Barriers to intercultural communication - 1

Ho Chi Minh City Open University

Graduate School
97 Vo Van Tan, Dist. 3, HCMC, Vietnam

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET AND REPORT

Diploma in TESOL 7A

Name of candidate: 1. TRƯƠNG QUANG VINH

2. HUỲNH THỊ TRỨ PHƯƠNG
Student No:
Email address: trq_vinh@yahoo.com
trucphuong_cl@yahoo.com
Name of coursework subject: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Title of this item of work: Barriers to intercultural communication among vietnamese

teachers and oversea partners in educational workplaces

Name of lecturer: Dr BAO DAT

Due date: 8th July 2010

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP:
We certify that the above assignment is our original work, and it is based on my own research.
All sources used by us have been documented. No other’s person’s work has been used without
due acknowledgement. This piece of work has not previously been submitted for assessment in
this or any other subject or course at this University or elsewhere.

Student’s signature: …………………………. Date: 8th July 2010

 Barriers to intercultural communication - 2

BARRIERS TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AMONG

VIETNAMESE TEACHERS AND OVERSEA PARTNERS IN
EDUCATIONAL WORKPLACES

Students: Truong Quang Vinh, Huynh Thi Truc Phuong

Lecturer: Dr Bao Dat
DipTesol7a, Ho Chi Minh city Open University
July 1, 2010

ABSTRACT
Barriers to communication can happen as a result of the interaction between people
coming from different cultures. This paper investigated some typical cultural obstacles in
intercultural communication among Vietnamese teachers and other speakers of English
teachers working together in some foreign invested schools based in Ho Chi Minh city,
Vietnam. These communication barriers were explored by conducting an empirical
investigation to collect the data from the questionnaires and direct interviews to find relevant
evidence to answer the proposed research questions. The data then were classified into groups
of barriers, causes, consequences and also suggestions for problems caused by the barriers. This
paper also aims to fulfill the last assignment which is given by Dr Bao Đat, lecturer of the
intercultural communication subject at Open University, Ho Chi Minh City.

I. INTRODUCTION:
A. Background
Since the success of the open policy and economic integration, Vietnam has step by step
integrated into the international community. In the Southeast Asia, Vietnam is widely
considered to be one of the attractive destinations by international investors and that has
resulted in the constant opening of many foreign invested companies in all over the country.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, hundreds of international

organizations, companies, private enterprises, schools and individuals have rapidly developed
their attendance not only in business but also in many other social and cultural aspects of the
city for over the last 20 years. Today, there is an observable number of people from different
nationalities are presently living and working among the natives within the same city.
 Barriers to intercultural communication - 3

However, working in multicultural environment could resulted in unavoidable communication

problems when people belonging to different speech communities interact.

This paper makes a contribution towards solving intercultural communication problems

by presenting a project study of these issues. It focuses on the barriers, causes and
consequences which occurred in interaction among members of Vietnamese English teachers
and their oversea partners working in schools with foreign investment capital in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam.

B. Scope of the research

The research exploits an investigation into the area of communication difficulties
among some Vietnamese teachers when working with a group of oversea lecturers in 3
different international schools located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The investigation
focuses mainly on the working relationships between the two studies without consideration to
any other contextual backgrounds.

C. Questions of the research

The questions proposed during the investigation were:

What are the communicational barriers that Vietnamese teachers had to cope with their
oversea colleagues in the workplace?
What are the reasons, factors that contributed to the barriers?

In what degree did those barriers affect upon communication?

How to eliminate the differences and develop a mutual relationship?

D. Research methods
There were two methods used during this research project. The first one was conducting
the questionnaire survey and the later was organizing interviews of the subjects involved.

E. Data collection
The data were collected from 20 questionnaires and 10 interviews conducted with
members of Vietnamese English teachers and their oversea partners working in schools with
foreign investment capital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

II. RESULTS
A. Findings and analysis information
Analysis of information collected from 20 questionnaires and 10 interviews pointed to
some common difficulties. The information in Table 1.1 identifies the major barriers in the
communication process between Vietnamese teachers and their foreign colleagues.
 Barriers to intercultural communication - 4

Table 1.1 Common communicational barriers in the workplace: Vietnamese teachers to

oversea partners
Encounter barriers related to
Name Language Behaviors Culture Skills Attitude Habits
Huynh Ngoc Tram ü ü ü ü
Ngo Thi Viet Tam ü ü ü ü
Tran Thi Phuong Thao ü ü ü ü
To Phuong Tu ü ü ü ü
To Lan Anh ü ü ü ü ü
Tran Dinh Luan ü ü ü ü
Ho My Le ü ü ü
Bui Kim Tuyen ü ü ü ü
Nguyen Thi Cam Tu ü ü
Truong Thanh Thuy ü ü ü ü

Among 10 Vietnamese teachers interviewed showed above, most have experienced

difficulties related to linguistic and communication skills barriers. There are eight people
confirmed themselves unconfident in using English and lacking of necessary skills in
communicating with foreigners. Besides, cultural factors are also caused problems for the
Vietnamese teachers. In addition, difficulties due to disregardful attitudes, confusing and self-
contained behaviors are also noteworthy after the research. There are six teachers complained
about the disrespectful attitudes of their oversea partners toward them. Other problems are
relevant to the habits and traditions of Vietnamese people in communication. All these teachers
are working with their oversea partners at least a year.

Besides interviews with the Vietnamese teachers, our team also conducted interviews
with the foreign teachers in order to objectively evaluate the problems during the interaction.
The result is not much different as shown in the following table:

Table 1.2 Common communicational barriers in the workplace: Oversea teachers to

Vietnamese partners
Encounter barriers related to
Name Language Behaviors Culture Skills Attitude Habits
Matthew Taylor ü ü ü
Warren Stanberry ü ü ü ü
Christian Sommer ü ü ü ü
Channel O'Brien ü ü ü ü
Allen Nevins ü ü ü ü
Samuel Johnson ü ü ü ü
Carolyn Jackin ü ü
Thomas Clayburn ü ü ü ü
Kim Libera ü ü ü ü ü
Jeffrey Waite ü ü ü

All the foreign managements, teachers and assistants who were interviewed above
revealed that the two biggest communication barriers between them and their Vietnamese
 Barriers to intercultural communication - 5

partners were the language and the culture. They reported that their Vietnamese colleagues do
not speak English well and not knowing what was said. Sometimes their key points or technical
ideas were not fully comprehended by their partners. They also said that their incomplete
understanding of culture, traditions and people of Vietnam could impede them to interact
effectively. However, all believed that they will overcome the difficulties as they live and work
in Vietnam longer.

B. Factors of influence
The survey result showed that there are different degrees of impact in communication
between the Vietnamese teachers and their partners.

Charts: Factors of influence affected upon the cross-cultural communication progress

To the Vietnamese teachers, communication skills contributed the most concerned

influenced factor in order to communicate effectively. They claimed that the proficiency skills
and knowledge of foreign cultures will help them overcome obstacles in in a multicultural
working environment. Other factors related to culture, habits and attitude in communication
were considered minor.

However, the degrees of influence found from the international teachers were totally
different from those of their Vietnamese partners. According to them, the linguistic barrier and
cultural issues affected the most. They found it hard to understand what their colleagues mean
as many of them made mistakes in speaking English according to Vietnamese style. Besides,
whenever they got into interaction, their Vietnamese partners could listen and apprehend the
 Barriers to intercultural communication - 6

ideas very well but not able to use the language to respond correctly. For them, that was a real
obstacle in communication.

From the findings and comparison, it could be concluded that if the degrees of
influenced factors were much different, then there would have more mistakes and difficulties in
interaction. Furthermore, if these differences were both understood and improved, then there
would have much effective communication.

C. Discussions of common communication barriers

1. Barriers caused by linguistic issues
Linguistic barriers arise when Vietnamese teachers have little or no knowledge of the
culture or when used the language within their own style. To effectively communicate with
foreign colleagues, the teacher must become sensitive to what is acceptable verbal and non-
verbal communication in the culture, to minimize the opportunity to offend.

2. Barriers caused by the local culture

There is a strong connection between language and the culture within which the
language is being spoken. Cultural barriers occur when the teachers express or act bearing
characteristics of the language of their country.

3. Barriers caused by cultural influence behavior.

These barriers originated from the influence of orient culture. As the traditional style,
Vietnamese teachers have much respect toward the elder or seniors and behave in an
understated way. In addition, they rarely ask or discuss in the workplace, but often themselves
find solution out alone, while foreigners often ask questions immediately when problems arise.

4. Barriers caused by differences in attitudes and emotions

Vietnamese teachers usually have inner thought and are less outspoken. They rarely
direct and outspoken like oversea partners. Ineffective communication can result in frustration,
hurt feelings, lowered morale, and improper relation.

As in the interview, many Vietnamese teachers had shared their experience in failing to
communicate successfully in the workplace. The followings are some of the common.

Thomas is an English teacher from The United States. He is now teaching at North
America high school in Ho Chi Minh City. He told that a confusing situation happened to him
as in a meeting with a Vietnamese partner of his school. He try to give out some evidence to the
discussion by saying “Vietnamese teachers teaching English better is a fact” but his partner
 Barriers to intercultural communication - 7

then get angry with him because he thought he was given an offensive word. But in fact, his
partner had just unintended understood the last word “fact” with the sound /fák/.

My Le, teacher of Vietnamese American language center in Ho Chi Minh city, shared
that she had encountered many difficulties during the time she first teaching at the school. The
difficulties originated from the work she had no experience in international communication
skills. At that time, she was not familiar to open, multi-dimensional thinking of the western
style in interaction so she still kept the Asian way of thinking and hesitated to share thoughts
and feelings with others. It caused misleading for her foreign colleagues as they thought that
she did not like to work with them. She felt very embarrassed and intended to quit because she
could not suffer the atmosphere of suspicion in the workplace.

Another Vietnamese teacher, Phuong Thao, also described another situation. During the
time she worked with her oversea colleagues, she had caused unpleasant reactions to them
when she asked many questions concerned to their private life. Being sociable and fun, wanted
to show her friendliness and concern for her partners so she often asked questions such as How
old are you? Are you married? How much is your salary? Have you bought a house in Viet
Nam? For the Vietnamese, those are the common questions in order to show interest to other
people. However, instead of replying, her oversea partners just looked at her and kept silent.
One day, she was really shocked when her principal asked her not to carp at others private lives
like that.

D. Solutions
Communication problems are almost always solvable. In addition to removal of barriers
to communication, it is important to recognize communication problems and then remove
them. If the flow of communication is not smoothly, consider the following suggestions.

- Learn about the culture of the partners before deciding to cooperate.

- Avoid using words with bold nature and culture.

- Learn the causes of the problem, then try to understand the behavior or different
ideas of colleagues.

- Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification or to restate the issue or
problem to make sure it is understood by both.

- Change the thought of yourself to absorb new things.

- Talk or discuss to colleagues to come to common agreement.

- Improve your foreign language and communications skills.

 Barriers to intercultural communication - 8

III. CONCLUSION
The study has raised some typical communication barriers into the intercultural
communication among Vietnamese teachers and other speakers of English teachers working
together in some foreign invested schools based in Ho Chi Minh city. While still exist some
unavoidable limitations such as not generalize or describe all of the issues, the research has
illuminated some of the underlying factors that affect upon on effective communication and has
shown the approach to the problem that includes linguistic, behavioral, habitual, and perceptual
change.

IV. REFERENCES
Sarbaugh, L.E. Intercultural Communication. Transaction, Inc. New Brunswich, New Jersey,
1993.
Wurzel, J.S. Toward Multiculturalism: A Reader in Multicultural Education. Intercultural
Press, Inc. Yarmouth, Maine, 1988.
Bernstein, M. (2002). Common Linguistic Problems. TESOL Articles. Retrieved from
http://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-course-articles/common-linguistic/
William Gudykunst and Young Yun Kim, "Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to
Intercultural Communication," in Bridges Not Walls, ed. John Stewart, 6th edition, (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1995), pp. 429-442
Williams, Andrea. "Resolving Conflict in a Multicultural Environment." MCS Conciliation
Quarterly. Summer, 1994. Pp. 2-6.
 Barriers to intercultural communication - 9

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
Date:…...../……../2010

Hello, we are conducting a survey on Communication difficulties among Vietnamese

when working with international individuals or companies. Please spend a few minutes
answering the below questions:

§ Your name ……………………….………..….……. Age: …………………….

§ Your job (in Vietnam): …………………..Company: …………………………
§ Your nationality .................................................. ..............................
§ How many times have you been to Vietnam? .........................................................
§ How long have you been working in Vietnam? ......................................... ............
Q.1: Problems you have had to cope with Vietnamese in the working environment. (You may
circle more than one)
A. Language B. Behaviors C. Gestures D. Attitude E. Skills F. Habits
Other problems relating to working communication:
…………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………
What are the reasons for those problems?
…..………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………
Q.2: What do you think is the most difficult problem/obstacle while communicating with
Vietnamese? Why?
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Q.3: If there’s anything you don’t like about Vietnamese at work, what is it?
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Q.4: To what degree of the communication difficulties made an impact on you?

A. Severe B. Moderate C. No shock
How do you feel? …………………………………..………………….…

Q.5: How do you prepare for those difficulties? (You may circle more than one)
A. Be flexible, adjust your behaviors and attitudes
B. Learn more about Vietnamese people, language and culture
C. Develop intercultural friendships
D. Be as yourself and behave in your own way
Others: …………………….……………………………………………..
Q.6: Is it important to learn other culture and people? A. Yes B. No

That’s the end of the interview. Your responses have been very helpful. Thank you for your time.
Interviewer: Truong Quang Vinh & Huynh Thi Truc Phuong
 Barriers to intercultural communication - 10

PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT

Ngày:…...../……../2010

Xin chào bạn. chúng tôi đang thực hiện một cuộc khảo sát nhằm chuẩn bị cho đề tài
nghiên cứu về “Những khó khăn trong giao tiếp của người Việt Nam khi làm việc với tổ
chức hoặc cá nhân là người nước ngoài”. Xin vui lòng giành một vài phút để trả lời những
câu hỏi sau:

§ Tên ……………………….………..….…….Tuổi: …………………….

§ Nghề nghiệp: …………………….………. Làm việc cho: …………………………
§ Bạn đến từ .................................................. ..............................
§ Thời gian bạn đã làm việc với người/tổ chức nước ngoài: ……………………….
Câu 1: Những vấn đề khó khăn trong giao tiếp với người/tổ chức nước ngoài mà bạn gặp phải?
(Có thể khoanh tròn nhiều lựa chọn)
A. Ngôn ngữ B. Ứng xử C. Cử chỉ D. Thái độ E. Kỹ năng F. Thói quen
Các vấn đề khác có liên quan đến giao tiếp trong công việc:
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
Theo bạn nguyên nhân là gì? ……………………………………………………………………..

Câu 2: Vấn đề gì theo bạn là khó nhất, khác biệt nhất khi giao tiếp với người/tổ chức nước
ngoài? Tại sao?
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
Câu 3: Những điều gì mà bạn không thích khi làm việc với người/tổ chức nước ngoài?
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
Câu 4: Những khó khăn đó ảnh hưởng đến bạn như thế nào?
A. Nghiêm trọng B. Vừa phải C. Không có ảnh hưởng gì
Bạn cảm thấy: …………………………………..………………….…
Câu 5: Bạn xử lý những khó khăn khác biệt đó như thế nào? (Có thể khoanh tròn nhiều lựa
chọn)
A. Uyển chuyển, điều chỉnh thái độ và hành vi ứng xử
B. Tìm hiểu học hỏi thêm về ngôn ngữ, văn hóa và con người nước đó
C. Cố gắng tạo mối quan hệ bạn bè thân thiết
D. Vẫn ứng xử theo cách của bạn
Ý kiến khác: …………………….……………………………………………..
Câu 5: Theo bạn thì có quan trọng để tìm hiểu về con người và nền văn hóa khác?
A. Có B. Không

Cảm ơn bạn đã giành thời gian trả lời. Những thông tin của bạn sẽ rất có ý nghĩa cho chúng tôi.
Người khảo sát: Trương Quang Vinh & Huỳnh Thị Trúc Phương