EFL TEACHERS\' PERCEPTIONS TOWARD TEACHING COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE SECTION OF TIENG ANH TEXTBOOKS TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS\' INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE (ICC)

In recognition of the development of communication among global citizens from different cultural backgrounds around the world, this study was conducted to find out high school EFL teachers‘ perceptions toward teaching the Communication and Culture section of Tieng Anh textbooks to improve high school students Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in the scopes: (i) EFL teachers’ perceptions of the Communication and Culture section of Tieng Anh textbooks ; (ii) their perceptions on the impact of the Communication and Culture section of Tieng Anh textbooks on students’ICC; and (iii) their suggestions to enhance students’ ICC. With the participation of one hundred high school EFL teachers (n=100) in the Mekong Delta, quantitative data from the questionnaires were analyzed through SPSS whereas the qualitative data from both the questionnaires and semi-structured interviews (n=9) were examined to go into deep insights of their ideas. The findings revealed that the participants held a slightly high positive attitude toward the Communication and Culture section and the effect of this section on students’ ICC. They were also aware that cultural communication could be integrated into their teaching by presenting more cultural knowledge to students. Moreover, they recognized that cultures of English-speaking countries were mainly focused upon in this section. Finally, the participants suggested that the curriculum should be adapted if needed and understand their own cultures clearly before teaching other cultures to students. Also, one of the most important implications from this study was to boost the students’ preference for intercultural communication learning.