NEOLIBERAL PERSONHOOD OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY’S PROGRAM
Main Article Content
Abstract
Universities in Vietnam, under the influence of neoliberalism on higher education, have been redesigning programs to prioritise market-oriented skills and employability. This study examines how Vietnamese English majors engage with neoliberal discourses and the extent to which they embody the ideal neoliberal subject. The participants include 10 sophomore English major students recounting their experiences through in-depth narrative inquiry interviews. The findings show their considerable alignment with the ideal neoliberal self, viewing English education as an investment and English as a measurable, commodified skill, sometimes at the expense of intrinsic educational values. They strive for self-responsibility and autonomy in learning practices, while some participants reflect a more nuanced embrace of intrinsic educational values. The data unveil the struggles of students, especially of those disadvantaged, on the journey to realise their neoliberal projects, and the negative impacts on their well-being and self-perception, indicating a need for further critical treatment of this phenomenon.
Keywords
neoliberalism, neoliberal subject, language learning, English as a Foreign Language, Vietnam
Article Details
References
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De Costa, P. I. (2015). Reenvisioning language anxiety in the globalized classroom through a social imaginary lens. Language Learning, 65(3), 504-532. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12121
De Costa, P., Park, J., & Wee, L. (2016). Language learning as linguistic entrepreneurship: Implications for language education. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 25(5-6), 695-702. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0302-5
Do, N. Q., Hoang, T. H. (2024). The construction of language teacher identity among graduates from non-English language teaching majors in Vietnam. English Teaching & Learning, 48, 485–502. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42321-023-00142-z
Farsani, M. A., & Rahimi, F. (2023). Neoliberalism for young learners in an EFL context: A mixed-methods approach. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 36(2), 177-204. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2022.2110890
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Harvey, D. (2007). Neoliberalism as creative destruction. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 610, 22-44. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25097888
Heller, M. (2010). The commodification of language. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39(1), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104951
Hewson, D. (2018). Profit and prejudice: A critique of private English language education in Vietnam. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39(6), 811-826. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2017.1417114
Highet, K. (2024). English and ‘personality development’: The hyper-individualization and de-politicization of social mobility in India. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2024(285), 17-34. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2023-0030
Holborow, M. (2018). Language skills as human capital? Challenging the neoliberal frame. Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(5), 520-532. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2018.1501846
Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. Alfred A. Knopf Canada.
Kubota, R. (2011). Questioning linguistic instrumentalism: English, neoliberalism, and language tests in Japan. Linguistics and Education, 22(3), 248-260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2011.02.002
Lichtman, M. (2023). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide. Sage. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003281917
Manan, S. A. (2024). ‘English is like a credit card’: The workings of neoliberal governmentality in English learning in Pakistan. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(4), 987-1003. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.1931251
Miller, E. R. (2016). The ideology of learner agency and the neoliberal self. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 348-365. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12129
Ministry of Education and Training. (2014). Thông tư ban hành quy định về đào tạo chất lượng cao trình độ đại học. [Circular issuing regulations governing high-quality undergraduate degree programs.] (No. 23/2014/TT-BGDĐT).https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/bo-may-hanh-chinh/thong-tu-23-2014-tt-bgddt-quy-dinh-dao-tao-chat-luong-cao-trinh-do-dai-hoc-240505.aspx
Mintz, B. (2021). Neoliberalism and the crisis in higher education: The cost of ideology. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 80(1), 79-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12370
National Assembly of Vietnam (2018). Nghị quyết số 34/2018/QH14 luật sửa đổi, bổ sung một số điều của luật giáo dục đại học [Decree no 34/2018/QH14 on changing and adding some articles from Higher Education Law, issued on 18/6/2012]. https://vanban.chinhphu.vn/?pageid=27160&docid=206102&classid=1&typegroupid=3
Nikpouya, E., & Zareian, G. (2024). Neoliberalism and the violation of students’ rights: the case of English language education. Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching, 7(1), 206-213. https://jalt.open-publishing.org/index.php/jalt/article/view/1381
Olssen, M. (2006). Understanding the mechanisms of neoliberal control: Lifelong learning, flexibility and knowledge capitalism. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(3), 213-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370600697045
Park, J. S. Y. (2010). Naturalization of competence and the neoliberal subject: Success stories of English language learning in the Korean conservative press. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 20(1), 22-38. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43104239
Park, J. S. Y. (2011). The promise of English: Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker in the South Korean job market. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(4), 443-455. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2011.573067
Park, J. S. Y. (2015). Language as pure potential. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(5), 453–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2015.1071824
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Two decades of developments in qualitative inquiry: A personal, experiential perspective. Qualitative Social Work, 1(3), 261–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325002001003636
Ratner, C. (2019). Neoliberal psychology. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-02982-1
Urciuoli, B. (2008). Skills and selves in the new workplace. American Ethnologist, 35(2), 211-228. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27667485
Urciuoli, B. (2010). Neoliberal education. In C. J. Greenhouse (Ed.), Ethnographies of neoliberalism (pp. 162-176). University of Pennsylvania Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhwpd
Ball, S. J. (2012). Global education inc: New policy networks and the neoliberal imaginary. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203803301
Bernstein, K. A., Hellmich, E. A., Katznelson, N., Shin, J., & Vinall, K. (2015). Introduction to special issue: Critical perspectives on neoliberalism in second/foreign language education. L2 Journal, 7(3), 3-14. https://doaj.org/article/745b56f9042243ca809a4aa8e7af73b3
Besley, T., & Peters, M. (2007). Subjectivity and truth: Foucault, education, and the culture of self. Peter Lang.
Bori, P., & Canale, G. (2022). Neoliberal foreign language education: The search for alternatives. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 19(4), 307–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2022.2090362
Bui, T. T. N., & Nguyen, H. T. M. (2016). Standardizing English for educational and socio-economic betterment: A critical analysis of English language policy reforms in Vietnam. In R. Kirkpatrick (Ed.). English language education policy in Asia (pp. 363-388). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22464-0_17
Choi, L. J. (2021). The student as an enterprising self: Neoliberalism, English and early study abroad. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 42(3), 374-387. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2021.1888697
Clandinin, D. J. and Rosiek, J. (2007) Mapping a landscape of narrative inquiry: Borderland spaces and tensions. In Clandinin, D. J. (Ed.) Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a methodology (pp 35–75). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452226552.n2
Daghigh, J. A., & Rahim, A. H. (2021). Neoliberalism in ELT textbooks: An analysis of locally developed and imported textbooks used in Malaysia. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(3), 493–512. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2020.1755888
De Costa, P. I. (2015). Reenvisioning language anxiety in the globalized classroom through a social imaginary lens. Language Learning, 65(3), 504-532. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12121
De Costa, P., Park, J., & Wee, L. (2016). Language learning as linguistic entrepreneurship: Implications for language education. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 25(5-6), 695-702. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0302-5
Do, N. Q., Hoang, T. H. (2024). The construction of language teacher identity among graduates from non-English language teaching majors in Vietnam. English Teaching & Learning, 48, 485–502. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42321-023-00142-z
Farsani, M. A., & Rahimi, F. (2023). Neoliberalism for young learners in an EFL context: A mixed-methods approach. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 36(2), 177-204. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2022.2110890
Flubacher, M. C., & Del Percio, A. (Eds.). (2017). Language, education and neoliberalism: Critical studies in sociolinguistics. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.22730483
Foucault, M., Davidson, A. I., & Burchell, G. (2008). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979. Springer.
Gao, S. (2016). Interactional straining and the neoliberal self: Learning English in the biggest English corner in China. Language in Society, 45(3), 397-421. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404516000075
Giroux, H. (2002). Neoliberalism, corporate culture, and the promise of higher education: The university as a democratic public sphere. Harvard Educational Review, 72(4), 425-464. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.72.4.0515nr62324n71p1
Gray, J., O’Regan, J. P., & Wallace, C. (2018). Education and the discourse of global neoliberalism. Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(5), 471–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2018.1501842
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press. https://academic.oup.com/book/40603
Harvey, D. (2007). Neoliberalism as creative destruction. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 610, 22-44. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25097888
Heller, M. (2010). The commodification of language. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39(1), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104951
Hewson, D. (2018). Profit and prejudice: A critique of private English language education in Vietnam. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39(6), 811-826. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2017.1417114
Highet, K. (2024). English and ‘personality development’: The hyper-individualization and de-politicization of social mobility in India. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2024(285), 17-34. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2023-0030
Holborow, M. (2018). Language skills as human capital? Challenging the neoliberal frame. Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(5), 520-532. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2018.1501846
Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. Alfred A. Knopf Canada.
Kubota, R. (2011). Questioning linguistic instrumentalism: English, neoliberalism, and language tests in Japan. Linguistics and Education, 22(3), 248-260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2011.02.002
Lichtman, M. (2023). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide. Sage. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003281917
Manan, S. A. (2024). ‘English is like a credit card’: The workings of neoliberal governmentality in English learning in Pakistan. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(4), 987-1003. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.1931251
Miller, E. R. (2016). The ideology of learner agency and the neoliberal self. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 348-365. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12129
Ministry of Education and Training. (2014). Thông tư ban hành quy định về đào tạo chất lượng cao trình độ đại học. [Circular issuing regulations governing high-quality undergraduate degree programs.] (No. 23/2014/TT-BGDĐT).https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/bo-may-hanh-chinh/thong-tu-23-2014-tt-bgddt-quy-dinh-dao-tao-chat-luong-cao-trinh-do-dai-hoc-240505.aspx
Mintz, B. (2021). Neoliberalism and the crisis in higher education: The cost of ideology. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 80(1), 79-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12370
National Assembly of Vietnam (2018). Nghị quyết số 34/2018/QH14 luật sửa đổi, bổ sung một số điều của luật giáo dục đại học [Decree no 34/2018/QH14 on changing and adding some articles from Higher Education Law, issued on 18/6/2012]. https://vanban.chinhphu.vn/?pageid=27160&docid=206102&classid=1&typegroupid=3
Nikpouya, E., & Zareian, G. (2024). Neoliberalism and the violation of students’ rights: the case of English language education. Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching, 7(1), 206-213. https://jalt.open-publishing.org/index.php/jalt/article/view/1381
Olssen, M. (2006). Understanding the mechanisms of neoliberal control: Lifelong learning, flexibility and knowledge capitalism. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(3), 213-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370600697045
Park, J. S. Y. (2010). Naturalization of competence and the neoliberal subject: Success stories of English language learning in the Korean conservative press. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 20(1), 22-38. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43104239
Park, J. S. Y. (2011). The promise of English: Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker in the South Korean job market. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(4), 443-455. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2011.573067
Park, J. S. Y. (2015). Language as pure potential. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(5), 453–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2015.1071824
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Two decades of developments in qualitative inquiry: A personal, experiential perspective. Qualitative Social Work, 1(3), 261–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325002001003636
Ratner, C. (2019). Neoliberal psychology. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-02982-1
Urciuoli, B. (2008). Skills and selves in the new workplace. American Ethnologist, 35(2), 211-228. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27667485
Urciuoli, B. (2010). Neoliberal education. In C. J. Greenhouse (Ed.), Ethnographies of neoliberalism (pp. 162-176). University of Pennsylvania Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhwpd