Peer assessment has recently been widely recommended in Vietnamese classrooms. However, there are argumentative opinions about this assessment because it has many conflicts with the learning culture of Vietnamese students. To date, there has not been any study addressing this issue. The present study investigated how Vietnamese students participate in peer assessment and how peer assessment should be designed to interest local students. In sum, 145 second-year students participated in a one-semester study. The results show that the students refused to participate in intragroup peer assessment because they were not confident in exchanging feedback directly and face-to-face. By contrast, intergroup peer assessment interested the students more because they could avoid direct conflicts with their friends and were guaranteed to save face by their group mates.