Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in Khmer Ethnic Minority in Vietnam: A Study of Khmer Students in an Giang Province, Mekong Delta

Abstract

This article aims to provide more insights into the current situation of bilingualism and bilingual education in Khmer ethnic minority in Vietnam. Through a survey using questionnaire, interview and observation, this study investigated Khmer students’ bilingual proficiency and language choice across various communication domains, explored both their own and their parents’ attitudes toward the use of Vietnamese as the language of instruction in schools, and uncovered the current situation of bilingual education in general schools where Khmer students are enrolled. The findings indicate that Khmer students have relatively high bilingual proficiency in listening and speaking but lower proficiency in reading and writing. This is due to formal Vietnamese instruction in schools, while Khmer is learned informally or as an optional subject. Additionally, their limited use of Vietnamese across different communication domains may contribute to this disparity. Khmer students primarily use Vietnamese only in the classroom when interacting with teachers, while they rely on their mother tongue at home and in other social settings, as they speak it more fluently than Vietnamese. Parental attitudes toward Vietnamese as the language of instruction vary by generation—younger parents support it, while older parents prefer Khmer education, particularly at the primary level.

Keywords: bilingualism, bilingual education, language proficiency, language choice, Khmer students