Economics of English: Examining the Demand for English Proficiency in the Vietnamese Job Market

Doan, Linh Dieu; Hamid, M. Obaidul

doi:10.1177/0033688219863166

Cited by 26 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The educational system of Pakistan has played an important role in asserting the significance of this language by teaching it as a subject as well as using it as the medium of instruction at a higher studies level as well . There are many similar studies on the relationship between English language proficiency and the job market and each study emphasizes the importance of English language proficiency (Xiong & Yuan, 2018;Doan & Hamid, 2019). The importance of English was associated with increased connectivity due to globalization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The English Language Proficiency as a Global Employment Skill: The Viewpoint of Pakistani Academia

Abbas

Rana

Bashir

et al. 2021

HSSR

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Purpose of the Study: The current research aims at exploring the need of effective English skill as a global employment skill and its various reasons, as there are various Pakistani institutes which are dedicated to The English language teaching and reinforce its relationship with employability. The importance of the study being conducted in Pakistan becomes more evident as English enjoys the status of the second language in the country. Methodology: Current study uses a mixed-method research design and employs both questionnaires and interviews as research instruments. The questionnaire was administrated on a sample of 392 university students while a sample of 13 informants from university faculty participated in an interview for data collection. Main Findings: The study concludes that the importance of English was associated with increased connectivity due to globalization. The study also concludes that the importance of English for finding jobs and making a career was well-established. To conclude, it can be said that English language proficiency is amongst the top global employment skills in the viewpoint of Pakistani academia. Application of this Study: The study implicates that the importance of English for employment across the globe and a successful career will further lead to the formulation of English Specific courses for different professional and occupational groups in Pakistan. The originality of the Study: There is a scarcity of empirical evidence in terms of the importance of English as an employment skill though English is considered very important as an elite language and a status symbol. The study proposes to fill in the gap by providing empirical evidence, therefore, the research is being conducted to assess the status of English and its importance for global employment skills.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The English Language Proficiency as a Global Employment Skill: The Viewpoint of Pakistani Academia

Abbas

Rana

Bashir

et al. 2021

HSSR

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“…With the escalating role of English as a language for global communication and international business [5], the Vietnam Ministry of Education (MoET) has implemented a number of measures in elevating the level of English language proficiency among university graduates to enhance the competitiveness of the local workforce [6]. In this context, MoET launched a project entitled Teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system from 2008 to 2020 (also known as Project 2020) whose primary aims are to ensure that "by 2020, there will have been a dramatically increasing rate of Vietnamese learners with the ability to communicate independently and confidently in foreign languages, study and work in multilingual and multicultural environments" [7].…”

Section: Introduction *mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing the Employability of Students Undertaking English Language and Linguistics Programs in Vietnam

Pham

2021

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This study addresses the development of employability skills among English-major graduates to facilitate their transition from university to the workplace. Contemporary research has pinpointed that universities fail to sufficiently prepare their students in terms of professional knowledge and work-related skills. There is also a mismatch between the focus of academic programs and the demands and requirements from potential employers regarding graduates’ performance. Drawing on the document analysis and simple descriptive statistics of the undergraduate English language/linguistics program descriptions of six distinct universities located across Vietnam, this study aims to explore the extent to which English-major students are empowered with employability skills and provide recommendations for promoting these skills. Findings show that there is a substantial shift in reconsidering the imbalance between theoretical and practical components in the program design. The programs also exhibit certain degrees of preparation for students’ employability through the curricular integration of generic skills such as critical thinking, public speaking, presentation skills, communication skills and research skills. This study reiterates the significance of promoting work-related skills and strengthening university-industry partnerships in designing academic programs and providing English-major students with hands-on experience.

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“…As previously discussed in the first chapter (section 1.1 and 1.2), the urgency of English competence in the crop science working domain in Vietnam cannot be overlooked because it is an important sector of Vietnamese economy and has experienced internationalization with the growth of multinational institutions. The findings from this research that have provided evidence that English fluency positively contributes to the employability and career developments of crop science graduates parellels research into engineering and business professions in some Asian countries (Chatsungnoen, 2015;Clement & Murugavel, 2015;Doan & Hamid, 2019;Kassim & Ali, 2010).…”

Section: Workplace Crop Science English Demandsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…English language competence has become an important requirement for the employability of university graduates entering the labour market (Singh & Choo, 2012). Being proficient in English can not only be an advantage in getting a job, but also helps employees to survive and reach higher positions in lingua franca work settings (Al-Mahrooqi & Denman, 2016;Bui, Nguyen & Nguyen, 2017;Clement & Murugavel, 2015, Doan & Hamid, 2019, Kassim & Ali, 2010. In Vietnam, a good command of English is of great importance for employees because there have been increasing numbers of foreign businesses working in the country as the result of economic integration (Ngan, 2011, Tinh, 2018.…”

Section: Globalisation and Graduates' Employabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To understand the demand for competency in using English in the Vietnamese job market, Doan and Hamid (2019) students in four higher education institutions, including an agricultural university, and semistructured interviews with 32 students and language teachers indicated that most students and teachers were uncertain about their language proficiency and the skills needed for employability.…”

Section: The Importance Of English For Graduates' Employability In El...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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English for Crop Science in Vietnam: Taking Perceptions from the Workplace to University Teachers

Thi¹

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The English language needs of students in their future work domains is an issue of major concern in the design and development of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). There has been little empirical research on how English is used in workplaces employing crop science graduates, as well as the responses of educators to the result of the needs analysis. Some research also suggests that the effectiveness of ESP courses in tertiary institutions in Vietnam has been relatively limited (Do & Cai, 2010; Dong; 2011; Nguyen, 2013). This qualitative case study research adapted the needs analysis framework of Brown (2016) to: (1) explore the language needed in workplaces by the former students of an English course for Crops Science at an agricultural university in North Vietnam, (2) determine the learning strategies used by these alumni to bridge the gap between what they were taught at the university and workplace use of English and (3) investigate the responses of the university’s teachers to the feedback from the work domain. Accordingly, the combination of Brown’s three conceptualizations of needs, namely democratic, discrepancy and diagnostic were used to examine the necessities, lacks and wants of stakeholders in the ESP program. To establish the language needs at their current work places, 20 former undergraduate students of the Crops Science major, three of their employers, five ESP teachers and five subject specific teachers from the agricultural university participated in this research. The data were collected in two phases. The alumni and their employers were firstly interviewed to examine the common purposes of using English in crop science professional contexts, as well as the significant language demands the new graduates encountered and their strategies to improve their language. In the second phase, the findings from the interviews with the graduates and their seniors were presented to the language and subject instructors to capture their views and the perceived implications of these workplace findings for teaching and course design. All the interviews were semi-structured and conducted on Zoom. The transcribed texts were imported in Nvivo-12 for coding and thematically analysis. The findings confirmed the necessity of English for the employability of graduates. English was needed most for reading technical documents and written communication such as writing emails, reports and memos. The alumni also relied on informal and independent learning to meet the language needs of their professions. Despite of a number of constraints mainly in terms of the course length, teaching materials and students’ learning motivation, most of the teachers said that this feedback informed potential pedagogic changes such as the integration of oral and written communication activities. Closer cooperation with subject teachers was also recommended. This study established a strong and on-going connection between the work domain and the educational institution. Diagnostic, discrepancy and democratic views of needs analysis were used to, firstly, gain an understanding of the kinds of language needs in actual workplaces. In response to these needs, teachers reflected on possible pedagogical responses, taking into account the perceived needs of the target groups of students in Vietnamese Medium of Instruction (VMI) or English as Medium of Instruction programs (EMI), and stakeholders such as employers and subject teachers – experts in the field. The practice of autonomy in ESP courses may serve as an effective way to improve learner outcomes and facilitate the learning of graduates in their later career. Theoretically, this dynamic and on-going process of NA and teacher reflectivity can be applied to similar contexts to capture ever-changing needs in workplaces across EFL countries. This study develops a model to encapsulate the potentially dynamic relationship between the expertise of the work domain and the expertise of the educational institution. However, implementing this model is constrained by institutional processes including the lack of a current mechanism to achieve the stakeholder sharing of knowledge, in this case, achieved through independent research.

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Economics of English: Examining the Demand for English Proficiency in the Vietnamese Job Market

Cited by 26 publications

References 31 publications

The English Language Proficiency as a Global Employment Skill: The Viewpoint of Pakistani Academia

The English Language Proficiency as a Global Employment Skill: The Viewpoint of Pakistani Academia

Enhancing the Employability of Students Undertaking English Language and Linguistics Programs in Vietnam

English for Crop Science in Vietnam: Taking Perceptions from the Workplace to University Teachers

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