Name: Do Thi Thom. Email: Thomtq2007@yahoo.

com
Final Assignment for SNHU/VNU EFL 523

Comments on the language and Vietnamese pedagogical contexts

October 13- 15 ,1999 by Le Van Canh.

We have known many things about the importance of second language

especially English in the recent economic renovation in Vietnam : reality,
difficulties and stragedy in recent years, We have achieved many tremendous
successes in renovating, applying new methodology in teaching- learning
English, but there are many things for us to think about second language
teaching in Vietnam, after several days searching for articles about this field,
I am crazily fascinated by: " language and Vietnamese pedagogical
contexts" by Le Van Canh , October 13-15, 1999. In the fourth
International Conference on Language and Development ,I am very
interested in the author Le Van Canh’s ideals : “ The need to question the
appropriateness and relevancy of communicative language teaching
developed in another part of the world to Vietnamese pedagogical contexts”
and the degree that communicative approach fits Vienamese pedagogical
contexts on the basic of the following items: Vietnamese learners’s
communication needs, Vietnamese classroom culture and discourse and the
constrains on the teacher in teaching English communicatively… I
completely agree with him about the motivation of learning and teaching in
Vietnam just for national examination mainly, teacher-centred . Teachers of
second language are curved by traditional methods: grammar translation,
knowledge-centered. They concentrate mostly on teaching receptive skills
but not productive ones so how can learners be competent to communicate
verbally with outside world and to access technology ? So it is essentials for
all the stakesholders : administrators, syllabus designers, teacher- trainers,
teachers,students to cope with the challenges, the balance between
traditional methods and modern methods to facilitate learning and teaching
English…
I would like to give some my own opinions on the language and
Vietnamese pedagogical contexts as followings:
Firstly, the communicative needs of Vietnamese leaners.It is very
important for Vietnamese to be good at using English in communicative,
verbally. Since 1995, the Prime Minister issued a Decree, according to which

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personal working in Government system have to be able to communicate in
English,it is very good policy but in my province instead of participating
English course to learn English, most of officers spend some hundred
thousand Vietnam Dong to buy English certificate. Further more education
in Vietnam is influenced so much by “ the disease of high accomplishments
in education” such as even students are very bad at learning, for instance
they can not speak a simple English but at the end of the school terms , they
are still good enough to pass any exams and continue to have further
education.. so I think that it is time Ministry of Education reformed the
ways of evaluating, examining, testing so that certificates are not thought
more important than competence or discourage learners rote, memory- based
learning.. There need be listening and speaking tests in the process of
learning instead of only written tests at the end of school terms, recently
there has been a lot adjustments and changes in the syllabus of the secondary
but in my opinion, the topics in the listening and speaking lessons need to be
more simple and familiar to the students.In reality they are too complicated,
long and strange to students. Teachers should make use of any opportunities
for students to promote their productive skills: Using communicative
approach ways in teaching and learning English, encouraging students to
take part in groups or pair work actively so that they can confide in
themselves in oral tests or in making up situational conversations, arguments
by establishing extra-activities such as games, talk show, live show etc…to
create realistic second language situations for them to accumulate the
confidence in speaking, listening in addition to the fixed, boring lessons in
the class.
Secondly,There are many things to mention on the Vietnamese classroom
culture and discourse: the textbook, the syllabus and the teacher determine
the knowledge to be acquired, classes are teacher-centered , learning
follows the hierarchy of first listening to teacher, then repeatition, then
copying the models or choral repetition… what teacher or textbook says is
unquestionably,teachers do not hesitate to stop students to correct their
mistakes immediately that the reason why students are very passive to
take part in initiate interaction.Teachers of English are not qualified enough
in communicative teaching skills, they are lazy to learn new things and are
satisfied with the old teaching methods. I think teachers of English should
follow the steps : preparation, presentation, practice, evaluation and
extention in their teaching process. They should remember that students are
centered,not teachers are centered. especially in speaking, listening lessons,
teachers play the role of facilitators and guiders in this process, we know

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very well that accuracy and fluency are very important elements in learning
and teaching second language : first accuracy, then fluency, acquisition
following learning.not the other way round, so teacher no need to spend too
much time correct mistakes when students make while they are in process of
practice or extention, further more teachers of English show great interest in
new methodologies when they are in training course but after they return
from these course they keep teaching in their traditional methods, in their
mind new methods are only applied in somewhere else but not their schools,
it is necessary for teachers to bravery to be the pioneer in applying the new
things even though they have to face to many obstacles, difficulties or even
the opposition from their colleagues.they themselves should self-study
continuously to enrich their language skills and language knowledge if they
do want to be updated or keep up with the rapid develpments of human
beings as it is nowadays, only by this way can we teachers of second
language contribute our trials, efforts to the renovation of teaching second
language in Vietnam.
Thirdly, We can not deny the difficulties or pressures that teachers of
English have to burden: low salary, hard life, the success or failure of
students at the end of examinatiom term,limited time, the large-sized mixed
class, inedequate teaching- learning facilities…in second schools like ours,in
addition we rarely have access to the input and resources of the target
language so communicative teaching is very challenging for us. The only
teaching materials are textbook, dictionary, some practical grammar books
or tapescripts with not good quality…so we can not avoid meeting
difficulties in getting the meaning across in the target language and it is not
easy for teachers as well our students to achieve the sociolinguistic
competence and we do not have an obvious communicative need.Even being
a teacher of English for many years, I myself have not been able to
communicate verbally well with the outside world and to access technology.
When studying Le Van Canh's article, I am really attracted by his
implications for edcation administers and teacher- trainers, his outlook is
very meaningful for not only teacher of English like us but also for many
educationists. He is very bravery to facilitate innovation in teaching
methodologies, to reform the testing system,the duty of each stakeholders in
order to help English teaching in Vietnam to respond better the vision of
national development.
Finally, Teachers of English should have a favorable view of language and
Vietnamese contexts, decide the right balance between traditional and
modern methods …We are learners in this course have overcome many

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difficulties and all my classmates who come from different parts of
Vietnam, each of us has many hardships, obstacles in life, some of us do not
get any allowances,without salary from the government come to Ha noi with
the sakes of learning, sharing new experiences from each other, especially
we are eager to learn the most progressive methodology of teaching English
in the world from this course. Last but not least, I do hope that with the
determination,effort of each member of involving to teaching, learning of
second language, English in the very near future,Viet nam will gain certain
achievements in this area...