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Primary English Language Education Policy in Vietnam: Insights From Implementation
Primary English Language Education Policy in Vietnam: Insights From Implementation
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This paper examines the English language situation at primary school level in Vietnam
from a language planning perspective. It examines language policy for foreign
language teaching in Vietnam to provide a picture of the role of English in foreign
language education. It analyses language-in-education policy, curriculum and teaching
materials, and teaching conditions and discusses the future of ELT in primary schools
in Vietnam.
doi: 10.2167/cilp106.0
Introduction
It is widely accepted that English has now become the international lingua
franca, and is playing a more and more dominant role in people’s lives, ranging
from politics, economics, and health care to education and entertainment. This
makes the provision of English language teaching and learning an important
issue in educational systems world-wide, including countries such as Vietnam
where it is a foreign language. In an attempt to boost skills in this language,
English language education was introduced into primary schools in Vietnam
10 years ago. In this paper the current English language teaching situation in
primary schools in Vietnam is investigated with a view to suggesting ways in
which it might be improved. More specifically, this paper looks at four key
issues:
• What is the language policy for teaching foreign languages and teaching
English at primary schools in Vietnam?
• What curriculum and materials for teaching and learning English exist
across the country, and what is their adequacy?
• What information is available about conditions of English language
teaching (ELT) at the primary level in terms of teachers, teaching methodo
logy, and facilities?
• How can policy and practice in ELT be improved at the primary level in
Vietnam?
162
Teaching English in Vietnamese Primary Schools 163
Ho Chi Minh city, Hanoi and other big cities, because of the demand for English
language proficiency in jobs, business and communication.
English was widely used for international communication, especially in the
1900s, so that the position of English and attitudes to it have changed greatly.
English is now the preferred foreign language in Vietnam. The teaching and
learning of English has become much more significant and widespread, and at
the current time, ELT in Vietnam is gaining higher status. Data from a recent
survey show that of all junior secondary schools, 99.1% teach English, while
only 0.6% teach French, 0.2% Russian, and 0.1% Chinese (Loc, 2005).
In the national curriculum for junior and senior secondary schools, foreign
language is usually taught in three 45-minute periods a week from Grade 6 to
Grade 12 as a compulsory subject, except in Grade 9 with only two periods a
week. English is also one of the five compulsory subjects for the national final
exams.
The acceptance of English as a compulsory subject in the education system
does not deny the opportunity to learn other foreign languages at school. The
policy encourages the teaching and learning of a variety of foreign languages,
with an emphasis on English. According to Loc (2005), by 2010 Russian, French
and Chinese will be available as a second language in regions which have good
learning and teaching conditions and wish to teach them. The teaching and
learning of a second language will start from Grade 6 and continue to Grade
12, with two lessons per week. Now Japanese and German are being piloted in
some schools as part of the extra curricular programme on an experimental
basis from 2004, depending on different conditions for socio-economic devel-
opment in different regions. By 2015 these two languages will have been offi-
cially taught as the foreign languages along with English, Russian, French and
Chinese. However, English is currently recognised as the most popular and
important foreign language introduced in all levels of education in Vietnam.
12 TT - Hue
(Continued)
Teaching English in Vietnamese Primary Schools 167
Table 1 Continued
Books 1, 2 and 3 and a teachers’ guide and workbook (by Pham Dang Binh and
Nguyen Quoc Tuan, 1987). Thai summarises the assessment on these books by
the Provincial Department of Education and Training:
The books are small size with few black and white pictures, not clear, not
attractive, lack games and pronunciation practice exercise. The topics are
consistent in terms of vocabulary and grammar throughout the three
books. Cassette tapes attached to the books are not enough in quantity
and not of good quality. (Thai, 2005: 42)
These opinions are supported by the research on primary ELT in Vietnam
c arried out by Moon for the British Council in March 2005 which shows that the
textbooks are not suited to children’s needs in terms of their focus (grammar
rather than communication), types of input and activities. Despite these
drawbacks, these books are widely used because of their low cost (Moon, 2005).
This series is no longer being published. From 2005 on, a new series, Let’s Learn
English, Books 1, 2 and 3, (including textbook, a teachers’ guide and workbook)
written by Nguyen Quoc Tuan, Phan Ha, Dao Ngoc Loc and Do Thi Ngoc Hien,
has been published by Educational Publishing House. This series is written and
published in cooperation between Educational Publishing House of Vietnam,
Panpac Education Singapore, and the British Council in Vietnam. This series of
books will replace the previous books published in 1987.
Second, textbook series published by the Centre for Educational Technology
in the 1990s had five books (English 1–5) for Grades 1 to 5, written by Ngo Thi
Tuyen. These books were used in some experimental programmes in Vietnam.
These books are ‘big size, with colourful pictures, the content is suitable to
primary pupils at Grade 3, but a little too high at Grades 4 & 5’ (Thai, 2005: 42).
Several primary schools in Ho Chi Minh city, Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa and Hai
Phong used these books. This series of textbooks is no longer used in Vietnam.
The third textbook, Let’s Go, published by Oxford University Press, is
preferred by many primary schools for its colourful pictures, great variety of
activities, suitability to children in terms of its level, its theme, and learning
characteristics. However, it is rather expensive; MOET does not financially
support teachers’ salary or books so the costs have to be borne by the schools
themselves or passed on to the parents. Another problem is that Let’s Go may
not be suited to the National Curriculum. This is the main reason Let’s Go is
only used in 11 out of 25 provinces in Vietnam.
Primary teachers of English generally lack the knowledge to develop the
materials themselves, yet the textbook is still the major source of basic materials.
However, MOET’s textbooks for English education at primary level do not seem
appropriate for children’s language acquisition. Moon (2005: 53) suggests that
there is ‘a need to develop new textbooks and supporting materials which are
grounded in an understanding of children’s learning and language learning’.
Teaching Conditions
Since 1996, when English education at primary level was introduced in
Vietnam, ‘there has not been a legislative system regarding policy for teachers
and no instruction and guideline on English language teaching and learning for
Teaching English in Vietnamese Primary Schools 169
primary level’ (Thai, 2005: 41). There was no national curriculum until 2003.
This leads to the fact that the implementation of English teaching has not been
systematic and is less effective than expected. In responding to this issue, the
primary curriculum promulgated in accordance with Decision No 50/2003/
QD-BGD & DT by MEOT states that ‘schools which have prepared adequate
resources such as teachers and teaching and learning facilities and which have
received agreement from parents can start foreign language’. From September
2003, primary schools have been expected to move towards implementing the
National Curriculum: the objectives, the teaching methods, teaching principles,
teaching contents, specific requirements. On the one hand, the decision allows
primary schools opportunities to exercise their freedom in the practice of
English language teaching and learning. On the other hand, these guidelines
are not specific enough in the context of Vietnam where there is a lack of
expertise in the field of language education at primary level (Moon, 2005).
Teachers are one of the most important factors in ensuring the effective
implementation of English education at primary level because they can make
a great contribution to motivating children to learn English. Besides, it is not
easy to teach younger children effectively; teaching children a foreign
language may be more demanding at primary level than higher levels because
of the children’s greater reliance on oral language (Cameron, 2003). Several
researchers agree that teachers should possess a high level of language profi-
ciency with wide knowledge of vocabulary (Cameron, 2003; Halliwell, 1992;
Slattery & Willis, 2001) and good understanding of English teaching methods
for children (Halliwell, 1992; Slattery & Willis, 2001). While advocates of
English teaching and foreign-language study praise the increasing attention
to primary English programmes, concern is widespread that the efforts are
haphazard. The greatest concern is in the quality and number of teachers to
carry out these efforts.
In Vietnam there is still a mismatch between the expected quality of teachers
and the reality. In an investigation into this issue, Moon’s (2005) research
revealed three main problems: status and motivation, lack of suitable training,
and language competence. The primary teachers who are familiar with children’s
learning characteristics cannot teach primary English because of their low level
of English proficiency. Besides, there is no quota for primary teachers of English.
Therefore, primary schools hire teachers of English on contract. They are not
committed to the school and their pay is low. In Moon’s research (2005: 50),
‘out of ten primary English teachers interviewed, five had not chosen to teach at
primary school’. It can be seen that the low status and motivation of primary
English teachers is an obstacle to improving the practices of teaching and
learning English at primary level. Apart from that, primary English teachers
come from different sources. There is no benchmark for ensuring the quality of
teachers. This is the reason their proficiency in English and ability to teach it are
far from satisfactory. However, the most serious problem is that they are not
trained to teach English to primary age children. Most primary teachers inter-
viewed in Moon’s research had graduated from the College of Foreign
Languages (training foreign language teachers) so they were trained to teach
adults and adolescents, not primary children. Moreover, English is not a
compulsory subject so teachers do not have opportunities to attend yearly
170 current issues in language planning
in-service training. This reflects the lack of proper training for primary English
teachers. The quality of their English teaching leaves much to be desired.
In terms of language competence, Nunan (2003), Moon (2005) and Thai (2005)
share the opinion that primary English teachers do not have a good command
of English. ‘Many teachers have problems with their pronunciation, particu-
larly wording endings’ and ‘their spoken fluency’ (Moon, 2005: 52).
Teaching methods being used in primary schools also play an important role
in effective implementation of English education. Moon (2005) sheds light on
the methodology currently used by primary teachers, finding that the teaching
methods are ‘adult-oriented’. More specifically, the teaching methodology has
the following features:
• A focus on form of the language and on accuracy rather than fluency.
• Emphasis on reading and writing skills from the beginning stages.
• Heavy use of repetition drills and whole class chorus work with the aim of
helping children to learn the word perfectly.
• Lack of attention to and opportunities for using the language more freely
and for communicative or imaginative purpose (Moon, 2005: 51).
This is partly because teachers teach the way they have been trained and few
teachers have been trained specially to teach children, but in addition, classroom
organisation and class size can be obstacles to innovative teaching methods for
children of primary age.
Some 25 provinces in Vietnam are reported as implementing primary English
programmes (Thai, 2005). Most of the cities and provinces declare that they
have adequate resources (teachers, facilities, parents’ needs and children’s
interests) to introduce English language in their programmes. However, the
reality seems different. The implementation of English education is not as effec-
tive as expected although expectations are very high among stakeholders. Based
on an investigation of the situation with regard to teaching English to primary
level, Moon suggests that ‘the conditions are not yet suitable to allow any
successful expansion of teaching at primary level’ (Moon, 2005: 54). She further
adds that ‘there is no clear awareness of the aims, means, and outcomes of
teaching English for primary pupils’ (Moon, 2005: 54). In addition, the teachers
are not adequately trained to teach primary English and do not have a good
command of English. Existing textbooks and materials are not ‘fully appropriate’
(Moon, 2005: 54) for primary pupils. With these insufficient conditions, the
effectiveness of primary English education hardly meets its purposes.
Correspondence
Any correspondence should be directed to Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, School
of Education, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072
(t.nguyen2@uq.edu.au), or Nguyen Quoc Tuan, National Institute of Educational
Strategy and Curriculum, 101 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hanoi, Vietnam (tuanpri@
yahoo.com).
References
Baldauf Jr, R.B. (2005) Language planning and policy: Recent trends, future directions.
Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference,
Portland, Oregon, USA.
Cameron, L. (2003) Challenges for ELT from the expansion in teaching children. ELT
Journal 57 (2), 105–112.
Halliwell, S. (1992) Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. London: Longman.
Jung, S.K. and Norton, B. (2002) Language planning in Korea: The new elementary
English program. In J.W. Tollefson (ed.) Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues
(pp. 245–265). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Loc, N. (2005) MOET strategies for teaching foreign languages at primary level. Paper
presented at the Teaching English Language at Primary Level Conference, Hanoi,
Vietnam.
Nunan, D. (2003) The impact of English as a global language on educational policies and
practices in the Asia–Pacific region. TESOL Quarterly 37 (4), 589–613.
Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) (2003) Chuong Trinh Tu chon Mon Tieng Anh
o Bac Tieu Hoc [English Curriculum as an Optional Subject at Primary Level]. Hanoi:
Ministry of Education and Training.
Teaching English in Vietnamese Primary Schools 173
The Authors
Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, MA in TESOL (University of Queensland, Australia) is
an ELT lecturer at the College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National
University, Hanoi. She is working towards a PhD at the University of
Queensland, Australia.
Nguyen Quoc Tuan (MEd, Leeds, UK) is an expert in Primary English
Education at the National Institute of Educational Strategy and Curriculum. He
is the chief editor and author of textbooks for primary English education in
Vietnam.