Primary English language teachers’ engagement in professional development
Teachers’ professional development (PD) is viewed as the center of educational reforms in many countries, and this topic has been widely researched by scholars such as Avalos (2011), DarlingHammond & McLaughlin (2011), Le (2002), and Whitehouse (2011). However, primary English language teachers (PELTers)’ PD has been under-Researched in Vietnamese contexts. This paper outlines a project researching PELTers’ PD in a period of ongoing educational transformation, initiated by the National Foreign Languages Project. The authors highlight a ‘mixed methods’ research design with data collected from 68 surveys and five individual semi-structured interviews in a province in North Vietnam. Both the impact of language policy on Vietnamese PELTers’ PD and their responses to top-down PD requirements and provision are under investigation. Some initial findings are (i) PELTers’ rationales for PD; (ii) their engagement in PD forms and topics; (iii) benefits of PD; (iv)their PD need areas; and (v) factors affecting PD engagement. PELTers’ suggestions for improving PD in their contexts are also discussed. This paper offers significant insights for EFL researchers, policy-makers, EFL teacher training institutions and other educators
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Tóm tắt nội dung tài liệu: Primary English language teachers’ engagement in professional development
PRIMARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ ENGAGEMENT IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Nguyen Thi Thom Thom, Pham Thi Thanh Thuy* VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Pham Van Dong, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam Received 8 September 2018 Revised 24 January 2019; Accepted 31 January 2019 Abstract: Teachers’ professional development (PD) is viewed as the center of educational reforms in many countries, and this topic has been widely researched by scholars such as Avalos (2011), Darling- Hammond & McLaughlin (2011), Le (2002), and Whitehouse (2011). However, primary English language teachers (PELTers)’ PD has been under-researched in Vietnamese contexts. This paper outlines a project researching PELTers’ PD in a period of ongoing educational transformation, initiated by the National Foreign Languages Project. The authors highlight a ‘mixed methods’ research design with data collected from 68 surveys and five individual semi-structured interviews in a province in North Vietnam. Both the impact of language policy on Vietnamese PELTers’ PD and their responses to top-down PD requirements and provision are under investigation. Some initial findings are (i) PELTers’ rationales for PD; (ii) their engagement in PD forms and topics; (iii) benefits of PD; (iv)their PD need areas; and (v) factors affecting PD engagement. PELTers’ suggestions for improving PD in their contexts are also discussed. This paper offers significant insights for EFL researchers, policy-makers, EFL teacher training institutions and other educators. Keywords: professional development, EFL teachers, primary English language teaching 1. Introduction1 Education reform in Vietnam officially started some years after the introduction of the “Doi Moi” or Open Door/Renovation Policy in 1986. In the new context of globalisation, English serves as an important communication tool for economic and social development, and a leading foreign language subject in the school system. Furthermore, general education renovation and EFL in particular, have been one of the goals of the Open Door Policy, therefore in 2006 the Government renewed the Law of Education, and on 30 September * Corresponding author. Tel.: 84-989131406 Email: msthuy.pham@gmail.com 2008, Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) introduced Project 2020 under Decision 1400 of the Prime Minister which aimed to renovate thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign languages within the national educational system in the period 2008–2020 (Government of Vietnam, 2008). Project 2020 was revised and adapted to be more suitable for the new period 2017- 2025 on 22 December 2017. Some specific objectives of the project (hereby referred to as the NFL Project) are the implementation of a new ten-year general English program (from English 3 through to English 12), with 100% of grade 3, 70% of grade 6, 60% of grade 10 students who will be learning this 132 N.T.T. Thom, P.T.T. Thuy/ VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142 new program by the school year 2020-2021, and 100% of the graduates from English teacher training programs to be well qualified in both their teaching profession and English proficiency level by 2025 (Government of Vietnam, 2017). To achieve these goals and objectives, there has been an urgent need for new training and retraining of many teachers in both methodology and English proficiency. Currently, over 86,000 Vietnamese EFL teachers work at all school levels in the national education system, but a majority of the teaching staff have not met the standard requirements of their professional teaching roles (Nguyen, forthcoming). For example, statistics from a reliable media agency indicated that in a large city, only 31.7% primary school teachers, 36.5% mid-school teachers and 25.83% high school teachers passed the competence test in English proficiency and ELT methodology (Tuệ Nguyễn, 2015). Various methods and activities have been utilized to train these in-service low-quality teachers, for example: face-to-face training, online training or blended training, different professional development (PD) activities: reflective teaching, keeping and sharing journals, peer mentoring and coaching, forming and/or joining a teacher support group or network, forming or joining local and national teachers’ associations, etc. (Murray, 2010). Teachers of different levels of proficiency, and from different places will choose to take part in the most suitable PD activities to improve their English proficiency and teaching skills. For the primary English language teachers (PELTers), they most often choose to attend the blended training programs during summer in order to achieve the acquired certificates from MoET. This model seems to be more effective than others because it is direct training (i.e. they get hands-on experience) with more practice. Calling on data from a large-scaled project researching Vietnamese EFL teachers’ PD under the context of the NFL Project, this paper highlights PELTers’ experiences and perceptions via analysis of 68 survey responses and five interview transcripts, collected during a summer PD course in a province in North Vietnam. The paper is therefore organised into the following parts: (1) Introduction; (2) Conceptualisation of PD for teachers/PELTers; (3) Description of the study; (4) Data collection and analysis; (5) Preliminary findings; and (6) Conclusion. In particular, the findings address five major themes that lead to further discussions and implications for future related studies. 2. Conceptualisation of teachers’ professional development In their daily life and work, teachers experience various activities and interactions that may facilitate their knowledge and skills, their teaching practice and ... Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142 weekend, other problems might arise too, such as their family responsibilities, personal plans, or personal health. And the contents of some PD programs we attended did not meet our needs; the materials were not good enough; or more problematically, the trainers were not well-qualified or well-trained as we expected, etc. (Teacher D) 5.5. Empowering primary English language teachers’ professional development To solve the ineffectiveness and inconvenience of the current PD programs, and to help PELTers overcome their difficulties in attending PD programs, we need to understand the teachers’ needs for PD, and listen to their suggestions for improving their PD engagement. After that we will design PD courses that meet the PELTers’ needs in both contents and forms, and at suitable time, in order to maximize/ empower their engagement. In the survey, we asked the PELTers about their needs for PD (question 7). We received responses from 51 teachers for this open- ended question, of which 29.41% preferred to be trained in teaching methods, 13.73% liked courses which focused on using IT in teaching or giving demo teaching of each lesson. Other teachers needed more training in using interactive boards (9.80%), teaching phonics and pronunciation (7.84%). A small number of teachers liked improving both their English language and teaching skills (N = 3), teaching listening (N = 2), and PD about managing classroom (N = 1). When asked what they would suggest for improving PD programs and ensuring more of their engagement, not only 25 surveyed but all the interviewed PELTers were willing to share their thoughts. More than half of them (52%) shared the idea of shortening the training time during the week, just two or three days at most, or they just want to be trained in the mornings or afternoons. They would like to spend the rest of the day on their school work or house work. Some of them suggested being able to schedule their time of training themselves. The surveyed and interviewed teachers also talked about the content and methods of training. Three out of the five interviewees (Teacher A, C, D) said that training contents should be practical. Some training contents were still rather theoretical, i.e. trainers focused more on the principles or theories of teaching, such as “Why should we use this method/ this song/ this game to teach children?”, or “How can we teach language skills?” “What activities should be used in pre- or post- stages?” so on and so forth. However, there was little time for demonstration or practice of those theories. Two teachers suggested: Trainers should give demo teaching or examples using the lessons taken from English textbooks being used by us. For example, when trainers teach us how to teach phonics, they can use Unit 6, Lesson 3, Part 1, in Tieng Anh 3 [This session focuses on teaching 2 sounds: /k/, /d/]. When they teach songs and chants, they can use many of them in the textbooks. This is the kind of hands- on training, and we prefer this way. (Teachers C and D) Teacher A added: “Trainer should provide us techniques applicable in our teaching. Activities focusing on theories should be limited”. Other suggestions by the majority of the surveyed PEFTers (N= 18 out of 25) for improving their PD engagement include: more seminars and workshops delivered by foreign specialists or native teachers, and held in or outside local regions; and more financial supports, more convenient teaching and 140 N.T.T. Thom, P.T.T. Thuy/ VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142 training conditions given by the NFL Project, local DoET and their schools. A teacher added: We need to be allowed to teach fewer lessons or some replacement staff who teach for us during the time we attend training sessions; and more importantly, we need some money to cover our travel and accommodation expenses because our schools do not pay for the lessons/ the time we do not teach at schools, but at training locations. (Teacher E) One more suggestion for PD programs is about course assessment. Some PELTers (36%) thought that there should be considerations about assignments and assessments for intensive PD courses within a short timeframe. They cited the training course on using new English textbooks that they had attended the previous year as a typical example. The course was so demanding with many assignments and assessment tools, namely participation, online and classroom quizzes, final test, micro teaching, observation, school visits and teaching practice. They had to cope with time management while still having to deal with their heavy workload at primary school. For these reasons, a few teachers suggested replacing micro teaching at training venue and/ or teaching practice at school with their filmed real teaching at primary school. An experienced teacher further explained: In this way, we do not have to act as false students during micro teaching, and save us much time, money, and efforts on practice teaching at different schools. On your part [trainers’ part], you do not have to travel a long way to the provincial schools to watch and assess us. (Teacher B) We – researchers – feel this suggested alternative assessment a feasible one. As many as 20 out of 25 teachers who answered the surveyed question 16, and many more of PELTers attended the training course recommended that it was high time the training rooms were better equipped; and learning and training conditions were improved. They opined to the fact that the rooms need properly-operated projectors and good internet access so that trainees could watch demo video lessons. Besides, it would be much better if they could learn in air- conditioned training rooms, especially during such terribly hot weather. 6. Conclusion We have provided an insight of the education transformation in Vietnamese contexts, addressing the call for English language education, English language teacher education under the implementation of the NFL Project. In particular, we have presented part of our large-scaled research project on EFL teachers’ PD. Within the scope of this paper, we focus on PELTer’s experiences and perceptions of PD engagement. Albeit preliminary, our findings and discussions reveal that PELTers frequently participate in PD programs provided by MoET and DoET. They are even active in undertaking PD programs because they can see positive impacts of PD engagement on their professional improvements and because they have strong personal needs for development. With regard to the provision, it seems that they benefit much from PD providers who do not neglect PELTers’ ‘remote’ work locations. The provision aligns with the NFL Project’s objectives and from a positive perspective; we argue that PD engagement helps raise PELTer’s awareness of the current foreign language policy and the entailed innovation in English language teaching. Despite a range of challenges, namely financial and logistical support as well as work and time conflicts, 141VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142 PELTers express their willingness to further undertake PD if they have opportunities. They wish to attend PD of high quality, practicality and relevance. They also mention need-based programs that consider their teaching contexts and teaching time schedule. The topics of their greatest interest are teaching pedagogy with real-timed micro-teaching and more demonstration delivered by qualified master trainers and their peers. As we can only provide our initial data collection and analysis in a PD program in one province, this research tends to have limitations regarding restricted time and generalisability. In stages that follow, we are going to analyse data sources collected from varied geographical locations and across a range of education levels. This paper; therefore, contributes our understanding of PD for Vietnamese teachers in general and PELTers in particular. Inquiries of our large- scaled research go beyond a mere description of PD contexts, aiming to redefine the way EFL teachers’ PD in Vietnam has been interpreted to date and seek to inform its future trajectories. 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Retrieved from http:// english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/education/6624/24-000- english-teachers-needed-for-primary-schools.html GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TIỂU HỌC VỚI VẤN ĐỀ THAM GIA PHÁT TRIỂN CHUYÊN MÔN Nguyễn Thị Thơm Thơm, Phạm Thị Thanh Thủy Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, ĐHQGHN, Phạm Văn Đồng, Cầu Giấy, Hà Nội, Việt Nam Tóm tắt: Phát triển chuyên môn (PTCM) cho giáo viên là một trong những nhiệm vụ trọng tâm để cải cách giáo dục ở nhiều quốc gia. Chủ đề này thu hút sự quan tâm của nhiều học giả như Avalos (2011), Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin (2011), Le (2002) và Whitehouse (2011). Tuy vậy, trong bối cảnh triển khai Đề án Ngoại ngữ Quốc gia, việc giáo viên tiếng Anh ở Việt Nam, đặc biệt ở bậc tiểu học, tham gia PTCM chưa được nghiên cứu đầy đủ. Chúng tôi sử dụng nghiên cứu phương pháp kết hợp tìm hiểu quan điểm và kinh nghiệm tham gia PTCM của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học (GVTATH). Chúng tôi tiến hành khảo sát 68 giáo viên và phỏng vấn 05 giáo viên tại một tỉnh miền bắc Việt Nam. Dữ liệu thu thập được chúng tôi phân tích theo 5 mảng chính: (i) lý do GVTATH tham gia PTCM; (ii) các hình thức và chủ đề PTCM của họ; (iii) lợi ích của việc PTCM; (iv) các lĩnh vực PTCM GVTATH muốn tham gia; và (v) các yếu tố tác động đến việc PTCM của họ. Chúng tôi cũng tìm hiểu một số cách thức PTCM hiệu quả mà GVTATH gợi ý. Hy vọng bài viết này sẽ giúp ích cho các nhà nghiên cứu ngoại ngữ, nhà hoạch định chính sách, các trường sư phạm và giáo viên tiếng Anh bậc tiểu học. Từ khóa: phát triển chuyên môn, giáo viên tiếng Anh, giảng dạy tiếng Anh bậc tiểu học
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