There is a great need for competent teaching of Business English in tertiary institutions in Vietnam. At the Hanoi Foreign Trade College (HFTC) alone, about 150 students per year seek training to equip them to work in export and import organizations, banks for foreign trade and customs departments. In teaching such students, one problem is the provision of interesting and relevant materials. This study addresses the question of selection of materials and techniques for teaching business English listening skills. This Field Study Report consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 describes the purposes and aims of study, the background to this study, dealing with students, the teaching and the curriculum. Chapter 2 looks at the general theory about listening and in particular listening in business. The chapter also describes listening requirements for business graduates from the HFTC. Chapter 3 discusses criteria for selection of textbooks for language teaching in general and for teaching listening skills in business English in particular. Chapter 4 surveys the teaching of business English in two institutes of Technical and Further Education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The final chapter makes suggestions for priorities to improve the teaching of business English. This Field Study Report should be regarded as an exploratory attempt in choosing classroom techniques and materials for teaching listening skills to students of commerce at the Hanoi Foreign Trade College.

There are increasing needs for trained business persons as a result of the recent rapid development of foreign trade in Vietnam. A good command of written commercial English is one of the most important qualifications of a business person. At present the Hanoi Foreign Trade College is the only institution which is responsible for training commerce students. The teaching of writing skill in general and the teaching of commercial letter writing in particular still leave much to be desired. The writing skill of graduates of the Hanoi Foreign Trade College is far from satisfactory This Field Study Report aims at identifying the difficulties and the needs of commerce students in the Hanoi Foreign Trade College. It takes into consideration the language and learning needs of the target students in order to suggest a syllabus for the teaching of commercial letter writing to commerce students more efficiently. The Field Study Report consists of seven chapters. Chapter I provides an analysis of the teaching and learning situations at the Hanoi Foreign Trade College and problems of the teaching of commercial letter writing. Chapter 2 looks at some major theoretical problems and practical issues for Specific Purpose English syllabus design and material production for the teaching of commercial letter writing to commerce students at the Hanoi Foreign Trade College. Chapter 3 is a contrastive analysis of western commercial letters, Vietnamese commercial letters in Vietnamese and Vietnamese commercial letters in English. Chapter 4 is an analysis of the results of a survey made in 1988 to identify the needs of commerce students for commercial letters. Chapter 5 is mainly concerned with designing a communicative syllabus for the teaching of commercial letter writing to commerce students in Vietnam. Chapter 6 is the proposed syllabus for the teaching of CLW to commerce students at the HFTC, Vietnam. Chapter 7 is the conclusion. This Field Study Report should be regarded as an exploratory attempt to adopt the communicative approach in designing a syllabus for the teaching of commercial letter writing to commerce students in Vietnam.

As a result of the New Economic Reform in Vietnam, the need for more business people proficient in the English language is constantly growing. This need requires the Hanoi Foreign Trade College, which is officially charged with the training of business people for the whole country, to devise relevant curricula for short courses in Business English. The purpose of this report is to examine some major theoretical and practical issues in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and in syllabus design that can provide course designers at the Hanoi Foreign Trade College with a deeper insight into the problems essential to the development of their work. The report consists of five chapters: (i) Chapter One is the Introduction. It gives the background to the study, pointing to changes in Vietnam and the role of the HFTC in adapting to meet the new need created by these changes. (ii) Chapter Two deals with the methodology employed in the data collection and discusses its findings. (iii) Chapter Three looks at some major theoretical issues in English for Specific Purposes with a view to applying this theory to the practical needs for Business English in Vietnam. (iv) Chapter Four is directly concerned with the planning of the short courses in Business English for Vietnam which are the central focus of this study. (v) Chapter Five is the Summary and contains recommendations for future development of the proposed short courses.

As a result of the development in foreign trade in Vietnam, there is a growing need for trained business executives and business people. A good command of spoken English is one of the most important qualifications of a foreign trade executive who needs English as a means of communicating with English speaking people in various business activities. At present, the responsibility for training students of commerce mainly rests with Hanoi Foreign Trade College. English language teaching in general, and the teaching of speaking skills in particular still leave much,to be desired. The students' oral proficiency is far from satisfactory. The purpose of this report is to explore the two main problematic areas in teaching speaking skills to students of commerce in Vietnam: syllabus design and teaching methods. The report consists of four chapters. Chapter one looks at some major theoretical problems and practical issues in English for Specific Purposes teaching. Chapter two provides an analysis of the teaching and learning situations at Hanoi Foreign Trade College and problems in teaching oral skills. Chapter three is mainly concerned with designing a communicative syllabus for the teaching of speaking skills to students of commerce. Chapter four deals with the theoretical assumptions and processes involved in oral communication and discusses some classroom methods and techniques in the light of the current communicative approach. This report should be regarded as an exploratory attempt in adopting the communicative approach to teaching oral skills to students of commerce in Vietnam.