Building Teacher Capacity in English Language Teaching in Vietnam: Research, Policy and Practice

This timely volume opens a window on issues related to English language education in Vietnam. The authors consider that teacher quality is the key factor to be considered if the national English language curriculum outcomes are to be achievable. Aiming to shed light on key issues recently observed in the Vietnamese landscape of English language education, it examines the complexity of the institutionalization of the standardized English proficiency policy, which has been in force since 2008. That policy uses the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR) as the model to set the standards and levels of proficiency for teachers, learners and state employees.

The book presents both the theoretical and practical aspects of the standardization movement in English language education. The contents comprise a series of extended research-based chapters written by experts of language-in-education policy and planning in and about Vietnam from a range of perspectives including teachers, English language curriculum developers, teacher educators and researchers. The rich coverage of the book includes current discussion on English language education in Vietnam ranging from policy to practice, making it highly relevant to English teachers, teacher educators, and scholars, in Vietnam and worldwide, who aspire to broaden their horizons and professionalism.

Le Van Canh is an associate professor in applied linguitics at Vietnam National University, Hanoi. He has been involved in English language teacher education in Vietnam for the past 40 years. His publications centre on second language teacher education in response to the enactment of innovation in Vietnamese ELT. For the last few years, he, as a teacher educator, promotes teacher research among Vietnamese ELT teachers in an attempt to bridge global disciplinary discourses with local practices. His research interests are teacher education, language planning and policy, and context-based TESOL pedagogy.

Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at The University of New South Wales, Australia, and specialises in teacher education and development, mentoring, TESOL, and sociocultural theory. She has experience teaching and training pre-service and in-service teachers in Asia and Australia. She has had two authored books, two edited books and over 15 book chapters and 20 articles in well-regarded peer -reviewed journals and international prestigious publishers. She is also an honorary research fellow at the University of Sydney and a visiting scholar at King’s College London.

Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh is an associate professor in the English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests include pragmatics in language teaching and learning, interactional competence development, language pedagogy and language teacher education. She has published widely in mainstream TESOL and applied linguistics journals and reputable edited books, and co-authored several teachers’ handbooks and school resource materials. She is currently serving on the editorial board of the Asian Journal of English Language Teaching published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Roger Barnard is an associate professor in applied linguistics at The University of Waikato, New Zealand. Over the past fifteen years, he has worked with academics in Vietnam and many other Asian universities on collaborative research projects, resulting in several publications; most recently, R.Barnard & Z. Hasim (Eds.), English Medium Instruction Programmes: Perspectives from South East Asian Universities, published in 2018.