Primary English Language Education Policy in Vietnam’s Disadvantaged Areas: Implementation Barriers

- Do, Thi Thanh Tra; Sellars, Maura; Le, Thi Thuy

Title
Primary English Language Education Policy in Vietnam’s Disadvantaged Areas: Implementation Barriers
Creator
Do, Thi Thanh Tra; Sellars, Maura; Le, Thi Thuy
Relation
Education Sciences Vol. 12, Issue 7, no. 445
Publisher Link
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/educsci12070445
Publisher
MDPI AG
Resource Type
journal article
Date
2022
Description
In the context of English as a global language, compulsory English language education at the primary level has become an inevitable trend in many non-English-speaking countries, including Vietnam. However, there have been concerns regarding how English language policy is realised across contextual settings, especially in rural and remote areas of Vietnam. Based on language-in-education goals, this article investigates English language policy implementation in Vietnam’s rural and remote areas from the perspective of primary English teachers from 2008 onwards. The present paper employs a desk review of existing literature, policy analysis, and semi-structured interviews. Data collected from multiple sources show the inequality of access to English language learning in the rural localities. The findings also indicate a significant gap between the current English language policy goals and implementation in the rural primary sector regarding slow execution, curriculum variations, limited teaching resources, inappropriate pedagogy, and assessment. These problems have been accelerated due to a shortage of teachers as well as inconsistency and limitations related to pre-service teacher training programs and recruitment. Identifying significant challenges of English language policy implementation in the Northwest of Vietnam helps shed light on primary English education in remote and marginalised regions. Therefore, the recommendations target policy makers, teacher educators, and stakeholders to assist primary English teachers in rural areas to improve and advance the success of primary English education in Vietnam’s remote areas and beyond the specific context to which it refers.
Subject
primary english teaching; english language education; policy implementation
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1458220
Identifier
uon:45404
Identifier
ISSN:2227-7102
Rights
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Language
eng
Full Text
Reviewed
  • Hits: 360
  • Visitors: 418
  • Downloads: 66
Thumbnail File Description Size Format
ATTACHMENT02 Publisher version (open access) 283 KB Adobe Acrobat PDF
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact
  • Deposit