Education
Veteran English teacher criticises language teaching in Vietnam
  • | CAND, dtinews.vn | December 31, 2014 11:27 AM
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Many English teachers working outside Hanoi and HCM City were unable to communicate in English, and Vietnam needs to improve its foreign language teaching methods, a veteran Vietnamese teacher of English said.

Nguyen Quoc Hung, who is former deputy principal of Hanoi University, spent 25 years teaching English on television, and is now an advisor for the national foreign language teaching project, said 90 percent of the 8,000 English teachers in Vietnam had failed to meet the upper intermediate level.

“We do not provide learners with a standard learning method, so they do not know how to improve their English skills. I’ve received many letters from viewers of my English programme on TV complaining about this even though there has been available a set of books guiding these around the world,” Hung said.

 

Teacher Nguyen Quoc Hung

Hung said the ability of Vietnamese teachers of English was substandard. The training of English teachers still focuses on theory instead of practice, and the national foreign language teaching project, which runs until 2020, was aiming to raise the proficiency of all teachers to the upper intermediate and advanced levels.

“There are two breakthrough solutions to the situation: providing standard learning methods for learners and standardising teaching methods for teachers,” he said.

"English tests in Vietnam are inadequate, mainly focusing on vocabulary and grammar and neglecting the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing," he said.

The teaching project has a budget of VND16tr (USD760.27m) and, though half of that has been earmarked for classroom equipment, Hung said it might be ìneffective to apply new software and technologies in foreign luanguage teaching and learning in remote and mountainous areas.

He said hiring foreign experts in teacher training was a good approach.

“It’s really a concern when only 16 percent of high school students chose English as a subject for their high school graduation exam in the 2013-2014 school year,” Hung said.

He said schools use different English curriculums, many of which are developed by foreign countries, but fail to adjust them for Vietnamese learners.

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