Exploring Internationalization of a Higher Education Language Course Curriculum in Vietnam

A Study of Students’ Perceptions

Abstract

Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC) has been among the most  important academic strategies in a number of institutions worldwide in the last decades. While much of what has been written in the scholarly literature on how internationalized the curriculum in higher education has typically focused on the voices of institutional leaders, academic administrators and lecturers, students do not seem to be adequately engaged. This study, therefore, by examining how dimensions of IoC integrated in a higher education language course curriculum in Vietnam, is an effort to fill the gap. Based on the analysis of data collected from 88 English majors at Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, three important findings were reported as follows: (1) The investigated course showed a decent and positive level of IoC; (2) No correlation was found between the internationalization of the curriculum and students’ course learning satisfaction, and (3) Certain activities were perceived to make a course more internationalized. Findings of the study reveal significant insights of the reality of IoC in a Vietnamese university. The results make meaningful contribution to existing literature of IoC in the region and shed light on the growing need of such a strategy in the investigated setting.