Teaching English to young learners in Vietnam: From policy to implementation

Abstract

This paper analyses and evaluates the current national language policy adopted at the Vietnamese primary education level and its implementation in classroom practice. The study was conducted as an exploratory case study with data from three viewpoints to explore how well the language policy is enacted in state schools in Vietnam. The findings reveal that the policy has brought considerable benefits to Vietnamese educational stakeholders. Vietnam has witnessed a lot of responses to this national language policy such as restructuring the English programmes, writing a new series of textbooks; and training and retraining English primary school teachers. However, the policy also shows a lack of alignment with its implementation due to poor planning.