VietTESOL International Convention 2026

The globalisation of education has strengthened the position of English as the dominant lingua franca in higher education globally and across Asia. While certain countries, such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, have integrated English in teaching at both secondary and tertiary levels, Vietnam maintains a strong tradition of delivering the national curriculum in Vietnamese at the secondary level. However, the expansion of international universities within Vietnam and the introduction of English-medium programmes in national universities have created a linguistic and academic skills gap among students transitioning from local high schools to international university settings. This gap significantly impacts students' academic acculturation and influences their overall academic performance and experience. This presentation reports on a study conducted at British University Vietnam (2019-2026), focusing on pre-university and first-year undergraduate students enrolled in English for Academic Purposes courses. The study aimed to identify linguistic and academic challenges faced by Vietnamese students transitioning from monolingual secondary education to an English-medium university. A mixed-methods approach was employed, incorporating both quantitative data e.g. students' test results—and qualitative data derived from student reflections and questionnaire responses. Experiential learning theory was applied as the main research framework, and students were invited to continuously reflect on their learning experiences. The identified challenges broadly fall into two categories: language skills and academic skills. These findings create implications for future research and classroom application as the identified gap needs to be addressed at the pre-university level to support students’ transition to university.