earticle

영어

This article critically examines a number of aspects of using English as a medium of instruction (EMI) at higher education institutions (HEIs) in Vietnam. It draws from a wide range of literature in different contexts. In the light of document analysis, the article aims to address such issues as whether EMI at HEIs ensures students’ acquisition of language skills and subject content, whether EMI benefits a majority of people in the country, and whether it marginalizes disadvantaged students from an equal chance to accredited HEIs. It is concluded that although EMI proposed at HEIs in Vietnam is considered a timely and wise response to globalization and regionalization and as a solution meeting socio-economic and political requirements in the new era, its implementation is a long way off. For this project to be successful, its feasibility and other interfering factors at macro and micro levels are to be carefully considered or else foreseeable failures will inflict long-lasting detrimental effects on the stability and development of the country politically, socio-linguistically and economically.