Table of Content

Vietnamese and American Students’ Debating - A comparative study
TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................... ..........
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

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1. Definition of debate...................................................... ............................
2. Benefits of debate....................................................... ..............................
3. Teachers’ role in classroom debate.................................................... ........
4. Relationship between cultural values and academic debate......................
5. Research questions and hypotheses........................................................ ...

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Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
1. Subject.............................................................................. ........................
2. Data collection...................................................................... ....................
2.1 Questionnaire.............................................................................. ...
2.2 Interview..................................................................................... ...

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2.3 Observation.................................................... ...............................
3. Data analysis.............................................................. ................................
Chapter 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
I. Students’ attitude to classroom debate ................................ ................
II. How popular is classroom debate in fact?...........................................

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III. The culture values and classroom debate ....................................... .....
IV. Teachers’ participation in classroom debate ........................................
V. Some suggestions to motivate Vietnamese students to debate in class
Chapter 6: CONCLUSION
1.Summarizing the content........................................................ ....................

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2.Suggesting implications...................................................................... ........
3.Significance of the findings...................................................... ..................
4.Limitations of the current study........................................................ ..........
5.Recommendations for further works.......................... ................................

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References.............................................................................. .......................
Appendix.................................................................................... ...................

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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First of all, a special thank to my supervisor, TRẦN QUANG NGỌC
THÚY, who provided innumerable suggestions, comments and ideas. And it

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would be a serious insufficiency unless I remember to thank my old teacher,
LÊ MINH BẢO, for comments on an earlier draft.
I would like to express my profound to all American and Vietnamese
students whose cooperation is very helpful to my study.

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Eventually, my special thanks go to my family and friends for their
material support, as well as encouraging me to do this piece of research.

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ABSTRACT
The purpose of the present research is to determine students’ debating in
America and Vietnam. Hence, after collecting necessary information of debate in
two cultures, the research focused on solving some problems. In the first part, the
research begins by introducing some overall features of debate through recent

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researches of debate. The second part of the study provided a literature review of
debate through an analysis some relating researches such as definition of debate,
benefits of debate, teachers’ role in classroom debate, and the relationship between
cultural values and academic debate. The study, in the third part, gave the methods
used to complete it. The third part of the study analyzed the data collected from

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questionnaire and interviews according to some areas such as students’ attitude to
classroom debate, how popular is classroom debate in fact, the culture values and
classroom debate, teachers’ participation in classroom debate and some
suggestions to motivate Vietnamese students to debate in class. Especially, the
culture values and classroom debate are attentively focused on analyzing and

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giving some couples of converse cultural dimension between Vietnamese and
American culture. In the last part of the study, a conclusion of content and finding
are summarized beside some the research’s implication, significance, limitation
and some recommendations for further works.

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VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN STUDENTS’ DEBATING
A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
In recent years, there has been a greatly increasing interest in debates in
general and in classroom debate in particular, with several published and

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unpublished articles, and case studies. This issue also appears on some websites
like http://www.idebate.org/, or there is a “Debate Central”, at University of
Vermont (http://debate.uvm.edu/), which provides an online database of arguments
for and against a lot of topics, or links to research and information. Some
workshops and lectures about debating are organized by governmental and private

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organizations in many countries in the world, such as America, British, Japan and
Australia, etc (source). That is to say debate specially attracts much concern of
researchers. The concerns have also been raised by several relevant bodies about
the “academic debate”. Many studies of debate, which will be mentioned in the
next part of the paper, have been so far done. However, there has been no study

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comparing the debating styles between Vietnamese and American students. The
considerable differences in cultural values between Vietnam and America might
cause the big differences beside apparent similarities in debating styles. I,
therefore, try to study how classroom debate can be developed to support learning.
Specifically, I want to explore and clarify the similarities and differences of

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Vietnamese and American students’ debating in this study.

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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
I. Definition of debate
A variety of definitions of the term ‘debate’ have been suggested. This has
created confusion in understanding its meaning accurately. In Thompson’s analysis
how different discussion and debate is outlined as follows:

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1. In debate, participants argue for and against the pre-fixed proposition. In
discussion, participants look for a solution to a problem.
2. Consequently, debate considers two alternatives, while discussion considers
multiple alternatives.

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3. Debate is usually regulated by strict rules about the time and order of speeches.
Discussion is conducted more freely with less formal rules.
4. In debate, the decision is made by the third party, which is based on the
arguments presented by the affirmative and the negative sides. In discussion,
the purpose is to reach an argument among participants.

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(Thompson, 1971, p. 80, as cited in Narahiko, 1996)
Despite the differences between discussion and debate pointed out above,
this paper used the definition of “debate” as a synonym of discussion and
argument (Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary 2006). In some sense, debate
and discussion share a meaning that is to look for the answer by raising voice.
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Besides, Jerome & Bhavini (2005) also agreed that debate and discussion seem to
be used almost interchangeably (p. 497). In the study “The Structure of The
Discussions That Promote Reasoning”, Anderson (1998) used the term interactive
argumentation to refer to discussions in which participants present reasons and
evidence for different positions (p. 317). He also pointed out that this means being

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willing and able to consider and voice arguments on different sides of an issue in
interactive argumentation. According to Anderson (1998), there are many
positions in an argument so he had studied five reasons why students might
verbalize arguments supporting two or more different positions during the course
of a discussion: the students may change their minds; they may lose track of where

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they are in the overall argument; the students may criticize an argument that
supports their own position because they honestly believe it to be weak; it is
possible for the students to concede the strength of an argument that contradicts
their position, even though they are sticking with their position; and they are
maybe withholding judgment until they have had time to weigh all of the available

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evidence (pp. 338-339). Besides, Kyudai (n. d.) divided debate into two kinds:
formal and informal. He pointed out the latter is a common occurrence, but the
quality and the depth of a debate improved with knowledge and skill of its
participants as debaters. From what this author analyzed, academic debate belongs
to informal debate. From the above analyzing, this study uses the definition of

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“debate” as a synonym of discussion and argument (Oxford Advanced Learners’
Dictionary 2006) because of the fact that, in spite of such initial differences, they
all share a meaning, a decision-making process, a method, or a technique of
looking for the ‘truth’, the answer. Allison (2002) also defined that a debate is
simply a clash of ideas and each side puts forward worthwhile reasons to support

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their point of view [in which] the class audience then joins in to speak for, or
against or to abstain … (p. 13). In addition, according to Jerome and Algarra
(2005), the term debate is itself used to denote any formal learning situation in
which the students are encouraged to express and respond orally to opinions on a
specific issue (p. 497). He also explained that the term discussion is to signify the

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informal, opened-ended exchange of views and ideas (p. 497). Bakhlin and
Skidmore (2000) said that debating is defined as a process of seeking for the truth
(p. 293). In other words, people debate to find out the ‘truth’. However, the nature
of this pursuit of ‘truth’ is individualistic (Tweed & Lehman, n. d.), thus debate
still remains. So the confusion over terminology appears significant given the

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influential role of these pedagogical approaches (Jerome & Bhavini, 2005, p. 497).
II. Benefits of debate
The benefits of debate have been studied by many authors in the world. As
a result, in recent years, many teachers have moved away from the use of the
lecture format, “chalk and talk” (Tumposky, 2004, p. 52) or “banking method of

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education” (Freire, 1970, p. 58, as cited in Tumposky, 2004, p. 53). Anderson
(1998) said that the discussions featuring reasoned argumentation among students
have the potential to increase the students’ motivation and to help them learn to
reason well (p. 315). He also thought that there are at least three reasons for the
recent interest in interactive argumentation with groups. The first reason is the

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increase of motivation in classroom. The second one is the importance of
interactive argumentation in everyday life. The last one which he especially
emphasized is that the interactive argumentation within groups may be the
primary means through which the students learn to reason (pp. 316-317). Besides,
he added that one goal for the discussion might be to have a mixture of

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collaboratively constructed and singly constructed arguments (p. 342). At the
beginning of his case study, Simonnaux (2002) affirmed that developing the
students’ argumentation skills helps them to contribute to the debate. He supported
that the teacher should help students to identify their emotional standpoint, the
arguments used by teachers, other students and by themselves, the validity of these

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arguments, and the different stages in decision making (p. 9). Kyudai (n. d.) said
that through cooperative debate students could learn academic and critical
thinking clearly about a subject. Also discussing the benefits of debate form,
Kyudai provided an interesting idea that debating has a potential of connecting
students to the world. That means the speaker might provide the audience a lot of

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necessary and new information, and by this way they gain the knowledge well.
Moreover, I also agree with Jerome (2004) that once participants had overcome
their initial nerves about getting up and talking in public, it is fun. The reason is
that you share your ideas with someone in the audience who may be ‘smiling at
you’ (p. ). In that way you find the classes fun, effective, attractive, and helpful.

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In addition, the classes with debates can attract students’ participation and
attention. Through the debates the teacher can assess students easily and quickly
because they might prove their abilities and knowledge in debates. Simonnaux
also agreed that when students were free to express their own opinions, they would
be able to better express their arguments (p. 9). Perhaps, debating is really a good

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teaching method so that students become the center of learning process and the
teacher is considered a ‘participant’, an ‘organizer’, or a “facilitator”. While
mentioning many benefits of debate Jerome & Algarra (2005) also gave its
downside. They anticipated that there is certainly a danger that young people may
be limited in their understanding if they are introduced to controversial public

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issues through a process of debate, which requires them to pick or be assigned to
one or two positions and to argue for or against a motion; he also added while
students can be taught to speak in certain code, this does not guarantee that they
will be heard and understood as they wish (Jerome & Algarra, 2005, p. 499).
Nevertheless, they did not deny the benefits of debate because such idea is given

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when debate is used as the only method of teaching and learning process. In
summary, so far to my best knowledge in this field, there has not been any
research in which researcher has refused benefits of debate to teaching and
learning.
III. Teachers’ role in classroom debate

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Numerous studies have attempted to explain the role of debating in schools
and colleges (Algarra & Jerome, 2005; Allison, 2002; Narahiko, 1996;
Simonneaux, 2002; Tumposky, 2004). According to the idea from a piece of
research, “Education for Citizenship and The Teaching of Democracy in Schools”,
schools have the role of promoting both the skills and attitudes to support debate

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(Q. A. C, 1998, 1999, cited in Jerome & Algarra, 2005, p. 498). This stated that
there should be positive points of view about the classroom debates and suitable
policies should be designed so that debating form can be applied and developed
effectively in schools because students are young and need to help understand the
benefits of debating. Obviously, it is the teacher who plays a significant part in

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these policies. In the discussion part of his thesis, ‘Analysis of Classroom
Debating Strategies in The Field of Biotechnology’, Simonneaux (2002) discussed
that the main difficulty for the teacher in classroom debates is to remain neutral
when leading a debate. That is the teacher in a debate does not more highly value
one of two debaters. The teacher should be considered a participant, an organizer.

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Other authors (Jerome & Alagrra, 2005) shared with Simonneaux (2002) about
such role of the teacher. They pointed out that one of the most effective
approaches requires the teacher to adopt the role of impartial facilitator, rather than
discussion leader. Meanwhile, the teacher can use these opportunities to listen to
students’ talking as an indicator, albeit a partial one, on the speaker’s thinking

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(Fisher, 1993, p. 254, as cited in Jerome & Alagrra, 2005, p. 496). However, the
role is not really easy to be taken upon. To clearly explain this idea, Simonneaux
added that there could be a bias in students’ arguments stemming from their
established relationship with the teacher. That is to say it might be as well to agree
with the teacher, and in any case, students will always attempt to figure out their

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teacher’s opinion and will explicitly ask for it at the end of the activity
(Simonneaux, 2002, p. 11). The phenomenon is popular in many cases when
students feel difficult to have the last solution for themselves to a proposition. In
this situation, the teacher can give a good, reliable suggestion. It has conclusively
shown that Simonneaux improved Q.C.A’s opinion in detail. Ediger (1994) added

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that evaluation should not hinder the pupil progress in revealing originality and
being a quality member of a discussion group (p. 6).
On concluding his study, ‘Analysis of Classroom Debating Strategies in the
Field of Biotechnology’, Simonneaux (2002) suggested some ways so that the
teacher can apply to improve their role in classroom debate. He encouraged the

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teacher to adapt and change materials and even cut out certain parts (p. 11). He
hoped that the issue in this kind of analysis is to help designers and users to
become fully aware of the choices they make and of the forms that reveal or
support the teacher (p. 11). In the article, “Speaking and The Pupil”, as discussing
the relationship between the teacher and the students, Ediger (1994) said that the

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teacher and the pupils in the classroom should support each other so that satisfying
experiences in oral communication are an end result and the learners should never
be minimized for mistakes made in oral communication. Rather support must be
provided for the pupils to improve oral communication skills with renewed
confidence (p.1). Moreover, Anderson (1998) had a special way to explore the role

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that the teacher played in the discussion by raising the question “Do the teachers
contribute equally to reasons and support, challenges, and counterchallenges, or do
they focus on just one type of rhetorical move and leave the others to the
students?”(p. 340). After his studying, he pointed out series of ways that the
teacher should follow such as to introduce new line of argument that the children [

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students] had not thought of on their own; to help elaborate reasons and support
introduced by the students. However, he noted that the teachers stepped back and
allowed the students to construct most of the challenges and counterchallenges
themselves (pp. 340-341). He continued to list the ways that the teachers can use
in the discussion. The teacher might encourage students to explicitly consider

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which arguments are most worthy of further development, what criteria should be
used for deciding which arguments are worthy of further development, and to
consider whether the most developed arguments are as fully developed as they
would like (p.341).

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One more of the teacher’s role in classroom debate is to choose the
objectives or the topics of a discussion or a debate. Ediger (1994) thought that the
objectives need to be carefully selected by those involved in teaching-learning
situations, be it the teacher (p. 4), [and] must be new, attainable by learners, should
be arranged sequentially so that pupils might be successful in goal attainment (p.

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5). He also emphasized that the title/topic should not be excessively difficult since
the time limit for preparation might be rather short (p. 8). To illustrate his ideas,
Ediger (1994) gave a list of ten criteria that the students could apply so that
students’ discussions are successful. They are the prescribed time limits, the
meaningful content to the listeners, obtaining the listeners’ attention, being poised

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when presenting the content in the ongoing talk and using notes, using notes when
there is a need to do so, using eyes contact, facing all listeners, using facial
expressions and gestures as needed, not exhibiting distracting mannerisms, and
inviting questions after the extemporaneous speech (p. 8-9). In addition, Allison
(2002) agreed with Ediger that one of the great advantages of debating diverse

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topics every week is that T.A.G (talented and gifted) students learn to think clearly
about the subject and to argue a perspective based on the evidence (p. 13).
Besides, Ediger (1994) stated that the discussion needs to follow definite criteria
so that the teacher may praise learner attainment in the discussion. These criteria
are listed below:

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-The discussion should be stimulating to generate interest in content presented.
-Each student should be encouraged to join the discussion.
-No one should dominate the discussion.
-The learners need to develop feelings of belonging when participating in a
committee setting.

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-The ideas in the discussion should circulate among all group members rather than
between a few members in the group setting, the content must be presented clearly
to the others, meaning needs to be present in learning,
-The respect and acceptance of others’ thinking.
-The teacher is a guide and not a dispenser of information.

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-Evaluation of process in a discussion must always follow specific standards and
should be stressed frequently.
-The learners must attain and grow in becoming proficient in discussion setting
(p. 6).

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In summary, allowing students to debate and providing opportunities of
classroom debate is to help them become ‘the center of the process of teaching
and learning’; also, the nature of this pursuit of truth is individualistic,
simultaneously, the teacher plays an important role in promoting students to
practice their duty accordingly.

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IV. Relationship between cultural values and academic debate.
For the most part, past research in debates has mainly focused on the
history of debates, the benefits of debate, etc. Few researchers have looked
directly at the influences of cultural values on debating styles in each country. It is
not the fact that multi-cultural confusion will certainly be a stumbling block for

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those not prepared to deal with it. In his case study of debates, ‘Traditions of
debate in Japan’, Narahiko (1996) mentions the special situation of Japan as an
example why debating was not developed rapidly. The author explains that the
Japanese avoid verbal conflict and that tooron [debate] is not compatible with
their traditional communication patterns. He also shares his opinions with Adachi

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that even today quite a few people disbelieve or even feel hostile to argument and
dispute (Adachi, 1984, p. 27-28, as cited in Narahiko, 1996). In order to support
that attitude, Narahiko (1996) gave some ethical sayings and proverbs that are
popular in Japan such as ‘a honey tongue’, ‘a heart of gall’, ‘silence is golden’,
‘actions speak louder than words’, etc. In some sense, debating also exists in

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Japan. However, their conception of debate is different. Narahiko points out in
tooron (debate), people listen to one-to-one (Hashimoto, 1972, p. 274; translation
by Inoue, cited in Narahiko, 1996). This means the Japanese “debate” tradition is
different from the western (Anglo – American) tradition (Narahiko, 1996). (Not
clear.) Narahiko agreed with this idea that Japan had too much rhetoric based on

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emotion and ethics (Sawada, 1983, p. 287, translation by Inoue, cited in Narahiko,
1996). Especially, as comparing the concept of eloquence between Anglo-
American and Japanese traditions, Narahiko indicated that the debate in which the
students’ opposing arguments were examined and refuted did not become popular
in Japan. He also adds that this may be due to the tradition in which ‘rhetoric

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based on logic’ did not develop in Japan. Besides, Nancy with her study, “The
Debate Debate”, argued that debate carries the weight of tradition, a powerful
force affecting the teacher’s choice of both curriculum and instruction style
(Cuban, 1984, cited in Tumposky, 2004, p. ). On the other hand, teachers tend to
teach as they were taught, unless they have been consciously resocialized to do

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otherwise (p. ). That is cultural values partially affect students’ learning style in
general, and their debating style in particular through their teachers. In order to
have a deep insight into the influences of cultural values, let’s consider a case
study of Confucian and Socratic approaches in learning. In their major study,
Rorger and Lehman (n. d.) compared and contrasted Confucian framework and

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Socratic one, with respondent cultures, Chinese and a Western one. They pointed
out in Socrates’ Western culture; one frequently questioned others’ beliefs and was
proud of this tendency. Moreover, this framework evaluated the knowledge of
each particular individual by engaging in a dialogue in which a series of
successively deeper and more probing questions would be asked. In contrast,

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Confucius expected learners to respect and obey authority figures. More clearly,
within Confucius’ five ethical relations, people were taught a duty to obey and
respect those of higher status than themselves (Tweed & Lehman, n. d.). This
framework also emphasized that to honor those higher than ourselves is the
highest expression of the sense of justice. Consequently, the country which is

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influenced by Confucius’ framework will adopt this conception. From the analysis
mentioned above we can partially see how cultural values influence people’s
debating style and the development of debates. Although the cultural values do not
completely affect debating style, they might be the main and significant factor in
their conception of debating, which are denoted in some sayings and proverbs. In

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this piece of research I focused on studying the influence of cultures on students’
debating, Vietnamese and American students that has not been studied so far.
Specially, the paper focuses on answering the following questions:
1. How do students debate with each other in the classroom in Vietnam and in
America?

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2. How do students debate with their teachers?
3. What influences students’ debating style?
4. How can Vietnamese students be encouraged to debate in the classroom?

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Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
I. Subjects

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For the aim of this study is to find out the differences in debating style between
Vietnamese students and American students, the subjects are divided into two
groups of students in each country.
The first group is Vietnamese students at Hue University. They are chosen at
random apart from students of foreign languages who have learned and are

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directly influenced by other culture from their syllabus. This group consists of
forty respondents taking the discourse completion test in Vietnamese. The second
group who will take the English version is forty American students at some
universities in America. The subjects major in many fields in order to provide the
study with realistic data.

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II. Data collection
1. Questionnaire
All of the participants were students studying at colleges in Vietnam and
America. A random group of forty students working in many different fields was
selected from Hue College of Pedagogy and Hue College of Agriculture and

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Forestry. Questionnaires consisting of twenty-two questions in Vietnamese were
handed to them. Forty American students studying in America, who were also
selected at random for this study, received the English version of the questionnaire
by emails. Its content is about the way of debating, the participation in and
students’ and teachers’ attitudes to classroom debate.

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2. Interview
Two groups of students were all interviewed namely Vietnamese students
and American ones. The first group of students was interviewed face to face
because the researcher can easily contact them. The second one was interviewed
by chatting on the Internet. The duration of an interview was approximately one

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hour in an informal environment to arouse and result in enriched data. This
method also helps me get further information that cannot be included in the
questionnaire.
3. Observation

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Students’ debating is denoted in their behavior; therefore, observation is a
necessary method to examine the accuracy of data collected from questionnaires
and interviews. Some classes at Hue College of Pedagogy and Hue College of
Forestry and Agriculture were observed. This method, however, is applied to the
Vietnamese subjects only due to geographical obstacles. Therefore, observation

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done in America may be reserved for the further research for those who concern
this issue.
III. Data analysis
The questionnaire in Vietnamese version is handed out to more than 40
Vietnamese students and American students received those in English version

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from their emails or delivered directly in Vietnam. The data collected from
questionnaire are analyzed first and then I continued to investigate further
information of students’ debating from interview some Vietnamese and American
students. Some invalid responses are excluded and 40 valid one are used to
analyze in this study. Especially, the data are presented in some fields in tables and

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charts so that the information is valuable to research questions and it is easy to
follow findings and discussions.

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Chapter 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
As mentioned in the literature review, the word “debate” was understood in
some different meanings. My expected interesting result is meet that all American
students who responded my questions understood the meaning of the word
“debate” as I mean. Classroom debate is discussion or argumentation in which

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every student can join in to argue for or against to express himself, or simply to
share his opinions with other people. After receiving a lot of information from
Vietnamese and American students who take part in responding the questionnaire,
the present research focused on exploring some following areas.
I. Students’ attitudes to classroom debate

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In order to investigate students’ attitude to classroom debate, the data
collected in the questions 1, 2, 6, 19 and 20 are really valuable to mention and
analyze.
Question 1: What do you think of classroom debate?

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Good Bad Others:
Vietnamesestudents (V) 75% 10% -depend of the content of the lesson
-debate should be limited in time.
American students (A) 100% 0%

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Question 2: Do you like to debate and to give your ideas freely in class?
Vietnamese and American Students’ Debating - A comparative

Yes study
No
V N=40 95% 5%
A N=40 97.5% 2.5%
Question 6: What do you feel after a classroom debate?
V N=40 A N=40
Satisfied whether you succeed or not. 60% 82.5%
Satisfied
Trần Thị only
Mỹ when you succeed. 15% Ngọc
Supervisor: Trần Quang 10%
Thúy
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Tired 10% 0%
Never want to repeat. 0% 0%
Others: 15% 7.5%
Question 19: According to you, what is a good class?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
A silent, obedient one 10% 7.5%
One in which there are exciting debates 80% 87.5%
V: 10% A: 7.5%
-.A combination of debate and quiet.Most of debates are not able
- The teacher has a good transferringto be won or lost. They leave
Others: ability. us no clear conclusion just a
- Debate in a serious environment. better understanding.
A combination of debate and
quiet.
Question 20: What do you think about a student who disagrees with their
teachers’ ideas?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Impolite 0% 5%
These significant figures give us overall information about Students’
attitudes to classroom debate. First, as seen in the tables 1 and 2 above, most of
students (75%) in Vietnam and all in America agreed that classroom debate is
good and they like to debate in class (V=95% and A= 97.5%). That means most of
students conceived the significance and benefits of debate. However, some

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Vietnamese thought that classroom debate was bad that was not appeared in
American students’ responses. Second, the responses to question 6 showed that a
majority of students (V=60% and A=82.5%) in the two countries have students
positive conception of debate. They seem satisfied when participating in debates.
Nevertheless, there are a few different views of debate. Some Vietnamese felt tired

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after an in-class debate. Maybe they had a hard psychology of classroom debate,
whereas, American perceived more comfortably. In-class debate made them
pleased and engaged beside a group of students who said that they were satisfied
whether they succeed or not, others found debate interesting and fine in debates.
They did not care if their debate is successful, but the most attentive thing is that

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they had had better understanding. They simply viewed that debate is in order for
everyone to share their opinions and their points of view of something. In brief,
they are happy to do so. Final, students’ conception of a good class may, I hoped,
reflect partly students’ attitude to in-class debate. In general, the Vietnamese (80
%) and the American (87.5%) valued debate in class. They all expected to have

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debate in classroom. One viewpoint of a good class seemed to appear in both
countries is that a class in which there is a combination of debate and quite is
good. The above information could help us reach a conclusion that both
Vietnamese and American seem to have a good attitude to classroom debate. The
differences in figures also suggested that American students are eager and more

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positive about debate. The reason supported this idea is that Vietnamese students’
debate is still limited in conception such as a serious class environment, time and
students’ attitude.

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II. How popular is classroom debate in fact?
The questions relating to the popularity of debate of Vietnamese and American
students are hoped bring us an overall and objective portrait of debate in fact. The
following tables illustrated the data collected from two groups of subject.
Question 3: How do you contribute to the class?

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V(N=40) A(N=40)
Raise your hand and speak when you have any idea 26.5 70
Only when you know the correct answer 35 15
When being asked by your teachers 32.5 7.5
When being asked by your group members 5% 7.5%

- 98 -
V A
- Only debate favorite problem or- join in discussion
Other ways really reasoned argument - Just speak out or speak out
without handing or standing up.

- 99 -
The data in this question revealed us that Vietnamese still passively debate in
class. In particular, 27% students answered that they raised their hand and speak
out when having any idea. Many others informed that they would debate as being
asked by others (by teachers =32.5% and by friends =5%). Besides, some

- 100 -
responses revealed that Vietnamese students were not really interested in debate
because they only joined in their favorite reasoned argument. This information can
bring us American conclusion that Vietnamese were rather lazy at debating. In
contrast, 70% American students chose the pattern “Raise your hand and speak
when you have any idea” and some other students said that they would just speak

- 101 -
out or speak out without handing. That means they are active and interested in
debate in class. Moreover, there are only 7.5%+7.5% students who would express
their ideas when being asked. They also explained that if they did not ask about
what they are thinking they would not know if they were correct. These responses
suggested that they debate in class for learning purpose and their understanding.

- 102 -
Question 5: What are you doing when there is American classroom debate?
V(N=40) A(N=40)
Put forth ideas 10% 45%%
Listen and question 50% 45%%
Just listen 32.5% 5%

- 103 -
Ignore 2.5% 0
Dislike 5% 0
Question 18: According to you, how do students in your country debate in
class?
V(N=40) A(N=40)
Fiercely 0 12.5%
Excitingly 15% 50%
- 104 -
Normally, when being asked by teachers. 60% 37.5%

Insipidly 25% 0
Others Very insipidly

- 105 -
100
80
60 Line 3
A
40
V
20
0
alw ays often rarely never

- 106 -
Chart 8: How often do you debate with your teachers in class?

- 107 -
60
50
40 V
30 A
20 Line 3
10
0

- 108 -
Chart 11: How often do you debate with your classmates in class?
Question 18: According to you, how do students in your country debate in class?
V(N=40) A(N=40)
Fiercely 0 12.5%
Excitingly 15% 50%
Insipidly 25% 0

- 109 -
The information from the table and chart 5 provided a clear portrait of
debate in fact. There are big differences in reactions to debate between Vietnamese
and American students. Only 4 Vietnamese students putted forth ideas during
arguments. In addition, there are many students showing passive and ignorant in
classroom debates: 32.5% student listen, 5% student dislike and 2.5% student

- 110 -
reject the discussed argument and a half of them who responded the questionnaire
listen and question when there are debates in class. In contrast, 45% American
student take part in putting forth ideas and 70% student appear to listen and
question when they need. These figures helped us imagine an exciting
environment in classes in America. Especially, no one ignores or dislikes

- 111 -
classroom debate. Hence, the data above can be used to reach a conclusion that
Vietnamese students seem much less active than American one in class. The
former tend to keep quiet or harmonious in class, or we could say Vietnamese
students were passive reception of information in general.

- 112 -
Moreover, the data in questions 8 and 11 supported this fact of debate in
Vietnam and in America again. There are more in-class debates in America than in
Vietnam. The popularity of debate in America happened not only among American
but also between students and teachers; meanwhile, classroom debate is not really
popular in Vietnam (Always=2.5 %, rarely=45.5% between teachers and students;

- 113 -
always=15%, rarely=35% among students). These figures said that debate between
teachers and students happened more rarely than those among students.
From the above conclusion, we can affirm that the state of debate in
Vietnam is rather insipid, whereas American students themselves confirmed that
classroom debate is exciting (50%) and some judged their debates in class are

- 114 -
fierce (12.5%). This conclusion helped us understand that students’ attitude to
debate is not completely similar to their debating in fact.
III. The cultural values and classroom debate
In the previous section, I have provided an overall portrait of debate in
students’ attitude and the popularity of debate in reality in Vietnam and America.

- 115 -
In this part, some cultural elements are continuously used to clarify the mentioned
conclusions. Debating style from my experience I see being influenced by some
factors such as teachers’ and students’ attitude, position and posture as speaking,
personality, knowledge, etc so question 4 is given. Resultantly, the above elements
are all chosen by students in America and Vietnam.

- 116 -
Question 4: Which elements affect your debate? (You can choose more than one
thing)
V(times) A(times)
Teacher’s attitudes 30 30
Classmates’ attitudes 8 27
Knowledge 2 8
Your position and posture when talking 11 15
Personality 20 36
Others 0 0
- 117 -
As mentioned in the previous part, teachers’ and students’ attitude to
classroom debate in Vietnamese and American belong to conception of debate are
different. The Vietnamese seem not to highly value someone’s relief in a group. It
is a popular characteristic of collectivism in Vietnam.

- 118 -
Third, the knowledge which is chosen most in American has done the forth in
Vietnamese. This information replied that Vietnamese students debate less
frequent than American students but they are not less intelligent or acknowledged
than American students.

- 119 -
Beside the aforementioned factors, the distance between teachers and
students can play an important role in motivating students to debate in class. In
Vietnam, students’ obedience is much expected. If some student can not agree with
his teacher and he tries to express his ideas and persuade his teacher in front of the
class, his teacher can use his right to stop him or even gives a negative comment

- 120 -
on such the student’s action. Power distance to teacher in Vietnam is really high
that is always reminded students by the elder. High power distance is contained in
dressing and attitude to teachers.
Position and posture are also a partly decisive factor influencing students
debating style. A comparison should be done between Vietnamese and American

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students to have a clear view. In Vietnam when students have any ideas and want
to raise their voice they must raise their hand and be invited or called by their
teachers or friends and then they could speak out. This process may limit the
frequency of students’ debate. Sometimes, the standing to speak is a difficult
action for timid students. On the contrary to Vietnamese classes, American

- 122 -
students can just speak out their opinions without handing or standing up. In this
way teachers can collect many ideas from students and shy students have more
chances to express themselves.
Question 17: Are you afraid of “losing face” when saying something wrong in

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your class?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Yes 20 5
No 20 35
The data which were collected in question 3 show that Vietnamese students
(35%), in general, seem to rarely express their opinions because they are not sure

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of their answers beside many (32.5% +5%) debate only when being asked by other
people. On the contrary to Vietnamese students, American students (70%) raise
their hand and speak out when having any ideas, or some just speak out or
naturally join in discussion.

- 125 -
A conclusion derived from the above mentioned figures is that there is a
low-uncertainty in Vietnam. One characteristic can be used to explain this
completion is that it is less tolerance for people or groups with deviant ideas or
behavior (source). The proverb “curl you tongue seven times before speaking”,
therefore, exactly reflected Vietnamese culture. Other reason is that they are afraid

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of “losing face” if speaking something wrong (50% in question 17). In addition, a
common state in Vietnam that students who, although, know correct answers or
have a good idea do not volunteer to speak out. That does not mean they are
selfish and do not like to share their ideas but they are shy and timid (the results in
question 19). Some others are afraid of being judged “to vet a day, boasting, hay

- 127 -
thich choi troi”. One more reason, like Tuong Hung Nguyen’s ideas (2002), is that
keeping quiet is also Vietnamese‘s way of respecting their teachers and other
people in general. In contrast, “Debate is respectful” is a popular conception and
debate is simply to express themselves, to share ideas and to examine their
thinking if it is correct in American culture. They do not emphasize on win or

- 128 -
loose but they participated in the debate because it makes their class exciting and
students easily receive knowledge.
Question 10: When you disagree with your teachers in class, how do you say?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Say directly: “I don’t agree with you” 20% 65%
Say politely: “Excuse me, your ideas sound good 45% 22.5%
but I don’t agree completely”.

- 129 -
Keep silent 25% 10%

Others 10% 2.5%
Question 12: When you disagree with your classmate(s) in class you will:
V A
Say directly: “I don’t agree with you” 37.5% 65.5%
Say politely: “Excuse me, your ideas sounds good 50% 22.5%
but I don’t agree completely.

Keep silent 12.5% 12.5%
Others 0% 0%
- 130 -
Question 14: How do you feel when you are debated?

V (N=40) A (N=40)
Normal 70% 82,5%
Face-losing 7.5% 12.5%
Others V A
- Only debate with those who understand-Confident -

- 131 -
me. Engaged
- Tired. -Pleased -
Interested
Question 15: Does your debate affect your relationship with you debater?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Yes 50% 25%

- 132 -
No 50% 75%
Question 16: When you are going to be opposed to someone, what do other
classmates react?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Encourage you to do 17.5% 45%
Prevent you from debate 15% 0%
Ignore 65% 45%
Other ideas: V A
- 133 -
- Contribute ideas - Contribute, support or oppose you
- Listen and join in on either side

your class
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Yes 50% 17.5%
No 50% 82,5%
Question 19: (Vietnamese version) According to you, why Vietnamese
- 134 -
students rarely debate in class?

They respect their teachers. 15%
They think that their teachers are always right. 12.5%
They are afraid that their teachers and friends will have negative12.5%
remarks on them.
They have no enough knowledge and words. 20%
They are shy, timid. 32.5%

- 135 -
Others:
-They are passive in learning.
- Their teachers do not give them enough opportunities.
- The classroom environment is not good enough.

Looking at tables 10 and 12, we can see some differences in the ways
students debating to their friends and teachers. The Vietnamese are used to
- 136 -
indirectly saying when they disagree to someone (45% to students and 50% to
teachers) or other common fact that in class, if students do not understand what
their teachers are explaining most of them do not volunteer to ask to do again or
more clearly. They tend to push on asking the teacher to someone else and then
keep silent or talk to their friends. There are only few students informing their

- 137 -
teachers that they really need to be explaining again. In some cases the student is
prevented to debate by their classmates because they tend to keep harmony in
class. Other case is that if some student usually debating in class is negatively
criticized by many others who are influenced by the cultural feature “a talent
person is not as good as a group of ignoramus”. In addition, they seem to avoid

- 138 -
saying directly and sometimes the directness is judged rude or impolite in
Vietnamese society. In contrast, the indirectness, keeping quiet or just smiling is
really popular in communication in Vietnam, especially between the young and the
elder, between a common man and a learned man. The relationship between
students and teachers is a specific example. They just keep quiet or talk to their

- 139 -
other classmates who are not the debater (teacher or student). Although 10%
student informed that they will debate by analyzing a specific example, these
responses are not clear if they are direct or indirect when debating to other people.
On the contrary, the American tend to directly speak to the debater when their
ideas are not similar (65% responses to teachers and 82.5% to students). This is

- 140 -
cultural feature of high power distance in communication between different
statuses in society that is contrary to low power distance in American society.
Due to my anticipation of Vietnamese students commented debating rarely
so I raised the question 19 to investigate the phenomenon. Results from the present
data supported our anticipation of explaining the reasons why Vietnamese students

- 141 -
rarely debate in class. The patterns chosen mostly belong to culture such as “They
respect their teachers”: 15%, “They think that their teachers are always right”:
12.5%, “They are afraid that their teachers and friends will have negative remarks
on them”: 12.5%, “They are shy, timid”: 32.5%. Meanwhile, 20% students chose
“They have no enough knowledge and words”. One more interesting thing is that

- 142 -
some Vietnamese students stated that they are passive in learning; some said that
their teachers do not provide opportunities to debate in class; and others informed
that the learning environment is not convenient enough. Surprisingly, the pattern
‘shy and timid’ in question 19 of Vietnamese version was chose by many
Vietnamese students that made American students greatly surprise when informed

- 143 -
this information in interviews. Moreover, some common conceptions support
classroom debate in America that makes it really popular. First, American people
value and encourage debating in class and the data in question 13 and 16 (90%
teacher and 45% classmate) can illustrate this idea. In detail, 90% student
responded that their teachers encourage them to debate and 45% participant

- 144 -
informed their classmates also stimulate them to do so. Each American student
himself, second, has a good perception of debate. He debates to prove his standing
and appearance in other people’s mind. He construed that everyone has right to
give his own ideas and feels happy as convincing other people with his own
opinions. Third, as collected in question 17, American students (87.5%) are not

- 145 -
afraid of “losing face” when speaking something wrong in class. They viewed that
debate is to correct their thinking and to exchange further ideas. Another
surprising idea from American students is that is it unfortunate for those who do
not join in discussion or who are not debated,

- 146 -
Finally, Vietnamese people value relationships in society. They accepted a
conception “better foolish in all than wise in one” to become a common member
of their group. Moreover, many proverbs and sayings of harmony and peace in
Vietnamese community such as “concord is a precious thing”, “silence is golden”,
‘endure once, live in peace’, ‘a honey tongue’, ‘a heart of gal’, ‘silence is golden’,

- 147 -
‘actions speak louder than words’, ‘ton su trong dao’, “better bad in all than good
in one”, etc. They all deeply influenced Vietnamese people’s way to behave each
other in general and to debating style in particular and they seem to be expected to
be passive reception of information.
IV. Teachers’ participation in classroom debate

- 148 -
As a guide or a facilitator in class, the teacher plays a specific role in students’
classroom debates. In order to examine this role, the data in question 4 may supply
us with significant information. Both in Vietnam and America, the element
“teachers’ attitude” is chosen 30times and also, it is the most chose thing. This
implies that students heighten teachers’ role in their debating in fact, however how

- 149 -
teachers affecting students’ debating in classroom in reality maybe different. The
result from question 13 can clearly illustrate this judgment.
Question 13: How do your teachers affect your debate with your classmates?
V(N=40) A(N=40)
They encourage you to debate 47.5% 50%
They stop you from debating 15% 18.5%
They have no effect 32.5% 17.5%
Others: 5%
- 150 -
There are significant differences in teachers’ effect on students’ debating
situation. In Vietnam, only 47.5% student responded that their teachers encouraged
them to debate in class and the rest students judged that their teachers prevented
them from debates or create no positive effect or do not provide convenient
condition of debate for them. Conversely, most American teachers stimulate their

- 151 -
students to have classroom debate (90%). This is to say Vietnamese teachers have
not positively affected students’ debates in class. The sate of in-class debate in the
two countries can be explained as above-mentioned reason that the Vietnamese are
not really cordial with debate. In addition, Vietnamese teachers and students are
used to traditional teaching and learning method, lecturing method in which there

- 152 -
are few arguments. On contrary, “Debate is respectful” is popular in America and
debate is popularly recognized a good learning and teaching technique in which
students are really the center of learning process. The fore-mentioned analysis
emphasized teachers’ part as motivating factor in students’ debates. Hence, the

- 153 -
teacher in each country is hoped going to find out suitable ways to stimulate their
students in class.
As concluded in the previous part, Vietnamese students seem unfamiliar with
classroom debate. They are not really volunteer and eager to join in debate. They
want to mix into their group and become a common member of their community

- 154 -
because they highly value collectivist. In contrast, American students thought that
everyone has his own ideas or point of view about the world in general and about a
problem in particular. Expressing themselves is their right and interest. On the
whole, American students felt happy, pleased and great to share their opinions with
other people as they are rarely influenced decisively by other people. They have

- 155 -
their own speaking and stand on their own thinking. All are to prove that they are
individuals and independent from others. One popular phenomenon in America is
that most of American students volunteer to debate in class that supports an
American cultural value, competition. That means they compete to express
themselves, their opinions to others to demonstrate their standing and existence.

- 156 -
From the analysis above, we can reach a conclusion that Vietnam is a collectivist
country which emphasizes “we” identity and collective judgment. They try to
discourage individual accomplishment and emphasize smooth inter-group
relations. Contrast to Vietnam, America belongs to individual decision making.
For American culture, one person is an individual, an existence and an entity. He

- 157 -
has his own view and speaking. Some responses really surprised me that when
American students do not understand a problem or disagree with their teachers
they just speak out or ask without handing. In Vietnamese classes, this
phenomenon will be judged “impolite and disrespectful” by not only teachers,
classmates but also everyone in the society. In additions, American students said

- 158 -
directly to their teachers “You are wrong” or “You are absolutely wrong” when
they do not agree with their teachers and think that their teachers are not right.
That seems never to happen in Vietnamese classes. From the analysis above, we
can conclude that high power distance deeply influences and dominates the
relationship between teachers and students in Vietnam.

- 159 -
V. Some suggestions to motivate Vietnamese students debate in class.
The analysis, so far, can lead us to a conclusion that some Vietnamese
cultural features and values are considered barriers which limit students’ frequency
of debates in learning process. Due to such cultural characteristics, some
suggestions, I believed, can be applied to increase debates in Vietnamese classes.

- 160 -
First, the teacher should frequently observe and interpret students’ facial
expression. There are some reasons to support this suggestion. We can use a
Vietnamese author’s explanation, Tuong Hung Nguyen (2002) to have a clear
understanding. He stated that the silence or the answer “Yes” may not only mean

- 161 -
that they have understood the lesson or teachers’ explanation, but could also be a
polite reply used to avoid hurting or embarrassing anyone.
Second, the teacher should regularly change students’ position in class and
do not overemphasize students’ posture. As I have observed for many years and in
some classes I have attended when doing this research students who seat at the

- 162 -
fore part of the class debate more frequently than those at the after part of the
class. Hence, in a semester the teacher could know who are passive or active and
move their seats in class. By this way, passive students are usually motivated and
receive more opportunities and confidence to share their ideas in class.

- 163 -
Third, due to Vietnamese people’s conception of respect to the teacher has
influenced deeply on students and even on teachers, the teacher should help
students understand correctly and positively about in-class debate’ significance
and benefits. The teacher himself must clearly distinguish between students’

- 164 -
debating and their attitude to the teacher because the teacher and the student do
not, in reality, accept debate as good speech act.
Forth, a close relationship should be established between the teacher and
his students. The above-data also support this idea. When students are not afraid of

- 165 -
their teachers or when the teacher help students feel comfortable in class whey
will easily express themselves.
Fifth, the lesson should be designed into a series of questions and the
teacher has duty to guide students to argue for or against to find their own answer.
After that the teacher should provide enough time and opportunities for all

- 166 -
students in class to express themselves. This activity should often happen so that
debate become students’ habit and they consider it normal and interesting. This
suggestion demands the teacher to be flexible in designing a lesson.

- 167 -
Final, the activity of students’ participation should be marked. In most
cases, when debating is connected to students’ profits they may volunteer to debate
in class and it is easy to have debate when necessary.

- 168 -
Chapter 6: CONCLUSION
1. Summarizing the content
This study has investigated the differences and similarities in Vietnamese
and American students’ debating through the data collected from questionnaire and
interviews. After analyzing the data collected from the subjects, Vietnamese
- 169 -
students and American one, we can say that beside the similarities in general
attitude to debate, there are some significant differences in classroom debate.
Firstly, the debate between teachers and those among students have not been as
popular in Vietnamese as in America despite the former’s positive view about
classroom debate. Secondly, the results from this study confirmed again that there

- 170 -
are some factors influencing on students’ debate in class, however, cultural
elements are dominant ones in students’ debating. Third, after analyzing the data
of present study, a conclusion of teachers’ role can be drawn that they can be
motivating factors in in-class debates. Finally, some suggestions which basing on

- 171 -
Vietnamese debating state are raised with the hope of Vietnamese students’
overcoming the barriers.
The culture is not the whole elements but a minor or specific one. Basing
on Tran Ngoc Them’s study of an original interpretation to explain the differences
in debating between Vietnamese and American students, we can conclude that

- 172 -
Vietnam is an agricultural country with synthetic conception. The things which are
interested are not separate elements but their relationships among them. That
means the Vietnamese highly value the relationship in society and respect the quiet
in their life. In contrast, American culture origins from animal husbandry, so the

- 173 -
subjects they are interested are individuals because relationships in their
community are natural, they think. (2002, p. 45).
In brief, there is no completely pure culture. In some senses, this culture
can borrow some characteristics from others, neighboring or further countries.
That is understandable and acceptable.

- 174 -
2. Suggesting implications
The results of this research support the idea that someone will study the
ways to motivate Vietnamese students in class after finding out the suitable
solutions for cultural values which are considered as barriers. Besides, some
information from my present study will be valuable for those who are interested in

- 175 -
Vietnamese culture, especially when they analyze meanings of Vietnamese
students’ keeping quiet. One further implication, I hope, is that my research can
support other one using debate as learning and teaching technique in Vietnam.
3. Significance of the findings

- 176 -
The current findings add substantially to our understanding of some different
cultural values in general and the differences in classroom debating style between
Vietnamese students and American one. This research may be a valuable material
for those who are interested in cultural field or those working or being going to do
in teaching area in Vietnam.

- 177 -

- 178 -
4. Limitations of the current study
Finally, a number of important limitations need to be considered. First, the
study used a convenient sample that is hardworking and enthusiastic in learning in
Hue library in Vietnamese and those in American. Second, forty students for each
country seem to be a small sample. The study, I think, may be more interesting if I

- 179 -
could have a large sample. Final, due to time limitation I could not have
observation in some classes that might make the data more realistic and accurate.
5. Recommendations for further work
It is recommended that further research be undertaken in the following
areas:

- 180 -
A. Vietnamese culture and meanings of keeping quiet and saying “Yes”.

- 181 -
REFERENCES
1. Allison. S. (2002). Debating with The Talented and Gifted Students. Canadian
Statistics The Classroom, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 13-14.
2. Anderson, R. C. (1998). The Structure of Discussions That Promote
Reasoning. Teacher College Record, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 315-368.

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3. Ediger, M. (1994). Speaking and The Pupil. Educational Resources
Information Center (ERIC), 1-17.
4. Felton, M. K. (2004). The Development of Discourse Strategies in Adolescent
Argument, 19 (2004), pp. 35-52.

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5. Jerome, L. & Algarra, B. (2005). Debating Debating: A Reflection on The
Place of Debate within Secondary Schools. The Curriculum Journal, Vol.16,
No.4, pp. 493-508.
6. Ludlum, M. P. (1993). Four Steps to Revitalizating NDT Participation.
National Debate Tournament, Apr (1993), pp. 1-23.

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7. Rosenthal, C. S. & Rosenthal, J. A. (2003). Learning and Talking about
Politics: Gender dynamics. American Political Science Association Meeting,
Philadelphia, PA, Aug, pp. 1-16.
8. Tran Ngoc Them, (1997). Tim Ve Ban Sac Van Hoa Viet Nam. NXB: T.P Ho
Chi Minh.

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9. Tumposky, N. R. (2004). The Debate Debate. Vol.78, No. 2, pp. 51-55.
10. Simonnaux, L. (2002). Case Study: Analysis of Classroom Debating Strategies
in The Field of Biotechnology. Journal of Biological Education, Vol. 37, No. 1,
pp. 9-12.

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11. Windschitl, M. (2006). Sparking The Debate over Science Education Reform,
pp. 20-31.
12. Tweed, R. G. & Lehman, D. R. (n. d.). Confucian and Socratic Approaches to
Learning.

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13. Tweed. R. G. & Lehman. D. R. (n. d.). Confucian and Socratic Approaches to
Learning. Retrieved from
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:LDBBCa7CAzkJ:www.edst.educ.ubc.ca
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14. http://www.rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~inouen/deb-trad.html
15. Inoue, Narahiko. 1996. Traditions of "Debate" in Japan. Bulletin of the Graduate
School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Vol. 2, pp. 149-161.
(Web version available from http://www.rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~inouen/deb-trad.html/)

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APPENDIX
TABLES
Question 1: What do you think of classroom debate?
Good Bad Others:

- 190 -
Vietnamese students (V) 75% 10% -depend of the content of the
lesson
-debate should be limited in
time.
American students (A) 100% 0%

- 191 -
Question 2: Do you like to debate and to give your ideas freely in class?
Yes No
V 95% 5%
A 97.5% 2.5%
Question 3: How do you contribute to the class?
V A

- 192 -
Raise your hand and speak when you have any idea 26.5 70
Only when you know the correct answer 35 15
When being asked by your teachers 32.5 7.5
When being asked by your group members 5% 7.5%

- 193 -
V A
- Only debate favorite problem or- join in discussion
Other ways really reasoned argument - Just speak out or speak
out without handing or
standing up.
Question 4: Which elements affect your debate? (You can choose more than one
- 194 -
thing)
V A
Teacher’s attitudes 30 30
Classmates’ attitudes 8 27
Knowledge 2 8
Your position and posture when talking 11 15
Personality 20 36
Others 0 0
Question 5: What are you doing when there is American classroom debate?

- 195 -
V A
Put forth ideas 10% 45%%
Listen and question 50% 45%%
Just listen 32.5% 5%
Ignore 2.5% 0

- 196 -
Dislike 5% 0
Reject the discussed argument 2.5% 5%
Others V A
No -Write down other people’s ideas so you can research
them.

- 197 -
-Research their argument so it can be discussed next time
in class.

- 198 -
Question 6: What do you feel after a classroom debate?
V A
Satisfied whether you succeed or not. 60% 82.5%
Satisfied only when you succeed. 15% 10%
Tired 10% 0%

- 199 -
Never want to repeat. 0% 0%
Others: 15% 7.5%

- 200 -
Chart 8: How often do you debate with your teachers in class?

60 - 201 -
50
40 V
30 A
20 Line 3
10
0
60
50
40 V
30 A
20 Line 3
10
0

- 202 -
Question 10: When you disagree with your teachers in class, how do you say?
V A
Say directly: “I don’t agree with you” 20% 65%
Say politely: “Excuse me, your ideas sound good but I don’t 45% 22.5%
agree completely”.
Keep silent 25% 10%
Others 10% 2.5%

- 203 -
Chart 11: How often do you debate with your classmates in class?

- 204 -
100
80
60
A
40
V
20
0

- 205 -
Question 12: When you disagree with your classmate(s) in class you will:
V A
Say directly: “I don’t agree with you” 37.5% 65%
Say politely: “Excuse me, your ideas sounds good but I 50% 22.5%
don’t agree completely.

Keep silent 12.5% 12.5%
Others
Question 13: How do your teachers affect your debate with your classmates?
V A
- 206 -
They encourage you to debate 47.5% 50%

They stop you from debating 15% 18.5%
They have no effect 32.5% 17.5%
Others: 5% 0%
Question 14: How do you feel when you are debated?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Normal 70% 82,5%
Face-losing 7.5% 12.5%

- 207 -
Others V A
- Only debate with those who understand me. - Confident -
- Tired. Engaged
- Pleased -
Interested

- 208 -
Question 15: Does your debate affect your relationship with you debater?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Yes 50% 25%
No 50% 75%
Question 16: When you are going to be opposed to someone, what do other
classmates react?
- 209 -
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Encourage you to do 17.5% 45%
Prevent you from debate 15% 0%
Ignore 65% 45%
V A
Other ideas: - Contribute ideas - Contribute, support or oppose you
- Listen and join in on either side

- 210 -
your class
V (N=40) A (N=40)
Yes 50% 17.5%
No 50% 82,5%
Question 18: According to you, how do students in your country debate in class?
V(N=40) A(N=40)
Fiercely 0 12.5%
Excitingly 15% 50%

- 211 -
Insipidly 25% 0
Question 19: (Vietnamese version) According to you, why Vietnamese students
rarely debate in class?

They respect their teachers. 15%
They think that their teachers are always right. 12.5%
They are afraid that their teachers and friends will have negative 12.5%
- 212 -
remarks on them.
They have no enough knowledge and words. 20%
They are shy, timid. 32.5%
Others:
-They are passive in learning
- Their teachers do not give them enough opportunities.
- The classroom environment is not good enough.

- 213 -
Question 19: According to you, what is a good class?
V (N=40) A (N=40)
A silent, obedient one 10% 7.5%
One in which there are exciting 80% 87.5%
debates

- 214 -
V: 10% A: 7.5%
-.A combination of debate and quiet.Most of debates are not able to be won
Others: - The teacher has a good transferringor lost. They leave us no clear
ability. conclusion just a better understanding.
- Debate in a serious environment. A combination of debate and quiet.

- 215 -
Question 20: What do you think about a student who disagrees with their
teachers’ ideas?
V A
Impolite 0% 5%
Daring 25% 5%
Normal 62.5% 70%

- 216 -
Others (V)2.5% (A)20%
- -
- -
- -

- 217 -
Interview questions:
Do you give your ideas when you are not sure of correct answer?
According to you, are students afraid of opposing their teachers’ ideas?
Have your teachers stop you from debating to keep your class in quiet or for any
other purpose?

- 218 -
Have you ever oppose your close classmate’s ideas in class?
Some people do not like being debated. What do you think if this ideas true?

- 219 -

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Vietnamese and American Students’ Debating - A comparative study

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................... ..........

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

1. Definition of debate...................................................... ............................

2. Benefits of debate....................................................... ..............................

3. Teachers’ role in classroom debate.................................................... ........

4. Relationship between cultural values and academic debate......................

5. Research questions and hypotheses........................................................ ...

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

2. Data collection...................................................................... ....................

2.1 Questionnaire.............................................................................. ...

2.2 Interview..................................................................................... ...

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

2.3 Observation.................................................... ...............................

3. Data analysis.............................................................. ................................

Chapter 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

I. Students’ attitude to classroom debate ................................ ................

II. How popular is classroom debate in fact?...........................................

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

III. The culture values and classroom debate ....................................... .....

IV. Teachers’ participation in classroom debate ........................................

V. Some suggestions to motivate Vietnamese students to debate in class

1.Summarizing the content........................................................ ....................

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

2.Suggesting implications...................................................................... ........

3.Significance of the findings...................................................... ..................

4.Limitations of the current study........................................................ ..........

5.Recommendations for further works.......................... ................................

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

First of all, a special thank to my supervisor, TRẦN QUANG NGỌC

THÚY, who provided innumerable suggestions, comments and ideas. And it

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

would be a serious insufficiency unless I remember to thank my old teacher,

LÊ MINH BẢO, for comments on an earlier draft.

I would like to express my profound to all American and Vietnamese

students whose cooperation is very helpful to my study.

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

Eventually, my special thanks go to my family and friends for their

material support, as well as encouraging me to do this piece of research.

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

The purpose of the present research is to determine students’ debating in

America and Vietnam. Hence, after collecting necessary information of debate in

research begins by introducing some overall features of debate through recent

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

debate through an analysis some relating researches such as definition of debate,

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

questionnaire and interviews according to some areas such as students’ attitude to

classroom debate, teachers’ participation in classroom debate and some

suggestions to motivate Vietnamese students to debate in class. Especially, the

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

giving some couples of converse cultural dimension between Vietnamese and

are summarized beside some the research’s implication, significance, limitation

and some recommendations for further works.

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN STUDENTS’ DEBATING

In recent years, there has been a greatly increasing interest in debates in

general and in classroom debate in particular, with several published and

Trần Thị Mỹ Supervisor: Trần Quang Ngọc Thúy

like http://www.idebate.org/, or there is a “Debate Central”, at University of

Vermont (http://debate.uvm.edu/), which provides an online database of arguments