Software recently released from the Vietnam National University – Hanoi (VNU-HN) aids students in familiarising themselves with the criteria and standard exam questions for Vietnamese language tests for foreign people.

This is the first standard Vietnamese language ability self-assessment system for foreign learners.

In order to test the system's quality, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities recently held a Vietnamese test for 10 foreign people from Russia, the Czech Republic and Mozambique.

The new form of testing has gained the support from foreign learners of Vietnamese.

Maria, a Vietnamese language student from Russia, said, “I think that this is modern and convenient way for learners to improve their skills. I definitely prefer it to the old method.”

“The exam structure is pretty good. I got score 70 out of 100 and I’m happy with the result. This way of of testing gives an accurate reflection of your abilities,” said Lada from Czech Republic.

Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu, from the University of Social Science and Humanities, who also heads up the research group, said, “This new form of testing is organised online instead of on paper. Students are required to answer a number of questions of different kinds. It’s a benefit for all Vietnamese learners at all levels and helps to evaluate the ability of students.”

Dao Kien Quoc, Deputy Director of the VNU-HN's Information Technology Institute, said that one of the advantages of the new test is to open opportunities for Vietnamese learners from around the world to test their language skills and save the cost of doing so.

Along with the testing system, researchers have also created 24 original Vietnamese test sets with 3,600 questions to help foreign learners of Vietnamese improve their abilities.

The system includes 10 standards and 51 criteria for six levels, and was jointly created by 11 scientists, researchers ad linguists from the VNU-HN.