Why is foreign language teaching in schools not effective?

Learning foreign languages ​​in school, especially English, often focuses too much on grammar.

The project on Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages ​​in the National Education System for the period 2008-2020 has gone through 2/3 of its time with an investment of nearly 10,000 billion VND. However, after 8 years of implementation, the results of English alone have disappointed many people. The question is why this project has not been effective, and how can it be improved?

After 8 years of implementing the foreign language teaching and learning project, English has surprisingly low results. In the 2016 National High School Graduation Exam, the average score for English was only 3.48 points. According to statistics, more than 88% of candidates had a failing score or a score below average in this subject. There were nearly 200,000 test papers in the range of 2 to 2.5. Thus, English is the subject with the most below average scores. Most students believe that learning foreign languages ​​in school, especially English, often focuses too much on grammar, but there are not many opportunities to practice communication and memorization.

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Le Bao Anh, a student at the University of Natural Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City National University, shared: “I have to spend time using English. Learning English is a long process of practice and improvement. The reason I speak Vietnamese well is because I speak a lot and have a lot of contact with it, so I can remember it. As for English, I have little contact with it.”

That is one of the reasons why learning English in schools is not effective. Meanwhile, the goal of the English Teaching and Learning Project is that by 2020, the majority of Vietnamese youth graduating from secondary to university will have sufficient foreign language proficiency to use independently, confidently in communication, and work in an integrated, multilingual, multicultural environment, making foreign languages ​​a strength of the Vietnamese people.

Ms. Vo Ngoc Thu, former Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, stated that the reason why it is difficult to achieve the above goal is that the majority of English teachers have not met the standards despite having degrees according to their training level. Currently, the teaching method still follows the traditional method, students are not active, the teacher reads as the students read. The current class size is quite large, making the interaction between teachers and students to develop speaking skills ineffective. Listening and speaking skills are both limited. English textbooks are also frequently changed, there is no consistency in the curriculum framework. Meanwhile, the foreign language communication environment is still limited, students have few opportunities to practice the language outside of class time. Ms. Thu believes that it is necessary to create conditions for teachers to wholeheartedly improve their knowledge and professional skills: “Create conditions for our teachers to go abroad, to environments and classrooms to visit and learn from foreign teachers with dynamic teaching methods, and with methods that help students interact. If our teachers can see, hear and learn, I think that method will be applied more thoroughly and better.”

Low motivation to learn a foreign language is a problem that prevents learners from approaching a new foreign language. Many experts in the industry believe that innovations in English assessment tests have not kept pace with changes in the teaching and learning of foreign languages ​​in general and English in particular in high schools.

Mr. Vo Thanh Binh, an English lecturer at the Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Ministry of Education and Training requires one thing in teaching, but another in exams, so the motivation to study of most students is not high. Teachers are also under pressure to teach according to scores as well as learning results. The teaching and learning program has not shifted towards developing innovative skills assessed in the direction of communication. Therefore, the assessment of foreign languages ​​from high school must change, especially the way of testing in the National High School Exam needs to change towards testing 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing. In addition, teachers also need to improve their capacity, teaching methods and be consistent in teaching curriculum, even integrating lessons about Vietnamese culture and history to create more interest for learners.

Mr. Vu Thanh Binh said: “To learn a language, you must learn to speak and listen first, then learn to write. But we do the opposite, we force students to write each letter, each word, so the mistake here is teaching students to learn the language, not teaching them to communicate well, so it deviates from the purpose of language. A good English teacher only needs to pronounce English correctly, have knowledge of English semantics and know teaching methods. That means we know what our students need."

The Ministry of Education and Training is encouraging educational institutions to adopt internationally recognized foreign language programs, increase specialized foreign language teaching in training institutions, teach natural science subjects in English in general education, etc. To improve the current situation of foreign language teaching and learning, and make the foreign language teaching and learning project in national schools more practical and effective./.

According to VOV