English Tertiary Education in Vietnam

209 Pages·2018·1.067 MB·English

by  James Albright

English Tertiary Education
in Vietnam
As part of a long series of Vietnam’s policy objectives, English education has
been identified as key to improving the quality of its rapidly expanding tertiary
institutions and is crucial to the larger aim of modernising and internationalising
its economy. Bringing together a wide range of Vietnamese and foreign English
education scholars, and tertiary educational practitioners, this book documents
the significant progress and challenges in the realisation of Vietnam’s English
language policies as they are enacted in the higher education sector. Changes
to Vietnam’s higher education system remain unstable, unsystematic, and
insubstantial. This book provides insights into how recent Vietnamese government
policy is providing for a substantial and comprehensive renewal of Vietnam’s
tertiary education as part of their 2020 plan. Academics and students of English
education, language policy, and nation building within the context of increased
globalisation and marketisation in developing nations and Vietnam, in particular,
should find this book valuable.
James Albright is Professor of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia
Routledge Critical Studies in Asian Education
Series Editors: S. Gopinathan, Wing On Lee and
Jason Eng Thye Tan
Making Sense of Education in Post-Handover Hong Kong
Achievements and challenges
Edited by Thomas Kwan-Choi Tse and Michael H. Lee
English Education at the Tertiary Level in Asia
From policy to practice
Edited by Eun Sung Park and Bernard Spolsky
English-Medium Instruction in Chinese Universities
Perspectives, Discourse and Evaluation
Edited by Jing Zhao and L. Quentin Dixon
Rethinking Madrasah Education in a Globalised World
Edited by Mukhlis Abu Bakar
Policies and politics in Malaysian education
Education reforms, nationalism and neoliberalism
Edited by Cynthia Joseph
The Sustainability of Higher Education in an Era of Post-Massification
Edited by Deane E. Neubauer, Ka Ho Mok and Jin Jiang
Emigration, Employability and Higher Education in the Philippines
Yasmin Y. Ortiga
Literature Education in the Asia-Pacific
Policies, practices and perspectives in global times
Edited by Chin Ee Loh, Suzanne Choo and Chatherine Beavis
English Tertiary Education in Vietnam
Edited by James Albright
For the whole list please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Critical-Studies-
in-Asian-Education/book-series/RCSAE
English Tertiary Education
in Vietnam
Edited by James Albright
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 selection and editorial matter, James Albright; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of James Albright to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-415-79197-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-21209-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Notes on contributors viii
Foreword xii
1 Vietnamese foreign language policy in higher education:
a barometer to social changes 1
LAM THI LAN HUONG AND JAMES ALBRIGHT
2 Globalisation and Vietnamese foreign language education 16
THI THUY LE AND SHEN CHEN
3 Nation building and language in education policy 28
PHUONG ANH VU
4 Current challenges in the teaching of tertiary English
in Vietnam 40
TRINH THI THU HIEN AND MAI THI LOAN
5 Vietnamese higher education language planning and
university students’ career development 54
THUY BUI, THI THOM THOM NGUYEN AND AN DUC NGUYEN
6 Textbooks as cultural mediators: exploring representations
of culture in Vietnamese tertiary EFL textbooks 68
TRINH THI THU HIEN
7 General English for non-majors in higher education 86
LOAN THI LAM
8 EFL speaking assessment in Vietnamese tertiary education 102
NAM LAM
vi Contents
9 Business students’ perspectives on the use of English
medium instruction in Vietnamese universities 119
LE THI THUY NHUNG
10 Rural students’ motivation for learning English:
implications for transition to tertiary education 132
CUONG PHAM AND CYNTHIA WHITE
11 Examining the motivation and achievement of Vietnamese
university students as they undertake English classes 145
TRUONG CONG BANG AND JENNIFER ARCHER
12 Learner autonomy in tertiary English classes in Vietnam 158
NHUNG BUI
13 Vietnamese EFL teacher training at universities: review of
the design and cultural aspect of the curriculum 172
MAI THI QUYNH LAN AND PHAM THI THANH THUY
Index 185
Acknowledgements
This book is the primarily work of many committed Vietnamese scholars. Its con-
ception rests within the ongoing dialogue held in the University of Newcastle’s
(Australia) School of Education Vietnamese doctoral student colloquium. Meet-
ing bi-weekly, this dedicated group of Vietnamese tertiary lecturers, for the most
part supported by their government, who have come from varied institutions
across the country, have shared their research in EFL policy, leadership, train-
ing, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. These students are often separated,
in whole or in part, from their families. They come to study in a country that is
very different from their own and place themselves under the supervision of other
scholars, who come from other academic traditions. They must learn to read,
write, revise, and edit in their second language at the same level of proficiency
as a native speaker. Their scholarship is a testament to their desire to improve
the outcomes and opportunities to be afforded to new generations of Vietnam’s
students. Joined by others, at home in Vietnam or studying elsewhere, they have
collaborated to produce this book. I have been honoured to be their editor. Any
errors are clearly mine.
I want to single out for individual thanks, my student, Lam Thi Lan Huong,
who has worked tirelessly to facilitate the communication among this book’s
many collaborators and completion of the manuscript. Huong returns to Viet-
nam this year after successfully concluding her doctoral studies. I appreciate and
acknowledge her diligence and hard work. All the book’s contributors owe her
a debt. I wish her well in her future teaching and research at Thuyloi University,
in Hanoi.
Notes on contributors
An Duc Nguyen graduated from the MA program in TESOL at University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
She currently works as a university lecturer of English in a multi-ethnic, under-
served, and mountainous province, Son La, Vietnam. She has also served as a
teacher trainer for the National Foreign Languages 2020 Project since 2011.
Her research interests include EFL, English for community, employability,
minority, and CALL. As an active and enthusiastic language educator, she is
involved in community-based English projects to contribute to her province’s
socio-economic and educational development.
Cuong Pham is an English language lecturer at the University of Economics and
Law, Vietnam National University. He obtained his PhD in Applied Linguis-
tics from Massey University, New Zealand. Pham has a wide range of teach-
ing and research experience in both EAP and ESP contexts in New Zealand
and Vietnam. His research interests include language learning motivation and
emotion, learner agency, ecological systems theory, lifewide adaptive language
learning, and language learning and teaching in rural settings.
Cynthia White is Professor of Applied Linguistics, Massey University, New Zea-
land and has published widely on affect, agency, and identity in online language
learning and teaching, and in out-of-class settings for language learning. She
is on the Editorial Boards of eight international journals, including TESOL
Quarterly and is Associate Editor for Language Learning & Technology. She
has been plenary speaker at international conferences and workshops in Ger-
many, Thailand, Singapore, China, UK, Hawai’i, and Malaysia and has com-
pleted collaborative research projects with Oxford University, Open University
UK, and Nottingham University. Her most recent project concerns agency
and emotion in teacher narrative accounts of conflict in an L2 classroom.
Jennifer Archer works as an educational psychologist in the School of Education
at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a PhD in educational psy-
chology from the University of Illinois. Her research interests lie in the field of
motivation, including achievement goals, attribution theory, the expectancy-
value model, and the way in which students’ motivation to learn is affected by
socio-economic status.
Notes on contributors ix
Lam Thi Lan Huong is a foreign language lecturer at Thuyloi University, Hanoi,
Vietnam. Her research interests include intercultural communication, EFL
textbook evaluation, and language learning in non-major university contexts.
She holds her PhD in Education from the University of Newcastle, Australia.
Her thesis focuses on cultural representations in EFL textbooks and intercul-
tural competence in English learning.
Le Thi Thuy Nhung is currently a Division Head/Lecturer at the Department
of Foreign Languages, Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
She completed her MA in TESOL Studies at the University of Queensland,
Australia and PhD in Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her
research interests include but are not limited to TESOL, teacher professional
development, language policy, intercultural communication, and internation-
alization of higher education.
Mai Thi Loan is a Doctor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Languages
and International Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi. She earned
her PhD from Social Scientific Academy, Institute of Linguistics in Vietnam
in 2012. She has nearly 20 years of experience in teaching and conducting
research. Over the last years, she has published more than ten journal articles
in the field of linguistics, terminology, pedagogy, and EFL Teacher Educa-
tion. Currently, she is the Vice Dean of Faculty of English at the Univer-
sity of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University of
Hanoi. Her academic interests are applied linguistics, terminology, motivation
enhancement, learner autonomy, professional development, language teach-
ing, English in tertiary education, material development, and curriculum.
Mai Thi Quynh Lan is a researcher at the Institute for Education Quality Assur-
ance, Vietnam National University – Hanoi. She completed her PhD degree
in (Higher Education) Sociology at University of Queensland in 2015, under
scholarship of Vietnam Ministry of Education. She has been working in Edu-
cation Quality Assurance area for more than a decade. She is interested in
research on educational policy, graduate attributes, graduates’ employability,
and intercultural competence.
Nam Lam is a lecturer of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Vietnam Aviation
Academy. He also has experience as an examiner in oral language assessment for
the National EFL Examinations and many other language schools in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam. He is doing his PhD in Education at the University of Newcastle,
Australia. His research interests include cooperative learning in EFL/ESL class-
rooms, and most recently language testing and assessment in tertiary education.
Nhung Bui is currently a lecturer of English at the Faculty of English for Special
Purposes of Foreign Trade University, Hanoi Campus, Vietnam. She gained
her MA in English Linguistics at the University of Languages and Interna-
tional Studies – Vietnam National University in 2008 and her PhD in Educa-
tion at the University of Newcastle, Australia in 2017. She has been involved
in a number of professional projects at the faculty and university level which