| While this article was originally published in 1986, the information that it contains remains useful for teachers who are designing composition courses for students of Vietnamese origin. Sadly, the personal and societal forces that make language learning so difficult for many refugees remain as much as part of their--and our--lives as in 1986. |
Background | Purpose of Study | Outline of Research | Review of the Literature |
Developing the Course | Assessment of Writing Samples | Course Design |
Conclusion and References
Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Vietnam have resettled in the United States since the fall of Saigon in 1975. There have been two basic waves of migration: the early arrivals, who came between 1975 and 1977, and those who came after 1977. The first wave of refugees were predominantly from urban environments and were educationally and economically advantaged. Most had some exposure to Western culture and to the English language as a result of the French occupation and the American involvement in Vietnam. The later group, commonly referred to as "boat people", included a large percentage of people from rural areas. They had much less exposure to Western culture and the English language and had not had the same educational and economic opportunities. They therefore had fewer marketable skills than the first wave of refugees. Their exodus was for reasons of pure survival and their flights to freedom were often perilous. In addition, they often spent considerable time in refugee camps in Southeast Asia and the United States before being resettled.
This massive influx of Vietnamese refugees into the United States has added positively to our culturally and ethnically diverse nation. It has also given us new challenges. One of these challenges continues to be how best to help the Vietnamese assimilate into the higher educational system. It has been estimated that approximately 70% of Vietnamese adolescents in the U.S. will try to go to college and about 50% will be admitted (Rowe, 1982). There are also many older Vietnamese students enrolled who are not in the usual 18-22 college-age range. Many of these college students have graduated or will graduate from American high schools.
A primary need of these students is to be proficient in English. In many cases, they need additional work with English after high school to meet the demands of university work. University programs in English as a Second Language (ESL) are expected to provide English instruction for those Vietnamese students who have not yet achieved this proficiency. Many such ESL programs, however, have a small number of Vietnamese students since the majority are now living in California, Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington (Rowe, 1982). Due to the relatively small number of Vietnamese students in many other locations, especially here in the Midwest, little attention has been focused on their specific language needs.
The Applied English Center (AEC), University of Kansas, is an ESL program with a small Vietnamese student enrollment. No systematic studies have been undertaken to show whether regular AEC classroom instruction has been successful for these students, and a closer examination of their special situation is needed. The purpose of this study is to assess the writing needs of advanced Vietnamese students and propose an approach that will not only effectively meet these needs but also be sensitive to the students' background.
In the following section, factors which influence the motivation and language problems of advanced ESL students will be examined by focusing on the struggles of refugee resettlement and their educational background in Vietnamese and American classrooms. An overview of aspects of the Vietnamese language which are markedly different from English and which may influence errors in their writing will be presented. These will include suffixes, tense, be sentences, negation and articles.
In the third section, enrollment and placement statistics of Vietnamese students at the AEC will be summarized. This will be followed by an assessment of major structural errors in these students' English as shown on their written compositions. This information will support recommendations for a course design which will meet the specific writing needs identified. These recommendations will be feasible for a program such as that at the AEC.
The final section will summarize the research and offer suggestions for future related research.
| Review of the Literature | Developing the Course | Assessment of Writing Samples |
Course Design | Conclusion and References
Table of Contents for Issue 1 | Front Cover of the Journal of English Grammar on the Web