It has become a common cry by Vietnamese parents that their students cannot speak English even after many years of studying the language. The students even feel worse about it and slide into frustration feeling helpless and hopeless. This article tries to look at the reasons for this predicament.

• To begin with, many students study English as a requirement for admission into certain academic institutions. Consequently, they concentrate on the academic syllabus which is mainly theoretical. Also, these syllabi are focused mainly on grammar, writing and reading which does not cover the full spectrum of the English language skills. Another factor worth noting is method of instruction. Schools focus more on teaching students instead of training. The theoretical surpasses the practical thereby leading to evident results – students cannot practically apply what they have learnt at school.
• To make matters worse, the students have a high affinity for speaking their native language. Even when placed in an English environment, they would still communicate to another Vietnamese in the local language not English. This makes it difficult to fluently speak English because fluency comes with practice. To sum it , the students are afraid of making mistakes while speaking English so they prefer to stay quiet. They are more confident in theoretical exercises than practical ones.
• Enumerating these problems would be useless if there is no way out of it. To know how this can be done, click here.