Some Aspects of the Teaching of English in Viet Nam

In regard to the teaching of English, which is replacing French as a foreign language, Viet Nam presents some unique aspects and some individual problems. More secondary school students are selecting English as their foreign language choice; English departments in the universities are expanding rapidly; the teacher shortage is increasing. One result is a large number of "improvised" secondary school teachers who teach by the grammar-translation method. Their students, upon reaching university level, have problems in comprehension, conversation, and writing. In one effort to remedy this situation, the University of Cantho selects native-speaking English teachers from various English-speaking countries and uses English as the medium of exchange, exclusively. All aspects of the program of English studies are linguistically oriented. Skills in reading and comprehension, vocabulary and writing are carried over from the spoken lessons--students learn, for example, that punctuation is a representation of the factors of stress, intonation, and juncture. Senior students receive courses in descriptive linguistics and literature. In addition to the language, the students learn about the various cultures of their English teachers. The author feels that social environment can be created around schools as an appendant to the classroom, library, and laboratory. (AMM)