Exploring Vietnamese EFL Teacher Educators’ Professional Development in the Context of the National Foreign Languages Policy

Abstract

This presentation outlines a project researching Vietnamese teacher educators’ professional development (PD) in a period of ongoing educational transformation, initiated by the national language policy (Project 2020). The empirical research examined current English language policies issued by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and EFL teacher training institutions (N = 50) as well as PD engagement of teacher educators in the eight largest public tertiary teacher education institutions across Vietnam.Analysis of policy alignment at both governmental and institutional levels highlights coherence between institutional and MOET’s requirements, and between institutional requirements and teacher educators’ PD. Yet there appears to be a less effective connect between MOET’s policies and teacher educators’ PD practice. Findings from both a survey on 143 teacher educators and follow-up semi-structured individual interviews with both teacher educators (N = 8) and institutional leaders (N = 8) further indicate that current policies have not facilitated teacher educators' PD in terms of systems-level support. Apart from compliance reasons, teacher educators engaged in PD as part of developing professional identity and agency. This calls for strategic plans to promote PD alignment, including innovations in policies at both managerial levels and teacher educators’ PD autonomy. Given the centrality of effective EFL instruction to many contexts, and the important role PD plays in teacher development and student outcomes, this research offers significant insights for EFL researchers, policy-makers, EFL teacher education institutions and educators across all levels.

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Author Information
Thi Thom Thom Nguyen, The University of Newcastle, Australia and The University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Vietnam

• Category: IICEHawaii2018, Oral Presentation

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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