University Students’ Perceptions of Standard-Based English Language Learning Outcome

On the implementation level of the National Foreign Languages Project, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has set new language learning outcomes for different educational levels from primary education to tertiary education based on different levels of proficiency of the Common European Framework for Reference of Languages by the Council of Europe (2001) (the CEFR). As a result of the adoption of the CEFR to set learning standards, university students who are majored in a foreign language must obtain evidence of their proficiency in that language at least at C1 level in their first foreign language and B1 level in a second foreign language as pre-requisite to be awarded university graduation degree. This paper reports a study on university French-majored students’ perceptions of the CEFR-A1, A2, and B1 standard-based English language learning outcomes and the problems they face while trying to achieve these learning outcomes. The findings have shown that the investigated students have limited understanding of the standards expected of them and tend to associate the required learning outcomes with the test results rather than the development of their own language skills. The study has also revealed common problems the students faced during the implementation of the the standard-based learning outcome policy.