Information technology and teaching culture: Application in classroom

Abstract

With the changes in linguistic theory and pedagogical practice, culture has been regarded as an essential element in language classrooms. Thanks to the potential of information technology (IT), teaching, including learning English in general and subjects related to culture, in particular, has been supported and enhanced significantly. The study aims to investigate the effects and approaches of employing IT in teaching culture to enhance Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) of Vietnamese tertiary students of English as well as the students’ and teachers’ perceptions toward using IT in teaching culture. In order to collect the data, an IT-assisted teaching project was applied for 40 English major students at Hanoi Law University in 8 weeks to an ICC subject. In addition, a set of questionnaires were delivered to the participants, plus 13 teachers who taught culture-related subjects from three universities. The findings revealed that although there were certain challenges, using IT in teaching culture had satisfying effects on students’ intercultural competence, problem- solving skills, assessment, and motivation to discover a new language in a new culture and suitable pedagogical strategies are suggested.