University students’ low level of English has been attributed to poor teaching methods.

Under the national plan on teaching and learning foreign languages from 2008-2020, university students who do not major in English must meet the third grade level in the Viet Nam’s six-grade national foreign language framework. Students majoring in foreign languages must meet the fifth grade level.

However, foreign language skills of incoming students vary, which has made training  difficult at universities and junior colleges.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has requested universities and junior colleges to run supplementary English teaching program to help students catch up with lessons.

In the 2014-2015 academic year, 1,089 students at the HCM City University of Technique Education, or 30 percent of new students, will have to attend the supplementary English program to improve their English skills before following the curriculum.

The supplementary English program was also applied to students entering Da Nang University of Education in 2013, i.e. those who had finished two modules of the curricular English program.

The HCM City Food Industry University is also building an English teaching program, which is expected to include eight modules, and will begin in January 2015.

Pham Thai Son, MA, deputy director of the school’s enrollment center, noted that the English skills of the majority of non-foreign language majors are very poor, especially students from rural areas, where conditions for learning are not good and English is not considered an important subject.

Also, according to Son, 70 percent of the school’s students cannot meet the requirements after finishing the curricular English program. It is impossible for the students to meet the third grade of six-grade national foreign language level, which is equivalent to TOEIC 450.

However, analysts say the program will not help the students unless the current English teaching method is replaced by a new one.

They believe the major problem is the teaching method, which is too academic with a focus on grammar lessons. Students do not have time to practice English under this method.

Vu Hoang Trang, a student of the HCM City University of Education, said many of her friends are afraid of English lessons. “We are especially bad at listening and speaking. We are not sure of ourselves,” she said.

“We mostly learn grammar, reading and writing at school, while there is not much time for speaking and listening,” she said.

“As we will only have writing exams when we finish the English curriculum, we only try to practice writing, though we know speaking and listening are the more important skills for students who are not majoring in English,” she said.