KHÁM PHÁ LÒNG DŨNG CẢM TRONG VĂN HỌC KỲ ẢO:

MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC NHÂN VẬT BILBO BAGGINS,

HARRY POTTER VÀ CORALINE
SVTH: Nguyễn Thu Hằng (8A19)

GVHD: Cao Xuân Thục Anh

Tóm tắt

Trong dòng văn học kỳ ảo, một câu chuyện thành công luôn bao gồm tinh thần dũng cảm
của nhân vật chính vì đây là chìa khóa để mở cửa cho chiến thắng của họ. Qua hàng thập kỷ, lòng
quả cảm của những anh hùng trẻ là một khuôn mẫu nổi bật đưa ra những bài học đạo đức nên
chúng luôn thu hút các độc giả của văn học kỳ ảo. Những ví dụ điển hình như Harry Potter, Coraline
và The Hobbit cho thấy các anh hùng thường rơi vào rắc rối và bị đe dọa bởi cái thế lực xấu xa tối
thượng nhất. Tuy nhiên cùng với sự nỗ lực, họ vượt qua khó khăn và đánh bại kẻ thù. Bài nghiên
cứu này phân tích những khoảnh khắc dũng cảm của ba nhân vật chính trong những tiểu thuyết
nổi tiếng trên nhằm rút ra khuôn mẫu tiêu biểu để xây dựng nên lòng dũng cảm trong truyện kỳ ảo.
Về tổng thể, lòng dũng thể là sự kết hợp bởi các yếu tố ngoại cảnh và nội tâm của nhân vật, mỗi
yếu tố đó gắn với những mục đích cụ thể. Dựa trên các bài nghiên cứu trước đó trong sách và tài
liệu có liên quan, nghiên cứu này đưa ra một số bài học thực tiễn về việc lòng dũng cảm đã giúp
nhân vật chính đạt được mục đích sống như thế nào.

Từ khóa: văn học kỳ ảo, lòng dũng cảm của anh hùng trẻ, nhân vật chính

EXPLORING YOUNG COURAGE IN THE FANTASY GENRE:

AN ANALYSIS OF BILBO BAGGINS, HARRY POTTER, AND
CORALINE
Abstract

A protagonist’s fearless soul is the key to a successful story leading to his/her victory in
fantasy literature. Throughout decades, the courage of a young character always fascinates readers
as it is an excellent element which brings about moral lessons in perhaps every fantasy book. Harry
Potter, Coraline and The Hobbit are striking examples of how main characters get into trouble and
are threatened by the most supreme dark power. Still, with great effort, they courageously beat the
enemies. With an aim to analyze the brave moments of three young hero(ine)s from the above-
mentioned remarkable novels, this research discusses a typical module of a protagonist’s courage.
In general, bravery is composed of both inside and outside stimulations related to their specific
purposes. Based on a number of relevant research as well as books, this study reveals some
practical lessons in how courage helps a protagonist achieve life missions.

Key words: fantasy genre, young courage, protagonist

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 1. INTRODUCTION

According to ranker.com - a ranker community for fans, the top 30 best fantasy
writers of all times include some recognizable names such as J. R. R Tolkien, Neil
Gaiman, J. K. Rowling, among others. Indeed, these authors have a substantial impact on
literature and readers. Defining Tolkien’s writing style, Shaun Gunner - the Chair of The
Tolkien Society wrote: “Entering the Oxford English Dictionary is not a casual
occurrence for writers, and in itself signifies that Tolkien himself is a different type of
author.” (Gunner, 2017, para. 3). As a noble author and a wonderful creator, Tolkien has
a unique way to tell his story. “The father of modern fantasy” (Gunner, 2017, para. 1) was
into creating a second world in which he hoped readers would have a strong belief in
order to immerse themselves into that world. Hence, he built up its own geography,
mythology, calendars, dwellers, and language with specific alphabet (sub-creation). His
talent is shown in The Hobbit (1937). The novel opens our eyes with alien races like
Elves, Hobbits, Dwarves, Wizards, Orcs, Trolls, etc. The main character in The Hobbit is
Bilbo Baggins - a pleasant Hobbit who leads a tranquil life and hates adventures.
However, after being tricked by Gandalf the wizard, he is chosen as a burglar in a 14-
warrior team to save the dwarves’ kingdom from Smaug - a fire dragon. Even though at
first he denies the offer, he has a change of heart after one night. At the beginning of the
precarious journey, he does not gain any credits from his companions for his clumsy and
insufficient behaviours, and the need to be saved when in danger. Only after a successful
escape from Trolls’ kingdom with no scathe, Bilbo becomes trustworthy to other
members. The rest of their journey is filled with various difficulties, especially those in
the Battle of Five Armies; however, they manage to overcome all of them.

Rowling has followed Tolkien’s footsteps when she published the well-known
series Harry Potter (1997), in which readers explore a wizardry world with magic and
unfamiliar creatures. Nevertheless, the characters in the story created by Rowling reflect
her experience because they are mostly based on traits of real people in her life. She
admitted that she “based the character of Hermione Granger on her 11-year-old self.”
(CBC Books, 2017, para. 7). Moreover, she shares the same birthday with the leading
character - Harry because she senses a connection between them. This female writer has
been through ups and downs so Harry also experiences an anguished childhood during
which he suffers from the torture of the Dursleys, his aunt’s family. The 11-year-old boy’s
wish to escape finally comes true when he receives the offer from Hogwarts, and the

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young boy’s first step to the magical world is the step to the evil’s threshold. He has been
fighting with different metamorphosis versions of Voldermort. In the final battle with
Voldemort, Harry steps into the woods even though he is aware that he will eventually
have to die, and that there is no other choice. As expected, everybody believes that he is
already dead while Harry is contemporarily unconscious. At the last moment, Harry
converses face-to-face with his ultimate professor - Dumbledore and has his fighting spirit
lifted. Then, he comes back to the battlefield and defeats the Dark lord.

In post-modern literature, fantasy readers can also capture the two parallel existing
worlds in Neil Gaiman’s books. Different from two aforementioned authors, the
protagonist in his writing is simply human. Without any kind of special power like a
wizard, his character still overcomes the bad and wins at the end. In 2014, he used to
express his writing style in an interview on telegraph.co.uk: ordinary people are able to
find out the solution when things get the worst of it. Coraline is a significant evidence of
this pattern. Moving to a new apartment, the young adventure lover feels bored due to the
indifference from her parents and the weirdness of the surrounding neighbors. Coraline
discovers an unused door whose other side is a bricked wall. That night, she is intrigued
by a flock of mice moving to that door and surprisingly it leads her through the previously
blocked door to another world where everything is the same but is decorated more vividly
and seemed as charming as a young girl’s dream. People in this world are exactly the
same as those in Coraline’s world, except for their disturbing button eyes. The other world
makes Coraline content and wants to stay so the other mother requires sewing buttons
into her eyes in return. Having an awareness of the trap, she refuses the offer, comes back
to the real world and realizes an ominousness: her parents are captured by the button-eye
Beldam. With the assistance of black cat and the souls Coraline willingly returns to the
other world, wins the other mother’s game, and with a trick, she could bring everyone
home safely.

The three characters’ courage are reflected in several aspects. Bilbo faces countless
obstacles without any ability to overcome them, while Harry arrives at the gate of hell to
show his courage, and Coraline risks her life to rescue parents and friends. Although the
bravery to overcome oneself, to encounter difficulties or to sacrifice for others are
apparently different from one another, they exist for one shared reason. It is to define a
protagonist’s meaning of life. Bilbo’s adventure helps him recognize his resistance. The
same pattern can be seen in Harry’s decision to move to the true world to which he

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belongs. Coraline also delves into the unknown to fulfill her desire to discover and as a
beloved daughter, she understands and cherishes parents more afterwards. By and large,
their courage all consist of four main factors. Family, which frames a character’s need
before the fight, and friends, which function as adventure partners, stand for external
helphelps. There are two more elements coming from the protagonist which are belief and
fear to trigger their courage.

2. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
2.1. The involuntary desperados

Readers usually assume that a character’s courage is only exposed when s/he is in
perilous context. Nevertheless, in fact, it is kindled at an early moment in the story when
s/he is crossing the threshold.

2.1.1. Mediocre lives: the root of courage

As the protagonist steps in a brand new world, s/he will give up the status of daily
life. One profound reason for the character to risk their security is the mundane routine.
Farah Mendlesohn (2008, p. 2) affirmed the first change in a character’s journey happened
when “Characteristically the quest fantasy protagonist goes from a mundane life, in which
the fantastic, if she is aware of it, is very distant and unknown (or at least unavailable to
the protagonist)”. After the shift to the fantastic world, the first and foremost noticeable
feature that readers can easily catch is the new environment. It can be shown through the
change of place, relationship, or inner-self. However, it is, in general, strangely different
from the old one. The significance of the unknown world in fairy tales was illustrated by
J. R. R Tolkien (1947, p. 12):

What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful “sub-creator.” He

makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is “true”:
it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were,
inside.

The need of moving to a new place feeds off the same span of days. A normal day
of Coraline is described from her perspective. She keeps saying how bored she is when
talking to her father about his cooking, especially when visiting his workroom. To Bilbo,
his life is perfectly repeated. This Hobbit gets used to on-time dinner, cake proportions,
and is surrounded with a green meadow and peace. There is nothing strange that at one
point he decides to go on an adventure with the amazement of new languages and songs,

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although the concern of forgetting a pocket-handkerchief remains. Bilbo obviously enjoys
this happy life at home. Yet to another extent, Bilbo, in fact, wants unexpected adventures
due to an intrinsic urge covered by unwillingness. The explanation for this will be
discussed in the below categories (specifically in part 2.1.2, 2.2.1.1). Similarly, Harry
receives the same terrible treatments from the same people every day. In the very first
chapter, the 11-year-old boy has to suffer from the Dursley family’s physical and mental
torment. The more his cousin is cherished, the more Harry is despised. Harry wore his
“old clothes”, and “wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of
all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose” (Rowling, 1997, p. 20). He is also in
charge of meal preparation for the whole family. Even though going through distinctive
circumstances, Coraline, Bilbo and Harry have one thing in common: the restraint of
mediocre lives in which they tend to feel insufficient or discontent. All of them are waiting
for breakthroughs, either consciously or unconsciously, to make changes.

2.1.2. Curiosity: the trigger of courage

After the novel discovery, the protagonist is daring to gradually learn about the
unknown world. In terms of the bravery to search for a different life, Martin Farrell (2000,
p.188) indicated that a requirement for searching is the self-freedom from the previous
condition.

The liberation, then, is to do with protagonist searching for self-fulfillment,

something which he feels could not be achieved while under the control either of his
relatives or religious establishment.

Obviously, aspiration is another factor which contributes to the starting level of

courage. Even when the character is totally conscious of the dangerous situations, the
search for new things happens spontaneously since his/her instinct is to explore. A
connection between curiosity and exploration was drawn by the Department of
Psychology State University of New York at Buffalo (2004, p.302): “The exploratory
behaviors set in motion by curiosity appear to increase opportunities for fulfilling
competence and interpersonal relatedness needs.”

Curiosity is the trigger of a protagonist’s chain of actions in fantasy books. In the

very first part of Coraline, the leading character’s affirmation of exploration is constantly
repeated. Coraline showed the desire for unusual adventures not only through word but
also through action. She first tracks the mice crossing the drawing room at midnight, and

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attempts to reach the key of the locked door from the high-above shelf. In both moments,
Coraline feels insecure and strange, and independently does her missions in isolation. Yet,
this heroine has the guts to accomplish not only these ones but other challenges thanks to
her natural instinct: discovering. To Bilbo, the same energy for the acquisition of new
things shows up when he gets excited and interested about the dragons and far-flung
lands. Sometimes, he reminds himself to keep silent as he is assertive not to be involved
in any adventure. There is an uncontrollable moment when the hobbit walks straight
forward into the dwarves discussion. As Tolkien remarked, his Took side was dominant.
The aspiration of conquering the new world, as it turns out, remains steadily in Bilbo’s
blood since it is passed down from the Took ancestor. Harry Potter, “the boy who lives”,
tries to get to know himself as he asks as many questions as possible every time he is with
Hagrid. J. K. Rowling (1997, p. 52) described Harry’s excitement in the first encounter:
“Questions exploded inside Harry’s head like fireworks and he couldn’t decide which to
ask first”. When living with the Dursleys, the young wizard “had dreamed and dreamed
of some unknown relation coming to take him away” (p. 30) and “thought (or maybe
hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him” (p. 30). His desire is so massive
since it appeared even in the most inner thought. Moreover, it is the significant motive
for him to destroy banned barriers, then daringly step in to clarify the truth. In the Merrill-
Palmer Quarterly (1998, p. 382), the idea that leading characters in the fantasy genre dive
into forbidden areas was also proposed: “The protagonist of a story searched for a desired
object in an incorrect location”. Coraline and Harry Potter are significant evidence for
this tendency. Coraline is warned by the weird man in the attic and two women next door
not to go through the unfamiliar door. Harry, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(Rowling, 1999), was hindered from coming back to Hogwart by an elf named Dobby for
his own safety. Dobby said:

Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby
has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the
oven door later. . . . Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts. (Rowling, 1999, p15-16)

Three characters are held back by the visible or invisible obstacles which threaten
their lives, but they eventually get over them due to the strong instinct of learning. In spite
of being in different contexts, they are all intrigued by exotic things to find their true
selves.

2.2. Turning into a hero

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 In the first part of the adventure, a protagonist’s courage is mostly formulated by
internal struggle. On the other hand, since the protagonist leans deeper toward the second
world, they find more and more outer dangers representing the opponent’s conspiracy.
Defined as a hero(ine), s/he has to face these tremendous challenges. As the obstacles
gradually appear bigger and more numerous in quantity, the characteristic of bravery
changes. It converts to a combination of different factors, in which help from suroundding
people is included.

2.2.1. The support that comes from bonds

Deciding win or loss in a challenge, family and friends play dispensable roles. In
fantasy stories, a leading character’s family is constructed as a firm foundation for
him/her, whereas travelling companions are symbolized as secondery heroes.

2.2.1.1. Family

When comparing and contrasting between the function of heroic protagonists in

folktales and fantasy, Tamar Katamadze (2019) came to a conclusion that the way a
character’s background in general is described has a great influence on him/herself
afterwards. The situation can be the absence of an old family member or the death of
parents. In regard to the childhood of the human hero, Joseph Campbell (2004, p.294) has
the same claim: “herohood is predestined, rather than simply achieved”.

Coraline is strongly inspired by her parents. When rescuing them, she retrieves the
memory in which her father once saved her from a bee swarm. In a similar situation, she
walks into a threatening place to bring her mom and dad back. It is noticeable that the
evolution in Coraline’s mindset has shown that she returns to the other mother’s trap not
to repay for what her father did but it is naturally what a daughter would do. The sacrifice
of her parents on a daily basis contributes to the formation of her responsibility and ability
to be incharge of solving problems as a heroine.

In Girls Who Save the World: The Female Hero in Young Adult Fantasy, Erin
Danehy Carnegie (2007, p. 100) briefly demonstrated a procedure of the heroine’s
adventure based on a diagram of Joseph Campbell’s (1949) hero model: “Where she
begins her adventure; it does not have to be where she was born, but where she was raised
or a place to which she has a strong emotional connection.”. It can be inferred that when
commencing the adventure, the ideal hero(ine) does not have to stick firmly into his/her
childhood, but prones to the familiar instead.

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 Although Harry Potter is raised by his aunt and uncle, he always desires to become
different. He feels a strong bond with the magic land which is considered as his parents’
real home. Harry does not merely accept to be a reserved boy as he seemed to be in the
past, but he willingly opens up and takes a risk. The young wizard approaches the dark
side one-step-at-a-time. Heading to the fatal encounter, Harry “clutched the Cloak tightly
around him in the darkness, traveling deeper and deeper into the forest, with no idea where
exactly Voldemort was, but sure that he would find him. Beside him, making scarcely a
sound, walked James, Sirius, Lupin, and Lily, and their presence was his courage, and the
reason he was able to keep putting one foot in front of the other.” (Rowling, 2007, p.700).
The same happens to Bilbo, the peace-loving Hobbit, who, in every moment of the battle,
shows his best. Despite the serene background to which his family belongs, Bilbo on
adventure is the warrior facing a great number of foes like the Orcs, Smaug the dragon.
The Tooks’ fighting spirit is a supreme feature inside him since the story of their triumph
remains influential throughout history.

2.2.1.2. Friends

Friends in the fantasy genre basically are people or living creatures with whom the
leading character makes a close acquaintance along his/her journey.

In Common and Distinctive Functions of the Protagonist Hero in Folktale and

Fantasy (Based on Protagonist Heroes in Works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Nato
Davitashvili), Tamar Katamadze (2019, p. 62) wrote about the various simulations of
companions.

We often see a fantasy hero tired, frightened and weak. He necessarily needs a
helper who supports him in the most critical situation. He also needs a wise mentor who
gives him the task and directives, and he also needs a group of helpers (fellowship)
including invented creatures and speaking animals.

They can appear diversely in different shapes and ways. The black cat in Coraline
is not a simple pet but a consultant to the protagonist in the story. Surprisingly, he can
talk well and offers Coraline the strategy to deal with the other mother. Harry Potter
receives help from an animal too. A phoenix considered as the head master’s pet saves
him from the poisonous bite of Basilisk - a giant deadly snake. Dobby - the house-elf also
supports him effortly in combating dark wizards. To Bilbo, a group of 13 dwarves and

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Gandalf - a wise wizard are not only come-along travellers but also assistants in numerous
aspects.

Tamar Katamadze (2019, p. 64) also clearly explained friends’ functions in specific
situations: “Fantasy protagonist is not fighting alone. A group of people (fellowship) and
the closest friends who constantly help him morally as well as physically support him
everywhere”

Coraline is guided by the black cat through the whole journey: cueing that her
missing parents are in the mirror, offering valuable advice on gaming, gesturing as sights
for Coraline’s move, helping her to understand the other world, and giving her lessons.
Besides, his appearance in time serves as physical support: catching the last mouse in
order to save the last soul, being thrown to the enemy’s face to buy Coraline some more
time. The function of the three souls is regarded as emotional encouragement for the
teenaged heroine to keep on the adventure; however, at the nearly last moment of the
story, these companions of Coraline play a substantial role in making endeavour to lock
the door leading to the other side in which the button-eyed mother is. In the Harry Potter
series and The Hobbit, the same purpose of friends is discovered. The elder associates
with an erudite image, particularly as a lecturer and a savior. Dumbledore - the headmaster
of Hogwarts and Gandalf are the respective representatives in Harry and Bilbo's journey.
Their arrival is the most sacred one as they mostly adjust the protagonist’s characteristics
with aforementioned purposes. Coming along with Harry are Hermione and Ron, his two
best friends, and with Bilbo are 13 dwarves assisting him both spiritually and physically.

In the same research, Tamar Katamadze (2019, p. 63) indicated another motive for
delving into a battle: “Fantasy protagonist is not fighting to solve his personal problems.
He is fighting against evil, who is trying to gain power over the whole world or the
region.”. Thus a proposed question here is why the leading character achieves such a
daredevil’s gut to even care for others’ benefit when s/he almost dies of severe wars.
Technically, Harry and Bilbo are two examples for this motif: a student wizard sacrifices
his life for the whole magic world, while the Hobbit soldier lets himself take the risk of
being surrounded by a high chance of casualty to complete the mission of winning the
lost Kingdom under the mountain for the dwarves’ sake. Tolkien and Rowling gave the
answer for this issue in their own masterpiece. Besides Harry’s 2 closest friends, Neville,
another friend of his, presents a strong will in the final battle even when the situation
favours Voldemort’s side

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 “I’ll join you when hell freezes over,” said Neville. “Dumbledore’s Army!” he
shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort’s Silencing
Charms seemed unable to hold. (Rowling, 2007, p. 731)

Apart from Harry’s family and kins, his girlfriend Ginny’s action also exposes an
enlightened kick in his fighting willpower.

Ginny was kneeling beside the injured girl now, holding her hand. With a huge
effort Harry forced himself on. He thought he saw Ginny look around as he passed, and
wondered whether she had sensed someone walking nearby, but he did not speak, and he
did not look back. (J.K.Rowling, 2007, p. 670)

In The Hobbit, Tolkien described Bilbo’s willingness to actually join the dwarves
and become a part of them after escaping successfully from the chaos in Misty Mountain.
From then, Bilbo officially takes their mission as his since they trust and respect his
ability, and the bond among them grows significantly.

Every assistant in the fantasy story is crucial because it can be formed concretely or
implicitly, and feeds off the leading character’s strength successively. To consolidate
his/her courage in the unexpectedly wicked world, both family and friends show up in
different parts of the story in order to fill in the defect holes of the protagonist.

2.2.2. The deciding factors of courage

Tamar Katamadze (2019, p.62) evaluated the unlimited support but did not
underestimate the inner power of a fighter “In fantasy story, the victory is gained by
coalition of fellowship where the decisive role depends on the persistence of the
protagonist.” The bravery of a character is built from his/her basic instinct to keep him/her
on track. They are purely what s/he has got during the battle: belief and fear.

2.2.2.1. Belief

According to fantasy.bnf.fr, Justine Breton emphasised the vital level of belief in

the literature by affirming the sturdy relationship between the plot of a fantasy book and
spiritual stimulations. In the story, the character’s thoughts and the tendency to react to a
particular subject is usually proposed freely in any circumstances. It is proved in Coraline
when the leading girl plays the exact leading role: she gains such a strong belief in each
of her steps to defeat the other mother. Her faith of a happy ending not only exists inside
her, but also spreads to friends. The will in which the good defeats the bad continually

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establishes the ability to eradicate the button-eyed mother’s vicious words with the
underlying seditions to induce her purpose. Harry and Bilbo’ faith are rather different
from this formula. In the early part of their stories, both of them are demonstrated with
the doubt of goodwill. At the beginning, Bilbo never trusts in his talent to be an authentic
thief, whereas Harry Potter loses hope when he knows he has to die and is pleased with
this outcome of the war because it can settle everything. Fortunately, friends, again, join
the final stage of the journey as healers with an aim to mend fragile pieces and build up
the protagonist’s confidence. In terms of belief evolution, in the chapter “Preface to the
1949 Edition”, the editors of Hero with thousand faces (2004, p. 1x) offered their opinion
about Joseph Campbell’s (1949) work:

At Columbine High School, I noted once again, often within just a few pages of
focusing on the language and concepts of any ancient mythic journey, that even the badly
injured can regain hope to restore their hearts. They are thus inspired to find new energy
for their torn spirits, tying these matters to the spiritual belief-systems they have already,
or seeking out new systems that make sense to them at the soul level. I know no more
perfect definition of good healing than this: a return to spiritual nobility.

Within the help, the protagonist explores an appropriate mindset which is

rationalized enough with the current challenge. The compatibility between body and spirit
builds up the trustworthiness of ability, and then, leads to the action of combating.

In the unconscious moment, Harry has a positive conversation with his most sincere
professor - Dumbledore to recover the fading fighting spirit. He convinces Harry of the
chance of luck: “that if you choose to return, there is a chance that he may be finished for
good. I cannot promise it. But I know this, Harry, that you have less to fear from returning
here than he does.” (J.K.Rowling, 2007, p722). It gains an amazingly positive outcome
as later on, when confronting the dark lord, Harry strongly expresses his opinion of love
and power with no hesitation: “I believe both,” (Rowling, 2007, p739). To Bilbo, he is
always reminded about the outstanding Took’s victories. Gandalf's assurance of his thief
skills also undoubtedly urges him on a daily basis. They attribute to building Bilbo’s great
courage. It is also illustrated when Tolkien described his intuitive skill when managing to
get out of the big drunk goblin-guards. This Hobbit can feel and implement the static of
tip-toe and fleets under no one’s notice.

2.2.2.2. Fear

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 It is usually thought that a hero(ine) apparently stands for perfection with good
personalities, virtue, decisiveness, cleverness, adaptiveness, generosity and bravery
indeed. However, this is misunderstood. Tamar Katamadze (2019, p.63) addressed the
module protagonist’s image in fantasy genre:

Fantasy protagonist hero is not ideal. He is afraid of something, he is bored, or

angry, disappointed, etc. The author describes the weak sides of their personality that
evoke sympathy in the reader and it is not a humiliation of the hero.

Weakness can not be absent in making a character’s courage. It is shown through

the natural reaction while encountering the most powerful monster in the story: fear.
Christopher Paolini - a noble American writer with a popular quote: “Without fear there
cannot be courage.” has revealed a binding link between these two factors. It is obvious
that everytime a hero in the story takes any kind of action purposefully which needs
internal strength or motivation against evil, s/he is scared. Neil Gaiman portrays Coraline
as a girl who is capable of sensing her fast heart beat when approaching a dangerous area.
Especially, courageously offering a game with the other mother, the little child tries to
press down the frightening part in her: she stops her shaking legs by gripping them under
the table. In the unexpected journey, the puzzle game with Gollum illustrated how Bilbo’s
wisdom and courage are covered by fear. When he first falls down next to the
underground river, he does not dare to come out of the darkness since he can not swim.
As soon as Gollum appears, he thrusts his dagger. This shiftly motion indicates how
terrified he is in front of a strange creature. His acceptance of the game includes no
confidence in it. The same pattern also applies for Harry. The walk into the woods to
combat several evil wizards causes the young wizard a heartbeat in a fast pace as if it was
going to jump out. Diving valiantly deeper, he finds himself with messy thoughts and “his
fingers trembling slightly and makes an effort to control them, although no one could see
him” (J.K.Rowling, 2007, p. 692). These characters’ courage is all buried under the
feeling of fear since the actions can be seen easily but the feelings are invisible.

Courage is considered as a hero’s feature. It can be seen as a gradious, masculine,

fearless action. How can it contain such a contrast status like fear inside itself? Wesley L.
Fox (2007, p. 18) proposed the reasonable explanation for the above question: “Individual
courage is required to handle the fear raised by these high-risk adventures”. It can be
concluded that fear is the basic motive that triggers bravery. There is a similar moral
lesson in the story of Coraline’s father. The official courageous behavior is when he

12
comes back to the wasteland to find his glasses, not when rescuing his daughter because
he knows the bees are still there and they spook him. Although the protagonist defines
his/her enemy, witnesses their vigorous force before, and detects their advantages which
absolutely petrifies them, the hero(ine) keeps on fighting at the last moment. That is
courage.

3. CONCLUSION

To design a protagonist’s bravery, fantasy authors create various details including

his/her external factors (surrounding people and creatures) and internal world (thoughts,
feelings and emotions). All of them, even though seemingly subtle, enrich the leading
character’s strength to conquer the villain. The stereotype of their combination conveys
worthwhile messages. Fighting against all odds, the leading characters receive support
from numerous sources. It is necessary for everyone to accept needy help and not to be
ashamed of downsides. In particular, a friend is not simply a partner in the darkest time,
but a guide when one is lost. Furthermore, the model of any hero’s story encourages the
reader to hold on hope every minute while fighting against any kind of evil in real life.
More importantly, courage is a measure of fear. If human beings obtain it, they will be
able to answer the question of their existence and acquire amazing unexpected merits to
become the leading roles in their own story.

13
 REFERENCES

Breton, J. (2019). Faith and Religion in Fantasy Societies. BnF Fantasy. Retrieve from
https://fantasy.bnf.fr/en/understand/faith-and-religion-fantasy-societies/
Campbell, J. (2004). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. William Street, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press.
CBC Books. (2017). 50 things you might not know about J. K. Rowling. CBC.
Retrieved May 01, 2017 from https://www.cbc.ca/books/50-things-you-might-not-
know-about-j-k-rowling-1.4093971
Daheny, E. F. (2007). Girls Who Save the World: The Female Hero in Young Adult
Fantasy (Unpublished master’s thesis). Carnegie Mellon University.
Farrell, M. (2000). The Search for the Religious Ideal in Selected Works of José
Castillo-Puche. Michigan: Edwin Mellen Press.
Gunner, S. (2017). Why is Tolkien so popular?. The Tolkien society. Retrieved March
12, 2017, from https://www.tolkiensociety.org/blog/2017/03/why-is-tolkien-so-popular/
Kashdan, T. B., Rose, P., & Fincham, F. D. (2004). Curiosity and exploration:
Facilitating positive subjective experiences and personal growth opportunities. Journal
of personality assessment, 82(3), 291-305.
Katamadze, T. (2019). Common and Distinctive Functions of the Protagonist Hero in
Folktale and Fantasy (Based on Protagonist Heroes in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien and
Nato Davitashvili). International Academy Journal Web of Scholar, 10(40), 59-64.
https://doi.org/10.31435/rsglobal_wos/31102019/6744
Mendlesohn, F. (2008). Rhetorics of Fantasy. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan
University Press.
Pillow, B., & Lovett, S. (1998). "He Forgot": Young Children's Use of Cognitive
Explanations for Another Person's Mistakes. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 44(3), 378-403.
Retrieved May 13, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23093708
Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. (1st ed.). USA: Scholastic
Press.
Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. (1st ed.). USA:
Scholastic Press.
Rowling, J. K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (1st ed.). USA: Scholastic
Press.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1947). On Fairy-Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wesley L. Fox. (2007). Courage and Fear: A Primer. Location: Potomac Books, Inc.
Wood, G. (2014). Neil Gaiman on the meaning of fairy tales. Telegraph. Retrieved from
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/11243761/Neil-Gaiman-Disneys-Sleeping-
Beauty.html

14
 NHỮNG THÁCH THỨC KHI SỬ DỤNG PODCASTS TRONG
DẠY VÀ HỌC TIẾNG ANH: TỔNG HỢP TỪ CÁC NGHIÊN
CỨU GẦN ĐÂY
SVTH: Nguyễn Minh Thu (6A17) và Nguyễn Trung Thị Hà (9A17)

GVHD: Dr. Nguyễn Ngọc Hương Giang

Tóm tắt

Theo cùng với sự phát triển của công nghệ trong giáo dục, podcast đã được chú ý tới trong
việc dạy học ngoại ngữ, đăc biệt là trong thời kỳ đại dịch. Trước những hiệu của tích của việc sử
dụng podcast, người học và giáo viên vẫn phải đối mặt với một số thách thức đến từ podcast. Do
đó, bài nghiên cứu này nhằm thu thập và phân tích những thách thức của việc triển khai podcast
trong việc học tiếng Anh. Qua tổng hợp và phân tích hơn 15 nghiên cứu, có sáu thách thức lớn
được tìm ra, bao gồm các vấn đề kỹ thuật, thiết kế nội dung, vắng mặt, ít tham gia, mất tập trung
và thời gian sử dụng podcast không hiệu quả. Nghiên cứu cũng đưa ra một giải pháp cho những
thiếu sót đã đề cập phía trước.

CHALLENGES OF PODCASTS USE IN ENGLISH

LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING: A REVIEW OF
RECENT STUDIES
Abstract

With the development of innovative technology use in education, podcasts have gained
traction to implement in ESL learning, especially throughout the pandemic. Despite the
effectiveness of podcasting use, learners and teachers still have to face some challenges which
come from podcasts. This study, therefore, aimed to gather and analyze the challenges of podcast
implementation in English learning. A synthesis of 15 research studies revealed six major
challenges, including technical issues, content design, absenteeism, less engagement,
distraction, and ineffective time of using podcasts. Recommended solutions to the above
shortcomings were also provided.

1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Today, technology has entwined into our different spheres in our life. Since the
COVID-19 started in 2020, there has been a boom in using ICT in education. Multiple
useful tools have significantly contributed to the teaching and learning processes,
especially podcasts, which have shown a sharp increase in English language teaching and
learning (Nic & Nathan, 2020).
510
 There are different definitions of podcasts. According to Podcasting Begins Gaining
Traction in Vietnam (2020), it is referred to as recorded broadcast audio content, allowing
people to download and listen to portable devices. The podcast is also suggested as the
authoring of or subscription to audio and or video files that can be downloaded and played
back on a wide range of mobile devices (Dale & Pymm, 2009 as viewed in Pignato, 2010).
In this research, podcasts are defined as publishing audio via the Internet, which can be
downloaded and listened to via portable and handy gadgets such as MP3 players, iPods,
and phones.

The majority of research on podcasting indicates numerous advantages to use

podcasts in language learning (Hasan & Hoon, 2013). However, podcast use remains
challenging to improve learning and teaching best. It is interesting to note that podcasts
in English language learning, to some extent, were less documented regarding its
drawbacks of podcast implementation and what students and teachers have to struggle
with within the classes as they use podcasting methods. For those reasons, this study was
carried out to gather, analyse and synthesise the adverse effects of podcasts on English
language learning as well as gain more understanding about the underlying impact of
podcasts in the classroom by focusing on the below question:

What are the challenges of using podcasts in English teaching and learning?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. How podcasts have been used in education

For educational purposes, podcasts are identified as resources for teaching and
learning. In 2018, Goldman demonstrated that podcasts are used as a teaching resource.
This study has shown that podcasts as a learning resource are on the rise, enhancing
student performance and teaching practices and engaging learners in the class. Teachers
also use podcasts to provide ideas and more knowledge for related materials, which
provide students to gain insight into different texts and gain further understanding.
Podcasts are used to replace heavy text and text-only material, giving learners a chance
to familiarize themselves with innovative technology and an eye-opening experience of
the pros and cons of technological implementations in education. Equally important,
teachers can use podcasts to build a feeling of collaboration and engagement in the class,
in which students have a chance to do their work, collaborate with others (Barone &
Wright, 2008; Pignato, 2010; Palenque, 2016).

511
 Furthermore, it is also believed that podcasts are a practical learning resource both
in school and outside school (Ng'ambi & Lombe, 2012). Podcasts are easily accessible to
learners of any age worldwide. Granted, all students use podcasts in different ways, but
they can choose to use podcasts of various lengths (Lauer, n.d.). In addition, Podcasts
successfully supported students' preparation for assessed work, providing significant
advice on portfolio and presentations, analyzed by Edirisingha et al. (2007).

By implementing podcasts as part of teacher and learners' sources, the teachers

became more professional in the actual curriculum, combining teaching and pedagogy
with new teaching methods in the classrooms; students also could access the innovative
technology in learning.

2.2. How podcast used effectively in English learning and teaching

2.2.1. Listening skills and speaking skills

Compared to traditional classrooms, which have little concentration on listening and

speaking activities, Podcasts could be utilized as teaching and learning materials along
with the textbooks to develop students' proficiency in listening and speaking (Lee &
Chan, 2007). It is shown that podcasts could assist learners in improving their listening
skills (Indahsari, 2020; Lee & Chan, 2007). Furthermore, a massive number of attendants
said that they enjoyed using podcasts and engaged in learning English. In addition,
Goldman (2018) also noted that Podcasts significantly impact students' listening
comprehension. The findings indicated that students show a positive attitude toward the
use of podcasts in the listening classroom. Equally important is that the study conducted
by Fachrizav (2020) found the effectiveness of audio podcasts in teaching listening on all
levels of students. Besides, podcasts also can be used as a practical tool in teaching
English speaking in classes (Bustari et al., 2017; Koçak, 2017). Those studies discovered
a significant improvement in students' speaking skills performance.

2.2.2. Writing skills, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

Besides improving listening and speaking skills, podcasts also pave the way for
learners to enhance their writing skills, pronunciation abilities, and knowledge of words
and phrases (Gonulal, 2020). A study conducted by Sri Wiyanah (2015) showed that the
students could study better by knowing the correct pronunciation, writing, and learning
various vocabularies from listening to the native speakers' sound with a sense of
satisfaction. In 2015, Bamanger and Alhassan explored that the podcasting groups show

512
their positive effect on podcast instruction and improve writing ability against the control
group. There was a significant decrease in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors.
In addition, Bell (2019) indicated that EFL learners conveyed positive attitudes toward
using podcasting technology in language learning to get better gains. EFL teachers are
suggested to integrate podcasting lectures into their EFL writing teaching.

2.3. The challenges of Podcasts use in English language learning and

teaching

While podcasting, students and teachers have to face some of its shortcomings
regarding podcasts' nature and unfamiliarity of podcasting use.

In essence, podcasts are not interactive, a one-way delivery that precludes student
interaction (Nataatmadja & Dyson, 2008). Sengupta and Jepsen (2006) argued that
learners might have trouble understanding lectures and instruction via podcasts, leading
to a lack of productive classroom activities. Similarly, Raman (2016) indicated that
because the podcast is a one-way delivery, the lack of immediacy or the absence of rapport
between the teacher and the taught was raised.

Moveover, Hew (2009) reviewed past studies on the barriers to using podcasts and
found that unfamiliarity with podcasts and technical problems in accessing and
downloading were common problems in podcast learning. In particular, several students
have difficulty subscribing to the podcast files, especially at the beginning of the study.
Furthermore, Tam (2012) demonstrated that students nowadays have a better
understanding and experience of using multimedia tools, but podcasts or the RSS feed are
still relatively new. The obstacles to choosing podcasts as a platform for uploading and
downloading and technical support throughout the learning process.

3. METHODOLOGY

This research examined papers published between 2006 and 2021to determine using
podcasts in the classroom to teach English to EFL students. References in this paper are
drawn from a variety of sources, including Semantic Scholar, Sinta, Google Scholar,
Research Gate, JSTOR, and Science-direct, which were tracked down by using keywords
such as Podcast in learning and teaching, Podcast of EFL Students, English Learning,
Podcast for English Learners, Drawback of the way using Podcast, Podcast misuse, Pros
and Cons of Podcast using. We discovered a total of 100 references related to the analysis
from these sources. Since the podcast study was done more than 15 years ago, 25 of the
513
 100 references were omitted. Similarly, 40 journals were disqualified because the survey
concentrated on EFL podcasts. Finally, 15 journals of close relevance and published
within ten years were chosen.

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1: The challenges of podcasts use collected from researches

Name of research Drawbacks of podcasts

1. Fichter (2006) Technology failure regarded as a significant obstacle to

podcasting use

2. Fernandez (2007) Students' on-campus attendance was drastically reduced as a

result of podcasting.

Students often downloaded podcasts right before exams rather

than doing so regularly during the course.

3. McKinney and Page Podcasting only facilitated students in learning if they jotted
(2009) down and listened to the podcasts several times.

4. Carvalho et al. The technical issue is an inevitable problem while using

(2009) podcasts.

Creating podcasts and effectively using podcasts is a complex

and time-consuming process.

5. Fietze (2009) The podcast-aid devices are not to the student's liking or
challenging to cope with

6. Scutter et al. (2010) The decrease in the number of students presenting at school is
an unfortunate outcome that could be witnessed

514
7. Ng'ambi and Lombe Students could face technical difficulties when using podcasts,
(2012) such as file size, Internet connection, and unsuitable transfer

8. Madiope (2013) The technical use of podcasts and demotivation factor are two
unsatisfied outcomes of podcasting

9. Pascot (2013) Demotivation factors such as absenteeism and distraction are

regarded as the negative effect that podcasts have on students.

10. Dey (2014) When using the Internet to get podcasts, students could lose
attention quickly by other social connecting sites.

Podcasts are very tough to understand when transcripts are not

available.

Regarding not directly benefiting from using podcasts, students

report it as a time-consuming experience.

11. Merhi (2015) Students do not expect to use podcast because of perceiving
usefulness

12. Williams et al. Many podcasts do not have scripts that challenge students'
(2015) comprehension.

13. Fernandez et al. The use of podcasts adversely affected the attention levels of
(2015) students in class.

14. Jalali and El Bialy Students have expressed difficulties understanding a podcast
(2019) either because of the sound quality or the lack of vocabulary

515
15. Nurmukhamedov The obstacle in using podcasts in teaching and learning is the
and Sharakhimov sufficient vocabulary size of students.
(2021)

After researching and analyzing volumes of research, it was found that there were
six main challenges of podcasting in learning and teaching English.

4.1. Technology issues

The inferior sound quality was a leading technical drawback suffered by podcast
listeners (Pascot et al., 2013; Scutter et al., 2010). To give more details of the student's
respondings, seventeen out of 107 and twenty out of 80 study participants of Pascot et al.
(2013) and Scutter et al. (2010), respectively, reported this problem. Indeed, some lessons
were not recorded or improperly recorded for different reasons (the microphone of
Professors was misplaced; the system was inadequately operational; the student
background noise was found). These conditions may have hampered the positive
impressions of podcasting for the reason students felt that certain contents were missing.
Besides the quality of voice, Lombe (2011) mentioned Internet access and bandwidth as
considerable challenges for educational podcasts application, in which bandwidth is
defined as the highest data transfer rate that can be achieved over a particular path and
can be defined as network bandwidth, data bandwidth or digital bandwidth. It would be a
significant concern for those who possess no Internet access or an inferior internet
connection to download podcasts, subsequently, result in frustration in the case the
expectation for podcasts was unfulfilled. Therefore, an early study by Fitcher (2006)
concluded that technology failure was a major obstacle to podcasting use, which required
professors and learners to have good content and gadgets to make, distribute, archive, and
play audio files.

4.2. Design of podcasts: sound and scripts

Additionally, in an analysis of data from lecture capture podcasts in 2015, Williams

et al. showed that many published podcast materials did not have scripts, which could
make podcasts arduous to track. To give a demonstration, in the study of Rahmatia and
Widiastuty published in 2018, 60.9% of participants agreed that transcriptions made them
perceive podcasts better. Consequently, students have faced difficulties understanding
them either because of the sound quality or the lack of vocabulary (Determann, 2020;
516
Nurmukhamedov and Sharakhimov, 2021). It could be inferred that if podcasts help
learners pursue a large number of advantages such as enhancing languages and
broadening their knowledge, podcasts without content documents will fail to meet the
demand of students for the reason students are not able to grasp subject matters. Besides,
big-size podcasts caused downloading difficulties, storage size problems, and even
listening to podcasts decreases the charge on mobile devices quickly (Dey, 2014).

4.3. Absenteeism

The other side effect of using podcasts was absenteeism, which means lecture-
captured podcasts encourage the absence of students in class. The study of Lane (2006)
professed the existence of such an effect which was reported by professors through
interviews. Likewise, Sheila Scutter et al.(2010) and Pascot et al. (2013) pointed out that
fewer than 50% of respondents had attended classes, and sixty students (75%) were likely
to skip lectures if the course would be a podcast. Campbell (2005) and Fernandez (2007)
share the same idea that students would not attend classes if they find out that lessons
could be uploaded. Additionally, the dangerous intention of suspending listening to
podcasts because of the ready-to-use feature of online materials could be observed
(Morisse, 2007). However, what is considered to be an essential reduction in lecture
attendance differs between authors, as Fietze (2009) found that around half the class
would consider not attending a class if it was to be a podcast but did not find this
problematic. The very truth is that pupils may utilize podcast courses together with
PowerPointslides to seek adequate substitutes for the lessons. Because pupils are
increasingly buoyed up to be accountable toward their lore, we should reasonably
encourage these choices.

4.4. Distraction

Pascot et al., producing research in 2013 based on the interpretive approach, pointed
out that distraction was regarded as the negative effect of podcasts left on students. Using
podcasts on digital sources, students could lose attention quickly by other social
connecting sites (Dey, 2014). Mainly when listening at home, it can not be denied that
they are less intent because the environment is less supervised than a classroom in which
numerous distractions, for instance, telephone ringing, people disturbing, and
simultaneous enticement to take other interests. To take advantage of listening, learners
need to concentrate fully. However, there was a decline in students' attention 10 –15

517
minutes into lectures, and the concentration span might range around 20 minutes,
somewhat different depending on ages (Bradbury, 2016). Hence, the long podcasts might
be ineffective or backfire effects for students and generally result in a loss of attention,
which was confirmed by Li and Zhao in 2014. These findings contradict what the
researchers claimed about the advantages of free movement and riveting student's
attention. Consideration of diversion and student attention factors as advantages or
disadvantages is dependent on a variety of factors, including the student's family
environment, personality, and learning habits.

4.5. Time-consuming task

From learners' perspective, because of not directly benefiting from using podcasts
and perceiving usefulness, students report it as a time-consuming experience (Brandon,
2013; Dey, 2014 and Merhi, 2015). After conducting interviews and delivering podcast
assignments, teachers pointed out that recording lectures to provide related-lesson
knowledge to students was a time-consuming task (Carvalho et al., 2009). The
information must be gathered and checked carefully to achieve the expected outcome.
Afterward, an optimum condition which should include an isolated and soundproof
space, should be met. Furthermore, it is critical to become familiar with the required
software, which is not error-free and simple, despite not being complicated. Additionally,
McKinney (2009) found that only if pupils noted down what they heard and replayed the
podcasts several times would the efficiency of podcasting be witnessed.

4.6. Lack of interaction

It was reported that less interaction is unexpected consequences appearing

throughout the using process. Previous studies have found that podcasting offers
unidirectional contact in personal experiences because of small or even absent
interactions with teachers and other students (Fitcher 2006; Brno, 2008; Hew 2009). To
be more specific, visual content could not be accessed, and class discussions could not be
followed by listening to the recordings reported by participants in the Lane study (2006).

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

The identified challenges entail appropriate corresponding solutions so that

podcasts could be best utilised. (Fernandez et al., 2015; Jalali & el bialy, 2019). This
section offers such recommendations in websites, sounds, content, length, and the way
podcasts are implemented in teaching and learning.
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 5.1. Simplify the website for navigation and training in the use of the
podcasts

For those who have difficulties in navigating podcasts and non-high-tech students,
it is necessary to simplify the podcast by creating a platform for accommodating the skills.
Only a single podcast site will make an easy assessment for students instead of using
various websites. Furthermore, intending to enable the students to use Podcasts, schools
need staff who should be conversant with any mobile device and demonstrate firsthand
how to use the podcasts. Another task of the support will be to harmonize the registration
of students and act as a link to any problems that arise while using podcasts. In these
ways, this will ease the use of the website and curb any resulting frustration that would
emerge.

5.2. Use good quality audio and make it sound professional

Sound quality is of importance when educators want to implement Podcasts into

teaching and learning. Choosing an audio software that generates a relatively quality
audio file of a relatively low file is sufficient. Moreover, each audio should eliminate
ambient noise from the external environment.

5.3. Having a script or an outline

Teachers should write a script and provide students with it. A Script will help with
the timing of podcasts and make sure that no critical concept is left out. Additionally, an
outline or transcript will allow a lesson to run smoothly, and much less time will be spent
explaining.

5.4. Have a suitable pedagogical strategy and clear vision of using podcasts

As mentioned in the preceding part, the lack of interaction and presence in classes
and the distraction of learners are inevitable because of podcasts. However, it can be
addressed if teachers and learners have a deep insight into how they use podcasts.

Using podcasts as a supplement to a lecture or a self-learning tool depends on how the

teacher creates lessons. To avoid the lack of learners' contribution and engagement
between teacher and students, teachers must clarify how podcasts are used in the class,
significantly more effective than textbooks and other materials they usually use.

As for students, it is possible to get students aware and accept why and how they
use this technology and how podcasts are allocated towards the whole study and the share
519
to this follows, so that learners can associate the podcasts with their learning and combine
with other materials instead of relying much on podcasts, neglecting hands-on lectures
and the class.

5.5. Keep it short and useful.

As demonstrated from the previous section, students find podcasts time-consuming

because they see no positive results when using podcasts. For this reason, meeting the
learners' needs should be highlighted. In essence, podcasts need to be implemented
effectively and relevantly to their learning and fit with the level of users. Additionally,
podcasts should be short and straightforward to keep podcasts exciting and valuable with
trying simply the main points and being concise. A long podcast would be a constraint of
teaching for learners when they hope to maximize their learning in the shortest period.

6. CONCLUSION

This research study was conducted to deal with the main research question about
podcasts' challenges in teaching and learning the English language. This research
indicated six main shortcomings of podcasts, including technical issues, content design,
absenteeism, less interaction, distraction, and ineffective use time. However, those can be
addressed if podcasts are designed and edited suitably for learners' level with the high
sound quality and content. Furthermore, educators should change their students'
awareness about using podcasts and encourage them to access new types of technology
with the appropriateness of teaching purposes. Although the application of ICT in
education in general and in language teaching and learning, in particular, might remain
challenging in the future and it is hard to find out encompassing solutions, the current
identified problems could be improved with joint efforts and willingness from multiple
sides: technology developers, teachers, and learners.

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 THÁI ĐỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN ĐẠI HỌC TẠI VIỆT NAM ĐỐI
VỚI GIỌNG ANH ANH VÀ ANH MỸ
SVTH: Vũ Như Thuần và Hoàng Minh Anh - Lớp 8A19

GVHD: Nguyễn Phương Anh, Th.S.

Tóm tắt
Việc phát âm tiếng Anh như người bản ngữ được coi là một kỹ năng quan trọng đối với
những người học tiếng Anh. Tuy nhiên thái độ của sinh viên đối với một giọng (accent) nhất định
chưa nhận được nhiều sự quan tâm trong giảng dạy cũng như nghiên cứu. Nghiên cứu này được
thực hiện với mục đích tìm hiểu về thái độ của sinh viên khoa ngôn ngữ Anh trường Đại học Hà
Nội, tìm ra giọng bản ngữ (Anh Anh hoặc Anh Mỹ) được sinh viên ưa chuộng hơn, cũng như
những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến sự ưa chuộng này. Tổng cộng 100 sinh viên đã tham gia trả lời
bảng câu hỏi qua Internet của chúng tôi. Từ kết quả cuối cùng của nghiên cứu, ta có thể kết luận
rằng phần đông sinh viên chịu ảnh hưởng của tiếng Việt trong cách phát âm tiếng Anh. Chúng tôi
cũng phát hiện ra giọng Anh Mỹ có phần được sinh viên ưa chuộng hơn giọng Anh Anh. Ngoài
ra, trong số những nhân tố được cho là có ảnh hưởng đến giọng nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên,
phim ảnh và chương trình truyền hình được đánh giá là nhân tố có nhiều ảnh hưởng nhất.

L2 LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD BRITISH AND

AMERICAN ENGLISH ACCENTS IN A VIETNAMESE
UNIVERSITY CONTEXT
Abstract
Mastering a native accent is considered by many as an essential skill for English learners.
However, students’ attitude toward a certain accent has not received much attention in either
teaching or research. The aim of this study is to discover the attitudes of students at Hanoi
University’s English Department toward American and British accents to find out which accent the
students prefer, as well as what factors influence this preference. A total of 100 students agreed
to participate in our online questionnaire. Findings indicate that the majority of the students tend
to mix native accents with Vietnamese accent. It was also found that American accent was slightly
more preferable than British accent. Furthermore, among several factors affecting the students’
accent, movies and TV shows are considered to be the most influential.

1. INTRODUCTION

Since Vietnam’s total economy reformation and open-door policy in 1986, English
has emerged as the number one foreign language for teaching and studying to Vietnamese
people (Van, 2018). While it is acceptable to speak English with a foreign accent, a

549
common belief is that “the ideal goal is to imitate the native speaker of the standard
language as closely as possible.” (Andreasson, 1994, p. 402). This research aims to study
English Department students’ attitudes towards two native English accents, British and
American, which has yet to be explored in any previous study of the same
context. Factors that influence students’ preference of accent are examined as well.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of accent

Accent refers to the pronunciation of words that is unique to each individual and is
influenced by their geographical location and their first language (Lippi-Green, 1997;
Crystal, 2008). Barrio (2015) compared accents to physical appearances, suggesting the
two are somewhat similar since people prefer others having these features matching
theirs. According to Lippi-Green (1997), for people who are native, accents are
distinguished based on geography. English spoken in the US is American accent, and
English spoken in the UK is called British accent. For people whose English is a second
or foreign language, accent is used to refer to the breakthrough from their mother tongue
phonology into the second language. For example, people have Vietnamese accent
because Vietnamese has an influence on their English speaking.

Accents can be differentiated from one another by their phonetic and phonological
features (Behravan, 2012; Chambers and Trudgill, 1998). Phonetics is about how certain
sounds are made by the human mouth and how they differ in characteristics (Kirchner,
2018), as well as differences in stress and intonation (Behravan, 2012). Phonology, on the
other hand, deals with different phonemes found in different accents of a particular
language (Behravan, 2012). According to Kirchner (2018), these two areas of study have
increasingly intersected in recent years.

As explained above, accent is the way a speaker pronounces which identifies their
home regions. Dialect, on the other hand, refers to varieties which are grammatically (and
perhaps lexically) as well as phonologically different from other varieties. If two speakers
say, respectively, I done it last night and I did it last night, we can say that they are
speaking different dialects (Chambers and Trudgill, 1998). Oxford English Dictionary
defines dialect as “the form of a language that is spoken in one area with grammar, words
and pronunciation that may be different from other forms of the same language”. In
reality, however, accents and dialects are sometimes used interchangeably (Chambers and

550
Trudgill, 1998). However, for consistency, accent will be used in this study to refer solely
to pronunciation variation.

2.2. Differences between American and British accent

The American and British accents can be distinguished in four main features:
vowels, diphthong and consonants.

First, these two accents are different mostly in terms of vowel system. According to
Dimitrova (2010), there are 7 vowel sounds that appear in both British and American
accent which are /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/, and /ə/. However the “short o”, /ɒ/, in British
Received Pronunciation (RP) replaced by /ɑː/ in General American (GA) is an exception.
For example, the word hot is pronounced as /hɒt/ in BBC English and /hɑːt/ in General
American, and knowledge is pronounced /nɒlɪdʒ/ and /nɑːlɪdʒ/ respectively. However,
there are still some words pronounced with /ɑː/ in both accents such as father, part, start,
large, card. Besides, in Dimitrova’s (2010) study, he also mentioned some situations
where words have vowel /ɑː/ in RP and /æ/ in GA. For instance, the word last is
pronounced as /lɑːst/ and /læst/ in RP and GA respectively. Furthermore, vowel /ɔː/, a
long back mid rounded vowel in British Accent (BA) also highlights thethe difference
between the two accents. Although this vowel is represented in the written way as “ou”
(thought) and “au” (caught), because the American tends to pronounce vowel /ɔː/ in an
opener and rounder way, the /ɔː/ turns in to /ɑː/ instead. Moreover, in GA, vowels
followed by the spelling letter r are always characterized by r-colouring, as in car /kɑːr/,
park /pɑːrk/. Another difference is the unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/. If the vowel /ɪ/ is not stressed,
it is pronounced as /ɪ/ in BA, but turns into /ə/ in GA. Rabbit is pronounced in two
different ways in British and American accents, /ˈræbɪt/ and /'ræbət/ respectively.

Besides vowels, the diphthongs in the two accents also show differences. According
to Dimitrova (2010, p. 6), “General American has no separate phonemic diphthongs
which end in /ə/. The vowels in the three words here, there, poor are pronounced as
sequences of ɪ + r, e + r, and ʊ + r, respectively”. Meanwhile, in Received Pronunciation,
it still has three endings with /ə/, namely /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/. For example, near is pronounced
/nɪə/ in RP or BBC English and /nɪɾ/ in General American accent. Furthermore, “in BBC
pronunciation the diphthong in words such as no, go, don’t has a central starting point-
/əʊ/. In General American, the starting point of this diphthong varies a great deal, but is
generally more back and rounded - /oʊ/”. For example, no is pronounced /nəʊ/ in BBC

551
English and /noʊ/ in American Accent. Besides these above differences, change of /ɪ/ and
/ɑɪ/ into diphthong /ɑɪ/ and /ə/ such as dynasty from /ˈdɪn.ə.sti/ in British Accent to
/ˈdaɪ.nə.sti/ in American Accent, privacy from /ˈprɪv.ə.si/ in British Accent to /ˈpraɪ.və.si/
in American Accent and and /ə/ such as optimization, or visualization (Gómez, 2009).

The third difference is the consonants in the two accents. One of the most typical
differences is the pronunciation of /t/ between two vowels (Lindell, 2014). According
to Gómez (2009), letter t can be pronounced in six different ways, aspirated sound [th],
de-aspirated sound /t/, alveolar flap /ɾ/, glottal stop /ʔ/, glottalized stop /tʔ/ and be omitted
in some situations. In reality, “both GA and RP have aspirated and de-aspirated /t/
t/sounds, which, in a formal or simply careful enunciation, are the only two sounds
corresponding to stop /t/. In colloquial and other registers, the other allophones may
appear. In the RP the flap /t/ is never used, but instead it is pronounced as a de-aspirated
/t/ or as a glottalized /t/. Glottal stops are common in both varieties of English and follow
similar rules in general. The omission of the sound /t/ in RP can also be found.” (Gómez,
2009, p. 10). In GA, /t/ is not pronounced when the vowel followed by [nt], for example
center, winter (Gómez, 2009). The most obvious difference in pronouncing letter t is that
in British accent, letter t is pronounced as /t/ when it stands between two vowels, while
in American accent, it is pronounced as /t̬/ almost like /d/ or replaced by a glottal stop (t-
glottalization) (Dimitrova, 2010). For instance, /ˈsiti/ and /ˈsit̬i/ are pronounced in BA and
GA respectively. Another significant difference between the two accents is pronouncing
the letter r or not (Gómez, 2009). Americans pronounce all r letters that appear in spelling
while British English tend to omit it if letter r is not followed by any letters. This is similar
to Lyons’ observation (2020), Americans tend to pronounce all letter r in the word while
the British only pronounce letter r at the beginning of the word. Force is pronounced in
two ways, /fɔːs/ in BA and /foːɾs/ in GA. Furthermore “Many speakers of General
American don’t pronounce /j/ in a stressed syllable after the alveolar consonants /t, d, n/”
(Gómez, 2009, p. 7). For example, due can be pronounced /dju/ and /dʊː/. The consonant
/ʃ/ in BBC English is changed into /ʒ/ in General American (GA). The word version can
be pronounced differently in the two accents, /ˈvɜːʃn/ (in British accent) and /ˈvɜːrʒn/
(British accent). Besides the three aforementioned distinguishing characteristics, there are
still several factors that significantly separate the two accents. “There is a tendency for
the –ile suffix in hostile, fragile, futile, etc. (pronounced /-ɑɪl/ in BBC English) to have a
weak vowel or a syllabic consonant and to be pronounced /əl/ or /l/ in General American”
552
(Gómez, 2009, p. 8). For example, hostile can be pronounced /hɒstɑɪl/ in British Accent
and /hɑːstˌl/ in American Accent. Together with that, “the suffixes –ary, -ery, -ory, -mony
usually have a weak vowel in BBC pronunciation but a strong one in GA” (Gómez, 2009).
Finally, Gómez (2009) also pointed out a number of pronunciation differences that do not
follow any patterns such as either, neither, schedules.

2.3. L2 learner’s attitudes to American and British accent

According to Kaur (2014), learners’ attitudes to the two accents vary. There was a
group report that once an accent is their cup of tea, they tend not to give the other a
favorable comment, while others looked at both accents (UK and US) equally favorably,
describing them as “easy to understand” and “standard” (p. 7). Besides, in Ladegaard and
Sachdev’s (2008) survey, some participants demonstrated that even though they may like
American accent, they tend to learn RP (Received Pronunciation) instead. Despite the
preference, L2 learners desire to acquire a native accent. For example, Scales et al.’s
survey (2006) found that 62% learners set acquiring a native English accent as their goal
but only 29% of them have the ability to identify American accent.

3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research questions

The research mainly focuses on the Hanoi University English Department students’
attitudes toward British and American English accents. The study aims to answer the two
main questions:

1. Which English accents, British or American English, do English majors at

Hanoi University prefer?

2. What factors influence Hanoi University English majors’ attitudes to British and
American accents?

3.2. Research Instrument

An online questionnaire was selected as the main method of collecting data for the
study. As stated by Dornyei et al. (2007), the advantages of using questionnaires in
research include being easily constructible, versatile and highly applicable. In addition,
using online questionnaires to carry out a primary research can minimize the cost and the
time it takes to reach multiple people (Klok & Conners, 2019). The questionnaire was
designed and distributed via Google Form to guarantee respondents’ anonymity (Djenno

553
et. al., 2015). However, “there is no single best type of data or method for linguistic study,
since all are limited” (Schilling, 2014, p. 96). The immense versatility of this method
comes with discernible unreliability. As questionnaires are a form of written research tool,
their limitation in collecting and assessing data regarding phonetics and phonology (Klok
& Conners, 2019), on which field this research focuses, is inevitable. According to the
same study, answers gathered in linguistic questionnaires may be different from how
respondents use the language in reality. Overall, however, the advantages of an online
questionnaire seem to outweigh the limitations. Therefore, it was chosen to collect data.

Our questionnaire consists of three parts. In the first part, there are four multiple
choice questions asking the students about general information such as years of study,
genders, and their English speaking habits. The second part has one multiple choice
question aimed to find which accent the students prefer. In the last part, there is one
multiple choice question and one likert scale question in which we ask respondents to rate
the extent of influence different factors have on their preference of accent, and an open
ended question for students to specify any unlisted answers. According to Hartley (2013),
likert scale is a good way supporting the comparison between subgroups, which makes
the analysis more logical.

3.3. Participants and Procedure

Our questionnaire was delivered to 100 students at Hanoi University’s English

Department. The majority of the respondents are sophomore and female. While the
proportion between female and male respondents presents the actual gender proportion
of students in our English Department, the sample lacks respondents from third year and
higher.

Before conducting the real survey, we asked some of our classmates to take part in
our pilot questionnaire. The general feedback was that some of the answers in the likert
scale question were confusing to them, which prevented them from providing satisfactory
responses. Multiple adjustments were made based on the feedback so that the respondents
could follow the final questionnaire more easily. The final survey was officially
conducted on 10th April. It took us three days to collect 100 answers in total.

554
After all data were collected, they were transferred to a built-in Google Sheets file in order
to be analyzed more conveniently. The results of the survey were presented in pie charts
and tables with explanations, comparisons and contrasts with previous research.

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1. Students’ English use and perceived accent

Figure 1: Students’ frequency of speaking English

Daily A few times a week A few times a month Once a month

First year 48% 37% 11% 4%

Second year 62% 28% 8% 2%

Third year 40% 50% 10% 0%

Fourth year 33% 50% 0% 17%

Graduates 50% 0% 0% 50%

Table 1: Students’ frequency of speaking English according to year of study

When asked how often they spoke English, more than half of the respondents replied
they spoke English on a daily basis. One third of the students responded that they practised
555
a few times per week. Noticeably, freshmen and sophomores appeared to practise
speaking more frequently compared to the other groups, which is demonstrated by the
percentage of these respondents choosing “Daily” and “A few times a few” over the other
answers.

Figure 2: Students’ self-perceived accent

When asked which accent variation respondents used when speaking, the majority
of them reported that they spoke with a mixed accent. The most popular perceived accent
was Vietnamese mixed with American accent, British accent or both, at 35%. This figure
is different from that in the survey of Norman (2017) carried among Swish students, in
which only 9% said that they mixed their accent with Swedish accent. Moreover, as can
be seen from the chart, over a quarter said that they tended to mix an American accent
with a British accent when speaking English, and the proportion of students using
American accent is five times greater than that of using British accent. Besides, 12% of
the students do not speak with a certain accent but switch between accents flexibly. A
possible explanation for this can be found in Norman (2017) who believed students tended
to choose their accent to speak based on the circumstances. They may choose British
accent to sound more professional in a formal situation and American accent when
speaking to their friend, an informal situation. There was one specific response in our
questionnaire where the student answered they switched between London and Yankee
accents.

556
 4.2. Students’ accent preference

Figure 3: Students’ preference of native English accent

Figure 3 demonstrates the accent preference of students at Hanoi University’s

English Department. As can be seen from the chart, more than half of the respondents
(53%) preferred American accent to British accent. This is quite similar to the finding in
Fang’s research in 2016 which found American accent to be more preferable among the
students than British accent, as voted by 55% of the participants. These students in Fang’s
study (2016) said that they were in favor of the American accent which, in their opinion,
was beautiful, comfortable and standard. The research of Molthof (2015), however,
showed a contradictory result where the number of participants having positive attitudes
to British accent was much higher than that of American accent. Fang’s study and
Molthof’s research were carried among university students in China and Dutch,
respectively, where teaching and learning English is a globalizing strategy (Edwards,
2014).

557
 4.3. Factors influencing accent preference

0 (not at 1 2 3 4
all) (significantly)

Mother tongue 32 16 22 14 16

Games 27 28 19 15 11

Movies & TV shows 5 5 33 21 36

Social media (Facebook, Instagram, 6 15 28 29 22

Youtube, Twitter, etc.)

A person/People you admire 13 19 25 22 21

Education/Study materials 2 19 23 33 23

How early I start learning English 14 22 23 20 21

Family (Your blood relation to a native 54 14 16 10 6

English speaker)

How the accent sounds 4 13 26 31 26

The accent’s popularity 8 22 21 36 13

The accent’s reputation 13 22 23 30 12

Others:

The level of difficulty of the accent. (1)

558
 It must have been all those British that I played with that influenced me. (2)

University, I want to graduate. (3)

My interest. (4)

I choose what is easier to speak. (5)

Daily socializing. (6)

Table 2: Factors influencing students’ preference of English accent

A total number of 11 different aspects were listed in Question 6 of the questionnaire

as factors that may influence the respondent’s preference of English accent to some
extent. The participants were asked to rate the level of influence of each factor on a scale
from 0 (not at all) to 4 (significantly). The ratings of these factors can be found in table
2. It can be seen that among the 11 given factors, Movies and TV shows were the most
influential. There were three other factors that also received considerably more ratings of
2 and above, which indicates that they had a noticeable impact on accent preference of
the vast majority of respondents. These three factors are Social media, Education/Study
materials and How the accent sounds. The study of Norman in 2017 on Swedish
secondary school pupils also produced similar results as ours. In this previous study,
movies, TV shows and online games were rated the most deciding factors as chosen by
roughly a quarter of the students, and teachers’ mentoring ranked the second as chosen
by one fifth. Mother tongue and Family were the two least influential factors.

Six relevant answers were recorded in the open-ended question (See table 2). Two
of these answers were the level of difficulty of the accent (answers (1) and (5)), and two
others were daily communication (answers (2) and (6)).

5. CONCLUSION

Overall, our study had presented the attitudes of Hanoi University’s English
Department students toward American and British accents and factors affecting them. In
addition to the definition of American and British accents cited from previous studies,
several crucial differences in pronunciation between the two accents were also pointed
out as a result of the literature review. Our study which involved an online questionnaire
to explore English majors’ accent preference and underlying reasons found American
accent slightly more preferred than British accent. Additionally, there are several factors

559
that affect the students' accents to varying extents, and the most influential one is
entertainment sources, such as movies and TV shows. Other commonly reported factors
were Social media, Education/Study materials and How the accent sounds. However, the
study is subject to a number of limitations. First, the sample was small and thus, may not
be representative enough. As the majority of respondents were freshmen and sophomores,
the results cannot objectively represent all students at English Department of Hanoi
University. Also, the quantitative method meant that elaborate explanations and
underlying themes behind students’ accent preference could not be studied. However, this
research is a useful first step in investigating learner attitudes towards English variations,
with the aim of reinforcing the practice of teaching English at English Department,
especially Speaking skills. For further research, we highly recommend focusing on
methods for HANU students to master the accent of their interest, or to explore which
variation is preferred for teacher instruction in the classroom.

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