The problem with 'deaf and dumb' English testing

Vietnam's English testing has long been "deaf and dumb" in that it only tests reading comprehension and grammar without paying attention to listening and speaking.

Speaking at the New Directions 2016 international conference on foreign language testing recently co-organized by the British Council, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Management Board of the National Foreign Language Project 2020, Dr. Vu Thi Phuong Anh, Deputy Director of the Center for Education Quality Training and Support, Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, said that Vietnam's English testing has long been "deaf and dumb", the assessment only focuses on vocabulary, heavily on grammar, and the reading comprehension section also focuses on general topics, with little connection to real life. Therefore, even though students get "sky-high" scores, they still cannot use them in practice.

Exams that focus heavily on grammar and reading comprehension make learners reluctant to listen and speak English (Illustration photo).

Speaking about the issue of English testing in Vietnam today, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quynh, Director of the Testing Center of the University of Foreign Languages ​​(Hanoi National University) said that testing is an important activity, an essential step in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages. However, in Vietnam, this activity has not been given attention from the beginning. The role of foreign language testing has only been properly placed since 2007, when preparing for the Foreign Language Project 2020.

Accordingly, in recent years, the Ministry of Education and Training has been building internal testing capacity, gradually reducing dependence on foreign testing, and moving towards building tools to assess Vietnam's capacity. However, looking at it as a whole, Vietnam's English testing is still lacking and weak in many places.

Currently in Vietnam, there are only 10 institutions under the Ministry of Education and Training that are recognized for their foreign language testing capabilities, capable of assessing, testing, reviewing and issuing certificates to learners. However, there is still no unit to monitor and ensure the quality of the above 10 institutions. Many delegates believe that Vietnam needs a national testing center and appropriate policies to ensure the quality of foreign language proficiency assessment.

In reality, many universities and colleges apply English output standards for students. However, the phenomenon of students meeting the standards but still “not being able to speak or write fluently” still exists.

Discussing this issue, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quynh said that the fact that the test is not closely aligned with actual needs is one of the key reasons: “What the school assesses is not really suitable for the needs of the employer. That is, what we assess is not based on what needs to be assessed… Ensuring that workers can do their jobs well may require some skills such as foreign language skills in negotiation… But when building the test, it does not focus on those necessary skills, creating a gap between what we are assessing and the actual need to assess.”

The second reason, according to Dr. Quynh, is the quality of assessment, assessment tools or in other words, the assessment tests of the units and facilities conducting the test are not really of good enough quality to accurately assess the level of learners, leading to substantive output.

According to Dr. Vu Thi Phuong Anh, as long as Vietnam has not changed the teaching and learning of English from pressure to motivation, the quality of English will still be difficult to improve.

Standard English, don't equalize 63 provinces and cities!

Having experience teaching in many schools, Mr. Ngo Xuan Minh, lecturer of the English Pedagogy Department, University of Foreign Languages ​​(Vietnam National University, Hanoi) said that the quality of teaching and learning foreign languages ​​in Vietnam is changing rapidly, but the development is uneven. While students in big cities are gradually approaching international standards, students in rural, remote and economically disadvantaged areas are quite far from the standards. To overcome this situation, Mr. Minh said that it is impossible to come up with immediate and breakthrough solutions, but there should be improvements step by step, socializing the whole process.

According to Dr. Phuong Anh, if we want to improve the quality of English for learners, there is no other way but to change the testing activities. However, we should consider the regional and local characteristics when setting standards for testing and assessment. “Socio-economic conditions and development goals of regions are different. Therefore, if we want to change the test to improve the quality of English, we should not level it and implement it massively for all 63 provinces and cities, but should start in big cities when learners' proficiency has reached a certain level,” Dr. Phuong Anh recommended. In addition, Ms. Phuong Anh also believes that Vietnam needs to further promote the cooperation process with foreign testing institutions in the spirit of mutual benefit.

English test still has many problems to solve

Looking at the reality of English testing in Vietnam, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quynh realized that the English testing industry is currently facing some difficulties such as the lack of staff working in the testing field. In addition, there is the challenge of balancing between localization and globalization of English standards. The application of English standards to different localities also needs to be adjusted to suit the socio-economic development conditions of the locality, but at the same time, it is also necessary to aim towards common standards of the whole world.

In addition, the issue of financial investment to build a high-quality human resource team and synchronous facilities is also a difficult problem that needs to be considered if we want to improve the quality of English in Vietnam in the future.

Dr. Quynh expressed further concern that Vietnamese English certificates are still only circulated domestically and have not been recognized internationally. This is a major barrier for Vietnamese human resources in the process of integration and opening up. Therefore, the task that needs to be set for the English testing sector is to quickly build a testing program framework, human resources and affirm the quality of Vietnamese testing to the world./.

According to VOV