Through its course of a long history, Vietnam has successfully resisted not only the Chinese over-a-thousand-year domination but also the invasions of two Western powers, namely France and America. Under the Chinese rule, assimilation was inevitable that, like many other Asian countries, the culture of Vietnam is considerably influenced by its Chinese counterpart, as reflected in many aspects of life such as educational system, literature and social norms (Nguyen, 2002; Le, 2011). Huyen (2002) reported that Vietnamese culture clearly reflects a blending inheritance of Confucian ideologies, Taoism and Buddhism (as cited in Le, 2011).
In Vietnam, a person is expected to exhibit his “strong sense of being a part of a community than being an individual” …show more content…
English writing in a Vietnamese setting
In the world of a globally oriented economy, more emphasis has been put on the crucial role of English as the most popular lingua franca by Vietnamese educators and learners. For me, as an EFL student at Hanoi University, I find that my biggest challenges do not lie in the vocabulary or grammar but in established learning styles acquired from earlier English education and cultural background knowledge.
With respect to English teaching and learning in secondary education in a Vietnamese setting, more emphasis has been placed on the language knowledge mastery rather than language for authentic communication (Le, 2011; Nguyen, 2012). Instead of facilitating learners to use English to create a meaningful discourse, the main teaching - learning approach, being reading –focused and grammar-oriented, relies heavily on students’ having to learn grammar structures by heart, memorise and use them accurately in examinations. Even in some written assessment tests requiring students to write a paragraph in English, they can simply create a piece of written work at a grammatically right sentence building level. English writing, hence, is not a priority and seems to have no standing in the curriculum of secondary education in …show more content…
Rationale of the study
That English is being used more and more in an international context is beyond a shadow of doubt. What is more, English is the most often taught as a second language (L2) or as a foreign language (FL) in the majority of countries in the world. Among the four core language skills, however, writing has received the least scholastic attention since, according to Morley (1984), it employs the lowest frequency of daily language use, accounting for approximately 10 % of time spent on communication, compared to that of listening, speaking and reading (50, 25, 15 % respectively).
“Writing is one of the most authentic and interactive ways of transferring thoughts and ideas to others” (Dastjerdi & Samian, 2011, p. 65). Mastering this productive skill requires much effort as it involves a complicated process (Raoofi et al., 2014; Hammad, 2013), which is even considered as “a form of problem-solving” (White & Arndt, 1991, as cited in Hammad, 2013, p. 1). Thus, writing skill can be said to be the most challenging one not only for first language (L1) but also for foreign language learners. With regard to an EFL context, learning to write English essays is specifically problematic for Vietnamese students, according to recent test results from the Educational Testing Service (Trinh & Nguyen, 2014). Reasons may vary, not necessarily due to the limited language proficiency, but also the different experience and background knowledge, resulting from distinctive cultures
In Vietnam, a person is expected to exhibit his “strong sense of being a part of a community than being an individual” …show more content…
English writing in a Vietnamese setting
In the world of a globally oriented economy, more emphasis has been put on the crucial role of English as the most popular lingua franca by Vietnamese educators and learners. For me, as an EFL student at Hanoi University, I find that my biggest challenges do not lie in the vocabulary or grammar but in established learning styles acquired from earlier English education and cultural background knowledge.
With respect to English teaching and learning in secondary education in a Vietnamese setting, more emphasis has been placed on the language knowledge mastery rather than language for authentic communication (Le, 2011; Nguyen, 2012). Instead of facilitating learners to use English to create a meaningful discourse, the main teaching - learning approach, being reading –focused and grammar-oriented, relies heavily on students’ having to learn grammar structures by heart, memorise and use them accurately in examinations. Even in some written assessment tests requiring students to write a paragraph in English, they can simply create a piece of written work at a grammatically right sentence building level. English writing, hence, is not a priority and seems to have no standing in the curriculum of secondary education in …show more content…
Rationale of the study
That English is being used more and more in an international context is beyond a shadow of doubt. What is more, English is the most often taught as a second language (L2) or as a foreign language (FL) in the majority of countries in the world. Among the four core language skills, however, writing has received the least scholastic attention since, according to Morley (1984), it employs the lowest frequency of daily language use, accounting for approximately 10 % of time spent on communication, compared to that of listening, speaking and reading (50, 25, 15 % respectively).
“Writing is one of the most authentic and interactive ways of transferring thoughts and ideas to others” (Dastjerdi & Samian, 2011, p. 65). Mastering this productive skill requires much effort as it involves a complicated process (Raoofi et al., 2014; Hammad, 2013), which is even considered as “a form of problem-solving” (White & Arndt, 1991, as cited in Hammad, 2013, p. 1). Thus, writing skill can be said to be the most challenging one not only for first language (L1) but also for foreign language learners. With regard to an EFL context, learning to write English essays is specifically problematic for Vietnamese students, according to recent test results from the Educational Testing Service (Trinh & Nguyen, 2014). Reasons may vary, not necessarily due to the limited language proficiency, but also the different experience and background knowledge, resulting from distinctive cultures