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Lecturers name: An Thuy Tien

Students Name: Nguyen Thi Thuy Chinh

Text comparison task

Cultures are various among different countries. Cultures also influence almost aspects of

humans 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 Thus (1988) views that

Vietnamese students considered intelligent were the ones who learnt by heart almostwords 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 ones 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

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disrespectful The relationship also make learners exclusively dependent on the teachers

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 Has 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)