Digital Divide in Vietnam: Challenges of First-Year Teachers Teaching the Mandarin Language Abroad

• In Event: Digital Bilingualism and Biliteracy: Technology Innovations in Bilingual Education Research

Abstract

The digital divide has been an important issue causing considerable concern among researchers in various fields throughout the world. Through teacher interviews and a student survey, this study first investigates the digital divide problems in Vietnamese higher education and then further examines how the divide impacts teachers who are teaching abroad.
Several digital divide problems are discovered in this study. One is the divide between rural areas and modernized regions. Another divide found is that the students’ technology abilities differ in terms of the differences between gender, the school they attend, and the accessibility to computer and internet resources.
Without sufficient technological support, the teacher’s teaching preparation and implementation and their professional development were negatively impacted.

Authors

• Hui-Lien Hsiao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Thị Thanh Tuyền Mai, Chung Yuan Christian University

• Ching-Fang Juan, Chung Yuan Christian University