Tình hình dạy tiếng Thái tại các trường đại học Việt Nam

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hi nhp Tháng 11/2014 267 TÌNH HÌNH DẠY TIẾNG THÁI TẠI CÁC TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC VIỆT NAM Trn Cm Tú Trường Đại học Hà Nội Tóm t t: Mối quan hệ hữu nghị, hợp tác giữa Việt Nam và Thái Lan được thúc đẩy mạnh mẽ trên mọi bình diện đã mở ra cơ hội cho tiếng Thái dần dần trở nên phổ biến hơn ở Việt Nam. Tuy nhiên, tài liệu và các công trình nghiên cứu về việc dạy tiếng Thái ở Việt Nam vẫn còn rất hạn chế. Để tìm hiểu về tình hình dạy tiếng Thái trong các trường đại học tại Việt Nam và triển vọng phát triển của ngôn ngữ này trong tương lai, nghiên cứu này đã sử dụng bảng câu hỏi khảo sát và phỏng vấn các giáo viên Việt Nam đang dạy tiếng Thái tại bảy trường đại học trong cả nước. Kết quả điều tra cung cấp một bức tranh toàn cảnh về chương trình học và tài liệu dạy học tiếng Thái, đội ngũ giáo viên và đặc điểm của sinh viên; những khó khăn gặp phải và tương lại phát triển của ngôn ngữ này tại Việt Nam. Nghiên cứu hy vọng sẽ cung cấp những thông tin thiết thực và đáng tin cậy nhằm góp phần phát triển chuyên ngành ngôn ngữ Thái trong bối cảnh hai nước phát triển mạnh mẽ mối quan hệ song phương và đa phương, chuẩn bị cho sự thành lập Cộng đồng chung ASEAN vào năm 2015 sắp tới. Abstract: The reality of Vietnam-Thailand’s flourishing relations and co-operations in wide- ranged areas opens up chances for Thai language to become more popular in Vietnam. In that context, there exists a lack of documents and research on how Thai language has been taught in Vietnam so far, which poses two questions to this study: (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 address these points, this study uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect data in the form of interviews and a questionnaire survey. Participants are Vietnamese teachers who teach Thai in seven universities 1 running Thai language program throughout Vietnam. The findings obtained bring about an overview and in-depth description of how Thai language is taught in each university (curriculum, teaching materials, teachers and students), the difficulties that these programs are encountering, and future of Thai language in Vietnam. The research is hoped to be a reliable reference source on the subject matter and give useful contribution to teaching Thai in ASEAN countries, for the benefit of the official establishment of ASEAN Community in 2015. 1 Seven universities subjected to the study are as follows: 1. Military Science Academy 2. University of Social Science and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Hochiminh City 3. University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Hanoi 4. Hochiminh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology 5. University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University in Hanoi 6. College of Foreign Languages, University of Danang 7. Hanoi University Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 268 SITUATION OF THAI LANGUAGE TEACHING IN VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITIES 1. 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 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
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hi nhp Tháng 11/2014 269 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. 2. 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 in- depth 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 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. 3. RESULTS & DISCUSSION 3.1. The establishment and growth of the Thai language programme Figure 1 demonstrates the establishment and development of Thai language programme in the seven universities. Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 270 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 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 1. 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 HUFLIT 1982 1993 2000 2001 2009 2005 2014 1998 2001 2008-2010 Chi
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hi nhp Tháng 11/2014 271 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 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. University MSA USSH HCM USSH Hanoi HUFLIT ULIS Hanoi CFL Danang HANU C u rr ic u lu m C u rr ic u lu m C u rr ic u lu m C u rr ic u lu m tt tt y p e y p e y p e y p e Bachelor Degree  Thai studies  Thai studies  Thai language Minor subject (Selective foreign language)    Certificate  C u rr ic u lu m C u rr ic u lu m C u rr ic u lu m C u rr ic u lu m ll ll en g th en g th en g th en g th 4 years  60 credits  60 credits  98 credits appox.300 hours/ 20 credits  2 semesters  4 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 9 credits in 3 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. Tiu ban 1: Đào to chuyên ng 272 3.3. Teaching materials University MSA USSH HCM USSH Hanoi HUFLIT ULIS Hanoi CFL Danang HANU C u rr ic u lu C u rr ic u lu C u rr ic u lu C u rr ic u lu mm mm Thai curriculum  Self-designed, based on Thai curriculum   Self-designed    T ea ch in g T ea ch in g T ea ch in g T ea ch in g m a te ri a ls m a te ri a ls m a te ri a ls m a te ri a ls Thai textbook  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 1 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 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. 3.4. Teaching staff Figure 2: Current teaching staff (2014) University Teacher 0 1 2 3 MSA USSH HCM USSH Hanoi HUFLIT ULIS Hanoi CLF Danang HanU Vietnamese teacher, BA Vietnamese teacher, MA Thai volunteer teacher Chi
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hi nhp Tháng 11/2014 273 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 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 profess