Introduction

Literacy is the ability to read, write, view, comprehend, discuss, create, listen, and respond in a way that enables individuals to communicate effectively (UNESCO, 2005). It also involves applying these skills to connect, discover, interpret, and understand both written and verbal information. In Vietnam, being literate, or biết chữ, commonly means knowing how to read and write with understanding simple sentences in one's national, ethnic, or a foreign language. The definition of being literate can be curriculum-based or subjective. For instance, the Vietnam Population and Housing Census gives the following definition:

persons were literate if they had completed grade 5 or higher or if the head of their household (or the representative of the household who was interviewed by the census collector) believed that they were currently able to read and write (Phan, Bilgin, Eyland and Shaw (2004), p. 4).

The language referred to in this definition is Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese), the national language of contemporary Vietnam. It belongs to the Mon-Khmer linguistic branch of the Austro-Asiatic language family and is both monosyllabic and tonal, with the number of tones varying by dialect (six in the standard Hanoi dialect, five in some southern and central regions). Vietnamese has a rich history of employing Chinese characters, vocabulary, and grammar (Sino Nom) during the millennia when the north and northern central region of Vietnam were under Chinese domination. Subsequently, Vietnamese elites developed their own script (chữ Nôm), used by a small, highly educated segment of the population (Hoàng, 2007). The emergence of the Vietnamese alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ), or “national language script”, in the seventeenth century, diminished the use of Nino-Nom, especially under the French colonial rule.  Nevertheless,  Sino-Nom remained the official written language of the Vietnamese government until the early twentieth century, when the Vietnamese alphabetic writing system was adopted as the official script, a status it retains today.Footnote 1 Thus, in Vietnam, language has been deeply intertwined with power, colonialism, bureaucracy, and elites interest, influencing national, social, and regional resistance. This historical context has led to evolving definitions of literacy, encompassing both the capacity to read and write and the borader concept of literacy education.

This chapter provides an overview of literacy education in modern Vietnam, with a particular focus on the contemporary period. It aims to trace the development of literacy education from a centralized, nationalist discourse to a more critical, globally integrated approach. The narrative begins with a brief history of literacy education in Vietnam, leading up to the modern era, and continues with an examination of literacy education following the establishment of the modern government. The chapter delves deeply into the ongoing  educational reform initiatives, highlighting the shift toward global standards and interconnected education practices.

Literacy Education in Vietnam: A Brief History

During the French colonial period (1861–1945), French was imposed as the language of power, leading to a decline in the use of literary Chinese (Sino Nom), while the status of the Vietnamese language increased among the populace. This era marked the gradual replacement of Sino-Nom with the French and Vietnamese alphabetic script. The French administration's preference for using French in governance bolstered French, language education, thereby diminishing the role of Chinese characters. Concurently, Vietnamese language education was provided to French administrative officials to facilitate policy implementation. In 1861, the French established a Vietnamese language school in Saigon, adopting Quốc ngữ as the medium for teaching and learning, which further supported national language education and the proliferation of Vietnamese language newspapers. By 1904, a similar French-Vietnamese educational program was introduced in the Northern region.

The colonial education system catergorized schools into various levels, making the Vietnamese language a compulsory subject at the primary level. The Vietnamese Literature Program was mandated for students  in elementary education (grades 6–9). At the high school levels (Baccalaureate), there was the Vietnamese Program (Chương trình Việt văn) was implemented in French-Vietnamese high school before 1940.Footnote 2 Textbooks, serving as key education materials, implicitly contained these requirements. Classroom activities were designed to facilitate comprehension and retention of textbook materials, culminating in examinations.

From the early twentieth century, numerous Vietnamese intellectuals actively participated in teaching the Vietnamese alphabetic script (chữ Quốc ngữ), viewing literacy as a tool to counteract colonial oppression, notably the “keep the people stupid” policy (chính sách ngu dân). This educational movement also enabled the exploration of Western educational paradigms, supported by the efforts of political groups like the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (Nationalist Party) and the Đảng Cộng Sản Đông Dương (Indochina Communist Party).

The Revolutionary State and Its Literacy Education Campaign (1945–1989)

In the process of The revolutionary leadership recognised literacy as essential for the extension of nationalist ideology. General Giáp recounted Hồ Chí Minh’s curt dismissal of one of Giáp’s compositions: “No peasant will understand this stuff''.Footnote 3 Consequently, in 1940, the Việt Minh Đồng Minh Hội (Việt Minh) announced a commitment to eradicate illiteracy through compulsory primary education. This initiative was central to the political agenda of the Viet Minh, aiming to strategically educate communist ideology, to win the hearts of the people, and foster unity among ethnic minorities.

Following the 1945 Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), the new government continued its policy against illiteracy, prioritized  nationwide literacy programs. Literacy education was to be conducted under the will of the Central Party and the decisions of the government, aimed for mass education (Malarney, 2012), and the ambitious goal of universal education, or education for all. Over time, the campaigns became more sophisticated and extensive. New methods were adopted to address the challenges of school attendance and the retention of literacy skills among the populace.

The first literacy campaign spanned from 1945 to 1954, starting immediately after Vietnam declared independence. On September 3, 1945, Ho Chi Minh initiated the fight against “illiterate enemy”. This was followed by the launch of a mass education movement on September 8. In 1945, the Central Party outlined Đề cương văn hóa Việt Nam (Outline Propaganda for Vietnamese Culture) which set the task of building “Vietnamese for all” (tiếng Việt toàn dân) and education in Vietnamese for the masses. The government then issued three continuous executive orders to: (1) establish Nha bình dân học vụ, known as the Administration Institute of Mass Education, (2) mass education classes to be established in every village, and (3) compulsory literacy education for individuals aged eight and older.

The anti-illiteracy campaign was intertwined with the national call for “fighting against the invaders” (Appeal for National Resistance, known as “Lời kêu gọi toàn quốc kháng chiến” in 1946), emphasizing the strategic importance of education in the  political landscape of the newly established nation-state. President Ho Chi Minh himself launched the campaign, his statement clearly linked the literacy situation with the life of a nation:

“An Illiterate Nation is a Weak Nation,

… Eradicating the Illiteracy Issue is One of the Urgent Tasks of the New Democracy Nation States”.

His saying about fighting against illiteracy became a popular lesson for the Vietnamese masses, asserting that eliminating illiteracy was crucial for the development of a democratic nation:

“Every Vietnamese needs to know their right, having knowledge and participate in the national building project, the first and foremost task is to be able to read and write Vietnamese.”

In subsequent years, the top-down educational initiatives included the Directive of Central Party in 1948, a “Call for patriotic competition”, which associated the eradication of  illiteracy with patriotism. Efforts to expand educational infrastructure led to the creation of new primary and secondary schools, and the reconstruction of universities (1949). In 1950, the Department of Art and Literature was established within the Ministry of Education, highlighting the government's commitment to comprehensively educational development, including prioritizing Vietnamese language education for both Kinh and the ethnic minority students.Footnote 4

After the first campaign, Vietnam witnessed a remarkable surge in literacy rate (Fraser, 1993). Before World War II, the illiteracy rate was between 80–95%. After three months implementing the first campaign, by the end of 1945, it was reported that 22,100 classes were successfully organized, with more than 30,000 teachers teaching more than 500,000 people. By the close of 1946, the number rose to 75,000 classes, 95,000 teachers, and 2.5 million learners. By 1952, literacy had reached 10 million rural inhabitants, and by the decade's end, the literacy rate for individuals aged 12 to 50 soared to 93.4%. The period of 1955–1975 saw the North and South manage literacy education separately due to political divisions. Under the Southern political regime, Ngữ văn, a Vietnamese language curriculum was designed in 1957. This curriculum emphasized comprehensive linguistic fluency and cultural appreciation, which was “to let students understand their mother tongue fluently and fully, speak and write fluently, transparently, accurately, elegantly and purely; After all, thanks to that language, people can train their character and aesthetic appeal” (Ministry of Education, 1957).Footnote 5 Then in 1970–1971, the revised curriculum was introduced, focusing on enhancing literacy appreciation and linguistic skills, aiming to deepen the understanding of national literature:  “the main point is to help students know how to listen, speak, read, write, enjoy literature to promote aesthetic appeal, enrich feelings, and understand the general outline of the national literature’s background in terms of words, art and thought” (Ministry of Education, 1971).

In the North, the second literacy campaign (1956–1958) coincided with “the new period of revolution” (Alexander, 1983), prioritizing educational materials and facility enhancementFootnote 6 to improve the quality of education.Footnote 7 Post-reunification in 1975, the third literacy education campaign happened in 1976. As the Northern government gained control over the whole country, their educational model was extended to the South,Footnote 8 focusing on educating revolutionary cadres and the youth involved in the protracted resistance efforts. This period marked a significant effort to elevate educational standards and eradicate illiteracy across Vietnam.

The Đổi Mới Spirit and Reformation Processes of Literacy Education in Contemporary Vietnam

Starting in 1981, Vietnam's education system faces pressures from economic and financial shift towards a market-based and globally integrated economy. These changes led to increased inequality affecting various groups, including ethnic minorities, prompting discussions about the decline in socialist values, “socialist ideology, morality and personality in the Party and in society” due to the failure of the centrally planned economy (Đảng, 2007). The inequality generated conflicts and competition among social groups, especially among ethnicities (Pelley, 1998; Salemink, 2003; Taylor, 2002, 2008; Ủy ban, 2011). The Đổi Mới reforms transformed educational policies, emphasizing the need for education to develop a workforce with both cultural and technical knowledge, disciplined and creative, to meet the evolving dements of the economy, as said in the Party’s document: “train a contingent of working people endowed with cultural and technical knowledge, with a high sense of discipline and creativeness, rationally distributed among different trades and branches, and thereby meeting the need for the social division of the workforce” (Đảng, 2007).

Success in the reduction of poverty and improvements in national health laid a stronger foundation for education reforms. In 1989, the National Committee for the Eradication of Illiteracy was established, later renamed  in 1992 as the National Committee on Education for All, signifying a broader commitment to inclusive education.

The Committee aimed to drastically reduce illiteracy, especially targeting the 15–35 age group, planning to reduce 50% of the illiteracy number and to enhance access to primary education for all children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.  In 1993, further reform were enacted to revitalize education and training, with the government adopting a Communist Party decision, highlighting education as the “driving force and basic condition for the realization of socio-economic objectives”, and prioritizing educational investment as one of the principal directions of investments for development. Efforts focused on eliminating illiteracy among youths aged to 15, and adult from 15 to 35. It would do this through a redefinition of education content, methodology, and accessibility, particularly in difficult and remote regions.

A 1994 UNICEF report recognized Vietnam's commitment to education, noting the government's educational interest and its strategic plans for  achieving universal literacy and primary education, both under the motto of “education for all”. The government introduced three types of curricula to cater the diverse needs of the population: a standard curriculum of 165 weeks over 5 years for most children, a 120-week curriculum for children from ethnic minorities or those in remote or mountainous areas, and finally a 100-week curriculum for children with particular difficulties caused by disability, impoverishment or limited access to education. The design aimed for comprehensive literacy within 3 years of schooling. To attain universal primary education, stringent benchmarks were set, such as each province, commune or village had to eradicate illiteracy for 90% of its people in the 15–35 age group, 90% of 6-year old going to school, 90% of first year enrollment would continue to the fifth year, and 90% of 15-year old would complete primary education. Through these goals, literacy was seen as a fundamental right and a cornerstone for personal and national development.

Central Control Model of Literacy Education in Contemporary Vietnam

The common curriculum with rigid outcome measures in contemporary Vietnam set a uniform standard across all general schools. To facilitate this, a specific institute within the Department of Education was tasked with writing textbooks. These textbooks, written in Vietnamese, included literature appropriate for each educational level. Additionally, a wealth of reference books was produced to support the demands of teaching.

This centralized model of literacy education in Vietnam represented a significant shift from the more flexible approach used during the time 1945–1975, and continuing until 1989. The earlier approach was flexible, prioritized the basic literacy skills, and was deeply intertwined with the communist state's ideology, reflecting Vietnam's national identity. Initially, this method primarily benefited a small, educated elite, leaving the broader population with limited access to education. As time progressed, the necessity for a more inclusive educational strategy became apparent. The government, acknowledging the limitations of the previous system, moved towards a centralized model. This change aimed to democratize education, ensuring broader participation and alignment with the communist party's vision of equitable and comprehensive education for all Vietnamese citizens.

Achievements and Shortages

The aims expressed in legislation were always high, as we would expect from lawmakers who had such a strong commitment to the benefits of improved national literacy.

A survey of achievements in literacy over the most recent 30 years gave a sense of the overall situation as well as the challenges confronting those lawmakers. In February 1992, the National Committee on Education for All concluded that eight cities and provinces out of 53 had reached the national standard for recognition in the struggle against illiteracy.

It was reported that for adults aged between 15 and 35 in Vietnam, the literacy rate increased from 86.1% in 1990 to 95.6% in 1998 (Education for All in Vietnam (1990–2000). In some regions, the increase was much greater—in the Northeast from 68 to 93%, in the North West from 52 to 84%, and in the Central Highlands from 53 to 88%. These figures were derived from reports of the National Committee for Literacy, the Continuing Education Department, and the Ministry of Education and Training.

Figures for 1993 showed that about 15% of primary age children did not attend school. This became well over 50% in the most remote ethnic areas. The dropout rate over the whole country was about 12%, and 11% of primary age children had to repeat one or more years. Only about 60% of children who began grade 1 completed primary education in the standard time. Vietnam's problem was not just to get as many children as possible to start school, it was also necessary to keep them there and to ensure smooth progression through the grades. Again, substantial improvements were evident in the figures for 1995, which showed the dropout rate for Vietnam had fallen to 6.93% and the repetition rate to 5.09%.

By 1995, in urban and surrounding areas, about 80% of the 15–35-year-old group had completed primary education and roughly 94% were literate, with an “average mean schooling level of 9.5 years”. The National Committee’s figure of 9.5 years did not correspond with the State Planning Committee, which reported that children attended school for an average of 5.4 years (7.49 years in urban areas and 4.96 in rural areas).

Up to 2000 classes to teach basic literacy had been established, catering for 70,000 people. There are no comparative figures to show the size of the increase, but it can be assumed these classes did not exist when the campaign started in the early 1990s. There are also no comparative figures showing what reduction had occurred in the estimated two million people in the 15–35 years age group who were illiterate in 1991. These figures must be offset against the rates for children in remote ethnic groups, which are extremely low. In Lao Cai, only 12.6% of the school aged children attended school, and in Son La, 7.7%. Only about 6–10% of those in the 15–35-year-old age group in all remote areas were described as literate. The problem is multifaceted, as the areas cannot be reached easily and if the effort is made, education becomes expensive. Alternatively, in impoverished areas, locals cannot afford to establish their own primary schools or to attract good teachers, and many ethnic people do not see the value of education. Impressively, in 2011, male literacy was at 95.8% and female literacy was at 91.4% (Malarney, 2012, pp. 83–84). Yet, these numbers vary depending on region, gender, and ethnicity. A key highlight of these differences is the matter of literacy education for ethnic minorities.

Since 2014, the Government of Vietnam has recommitted to its position by issuing many policies to promote education universalization and illiteracy eradication. The policies aim to strengthen Vietnamese language for preschool children and primary school students in ethnic minority areas. The results of a survey conducted by the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and the General Statistics Office in 2019 across more than 56,400, villages in ethnic minority communes nationwide showed that more than 1.4 million children aged 5 to 9 years in ethnic minority areas had access to primary school; among these, the ethnic groups with the largest number of children of primary school age were Tay, Thai, Khmer, Muong, Mong, and Nung (Ủy ban dân tộc, 2015).

As of the 2019 report, the percentage of children going to school at the appropriate age at all levels has increased, the percentage of ethnic minority (EM) children of general school age who do not attend school has decreased in hafl, from 26.4% in 2009 to 15.5% in 2019 (Ủy ban dân tộc, 2019). However, the survey results also show that significant limitations remain in terms of inequalities in children's access to education across regions, especially for children of ethnic minorities in mountainous areas. Ethnic minority children still face difficulties in accessing literacy, so illiteracy among children has not been completely eliminated. The rate of older children not attending primary school is 3.1%; it is 18.4% for lower secondary school, and 53% with high school(ibid.). In general, around 80.9% of ethnic minorities aged 15 and over can read and write (Ủy ban dân tộc, 2019).

From 2012 to 2020, MoET conducted the project “Building a learning society”. Of the four main goals, the report claims that the project has achieved two major goals: “Eradication of illiteracy and education universalization”, “Learning to improve life skills, building happier individual and community lives”. All provinces and cities have achieved level 1 illiteracy eradication standards, while 34/63 have reached level 2 illiteracy eradication standards; localities have organized illiteracy eradication for over 300,000 people aged 15–60. The number of women who are literate is high, helping the gender balance index to almost reach the absolute balance. Among the newcomers to the position, more than 90% continue to study (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2021). For the period of 2021–2030, the Project on “Building a Learning Society” aims to form an open, flexible, and interconnected education system, ensuring that by 2030, all people have equal access to education for quality lifetime.

Emerging Changes and Challenges for the Literacy Education in Vietnam

In line with global trends, Vietnam is deepening its international integration, influenced by rapid advancements in science and technology, educational science, and the competition global landscape. This context necessitates educational reform to keep pace with international standards (Vietnam Update, 2011).

Responding to these needs, in June 2012, the Vietnamese government issued the Strategies for education 2011–2020 (Chính phủ, 2012) analyzing the limitation in educational practices, and outlining a comprehensive reform plan to overhaul  education management, teacher training, curriculum content, teaching methods, assessment, and resources allocation. On November 4, 2013, the 8th Conference of the XI Central Executive Committee issued Resolution 29-NQ/TW, further solidified this commitment, advocating for fundamental and comprehensive change in education and training to support the country's industrialization and modernization within a socialist-oriented market economy and global integration. The two central issues of innovation being mentioned were: (1) strongly focusing on shifting from education for knowledge impartment to education for quality and capacity; (2) changing, reorganizing education based on the requirements of learners’ personality and capacity development. In short, this reformation spirit saw education addressing the human resource requirement of contemporary society.

In its implement process, the Ministry of education and Training (MoET) initiated a pilot reform in 2013 (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2013), leading to a significant directive from the Central Party to intensively reform the teaching and training system, aligning with the nation's industrialization and modernization agenda in global integration, market-oriented economy (Ban chấp hành TƯ Đảng, 2013). This led to the proposal of school textbooks reformation in the National Assembly of Vietnam (Quốc Hội, 2014). Taking on board the proposal, the Ministry of Education introduced a new national education curriculum, aimed at transforming teaching practices, learning assessment, educational materials, and overall schooling management. This new curriculum, especially in language and literacy, is crucial for literacy education, setting the stage for substantial educational advancement in Vietnam. It marks a significant step toward modernizing the Vietnamese education system, aligning it more closely with global standards and the evolving needs of the country's socioeconomic development. The following part unfolds a part of the new national education curriculum that focus on literacy education via subject curriculum of Vietnamese language and literature.

Reformation to Be Continued: The General Education Curriculum and Its New Phase of Literacy Education

In 2018, MoET officially approved the new national education curriculum (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2018a), after many times of drafting, collecting comments and refining; the official document, known as Circular No. 32/2018/TT-BGDĐT in December 26, 2018, included the subject curriculum for Vietnamese language and literature.

As part of this, the new curriculum of language and literature was also issued. Compared with the current Literature Program (2006), the new document required the achievement of three main goals: (1) to provide students with general, basic, modern, systematic knowledge of language (focus on Vietnamese) and literature (focus on Vietnamese literature), suitable for age development and human resource training requirements in the period of industrialization and modernization; (2) literature subjects form and develop students' competencies in using Vietnamese, receiving literature, perceiving aesthetics; learning methods, ideas, especially self-study methods; the ability to apply what they have learned to life; and (3) literature fosters students' love of the Vietnamese language, culture, and literature; love of family, nature, country; national pride; self-reliance and self-reliance; socialist ideal; the spirit of democracy and humanity; educating students about civic responsibility, a spirit of international friendship and cooperation, a sense of respect and promotion of the cultural values of the nation and humanity (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2018b, p. 5).

Literacy education is designed as the main task in the subject curriculum of Vietnamese language and literature (it is called Vietnamese in primary curriculum, and Language and Literature in secondary and high school curriculum) (ibid., p. 1). Besides the old criteria of providing knowledge, attitude education, and emotion to students, the new curriculum highlights the requirement to implement an interdisciplinary approach in content design, and a communication capacity focus in the outcome (ibid., p.4). It is worth noting that the previous 2006 curriculum did not give the same priority to learners’ capacity, but more to the content of knowledge.

The second highlight of the new curriculum is its openness spirit in limiting the outcome on required standards of skills and knowledge, but not limiting the input choices. This significant change will finalise the era of one curriculum—one textbook system in Vietnamese national schooling. It also gives a certain level of freedom for school leadership and teachers in choosing the textbook and related teaching materials. In the implementation process, MoET has diversified the compilation of textbooks. New textbook standards are issued together with MoET’s Circular No. 33/2017/TT-BGDĐT dated December 22, 2017. Instead of having only one set of textbooks as before, now there are different books from different expert groups and publishing presses.

In 2020, for the first time, five series of textbooks for grade 1 have been used in Vietnamese schools. They are (1) For the equality and democracy in Education (Vì sự bình đẳng và dân chủ trong giáo dục) (Education Publishing Press); (2) Connecting knowledge to life (Kết nối tri thức với cuộc sống) (Education Publishing Press); (3) The horizon of creation (Chân trời sáng tạo) (University of Education Press, HCMC); (4) Knites (Cánh Diều) (Education Publishing Press); (5) Learn together to develop capacities (Cùng học để phát triển năng lực) (Education Publishing Press). Schools and local authorities can consider their own priorities to decide the textbook they want.

Literature is a compulsory subject in the field of Language and Literature Education, studied from grade 1 to grade 12. In primary school, this subject is Vietnamese, with 35 weeks per year and the number of lessons specified for each grade level: 1st grade (420 h), 2nd grade (350 h), 3rd grade (280 h), 4th grade (245 h), 5th grade (245 h). In middle school and high school, this subject is Literature, with each school year lasting 35 weeks, 140 lessons for middle school, and 105 for high school. In addition, there are 35 elective topics (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2018b).

The Literature subject program is part of the system with the General Education Program, in which reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills are core and maintained across three levels. The curriculum is designed to be “dynamic” and “open”. This subject also has the advantage of forming and developing students' language ability and literary ability. Objectives of this subject at the primary level focus on instrumentality (language competence); at the lower secondary level, it balances language ability and literary capacity (basic); at the high school level, it focuses on differentiation and literary competence (vocational orientation). Compared with the previously implemented Literature Program (2006), the 2018 Literature Program has many changes in objectives, approaches, principles of program development, requirements to be achieved, teaching content, teaching methods, and assessing learning outcomes. The following parts will focus on understanding and analyzing two main contents related to the change of this program: teaching methods and testing and assessment of learning outcomes.

Critical Changes in Teaching Methods

The General Education Program's approach emphasizes shifting from content-based teaching to capacity development. The subject of Literature incorporates these common requirements. Specifically, there are four highlights: (1) Promote the activeness of learners; (2) Integrated and differentiated teaching; (3) Diversify teaching methods, forms and means; and (4) Promote the positive, proactive, creative in learning and applying knowledge and skills of students. Teachers must choose methods and forms of teaching organization that are suitable for the development of key qualities and competencies for their particular students; At the same time, it is also necessary to focus on promoting the initiative and creativity of students. A focus on teaching methods for the subject is designed in the program in skills, including methods of teaching reading; methods of teaching writing and methods of teaching speaking and listening.

Methods of Teaching Reading

According to the Editor-in-Chief of the General Education Program in Literature (Do Ngoc Thong, 2019), the main purpose of teaching reading in high schools is to help students learn to read and read texts themselves; through fostering and educating the quality and personality of students. Reading objects include literary texts and informational texts. Each type of text has its own characteristics, so it is necessary to have an appropriate way to teach reading comprehension.

Depending on the audience of students in each class and the genre of the text, teachers apply appropriate methods, techniques and forms of teaching reading comprehension such as: expressive reading, reading role-playing, story-telling, role-playing to solve a situation, act out a play, use questions, guide notes in the reading process with note cards, study sheets, reading diaries, organize students to discuss texts, draw pictures, make movies, experience situations that characters have experienced… Some other teaching methods such as dialogue, question and answer, lecture, problem-solving can also be applied appropriately according to the development requirements and capacity building for students.

Methods of Teaching Writing

In addition to technical writing and correct spelling, the important purpose of teaching writing in the subject of Literature is to train thinking and writing, thereby educating the quality and developing the personality of students. Therefore, when teaching writing, teachers need to focus on the requirements of generating ideas and knowing how to present ideas in a coherent, creative and persuasive manner.

Teaching writing at the primary level, according to Do Ngoc Thong, has two requirements: teaching writing techniques and teaching paragraph and text writing. At the middle and high school levels, teachers ask students to perform more complex tasks such as: gathering information from sources for writing; discussing and analyzing the article evaluation criteria; know how to self-edit to improve the article and reflecting after each writing task.

Methods of Teaching Speaking and Listening

The purpose of teaching speaking and listening is to help students have the ability to express and present in spoken language clearly and confidently; have the ability to understand correctly; respecting speakers and listeners; Have a suitable attitude in exchange and discussion. Teaching speaking and teaching listening not only develops communication capacity but also educates students' self-esteem and personality.

Teachers can guide students to observe and analyze samples; guide how to organize for speaking practice. Students can prepare and present to the group or class in speaking exercises. When teaching listening, teachers guide students on how to grasp the listening content, how to understand and evaluate the views and intentions of the speaker; how to check for unknown information; to have a positive listening attitude and respect for speakers, respect for different opinions; and to know how to cooperate, solve problems with a positive attitude.

For interactive listening and speaking skills, teachers can guide students to listen and know how to ask questions to understand listening content, to speak in turn in conversations, to know how to use other audio-visual means to support oral presentation.

Do Ngoc Thong (2019) also gives four points to note about the method of teaching the subject as follows: (1) the priority of teaching is to develop learners’ capacities, especially language and literary competence; (2) the selection of teaching methods and techniques should be flexible and contextualized; (3) the teaching quality should go with whole school approach; and (4) the application of teaching methods should be creative and innovative.

As for the content of Vietnamese language teaching appearing in the new Middle School Program, Do Ngoc Thong (2021) commented on the emphasis on communicative approach, focusing on abilities to apply the knowledge to life circumstances.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2022b) has also issued a document guiding more specifically on the innovation of teaching methods of Literature in high schools. The official dispatch clearly states that it is necessary to renew the teaching and learning methods of Literature subject in several points such as to (1) further enhance the students' positivity, initiative, and creativity in the process of studying; and (2) develop lesson plans that prioritize the application of learners' capacity through learning inside and outside the classroom.

Thus, in terms of teaching methods, an important point in the transformation of the 2018 Program compared to previous programs is the shift from content-oriented teaching/knowledge transfer to a capacity-oriented approach. Teachers focus on organizing activities to facilitate learning where the teaching content is designed to be branched, with division by level and capacities of leaners. Hence, learners have many opportunities to express their opinions and to participate in productive criticism.

Critical Changes in Assessment and Evaluation

Examination and assessment in education is an important part of educational management. Evaluation is the process of collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting information about the object to be assessed, thereby understanding, and making necessary decisions about the object. Testing is a way of organizing evaluation. This is also an integral part of the teaching process and an important tool for teachers. The general purpose of testing and assessment is to provide information to make teaching and educational decisions (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2020).

The Literature Program determines the assessment of educational results to provide accurate, timely, and valuable information on the level of satisfaction required for the quality, capacity and progress of students in the subject. Then there are guidelines for learning activities, adjustment of teaching activities, program management and development, to ensure the progress of each student and improving the quality of education.

Teachers assess both the general and specific capacities (language competence and language arts competence) (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2018b). Assessment should combine both quantitative and qualitative forms, through tests (reading, writing, speaking, listening).

Assessment of reading comprehension activities: requirements to understand the content and topics of the text; the writer's point of view and intention, identifying characteristics of the mode of expression (type of text, language used).

Evaluation of writing activities: ask students to create types of texts like narrative, descriptive, expressive, elements of argumentative text, some types of explanatory and applied text. The assessment of writing skills is based on major criteria such as: content, writing structure, ability to express and argue, language form and presentation.

Assessment of speaking and listening activities: ask students to say the right topics and goals; the speaker's confidence and dynamism; pay attention to the listener; be able to argue and persuade, have appropriate speaking techniques, know how to use non-verbal communication and assistive technology.

For listening skills, ask students to grasp the content spoken by others, grasp and evaluate the speaker's point of view and intention; know how to ask questions, raise problems, exchange information to check unclear information; have a positive listening attitude and respect the speaker; listen to and respect differing opinions.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2020) also emphasizes the quality assessment integrated in the assessment of language ability: focusing on behaviors, jobs, behaviors, and expressions of language ability. students' attitudes and feelings when reading, writing, speaking and listening. This is conducted mainly by qualitative, through observations, notes, comments.

Assessment in Literature is designed in two ways: formative assessment and summative assessment. Formative assessment is carried out continuously throughout the teaching process by the teacher. For formative assessment, teachers can choose various forms, such as: observing and taking notes about students, students answering questions or giving presentations, writing analysis, writing summaries, and collecting projects and doing research exercise, etc. The forms of summative assessment include teachers evaluate students, students evaluate each other and students’ self-assessment. These forms may include multiple choice questions, essays, test cards. Along side this, teachers must assess students’ learning attitudes.

In the national curriculum, teachers are given suggestions on forms of assessment, like written tests, presentations, question and answer method, learning profile, and alternate learning products (ibid.). MoET issues the Training Manual for Secondary School Teachers in which specific instructions and suggestions for teachers are built in a matrix including relevant assessment specifics such as duration, number of questions, question format, knowledge area, ability level of each question, among others (Bộ Giáo Dục và Đào tạo, 2022a).

The new General Education Program and its Literature Program highlights the competency approach in assessment design. This is a significant shift of focus from assessment knowledge through memory check to evaluating the ability to apply and solve practical problems with higher-order and creative thinking. Hence, assessment has shifted from being seen as an independent activity after teaching to become integrated into the teaching process, even as a teaching method.

Concluding Discussion: Toward Global Standards and Inter-connected Settings

The significant shift in the new General Education Program resulted from a long process of the Vietnamese educational reforming stakeholders’ interactions with forces and sources outside of Vietnam, evident in its decades of opening policies after Doi Moi, and the increase integration into global debates of literacy education through the engagements of multinational organizations and many other international partnerships in education.

As stated by Nguyen Minh Thuyet, the general editor of the new general education program, this reformative document has been planned for a decade, with the work of intensive team base on the national context, international guidelines and lessons learnt from many education reform agenda in developed countries (Nguyen 2019).

One key guideline underpinned for the writing of the new general education program is about competencies approach. For example, the Definition and Selection of Key Competencies issued by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2005) has been used together with Europe’s Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning—A European Reference Framework (2006). The idea of applying technology into education reformation is also adopted from World Economic Fund’s New Vision for Education: Unlocking the Potential of Technology (WEF, 2015).

During the writing process, Vietnamese scholars have reached out to examples of national curriculum in developed countries for critical comparison studies. As explained in the section about the introduction of five new textbooks collections, each team has their own clarification of how they come up with their education ideology implied in their textbooks. For example, Do Ngoc Thong (2019) provides detailed samples of the Language Arts curriculum of US states, Australia, and the UK, as the comparison for his justification of changes in the Language and Literature Program in the Vietnamese new general education program.

While the constructing process has involved many interactions with international forces and sources, the implementation practices of this new general education program have been shaped in the inter-connectedness of dynamic national subjectivities, such as the teachers, education managers, parents, and students, as well as social media critics from a more general audience.

Only a few months into teaching with the new books, there are already various criticisms from media about certain books. Some teachers were not confident with the new textbook (Mạnh Tùng, 2020), some parents commented that the book price is higher than average (VTV, 2020), some media claim that there are mistakes of content in some textbooks (Thanh Nam, 2020). Together these responses reveal that there are limitations in implementing the new policy and the reform model of education. In 2020, while any new policy will have unexpected problems, with the emergence and spread of COVID-19, there were even more delays, for example, in training for teacher and school leadership (Tuệ Nguyễn, 2020). While there have been several options for textbook, the issue of teaching literacy for ethnic minority students is still under researched, both in Vietnamese and in their mother languages. In addition to that, there has been limited integration of ethnic culture and values into the national textbooks. While there are many changes, there are also numerous challenges for literacy education in contemporary Vietnam. There are still unseen challenges that teachers, school, students, and the system are facing in implementation of the new program and the new textbooks. All the challenges and difficulties above are just the observation of initial implementation. As the reform journey will be a decade long, no one can predict all of the struggles ahead. However, there are also positive comments that the reform is on the right direction, promoting education for integration and development (Trung Hieu, 2020).

Leaving analysis of the implementation practices for further research, this chapter has illustrated the pathway to the present of literacy education in Vietnam in its modern history. From the switch to quốc ngữ instead of French or Sino Nom, the establishment of education administration institutions, to the conduct of literacy campaigns an education reform, it can be said that the twentieth century has witnessed the fundamental establishment of modern literacy education in Vietnam (Duggan, 2001).

The chapter also unpacks current practices in the twenty-first century with some significant landmarks of development toward globalization. Taking the explanation of literacy education in Vietnam to the point where it is today, the chapter has shown a shift from the centralized nationalist discourse toward a more critical approach outreaching to global standard and inter-connected settings.