The Strategies to Develop Bilingual Ability for Vietnamese

International Journal of Language and Linguistics 
2018; 6(2): 36-50 
doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180602.12 
ISSN: 2330-0205 (Print); ISSN: 2330-0221 (Online) 
The Strategies to Develop Bilingual Ability for Vietnamese 
Tran Thi Thanh Dieu 
Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chí Minh 
City, Vietnam 
Email address: 
To cite this article: 
Tran Thi Thanh Dieu. The Strategies to Develop Bilingual Ability for Vietnamese. International Journal of Language and Linguistics. 
Vol. 6, No. 2, 2018, pp. 36-50. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20180602.12 
Received: February 11, 2018; Accepted: March 26, 2018; Published: March 30, 2018 
Abstract: The hypothesis is that non-native language speakers (e.g., Vietnamese who study English) face lots of difficulties 
due to the differences in linguistic features and negative transference. Therefore, no one can deny that it is not easy to study a 
language and more difficult to study a second language or a foreign language now that every language in the world has its own 
characteristics which are nearly completely different from one another. To solve this problem, many linguists have created their 
theories of second language acquisition, such as Behaviorist's theory, Nativist's theory, Interactionist's theory, Information 
Processing theory, Vygotsky's theory, Halliday's theory, Sociolinguistic's theory. Therefore, with the hope to solve those 
problems, this study focuses on some difficulties facing learners of English and their solutions. The article is divided into 3 
main parts, including difficulties in the four skills as (1) speaking and listening for communication such as prosody and 
fluency; (2) writing and (3) reading. About the solutions for the difficulties mentioned above, to begin with, in prosody, 
solution focuses on the importance of combining phonological knowledge with rhythm, melody, English stress rules and 
syntax rules in teaching and learning English intonation affected by stress for Vietnamese students, verified by Experimental 
Phonetics. Moreover, writing, grammar and vocabularies improving as well as identification of the types of writing can be 
considered as one of the practical solutions. Last but not least, in reading, K-W-L strategy (K: KNOWN, W: WHAT, L: 
LEARNT), one the best ways to activate schemata is also the suitable solutions as well. 
Keywords: English Rhythmic Patterns, Melody, Phonetic Experiment, Schemata, Interview, Questionnaire 
1. Introduction 
Language is a system of interrelated terms, the underlying 
code which ensures that people can speak and understand 
each other [21]. It has social underpinning and is an operative 
system embedded in brain of everyone who has learnt a given 
language. This system is a network of relationships which 
characterized as being of the two kinds: "syntagmatic" (i.e. 
items are arranged in the consecutive, linear order) and 
associative, later termed "paradigmatic" (i.e. the organization 
of units in a deeper fashion dealing with grammatical and 
semantic relations) [22]. In addition, language is emphasized 
as a system of (arbitrary signs and the central part of overall 
science of sign relations or semiotics (following CS. Peirce's 
terminology). In the other words, language is a system of 
recourse (consisting of first, the simultaneous lexico-
grammar (words and grammar) which has three aspects 
consisting of transitivity (things, even, circumstance, mood 
(structure, elements, theme-rheme, cohesion) and second, the 
generic structure of text) to make the three simultaneous 
meaning (consisting of idealtional-representing experience 
and logic as well as interpersonal-exchanging information 
and goods-and-services, expressing position and textual-
organising the flow of information) in context. Therefore, 
language comprises both form and meaning that must be 
focused on the same level [23]. 
As a result, not only vocabularies but also grammar must 
be paid much attention to when learning a language, 
especially a foreign language. In Vietnam, no foreign 
language is widely used so Vietnamese quite naturally have 
few opportunities to use or to improve a second language 
(but in Vietnam they are all foreign languages), as well as 
they hardly have purpose for learning unless they are in 
special jobs or situations where they have to meet foreigners. 
Therefore, learners of foreign languages in Vietnam face lots 
of difficulties, especially learners of ESP. As a result, the 
time has come when a research should be carried out to find 
 International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2018; 6(2): 36-50 37 
out the difficulties facing Vietnamese learners of foreign 
languages, detailed in the topic “The lecturers and students’ 
ability and method to acquire the foreign languages”, with 
the scope is limited in Vietnam National University HCMC - 
Vietnam, from which “The strategies to develop the bilingual 
ability for Vietnamese in the multi-lingual communicative 
context have been systemized”, as the permission of carrying 
out the research from the University of Social Sciences and 
Humanities – Vietnam National University, written in the 
following decision document: 
Figure 1. Written dicision to allow the research done. 
The topic has been developed through the phonetic 
experimental research into prosody, especially English 
prosody, which has been considered as the most difficult in 
learning English; as well as the survey research through the 
collection of experiences in learning and teaching foreign 
languages, as well as difficulties facing students and 
lecturers, by the questionnaires and questions for 
interviewing lecturers and students in Vietnam National 
University. Moreover, the improvement of lesson plans, the 
solutions for the problems facing learners have been also 
systemized. In the end, so ...  should base on 
the view: Zone of proximal Development (ZPD) of 
Vygotsky’s philosophy to check the result of learning 
process [12]. 
4. Conclusion 
In brief, the research has been carried out to find out the 
difficulties facing Vietnamese learners of foreign languages, 
detailed in the lecturers and students’ ability and method to 
acquire the foreign languages, with the scope is limited in 
Vietnam National University HCMC, from which the 
strategies to develop the bilingual ability for Vietnamese in 
the multi-lingual communicative context have been 
systemized. 
From data analysis of the research, the lecturers and 
students in Vietnam National University HCMC have good 
ability to acquire the foreign languages to adapt the 
requirement from the University for working and graduating. 
Moreover, some lecturers are good at a foreign language 
enough to go abroad for teaching and researching. Therefore, 
all of them have their all method to acquire their foreign 
languages such as English, French,  However, they also 
face some difficulties in common, from which the suitable 
strategies have been systemized to solve their problems for 
developing the bilingual ability for Vietnamese in the multi-
lingual communicative context, briefly classified as 
difficulties in the four skills: speaking – listening, reading 
and writing, as follows: 
In the field of speaking and listening, based on the 
questionnaire result, the most difficulties facing learners is 
stress level identification, analyzing intonation patterns, 
fluency caused by translating from mother tongue into a 
foreign language. From the phonetic experiment, three types 
of English stress mistakes has been recognized as Rhythmic 
error, Wrong placement of stress and combination of these 
two types; and seven types of intonation mistakes are also 
summarized as rhythmic pattern, tonic syllable identification 
and combination in pair and in set. Therefore, English word 
 International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2018; 6(2): 36-50 49 
stress can be recognized by the following criteria: Syllable 
structure characteristics, Word structure, Rhythmic pattern, 
and Intensity. Moreover, when pronouncing intonation, 
speakers must pay attention to the melody, illustrated by the 
pitch contour based on the intonation rules. In addition, 
thinking in Vietnamese and translating into a foreign 
language such as English in communication is a popular 
mistake that makes the conversation become more slowly. As 
a result, the useful way is practicing thinking in English by 
some techniques illustrated in the findings of this research. 
Moreover, not only intensive but also extensive listening 
practice plays important role in improving listening skill, 
from which listening and note taking is somewhat a vexed 
question. To solve this problem, note-taking outline, the 
ability of remembering, speaking, writing, are very necessary 
for improving listening skills. Therefore, no-one can deny 
that even though speaking and listening are the two separate 
subjects to practice, they are the two relating sides which can 
support each other in improving learners’ ability and gaining 
success in communication. 
In the field of reading comprehension, the difficulties 
facing readers are grammar and vocabularies, in which 
vocabularies makes the reading process slower, as well as the 
problem with guessing the meaning of the words from the 
contexts. Therefore, to guess the meaning from context, 
readers can base on the meaning of vocabulary items that 
surrounds it; the way the word is formed; background 
knowledge of the subject and the situation. As a result, the 
word relation, the structure relation, the part of speech, the 
word form are the important factors leading to successful 
guessing meaning of words based on the contexts. Beside 
that, the most difficulty facing learners of grammar was 
applying the theories to do the exercises, to real life. One of 
the reasons is that students do not remember the grammar 
rules, the theories. Therefore, learning by heart grammar 
structure is also necessary. In addition, when doing the 
reading comprehension, pay much attention to the grammar 
points used in the reading texts to understand grammar used 
in real contexts. From the importance of grammar mentioned 
above, teacher should teach their students a system of 
grammar knowledge enough in comparison with their mother 
tongue to avoid from negative transference mistake, for them 
to practice all the 4 skills before help students to practice any 
skills. As it put by Ms. Lê Ngọc Báu (MA), the French 
Lecturer in the Faculty of French Linguistics and Literature- 
University of Social Sciences and Humanities – VNU, Ms. 
Nguyễn Minh Thúy (MA), the Chinese Lecturer in the 
Faculty of Chinese Linguistics and Literature - University of 
Social Sciences and Humanities – VNU, and Mr. Võ Duy 
Minh (MA), the English Lecturer in the Faculty of English 
Linguistics and Literature - University of Social Sciences and 
Humanities – VNU, that they always improve their lesson 
plan after every semester in comparison with the mother 
tongue, Vietnamese to help students prevent form negative 
tranference mistakes. Beside that, the appropriateness of this 
method has been proved through my 30-year-teaching life, 
and has been applied with a certain success at my Center of 
Foreign language, named Sa Phi Foreign Language Center – 
Sapphire. Ltd, located in Vietnam, 57 Bùi Đình Túy Str, 
Ward 24, Bình Thạnh District. 
In the field of academic writing, the popular problems are 
identifying wrong types of writing, writing ungrammatically, 
writing incoherently and lacking of vocabularies, as well as 
combination of these mistakes. To solve these problems, 
teachers should teach students how to develop a paragraph 
which consists of a topic sentences, some supporting 
sentences such as explanation, statistics, as well as to 
distinguish among the ways to develop a narrative, 
argumentative, cause-effect . paragraphs/ essays. Beside 
that, to have enough words for a piece of writing, students 
should pay attention to the following ways: (1) Accumulating 
vocabularies from the reading texts. (2) Accumulating 
vocabularies from preparing for writing. (3) Accumulating 
vocabularies from preparing for speaking topic. (4) Making 
plan to cumulate vocabularies [17]. 
Last but not least, from the problems and solutions 
mentioned above, an improved teaching method has been 
raised as the K-W-L strategies to activate background 
knowledge before beginning writing or reading the text or 
any fields. K-W-L is a thinking-reading process, with three 
steps: K (What we know), W (What we want to find out, and 
L (What we learned and still need to learn). This procedure 
can help learners to access the knowledge they already have 
about the topic or make it available appropriately so that 
comprehension can occur: 
The last word is that even though this research has not 
been able to cover all the problems facing learners of 
languages, these raised here should be considered as the 
popular and serious that must be solved to help learners be 
successful in studying and using a language, especially when 
it is not a mother tongue. Therefore, the research is always 
opened for adding new recognition of mistakes made by 
learners and their solutions, as well as any experiences from 
learners and teachers of languages. 
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