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Teaching with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation and Problems in Managing the Process of Teaching Literature in Vietnam

Bui Thi Kim Anh, Nguyen Thi Yen Phuong*

Hanoi Retraining College for Teachers and Educational Managers, Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract: Education in many developed countries proved that teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation (CBE – Competency Based Education) is a modern and progressive approach. Teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation aims to provide common and spectacular skills which learners need and be able to acquire after finishing the course at a definite time. Managing the process of teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation in general and in teaching Literature in particular in Vietnam now have many challenging new problems.

Keywords: competencies, teaching, teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation, learners, Literature

Received May 28, 2018; Revised June 26, 2018; Accepted July 01, 2018

Citation: Bui Thi Kim Anh, Nguyen Thi Yen Phuong, Teaching with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation and Problems in Managing the Process of Teaching Literature in Vietnam. American Journal of Educational Research, 6 (7). 915-921. January 2018. doi:10.12691/education-6-7-5

1. Introduction

From the end of the twentieth century, many countries in the world, including Vietnam, have carried out the renovation of general education in the direction of changing heavy education in transferring knowledge to education with developing learners’ competencies orientation. The fundamental and comprehensive reform of education has been putting new demands on teachers and school administrators.

Literature is a subject that plays a special role in the school because it directly affects the thoughts, perceptions and emotions of people; is the true reflection and creation of life, contributing to forming the world outlook: "Literature is anthropology" (M. Gooc-ki). Therefore, teaching Literature at school is considered an important tool for the formation and development of learner personality - one of the major goals of education. In the world there are many research studies on teaching Literature in the direction of developing learners’ competencies. Studies by Carter, R. & Long, Michael N., in Teaching Literature, provide the skills that need to be provided for learners through literacy, such as listening, writing, speaking, reading, predicting, and creating [1]. Author Bagherkazemi, M. & Alemi, M. in Literature in the EFL / ESL classroom: consensus and controversy state that teaching literature needs to attract imagination and creativity; develop cultural awareness and critical thinking of learners [2]. The Core Competency Ability Model of American Educational Institutions emphasizes the core competencies in literacy in the priority area of reading, writing, speaking and listening, communication competencies, and flexible cooperation. Based on characteristics of the subject Literature, Judith A. Langer proposed a teaching model based on readers’ feedback to meet the goals of developing student competencies. [3] Referring to the development of the school program, the authors Cho Jae Hyun & Bui Manh Hung in the Korean Literature Textbook and experience with Vietnam emphasize that to innovate the curriculum and textbooks, Vietnam must have a solid national program in which different groups of authors edit different sets of textbooks [4].

At present, teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation in the subject of Literature has been mentioned theoretically by a number of authors. Many studies have examined the necessity, the curriculum, and the conditions for teaching Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation, such as Bui Manh Hung in Sketch of the Competencies-Based Literacy Program with developing learners’ competencies orientation proposes a curriculum and textbooks in which students and teachers choose about 25% of the vocabulary [5]; other authors such as Do Ngoc Thong in his research Fundamental and comprehensive renewal of the Literature program; Nguyen Thi Hanh with The scientific basis to determine the learning content in the curriculum of Literature in high schools after 2015; Tran Thi Hien Luong with Design the standard of the subject of Literature in the direction of developing competencies; Pham Minh Dieu with Design the curriculum of the subject of Literature in high schools in the direction of developing students’ competencies..., has shown that the content of the curriculum in Literature after 2015 must be determined on the scientific basis, such as an approach based on competency development for building educational program and the determination of the goals of the course which focus on developing spectacular competencies and common core competencies for students in basic and post-basic education.

From the process of learning and researching on teaching the subject of Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation, in this article, the authors wishes to better analyze the concept of teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation and propose the characteristics of teaching Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation in Vietnam so as to point out solutions to improve the effectiveness of the managing process of teaching Literature in the context of teaching from a new point of view.

2. Content

2.1. Teaching with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation

2.1.1. Definition of Competency

According to the Vietnamese dictionary (Hoang Phe, 2003): “competency is the ability, subjective or natural condition available to perform an activity; it is the quality of psychology that gives people the ability to complete a certain activity with high quality." According to Quesbec- Ministerede I'Education, competency is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, skills, attitudes, and excitement to act in an appropriate and effective manner in diverse situations of life. . According to OECD, “competency is the ability of an individual to meet complex requirements and perform tasks successfully in a particular context" [6]. According to th Overall of General Educational Program of Vietnam, “competency is the ability to successfully implement activities in a given context through the pooling of knowledge, skills and other personal attributes, such as excitement, trust, willpower, etc. The individual's competency is assessed through the means and results of that individual's actions in solving problems of life" [7].

From the definitions, it follows that:

Competency is the psychological category, with personal attributes: competency is a unique combination of individual attributes, but not the seperate attributes of the individual, but the combination of these attributes. Competency is formed by individual activity. It is in the activity that the components of competency, psychological functions are formed and developed. Competency is an index to compare one's personality with another. Each person is born with the element of this competency or other competency, but having a seed will not a confirmation for having the corresponding competency. Education plays a very important role in competency development.

Some of the basic characteristics of teaching to develop learners' competencies are: to pay attention to the transfer of knowledge and to develop the competencies; to particularly pay attention to the organization of student learning act during school hours; to enable students to learn at their own pace; to allow each student to develop his / her own abilities; to focus more on student outcomes; the outputs are measurable ....

Competency is measured by reality and directed toward solving practical problems and is the appreciation of the use of knowledge in real life.

The competency that the subject of Literature needs to address in shaping or contributing to the formation of students’ personalities is what students need and can apply in real life, given by their lives, but not the subjective intent of the manager or ideology of management.

2.1.2. Teaching in the Direction of Developing Learner Competency

In the world, the tendency for competencies development teaching began in the twentieth century. Richard Boyatzis, in Competencies in the 21st century study,pointed out that the notion of "competency" has been established and developed through numerous studies by authors such as Bray et al., 1974; Boyatzis, 1982; Kotter, 1982; Luthans et. al., 1988; Howard and Bray, 1988; Campbell et al., 1970; Spencer and Spencer, 1993; Goleman, 1998; Goleman et al., 2002 [8].

Many later studies emphasize the need to transfer teaching towards the development of learners’ competencies. P.A. McLagan. in Competencies: The Next Generation, asserts that adopting a new competency approach is important in a rapidly changing world and in the global economy of drastic competition. [9] According to OECD, in 2002 in Definition and Selection of Competencies: Theoretical and Conceptual Foundation, points out the role of competency development is "critical to leading a successful life and effective participation in the different areas of life” [...] inevitably created by an increasingly interdependent world, changing and conflicting" [[6], p. 5].

The characteristics and advantages of competency development teaching have been studied in a variety of perspectives. Authors Thad Nodine and Sally M. Johnstone point out that CBE provides "a real opportunity to personalize educational experiences for learners [...], which can help countries with achieving its goals and solving the emerging shortage of skilled workers as the economy improves [10]. Educational philosopher Richard David Prencht, in Why my child does not like going to school, emphasize that teaching with "personalized learning" helps promoting the ability of learners better than the "learn the same beat" [11] as today.

It is important to identify the competencies that need to be set for the learner. The OECD emphasizes the key competencies that need to be established for learners: social competence and lifelong learning competency [6]; WEF (2015) in New Vision for Education: Unlocking the Potential of Technology emphasizes competencies: critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication, and collaboration [12]. Richard Boyatzis, in Competencies in the 21st century, basing on research published over the last 30 years, asserts that managers need to direct each individual within the organization to have three basic competencies: 1) cognitive abilities, 2) emotional intelligence competency; 3) The competency of social intelligence [8]. "Reading, writing, listening and speaking are the foundation of our learning," said the California Department of Education, in the Reading / Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools– Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. Ananiadou, K. and M. Claro, in the 21st Century Skills and Competences for New Millennium Learners in the OECD Countries, emphasize the competencies that need to be developed in students: innovation / innovation; critical thinking, problem solving; decision; communication; co-operate; information technology and media; research and inquiry; civil rights; flexibility and adaptability; productivity; leadership and accountability [13]. Education expert Tony Wagner states in The Global Achievement Gap that he conducts dozens of interviews with business leaders and observed hundreds of classrooms at some of America's most highly publicized schools to stress that the school needs to provide learners with critical, creative, and effective communication skills [14]. Effective oral and written communication is also an important competency that Literature needs to equip for high school students today. P21 raises a range of skills and learning requirements that are identified as essential for social and workplace’s success in the 21st century, in which the two most fundamental skills groups are highlighted: 1) Basic skills: reading, writing, performing arithmetic and mathematics, and listening and speaking; 2) Thinking skills: creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, imaging, and learning [15]. It is easy to realize that there are many competecies associated with the reality of life in the world which are mentioned in the curricula of many countries but has not been mentioned in the latest education orientation of Vietnam.

The issue of school curriculum development has been highlighted by many studies because it is the key for the school to teach with developing learners’ competencies orientation. Rachel Bolstad, in School-based curriculum development: principles, processes, and practices, emphasizes that school’s development based on curriculum is needed as it provides a mechanism for that school to utilize the opportunities created by the new curriculum and evaluation structures, and the more teachers involved in program’s development the school have, the school’s program will be broader and deeper than planned lessons and basic textbooks. The advantages of the school-based curriculum have been affirmed by studies: "It is believed that a decentralized program developed for schools can make the curriculum more relevant and meaningful. meaning for learners "(Elliot, 1997); it is flexible enough to meet the learning needs of every student, offering different ways in which people learn to change the society and economy [16]. A. Lewy, in the National and School-based curriculum development, also asserts that the "top-down" development model has ignored the classroom teachers and gave them minor working motivation, less engagement with work, and less satisfaction during the work time [17].

Research studies on the development of learners' competencies in Vietnam also have many similarities with research in the world, focusing on key issues such as the need to switch to teaching in the direction of development learners’ competencies; competencies need to be developed for learners; content designing, curriculum development in the direction of developing learners’ competencies; renovate teaching methods and assessments towards the development of learners’ competencies. The studies confirm that the shift to teaching in the direction of developing learners’ competencies is an urgent requirement to bring Vietnamese education into the general trend of world education; summarize the experiences of other countries on the synchronous implementation of teaching and learning to develop students' competencies, from policy to program and practice; the school's mission in educating the students’ competencies; approaches for competencies categories. The authors involving are Tran Dinh Su, Bui Manh Hung, Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa, Vu Hai Ha, Do Ngoc Thong [18], Nguyen Ngoc Thong [19]...

The studies on teaching management with developing learners’ competencies in the world focus on two main issues, which are conditions for teaching to develop competencies and teaching with developing learners’ competencies managing solution. A research by Donald R. Winkler, Decentralization in education: An economic perspective, evaluates the effect of decentralization, addressing the issue of necessary decentralization of school organization and curriculum [20]. Two authors, Sally M. Johnstone and Louis Soares, in Principles for Developing Competency-Based Education Programs, states that the 21st century a model of competency-based education can be established if certain principles are in place: 1/A strong and valid competencies’ feedback level; 2/Learners can study at a suitable pace and be supported during their study [21].

About the teachers’ roles in developing students’ competencies: Rachel Bolstad emphasized the need to promote the program management role of teachers [...]. Schools also need to change by a point of view that teachers should be program developers, not simply "generators" or “speaker” of pre-programmed curricula. Unfortunately, this view has not been implemented in Vietnam before, because of the doubts about the ability of the teachers to develop curricula [16]. Propositions by Robert J. Marzano, Debra J.Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock on the role of the teacher's self-assertive role is that to teach with developing learners’competencies orientation, the teachers should be given the autonomy in their teaching activities, and the good manager is the promoter of the creativity and autonomy of the teacher [22].

In Vietnam, a number of studies on the management of teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation focusing on relevant issues such as: Management of general education in the context of decentralization of educational management by Nguyen Tien Hung [23]; Management of the general education curriculum based on the development of students’ competencies by Nguyen Thi My Loc and Vu Duong Thuy's Teaching in the direction of developing learners’ competencies [24]. Le Hoang Ha points out two basic principles of decentralized teaching: "Teacher recognizes that there are different learners" and "quality is more important than quantity" [25]. The author Tran Trung Dung with the study on the management of teaching activities in general schools in the orientation of students’ competencies development [26] emphasizes that the management of teaching activities - according to the requirements of innovation - is to focus on the comprehensively development of physical and intellectual; applying scientific knowledge into practice; and developing creativity, self-learning, and lifelong learning ability of students.

Thus, the researches in both Vietnam and the world focus on clarifying the core issues of teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation (the need; the process of formation; development; characteristics; the advantages of teaching ability development; the capacity to form for learners; and the development of programs and conditions for teaching capacity development); the most important issues of teaching Literature in the school with the developing learners’ competencies orientation; studies on modern teaching management. These studies have laid a strong theoretical premise for the transfer of knowledge-equiping teaching to learners' competencies-building teaching.

2.2. The Basic Problems of Teaching Literature with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation

In Vietnam, Literature is a subject in the field of language education and literature, from grade 1 to grade 12 (in elementary schools, this subject is Vietnamese). Aimed at teaching Literature to develop learners’ competencies, the requirements of Literature "focus on four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Reading includes the correct reading and reading comprehension: reading comprehension (including aesthetic reading, appreciation, gratification and evaluation) and understanding yourself (the reader). Writing not only requires students to write letters, sentences, and paragraphs, but also to create more complex text styles. Speaking and listening based on the content of reading and writing train students to present and speak and listen confidently, effectively, or in other words: from the right to say good" [27].

From these theoretical backgrounds, the basic issues of teaching the subject of Literature with developing learners’ competency orientation can be generalized as follow:

It is a way of teaching to develop the competencies of each learners: to personalize learning and to allow learners to learn at their own pace, to develop skills that are strengths of each learner; to increase access to education for those who have not been successful with the traditional form of prior education.

Core competencies must be clearly defined, in which the school should pay attention to both the development of the learner's common competencies and spectacular competencies. Everyone lives in a social environment and engages in social relationships, so common competencies need to be set in common consensus. Common competencies is skills that any subject in the school should be able to provide for the learners, and every learners needs to acquire competencies such as problem-solving and creative ability, self-learning ability and self-reliance. Spectacular competencies is the ability that one or more subjects are capable of forming such as language ability, aesthetics, mathematics, physics, information technology .... Spectacular competencies is also the strengths of individuals acquired by their different physical, temperamental, and training skills such as leadership, business, intuition.

Special attention to the organization of learners' activities during class will better meet the needs and interests of learners, making education programs more meaningful to learners and make learners more flexible and dynamic.

Appreciating the use of knowledge in real life: the development of society and the economy requires the education system to equip young people with the competency to use their knowledge and skills to solve real life challenges but not on the degree to which they have mastered a curriculum; it better meets the needs and interests of learners and the school community; linking school knowledge with local practice; reflecting new ideas and new technologies in education, aiming for the competencies that people need to live in real life.

Focusing on the output, which can be measured. Obtaining supportive solutions fot the learners after the evaluation. The results of the evaluation should be responded to learners by the teacher and the stakeholders as appropriate as the parent and the community and at the appropriate time. Teachers consider the level of feedback to be helpful in the evaluating process. Teachers should be asked to support learners after evaluation: for learners who are considered to be poorer, there should be supportive solutions such as additional teachers; supplementary teaching assistant; volunteers who are students of pedagogical training schools, parents, retired teachers ... (provided that the support staff are trained and fostered).

Increasing distance between learners in different regions with different learning conditions because the regions with better learning conditions will be able to develop better competencies of learners. This is a weakness of teaching with developing learners' competencies orientation that needs to be limited to ensuring equity in education.

Careful preparation should be taken to ensure that learners are able to develop their competencies, as the condition of teaching facilities in teaching with developing learners' competencies is very important: there must be effective learning resources, available at any time and reusable; IT and communication development is an indispensable condition for teaching for competencies development. Besides, there must be requirements of the staff, policies and management mechanism, especially the decentralization mechanism in school management since if there is no decentralization mechanism, the dynamism of the teachers and learners can not be created.

2.3. The Realities and the Problems of Teaching Literature with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation

According to achievements of Literature teaching programs and Literature textbooks used in popular Vietnamese schools from 2002 to 2018, it can be determined that teaching Literature in Vietnam has aimed at and achieved three following goals: 1) provide the students with basic and modern knowledge of language and literature systematically; 2) help students develop the ability to use Vietnamese, understand and interpret Literature works; 3) nurture in students the love of Vietnamese, nature, families and national pride. However, teaching Vietnamese focuses on providing knowledge solely but neglects to develop students’ competencies, since the programs are highly academic, aiming at producing socially aware students. As a results, the programs become detached to real life, and at the expense of students’ interests.

Therefore, teaching Literature in Vietnam needs solutions to teach Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation. These solutions have to be based on objective, comprehensive assessments of the management of Literature education and teaching Literature in schools, and firstly, the reasons leading to these problems have to be found.

2.4. Proposing Solutions for Managing the Teaching of Literature to Develop Learners’ Competencies Orientation

2.4.1. Raising Teachers’ Awareness

The large majority of teachers do realize the needs for teaching Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation. According to the survey, 99.3% of the sample (714 in 719 teachers) say that teaching Literature to develop learners’ competencies orientation is “necessary and important”, and 97.6% of the sample claim that “teaching of Literature to develop learners’ competencies orientation should be put into practice”.

However, many teachers do not comprehend how to execute the teaching of Literature to develop learners’ competencies orientation. According to the survey, 43.1% of the sample (308 in 715 people) deem that the teaching of Literature to develop learners’ competencies orientation cannot replace the current teaching to provide knowledge. 37% of the sample say that teaching Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation cannot let students study at their own speed. 36.9% of the sample believe that the results of students’ studies cannot be measured in teaching Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation.

Therefore, measures have to be done to raise awareness of teachers, including explaining, propagating, disseminating documents, fostering and organizing activities in specialized groups.

2.4.2. Developing the Literature Programs to Teach Literature with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation

Vietnamese Literature programs are built at a national level; all schools follow a fixed curriculum; all teachers have to teach according to the national textbooks. With that rigid and boring curriculum, for a long time, learners cannot learn what the need and develop their competencies; rather, they have to learn what the managers think of and deem to be important in developing students to become socially aware citizens. New literature programs were developed with only 6 required Literature works; however, the requirements have become more rigid, and teachers have to teach according to a framework (they have to choose 3 in 5 required works to teach. This is clearly not the goal of teaching Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation.

The main reason is the lack of trust in the teachers in developing the school curriculum. Many managers argue that teachers can not develop curriculum and need strict control over what they teach and how they teach. Also, teachers working long in the constrained environment can not confidently build their own curriculum to suit subjects in the class they teach. The lack of trust of the leaders along with the self-deprecation of many teachers prevent the first step of teaching with developing learners’ competencies orientation.

The solution now is to trust teachers, to decentralize management, to empower schools and teachers to develop programs, and, if necessary, to have control mechanism over the development of the school's programs and teachers so that they proceed in the right direction.

2.4.3. Educate Literature Teachers about Teaching with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation

The common characteristic of teachers retraining programs in Vietnam is that retraining is often considered as a “mandatory” course, which are joined with reluctant, for teachers due to many reasons such as the lack of practical training programs for teachers, limited forms and trainning methods. In order to improve the quality of training, teachers should:

Defining the retraining objectives: Managers need to help teachers know how to set up their own retraining goals: understanding their retraining goals; determining the focus of retraining program (gain deeper knowledge); knowing how to participate in systems and communities of professional learning in the country and in the world; knowing how to plan and organize their own retraining program.

Developing a retraining plan: A study by the Institute for Research on Educational Development (IRED) points out that 70% of teachers who are involved in the renovation do not understand why they should do so, and as a result, much efforts leads nowhere. The current issue in schools in Vietnam is that schools only wait the higher levels of educational managers to start seminars and lectures then send the teacher to participate. Therefore, the content of the annual training often has no plan; is not systematic; and especially does not fit the basic needs of teachers of schools. This inevitably leads to the low quality of the annual training, the unwillingness of teachers to participate in training courses, the repetition of many contents of retraining courses. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the positive and active role of teachers in regular training activities, especially in the development of retraining plans. Annually, it is necessary to gather opinions of the learners on the retraining contents.

Selecting of retraining content: The fact that educational managers command developing the retrainning program in some certain framewor will not meet the diverse requirements of the retraining program. The "bureaucratization" of the procedures for the construction, approval and conduct of the retraining with funds from the State budget in the current manner does not ensure the retraining program with up-to-date contents. The best solution is to have teachers involve in the development of retraining programs so that these programs are necessary to a large numbers of people.

Renovating the retraining methods: Instead of providing one-way retraining content with knowledge-delivery orientation as today, it is necessary to move towards the direction of developing the competencies of the teachers in the process of retraining. Teachers participating in the retraining content all have much experience in teaching, and the problems presented during the program often not new to teachers, so the important things are new solutions. Therefore, retraining teachers with lectures and explanation is less effective than expected, but it is necessary to bring teachers into situations with real-life problems.

Diversifying forms of retraining: In addition to the current forms of retraining such as sending teachers to participate in retraining courses taught by highly qualified instructors, with the charateristics of the environment in Vietnam, peer-to-peer education can be used with the teaching by core teachers. Retraining in the form of using the core reporter has the advantage that the trainee does not have to go too far to attend training seminars. Core lecturers can also be managers, excellent teachers with practical experiences; therefore, the training issues are often attached to reality and have profound effects on learners. However, retraining teachers in this way is difficult because there are reporters with limit in reasoning which make the transfer of the nature of the problem to the students challenging.

Using this form of peer-to-peer retraining approprietly will have great effeciency. Teachers participating in peer-to-peer education should be selected among experienced teachers who have special ability to advise, guide colleagues; the ability to encourage colleagues, to correct the error for colleagues, to detect and solve problems from colleagues arising in practice; and the ability to lead the colleagues to develop their competencies.

The online retraining program in which highly qualified teachers and experts create the teaching contents and help the trainees not just do not have to travel far, but also limit the problems from trainers such as the lack of free time and experience as aforementioned. However, this form is only effective when the teacher is responsible for the training and spend time and effort to attend retraining courses to improve teaching competency in the current phase.

Besides, renewing the means of retraining; improving the quality of examination and assessment process of retraining activities are indispensable solutions for effectively retraining programs.

2.4.4. Renewing the Learners Evaluation Process with Developing Learners’ Competencies Orientation

The current situation of evaluation process in schools in Vietnam is to focus on contemporary evaluation and comparing learners to each other, so it creates competition among learners, leading to "cabinet" learning. It also leads to the problem of uncontrollable extra classes. Some of the key managing solutions to be conducted are:

Helping teachers to recognize the need for renovation in teaching and learning in the field of Literature with developing learners’ competencies orientation: to raise rightful awareness about the direction of renovation, testing, and evaluation with developing learners’ competencies orientation; to base the assessment on the qualification requirements of the learners’ qualities and abilities as defined in the overall education program and subject curriculum; to pay attention to the integration when assessing in the subject of Literature in the direction of competencies development.

Helping teachers fully understand the effects of tests and assessments towards the development of learners’ competencies: The manager, through the management of group activities and other forms such as specialized training, guidance for teachers self-study ... needs to help teachers fully aware of the effect of testing and evaluation in the direction of developing learners’ competencies. Formative assessment is a condition for accelerating learners' learning curve: "When done well, process-based assessments can double the learning curve of learners" (Black, PJ, & Wiliam, D. 1998), "Evaluation of evaluation-related processes has a special focus on providing feedback on competence to improve and accelerate learning" (Sadler, DR 1998).

Helping teachers select the innovative tools appropriately to test and evaluate in the teaching of Literature with developin learners’competencies: In fact, the competencies of learners is different, and the diversity of "spectrum" learners evaluation help teachers develop better competencies for learners. Helping teachers focus on the differentiation while examining and classification of learners according to purpose and due to common quality. Based on the requirements, the test must ensure the ability to assess the true competencies and leaning achievement of the majority of learners.

Managers can provide teachers with a number of tests with the approach to develop learners’ competencies, associated with the subject of Literature such as:

* Open topic is a topic that deals only with issues. Writers may choose to write the subject matter in different expressions to suit their writing interests or express their own views on the issue in many different angles ... For example: "Search on google to buy drugs is a bad habit of many Vietnamese parents, resulting in the issue that antibiotic resistance in Vietnam is ranked as one of the highest in the world. Write an essay in 200 words describing your point of view as a child, parent or drug seller."

* The topic associated with the realities of life: It is a form that aims to require learners to have a product that can be applied in real life. This type of topic helps learners have the skills of explaining, introducing... about the problem, directing learners to the communicative abilities in life. For example: "Write an ad for a specialty of your hometown," "Write a title for a newspaper article about environmental pollution in your place of residence", "How do you avoid plagiarism?”.

* The topic aiming to develop the creativity of the learner: This form requires the learner to put himself or herself in a fictional situation to solve the problem, thereby expressing their perceptions, emotions, and attitudes towards the problem. Assessing creativity is an assessment of the learners both in the idea and in the way of expression, presentation ... An example of this type of topic are: "If you have the right to decide on environmental issues/traffic/food safety... in Vietnam, you will…".

Helping teachers appreciate and guide students to self-assess: Teachers have the responsibility to help learners understand the assessment standards, so learners can self-evaluate and participate in assessments. It helps the learner to detect the errors and the causes of the errors; encourages learners to participate in the assessment process; helps learners to be able to present scientific papers; and, furthermore, helps learners have the ability to self-test and self-assessment of the ability of themselves and their friends.

Teacher self-adjustment resolutions after assessments: Managers need to help teachers know how to use learners’ assessments to change curriculum, content, and teaching methods appropriately, quickly, and consistently; quickly provide feedback to teachers to adjust the teaching plan to improve the quality of teaching activities to help learners improve; have promptly adjusted to each learner; and attract and encourage the attention of participants during the teaching process.

Managers need to know how to use the evaluation results to collect information about the effectiveness of teaching and learning activities and to compare the results of the tests between the classes to adjust the teacher's instructional activities. From that, direction and improvement are renewed and proposed to help the school achieve the educational goals, with an overall view on the progress of learners.

3. Conclusion

Education in Vietnam is facing a major reform - changes in nature and education thinking. Education, which is because of learners, for learners, aims to develop learners’ competencies, requires teachers to change the way they teach and managers to change the way they management. Teaching in general and teaching Literature in the trend inevitably require the improvement of ability of teachers and educational administrators. No big change is just the addition of small discrete changes. Putting elements of the teaching process in dialectical relationships to make them change due to their impact on others is compulsory. The careful preparation of equiping teaching theories and teaching experience towards the development of learners’ competencies for teachers and education administrators is a necessary condition for successful educational reform so that Vietnam's education is gradually approaching the development of world education.

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