Xu hướng dạy tiếng anh đáp ứng nhu cầu giao tiếp nơi công sở trên thế giới: một số khuyến nghị cho Việt Nam

mind, and develop professionally (Nguyen, 2010).
Finally, as university syllabuses rarely offer 
opportunities for students to communicate in 
English involving different linguistic and cultural 
backgrounds, graduate students lack confidence 
in expressing themselves with overseas clients 
and foreign colleagues. In the globalization era 
where people use English as a common language 
for communication with the outside world, people 
with English incompetence will be left behind 
(Hoang, 2008).
In short, the quality of teaching and learning 
English at Vietnamese universities and the 
substandard English proficiency of graduate 
students indicate that there is a gap between the 
real needs of the market and university training 
programs. Thus, policy makers, curriculum 
developers, administrators, and teachers should 
pay adequate attention to the quality of English 
teaching to meet the demand of workplace 
communication.
4. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 
UNIVERSITIES IN VIETNAM
From the trends of the English usages at 
workplace communication in the globalization 
era, and the status quo of teaching English at 
Vietnamese universities, the article will propose 
some suggestions to design curricula, teaching 
materials and methodologies to meet the 
requirements of 21st century careers.
In the first place, English curricula should 
take job skills into account. After graduation, it is 
likely that many students will work for national 
or multinational companies in Vietnam. Students 
will be required to use English in accordance with 
their majors from different aspects such as law, 
economics, tourism and hospitality, etc. Thus, 
instead of merely focusing on vocabulary, grammar, 
reading and translation skills, it is necessary to teach 
English skills which meet the needs of students’ 
future jobs. To this end, universities should apply 
English medium instruction (EMI) programs to 
teach courses like law, economics, tourism, etc. 
in English to enhance students’ language ability 
and their expertise at the same time. Besides, 
project-based learning is an effective approach 
which assists students to practice English and 
job skills in the real workplace situations. For 
example, in Business English, project-based tasks 
like exchanging e-mails in English to respond 
to business partners’ requests, team meeting via 
Skype or video conferencing with colleagues from 
different countries to discuss business strategies, 
etc. will strengthen students’ confidence in using 
English in their later working lives. 
In addition, intercultural communication is a 
vital element in today’s workplace since nowadays, 
more and more people from different countries 
and cultures cooperate and work together. As a 
result, intercultural situations should be presented 
in English lessons as linguistic and discourse 
83KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰSố 10 - 11/2017
NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI v
knowledge alone are no longer sufficient for 
successful communication. However, it is likely 
that few English teachers have rich knowledge 
and experience of the diversity of multicultural 
workplace situations (Hoang, 2008). Therefore, 
teachers should take advantage of the Internet, 
YouTube, newspapers, and magazines as authentic 
materials to get students familiarized with real-
world situations. Besides, another practical method 
employed by America and European countries is 
the exchange programs in which domestic students 
have internships abroad with a view to gaining 
real experience in different cultures. Students 
spend three to twelve months in another country 
to improve English and enhance knowledge about 
economics, society and culture of the nation. 
Moreover, as previously mentioned, teamwork 
and collaboration skills play a vital role in today’s 
workplace; however, there are few chances 
for students to practice in pair work and group 
work due to big class size. It is therefore worth 
maximizing communication by reducing the 
number of students in English class and changing 
the class setting. Small class size gives all students 
the opportunities to perform in front of class 
and receive detailed feedback from teachers. In 
addition, class seating arrangement like U-shape 
and cluster seating (students seat in groups) should 
replace traditional rows to facilitate interaction 
among members in class.
Besides, it is also noticeable that the omission 
of oral test in mid-term and end-of-term test of non-
English major students leads to their demotivation 
in improving speaking skill. Thus, university 
administrators should incorporate speaking skill in 
these two tests. When students frequently practice 
speaking for the test, they can enhance their 
English competence which in turn helps them gain 
confidence at workplace communication.
Finally, it is apparent that teachers are the 
agents of changes in English curricula to respond 
to the needs of teaching and learning English at 
workplace communication. Therefore, special 
attention should be given to pre-service teacher 
training programs as well as in-service teacher 
professional development. Both programs should 
necessarily update current trends in learning and 
teaching English for job skills. 
5. CONCLUSION
There is a tendency that English for 
communication at workplace nowadays no longer 
focuses on how to write a formal email, make 
a formal presentation or conduct a successful 
negotiation. A global citizen is expected to use 
English effectively in informal situations and 
apply different skills such as teamwork skills, 
technological skills, intercultural communication, 
etc. to establish and maintain relationships with 
colleagues and clients globally. Hence, universities 
in Vietnam should keep up with this trend to 
develop courses and syllabuses in response to the 
rigorous demand of today’s international labor 
market. By doing so, Vietnamese students will 
definitely have English competence and expertise 
to work on a global scale./.
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GLOBAL TRENDS IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO MEET THE NEEDS
 OF WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION: RECOMMENDATIONS 
FOR VIETNAMESE CONTEXT
PHAM THI TO LOAN
Abstract: Nowadays, English serves as an important tool for people to enhance their knowledge, 
communicate with colleagues worldwide, and achieve success in their career. Thus, Vietnamese 
universities have made a lot of efforts to increase students’ English proficiency with the purpose of 
meeting the needs of labor market on a global scale. However, curricula and methods in teaching 
English are still unsatisfactory and many changes should be made. This article is intended to 
present findings from recent research concerning trends in teaching English skills to meet the 
needs of workplace communication, discuss the current situation of teaching English in Vietnam, 
then put forward some recommendations for Vietnamese universities to improve student’s English 
communication at work.
Keywords: workplace English, globalization, needs, university, communication
Received: 24/8/2017; Revised: 12/10/2017; Accepted for publication: 15/11/2017