Vietnam

English LanguageeTraining

Policy update
October 2018

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ENGLISHLANGUAGETEACHING &LEARNING IN
VIETNAMContents

1. Overview
I. English language teaching &learning in Vietnam		2

1. Overview		

22. Governance3

II. National Foreign Languages
2020 Project			

4

The Doi Moi (Renovation) Policy in 1986 and Vietnam’s membershipof ASEAN in 1995, are seen as two key milestones leading to market
reform and an inflow of foreign investment into Vietnam. As aconsequence the Government of Vietnam views English as a coreskill crucial for a modern and globally connected economy. English is
no doubt a tool that connects Vietnam to the world and links foreign
investors with the young local labour market. Thus, teaching andlearning English is an important aspect in Vietnam’s education andtraining sector.
According to Education First, an international education company
specialised in language training, Vietnam ranked 34th out of 80
countries and territories in the 2017 global English Proficiency Index(EPI).1In 2016, Vietnam’s EPI ranked 31st among that of 72 nations andterritories.
Vietnam, which has remained at the medium level of English language
proficiency across Asia2 with a score of 53.43 out of 100, follows
Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines in ASEAN and is in eighth
position out of the 21 countries in Asia.
Despite increasing attention from both the Government andindividuals, teaching and learning English in Vietnam has not yet met
people’s expectations due to its existing limitations, such as lack ofqualified English teachers, weakness in English communicative skills,
or outdated textbooks. A consequence of these shortcomings has
been students’ poor performance in the English test of the annual
national entrance exam to universities. In 2018, of the 814,779
students taking the English test to universities, 78.22% scored lessthan 5 out of 10 and the average score was 3.91 (up from3.4 in 2017).
The Government of Vietnam is aware that English training, including
via formal education, needs to improve to catch up with othercountries in the ASEAN region. This opens opportunities fororganisations working on education and development sector.

Education First (2017) https://www.ef-australia.com.au/epi/regions/asia/vietnam/
https://www.ef-australia.com.au/epi/regions/asia/

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2. Governance
The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) oversees thenational education system, which includes formal English
teaching and learning at school and university levels. MOET
issued the Circular 21 dated 24 August 2018 on establishment
and operation of foreign languages training centres. Thesecentres are part of the national education system and deliver
continuing education function. The circular defines English
training centres into three types of ownership, public, privateand foreign-invested. While MOET is responsible for national
policy and regulatory aspects. The province and city Departmentof Education and Training (DOET) oversee the licencing andoperation of the foreign language training centres.
The licencing process to establish a foreign-invested languages
training centre to deliver short courses or non-qualification
courses is regulated by the Vietnamese government’s Decree
86/2018/ND-CP on foreign cooperation and investment ineducation (Decree 86) that took effect on 1st August 2018. The
process consists of the following steps:
a. Investment registration certificate
Investment registration certificates are issued in accordance withthe Investment Law. Province and city Department of Planningand Investment (DPI) who is responsible for issuing investment
registration certificate for institutions delivering short course or
non-qualification training should seek educational appraisal fromDOET in the jurisdiction.
b. Establishment licence
Authority to approve the establishment is the Chairman ofcity/province People’s Committee in the province or city ofjurisdiction.
c. Operation approval
Authority to approve operation for institutions delivering shortcourse training is the DOET Director in the province or city ofjurisdiction.

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NATIONAL
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
2020 PROJECT
Vietnam recognises proficiency inforeign languages (primarily English)
is a comparative advantage of anyworkforce. As a response to the needto improve the foreign language
capacity of Vietnam’s workforce, MOET
has been implementing the National
Foreign Languages 2020 Project (the2020 Project) to strengthen the teachingand learning of foreign languages(primarily English) at all levels. The
government considers the 2020 Projecta breakthrough to improve the quality ofEnglish language learning and teachingacross all education levels in Vietnam.
The ultimate goal of 2020 Project
was that most Vietnamese students
graduating from secondary andvocational schools, colleges, anduniversities would be able to use
a foreign language in their daily
communication, study and work in an
integrated, multi-cultural and multilingual environment at IELTS level 4.5-5.
2020 Project was approved in September
2008 and started to rollout in 2010. Its
ambitious objectives were:• teaching of foreign languages (mainlyEnglish) as a compulsory subject
from grade three across all schools
in Vietnam by 2018–19 and piloting
the teaching of maths and science
subjects in English;• enhancing foreign language training
in the vocational education andhigher education sectors by 2019–20;
and• achieving language level 3 (inaccordance with the Common
European Framework of Reference

4for Languages: Learning, Teaching,Assessment – IELTS level 5) andabove for 5 per cent of staff, clerks
and officials from governmental
agencies by the year 2015 andreaching 30 per cent by 2020.
The project has attracted considerable
public attention and feedback in its nine
years of implementation. The review
conducted in late 2016 by MOET on
the project’s outcomes concluded thatthe government’s targets for language
proficiency set under the project weretoo ambitious. The Minister of Education
and Training admitted that the National
Foreign Language Scheme with aninvestment of more than VND4.2 trillion(AUD225.5 million) for the 2008-2016
period had failed.
Under this project, Vietnam has adopted
the Common European Frameworkof Reference and has established its
own English Language Proficiency
Framework. The Project expected alluniversity graduates not majoring inforeign languages to reach B1 in theFramework. However, according toa survey by MOET, only one in five
students achieved that level in 2015.
The government has therefore moved
some of the objectives of the language
learning and teaching plan out to 2025.
On 22 December 2017, the Vietnamese
government approved Decision No.
2080/QD-TTg, an amendment andsupplement of the project for the period
2008 – 2020. The newly amended
project calls for all academic levels tocontinue with the new foreign language
curriculum and improve English
proficiency of students to adapt tostudying and working requirements, towards
foreign language universalisation by 2025.
The key new objectives include:• 100 per cent of school students shall study
10-year foreign language curriculums,
applied from year 3 to year 12• 50 per cent of vocational training
providers shall teach foreign language
curriculums in accordance withcompetency/skill requirements• 100 per cent of foreign language majorsof universities must apply output criteria
for students upon graduation while 80 per
cent of other majors must also apply thecriteria• 100 per cent of student majoring inforeign language teaching must follow
professional criteria and fulfil requirementof foreign language teachers’ capacity.