Cultural Effects on Learning and Teaching English in Vietnam

Nguyen Thi Hoai An

Studies of South East Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO)

Since 1986, when the open-door policy and doi moi began to be applied in Vietnam, the country and its
people have witnessed significant changes in many aspects of their lives. People from other countries
started to come in with investments. The presence of multinationals in Vietnam, in particular, has created an
appetite for learning English. So, after suffering years of neglect, English has regained its position of
importance from Russian and French. English schools and centres have been mushrooming all over the
country, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, the most populated city in Vietnam.

In the light of globalisation, language and culture cannot be separate from our daily lives (Maley, 1996). It is
also undeniable that language plays an essential role in the perpetuation of culture (Kramsch, 2000).
Therefore, this survey is designed to provide an overview of how cultural factors affect the learning and
teaching of English in Vietnam. The influence of Confucianism and more modern philosophies needs to be
investigated to get a picture of the classroom culture in which the target language is taught and learnt, as
language needs to be understood within the particular context in which it is used (Pennycook, 1997).
Because of the policy of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), English teaching is exam-oriented,
aiming at training students for the two most important exams: high school graduation exams and the
National English Exams-A B C for elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels respectively. While high
school graduation exams focus on reading comprehension, translation, and grammar use, the National
English Exams include not only the above components but also require additional speaking tests, in which
candidates are given topics in advance to prepare for presentations. The textbooks used for high school
courses are grammar-based, written by groups of Vietnamese authors, while those used for the National
English Exams are the Streamline English series by Bernard Hartley and Peter Viney. In such circumstances,
it is no wonder that the grammar translation method is widely used at the high school level. Universities and
private language schools enjoy more freedom in choosing from a wider variety of textbooks and methods,
with Oxford University Press as the main publisher and provider.

To elaborate on the current situation of learning and teaching English, I will address two issues concerning
the effects of Confucianism: the traditional method of teaching and the implementation of communicative
language teaching (CLT). A questionnaire was distributed to 230 learners at different levels studying at
language centres, high schools, and universities in Ho Chi Minh City. The aim was to test the hypothesis that
because of the effects of Confucianism, Vietnamese learners are passive and dependent on their teachers
and their attitudes towards CLT are negative. A similar study was conducted on a smaller scale with 128
teachers in the city at the same time, also to learn about cultural effects on their teaching. The data
presented in this article are based on the results from both surveys.

It would be hard to make any wide generalisation in this article because each region in the country has its
own unique features in language learning and teaching. However, as Ho Chi Minh City is the centre of
culture, education, and commerce, it is possible to collect data from this city to present an overview of the
whole environment.

Learners' Attitudes

The Vietnamese people have a long tradition of appreciation of educational achievements. However, Tong
(2000) points out that the remaining traditions do not always represent the most beautiful aspects of the
people but may contain elements to hinder progress and create inappropriate attitudes toward
improvement. One aspect of this tradition is reflected in the hierarchy of both the society and education
systems. The highest institute of education is MOET, which decides all the activities of the whole education
system. School authorities, teachers, and students have almost no power at all. Their success is usually
assessed by the results of exams and passing exams shows their mastery of knowledge. Respect paid to
teachers is another piece of evidence of how Confucianism has left its stamp on classroom culture. Phuoc
(1975, cited in Ellis, 1995, p. 10) notes that "the Confucian model is teacher-centred, closed, suspicious of
creativity, and predicated on an unquestioning obedience from the students." The compulsory book
recitation in the old days accounts for the popularity of the translation and grammar method in learning and
teaching English today.

Language learning is still generally thought of as a process of accumulating knowledge (Pham, 1999). As
Pierson (1996) observes, this situation is similar to that of Hong Kong, where the influence of Chinese
traditional learning is strong. In the Hong Kong learning environment, the student is viewed as the passive
recipient of knowledge. Out of 230 respondents of the Ho Chi Minh City questionnaire, 94% show a strong
interest in learning grammar with their replies falling into the categories of like and like very much on a
scale from one to six. This way of learning a language is mirrored in the way Vietnamese language is being
taught to elementary students, who are required to do a great deal of grammar analysis. One common
problem of this learning style is that students can do grammar exercises very well but cannot apply
grammar usage when they write or speak (Nguyen Ngoc Hai, personal communication, 2001). However,
despite a huge and lucrative market of textbooks translated into Vietnamese, 41.3% of respondents state a
strong dislike for doing translation.

Ellis (1995) writes that teaching and learning styles are mainly decided by the value orientations of a
particular society. He believes that communicative activities, unfamiliar to Vietnamese learners, may not be
welcome. Other researchers, such as Le (1999), report that Vietnam is a country where English is taught as
a decontextualised subject. These researchers point out that choral repetition is a common practice and
learners avoid interrupting, asking for clarification, or challenging each other. In an exam-oriented
environment like Vietnam, testing strongly affects learners' motivation and learning styles and because
there are no real communicative tests in Vietnam, the learners hardly see the need to carry out
communicative activities in class. Le (1999, p. 75) also asserts that providing an opportunity for
communicative activities is "unrealistic and impracticable in Vietnamese settings."

So far, it seems that Vietnam is not a hospitable environment for the communicative approach.
Nevertheless, a closer look at the situation presents a different view. While it is true that the grammar
translation method is considered the basis for English teaching and learning, CLT, since first implemented in
the early of 1990s, has gained certain favourable approval. The doi moi policy has given the Vietnamese
occasions to show that they are open-minded and willing to learn foreign languages (Do, 1999). A strong
indication of this tendency is the noticeable increase, from 83% to 94%, of the respondents who say they
approve of communicative activities such as pair and group work and problem solving. The opportunities to
practise with expatriates and to join English-speaking clubs are welcomed by 95% and 87.9% respectively.
This explains why it is quite easy for English native speakers to obtain teaching jobs in the big cities. An
expatriate with a degree, though it may not be an EFL degree, is usually paid a much higher salary than an
experienced Vietnamese teacher. Large language centres offering courses taught by native speakers charge
much more than those where there are no native speakers. Regardless of the quality of teaching, the
centres with native English speaking teachers are looked at as a privilege for wealthy students.

An essential point is that communicative activities are not unfamiliar to the learners at private language
schools and universities while it is extremely hard for high school teachers to cover all the items in the
curricula and carry out supplementary communicative activities. This difficulty arises partly due to the time
allocated to their teaching and partly due to the wish to avoid the noise students may make during an
activity as the school should be a place where students keep silent while listening to teachers and copying
from the board. So, the fast expansion of the private English language teaching sector has provided
opportunities for learners to practise their communicative skills.

It is also at these private schools and universities that learners can have contact with native speakers of
English to develop their receptive and productive skills more effectively. Foreign publishers like Oxford
University Press have been beneficial as learners have access to more modern and more communicative
resources. English speaking clubs are set up at private language institutes and universities where, with the
help of both Vietnamese and expatriate teachers, learners voluntarily come for opportunities to use English
in realistic situations. Although Jones (1995) observes that the culture of traditional Vietnamese education
insists on quiet and subservient students, in another article, he points out that East Asian students are
willing to take part in discussions within groups (Jones, 1995, cited in Littlewood, 1999). From my personal
experience, pair and group work creates enough confidence for even weak students to join in following class
discussions. This conforms with the concept of individualism and collectivism in the findings of Hofstede
(1991). Working in groups to achieve their goals gives Vietnamese learners a supportive relationship while
striving for the target language competence.
A common complaint from Vietnamese learners is that their shyness hinders their learning process. The
same respondents show that they do want to avoid making themselves conspicuous. This is another
indicator of the collectivist feature as the majority of learners do not feel comfortable if they need to use
their "I" identity. Before speaking up, individual students want to make sure they have the sanction of their
peers. The anxiety of losing face if giving a wrong answer may be the reason for 69.3% feeling shy and very
shy when they make mistakes and 46.7% feel the same when they are called on to give their opinions.
Besides personality factors that may lead to shyness, students are not trained or encouraged to think
independently. In all the subjects they study, they have to follow what they are taught according to the
curricula and textbooks prescribed by MOET. Nevertheless, 67.8% of the respondents do not feel shy at all
when they are the only one who knows the answer. This is a deviation from the norm and can be interpreted
as a sign of risk taking similar to the attitudes of students in Western countries.

The shift toward a new way of learning with more opportunity to use the target language, not only in the
classroom but also in reality has brought a livelier atmosphere to learning and teaching English in Vietnam.
More language centres inside Ho Chi Minh City now cater to more and more students living in the suburbs.
One of the reasons these students go such a long distance for their English studies is because they believe
these centres can provide them with more communicative courses (Le Tran Hong Phuc, interview, 2001).
The need to use English in actual communicative contexts is beginning to emerge as learners realise that the
traditional learning and teaching styles do not help them communicate with foreigners, both native and
nonnative speakers of English. "The way English was learned and taught at high school did not help me to
speak and understand English at work" (Phuc, interview, 2001).

Development in the society brings forth the demand of using English in the work place, especially in the field
of computer and research sciences. It is not uncommon to hear complaints from foreign companies
recruiting Vietnamese staff that even candidates who have got the National English certificate level C, the
highest level, cannot speak and understand everyday English (Harry Brown, personal communication,
2001). Some months ago, a Singaporean software company wanted to recruit 100 Vietnamese engineers.
Out of 1,500 applicants, only three were accepted because the others could not use English while being
interviewed (Co Hoi Tim Viec, 2001, p. 15). Such an experience will certainly increase the need to acquire
English for communication at work.

Another factor that urges learners to alter their traditional aversion to communicative learning is the annual
availability of scholarships. In addition to 4,000 Vietnamese students already in Australia, the Australian
Development Scholarship scheme -- with US $42.5 million for the 2001-2002 plan (Vietnam News, 2001, 3)
will certainly contribute to the growing need for enhancement. There are many other institutes in Vietnam
donating scholarships and offering similar programmes.

The results of this survey suggest that Vietnamese learners are no longer completely passive. In fact, they
enjoy participating in activities that help them to use the language. It may not be the right time to say
whether CLT has worked very well with Vietnamese learners. However, the changes cannot be ignored and
there is hope for more efficient and effective learners, especially with the increasing need for communicative
English.

Teachers' Attitudes

One of the reasons for the popularity of the grammar translation method is that teachers are expected to
know all the answers and prescriptive grammar rules are easy to memorise. This is in conformity with
Hostede's dimension of uncertainty avoidance. Hofstede (1991) comments that in communities with strong
uncertainty-avoidance, learners expect their teachers to know all the answers. The effects of the power-
distance relationship between teachers and learners, similar to that in countries with a Confucian cultural
inheritance, make learners exclusively dependent on the teachers' excellence (Hofstede, 1991). Such
expectations give English teachers in Vietnam the role of enlightening their students or in other words,
making learning occur. It is the situation that Wenden (1997, p. 249) states ". . . the teacher is viewed as
the 'producer', empowered with the expertise to fulfil their demands and be blamed when learning does not
occur." Beside this, other requirements of language teachers in our modern time, which Jaatinen (2001,
p.106) describes as a "multi-dimensional, ambiguous and constantly changing world," force them to face
several professional tasks. In the case of English teachers in Vietnam, selecting and applying an appropriate
teaching method is not an easy task. Awareness of new concepts in the field of language teaching and
learning increases the pressure of enhancing their teaching skills while shouldering their enormous
workload.
The results of the teacher survey with 128 respondents present a rather new image of teachers who give
their students more respect as individuals. In the classroom family, as the education environment is often
viewed, these teachers have opened the door to welcome more communicative activities than just the
grammar and translation activities. This could lead to taking each individual's needs into consideration. The
teachers are more open-minded to accept that rote learning, though it is still approved by several learners
and teachers, is not the best way to learn English. Their classroom activities have reached a more colourful,
and hopefully, more effective, phase. Among the respondents are many teachers teaching at high schools
"where power distance is stronger than at language centres" (Phuc, interview, 2001). Therefore, the
acceptance of disagreement from students (from 85.7% of the respondents) could be interpreted as the first
step toward recognition of the learners' independence.

Taking into account the weaknesses in the teacher training system, the limitations of resources, the lack of
time for self-development projects, the imposing requirements by MOET, and especially the impact of the
traditional method, the recognition and approval these teachers have given to CLT are meaningful. In an
attempt to apply a more communicative approach to teaching grammar, the teachers at the Ho Chi Minh
City Teachers' Training College have shifted toward the role of facilitators by asking their students to work in
groups and give presentations on grammar points. This is to replace lectures and exercises which do not
improve grammar usage (Phan Ngoc Dung, interview, 2001).

Another significant aspect is the consent for cooperation among teachers. From the position of a person who
gets paramount respect from students and has the right to create his or her exclusive "court," like a king or
queen as the familiar comparison is often made, the agreement to exchange experiences is the first step on
the long road to improvement. However, the majority state they do not feel very comfortable when
observed by their colleagues, 81.2% of 128 respondents. So, exchanging experiences means at meetings or
outside their classrooms. This attitude may derive from regular teacher observations that were forced on
teachers who had their classes observed and criticised. This was a compulsory step in judging if a teacher
could meet the criteria to be entitled "an avant-garde teacher," which resulted in some awards for provision
stamps and money. Several teachers viewed the procedure as a means to take control of their work rather
than to help them with their profession.

Strong competition among the centres and the need for professional progress have made many teachers
take the challenge of teaching courses using textbooks other than Streamline(La Truong Duy, personal
communication, 2001), the core textbook for nearly all the National English Exams.

While teachers are trying to cope with learners' needs, they realise that feedback from their students is
worth taking into account (96.9% of 128 respondents). This means they consider reflection on their teaching
is necessary. Exactly 95.5% of the respondents also agree that learners should be helped to become more
self-reliant in their own studies. These changes certainly contribute to their teaching English in a more
communicative way.

Conclusion

Generally speaking, the Vietnamese education is still heavily influenced by the traditional, grammar-
translation centred methods. Although there have been signals of CLT approval, it is not adequate to confirm
that CLT is so far the most successful method in Vietnam. However, Larsen-Freeman (1999) remarks that
educators themselves should be responsible for making decisions on appropriate methodology, bearing their
students' needs in mind. In order to achieve this goal, Vietnamese educators need to carry out
improvements in teacher training, curriculum design, and the testing network as soon as possible. Above all,
a more open policy and help from MOET would provide both Vietnamese learners and teachers with more
beneficial opportunities. Periodic seminars and workshops are requisite measures to promote teachers'
collaboration and enhance their teaching skills. In short, there is still a long way to go but it is justifiable to
take an optimistic view of learning and teaching English in Vietnam.

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Nguyen Thi Hoai An started teaching EFL in 1976 to high school students. Since 1994 she has been
working as a freelance teacher at various state and private universities as well as language centres in Ho Chi
Minh City. From her work with University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), first as an
Oral Examiner, then as a Consultant and Regional Team Leader (Speaking Tests), Nguyen Thi Hoai An has
developed interests in the language testing system in Vietnam. Her concerns for testing also include
teaching methodologies and positive backwash effects of testing on teaching and learning English.

Even in the restricted situation of Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hoai An considers learner autonomy valuable and
tries to implement and promote it in her classes. On the teacher education side, her collaboration with her
colleagues has involved her in providing educational consultancy to different language organizations in Ho
Chi Minh City and preparing the set-up of the first TESOL club in the city.