Apply Cultural Elements To Teaching English at High School

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN

LANGUAGES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY –
(HUFLIT)
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE
GRADUATION PAPER
APPLYING ASPECTS OF BRITISH CULTURE IN

TEACHING ENGLISH TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
IN HO CHI MINH CITY
Instructor: Vo Le Thuy Nga M.A.

Student: Phan Nha Thu Lam
Student’s code: 20DH712768
Class: SA2003
Ho Chi Minh City, 2024

Applying Aspects of British Culture in Teaching English to High School Students in Ho
Chi Minh City
Declaration
I certify that the attached material is my original work. No other person’s

work or ideas have been used without acknowledgement. Except where I have
clearly stated that I have used some of this material elsewhere, I have not presented
this for assessment in another course or unit at this or any other institution.
Date:27/06/ 2024
Writer’s Signature and Full name :
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To complete this thesis, I would like to thank the lecturers of the Department of Foreign
Languages, Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information
Technology for creating opportunities to study, practice, and accumulate knowledge for
thesis writing.
In particular, I would like to thank Lecturer Vo Le Thuy Nga for enthusiastically guiding,
monitoring, and giving useful advice to help me solve problems encountered during the
research process and complete the topic in the best way possible.
Due to my limited knowledge and lack of practical experience, it is difficult to avoid

shortcomings in the thesis content. I look forward to receiving comments and further
teaching from you teachers.
Finally, I wish you good health and much success in your work.
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1: High school teachers’ evaluation about the importance of incorporating
British cultures into teaching English. ........................................................................... 16
Figure 4.2: High school students’ evaluation about the importance of incorporating
British cultures into English lessons. ............................................................................. 16
Figure 4.3: General Benefits of Applying British Cultural Aspects to English Learning
in students’ opinion ........................................................................................................ 17
Figure 4.4: English skills improvement when utilize aspects of British culture as
teaching materials in English classes. ............................................................................ 18
Figure 4.5: Elements of British cultures that teachers choose as the best one............... 19
Figure 4.6: Elements of British cultures that students are interested in......................... 20
Figure 4.7: Effective strategies for teachers to integrate British cultural themes into the
framework of English curriculum planning. .................................................................. 21
Figure 4.8: Activities that students want to see in the English classes. ......................... 21
Figure 4.9: Challenges teachers have to cope with when applying English cultural
aspects to English guidance. .......................................................................................... 23
Figure 4.10: Evaluation the number of teachers having taken the English training
sessions about teaching English cultures. ...................................................................... 24
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 2
1.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 2
1.2 Problem identification............................................................................................ 3
1.3 Objectives .............................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Scopes .................................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Research organization ............................................................................................ 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 6
2.1 General Statement .................................................................................................. 6

2.1.1 The synergy between British cultural understanding and English language
proficiency. .......................................................................................................................... 6
2.1.2 The importance of combining British cultures with English language teaching in
high school education. ......................................................................................................... 7
2.1.3 Existing pedagogical methods and approaches to teaching English to high school
learners in Vietnam.............................................................................................................. 8
2.1.4 Challenges and gaps in applying British culture within teaching English at high
school ................................................................................................................................... 9
2.1.5 Methods of integrating cultural aspects into English language teaching ................. 10
2.2 Research gap ........................................................................................................ 11
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 12
3.1 Overview of the experiment ................................................................................ 12
3.2 Subjects of the experiment ................................................................................... 12
3.3 Materials .............................................................................................................. 13

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3.3.1 Survey of High School Students in Ho Chi Minh City ............................................ 13

3.3.2 Survey of English Teachers surrounding Ho Chi Minh City ................................... 14
3.4 Procedures ............................................................................................................ 14
3.5 Statistical Treatment ............................................................................................ 15
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS ....................................................................................... 16
4.1 Evaluation about the importance of incorporating British cultures into English
lessons .................................................................................................................. 16
4.2 Benefits of Applying British Cultural Aspects to English Learning ................... 17
4.3 A comparison of teachers' and students' choices of British cultural aspects ....... 19
4.4 Effective strategies for teachers to integrate British cultural themes into the
framework of English curriculum planning. ........................................................ 21
4.5 Challenges teachers have to cope with when applying English cultural aspects to
English guidance. ................................................................................................. 23
4.6 Current status of educational training about teaching English cultures .............. 24
4.7 High school teachers' additional opinions on the benefits of pedagogical training
courses to increase the application of English culture in English teaching ......... 25
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION .................................................................................. 26
5.1 The purpose of the study ...................................................................................... 26
5.2 Finding and Explanation ...................................................................................... 26

5.2.1 Positive Impacts of Incorporating British Culture in English Education in Ho Chi
Minh City........................................................................................................................... 26
5.2.2 Challenges when incorporating cultural aspects in English lessons in Ho Chi Minh
city ..................................................................................................................................... 27
5.2.3 Pedagogical methods for embedding British cultural content into the English
curriculum at high schools in Ho Chi Minh City. ............................................................. 28
5.3 Implications ......................................................................................................... 31

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ............................ 33
6.1. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 33
6.2. Recommendations ............................................................................................... 34
REFERENCE............................................................................................................. 36
Excerpt from scientific research articles by foreigners. ...........Error! Bookmark not

defined.
Excerpt from Vietnamese scientific research articles. ............................................... 37
APPENDIX A : Students’ Questionnaire .............................................................. 39
APPENDIX B : Teachers’ Questionnaire.............................................................. 43

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ABSTRACT
This research paper aims to investigate the adoption of British cultural aspects in the
English curriculum at high schools in Ho Chi Minh City. By incorporating aspects of
English culture such as literature, history, traditions, films, and so on, this study amply
illustrates their valuable importance in enhancing the educational experience and
students' foreign language proficiency at this stage of development. On the other hand,
the research also underscores the subjective and objective challenges when
implementing British cultural components in English instruction. However, these
limitations cannot overshadow the numerous benefits that this combination provides to
Vietnamese education. Therefore, the research proposes many different pedagogical
methods so that educators can overcome these limits and include British cultural
elements in high school lectures. In addition, teaching training sessions, which help
teachers be deeply aware of developing innovative teaching approaches connected to
target cultures' utilizations, are also highlighted in this research article. All of the above
findings present common contributions to the Vietnamese education system in general,
and HCM City in particular, making it a diverse and advantageous system, assisting the
country in training talented future generations in order to effectively integrate with global
cultures, and promote international partnerships.
Key words: British culture, English learning, benefits, pedagogical methods, cutural
awareness.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
In recent years, English has become a common language utilized in many commercial
and cultural domains around the world, as these were controlled by the nations directly
impacted by the British Empire in the past, in addition to many European, American,
and Australian countries nowadays. Thus, linguistic knowledge of English is both
helpful and even essential. As a result, English as a second language is globally
widespread as countless people choose to study and work in this tongue, mainly because
they believe English is vital to learn and develop. Furthermore, English is taught in
schools in many countries as a second language, and students begin studying it at a very
early age, proving its significance. It is now the language of many kinds of fields such
as education, diplomacy, aviation, and tourism. Possessing English competence
improves students’ chances of landing a solid position in a large global corporation.
Consequently, the importance of English proficiency is being emphasized in Vietnam, a
country that is passionately committed to fast modernization and international
integration for the past 50 years. As Vietnam enters the world arena, English fluency has
become a valuable advantage, propelling remarkable progress in education, science,
industry, and technology development while also fostering relationships with the global
community. From schools to boardrooms, English proficiency serves as a springboard
to achievement, allowing individuals and the country to make a stand in an increasingly
linked world.
The teaching of conventional English as a foreign language (EFL) in Vietnamese high

schools mainly emphasizes language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. It views foreign language acquisition as merely the transfer of linguistic
knowledge, focusing primarily on memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules through
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repetitive exercises. This approach, therefore, often ignores the great importance of
cultural context as well as the deeper understanding of culture integrated into the
language being taught. In some classrooms and textbooks, including Vietnamese culture
in English books helps students understand vocabulary and context more easily.
However, because Vietnamese culture appears excessively in the books, it will obscure
the English cultural context as well as cultural awareness in language learning, further
hindering linguistic absorption.
As a result, this research proposes to raise the awareness of learners as well as educators
to have a deep grasp of intercultural communication, combining both linguistic
competence and the ability to comprehend different cultures, especially among the
younger generation. Through this, it hopes to promote the creation of an excellent high
school curriculum that can integrate cultural aspects into English lessons in Vietnam,
especially in Ho Chi Minh City.
1.2 Problem identification
English education in high school is very important for Ho Chi Minh City students to be
able to compete in a globalized world. However, some traditional methods of Vietnam,
of which the grammar-translation method is likely the most popular, may not appeal to
all high school students or prepare them adequately for cross-cultural
communication. This is clearly stated in the research of Cam (2017) , where she
explained that these fairly common teaching methods, especially the grammar-
translation technique, present certain drawbacks. Indeed, Kramsch (1993) believes that
culture and language have a very deep relationship with each other, so teaching language
without cultural context can hinder students' ability to communicate effectively.
According to Byram (1997), this further highlights the development of intercultural
communication through exposure to diverse cultural perspectives and practices in the
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context of language learning, especially English. All studies shown above highlight the
need to include cultural components in English instruction.
In spite of merging British cultural content into English classes at high schools, many
English teachers in Ho Chi Minh City may feel that this combination will be a enormous
challenge for them because of many reasons. The availability of culturally appropriate
teaching materials and resources can be limited, making it difficult for teachers to
incorporate cultural content into their lessons. Additionally, very few training sessions
occurred that increased the awareness needed to integrate cultural aspects into their
teaching performance effectively. More importantly, with the huge workload, both
teachers and students do not have much time to search for information about other
countries' cultures and integrate them into their lessons. All these problems can lead to a
range of limitations. First, students may struggle to engage with English if it is taught in
isolation from the cultural context relevant to their lives. Second, teachers may have a
misunderstanding of a grasp of cultural characteristics and distinctions between
Vietnamese and English culture, making it difficult to effectively combine cultural
themes into their instruction.
1.3 Objectives
The object of this study is to put a spotlight on the importance of incorporating culture
into English teaching, thereby creating a premise for finding some pedagogical methods
to apply aspects of culture in teaching English to high school students.
1.4 Scopes
Many studies emphasize the strong importance of incorporating English culture into the
English curriculum. By incorporating social norms and British traditions into the
curriculum, students can improve their foreign language knowledge as well as cross-
cultural acquisition. The study chose high school students as an ideal subject for many
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reasons. First, this age is the most cognitive and developmental stage, where children are
developing their thinking and critical abilities, being able to grasp both English
knowledge and cultural awareness. In addition, the high school curriculum gives students
a lot of knowledge related to Vietnamese culture, history, and geography in the most
detailed way, so high school students have the opportunity to compare cultures in both
countries, thereby finding profound meanings related to culture and language. In
addition, this research also points out some pedagogical methods to apply target cultures
to English teaching. However, this combination necessitates procedures that are
consistent with the curriculum but no less creative and innovative. Therefore, the target
audience for this research is the community of high school teachers with many years of
experience in Ho Chi Minh City.
1.5 Research organization
This scientific - report will be structured in five sections. The first section will be
about the importance as well as existing methods and approaches of applying British
culture in teaching English to high school learners. The structure of the report will also
be presented in section 1. In section 2, Literature Review, both previous studies from
domestic and foreign researchers will be reviewed carefully. The literature review will
provide the base to formulate the research methodology in section 3. Based on reviewed
documents, the methodology will be proposed to (1) recognize the importance of English
culture; (2) determine a case study and scope of the study; (3) set up a survey and make
questionnaires; and (4) implement and assess the collected results related to the topic of
the thesis. In section 4, the results will be represented and discussed. Finally, conclusions
and recommendations will be proposed in the terminal section.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 General Statement
2.1.1 The synergy between British cultural understanding and English language
proficiency.
Kramsch (1998) argues that language is closely connected with cultural aspects and that
effective communication tends to require awareness and certain notions of these cultural
elements. In her study, she underlined the fact that language teaching should integrate
such cultural elements to foster linguistic comprehension and competence, as well as to
broaden understanding of cultures.
Furthermore, the cognitive development of students and children was seemingly

connected to social relations and cultural context (Vygotsky, 1978). Moreover, language
was considered a fundamental tool for bridging social behaviors and cultural aspects,
thereby presenting significance in forming our cognitive skills. Therefore, learning
languages is a process of great importance, which helps us in absorbing cultural
knowledge and shaping societal behaviors.
Whorf (1956) stated that language structure has profound effects on cognitive skills and
the general perspectives of speakers. This argument has led to further debate and research
into how language affects mindsets and cultural concepts. Sapir (1921) highlighted that
language is a cultural artifact that represents the values, beliefs, norms, and customs that
regulate a society, thus reinforcing the link between languages and cultural identity.
Jiang ( 2000 ) stated two examples which are the words “lunch” and “dog” in English.
“Lunch” can arouse a thinking of a hamburger or a pizza for a British or an American
while bread or rice will definitely occur in a Chinese or Asian’s mind. Another example
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is the word “dog” in English, which represents the character “gou” in Chinese, referring
to the same animal. However, “dog” in Western countries is most considered a friendly
pet, a trustful companion with positive idiomatic phrases such as “lucky dog”. On the
other hand, Chinese people, by contrast, associate “gou” with watchdogs, which defend
their households or even a food source, together with such derogatory idioms as “gou tui
zi” (“hired thug” or “chó săn”). Therefore, along with such cultural aspects, English
words and their Chinese translations (or vice versa) show significant disparities and often
arouse different images and memories.
2.1.2 The importance of combining British cultures with English language teaching in
high school education.
It can be said that British cultures play an extremely essential role in understanding and
absorbing English, a global language, and numerous researchers strongly affirmed the
necessity of incorporating cultural aspects into English teaching in the formal education
system for generations of students, especially high school curricula, to improve their
English. Indeed, this pivotal issue has been discussed frequently through various
scientific studies. This report must mention the seminal research of Cruz (2010) because
it has provided heaps of compelling evidence elucidating the great impact of culture in
teaching and learning foreign languages. He also demonstrated to readers that applying
cultural aspects to English lessons enhance foreign language proficiency and absorption
across all language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This indicates if
students are taught culturally relevant information, their English proficiency eventually
improves more fully. The steady development of these skills through the exposure to
British societal values is also confirmed by Wang (2011). In addition, by clarifying the
definition of culture, Kechnaoui (2020) emphasizes the close-knit and unbreakable
relationship between cultures and languages. He emphasized: “The relationship between
language and culture is dynamic, language is influenced by culture, therefore it is one of
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the most important carriers of culture and it reflects the latter.”. This recognition
highlights the significance of integrating cultural aspects into English classes in order to
foster a comprehensive understanding of the language through an explanation of its
origins. Furthermore, by integrating idioms, visuals, game shows, and music related to
the target culture into English lessons, teachers can ensure adequate knowledge of
English cultures to teach students and create a fascinating classroom atmosphere. This
approach was accentuated by the researchers Sarigul (2005) and Alekseevna (2023) in
order to raise teachers' awareness of bringing the target culturfe into English classes.
2.1.3 Existing pedagogical methods and approaches to teaching English to high school
learners in Vietnam
Currently, to offer a dissimilar range of lessons to students in the high school

environment in Vietnam, especially in teaching English, an international language, most
educators should present flexibility and creativity while combining various pedagogical
methods. According to Hanh and Quan (2021), Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT) is a prominent and well-known teaching strategy. By consistently engaging in
English with pupils, teachers may focus primarily on speaking skill through the use of
the CLT approach. In addition, a brand-new method that has emerged recently is
“Blended Learning”. Lalima (2017) defined: “Blended learning is the concept that
includes a framing teaching-learning process that incorporates both face-to-face teaching
and teaching supported by ICT”. In Vietnam, students at high schools appreciate lessons
that employ this teaching strategy, thereby enabling them to be more proficient in the
language as well as to easily access the resources they have learned (Nguyen, Sivapalan,
Hiep, Anh & Lan, 2021).
Nevertheless, along with the innovative, creative teaching strategies mentioned above,
there are still some inadequacies in the English pedagogical system in Vietnam. The
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most common mistake that most teachers make, according to Nhan (2013), is placing
tremendous pressure on students to prepare for school exams focusing on two main
skills: reading and writing, which indirectly disregards the remaining English skills that
are required more frequently, namely Speaking and Listening. On the other hand, some
schools and teachers also employ the grammar-translation teaching method as their
primary approach. According to Brown (2007), the grammar-translation method is
considered an ineffective one for acquiring and learning English. This method is
highlighted by Richard and Rodgers (2001) for only memorizing vocabulary and
sentence structures translated into the native language. It is difficult and time-consuming
for students to comprehensively develop full communicative English skills if teachers
apply this strategy.
2.1.4 Challenges and gaps in applying British culture within teaching English at high
school
Infusing English cultural contexts into language education is considered a necessary

teaching method for improving English skills. However, many research articles have
pointed out many problems related to this teaching method. First, Sercu (2005) pointed
out that some teachers misunderstand the relationship between cultures and languages,
as well as underestimate the importance of applying cultures in language teaching. These
educators believe that English cultural knowledge is irrelevant to students' language
growth, resulting in an excessive number of classes for pupils to study. As a result, they
unintentionally ignored such cultural references and did not attempt to implement this
teaching method. Taylor and Francis (2016) also provided a comprehensive analysis of
this topic. Furthermore, according to Gonen and Saglam (2005), one of the problems
teachers deal with is that the current curriculum system in some countries is overloaded,
leaving them with little time to embed English lifestyle elements and create interesting
lessons into the teaching program. Also in this study, they emphasized that many
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teachers have yet to receive training sessions on ideological work related to British
culture so that they can clearly understand this pedagogical method. Ultimately,
Enkeleda (2015) listed many challenges that students in his country deal with during
English culture lessons at schools. One prominent difficulty he mentioned is that students
were not well aware of the importance of the target culture to the English language,
which resulted in a lack of focus on it. Additionally, students tended to have limited
opportunities to discuss cultural aspects as well as to not have the opportunity to
communicate or present on this topic, given the amount of workload posed by different
school subjects.
2.1.5 Methods of integrating cultural aspects into English language teaching
It is commonly acknowledged that integrating cultural dimensions into English language

teaching (ELT) is a critical component in boosting effective language acquisition and
intercultural competence. Many researchers have investigated various teaching methods
and approaches to include cultural content into ELT programs. One prominent method
is to employ fun activities that directly portray British culture, including role-playing
famous and historical plays, dramas, singing cultural songs, and dancing. This measure
is analyzed in Wang's (2011) research article, emphasizing the necessity of applying
practical activities in improving the cultural awareness and communication capacity of
learners. In addition, Byram (2008) referred to a practical method for applying culture
to teaching and learning English. By providing a method of comparing and reflecting his
home culture with British culture, he encouraged students to discuss similarities and
differences of cultural aspects in groups and present them to the class, thereby helping
students develop deeper intercultural understanding. Moreover, using authentic
resources from the Internet is another simple approach for teachers to put into practice
since the material from such sources can help provide reliable cultural experiences for
new language learners. Several beneficial documents are listed namely news, game
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shows, tourism advertisements, magazine photos, etc (Peterson & Coltrane, 2003). They
claimed that by using these resources, instructors can design many different tasks, such
as watching videos and answering questions, listening and filling in the blanks,
describing pictures of traditional festivals, and so on. Through the above methods,
learners not only are able to take in a great deal of understanding of diverse cultures, but
also improve their foreign language abilities.
2.2 Research gap
In his research article, Enkeleda (2015) mentioned many obstacles that students had to
go through when researching and contemplating English culture in English classes at
school; however, no suitable solutions were proposed to overcome the problem. In
contrast to the above author, Wang (2011) has put forth numerous innovative and
cutting-edge solutions that are very helpful for English teachers to apply in their lessons.
Nevertheless, he did not mention the difficulties that educators and students encounter
when the education system provides new knowledge that needs to be absorbed. Taylor
and Francis (2016) also conducted a poll to assess teachers' understanding of teaching
British culture in their lessons, from which they concluded that the majority of teachers
were not highly aware of the relationship between British culture and English. However,
they have not come up with specific methods to improve the situation given its
importance, thereby not creating some unique pedagogical methods.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Overview of the experiment
The purpose of this study is to understand the significant impacts of infusing English
curriculum with British cultural perspectives at high schools in Ho Chi Minh City, which
is regarded as one of the most developed cities. Specifically, this survey aims to assess
the level of interest of the school education sector in incorporating English cultures into
English instruction as well as to measure the value of access in terms of students' gains
in language and cultural competency. In addition, by exploiting aspects of culture such
as history, literature, books, movies, and so on to provide students with English culture
lessons, the following experiment determines whether high school students enjoy
learning English through British cultures.
Furthermore, the research investigates the intentions and orientations of educators in Ho

Chi Minh City in teaching English. In other words, the experiment will collect
comprehensive data on educators' awareness of the integration between teaching English
and British cultures, thereby providing appropriate methods in order to bring students
efficient and interesting lessons related to the English language and culture. Ultimately,
the outcomes of this experiment are intended to shed light on creative pedagogical
strategies for English education in HCMC and other comparable settings.
3.2 Subjects of the experiment
The survey comprises two different groups of participants: one group is high school
students from Tran Phu High School, and the other group is high school English teachers
in Ho Chi Minh City. The student group is made up of 130 students randomly from
grades 10 and 11, representing both genders, with an English level equivalent to A2 to
B2 (based on the overall English level of high scholl students in Ho Chi Minh city, stated
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by the city’s FCE survey, Bao Thanh Nien, 2024 ) on the Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and have ever been exposed to English literature.
All these criteria aim to discover how high school students perceive the impacts of
incorporating British Culture with English lessons at school as well as understand
whether these aspects of culture affect students' English learning outcomes. In the
remaining group, 60 teachers with varying teaching experience levels who have been
teaching English in high school environments throughout Ho Chi Minh City were
interviewed. Teachers' keen observations may enable the research to clarify more
accurately the value and relevance of utilizing target cultural aspects as a method to teach
English, which has a direct influence on the content of this research. Generally, creating
these two distinct groups of research subjects objectively assesses the importance of
English literature to foreign language education in this key city.
3.3 Materials
There are two questionnaires for two distinctive subjects of the experiment, and both
were conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
3.3.1 Survey of High School Students in Ho Chi Minh City
The researcher used a questionnaire with a total of 10 questions, of which 9 used multiple
choice questions. There are two personal information inquiries including major, age, and
gender. The next two questions were asked about the time they have spent learning
English as well as their level of interest in this foreign language. The last six questions
address issues about studying English in conjunction with British cultural characteristics
such as its benefits, students' understanding of improving language abilities through
cultural knowledge expansion, and the inadequacies of this learning method. The
researcher posed a question to the participants, using qualitative method, which could
address each student's perspective about how improving knowledge related to English
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culture will help them in the future, highlighting the importance of learning target
cultures in school.
3.3.2 Survey of English Teachers around Ho Chi Minh City
There are twelve questions, which include four personal questions related to age, school
they work in, and number of years in the profession. The next 6 questions are the ones
that completely revolve around the content that the researcher is working on, including
the benefits and drawbacks of applying British culture in the official curriculum,
teachers' awareness of the aforementioned teaching process as well as how to combine
learning English culture and learning languages together. All three of such six questions
employ qualitative approaches, which can assist the researcher in acquiringnew opinions
and ideas from teachers in order to enrich this study.
3.4 Procedures
The research process consists of four steps. Firstly, the researcher created questionnaires
using Google Forms and made simple questions and answers in order to ensure clarity
of the questions. In the second step, the researcher distributed the form to groups of
students at at from grade 10 to grade 11 Tran Phu High School by directly providing
them a QR code in the classroom. With the group of high school English teachers, the
researcher collected data by sending a Google-Form link via Zalo and Facebook. Thirdly,
a three-week-long time limit was set for the respondents to complete the survey, with a
request for honest and careful answers, and the option to seek clarification for reliable
responses. Almost all the participants possessed basic technical knowledge and were
able to use applications such as Google Forms, Email, Facebook, and so on. After three
weeks, the researcher compiled the responses in Excel for analysis. In the fourth step,
the data collected was carefully analyzed and examined to give clear findings and results
with the help of visual means such as charts and graphs and eventually lead to
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discussions of the paper.
3.5 Statistical Treatment
The data collected from the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics, such
as frequencies and percentages, to summarize the responses and provide an overall
picture of students' and teachers’ attitudes toward the benefits of applying aspects of
British cultures to English lessons at high school. The questionnaire data was also used
to identify teaching methods to incorporate British culture in English Teaching and
Instruction. Furthermore, all data was displayed in the form of pie charts, bar charts, and
tables to make it easier for explanation. As a result, the ensuing findings was far more
empirical and fact-based than subjective and opinion-based.
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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS
4.1 Evaluation about the importance of incorporating British cultures into
English lessons
Figure 4.1: High school teachers’ evaluation about the importance of

incorporating British cultures into teaching English.
Figure 4.2: High school students’ evaluation about the importance of

incorporating British cultures into English lessons.
Based on the survey data including 60 high school English teachers, the importance of
applying British cultures to English teaching is depicted in Figure 4.1. The vast majority
of English teachers (95.1%) were deeply aware of the importance and great benefits that
various aspects of British culture provide for English teaching. Similar to the results of
the teacher survey, in figure 4.2, a considerable proportion of students studying at high
schools in Ho Chi Minh City (75.4%) also agreed that language learning combined with
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English cultural elements is vital. Although the percentage of people agreeing with
Figure 4.2 is smaller than in Figure 4.1, both statistics indicate that the overwhelming
majority of respondents in the two surveys recognized the importance of the
aforementioned issue. On the other hand, only about 4.5% of teachers believed that the
above application was unnecessary for various reasons, while in figure 4.2, this number
witnessed a significant fivefold disparity from 4.5% to 24.6%, possibly because some
students still lack specialized experiences in learning English culture in high school
classrooms. However, these figures are trivial to the wide plurality of participants who
agreed on their importance. Generally, by viewing the application from two distinct
perspectives, this identification can reflect educators' profound connection between
language and culture, enabling them to enrich their students' linguistic abilities and
broaden their worldview.
4.2 Benefits of Applying British Cultural Aspects to English Learning
Figure 4.3: General Benefits of Applying British Cultural Aspects to

English Learning in students’ opinion
The figure 4.3 demonstrates students' multiple perspectives on bringing target cultures
into the English curriculum in high schools. With 26.2% of the total survey participants,
the potential for improving skills using cultural aspects is evident as English proficiency
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through cultural immersion has the highest rate, which illustrates that the majority of
students view cultural understanding as essential for language development.
Furthermore, up to 23.8% of students recognized that discovering more about cultural
heritage contributes to increasing confidence when communicating with native speakers,
showing the importance of the issue raised in this study. In addition, 20,8% and 16,9%
are the percentages of students' opinions on the objective of enhancing cultural
knowledge, namely "Absorbing the essence of other countries" and "Learning English
more easily and interestingly", respectively, helping to diversify the benefits of this
combination. Meanwhile, about 12.3% of students believed that there are no benefits
here, however, this figure is insignificant compared to all students participating in the
survey. Overall, this evidence clearly highlights that integrating English culture into
language learning provides students with several benefits in boosting their English
language capabilities.
Figure 4.4: English skills improvement when utilizing aspects of British

culture as teaching materials in English classes.
Concerning the practical benefits in detail, the researcher raised the main purpose of
improving English skills in Figure 4.4. Surprisingly, the proportion of students, who
admitted that learning English culture supports them in comprehensively improving the
four main skills, is the highest with 46.1% of the total number of students participating
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in the survey. This displays its significant influence on students' English acquisition
through many different approaches that are suitable for each skill. Besides, the remaining
percentage of students (53.8%) selected it to have a specific impact on a key skill,
especially English-speaking competence, which was superior to other skills (25.4%).
This emphasizes that students have an opportunity to practice communicating with
foreigners naturally and easily by learning more about the cultural aspects. In short,
delving deeper into the rich tapestry of English cultures not only allows students to
develop listening and communication skills but also helps students increase their
necessary knowledge in order to sharpen English writing and reading skills.
In conclusion, both figures above determine the great perks that deepening their
exploration of the diverse facets of English cultures brings to students. This question
exclusively polls in the student area to help the researcher better understand students'
opinions and thoughts on this issue, thereby drawing accurate and beneficial conclusions
for students, which is also the main essence of this research paper.
4.3 A comparison of teachers' and students' choices of British cultural aspects
Figure 4.5: Elements of British cultures that teachers choose as the best one.
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Figure 4.6: Elements of British cultures that students are interested in.
Figure 4.5 and Figure 4.6 emphatically illustrate which aspects of British culture are
interesting to instructors and students. In Figure 4.5, up to 61.5% of the total number of
students participating showed passion and enthusiasm for music. Due to an apparent
understanding of students' interests, lots of teachers, specifically nearly 61% of the entire
group in Figure 4.6, also utilize this pop-culture as an effective resource to teach English
cultures, allowing students to be able to feel entertained and relaxed but still absorb
enough knowledge about the target culture. Similarly, some aspects that are equally
practical and fascinating are also prioritized by both instructors and students, such as
literature, film, art, etc. However, in Figure 4.6, teachers consistently voted literature-
related resources as the most effective feature, accounting for 63.9% of the total,
illustrating teachers' greater focus on the necessity of developing critical thinking and
deeper literature appreciation. Overall, the survey results indicate a strong connection
between student and English teacher preferences for expanding their knowledge base on
the cultural nuances of England in English classes.
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4.4 Effective strategies for teachers to integrate British cultural themes into the
framework of English curriculum planning.
Figure 4.7: Effective strategies for teachers to integrate British cultural

themes into the framework of English curriculum planning.
Figure 4.8: Activities that students want to see in the English classes.
The combination of Figures 4.7 and 4.8 highlights both the congruence and the contrasts
in evaluating the tactics preferred by English teachers and students in high schools to
incorporate cultural elements into English lessons. One of the prominent applications
among teachers is role-playing and performing arts activities with more than 61% of
participants approving, while the percentage of students appreciating the same activities
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is 40.8%, which is much less than the proportion teachers. This proves that teachers
regarded this experiential activity as the most dynamic and practical way to easily
introduce culture to students, even though many students anticipated that it took them a
lot of time to prepare for the performance. The results were similar for English
presentation activities on various facets of British culture, where 78% of teachers,
accounting for the highest proportion of the total, felt this was the best means of
acquiring cultural knowledge and developing speaking skills, however, only 43.7% of
students acknowledged the effectiveness of this activity. Conversely, students believed
that watching a movie or related material would be the most engaging way (61.5%). In
contrast, the majority of instructors disagreed. All the activities listed in this survey
question were chosen by a substantial percentage of teachers and students, except for the
activity of teaching and learning by boring theories, in which there were only 13% of
students and 2% of teachers who support such methods, obviously indicating that they
all express a common aversion to uninspiring teaching methods. In summary, most
teachers strongly considered alternately combining an assortment of different
approaches as a good way to promote efficacy and help students easi ly
assimilate English cultural awareness.
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4.5 Challenges teachers have to cope with when applying English cultural aspects
to English guidance.
Figure 4.9: Challenges teachers have to cope with when applying English
cultural aspects to English guidance.
Figure 4.9 depicts some of the obstacles that teachers endure when including English
cultural content in their lessons. First and foremost, the research must mention the
shortage of multiple materials to present English cultural insights as part of their
teaching, when up to 73% agreed with this difficulty, showing the critical need for
teachers to convey British cultural knowledge to students. Additionally, 63.5% of
teachers dealed with heavy workloads in the standard curriculum set by the Ministry of
Education, which limits their flexibility in enriching their lessons with English cultural
teachings. Furthermore, there are other challenges such as time-consuming preparation,
lack of interest from students, and cultural sensitivity issues, which are also hampering
educators' ability in combining aspects of target cultures and teaching. In a nutshell, the
aforementioned amalgamation is extremely effective and important. Nonetheless, there
are still many challenges for teachers to embed English cultural teachings within their
curriculum.
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4.6 Evaluation the current number of teachers who have participated in

educational training about teaching English cultures
Figure 4.10: Evaluation the number of teachers having taken the English
training sessions about teaching English cultures.
Figure 4.10 summarizes the situation of teacher training to cope with challenges in
implementing English cultural elements to English teaching at high schools. The data
from this survey questionnaire shows that the bulk of English teachers (about 62%) have
received professional training sessions related to this issue. This implies that there is a
positive movement towards endorsing the importance of acculturation in English
language coaching, improving the standard of education. However, there are still 38%
of teachers having not participated in the above training course, leading to teachers
remaining ill-prepared to apply target cultures to English teaching. To wrap up, in
addition to numerous teachers participating in these courses, further endeavors are
necessary to ensure that all teachers are able to receive more opportunities in order to
develop language guidance, hence augmenting the nation's educational system.
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4.7 High school teachers' additional opinions on the benefits of pedagogical

training courses to increase the application of English culture in English teaching
Along with asking several multiple-choice questions, also known as quantitative

methods, the research also asked qualitative questions about the effectiveness high
school English teachers found in training sessions on infusing English cultural
knowledge into their instruction. According to the results collected, after participating in
the training courses, the challenges that teachers encountered were given solutions,
typically with the answer "Integration of cultural awareness training into teacher
education programs would better equip educators like myself."(an English teacher, Tran
Phu high school). Besides, many teachers commented that after training, they can equip
themselves with a variety of good methods to implement cultures in foreign language
teaching. This led one high school English teacher to state: "A network or community of
fellow educators sharing resources and ideas on cultural integration would be
supportive."(an English Teacher, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School). However,
besides the good feedback related to teacher training mentioned above, there are still a
few unsatisfied comments about them. A teacher commented: "I don't see any useful
resources" (an English Teacher, Bui Thi Xuan High School). However, this percentage
is insignificant compared to the majority of approval. In short, there should be regular
advanced training sessions to help teachers present English cultural insights as part of
their teaching.
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CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION
5.1 The purpose of the study

Learning a second language can be a complex and difficult task, especially for those who
are not involved in the target language context as linguistic and cultural barriers can
make it difficult for learners to develop the necessary skills to communicate effectively
in the target language. However, if both learners and teachers are deeply aware of the
intimate connection between the English language and culture, or more specifically, have
a keen understanding of the linguistic context, they will be motivated to study English.
Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is first to evaluate the importance of integrating
British culture into the English program in high schools in Ho Chi Minh City, thereby
determining effective methods for incorporating cultural elements into English teaching.
By providing comprehensive data and analysis on outcomes, advantages, and application
strategies, this study also draws profound conclusions about proposals for Vietnamese
education generally and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, enhancing the quality of
education by fostering a learning environment richer in British cultures, which empowers
students to communicate effectively in a multicultural world.
5.2 Findings and Explanations
5.2.1 Positive Impacts of Incorporating British Culture in English Education in Ho Chi

Minh City
The research results reveal the importance of British culture in improving the English
proficiency of high school students in Ho Chi Minh City. From two distinctive
perspectives, both teachers and students are deeply aware of the deep bond between
cultures and languages, which complement each other. It is affirmed that combining a
variety of real-world English cultural sources such as movies, history, English literature,
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etc with the English program at school gives students a wide range of exposure to the
language, assisting students in comprehending how to utilize words, structures, and
phrases correctly in their context. This suggests that the essence of British culture is to
support students in better absorbing lectures through incredibly engaging and visually
appealing materials because students can easily relate to the cultural context and situation
while learning this language. In addition, students have opportunities to
comprehensively improve their English skills, especially listening and speaking skills,
by participating in classroom activities such as role-play, cultural presentations,
performing some artwork, and so on. Finally, the research has identified that students
can increase cultural knowledge and sensitivity through learning English culture. Once
British culture is included in the curriculum, students are nurtured with a globalized
vision, allowing students to discuss with countries worldwide.
5.2.2 Challenges when incorporating cultural aspects in English lessons in Ho Chi Minh
city
In the Vietnamese education system, particularly in Ho Chi Minh City, standardized

testing is utilized and emphasized significantly as it is the policy of the Ministry of
Education. This approach, in turn, tends to underline grammar and vocabulary as well as
reading and writing at the expense of cultural aspects. Consequently, obstacles in the
availability of time and the flexibility of the lessons are obviously presented, posing
various challenges for the teachers to incorporate cultures in their lesson plans.
Additionally, the curriculum is often tightly structured and the knowledge is provided
rigidly, leaving little space for the utilization of other cultural elements. Such a strict
structure further limits the ability of educators and teachers to integrate cultural elements
into their lessons. As a result, due to the policy of standardized testing and the strict
structure of the main program, cultural aspects are often underestimated. Moreover,
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students in Ho Chi Minh City often face a hectic schedule due to the fact that numerous
subjects contain a substantial amount of knowledge requiring them to absorb in a short
period, not to mention the practice of extra classes of subjects such as Math and
Literature. Therefore, this situation underlines the demand for a more balanced approach
that recognizes the importance of both linguistic proficiency and cultural competence in
the overall educational development of students in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City.
5.2.3 Pedagogical methods for embedding British cultural content into the English
curriculum at high schools in Ho Chi Minh City.
Integrating Literature and Multimedia
Incorporating English or American movies, TV shows, famous quotes, and online videos
on YouTube can significantly enhance English lessons by making them more engaging
and culturally informative, enhancing language absorption. Teachers can regularly
feature multimedia content relevant to the topics being studied, utilizing and combining
materials that have both linguistic and cultural content. Moreover, this method not only
improves students' listening and reading skills through constant exposure to various
genuine British accents and dialects but also makes lessons more engaging and relatable.
Multimedia resources provide captivating visuals and sounds while creating challenges
in language skills and making cultural content more accessible for students.
For example, watching extractions from famous movies and series such as "Harry Potter"
and "Sherlock" enables students to have more knowledge on cultural aspects of language
such as ordinary slang, phrases, exclamations, and idioms while gripping the context in
which such phrases are used.
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Role-Playing English plays
Another common method is to engage students in role-playing activities based on famous

ancient British plays and scenarios which has been proven highly effective in enhancing
English absorption. Teachers can extract a play or a scenario that contains signature
content such as Romeo and Juliette, Hamlet, which presents cultural aspects of the
Middle Ages. Teachers can ask students to translate the language used into today’s
English, further improving their language competence.
This immersive approach not only improves students' pronunciation skills but also boosts
their confidence in speaking English. Moreover, it made language learning more
dynamic and interactive, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of British
customs and traditions.
Transferring cultural norms in English textbooks
The method of converting Vietnamese cultural terms in English language textbooks into
those of English is also an effective approach to make English learning more captivating
and engaging for students. Therefore, not only can learners interact with new vocabulary
and grammar points, but they also can broaden their cultural understanding and enhance
their knowledge of English-speaking countries. For example, in the festivals and
celebrations topic, instead of focusing on traditional Vietnamese festivals such as Tet
Nguyen Dan (Lunar New Year) or the Mid-Autumn Festival, Vietnamese textbooks
could incorporate stories about traditional English festivals such as Christmas and
Harvest Day, their origins, common activities, and their meanings. Another example is
that rather than exclusively learning about tourism in Da Nang and Nha Trang (famous
tourist attractions of Vietnam), students can learn about ancient cities in Britain and their
tourist spots, common tourism activities, and festivals. This fosters the connections
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between cultural understanding and linguistic aspects during the learning process.
Integrating English cultural elements into the Vietnamese curriculum not only enriches
students' learning experiences but also promotes cross-cultural understanding and
appreciation.
Creating some English games aiming to raise students’ awareness of cultural aspects
Teachers can consider implementing some captivating and engaging English games that
focus on cultural aspects, enhancing students' engagement and studying process. These
games not only make learning interesting and entertaining but also offer a variety of
background contexts for linguistic phrases through famous plays, movie extractions, and
song lyrics which, obviously, are more captivating than heaps of figures and facts in the
form of plain text. Moreover, teachers designing games should consider cultural aspects
as well as specific vocabulary and grammatical points related to British culture. This
leads to improving students' lexical resources and grammatical ranges while ensuring the
knowledge's accuracy and genuineness.
A typical example for this is the culture bingo game, in which teachers make several
bingo cards containing interactive pictures such as Big Ben, Birmingham Palace,
Stonehenge, Fish and Chips ( a famous British meal ) instead of plain, boring numbers.
Subsequently, teachers will describe the pictures using English, and students will choose
the correct cards with the pictures accordingly. Students with the first five pictures in a
row or a column win the prizes.
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5.3 Implications
The findings of this study have important implications for language learners and high
school instructors who seek to enhance language teaching skills by using British cultural
contexts in teaching English at high schools in Ho Chi Minh City. In terms of education,
this advantageous combination enables teachers to enhance their teaching skills by
designing innovative and diverse teaching methods that incorporate British cultural
elements. This also helps students become more active in their learning, thereby
ameliorating English proficency for high school students such as vocabulary, grammar,
critical thinking, and reading comprehension. Socially, by using this approach, educators
can cultivate a global outlook in students that encompasses a wide range of British
cultural elements, promoting global awareness and competence to absorb world culture,
thereby promoting international cultural exchange relationships in the future. However,
this requires many high-quality resources, ensuring that the cultural knowledge that
teachers bring is complete and accurate, suitable for students' abilities. On the other hand,
even though this is a useful artifact to apply to the English teaching program, educators
must not overuse this reference and view this as a replacement for traditional language
instruction. Features of British culture are additional material for students to enhance
their language skills and access to world culture. Therefore, educators have the role of
developing suitable teaching strategies to optimize their advantages of the resources,
bring rich educational experiences, and help students be well equipped with knowledge
for future global integration.
5.4 Limitations
For a number of objective and subjective reasons, this thesis still has some limitations.
First, the number of respondents was not high enough to be considered effective, with
only 130 people in the high school student group and 60 people in the formal teacher
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group responding to the questionnaire. In addition, this study did not organize direct
interviews and opinion polls, which may affect the relativity of the above data. Second,
because of time constraints, some of the participants answered in a rather sketchy way,
even that the answers were not related to the content of the question, causing the author
to filter them again to have the most precise answer table. Finally, the researcher only
conducted the survey to get answers within 3 weeks, then collected and processed.
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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
6.1. Conclusion
Through careful examinations in the study, it is shown that integrating cultural elements
into English lessons in classrooms can, to some extent, enhance students' language
proficiency and linguistic competence, as well as foster language absorption.
Furthermore, this practice can improve interests and engagement of students by
providing realistic contexts of certain language usage, which helps students easily
memorize the meanings and the liguistic context behind each English word and phrase.
Moreover, students’ motivation can be greatly enhanced, making the lessons and
studying process significantly more enjoyable. In addition, understanding cultural
contexts enables students for a more effective global communication method, offering
better opportunities in landing a position in an international career.
Despite such positive impacts, there are still challenges in incorporating British culture
into English classroom lessons. Firstly, teachers may face difficulties regarding the lack
of practical resources and inadequate necessary training for suitable pedagogical
methods. Additionally, students may initially find themselves struggling with cultural
elements that are not their native ones or present tremendous differences with their own
culture. Therefore, teachers are the ones who play a significant role in balancing the
introduction of foreign cultural elements and the familiarity or the ease of understanding
to prevent potential misunderstandings and cultural conflicts.
A variety of methods can be employed to remedy these drawbacks. To begin with,

teachers can utilize multimedia resources, such as movies, music, and famous plays and
quotations to create engaging English lessons in classrooms. Educators can consider
adding activities such as role-playing, transferring language style and make comparisons
between cultural differences and similarities, which can create an interactive learning
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environment for students. Moreover, providing specialized training for teachers on

pedagogical classroom techniques is also a crucial aspect for effective implementation
of cultures in language teaching. Additionally, integrating cultural content at a slow and
appropriate pace can ensure that students can absorb new information while keeping it
undisputed with their existing knowledge and experiences.
Ultimately, while integrating British cultural aspects into English teaching in Ho Chi
Minh City high schools presents substantial advantages, it still requires more careful
solutions and implementation methods to the challenges. Teachers can create an
interesting, engaging, and effective learning environment through incorporating various
cultural elements, not only to reinforce students’ knowledge absorption but also to
prepare students for communication in an increasingly globalized world.
6.2. Recommendations
Based on the results of this study, some recommendations are sincerely offered for future
research to optimize all the potentials that aspects of British culture bring to the English
teaching process in Vietnam generally.
First, the future researchers should broaden the survey's scope and include more survey
participants, especially high school English teachers, to be able to gain general findings
concerning the significant impact of combining culture and language. In addition,
prospective researchers should increase survey time, allowing them to directly interview
participants in the area where they live. In that manner, the research will be more
objective and reliable.
Second, they should organize practical experiments, specifically applying English

cultures directly to some English classes in high school, then observe and gather attitudes
as well as the level of satisfaction of students when studying in a classroom that uses
British cultural materials, and finally analyze their impact. This organization will bring
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the most practical results, clearly supporting the content of this research paper.
The third piece of suggestion for researchers is to devise long-term methods to address
the challenges that this combination faces. The current Vietnamese education system in
general still strictly manages the content included in the curriculum to create a common
standard in English teaching. This leads to educators not having the opportunity to
implement the educational methods proposed in the study. Therefore, future research
should find a long-term solution that can provide new knowledge about culture but is
still allowed by the education sector, from which the arguments in the research article on
the topic will be more convincing.
Finally, it is important to raise awareness among Vietnamese students and educators of

the potential benefits of incorporating British cultural resources into the official English
curriculum. While some respondents in the current study recognized the educational
potential of aspects of English culture, many still considered these materials
unnecessary, and irrelevant to learning English. Therefore, there is a need to conduct
online workshops, seminars, and resources that highlight the intimate relationship
between culture and language, guiding how to integrate them into the curriculum
language, and helping educators enrich the treasure of English teaching methods.
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Kechnaoui, C. (2021). The importance of integrating teaching the target culture into EFL
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Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (p.
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Sapir, E. (1921). Language: An introduction to the study of speech. Harcourt, Brace.
Sarigul, E., & Ashton-Hay, S. (2005). Culture and English language teaching: Raising
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Nhan, T. (2013). Promoting content and language integrated learning in gifted high
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APPENDIX A : Students’ Questionnaire
APPLYING ASPECTS OF ENGLISH CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH

TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY
PART I
1. Which grade are you in?

 10
 11
 12
2. What’s your gender
 Male
 Female
 Prefer not to say
3. How long have you been learning English ? ( short answers )
4. On a scale of 1 to 5, how interesting do you feel about English?
 Very interesting
 Somewhat interesting
 Neutral
 Somewhat not interesting
 Boring / Not intersting at all
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PART II
5. Do you think it is important to learn about English cultures in

learning English at school? (Bạn có nghĩ việc tìm hiểu về văn hóa
Anh khi học tiếng Anh ở trường là quan trọng không?)
 Very important
 Important
 Not very important
 Not important at all
6. What benefits do you believe that incorporating English culture

into learning English at school will give you? ( Bạn nghĩ mình sẽ
được những lợi ích gì khi được học tiếng Anh kết hợp với văn hoá
Anh ? )
 Improving English Skills
 Absorbing the essence of other countries
 Confidently communicating with native speakers
 Learning English more easily and interstingly
 No benefit
7. Have you ever thought that understanding cultural aspects
would help you improve your English skills? ( Yes / No question )
(Bạn có bao giờ nghĩ rằng hiểu biết về các khía cạnh văn hóa sẽ giúp bạn cải
thiện kỹ năng tiếng Anh của mình không?)
8. Which English skills do you think it will be improve if you
understand English Cultures?
(Bạn nghĩ kỹ năng tiếng Anh nào sẽ được cải thiện nếu bạn hiểu Văn hóa
Anh?)
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 All skills
 Reading
 Listening
 Writing
 Speaking
9. What aspects of English culture would you like to see more of in
your English classes?
(Bạn muốn thấy những khía cạnh nào của văn hóa Anh trong các lớp học
tiếng Anh của mình?
 Literature (poems, plays, novels )
 Music (songs / lyrics)
 Films or documentaries
 Art or visual media
 Traditional customs and rituals
 Cultural Festivals
 Other (Please specify)
10. Which activities do you think would be most effective in
incorporating cultural aspects into English lessons? (Choose one
or more)
Bạn nghĩ hoạt động nào sẽ hiệu quả nhất trong việc kết hợp các khía cạnh
văn hóa vào bài học tiếng Anh? (Chọn một hoặc nhiều)
 Role-Playing activities
 Playing some English games about cultural aspects
 Watching and discussing movies or TV shows from different
cultures
 Quizzes, Mini tests, assignments
 Discussing and presenting about one aspect of culture
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 Learning about cultural festivals and traditions through

English materials such as custom, food, etc.
 Learning boring theory
11. How do you think the knowledge of British culture gained in

English classes will benefit you in the future? (ex: communicate
with native speakers, improve English skills, create conditions to
study abroad, etc)
Bạn hình dung kiến thức về văn hóa Anh thu được trong các lớp học tiếng
Anh sẽ mang lại lợi ích gì cho bạn trong tương lai?
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APPENDIX B : Teachers’ Questionnaire
APPLYING ASPECTS OF ENGLISH CULTURE IN TEACHING

ENGLISH TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY
PART II
1. What’s your gender

 Male
 Female
 Prefer not to say
2. How old are you?
 25-30
 35-40
 45-50
 Other
3. Years of Teaching Experience?
 5-10
 11-20
 >20
 <5
4. Which high school are you working at?
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PART II
1. Have you applied aspects of culture into your English language
lessons?
 Yes
 No
2. How important do you believe it is for students to learn about
different cultures while learning English?
 Very important
 Important
 Not very important
 Not important at all
3. In your experience, how do students typically respond to lessons
that apply aspects of culture?
 They are highly interested.
 They show a little interest and engagement.
 They seem disinterested.
4. What types of culture do you often include in your lessons?
(Check all that apply)
 Literature (poems, plays, novels)
 Music (songs / lyrics)
 Films or documentaries
 Art or visual media
 Traditional customs and rituals
 Cultural Festivals
 Other (Please specify)
5. What specific strategies will you use to apply culture to your
English lessons?
44
Chi Minh City
 Create a chance for student to research and present

 Let students participate in art performance (roleplay, songs,
literature, etc.)
 Replace some examples of Vietnamese culture in the book with
native culture
 Create some English games to ask students about cultural aspects
 Teach boring theory
 Quizzes, tests, assignments
 Let them discuss about one aspect of culture
6. What activities do you think is the best to apply cultures into
English lessons? (Short Answer)
7. What challenges do you face when applying aspects of culture
into your English lessons?
 Lack of appropriate resources/materials
 Time-consuming issue
 Student disinterest or resistance
 Cultural sensitivity
 Curriculum restrictions
8. Have you received any training or professional development
related to integrating culture into English teaching?
 Yes
 No
9. If yes, how effective do you find such training in enhancing your
teaching practice? (Short Answer)
10. What resources would you find helpful in better combine culture
with your English teaching after taking teaching training? (Short
Answer)
45

Apply Cultural Elements To Teaching English at High School

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Apply Cultural Elements To Teaching English at High School

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

APPLYING ASPECTS OF BRITISH CULTURE IN

Instructor: Vo Le Thuy Nga M.A.

Ho Chi Minh City, 2024

I certify that the attached material is my original work. No other person’s

Due to my limited knowledge and lack of practical experience, it is difficult to avoid

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 2

1.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 2

1.2 Problem identification............................................................................................ 3

1.3 Objectives .............................................................................................................. 4

1.4 Scopes .................................................................................................................... 4

1.5 Research organization ............................................................................................ 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 6

2.1 General Statement .................................................................................................. 6

2.2 Research gap ........................................................................................................ 11

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 12

3.1 Overview of the experiment ................................................................................ 12

3.2 Subjects of the experiment ................................................................................... 12

3.3 Materials .............................................................................................................. 13

3.3.1 Survey of High School Students in Ho Chi Minh City ............................................ 13

3.4 Procedures ............................................................................................................ 14

3.5 Statistical Treatment ............................................................................................ 15

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS ....................................................................................... 16

4.2 Benefits of Applying British Cultural Aspects to English Learning ................... 17

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION .................................................................................. 26

5.1 The purpose of the study ...................................................................................... 26

5.2 Finding and Explanation ...................................................................................... 26

5.3 Implications ......................................................................................................... 31

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ............................ 33

6.1. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 33

6.2. Recommendations ............................................................................................... 34

Excerpt from scientific research articles by foreigners. ...........Error! Bookmark not

Excerpt from Vietnamese scientific research articles. ............................................... 37

APPENDIX A : Students’ Questionnaire .............................................................. 39

APPENDIX B : Teachers’ Questionnaire.............................................................. 43

The teaching of conventional English as a foreign language (EFL) in Vietnamese high

1.2 Problem identification

1.5 Research organization

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 General Statement

Furthermore, the cognitive development of students and children was seemingly

Currently, to offer a dissimilar range of lessons to students in the high school

Infusing English cultural contexts into language education is considered a necessary

2.1.5 Methods of integrating cultural aspects into English language teaching

It is commonly acknowledged that integrating cultural dimensions into English language

2.2 Research gap

3.1 Overview of the experiment

Furthermore, the research investigates the intentions and orientations of educators in Ho

3.2 Subjects of the experiment

3.3.1 Survey of High School Students in Ho Chi Minh City

discussions of the paper.

3.5 Statistical Treatment

Figure 4.1: High school teachers’ evaluation about the importance of

Figure 4.2: High school students’ evaluation about the importance of

4.2 Benefits of Applying British Cultural Aspects to English Learning

Figure 4.3: General Benefits of Applying British Cultural Aspects to

Figure 4.4: English skills improvement when utilizing aspects of British