Vietnam’s Preservice English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teacher Education Programs: Strengths and Challenges

• In Event: Preservice English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teacher Education in Asia: Issues and Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives:
In this presentation, two pre-service EFL teacher education programs offered by two public national colleges of education and funded by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in Vietnam are analyzed and major challenges are presented.

Methods and Data Sources:
The curriculum frameworks of two EFL teacher education programs in Vietnam, together with the MOET’s policy documents regarding EFL teaching and learning, were collected and analyzed. The paper is also based on the first-hand experience and knowledge of the researcher, who is a faculty member of one of the two chosen programs, and the information gained by the researcher via personal communication with his colleagues serving on the two programs.

Findings:
Although the two programs are different in terms of admission requirements, management system (credit-based versus year-based), and quality of teaching and learning, they both follow the MOET’s basic core curriculum guidelines and pay particular attention to class management skills, applied linguistics, and literature. An emphasis on class management skills enables pre-service teachers not only to teach English language successfully but also to give advice and support in issues other than academic stuff to their students. Applied linguistics and literature not only equip teachers with a solid background in English which is necessary for effective language teaching but also make a sound foundation for those teachers who want to go to graduate schools.
My analysis suggests that the programs are also faced with many challenges. The first challenge is that despite their overwhelming attention to English language and literature, the programs fail to provide student teachers with a satisfactory level of language proficiency, which no doubt has a negative impact on the quality of teaching and learning in schools (see also MOET, 2008; Parks 2011; Viet Toan, 2013). The second challenge is their fragmented curriculum. For example, the courses on applied linguistics and those on teaching methodology are not aligned so that they can complement each other and provide pre-service teachers with necessary pedagogical content knowledge. The third challenge is the disconnection between teacher education courses that emphasize communicative language teaching and the actual contexts where grammar-translation and teaching to the test are still the dominant methods (Lam 2011). These challenges suggest that further reforms in EFL teacher education programs are needed in Vietnam.

Significance
Although EFL teacher education programs have existed in Vietnam for several decades, this paper is the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis will hopefully lay a solid foundation for the programs’ further development in the future. In addition, this paper on EFL teacher education in Vietnam, together with the papers on EFL teacher education in China and South Korea, will help researchers to have a realistic and overall picture of EFL teacher education in East and Southeast Asia.

Author

• Cuong Huy Nguyen, Michigan State University