Theme: ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES: THE STATUS QUO AND THE DIRECTIONS
Venue: Banking Academy of Vietnam, 12 Chua Boc Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Date:    Saturday, January 20th, 2018

The co-existence of terms including ESP (English for Specific Purposes), EOP (English for Occupational Purposes), EAP (English for Academic Purposes), ESAP (English for Specific Academic Purposes), EGAP (English for General Academic Purposes) and EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) in documented literature has led to the state of flux and confusion and has brought about myths and misconceptions to various stakeholders.
As a matter of fact, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become increasingly significant and diverse to meet diverse specific language needs in professional and academic settings across the fluid, connected and swiftly-changing globe. In Vietnamese higher education, ESP has been taught to both English majors and non-majors in all institutions for their different professional and academic purposes over decades. The realities such as the dominance of English Studies (Ngôn Ngữ Anh) as a key training major, the rise of EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) Programmes as well as the enforcement of the standardised English language proficiency tests/ levels as the graduation benchmark in Vietnamese universities have urged educators, teachers and learners to ponder about and question the role of ESP in higher education curricula for both English majors and non- majors.
 “How have ESP and EMI teaching and learning evolved and differed across contexts and over periods?”, “What are the current policies and practices of ESP and EMI education?”, “What are the key challenges facing the stakeholders of ESP and EMI and the potentials offered to them?”,  “What are the visions and the expected outcomes for ESP and EMI education in general and across different contexts”? “What directions will take the stakeholders from here to there?”. This set of questions are expected to be not only prompt questions to portray the current landscape of ESP/ EMI teaching and learning in Vietnamese higher education but also trigger questions to facilitate the stakeholders to generate innovative answers.

All of the above set the background to the national conference on ESP to be held on January 20th, 2018 at Banking Academy of Vietnam, 12 Chua Boc Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi with its theme: “ESP teaching and learning in Vietnamese Higher Education: The Status Quo and The Directions”. The conference, which is aimed at ESP professionals across Vietnamese higher education institutions and affiliations, is intended to provide a dynamic academic platform for practitioners, researchers, students and other professionals in the field of English language education to network, share and discuss latest trends, updated knowledge, practical experiences and research findings with a particular respect to English teaching and learning for specific purposes in higher education sector. Notably, the conference seeks to identify the achievements, the potentials, the challenges and the proposed directions of ESP teaching and learning in Vietnamese higher education settings. We would like to invite educators, practitioners, and researchers of English language education to submit a proposal featuring one of the following thematic areas within such two key streams as ESP for English – major education and non-English major education.

Should you have any enquiries please contact:
1. Ms. Trịnh Ngọc Anh  or
2. Ms. Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hằng
Conference Coordinators
Faculty of Foreign Languages
Banking Academy of Vietnam
Address: Room 601, Seven Storey Building, Banking Academy of Vietnam, 12 Chua Boc Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Email: ESPconference2018@gmail.com