Research: Hue English Project

Research summary

• January 2023 – January 2024

Taking inspiration from the Manchester Voices project, this one-year project explored the characteristics of the Vietnamese English spoken in Huế City, Vietnam.

Researchers from Manchester Met worked with the University of Cambridge and Huế University of Foreign Languages and International Studies.

The team collaborated with schools in Huế City as part of the project’s focus on taking researchers into the wider community. They interacted with people in everyday environments and collected valuable real-world data.

Audiovisual exhibitions of Huế English alongside Manchester English enabled the local community to recognise and celebrate their Huế English. They also learned more about Manchester English.

The team applied the sociolinguistic findings to classroom practices. Working closely with English teachers at schools in Huế, they codesigned and implemented lessons using Huế English samples.

Students reported that the lessons helped them develop more favourable attitudes towards English spoken by Vietnamese speakers. They also became less critical of their own use of English. Teachers were delighted to have access to classroom resources featuring Vietnamese English.

The Huế school students also participated in a competition. They produced creative videos in English about their Huế identity and the role of languages in their lives. Watch the winning videos.

Research output

• ‘Vietnamese English: Language, Identity, and Implications for Classroom Practice’. The team is working on a research monograph based on the project. This work, under contract with Routledge, will be included in the Routledge Studies in World Englishes series.