FOREIGN LANGUAGE NEEDS AND ATTITUDES OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TOWARDS THE CURRENT FOREIGN LANGUAGE POLICIES IN VIETNAM

Abstract

Foreign languages, especially English proficiency is now seen as  a vital requirement for the citizens of Vietnam as the country is deeply engaged in the industrialization and globalization processes.  To meet this requirement, a Scheme for Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System 2008-2020 was issued according to which by 2020 about 30% of government officials will be able to use foreign languages for their jobs at level 3 out of the 6 levels widely adopted.

What is the current occupational foreign language proficiency of government officials?  And What are their foreign language needs? Could the target set out in the Scheme be achieved by 2020? This paper asks and tries to answer these questions. Drawing on a survey conducted on 285 government officials currently working in Thai Binh province and Da Nang city, the paper shows that despite the fact that most officials know at least a foreign language which in many cases is English, they rarely use it for their jobs, and if they do, they face many difficulities.  They do feel the need to use foreign languages for their jobs, especially English.  But the need for other foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Russian is on the rise.  There are about 40% of the respondents who did not agree with the policy to use English as a language of instruction for the science subjects at school. The findings of the paper highlights that without a more flexible and open foreign language policy, the target set out for government officials could hardly be achieved by 2020.