University of Helsinki
The Vietnam National University of Forestry (VNUF) in Hanoi hosted a 5-day intensive training of trainers (ToT) course on “Academic Writing and Conference Presentation in English” from 28 August to 1 September 2022, taught by Roy Siddall from the University of Helsinki Language Centre. This training was organised as part of the project “Strengthening Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development in Vietnam (CLIDEV)”, which is funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and coordinated by the Viikki Tropical Resources Institute, Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki. The 18 participants were from VNUF and the other three Vietnamese partners in the project: Thai Nguyen University Of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF), the Institute of Resources and Environment – Hue University, and Tay Nguyen University (TNU).
The dual role of many of the participants as researchers and teachers in their home institutions was also strongly reflected in the course, which aimed not only to strengthen the communication skills of the participants but also to provide materials and activities for use in their teaching and supervision of students.
The aim of the writing part of the course was to provide an overview of the process of writing in academic English and the key characteristics of formal academic style. The course also examined in detail the typical sections in an academic journal article. Additional topics included the appropriate use of reference sources in one’s writing, developing flow and cohesion in a text, and making use of online tools and reference sources, and training was additionally provided on the use of the reference management software EndNote.
In the conference presentation part of this course, the participants learnt how to confidently and effectively present their research in English, paying attention to the structure and language of presentations and the use of visual materials. The course concluded with three ‘conferences’, with each participant involved in the planning, organization and staging of one of these conferences, in addition to submitting a conference abstract and delivering a presentation themselves in another conference. The participants received peer and teacher feedback on their presentations.
The participants were extremely heterogeneous in their existing academic English skills. They were also diverse in their perceived strengths and main goals in taking the course. Feedback on the training not only highlighted what the participants gained from it, but also the need for further training and support, especially in writing research papers.