English as an International Language (EIL) in Vietnam: A study of Vietnamese ELT teachers’ reflections

Abstract

The native speaker (NS) model has been used since the beginning of English language teaching (ELT) in Vietnam, just as it has been in a number of Expanding Circle countries. Achieving native-like competence is highly desirable and is considered a great success for Vietnamese learners of English. Having an official or special status in more than 80 countries worldwide, however, English has now become an international language used for intercultural communication by over two billion speakers (British Council, 2014). Among these speakers, there are presently more non-native speakers than NSs of English, a fact ‘which has extraordinary implications for the ownership of English’ (Galloway & Rose, 2015, p. 25). With the spread of English, English has changed extensively both structurally and pragmatically. The current complex roles and status of English require us to re-examine teaching models and methodologies in ELT, especially in countries employing traditional methods (Sharifian, 2009). Although scholars have undertaken theoretical examinations relating to this, and have discussed the resulting teaching implications, teachers’ perspectives have not as yet been extensively studied. Therefore, teachers’ voices are highly important in the discussions of the current status of English and its impacts on their teaching. This thesis addresses this gap in the extant literature by examining the opinions of Vietnamese teachers with two major goals in mind. The first is to discover teachers’ perspectives on the possible implications of the contemporary status of English for their teaching practices in the context of Vietnam. The second is an investigation of whether presenting teachers with information about the recent changes within the English language would affect their prospective pedagogical choices. This study collects data from 52 participants in Vietnam, comprising six focus groups and 19 individual interviews. The collected data is first presented and then its implications for possible teaching models and the teaching of culture(s) as well as for teaching materials for ELT are comprehensively discussed. Participants’ responses range from a preference for the NS model, NS cultures and NS-based materials, on the one hand, to a desire for integrating other varieties of English as well as various cultures into classrooms, including a consideration of the point at which these should be introduced, on the other. The study then describes a number of challenges and constraints upon taking an EIL approach to pedagogy in Vietnamese ELT settings. These include the teachers’ lack of understanding of the sociolinguistic complexity of the English language, students’ limited levels of English which present challenges for integrating the diversity of English into classrooms, the attitudes of teaching facilities and various external factors that contribute to the struggles around the paradigm shift surrounding the relative importance of New Englishes in ELT. The research finally presents a number of pedagogical suggestions for ELT in Vietnam and countries in which the context of ELT is similar. It is important to increase EIL exposure in teacher education and to inspire a change in attitudes/mindsets of language educators to implement innovation in ELT that responds to the diverse status of English today.