Schools In Vietnam Research Articles

MOET’S THREE PILOT ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIONAL CURRICULA FOR SCHOOLS IN VIETNAM: RATIONALE, DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

In this paper, Ministry of Education and Training (MoET)’s three pilot English language communicational curricula for schools in Vietnam will be discussed. In doing so, we will organize the article into four main parts. Part 1 states the reason for the choice of the topic. Part 2 examines the rationale for the development of MoET’s three pilot English language communicational curricula for schools in Vietnam. Part 3 is the focus of the article. In this part, we will frst provide an overview of Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Teaching, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) and Threshold Level English – two important studies that have laid theoretical grounds for the development of the three pilot English language communicational curricula for schools in Vietnam. Then we will describe in some detail the design of MoET’s three pilot English language communicational curricula for schools in Vietnam and discuss their trial implementation, highlighting the achievements and the problems encountered during the implementation process. In the fnal section, after summarizing the contents discussed, we will recommend the integration of MoET’s three pilot English language communicational curricula for schools in Vietnam into a single text presumably called English Curriculum for Schools in Vietnam and propose some recommendations on what should be done to overcome the problems before putting the Curriculum into use throughout Vietnam.

The challenge of ensuring gender equality in Vietnamese and English high schools

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to comparatively examine the issue of gender equality in high schools in Vietnam and England.Design/methodology/approachData gathering consisted of interviews with teachers in two high schools and the staff of a pedagogic university in Vietnam and staff of one high school and of the initial teacher training department of a university in England. Data were analysed using a combination of grounded theory, cross-cultural study and narrative analysis within a liberal feminist framework.FindingsThe main findings from Vietnam include that despite a strong commitment to gender equality by the central government, both pedagogy and curriculum in Vietnamese high schools fail to promote gender equality, and that gender equality is, therefore, espoused rather than enacted. Findings from England revealed considerable success had been achieved in gaining equality of both opportunity and outcomes, but that a more sophisticated discourse on gender in education needed to emerge.Practical implicationsImplications of the study include recommendations that more extensive training on gender equality is provided in both countries, but especially in Vietnam, in relation to curriculum, pedagogy and school leadership.Originality/valueThis paper provides analysis and commentary on the issue of gender equality in both Vietnam and England. No such study has previously taken place in the context of Vietnam, and a comparison is offered with the more “developed” situation in the UK.

INFERRING THE MEANING OF UNKNOWN WORDS, USING THE CONTEXT CUES: A VIETNAMESE HIGH SCHOOL CASE

Research has shown that context cue instruction can improve EFL learners’ ability to infer word meanings from context, improve their comprehension and enable them to read independently (Nash & Snowling, 2006; Yuen, 2009; Cetinavci, 2013; Dwaik et al., 2013; and Samiyan et al., 2014). However, this strategy has not been explicitly taught in the context of secondary schools in Vietnam, and language learners are assumed to learn the strategy on their own. Therefore, this study was conducted to find out the extent to which context cue instruction enhances learners’ ability to infer word meanings from context and to investigate learners’ perceptions towards this strategy. In this study, 26 English major eleventh graders in an upper-secondary school in Can Tho City, Vietnam, were instructed to guess meanings of unfamiliar words using the contextual guessing strategy in three three-hour sessions. Achievement tests and learners’ reflection done in class were employed as sources of quantitative and qualitative data. Data from the pre-tests and post-tests indicated a significant improvement in learners’ ability to guess meanings of unfamiliar words using the contextual guessing strategy. Results of twenty-six reflections also showed positive perceptions towards using this strategy. It could be implied that secondary school teachers should train and encourage learners to guess meanings of unknown words based on the contextual cues, and integrate context cue instruction into reading lesson plans to help strengthen learners’ ability to infer word meaning from context. Article visualizations:

The Assessment for Career Counseling Skill for Teacher at High School

In Vietnam, career counseling for students after graduating high school has limitations and advancing the career counseling skills of the high school teachers has not been highly assessed. An effort for the factor theory and measure proposal is the base for dealing with the problem. The author carried out a survey of 115 teachers belonging 40 high schools in Vietnam. As a result, the reality of career counseling skills of teachers at high schools is at the average level. This research is the base for enacting policies for the training of career counseling skills at high schools in Vietnam in the future. The result is described in the content of this article.

Recognising students and teachers: difference and identity in international classrooms

ABSTRACTThis article argues that representations of teacher and student identity obscure the complexity of individuals as becomings. Evidence from interviews and observations with Western teachers in international schools in Vietnam suggests that these representations posit the existence of stable teacher and student identities and derive the difference between them from static images of Western and Asian cultures. I argue that thinking through Deleuze’s concepts of becoming, difference, and faciality offers possibilities for different kinds of encounters between teachers and students as individuals.

Effects of Communication-Based Translation Activities on EFL High School Students’ Vocabulary Achievement

Effects of Communication-Based Translation Activities on EFL High School Students’ Vocabulary Achievement Pham Ngoc Truong Linh Abstract In most EFL contexts of Vietnam high schools, vocabulary learning is accompanied with long lists of L1 equivalents in the grammar-translation method (GTM), which is criticized for abusing translation, focusing much on form and structure, lacking space for communicative performance; whereas the communicative language teaching (CLT) is more preferred in modern language teaching trends because it motivates learners’ discovery, participation and communication. How likely is it to integrate translation withCLT in communication-based translation activities (CTAs)? This study suggests some models of CTAs for teaching and learning EFL vocabulary at high school in Vietnam then tests their effects in an experimental project with 73 tenth-graders in two groups (with and without CTAs application), pre-post tests and a survey. After 8 weeks of treatment, the results highlighted CTAs in enhancing students’ vocabulary achievement both in recognition and its assistance in subsequent productive skills while GTM only improved students’ receptive vocabulary knowledge. Additionally, the survey indicated the experimental students’ positive attitudes, which were statistically influenced by their L1 and translation habits except for their gender. The study is supposed to provide practical implications for improving EFL students’ vocabulary and communicative performance at high school in Vietnam and those with similar contexts. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijlc.v5n2a3

The teacher as a ‘colony’: a case study of agentive responses to ‘colonising’ education policy in Vietnam

Neo-liberal educational policies that are being implemented globally work to foster competition among schools and teachers, as well as among children. In this situation, teachers must often come to accept the dominant representations of curricular policy developed by higher authorities. In this study, a case study design is used to describe how one school in Vietnam shifted away from this state of ‘colonisation’ by reforming the school under the framework of lesson study for learning community (LSLC). This paper subsequently argues that there is a need for school-level policies that democratise school culture and practices, resisting the negative impacts of colonising policies.

Examining the practice of information literacy teaching and learning in Vietnamese upper secondary schools

Information literacy (IL) research has been hitherto dominated by the USA, Australia and the UK [22]. Vietnam, however, remains under-represented and there is no IL work in upper secondary schools in the country to date. This paper, which is part of an ongoing PhD research, presents preliminary findings of the study to understand IL level of students as well as explore the practice of teaching and learning IL. The research proposes a model to help develop IL for schools in Vietnam based on Standards for the 21st-Century Learner introduced by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and driven by study programme as well as current educational initiatives in the country. The research employs a mixed methods approach to assist the researcher in providing a rich picture of the practice of IL in the Vietnamese educational context. The preliminary findings indicate that there are some aspects of students' IL level that need to be improved. The findings also show that teaching IL is not the focus of the school although they acknowledge its importance to pupils. It is clear that more work needs to be done to strength students' capabilities.

Creating spaces for constructing practice and identity: innovations of teachers of English language to young learners in Vietnam

The discourse on construction of practice and identity in language teaching has been situated in transnational contexts. However, not all teachers are provided with access to transnational spaces for professional development. Drawing on the concept of ‘multimembership’ in ‘multicommunities’, this study explores how Vietnamese teachers of English language to young learners created spaces for developing practice and identity in their local contexts. Data were collected from narrative interviews conducted with four participants who were teaching English language in four different primary schools in Vietnam. Each participant, as the only English language teacher in each primary school, found that participation in the school community was inadequate for professional development. To develop their practice and identity, the participants, on their own initiative, crossed the school boundary to join other communities, including a separate group of primary English language teachers, English classes for adult learners, an imagined community between local and expatriate teachers and their own families. The findings of the study provide a window into language teachers’ construction of practice and identity in Vietnam and other similar contexts.

Exploring cultural context and school leadership: conceptualizing an indigenous model of có uy school leadership in Vietnam

The need for empirical research on leadership in educational organizations across more diverse national settings frames the purpose of the current study of principal leadership in Vietnam. To date, the international literature on school leadership in Vietnam is virtually a blank slate. This research aimed at describing how Vietnamese school principals enact their leadership roles and analysing how the observed patterns of leadership practice are shaped by the Vietnamese context. In this study, we frame the ‘context of school leadership’ in Vietnam in terms of Confucian sociocultural values of the Vietnamese society and the institutional-political structures within which education is delivered. The study employed phenomenological research methods in a multi-site case study design. Qualitative methods of interview, observation and document analysis were employed to generate a thick description of how principal leadership was enacted in three schools in Vietnam. The study found that in this context, effective school leadership integrated elements associated with strong autocratic and moral leadership. The paper proposes a model of có uy leadership which is understood to describe a leadership style that responds to the context of the education system in Vietnam.

An outbreak of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus in a primary school in Vietnam.

BackgroundDespite school pupils being at greatest risk during the 2009 influenza pandemic there are limited data on outbreaks of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in primary schools in South-East Asia. This prospective cohort study describes an outbreak of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in a primary school in rural Vietnam.FindingsIn total 103 cases of influenza-like illness were found among the 407 pupils in the primary school. Ten of these were laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus. The overall attack rate (AR) was 25 % (103/407), and was highest (41 %) in grade 4 pupils, where the outbreak started. All cases in the outbreak presented with a mild and self-limiting illness, acute respiratory symptoms and fever. Public health interventions to contain the outbreak could explain the lower attack rates in other grades. Ill pupils were asked to stay at home. Oseltamivir was not given to pupils and the school did not close during the outbreak. The last detected case occurred 12 days following identification of the first case.ConclusionsThis is the first report of an outbreak of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 among pupils in a primary school in Vietnam. High attack rates in Grade 4 pupils suggest shared activities contributed to transmission. The public health response using non-pharmaceutical measures may have played a role in ending the outbreak.

School Supervisors’ Feedback to Student Teachers

This paper presents an analysis of 23 post-classroom observation discussions between 15 EFL student teachers and 23 school supervisors in six high schools in Vietnam and individual interviews with these participants. The analysis was aimed to describe linguistic features of the supervisors’ feedback regarding turn taking and speech act patterns and the participants’ perceptions of the tone of the feedback. Findings showed a considerable imbalance in the lengths of the turns taken, with school supervisors doing much more talking and using few compliments directed at student teachers’ teaching. In fact the criticisms predominated and were not always as well-received by the student teachers as the supervisors thought. The student teachers were divided in their feelings about the feedback they received and while many felt somewhat discouraged, they did not reveal this to their supervisors. These findings raised awareness among teacher trainers about the importance of the tone and language features in their feedback and gave some indications of what linguistic areas in supervisors’ discourse should be targeted in attempting to develop supervisors’ ability to give effective and acceptable feedback to student teachers.

Comprehension of Figurative Language by Hearing Impaired Children in Special Primary Schools

This study examined the comprehension of figurative language of 215 hearing impaired children at special primary schools, and 557 hearing children at regular primary schools in Vietnam. The figurative language tests were developed using idioms and proverbs in the Vietnamese language textbooks from grade 2 to grade 5 of primary schools. The results showed that hearing impaired children comprehended figurative language much lower than hearing children. The figurative language knowledge of hearing impaired children developed over grades, and theirfigurative language knowledge was found to be related to reading levels, but not to the ages or hearing levels.

Professional learning communities enhancing teacher experiences in international schools

In international school contexts, schools that establish support networks for newly arrived staff tend to stand a better chance of retaining staff and creating a positive and successful work environment. The case study at the center of the paper is an International School in Vietnam and this paper aims to highlight the importance of building professional learning communities (PLCs), both as arenas for academic expertise to be shared and as support networks for teachers. The PLCs being researched were established in August 2011, with the research taking place over 6 weeks during April and May of 2013. Eleven teachers took part in the phenomenological case study undertaken to gain a better understanding of their lived experiences. Findings suggest there was a refocusing on student achievement as being central to teachers' core business; an understanding of the importance of teacher leadership developed; teachers felt more valued because personal professionalism was acknowledged; and, a culture of sharing collaboration and general support emerged.

Reading Vocabulary Knowledge of Hearing Impaired Children in Special Primary Schools in Vietnam

Reading Vocabulary Knowledge of Hearing Impaired Children in Special Primary Schools in Vietnam

Implementing a skillslab training program in a developing country.

Eight skills laboratories (skillslabs) were established by consensus of Vietnamese medical universities, with international support. A national list of basic skills needed for medical practice and suitable for skillslab training was developed; models, medical and teaching equipment were supplied; learning material was developed and core staff and teachers were trained. This study was designed to assess how closely eight schools in Vietnam came to implementing all recommended skills on list developed by educators of that country, and identify the facilitating factors and barriers to skillslab use within the country's largest school. Data were collected from reports from the eight skillslabs. Students and trainers from the largest university were surveyed for their perceptions of the quality of training on eight selected skills. Results of students' skill assessments were gathered, and focus group discussions with trainers were conducted. SPSS 16 was used to analyze the quantitative data and cluster analysis was used to test for differences. Only one medical school was able to train all 56 basic skills proposed by consensus among the eight Vietnamese medical universities. Deeper exploration within the largest school revealed that its skillslab training was successful for most skills, according to students' postprogram skills assessment and to students' and trainers' perceptions. However, through focus group discussions we learned that the quantity of training aids was perceived to be insufficient; some models/manikins were inappropriate for training; more consideration was needed in framing the expected requirements of students within each skill; too little time was allocated for the training of one of the eight skills investigated; and further curriculum development is needed to better integrate the skills training program into the broader curriculum. The fact that one medical school could teach all skills recommended for skillslab training demonstrates that all Vietnamese schools may be similarly able to teach the basic skills of the national consensus list. But as of now, it remains challenging for most schools in this developing country to fully implement a national skillslab training program.

Research on the status of mathematics education at high schools in Vietnam

Research on the status of mathematics education at high schools in Vietnam

How Useful Are Multimodal Texts in Motivating Vietnamese Primary School Children in Learning English Vocabulary?

Motivating young learners in learning vocabulary is not easy, especially in the context that children learning English at weekends in language schools in Vietnam feel stressful and tired after schooldays at their primary schools. But if we fail to do that, we are unable to help them improve their language skills. As a result, this action research examined the roles of multimodal texts in motivating Vietnamese primary school children in learning English vocabulary. It was conducted in two classes at a language school where the researcher has been teaching English for five years and a conclusion was withdrawn that in spite of challenges facing the teachers multimodality engaged the primary school children, both boys and girls, at different ages in learning vocabulary.

Direct versus Indirect Explicit Methods of Enhancing EFL Students’ English Grammatical Competence: A Concept Checking-based Consciousness-raising Tasks Model

Two approaches to grammar instruction are often discussed in the ESL literature: direct explicit grammar instruction (DEGI) (deduction) and indirect explicit grammar instruction (IEGI) (induction). This study aims to explore the effects of indirect explicit grammar instruction on EFL learners’ mastery of English tenses. Ninety-four eleventh-graders were conveniently selected and randomly assigned into either the experimental group (EG) or the control group (CG). A pre-post tests design was used to collect the data. Before and after the treatment, the following tests were administered: rule analysis, grammar, and speaking. A delayed written test was given to both groups to assess students’ retention of structure acquired; in addition, a questionnaire was provided to the EG to investigate their perception on the treatment. The results indicated that the EG significantly outperformed the CG in the analysis of grammar rules and the oral proficiency, except for the use of grammar structures in a pre-defined context. Convincingly, there was a positive correlation between the grammar rules and their subsequent use. This validates the cause and effect of grammar rules’ acquisition and the use of them in receptive and productive stages. Also, the EG had favorable attitudes towards the instruction. This study may provide practical implications and techniques for improving EFL students’ grammar performance in high schools in Vietnam.

A Mixed Approaches Method Used to Investigate Teacher Cognition of English Language Teaching

This paper is a part in a bigger research project related to ELT quality in secondary schools in Vietnam since the implementation of the new series of English textbooks was officially passed by in 2006, and the innovated direction was paid to task-based language teaching (TBLT). The purpose of this paper is to make argumentation on why, what and how to use mixed approaches method to investigate two subdomains of teacher cognition - teacher perception and teacher belief. Firstly, an introduction in the research project and research questions about secondary school teacher perception of TBLT and teacher belief of textbooks is shortly made. Secondly, the question what the mixed approaches method are like is dealt with. Next, the question why the mixed approaches method should be used in investigating teacher cognition in general and teacher perception as well as teacher belief in particular is answered and illustrated by writer’s framework of research paradigm for the suitability and applicability. Lastly, the question how the mixed approaches method should be implemented to answer the research project questions is clarified and argued for its suitability.