Located in the economics of language, the present study seeks to contribute towards understanding the Vietnamese job market’s demand for competency in using English. The globalization of English and the global flow of capital are factors that are changing the linguistic landscape of the world of work. However, there has been limited research on the changing role of English in the job market, particularly in developing societies. An understanding of the labour market’s demand that candidates are proficient in English is critical given that language educators are under pressure to meet industry demands and prepare graduates for the world of work. Against this background, we investigated the demand for English proficency in the Vietnamese labour market by examining two samples of job advertisements. The advertisements were published in 2015 and 2018 on a popular job website. Based on our analysis, we attest to the growing importance of English and to higher levels of English proficiency demands, although these demands varied across job sectors. We suggest implications for educators, policy makers, job seekers, employers and researchers.

The significance of errors in explicating Second Language Acquisition (SLA) processes led to the growth of error analysis in the 1970s which has since maintained its prominence in English as a second/foreign language (L2) research. However, one problem with this research is errors are often taken for granted, without problematising them and their identification. Against this background, the present study aimed to: (a) measure L2 English teachers’ ability to interpret L2 learner intentions in idiosyncratic expressions, and (b) bring to light factors that facilitate error identification. Findings show that: (1) there is a significant difference between L2 students’ intentions and teachers’ interpretations of those intentions; and (2) L2 English teachers’ knowledge of students’ L1 is not an advantage in error detection. Teacher interview data were drawn on to explicate text interpretation, reconstruction and error identification, suggesting implications for L2 research and pedagogy.