The negative effects of foreign language certificates

It is necessary to promote students' motivation to learn foreign languages rather than "race" to get certificates.

Students and parents need to understand correctly the effects of foreign language certificates to determine goals and promote learning motivation so as not to expect priority from any certificate.

Imbalance due to foreign language certificates

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has issued an official dispatch requesting provinces and cities to stop direct admission and giving priority points to candidates with excellent student awards or international language certificates to public grade 10.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - Director of the Department of SecondaryEducation (Ministry of Education and Training), the Ministry removed the regulations on incentive points, including the regulation on prioritizing IELTS certificates in 10th grade admissions, because it realized that it could cause unfairness. In fact, in the same locality, students in the central area have easier access to studying and obtaining foreign language certificates. On the contrary, in disadvantaged areas, even if they want to study foreign languages well, travel conditions and tuition fees are always big obstacles. Therefore, using certificates for admissions is unfair.

Looking back at reality, in recent years the “race” for foreign language certificates such as IELTS, TOIEC, TOEFL iBT... is accelerating as most parents and students want to own foreign language “tickets” to pass, to be admitted directly, to add points and to gain knowledge. In particular, the number of IELTS learners is increasing.

According to the report on foreign language teaching and learning in Vietnam in 2023 published by the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences and the National Foreign Language Project Management Board at the end of December 2023, the age of Vietnamese people taking the IELTS test is getting younger and younger. After 5 years since 2018, the proportion of students aged 16 - 22 in the total number of IELTS test takers increased to 62%. In particular, the 16 - 18 age group accounted for 30%, an increase of 20 times compared to 2018; the 19 - 22 age group increased more than 2 times; and the group over 23 years old decreased by more than half, from nearly 52% to 20%.

Taking foreign language certificate preparation courses is not a bad thing, however, the time and age to start the certificate learning process is not really of interest to many people. If students want to have a foreign language certificate to apply for admission to grade 10, they need to take courses according to the certificate exam preparation program from grade 7 or 8.

This goes against the recommendation of the IELTS test organizer that students under 16 years old should not study IELTS. The IELTS test content has a lot of scientific and specialized content, requiring students to have basic knowledge and certain understanding of specific fields. These requirements are not suitable for a 13-14 year old student.

Ms. Vu Thu Hoai, an English teacher at Son Dong High School (Bac Giang) said: “There are many students in the city who study for the IELTS certificate, but only a few are passionate about it. The rest are guided or even forced by their parents, because they think that getting the certificate early will give them an advantage when they enter grade 10 and university. To do that, they may have to work day and night to focus on getting this certificate or that certificate, and even have to take the exam many times. From the perspective of an English teacher, I always want students to develop their foreign language skills. Therefore, getting a certificate for 4 skills would be very good.”

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thanh Nam - Vice Principal of the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) analyzed that direct admission of high school students through IELTS certificate may stem from the positive perception of some parents and schools who want to guide their children towards global citizenship, one of which is foreign language.

However, this desire seems to be distorted by “achievementism”. As if becoming a trend, some high schools rely on foreign language proficiency as a criterion for priority, class placement, and school selection. Many experts also do not support the “preference” for considering foreign language certificates from high school because in reality, many problems will arise.

In addition, it also causes the consequences of lopsided learning, rote learning, students ignore the main subjects to focus on IELTS review, which will inadvertently make them miss out on a lot of basic foundational knowledge. At this level of education, parents need to prepare their children for independent critical thinking to adapt to the constant changes of the times.

Indeed, a foreign language certificate is only a necessary condition, not a sufficient condition for students to enter grade 10. To relieve exam pressure for candidates at the present time, the first thing is to change the perception of parents.

Should be for college level

With the ability to absorb knowledge according to age limits, parents should not force their children to study foreign language certificates early, but should let them feel interested and have the desire to study this subject. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh believes that studying foreign languages is a personal need. Study to master foreign languages, use them as a means of studying and working, not just to get certificates for admission.

Foreign language certificates are only effective when learners really need them for work and study purposes, such as university admissions, studying abroad registration, and recognition of foreign language proficiency for students upon graduation.

This year, with the admission method announced by universities, candidates with international language certificates will have more advantages than the remaining group of candidates. This is because the admission policies of schools increasingly tend to give priority to students who are good at foreign languages. Notably, many universities accept the conversion of foreign language certificate scores into foreign language subject scores in admissions. For example, with IELTS 4.5, candidates can be converted into 7-10 English subject points instead of this subject score in the high school graduation exam or school report card score.

For students preparing to graduate from university, having a foreign language certificate will open up many opportunities to receive a job after graduation. Investing in foreign languages while still a student is the most profitable investment if you know how to take advantage of the certificate's functions.

It can be seen that foreign language certificates will bring many advantages to learners, but that does not mean that they depend too much on the certificate because its validity is limited to 2 years. After all, learning and practicing foreign languages every day is still important. Therefore, to achieve learning opportunities and integrate into the world of students, Vietnamese students always need to be active, proactive, and improve their foreign language skills.

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