Nâng cao chất lượng kiểm tra, đánh giá môn tiếng pháp theo chuẩn đầu ra về năng lực ngoại ngữ tại học viện khoa học quân sự

contexts, cannot 
be overestimated. It is used in numerous ways: 
to establish a positive atmosphere, to create a 
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sense of togetherness, to bridge differences, 
to introduce risky ideas, to criticize, to show 
appreciation or contempt of a person. British 
people joke about everything including the 
queen, politicians, religion, themselves. 
Understatement: British always understate 
what they do. For example, depending on the 
tone “Not bad” can actually mean “very good” 
and “not bad at all” might be the highest praise 
you ever get from a British person.
Friendliness and stiff upper lip: British are 
also very “quiet” and keep to themselves. There 
is a proper way to act in most situations and the 
British are sticklers for adherence to protocol. 
This can be hard if you want to make friends with 
them. Friendships take longer to build; however, 
once established they tend to be deep and may 
last over time and distance. “Stiff upper lip” is 
a term often used to describe the traditionally 
British portrayal of reserve and restraint when 
faced with difficult situations. Although the 
British are generally seen as being reserved, you 
will find that in the North of England, people 
are usually quite friendly. They will appreciate 
it if you make a chat about the weather or take 
an interest in local affairs. Especially as a man, 
you might have to get used to the fact that many 
(older) people address you as “Love”. Don’t 
worry, they don’t have amorous intentions. 
4. CONCLUSION
It is obvious that these course books are 
not cultural material sources but we can 
recognize that every text, conversation or 
activity contains cultural contents which are 
very vital to master English language the best. 
With the large cultural knowledge, the learners 
of English foreign language will know how to 
behave or communicate better and may gain 
English language more easily and effectively. 
As mentioned above, teaching and learning 
a second language is teaching and learning 
second culture. It is essential to learn it right 
when we start to learn a language. Hence, good 
methods for integrating culture teaching into 
English language teaching need to be focused 
and discussed, especially when teaching the 
communicative course books “New Headway” 
for students of the People police University. It 
is the foreign language teachers’ responsibility 
to find practical solutions to this problem to 
integrate culture teaching into their language 
teaching in one way or another. 
First of all, the teachers should provide 
the students with the knowledge of English 
speaking cultures which are considered the 
effective means of mastering English language 
and gaining good communication. In other 
words, the teachers should raise the students’ 
awareness and attitudes of the importance of 
culture in learning English and make sure that 
the knowledge of culture which students are 
exposed to be most benefit to them. 
Secondly, the teachers ought to help the 
students understand more about the cultural 
values and be aware of cultural differences. It 
means the students may be pointed out whether 
certain behaviors, attitudes, lifestyles, etc. are 
appropriate in English, Vietnamese cultures 
in certain situations. From that fact, students 
may relate to the native culture and give a 
comparison between English speaking cultures 
and the native culture. 
Subsequently, the teachers need to 
plan the cultural lessons and activities as 
carefully as language activities and integrated 
into lesson plans. If the cultural lessons 
are prepared carefully, they will transfer 
fully cultural knowledge to their students. 
Lastly, when using New Headway textbooks, 
the teachers are advised to create chances of 
social interactions for students because one 
of the best ways to teach social English is by 
social situations. Through the texts or activities, 
the teachers may help students recognize which 
behaviors are accepted in British. 
In short, teaching English cannot be 
separated from teaching its culture. In order to 
help the students master English effectively via 
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the textbooks “New Headway”, cultural elements should be highlighted by the teachers during the 
language lessons. Also, it should be noted gradually that it is necessary to teach culture to the students 
so that they can overcome all difficulties or culture shock in real-life communication.
Reference:
1, Bentahila, A., & Davies, E. (1989). “Culture and language use: A problem for foreign language 
teaching”. IRAL, 27(2), 99-112. 
2. Bock, Philip K. (1970). Culture Shock: A Reader in Modern Cultural Anthropology. New 
York: A. A. Knoph Company.
3. Brown, G. (1990). “Cultural values: The interpretation of discourse”. ELT Journal, 44(1), 11-17.
4. Claire Kramsch. (1998). Language and Culture. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 
5. Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University 
Press.
6. Levine, Lawrence W. (1993). The Unpredictable Past: Explorations in American Cultural 
History. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
7. Soars, L & Soars, J. (2003). New Headway Elementary Students Book. Oxford: Oxford 
University Press.
8. Soars, L & Soars, J. (2003). New Headway Intermediate Students Book. Oxford: Oxford 
University Press.
9. Soars, L & Soars, J. (2003). New Headway Pre-intermediate Students Book. Oxford: Oxford 
University Press.
10. Nguyen Quang. (1983). Intercultural Communication. Vietnam National University - Hanoi 
College of Foreign Languages.
11. Politzer, R. (1959). “Developing Cultural Understanding through Foreign Language Study”, 
Report of the Fifth Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and language Teaching, pp. 99-105, 
Washington, D.C, Georgetown University Press.
12. Saville-Troike, Muriel. (1982). The Ethnography of Communication: An Introduction. Oxford 
and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
13. Tavares, R., Cavalcanti, I. (1996). “Developing Cultural Awareness”. English Teaching 
Forum. Vol. 34, No 3-4, July – October 1996, Washington: The United States Information Agency, 
pp. 19-23.
14. Valdes, J.M. (1986). Culture Bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching, 
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15. Wardhaugh, R. (1972). Introduction to Linguistics. McGraw-Hill Book Company.
16. Wiseman, Richard L. (2003). “Intercultural Communication Competence”, in: Gudykunst, 
William B (ed.), Cross-Cultural and Intercultural Communication, 191-208, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
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APPENDIX
1. The frequency of occurrence of British cultural elements in New Headway textbooks
British Cultural Elements The frequency of cultural elements in New Headway 
textbooks
Elementary
(14 units)
Pre-intermediate
(14 units)
Intermediate
(12 units) Norms
- Non-verbal behavior
- Gift giving
- Queuing
- Driving
- Table manners
- Punctuality
Unit 11
Units 5,9
Unit 13 Unit 2
Units 4, 8
Unit 4, 8
Unit 6
Units 4,11
Unit 4
 Attitudes
Unit 5
Units 5,9
Unit 9
Units 3,4,11,12,14
Unit 9
Units 4,5
Unit 5
Unit 14
Unit 1
Unit 13
Units 1,2,10
Unit 13
Units 2,6,9,11
Units 2,3,5,6
Unit 2
Unit 6,7
Units 2,8
Units 2,4
-The love of nature
-The love of animals
- Dresses
- Food
- Drink
- Entertainment
- Meals
Communication Styles
Units 1,2,3,4,5,8,13,14
Unit 8
Units 2,6
Unit 13
Units 3,4,9,12
Unit 8
Units 10,14
Units 2,8,13
Units 5,7,12
Units 6,11,12
Units 8,9
Unit 11
Unit 2
Units 4,7,9,10
- Politeness
- Indirectness
- Formality & informality
- Humor
- Understatement
- Friendliness & stiff upper lip
2. Examples:
 Politeness: In a snack bar (Unit 2 – 
Elementary)
A: Good morning.
B: Good morning. Can I have an orange 
juice, please?
A: Here you are. Anything else?
B: No, thanks. 
A: Ninety, please.
B: Thanks.
A: Thank you.
Food: (Tape script: Unit 9 - Elementary) 
Marian: 
Well, I love vegetables, all vegetables – I 
eat meat too – but not much. I think this is why 
I like Chinese food so much. There are lots of 
vegetables in Chinese food. Yes, Chinese is my 
favorite food, I like the noodles too. Can you eat 
with chopsticks? I can. 
Lucy:
Oh, no question, no problem. I know exactly 
what my favorite food is. Pasta. All pasta. 
Especially spaghetti. Pasta with tomato sauce – 
and I like it best when I’m in Italy. I went on 
holiday to the Italian lakes last year. The food 
was wonderful..
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A STUDY ON BRISTISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS VIA LINGUISTIC MEANS 
IN NEW HEADWAY TEXTBOOKS
LE HUONG HOA, DAO THI LE MAI
Abstract: When trying to communicate with people from different cultures and languages, the 
possibility of miscommunication increases. Understanding a language involves not only knowledge 
of grammar, phonology and lexis but also certain features and characteristics of the related culture. 
However, the cultural elements in the New Headway textbooks seem to be neglected during the 
teaching and learning of English at the People’s Police University (PPU). Thus, this study was 
undertaken to highlight the cultural elements in the Elementary, Pre-intermediate and Intermediate 
textbooks so that the learners of English at the PPU can communicate appropriately during and after 
using the “New Headway” course materials. In addition, the authors also offer suggestions for 
incorporating cultural elements into language teaching so that English learning and teaching at the 
PPU can become more interesting and effective.
Keywords: New Headway textbooks, linguistic means,cultural elements. 
Received: 30/12/2016; Revised: 29/4/2017; Accepted for publication: 28/6/2017