Develop a set of criteria for assessing Vietnamese language proficiency for foreigners.

The project has two main objectives: to develop a set of standards for assessing the Vietnamese language proficiency of international students and to create a set of online test questions to assess the Vietnamese language proficiency of international students.

The team of experts implemented the project's tasks based on the 3-level, 6-tier classification format of the European Framework of Reference to develop evaluation criteria; based on the general framework to ensure updating international practices and the requirements of language teaching science, while also being appropriate and adequate to the reality of the Vietnamese language and the learning and teaching of Vietnamese.

The review board for the research project "Developing a set of criteria for evaluating the Vietnamese language proficiency of international students" (QG.TĐ. 13-17) was chaired by Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu (University of Social Sciences and Humanities).Photo: Huong Giang

The main results of the research include:

- To develop a theoretical and practical foundation for testing and evaluating language proficiency in general, and Vietnamese in particular.

- Develop a set of Vietnamese language proficiency assessment standards comprising 10 standards and 51 criteria.

- Created 24 sets of exam questions with 3600 different questions.

The project received high praise from the council members and experts in the field of Linguistics. This is the first time a set of Vietnamese language proficiency assessment standards has been designed based on modern theoretical foundations and practical teaching of Vietnamese to foreigners in Vietnam. Accompanying the standards are 24 original sets of test questions and a guide on using them to assess the Vietnamese language proficiency of international learners. This set of criteria can also be used as a benchmark for designing teaching programs and compiling Vietnamese language textbooks that conform to international standards. The Vietnamese language proficiency assessment test questions for international learners can also be used globally via the Internet.

Professor Dinh Van Duc (University of Social Sciences and Humanities) - a member of the evaluation council - commented: The research topic has scientific merit, practical application, and is pioneering in the field of applied linguistics, focusing on language education in the area of ​​evaluating and assessing the quality of international students learning Vietnamese as a foreign language. This is an urgent study because we have been teaching Vietnamese as a foreign language for half a century, and to this day, we still lack a set of evaluation standards like those used for other foreign languages.

Professor Dinh Van Duc also believes that the success of the project lies primarily in the team of scientists involved, all of whom are leading experts in linguistics, have extensive experience in teaching Vietnamese, and moreover, have been deeply committed to and passionate about carrying out this project for a long time.

Sharing similar views, Professor Nguyen Van Khang (Institute of Linguistics) stated: Vietnamese as a foreign language for foreigners has been taught for a long time, but for many reasons, including the fact that the demand for learning Vietnamese as a foreign language is not as high as for other languages ​​such as English, French, and Chinese, there has been no internationally recognized assessment framework until now. With this project, for the first time, Vietnam National University, Hanoi in particular and the Vietnamese education sector in general have a set of standards for assessing Vietnamese language proficiency for international students that are systematic, scientific, and standardized. This set will be the "original," the "foundation" to be used, and through the process of use, it will be adjusted and perfected according to each specific stage of the development of the Vietnamese language.

Professor Nguyen Van Khang also emphasized the up-to-date and modern nature of the research findings. The authors not only selectively and flexibly adopted existing international assessment standards but also based their work on the practical context of Vietnamese language and society to develop a comprehensive yet detailed and specific set of Vietnamese language assessment standards.

The project received excellent evaluation results from the Acceptance Council. The Council also recommended that the research findings be quickly put into practice to assess Vietnamese language proficiency for international students through the VITEST software system (developed by the Center for Information Technology Applications, Institute of Information Technology, VNU Hanoi), for global application. In addition, it is necessary to register intellectual property rights for the research results to protect the rights of the authors.