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Bài viết tập trung vào phân tích vào bốn khía cạnh trong văn hoá lớp học: cách sắp xếp chỗ ngồi, cách chào hỏi giữa giáo viên và học sinh, cách trả lời các câu hỏi và cùng với các phương thức giao tiếp ngôn ngữ và phi ngôn ngữ trong lớp học. Kèm theo tài liệu là bản slideshow.Tài liệu giao tiếp giao văn hoá, hữu ích cho các bạn tìm hiểu về nền văn hoá Mỹ, đặc biệt là các bạn chuẩn bị đi du học.
I. INTRODUCTION Culture is defined as the patterned way of thinking, feeling and reacting, required and transmitted mainly by symbol, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments of artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values ( Kluckhohm). Culture is also defined as "an integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life of particular groups of people. It includes everything that a group of people thinks, says, does and makes its systems of attitudes and feelings. Culture is learned and transmitted from generation to generation." (L. Robert Kohls. Survival Kit for Overseas Living, Maine: Intercultural Press, Inc. 1996, Page 23.) Each countries has own culture. Therefore, the differences of culture among countries can made difficulties for people crossing from one country to others. Feeling confusion and anxiety that someone feel when they live or visit another country or another environment is considered as “Culture shock” If you are an oversea student, beside the differences of food, climate, society or transportation, the differences of culture in classroom is also one of problems can made culture shock that you may experience. This problem can affect to psychology as well as studying if you are not well –adjusted person. This assignment bases on a short drama which tells the story of a Vietnamese oversea student in USA in other to analyzed the student’s behaviors in the Vietnamese classroom and American classroom to compare and contrast the cultural differences of two countries. We focus on four main differences: table arrangement, greeting teacher, responding question and verbal and non-verbal communication. II. THE SCENARIO The main character of the story is Mo. She learned very hard for her dream – getting a scholarship abroad. When the dream came true, Mo was really happy. However, after the first day at The American School, she recognized that everything was not as easy as she thought. Scene 1: M stood in front of the classroom. She looked around the whole class, breathed deeply and entered the classroom. M walked slowly to found her seat. She sat down next a boy and observed the class. There was no one care of her appearance. Scene 2: When the teacher came in the classroom, M stood up suddenly under surprising eyes of her classmates and her teacher. She did know the reason why people stare at her like that. She recognized quickly that she was the only one stood up for greeting. “What’s happen? – The teacher asked. With a great embarrass, M said “No” and sat down. Scene 3: The teacher lectured passionately. Sometime, she sat on the table. Mo really shocked. It is an unacceptable action in her country. After the lecture, the teacher had a question for all students. Many students raised their hand as freely as possible except Mo – she put the elbow at the table. It was not a problem unless M did not stand up to answer the question. Other students paid their attention to the strange girl with surprising eyes. Moreover, Mo’s answering was so lengthy that the teacher had to interrupt. Beside, that she used less eye-contact made the teacher seems to be not satisfied The class time was end up. Mo felt shocked, disappointed and alone. III. ANALYSIS 1. Table Arrangement Table arrangement in American classroom is very difference from in Vietnamese classroom. In American classroom, there are many ways to arrange the classroom’s layout such as U- Shape, circle, horseshoe, etc. It depends on the requirement of the subjects: students have to work independently or work in pair, work in group. Teacher’s desk is often put near student’s tables to reduce the distance between teacher and student. In addition, American students can be free to choose and change their seat without permission of the teacher. Figure 1 American classroom layout is arranged U-shape Most of Vietnamese classrooms layout are arranged traditionally. All tables are separated into two or three columns. Students must follow the teacher’s arrangement and sit following straight lines, face to the blackboard. Teacher’s desk is put on the platform and separate from others. Teacher usually does not encourage student’s movement. This layout is suitable for traditional teaching method but unsuitable for discussion, cooperative learning and sharing material. These differences of arrangement layout in Viet Nam and America are derived from the difference of teaching method. American education encourage students learn by themselves. Teacher just plays instructor’s role. In Vietnam, most of teachers apply traditional method in which teacher is primary speaker and student is primary listener. This difference of table arrangement between two countries can makes many new oversea students feel puzzle at the first time they enter the classroom. The main character in our story –Mo is an example. She had a little bit difficult to find a seat in the classroom as well facing to other students in U-shape layout made her uncomfortable. Figure 2 Vietnamese classroom‘s layout 2. Greeting teacher Greeting teacher is one of the notable differences between Vietnamese classroom and American classroom. In Vietnam, when the teacher comes in or leave out the class, all students must stand up solemnly to greet. This way of greeting is like the strict military discipline. Even though teachers are young, they enjoy the great respect and prestige in Vietnamese society. The student - teacher relationship likes the son – father relationship: son's respect for his father's wisdom and of father's concern for his son's welfare. In contract, American students keep their seat when their teacher comes in or leaves out the class. This difference is caused by the different hofstede’s taxonomy of two countries. Viet Nam is high distance country; therefore teachers are the people who have high position in society. American is low distance country – teachers have no high position. However, that is not mean American students do not respect their teachers but they express their closer relationship. Moreover, they have a lot of ways to show their respect such as completing assignment on time, join the lesson enthusiast,etc. 4. Respond to the question. Vietnamese student and American student have some differences in responding the question. The first is raising hand. Both of Vietnamese culture and American culture had to raise hand to answer the question or ask the teacher’s permission. However, the way of raising hand between Vietnamese student and American student is different. In Vietnam, student put their elbow on the table in seriously posture while American student raise their hand as comfortable as possible. The second is the responding method. It is common that Vietnamese student must stand up to give their answer while American student can keep their seat and answer as freely as possible. The respect that students show to the teachers is also evident in linguistic behavior. The terms of address that students use in speaking to their teachers are the same as those they use in speaking to their parents.In addition, Vietnamese student often ask their teacher’s permission by saying “Em thưa cô!”. “thưa cô cho em xin ra ngoài ạ” “Em thưa cô, những nguyên nhân của ô nhiễm môi trường là……” It shows the strong discipline and formality in the Vietnamese classroom. These differences are caused by the distance society. Vietnamese society is power distance society while American is non – distance society. Moreover, America is democracy country. Therefore, student and teacher have equal position. The third is expressing the answer. Expressing the answer between Vietnamese and American is also different. American student always expresses their answer concisely while Vietnamese student’s answer is often lengthy. This is not only a characteristic of Vietnamese but also one of Asian in general. 5. Verbal and non-verbal communication In this picture, American student stared at Mo when she stood up because they were shocked. They didn’t understand the reason why she stood up. Their look showed the surprise at Mo’s motion. When someone is surprised, the eyebrows raise, the upper eyelids raise to enlarge our eye openings, and the jaw drops. This is normal when someone do strange thing, this is natural reaction of human, especially, through the look. However, something on the face also contributes on the way of reaction. For example, eyebrow cans creat the strong feeling when it combine with eye. In this situation, the eyes as well as eyebrow of American student glower widely or some others stitch summarily which show that they are surprise. The second picture, Mo stands up to show her respect to teacher as a greeting. But, she quickly realizes that she has made a mistake. Mo understood that she had done a strange action which unlike everyone. In this situation, Mo was very embarrassed, she raised her hand and touch her hair, one typical gesture when someone is ashamed. Clearly, Mo has done a series of strange things that it is difficult to understand for everyone in class and it creates cultural shock not only to Mo but also to American student. Vietnamese’s answer American’s answer IV. CONCLUSION Our assignment focused on four aspects: seating arrangement, greeting teacher, responding to the question and verbal and non verbal communication base on the story of Mo- an American oversea student. Generally, Vietnam and America are countries have noticeable cultural differences. In Vietnamese culture, respect is as the principle of all relationship. Their respect is conveyed through language and demeanor. For their teacher, they show the respect by avoiding direct eye-contact, standing up to greeting teacher or respond to the question or dressing formal clothing to go to school. In contract, American student expresses their respect through their action. They finish the assignment on time, join the lesson with feel highly enthusiastically. This assignment indicated that culture shocks occurred with many Vietnamese oversea students when they begin to study America. . generation." (L. Robert Kohls. Survival Kit for Overseas Living, Maine: Intercultural Press, Inc. 19 96, Page 23.) Each countries has own culture. Therefore, the differences of culture among countries. at The American School, she recognized that everything was not as easy as she thought. Scene 1: M stood in front of the classroom. She looked around the whole class, breathed deeply and entered. The class time was end up. Mo felt shocked, disappointed and alone. III. ANALYSIS 1. Table Arrangement Table arrangement in American classroom is very