Importance Of English Linguistics In Vietnam

The benefits of being able to communicate with overseas clients, suppliers and buyers nowadays are huge – as are the cost of lacking that facility. Therefore, English Linguistics and Literature (EL), specifically in Vietnam which is a non-English speaking country, is considered to be one of the hottest majors among others. Since the world is being globalized on trading and services, companies’ and students’ demands for this major are rising constantly, opportunities are being created by countless universities for students by applying this major in their education systems. As a result, there comes a big question: “Why an English Linguistics and Literature degree attracts so many students these days?”

What will students study in English Linguistics?

Starting to become an English Linguistics learner, students might find it hard to answer the question when people ask them “What exactly does an English linguistics major study and do?”. Individuals usually assume that EL students learn and speak English a lot. Also, since English is a mandatory subject that students had to study throughout their 12 years of elementary, secondary, and high school; the academic knowledge of the major is often mistakenly seen to be easily taken in. Nevertheless, the study of English Linguistics means much more than this. Studying English Linguistics is not just only listening, reading, speaking, writing; as you did as high school, but also about academic courses of English such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, etc. This requires you to be knowledgeable about various aspects of English. Moreover, English linguists study how people comprehend their English skills, how this knowledge interacts with other intellectual activities, how it differs from speakers to speakers and geographic regions, how to model aspects of English, etc.(1)

As English linguists comprehend such enormous knowledge about English, there are numerous opportunities for them in jobs. They can become a linguist; work as a translator or interpreter, teach English; work in a publishing industry such as technical writer or a journalist; work for a testing agency; work with English dictionary; become a consultant on English in professions such as law or medicine; work for advertising companies; work for the government , etc.(2) Moreover, students will have an opportunity to know many perspectives of English. For example, in historical linguistics, they will know how languages change over time; or how languages vary from situation to situation, group to group, and place to place in sociolinguistics or dialectology, and so on.(3)

How useful is this degree?

There are a lot of advantages after students achieve a degree from this major. For instance, they will equip themselves with valuable intellectual skills, such as reasoning, critical thinking, argumentation, and clarity of expression.(4) Moreover, EL students will become well-equipped for a variety of graduate-level and professional programs, careers.(5)

As English is an international language, if EL students can graduate from their major, they will definitely be able to work in big companies in the United States or abroad. For example, they can teach at big universities, work as a translator or interpreter for some famous companies or even the government. They will have an opportunity to work on language documentation or conduct fieldwork, work for an advertising or branding company.(6)

Nevertheless, when taking the current job market in Vietnam into consideration, a degree in Linguistics is not technically ideal. First of all, Linguistics has yet to become a common field in Vietnam. Courses in Linguistics, specifically English Linguistics, has only been introduced by universities a few years back. Therefore, the degree is not exactly well sought-after by recruiters. Second of all, students of language-related majors usually choose to become teachers – in other words, they tend to have careers as teachers of ESL, then double as translators/interpreters, in place of studying to become actual linguists or translators/interpreters. What is more, a bachelor degree is, to put it lightly, insufficient for one who wish to stand a real chance in the competitive job market in those professions.(7) In order to earn real, well-paying positions, a Masters, or even a PhD degree is oftentimes required.(8)

Briefly speaking, there are advantages and disadvantages that the degree brings; still, as long as EL students are well-prepared with the knowledge and keep developing their strengths in their fields, exciting career opportunities are waiting ahead.

What can EL students benefit from the degree on the competitive job market?

In an article posted on VnExpress, according to statistics gathered by the Ministry of Education in 2017, English Linguistics and Literature had the highest enrolment proportion in the group of foreign languages and cultures majors.(9) As a result, there will be a great number of graduates joining the labour force, making it highly competitive, sliming the chances of each individual of getting quality jobs or even getting jobs at all. Moreover, the significant amount of university graduates will also render the standard bachelor degree too universal and, therefore, less appealing, even worthless. Subsequently, satisfying positions will be reserved for the few with exceptional abilities or wide relations. The remaining majority with only adequate or somewhat above-average skills will be left with unsuitable careers, not to mention less-satisfying-yet-still-appropriate ones. Another negative aspect is, similar to many other courses taught here in Vietnam, many linguistics alumni lack basic, practical skills that head-hunters seek, such as those in communication, computing or teamwork.(10) To add to the matter, the academic knowledge provided to students is generally incomplete. This is partly due to the courses being relatively new, thus the inexperienced lecturers and yet-appropriate syllabuses. Students are also typically derived of opportunities for fieldwork and contact with native speakers, resulting in the lack of down-to-earth experience needed for their future professions. Technically speaking, the students are not to be blamed alone; the problem lies deep within the education system, specifically the English-major one.

Notwithstanding, there still exists a positive view. A qualification in Linguistics opens up various exciting career prospects, resulting from the need of human resources with multiple language understandings, especially since our country is going through what is commonly called the integration period. According to Vietnammoi, there are now over 50 countries in the world using English as their official language and over 80 using English as their second. English is the most common language globally in a variety of fields, such as business, commercial, media, foreign relations,…(11) Therefore, the degree in English Linguistics offers the probability of acquiring numerous transferable skills within only one course, eliminating the need to take several different courses. For instance, EL graduates in the field of translating and interpreting can also have the chance to become a teaching assistant at many English-teaching centres, since the degree already meets the requirements of having academic language skills, explicitly listening, speaking, writing and reading.(12) One of the requirements to graduate from EL majors in our country is to learn a second foreign language aside from English; as a result, having a bachelor degree in EL means having the capability of speaking at least 2 foreign languages, doubling the chances in getting a job.(13)

Another upside is the availability of combined honours, where a lot of universities, not only in Vietnam but also in other countries, provide academic bilingual courses, English – Chinese, English – Japanese, English – French,… for instance.(14) Being academically trained in 2 languages brings several advantages in the nowadays competitive job market. Furthermore, some universities offer joint honours in linguistics and other majors such as business management, law and psychology.(15) Taking double degrees enables students to widen their career prospect, hence more time-saving and knowledge, since attending joint courses provides the benefit of acquiring knowledge that is related to both majors, instead of having to take separate courses and making the connections on their own. In short, having an English Linguistics and Literature degree can be beneficial in several ways, namely, elaborating on the knowledge that they already had and obtaining job opportunities.

Why choose English Linguistics & Literature but not others?

The world is globalising, and there comes the rise in the need of communicating globally; English Linguistics enables learners to master this task. Countless opportunities of working careers to answers for huge demands from society. With that much amount of understanding, EL learners advantage themselves in numerous job opportunities Also, such skills, which EL students can benefit from the academic courses, are their huge strengths compared to students of other majors. For the reason of English is an international language, EL learners’ jobs have no limit of borders.

In conclusion, there are many sides to the usage of an EL degree. Keep questioning whether it will come in handy or not and showing no effort will not help get rid of the negative sides. Furthermore, those difficulties can be seen positively as a challenge for EL students, especially those who really have a true passion for learning English, to overcome and be aware of their ability. If students fully understand how EL major functions and always be ready to face the adversities, undoubtedly, the EL degree will bring advantages.