Tighten foreign language output standards

Many final year university students cannot graduate on time due to “debt” of foreign language certificates. To limit this situation,universities have been offering solutions to innovate training and assessment to improve students’ foreign language proficiency.

According to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training , the Vietnamese foreign language proficiency framework (VSTEP certificate) is applied to consider the output of university students issued under Decision No. 1982/QD-TTg in 2016. Accordingly, university students need to achieve English proficiency from level 3/6, equivalent to level B1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​- CEFR or IELTS 5.0. The B1 certificate is the minimum standard that most universities apply to assess foreign language output conditions. The language major is level 5 according to the Vietnamese foreign language proficiency framework.

In addition, each university has different adjustments to foreign language output standards; including the application of international certificates such as IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL and other language certificates. Students can choose one of these certificates or take an internal exam at the school to qualify for graduation.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology requires students to have a TOEIC score of 500 or higher to graduate. In addition, students must also meet foreign language standards according to accumulated credits; the school limits the amount of study for students who do not meet foreign language standards or requires students to meet English standards to write their graduation thesis... Statistics show that each year, only about 70% of students graduate on time. Thousands of students are expelled, owe subjects or do not meet English output standards, so they cannot graduate.

The University of Finance and Marketing reported that every year, about 20% of students fail to meet the English output standards. Meanwhile, more than 20% of students at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law fail to meet this standard. It is known that the school's English output standards are TOEIC 450 points for the general system and 650 points for the high-quality system.

In fact, the English output standards of many schools compared to the European benchmark score comparison table are only average, but many students still have difficulty completing the required standards and graduate late. One of the reasons is that they think that certificates are usually only valid for 2 years, so they only focus on reviewing in their 3rd or 4th year. However, for various reasons such as part-time work schedules, fear of learning foreign languages, etc., students are still slow in completing their certificates. Lack of initiative in their study plans and their own subjectivity are preventing many students from improving their foreign language skills.

It is a fact that most students have learned English from a very early age in school, with compulsory programs according to the current general education program and optional programs. However, due to large classes and facilities that do not meet the requirements for teaching foreign languages, even after studying for decades, there are still students who cannot listen or speak English.

Dr. Le Nguyen Quoc Khang - Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City Open University said that the school's solution is that right after admission, students will be tested in foreign languages, then classified and arranged into classes according to their abilities and levels of competence. The school selects lecturers to have appropriate teaching methods for students to improve their foreign language skills, helping them not only graduate smoothly without owing foreign language output standards but also meet the foreign language proficiency requirements of employers. The school aims to ensure a sufficient foreign language foundation and capital for communication (listening - speaking) in training human resources towards an open and integrated labor market.

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To improve students' foreign language skills, according to Associate Professor Dr. Pham Thi Hoang Anh - Deputy Director of Banking Academy, the school needs to innovate the foreign language curriculum, classify students according to their level and organize foreign language courses at different levels so that students can study according to their abilities. The curriculum needs to focus on application with teaching content aimed at developing foreign language skills in real-life situations. Assessment and evaluation also need to be innovated in a comprehensive way, including listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/siet-chuan-dau-ra-ngoai-ngu-10293556.html