关键词: 外语教育规划; 越南国家外语纲要; 语言规划; 外语教育

Abstract:

The globalization of world economy has made cross-nation exchanges more convenient and frequent. The language, as a medium of communication, especially foreign languages, has become a focus of attention by many nations. Some countries have begun to re-examine the status of foreign language education and treat it as part of their national strategic planning. In this regard, Chinese scholars have done a number of important exploratory studies, and achieved some consensuses. However, in reality, foreign language education planning is a complex system which needs a balanced, overall consideration. This paper takes Vietnam’s National Foreign Language Project 2020 as a case to discuss its initiative, objectives, missions and measures, as well as some emerging challenges in its implementation. Namely, this project depends too much on the evaluation system in Europe and the United States while paying less attention to its local context; it equalizes foreign language planning with English education planning while lack of overall consideration of other lesser-known foreign languages, and above all it neglects the fact that the current teaching force is far from being competent to do the job. It can be inferred that Vietnam’s National Foreign Language Project has important implications on China’s foreign language education planning. Finally, this paper points out issues that need to be addressed while making foreign language education planning in the Chinese context.

Keywords: foreign language education planning; Vietnam’s National Foreign Language Project;; language planning; foreign language education