Spending tens of millions more to practice foreign languages, but not daring to say even a single word

Many students think that the English program (non-specialized) at school is not enough to improve their level and is not attractive enough, so they easily get bored and lose interest.

"Studying for 3 more years still don't dare to say a word"

Just one month into the new school year, Do Thi Linh, a 5th grader in Hanoi, had to record a video introducing herself in English. She was nervous all evening, unable to sit still. At first, she asked her mother for help, but later, Linh cried alone in her room because she could not say a single sentence in English loudly and clearly.

Linh's case is not uncommon in public schools, where English is mostly grammar-heavy and skills such as listening, speaking, and writing are given less importance.

Linh's mother said that since the second grade, she had sent her child to study with a teacher in the village with a schedule of 1 session/week. Although the tuition fee is not as high as at foreign language centers, but with a duration of 3 years, the tuition fee is still over ten million and her child only completed the homework in class but did not improve his knowledge and especially his English speaking reflexes were still poor.

"This is a pity for learning English in Vietnam when there is neither a learning environment at school nor an environment to communicate in English regularly, so after studying for three more years and spending tuition, many students cannot speak a single sentence," said this parent.

Nguyen Minh, a student at a secondary school in Hoai Duc District, Hanoi, admitted that although he is in 8th grade and takes many extra classes, his knowledge is still very limited.

“I learned grammar in class, but every week I had to take an extra class outside to feel secure. Even though I took extra classes, I still couldn’t confidently say a single sentence in English in front of a crowd or my friends. This was my failure,” Minh shared.

Do Van Dung, a first-year student at Hanoi National University, shared that he had just gone through a really ineffective process of learning English in high school because he had only studied grammar and vocabulary for the high school graduation exam for several years. He had almost completely skipped the lessons in the books.

On the other hand, Dung said that in high school, students do not learn the four skills as stated in the textbooks. Some teachers pronounce wrongly, making it difficult for students to learn English when they reach university and very difficult to correct. This affects their English listening and speaking skills.

“The way non-specialized English is taught at universities still focuses on theoretical grammar. If you study communication, the lecturer still uses the method of whoever raises their hand to speak gets points. Because of the boring and uncreative teaching method, I take my studies at school lightly and go to extra classes to supplement my knowledge" - that is what Kim Anh, a senior student at a university in Hanoi shared. With only a few months left to graduate, Kim Anh quickly registered for a communication class so that after graduation she would have the opportunity to get the job she wanted.

What is the error?

When asked why they are not enthusiastic about learning English at school, many students admit that the curriculum is boring, the teachers are old and their pronunciation is sometimes wrong.

Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu, a 7th grade student in Hanoi, said that her class had to study with a teacher who was too old, so there was no updating of knowledge and incorrect pronunciation, so the students gradually lost their love for this subject.

Ms. Do Ngoc Dung, Principal of a secondary school in Hanoi, shared that the school's English department has 4 teachers aged around 50 and 2 young teachers (part-time contract teachers).

According to this principal, due to age, teaching English also has limitations when the number of young teachers who have studied the new method is still small. Contract teachers are teachers from other schools, so innovation has many difficulties.

“The oldest teacher is a 53-year-old male teacher, two other female teachers are 50 years old, and one is 44 years old. The two younger teachers, one born in 1991 and one born in 1999, are only contract teachers. The school only has one teacher with an English teaching degree, but three teachers only studied in the district’s class before,” Ms. Dung shared.

Ms. Dung believes that the new English program develops all four skills for students, but perhaps because the program is quite heavy, not everyone can innovate to make it attractive, so students are not really interested.

As a first-year student at the University of Foreign Languages ​​- Hanoi National University, Do Ngoc Duong had to take extra English classes outside and work as a teaching assistant at an English center to improve his skills.

Duong thinks that the English program at school is quite boring and not attractive enough for students to focus on studying and practicing.

English courses at university teach all four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, but they don't delve too deeply into the content, so I'm not interested in learning English at school and almost skip this subject.

"But to be fair, I and some other students are still lazy and lack motivation to study on their own. Honestly, if students themselves are not motivated to study, no matter how good the teaching method is, they will not make any progress," the male student shared.

Duong suggested that the English curriculum at universities should change in the direction of focusing on all four skills and there should be many presentations in English for students to create an environment for fluent English use. In particular, 100% English should be used in the classroom and divided into levels and English modules to avoid students being overwhelmed.

2024 is the fourth consecutive year that global English proficiency has declined. Notably, Vietnamese English proficiency has dropped five places, dropping into the low proficiency group.

Source: https://danviet.vn/chi-them-chuc-trieu-luyen-ngoai-ngu-nua-cau-cung-khong-dam-noi-20241114070027448.htm