A pilot study on the Vietnamese labour market and its social and economic context

"This paper presents a regional case study of the labour market and its surrounding of Vinh City in central Vietnam, based on surveys conducted in 1999 and 2005. By including the time dimension and surveying samples with over 6000 individuals respectively it is possible to identify precisely the changes that have taken place within six years. The results reflect an enormous development process. Incomes increased fast and many structural parameters of the economy adapted to the new institutional setting of a market economy. The absolute level of income and of the standard of living is still low, however. A key finding of the analyses is that vocational training is meeting with large demand in private enterprises and is therefore of considerable importance for Vietnam's development process. Another important finding is that educational investments pay more in private enterprises." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Arbeitsmarktentwicklung, ökonomische Faktoren, soziale Faktoren, Einkommensentwicklung, Wirtschaftsstrukturwandel, Marktwirtschaft, Berufsausbildung, Bildungsinvestitionen, Bildungsertrag, Lebensstandard, regionaler Arbeitsmarkt, Stadt, Arbeitslosenquote, strukturelle Arbeitslosigkeit, Arbeitsmarktpolitik, Arbeitslosenversicherung, Armut, Privatwirtschaft, Vietnam

Questioning in English as a Foreign Language University Classes

Vietnam has experienced many changes in education and in teaching and learning English as a foreign language since 1986 (Hoang, 2010). There are ongoing concerns about how to best develop English proficiency in EFL classes, especially how to promote students’ English communicative competency in this context. Questioning is an essential tool to help EFL teachers fulfil instructional goals (Boyd, 2015). Questioning particularly plays an important role in creating interactions to promote student’s English language proficiency in EFL classroom (Tuan & Nhu, 2010). Therefore, my study investigated how teachers and students perceived and used questioning to promote English teaching and learning in tertiary EFL classrooms in Vietnam. This also shed light on the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) in Vietnam. My study uses a sociocultural lens, with a qualitative multiple case design (Creswell, 2015; Johnson & Christensen, 2014). The two cases investigate questioning in classes where English was taught as a non-major subject, and questioning in classes where English was taught as a major. Data were triangulated through semi-structured and stimulated recall interviews with eight teachers, focus groups with eight groups of students, and observations of eight EFL classes. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyse data to find out the themes, the “important idea that occurs multiple times” in the data (Johnson & Christensen, 2014, p. 600) Three themes about questioning arose from studying these Vietnamese EFL classes. Firstly, questioning involved communicative interaction, which created opportunities for participants to communicate in the target language. This interaction also empowered students to engage in the lesson. Secondly, using questioning teachers orchestrated learning, diagnosed learning needs, and facilitated classroom relationships. The third theme, “My home, my rules” indicates that questioning was contextually situated. Questioning within these EFL classrooms in Vietnam reflected cultural features, such as the traditional roles of teacher and student, the concern for face or status, and the use of Vietnamese in English classes. My data show that both teachers and students can use questioning to promote language learning through critical thinking and collaborative learning. These are central interactive and communicative skills in tertiary EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam. The effectiveness of questioning in my study depended on teachers’ skills. It was a commonly used technique to develop English language learning. This study proposes an adapted model of learning and teaching to capture EFL learning. The model captures how teachers apply CLT and teach English for different purposes. It also emphasises the contextual features influencing questioning and therefore teaching and learning the target language. In this model, questioning is at the centre, promoting learning relationships among the teacher and students. The study contributes to an understanding of using questioning to promote language learning in EFL classroom in an Asian context, and may be relevant to CLT application for language learning classrooms in a wider international context

EMPLOYING ACTION RESEARCH FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF EFL COLLEGE TEACHERS IN THE MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM

The paper aimed to examine the perceptions and reality of English teachers at community colleges in the Mekong Delta in using action research as a tool for their professional development. The questionnaire and interviews were employed to collect the research data. The results showed that most EFL teachers recognized the significance of doing action research in developing their profession and many difficulties related to it were also reported. Some suggestions were figured out to help teachers conduct more research and identify the benefits of doing action research for their growth and changes in teaching expertise. Article visualizations

Questioning in English as a Foreign Language University Classes

Vietnam has experienced many changes in education and in teaching and learning English as a foreign language since 1986 (Hoang, 2010). There are ongoing concerns about how to best develop English proficiency in EFL classes, especially how to promote students’ English communicative competency in this context. Questioning is an essential tool to help EFL teachers fulfil instructional goals (Boyd, 2015). Questioning particularly plays an important role in creating interactions to promote student’s English language proficiency in EFL classroom (Tuan & Nhu, 2010). Therefore, my study investigated how teachers and students perceived and used questioning to promote English teaching and learning in tertiary EFL classrooms in Vietnam. This also shed light on the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) in Vietnam. My study uses a sociocultural lens, with a qualitative multiple case design (Creswell, 2015; Johnson & Christensen, 2014). The two cases investigate questioning in classes where English was taught as a non-major subject, and questioning in classes where English was taught as a major. Data were triangulated through semi-structured and stimulated recall interviews with eight teachers, focus groups with eight groups of students, and observations of eight EFL classes. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyse data to find out the themes, the “important idea that occurs multiple times” in the data (Johnson & Christensen, 2014, p. 600) Three themes about questioning arose from studying these Vietnamese EFL classes. Firstly, questioning involved communicative interaction, which created opportunities for participants to communicate in the target language. This interaction also empowered students to engage in the lesson. Secondly, using questioning teachers orchestrated learning, diagnosed learning needs, and facilitated classroom relationships. The third theme, “My home, my rules” indicates that questioning was contextually situated. Questioning within these EFL classrooms in Vietnam reflected cultural features, such as the traditional roles of teacher and student, the concern for face or status, and the use of Vietnamese in English classes. My data show that both teachers and students can use questioning to promote language learning through critical thinking and collaborative learning. These are central interactive and communicative skills in tertiary EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam. The effectiveness of questioning in my study depended on teachers’ skills. It was a commonly used technique to develop English language learning. This study proposes an adapted model of learning and teaching to capture EFL learning. The model captures how teachers apply CLT and teach English for different purposes. It also emphasises the contextual features influencing questioning and therefore teaching and learning the target language. In this model, questioning is at the centre, promoting learning relationships among the teacher and students. The study contributes to an understanding of using questioning to promote language learning in EFL classroom in an Asian context, and may be relevant to CLT application for language learning classrooms in a wider international context

Model-based classification of regional labour markets : for purposes of labour market policy

"In many countries fairly large and persistent regional disparities can be observed for a variety of economic indicators. Since these disparities can not be reduced to one single dimension, a classification system is needed to give a parsimonious overview. The article presents a system which is designed to assess labour market policy in Germany. The innovation in this article is the development of a procedure that combines the analysis of determinants of regional disparities with standard classification approaches. The procedure is designed to solve two problems of many existing classification schemes: firstly, their purely descriptive nature and secondly, their interpretation with relation to arbitrarily chosen classification variables. The proposed method is used to identify 12 types which show the regional diversity of labour markets in Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Arbeitsmarktforschung, Wirkungsforschung, Arbeitsmarktpolitik, Ausbildungsabsolventen, Berufseinmündung, berufliche Integration, Arbeitslose, regionaler Arbeitsmarkt, regionaler Vergleich, regionale Disparität, Indikatorenbildung, Arbeitsmarktindikatoren, Klassifikation, Klassifikationsmethode, Clusteranalyse, Region - Typologie

A pilot study on the Vietnamese labour market and its social and economic context

"This paper presents a regional case study of the labour market and its surrounding of Vinh City in central Vietnam, based on surveys conducted in 1999 and 2005. By including the time dimension and surveying samples with over 6000 individuals respectively it is possible to identify precisely the changes that have taken place within six years. The results reflect an enormous development process. Incomes increased fast and many structural parameters of the economy adapted to the new institutional setting of a market economy. The absolute level of income and of the standard of living is still low, however. A key finding of the analyses is that vocational training is meeting with large demand in private enterprises and is therefore of considerable importance for Vietnam's development process. Another important finding is that educational investments pay more in private enterprises." (author's abstract)Der Beitrag präsentiert eine regionale Fallstudie des Arbeitsmarkts der vietnamesischen Stadt Vinh. Mittels zweier Studien aus den Jahren 1999 und 2005, die mehr als 6000 Individuen einbeziehen, wird der Wandel, der sich in diesen sechs Jahren vollzogen hat, nachgezeichnet. Die Ergebnisse belegen einen enormen Entwicklungsprozess. Die Einkommen stiegen schnell und zahlreiche strukturelle Parameter haben sich an die neuen marktwirtschaftlichen Bedingungen angepasst. Dennoch sind das absolute Einkommensniveau und der Lebensstandard nach wie vor niedrig. Ein wichtiges Ergebnis der Untersuchung ist die zentrale Bedeutung der Berufsausbildung für den vietnamesischen Entwicklungsprozess, da die Berufsausbildung dem großen Bedarf in der Privatwirtschaft entgegenkommt. Ein weiteres Ergebnis ist, dass sich Bildungsinvestitionen in Unternehmen der Privatwirtschaft stärker auszahlen. (IAB

Quality properties Of Vietnamese cocoa liquors

Vietnam (VN) is an emerging country targeting cocoa as a potential industrial domain. It is however still unclear how the quality of VN cocoa liquors can be positioned in the world cocoa supply. Three VN cocoa liquors exhibiting high to intermediate acidity (pH: 4.7 – 5.2) were selected to produce dark chocolate (48.0% sugar, 17.6% cocoa solids, 34.0% cocoa butter and 0.4% lecithin). A comparison study was conducted to investigate the difference between VN and Ghanaian (GH; pH: 5.6) dark chocolates in terms of Casson flow properties (yield stress sCA and viscosity hCA), hardness (F 20°C and F 30°C), water-soluble organic acid content, aroma profile and sensory evaluation. The impact of pre-treatments of cocoa liquor by ball-milling at different fat contents and conching (-C) was also examined

Model-based classification of regional labour markets: for purposes of labour market policy

"In many countries fairly large and persistent regional disparities can be observed for a variety of economic indicators. Since these disparities can not be reduced to one single dimension, a classification system is needed to give a parsimonious overview. The article presents a system which is designed to assess labour market policy in Germany. The innovation in this article is the development of a procedure that combines the analysis of determinants of regional disparities with standard classification approaches. The procedure is designed to solve two problems of many existing classification schemes: firstly, their purely descriptive nature and secondly, their interpretation with relation to arbitrarily chosen classification variables. The proposed method is used to identify 12 types which show the regional diversity of labour markets in Germany." (author's abstract)In vielen Ländern können große und anhaltende regionale Unterschiede bezüglich zahlreicher ökonomischer Indikatoren festgestellt werden. Da diese Unterschiede nicht auf eine einzige Dimension reduziert werden können, ist ein Klassifikationssystem notwendig, um einen knappen Überblick zu erhalten. Der Artikel stellt ein solches Klassifikationssystem vor, das zur Wirkungsforschung im Rahmen der Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland entwickelt wurde. Neu ist die Kombination einer Analyse regionaler Determinanten mit einem standardisierten Klassifikationsansatz. Das Verfahren löst damit zwei Probleme vieler Klassifikationsschemata, zum einen ihre rein deskriptive Natur und zum anderen ihre Interpretation in Bezug auf willkürlich gewählte Klassifikations-Variablen. Mithilfe des vorgestellten Verfahrens werden zwölf Typen identifiziert, die die regionale Diversität der Arbeitsmärkte in Deutschland illustrieren. (IAB