Effects of Marxist Methodology on Social Science Researches Conducted by Vietnamese Scholars Before 1986

In the early twentieth century, Marxism was propagated into Vietnam through patriotic intellectuals. After the propagation into Vietnam, Marxism not only influenced national liberation movements, but also profoundly affected scholars, particularly scholars of social science. In fact, many of well-known Vietnamese scholars have relied on Marxism’s theory of social existence and social consciousness, infrastructure and superstructure, practical concept, concept of class struggle, etc. to comment on poetry, history, language, geography, philosophy, etc. In other words, the scholars have applied Marxist methodology to explore and study cultural and social life in Vietnam; and in that way, a generation of Marxist researchers in the field of social sciences has been formed. After the renovation of the country, the Government of Vietnam has implemented its policy of openness and international integration, and scholars have been therefore able to receive many other Western ideals and cultures, and the Marxist methodology was not the only one used in social science research. Consequently, some people expressed their skepticism about the role of Marxist methodology in academic research in Vietnam, even completely denied the historical significance of Marxist methodology to the academia in Vietnam. This article is intended, through Vietnamese Marxist scholars, especially the ones in the field of social sciences prior to 1986 （i.e., prior to the renovation of the country） to demonstrate the historical significance of the Marxist methodology to the Vietnamese academia. It is clear that the penetration of the Marxism and the Marxist methodology into Vietnam have created a revolution in the field of academic research （primarily in the field of social science）. It has promoted academicresearch from conservative toward innovative, from traditional to modern. With the presence of the French colonialism as well as the French culture, the Marxism and the Marxist methodology helped Vietnamese scholars break away from Chinese Confucian scholarship and shift to systematic scholarly studies based on practical bases, scientific bases and modern methods. Although there are still some certain drawbacks, it cannot be denied that the Marxism and the Marxist methodology have played an important role in the formation and development of modern social sciences in Vietnam today.

Literature Views on Second Language Acquisition The Ways of Incorporating Interaction and Participation

Most current theories of second language acquisition and current views on methods and approaches to teaching English as a second language place a high value on student participation and interaction in the language classroom. This interaction may be between teacher and student and/or student and student. Despite this, in many English classrooms around the world, students have very few opportunities to interact in the second language. In this paper, using the literature on second language acquisition research and methodology to prepare a case which highlights why teachers and course designers should find ways to incorporate second language interaction and student participation in their language classes despite the practical difficulties they may face.

SPECIAL ISSUE： A DISCUSSION ON THE SOURCE OF MEANING OF LITERARY WORKS A Brief Discussion of the Generation of Meaning in Literary Works： A Hermeneutic Examination

The sources of meanings of literary works can be reviewed from various angles, one of which should be hermeneutics. Since the mid-20~ century, Western hermeneutics developed two important types of theories： one was the ontological hermeneutics from Martin Heidegger to Hans-Georg Gadamer, orientated towards the reader-centered theory in terms of the view of meanings; the other was the ＂hermeneutics as the general methodology of the Geisteswissenschaften＂ represented by Italian philosopher Emilio Betti, which affirmed that the author （subject） was one of the important sources of meanings of works. Due to intricate reasons, the latter exerted less influence, and Gadamer＇s ontological hermeneutics firmly stuck to a mainstay position in European and American academia. Since the 1990s, the circle of literature in China has also been greatly influenced by the hermeneutic theories from Heidegger and Gadamer to reception aesthetics, and Betti＇s impact almost can be neglected. Consequently, the view of meanings of literary works from the perspective of the reader-centered theory has been widely accepted, and the role of the author to endow initial meanings to his works was belittled and even denied. Since Zhang Jiang advanced the theory of ＂imposed interpretation＂ in 2014, academia has begun to reflect upon the one-sidedness of the reader-centered theory （relativism and subjectivism）, and pick up the significance, which cannot be denied, of the author＇s meaning in the generation of meanings of literary works. In reference to Betti＇s hermeneutic train of thought and methodology, this essay, based on the practice of literary creation, concludes that the meaning of a literary work is created by the author and readers together in their interaction, and constantly generated in the dynamic process of the three factors of author, literary texts and readers, rather than by the author alone, or by readers solely.