Developing Vietnamese communicative competence for ethnic minority students in Vietnam’s lower secondary boarding schools—current situation and solutions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on the survey results of Vietnamese Linguistics and Literature teachers and students at 7 ethnic minority boarding secondary schools located in 7 different districts of Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam, we discovered that Khmer students’ communicative competence is still below the national average. There is no distinction between different types of students, and the curriculum materials and textbooks show this as well as many other flaws in the implementation of the educational program, which is focused on learner competence. Ethnic minority students in lower secondary schools have not been able to meet their own needs, including practical application needs, in teaching and learning. Because of this, the study was conducted by examining the status of the communicative competence of Khmer students in ethnic minority boarding secondary schools, inadequacies in policy, stages of the innovation process, and current textbooks. Based on the survey results, research proposed the flexible application of the CLT method in improving Vietnamese communicative competence for Khmer students in ethnic minority boarding secondary schools. The practical, analysis-based recommendations that the research provides will be of practical value to Vietnam's ongoing education reform efforts, especially at the stage of teacher training to meet the specific needs of specialized learners.