Illustrative photo (Photo: moet.gov.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Institute of EducationSciences and the National Foreign Languages Project Management Board on December27 held a conference to publish this year’s report on the teaching and learning of foreign languages in Vietnam.
According to the annual report, the Ministry of Education andTraining completed the development and issuance of curriculums for foreignlanguages in the 2018 general education programme.
So far, the curriculum for English has been used for Grades 1,2, 3, 6, 7 and 10 in all 63 provinces and centrally-run cities of the country. In the 2022-2023 school year,children at preschools in 53 out of the 63 provinces and centrally-run cities have accessed activitiesto get to know English.
According to the report, 84% of English language teachers in primaryschools, 87% in secondary schools and 77% o in high schools in Vietnam have met the requirements for foreignlanguage competence to implement the new foreign language teaching programmes.
Director of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences Le Anh Vinh speaks at the conference. (Photo: moet.gov.vn) Director of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences Le AnhVinh said that in the past ten years, the teaching and learning of foreignlanguages in Vietnam have developed rapidly, especially in regions withfavourable socio-economic conditions and big cities. The quality of teachingand learning has also improved, reflected in the diversified approaches oflearners and teachers.
However, the teaching and learning have still faced difficulties, includinga lack of teachers, qualifications of teachers, limitations in implementingteaching/learning activities and applying information technology in theteaching and learning process.
Nguyen Thi Mai Huu, Head of the National Foreign Languages Project Management Board, said that according to data from the IELTSorganisation, the average test score of Vietnamese people in 2022 was 6.2/9.0,ranked 23rd out of 40 countries organising the IELTS exams, and in the same rankas the Republic of Korea, Pakistan and India.
The age of Vietnamese people taking the IELTS tests is gettingyounger and younger. Specifically, in 2018, more than 50% of IELTS test takerswere over 23 years old, only nearly 1.5% of the test takers were 16-18 yearsold, and more than 13% were 19-22 years old. Now, in Vietnam, 62% of IELTS testtakers are aged 16-22, and 30% are aged 16-18.
Vietnamese students have strengths in reading and listeningskills but face difficulties with speaking as their average speaking score for theTOEFL exam is 14/30 and for the IELTS test is 5.8./.
