Keywords

1 Introduction

English has become an international means of communication (Crystal, 2012; Kirkpatrick, 2007; Rings & Rasinger, 2020; Tamtam et al., 2012). In Vietnam, English as a foreign language (EFL) has been part of the education system for over forty years. Gradually, it becomes the most popular foreign language taught at all public schools in the country, with millions of learners from primary schools to universities (Phuong, 2017). Numerous efforts have been made, at a high cost, to improve English language teaching and learning in Vietnam. In 2008, the Vietnam National Foreign Language Project (VNFLP), code-named “Project 2020”, was launched with a budget of 10 trillion VND (USD 446.43 million) aiming to “thoroughly renovate the tasks of teaching and learning foreign languages within the national education system [by] 2020”.

In spite of those efforts, the most recent data of 2021 reveal that English proficiency in Vietnam has dropped to “low” with a score of 486 on the English Proficiency Index (EPI) and ranked 66th out of 112 countries (EF English Proficiency Index, 2021). In Asia, Vietnam is ranked 12th out of 24 countries and territories in 2021, a slight drop from 10th out of 25 in 2019. EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) attempts to rank countries by the equity of English language skills among those adults who took the EF test, a standardized test of the English language designed for non-native English speakers and available for free over the internet. The real situation of using English in the country raises even more concerns over the pedagogical and practical approaches to English language teaching and learning. Many Vietnamese students cannot speak an English sentence properly and thus do not meet the expected English requirements of universities and employers (Ha Anh, 2018).

The gap between the Vietnamese government’s efforts to improve students’ English and students’ English proficiency posits a question of whether and in what ways English is really helpful to students. To date, few studies have been conducted to investigate the benefits that English learning has brought to Vietnamese students, especially in helping them to develop their human capital. Meanwhile, human capital is claimed to allow an economy to grow because the more human capital increases in areas such as science, education, and management, the more development can be found in innovation, social well-being, equality, productivity, and so on (Kenton, 2022). Thus, the current study was conducted to respond to the following research question:

To what extent does English language education contribute to developing Vietnamese students’ human capital?

2 Literature Review

2.1 English Language Education in Vietnam

Although English has been taught in Vietnamese schools since the late nineteenth century (during the French colonization), it only became popular once the economic reforms of the late 1980s took effect (Lap, 2005). The open-door policy in Vietnam enhanced diplomatic relations and business communication with foreign countries and in turn attracted English-speaking foreigners to the country. In the context of developing international business partnerships, the importance of English language use increased. Canh (2007) stated that “for the first time in the country’s many-thousand-years-long history, English emerged as the most important foreign language, […] chosen by most students” (p. 172).

Foreign language education is compulsory at secondary and high schools, and the first two years of tertiary institutions, as regulated by Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam. English, French, and Chinese are the three most popular foreign languages offered to students. Among them, English has been the most popular one and many universities in the country have set up an English learning outcome for their students, ranging from A2 for 3-year college programs to B1 for 4-year university programs (Duong Tam & Manh Hung, 2019). Therefore, students have to learn hard to reach the expected English learning outcomes. A survey with 600 students from 3 large universities in Vietnam revealed that 89% of students chose to learn English in various places outside their schools such as in commercial English language centers, private classes, or online because they think formal English language education offered by the university cannot equip them with the language skills and knowledge they need for the standardized tests (Phuong Mai, 2018).

Despite English’s emergence as the top foreign language, there has been a consensus among researchers, educators, and teachers in Vietnam that current EFL learning outcomes are far from satisfaction (Canh, 2007; Nguyen et al., 2019; Nguyen & Tran, 2019; Ngo, 2019; Sung & Spolsky, 2015). Compared to their Asian peers, Vietnamese EFL students generally have lower language proficiency (Albright, 2018; Nguyen, 2017; Phan Nghia, 2019). Therefore, it is difficult for them to communicate in English, let alone pursue a program of study involving English as the medium of instruction (EMI). This places Vietnamese EFL students at a competitive disadvantage in the international labor force (Doan & Hamid, 2021; Hoang, 2010; Sundkvist & Nguyen, 2020).

In order to satisfy a range of learning needs, different English courses and training programs have been developed in recent years, and nearly a thousand foreign language centers and schools have been established throughout Vietnam (Hoang, 2010). However, the quality of English language education at all levels in Vietnam is still low and does not meet the country’s ambitious socio-economic development demands (Vu & Burns, 2014). Despite the increasingly important role of English in Vietnam, most of its usage thus far has been confined to the classroom (Crystal, 2012; Huong & Hiep, 2010; Kirkpatrick, 2007; Rings & Rasinger, 2020). Vietnamese learners of EFL quite naturally have few opportunities to use English outside the classroom unless they are in special jobs or situations where they have opportunities to communicate with English speakers (Bui & Intaraprasert, 2013; Canh, 2007; Hoang, 2010; Nhan & Lai, 2012, 2013; Sundkvist & Nguyen, 2020).

2.2 Human Capital

Tomlinson (2017) defines human capital as the knowledge and skills which are acquired by graduates and become a foundation of their labor market outcomes. Human capital imparts technical and embedded knowledge so that graduates can employ later in higher-end professional labor. According to Takeshita (2016), human capital can be the result of formal education, experience, and practical learning that take place on the job and in non-formal education. Among many human capital factors, education and experience have been found to be the strongest predictors of career progression (Bhopal, 2020; Brooks & Youngson, 2016; Burke & Hughes, 2018; Judge et al., 1995; Kirchmeyer, 1998; Odden, 2011; Speer, 2017; Tharenou et al., 1994). In fact, human capital theory views participation in education and training as an investment which yields both social and private returns (Ashton & Green, 1996). The social returns manifest in a highly skilled, flexible workforce as reflected in levels of national economic output (OECD, 2007) while the private returns are reflected in increasing individual earnings and better career opportunities and wider labor market scope (Tomlinson, 2008).

Fugate et al. (2004) consider social and human capital as an important dimension as compared to the other two ones namely personal adaptability and career identity in their construct of employability. In their definition, human capital refers to a host of factors that influence a person’s career advancement variables. These factors include (Wanberg et al., 1996), work experience and training (Becker, 1975), job performance and organization tenure, emotional intelligence (Wong & Law, 2002), and cognitive ability (Tharenou, 1997).

In studying the impact of foreign direct investment and human capital on Vietnam labor productivity from 1986 to 2014, Le et al. (2019) found that the two factors have a positive effect on improving labor productivity in the long term and there is uni-directional Granger causality running from FDI and index of human capital to labor productivity. Similarly, Nguyen (2017) figured out that human capital had a positive impact on the result of business activities in Vietnam. Furthermore, a higher level of firm size as well as a higher level of human capital can increase the performance of the firm. In short, human capital is positively correlated with both individual and business development in the world in general and Vietnam in particular.

2.3 English and Its Prospects for Students’ Human Capital Development

As mentioned earlier, human capital contributes to a large extent to graduates’ foundation of their labor market outcomes (Tomlinson, 2017). As people nowadays are more commonly experiencing largely self-managed, boundaryless careers comprised of many positions with multiple organizations and even industries (Arthur et al., 2005; Hall, 2004; Sullivan & Arthur, 2006), their human capital plays a crucial role in helping them to progress in their career. English creates various opportunities in helping students to accumulate knowledge and develop important skills for their human capital development. First and foremost, English creates better chances to obtain high-quality education (Lien et al., 2015). Most up-to-date learning resources are written in English as Han and Ho (2011) showed that English is the most popular language used in articles from 65 countries/territories. In the same vein, Van Weijen (2012) found that approximately 80% of all published articles indexed in Scopus are written in English. Therefore, students with good English proficiency can read materials and have better chances to expand their knowledge in their field of study.

In addition to its possibility to improve students’ accumulation of knowledge, English has become very important in the job market in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. In fact, English has been used as a common language in the business world and become the common corporate language of communication in many companies and enterprises (Neeley, 2012; Warschauer, 2000). English also makes it easier for people to travel overseas to join an international labor market and build their careers (Jurje & Lavene, 2015). In Vietnam, fluency in English and having English international certificates such as IELTS, TOEIC, and TOEFL are a prerequisite for many jobs and increase the opportunities for graduates to secure a high-paid job (Hoang, 2010; Lien et al., 2015). The main reason for such an English language requirement is that many employees are required to do research, attend meetings, and do other clerical work in which English is an important vehicle. Additionally, given that industry has become increasingly important in Vietnam and attracted the most foreign investment and technical assistance, Vietnam now needs more English-competent engineers to learn modern techniques and more skilled labor with high levels of English proficiency to work in this sector. Tourism is also another growing industry that requires employees with good English proficiency. In the first 9 months of 2019, Vietnam welcomed 12.87 million tourists, and the number of tourists from Canada, Australia, UK, and the United States ranges from 118,624 to 569,113 tourists. Therefore, there is an urgent need for employees in tourism who can communicate well in English.

In short, English language education contributes to human capital in today’s world. However, to our knowledge, there has not yet been a study on the ways in which English language education affects Vietnamese students’ development of human capital. Therefore, the current study has been conducted to fill such a gap.

3 The Present Study

3.1 Research Approach

The researchers employed a mixed method approach in the current study with two phases: a qualitative study followed by a quantitative study. The reason for the use of mixed methods in the current study is the single use of each may cause different methodological issues. In particular, quantitative methods have the potential of leaving out rich details of human capital not captured by the scale while qualitative approaches may lack the formal test of hypotheses whether English language education has an impact on students’ human capital development. In fact, Creswell and Clark (2017) claim that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches in combination provides a better understanding of research problems and complex phenomena than either approach alone. In this study, the use of a mixed method approach could provide insights into the extent to which English language education contributes to students’ human capital development and the complex phenomena of how different groups of students benefit from learning English.

3.2 Data Collection Method and Process

In the first phase, the researchers interviewed 16 participating students and alumni of the two fields, namely Information Technology and Tourism to explore the contribution of English to their human capital development. To recruit participants, the researcher utilized a convenience sampling method (Etikan et al., 2016; Kumar, 2011). Details about the numbered interviewees are described in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1 Details of the participants in the first phase
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From August 15 to September 30, 2019, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted in Vietnamese language for each individual participant from 15 to 20 min for each interview to explore the participants’ English language education process and the role that English language education plays in helping them develop their human capital. The interview protocol consists of five main research questions aiming to explore the student interviewees’ experience of learning English and the extent English has helped them to develop various aspects of human capital. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and translated into English by the researchers. The translated version was then translated back to Vietnamese by another researcher and compared with the original interviews. Modifications were then made to the English version of the transcription to ensure its accuracy and reliability. All the interviews were later numbered as Interview 1 through Interview 16. The data were then analyzed by content analysis approach which involves quantifying qualitative information by sorting data and comparing different pieces of information to summarize it into useful information (Hancock et al., 2007; Kumar, 2011). The method has been used in the current study because it helps to find out the main themes from the responses through analyzing the contents of interviews (Hancock et al., 2007; Kumar, 2011). Following Kumar’s (2011) guidelines, the content analysis of the data was conducted: (1) determining the main themes that participants said about the contribution of English language education to human capital development, (2) coding the themes by numbers or keywords, (3) categorizing the participants’ answers under the themes, and (4) reporting both the themes and responses in the paper.

In the second phase, the findings from the first phase were used to develop a 27-item questionnaire. The questionnaire included the following parts: (1) demographic information (with 7 items), and (2) different elements of human capital (namely knowledge and skills) that students have gained from employing their English competence (with 20 items). The participants were asked to rate the extent to which they agree with the contribution of English to each element of human capital development, in which 1 denoted “Completely disagree” and 5 denoted “Completely Agree”. At the end of the questionnaire, the researcher asked one open-ended question “What are other benefits that English has brought to you?”, aiming to discover other contributions of English to the participants’ human capital development.

In total, contributions of English to human capital development identified and analyzed in the first phase were described in 20 items which could be classified into two following groups:

  • Group One: Ten items describing the contributions of English competence to students’ knowledge

  • Group Two: Ten items depicting the extent English competence contributes to developing students’ skills

The convenience sampling technique was taken to recruit participants in this phase, aiming to get approximately 100 responses from the IT student group and 100 responses from the Tourism student group in three weeks. The convenience sampling technique involves using respondents who are “convenient” to the researcher and in this study, all respondents come from the same university with the researchers. In this study, 3 lecturers from the IT faculty and 2 lecturers from the Tourism Faculty were asked to voluntarily assist in contacting with their students. The lecturers provided the researchers with the schedules of their classes. Then, the researchers came to the classrooms, explained to the students the aim of the study, and asked if any students were willing to answer the questionnaire on the voluntary basis. At the same time, an online survey was sent to the lecturers so that they could ask their alumni to fill in voluntarily.

After visiting 3 classrooms of each faculty and 2 weeks of collecting only survey responses, the researchers received a total of 214 responses from the 107 IT participants and 107 Tourism participants. Then, the researchers started cleansing the raw data by detecting and removing a total of 14 responses (i.e., 6 incomplete responses from IT Group, and 8 duplicating responses from Tourism Group). Therefore, 100 valid responses for each group were used for the analyses in this study. Details of the student participants from both IT and Tourism student groups were described in Table 5.2.

Table 5.2 Details of the participants in the second phase
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To begin the data analysis, the researcher entered all of the quantitative data into SPSS (Version 20). Firstly, participants’ demographic information was analyzed by descriptive statistical analysis to find out the main features of the sample, including gender, student type, age group, and their self-evaluated English competence. Then, descriptive data were explored to reveal the contributions of English to the participants’ human capital development.

4 Qualitative Results

Interviews with 16 participants reveal that English contributes to developing both their knowledge and skills for their career. In the subsequent part of the chapter, the ways in which English language education affects students’ knowledge and skill development will be presented respectively. The most common ideas among the respondents are listed first, and the less common ones come later.

4.1 English and Knowledge Development

All 16 participants claimed that English helped them to accumulate knowledge, not only at university but also at work. There are different ways English contributes to the knowledge accumulation process of the participants. First and foremost, English helps all participants search for information they need from English sources which are more available to them, as compared to Vietnamese ones. For example, the following participants said:

Thanks to English, I can access the internet to search for the information relating to my working field which Vietnamese sources cannot provide. [Interviewee 1]

English helps me to search for new technology for my work since most materials can only be found in English. [Interviewee 3]

With English, I can search for the most updated knowledge to fulfill the assignments that our teachers gave us. [Interviewee 14]

Thanks to English, seven participants can accumulate in-depth knowledge about specific fields they are interested in. One of the typical answers is.

I think English helps enhance my professional knowledge because the IT field requires us to update knowledge and technology continuously. Only foreign websites provide us with that. [Interviewee 9]

As compared to my friends who have lower English competence, I can find more information about different tourism models around the world. I can also make friends and chat with online friends to know more about the tourist attractions in their own countries. [Interviewee 11]

More importantly, six participants stated that English helps them read specialized books and materials and fully understand what the authors mean, which they rarely do if they read the translated versions. In addition, five participants stated that they can extend their knowledge to the related fields because they read materials and learn with their English competence. This is especially helpful for the alumni participants since their jobs require them to know other fields beside their major at university.

English helps me to develop my professional knowledge since my major is IT which requires me to update knowledge on a frequent basis. Only websites from foreign countries can provide me with such updated knowledge. [Interviewee 9]

English is a useful tool for me to learn the cultures of foreign countries. This kind of knowledge is important for people working in tourism sector like me. [Interviewee 12]

Last but not least, English is claimed to enlarge the participants’ knowledge of different culture.

English helps me to know more about the culture of different countries. I learn from the way they communicate, work and relax. Therefore, I feel less confused when I meet foreigners in my daily life. [Interviewee 3]

I know more about the culture of my online friends from different countries. This type of knowledge is usually hard to find in the textbooks that we’ve learned at school. [Interviewee 11]

4.2 English and Skills Development

The participants have listed different skills they have developed thanks to learning English. Communication skills were listed by all participants in the study. According to the participants, English helps them communicate with business partners, clients and friends from not only English-speaking countries but also many other countries all over the world since English has become an international language. Two noticing claims below come from the alumni of Tourism.

English helps me to improve my communication skills via making friends with foreigners or following social media influencers of Facebook, You Tube or Zalo. [Interviewee 3]

With English, I can take initiatives at work, get the gists, and understand my boss and colleagues clearly. These are important for communication. [Interviewee 14]

In addition, English helps them develop people skills which enable them to make friends with more people easily. These can be friends from their English classes at school, language centers where they have been learning, or those from their business and services. Moreover, English contributes to help them develop presentation and public speaking skills. Since the nature of learning a foreign language is speaking to and in front of people, English learning and using gradually helps the participants to present ideas and convince audience more effectively.

English helps me to maintain speaking and presentation skills. I can present my ideas better since I am familiar to the structure of an English talk. In such a talk, we avoid “beating around the bush” and we have to present the main ideas right at the beginning. [Interviewee 3]

I think I am more confident making English presentations than Vietnamese ones. I usually watch different English speeches on Youtube or other social media, so I think I am more familiar with the styles and common phrases that those speakers use in their talks. [Interviewee 16]

English also helps the participants to work effectively in their environment where English is used as a means of communication among staff members where their bosses are English-speaking ones.

Good English competence helps me to discuss with others more quickly and effectively. Therefore, I have gained more trust from my boss and colleagues because my projects take less time and fewer errors, which reduces the cost for lacking information or misunderstanding. [Interviewee 7]

I am working at a prestigious tourist company and English has helped me to work with foreign colleagues and clients conveniently. I can have a say whenever we discuss about our business and that’s really helpful for my job. [Interviewee 12]

Three participants mentioned that English brings them the confidence to conduct interviews and discussions with their business partners.

English helps me to be more outstanding than other people in job-seeking processes. It brings me the confidence to apply for the jobs I target. [Interviewee 2]

In short, the interviewees mentioned various contributions of English to their knowledge and skills development. On the one hand, English has helped the respondents to search for information, improve their discipline-specific knowledge, extend their knowledge to other related fields as well as provided them with in-depth knowledge that they sought for. On the other hand, English has also helped the respondents to develop communication skills, work-related skills, and people skills. Their answers have become the basis to build up the questionnaire for the quantitative study that followed.

5 Quantitative Results

5.1 English and Knowledge Development

Descriptive statistical analysis results (see Table 5.3) reveal that the two most important impacts of English on developing participants’ knowledge are helping them to search for information relating to the tasks they are doing when the information is not available on Vietnamese websites (M = 4.39; SD = 0.59); and searching for information from different sources around the world (M = 4.24; SD = 0.67). The four next important impacts are improving knowledge of the fields that the participants are specialized in (M = 4.18; SD = 0.49); helping them to read English reports in their fields (M = 4.10; SD = 0.64); extend their knowledge to other fields (M = 4.09; SD = 0.52); and better understand what authors mean in their texts as compared to reading translated versions of the same materials (M = 4.05; SD = 0.73). In addition, the other two impacts are helping the participants to deepen their knowledge of a research topic they are working on (M = 4.02; SD = 0.75); and accumulating in-depth knowledge of the field they are specialized in (M = 4.00; SD = 0.68). The last two impacts of English on the participants’ development of knowledge are helping them to read English materials smoothly and fluently (M = 3.99, SD = 0.71); and studying new knowledge and technology by themselves (M = 3.93; SD = 0.72).

Table 5.3 Participants’ perceptions of the impact of English on their knowledge development
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5.2 English and Skills Development

Regarding skills that English has contributed to building students’ skills, the three groups of skills have been revealed in Table 5.4. First, the participants agreed that English helps them develop and refine their communication skills (Item 03, Item 15, and Item 16). More specifically, learning English assists them to develop their communication skills in general (M = 4.34; SD = 0.56); overcome confusion when communicating with foreigners (M = 4.31; SD = 0.59); and refine their skills to communicate with not only foreigners but also Vietnamese (M = 4.27; SD = 0.58). The second skill group is work-related. In fact, the participants stated that English helps them improve their skills of working with foreign business partners (M = 4.24; SD = 0.72); improve their interview skills (M = 4.21; SD = 0.65); gain skills to work for other sectors they are interested in (M = 4.21, SD = 0.65); and engage effectively in their working environment (M = 4.12; SD = 0.70). The last skill group consists of people skills. The participants agreed that English helps them develop presentation and public speaking skills (M = 4.12; SD = 0.58); make friends easily with many people (M = 4.07; SD = 0.70); and develop their intercultural competence (M = 4.07, SD = 0.64).

Table 5.4 Participants’ perceptions of the impact of English on their skill development
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6 Discussion

The study reported in this chapter aimed to answer the research question “To what extent does English language education contribute to developing Vietnamese students’ human capital?” We found that English has a great contribution to enhancing students’ English language knowledge and skills as well as their knowledge and skills of related domains. In other words, English language education can contribute to developing students’ human capital in general, not just their English language competence.

Human capital is defined as the knowledge and skills which are acquired by graduates and become a foundation of their labor market outcomes ((Bhopal, 2020; Brooks & Youngson, 2016; Burke & Hughes, 2018; Judge et al., 1995; Kirchmeyer, 1998; Odden, 2011; Speer, 2017; Tomlinson, 2017). Findings in the current study reveal that English contributes to the participants’ human capital development in two ways. On the one hand, English broadens the students’ and alumni’s knowledge because there are more materials and up-to-date documents in the English language than in their mother tongue. In fact, the respondents have been provided with not only larger quantity but also better quality (i.e., richness and diversity) of materials. Therefore, English broadens the participants’ knowledge about not only their professional field but also other related fields or the fields they are interested in. The participants have accumulated and improved their knowledge via different activities such as searching for information or reading materials that the participants have done with their English competence. In fact, the findings are consistent with what Crystal (2003) and Lien et al. (2015) have claimed about the fact that English creates better chances to obtain high-quality education via updating their knowledge thanks to different sources. The participants in the current study have better access to resources because English is the most popular language used in articles from 65 countries/territories (Han & Ho, 2011) and approximately 80% of all published articles indexed in Scopus are written in English (Van Weijen, 2012).

Second, English helps the participants in the current study develop three main groups of skills namely communication skills, work-related skills, and people skills. Recent literature suggests that communication skills are the most important skills that employers are looking for (Stewart et al., 2016). This study revealed that studying English not only improves students’ ability to communicate in English but also in their mother tongues. In addition, English also helps to develop graduates’ work-related skills such as skills of working with foreign business partners, interviewing, working for other sectors of interest, and working effectively in one’s own working environment. Indeed, having the capacity to learn these skills could be considered necessary to achieve job success (Burke & Hughes, 2018; Molseed et al., 2003; Brooks & Youngson, 2016). Therefore, those who have better English proficiency are likely to gain more success than the others in the current study. Regarding people skills (i.e., presentation and public speaking skills, friend-making skills, and intercultural competence), Borghans et al. (2014) propose that people skills are important determinants of labor-market outcomes, including occupational choice and wages. Thus, employees with good English competence will have more options for the jobs they will do as well as the salaries they want to gain. In short, English has helped the participants in the current study develop their communication skills, work-related skills, and people skills. These are important for students’ employability since English has become the common corporate language of communication in many companies and enterprises (Neeley, 2012; Warschauer, 2000); international organizations and companies worldwide (Arthur et al., 2005; Bui & Intaraprasert, 2013; Crystal, 2012; Doan & Hamid, 2021; Hall, 2004; Sullivan & Arthur, 2006).

The findings from this study suggest that learning English not only contributes to the participants’ English language knowledge and skills but also enables them to develop knowledge and skills in other areas. These are important indicators that learning English strengthens the development of their human capital. Therefore, English programs provided in Vietnamese universities should not be restricted within equipping the learners with the knowledge and skills of the English language itself, but should adopt a content and language integrated learning approach (CLIL) where English knowledge and skills are learned together with knowledge and skills of other content areas (Cenoz et al., 2014; Coyle, 2007; Pérez-Cañado, 2012). This approach will motivate learners because they can realize the practical use of learning English, and accordingly, better prepare themselves for their future career and employability. However, it should be noted that the current study is limited to only 200 participants from only one university and the two disciplines of Information Technology and Tourism. Therefore, a survey on a larger scale with more students and alumni of diverse disciplines and from various universities in Vietnam will provide more rigorous data for more statistical analyses. Furthermore, a random sampling technique instead of convenient sampling one should be used. This will result in a better generalizability of the study findings.

7 Conclusions

The interviews with 16 student respondents and the survey of 200 students/graduates of Tourism and Information Technology reveal the roles of English in helping them improve their professional knowledge and knowledge of related areas as well as develop their communication, work-related and people skills. These contributions vary from helping students search for information, improving their discipline-specific knowledge, providing them with in-depth knowledge of their interest to developing their communication skills, skills of working with foreign business partners, interviewing, working for other sectors of interest, presentation and public speaking skills, networking skills, and intercultural competence. These are important human capitals for students to be better equipped for their future and the world of work. Therefore, English language education in Vietnam should also be invested more in terms of efforts of all the key stakeholders such as school authorities, English teachers, and students. As mentioned earlier, Vietnam has already formulated policy to improve English proficiency for its citizens. However, the policy implementation process needs the careful surveillance of the authorities, the teachers’ enthusiasm in helping students learn the language, and students’ awareness of the importance of English language for their future employability so that they can invest more time and efforts on their own English language education not only during their university time but also in their life-long learning process.