The tension between English-medium instruction and Vietnamese-medium instruction in higher education

In Vietnam, English-medium instruction (EMI) has been implemented in parallel with Vietnamese-medium instruction (VMI) in higher education, partly to help remedy its shortcomings. However, only economically advantaged students can access EMI, which suggests EMI graduates may accrue discrepant advantages compared to VMI graduates. Research has, nonetheless, not explored the effects on these stakeholders. Hence, to partially address the gap, this study explores EMI in information technology (IT). Using the theoretical concepts of parity, distribution, and self-amplifying loop, this study draws on eight in-depth semi-structured interviews with EMI and VMI graduates. Thematic analysis of the data reveals disparities in advantages ensuing from EMI and VMI including English skills and Anglo-American acculturation, access to English-speaking jobs at different rates, and divergent professional opportunities. These disparities are accounted for by the disciplinary paradigm of IT and the unevenly distributed resources between EMI and VMI and are then enlarged by self-amplifying loops. In this process, EMI in IT constitutes a double accelerator and therefore enables EMI graduates to gain the foregoing advantages by a larger margin and VMI graduates to do so but at a slower rate. The study recommends addressing this widening gap through the formation and implementation of VMI- and EMI-related policies at all levels.