is my own work, conducted under normal supervision. The thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to the final version of my thesis being made available worldwide when deposited in the University’s Digital Repository, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1986. Signed: Date: October 10, 2017 i Scanned by CamScanner ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been accomplished without the continuous support of many significant people and organisations. I would like to gratefully acknowledge them all here. I wish to express my deepest and sincerest thanks to my academic supervisors at the University of Newcastle - Professor James Albright and Doctor I-Fang Lee. I feel fortunate to have had their joint supervision. Words fail to express my gratitude to Professor James Albright for his invaluable guidance, continuous support and encouragement as well as critical comments and insightful suggestions on every single piece of my research. My great thanks also go to Associate Professor Michelle Picard, Deputy Director English Language and Foundation Studies Centre, for her valuable feedback in the later stages of my PhD. In spite of her workload, she dedicated her precious time to read my chapter drafts and inspired me with her strong motivation. My great thanks also go to Ruth McHugh for proofreading my thesis. I would like to thank the Vietnamese Governement and the University of Newcastle for providing me with a VIED-TUIT scholarship to support my doctoral study. I would like to acknowledge the Faculty of Education and Arts, School of Education at the University of Newcastle, especially its supportive staff, who provided me with the greatest facilities, professional research and learning environment during my candidature. My thanks also go to my friends and colleagues at AOB building who are always by my side on rainy or sunny days in my PhD journey. Their continuous assistance has enabled me to progress in my research. Last but not least, my loving thanks and heartfelt gratitude go to my family, especially my husband, Quy Thanh Nguyen, and my two daughters, Ngoc Thuy Anh Nguyen and Ngoc Cam Tu Nguyen, for always being by my side and consistently encouraging me to do my best. I am also thankful to my late dad, my mum and my family members in Vietnam for trusting me and being such an excellent source of support. This thesis is dedicated to my family. ii TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENT .................................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. xiv Chapter One: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Background to the Study ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1. English in Vietnam before 1986. ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2. English in Vietnam from 1986 to the present. ........................................................................... 2 1.1.3. The increasing importance of English in Vietnamese people’s perception. .................. 3 1.1.4. The National Foreign Language Project 2008-2020 (NFLP 2020). ................................... 4 1.1.5. ELT textbooks in the Vietnamese context. ................................................................................... 5 1.2. Why Study Textbook Choice? .................................................................................................... 7 1.3. The Need for Research on Cultural Representation in ELT Textbooks ...................... 9 1.4. The Aim of the Research .......................................................................................................... 11 1.5. Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 12 1.6. Context of the Research ........................................................................................................... 13 1.6.1. Brief history of Vietnamese foreign language policy in education. ................................. 13 The influence of Chinese feudalism ....................................................................................................................... 13 The influence of French colonialism ..................................................................................................................... 14 The partition period 1954-1975 with the influence of Russia and the US ........................................... 15 The influence of Soviet Communism after the 1975 reunification .......................................................... 16 The Doi Moi policy and the trend of international integration ................................................................. 17 1.6.2. The general Vietnamese education system. .............................................................................. 20 The organisation of Vietnamese education system ........................................................................................ 20 English at primary, lower and upper secondary levels ................................................................................ 21 1.6.3. Vietnamese higher education. ......................................................................................................... 23 The role of Ministry of Education and Training and other line Ministries ........................................... 25 The diversification of higher education in Vietnam ....................................................................................... 27 1.6.4. EFL teaching at the tertiary level. .................................................................................................. 29 1.7. Significance of the Research ................................................................................................... 31 1.8. Organisation of the Study ........................................................................................................ 33 1.9. Summary of Chapter One ........................................................................................................ 35 Chapter Two: Literature Review ......................................................................................... 37 2.1. ELT Textbooks in EFL Classrooms ....................................................................................... 38 2.1.1. The role of ELT textbooks in EFL classrooms. ......................................................................... 38 2.1.2. ELT textbooks selection process. ................................................................................................... 42 2.2. Representation of Everyday Life as Culture ..................................................................... 44 2.3. Representation of Culture in ELT Textbooks ................................................................... 46 2.3.1. English as an International Language (EIL). ............................................................................. 46 iii 2.3.2. Culture in EIL paradigm. .................................................................................................................... 48 2.3.3. EIL and implications for cultures in ELT textbooks. .............................................................. 51 2.3.4. Approaches to examining cultural representation in textbooks. ..................................... 56 2.3.5. Theoretical framework for cultural representations in ELT textbooks in this study. ................................................................................................................................................................................... 59 2.4. The Connection between the