Lecturer’s name: An Thuy Tien

Student’s Name: Nguyen Thi Thuy Chinh

Text comparison task

Cultures are various among different countries. Cultures also influence almost aspects of
human’s life in each country. Since English is the international language, it plays vital
role in many nations in the world. Vietnam is not exception among these countries;
therefore, learning and teaching English has been becoming important recent years in
globalization. Moreover, language and culture cannot be separated from our daily life
(Maley, 1996, as cited in An, 2002)) and it is also undeniable that language plays very
essential role in the perpetuation of culture (Kramsch, 2000). From the intimate
relationship between language and cultures, cultural factors affect learning and teaching
English. To explain the effects, this essay aims at comparing the two views of two
authors:
1. An, N. (2002). Cultural Effects on Leaning and Teaching English in Vietnam. The
Language Teacher Online.
2. Ha, P. (2001). How do culturally situated notion of ‘polite’ forms influence the
way Vietnamese postgraduate students write in English.? Australian Journal of
Education 45(3(13)):296.
They are two Vietnamese authors; they have many ideas in common while discussing the
effects of Vietnamese cultures to leaning and teaching English.
The first similarity lies on the agreement that Confucianism have much influences on
Vietnamese cultures. Therefore, they share the ideas that there exits a “power distance
relationship between learners and teachers”. Nguyen Xuan Thu’s (1988) views that
Vietnamese students considered intelligent were the ones who learnt by heart almost
words and sentences from books… what Confucius had said was the truth, requiring no
doubt or discussion (p.20) are misleading (as cited in Ha, 2002). Ha (2002) indicates
‘power distance’ in the society is much expected. One places one self ‘ down’ to show
that one is a student and the readers is one’s reader. She also adds that if a student
interrupts a lecturer when he or she is giving lectures, the student is regarded as ‘rude’ or
disrespectful’ The relationship also make learners exclusively dependent on the teacher’s
excellence (Hofstede, 1991, as cited in An, 2002).
Secondly, both the two authors agree that there is a lack of “ critical analytical thinking”
in Vietnamese teaching and learning styles. Ha ( 2001) states that Vietnamese people feel
reluctant to criticize or diminish anything as a result of the culture in which power
distance is emphasized.. They are not willing to debate at all so they often assume that
what is written in books is truth. She also proves that Vietnamese writing is less critical
than English writing because of a socio-political discourse convention, caused by the
ideological homogeneity of particular society. Similarly, to An (2002 ), a common
complaint from Vietnamese learners is that their shyness hinders their learning process.
They do not feel comfortable if they use “I” identity for fear of loosing face and feeling
shy when they make mistakes. One that can be explained to the students’ shyness is that
they are not trained or encouraged to think independently (An, 2002).
The last similarity is that both the two authors see the positive changing in thinking or
Vietnamese teachers and learners. According to Ha (2001), Vietnamese students have
become more familiar with the western style of teaching and learning without giving up
their own writing norms. They have been proudly successful in academic performance in
university. Moreover, An ( 2002) indicates that the doi moi policy has given Vietnamese
occasions to show that they are open-minded and willing to learn foreign language (Do,
1999). One evidence is that the opportunities to practice with expatriates and to join
English – speaking clubs are welcomed by 95%-97% respectively. Furthermore, English
clubs are set up at private language institutes and universities where, with the help pf both
Vietnamese and expatriate teachers and learners voluntarily come for opportunities to use
English in realistic situations. The result of Ha’s research also suggests that Vietnamese
learners are no longer completely passive because of the fact that they enjoy participating
in different activities to help them use the language.
In conclusion, there are more similarities then differences between the two authors’ view
in discussing the cultural factors and its influences on teaching and learning English in
Vietnam.
(Word total: 687)