Situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnamese Universities

This research paper aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnamese universities; the difficulties and prospects of developing Thai language in Vietnam.

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c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 TÌNH HÌNH DẠY TIẾNG THÁI TẠI CÁC TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC VIỆT NAM Tr n C m Tú Trường Đại học Hà Nội Tóm t t: Mối quan hệ hữu nghị, hợp tác ranged areas opens up chances for Thai language Việt Nam Thái Lan ñược thúc ñẩy mạnh mẽ to become more popular in Vietnam In that context, bình diện ñã mở hội cho tiếng Thái dần there exists a lack of documents and research on dần trở nên phổ biến Việt Nam Tuy nhiên, tài how Thai language has been taught in Vietnam so liệu cơng trình nghiên cứu việc dạy tiếng far, which poses two questions to this study: (1) How Thái Việt Nam hạn chế Để tìm hiểu is the situation of Thai language teaching in tình hình dạy tiếng Thái trường đại học Vietnam? And (2) What are the prospects to develop Việt Nam triển vọng phát triển ngôn ngữ Thai language teaching in Vietnam? In order to tương lai, nghiên cứu ñã sử dụng bảng address câu hỏi khảo sát vấn giáo viên Việt qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect data Nam ñang dạy tiếng Thái bảy trường ñại học in the form of interviews and a questionnaire survey nước Kết ñiều tra cung cấp Participants are Vietnamese teachers who teach tranh toàn cảnh chương trình học tài liệu dạy Thai in seven universities running Thai language học tiếng Thái, ñội ngũ giáo viên ñặc ñiểm program throughout Vietnam The findings obtained sinh viên; khó khăn gặp phải tương lại bring about an overview and in-depth description of phát triển ngôn ngữ Việt Nam Nghiên how Thai language is taught in each university cứu hy vọng cung cấp thông tin thiết thực (curriculum, ñáng tin cậy nhằm góp phần phát triển chuyên students), the difficulties that these programs are ngành ngôn ngữ Thái bối cảnh hai nước phát encountering, and future of Thai language in triển mạnh mẽ mối quan hệ song phương ña Vietnam The research is hoped to be a reliable phương, chuẩn bị cho thành lập Cộng ñồng reference source on the subject matter and give chung ASEAN vào năm 2015 tới useful contribution to teaching Thai in ASEAN Abstract: The reality of Vietnam-Thailand’s flourishing relations and co-operations in wide- these points, teaching this study materials, uses teachers both and countries, for the benefit of the official establishment of ASEAN Community in 2015 Seven universities subjected to the study are as follows: Military Science Academy University of Social Science and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Hochiminh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Hanoi Hochiminh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University in Hanoi College of Foreign Languages, University of Danang Hanoi University 267 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng SITUATION OF THAI LANGUAGE TEACHING IN VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITIES INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Vietnam and Thailand, both located in the Southeast Asian region, share many natural and socio-cultural similarities The two nations established the diplomatic relations in 1976, and announced a strategic partnership in 2013 This significant decision has opened up new prospects for promoting bilateral relations and deepening comprehensive collaboration between Vietnam and Thailand In term of languages, they will “establish Thai and Vietnamese Studies centers at certain universities in each country”, according the joint statement (Vietnam News Agency, 2013) In the regional context, the establishment of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community at the end of 2015 boosts the demand for ASEAN language learning Although English is chosen to be the regional common language, ASEAN leaders promote their peoples to learn languages of the neighbouring countries to improve communication and understanding between ASEAN citizens Knowing regional languages is definitely a priority for anyone who wants to join the free movement of labour force and increase their chances of getting good jobs Educational institutions of Vietnam are paying more attention to ASEAN languages, especially Thai, Indonesian and Khmer while Vietnamese youths are also getting more enthusiastic in learning “less commonly taught” languages It was during the 1990s when Thai language was formally taught in the tertiary education system Since then, seven universities of Vietnam have opened Thai language programmes so far, including Military Science Academy (MSA), University of Social Science and Humanities in Vietnam National University, Hochiminh City (USSH HCM), University of Social Sciences and 268 Humanities in Vietnam National University, Hanoi (USSH Hanoi), Hochiminh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology (HUFLIT), University of Language and International Studies in Vietnam National University, Hanoi (ULIS Hanoi), College of Foreign Languages in University of Danang (CFL Danang), and Hanoi University (HANU) Although Thai language has been formally taught in Vietnam for about two decades, Thai is still not a language so popular in Vietnam compared to English, French, Chinese, Japanese or Korean The academic staff in this field is therefore of a small number A few studies have been carried out including some comparative studies on the linguistic features of Vietnamese and Thai language, and methodology of teaching Thai to Vietnamese learners Facts and figures of Thai language teaching in Vietnam are either scarcely reported to the public or not complete and updated enough To sum up, it is a pity that there has been no thorough research on the situation of teaching Thai in Vietnam when the two neighbouring countries are elevating their relationship in all aspects In such a context, as a teacher of Thai language to Vietnamese students, I feel an urge to conduct a study to find out what the “Situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnamese universities” is like 1.2 Objectives of the study This research paper aims to provide a comprehensive picture of: The situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnamese universities The difficulties and prospects of developing Thai language in Vietnam 1.3 Scope of the study This study discusses the overall situation of Thai language teaching in formal system of Vietnamese universities, thus, short-term courses Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p are not investigated in this scope I focuses on presenting general facts and figures about the establishment and development of Thai language programme, curriculum and teaching materials, teaching staffs and students, difficulties to overcome and opportunities to develop the programme I have surveyed seven Vietnamese universities (as named previously) which run Thai language or Thai studies programmes in which Thai is taught either as a major or a minor Due to time constrain, the issue is weighed in teachers’ perspective only but not administration or students’ point of view METHODOLOGY 2.1 Data collection methods This study aims to answer two questions: (1) How is the situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnam? And (2) What are the prospects to develop Thai language teaching in Vietnam? In order to answer these questions, I chose both quantitative and qualitative methods in the form of interviews and a questionnaire survey The reason for utilizing both methods is that beside numerical statistics about the situation obtained from the questionnaire, the interviews can provide more indepth information and opinions on the subject 2.2 Participants Participants in the research survey included seven Vietnamese instructors who teach Thai in all the seven universities running Thai language programmes throughout Vietnam This may sound too small for a questionnaire population; however, considering the study objectives, this number is fairly reasonable As the questionnaire investigated general facts and figures of Thai language teaching situation, one representative of the university teaching staff could provide all the information needed Between Vietnamese experienced teachers, who have been teaching Thai language in those universities from the beginning, and Thai newly-graduated volunteers, who come to teach in Vietnam for Tháng 11/2014 only one year, the former surely understand the situation better than the latter I selected one experienced senior Vietnamese teacher from each university to respond to the questionnaire survey These same seven participants were subsequently interviewed for more insightful data of Thai language teaching curriculums in Vietnamese universities 2.3 Research instruments As the seven universities are located in three different cities of Vietnam, the questionnaires were e-mailed to the respondents, while interviews were conducted on the phone The questionnaire consisted of two main parts The first part inquired general information about the participants The second part contained multiple-choice questions of six issues about the situation of Thai language teaching, investigating statistics on curriculums and teaching materials, academic staffs, quantity of students, international collaboration, etc In order to avoid restriction of information contributed by the participants, almost all questions were open-ended, leaving room for the teachers to express further explanation for their answers Qualitative interviews were then conducted with the same population for further description of how Thai language programme was developed in each university, and for their varied opinions about the difficulties and future of Thai language teaching in Vietnam With three questions prepared prior to the interview, the interviewer kept the conversation in focus, but allowed certain flexibility and created friendly atmosphere so that interviewees felt relaxed and motivated to share their ideas RESULTS & DISCUSSION 3.1 The establishment and growth of the Thai language programme Figure demonstrates the establishment and development of Thai language programme in the seven universities 269 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng 1982 1993 1998 2001 2000 HUFLIT 2001 2005 2014 2008-2010 2009 Figure 1: The establishment and development of Thai language programme According to the interview findings, the first university to open Thai language programme was the Military University of Foreign Language, which later joined with two other officer school and comprised Military Science Academy (MSA) Thai language was taught right at the establishment of the university in 1982 along with a few others This fact indicates Thai as an important neighbouring language, in the Vietnamese army’s view Another university which started to teach Thai quite early in 2000 was University of Social Sciences and Humanities, within Vietnam National University, Hanoi The curriculum was previously part of the Southeast Asian Studies, and has been developed into a Bachelor Programme of Thai Studies since 2012 A significant milestone of Thai language teaching in Vietnam came when TICA, in collaboration with two ministries of Vietnam, launched the Project of Developing Thai language Programme in Vietnamese universities The Thai language programme under the sponsorship of TICA, was first opened in 1996 in USSH HCM, then expanded to HUFLIT and ULIS Hanoi in 2001, to CFL Danang in 2005 and finally to HANU in 2009 The development of Thai language programmes in Vietnamese universities is not always smooth USSH HCM in 1998 and 2001 270 and CFL Danang from 2008 to 2010 failed to recruit enough students to maintain the programme HUFLIT faced the problem of lacking students since 2011 when the university changed its curriculum structure and closed the programme in June 2014 In spite of some difficulties and uncertainties at times, Thai language programmes in Vietnam on the whole continues to move forward with many development plans 3.2 Curriculum Thai language programmes in Vietnamese universities vary in types and lengths of the curriculum, which can be summarised and compared in Table Three universities offering Bachelor degrees in Thai are USSH Hanoi, USSH HCM and CFL Danang The undergraduate programme of CFL Danang, as a college of foreign languages, contains courses on linguistics and language skills Thai language is also the medium in courses about the country such as Thai studies and Thai literature In order to earn the degree, a Danang full-time student is expected to complete courses of 133 credits, of which courses in Thai account for 98 credits Meanwhile, the two USSHs in Hanoi and Hochiminh City include their Thai Studies Programme in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Faculty of Oriental Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 Studies According to a standard curriculum applied to all programmes in the faculty, students are to take compulsory courses in the learners’ mother tongue, i.e Vietnamese in history, politics and economy of Southeast Asian countries with an Curriculum type University MSA Bachelor Degree emphasis on Thailand Apart from such foundational courses, Thai language is considered a major portion getting 60 credits of the programmes throughout four years of study ULIS Hanoi CFL Danang USSH HCM USSH Hanoi Thai studies Thai studies Thai language 60 credits 60 credits 98 credits HUFLIT HANU Minor subject (Selective foreign language) Curriculum length Certificate years appox.300 semesters hours/ 20 credits semesters Other (3 semesters) Table 1: Thai language curriculum in Vietnamese universities Unlike the above three universities, ULIS Hanoi and HANU teach Thai as a selective minor Their students from language departments are required to learn a second foreign language besides their major and Thai is amongst the languages offered The programme consists of 300 class hours for the whole course, equivalent to 20 credits Nevertheless, length of the curriculums in the two universities is not the same The Thai language programme in ULIS Hanoi spans for four semesters whereas HANU condenses the curriculum into two semesters of the third year Also teaching Thai as a selective foreign language, HUFLIT differs from ULIS and HANU in length and credit account of the curriculum The programme counts for credits in semesters and starts at the second semester of the first year The number of credits of Thai language course as a minor is small, and the student performance is assessed holistically As a consequence, this curriculum is not clearly divided into separate courses but class hours are basically skill-based and topic-based Moreover, Thai culture is integrated into the language content, skill practice, and in cultural activities held in special occasions The Thai language programme of MSA is a particular case Learners there are given a certificate when they finish the course in 18 months or three semesters, then start to work as interpreters right away The curriculum wholly focuses on building their language skills at the same time with practising military training so that students can serve as translating officers after graduation 271 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng 3.3 Teaching materials Curriculu m University MSA USSH HCM USSH Hanoi ULIS Hanoi HUFLIT CFL HANU Danang Thai curriculum Self-designed, based on Thai curriculum Self-designed Thai textbook Teaching materials Self-designed, based on Thai textbook Self-designed Supplementary materials Table 2: Origin of curriculum and teaching materials There is certain correlation between how the curriculum was designed and what type of curriculum it is If referring back to the preceding table and table 2, we can see that both USSH HCM and CFL Danang, which run undergraduate programmes in Thai, designed their own curriculum based on curriculums of the same discipline in Thai universities On the other hand, non-degree programmes which teach Thai as a minor or a certificate programme like in MSA, HUFLIT or HANU barely follow a full Thai curriculum Instead, academic staffs there designed their own curriculum as described before in this section As for teaching materials, the choice depends on 3.4 Teaching staff teachers’ point of view about the suitability of Thai textbooks to Vietnamese learners 100% of interviewees shared a common opinion that textbooks written by Thai authors primarily target Thai language learning in Thailand, thus, barely matched the teaching conducted in another country The solution to such problem of two in seven surveyed teachers is developing their own coursebook The other five also design their own textbook, but import relevant part of Thai textbooks at the same time Nearly half of the questionnaire respondents also prepare supplementary materials for their language classes to remedy the shortcomings of the textbooks Teacher Vietnamese teacher, BA Vietnamese teacher, MA Thai volunteer teacher University MSA USSH USSH HUFLIT ULIS CLF HanU HCM Hanoi Hanoi Danang Figure 2: Current teaching staff (2014) 272 Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 The survey shows that the number of teachers is rather small in all universities ranging from one to four This situation definitely means a lack of human resources in the discipline in general, and in the three Bachelor programmes in particular HUFLIT and ULIS Hanoi employ only one teacher each, given the fact that Thai language is selective subject there In two other universities MSA and HANU, which plan to upgrade their programmes soon, each has three teachers Besides, the above chart also presents Thai language teachers’ nationality and qualification Of 17 teachers in total, a large portion are Vietnamese (83%), among which nine obtained their Master’s degree in Thailand (53%) and five did their Bachelor in Vietnam (30%) The other three are Thai university graduates who volunteer to go teaching Thai in Vietnam (17%) These USSH USSH University MSA HCM Hanoi Before Semester1, Semester1, Time of entrance year year applying exam Requirement of applicant major Requirement of applicant quantity questionnaire results prove that teaching staff in the seven universities are properly qualified This is the second generation of Thai teaching staff in Vietnam since 2003 when teaching staff are Vietnamese qualified teachers after they came back Vietnam from winning Master’s degree in Thailand In the initial phase, Thai professors from Department of Thai and East Asian languages, Faculty of Humanities, Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) were invited to teach in Vietnam on the basis of yearly rotation Though Thai experts are no longer sent to Vietnamese universities, students have access to native speakers such as voluntary teachers who are Thai newly-graduated bachelors and intern students majored in Thai language 3.5 Students HUFLIT ULIS Hanoi Semester2, year Semester1, year CFL Danang Before entrance exam HANU Semester1, year none Students majored in SEAs Students majored in SEAs Students majored in Chinese, Japanese & Korean Students majored in English none Students majored in any of 11 languages 30 20 20 not limited not limited 30-35 not limited Table 3: Application for Thai language Programme As indicated in Table 3, any students of MSA advance by almost all students Unlikely, students (certificate programme) and CFL Danang of HUFLIT, ULIS Hanoi and HANU have to (bachelor degree) can apply to learn Thai select a second foreign language as a compulsory language on the condition that they will pass the minor subject in their curriculum and Thai is entrance examination to the university Another among many options for them to register Table two universities, both USSH HCM and USSH also indicates which semester they are to register Hanoi, allow first-year students in the Department to start their Thai language courses of Southeast Asian Studies to choose to learn Presented in Table below are how frequently either Indonesian or Thai language for their the Thai language Programme in each university Bachelor degree The decision to adopt which opens and the tendency of its student enrolment language to study during four years is made in over the past years 273 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng Tendency of enrolment MSA Increase Frequency of enrolment University Yearly USSH HCM USSH Hanoi HUFLIT ULIS Hanoi CFL Danang not open for enrolment since 2014 open every years 20032010 too few enrolment to open in 20082010 HANU Ups and downs Decrease too few enrolment to open in 1998, 2001 Other noted facts Table 4: Frequency and tendency of student enrolment Although Thai language programmes in all students in their past five years and a double in seven universities recruit students as frequently as number three years ago At this point, however, it every year, the number of registered students is not wise to draw conclusions about the success tends to rise and fall unsteadily in five of seven of Thai language programmes at the seven institutions: Applicants to Thai language universities based on the number of enrolment programme at USSH HCM range unstably from because of two important factors: different 16 to 23 students each year, USSH Hanoi 15-20/ programme requirements and the number of year, ULIS Hanoi 20-30/ year and CFL Danang students in each university allowed to take the 20-25/ year Only one interviewee from HANU courses (see Table 3) reported a continual increase in their enrolling 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 MSA USSH HCM USSH Hanoi ULIS Hanoi HANU Figure 3: Percentage of graduates that can find a job using Thai language Another essential survey finding is the percentage of Thai language students who can 274 find a job related to their study after graduation as shown in Figure The proportion of bachelors of Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Thai studies from USSH HCM and USSH Hanoi who succeed in finding jobs where Thai language is needed is really high: 80% from the former and 60% from the latter This is believed to be one crucial reason that motivates Vietnamese students to enroll in their Thai courses In contrast, such figures of ULIS Hanoi and HANU are quite low, the reasons for which is easy to understand Not many graduates are competent and interested in their minor subject enough to join the workforce using it About 5% of ULIS students and 10% of HANU undergraduates can find a job with Thai employers in Vietnam and even in Thailand The percentage is considered reasonable and even positive in this regard Popular job positions that Thai speaking students are employed are interpreter, translator, tourist guide, secretary, assistant, personnel staff and salesman 3.6 Cooperation with Thai partners The seven universities of Vietnam that provide Thai language programmes have been collaborating with many Thai partners of different sectors The most important partner that USSH HCM, HUFLIT, ULIS Hanoi, CFL Danang and HANU would immediately mention must be the Thailand’s International Cooperation Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been supporting them in launching and running Thai language programmes for the past 20 years Others are Thai government offices in Vietnam including the Royal Thai Embassy in Hanoi and General Consulate in Hochiminh City together with their agencies like Tourism Authority of Thailand and Thai Trade Center Besides, Thai businesses have a close connection with the Thai language programme like SCG, CP Group and Srithai Company and other SMEs which host student-interns and provide book donation as well as guest speakers Last but not least, Thai universities are direct academic partners of the seven Vietnam’s institutions They pay frequent Tháng 11/2014 visits to Vietnamese universities and a number of Memorandums of Understanding have been signed by the two sides Collaborative activities varies from sending Thai-majored students to their internship (teaching Thai), conducting research, guest teachers, teacher and student exchange, etc From my observation, compliments should go to the Thai government agencies, companies and universities for actively seeking partners, establishing cooperation and promoting exchange activities On the other hand, it is necessary to consider a gap in financial and academic resources between the two sides that results in fewer initiations from Vietnam, which hopefully will change in the future 3.7 Difficulties Firstly, the teachers from USSH Hanoi and CFL Danang are concerned that jobs for graduates that require their Thai knowledge and skills are relatively scarce in the two cities This reality definitely has impacted students’ attitude and motivation in applying for Thai language and explains why the number of applicants overall is unsustainable The second reason adding up to students’ disinterest in Thai language is the lack of chances to communicate with native speakers, which comes from the reality that the number of Thai expatriates permanently residing in Hanoi is still fairly small One common problem they all face is the lack of teaching staff, which results in workload and little time to improve professional knowledge and skills Moreover, some interviewees expected stronger support from the university managerial board Lastly, many interviewees encounter the same problem of suitable textbooks and teaching materials scarcity Consequently, Vietnamese teachers have to modify these authentic materials to suit their learners and teaching contexts, or to design their own textbooks, which is very time and labourconsuming 275 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng 3.8 Prospects Broadly speaking, bilateral relations between Thailand and Vietnam have been consolidated a great deal in recent years, creating favourable conditions for Thai language programmes in Vietnam Regional stronger connection in the ASEAN Community framework also discloses more promising future for language teaching and learning Obviously, learning ASEAN’s language(s) other than the mother tongue will play a very vital role for the future workforce In such favourable context, the teacher from CFL Danang hoped for more sustainable development of Thai language programmes in Vietnam Both USSH HCM and USSH Hanoi instructors looked forward to more impressive growth of their Bachelor degree programme so that a Department of Thai Studies can soon be founded MSA is working on the final preparation to upgrade its Thai language programme from the currently certificate programme of 18 months into a 24-month Diploma course Meanwhile, HANU, which teaches Thai as a selective language for the time being, plans to launch a Bachelor degree programme of Thai language in the next two years These plans when turned to reality will be absolutely good news for the discipline CONCLUSION This study’s objective is to describe and analyse the situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnamese universities through a questionnaire survey and interviews of seven Thai language teachers in MSA, USSH HCM, USSH Hanoi, HUFLIT, ULIS Hanoi, CFL Danang and HANU In general, the situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnam is a very diverse picture No unity exists among Thai language programmes of the seven universities although there are similarities here and there Findings from the study give a detailed report of how Thai language 276 was introduced in Vietnam’s higher education, what characteristics the curriculum, teaching materials, teachers and students have, to what extent cooperation with Thai partners is implemented, what difficulties and opportunities Thai language programme gets at present, and finally the prospects to develop the programmes in the future REFERENCE Bùi Đắc Thế (2007) “Giáo dục ngơn ngữ văn hóa Thái Lan trường Đại học Việt Nam.” Kỷ yếu Hội thảo Cải tiến chương trình đào tạo tiếng Thái Việt Nam Trường Đại học ngoại ngữ Tin học Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 52-56 “International visitors to Vietnam in December and 12 months of 2013” Vietnam National Administration of Tourism 26 December 2013 < http://www.vietnamtourism.com /en/index.php/news/items/7592> Office of Thai Higher Education (2010) “Preparation for the ASEAN community in 2015” Thai Higher Education Review, 10 (33), 1-2 Siriwong Hongsawan (2010) Các Phương Hành ñộng Bác bỏ tiếng Thái tiếng Việt (The speech act of denial in Thai and Vietnamese) Hà Nội: NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà nội Siriwong Hongsawan (2013) “Việc giảng dạy học tiếng Thái Việt Nam” (Teaching and studying Thai language in Vietnam) Hội thảo Ngôn ngữ học toàn quốc lần thứ [11-05-2013] Hà Nội: Viện Hàn lâm Khoa học xã hội Việt Nam (thuộc Viện Ngôn ngữ học) “Vietnam, Thailand issue Joint Statement” Vietnam Plus, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Ed Le Quoc Minh 26 June 2013 “Vietnam, Thailand to establish strategic partnership” Thanhnien News Ed Nguyen Quang Thong June 2013 < http://thanhniennews.com/politics/vietnam-thailandto-establish-strategic-partnership-2008.html> Wallace, M.J (1998) Action Research for Language Teachers Cambridge Cambridge University Press  ... out including some comparative studies on the linguistic features of Vietnamese and Thai language, and methodology of teaching Thai to Vietnamese learners Facts and figures of Thai language teaching. .. situation of Thai language teaching in Vietnamese universities The difficulties and prospects of developing Thai language in Vietnam 1.3 Scope of the study This study discusses the overall situation of. .. generation of Thai teaching staff in Vietnam since 2003 when teaching staff are Vietnamese qualified teachers after they came back Vietnam from winning Master’s degree in Thailand In the initial