On December 27, the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences and the Management Board of the National Foreign Language Project held a workshop to announce the annual report on foreign language teaching in Vietnam.
MANY CANDIDATES EXEMPTED FROM THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE EXAM AFFECTING THE GRADUATION EXAM SCORES?
Ms. Mai Huu, Head of the National Foreign Language Project Management Board, presented a part of the report stating that according to statistics, the number of candidates exempted from foreign language exams (mostly English) increased significantly in 2022 and 2023 compared to previous years. This number significantly affected the general score distribution as well as the average and median scores of English in these two years. Statistics also showed that the average score of the English exam was relatively stable at over 5 points in recent years. However, Ms. Mai Huu also stated a positive figure that the number of candidates scoring below 5 points nationwide in 2023 (44.83%) decreased significantly compared to 2022 (51.56%).
12th grade students in Ho Chi Minh City during English class
Ms. Mai Huu also cited statistics from the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training) saying that since 2017, the Ministry of Education and Training has reviewed the high school graduation exam in English through the scores of some international exams such as IELTS and TOEIC. Specifically, the Ministry considers exemption from the exam and calculates the graduation score of 10 in foreign languages for candidates with an IELTS certificate of 4.0 or higher or equivalent. Nationwide, the number of candidates exempted from the foreign language exam increases every year, 28,620 in 2021, 35,391 in 2022 and 46,667 in 2023.
However, it can be seen that the results of Vietnamese students are not really outstanding in international English exams. The average IELTS score of students in 2022 is 6.2/9, ranked 23rd in the world - a similar position to 3 countries India, Korea and Pakistan. In addition, the average TOEFL score of Vietnamese students in 2022 is 77/120, ranked 24th out of 30 countries in the Asia region.
In both of these exams, Vietnamese students showed their strengths in reading and listening, and had the most difficulty with speaking, with the average speaking score for the TOEFL exam being 14/30 and for the IELTS exam being 5.8. In addition, for the national high school graduation exam, the average score of students from 2021 to 2023 was 6/10, with 42-50% of students scoring below 5 points. Therefore, over the years, researchers, educators, and policy makers have paid special attention to the barriers that Vietnamese students are facing in the process of acquiring and using foreign languages, thereby providing solutions to help students improve their language skills, especially English.
Students learn English in the function room
IS IT WORRIABLE THAT FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS NO LONGER A COMPULSORY SUBJECT?
During the discussion, the representative of the Tien Giang Department of Education and Training also raised concerns about whether foreign languages becoming an optional subject would affect the teaching and learning of this subject in high schools because the general mentality is still to learn as the exam is. Does the National Foreign Language Project have any solutions to solve this problem?
Ms. Mai Huu stated that this policy basically has positive impacts, in which it follows the general trend in the world of increasing assessment for learning purposes. The high school graduation exam is a summative assessment, so it will not have a negative impact on teaching and learning like assessment for learning purposes or assessment of the teaching process.
Students may not choose this subject for the high school graduation exam, but teachers must also conduct assessments in each lesson more actively and effectively to improve teaching. When conducting a large-scale test such as a national exam, it will be difficult to fully integrate the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, so assessing the learner's ability will be difficult. However, in class and at school, it is completely possible to assess the learner's overall ability more fully.
Ms. Mai Huu emphasized: "There may be students who think that because they don't have to take the exam, they won't study anymore, but if teachers closely follow the requirements of the program and students must meet the program's standards to pass that subject in each class, then I believe that whether or not there is a high school graduation exam will not greatly affect the effectiveness of teaching that subject in the general education system."
Professor Hoang Van Van (Hanoi National University) confirmed that the concerns of the Tien Giang Department of Education and Training are the concerns of many teachers, schools and localities. However, assessing the impact of educational policies will take many years, sometimes even decades. According to Professor Van, any policy will directly impact foreign language teaching. Referring to the fact that foreign languages will no longer be a compulsory subject in the high school graduation exam from 2025, Professor Van predicted that only about 20% of students will choose this subject to take the exam.
Learning a foreign language must be a personal need.
Professor Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, said that studying for exams is still a problem. However, studying hard to get high scores does not necessarily mean that it can be used. "If learners do not see that studying hard is to use English as a tool later, is it a waste of both teaching and learning? If learning a foreign language is a personal need to use it as a tool, then studying will be much easier," said Mr. Vinh.
Professor Nguyen Loc, former Vice President of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, said that if English is not compulsory, we should not worry because if it is a personal need, students will study it regardless of whether the subject is compulsory or not.
9 POINTS IN GRADUATION EXAM BUT CAN'T SPEAK OR HEAR
Dr. Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung, Head of the English Pedagogy Department, University of Foreign Languages (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), shared that in recent years, the entrance scores of the University of Foreign Languages have been very high, for example, to enter the English language major, students must achieve an average of 9 points/subject. However, in the past 3 years, the school has classified students according to their foreign language proficiency level to adjust the training program. Except for students with international language certificates, those who only have English test results in the high school graduation exam must take the school's classification exam.
The results show that although they scored 9 points in English in the high school graduation exam, most of the students only achieved level B1 (level 3) according to the school's classification test. "That means that English is now a compulsory subject in the high school graduation exam, so students are studying to get high scores according to the way the exam is set, but that does not mean that they have developed their foreign language skills. During the past 2 years, students who only achieved level B1 have had a very hard time studying. Our teachers also had a hard time teaching because the students cannot listen, speak, and read very difficultly," said Ms. Nhung.
Therefore, Ms. Nhung believes that foreign languages are no longer a compulsory subject, which will create opportunities to reduce pressure on students and teachers. Students can study the subject according to their interests and abilities, and teachers can spend more time developing comprehensive abilities, learning to use and communicate in foreign languages.
"I hope math is an elective subject in high school"
Professor Le Anh Vinh also shared that he majored in mathematics, and mathematics has always been "favored" as a compulsory subject and exam, but he always hoped that mathematics at high school level would be an elective subject. At that time, students would be able to choose this subject according to their interests and abilities, and learn what is suitable for their abilities and career orientation. Teachers would also be very happy because students would not complain about being afraid of learning mathematics, afraid of seeing math exams... "The best thing to aim for is to study to develop one's abilities and study exactly what one needs. The right policy but the right timing is also important," said Professor Vinh.
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