Teachers’ Perspectives of Bilingual Education in Primary Schools in Vietnam: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

English has become an essential language in Vietnam, and innovation in English teaching and learning has received considerable attention in recent years. Recognizing the importance of foreign languages, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has recently developed the National Foreign Languages Project 2020 and, according to this project, bilingual education is encouraged to implement in high schools, but little attention has been paid to primary schools. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews have been conducted to explore Vietnamese primary teachers’ perceptions of bilingual education. According to the participants’ responses, ultimately collected in a SWOT matrix, bilingual education in Vietnam is considered to be more student-centered, creative and practical than the official system, and prepares students with language and knowledge to be global citizens. Nevertheless, there is certain concern over the negative linguistic impacts of English on Vietnamese, as it may have a negative impact on the national language. Finally, in terms of research, the findings of this paper suggest that further research is needed regarding the impact of L2 on L1 in the perspective of Vietnamese primary teachers in bilingual programs, including the L1 loss phenomenon and the L2 writing style in L1 literacy.